Chicago Bears: Defense noticing difference in new offense
The Chicago Bears had a top-10 defense last year. Their offense was at the bottom, however. They’re trying to change that narrative already though.
The Chicago Bears have a history of having tremendous defenses. Some of the greatest defenses and defensive players wore Bears uniforms. The Monsters of the Midway moniker is for their defense. Their offense, however, hasn’t really attracted attention.
Most years, if the offense was halfway decent, then the defensive play could vault the team into the playoffs. Except in 2013, when they had the second-rated offense (only behind the record-breaking Denver Broncos), the Bears mainly depended on their running game to make key plays.
The offensive troubles are so bad that former Chicago Bears wide receiver Muhsin Muhammad famously said that Chicago is “where receivers go to die.”
This offseason, the Bears tried to change all that. General manager Ryan Pace did everything he could to change the offense and add weapons for second-year quarterback Mitch Trubisky. He hired Matt Nagy to be the head coach and Mark Helfrich to run the offense. Nagy helped Alex Smith attain his best passer rating (104.7) in his career last season in Kansas City. Helfrich helped Marcus Mariota win the Heisman Trophy.
Now, the Bears have a modern-day offense. Yes, it’s still early, but with all the additions on offense this unit will definitely perform better than what we’ve seen over the past several seasons. If it improves from the bottom to middle of the road this season, we may see playoff football this season.
The Bears defense is tough again. It finished in the top-10 last season. This season, the unit looks to hit the top-five. If this offense plays well, it will push the defense to get better. So far, the defense notices the difference already.
This is what cornerback Prince Amukamara said about the offense, per the team’s official website:
"The offense looks explosive. They have a lot of huge pieces, a lot of weapons…Mitch doesn’t look like a rookie. He looks like a veteran. I’m just looking at his stage presence, just how he coordinates everybody, how he calls plays, his presence in the pocket, and everything like that."
Second-year safety Eddie Jackson also had high praise for the offense:
"They’re faster. They have ‘Turbo’ (Taylor Gabriel), ‘A-Rob’ (Allen Robinson). You’ve got Kevin White, he’s healthy. Joshua Bellamy, he’s doing a great job. The rookie (Anthony Miller). Tarik Cohen, they can move him around a lot. It’s just going to be something fun to watch. And play-calling is totally different. They’re giving us a bunch of looks that we haven’t seen before."
As I said, it’s still early. Even with all the additions, we depend on a lot of “ifs” on offense — if Robinson can fully recover from his injury; If Trubisky can take a step forward; if Trey Burton can move from a backup tight end to the number one. Even Nagy is doing his best to temper expectations. He keeps telling everyone that there will be growing pains. Also, he says it won’t be perfect, but eventually they’ll get moving in the right direction.
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The offense may not be perfect at the moment, but it certainly looks different from last season. Just ask the defense.