Chicago Bears: Linebacker unit could be special for years to come

Two games into the 2018 season, the Chicago Bears defense is ferocious. A big reason for that is their linebackers unit. This unit can be special for years to come.

After all the moves Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Pace in the offseason, fans had high hopes again going into the season. New coaches instituting a new offense with new weapons brought excitement.

While Bears fans’ excitement rose, not many outside of Chicago gave the team any chance of being a real contender. Sure, they’d be better than they have been recently, but that’s not saying much for a team that went 14-34 in the past three seasons.

Then the regular season began.

After the first two games of the season, the Bears have opened a lot of eyes. Despite collapsing to one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL (Aaron Rodgers) in Week 1, they came back and had an exciting Week 2 win against the Seattle Seahawks. For the first time since 2014, the Bears enter Week 3 with at least one win.

The defense is a big reason for the improved play. The Monsters of the Midway are making their return. This is a suffocating defense that swarms to the ball carrier. It’s also a quarterback cruncher so far.

For the young season, the Bears defense ranks first in sacks (10) and forced fumbles (5), 3rd in fumble recoveries (2), and 10th in interceptions (2). That interception mark is important since they’ve had just 8 interceptions in each of the past three seasons, all franchise lows.

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A big part of the defensive resurgence has to do with the linebackers unit. With the additions of Roquan Smith through the draft and Khalil Mack through a trade, everything in place and the linebackers are dominating. Mack, Smith, Danny Trevathan and Leonard Floyd are making their mark on the field.

• Mack: 7 tackles, 2 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, 1 fumble recovery, 1 interception
• Trevathan: 13 tackles, 2 sacks, 1 forced fumble
• Smith: 9 tackles, 1 sack
• Floyd: 4.5 tackles, 1 fumble recovery

As you can see, the linebackers are doing fantastic so far. Half of the defense’s sacks and interceptions have come from this unit. Even Floyd is doing well considering he has a clubbed hand. Playing with that is difficult. He’s even defended a pass with that thing.

This unit has a chance to be special. They remind me of the trio of Mike Singletary, Otis Wilson, and Wilbur Marshall. Yes, I know some fans may think it’s blasphemous to bring them up, but this is the ceiling these guys have.

That unit gelled and played well off each other. This year’s unit is young and athletic, and relentless. Trevathan is the old man in the group and he’s just 28 years old. Once they gell, the league needs to watch out. They may need to watch out now.

What’s even better for the Bears is that there is good depth on this unit. Aaron Lynch has the ability to be a starter but plays in a reserve position. Nick Kwiatkoski is a former starter who can provide quality time to keep Smith fresh. Add in Sam Acho, Joel Iyiegbuniwe, Isaiah Irving, and Kylie Fitts and this is a deep unit. The starters can stay fresh and continue their dominance.

It’ll be fun to see this group of linebackers grow together. Mack is the perfect leader. The others take his cue and play as hard as he does. As the season progresses, they will put a lot of hurt on opposing offenses.