Chicago Bears: 5 Reasons why they are Super Bowl contenders

3. No, the defense won’t regress

The main theme when talking about the Chicago Bears defense is a regression. Many people, surprised at how great the defense performed last season, cannot possibly pick up where it left off and repeat its greatness. Add to it the fact that the architect of that defense is now gone and people are sure the defense will regress.

To that, the Chicago Bears players say hogwash. They aren’t thinking of any regression. In fact, they have a goal of surpassing the 1985 Bears defense, as incredible as that sounds. Here is what safety Eddie Jackson says about that, per NFL.com:

"“Our goal right now is for the defense to be No. 1 across the board. Shouts out to the ’85 Bears, but we want to top everything they’ve done.”"

Jackson goes on to say that anything short of a Super Bowl win falls short of the team’s hopes. I don’t think a regression on defense allows for that greatness.

With Vic Fangio departing Chicago for the head coaching job in Denver, many point to that as the biggest reason to not expect the same Bears defense.

Well, I wouldn’t expect the same defense. I’d expect a more aggressive defense. For all his greatness, Fangio sometimes called a conservative game, especially with his pass rushers. Take the New England game in Week 7.

Leading up to the game, Khalil Mack dropped into coverage 20 times. In just that game, he dropped back in coverage 18 times. In 157 pass-rushing snaps before that game, he compiled 25 pressures, four forced fumbles and five sacks.

Fangio did the same with Leonard Floyd, the pass rusher on the opposite side of Mack. Floyd rushed Brady 13 times and dropped back in coverage 13 times as well.

We all know that with every quarterback, including the great Tom Brady (or especially him), pressure is what gets to them. If you are constantly in his face, knocking him down or harassing him, forcing him to throw before he wants to, he’ll eventually make a mistake. The Bears defense didn’t do that, and Brady ended up completing 25 of his 36 passes for 277 yards and three touchdowns. The Bears sacked him only once and he finished the game with a 108.2 passer rating.

The Bears replaced Fangio with Chuck Pagano. He was recently the head coach of the Indianapolis Colts, but he served as the Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator in 2011. He coached some great players there also. He had Ray Lewis, Ed Reed, Lardarius Webb, Terrell Suggs, and Haloti Ngata, among others. That was a dominating defense as well. They finished 3rd overall, 3rd in sacks, and 1st in forced fumbles.

I expect Pagano to do much of what he did in Baltimore. He’ll let the dogs loose and have them harass quarterbacks. That’s also what the 1985 Bears did as well. It doesn’t matter what the opposing quarterback can do with his arm if he’s constantly on the ground.

This will be a menacing defense. Mack and second-year linebacker have a full offseason to prepare, as opposed to last year when neither one had a real training camp or preseason. They still managed to have great seasons nonetheless.

Even the two newcomers, cornerback Buster Skrine and safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, will be key contributors. Some have doubts about either or both, but with the elite players on this defense, their jobs will be easier and they’ll look better with great teammates surrounding them. People can talk all they want about regression, the players on this defense will show them to not underestimate them.