Chicago Bears: What we learned from big win in Week 17 over the Atlanta Falcons

Watch out for this defense next season

This season, the Chicago Bears defense has gone under the radar. Much of that was due to the poor performance in the first four games. In those games, they gave up 34.2 points per game and 383.2 total yards of offense. They gave up 115.5 rushing yards. In that time, they forced just 2 turnovers and averaged just 0.5 sacks per game..

Things have changed since then, however. They cut down the points by almost half, giving up just 18.8 points per game. If they had that same output throughout the season they would have ranked fifth in the NFL in scoring defense. Additionally, they cut the yardage down to 295.5 yards per game. They really shut down the running game, allowing just 73.5 yards per game (and that includes 134 given up to Atlanta).

The new, aggressive defense has 25 turnovers in those 12 games and averages 2.41 sacks per game.

Chicago's defense was all over Taylor Heinicke and Desmond Ridder. The Bears recorded 2 sacks but pressured the quarterback all game long. That pressure resulted in 4 interceptions.

Hopefully, that defense shows the Packers how improved it is when they face each other next week. The defense's performance for most of the season gives hope in a full-season appearance of the Monsters of the Midway in 2024.