Signs Point To Chicago Bears Installing A 3-4 Defense

May 28, 2014; Santa Clara, CA, USA; San Francisco 49ers defensive coordinator Vic Fangio (right) instructs linebacker Aaron Lynch (59) during organized team activities at the SAP Performance Facility. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

For weeks following the end of the regular season, Chicago Bears fans have been left to wonder what changes await their team.  Among the biggest to ponder is whether their staple 4-3 defense will undergo a transformation to the more creative and trendy 3-4.  If they were looking for strong hints, they’ve been getting them more and more over time.

Ryan Pace favors an aggressive defense

He never actually used the term “3-4” but new Bears GM Ryan Pace was adamant that intended to help oversee the resurrection of the defense to his own specification.  Chief among them was a desire to become more aggressive towards attacking the opposing quarterback.  That is what he experienced watching Sean Payton for years in New Orleans, who hired Rob Ryan two years ago to install the 3-4.  If a team intends to build around a quarterback, then have a defense that attacks and tries to create turnovers is preferred as has been done in places like New Orleans, Green Bay, Indianapolis and New England.

Hired Vic Fangio

Then there is the hiring of Vic Fangio.  When head coach John Fox was brought on board, most full expected the Bears to run a version of the 4-3 defenses he implemented in Carolina and Denver.  However, Fox threw everybody a curve when he put his own designs on the backburner and sought out the best possible defensive coordinator available.  That was Fangio, who has posted a top 5 defense every year since 2011.

Those units all came from the 3-4 background that he learned as an assistant under Dom Capers, who is ironically now defensive coordinator in Green Bay.

Retained Clint Hurtt as outside linebackers coach

If Fangio weren’t the biggest giveaway to their plans, then the Chicago Bears tipped their hand again when they retained defensive assistant Clint Hurtt.  Originally assistant defensive line coach under Mel Tucker, the team elected to keep him on board but changed his designation to outside linebackers coach.  Anybody with common knowledge of the 3-4 defense understands that the key to the pass rush is the outside linebackers like a Clay Matthews or an Aldon Smith.  Hurtt specialized in pass rushers while he was defensive coordinator at Louisville.