Chicago Bears Defense Will Be Focused On This In 2016

Where do the Chicago Bears need to improve most on defense? There are plenty of areas that the experts will pinpoint, but one stands out above the rest.

Chiefs among the popular options will be takeaways. As a team the Bears had just 17 total in 2015. That ranked them 28th in the NFL. Only eight of those were interceptions, which is unusual considering the fact that they finished with the 4th-best pass defense. Perhaps it’s an indictment of how poor their corners were at playing the ball, or perhaps it was another problematic area.

The pass rush.

Chicago had 35 sacks total last year. That was actually a step down from 2014 when they had 39. Suffice to say there’s little wonder they struggled so often to get off the field. They couldn’t get to the quarterback with any regularity. An unhurried QB doesn’t make a lot of bad throws and fewer bad throws means fewer opportunities to force turnovers.

While both of those categories are important, the reality for the Bears on where they need to improve most is overly simplistic but true: keeping opponents out of the end zone. Oftentimes fans can get overly obsessed with yardage numbers, but at the end of the day it’s points that win football games. Cliche as it sounds, defenses that don’t give up many points help their team come out on top more often.

The veteran coaching staff the Bears have understand this lesson better than anybody. Below is a list of every playoff team John Fox has coached and Vic Fangio has coordinated and what their ranking was in terms of scoring defense.

Scoring Defense

1996 Panthers: 2^nd
1999 Colts: 17^th
2000 Colts: 15^th
2003 Panthers: 10^th
2005 Panthers: 5^th
2008 Panthers: 12^th
2011 49ers: 2^nd
2011 Broncos: 24^th
2012 49ers: 2^nd
2012 Broncos: 4^th
2013 49ers: 3^rd
2013 Broncos: 19^th
2014 49ers: 10^th
2014 Broncos: 3^rd

It’s worth noting that the three teams who placed 2^nd on that list played in at least the conference title game those respective years. There can be little doubt the aim of the coaches is to progress towards that level in 2016. Though the Bears were good at defending the pass most of the season, they had a harder time keeping teams out of the end zone. By seasons’ end they ranked 20^th in the NFL, allowing 24.81 points per game. Opponents scored a touchdown 60% of the time they made it into the red zone.

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Obviously that is not going to cut it. There’s a reason the team invested so heavily in the defense this off-season. No, it wasn’t just because Fox is a defensive guy and he runs the show. It’s because of simple math. The Chicago Bears were 6-1 in 2015 when they gave up 21 points or less. The only team that beat them was the eventual champion Denver Broncos. If that weren’t enough, here’s another one.

Jay Cutler, in his career is 50-14 when his team allows 21 points or fewer. No joke. He has a .781 winning percentage when his defense is slightly above average. If that’s not enough motivation to improve on that side of the ball, nothing is.

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