Bears defence will determine success this season
Everyone seems to be talking about the Chicago Bears offence and how Jay Cutler must prove his value and that Mike Martz’s system must work with this team, but are people forgetting about what team they’re talking about?
These are the Chicago Bears. This is a franchise that produced perhaps the greatest defence of all time in the defence of the 80’s particularly in the Bears’ Super Bowl season of 1985, when they only lost one game that whole year.
The Bears last enjoyed major success in 2006, when the finished 13-3 and went to the Super Bowl. Again, the main reason they were there was their dominant, feared defence. Eventually they did come up short in the big game and their lack of offensive fire-power finally caught up to them.
We still can’t forget though that this franchise has built itself on defence and their success in 2010 will come down to that same unit. It will be the defence that will have to lead the Bears to the play-offs.
The Bears coach Lovie Smith also prides his style of coaching on a controlled offensive attack and a dominant defence. It worked perfectly in 2006 before Peyton Manning easily out-duelled Rex Grossman in Super Bowl XLI.
Smith is entering his seventh season with the team, but only saw the kind of success he would like out of his defence in that season. He has a 52-44 overall record as the Bears coach, but take out that season and that record drops to 39-41. That has him on the hot seat heading into this year. The Bears made efforts to improve the offence, as they brought in a new offensive coordinator in Mike Martz, whose system produced the greatest show on turf in the 2001 St. Louis Rams.
Perhaps even greater efforts were made to improve the defence. Rod Marinelli was promoted to defensive coordinator, taking the burden of defensive play-calling off Smith. Marinelli is a fiery leader and a great motivator. His system is also a perfect fit for Smith. Marinelli will make subtle changes to the system and some focus will be given to creating more turnovers. In his system, defenders fly to the ball relentlessly. That creates turnovers when ball-carriers are hit by several defenders on the same play.
The Bears biggest acquisition was signing defensive end Julius Peppers to a six-year $91.5 million contract. Peppers is one of the league’s most dynamic defensive ends and a phenomenal pass rusher. In his eight NFL seasons, he has posted 81 sacks. He has been dealt criticism for being inconsistent at times, but his athleticism provides something the Bears have been missing on their defensive line.
What can’t be forgotten is linebacker Brian Urlacher’s return. He missed all but the first game of last season and that proved to be a huge loss. Urlacher is the leader of this defence and his presence alone distracts offences and his leadership sparks the entire unit. He’s a six-time Pro-Bowler posting 37.5 sacks and 17 interceptions. He has also recorded 816 tackles in 10 seasons, but that's more like nine if you discount last year's one-game season for Urlacher.
His presence with Tommie Harris and Lance Briggs makes Chicago’s front seven one of the best in the game and can give some quarterbacks nightmares. The Bears also benefit from many writing them off this year. Many seem prepared to dub the Packers and the Vikings as the only two contenders in the NFC North, but this team is capable of surprising a lot of people.
If we see this defence rediscover their former dominance, along with some improvement on offence, this team may remind us of past Bears’ teams and may once again earn their nickname as the “Monsters of the Midway”.
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