Hey everybody, this is your GM, your bad girl,
Dominic's your GM, who currently is not on the
team right now, but don't you worry about it.
Kale, here to bring you episode 14 of the Stack
and Shed series. Now, in this series, we're covering
all 32 teams, so everybody gets a chance to be
talked about, all right? Now, in this series,
we're covering a few different topics, and they
include what went wrong, what do they need, stack
or shed, their draft picks, one move I would
do in their cap space. Right now, in this episode,
we're talking about the Bears. So buckle up,
it's going to be controversial. All right, let's
get into it. So what went wrong in the Bears
season? And I will venture to say it was an inconsistent
defense that relied solely on splash plays. With
the hiring of Ben Johnson, I knew there was going
to be a philosophical change with this team.
And that philosophical change was going from
a defensive -driven team to now an offensive
-driven team. Whenever there's a change of this
magnitude, that means there's also going to be
a change on how they build the roster. And that's
what we're seeing in this offseason. From releasing
Tremaine Edmonds to letting Kevin Byard hit free
agency, as well as Jaquan Brisker. we're seeing
that the Bears are serious about building up
this offense and trying to keep the defense as
cheap as possible. Now, we can't say this is
the right move or the wrong move yet because
it's still too early in Ben Johnson's tenure
with the Bears. But looking at this defense last
year, it relied solely on interceptions. If they
weren't getting a pick, if they weren't forcing
a fumble, if they weren't doing anything that
is quote -unquote splashy, this defense is not
doing anything. And we have the stats to back
it up. They had the 29th ranked defense and they
allowed 24 .4 points per game, 361 .8 yards per
game, 6 yards per play, and 47 touchdowns. They
were 22nd in pass defense and they allowed 227
.2 passing yards per game, 6 .8 passing yards
per play, and 32 passing touchdowns. They were
27th in run defense and they allowed 15 rushing
touchdowns, 134 .5 rushing touchdowns, rushing
yards per game, and five rushing yards per play.
But here's some stats that show how much this
Bears defense relied on interceptions. So in
the 13 games that they had an interception, they
allowed 4 ,469 yards, 4 .7 yards per play, while
generating 27 sacks, 23 interceptions, nine forced
fumbles, and eight fumble recoveries. In the
four games the Bears defense didn't have an interception,
they allowed 1 ,681 yards, 5 .4. yards per play
while generating eight sacks, three forced fumbles,
and two fumble recoveries. Now if we break this
down even more, here's the Bears defensive stats
per game with an interception. They allow 343
.8 yards per game. 4 .7 yards per play while
generating two sacks a game while generating
1 .7 interceptions per game. But when we look
at the Bears defensive stats per game without
an interception, this is what we have. They allowed
420 .3 yards per game, 5 .4 yards per play while
generating two sacks per game. Although certain
players had a really good season, as a collective,
they underperformed. Because as we saw in the
regular season going into the playoffs, when
this defense didn't get an interception, guess
what happened? They wasn't stopping the run,
they wasn't stopping explosive plays, they wasn't
converting on third down, and they definitely
wasn't creating constant pressure on quarterbacks.
Now with that being said, what do the Bears need?
And that is a fundamentally sound defense. Now
this can be accomplished in a few different ways.
For starters, the coaches can emphasize a more
balanced approach. So instead of you emphasizing
turnovers, you can emphasize just playing better
ball as a whole. The pass rushers being more
consistent. The linebackers being more consistent.
The secondary being more consistent. Now, the
result is that the defense is going to play so
well that it's going to put added pressure on
offensive coordinators to find the weak spots
in this defense. Another approach is bringing
more dynamic playmakers for that side of the
ball. Sure, you have Kyler Gordon. Sure, you
have Grady Jarrett and Montez Sweat and Jalen
Johnson. But I think you need a little bit more.
Now, this can be accomplished via free agency
or in the draft. Now, with that being said, the
question we all need to ask ourselves is stat.
or shed and I will eventually say stack and the
reason why I say that is because what you have
right now is a great foundation in Ben Johnson
and Caleb Williams and some pieces on that defense
as long as you continue to build the right way
you're going to be fine. But if you stir away
from the current path that you're on right now,
I guarantee you, you're going to fall right back
into the same cycle of dysfunction that this
Bears team has been in for the last 20 -some
years. Now, in no way am I saying this Bears
team is going to make it to the Super Bowl this
upcoming season, but I do believe they are a
playoff team. I will give them that. Looking
at their draft picks, they have their first,
two seconds, a third, a fourth, and two sevens.
Now, I want to see what the Bears are going to
do in the first round because they have the 25th
pick. Now, I'm not saying it's a bad pick, but
you are in a spot where at that point, one of
two things are going to happen. Either the board
is going to be devoid of the talent that you
really want, or there's going to be so many teams
that are going to trade down that's going to
leave you in a messy spot. Because what we're
seeing in this draft class is that there's an
inflation of value at positions that the league
has not valued in the past. Now, I want to see
what side of the ball the Bears are going to
address first, because I feel like the offense
is in a really good spot, and any needs that
are on that side of the ball, I feel like you
can address that in the second and third round.
Now, the one move that I would do is draft a
defense. a player. Now I'm leaning towards an
interior defensive lineman or maybe a pass rusher
or maybe a linebacker. I don't really want to
do anything with the secondary yet. I would rather
wait to do that maybe in the second, third, or
maybe fourth round because I feel like there's
some hidden gems there. But my question is this,
and I want to answer from the Bears fans on our
YouTube page at Football Junkies Pod. Should
the Bears emphasize the front seven? the linebacker
core, or the secondary. Because I'm leaning towards
addressing the interior defensive line or edge
rusher. Because what we see in the league right
now is that you either have a guy at interior
defensive line or edge rusher, or you have a
collective sort of like what the Seahawks have.
Now, if you want to take the approach that the
Eagles have, hey, go at it. But I think if you're
the Bears, if you just build out this defensive
line, I think it's really going to help out.
Because you already have Grady Jarrett. You have
Javon Dexter. You have Montez Sweat. Looking
at their cap situation, they have a million dollars.
Now the question is this, what are they gonna
do to create some cap space so that they can
sign all their draft picks and maybe be players
in the second and third wave of free agency?
My guess is that they're currently trying to
restructure some deals right now to create some
more cap space. Maybe they're gonna try to give
some extensions. I don't know. Hopefully they
figure it out because you can't have a million
dollars going into the draft. You just cannot
do that. You have to find a way to create some
cap space. Even if it's just, five to six million
that's perfectly fine but only time will tell
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Later, guys.