The Chicago Bears Top 5 Reasons for Optimism

4. Revamped Defense

While this section could be split into two sections: the secondary and everything else. We will focus on the major upgrades as one. In the trenches, the addition of  DL Jaye Howard, recently released from the Chiefs, will be a huge addition. Before signing with the Chiefs, Pace wanted to sign Howard but ultimately ‘settled’ for Akiem Hicks. That worked out well. Now the Bears have both players and the weakest position on the defensive line recently manned by Mitch Unrein and Jonathan Bullard has received a major upgrade. Pro Football Focus has Howard ranked as the number 2 run-stopping defensive end.

Next the secondary which needed a major boost after only coming away with 8 interceptions a year ago. The first major impact player was S Quintin Demps. Demps has 18 career interceptions with 15 of them in the last 4 seasons. Demps should bring veteran leadership to a team with lots of new faces in the secondary. At the CB position the signings of Prince Amukamara and Marcus Cooper bring experience without the heavy baggage of age as both are 28 and 27 respectively. Both corners bring length to the field which is the preference of coordinator Vic Fangio. This will allow him to play the more physical press coverage type of defense he prefers. Hopefully resulting in more takeaways.