Chicago Bears: 3 Goals for the Chicago Bears defense in 2020

Forced Turnovers: 35

One of the biggest statistical drop-offs last season was in forced turnovers. In 2018, this unit posted 36 forced turnovers, a number that led the league by a wide margin. Again, this number was nearly cut in half, as the Bears would finish with only 19 takeaways the next season.

In Chicago’s defense, a large part of getting takeaways comes down to luck, but a drop-off from first in the league to 21st in the league cannot be ignored. This is especially alarming for an offense that is not productive and isn’t particularly safe with the football.

Part of this can be excused in a season where Chicago had a new offensive coordinator, but going into his second season, Chuck Pagano needs to increase this number. Last year, the lack of takeaways began to add up, especially in games that didn’t go Chicago’s way. In their 8 losses, the Bears were only able to scrape together 5 forced turnovers.

Clearly, this was the main difference between the past two seasons. The Bears don’t have to force 35 turnovers to be a strong defense, but that should be a goal that they’re shooting for in order to return to the top spot in the league.