5 notable styles on Matt Eberflus new Chicago Bears defense

2. Chicago Bears will live in nickel

The other fact of the 4-3, and 3-4 debates is that the teams hardly run their base sets anymore. In fact, the Bears ran 3-4 defense just 23% of the time last season. Matt Eberflus ran the 4-3 23% of the time as well.

This is good to know as the team will not change much in this change. One thing that is worth noting is that the Colts ran nickel on 77% of their other looks. On the flip side, the Chicago Bears ran nickel 56% of the time and ran dime or small 21% of the time.

This will be worth following. Eberflus seems to thrive on keeping things simple, playing fast, and playing to create turnovers. That means not shifting in and of personnel and looks.

It could be that the Bears trusted their depth at safety while the Colts trusted their speed at linebacker a bit more. If Eberflus has a dime safety he could play that safety 20% of the time or more.

However, he will certainly play in nickel, and if he does not trust his dime, he will not move to dime. Eberflus has no issue living in nickel.