With the Chicago Bears entering their Week 5 bye, the team will have 13 days to prepare for its next opponent, the Washington Commanders.
This time off will allow the Bears to get healthy and hopefully regain starters in linebacker T.J. Edwards, nickel cornerback Kyler Gordon, defensive lineman Grady Jarrett, and offensive tackle Darnell Wright.
The Bears must also use this extended period to diagnose and fix the run defense. In the Bears’ 25-24 victory over the Las Vegas Raiders, rookie running back Ashton Jeanty ran for 138 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries. The Raiders finished with 240 total rushing yards.
Throughout the first four weeks, the Bears have given up the most rushing yards in the NFL (658).
One Bears veteran defender spoke out on what the team needs to do with the run defense
Kevin Byard III ended the game against the Raiders with two interceptions and had a key tackle on Jeanty on third down that forced Las Vegas to settle for a 54-yard field goal, which the Bears blocked.
The Bears’ veteran safety is in his 11th NFL season and has been part of good defensive units that know how to contain an opponent’s run game. He was asked if cleaning up the run defense is a mental or physical challenge.
“No, I think it's a mix of both,” Byard said. “We're not fitting up the run as well as we need to. A lot of it also is not getting enough back penetration, with the front four, front seven, whatever it may be. Then obviously on the back end, guys like myself included, when those runs do break out, we need to be able to get those guys down. I didn't do a good enough job of that yesterday on the big, I think the 64-yard run. It is everybody included. It's not just the D-line or the linebackers. It is all of us included. We all have to be better. But getting those takeaways is huge. Taking points off the board is huge for team success. At the end of the day, yards are yards. You want to be able to limit those yards, but the most important thing is getting the win and taking points off the board and being good in the red zone.”
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As cliché as it sounds, it does take all 11 on defense to stop the run, and not having key starters isn’t helping the unit, but finding ways to stop the run must be fixed if this team wants to continue stacking wins this season.