Folks, Dennis Allen's defense is cooking.
Most Chicago Bears fans wouldn't have guessed it, but the defense is playing lights-out football over most of the last three games.
It started with the nasty weather against the Minnesota Vikings, where Chicago gave up only nine points while still managing to lose. But the defense continued to perform well as the Bears took down the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 3 and, now in Week 4, stood tall against the New York Jets.
Just how good have they been for this 3-game stretch?
Over the last three games, this Bears defense has allowed:
- 9.3 points per game
- 217 yards of offense per game
- 10 drives of 9 yards or less
- 14 drives 20 yards or less
- 19 drives of 29 yards or less
Dennis Allen's Bears defense is on a 3-game heater without All-Pro talent
This unit hasn't been perfect, by any means, and have still given up some long drives. But, those drives have been few and far between.
For the majority of these last three weeks, the Bears defense has gotten off the field in a hurry, as evidenced by the amount of drives they've allowed to go for under 29 yards.
What's really stood out is how effective the line has been, and that's an area most fans didn't have a whole lot of faith in. When general manager Ryan Poles opted to completely ignore the pass rush this most recent offseason, fans had already thrown in the towel on the front four doing much of anything.
Trading Gervon Dexter Sr. was a questionable choice, but one worth making if the team had that much faith in rookie Jordan van den Berg. It still might have been a little premature, considering Dexter has already signed an extension.
Poles was essentially counting on ho-hum veteran signings like Neville Gallimore, Kentavius Street, and Marcus Davenport, among others, to get it done.
To say the fan base was skeptical would be an understatement.
Then, you throw in the defense missing Kyler Gordon, Tyrique Stevenson playing poorly (like we all assumed he would) and Coby Bryant being lost for the year, and you've got a defense that most thought would be bottom of the barrell.
To start the year, they certainly were, as the Bears gave up 37 points to the Carolina Panthers.
But since that Week 1 anomaly, Chicago has now given up a total of 28 points.
We are seeing the defensive line get after the quarterback regularly. Whether it be sacks, pressures or quarterback hits, all the boxes are being checked.
Against the Jets, the Bears' defense came up with seven quarterback hits to go with their three sacks. And, those seven hits came from six different players. Allen is sending linebackers and cornerbacks on blitzes, and it's working.
He doesn't have elite talent to rush the quarterback, but his designs and blitzes have been mightily effective.
Critics can make excuses for the unit, such as the game against the Vikings being in terrible weather, the Eagles' offense looking broken, or this most recent showing being against Geno Smith and the Jets, but the fact is, this is still the NFL.
Read more: Bears final Week 4 inactives: Caleb Williams officially out a second game
The Bears are going to have tougher tests, no doubt. But this defense has played inspired football as of late, and Dennis Allen deserves a ton of credit.
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