Bears lose to Bills, but young defenders provide hope for the future

By Carmen Vitali
Published

The Chicago Bears are still not a very good football team. That much was evident during a frigid Christmas Eve loss to the AFC-favorite Buffalo Bills, 35-13, in Chicago, during which windchill temperatures were as low as 12 degrees below zero.

The Bills are a very good team. They were supposed to win this game and the Bears played them tough, even leading 10-6 at halftime. That was due to the fact that the defense gifted them bonus chances to score. Even when they didn't actually capitalize, it at least took the ball out of the hands of the opponent, namely quarterback Josh Allen, which is never a bad thing. The Bills had to ultimately overcome a -1 turnover margin (after a last second interception of Nathan Peterman by the Bills defense) to win after Chicago recorded three total takeaways on the day.

"Guys are just putting their mind on it," said head coach Matt Eberflus. "We put it in front of the players. We’ve got a goal we want to accomplish these last four games and I think the guys are doing a good job in practice. It all starts in practice. The guys are really working hard at punch, hammer, rake; strip attempts during practice. We’re doing a good job of focus and catching the ball. It’s a group effort. The coaches have to put it in front of the players, we have to emphasize it as a group and the guys have done a nice job the last two weeks."

The Bears' first-half takeaway was again thanks to one of their first two picks on the 2022 NFL Draft. After taking some lumps learning both outside and inside corner, Kyler Gordon came up with his second interception in as many games. It was his third takeaway overall in that span and third interception of the year. Gordon has now intercepted Bailey Zappe, Jalen Hurts and Josh Allen in his first season.

That's pretty darn encouraging.

The defensive back taken after Gordon, Jaquan Brisker, also did his part. He got the Bears' first (and only) sack on Allen, bringing him to four total this season, which leads the team. Brisker finished with seven combined tackles, a sack and a quarterback hit. That was the second-most tackles on the team. Gordon had five. 

​​"Quarterbacks are starting to look at how I’m aligned, if I’m in the box or I’m not; if I’m covering," said Brisker. "I’m just affecting a part of the field, half of the field and it means a lot. It means they have a lot of respect for me but I just wish a lot more plays would come my way."

So not only do the Bears have a playmaker as a young box safety, he’s also hungry for the ball, too. Brisker has one interception this season — but he wants more.

The other two takeaways came at the hands of Bears linebackers, a unit close to head coach Matt Eberflus' heart. Eberflus spent nine seasons as a linebackers coach for two different NFL clubs earlier in his career. His players have clearly benefited from his guidance. Matt Adams forced a fumble in the third quarter that was recovered by Chicago. Nicholas Morrow recorded the second interception of Allen on the day, which led to a Cairo Santos field goal, one of two following a recent slump by the veteran kicker.

Again. Pretty darn encouraging.

Chicago has a lot of work to do this offseason. That's always been the case. But after being eliminated from playoff contention early this year, the only thing left to play for is evaluation — and figuring out who is going to be on this roster next season.

While the Bears' top two rookies were never in question for next year, they've proved that they don't just deserve to stay, but are pieces to build an entire defense around. 

Head coach Matt Eberflus' 4-3 defenses rely very heavily on a dominating three-technique and a very versatile weakside linebacker to apply pressure to the quarterback and give opposing offensive lines some tricky decisions to make. They may not currently have those players, but they have some depth to build in front of. What's more, is behind those guys, they already have a solid secondary, too.

On top of Gordon and Brisker, Chicago has a solid No. 1 corner in Jaylon Johnson coming back next season. They also have a built-in veteran leader in safety Eddie Jackson. They likely need to get another outside corner into the room and more safety depth, but Kindle Vildor has proved himself a serviceable rotational player. DeAndre Houston-Carson has shown flashes. Translation? There may be more of these players on the 2023 Bears roster than we initially thought.

"I mean I think you just have to look at the positives, like the defense," said quarterback Justin Fields. "We had a lot of rookies playing out there and yet they’re still taking the ball away."

It all works on defense because of the two rookies. Now, with the most cap space in the league and what's looking like a top-three pick in the 2023 NFL Draft that could (and perhaps should) be flipped for even more capital, general manager Ryan Poles and the Bears can focus their attention elsewhere to send the rebuild into warp speed.

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Carmen Vitali covers the NFC North for FOX Sports. Carmen had previous stops with The Draft Network and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. She spent six seasons with the Bucs, including 2020, which added the title of Super Bowl Champion (and boat-parade participant) to her résumé. You can follow Carmen on Twitter at @CarmieV.