Chicago Bears Defense Has Talent But Also Something Even Better

The Chicago Bears defense is under a heavy burden of responsibility in 2017. They will be expected to carry the load. Then again this is nothing new. Bears defenses pretty much have that line chiseled on their locker room walls. Carrying the team to championships is kind of their thing. It was true in 1963, again in 1985 and almost one more time in 2006. With the team trying to finally fix the quarterback problem, they will need time. Maybe Mitch Trubisky is the guy, but until they know for sure it's going to be old school. That means smashmouth running the football and playing great defense. Indeed the Bears may be onto to something with this latest incarnation. Through the exhaustive efforts of the front office and coaching staff they've put together what looks like an athletic, smart and fast group. They've already showcased some of that potential in the preseason, allowing just 73 rushing yards and 10 points in four quarters of action. This without some of their top guys in the lineup. So the talent is definitely there, but it's not perhaps the scariest thing about them.

Chicago Bears defense has youth heavily on its side

• Prince Amukamara - 28
• Marcus Cooper - 27
• Quintin Demps - 32
• Eddie Jackson - 24
• Cre'Von LeBlanc - 23
• Jonathan Bullard - 23
• Eddie Goldman - 23
• Akiem Hicks - 27
• Leonard Floyd - 24
• Jerrell Freeman - 31
• Danny Trevathan - 27
• Pernell McPhee - 28
• Willie Young - 31

Average age:  26.76

These 13 names are expected to be locks for the final roster and will see significant playing time. Aside from Young, Freeman and Demps there isn't a player in that lineup who goes above the age of 28. Not only that but five of the members including two potential stars in Floyd and Goldman are 24 or young. If Jackson is as good as the rumors are insisting then that's a third. The point is that good defenses tend to be the ones that can grow together over the course of a couple years. It was true of the Bears unit in the 1980s and again with the Seattle Seahawks from 2011 to 2014. There are plenty of examples. Point being of course that once chemistry catches up to talent, that produces results. This is why units must be built young and GM Ryan Pace is doing that. Conceivably, if the health issues let up this is a group that could largely stick together for at least three seasons. Even longer if the Bears continue to feed it with quality draft picks. Something they stopped doing towards the end of the 2000s.