Ben Johnson knew he had to build a strong coaching staff if he wanted to win right away with the Chicago Bears. It started with finding the best possible defensive coordinator he could. His choice ended up being former Raiders and Saints head coach Dennis Allen. Most felt it was an inspired choice. Allen had found great success as a coordinator between his stints, delivering five top 10 units between 2015 and 2024. When you routinely give Tom Brady issues, you must be pretty good at your job.
The interesting question is, what kind of philosophy does Allen have? Good coaches always operate according to specific parameters for getting the best from their players. The new Bears defensive coordinator revealed his to Larry Mayer of ChicagoBears.com. Let's just say he doesn't buy into the Xs and Os stuff as much as some might think. So much of his success comes from understanding basic human psychology.
"The coordinator's job isn't to tell everybody what to do and how to do it and when to do it," Allen said. "The coordinator's job is to coordinate all the different personalities, all the different thoughts and ideas, and bring them all together to put out one product. That's really what I want to be able to do is take everybody's strengths and try to put them in positions to utilize those strengths.
"Hopefully then, we can all cover up for each individual's weaknesses because we all have them. I think if we're able to do that, we've got a lot of variety in terms of what we have on our staff from, experience, youth, energy, intelligence."
Dennis Allen isn't worried about the technical stuff.
Experts everywhere insist he has a sharp mind for the game. Crafting creative plays and calling them in good spots isn't the issue. It has always been whether he can get his players to buy into what they're trying to do. History says that great performances will follow if you accomplish that. It is why guys like Vic Fangio have so much success everywhere he goes. There isn't anything inherently special about his system. It is simply that he understands how to connect with players and illustrate the importance of details. Dennis Allens seems to be cut from the same cloth. He certainly has plenty to work with on the Bears' defense. All he has to do is get those veteran leaders to buy in. If that happens, everything should click.
