Vanilla 'D' a sweet success for Bears

The Bears might not have the most exciting defense, and they certainly don't have the most exotic schemes.

But they have the NFL's best defense where it matters most on the scoreboard.

No team has allowed fewer points per game than the Bears' 14.6, and seven times they've allowed 17 points or less. There is no smoke and mirrors, no gimmicks and no deception. The Bears aren't outscheming opponents, they're simply lining up and beating them.

“We're playing a true Cover-2 defense right now,” said Bears general manager Jerry Angelo of the pass defense that features the safeties playing deep in pass protection. “There are no bells and whistles to it. It's pretty vanilla, pretty standard.”

And pretty effective.

While winning three straight to boost their record to 7-3, the Bears have allowed a total of 32 points and they believe they're getting better as the season goes along.

“We're evolving every week,” middle linebacker Brian Urlacher said. “We get better every week. Our defense doesn't change. People know where we're going to line up and what we're going to do. They know what coverage we're in. It doesn't matter. We play hard; we get 11 guys to the football.

“All season we've played harder and harder every week. There were some weeks where we were kind of lackadaisical, but we get to the football, and that makes up for a lot of mistakes right there.”

More often than not, the Bears' defense forces opponents into mistakes. No team has more takeaways than the Bears' 25, which includes 15 interceptions, 2 more than they had all of last season.

“Takeaways have been the key,” Angelo said. “Our defense has always been predicated on that, so things are falling into place.”

The one area where the defense had been deficient until Thursday night's 16-0 victory at Miami was in sacks. Before getting a half-dozen against the Dolphins' Tyler Thigpen, the Bears had just 3 sacks in their previous four games, and only once before had they gotten more than 2 in a game.

But the proliferation of picks is evidence that the Bears' “Rush Men,” as defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli likes to call his linemen, have been getting pressure on quarterbacks.

“You're seeing quarterbacks pull it down,” Angelo said. “You're seeing check downs. Those are the things we want, and we've been getting that. We've been getting real good results on third down.”

For the past seven weeks, the Bears have been in the top five in preventing third-down conversions. And here, too, they're on an incredible roll, having allowed just 2 conversions in the last 20 third downs.

Bears coach Lovie Smith has preached takeaways since the first off-season practice he presided over in 2004, and he's emphasized doing something with the ball once the defense takes it away. First-year defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli has taken the group to a new level with his attention to detail and focus on flawless execution. Players have bought into Marinelli's teachings and the unselfishness that is part of the program.

“Discipline is really important,” Marinelli said. “Every man has got to be doing his job, and each man has got to carry out his responsibility. When we do that, we have a chance to be pretty good.

“It's team defense, and these guys really epitomize that. One thing about our system is, sometimes you have to give up an opportunity to make the play, so a teammate can make the play. These guys right now are just about team. That's the only thing they're concerned with is how to develop this franchise.”

The Bears' offense enjoys a ringside seat while watching the defense impose its will on opponents, and before the shutout of the Dolphins, the entire team watched a highlight film of the defense's work.

“I looked at the O-line and I said, ‘Thank God we ain't playing those guys,'” Bears center Olin Kreutz said. “Because that defense … they're good. I have a lot of respect for them. I went against them in camp, and obviously game speed is different, but I watch them from the sideline, and they're a good unit.”

Twice this year the Bears have worn throwback jerseys similar to those worn by the Bears' Monsters of the Midway teams on the 1940s that won four NFL titles in seven years. And channeling that kind of defensive effort has been a popular theme of the coaching staff.

“Coach Marinelli always talks about the Monsters of the Midway, and that's pretty hard to live up to because back in the day, they had some pretty good players,” cornerback Charles Tillman said. “They had some awesome players. We're trying to live up to that and bringing that back, the Monsters of the Midway. So far, I think we're doing pretty good.

“Right now, the sky's the limit.”

• Follow Bob LeGere's Bears reports via Twitter@BobLeGere. Check out his blog, Bear Essentials, at DailyHerald.com