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LB McPhee wants to put bite back in Chicago Bears defense

BOURBONNAIS — Pernell McPhee knows what time it is, and he knows the Bears are not paying him $38.75 million over five years, including $15.5 million guaranteed, to be a complementary player as he was his first four years in the league with the Baltimore Ravens.

The plan is for McPhee to be the centerpiece of the new 3-4 defense; not only as an outside linebacker in the base formation, but deployed in various spots by defensive coordinator Vic Fangio to achieve mismatches in the pass rush.

McPhee is coming off a career year that included a personal-best 7.5 sacks while playing just 49 percent of the snaps. In Baltimore, McPhee was a rotation player and played a supporting role to Elvis Dumervil and Terrell Suggs, two of the most fearsome 3-4 pass rushers and players in the league.

Now, it's time for the 6-foot-3, 280-pound, 26-year-old McPhee to be the star, and he's ready for that role.

“That's one of my goals, to come out and bring that image of being violent, being a leader, being a great guy, and that's my focus right now,” he said. “My attitude is: ‘Hey, I know what time it is. It's time to be a dog, and every play I've got to be one.' ”

When McPhee says “dog,” he's not talking about man's best friend. He actually means attack dog, junkyard dog, mad dog, rabid dog or something along those lines.

Job One is changing the perception of the Bears' defense as a pushover and a patsy that emerged the past two years. McPhee means to be the ringleader of a defense that brings a different attitude.

“That's what we're going to do this year, put fear in other teams' offenses,” he said. “When they see us come out there, (we want them to think), ‘Whoa, those guys are playing, everybody flies to the ball, everybody's being very aggressive.'

“Me and the guys talk, and I'll be like, ‘We need to be aggressive. We need to be the attackers, not the ones being attacked.' That's our mindset right now, and that's what we're working toward.”

McPhee is operating in a much different environment than the one he experienced in the four seasons after the Ravens drafted him in the fifth round out of Mississippi State. Those Baltimore defenses had butt-kickers like Haloti Ngata and Courtney Upshaw in addition to Dumervil and Suggs, who combined for 29 sacks last season.

“They're my boys, man,” McPhee said, wistfully. “But right now I'm a Bear. I've got new brothers. And that's what I'm looking forward to.”

Now, McPhee has to be the lead dog. The Bears' leading sacker last season, Willie Young, is on a long road to recovery from a torn Achilles, Lamarr Houston is coming off a torn ACL and Jared Allen is looking for a bounce-back performance after the worst sack season of his 11-year career.

Coach John Fox has been impressed with what he's seen from McPhee already.

“He's a big, powerful man, and a lot of the time he's over the tight end, and that's a good matchup for us (against) most tight ends,” Fox said. “There's a lot of ways to rush the passer; it's not just all speed. He's got a good combination of speed and quickness in short areas as well as power.”

A minor altercation between the D-line and the O-line at Friday's practice, even before the big-boy pads came on for the first time the following day, was a good sign of solidarity, according to McPhee.

“That's just like we're all family,” he said. “You know, brothers fight. It's just being competitive, being one of the guys out there. I don't know what it was before, but I tell them all the time, ‘We're dogs. I've got your back, go out there and fight and win, every brother.' “

What better time to forge that philosophy than the dog days of summer?

• Follow Bob's Bears and NFL reports on Twitter@BobLeGere.

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