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Bears defense has plenty to prove vs. Patriots

Bears defenders are well aware of the impression they left with their performance in the 31-28 overtime loss to the Dolphins last week, and they're anxious to atone Sunday at Soldier Field against the Patriots.

“It makes you want to fight harder because you just went out there and showed everybody that we played soft,” linebacker Aaron Lynch said. “We're not a soft defense — far from it. (But) when you go out there and show those types of things, you want to go out there and counter it and make everybody see that you're not that. So that's what we're going to prove this week.”

The 3-2 Bears surrendered 541 total yards, more than they had allowed in the previous two games combined and nearly double the 294.5 yards they allowed on average in the first four games. Maybe that game in South Florida and the epidemic of sloppy tackling was an anomaly, but it's on the defense to prove that this week.

“I hope that's what it is,” defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said. “But time will tell.”

A return to their earlier form for the defense would make the memory of last week fade quickly.

“Let's just say we took a bad loss against the Miami Dolphins,” Lynch said. “So, to be able to come back from that loss and get a win against the Patriots ... that'd be huge.”

September's NFL Defensive Player of the Month, outside linebacker Khalil Mack, was back at practice Friday on a limited basis and is listed as questionable for Sunday. He missed the previous two days to facilitate the healing of a right ankle he sprained early against the Dolphins but played through. Though he soldiered on, Mack was a shell of the player who had 5 sacks, 4 forced fumbles and a pick-6 in his first four games as a Bear. Neither he nor any teammate came close to sacking Miami's Brock Osweiler on 44 pass attempts last week. A repeat of that would likely spell disaster against the 4-2 Patriots and QB Tom Brady.

“If you don't fix it against a guy like Brady, he just tears you apart,” Lynch said. “But we're gonna fix it. We didn't have a good pass rush against the Miami Dolphins. We've got to bring it this week so, we're gonna bring it.”

But it won't be that easy.

“You've got to earn the right to rush the passer,” said Bears defensive lineman Akiem Hicks, who's second on the team with 3 sacks. “If you're letting them convert their second downs and their first downs to get another set of first-and-10, you're not really getting that opportunity to rush the passer like you want. So we have to put them in situations where we can take advantage of that.”

There's no better test than Brady and a Patriots offense that scored 43 points last week and piled up 500 yards. The Patriots have scored at least 38 points in each of their last three games and accumulated at least 438 yards.

“Obviously, Brady isn't the guy you wanna order up for that,” Fangio said, regarding a bounce-back opportunity. “We didn't measure up very well this past Sunday. Now we've got a great opportunity to go out there against one of the top offenses in the league, and one of the top quarterbacks that's ever played the game.”

The Bears' defensive leaders insist that one bad game will not cave in the confidence the group built in the first four games, which had them ranked in the top five in multiple key categories. But they'll need to recapture the aggressive edge they displayed in the first month.

“We didn't play as well last game but we're still confident and we know what we are capable of as a team,” said ILB and leading tackler Danny Trevathan. “We know that it's a long season, (and that) we can keep getting better. We're not complacent here. Coach (Matt Nagy) keeps preaching that. Guys are buying in. It's all about getting better each day, getting the most out of each day so you can go out here and be a great team together.”

If the defense isn't a lot better than it was last Sunday, Brady and the Patriots will make the Bears pay.

• Bob LeGere is a senior writer at Pro Football Weekly. Follow Bob's Bears reports on Twitter @BobLeGere or @PFWeekly.

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