Dazzling? Dreadful? That's Bears to a 'D'
The Bears' manic-depressive defense has observers and players alike scratching their heads.
On one hand the Bears, with 26, are seventh best in the NFL at forcing three-and-out possessions. On the other hand they're 30th in passing yards allowed.
They shut down the Detroit Lions without a point in three of four quarters Sunday but allowed 23 points in the second quarter alone.
"We've been inconsistent," safety Mike Brown said. "We've played well sometimes and haven't at other times. No one can put their finger on it. Trust us, if we knew what the problem was, we would have fixed it a long time ago.
"All I can tell you is no one on this side of the ball is satisfied. Everyone is working extremely hard. We're extremely disappointed in the way we have been playing."
Defensive coordinator Bob Babich is well aware of the inconsistency that has defined his group, but it has been difficult to pinpoint one reason for the lapses. Devin Hester's fumbled kickoff return and a 27-yard punt return by Detroit's Shaun McDonald allowed the Lions' offense to take advantage of a short field in the second quarter last week. But at other times the blame has fallen all on the defense.
"It's frustrating," Babich said. "Consistency is something that we're concerned with, and we feel like our energy level ... we can't pinpoint it, but we know that we've just got to get it corrected."
It's not that the defense hasn't been doing some things very well. No team in the NFL has forced more turnovers than the Bears' 19. But only four teams have a worse sack percentage than the Bears, who have gotten to opposing quarterbacks just 16 times.
"Everything is not all bad," Brown said. "We're No. 1 in turnovers, which we pride ourselves on, and we're pretty good on third down (No. 2 in the NFL). But it's not all good either. We're very mediocre (18th in total yards and 15th in points allowed), and that's something we're not satisfied with."
Some players have admitted that the execution on defense, which at times is excellent, inexplicably disappears on occasion. That would be especially dangerous Sunday against the undefeated Tennessee Titans.
"If we're not executing, we're going to get hurt," said weakside linebacker Lance Briggs, whose 65 tackles are just 1 fewer than team leader Kevin Payne. "We're going to get burned deep, guys are going to have success against us, and they're going to find holes. If we're not in our gaps when we're supposed to be there, then we're going to get gashed and they're going to get big chunks of yards or touchdowns against us.
"If you're executing the defense the way (you're) supposed to, then you'll be fine. You'll be a dominant defense."
At times the Bears have been dominant. They held the Indianapolis Colts to 1 touchdown, allowed the Lions only 185 total yards in their first meeting, and led the Carolina Panthers 17-3 in the third quarter after holding them to 47 total yards in the first half.
But then there's the 41-point yield against the Minnesota Vikings and second-half collapses in losses to the Tampa Bay Bucs and the Panthers.
"It's just the ups and downs," defensive lineman Israel Idonije said. "In this last game in that second quarter, we gave up 23 points. The other three we held them to no scores. We play great defense, and then (we don't) play up to our standard. We need to play at a high level (for) a full game."
The defense considers its talent to be better than the body of work it has compiled through the first half of the season. Sunday provides an ideal opportunity to prove they're better than some statistics indicate.
"We show in spurts how good this defense can be, but we've got to put it all together for four quarters," nose tackle Dusty Dvoracek said. "For three quarters last week we played really well; for a quarter we didn't, and that's unacceptable. We have to play great for a whole game to beat this team."