Offensive struggles lead to defense breaking down

Q. Why has the Bears' defense fallen to No. 29 this season?

A. All the sting of this defense was taken out in the first three weeks of the season.

This is a hybrid defense. It's built with a rotating group of athletes that have the mentality of "three-plays-and-out" or "six-plays-and-out." This is not a defense that can be on the field for back-to-back, sustained 10-play drives and perform at the same effectiveness as when they're fast and fresh.

When you go back and look at the start of the season, there was no sustained time of possession by the Bears' offense that resulted in scoring drives. If you look at the time of possession, there's a significant difference.

If your offense doesn't have the ability to have back-to-back, 10-play drives and sustained time of possession that results in a score, you're not going to complement the style of defense that the Bears' defense is built for.

They're in there to play fast, get the ball back and then give it to your offense. Then your offense has to have sustained time of possession because "we come off the bus running the ball." If you're not complemented by that facet, it's going to be very tough for your defense to have success.

Q. So the defense got worn down early in the season?

A. That's my belief. The offense didn't score points, they didn't have sustained time of possession, they didn't have lengthy drives that resulted in scores and kept the defense on the sideline and rested.

Q. Everyone has injuries, but are the numerous injuries, especially on defense, a legitimate reason for the drop-off in performance this season?

A. Injuries have hurt this team because Mike Brown is a key. He's a vocal leader, and people are willing to accept his input from a leadership standpoint.

I think Dusty Dvoracek getting hurt affected these guys because he's a player who brings a lot of enthusiasm. He was really turning the corner despite not playing his rookie season because he had been living in the weight room, putting in a lot of effort into getting stronger, and he's a smart player.

Q. What are the primary reasons for the offense's drop in production this season?

A. You had a lot of players that you needed to develop coming into the season: Greg Olsen, Devin Hester, Mark Bradley, Rashied Davis, even Bernard Berrian. You also needed the development of Cedric Benson and Garrett Wolfe.

When you're trying to develop the quarterback and a lot of those position players for the first time, you're really going to be hindered in your overall development because you're trying to develop too many key components to have offensive success.

Q. Who is your defensive MVP?

A. Wale Ogunleye. Numbers wise and production, he's been there for 13 games and down the stretch. When things look bleak, he's still playing hard and making plays all over the field.

Would you like to see even bigger sack numbers out of him? Yeah, but for lack of more of a standout person, I would take Wale.

Q. What about on offense?

A. Adrian Peterson, because he did not have an option to fail. He was your No. 1 third-down guy with no backup. He's your top backup at running back with uncertainty as to how the No. 1 guy (Cedric Benson) is going to develop.

He's a special-teams player and was a major contributor there up until he became the starting running back, and then he couldn't contribute on special teams anymore.

Are his numbers impressive and has he had so much production that you couldn't live without him? Probably not, but he's caught more passes (41) than in his first five seasons combined (19), and he's the starting running back now.

If Cedric failed, who else were you going to have there? The only guy that you had an option to go to on first, second and third down was Adrian Peterson.

Q. Offensive coordinator Ron Turner has come in for a lot of criticism this season. How much of it is deserved?

A. Everybody's at fault. There's no one individual who should take more of the blame than anybody else because it's a team sport and it's a team of coaches.

The players have to contribute. Ron can teach the players how to use his system, but he's not throwing passes, he's not making (or missing) blocks on the offensive line, he's not dropping passes down the field. Can the system be successful? Yeah. Do the players have to contribute to the success? Yeah, more so than the coaches teaching them the system.