PLAYERS ONLY: Former Chicago Bears LOVE what Dennis Allen is Dialing Up on Defense

PLAYERS ONLY: Former Chicago Bears LOVE what Dennis Allen is Dialing Up on Defense

It is time for our players only segment. We got Lance Briggs, number 55 with us and Corey Wooten. And I will just toss it up to you guys. Uh I think I said this to you in uh one point in the game where it it felt like back when you were playing, both of you guys were playing and it it was just one of those games where I thought on any given play when the defense was on the field, they could get a takeaway. Yeah. Yeah. It was exciting. like that that that’s a fun that’s a fun that’s a fun moment to be a part of and and that’s the way I felt too. I felt like uh on any one of these plays somebody’s about to make another play. You know, there’s going to be a sack, there’s going to be a a pick, there’s going to be something that’s about to happen. And um and you know, even when uh um Rattler when he when he scrambled and he’s pointing, you know, like, “Hey, go this way.” I’m like, well, you do realize there’s a free safety that can see you doing that as well. Oh, that’s where you’re going to go. Oh, okay. Well, let me head in that direction, too. And pop, you know, Kevin Byer gets another pick. Yeah. This remind me a lot of a game game in 2012. I think uh El Boogie had that pick six that game. I had a lot of pick sixes. Yeah. Against the Cowboys, right? That Monday Night Football reminded me a lot of that. Peanut did. Major Wright had one. It just seemed like who whoever was out there was going to get a play in there just because it it’s you know when your defense gets to that point when when you feel confident that they’re on the field and hey they may gash us a little bit but we know that Bim but don’t break we’re going to get the turnovers we get the ball back and that’s what you saw today for them and what I love Jerry the most was Dennis Allen we talked about the front four really struggling to get pressure he dialed it up Brisker Gordon Tummaine Edmonds sweat right finally got pressure got four sacks in that game, three turnovers. It was a huge game. Um, it’s great to see the defense flying around. It’s finally working the way it’s supposed to be working. You know, once you uh dig into the trenches and you get that pressure up front, everybody on the back end can eat. And we know what happens. You know what I’m saying? Once you get that pressure, picks happen. And this this team is incredible with the takeaways, you know, and and they’ve been keeping um this unit together. I love it. I love what I’m seeing. And listen, great things happen when your linebackers play well. All right. All right. Tmaine Edmonds. Oh my goodness. Everywhere. Come on. He’s just humming on the blitz. He’s he’s still getting more picks. He’s he’s playing at at at an allp pro level right now in my in my opinion. And you know, this is why, you know, went and got him in free agency. This is why, you know, I mean, guys, people have said, “Oh man, what’s going on with Tummaine? What is going on here and there? Why do we get this guy? This is why it seems like everything is slowing down for him. Yeah. You know, it it seems like obviously he has really good fundamentals, but he’s able to just play fast. Almost like he’s anticipating what’s happening and he’s actually going out there and he’s making impact plays immediately. the athleticism of a guy that’s his hype, his presence, you know, I mean, he’s starting to to to impose his will on on all of his uh his opponents and it’s really showing like it’s it’s uh it’s really exciting to see him play at the level he’s playing right now. He’s very dominant football. It’s really fun to see the linebackers going sideline to sideline and the big thing about him is the size. He’s almost 6’5, almost 250 lbs, but you know, running that that sub45, like you see him flying around there. You really see the speed come in there. And then and then also too, you see the DBs, right? Reaping the benefits of That’s right. That’s that’s the best thing about it. You know, you look at uh No, Sean Wright like 6’4, just the size, the length, and him having an awesome season. You know, he he made Hog Hogs in an interview in the locker room, he made he made Hog look like a shrimp there. No, I was we were we had him on the pregame show and that’s like I made the comment where I’m like that might be the first the first corner I’ve interviewed where they’re taller than me. Man, what I also like seeing too is um the the DBs mixing it up. Like they’re getting after wide receivers on the line of scrimmage and they’re just not saying, you know what, just have a free release and let’s just get into a track match. This was finally the game where we saw we saw Dennis Allen really try to mix some of that stuff up with Kyler Gordon. Yeah, and Jaquan Brisker, they’ve done a little bit of it, but today they were putting those guys at the line of scrimmage a lot and making them guess. And then sometimes we saw Dexter drop back in coverage once, he almost had an interception. Another time where Montes, he dropped back, he actually got kind of fooled on that play. But, um, I like seeing them mix mix it up and just get different looks because and and what’s cool, what I what I find cool, I want to hear you guys thoughts on this, just with Dennis Allen, every week seems to be a different game plan. like he’s not afraid to to switch it up from week to week depending on the opponent and that’s what the head coach is doing on offense too. Could be a personnel thing, could be, you know, um having Kyler Gordon in there allows our defense to really flex its muscles. Absolutely. You know, and with some of these guys when they’re when they were uh um hurt and not playing, you know, we have to scale back a little bit, you know, and and make this a little bit more vanilla so that we can get guys to play faster. So, I think it’s, you know, we don’t know who it is. You might be right. It’s a week toe thing, but I do think personnel dictate dictates what you can do. And if you have your top players out there, there’s nothing like you open up your entire playbook. Yep. And then them in the blitz game was unbelievable. Right. You got to win the one-on- ones. Yes. And they took advant those are huge cuz sometimes people get locked up. You know, the quarterback’s like they’re pumping, but they were able to get around them, get the sack, come home, force some errand throws, get the sacks. So, it was a huge day. Sack fumble as well. So, it was huge for them. Uh, quickly on offense, we got to give more praise to the running game because I was just saying this time last week, so before they played Washington, we were sitting here going, there is no running and they can’t stop the run, right? And today after a great game Monday, today 222 rushing yards to 44. Love it. You’re going to win a lot of games if you could do that. Mhm. Yeah. You have to stay patient as well. And I think that that’s what the that’s what they showed. And that that’s what they displayed is that they’re going to stick with the run and sometimes they kind of got out of that, but they went right back to the run and they were able to gash people. And then also the blocking up front was absolutely amazing. Like the double teams that they’ve been working on and getting up to the next level. I mean, if you’re a running back, this is what you want to see. You want to run behind this stuff. And and as time goes on, you start to wear down the defense, start to wear down the trenches, and then get up on the secondary. And then y you know our our running backs they run hard and if they can get to that that level then everything could be really explosive especially in the stretch game. You look at the three technique the point of attack what they were doing really well was the combo block throwing them to the other side. Then that guard is able to get up to the linebacker and then clean sledding for Swift and Manungai to really go off. So that was huge in the stretch game and they knew it was coming towards the end of the game. They couldn’t stop it, right? They’re going on they’re looking at the sideline like what what are we supposed to do? And then on top of that, the yards after the contact was really big, too. Like these guys were running extremely hard. They were, you know, inviting the contact and they were just breaking breaking tackles and then get le leaning forward, getting those first downs. That’s what we want to see. The if you ask any lineman, you know, what would you prefer to do when it comes to blocking? We want to move forward. We want to double team these guys and we want to push them back. You know, I’ve seen I’ I’ve been around the tackles that have been getting double teamed all game long and they look back and they’re like, “Are you going to help me? Take them off me. You see what I’m dealing with? Get thrown out the glove over here. No white te’s, you know.

Former Chicago Bears Lance Briggs, Corey Wootton and Jerry Azumah join the CHGO Bears Podcast and reflect on the defense that Defensive Coordinator Dennis Allen has dialed up after forcing 4 turnovers and defeating the New Orleans Saints for their 4th-straight win. Is this just the beginning for the Bears?

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