The Bears D-Line Needs to Be Overhauled
If there was anything to discredit Ryan Poles in his tenure as Bears GM, aside from his hiring of Matt Eberflus and his record being vastly under .500, it is the defensive line.
Ryan Poles Disaster
No sugarcoating this, and it has only gotten more exposed with all the secondary injuries, causing teams just to chew up yards and put up lots of points vs. the Bears.
The Bears’ #1 job outside of hiring Ben Johnson was to reshape their lines on both sides of the ball. Well, mission accomplished for protecting Caleb Williams, and that obviously takes precedent over everything.
However, the defensive side has left a lot to be desired. The Bears have spent money on their edge rushers, but Montez Sweat and Dayo Odeyingbo (who is now out with an Achilles tear) both have disappointed in their own ways.
Sweat has the 12th highest average annual salary (AAV), and Odeyingbo has the 24th highest AAV. That alone means both dudes should have at least 6 sacks, but neither has clipped 5.
Sweat has 4 sacks, and Dayo had 1 measly sack before he went down with an injury, but it isn’t just that the Edge rusher group has failed.
Outside of a couple of games, the Bears’ run defense has been prone to giving up a lot of yards on the ground, ranking 25th in the NFL with 131 yards per game allowed.
That also falls on the defensive tackles that Ryan Poles has also brought in. Namely, in Grady Jarrett, giving him 42 million over 3 years and providing a 32-year-old DT that much money isn’t a worthwhile investment, you know, leadership tangible aside.
Gervon Dexter has played solidly, but again, he alone can’t turn around the team without help on the outside. Shemar Turner also going down with an ACL is a killer blow to a group also struggling to find depth.
Draft Has to Be Focused
I know the best strategy is Best Player Available (BPA), but the Bears’ D-line is too much of a weakness to ignore.
Thankfully for the Bears, the draft appears to be a good one filled with pass rushers, but can the Bears find a way to get that playmaking difference maker they so badly have needed?
It has been 4 years under Ryan Poles’ watch, and the only time the defensive line was being a force was when the “Tez Effect” became a reason to pay Sweat $98 million.
The Dayo signing just made no sense, however, because he had never topped 8 sacks in a season and was mostly a 3-sack-a-season guy.
It is time to look at pass-rushing options because it has been too long since the Bears built a D-line that has played like the Monsters of the Midway.
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Categorized:Bears