Bear-Raid Incoming: Dennis Allen Plans Aggressive Defense in Chicago

The Ben Johnson offense is the first thing that comes to mind when the Bears talk about being a more aggressive and explosive football team.

The playing style Johnson showed in Detroit spells this out clearly, but the defense the Bears use under Dennis Allen might force the issue as much or more.

"Ben, in his press conference, made a great point that this has become a quarterback-driven league," Allen said. "That's what this league is. I think everything that we do is going to be based on how we affect the quarterback, and you affect the quarterback through rush and coverage."

The issue is how to do both. In this regard, there will be plenty of intrigue regarding Allen's defense. Is he going to run a blitz-heavy scheme or one more like the one he used in New Orleans over the past few years he was there as head coach.

Allen will sound the charge

From all indications, Allen is not going to stand around and wait to get picked apart. He saw what happened in New Orleans when the Saints became more passive.

He's going to go on the attack.

In the second half of his time with the Saints, their scheme more closely mirrored what the Bears have done under Matt Eberflus in terms of blitzing to achieve pass rush pressure and even playing more zone coverage.

However, it appears Allen might have something else in mind and it's more similar to what he did earlier in his time with the Saints.

"I think we want to be an attacking aggressive style of defense. We want to take the fight to the offense and not let the offense dictate the tempo to us. We're going to be aggressive; we're going to challenge everything," were his thoughts on the scheme when he first became Bears defensive coordinator.

With Allen as defensive coordinator in 2020, and with Trey Hendrickson still on the team complementing the defense, Allen blitzed 31.8% of the time, per Stathead/Pro Football Reference. That ranked 14th in the league and the blitzing allowed them to achieve pressure on the quarterback 26.3% of plays, ranking sixth in the league. They forced the third-most turnovers with 26 and had a respectable 44 total sacks, only 7.5 from blitzers.

It was this way much of the time with Allen as defensive coordinator from 2018-2020. They brought the heat and usually achieved pressure as well as takeaways.

They never ranked worse than eighth and were as high as fifth in achieving pressure from 2018-2020 and they never ranked worse than 14th in blitz percentage. They blitzed as much as 32.% of the time in that period (2019) and when they blitzed the ninth most in 2019 at 32% of the time they ranked fifth in pressure achieved (26.4%).

The Saints backed off the pressure in 2021, Sean Payton's final year as head coach without losing a lot of pressure (13th, 25%).

They continued blitzing less and less and achieved less pressure. Their defense eventually struggled and the offense also was in tatters when Allen was fired mid-season from his head coaching duties in 2024.

Their defense eventually struggled and the offense also was in tatters when Allen was fired mid-season from his head coaching duties in 2024.

In his final two full seasons as head coach, Allen's defense was downright passive, ranking 27th in blitzes (16.8%) and 20th (22.5%), and they finished 29th and 28th in pressures achieved. In 2022 their turnovers forced dropped considerably from earlier when they were usually near or in the top 10. They ranked 30th with 14 turnovers forced.

All of that taken into account, what do you think Allen is going to do now, armed with a secondary full of speed and with only one player over 30, and with a rebuilt defensive line. He now has speed at linebacker, on the front and in back.

Playing more man-to-man coverae, going after the quarterback and forcing the issue makes so much sense when it worked for Allen when his Saints defensive players were in their prime years 2018-20.

Players fit his plan

When they have a player like Kyler Gordon, with great blitzing speed and coverage ability out of the slot, they don't even need to turn loose the linebackers to blitz. He might becoming an attacking hybrid of sorts. Allen loved using his slots to blitz in New Orleans.

"Does he go outside and compete at outside corner? Does he compete some at safety?" Allen said. "I've told him that he needs to be learning both of those spots.

"We'll figure out where that second position is where he can go and compete."

It looks like the Bears defense is going on the attack. Allen even sounds like it from the way he described how he wants the squad to look.

“Tough, nasty, hyper competitive, play with a swagger, play with a chip on their shoulder.," he said. "I think that's kind of been a hallmark of the best defenses that I've been around. I think that's been a hallmark of a lot of great defenses that have been here in Chicago.

"I think that's what we're looking for.”

Someone needs to get that Bear-Raid siren ready.