Bears' defense looks ready for season after dominant training camp, 38-0 win over Bills

The Bears’ defense feels ready for the season, and that group has every reason to believe that.

Not only has the defense dominated throughout training camp, it bullied the Dolphins in a joint practice and scrambled the Bills and reigning MVP quarterback Josh Allen on Friday. With nothing left to prove until Sept. 8 against the Vikings, the first-string defense played one series Sunday against the Bills’ backups and called it a night.

They called it a preseason, too, most likely.

The sneak preview lasted only three plays against third-string quarterback Mike White as the Bills held out Allen and saved backup Mitch Trubisky for the third quarter. The Bears stopped running back Ray Davis for a one-yard loss and allowed White to complete a two-yard pass. After back-to-back false starts by Bills tackle Ryan Van Demark, they weren’t letting anything by on third-and-19.

The starting defense watched the rest from the sideline as the Bears cruised to a 38-0 victory.

‘‘It’s just camp right now, and we have a long season ahead of us, but I like the competitive edge that we’re playing with,” defensive end Montez Sweat told the Sun-Times. ‘‘It’s transferring over. We’re playing physical ball.”

When Trubisky entered to begin the second half, he faced the bottom of the depth chart, including some fourth-stringers. He went 7-for-13 for 56 yards with no touchdown passes or interceptions for a 64.9 passer rating.

Trubisky, of course, was two franchise quarterbacks ago for the Bears. Former general manager Ryan Pace drafted him No. 2 overall ahead of Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson in 2017. The team let him walk four years later before moving on to Justin Fields and eventually Caleb Williams.

A month into the preseason, this defense has been overwhelming.

Suddenly, without a huge overhaul of personnel, the Bears look explosive up front and airtight in the secondary. They’re tenacious and fearsome. With new defensive coordinator Dennis Allen, the vibe is a lot different than it was under Matt Eberflus.

“It’s not what we call; it’s how we play,” coach Ben Johnson said. “Guys have really bought into that mantra. There’s an aggressiveness with which we want to play. When you see it all come together . . . it’s a good thing.”

Even if everything goes beautifully in the partnership between Johnson and Williams, they’ll need this defense.

The other three teams in the NFC North had top-10 offenses last season, and the Bears will face five opponents who had top-10 offenses in their first eight games. They’re not getting past any of them if they can’t rattle quarterbacks such as Jared Goff, Dak Prescott and Jayden Daniels.

There’s a lot riding on Johnson’s hire of Allen, who’s in his ninth season as a defensive coordinator and had failed stints as a head coach with the Raiders and Saints. He’ll need to have better answers to questions that stumped Eberflus throughout his three seasons.

The Bears had an NFL-worst 90 sacks over the last three years. Eberflus couldn’t maximize the addition of Sweat, who was the highest-paid Bear last season and had only six sacks — 50th in the league.

GM Ryan Poles signed defensive tackle Grady Jarrett and defensive end Dayo Odeyingbo for contracts totaling nearly $91 million over the next three seasons, but that alone won’t vault Sweat back to the top of the league.

Sweat mentioned a few times last season that the Bears weren’t scheming to free him from the steady stream of double-teams he faced. That’s where Allen must make a difference. The Bears are spending $25.1 million on Sweat this season and need to get commensurate production.

Allen also has to develop Odeyingbo into something he hasn’t been: a fierce pass rusher. Poles bet big on that by signing him for $16 million per year — 25th among edge players this season — despite him having only three sacks for the Colts last season and 16½ in his four-year career.

Eberflus rarely got game-changing plays out of linebacker Tremaine Edmunds. That’s another investment that hasn’t yielded a big return. Edmunds has been solid, but the Bears got him to replace Roquan Smith, a two-time All-Pro since leaving and still an offensive coordinator’s nightmare.

And in the secondary, the Bears have too much talent to tolerate anything but absolute dependability.

They expect to have Jaylon Johnson and Kyler Gordon back by the opener, and newcomer Nahshon Wright has looked excellent in Johnson’s place with the first string opposite Tyrique Stevenson. Wright and Stevenson are competing for that No. 2 spot once Johnson returns.

Terell Smith had a shot there, too, but suffered a serious knee injury late in the first half.

The best-case scenario would be that Allen helped Stevenson turn around, but if he can’t, he’d better use the leverage of the Bears’ depth rather than let things slide the way Eberflus did.

The sum of all those assets should be enough for a playoff-caliber defense — in the right hands. The Bears never ranked higher than 13th in points allowed under Eberflus, and that side fell apart late last season as it allowed 121 points over a four-game stretch.

Allen had several elite defenses when he was with the Saints, so he knows what it should look like. The Bears are overdue for someone to inject creativity into their defense and bring it to life.