Dennis Allen saved his best for last — but Bears need more help on D

Rams coach Sean McVay ran across the field after Sunday night’s game and, after greeting Ben Johnson, sought out Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen.

“Unbelievable job,” he told Allen. “You kicked our ass.”

It was about time. A Bears defense that gave up the fourth-most yards in the NFL during the regular season saved its best game for last, holding the league’s top offense to 10 fewer points and 55 fewer yards than their average.

The frigid weather helped, but Allen did a lot more damage to the Rams than Mother Nature did. Allen blitzed Matthew Stafford 37% of the time, with two of the Bears’ four sacks coming from defensive backs. After the Rams scored on their first drive of the game, the Bears forced punts on six of the next seven possessions.

Praise from the most respected head coach in the NFL didn’t take the sting out of the Bears’ 20-17 overtime loss to the Rams, but it acknowledged what Allen was able to do while playing short-handed, as he has since days before training camp opened.

“[The Rams] pose a lot of problems,’ Johnson said, “and yet our guys did a nice job taking the plan, bringing it to life.”

That’s the kind of impact Johnson had in mind when he hired Allen a year ago. The pairing made sense for both parties — Johnson, a first-time head coach, could lean on Allen, who’d held the same job with the Raiders and Saints. Allen could have his run of the Bears’ defense while Johnson focused primarily on offense.

Only nine teams gave up more points than the Bears' 24.4 per game. They were the most opportunistic defense in the league, though, leading the NFL with 33 takeaways and 23 interceptions. The Bears boasted safety Kevin Byard, the NFL’s interceptions leader. No cornerback in the NFL had more picks than the Bears’ Nahshon Wright, and only one linebacker had more than Tremaine Edmunds.

Takeaways, like bullpens in baseball, almost always fluctuate from year-to-year. The Bears can’t rely on them coming in droves again next season. Rather, they’ll have to focus on finding Allen some pass-rush oomph to pair with Montez Sweat, who finished with 10 sacks. Austin Booker had 4 ½ sacks in his nine starts but no other edge rusher had more than 1 ½. The Bears also will have to sort through whether to keep Byard and Jaquan Brisker at safety — both will be free agents — and whether to re-sign Wright, who was a practice squad player just a year ago.

And then they’ll have to hope for better health.

Injuries made Allen’s job on defense a bigger challenge than Johnson faced on the other side of the ball. Days before the start of training camp, Pro Bowl cornerback Jaylon Johnson tore the adductor muscle off his pelvic bone while working out at UNLV. The day before the season-opener, Kyler Gordon — whom the Bears gave a $40 million contract extension in May — reported an injured calf. The two combined to start just seven games during the regular season.

All three Bears starting linebackers went on injured reserve at some point during the year. As a result, Tremaine Edmunds, T.J. Edwards and Noah Sewell averaged just 11 starts apiece. Defensive ends Dayo Odeyingbo — whom the Bears signed to a three-year, $48 million deal in March — and Booker each spent about half the season on IR, with Booker joining the starting lineup as Odeyingbo left it. Defensive lineman Shemar Turner, a second-round pick, played just five games because of a knee injury.

“There’s a lot going on [at defensive line], just in terms of, we had some injuries going on that you have to overcome,” general manager Ryan Poles said. “I think that’s an area we’re going to continue to press and get better.”

All told, the Bears had six defensive starting spots open up because of IR trips. On offense, they had just one — at left tackle, where Braxton Jones and Ozzy Trapilo were both hurt.

“There were a lot of challenges," Poles said. "Guys were up and down [on the game-day roster], and anyone that came in there was ready to go to compete and help us win football games. [Allen] did an incredible job putting that group together.”

That roster uncertainty left Allen to serve as the Bears’ short-order cook all season. They hope he won’t have to be next season.

“It's like trying to create a meal,” Allen said last month. “Like, what are the ingredients that we have? And then we'll figure out what the meal's gonna be.

“I think that's kind of what we've had to do there, and you try to find out what are the skillset of the players that you have available to you — try to put them in positions to be able to do the things that they do well, try to minimize the times that you ask them to do things that maybe they're not as good at. And each week that might change based on who you have available to you.”