Andrew Billings’ injury has added to the biggest liability of Chicago Bears’ defense
If you had to point out a concern with the Chicago Bears’ defense, it might have been the run defense. The pass defense has remained strong throughout the year, but the run defense has been up and down all season. The loss of Andrew Billings in the middle of the defensive line has added to the Bears’ struggles against the run.
It is only a two-game sample, but the run defense has become a real issue with Billings out of the lineup. It started with New England, where the Patriots had 184 passing yards, but 144 rushing yards.
Green Bay came out and knew to establish the ground game. Josh Jacobs had 18 rushes while Jordan Love had 17 pass attempts. Jacob was having his way with the Bears’ run defense.
In the first eight weeks of the season, the Bears have allowed a 37.8% success rate on the ground. Rushing attempts produced -0.051 expected points per play. In the past two weeks, the success rate has jumped up to 43.4% while the expected points per play have become a positive 0.028. That is a big shift, despite the small sample.
It hurts that they lost Jaquan Brisker as well, because he is an added presence in the box as a safety. However, a lot of this will fall on Billings.
It hurts that they lost Jaquan Brisker as well, because he is an added presence in the box as a safety. However, a lot of this will fall on Billings.
The Chicago Bears are struggling to defend the run without Andrew Billings
The Bears simply do not have an answer on the roster, either. Gervon Dexter is a better pass rusher than run defender and Zacch Pickens can barely out Byron Cowart for playing time as the backup to Billings. Cowart was hanging onto his career by a thread and is a practice squad player on talented rosters.
The Bears have a good defense, but this is not where they want to be on paper. If the offense cannot put up points, and teams can establish an early lead, they can milk games away on the ground, and there will not be much that Chicago can do.
