Chicago Bears Mailbag: Chuck Pagano, Kareem Hunt and free agency

3. Defense better in 2019?

At his introductory press conference, Chuck Pagano was quoted as saying: “They did obviously a lot of good things here. Ya know when you look at the rankings, you go up and down those rankings, there’s a lot of ones, couple twos, couple threes.”

With every major starter expected to return in the front seven, I’d say that the Bears defense is definitely a group that can be even better in 2019 when it comes to creating turnovers. There are multiple reasons I think the Bears defense can accomplish such a feat.

First, Chuck Pagano is a mastermind of the 3-4 defense. And that’s exactly what he’ll bring here to Chicago. He’s made it very clear that he knows the Bears have built a great defense since Ryan Pace took over and wants to keep that tradition going.

Second, in 2018 the Bears had eight games where they had three or more turnovers. Unlike other NFL defenses who seem to use the bend-don’t-break philosophy, the Bears Defense is one that feeds off turnovers.

If this defense can stay healthy and everyone stay consistent, it’s fair to expect them to be one of the most, if not the most dominant unit in the NFL.

Looking at some of the things that Pagano will implement and some of the things he’ll carryover on defense, turnovers are what this unit will thrive off of in 2019. What’s scary is the fact that the Bears defense scratched the surface in terms of how good it can really be in 2018.