Chicago Bears: Comparing the 1985 defense to 2019 group
Khalil Mack comparison: Richard Dent
The stars of the two defenses collide in this comparison: Khalil Mack versus Richard Dent. These two will very possibly go down as the two greatest pass rushers in the history of the Chicago Bears franchise, which says a lot considering some of the names this team has been home to. In 16 games in 1985, Dent recorded 17 sacks in 16 starts. This number is even more impressive considering that Dent hit the 17 sack mark in 1984 as well.
In his first season as a Bear, Mack recorded 12.5 sacks in 14 appearances and 13 starts. An ankle injury kept Mack out of two games, causing him to miss the only two outings of his career. Mack is more than certainly capable of a 17 sacks season such as Dent’s, especially considering the fact that he recorded 15 in 2015 on a much worse Oakland defense.
A healthy Mack on a steadily improving defense paired with the blitz-heavy defensive scheme of Chuck Pagano should result in a Defensive Player of the Year-worthy season, and hopefully leading the team to the promised land as Dent did.
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Leonard Floyd comparison: Otis Wilson
One of the more interesting comparisons in this slideshow is that between Otis Wilson and Leonard Floyd. Both Floyd and Wilson are lanky players at the linebacker position but are lightning-quick players who excel in the pass rush. While Wilson was a better all-around player than Floyd, Leonard certainly showed signs of improvement in coverage and on in run defense in 2018.
Although Floyd has not been able to be healthy enough to develop into an elite pass rusher thus far in his career, Otis Wilson provides a bit of hope for Bears fans. Wilson did not hit the double-digit sack number until his sixth NFL season, which just so happened to be the year the team won the Super Bowl. If Floyd is able to stay healthy and hit a double digit sack total, maybe he could be the piece that pushes the Bears over the edge to become champions. His breakout is only a matter of him being healthy, which he should be in 2019.