Chicago Bears need a big year from Prince Amukamara

The Chicago Bears will be hoping for a big year from Prince Amukamara in 2019.

Prior to the start of the 2017 season, Ryan Pace, general manager of the Chicago Bears, made an under the radar free agent signing. At the time, there was little fanfare over the singing of veteran cornerback Prince Amukamara.

For starters, the Bears were thought to be many years away from competing, and most would have assumed Amukamara’s contract would have expired before the Bears were good again. Moreover, while he had some decent seasons with the New York Giants, he was coming off of a year in which he recorded no interceptions and only 49 tackles with the Jacksonville Jaguars.

However, since signing, Prince has been such an important piece to stabilize the secondary while Kyle Fuller blossomed into an All-Pro and the Bears drafted fellow All-Pro Eddie Jackson. He’s also been such a steady and respected presence in the locker room, providing much-needed leadership as Pace looked to change the toxic culture that had permeated Halas Hall in prior years.

In 2018 he enjoyed a fine year, recording three interceptions (one for a touchdown) and forcing two fumbles. While he fell a little shy of his stated preseason goal of 10 interceptions, he flourished in a defense with such tremendous talent on all three levels.

Now, with former defensive coordinator Vic Fangio in Denver, Amukamara will have to adjust to Chuck Pagano’s defense. His ability to do so, and flourish in it as well, will be essential for the defensive unit’s success in 2019.

Pagano has long been known as an aggressive defensive coach. In fact, one need only look to his introductory press conference with the Bears when he said his stated goal was to “wreak havoc” on opposing offenses.

In the past, he has done that using a variety of disguises — often waiting till the absolute last second until the defense gets set. However, he has also been known to favor a variety of stunts and blitzes — especially with his safeties and corners.

While new Bear Buster Skrine, or even Fuller, may seem like better candidates to bring on a blitz, Amukamara could also be looked upon to fill that role at times.

However, it is when Pagano brings the safety blitz that Amukamara will really need to be on his game. That’s because, depending on the defensive alignment and from which side Pagano brings the blitz, it could leave Prince on an island without any safety help.

The Bears gave up the fewest big plays in all of football last season. That’s going to be tougher to do this season considering that Pagano will take more chances and play less conservatively (read no more dropping Khalil Mack into coverage multiple times per game). But if they have a desire to keep that trend going, they will need their cornerbacks — and particularly Amukamara — to come up big.