Chicago Bears: Bold predictions for the defense in 2019
By Ryan Heckman
3. Defense will force fewer turnovers
A season ago, the Bears led the NFL with 36 takeaways — 27 interceptions and nine fumble recoveries. For the last few months, most of us have not been able to escape the narrative, “The Bears defense will regress in 2019.”
Fine, you want to play that game? Let’s get real, here, folks. If a team finishes as the no. 1 defense a year ago, what are the chances they stay at the top versus “regressing?”
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Technically, the Bears could end this season as the league’s no. 2 overall defense and people could call it “regression.”
The odds of the Bears forcing 36 takeaways again might look bleak, simply because it was an alarming rate. But, I’ll take the under on this one — but for one good reason.
I believe the Bears force less turnovers than 2018, but finish with more sacks in 2019.
Last year, the Bears finished with the second-most sacks in the league with 50. However, I’m going to boldly predict that the Bears finish with an even higher total in 2019 and lead the NFL.
Chuck Pagano is probably going to be sending Roquan Smith on more blitzes this year, because he’s excellent in that role. With guys like Khalil Mack, Akiem Hicks and Leonard Floyd also coming at the quarterback, Smith could end up seeing his sack total skyrocket. Last year, he finished with 5.0 sacks. Could he reach 8.0 or higher in 2019? I think so.
I believe Mack, Smith, Floyd and Nichols all finish with more sacks than they did last year, which should absolutely launch the Bears into the top spot by season’s end.