Chicago Bears: Sean Desai must focus on these defensive priorities
By Ryan Heckman
1. Sean Desai must get the Chicago Bears after the quarterback once again
Two years ago, the Bears finished third in all of football with 50 total sacks. In 2020, the team finished with 35 — and not one player totaled double-digit sacks.
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Not even Khalil Mack accomplished that feat, compiling just 9.0 sacks on the year. Now, we heard from Bears leadership a few days ago that Mack was indeed playing with an injury for the majority of 2020. But, beyond Mack, there was no player who surpassed 5.0 sacks on the season.
Chicago paid Robert Quinn a pretty penny to come in and be Mack’s counterpart, and all he was able to give them was 2.0 measly sacks all season long. There is some suspicion that Quinn wasn’t right all year either, after he entered the season hardly practicing during the summer with some mystery injury that no one seemed to fully understand.
Here’s the deal: the Bears have the personnel to get after the quarterback. Fangio was certainly more aggressive than Pagano in terms of sending the blitz, which Desai will hopefully (and most likely) imitate to the best of his ability.
There should be absolutely no reason to ever drop Mack into coverage. That seems too obvious. On every single down, that man needs to be rushing the passer. But, on occasion, sending Roquan Smith or Danny Trevathan — or even a blitz from the corner position — would do Desai some good.
Get these guys after the quarterback again, first and foremost. That’s priority number one.