Chicago Bears: Sean Desai must focus on these defensive priorities

3. Sean Desai has to get these Chicago Bears taking the football away

Speaking of Jackson ball-hawking, that’s exactly what made this defense so terrifying in 2018. It was a combination of everything working together for one main cause: go get the football, period.

Fangio deployed a lethal pass rush which allowed his secondary to do what they did best — take the ball away. Specifically, Jackson was a machine.

For context, the Bears totaled 37 takeaways in 2019 and 2020 combined. In 2018, the defense came up with 36 — good for at least two per game.

The tweaks are pretty simple. Pagano allowed his corners to play quite a bit off the receivers, allowing room for opposing quarterbacks to fit the ball in there quicker and with space to run  after the catch at times. Under Desai, these defensive backs cannot play so far off the line.

As previously mentioned, the other tweak is essentially deploying a more aggressive pass rush. That makes everyone behind the pass rush better, without fail. Desai has to find ways to get opposing quarterbacks to make poor throws, rushed decisions and a few errors here and there. Then, and only then, will this defense come up with the football on a regular basis once again.

Fortunately, Desai knows what he’s doing. He’s a Fangio disciple. He saw what made this defense so successful under his mentor for a few years and has all the tools to bring this defense back to where it was just a short time ago.