The Chicago Bears have serious issues on the defensive side of the ball after two weeks of play. It doesn't take an expert to come to that conclusion after Dennis Allen's group has given up 79 points in losses to the Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions.
Despite the results being subpar, and that is a nice way of putting it, veteran safety Kevin Byard III remains undeterred. With Sunday's showdown between Chicago and the Dallas Cowboys at Soldier Field inching closer, Byard is showing the type of veteran leadership that is expected out of a player with as much experience in the league as the two-time All-Pro.
Byard's confidence may be helpful in the locker room, but it is almost certainly raising the blood pressure for fans of the team throughout the Windy City.
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As much as fans may not want to hear it, Byard is right that he and his teammates cannot get too low on themselves this early in the season. We would be having the same conversation if the tables were turned and the Bears were undefeated entering their Week 3 matchup with the Cowboys.
“When you have a game like we did on Sunday, it feels like the sky is falling,” Byard said, via Sean Hammond of the Chicago Tribune. “I just try to always remind the guys to not get too high or too low. We faced two really good teams to start this year. Sometimes these things happen. It’s still early in the year, so I’m not panicking. I don’t think anybody else is panicking. We just have to find a way to get a win on Sunday.”
The NFL season has to be taken one week at a time. Otherwise, you're only setting yourself up for failure by overlooking the next opponent for one reason or another. Unfortunately, the first two weeks for Chicago have produced nothing but failures as Ben Johnson's group blew a lead in their season-opener before being run off the field against the Lions in Week 2.
Byard knows as well as anyone after nine years in the NFL that this is a results-driven league. If you aren't getting the job done when your number is called, the coaching staff will continue to move down the line until they find someone who can. Fans can be even more ruthless with their criticism when things take a turn for the worse.
This is why the Bears must bring their best effort against the Cowboys this Sunday. First and foremost, making any meaningful playoff push becomes an almost unattainable task if Chicago gets off to a 0-3 start. Only six teams have achieved this feat since the Super Bowl era began, with it happening just once since 2000. Needless to say, the Bears do not want to have to make NFL history just to contend for a spot in the postseason.
From a bigger picture perspective, if this defense cannot do better than giving up roughly 400 yards of offense per game, then Byard, his peers on the defense, as well as members of the coaching staff, could find themselves on the chopping block sooner rather than later.
As Byard said to close out his statement, the Bears must find a way to get a win this Sunday.