| Kyle Trompeter. 28th August, 2005 - 5:45 pm
 The sports world is full of them. Broadcasters can’t get enough of them. Quite frankly, they are the fuel that drives sports discussions around the world. I am talking about sports clichés. One of the top football ones is ‘defense wins championships’.
For the Chicago Bears, that is a cliché they hope will be indicative of their teams play this season.
Ranking last in the NFL in most offensive categories in 2004, the Bears relied on their defense to keep them in every contest. Except for a handful of games, that was usually the case. However, injuries set in on last year’s defense and the team’s play suffered because of it. Missing in action for good chunks of the season were Mike Brown, Brian Urlacher, Charles Tillman, and Jerry Azumah.
Now it’s 2005, and with Azumah slated to be back in a few weeks from an injury in training camp, the defense will be at full strength. Rookie Defensive Coordinator Ron Rivera got his group rolling in the right direction last year. Led by Urlacher, Brown, Tillman, and Adewale Ogunleye, this squad will be the face of the team and looks to be one of the better defenses in the NFC.
Obviously, the key for this defense and any for that matter is to stay healthy. Another vital component is to build on what it started the previous year, which is being a very opportunistic defense with big play ability.
The Bears ‘D’ was sixth in the NFC a year ago in turnovers with 29 and fifth with 17 interceptions. Still, they only racked up 35 sacks, good for 12th in the conference. Then again, the sack total was a huge boost from the year before when they only totaled 18.
Increased pressure on the quarterback will play a major role in the defense’s production. Ogunleye, who played all of last season with a pair of banged up legs, will lead the pass rushing attack. He hopes to return to his form of 2003 when he led the entire AFC in sacks with 15.
Alex Brown will be another main contributor on the line. He led the Bears with six sacks last year and had four of them in one game. A reasonable goal would be double-digit sacks for the fourth year pro from Florida.
The linebacker position will be anchored by a familiar name, Urlacher. Coming off a season that was marred by nagging injuries which caused him to miss seven games, the All Pro linebacker will try to lead the Bears in tackles for the sixth time in seven years.
Lance Briggs is another player that makes his mark in wrapping up the ball carrier. Briggs ranked first on the team last year in tackles with 168, a total that earned him a second alternate spot for the Pro Bowl. Briggs and Urlacher will once again form one of the best linebacker duos in the league.
In the secondary, the Bears will welcome back safety Mike Brown, who missed 14 games last season with an Achilles injury. Brown, who ranks first all time in defensive TD’s in Bears history with five, is the emotional leader of the defense as well as a threat to step in front of any pass and make a big play.
Tillman, Azumah, and Nathan Vasher bring speed, speed, and more speed to the cornerback position. Vasher, a rookie last year, tied for the team lead in takeaways with six, five of which were interceptions. Look for this unit to be one of the better ones in the division.
Rivera has to be excited about his crew going into the regular season. Barring injury, it will be the defense that will carry this team with lack of success the offense has had recently. If the Bears make a run at a playoff spot, it will be Rivera who will bask in the glory, and he will most definitely have earned it. |
