Bears Defensive Backfield a Strength? Not Quite Yet.

The headline says, “Suddenly, the Bears secondary is becoming a primary strength”. But when you actually read the article, its not what Steve Rosenbloom at the Chicago Tribune actually says:

“Don’t look now, but the Bears appear to have a secondary that doesn’t make your eyes bleed.”

I’ll go along with the second quote. But the Bears secondary is far from being a strength. It’s true that Tracy Porter has been a great help and they’re better as long as he’s healthy. And Kyle Fuller us getting better.  And Adrian Amos is starting to appear around the ball more in coverage, though still not as much as I’d like.

But to my eye the defensive backs still aren’t what you’d call a strength. For instance, Antrel Rolle hasn’t gotten younger and still appears slow to me. And the truth is that the Bears got a lot of help from quarterbacks the last couple games, especially from Nick Foles, who has since been benched by the Rams. Foles threw some terrible passes to otherwise open receivers last Sunday. Had they been completed, the performance of the Bears defensive backs may have appeared in a different light.

So don’t get me wrong. The Bears defensive backfield better and will continue to get better. But a strength? That’s a bit of a stretch.