Bear Down, Nerd Up: A dominant Chicago Bears defense and the Montez Sweat effect

The Bears looked dominant Sunday in a 28-13 win over the Detroit Lions. They’ve won two in a row for the first time in more than 700 days.

Their last winning streak came when Matt Nagy’s Bears beat the Seattle Seahawks and New York Giants in back-to-back games Dec. 26, 2021, and Jan. 2, 2022. Nagy was fired eight days later.

The Bears are playing well at the right time and have kept their slim playoff hopes alive. They likely need to win out if they want any chance at the postseason, but they’re not out of it yet – not mathematically anyway.

Here are the stats and numbers that stood out this week.

Dominant defense: The Bears had three more takeaways Sunday. Safety Jaquan Brisker and cornerback Jaylon Johnson had interceptions in the secondary. Linebacker TJ Edwards scooped up a fumble on a botched snap between Lions backup center Graham Glasgow and quarterback Jared Goff (starting center Frank Ragnow missed the game because of injury).

Overall, the Bears have 11 takeaways over the past three games, including 10 on defense and one on special teams. That includes nine interceptions.

The Bears rank tied for 10th among 32 NFL teams with 20 takeaways. Their 15 interceptions rank second behind only San Francisco’s 17.

The Bears have had three or more takeaways in three consecutive games. Not surprisingly, it has been a while since the Bears did that in three consecutive games. They had three takeaways only three times all of last season.

Not since 2018, when the Bears led the NFL in takeaways, have they had three or more takeaways in three consecutive games. The Bears had a whopping 36 takeaways, including 27 interceptions, in 2018. Both marks led the NFL that year. Only one other NFL team (the 2019 Steelers, with 38) has totaled more takeaways in a single season since the 2018 Bears (even with a 17th game now). No defense has had 27 interceptions in a season since.

We know what type of defense we are and we know what we’re capable of. So just going out there and being like us, it’s no shock to us. We stuck to the game plan and you saw what happened.”

—  Jaquan Brisker, Bears safety

The 2018 Bears had three or more takeaways over four consecutive games from Weeks 3 to 7 (with a bye week in the middle), then did it again for another three consecutive games from Weeks 9 to 11.

The 2023 Bears aren’t on that level yet, but they’re playing well right now.

“We know what type of defense we are and we know what we’re capable of,” Brisker said. “So just going out there and being like us, it’s no shock to us. We stuck to the game plan, and you saw what happened.”

The ‘Tez effect: One big reason why the Bears’ defense is playing well is because of the addition of Montez Sweat. He has 3.5 sacks in five games since joining the Bears, including one Sunday against the Lions. He also had four QB hits and a pass defended Sunday. On average, Sweat was 3.42 yards away from the QB at the time of the throw Sunday, which was more than a yard better than league average, per NFL Next Gen Stats.

The sacks are obvious, but Sweat is affecting the defense on more than just the plays when he sacks the quarterback. The pass rush and the coverage are working well in tandem. A quicker rush has allowed the secondary to play in coverage for shorter spurts. Combine that with a secondary that is healthy and playing at a high level, and it’s resulting in wins.

Per NFL Research, the Bears had 10 total sacks in the eight games before Sweat’s arrival. Since the trade, they’ve had 11 in five games. The defense has improved from 27.3 points per game allowed to 18.2 points per game. It has gone from allowing 341 total yards per game to 272.2 total yards per game. It had nine takeaways the first eight games, and it has 11 over the past five.

Sweat now has 10 sacks on the season, counting his time with Washington. That is tied for 12th in the NFL. His 3.5 sacks since coming to Chicago already are tied for second on the team this season. Defensive end Yannick Ngakoue leads the way with four sacks, and defensive tackle Justin Jones is even with Sweat at 3.5 sacks.

Blew by ’em: The 38-yard touchdown pass on the “free play” to DJ Moore probably wouldn’t have worked if the Lions weren’t playing Moore so tight on that play. Lions cornerback Jerry Jacobs lined up in press-man coverage, right on top of Moore.

Teams generally will mix up their coverages and their looks. On average, teams are giving Moore a 6.3-yard cushion. That’s a fairly average cushion. It ranks as the 55th largest cushion average among 117 qualified pass catchers, per Next Gen Stats.

Teams give Moore that cushion because he can beat press coverage so easily. The Bears also caught the Lions off guard on this play, which gave Moore an extra step. He blew right by Jacobs for the touchdown grab.

Per Next Gen Stats, Moore has totaled 244 yards against press-man coverage this season, which ranks third in the NFL.

Running wild: Quarterback Justin Fields ran for 58 yards and a touchdown on Sunday. In doing so, he surpassed 2,000 rushing yards in his career.

He became the second-fastest quarterback to reach 2,000 rushing yards, doing it in 36 games. Only Baltimore’s Lamar Jackson, who did it in 33 games, has done it faster.

Fields also is the second-fastest QB to reach both 5,000 passing yards and 2,000 rushing yards. Jackson accomplished that in 35 games.

Fields ranks second all-time among Bears quarterbacks in rushing yards with 2,021 rushing yards. He trails only Bobby Douglass, who had 2,470 rushing yards during his Bears career between 1969-75.

Brisker’s big game: Brisker’s 17 tackles Sunday, including 13 solo tackles, marked the most by a Bears defensive back since at least 1960, per the Bears. It was a career high for Brisker, passing his previous high of 11 against Atlanta last year.

Brisker is third on the team in tackles behind linebackers TJ Edwards (131) and Tremaine Edmunds (84).