House of Horrors: Defensive Stats

[UOK]

SACKS
NFL Leader - 37 (Kansas City)
Bears - 9 (32nd)

TACKLES
NFL Leader - 637 (Philadelphia)
Bears - 450 (T-24th)

3RD DOWN CONVERSIONS
NFL Leader - 27/107 (Kansas City)
Bears - 39/88* (28th)

* - Bears have given up 3/4 4th down conversion attemps

1ST DOWNS YIELDED
NFL Leader - 111 (Houston)
Bears - 147* (14th)

* - Bears have yielded 54 first downs via the run, tied for 31st in the NFL, only Jacksonville is worse

Through 7 games Julius Peppers has 7 total tackles, 1 sack, and 1 forced fumble.

[DaDitka]

Now.....I'm still fully behind the change up top.....


But I hope those that thought loosing Lovie, Rod, and Brian have developed a bit more appreciation for the impact they had on this team.

[Boris13c]

the Bears defense right now is at the same place the Bears offense was years ago when they had such HoF talent as Moses Moreno and Henry Burris foisted upon us as actual NFL quarterbacks

physical ability, team chemistry and team strategy to use it ... 3 key elements

I see no team chemistry on this Bears defense ... you have some players running amok at full speed but not knowing where they are supposed to be along with some older guys simply going through the motions

some of the dead weight needs to be placed on the inactive list for this week ... and yeah, I'm talking about sitting Peppers ... load up the entire defensive side of the ball with young guys running amok ... try to infuse some strategy in there, but if they have 11 players operating at full speed every play, that will be an improvement over what we see now

sit Tillman too since he is still nursing that knee

they need a constant rotation of 5 to 7 guys blitzing from all angles ... hit Rogers every play ... have a couple of Bears disrupting things in the Packer backfield every play ... Rogers may still burn them, but at least they will go down fighting like they mean it instead of playing back waiting to be put out of their misery

[JarHead]

Boris, This game would be tough to win even if they have their best defensive players playing and healthy. And you want to sit key guys to make a point?

Must say, I totally agree... If guys like peppers isnt getting it done anyway why not send a message. Sit Tillman and try and get him a little closer to healthy. Yeah, it could be viewed as throwing the towel in. But if they are not being effective its not like it will make a differance football wise, maybe on papper, but not the game. It will also give a few more snaps to some of the other guys that need it. For how Peppers is playing, I find it hard to believe it would have that much of an effect on the game.

[wab]

The only thing Peppers really does right now that is of value, is demand double teams. Even with how shitty he's playing, teams still have to account for him. The other guys on the line don't do that... I wouldn't sit him for just that simple fact.

[Bad Flanders]

I just don't think Mel is the guy. I was all prepared to say (what I have been saying) that they need to give him a shot at doing his own thing next year and running his system. I know the team looks bad to dump him but I'm gonna say they need to. The more I look into this guy the more I think he's just a name that the media has been throwing around for whatever reason (maybe he's got a good pr rep?) but this guy is a "just a guy" coach at best.

Look at these stats.

Browns in 2005 Mel becomes DB coach under new coach Romeo Crennel, in 2008 Mel becomes DC. Browns defense pts/game:
2004 - 24th (before he started)
2005 - 11th (is this Mel or Romeo?... does it matter when you see the next couple years?)
2006 - 22nd
2007 - 21st
2008 - 16th (this is his DC year, it did get a little better)

Then he goes to the Jags to be DC under DelRio, I think it's also interesting to see where they were a couple years before his arrival there. This wasn't a bad D too long before he got there and many of these guys were the same players that were on that good D (sound familiar?). Jag's defense pts/game:
2005 - 6th
2006 - 4th
2007 - 10th
2008 - 21st (I can see why they went looking for a new DC!)
2009 - 24th (Mel's first year, I betcha they were saying he just needs time)
2010 - 27th
2011 - 11th I think you have to give him this year, I can't find anything that shows this to be a fluke, they had a tough schedule and the D did well. You could argue that this was a Wayne Fonts sort of thing where a team was playing as much for their long term coach (DelRio who was on the hot seat and fired) as much as Mel at DC though (Wayne made it years with Detroit just getting by when the pressure got high enough).
2012 - 29th

There are some successes but I would argue that they could be explained by him being in the right place at the right time and both big successes (2005 & 2011, when they almost cracked the top ten) came under defensive oriented head coaches. This guy has been promoted to the highest level of incompetence, he is the DB to DC equivalent of Lovie going from DC to Head Coach, he is out of his league.

[wab]

This doesn't have to be a top 10 defense. Top 20 would be nice though.

[UOK]

I'm not even asking that. I wouldn't care if they were bad statistically if they were at least trying their damndest. I think Peppers checked out after Lovie left. He came here for money, yes, but Lovie and Marinelli were right there waiting for him. Now he's aging, skills are diminishing, and he's contractually stuck here, so better just show up and Albert Haynesworth it for a couple years so he can retire with a fat wallet and a minimum of injuries.

[Boris13c]

I'm not even asking that. I wouldn't care if they were bad statistically if they were at least trying their damndest. I think Peppers checked out after Lovie left. He came here for money, yes, but Lovie and Marinelli were right there waiting for him. Now he's aging, skills are diminishing, and he's contractually stuck here, so better just show up and Albert Haynesworth it for a couple years so he can retire with a fat wallet and a minimum of injuries.

guess the Carolina Panther declaration of his future HoF status in his second year with them has long expired, along with his skills

as for that, can he still have an illness? remember back in September he was sent home ... "flu-like symptoms" ... but no one ever said it was the flu

http://espn.go.com/blog/chicago/bears/p ... erformance" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

and he hasn't looked right all year since then

does he still have an undisclosed illness? if so, I guess it can't be contagious or they wouldn't have him out there, right? and it sure would explain how he suddenly fell so far in effort and results

[UOK]

Nah. He's just old and bad.

[Boris13c]

Nah. He's just old and bad.

well, I wasn't trying to make excuses for him ... just thought there might be a reason for him falling off so quickly other than Haynesworth-itis

[HisRoyalSweetness]

Just to depress us all even further, the Bleacher Report includes this summary of our defensive woes:

The shocking numbers through seven games paint the once-proud Bears as one of the NFL's worst defensive units.

Think of an important stat for describing defensive aptitude, and the Bears are likely at or near the bottom of the league in that category. Chicago currently ranks 29th in points per game (29.4), 27th in yards per game (391.0), 24th in first downs allowed (147), 27th in passing yards per game (273.7), 27th in completion percentage allowed (66.4), 32nd in yards per attempt (8.7), 32nd in sacks (nine), 24th in rushing yards per game (117.3), 27th in rushing touchdowns allowed (eight), 31st in 20-yard plays allowed (34) and 28th in third down percentage (44.3).

Taken over a smaller sample size, one could dismiss the Bears' rankings as nothing more than a temporary abberation. But Chicago has now played seven games—nearly half a season—and the same problems that were plaguing this defense early on are still readily present now.

In fact, after season-ending injuries to Henry Melton, D.J. Williams and Nate Collins, as well as nagging ailments for Charles Tillman and Briggs, the issues have only accelerated the defensive regression.

Over the team's first three games—each ending in a win—Chicago allowed 24.7 points and 383 yards per contest. Those are far from great numbers, but they were good enough for the Bears offense to overcome.

Over the last four contests, however, those numbers have ballooned to 33 and 397, respectively, and the Bears went just 1-3 during that stretch.

A defensive line that features Julius Peppers, Corey Wootton and former first-round pick Shea McClellin has been one of the NFL's worst fronts at creating pressure this season. Through eight weeks, Chicago has the fewest overall sacks (nine) and the fewest sacks from the defensive line (four).

While Briggs was having another strong season, Chicago's three original starters—including James Anderson—combined to miss 25 tackles over the first seven games, per Pro Football Focus.

According to Pro Football Focus only the Jaguars' tandem has graded out worse in 2013 than Wright and Conte. Combined, the two have missed 15 tackles and have allowed a completion percentage of over 70 when they have been targeted. Opposing quarterbacks also have a passer rating of nearly 130.0 when targeting the safety duo this season. Wright has given up a 20-yard pass play in six of his seven games this season, and Conte has allowed an opposing passer rating of over 100.0 in three of his last four games.

[bearsfaninaz]

Sweet stats! (If your an offense playing against the Bears that is). Maybe tucker more to blame than originally thought.

[KOP_Snake]

We owe him no loyalty. Shithead has to go.