**LAKE FOREST, Ill. —** D’Marco Jackson has been in these meetings. The [Chicago Bears](https://www.nola.com/tncms/asset/editorial/a00c67b4-0429-4c67-a1e3-d629f90f3b7d/) linebacker knows what to expect. The pop quizzes. The push to make sure players are paying attention. You'd better be locked in, because they fly in at any moment. And you _don’t_ want to be on the wrong side.
Jackson understands the way [Dennis Allen](https://www.nola.com/tncms/asset/editorial/641206b7-a1df-4a50-9b78-288c1d746d9e/) operates.
“It just makes you like a kid in class, like ‘Oh, is he about to call on you?’” Jackson said. “You ready? You’ve got to answer the question.”
Jackson has avoided being the target of an Allen inquiry this season, but the surprise tests have not caught him off-guard. The fourth-year linebacker watched the Bears defensive coordinator use the same tricks in meetings when they were together in New Orleans, when Allen was the Saints’ head coach and Jackson was trying to find his spot in the league.
The same can’t be said for the rest of Jackson’s teammates, who are still picking up on the approach.
“DA,” Chicago cornerback Nahshon Wright said, “he’s super intense.”
Allen’s intensity had become a staple in New Orleans, perhaps to the point that it had worn out its welcome by the end.
At this mark a season ago, Allen and the Saints suffered a loss so bad that Amazon Prime analyst Richard Sherman remarked that the black and gold played like they wanted their coach fired. Denver Broncos coach Sean Payton had humiliated his successor in prime time, and Allen’s tenure never recovered. He was dismissed two weeks later, once the Saints’ losing streak hit seven.
Contrast that with this Sunday, when Allen prepares to face his former team after the Bears recorded their biggest win of the season — also in prime time. Allen may no longer be a head coach, but his unit came up big in the Monday night victory over the Washington Commanders. The Bears forced three takeaways to extend their season total to 12, the second-most in the NFL.
If Allen holds any grudge toward the Saints for his firing, he won’t say so publicly. Sure, he did not even get a full three years at the helm, going 18-25, but Allen will note that 15 of his 24 seasons as a coach in the NFL came in New Orleans. He has too many memories not to think fondly of the place.
Left unsaid: His current role as a coordinator might be better suited for him than his last job, anyway. Not that Allen has any interest in reflecting on his time leading the Saints.
“Yeah, look, I appreciate the question,” Allen said with a smile when asked what ultimately went wrong in New Orleans. “I don’t think I’m going to go there. Let’s just focus on what we’ve got going on now.”
### ‘Just DA’
Saints cornerback Rejzohn Wright calls his brother every day.
So when he found out that Nahshon would be joining the Bears and the cornerback would have the opportunity to be coached by Allen, Rejzohn wanted to share as much as he could. He told his brother to be ready to play physically, practice hard and “be up in people’s face.”
The details could only go so far.
“He found out quickly how DA is,” Rejzohn said.
“DA doesn’t take no excuses, no apologies,” Nahshon said.
Standing in the Bears’ locker room, Nahshon gushed about many of Allen’s same qualities that Rejzohn did days earlier in a building almost 1,000 miles away. The brothers see Allen as an aggressive coach who instills confidence and holds players accountable to the standard he expects. For Rejzohn, that meant believing in him as an undrafted free agent after stints with two other teams. For Nahshon, that means appreciating how demanding Allen can be.
Coincidentally, the Wrights aren’t the only pair of brothers Allen has coached between New Orleans and Chicago. Saints linebacker Nephi Sewell gave his brother Noah plenty of pointers about playing linebacker under Allen.
Asked about the connections, Allen said he hadn’t given the topic much thought. But in a way, that makes sense. Allen has spent the last few months installing his scheme and finding ways to match that to his players’ skillsets.
That’s how Allen coaches. Sometimes, figuring out the personnel takes precedence over the personal.
“Shockingly, I ain’t have much of a relationship with him,” Saints cornerback Isaac Yiadom said. “I’m not going to lie. We didn’t share many words. I just played in the system. He was my head coach.”
As he finished his sentence, Yiadom turned to teammate Jordan Howden.
“You ever talk to DA, really?” he asked.
“He wasn’t a talker,” Howden said.
“Yeah!” Yiadom said. “I don’t know if anybody ... I don’t know. He was just DA.”
That’s not to say Allen failed to form a connection with any of his players. Saints defensive end Cam Jordan said Allen is always “going to be one of my guys,” while linebacker Demario Davis said he “definitely enjoyed my time” with the coach. Those are two prominent leaders. And even lesser-known players like Nephi Sewell and Rejzohn Wright said they’ve had an opportunity to catch up with Allen since his departure. Rejzohn chatted with Allen briefly when he was in an elevator with Nahshon as the brothers were on the phone a few weeks ago.
But it does raise a fascinating question: Did the approach have anything to do with Allen’s lack of success as a head coach in New Orleans?
Asked this, Yiadom said he didn’t think so, because every coach has his own way of coaching. Some coaches don’t have much to say outside of the work itself, he said.
In any event, the Bears are glad to have him.
“He’s been a Godsend to me,” said Bears coach Ben Johnson, a first-time head coach, “because he's been incredible, not just from coordinating the defense, but he's helped me every step of the way as well.
“So, very grateful for him to be here and everything that he's done for this team up to date. He's been a very successful coach in this league for a long time.”
When Sewell watches his brother play for the Bears, he recognizes what the defense’s call is based on whether the linebacker raises his right or left hand.
Saints coach Kellen Moore said this week that Allen has added new wrinkles to his scheme, as you’d expect coaches to do from year to year. But at its core, the Bears’ defense is what New Orleans deployed for almost 10 years. Press man coverage. Defensive ends crashing down hard. Exotic pre-snap disguises with plenty of different fronts.
For the Bears, Year 1 of Allen’s system is very much a work in progress.
“My brother won’t buy in — he don’t want to be physical,” Rejzohn Wright said with a laugh. “That’s why we’re going to beat the Bears.”
Playful trash-talking aside, Chicago’s defense has struggled in ways that are familiar to anyone who watched the Saints over the last few seasons. The Bears have struggled to stop the run, allowing the second-most rushing yards per game with 156.4. Chicago allows explosives at the seventh-highest rate. Opponents have scored the sixth-most points per game and gained the seventh-most yards.
But remember, it took time for Allen’s units to coalesce in New Orleans — even when he was a successful coordinator. And the Bears have started to make steady progress of late. For one, they’ve gotten healthier, with veterans T.J. Edwards and Kyler Gordon returning to the lineup. And against the Commanders, Chicago held Washington’s well-refined rushing attack to under 4 yards per carry and forced two fumbles.
“Even though we are getting takeaways every single week, I feel like we’re getting better at something new every single week,” Bears defensive end Montez Sweat said. “We’re adding a new play every week or a new scheme.
“It almost seems like the defense is never-ending, almost.”
That’s Allen. Sweat said he’s talked with Saints defensive end Chase Young, his former teammate in Washington, about the complexities of Allen’s fronts for the defensive line. As an edge rusher, Sweat has found he’s “definitely got to be more disciplined” and create a pass rush plan within the scheme.
“I like him,” Sweat said of Allen. “He brings a very different style of defense to the game.”
At Halas Hall on Thursday, there was a brief moment when Allen sounded like the Saints coach once again. He talked about the strength of New Orleans’ offensive line, as well as Spencer Rattler’s mobility. He praised wide receiver Chris Olave’s “exceptional routes” and raved about Rashid Shaheed’s progress.
But he said these things while wearing a Bears shirt and a Bears visor in front of a Bears backdrop.
Allen made clear that he watched the Saints’ offense. But out of curiosity, did he turn on the tape of his old unit at all?
“No,” Allen said.
The former Saints coach smiled again and then walked off the podium. There was another practice to get ready for, in another city that's now his home.