The description Montez Sweat gave of the system coordinator Dennis Allen uses is a cause for concern, both for the Bears but eventually their opponents.
Asked Wednesday at OTAs for his assessment of the new Bears defensive coordinator, Sweat offered up a somewhat unusual, even disturbing answer.
“He is a very complex individual," Sweat said. "He has a lot of fronts and schemes and things that he can attack the offense with. He’s a great guy. Smart.”
The answer required probing and Sweat's comment was more about what Allen is asking of players than his personality.
“Well, I'm saying that I’m trying to learn a new defense right now," Sweat said. "So, it presents its challenges, different fronts, different blitzes, different, different coverages and things like that. It’s just more than I have had to learn in the past.
"He’s definitely a little bit more complex than other DCs I have worked with in the past.”
It sounds as if Sweat is having some problems immediately with what coach Ben Johnson had said they would all benefit from and that's getting comfortable with feeling uncomfortable. Things are different now with the new scheme than when the more simple Matt Eberflus approach of single gap attackers.
If Sweat is finding this tough, it stands to reason it will be difficult for other Bears on defense to quickly fit into the Allen way of doing things.
However, this also means when they do get it they will have a big edge because they'll understand what's going on but their opponents will be at a loss.
It seems veteran free agent acquisition Grady Jarrett is able to help out players on the defensive front who haven't played a scheme quite like Allen's.
“Grady has brought a lot of leadership and experience to the room," Sweat said. "He helps out the young guys a lot. He’s also kind of played in this type before. And some players haven't, including me.
"So he's helping out in that aspect too. So yeah, Grady is a big help right now.”
Regardless of his own initial trouble picking up the defensive system, Sweat does think they're on the path toward success.
“Yeah, I definitely feel like we're on the right track," he said. "You could do all the hooting and hollering before the season and all that type of stuff."
The Bears defense did plenty of that last year in preseason.
"It all comes down to what's happening on Sundays. Are we winning? Are we losing?" Sweat said. "So we'll bring the judging board out there then.”
If it gets Sweat freed up for more than the team-high 5 1/2 sacks he had last year, he'll no doubt find it more satisfying than last season.
“We didn’t make the playoffs," Sweat said. "Some of my personal goals that I didn’t meet. Yeah, it was just a disappointing year.”
Some excuses have been made for Sweat about injuries, particularly a painful shin injury he fought through. Pro Football Focus had Sweat graded 31st out of 32 edge players despite having the biggest Bears contract.
“I mean, I don't really dwell on it too much," he said of the injuries. "Football is a game where it’s not if you’re going to get hurt but when.
"So you’ve got to deal with those things and just move forward. I’m sure that won’t be my last injury. So I’m just going to be ready for that when it presents itself again."
Neither that nor the change in scheme seem likely to get in Sweat's way.
“Football is football," he said. "I'm just probably playing from another alignment or from another stance, but at the end of the day I was brought here to affect the QB and that's what I intend on doing it.”
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