(Photo: © David Banks-Imagn Images, 247Sports)
CHICAGO, Ill., — The Chicago Bears opened the 2025 preseason on Sunday afternoon against the Miami Dolphins in what was a back-and-forth affair between both teams. While the game ended in a tie, it still provided the coaching staff with an opportunity to evaluate the roster.
Since the start of training camp nearly three weeks ago, a consistent theme has been the physicality and aggressiveness of the defense, a unit that's embraced a completely new identity compared to last season. Sunday's preseason contest was evidence that under Allen, the entire unit is turning over a new leaf.
"There are some things that I need to clean up," said Noah Sewell. "But I do love his scheme, love being in his scheme."
While second-year pass rusher Austin Booker was a major star throughout the afternoon, other top performers included cornerbacks Josh Blackwell and Terell Smith and linebackers Noah Sewell and Ruben Hyppolite. Booker would finish the afternoon with six tackles, three sacks, four quarterback hits, three tackles for loss, and a forced fumble. Sewell and Hyppolite, both of whom have been competing for a chance to be LB3, finished the afternoon with 11 combined tackles.
"Book had himself a day," said Sewell. "What? Three sacks and a forced fumble? That boy had a day."
In the fourth quarter, with just 31 seconds left in the game, Allen called an all-out blitz as Miami faced a 4th-and-15 from the Bears 45-yard line. The result was an 11-yard sack with safety Alex Cook causing the sack and recovering the fumble in a play that led to a turnover on downs.
Cook's sack, combined with the situation the Bears faced is evidence that with Allen calling the defense, he won't be afraid to get aggressive and take a risk, especially as a total roster evaluation continues.
"Day in and day out, every day we attack the day the same," said Noah Sewell. "Physicality is highly preached in our defensive room, so we just try to uphold that."
It is worth noting that the coaching staff held most of the projected starters on defense out for the game, except third-year pro Tyrique Stevenson. While one preseason game doesn't tell the full story of just how good the defense will really be, one of the major questions the entire unit needs to answer is depth. The defense features a ton of high upside players who could serve as valuable depth pieces during the regular season.
"We're halfway through camp, and the team chemistry is really coming together," said Johnson. "I thought at times we played with the physical nature that we keep talking about and we've been practicing towards over the course of camp."
With the focus now shifting to the upcoming week, the Bears will return to Halas Hall later this week to keep preparing for the upcoming season. With the coaching staff now possessing some game tape, seeing some of the defensive changes made will be very telling about who really stood out during Sunday's matchup as the defense continues to develop its identity.
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