There were plenty of worries generated by Friday's Bears preseason finale and many Ben Johnson pointed out after the 29-27 win.
One, in particular, probably won't be an issue unless injury attrition takes a heavy toll.
That would be red zone defense.
"Defensively, it didn’t feel like we controlled the line of scrimmage very well," Johnson said after the game. "We gave up some explosive plays and some costly penalties. We couldn’t stop them when they got in the red zone. That was not good on that side."
It's true, but the Bears weren't facing the most feeble offense in the NFL. Regardless, the Bears didn't have four key members of their defense on the field due to injuries—Grady Jarrett (rest), Tremaine Edmunds (soft tissue), Jaylon Johnson (non-football injury list, leg) and Kyler Gordon (hamstring) sat.
This isn't the main reason to think they'll be more formidable in the red zone on defense.
Mahomes' first TD pass of the game 🏈
Bears @ Chiefs#NFL pic.twitter.com/Ue0TiYouFF
— 𝐀𝐅𝐂 Loki 🍿 (@TheLokiLad) August 23, 2025
Last year the Bears ranked third in the NFL in red zone defense with only two starters different than they'll have this year, Jarrett and Dayo Odeyingbo.
Beyond this, defensive coordinator Dennis Allen had put together a defense in New Orleans that mastered the red zone, even while his abilities as a head coach overall had to be questioned. The Saints led the league in 2021, were fifth in 2022 and ninth in 2024, his final full season as coordinator/head coach.
Patrick Mahomes is making the Bears defense look like Swiss cheese.
Can you imagine how the QB1 of the NFL will make them look? pic.twitter.com/6pb1bF5BlS
— JJ McCarthyism (@JJ_McCarthyism) August 23, 2025
The ability strategically and a history of success usually help but don't necessarily mean they'll be strong in the red zone.
They did show it already on the field, as well. Their second team defense did it in the first preseason game when they made a goal line stand against the Miami Dolphins' starters.
The Chiefs are COOKING the Bears defense.
It might be time to pump the brakes on the Bears.
pic.twitter.com/sRNWroNhLM
— Polymarket Football (@PolymarketBlitz) August 23, 2025
There were issues with coverage, especially from Nahshon Wright, Jaquan Brisker and T.J. Edwards at various points early in Friday's game.
They also got run on against Odeyingbo's side of the line, and this was disturbing. It's supposed to be Odeyingbo's strength to be stout against the run because he's not necessarily an edge with a great past record of producing sacks. Instead, he gave up the outside entirely so Isiah Pacheco could make his "garbage can/wall run."
Pacheco blasted off the left edge through a totally vacant area after Odeyingbo had stormed across the line outside the tackle, then crashed into the wall and a garbage can out of bounds after Jaquan Brisker got a hand on his lower leg going out of bounds.
The Bears defensive issues should be well known, and only were reinforced by the results of the first half. They need to achieve a more consistent pass rush and at the same time stop the run.
Pacheco smashes his neck against the wall and garbage cans. Looked pretty gnarly but he walked it off wow.
- cream pic.twitter.com/oVjm9No3yc
— Cream sleeve (@CSleeve16374) August 23, 2025
The game showed their man-to-man pass coverage is going to need to be watched because they've basically converted a strong zone coverage secondary 180 degrees to the opposite. Now they're likely to be in man-to-man coverage more than almost all other teams. They only had one cornerback with a Pro Football Focus grade of 60 or higher, which is about average, and that was Jeremiah Walker. He didn't even play early with the starters.
Red zone defense should be the least of their worries. If it isn't, they could have big problems.
NFL teams have until 4PM EST to cut from 90 to 53 players
▫️Approximately 1,184 players will be cut
▫️Roughly 512 will be added to Taxi Squads
▫️Leaving 672 Players that didn’t make the cut
A strong reminder of how tough it is to play in the #NFL
pic.twitter.com/N1bLpwEhKM
— Dave Heilman NFL (@DynastyDorks) August 24, 2025
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