Walt Harris thought about the question, and his answer could have applied to the entire Bears defense as well as himself.
The question: How would the 1996 No. 1 draft choice describe his four years as a Bear?
“The last four years, the No. 1 word for me has been `inconsistent,'” Harris said. “That’s what my plan is for this year–to be consistent at making plays I’m capable of doing.”
That would be a good plan for his compatriots too. Last season the defense held Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers to one touchdown and two field goals in a Bears win at Lambeau Field.
The week before the Bears had trailed 31-0 at halftime to Washington. The week after defeating Green Bay they gave up 459 yards to Minnesota.
The Bears began the season aggressively and finished it tentatively. So they spent more than $50 million on new defensive players–end Phillip Daniels, cornerback Thomas Smith, linebacker Brian Urlacher, safeties Mike Brown and Shawn Wooden.
The goal of this off-season and preseason has been to return to the aggressiveness, particularly in pass coverage, the disaster area of 1999.
“A lot of it was based on speed, matchups,” said defensive coordinator Greg Blache. “Early in the season we played a lot of `bump’ coverage, got up and jammed people and got some turnovers. When we got in the division and [faced] some of the speed in Minnesota and Green Bay, where we didn’t feel we could sit up and match them man-to-man, we had to back off and play some of the zones.
“We got away with it to a degree, but all of a sudden people began recognizing what we were doing and it became more difficult. If we’re able to mix it up, get up and bump people and stay in their faces throughout the season, it’ll make a huge difference in what we’re able to call and can get done defensively.”
If there was anything consistent about the defense last year, it was that it consistently declined. The offense scored more points in the second games against NFC Central opponents three of four times and the same (24) against Minnesota.
But the Bears defense gave up more points in second games three of four times, suggesting that their opponents had learned more about them than they had about those opponents.
It also says that the Bears indeed became less aggressive as last season went on. The struggles of Chris Hudson at free safety, a central position in Blache’s schemes and the one with the greatest scope of responsibilities, were particularly problematic and forced adjustments.
“We did what we wanted to do early last season,” Blache said. “We backed off doing what we really wanted to do as we got hurt with certain things. Hopefully, we’ll be able to put our package in and leave it intact.
“We had some things we really like that we couldn’t go to, that hopefully we’ll be able to go to now. The quality at the corner position is going to make a world of difference. That’s the biggest upgrade I see in our team.
“We hope to do more things than we did last year. But they won’t be different; they’ll be things we had in the book, just could never get to them, pull them out and use them.”
