New Bears’ head coach Ben Johnson’s coaching staff is coming together a week after his hiring last Monday. This past weekend, Johnson made his most important defensive hire, hiring veteran coordinator Dennis Allen as Chicago’s new defensive coordinator. Although Allen was fired midseason last year as Saints’ head coach, he is regarded as one of the best defensive play-callers in the NFL, with his ability to get consistent pass-rush from his defensive line a proven asset.
Dennis Allen has a proven history of generating consistent pass-rush from his defensive line
The hiring of Dennis Allen as the Bears’ new defensive coordinator is vital in many different ways, but the most significant is the fact that the defensive scheme and personnel will remain the same. Allen deploys a 4-3 defensive scheme with many basics of a Cover-2 defense being used in the play-calling, which is what former Bears’ head coach Matt Eberflus utilized over the past three years. Staying with a 4-3 defensive base, saves Chicago and general manager Ryan Poles from having to dedicate more time and resources to change the defensive personnel completely had they hired a coordinator who would have chosen to deploy a 3-4 scheme.
Although the core themes of the personnel and defensive scheme will remain the same for Allen, he must succeed where Ebeflus continually struggled during his tenure with the Bears, which was consistent and reliable pass-rush pressure for the defensive line. During the last three seasons, Chicago only had one defensive lineman record more than six sacks during that time, which was Montez Sweat who generated six sacks in eight games in 2023. Additionally, The Bears defense only had two defensive linemen generate more than five sacks in the same season only once in the past three years.
The defensive line pass-rush inconsistencies are even more significant when it comes to how important generating pressure is to the Cover-2 scheme. The defensive scheme relies immensely on the defensive line to pressure and hurry the opposing quarterback to allow the back seven defenders to drop back in pass defense, resulting in an increased opportunity for an interception. Dennis Allen’s defense has been one of the most consistent and reliable units when it comes to creating pass-rush pressure on a constant basis.
During Allen’s last three seasons as the Saints’ head coach, his defense featured one defensive lineman who recorded seven or more sacks. Even more impressive was that Allen’s defense featured a different lineman each year who would eclipse the seven sacks mark, even with perennial Pro Bowl defensive end Cameron Jordan. The former New Orleans’ head coach had a keen eye for talent as his defense has featured several different Pro Bowl talents, including Chase Young, Trey Hendrickson, Marcus Davenport, and Jordan.
Allen’s consistent defensive line pass-rush pressure is truly impressive, as during his time as a defensive play-caller for the Saints, the defense featured two or more linemen with six sacks or more from 2018 to 2023. Additionally, during Dennis Allen’s time as defensive coordinator before taking over for Sean Payton as head coach, the Saints made the playoffs four straight years from 2017 to 2020. Although the defensive play-caller didn’t have much success as a head coach, his defensive success has been proven through his decade of experience as a defensive coach.
Dennis Allen will need to identify talent that will allow for a reliable pass-rush from the defensive line
The most significant task Allen will be task with this offseason before the start of the 2025 NFL season will be able to identify defensive line talent and coach that talent to success. Although the defensive coordinator will have a Pro Bowl talent in Sweat, the goal will be to either get young defensive linemen already on the team to perform better or find talent via the draft and free agency that will generate pass-rush pressure. Given Dennis Allen’s resume, there should be significant excitement to see who the coordinator will identify as a talent that can attack the opposing quarterback.
If Allen is able to identify the defensive line talent needed to generate pass-rush pressure, it could lead to an immediate turnaround for Chicago in 2025. In 2024, there were too many instances where the Bears lost games due to a failure to stop opposing offenses by generating sacks, including the loss to the Washington Commanders and Minnesota Vikings in Week 12. With the likely improvement on offense with Johnson’s elite-level play-calling capabilities, it will be on Dennis Allen to ensure that Chicago’s defense can ensure victories by protecting any leads given by the offense.
Having an improved and sustained pass-rush will also lead to more interceptions and turnovers, given the offense more opportunities to score points. Allen’s defense has also had history of being able to generate takeaways, something that made the Saints competitive during his coaching tenure, despite having issues offense. Success will be noted, not if Dennis Allen is able to have just one defensive lineman with a massive sack total, but multiple linemen with sacks totals ranging from five to eight.
Johnson’s ability to land Dennis Allen as Chicago’s new defensive coordinator could end up being his most significant coaching hire of his Bears’ tenure if it leads to playoff or Super Bowl success. Allen, whether it was during his time in Denver or New Orleans, has had a proven resume of having reliable defenses featuring multiple pass-rushers. It is that pass-rush consistency that the Bears’ defense is in need of after several years of having inconsistencies when it comes to the defensive line.
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