Bears secondary rated middle-of-the-pack due to inconsistency

The Chicago Bears defense was great against the run last year and bad against the pass. It’s probably no surprise, then, that the team’s secondary isn’t getting tons of love heading into the new season.

Tuesday, Chicago’s secondary was ranked 19th in the NFL and third in the NFC North by Pro Football Focus. However, PFF did note the group’s potential.

Jaylon Johnson, of course, had a breakout year last season, ranking as PFF’s top-rated cornerback. The team also added safety Kevin Byard, who has been rated as one of the best safeties in the league during his career. Last year, Byard was graded by PFF as the 23rd-best safety in the NFL but he was first as recently as 2021 and top-10 in 2022.

“Cornerbacks Kyler Gordon and Tyrique Stevenson had their ups and downs in 2023, as did safety Jaquan Brisker, but this unit could be extremely good in 2024 if it plays to its high-end abilities,” PFF wrote in its rankings.

Brisker ranked as PFF’s 48th-best safety in the league last season while Gordon and Stevenson finished as the 57th and 80th-ranked cornerbacks, respectively. Terell Smith also had a solid rookie season, grading out as the 40th-best corner in the NFL.

While Stevenson gave up a lot of catches last season, he also played a lot of tight coverage, offering some hope that he could make a big leap this season.

Additionally, if the Bears are able to create some more pressure on opposing quarterbacks, that will also significantly help the secondary.

A middle-of-the-pack ranking is probably a fair assessment at this point but the potential is there for a much better result this season.

USA Today