For the past three months it has been building — this energy, this eagerness, this edge within the new-look Chicago Bears defense. There’s a competitive spirit that has grown organically, creating an undeniable bond that has injected most of the team’s practices with the passion and intensity coaches love to see and the players love to feel.
At the end of a second spirited crossover practice with the Indianapolis Colts on Thursday night, starting linebacker T.J. Edwards explained the confidence he has in the defense he is helping to revive.
“It’s just the hunger,” Edwards said. “I feel like we go out there every day and no one is complacent about a thing. No one is satisfied with what happened the day before.”
Cornerback Kyler Gordon expressed similar sentiments Wednesday, certain the defensive struggles that helped define a 10-game losing streak to end last season have been vanquished and replaced by whatever this fire is the Bears are breathing.
“I just feel like the threshold keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger,” Gordon said. “We’ve got a lot of energy, a lot of loud mouths on our team. Guys want to go and get after it. And the energy keeps rising the closer we get toward the season.”
This week’s four-night getaway — with team bonding time that used to come with training camp away from team headquarters — has furthered the juice the defense is feeling. Edwards noticed, too, the last couple of mornings at a suburban Indianapolis hotel.
“You wake up and we’ve got the music going,” he said. “Everyone’s jumping around. It’s a great environment to be around. Honestly, it makes you want to play better for the guy next to you.”
In 23 days, the Green Bay Packers will come to Soldier Field. The Bears hope this tenacious edge continues to build.
“You’re going to see bits and pieces of it in the preseason,” Gordon said. “And once it gets going? It’s going to go.”
Here, though, is where this hype trailer needs a fast-read narration of some of the fine print. August optimism always is best experienced with a side of grounded realism. On Thursday evening, safety Eddie Jackson was missing from practice after experiencing a high-impact collision a night earlier with Colts receiver Michael Pittman. Fellow safety Jaquan Brisker also remained out, missing his eighth consecutive practice.
Linebacker Tremaine Edmunds, the Bears’ most expensive addition in a busy offseason, hasn’t practiced since Aug. 2.
And yes, defensive end DeMarcus Walker was in full pads Thursday. But he didn’t do much and admitted after practice that his urge to get back into action is driving him nuts.
“From 0 to 100,” Walker said, “I’d give it a 250. I’m so excited to see the guys make plays and our young guys continue to develop. So that eagerness (for me) is through the roof, man.”
Maybe this is why defensive coordinator Alan Williams smoothly maneuvered around a question Wednesday about whether his group was playing the way it should be at this late stage of the summer.
“I can’t answer that question,” Williams said.
This wasn’t just a longtime coach trying to downplay his unit’s growth or keep his players grounded. It was a genuine sentiment of uncertainty.
“We have starters who aren’t in there,” Williams said. “I’m looking forward to all our guys getting healthy so we can jell. I just don’t know yet.”
Neither does coach Matt Eberflus, who also declined an opportunity to offer a big-picture assessment of his starting defense as the second preseason game arrives.
“We’re really looking at individual techniques right now, honestly,” Eberflus said Thursday night. “Because you don’t have the jell or the continuity yet.”
That’s coming, we presume. Once Edmunds gets cleared from whatever injury he has that has robbed him of multiple practice opportunities. And once Walker gets a green light instead of a yellow. And once Brisker is back at work, flying around and letting his passion ooze. And once Jackson is back in the mix too.
Once all those boxes are checked, it will become easier for the Bears defense to find the chemistry and sharp communication needed for the much-anticipated climb.
Until then, and until the Bears get a handful of regular-season games of consequence behind them, there will be a significant amount of guesswork needed to figure out just how much of this preseason bark will come with a nasty bite.
Eberflus is certain his entire team got a heavy volume of significant work in the last two nights against the Colts and called the film of the two joint practices “invaluable” as the Bears coaches and front office decision makers gain a clearer understanding of the team’s strengths and deficiencies.
In Wednesday’s practice, for example, Eberflus saw his players being detailed, precise and physical during one-on-one work against the Colts. But in the team periods, that crispness and aggression dipped.
“I thought we did a better job with that (Thursday),” Eberflus said. “And that’s really what we’re searching for — to play with that speed and that precision (consistently) during team reps. We’re not there yet. We certainly have a lot of work to do.”
There is not a lot of time to do it all before Week 1. So yes, the Bears will need both patience and progress in the coming weeks to continue channeling their building energy in the right direction. Walker, for one, hopes he can be back at it soon, enlivening the pass rush and bringing his exuberance to the field. From the sidelines, he has appreciated what has been building.
“It’s just the tenacity of it, the enthusiasm,” he said. “It’s the foundation that Flus and Alan set to let the leadership grow. … We all have that love and that passion. The younger guys have no choice but to follow.”
Walker is eager for the day when he and Yannick Ngakoue are terrorizing opposing offensive lines off the edge, when Justin Jones is denting the pocket, when Edmunds and Edwards are patrolling the middle of the field, when a confident secondary led by Gordon, Jackson, Brisker and Jaylon Johnson are becoming more opportunistic. That’s why Walker smiled so wide Thursday night.
“I want to see all the gangsters together — with everybody healthy and everybody of one mind,” he said.
That certainly sounds promising.