Column: How can the Chicago Bears defense close out opponents? Playing better in the 1st half is a great place to start.

The history of the Chicago Bears is steeped in a tradition laid by some of the greatest defensive players the NFL has seen.

Alan Williams referenced that tradition when the Bears hired him to run that side of the ball, and the defensive coordinator leaned on that again in a meeting with players Tuesday morning, two days before the Bears host the Washington Commanders at Soldier Field.

Williams told the players they need to be able to close out games. Those comments followed a 29-22 loss Sunday in Minnesota in which the Vikings drove 75 yards in 17 plays over seven minutes to score the winning touchdown.

“I told the guys today again: ‘We’re the Chicago Bears. We need to end ballgames. That’s what great defenses do,’” Williams said.

To be better positioned to slam the door on opponents, the Bears should focus on starting better defensively. Entering Week 6, only the Seattle Seahawks (82) have allowed more first-half points than the Bears and Arizona Cardinals (80 each). As a result, the Bears (2-3) have trailed at halftime in all five games.

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While the Seahawks and Cardinals haven’t been much better in the second half, the Bears have been stingy after halftime. When Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins pushed ahead for a 1-yard run with 2:26 remaining Sunday, it was the first touchdown the Bears have allowed in the second half this season. They have allowed 12 points in the third quarter and 14 in the fourth.

“If I knew the answer, I’d tell you,” linebacker Nicholas Morrow said of the drastic difference. “We’ve just got to come out earlier and execute at a higher rate. I don’t know if there is any true answer to it because it’s not a different set of players on the field in the second half than it is in the first. It’s the same players, same coaching staff. We’ve got to figure it out.”

Falling behind 21-3 in 1½ quarters in Minnesota and going down 24-7 in the first half in Green Bay makes it difficult to respond for an offense trying to find its way. The Bears rallied from a 7-0 halftime deficit against the San Francisco 49ers in Week 1 and from 14-13 against the Houston Texans in Week 3.

The biggest issue facing the defense is it’s struggling to get off the field. The Vikings converted five third downs on the final drive and were 12-for-15 (80%) on third down overall, the highest single-game percentage the Bears have allowed in team history.

The Bears are last in the NFL in third-down defense, allowing opponents to convert 50.7%. For perspective, the team’s worst season in that category was 1995, when opponents converted at a 46.5% clip.

Cousins played pitch and catch with wide receiver Justin Jefferson at the start of the game — accounting for seven completions for 75 yards in the first quarter — before Williams said he switched to more two-high safety looks. There’s good news in that cornerback Jaylon Johnson, who missed the previous three games with a quadriceps injury, is expected to return to face the Commanders.

Williams said he must do a better job of calling games, but there’s player responsibility as well.

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“We took a look at some of the same plays (on the) first three (touchdown) drives and then the last couple before the half and then coming out of halftime. Some of the same plays just executed a little bit better,” Williams said. “So there were some adjustments, a little bit more of one thing than another, but not any big scheme type of things.”

The struggles of the run defense — the Bears rank 31st after moving ahead of the Seahawks last week — are contributing to the first-half and third-down issues. It’s all tied together. What offers hope is the defense has played very well at times.

The disparity in first-half and second-half statistics is uncanny. The Bears have allowed only 26 points in the second half, which ranks fifth behind the Buffalo Bills (7), Cincinnati Bengals (21), Indianapolis Colts (23) and Denver Broncos (25). The same players have performed in the same scheme — they’re just finding it hard to put an entire game together.

“It’s about coming out firing, like how we do in the second half with that chip on our shoulder,” linebacker Roquan Smith said. “We have to start that in the first half because with what the results say from the second half, the numbers speak for themselves. It’s about starting hot as opposed to waiting until somebody hits you in the month and then starting.”