Billings, Jarrett set tone for Bears’ revamped defensive front

Ariana Pensy · Correspondent · 11 hours ago

CHICAGO - Defensive tackle Andrew Billings was sorely missed after he suffered a pectoral injury against the Arizona Cardinals in week nine, resulting in him being out the rest of the season. The run defense severely declined and finished as one of the worst in the league.

During the offseason, Chicago signed veteran interior defensive lineman Grady Jarrett to help with this problem. Jarrett spent his first 10 years in the league with the Atlanta Falcons before signing with the Bears. While he has watched his offense play against Dennis Allen’s defense from when Allen was the defensive coordinator and head coach of the New Orleans Saints, this will be his first time learning Allen’s scheme.

Billings also has not been coached by Allen before, so this is a learning experience for both of them.

“I’m (going to) learn a lot from him … Grady has brought something different to the room and it’s really refreshing … “We’re just trying to learn the defense and get better. So, we’re not letting anything slide right now,” Billings said. “I think what we’ve done great is we got into the playbook and we gotten through the whole thing. So, we’ll get to come back and do it again. It’ll be round two. I think we’ve (set) the standard, set the tone and so, we get back, we already know where we’re at, where we need to do and where we need to be. I think it’s been a great start.”

The 2024 season marked Billings’ second season with the Bears. His improvement from year one to year two in Chicago was noticeable, particularly in the pass rush. Billings recorded his first career forced fumble along with his first sack since 2022.

He also had three quarterback hits, more than he had in 2023 when he played all 17 games.

“Last year, I was working on my pass rush. This year, I’m still working on something new because I can’t just go out there and do the same thing. So, I think with this defense, I’ll be able to do a lot more, actually, as far as pass rush. I got a little bit more freedom,” Billings said. “Right now, he’s in that mindset of he’s learning how to not only just beat somebody athletically, but beat them mentally. So, he kind of got to figure that on his own, but he’s doing good at that.”

As one of the older defensive linemen on the Bears at 30 years old, Billings is also a leader to some of the other players in the room, including Gervon Dexter. Dexter is going into his third season and is also increasing his leadership role with Chicago’s rookies, including rookie Shemar Turner. With the increased depth the Bears have this year at the defensive line, they could be better both in pass defense and run defense.

Going into his rookie season, quarterback Caleb Williams struggled with the cadence in minicamp and throughout training camp. That was also a struggle for him during the season.

During minicamp this year, Billings could see Williams improving his cadence and even getting a few players to jump in.

“I think he’s working on it. I think he’s taking it day-by-day,” Billings said. “He started off, earlier on during this time and as of today, he’s actually gotten better and he’s gotten a few guys offsides with it too. So, he’s getting good at it.”