Byard keeps it real: Bears secondary thriving, run defense struggling

Ariana Pensy · Correspondent · 4 hours ago

CHICAGO - Safety Kevin Byard has been in the league for a long time.

Chicago’s win against the Las Vegas Raiders was game No. 151 for Byard, and he made it count, recording two interceptions and a tackle for loss (TFL), his first TFL of the season.

“It feels great to get our first road win for sure. But at the end of the day, we’re still a 500 team. The energy obviously is good around the building. When you win two straight heading into the bye week, the self-scout feels a little bit better because you’re on a win streak. But at the end of the day, we’re still a work in progress as a team,” Byard said. “We still have so much more to get better at on all sides of the ball. So, we’re optimistic for sure. But, we’re not sitting around just resting on that going (into) this bye week. We understand that we’re still a work in progress. We got great talent. We got great players. But at the end of the day, we got to continue to get better and continue to come together as a team to continue to stack these wins like we want to.”

There is a lot to be optimistic about. Byard has three interceptions so far this season, all coming in the last two games. He is tied for first in the league in picks and already has more interceptions than he did in the 2022 and 2023 seasons combined.

In addition, the Bears are tied for second in the league in interceptions with seven. Four players have an interception, including cornerback Tyrique Stevenson, who leads the league in fumble recoveries with two; he is one of two defensive players with multiple fumble recoveries through the first four games.

However, there is also an incredibly concerning fact about the defense - they are atrocious against the run. The Chicago Bears have the worst run defense in the league, giving up an average of 6.1 yards per carry and 164.5 yards per game. They have given up over 100 rushing yards in every game this season.

Byard acknowledged that they are not getting enough penetration at the line of scrimmage, but also noted that the turnovers are certainly helpful in keeping points off the board.

“We’re not fitting up the run as well as we need to. A lot of it is also not getting enough knockback penetration with the front four, front seven, whatever it may be and then obviously on the back end, guys like myself included, when those runs do break out, we need to be able to get those guys down and (I) didn’t do a good enough job of that (Sunday) on the big (64-yard) run,” Byard said. “So, it’s everybody included. It’s not just the d-line or the linebackers. It’s all of us included. We all got to be better. But getting those takeaways is huge. Taking points off the board is huge for team success, and at the end of the day, yards are yards. You want to be able to limit those yards. But, the most important thing is getting the win and (taking) points off the board and being good in the redzone.”

Coming off the bye week, the Chicago Bears will face the Washington Commanders on Mon, Oct 13 (7:15 p.m. / ABC). Last year, the Bears gave up 168 rushing yards to the Commanders, and Bears fans would rather forget how that game ended. However, this game offers Chicago’s run defense a chance to get back on track and for the Bears to exact revenge, advancing to 3-2 on the season.