Dennis Allen shaping Bears' identity: "Speed, violence, aggressiveness"

Ariana Pensy · Correspondent · Monday, August 04 2025

CHICAGO - Defensive coordinator Dennis Allen is a demanding coach. But his demanding attitude generates results. Allen has led some talented defenses throughout his years in the NFL, and he has ample talent to work with this year in Chicago.

Despite the talent on the Bears’ roster last season, they struggled to stop the run and generate sacks. The issues in the run defense got much worse after defensive lineman Andrew Billings went down for the season. Chicago added Grady Jarrett in the offseason to help with this.

That seems to be working since Allen is confident in the pass rush right now.

“I think the pass rush has been good and I think this. A lot of people talk about pass rush or pass coverage. Those don’t happen mutually exclusive. They have to work together and so for us to have a really good pass rush, we have to have good pass defense. We have to be able to disrupt routes. We have to be able to change the timing of the routes,” Allen said.

“So, it’s not just about our ability to rush the passer and vice versa. We can be as good as we want to covering these routes. But, if we can’t win one-on-one matchups up front and be able to get the quarterback off the spot, we’re going to struggle in pass defense. So, I think those things have to work together and I think overall, throughout the course of camp, I’ve been pretty pleased with where that’s at.”

Furthermore, there is competition all around the defense, including the No. 2 cornerback position. Jaylon Johnson is obviously in the top position. However, Tyrique Stevenson and Terell Smith are in a battle for the spot behind him.

Allen stated neither player has an edge right now as the position is up for grabs.

“I think it’s completely up for grabs,” Allen said. “I think that’s how you develop the very best defense that you can, is create as much competition as you can and let the tape make the decision, and that’s really what it’s about.”

Training camp is barely over a week in, but Allen has seen improvements even though there has been a lot of installation thus far.

Specifically, he has seen the secondary play tighter coverage, which is essential for his scheme to work.

“The guys are working hard. They’re continuing to improve. We still got a long way to go, but I like the direction that we’re headed. Guys are locked in. I think the best thing that I’ve seen from our group is that I’ve seen a lot of improvement from where we were in the springtime and that’s what you really want to see. Guys get accomplished throughout the course of whether it be the offseason program, OTAs, minicamp, now into training camp. We haven’t had to really take a step back. We’re giving them a lot of stuff. There’s a ton for them to digest,” Allen said. “But, those guys are doing a really good job of understanding what we’re asking them to do and then we’re continuing to work on how we have to do it, the way that we’re going to play defense and so I think that’s what training camp’s really all about. Obviously, there’s an aspect of understanding the scheme.

"But, I think as much as anything, it’s about just teaching them the way that we’re going to play defense - the speed, the violence, the aggressiveness, how we’re going to get up and challenge. I think that’s been the biggest thing and I’ve seen improvements in that regard. I think our coverage aspect (has) been a lot more clean, a lot stickier than it was in the spring. So, that’s good to see and that’s a big part of what we do.”