Montez Sweat Returns to Defense Getting Its Sacks From Kyler Gordon

On Friday as the Bears bid farewell to tight end Cole Kmet for the season, they welcomed the return of the player with the biggest contract on their roster.

Oh yeah, Montez Sweat. Remember him? He was reinstated by the commissioner after his suspension for a performance enhancing drug policy violation.

Their pass rush hasn't exactly collapsed without the player regarded as their leading pass rusher. If anything can be said for Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen, it's that he knows how to make lemonade out of lemons, and he did it once again by using subs and with blitzes.

Allen went to more blitzing and switched up the fronts repeatedly over the last two weeks without Sweat available, and also with Dayo Odeyingbo on injured reserve with a quad injury. The pressure actually amped up. Largely, it's the result of getting Kyler Gordon back and blitzing their slot cornerback, along with other DBs or linebackers.

Gordon has four sacks in two games, or as The Athletic's Dan Wiederer pointed out in the locker room after Thursday's win, the Bears DB has four sacks in five days.

It makes you wonder what Gordon can do with 10 games and numerous days still to go. And with Sweat now rejoining the rush to often line up on the same side of the field as Gordon, double-teaming the edge rusher might not be possible if a team wants to block a blitzing DB.

In case you're counting or thinking of it, the NFL record for sacks by a defensive back in a season is 9 1/2 by Jamal Adams with Seattle in 2020.

"That's only four," Gordon said after Thursday's game. "That's not enough."

It's twice as many as Sweat had in five games, in case anyone is counting. Gordon has tied teammate Austin Booker for the team lead, and it's Allen he has to thank for it.

"I appreciate it man," Gordon said. "I couldn't wait to do this together. I appreciate him putting me in a position to do that and that's just the beginning, so. ..."

The blitzing Bears are going to be a thing even with Sweat returning. This was apparent in the playoffs last year as Allen finally had Gordon available after only three games played in the 17-game regular season due to injuries. He turned Gordon loose on the Rams and it worked to a large extent.

While Gordon missed games with a calf injury this year, Allen didn't really say much about his slot cornerback returning before he was ready. Allen just made do with what he had, the same way he has done it without Sweat for two weeks and the way he did it without numerous players in the past.

Aggressive Bears approach regardless

The Allen defense with more speed now should be aggressive regardless of who they have on the field. They currently rank eighth in sacks per game at 2.7. That's probably a better stat to look at than sack total because some teams have played two less games than the Bears at this point. The positive is their pass rush win rate, which was near or at the bottom of the league most of last year, has risen dramatically. They rank sixth in this ESPN analytic, at 57%.

Allen has blitzed the eighth highest percentage at 34.2% through seven games, per Pro Football Reference. Unlike in some other seasons when they supplemented no rush with blitzing, the Bears are getting pressure. They are fifth in pressure percentage at 28%.

"I think these guys, they're really coming in there," coach Ben Johnson said. "I think they're building their confidence, too. I think they know that they can be pretty good.

"When you have these guys running free, I think they believe in the scheme. They see that, ‘Holy cow, DA's doing a great job scheming this stuff up, and we're coming in free for some sacks here.' I think we're heading in the right direction.”

It shows in overall defensive statistics heading into Sunday's games. The Bears are 11th in yards allowed, but it's actually less because they have a game or even two on some teams. They're eighth in points allowed and eighth in scoring on offense. They've allowed the second fewest first downs (107) even though they have played more games than all teams except New England.

The pressure can eventually lead to more takeaways.

Takeaways are next

Everything hinges on what has been an effective run defense so far. They're sixth against the run a year after they were 27th. Of course, they're not not leading in takeaways like last year, as they're 13th with 10, but Johnson sees that coming if the pressure and the run defense on first and second downs continues at this pace.

"I do think there's an element of the more off schedule we can get offenses on first down, the better off we're going to be in terms of ending their drive," Johnson said. "I hate to look back at last year, but we're a better defense than we were a year ago.

"The biggest difference is we're not taking the ball away quite as much at this point of the season. If we can continue to harp on that ball production and getting those takeaways, I think you're going to see some really good defensive play, some more consistent defensive play."

And it can't hurt getting back their No. 1 pass rusher, even if he is only No. 4 now on the team in sacks with two.

Perhaps now they can used Gordon a little more at what he's there to do, and that's cover slot receivers. But not too much. They don't want to let QBs get too comfortable.