Entering year four of the Matt Nagy era, Sean Desai will be the Chicago Bears‘ third defensive coordinator in four seasons and tasked with getting the Bears’ defense back to the top. One advantage Desai has over first-year defensive coordinator’s is familiarity with the defense. Having been with Chicago since 2013, Desai has seen the defense built up and perform at a high level.
Chicago will be returning 10 of 11 starters in 2021, including the safety tandem of Eddie Jackson and Tashaun Gipson, giving the Bears continuity on the backend of the defense.
“I think Sean is one of the brighter young minds in the game so to have him as my defensive coordinator, I definitely understand what he can bring to the table,” Gipson said via the Bears official YouTube channel. “And with the talent he got on defense, it’s going to be a beautiful thing to see.”
While Desai will have his own defensive schemes, there will be some shades of Vic Fangio’s defense, something that will be a key factor in determining how Chicago’s defense performs in 2021, especially considering Fangio’s 2018 defense was the best in the NFL. In order for Desai to really excel, he’ll need to put his players in a position to succeed on any given play.
“A guy who’s going to let us playmakers make plays. And that’s one of the things, he’s not going to handicap nobody on defense,” Gipson said. “I think that with a guy like Sean, you see that everyone gon’ be able to make plays, from the safeties to the corners to the linebackers to the d-line and when you have a defense that’s rich in talent like the Chicago Bears defense, where you got guys capable of changing the game on every level, having a guy like Sean is huge because you have a guy who can truly put every guy in position to make a game-changing play at some point in the game.”
Gipson’s statement is accurate: Playmakers make plays. However, to make plays, playmakers need to be put in positions to succeed, something that is a staple of any great coach. Statistically, Chicago’s defense has regressed in takeaways and sacks over the last two seasons, however, with a more aggressive defensive scheme in 2021, veterans like Gipson should contribute to a defensive resurgence.