LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- Fresh off one of his most impactful performances of the 2012 season, Chicago Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher says there's still room to grow for the club's defense as it prepares for Sunday's matchup against the Carolina Panthers.
[+] Enlarge David Banks/Getty ImagesBrian Urlacher's Bears defense is the stingiest in the NFL, allowing 13 points a game.
Urlacher contributed seven tackles, including one for lost yardage, in addition to gobbling up a fumble in the third quarter Monday night that played a role in Chicago's 13-7 win over the Detroit Lions.
"We're always gonna say we can do better," Urlacher said. "Third down we weren't very good. So we can always get better there. (We) can always get more sacks. We missed some opportunities (against the Lions)."
Urlacher says it's time the defense did a better job of capitalizing.
That's not to say the unit hasn't done an impressive job through the first six games. After all, the defense, statistically, is the stingiest in the league in terms of points allowed (13 per game). They've also scored five touchdowns, and lead the NFL in takeaways (21).
Furthermore, the Bears nabbed five of their takeaways in the red zone, which ranks as tops in the NFL.
"We're not even No. 1 in the NFL on defense because it goes by yards, which doesn't mean a lot to us," Urlacher said. "Points and takeaways, all that stuff means a lot to us. They're getting recognition because of all the big plays we've had, and that's good. That's the way it should happen."
Still, Urlacher isn't satisfied, and credits the offense with putting the defense in advantageous situations by building leads.
"Most of the games haven't been close," Urlacher said. "We haven't been on the field a lot as a defense. Our offense has run the ball pretty well, converted on third down, and I don't think they get enough credit for how much we haven't been on the field."
When they are on the field, Urlacher believes the key to the group's fast start has been better overall knowledge of the system, considering the 2012 version of the defense features largely the same personnel as last season.
"We know what we're doing. We've run a lot of Cover 1, Cover 2. We haven't blitzed a lot. When we've wanted to, we've blitzed," Urlacher said. "And we're doing things the right way; we're not making mistakes. We're letting teams make all the mistakes. We go for the football and haven't made a lot of mistakes, and when we do make one, we rally to the football and overcome those mistakes."
I'm getting to that age where a lifetime warranty just doesn't mean as much to me anymore as an afternoon nap.
Honey Badger Don't Care. Honey Badger Don't Give a Shit.
I don't if we have a right to expect them to play much better than they did against Detroit but if Brian believes they can that that's all good with me. I guess the pass rush could get a little more dominating and actually I think it will. We have enough to depth to wear teams down and as the season progresses teams will lose a few guys to injury or just get plain old weary and then there will be more opportunities.
I look at it this way. Each team we play pretty much plays the same five lineman against every team every game so by the end of the season those guys have played close to 1000 snaps just in the regular season. Pep is on the field more than any other DLineman we have and he's averaging playing on just over 70% of those snaps. So our guys are probably playing 500 to 700 snaps per year versus the guys their playing against playing 1000 or more. We're fresher.
I think that showed up big time in the NFC Championship game last year. The Giants came at the Pack in waves with fresh guys able to rotate in and take the place of the others. I even saw how much of a difference that made for our guys in the Lions game when Pep and Paea were able to chase Stafford down near the end of the game and cause that last pick. Normally Stafford could outrun them but he was bushed and so were his lineman. They were pushing by then and not blocking anymore so we kept the pressure on.
We also have to look at the fact that McClellin are both essentially rookies and Paea isn't much more than that. Those guys should get even better yet as the season goes on. I'm just waiting to see Paea knifing through a double team like he did against Minny last year and caused that safety. There's still a lot to his game he hasn't shown yet.
But I think that's the key. If we can keep the injuries from hitting us and the line and Conte and Wright keep improving this defense will hit it's peak late in the year just like NY's did last year and defenses still win Championships.
I'm getting to that age where a lifetime warranty just doesn't mean as much to me anymore as an afternoon nap.
Honey Badger Don't Care. Honey Badger Don't Give a Shit.
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David Banks/Getty ImagesBrian Urlacher's Bears defense is the stingiest in the NFL, allowing 13 points a game.
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