The Bears' incessant safety dance has created more headaches than a bad '80s song on loop play. The problem seemed to have been solved last season when Chris Harris and Danieal Manning were reunited four years after starting together in the Super Bowl and mercifully solidified the position.
Then Manning was allowed to bolt to the Texans as a free agent and the Bears are back to using more combos than a jazz club.
They haven't started the same two guys in consecutive weeks through four games and are hoping Harris is back from a hamstring injury to make it five in a row Monday night in Detroit.
However, Harris tweaked his hamstring a week ago and could be battling the injury for a while, all season perhaps. The dilemma if he returns is whether to start him next to Brandon Meriweather, who has shown some of the undisciplined freelance play that got him run out of New England or Wright, who has taken more bad angles than a con man.
Adding to the confusion is the fact Harris, Meriweather and Craig Steltz all hit free agency at season's end.
The position is a major concern, not just because the Bears have blown Cover-2 coverage on deep passes in each of the last two weeks, but also because safety support is crucial in run defense.
Would the Bears be suffering as precipitous a drop against the run — they rank 23rd in the league after finishing second last year in the 32-team league — if they had re-signed Manning?
Manning was the team's fifth-leading tackler a year ago with 64.7 percent of his tackles (55 of 85) coming unassisted. Defensive tackle Matt Toeaina mentioned Harris when asked if the Bears miss Manning.
"Forty-six hasn't been back there,"
Toeaina said. "Can't wait to get him back because he makes a big difference for us."
Toeaina said he doesn't believe the run defense is broken, but he admitted it must improve quickly if the Bears are going to have a successful season. Through four games they have allowed at least 100 yards rushing every week: 110, 118, 100 and 169. A year ago the defense allowed 20, 36, 63, and 189 yards rushing in their first four games with the Giants' Ahmad Bradshaw becoming one of just two players to rush for 100 yards against the defense over 16 games. Only seven teams rushed for 100 yards in a game against the Bears all season.
The Bears allowed 90.1 rushing yards per game a year ago as compared with 124.2 so far this season. More disturbing is that they have allowed just three runs of longer than 20 yards as opposed to 13 a year ago. In other words, opponents haven't been gashing the run defense for long gains as much as grinding things out with great success.
In fact, the Bears have given up a whopping 5.1 yards per run, which ranks 28th in the NFL with no winning teams behind them in that category (the 1-3 Panthers, 0-4 Rams, 1-3 Eagles and 2-2 Raiders). The Bears allowed just 3.73 yards per run last season, sixth in the league, and have ranked seventh in the NFL overall on yards per carry (4.0) since coach Lovie Smith arrived in 2004.
"We have to take care of that in the front seven,"
defensive tackle Anthony Adams said. "Guys in the defensive backfield, they definitely have their hands full. You can't rely on those guys to deal with (great receivers) and then come up and stop that run too. That is asking way too much."
Age is always a consideration with a veteran unit, but the problem has been systematic. Name a player and he has missed a tackle. Name a Pro Bowl candidate and he has missed more than a few. Teams can't work on tackling in the new NFL with only one padded practice allowed per week during the season.
The matchup is good Monday. The Lions have a dangerous passing game, but with former Illinois star Mikel Leshoure lost for the season to an Achilles' injury, Jahvid Best leads a running game than ranks 29th overall yards per game (74.5) and 31st per run (3.0).
Can a whiff of momentum then carry over against the Vikings and Adrian Peterson, or are the Bears going to be stuck in an awful play loop?
