The Chicago Bears defense has been bringing the energy and physicality this summer, and that continued into joint practices with the Indianapolis Colts.
The Bears defense set the tone for those practices, where the Colts had to match them. It’s part of the HITS principle that has become the identity of this team under head coach Matt Eberflus.
While the defense dominated Thursday’s practice, it wasn’t even the entire starting defense. Several starters remain sidelined with injuries — that Eberflus noted aren’t serious — with linebacker Tremaine Edmunds and safeties Eddie Jackson and Jaquan Brisker.
Defensive end DeMarcus Walker, who recently returned from his stint on the injured list, is eager to see this Bears defense in its entirety when everyone is back healthy and ready to set the tone for the season.
“Man, I just want to see all the gangsters together,” Walker said, via The Athletic. “You know what I’m saying. I want to see all the gangsters together. With everybody healthy and everybody of one mind. One team. One defense. I can’t even tell you …”
While those injured starters are staying involved and meetings in such, it’s difficult to get the communication down, especially with MIKE linebacker Edmunds still sidelined.
“You’re missing your MIKE linebacker and that’s part of football,” Eberflus said. “We need to get the communication here with the guys that are running the defense.”
Eberflus has been forthcoming about the statuses of those injured players, nothing there’s no long-term concerns. So the expectation is the Bears will have their entire starting defense on the field come Week 1 against the Green Bay Packers. Just as Walker wished.
