It took Kyler Gordon 17 snaps to become the Bears’ most dangerous defensive player.
That’s the only conclusion to reach after his historic three-sack, two-forced fumble season debut in Sunday’s 31-23 win in Atlanta.
“He’s got outstanding quickness, and he’s really elusive,” defensive coordinator Dennis Allen said Monday when asked about his blitzing ability. “His ability to stutter his feet and then accelerate, or his ability to dip the tip and turn the corner — he just has a knack for it and an innate ability to find the quarterback.
“Some guys really have that and some don’t — and I think he does.”
At least for one afternoon, Gordon provided the answer to a question that has puzzled observers all season: who on the Bears’ defense causes opposing teams the most pregame anxiety?
It hasn’t been Montez Sweat, the defensive end — and the team’s highest-paid player — who is in the middle of a two-game suspension for violating the NFL’s performance-enhancing drug policy.
It’s not Jaylon Johnson, either. Pro Football Focus’ pass coverage grades rank him 107th out of 116 qualifying cornerbacks.
Safety Coby Bryant, the team’s big-money free-agent signing, is out for most, if not all, of the season with a knee injury. Nose tackle Grady Jarrett has zero sacks and one tackle for loss. Linebacker T.J. Edwards is out with a hamstring problem. Defensive end Dayo Odeyingbo is out for a month, at least, with a quad issue.
Edge rusher Austin Booker leads the team with four sacks but is a rotation player. Safety Dillion Thieneman is a rookie.
A healthy Gordon, though — and that’s a caveat the size of the team’s charter airplane, given that a calf injury had kept him out since the spring — gives Allen license to be creative. It comes at just the right time: the Patriots’ offense will be a significant step up in class Thursday.
“I wanted to be on the field and contribute and add to this team, and help the drive the direction where we’re going to go,” Gordon said. “And that’s what I did.”
Gordon was so successful blitzing from the slot Sunday that he already ranks second on the team in sacks. If the Falcons were surprised, the Patriots won’t be.
“That’s obviously something that he does really well,” Allen said. “Yet it’s on tape now, and so I’m assuming that everybody else in the league’s paying attention to it.”
The Bears’ best defense to this point has been a good offense. For all his bravado about wanting to lead the NFL in points, Bears head coach Ben Johnson has, in fact, focused on keeping his defense off the field. The Bears’ 42:45 time of possession in Week 4 against was the franchise’s highest this millennium. The 40:08 they held the ball Sunday ranked fourth.
That seemed a solid strategy Sunday, given the players the Bears were missing. In part because he wanted them to stay fresh for Thursday, Allen played a whopping 23 defenders for at least 13% of the team’s snaps. Only one active defensive player, linebacker Buddy Johnson — who’d been promoted from the practice squad a day earlier — wasn’t used on that side of the ball.
“Everybody understood that they had to step up and up their game a little bit,” Allen said.
Allen hinted that the Bears will still pick and choose their spots to play Gordon as he works his way back into playing shape. After Sunday, though, it will hard to keep him off the field.
“I certainly didn’t go into the game thinking he was going to come away with three sacks and two caused fumbles. …” Allen said. “Knowing that he was playing at the level he was playing at, we probably played him a few more plays there at the end and put him in those positions. We’ll see how that plays out this week.”
