Dennis Allen understands what it means to be the Chicago Bears’ defensive coordinator. He understands NFL history and the franchise’s place within it, especially its reputation as a defensive powerhouse.

The best Bears teams have been intimidators. They’ve been aggressive, physical and nasty. There’s an expectation around here about winning with excellent defense.

Allen doesn’t shy away from that. In fact, he wants to usher in the next great era of Bears defensive prowess by acknowledging those who came before him.

“This is a defensive, tradition-rich organization,” Allen said in an exclusive one-on-one interview with Marquee Sports Network. “When you talk about the greatest defenses of all time, one of the first teams you come up with is the ’85 Bears and the Monsters of the Midway. And then go back to the time with Lovie Smith and (Brian) Urlacher and (Lance) Briggs and (Charles) ‘Peanut’ Tillman and those guys. …

“So I think it’s upon us as a defense to carry on that tradition and uphold that tradition. I think that’s a responsibility of ours. When you look back over the course of history in the Super Bowl era, when Chicago has been in the playoffs, they’ve been a top-10 defense in terms of scoring. I look at it in terms of, this is our responsibility. If we’re going to get to where we want to be, it’s on us as a defense.”

[Check out the full 1-on-1 interview with Dennis Allen]

Allen has leaned into that history, asking this new generation to be as good as their predecessors. That’s a tall task but a realistic one, considering the talent available to Allen at this time. They’ve revolutionized the defensive front. They’ve got speed and sure tackling at the linebacker spot. And their secondary is as good as any in the league.

All that’s on-paper talk.

The Bears must go out there and do it, rebounding from a down year by their defensive standards.

Ben Johnson is giving Allen the autonomy to do it his way. Allen has had significant input into the Bears’ decisions in free agency and the draft.

Allen isn’t trying to skip to the ending, either. A proper foundation must be set in the spring to conjure the physical, aggressive defenses he’s known for. He wants penetration and knockback up front. He wants speed and ball skills everywhere else. And to put pressure on everyone, not just the quarterback.

“We have to create our identity,” Allen said. “We have to establish who we’re going to be. We have to establish how we’re going to play defense. That’s the No. 1 thing we have to be able to do. Second to that, let’s get our communication right and the understanding of our base principles in terms of what we’re doing.”