Dennis Allen has an aggressive defense. That has been echoed time and again by Bears dealing with the defensive coordinator’s scheme and those executing it.

It’s multiple. It’s disorienting. It’s impactful. At times, it’s fearless. And it’s unrelentingly physical.

“It’s a complex scheme,” defensive end Montez Sweat said a few weeks back. ”I think it keeps you on your toes, but it challenges us as a defense to hone in on our communication and just flourish in that way.”

When it comes to defense, “aggressive” can translate to blitzing a ton, to bringing the house.

Not necessarily. Last time Allen was full-season head coach/playcaller (in 2023), the Saints blitzed 22.5% of the time, ranking in the league’s lower half. It was 16.8% the year before that. While you can bring exotic looks or fake like you’re bringing the house and only rush four, but those numbers bring up a greater point Allen made clear during a Tuesday press conference.

Aggressive isn’t all about scheme. It’s much more than that.

“No. 1, it’s a mentality,” Allen said in a post-walk-through press conference. “It’s a mindset. It’s a culture.”

While head coach Ben Johnson has set the tone inside Halas Hall, Allen is also a culture builder. Defensive players have bought into it, which is evident each and every practice.

He’s a challenger. He won’t back down, even in practice.

“I’ve said this a thousand times. It’s not about what we play, it’s about how we play,” Allen said. “It doesn’t matter what the call is. It’s about creating an aggressive mindset, then you have to be able to execute whatever that call is within that same mindset.”

Offenses generally dictates terms, especially in a modern era with rules designed to foster points scored. Allen refused to accept that.

“We don’t want to sit back and let the offense dictate to us,” Allen said. “We want to try to dictate the terms to them and continue to come after them and hopefully force them into mistakes. I think that’s what the great offenses try to do to defenses. I think defenses have to do the same thing to the offense.”

That’s why Allen came away impressed following Friday’s joint practice with the Buffalo Bills. Reigning MVP Josh Allen had his moments, but the Bears never backed down. Across all units, the Bears forced six takeaways, by Allen’s count, and defensed several other passes.

That isn’t all scheme. That’s aggressiveness.

“We belonged on that field with those guys,” Allen said. “I think that’s good for the confidence of the group.

“There was some back and forth going on, some mistakes that we made that we had to go back and get corrected. Yet our guys made some plays too. I think we had six takeaways total in that whole practice. The biggest thing I thought was we made plays in that practice. That was good to see.”

The Bears will be creative with their pass rush and physical with their coverage. Allen has the talent to make such a scheme work, especially in the defensive backfield and up the middle from front to back.

That allows him to be creative with play calls and design, which can make simple plays look complex. It’s about the mentality of making you earn each and every yard even in non-live tackling sessions.

But this defense is taking on Allen’s personality and understanding exactly what aggressiveness means.

“He’s not going to sugarcoat anything,” defensive tackle Andrew Billings said during the offseason program.  “He might actually add a little salt to it.” 

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