Bear Necessities: Matt Nagy wants his defense to rack up the takeaways in 2021

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The defense has been the most consistent unit on the Chicago Bears for most of its storied 100-plus year history, especially during the Matt Nagy era. And while the defense has been solid, there’s still one thing that Nagy wants to see out of his defense when they hit the practice field at training camp.

“A ton of takeaways and turnovers,” Nagy said on Tuesday. “A ton of them. Everywhere you look, I want that ball coming out. I want fumbles, interceptions, tipped passes. I mean, when they go to bed at night, just think about intercepting the football, stripping that football. Be, like, crazy about it. Everywhere you go.”

Which, when you think about it, wouldn’t bode well for Nagy’s offense. But we all get it, he wants the defense to get back to the dominant, playmaking unit they were back in 2018, when they led the NFL with 36 takeaways. The defense was a huge reason for Chicago’s 12-4 record and NFC North title that year.

While the Bears defense has been far from bad over the last two seasons, they’ve failed to come close to that takeaway total in 2019 (19 takeaways) and 2020 (18 takeaways).

The good news is that Chicago handed over the defensive reins to someone who hails from the Vic Fangio coaching tree: former safeties coach Sean Desai, who played a part in crafting that dominant 2018 defense alongside Fangio.

While the defense has far less to prove than the offense, which has struggled for most of Nagy’s coaching tenure, Nagy has officially issued a challenge to the defense — be obsessed with takeaways.

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