Chicago Bears in no shape to stop Detroit from playing 'bully ball'

"If you're thinking about their team and their offense, I think you have to stop the run game first," safety Kevin Byard said. "I think Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery are probably one of the best if not the best backfield in the league. And kind of knowing how they want to attack offenses, they want to start to get the run game going so they can set up the play-action passes, the boots.

"Everything starts with the run game. So I think if you stop that first then after that you've just got to win your one on ones."

This would normally be a problem facing Detroit but it's much worse after what happened against the Vikings. The Bears run defense held the Vikings to 38 yards rushing on 13 carries through three quarters, then they ran for 82 yards on 13 carries.

Run defense was a Bears priority after they collapsed last year from first in 2023 to 28th. This time, though, they had Andrew Billings healthy -- unlike last season. And they struggled down the stretch.

"They stayed with the run game," Byard said. "And I think once the run game kind of got going for them it opened up some other things (with) their offense.

"So I think he (Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell) just did a good job of staying composed."

They have to be ready for something similar this week because of Detroit's past reliance on the ground game.

"They have a bully ball mentality. They want to be able to run the football."Dennis Allen on Lions' offensive style

"Well, I think No. 1 is, I know that's going to be their mentality," defensive coordinator Dennis Allen said. "They have a bully ball mentality. They want to be able to run the football. I thought Green Bay did a nice job against them in the game last week. I think that's where everything starts with this football team is their ability to run the football, which opens up the play-action passing game, things of that nature.

"We understand that that's gonna be a challenge. It's going to start with our ability to stop the run. We're going to have to do a good job there. And then we're gonna have to eliminate the explosive plays, whether it be the checkdowns and the run-after-catch, things they like to do, or some of the shot plays down the field. They're effective in doing a lot of different things."

It's said the best way to beat a bully is to bully him.

The Bears running game doesn't exactly look capable of bullying anyone itself, with 53 yards from D'Andre Swift and none from any other back last week. Ben Johnson on Wednesday spoke about getting more carries for Kyle Monangai, but they've talked about a bigger role for him going into the opener and he didn't get a carry.

If the injury report had something better than status quo for them, perhaps it would mean Roschon Johnson being available. But he practiced again only on a limited basis on Thursday due to a foot injury that has kept him out for a month.

The Bears run defense will be on its own facing a bully Sunday, and they're going to need to respond better than in the fourth quarter Monday night when they let things get "out of hand."