How Tremaine Edmunds' cautious talk flies in the face of logic

""Yeah, I think you want to definitely do that," linebacker Tremaine Edmunds said on Tuesday. "Like I said, I think more than anything, man, that's (McCarthy's inexperience) a factor, but at the end of the day, we got new regimen here as well."

Therein lies the problem for the Bears defense, or at least that's their story and they're sticking to it.

They can't get so cute with their disguises and other trickery to fool a QB who is essentially a rookie because they will be in Dennis Allen's pressure scheme for the first time, too. It's a defense that can give up big plays with mistakes just as easily as it can create big plays if not handled correctly.

It's likely to be a case of extreme caution for the Bears.

"So I think, in particular those first couple of games, you just got to make sure that you're focusing really on yourself," Edmunds said. "Obviously it's about the opponent, but at the end of the day it comes back to yourself, comes back to what are we doing well as a defense? What are we doing well as a team—areas that we know we want to get better with at camp."

There is one small extra edge for the Bears defense besides being at home and facing a QB who didn't get to play as a rookie due to injury. This one can matter.

"Somebody had mentioned it, about playing Monday night," Edmunds said. "We got an extra day here to really go over that and get things cleaned up. But I think more so the focus is more so just making sure that we execute well as a defense, you know what I mean? Understanding everything that's at stake.

"Just as far as you know, first game, going against a new quarterback that hasn't played yet, it's just a lot of different things. But at end of the day, it's not more so focusing on him, it's more so focusing on us and making sure that we execute and doing the things that we know how to do."

Obviously, the Bears won't be revealing what they plan to do against McCarthy. But if they're worried about focusing on themselves, it's probably more so about themselves AND how they can fool McCarthy.

After Allen blitzed repeatedly in meaningless preseason games against Buffalo and Miami. So, to not do it against someone who has yet to take an NFL snap and is in a road game to start his career seems like an excess of caution.

Their new defensive coordinator seemed like the least cautious guy on the coaching staff throughout the offseason and training camp. He was even blitzing Caleb Williams at practice.

So McCarthy will face about anything come Monday Night Football.