Kevin Byard aims to hold defense and himself accountable about fixing a major concern while sharing the same mindset as Ben Johnson

At the same time, it's a concerning area the team is well aware of and something the team needs to find a way to improve on during the bye week. Johnson added the team will work "diligently" on addressing that issue and Byard made sure to address the accountability on the field as well.

Kevin Byard shared how the Bears run defense can improve

"We're not fitting up the run as well as we need to," Byard said. "A lot of it is not getting the knock back penetration with the front four, front seven. Then, obviously, on the backend, guys like myself included, when those runs do break out, we need to be able to get those guys down."

Week 4's performance against the Las Vegas Raiders was the most glaring example of that. The Raiders totaled 240 rushing yards against the Bears and averaged over 7.7 yards per carry. Going into the game, the team knew rookie running back Ashton Jeanty had the ability to hurt the defense and break big plays when he got to the second and third level.

That's exactly what happened in the second quarter when Jeanty broke loose for a 64-yard touchdown run, a play in which Byard missed a tackle in open field.

"Honestly, I thought I took as good of an angle as I could. I was coming downhill and I really didn't even see him and he kinda just spit out of there. The guy has burst, he's got speed," Byard explained about the play. "...Honestly, man, I make those gator-roll tackles all day everyday. Shoutout to Ashton Jeanty, he has elite contact balance. He basically just high-stepped out of there. I usually make those tackles so it's no excuse."

But it wasn't just Jeanty and his 138-yard rushing performance. Raiders veteran running back Raheem Mostert added 62 yards on four carries with his longest being a 37-yard run. All around, the defense had issues getting the ball carrier down and making the tackle.

"The most important thing that we're looking at as a staff and as players is how do we get better at some of our fundamentals," Johnson added. "We're not shedding blocks to the degree we'd like to yet, or at least as consistently as we'd like to yet. And we're not making tackles in space as well as we're capable of."

During training camp, the Bears had numerous live tackling days in full pads and Johnson noted he thought the team would be "further along" in that regard because of that. Needless to say, tackling and fitting the run will be major points of emphasis during the bye. We'll see how the players respond.