Montez Sweat's First Effort Produces No Sacks and No Win

On paper, it looked like any other Bears defensive effort from the last two seasons.

Two quarterback hits, no sacks.

The Bears lost 24-17 to the Saints Sunday and their defense actually came away feeling a little more pride in what had been done because they somehow kept giving the offense chances to tie the game down the stretch despite one Bears turnover after another.

They also came out of it with a feeling of optimism because of edge rusher Montez Sweat being in the lineup for the first time, signed, sealed and delivered. The $98 million deal means he's expected to be a key part of the future.

"I mean it's extremely important," coach Matt Eberflus told reporters after the game. "Ryan and his staff did an awseone job working through that to get that (deal) done in a timely fashion. And we're all excited. Adding a pass rush to your defense and to our franchise

"That's a big deal for us going into the future."

It naturally is for Sweat, as well.

"I mean it's huge, it's what you've been working for as soon as when you got in the league," Sweat told reporters. "That was great but I'm also worried about getting a win now."

The contract, the prospect of a higher level pass rusher applying pressure were all better than the actual product in Sweat's initial performance wearing the Bears uniform.

Sweat made two tackles and also deflected a pass. One of his tackles was chasing down Taysom Hill downfield from behind after coming off the opposite side of the ball from where the play went. There were no sacks.

"I was definitely getting one on ones I need to win those, so we're going to get back on the drawing board, check the film and see what I can do better going forward," Sweat told reporters.

It had been a whirlwind week for Sweat, arriving on Wednesday at Halas Hall after the trade on a day when they normally would practice but didn't because they had played a night game the previous Sunday. So he had only Thursday and Friday in practice to prepare.

"I thought he had a couple good pressures here and there," Eberflus said. "He's getting his feet wet, a different style of defense a little bit, different terminology. So for him to come in here and play that many plays it was cool."

From what Sweat has seen, the defensive scheme and personnel should help him get pressure going forward.

"For sure, I feel like once I get more comfortable and once I start knowing the plays I can play faster and all those type of things, but we'll see," Sweat said.

He felt the potential for a greater surge at times.

"In moments, but it's definitely not really here yet," Sweat said. "I'm still getting to know these guys. I'm still getting to learn how they rush and how I can play off them and they can play off of me.

"And I'm sure that will come somewhere down the line."

When, exactly?

"It all depends on how much work I put in and how much studying I'm doing with the coaches and stuff like that," he said. "It can happen fast."

It's going to have to this week because they've got a game already again on Thursday night.