'We're going to see what sticks' — Dennis Allen is getting experimental with his defense at training camp and two players will be key elements

Versatility has been the one word Allen has been mentioning multiple times since training camp opened. And that includes versatility with the scheme and player-specific versatility.

"Our job as coaches is to find the best 11 that give us the best opportunity to play successful defense," Allen added. "Whatever that package is. Is it three linebackers? Is it two linebackers? Is it five DBs, six DBs? And that could vary from week to week."

When looking at Allen's defense and what he's wanting to accomplish with this level of versatility, two players easily stand out as key elements: Kyler Gordon and Jaquan Brisker.

Both young defensive backs have been playing all over the defense and are being cross-trained at different positions. Something Allen noted will "pay off and pay benefits" once the team gets into the regular season.

"We have talked about a bunch of different things, so every day is just learning more on the whole defense," Gordon said on Tuesday. "I will say it feels fun for me to know everything, everyone’s responsibility — who’s there, who’s there, who’s helping, who don’t got help. If I need to be able to switch to outside, free safety, strong safety. Having that ability is really fun, and for me, I just think it’s finding my next step and my level in my own game to be able to do anything and everything."

The same goes for Brisker, who's basically been playing in the other box from Gordon, but has been rotating around at various other positions as well.

There's two benefits to that. First, if injuries were to happen, Gordon and Brisker can slide into another position to make sure the best 11 players remain on the field in some form or fashion. The other benefit is that as an opposing play-caller/quarterback, you have no idea what the defense will be running on any given snap because of those two players.

"Having guys that can play multiple positions just gives us flexibility in terms of how we deploy our personnel," Allen explained.

It's an exciting experiment that's paid off so far and frustrated the Bears' offense. Seeing how this defense looks next week against another team in joint practice and in preseason action will really tell how effective this strategy is going to be.