Ryan Poles needs just 4 words to describe Dennis Allen’s Chicago Bears defense

The Chicago Bears are banking on a new era dawning on defense in 2025, under first-year defensive coordinator Dennis Allen.

Allen was one of the first hires made by new head coach Ben Johnson this winter, and general manager Ryan Poles has a clear blueprint for the kind of defense the Bears expect to play this fall.

“He wants a very aggressive, attacking defense,” Poles told reporters, of Allen’s blueprint, during the NFL Annual Meeting. “Especially the defensive line attacking the man in front of you, not so much playing laterally two-gapping or even penetrating in gaps.”

Poles and Allen’s plans for how the Bears’ scheme is going to take shape goes a long way to explain why Chicago so aggressively targeted the likes of defensive lineman Grady Jarrett and edge rusher Dayo Odeyingbo, in hopes of dominating up front, similarly to how the Philadelphia Eagles rode a dominant pass rush to winning the Super Bowl.

“It’s really just attacking the offensive lineman in front of you,” Poles explained. “And creating disruption in the run game and also to bubble back into the quarterback’s feet to make it uncomfortable for the quarterback, too.

“So that mentality is definitely going to be there. That’s something that will get done and we have … done it in free agency as well.”

Chicago Bears lock up big defensive piece

The Chicago Bears made the first player ever chosen by Poles as general manager, cornerback Kyler Gordon, one of the highest-paid players at the position on Sunday evening.

Gordon and the Bears agreed to terms on a three-year contract worth $40 million, which includes $31.25 million fuly guaranteed, making him the highest-paid slot cornerback in the NFL.

“I mean, I love Chicago,” Gordon told reporters on March 12. “I love everything about it — the people, the history, the team, the community — so if this is where God tells me to be, this is where I will be, this is where I want to be.”

At age 25, Gordon posted a career-high 75 total tackles in 2024 and has intercepted five passes through his first three seasons since being chosen No. 39 overall in the 2022 NFL Draft.

It’s easy to see why Allen and Poles prioritized keeping a homegrown talent like Gordon in Chicago, after the six-foot and 200-pound slot corner added nine quarterback pressures last season, the second-most among cornerbacks, according to Pro Football Focus.

While Caleb Williams and the offense garner many of the headlines, the Bears’ rebuild on defense could go a long way towards determining Chicago’s ceiling, but the franchise has made it clear that Gordon is a cornerstone player moving forward.