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The surprising trend bears count on Grady Jarrett continuing up front

Chicago Bears On SI · Jul 21, 2026 21:35 · 5 min read

The Surprising Trend Bears Count on Grady Jarrett Continuing Up Front — Bears defensive tackle Grady Jarrett proved a key to a trend late last season. | USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect

Although the Bears defense had problems when it wasn't taking away the ball, an obvious improvement in the final eight games developed that can mean success in 2026.

The Bears are pinning their hopes for a rejuvenated defense to several factors, after their failure in the offseason to add defensive end help.

The first is their secondary will be healthy. They played with it in tatters last year from Week 1 until the end. Losing one key player the way Green Bay did with Micah Parsons is devastating. For some reason, the effect of losing two key players for a huge chunk of the season in Jaylon Johnson and Kyler Gordon last year gets overlooked and it shouldn't be the case.

Also, the improved speed factor from Devin Bush, Coby Bryant and Dillon Thieneman should allow coordinator Dennis Allen to better utilize strategies he always employed in New Orleans on defense.

However, there was one trend over the second half of last season that Allen must hope continues, and if it does the improvement on that side of the ball could be sizeable even if 99% of the league currently believes they have one of the two or three worst pass rushes.

The forgotten Bears defensive improvment

That improvement trend is an ability to stop the run. This really was the case. This is the basis for better pass rush in their way of thinking because it makes offenses more predictable when they're facing longer down-and-distance on second and third down. This might seem like a cliche fans and media love to ignore, but it is true and has proven countless times over the course of every NFL season.

The Bears last year could not stop the run overall, finishing 27th in rush defense and 29th in yards allowed per rush. This, however, discounts an obvious trend. They did stop the run in the second half of the season to a much better extent, although they still couldn't avoid getting gashed by a couple of teams who also had potent passing attacks to pair with good running.

There was one key to this ability to better stop the run, even it definitely could stand to get better. The key to it all was defensive tackle Grady Jarrett getting more reps in games because he was healthier. Now he is 100%.

Here is what the numbers say happened.

The Bears allowed an average of 138.9 yards per carry on the ground over the first 11 games. They actually allowed 134.5 yards rushing a game for the year, which turned out to be sixth worst.

Over the course of those first 11 games, Jarrett averaged only 35 plays a week and in the games he actually played he averaged 42.4 plays.

Grady Jarrett's injury impact

Jarrett suffered an early season knee sprain and they didn't have him available for the Week 4 game when Ashton Jeanty ran all over the Bears and the Raiders had 240 rushing yards. He missed three games and as the season progressed and Jarrett gradually healed from the early season knee sprain.

However, Jarrett averaged 49.4 plays per week in the last eight weeks instead of the 35 plays a week he had in the first 11 weeks. At the same time, the Bears' run defense improved during those last eight weeks from 138.9 yards a week to 122.2 yards per week allowed, including the playoffs. Not coincidentally, the number of reps for defensive tackle Andrew Billings dropped when Jarrett returned. Although Billings was a big run stuffer at one point for them, but this is not a scheme that normally deploys a 340-pound-plus road block and won't this year.

Over a full season, if the Bears run defense had allowed the 122.2 yards rushing per week they allowed after Jarrett returned, they would have ranked 19th stopping the run rather than 27th. That's a colossal difference for a defense when a team is trying to force an offense into more obvious passing situations. Perhaps their pass rush becomes more effective in this case. Again, years of NFL play say this is how it usually works — the run gets stopped and pass rushes improve.

During minicamp, Jarrett tracked his ability to heal up in the season's second half last year and how it impacted him on a week-to-week basis. He actually still wasn't entirely healthy just healthier.

"Feeling better and obviously just being able to play with more confidence and let my body heal up more, but also just knowing we was in that crunch time, too, and whether the pain I was going through, whatever I had to do daily throughout the week, it really didn't matter because we're trying to make this playoff, Super Bowl push," Jarrett said. "So that's kind of where I was at, and really just took it there and just let everything (go).

"I wasn't really worried about whether I was going to get hurt again or do this or do that. I'm just trying to put my best foot forward every day, whenever my number was called and just show up. So, I'm excited to put a full season together and do what I need to do."

Building defensive success on flimsy base

It's the kind of thing the Bears could need to drastically improve their run defense. The addition of linebacker Devin Bush as one of the league's better run-stopping linebackers last year, with a healhy T.J. Edwards returning at linebacker could make for a more effective trio at stopping running backs and forcing the pass.

The Bears are counting on this happening with the double-down they've done on their starting defensive linemen. Depending on a 33-year-old defensive tackle as the key isn't necessarily a good idea. And it definitely doesn't mean they have adequate pass rush help off the edge.

However, it could mean they have a better chance to stop the run and also the pass with interior rush and be a more effective defense overall. The better idea would be doing that and adding someone else off the edge.