Chicago Bears defense puts on a show against Saints: ‘It was pretty special’

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CHICAGO — On Ben Johnson’s first day as Chicago Bears head coach, he said something indicative of a change at Halas Hall.

“It’s clear that modern football in the NFL is quarterback-driven,” Johnson said in January. “That is no secret. You can look at analytics right now, quarterback success is a higher predictor of winning and losing than turnover ratio, which has been for 20 plus years.”

That might be true league-wide, by the slimmest of margins, but for the third win in a row during this four-game win streak, the Bears defense was a bigger story than the quarterback.

Lovie Smith must be proud.

Johnson isn’t changing the calculus to winning in one season. He doesn’t care how, though. He wants to win. So his theory on quarterback EPA over turnover differential may have to wait a bit before making its way to Soldier Field.

The Bears took the ball away from the Saints four times and rushed for 222 yards in a 26-14 win over the Saints on an afternoon when Caleb Williams had a 67.1 passer rating. They lead the NFL in takeaways and have forced at least three turnovers in each game of their current four-game winning streak.

“We’re getting them in practice. We’re trusting each other. We’re ball hungry,” safety Jaquan Brisker said. “Guys are hunting for the ball. It’s a good thing.”

Since 2000, the Bears are 41-5 when forcing four turnovers. They’ve won 27 of 28 games with at least four takeaways since 2008.

“Four” has been secondary coach Al Harris’ magic number. Every team meeting, he implores the defense to get four takeaways.

“I’ve known Al for a long time. That’s just been him, four,” cornerback Nahshon Wright said. “Let’s go into this game and get four. When you can come up with four, it’s great. Four is the magic number right now.”

Wright’s diving interception of Spencer Rattler in the second quarter led to the Bears’ first touchdown of the day.

Safety Kevin Byard said Harris has been “prophesying” their takeaways, and the night before the game, once again went to that number four.

“That’s just the belief in us, being able to go get it,” Byard said. “(Defensive coordinator Dennis Allen) obviously putting us in position to make those plays. It’s special right now. We’ve just got to keep it rolling. If that’s what we need to do to win games, that’s what we’re gonna do.”

The first takeaway came on the Saints’ second play of the game, when defensive end Montez Sweat got his second forced fumble in as many weeks. Defensive tackle Gervon Dexter pounced on it.

“Good pocket push, quarterback tried to leave out the pocket and I saw him coming,” Sweat said. “Just made a good play on the ball.”

The offense squandered a chance to go up four scores late in the first half, and the defense followed up with its first lapse of the game, when the Saints went 90 yards for a touchdown. They scored again after halftime to make it a 20-14 game.

After Jake Moody’s third field goal of the game to make it 23-14, Byard notched his third pick of the season and the 33rd of his career.

Asking around the locker room, that got the most votes for the best of the Bears’ splash plays on defense.

“KB’s interception on the sideline,” Brisker said. “Him getting his two feet in bounds was amazing.”

.@KevinByard comes up with our third takeaway of the day 🔥

📺: FOX pic.twitter.com/TvN6tebxN1

— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) October 19, 2025

Byard chose his because of the range — Wright went with his, but put Byard second. They both mentioned linebacker Tremaine Edmunds’ interception off a T.J. Edwards pass breakup, the pick that really sealed the game.

“We were talking on the sideline, ‘We’ve got to get to four,’” Byard said. “Everybody was throwing their fours up at the end, it was pretty special. We’re just out there having fun, making plays.”

Sweat wasn’t going to single anyone out. In addition to the three interceptions and the fumble recovery, the Bears had four sacks, seven tackles for loss and nine passes defensed.

“I don’t know, man, pick one,” Sweat said. “There were a lot of good ones.”

Eleven players on the defense picked up at least one “splash” play — a takeaway, sack, tackle for loss, pass defensed, forced fumble or fumble recovery. That included nickel corner Kyler Gordon’s sack. It included linebacker D’Marco Jackson, filling in for the injured Noah Sewell in the base defense, who deflected a pass. It included defensive end Dominique Robinson, who is having a turnaround season and read a play beautifully to bring Taysom Hill down for a 9-yard loss.

“We knew when he got in the backfield, we had a call that we would make, and honestly, when I saw the back and quarterback both shoot out, I just got vertical,” he said.

That was a first-down play in the second quarter. Suddenly, the Saints had a second-and-19 and punted two plays later.

Robinson, a fifth-round pick in 2022, said he hasn’t had a game like this — where he’s been out there, having fun, playing with a lead and making plays — since college.

“We’ve been building off momentum, building off people making big plays,” Sweat said. “When you see somebody make a play, you want to make one, too. (Byard), Tremaine, (Wright), (Brisker), a lot of sacks from the DBs. We’re all feeding off each other.”

Byard said Allen didn’t make this week about himself, the matchup against his former team. The Saints fired Allen last season during his third year as head coach. He had been with the franchise for a total of 15 seasons.

But to beat the Saints behind a defensive performance like that? Byard knew that mattered.

“Me being a veteran, I know,” Byard said. “This meant a lot for him.”

Johnson knew, too, giving Allen a game ball.

What was one of the worst run defenses in the league through the first month held the Saints to 44 rushing yards. Alvin Kamara averaged only 2.5 yards per carry. Sunday was only the eighth time the Bears forced four turnovers, had four sacks and held an opponent to fewer than 45 rushing yards. The last time was Nov. 23, 2008, the only other occurrence since 1992.

Takeaways can be fickle. They can come in bunches. But Johnson wanted to emphasize during the week that they’re not lucky. In the long run, getting the high-level play from the quarterback is still the best predictor of wins and playoff runs.

For now, Johnson will gladly take a defense playing inspired football and the team’s first four-game winning streak in seven years.

“It’s just really working for us right now, and really our team needs it,” Johnson said. “It’s really been the foundation of this four-game stretch for us.”

This news was originally published on this post .

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