Kentavius Street on Bears' 'uncharacteristic' Week 1 defensive woes

As high as the Chicago Bears were flying after their 59-37 Week 1 victory over the Carolina Panthers, the latter part of that scoreline left something to be desired. The defense struggled mightily, and Kentavius Street has a bit of an idea how it happened.

“Allowing 37 points is not what we’re looking for. It was our first time out as a full defense, first game of the year, a bunch of butterflies,” Street said. “A lot of us just wanted to play the perfect game, especially up front, striking every block and fitting every run perfectly. But at the end of the day, you can’t be perfect; it’s an imperfect game. We were inconsistent in our technique across the board. It wasn’t all bad or all good, but it was uncharacteristic. We just want to build on the good and be very harsh about the bad.”

While the Bears came into the season with questions about the state of their defense, there is at least some validity across what Street said. Both sides of the ball are susceptible to needing a period of adjustment when the regular season begins, but given that the defense’s job is more reactionary in nature, their adjustment is prone to a bit longer runway. And Street is on the ground in practice, so he’d know about the inconsistency in technique as well.

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Ultimately, though, the adjustments are going to have to come quickly. While the Bears led the entire NFL in offense last Sunday, the defense allowed the third-most yards (478) and fourth-most points. Their EPA allowed per play, at +0.18, ranks 26th after one week.

For his part, Street did contribute positively in his team debut, registering a sack, a tackle-for-loss, and a QB hit. His counterparts on the defensive side will have to find a way to trend more in that direction, though, if the Bears are to maintain their momentum through this weekend’s matchup against the division rival Minnesota Vikings.

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