At first blush, the Chicago Bears' 59-37 win over the Carolina Panthers in Week 1 doesn't scream "complementary football." If anything, it looks like the offense did its thing while the defense struggled to keep up their end of the bargain. New defensive lineman Kentavius Street doesn't see it quite that way.
Despite the ugly scoreline on that side of the ball, Street was a legitimate contributor to the defensive effort. The journeyman notched a sack and a tackle-for-loss while starting on the line for the first time since 2023. While the defense remains a work in progress, he did indicate how the type of offensive outburst that the team demonstrated on Sunday can help the defense.
“A lot of guys look at the game as a whole," Street said. "When
your offense is going out there with 70, 80 plays it helps us out. I’m really grateful for Caleb and Ben’s coaching.”
The Bears ran an even 70 plays on offense, with two drives that lasted well over five minutes and one that ran over eight in the fourth quarter that pushed the Bears' lead to three scores. It's hard to imagine there wasn't some sort of benefit for the defense, which did perform better in the second half (including forcing a fumble and a turnover on downs).
With a number of fears around this Bears defense manifesting in real time on Sunday, though, keeping the defense as fresh as possible will be paramount as they work to scheme up the group to compensate for any on-paper shortcomings the unit may possess. Given that, it's hard to overstate the value of the offense staying on the field in the way that it did on Sunday.
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This article originally appeared on Bears Wire: Kentavius Street notes the benefits of Bears' explosive offense
