Bears secondary may not know the Bengals QB but knows who to Chase

Barring something unforeseen, there is no one coming to the rescue of the Bears defense from their long list of wounded.

They could really use a return from a shoulder injury by cornerback Tyrique Stevenson, but Ben Johnson announced him as week-to-week last week and normally that has meant something just short of going on 

The problem is they'll face possibly the best receiver in the league in Ja'Marr Chase.

“Definitely hey, those guys are out right now," Bears backup cornerback Nick McCloud said. "But we definitely feel like we have everything we need right now to guard there and make plays and do what we need to do to help the team win.”

Debate over the best receiver often centers on Chase or Minnesota's Justin Jefferson. The Bears managed to limit Jefferson to 44 yards on four catches when they had Stevenson playing.

Doing something like that now with Chase available won't be so simple because they have other targets, like Tee Higgins. They've gone to Chase so much, it almost makes you wonder why they bothered spending $115 million on a Higgins deal this year when they let their one dominant defensive player, Trey Hendrickson, dangle in the trade winds.

In McCloud, the Bears have someone quite familiar with Chase. At was a short time but he played against Chase daily at practice in 2021 as a rookie after being claimed off waivers by the Bengals as the regular season started. He spent two months in Cincinnati, then he was released and caught on with Buffalo until the next season.

“Just a competitor," McCloud said of Chase. "We were in the same rookie class. Just being around him, definitely a competitor. Strong. Can do everything before the catch, after the catch. No matter who nobody said, he’s the top receiver in the league, premier wide receiver.

"He can do everything out there. Just having the mindset of going in there and go compete."

It's both physical ability and technique working on Chase's side, McCloud said. 

“He's really strong," McCloud said. "He's a lot faster than what people think he is.

"Strong hands, strong in his route, strong out of his break, so just his ability to combine his speed and his size. So, those are the biggest two things really.”

McCloud played last week in the slot as Gordon's replacement. The Bears moved Jaylon Jones in at starting cornerback on the defense's left side with Stevenson out. Jones, in his first meaningful defensive stint this season after returning to the team, held up well according to Pro Football Focus. He had the top pass coverage grade in the game among defensive backs and second-best grade overall behind Tremaine Edmunds, although he faced only two attempts. Both went for very short completions and 9 total yards. Jones also had a forced fumble.

McCloud, meanwhile, struggled in the game, according to PFF, with the second-lowest coverage grade among DBs and the worst tackling grade among all defenders.

All of that is last week and so much of what defensive coordinator Dennis Allen has done has been aimed at getting the defense through week to week while the injury rash has hit his group of DBs and linebackers.

Now, it seems to have hit the line with Shemar Turner out for the year and Dominique Robinson suffering a high ankle sprain.

Whether McCloud is in the slot this week or outside isn't certain. They could decide to put Josh Blackwell into the slot based on Cincinnati's passing game. Blackwell is a smaller, quicker defender.

“I feel like when I've been in there, I stepped in and did my job," McCloud said. "Obviously, there’s always going to be some plays here and there that I want back, but it's an opportunity, not getting too high, not getting too low, when things are going well or when things are going bad. So just taking it one day at a time.”

It's an entirely different task ahead than last week, when it was a run-heavy team with Derrick Henry as a potential problem. They managed to stop Henry, in general, but in specific situations he hurt them.

"We have to try to do our best to finish the four quarters of the game," McCloud said. "Because, the running back really didn't do a lot, but we have to do a better job of finishing.”

The Bengals situation will be similar to last week, at least for early in the week.

They can't be sure who they're facing at quarterback because of a shoulder injury to QB Joe Flacco just like when they couldn't be sure if it would be Lamar Jackson or Tyler Huntley last week.

In the end, it was Huntley and he played against them like he was Jackson.

"It varies with the opponent for sure, but just knowing who those guys have on the outside (Chase and Higgins), I mean, we’re going to have to come play regardless," McCloud said. "Know what I’m saying?

"It really doesn’t matter who’s at the quarterback position, they have some real guys on the outside. So. I really don’t think it changes much for us in our (DB) room."

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