The Chicago Bears are gearing up for an exciting 2025 NFL season, which features some new faces within the organization poised to get the franchise back to its winning ways. That starts with the hiring of Ben Johnson as head coach, as well as overhauling the interior offensive line, adding pieces on defense and a potenital impactful rookie draft class.
Every day from now right up through training camp, we’re counting down our 30 Most Important Bears for the 2025 season. We’ll recap their 2024 season, look ahead to 2025 and tackle the biggest question facing them this year.
Next up at No. 4 is defensive coordinator Dennis Allen, the first coach to make an appearance on the list, who is tasked with getting the most out of a veteran defense.
Background
Position: Defensive coordinator
Age: 52
Experience: 29 years
2025 cap hit: N/A
2024 recap
Allen’s 2024 season was one to forget for the veteran coach. He entered his third season as the head coach for the New Orleans Saints, and the team seemed to be turning the corner after a 9-8 year in 2023 that almost resulted in a division title. New Orleans had a dependable veteran quarterback in Derek Carr and some talented playmakers with running back Alvin Kamara and wide receiver Chris Olave, but Allen couldn’t bring his team to have sustained success. After a 2-7 start to the 2024 season, the Saints fired Allen and turned their attention towards the future. It was Allen’s second head coaching stint after spending three and a half years with the (then) Oakland Raiders.
2025 outlook
Despite his shortcomings as a head coach, Allen was one of the more highly regarded defensive minds on the market. Prior to taking over for Sean Payton as the Saints head coach, Allen was an excellent defensive coordinator. He got the most out of a number of Pro Bowl players and helped develop stars such as Trey Hendrickson and Marshon Lattimore. The Bears saw the potential to pair Allen with new head coach Ben Johnson to give him a veteran presence to work with, while also providing the defense with a proven coach who can get the most out of the unit.
Big question: What will the defense look like under Allen?
For the last few seasons, the Bears deployed a relatively standard 4-3 defense under former head coach Matt Eberflus with varying degrees of success. With Allen now leading the group, what exactly will be different? We know Allen prefers to work with bigger defensive linemen and could opt to move players around, such as Dayo Odeyingbo and Gervon Dexter. At linebacker, the Bears may be swapping linebackers TJ Edwards and Tremaine Edmunds to mix things up and disguise coverages, and the secondary will likely feature more man coverage with Jaylon Johnson shadowing top receivers instead of sticking at one spot. Through a few days of camp, the Bears offense is already feeling Allen’s defense and what they can do. Hopefully opposing teams will have a similar experience.
30 Most Important Bears of 2025
This article originally appeared on Bears Wire: 30 Most Important Bears of 2025: Dennis Allen (No. 4)
Reporting by Brendan Sugrue and Alyssa Barbieri, Bears Wire / Bears Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
