Rallying Cry: Bears’ Defensive Unit Finds Strength in…
While it seems like the Chicago Bears locker room is teetering and on the verge of disaster, this news featuring players surrounding Zacch Pickens provides hope that the guys in the locker room can bring the team together in a way that coaches appear to be struggling at accomplishing:
Pickens is in line to start for the Bears at defensive tackle next to Gervon Dexter Sr. after the team announced on Thursday that Andrew Billings was going on injured reserve. Billings was having a superb year before suffering an injury in Chicago’s Week 9 loss to the Arizona Cardinals. No, the 1 sack, 2 tackles-for-loss, and 3 quarterback hits aren’t popping off his Pro Football Reference page. However, Billings graded out as Pro Football Focus’ 48th-best interior defensive lineman among the 124 who qualified for a spot on the leaderboard. He also owned the sixth-best pass rush win rate, per ESPN’s calculations.
Players who do what Billings did to this point of the season don’t grow on trees. And they certainly don’t just pop up on the waiver wire. But the hope is that you can develop players who can help fill in the gaps. Zacch Pickens will be the first Bears defensive lineman to get that opportunity starting this Sunday. His teammates have his back, and I hope that support helps spur greatness from the 2023 third-round pick.
