ESPN

LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- Keeping with the mantra of acquiring “dynamic” players, the Chicago Bears appeared to acquire another Saturday in the sixth round (188th overall) in Georgia defensive end Cornelius Washington, who was considered by some to be a late second-round talent.

“I’m a little bit disappointed, but the call came,” Washington said. “That’s what’s really important.”

The addition beefs up an already fairly explosive Bears pass rush. If Washington adjusts quickly to the NFL game, he’ll become an immediate contributor as a situational pass rusher, which just might signify the end of Israel Idonije's tenure with the Bears.

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LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- Here is a look at the Chicago Bears' sixth-round choice (No. 188), defensive end Cornelius Washington out of the University of Georgia.

Washington is listed as an outside linebacker in draft guides. He made 76 tackles, 17.0 tackles for loss and 10.5 sacks during his career at Georgia.

Strengths: Numerous outlets projected Washington to be drafted in the third or fourth round. Washington is another athletic hybrid-type player who boasts impressive measurables and athleticism. Flashed extreme speed at the NFL Combine. Described as a powerful player with a great build. Competed at the highest level in the SEC, arguably the top conference in the nation.

Weaknesses: Washington was never a full-time starter with the exception of his final year with the Bulldogs when he started 10 of 14 games. Even with playing time, Washington was kind of hit-or-miss in terms of on-field production. Had an off-the-field incident, a DUI arrest, in 2011. Injured hamstring at Pro Day.

By the numbers: Washington is 6-4, 264 pounds. He ran a 4.56 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine. Second highest vertical leap (39-inch) and top bench press of all the linebackers at the NFL Combine. Washington tested with the linebackers.

What it means: If Washington can keep it together, he projects to be a valuable contributor on special teams at the onset of his NFL career. There is no shortage of ability here. Washington is Phil Emery’s prototypical “dynamic athlete”, but he needs to prove he can successfully adjust to life in the NFL. Plenty of players with Washington’s talent never make it because they lack the proper focus. It will be interesting to see how Washington competes at defensive end with reserves Turk McBride and Kyle Moore. The Bears haven’t ruled out re-signing Israel Idonije, but with another defensive end now in the mix, the odds of bringing back the veteran seem to be shrinking by the minute.

What’s next: The Bears hold one more pick in the seventh round (No. 236) as a result of their earlier trade with the Atlanta Falcons. The Bears could still stand to gain another cornerback or wide receiver.

LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- The Chicago Bears tacked on even more depth at linebacker in the fourth round Saturday by taking their second consecutive player at the position in Khaseem Greene of Rutgers with the 117th pick overall.

The selection came on the heels of the team taking Florida linebacker Jonathan Bostic on Friday in the second round, and alleviates depth issues for a linebacking corps that had already lacked in that area, even before the departures of future Hall of Famer Brian Urlacher and Nick Roach. The Bears picked up D.J. Williams and James Anderson in free agency as starters, but signed them to one-year contracts, and stalwart Lance Briggs, who turns 33 in November, has a deal that runs through 2014.

“I’m just ready to get down there and go to work,” Greene said. “I’m just extremely happy and excited to be in this position to come into such a great organization and be able to compete. As far as coming in and starting, I’m just gonna take it one day at a time. I’m just looking to come in, compete and contribute in any way I can.”

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ESPNChicago.com continues its Bears draft preview series with a look at the safeties.

For eight straight years, the Chicago Bears have drafted a safety.

In only one of former general manager Jerry Angelo’s nine seasons at the helm of the organization, 2004, did the Bears fail to address the position via the draft, and new boss Phil Emery continued the tradition last spring when he used a third-round draft choice on Oregon State’s Brandin Hardin, who spent his rookie year on injured reserve after an underwhelming training camp.

In theory, the Bears probably don’t need to add another safety to the mix, after the club signed free agents Tom Zbikowski and Tom Nelson to compete with Craig Steltz, Anthony Walters and Hardin for roster spots behind incumbent starters Chris Conte and Major Wright.

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Former Navy outside linebacker Keegan Wetzel made a recent pre-draft visit to the Chicago Bears, according to a league source.

A native of Palos Heights, Ill. and graduate of St. Laurence High School, Wetzel recorded 15.0 tackles for loss, 7.0 sacks and 79 overall tackles for the Midshipmen last season, with his top two performances coming versus Notre Dame and Penn State.

Wetzel’s on-field play earned him a spot on the FBS All-Independent first team, and his work in the classroom led to the 6-foot-3, 226 pound linebacker to be named a first-team Academic All-American for carrying a 3.93 grade-point average.

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The Chicago Bears have placed their franchise tag on Henry Melton, the defensive tackle's agent, Jordan Woy, confirmed Friday.

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The Chicago Bears announced the signing of cornerback LeQuan Lewis on Monday.

The well-traveled Lewis began his NFL career with the Tennessee Titans in 2011 as an undrafted free agent out of Arizona State. He also had stints with the Oakland Raiders and New York Jets before appearing in eight games last year with the Dallas Cowboys and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, totaling four tackles, one interception and a pair of pass breakups.

Lewis also returned five kickoffs for 106 yards.

The Bears may be forced to replace several reserve cornerbacks next season as veterans Kelvin Hayden, D.J. Moore and Zack Bowman are all scheduled to be unrestricted free agents.

Chicago has finalized a deal to bring in former Jacksonville Jaguars defensive coordinator Mel Tucker for the same position with the Bears.

The news came on a day in which the Bears hired former New York Jets assistant Matt Cavanaugh as quarterbacks coach.

The Bears also announced the hirings of Andy Bischoff and Michael Sinclair as their tight ends coach and assistant defensive line coach, respectively. Both Bischoff and Sinclair coached under new coach Marc Trestman with the Montreal Alouettes of the CFL.

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The Chicago Bears haven’t held a team to fewer than 100 yards rushing since Oct. 22, and if they plan on beating the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, they’ve got to devote everything to shutting down Adrian Peterson, who is coming off a 210-yard effort.

Peterson has rushed for 947 yards and six touchdowns in his last six outings, and with Percy Harvin recently going on the injured reserve, the running back is Minnesota’s only legitimate threat on offense. Playing without middle linebacker Brian Urlacher, the Bears need to utilize more run-stopping defenses, and provide more safety help in the box.

Although Christian Ponder is 4-1 at home this season, it’s highly unlikely he’ll beat the Bears through the air; even with Bears starting cornerback Tim Jennings out because of a shoulder injury. Ponder’s average throw travels a league-low 6.2 yards down the field, according to ESPN Stats & Information, and the last time the teams played, he was 0 of 8 with an interception on throws of 10 yards or more down the field.

That’s not going to beat you. Peterson will.

It's hard to remember a season such as the one we're witnessing that had these kinds of standout defensive performances in the NFL. We're seeing some truly tremendous displays that are redefining the way we view positions, the upshot being that our PFF grading system is giving out some of the highest marks we've ever seen.

While that's something to celebrate, it means picking a defensive player of the year is extremely difficult. It means we have to go beyond the big box score numbers that are trumpeted by many as the deciding factors in a player's candidacy.

Let's run through the contenders, looking at pros and cons for each player:

The Front-Runners: J.J. Watt and Von Miller

Let me be clear: If these two aren't the first guys you're mentioning for this award, you aren't watching enough football. Break them down however you want; they're on another level right now.

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Prim Siripipat and Eric Allen discuss how much longer Brian Urlacher can play.

CHICAGO -- Having bailed out the offense countless times this season, members of Chicago’s defense stood flabbergasted in a quiet locker room, reeling from feelings of helplessness after failing twice Sunday to come up with key stops with the game on the line during a 23-17 overtime loss to the Seattle Seahawks.

Asked several different ways to explain the unit’s responsibility in the defeat, defensive tackle Henry Melton jammed both hands into the pockets of his black jeans, and shook his head as if to say words couldn't possibly explain this.

“We knew what we were supposed to do. We just didn’t execute the plan,” Melton said. “There’s nothing more I can say about it. It just hurts.”

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What has been the key to the Chicago Bears defensive success this season?

In recent years, the Bears have primarily played a split-safety Cover 2 formation with two defenders in the secondary. This season, they have utilized a single-high safety with fantastic results.

A single-safety defense is defined as one that has one safety deep in pass coverage. The split-safety defense is defined as two safeties ‘split’ deep in coverage.

The idea behind one deep safety as the last line of defense is that the second can be used at the line of scrimmage. It’s important to have cornerbacks who can cover 1-on-1 downfield for a single-safety defense to be effective. Tim Jennings has done just that for the Bears, leading the league with five interceptions on throws more than 10 yards downfield, including three when they are in single-safety coverage.

Let’s take a look at what our video review showed on the Bears defensive excellence. We broke down every coverage used by the Bears excluding penalties, spikes, a fake punt and plays inside the 10.

What the numbers show...

The Bears have balanced their secondary coverage, using a single-high safety on slightly more than half of the pass attempts.

With the Bears having played several blowouts, it’s important to note that when the score has been within one possession, the Bears prefer single-safety coverage on 64 percent of pass attempts.

The Bears single-safety defense is holding opposing quarterbacks to a much lower completion percentage (-14.4 percent) as noted in the chart on the right.

The most noticeable impact is in the short passing game, where the Bears single-high safety has held opponents to a 59 percent completion rate on throws 10 yards or fewer, with five interceptions and no touchdowns.

Their split-safety defense has allowed nearly 75 percent of such throws to be completed.

Looking ahead to Monday Night

The last time Chicago and the San Francisco 49ers met, the Bears "loaded the box" on nearly half of the defensive plays (45 percent), their fourth-highest single game percentage in the last four seasons. In that contest, 49ers quarterback Alex Smith was sacked twice and threw his only interception against a loaded front.

No team in the NFL has used a “loaded front” on defense more often than the Bears (28 percent of plays). A “loaded” box is identified when the defense has more players in the ‘tackle box’ than the number of available blockers on offense.

While evidence suggests Chicago will utilize the single-high formation and load the box often on Monday, they might want to be weary of Colin Kaepernick’s strong arm. His average throw has traveled 10.5 yards downfield this season, the furthest in the league among quarterbacks with at least 20 attempts.

The 49ers backup has completed seven of 10 attempts traveling more than 10 yards downfield in his limited time this year, while the league average completion percentage on such throws is 48.9 percent.

Kaepernick could challenge the Bears loaded front downfield, but it should limit his scrambling. He has been quick to run this season, scrambling on seven of his 38 dropbacks (18.4 percent), the highest scramble rate in the league (minimum 10 dropbacks).

LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- Stopping Frank Gore and the San Francisco 49ers running attack Monday night is the No. 1 priority for a Chicago Bears defense that has surrendered 100-yard rushing performances in each of the last two games to Tennessee's Chris Johnson and Houston's Arian Foster.

The Niners will try to run the ball against the Bears' fourth-ranked rushing defense (92.3), that much is certain. San Francisco is the top-rated rushing offense in the league with 170.2 yards per game on the ground for an average of 5.6 yards per carry. The 49ers also lead the NFL in overall rushing yards (1,532) and carries of 10-or-more yards (52) and are second in the league with 83 rushing first downs.

At the center of it all is Gore, the NFL's eighth-leading runner with 753 yards and five touchdowns. Since 2005, Gore leads the league with 32 100-yard rushing games.

"He's physical, wow," Bears defensive coordinator Rod Marinelli said. "He's downhill, one cut, and every yard he's fighting for. He twists and turns, he fights, this guy is never down. He's never down."

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CHICAGO -- To borrow a tired phrase you might have heard before around these parts, the Chicago Bears are still who we thought they were after a soggy 13-6 loss to the Houston Texans on Sunday night.

Don’t get washed away with negativity, because this was already a team with obvious flaws, almost all of them on offense. Those flaws just got covered up during the previous two months with defensive dazzle and garbage-time scores.

The Bears are still a great defense capable of carrying a team to the playoffs. Still a bleak offense with a sporadic chance of making it rain. Still a Super Bowl contender. Still a team that hasn’t beaten a really good team yet this year -- 0-2 with a date in San Francisco next Monday. Still a team that employs tight end Kellen Davis for some unknown reason. Still a team riding Tim Jennings' career year.

Were the Bears, now 7-2 after the end of a six-game winning streak, exposed as playoff pretenders under harsh national lights? Not quite. Do they leave you wanting more? Absolutely.

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