When the Bears signed former San Francisco 49er Ray McDonald, concurrent with adding Jarvis Jenkins from the Washington Redskins last March, the Bears appeared to have set in place two-thirds of the down-linemen component of their developing 3-4 scheme. McDonald was a starter, period.
Now the Bears face the unenviable task of filling in a gaping hole that they’d hoped was set. They drafted only one defensive lineman, and Eddie Goldman is the presumptive starting nose tackle. They did sign undrafted defensive tackle Terry Williams, but Williams (329 pounds) also is a nose tackle.
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Which all conspires to leave the Bears short a starting member of the “3” in 3-4.