More from the road, as I head from Bourbonnais, Ill. to Dearborn, Mich. …
1. Last year the Bears ranked third in total defense, first in scoring defense, first in run defense, and seventh in pass defense—which would be tough to duplicate even if the guys out there weren’t losing their coordinator. But they are, and last night on the campus Olivet Nazarene, new DC Chuck Pagano address that issue with his players. His message: “It’s much harder to manage success than it is failure.” Star defensive lineman Akiem Hicks expounded to me on what he took from that: “It’s on all of us.