Bears defense being held accountable by new coordinator Sean Desai

Ask anyone in the Bears organization about Sean Desai and you’re sure to hear plenty of superlatives. On Wednesday, Tashaun Gipson described him as “one of the brighter young minds in the game.” Matt Nagy praised his great teaching ability, not only to players, but to the other coaches as well. Danny Trevathan said the defense has gotten its swag back with Desai at the helm. But one word has popped up a couple of times when describing Desai that has nothing to do with gameplanning, play calling or coaching philosophies, yet could make a huge impact on Sundays: “accountability.”

“He’s owning the defense and he’s holding standards high,” Trevathan said. “That’s what you love. He’s not letting nobody take no jogs off, no seconds off, and everybody is being accountable about that.

“You can feel the energy. You can feel the juice. You can feel the swag coming back. That’s what I’m big on — having that swag and that attitude out there. Celebrate when you make your plays. Have fun. And hold guys accountable. I think that’s a big difference this year, is holding guys most accountable.”

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“The biggest challenge is when it is new, it’s kind of like that honeymoon,” Nagy said. “Now you have to make sure that there is zero complacency and you’re not just going through the motions. And I think you’re feeling that right now with two short days with our defense.”

The fact that accountability was hammered a few times by both Trevathan and Nagy implies that attention to detail may have slipped through the cracks last season. It could also explain the inconsistencies on defense recently. At times under Chuck Pagano, the Bears defense looked just as dominating as it did under Vic Fangio, if not more dominating. But there were other times they looked like an average defense, missing assignments and missing tackles too.

While no one knows how Desai will fare as a playcaller come Sundays, seemingly all within Halas Hall agree he’ll have the defense ready to compete at an elite level again.

“[Tuesday] was really our first day being back collectively as a group,” Gipson said. “And all us starters, for us to be out there performing the way we is, man, it’s just scary. Once we get to training camp and we get that camaraderie and we gel and everyone’s on the same page, I think that will be a scary thing to see, man.”