Defensive tackle Kentavius Street breaks down why the Chicago Bears defense isn't panicking after Week 1 and how they plan to fix early mistake-making.
Chicago Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen's defense gave up 37 points in the Week 1 matchup against the Carolina Panthers. Most times, that is far too much to overcome, but the Bears' offense scored 59 to kick off the 2026 season.
Allen's unit did create two takeaways and limited Carolina to 13 points in the second half, but quarterback Bryce Young threw for 361 yards and three touchdowns. The Panthers also had four different pass catchers finish with explosive receptions.
There is plenty for Chicago's defense to improve as the team prepares for the Week 2 game against the Minnesota Vikings at Soldier Field. Veteran defensive tackle Kentavius Street finished with two total tackles and one sack in his Bears debut.
Although the defense gave up far too many points and 478 total yards, Street didn't overreact to the Week 1 performance and knows the defense will make the necessary improvements.
"It was our first time out there as a full defense, it’s the first game of the year, there are a bunch of butterflies in our stomach and everything and I think a bunch of us just want to play the perfect game," Street said. "Especially up front we want to strike every block perfectly, fit every run perfectly, and at the end of the day, you can’t be perfect. It’s an imperfect game, so I think we were just a little inconsistent in our technique as a defense as a whole. I believe this week we’ll have a great chance to build on that. It wasn’t all bad. It wasn’t all good. It was uncharacteristic of our defense. We just want to build on the good stuff that we did and be very harsh about the bad stuff that we did do.”
To street, being "very harsh" simply means never repeating the same mistake. The veteran defensive tackle also understands that chemistry takes time to develop, especially with whoever is playing on the edge. Street recalled a former coach telling him that it takes 10,000 reps to fully master playing off each other.
Street believes the defensive front and the entire unit will continue to make improvements as the chemistry develops with each player. Even if that does hold true, Allen was still disappointed with his unit's results. He described Allen's demeanor like a disappointed parent.
"He's more like, you know, he's disappointed because he knows how good this group can be," Street said. "And we all know how good the group can be. So it's more of a point of like we had an outstanding week of practice and we really wanted a better result. At the end of the day, we won and that's great. And I'd rather have this lesson learned in a W than a L but we have so much we can grow from and so much we can learn from."
Street and the rest of the defense will get to display just how much they learned from the victory over the Panthers this Sunday when Vikings show up to Soldier Field for Chicago's first home game of the season.
