The Chicago Bears are now 3-2 after a shaky 0-2 start to Ben Johnson's first season with the franchise. 

While the head coach deserves plenty of credit for the transformation that the team has gone under, a case could be made that defensive coordinator Dennis Allen.

Allen is also in his first season with the Bears, after coming over from his stint with the New Orleans Saints as head coach from 2022-24 

He has shaped the Chicago defense into a formidable unit and currently has the Bears second in the NFL in takeaways heading into Week 7, with 12. 

On the "CHGO Bears Podcast," NFL analyst Adam Hoge believed Allen deserves plenty of praise for the change in the windy city. 

"I've been noticing the same thing from Dennis Allen," Hoge said. "Against the Raiders, they rotated coverages a little bit more, and that confused Geno Smith. Last week, and we talked about this. Well, it's been a few weeks, but now that [TJ] Edwards is back too, they switched the linebackers. They went into the bye week, and how to get more out of Shermar Turner. They put him out there at defensive end. ...My point is saying all this is, Dennis Allen, in many ways to me, has been the defensive version of Ben Johnson and how they gameplan each and every week." 

You can see the effects that Allen has had on the Bears' defense just from looking at the stats from last year. Chicago ranked 10th in the NFL in takeaways at 24. 

Fast forward to 2025, and the Jacksonville Jaguars (14) are the only team in the league that has been better about forcing turnovers. 

Just in the Bears' last game, we saw how Allen's defense can confuse an opposing offense. The Washington Commanders had not an interception thrown by quarterback Jayden Daniels all year until Monday Night Football. 

Daniels threw one interception just outside the red zone as the Commanders were driving on the Bears defense. Then came the fumbles. 

Chicago forced two more turnovers by way of the fumble, one of which was when Daniels and company were trying to ice the game and run out the clock late in the fourth quarter. 

Chicago and Allen's defense face the struggling 1-5 Saints on Sunday, but it shouldn't be an easy game by any means. While the team has been up to par, quarterback Spencer Rattler has still only thrown one interception this season. 

It'll be interesting to see how Allen game plans for New Orleans on Sunday at noon CT on Fox.