The Chicago Bears defense has been on another level in most games this season. Even after allowing the New England Patriots to put up 24 points in their Thursday night win, Chicago is only giving up an average of 13 points per game at Soldier Field.

Getting cornerback Kyler Gordon back has made a huge difference for the Bears in the last two games. Defensive coordinator Dennis Allen has enjoyed moving him around against the Atlanta Falcons in Week 6 and the Patriots in Week 7. Against the Falcons, Gordon had three sacks and two forced fumbles and followed that up with two tackles for loss, including a sack, as well as a quarterback hit against New England.

Head coach Ben Johnson praised Allen for his work with the defense and how he handles addressing certain weaknesses with his unit.

“Schematically, ‘DA’ is doing a good job. He’s always conscious of making sure that we’re protected from explosive pass plays over the top of us,” Johnson said. “But at the same time, we want to knock teams off schedule as much as we can and slow down their running game so that these second-and-long, these third-down situations, that’s really right in our wheelhouse.”

Right now, the Bears have only allowed a third-down conversion 26.1 percent of the time, which is the second-lowest in the NFL. Chicago has also been one of the best fourth-down defenses in the league, only allowing a conversion on 22.2 percent of fourth-down attempts, which is the third-lowest in the NFL. However, they need to improve in the red zone as they have allowed a touchdown on 64.7 percent of opponents’ red zone trips.