Dennis Allen issues his own challenge to the Chicago Bears defense, and it fits the veteran unit

Biggest storylines as Bears veterans report to training camp

FOX 32's Cassie Carlson breaks down what we're watching for as the Chicago Bears report to their first training camp under head coach Ben Johnson.

The early moments of training camp are resonating with Chicago Bears linebacker T.J. Edwards.

The defense made a big play, intercepting Caleb Williams on the first pass of camp. The defense celebrated with each other and then celebrated with some old-school football.

Defensive coordinator Dennis Allen had the defense do up-downs, the classic football conditioning drill where players jog in place, drop to the ground as quickly as they can on the coach's whistle and bring themselves back up as quickly as they can. The idea is to build endurance with a constant state of movement.

The defense loved it all, from the turnover to the up-downs.

"It's awesome, especially coming from the up-downs and stuff," Edwards said. "It's football time."

This is all part of Allen's training camp test.

Testing the Bears' defense:

This Bears' defense is a veteran unit.

They were that way last season with Edwards, Trumaine Edmunds, Andrew Billings, Jaylon Johnson, Kevin Byard and Montez Sweat in the starting lineup before the team added Grady Jarrett and Dayo Odeynigbo in free agency.

Even younger players like Tyriqu Stevenson, Gervon Dexter Sr. and Jaquan Brisker are no strangers to the league, having played significant time since they were rookies.

To put it lightly, there's no time for any BS. There aren't too many cliché things to say to a defensive unit like this one that will resonate. Instead, Allen has taken a different approach. 

Veteran, Pro Bowler, rookie or All-Pro, it doesn't matter: If these players want to play on Allen's defense, they have to earn it.

"You have to pay the toll. You have to pay the price," Allen said. "It's a privilege to be on this defense. We've been doing that on every defense that I've been associated with since 2009."

This resonates with the players.

"When you get the whole team buying in and knowing that every single person that's going to be on that field has to do it, there's no treatment," Edwards said. "Ot doesn't matter what year you are, you're out there doing it."

Big picture view:

There's a method to this madness, too. It's not just about using an old school football drill to test the new-school players.

This is part of how Allen wants to build his culture. It's also a way he gets to establish what type of defense the Bears are going to be this season.

"A lot of times that comes from being tired," Allen said. "It's all just part of: as much as we're training them physically, it's about training them mentally."

Allen knows there's a benefit to training the Bears' endurance now. If the Bears push themselves to their physical limits now, they'll find ways to push past that when it matters the most.

"It's a way to mentally train players to be tough and push through adversity," Allen said. "Training camp's going to be difficult, and we're going to have to be able to overcome when we're tired. How do we focus, how do we concentrate, how do we dig down deep inside, rise up and make plays in critical situations in the game?"

This challenge fits the Bears' defense perfectly.

The entire defensive unit doesn't need a complete systematic overhaul like the offense does. There were times the Bears' defense won games last year, and closed out others. So far, the defense has proved its mettle in OTAs and mimicamp before reporting to training camp.

If anything, this is the kind of challenge the Bears' defense needs to regain an edge that the unit lost int he second half of last season.

It's a fresh start, but Allen wants them to know they all have to earn it.

"He set the standard," Edwards said. "He shows what it's going to look like. It was a drill, you know, like anything else again, it kind of just shows his expectation in what he wants to look like."