Monsters of the Midway 2.0: Kevin Byard believes Bears can build a dynasty

Ariana Pensy · Correspondent · 13 hours ago

CHICAGO - Last season may have been one of the best seasons of safety Kevin Byard’s career. He recorded an interception for the eighth season in a row. Further, he had a career-high in tackles with 130 and tied his career-high in tackles for loss with five.

Especially for someone going into his tenth season in the league, his performance last year was quite a feat, and he is grateful to still be playing after all these years.

“Personally, for me, I’m just overwhelmed with gratitude. Every single year you get to walk in the building on the first day of training camp, you truly understand how much of a blessing it is,” Byard said. “As you get older, you see some of your guys that you kind of looked up to. Obviously, Tyrann Mathieu retired and things like that. So, I just got a lot of gratitude for being able to play this game as long as I have, to be able to play with the guys that I’ve played with. But like I said, just this team, we have a lot of lofty goals, and obviously, it hasn’t been a lot of success in this organization the past few years. But, there’s no doubt in my mind that we have the right guys in this locker room, on the coaching staff, that can turn this thing around very, very quickly. So, that’s what we’re building to.”

Despite being in the league for so long, Byard has only played in eight playoff games and has only played in multiple postseason games in a season once back in 2019.

However, he is hoping to change that this season, as Byard wants to become part of head coach Ben Johnson’s dynasty in Chicago.

“We’re trying to win the Super Bowl … Ben Johnson wants to build a dynasty and we want to be that dynasty. We want to be the guys that kind of get this thing started. Myself, want to be one of the guys that build the foundation of that and continue to go as long as we possibly can. So, that’s the goal. But, like I said, we have a long way to go to be able to accomplish that.”

Part of building that dynasty is returning to Chicago’s Monster of the Midway days with one of the best defenses in the NFL.

Defensive coordinator Dennis Allen is the type of person who can lead that level of a defense, and Byard says when you combine Johnson with Allen, everyone is motivated to be their best.

“When you combine Ben Johnson and (Allen), everybody’s getting pushed to compete every single day and that’s just the message starting every single meeting,” Byard said. “Don’t apologize for competing at every position group, no matter if you’ve been a year 10 like myself or somebody that’s going to be a rookie. We’re all here competing, trying to make each other better.”

Part of having an elite defense is having a lot of depth pieces, especially given safety Jaquan Brisker’s history of concussions. He has not been able to play a full season since going into the NFL.

That is one reason it is promising to see how safety Nahshon Wright is performing in training camp thus far.

“(Wright)’s been balling. He got a lot of turnovers in the spring. But, I got full trust in him. He’s been a veteran. He’s been with (defensive backs coach and passing game coordinator Al (Harris) in Dallas,” Byard said. “So, he already kind of knows the defense, kind of knows the technique and the things that Al wants to get accomplished. He’s already coaching some of the younger guys up on the sideline. So, he’s a vet, long corner, (being) able to stick with some of these receivers. So, I really like what I’ve seen from him.”

The most critical part of having a dominant defense is generating turnovers. This is something the Bears were decent at last season as they were tied for No. 10 in the league in most turnovers generated with 24. However, the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers each had over 30 turnovers while the Detroit Lions had 24 turnovers.

Thus, in a division with such powerful defenses, Chicago needs to do better this year.

“We know we need to get more turnovers this year. It used to be where if you, in the NFL, if you lead the (NFL) in turnovers, that was usually, or lead a game, the team that wins the turnover margin is going to win the game,” Byard said. “Now, it’s more about pass completions and pass efficiency and all that stuff. But, we always believe on defense, the more turnovers we get, the more opportunities or the more chances we have to win games. So, we want to create as many turnovers as possible.”