Bears' defense should give Caleb Williams breathing room

Asked Wednesday what he has learned about his supporting cast since joining the Bears, rookie quarterback Caleb Williams didn’t immediately point to the obvious: DJ Moore, Keenan Allen, Rome Odunze, Cole Kmet or any of his other new weapons.

“We got a top-five defense,” Williams said.

That remains to be seen, but Williams heads a long, long list of people who can’t wait to find out. At USC last year, the Trojans were third in the country in scoring with Williams at quarterback (41.8 points per game) but 121st out of 133 Division I teams — 13th from the bottom — in points allowed (34.4). In Williams’ last eight college games, the offense produced 35.3 points per game, but the defense allowed nearly 40.

Williams and USC managed to win shootouts against Colorado (48-41) and Arizona (43-41 in overtime) in that span. But the Trojans lost five of their final six games.

Williams was the culprit in one of them when he threw three interceptions in the first half of a 48-20 loss to Notre Dame. But for the most part, almost every time he stepped on the field in the second half of last season, he was chasing points the defense had given up. In a showdown against Washington, USC scored touchdowns on four of its first five drives, and the next time Williams stepped on the field, the game was tied 28-28. Against Oregon, Williams and the offense started with three punts and a touchdown and found themselves trailing 22-7.

Williams figures to get a little more breathing room than that with the Bears, starting with Sunday’s opener against the Titans at Soldier Field. The last nine quarterbacks drafted first overall have started as rookies with defenses that ranked 21st or lower in points allowed, including, most recently, the Panthers’ Bryce Young (29th, 24.5 points per game), the Jaguars’ Trevor Lawrence (28th, 26.9), the Bengals’ Joe Burrow (22nd, 26.5) and the Cardinals’ Kyler Murray (28th, 27.6). They were a combined 12-45-2 as rookie starters.

That doesn’t figure to be the case with Williams. The Bears’ defense ranked 20th in points allowed last year (22.3 per game) but sixth in scoring defense over the final 13 games (18.6) and first over the final eight games (17.1).

The defense is expecting to take the next step this season: top 10, top five or higher in points allowed. A lot of things have to go right for that to happen. Defensive end Montez Sweat has to make the same impact he did in nine games last year, beyond just his team-leading 6 œ sacks. The four second-round draft picks who have made an initial impact — cornerbacks Kyler Gordon and Tyrique Stevenson, safety Jaquan Brisker and defensive tackle Gervon Dexter — have to take it up a level.

The run defense, which ranked No. 1 in the NFL last season, has to hold up.

The Bears have to keep taking the ball away. They led the NFL in interceptions last season with 22, but takeaways seem to come and go at random in this league.

And, of course, the defense has to stay healthy. The last time there was this much excitement about a Bears quarterback — when they got Jay Cutler in a trade with the Broncos in 2009 — star linebacker Brian Urlacher suffered a season-ending dislocated wrist in the opener against the Packers. Cutler was left chasing points most of that 7-9 season as the defense dropped to 21st in points allowed (23.4 per game).

This defense is motivated to give Williams the breathing room a rookie quarterback needs. They seem to know what they’ve got.

“Obviously, [with] a young quarterback and a more veteran defense, we take that challenge of taking the lead and being the security blanket he can lean on,” Sweat said.