{
  "id": 6149321,
  "title": "Dennis Allen sounds off on confidence in Bears' defensive line",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/07/dennis-allen-sounds-off-on-confidence-in-bears-defensive-line",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-09-07T16:45:32.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Yahoo Sports",
    "slug": "yahoo-sports",
    "url": "https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/dennis-allen-sounds-off-confidence-164532385.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "In a recent interview, defensive coordinator Dennis Allen expressed confidence in the Chicago Bears' defensive line for the upcoming season. Despite producing turnovers, the Bears struggled significantly last year in both run and pass defense, primarily attributed to their defensive line.\n\nBefore finalizing their roster, the Bears traded away starting defensive lineman Gervon Dexter to the Atlanta Falcons. Dexter, known for his ability to disrupt quarterbacks, was the second in sacks for both 2024 and 2025. It remains uncertain who will assume his role, with Kentavius Street, who showed promise during training camp and preseason, potentially stepping up.\n\nThe Bears only drafted one defensive lineman in the 2026 NFL Draft, sixth-round pick Jordan van den Berg. He has performed well in training camp and had some practice time against Chicago's starting offensive line. With the current roster, defensive coordinator Dennis Allen feels optimistic about the defensive line's potential. \"I feel really confident with who we have on the defensive line,\" Allen stated. \"The style that we want to play, I think we’ve got guys that can do the things that we want to do. I felt like all along that was probably our deepest position group, we had a lot of guys that are NFL-caliber football players. You can’t keep all of them, but we feel good about where we’re at.\"\n\nWhile Allen is confident in the current defensive line, he also acknowledged the possibility of the Bears trading for or signing additional defensive linemen, particularly if issues arise during the opener against the Carolina Panthers on September 13.",
  "summary": "Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen said he feels \"really confident\" about Chicago's defensive line this season.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}