Bears’ Vic Fangio: Defense I inherited not ‘built for anything’

In defending the growth of his defense over the past two years, Vic Fangio painted a bleak picture of the talent he inherited from the Bears’ previous regime.

The defensive coordinator switched the Bears from a 4-3 base to a 3-4.

“I think the scheme thing is overblown because you’re playing a lot of nickel right now,” he said. “And the group we inherited wasn’t built for the 4-3 either, obviously, by the two years they had prior to us getting here. So they weren’t built for anything. We had to start at ground zero.”

Statistically, he’s not wrong. The 2013 Bears allowed 478 points, the most in franchise history. The next year — coach Marc Trestman and coordinator Mel Tucker’s last — they gave up the second-most, 442.

Fangio — who kept outside linebackers Willie Young and Lamarr Houston, cornerbacks Kyle Fuller and Sherrick McManis and defensive end Cornelius Washington from the old regime — said the most frustrating part of his rebuild has been the Bears’ record.

“You know, when you have our record nothing seems rosy, “But I think we’ve made improvements,” he said. “I think there’s only one or two guys that we inherited still playing on defense. And I think those are mainly backups. So there’s been a big transition.”