The Cleveland Browns’ defense has been one of the few bright spots in a dark 3-10 season, and collectively, that side of the ball has looked a lot like the 2023 Browns’ defense that led the team to 11 wins and a playoff berth. Myles Garrett has been the leader on that side of the ball with 20 sacks, putting him just 2.5 shy of tying the record with four games to go.
He’ll begin that pursuit on Sunday against the Chicago Bears, who have done a great job protecting Caleb Williams all season, allowing him to get taken down just 20 times. It will be a good test for this defense to see how great it truly is, especially after surrendering 31 points to the Tennessee Titans last week.
On a recent episode of First Things First, analyst Danny Parkins pushed back on the idea that the Browns have such a great defense.
He went so far as to say he thinks the Bears are going to dominate this defense on Sunday.
“I am so confident the Bears are going to beat the Browns, they don’t even need Caleb (Williams) to throw the ball. Cleveland’s defense…little overrated? They’re the 13th ranked rush defense in football.”
.@DannyParkins LOVES his Bears to dominate the Browns defense 🗣️
"They don't need him to throw the ball. The Browns' defense is a little overrated." pic.twitter.com/FwR7M6YG2L
— First Things First (@FTFonFS1) December 12, 2025
Parkins pointed out how the Browns’ defense got gashed by Tony Pollard last week for 161 yards and two touchdowns after rushing for just two touchdowns over the first 12 games and hadn’t had a run longer than 21 yards all season.
There is no sugarcoating the fact that the Browns got torn apart by Pollard, and Parkins said the Bears have the league’s best rushing offense since around Week 5.
D’Andre Swift and Kyle Monangai have been an outstanding running back tandem for most of this season, and Parkins is right in saying that this defense will have its hands full. Saying that Williams won’t have to throw the ball at all is exaggerating, but Chicago is certainly going to be happy to run the ball as much as possible to help neutralize Myles Garrett and Cleveland’s ferocious pass rush.
Sunday should be a fun one.
We’ll see if the Browns can dig deep and pull off a big win to establish some momentum to carry them through the rest of the season.
NEXT: One Stat Sums Up Browns' Offensive Struggles In 2025
