NFC North

Brad Biggs: Bears continue to discuss standard they set on defense, but the performance of that unit is not what it once was

CHICAGO — The Chicago Bears have fallen back on the idea that “the standard is the standard,” a line coordinator Chuck Pagano has repeated when it comes to the defense. What exactly that is right now has become ambiguous in the second half of the season. The play of the unit has deteriorated over the last two months, and I was wide of the mark when I wrote before the Week 15 encounter with the Minnesota Vikings that the Bears were going to have to lean on their defense if they wanted to make a late-season run. The Bears prevailed in what was essentially a playoff-elimination game, getting a co…