The Chicago Bears are moving from a 4-3 to a 3-4 defensive scheme under new head coach John Fox and defensive coordinator Vic Fangio, and defensive end Jared Allen is excited about it, even though his responsibilities will change.
"You look at what coach Fox has done over the history of his career," Allen told ESPN. "I think we'll be very disciplined. We'll be very cohesive. With Fangio coming in, you've got a big 3-4 background. Fox ran a 4-3 his whole life. So I think we're very versatile in how we can use our players. I'm excited to see what the plan going forward is."
Allen had been reluctant to move from defensive end to outside linebacker, as he'll do in this 3-4 scheme, saying in 2012 "I want to end my career as a defensive end. And I'm not playing a 2-gap, let me just throw that out the window now" while he was with the Minnesota Vikings.
Now, it seems that Allen has changed his tune.
"One thing we do is we work. I'll be honest, I don't think we had a bad practice all year," Allen said. "Now it didn't always equate to wins and victories. We came up short. I think he's going to inherit guys that are eager, that want to win. That's one thing that was very prevalent in our locker room: guys wanting to win. I think coach Fox is going to give us that direction and give us that attitude, that sense of focus, purpose and discipline to get to where we want need to get."
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