Penn State Football: Adrian Amos aiding Bears’ run to playoffs

The Chicago Bears are vying for their first playoff bid since 2010. A defense aided by former Penn State football player Adrian Amos is leading the way.

Chicago Bears’ Adrian Amos has quickly become one of the better safeties on one of the NFL’s best defenses. Right now, the former Penn State football star is a part of a team that’s 8-3 overall and sitting in first-place in the NFC North. Although the defense has built up quite the name this past year, Amos hasn’t quite gotten his deserved due.

The former fifth-round pick for the Bears in the 2015 NFL Draft, hasn’t received that due, because there are bigger names all across this defense. With the acquisition of Khalil Mack, his star power along with other players like Roquan Smith, Danny Trevathan, Eddie Jackson and Kyle Fuller, there’s just a lot of praise to go around. Lost in that praise, is the No. 18 safety in the NFL according to Pro Football Focus, which is Amos.

I said before the year he was due for a breakout after earning an All-Pro nod last year in 14 starts. Amos has been fantastic, recording 49 tackles, six pass break-ups and two interceptions in 11 starts. It’s not just his numbers either. He’s been one-fourth of the best secondary in football. Numbers don’t lie for this group. In the pass-happy NFL of 2018, the Bears have forced more interceptions (20) than they’ve allowed touchdowns (19) – that’s unheard of with the rules heavily favoring offenses nowadays.

In addition, Amos is a part of a defense that as a whole only allows 19.2 points per game. An impressive effort that’s only going to get better as this group grows and matures together. Most of the defense is stacked with youth, so the only place to go is up.

This group brings back memories of some great back ends, and it starts with a great former  Penn State football safety. As it stands right now, he has a major opportunity to help Chicago back to the playoffs for the first time in nearly a decade.