LAKE FOREST, Ill. (AP) — The Chicago Bears are hoping a renewed focus on fundamentals will help energize their pass rush.
Defensive lineman Gervon Dexter is already seeing results.
“Way different,” Dexter said Tuesday on the first day of the team's mandatory minicamp. “It’s night and day, in my opinion.”
Chicago went 11-6 last season and won the NFC North in coach Ben Johnson’s first year. The defense led the NFL with 23 interceptions and 33 takeaways overall, but it finished with just 35 sacks. The only player in double digits was Montez Sweat with 10, and no one else had more than six.
Despite their sagging pass rush, the Bears did not make any major additions to their defensive line in the offseason. They waited until the sixth round of the NFL draft before addressing the position, taking defensive tackle Jordan van den Berg out of Georgia Tech.
Dexter, 24, said he heard the conversation about the team needing to add more to its group of defensive linemen.
“I feel like we got the guys, though,” he said. “We got the guys in the room to do it. ... Each person in our room knows what they are capable of, so we don’t look at it as, like, a bad thing. We’re taking it on and we’re ready to get after it together.”
A year ago, the Bears were installing a new defensive scheme under coordinator Dennis Allen. That was a major part of their preparations for the season, and the coaching staff felt it affected the unit in other ways.
“We do have a high volume of things that we carry in the defense, and we focused so much on that that we lost sight of some of the fundamentals and techniques that it takes to function to do those things,” Allen said last month. "I don’t think we were as fundamentally sound defensively as we need to be.
“So how do we have to coach it better? Well, let’s minimize how much we’re focused on the scheme and let’s focus on not what we’re going to do, but how we’re going to do it. I think that’s how we’re going to improve.”
Allen and Johnson found a receptive audience in their defensive rooms.
“That’s one thing I can definitely appreciate about just being here is because it’s going to make me a better player,” defensive tackle Grady Jarrett said during organized team activities. “It’s going to make us all a better player.”
When it comes to their defensive line, the Bears also are hoping for improved health for a couple of key players. Defensive end Dayo Odeyingbo is coming back from an Achilles tendon injury, and Jarrett was slowed by a knee injury in his first season with the team. Shemar Turner, a second-round pick in last year's draft, played in five games as a rookie before he was sidelined by a torn ACL.
Dexter, a second-round selection in the 2023 draft, had a career-high six sacks last year. As part of the emphasis on fundamentals, he has been focusing on getting into a good stance and improving at the start of the play.
“I’m looking at it as, it’s another year for me to grow as a player, to get better,” he said. “I’m here to help this team win. We didn’t have the end goal that we wanted last year so I’m here to help get to that goal.”
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Chicago Bears offensive linemen Caden Barnett, left, works with Kyle Hergel during the NFL football team's practice in Lake Forest, Ill., Tuesday, June 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Chicago Bears defensive linemen Gervon Dexter Sr. (99) works on the field as Jordan Van Den Berg (96) drinks water during the NFL football team's practice in Lake Forest, Ill., Tuesday, June 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
Chicago Bears defensive lineman Gervon Dexter Sr. (99) works on the field during the NFL football team's practice in Lake Forest, Ill., Tuesday, June 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)
MCKINNEY, Texas (AP) — A Texas teenager who fatally stabbed a 17-year-old track athlete from a rival team during a competition was convicted of murder Tuesday in a trial that drew attention far beyond the booming Dallas suburb where the two students attended different high schools.
A jury rejected Karmelo Anthony’s claims of self-defense during a confrontation with Austin Metcalf in stadium bleachers last year. Most people who testified were students who described a heated exchange over Anthony's refusal on a rainy spring day to leave a tent that belonged to Metcalf's team.
Anthony, now 19, did not testify at trial and faces up to life in prison after a sentencing hearing in which his mother was the only witness. His lawyer had an arm around him when the guilty verdict was announced.
Notoriety about the case spread, in part, because of social media posts that amplified the killing in racial terms. Anthony is Black; Metcalf was white. Lawyers on both sides, however, told jurors that the tragedy had nothing to do with race.
Jurors, who deliberated for less than three hours, had the option of a lesser charge, manslaughter, but didn’t choose it. The same jury will determine the sentence.
“He’s very sorry for what he did. Please, have mercy on my son,” Anthony's mother, Kala Hayes, pleaded to jurors shortly after the guilty verdict.
Earlier Tuesday, jurors heard dueling narratives from prosecutor Bill Wirskye and defense attorney Mike Howard about what happened in April 2025.
Several schools were competing when Anthony sat under the Memorial High School tent that was perched in the bleachers. Metcalf and others had repeatedly told Anthony to leave, witnesses testified, leading to an escalating confrontation.
Howard told jurors during his closing argument that Metcalf had “no legal right to put his hands on Karmelo.”
“Texas law does not require that you wait until you get hit,” Howard said. “In that split second of chaos, you must put yourself in his shoes.”
During the nearly weeklong trial, prosecutors said that Anthony provoked Metcalf, and witnesses have testified that Anthony was the aggressor.
“This is not self-defense, folks. It’s murder plain and simple,” Wirskye said.
Anthony at one point reached inside a bag and replied: “Touch me and see what happens,” according to a police report.
Metcalf pushed Anthony, according to witnesses, who said Anthony then pulled out a knife and stabbed him in the chest. The teens, both from Frisco, didn't know each other.
“You don’t get to meet a shove with a stab, especially if you provoke the shove,” Wirskye said.
The prosecutor also made a broader pitch to the jury: “Ultimately, this case is about accountability. What kind of community do you want to live in.”
The trial drew lines of spectators hoping to find seats in the gallery and unfolded amid heavy security at the Collin County courthouse. As police officers watched Tuesday, dozens of people stood outside the courthouse in 90 degree Fahrenheit heat (32 degrees Celsius) to await the verdict. There were wails of grief from one woman — “This isn’t real!” — when the result became known.
Frisco is one of Texas’ fastest-growing cities that is dotted with dozens of modern school campuses and gleaming athletic facilities.
Several students testified that Metcalf, after ordering Anthony to leave his team’s tent, scoffed before Anthony reached into a bag and pulled out a knife.
One teen recalled Metcalf telling Anthony, “You don’t have anything in that backpack. It’s Frisco.”
The parents of Anthony and Metcalf have said they were good students who planned to go to college.
Associated Press writer Ed White in Detroit contributed to this report.
A crowd gathers by Collin County Sheriffs vehicles parke in front of the Collin County courthouse after the Karmelo Anthony verdict was reached Tuesday, June 9, 2026, in McKinney, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
An Austin Metcalf supporter holds a sign as law enfrocement officilals walk past in front of the Collin County courthouse following the verdict in the trial was reached Tuesday, June 9, 2026, in McKinney, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
Karmelo Anthony supporters voice their opinions in front of the Collin County courthouse after a verdict was reached Tuesday, June 9, 2026, in McKinney, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
An emotional Karmelo Anthony supporter is consoled by another outside the Collin County courthouse after the verdict was reached in the trial Tuesday, June 9, 2026, in McKinney, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
Law enforcement officials stand in front of the Collin County courthouse after the verdict was reached in the Karmelo Anthony trial Tuesday, June 9, 2026, in McKinney, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
A person walks around announcing the guilty verdict in the Karmelo Anthony trial in front of the Collin County courthouse, Tuesday, June 9, 2026, in McKinney, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
Supporters for Karmelo Anthony demonstrate in front of the Collin County courthouse Thursday, June 4, 2026, in McKinney, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
A Collin County seriff drives past the front of the county courthouse Thursday, June 4, 2026, in McKinney, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
