They're goddamned awful. Awful. We're not keeping basic gap integrity, and the players can hardly be evaluated because they're all playing timid. None of them trust one another, and you can't play fast without the basic integrity of knowing your exact job and knowing that your teammates will do theirs. Everyone is adrift at sea just flailing.
Yes, this does start at the top. The coordinator is the responsible party for coaching these details and ensuring that these guys are ready to execute, and Pete hired him. There's a lack of effort on the rosters part, but no shit! They're in chaos! How can you go max effort when you don't know what the others are doing around you? How can you go max effort when you don't know what YOU'RE supposed to do?
Hurtt should've been canned last year. The players on the front 7, at a minimum, knew their gaps and locked down the run under KNJ. This is objective number one of any defense: locking down the run game. You cannot let them move automatically in a grinding fashion while pulverizing the clock and gassing your D. This was unacceptable in 2022, and I know the justification from Pete is "Well, we tried to do too much at once change wise and I put him in a bad spot," but I don't care for that excuse at this point. Emasculation is unacceptable.
At least the offense isn't quitting because there's no structure. They're sloppy as all hell under Waldron compared to Schotty, but it isn't like the defense. This defense is an executable mistake, and there's no amount of HC stepping in that could've fixed it.
Hire a better talent for DC, surround them with experienced coaches, and get competent again. Just competent. Start with that.