NFL Notes: Bears, Packers, Patriots

Bears

Bears GM Ryan Pace said made it clear that free agent acquisition QB Mike Glennon will be the team’s starting quarterback this year.

“Glennon’s here for a reason,” Pace said, via CSN Chicago. “We evaluated him over the years. We’re very confident in him. Glennon’s our starter and we’re confident with that. This thing is going to have to play out. But Mike Glennon is our starting quarterback and I don’t think now is the time to deal in hypotheticals going forward.”

Glennon says this is an opportunity he’s “dream of [his] whole life.”

“It’s just what I’ve dreamed of my whole life, to be a starting quarterback in the NFL and to enter the season as that guy,” Glennon said. “It’s what I’ve worked for. I’ve prepared for it ever since I was a kid and all the way through college and into the pros to get to this moment. So it’s going to be a great opportunity.”

• Bears OLB Pernell McPhee (PUP) is dealing with a right knee issue after his left knee troubled him for most of 2016.

Packers

Packers QB Aaron Rodgers stressed his love for the game and that he wants to “keep playing as long as possible” in an interview with Wilde & Tausch on ESPN Wisconsin.

“[That feeling] has kind of given me the idea that this is what I want to do. I love football, and I want to keep playing as long as possible,” Rodgers said, via ESPN.com. “And when you have that kind of slight shift in your thinking, then you start going to, ‘How can I do that?’ And the way you can do that, in my opinion, is taking care of yourself at a hyper-sensitive level to all the areas that that entails — the rehab area, the eating area, the workout/focus area. And all those combined have kind of given me the idea that I’d like to keep playing at a high level, as fun as it is right now.”

Rodgers explained that there was a change in his thinking a few years ago that helped him understand just how much he really loves the game.

“I think it’s a change, a slight change that happened the last few years, where it really has become just a love affair,” Rodgers said. “From [being] a game I always enjoyed playing and enjoyed competing and am hyper-competitive [in] to just really loving the process even more — the practice, the preparation, just enjoying those moments even more.”

Patriots

Patriots RBs coach Ivan Fears mentioned that one of their running back is going to have to step up and help fill the void left by LeGarrette Blount as the team’s power back.

“Somebody’s got to play big for us,” Fears said, via Patriots.com. “We have enough guys who can play finesse football. Somebody’s got to play power football for us so we have to find out who’s going to do that. I think a lot of those guys are capable of that. Freakin’ James White ran the power offense when he was at Wisconsin so, what are we talking about? But he’s got to do it for us here. Not just him, but whether it’s Mike, whether it’s Rex or Brandon Bolden … somebody’s got to step up and be the big back when we need one and all those roles that come up in the game we have to find somebody to fit those roles, and I think we will.”

The Patriots depth chart at running back currently consists of Mike Gillislee, Rex Burkhead, Dion Lewis, James White and Brandon Bolden.