NFC Notes: Bears, Falcons, Packers, Seahawks

Bears

• Adam L. Jahns of the Chicago Sun-Times writes that Bears GM Ryan Pace deserves an opportunity to pick the team’s next head coach, assuming that they move on from John Fox after the season.
• Regarding Fox, Jahns writes that this year was a “defining” season for him with the expectation of a turnaround that never ultimately occurred.
• Jahns adds that the development of first-round QB Mitch Trubisky over the remainder of the season will give the front office a good understanding of who they and the kind of team they could be moving forward.
• Before Chicago hired Fox, Jahns points out that they interviewed Doug Marrone, Teryl Austin, Dan Quinn and Adam Gase for the job. However, Pace ultimately hired Fox with the support of then special adviser Ernie Accorsi.

Falcons

• The Falcons officially ruled out RB Devonta Freeman for Week 11 due to a concussion, and have P Matt Bosher and LB Duke Riley listed as questionable.

Packers

• Ryan Wood of PackersNews.com writes that the Packers could face a difficult decision regarding RT Bryan Bulaga next year after he suffered a season-ending ACL tear a few weeks ago.
• Bulaga will be entering the fourth year of his five-year, $33.75 million contract and Green Bay could move on and incur only a $3.2 million cap hit next year.
• While he’s been in the NFL for several years, it’s worth mentioning that Bulaga is still only 28 years old and has played well for the Packers when healthy. There aren’t very many options available at offensive tackle in free agency next year, so it’s possible he could draw interest from a number of teams, even though he’s coming off of a serious knee injury.
• The Packers officially placed Bulaga on injured reserve Saturday and activated OT Jason Spriggs from I.R. (NFLTR)

Seahawks

• The Seahawks officially ruled out G Luke Joeckel (knee), S Kam Chancellor (neck) and LB Michael Wilhoite (calf) for Monday’s game against the Falcons.
• Seattle also has LT Duane Brown (ankle) and DT Jarran Reed (hamstring) both down as questionable for Week 11.