NFC Notes: Bears, Giants, Packers, Vikings

Bears

• Bears GM Ryan Pace said that QB Mitch Trubisky was not involved in the head coach hiring process: “We talked about it but at the end of the day we didn’t include him in the interview process.”
• New Bears HC Matt Nagy told reporters that he will call the plays on offense. (Rich Campbell)
• Nagy said of DC Vic Fangio being a free agent: “We all are aware of that situation. That is a very important hire. Vic and I have talked. That is something we’re going to attack after we get going here today. We’re going to make a clear decision on what’s best for Vic and what’s best for us.” (Brad Biggs)
• Regarding what happened during the Chiefs’ disappointing loss to the Titans, Nagy explained that he called all of the plans and believes he’ll learn from this: “I called every single play in the second half. It was a learning experience for me. That was a failure in my book for me.” Says hindsight shows him he should have called some different plays in some situations.” (Rich Campbell)

Giants

Despite previously referring to CB Eli Apple as a “cancer”, Giants S Landon Collins thinks the team should bring him back next year.

“I think the organization should keep him,” Collins said, via the New York Post. “He’s a first-rounder. He does a good job when his head is on straight on the field. … I want him to be here. I want him to be under my wing, and I can continue pushing him, continuing teaching him how this game is and how this business goes, and help him grow up as much as I can.”

Packers

There has been a lot made about the Packers’ decision to shake up their front office structure after decades of doing things the same way with good results.

On Monday, Packers president Mark Murphy explained that he made the decision to change things up in order to prevent breakdowns in communication and collaboration that occurred in the final years of Ted Thompson‘s tenure as GM from happening again.

“What this process showed me, within football, we have silos, and we’ve had some breakdowns in communication,” Murphy said, via ESPN. “One of the things that I really tried to do as I looked at it, what would be the best way to improve communication, improve collaboration among people within our football operations and how do you knock down those silos? So this search process really identified some of those issues for me and was really very helpful.”

• Rob Demovsky reports that Brian Gutekunst is expected to receive a five-year contract that is believed to pay him $2.5 million annually.

Vikings

Vikings HC Mike Zimmer said that there’s no rush to activate QB Sam Bradford from injured reserve and they instead plan to “take their time” with him.

“We had two days of practice and he got about one-third of the reps, so we’ll just take our time and see how it goes,’’ Zimmer said, via Chris Tomasson of the Pioneer Press.

The Vikings will obviously be starting Case Keenum on Sunday against the Saints and Teddy Bridgewater is expected to be his backup.

We have all three of the Vikings’ quarterbacks featured in our Top 100  – 2018 NFL Free Agents list.