NFC Notes: Bears, Jared Goff, Lions, Packers, Vikings

Bears

Though the Bears finished with the No. 1 overall pick, all early indications are that they believe they have their quarterback on the future with Justin Fields, who was a shining bright spot in an otherwise rough season. Fields and his elite rushing ability were often the only reason Chicago stayed competitive, and while there is work to do as a passer, the Bears believe Fields has a massive ceiling he’s capable of hitting as a passer. 

“His potential is very high,” Bears HC Matt Eberflus said via Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer. “What he does well is he throws outside the numbers really well and he also throws the go-ball and deep passes well. I mean, he’s very accurate on a deep pass. You can see that through the course of the year. He dropped one in to [Darnell] Mooney back at the New York Giants. He’s hit a lot of go-balls and outside-the-number passes, where he’s developing the inside-breaking routes and the rhythm and timing of that, and the intermediate pass. And that’s where he’s developing. He’s gotten a lot better, and he’s gonna continue to get better. To me, the ceiling on that is as high as we’re gonna take it. You never put a ceiling on a player. You never put a cap on a player, and he’s gonna take it where he can.”

Lions

Lions GM Brad Holmes praised veteran QB Jared Goff for leading their offense to become one of the best in the league. 

“I agree I think he’s played really well,” Holmes said, via Justin Rogers of the Detroit News. “I’ll say this, I think it’s a lot easier to get worse at quarterback than to get better at quarterback in this league. I think what Jared has done this year, he captained the ship of a top-3 offense, and I want to say he was top-10 statistically in most of the passing categories. Again, you know how we approach the draft, we’re never going to turn down a good football player. If there’s a good football player that we really love, we’re going to make sure every stone is (overturned). But I do think Jared has proven to everybody that he is a starting quarterback for us.”

Holmes has been aware of Goff’s capability since he was the Rams’ director of college scouting from 2013-2020. 

“I was always confident in him because I’ve been with him from the get-go, when he was drafted and I was with L.A.,” Holmes said. “I just knew how resilient and mentally tough he is. And I think a lot of it was knowing all the success he had in LA, I think that was kinda forgotten a little bit when he got here, and I think he was put in a very tough situation.”

Holmes wouldn’t rule out the possibility of drafting a quarterback to sit behind Goff and points out that players like Patrick Mahomes and Aaron Rodgers were successful products of that approach. 

“I think there’s a lot of merit and a lot of proof behind that,” Holmes said. “You can see that with countless examples of guys who drafted high. Obviously, Patrick Mahomes comes up right off the bat, (the Chiefs) trading up, taking him high, then sitting him. Then you go back to the guy that we just got done playing in Aaron Rodgers. So there’s a lot of proof in the pudding in taking that approach.”

Packers

Vikings

• Vikings HC Kevin O’Connell said C Garrett Bradbury will have limited practice on Wednesday and will be evaluated throughout the week before the team makes a decision on his status for Sunday. (Ben Goessling)