NFC Notes: Bears, Lions, Packers, Vikings

Bears

• ESPN’s Dan Graziano writes the sense in NFL circles is that Bears HC Matt Nagy needs a miracle down the home stretch this season to save his job. 
• Graziano adds there is a fair bit of smoke connecting Bills DC Leslie Frazier to a potential Bears opening. Bills QB coach Ken Dorsey is a leading candidate to come with Frazier as offensive coordinator. 
• Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer says his top realistic candidate for the Bears head coaching job if it comes available would be Patriots OC Josh McDaniels given his extensive track record developing young quarterbacks. 
• Bears WR Allen Robinson is the big headliner among Chicago’s pending free agents, but the Athletic’s Jeff Howe points out three starting offensive linemen are also on expiring deals: LT Jason Peters, G James Daniels and C Sam Mustipher.
• Bears second-round OT Teven Jenkins said he feels as good physically as he did when he was 18, but he needed the back surgery to get there: “Maybe I did push a little bit too much and made it worse.” (Kevin Fishbain)
• Robinson said he’ll be ready for Sunday against the Packers: “That’s the plan. Everything is trending in the right direction.” (Fishbain)

Lions

Lions QB Jared Goff felt good after getting his first win as a member of Detroit under his belt.

“For me personally, it’s good,” he said, via Albert Breer. “It’s why I come to play, you play to win a game and I don’t think much about the past. I think more about how we can be better, but I think my feeling to that is noted from the other 52 guys on our team.” 

Goff says that he’s more mentally tough after being traded to Lions from the Rams, and remains focused on closing out the season strong.

“I’m tougher, mentally,” he said. “A lot of hard times, obviously, since January. But again, we all have hard times, it’s all relative. So how do you find a way to show up every day with a smile on your face and get better, and be the best teammate you can be? And no doubt, it’s tested me. It’s tested me. Yeah since January, it’s tested me. But I feel like I’ve done a good job of rising to the occasion and will continue to. Obviously, like I said, our record isn’t what we want it to be, but the fight and the will to win every week has remained.”

Goff says that HC Dan Campbell has full support of the team and the locker room, and feels that he’s the coach to turn things around in Detroit.

“Just to start off with, it’s the fight and the effort, we haven’t quit in one game,” Goff said. “We got our a– kicked in some games but we’ve never quit on any side of the ball. And there’s been times of contention and times of people mad at each other, but at the same time we’ve become a family and never quit, and days like this are days that you get rewarded by that. I’ve said it from the moment I got here, that I don’t know much, I’ve been here for nine months—but as far as I can tell, if anyone can right this Detroit ship, it’s Dan Campbell. And we ride with that guy.”

• The Athletic’s Jeff Howe notes Lions DE Trey Flowers is a strong candidate to be a cap casualty this offseason. 
• Broncos OL Graham Glasgow said he was willing to re-sign in Detroit before he left to Denver: “I would have loved to have stayed. … I was not particularly happy with how they went about things, the previous regime. I was pretty upset with them, which made me want to leave. But I have a lot of love for the area.”  (Kyle Meinke)

Packers

• Packers HC Matt LaFleur confirmed WR Randall Cobb (core) suffered a significant injury: “Cobb is going to be out for a while. He had a pretty significant injury. That’s unfortunate because he’s done such an amazing job when given the opportunity.” (Wes Hodkiewicz)
• Packers P Corey Bojorquez, who was acquired from the Rams in August, said he requested to play in Green Bay over a team with a dome stadium because he wanted the challenge of punting in bad conditions: “I want to be there best to have ever done it. I want to be better than the other 31 guys playing in the league. To do that, I’ve got to not only outpunt people, but outpunt them in bad conditions.” (Ryan Wood)

Vikings

• CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora says he’s sensed a clear shift, and there might now be more head coaching job openings this year than previously expected. That includes the Vikings, as La Canfora points out HC Mike Zimmer had a mandate to make noise in the playoffs this season. 
• The Vikings haven’t been eliminated, but a loss to the winless Lions in Week 13 dropped them to 5-7 and La Canfora thinks it’s not out of the question a loss on Thursday to the Steelers prompts the team to fire Zimmer in-season. 
• ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler writes that while he hasn’t heard anything is imminent with Zimmer, changes definitely could be on the table as the sense is Zimmer’s style is starting to grate on players and coaches without the benefit of winning to cushion things.
• Vikings GM Rick Spielman‘s status is also uncertain but Fowler suggests he could stick around in a senior advisory role while someone else comes in to fill the day-to-day role of GM. 
• With so much long-term uncertainty, ESPN’s Courtney Cronin says the final five games of the season essentially amount to an audition for Vikings QB Kirk Cousins as well. 2022 is the final year of his contract and he has an astronomical $45 million cap hit. That can be lowered with an extension but a new regime would have to be on board with that. 
• Cousins’ $35 million base salary for 2022 is already guaranteed. While it would seem to be difficult, Cronin doesn’t completely rule out Minnesota allowing Cousins to play out that contract on his scheduled cap hit. 
• The Athletic’s Jeff Howe writes a trade could also help the Vikings manage the financial hit of moving on from Cousins in 2022 if they can find a taker. A team would have to be able to take on that $35 million salary before a restructure or extension, though, which is a tough ask.