NFC Notes: Bears, Lions, Packers, Vikings

Bears

• Bears HC Matt Nagy said he expects to finish the season with the team. (Adam Jahns)
• Bears S Deon Bush and OLB Trevis Gipson were not fined for their unnecessary roughness penalties against the Vikings. Meanwhile, second-round OT Teven Jenkins was fined $8,473 for his unnecessary roughness penalty. (Kevin Fishbain)
• Bears DB Teez Tabor was fined $4,722 for an illegal low block. (Chris Tomasson)

Lions

Lions HC Dan Campbell isn’t focused on the scoreboard this year, he’s focused on his team, from coaches down to player personnel, improving on a daily and weekly basis.

“I think you’ve gotta look at improvement, and what I see is: I see us improving,” Campbell said, via The Athletic. “Even today, we’re improving…You look for improvement, out of every player and every group. And I see it. We’re playing better football right now than we did when we started, and that’s what you’re looking for.”

Fourth-round WR Amon-Ra St. Brown entered the season as a fourth-round pick looking to carve out a role on the team, he’s exceeded expectations and looks to be the part of a potential centerpiece on offense.

“There’s not enough to say about St. Brown, man,” QB Tim Boyle said. “Saint has come such a long way, and where he came from was a very good professional athlete. His ability to see coverage, his ability to win vs. man, he’s smart, he gets it, he’s a big dude, he’s fast. There’s not enough you can say about St. Brown and we are very, very lucky to have him on this team.”

• ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports Lions TE Shane Zylstra has a fractured kneecap.

Packers

• Packers HC Matt LaFleur said LT David Bakhtiari might return to practice this week. (Tom Silverstein)
• LaFleur added he doesn’t think RB Aaron Jones‘ injury is serious. (Wes Hodkiewicz) 
• LaFleur mentioned it is possible second-round C Josh Myers returns this year and RT Billy Turner is working to return this week. (Ryan Wood)

Vikings

Vikings WR Justin Jefferson recently broke Rams WR Odell Beckham Jr.‘s record for most receiving yards within his first two years in the league. He was happy with the accomplishment but wishes his team’s record reflected his personal success.

“Blessed, honor to God, just being in this situation, breaking his record with him [Beckham] in the building,” Jefferson said, via ESPN. “It was no other perfect situation for me. But a dub would definitely be better with that record, but move on.”

After only receiving one red-zone target, Jefferson wishes the team looked more his way when they got down into opponent’s territory.

“I think we should be more aggressive when we get down there, as soon as we get down there,” Jefferson said. “But, I’m not the one calling the plays. I’m just here to do my job and do what’s told to me. But, we can’t get down in the red zone that many times and come out with three points.”

Jefferson said he noticed the lack of energy as soon as he stepped into the locker room, but promised to bring the energy every time he steps on to the field.

“I can only control what I can,” Jefferson said. “I definitely will keep the energy up, keep talking my guys up, trying to pick them up, but at the end of the day I can’t go out there and play for them, so we just all gotta come together as a whole, have that energy up for next game and just go out there and ball.”