NFC Notes: Bears, Lions, Packers, Vikings

Bears HC Matt Eberflus says that QB Justin Fields will develop more pocket presence with experience and will continue to improve despite his inclination to run when things begin to collapse around him.

“It’s just pocket presence as he gets more experience,” Eberflus said, via the Chicago Sun-Times. “He did a nice job of riding the pocket a couple of times, staying in there and delivering the ball, for sure. We talked about those plays. . . . More experience on the job, and he’s going to get better at it.”

Lions

Lions TE T.J. Hockenson spoke about his big Week 4 performance and drew praise from QB Jared Goff.

“Going into the week, I knew it was going to be a fun one,” Hockenson said postgame, via Kyle Meinke of MLive.com. “We knew somebody was going to have to put the team on [his shoulders] and make sure the ball was moving. So that was kind of my goal just coming into this game, keep the ball moving, make plays when they’re called. I was able to do that for sure.”

Nearly all of Detroit’s big-name skill players were out, and Hockenson more than stepped up in their absence with eight catches, 179 yards and two touchdowns. 

“I think you could see him kind of catch a rhythm,” Goff said. “He started breaking some tackles, started being extremely decisive on his routes, extremely separating well, and doing a lot of good things. And that’s just who he is. He’s a rhythm player, and getting him in that rhythm is important for us. We needed to do that, and you can see how dangerous he is catching a shallow and taking it 80 yards. But, yeah. He is a hell of a player, and we need to keep him involved.”

Packers

The Packers were just able to get past the Patriots on Sunday, despite the fact New England was down to their third-string quarterback. 

After the game, Aaron Rodgers admitted that winning in this manner isn’t sustainable for them long-term.

“This way of winning, I don’t think, is sustainable because it puts too much pressure on our defense,” Rodgers said, via ESPN.com. “And obviously I’ve got to play better and will play better.”

“You can’t be 2-2 losing to a third-string quarterback and not playing great in all three phases, so we had to have this one,” Rodgers added. “That doesn’t take anything away from the joy of winning, but this was one we had to have.”

Rodgers does, however, think the team can have sustained success this year. 

“I think winning is sustainable, for sure,” Rodgers said. “I think we’re going to have to play a little bit better against starting quarterbacks and if our defense isn’t playing as well as they can.”

• The Packers worked out former Jaguars OL Nick Ford and former Raiders OL Bam Olaseni. (Doug Kyed)

Vikings

• The Vikings announced first-round S Lewis Cine had successful surgery on Tuesday for his compound ankle fracture.