NFC Notes: Bears, Lions, Packers, Vikings

Bears

The Bears offense has really hit its stride in recent weeks, but the defense is struggling mightily. 

Bears S Eddie Jackson expressed his frustration about the defense’s performance during this stretch. 

“Me, the type of player I am, it just eats me up inside, like I’m just not helping,” Jackson said, via NBC Sports Chicago. “Especially myself, you know, I want to go out there and make every play if I can. We got to be better on D, man. We got to get him some help. What him and the offense is doing, it’s something different. It’s something different. Them boys is balling. I feel like we just leaving them out to dry. Got to get that changed man.”

Jackson believes some of their struggles are self-inflicted. 

“We got to stop shooting ourselves in the foot,” Jackson said. “I’m tired of standing up here saying the same things every week. It’s just becoming repetitive.

“I’m just tried of sounding like a broken record. Week in, week out. We got to do our job. We got to be better on defense. We got to get this fixed. We got to get this fixed fast.”

Lions

Lions CB Jeff Okudah scored a defensive touchdown on his first interception since the 2020 season and is enjoying being back to full health.

“I mean, honestly, I’m just enjoying this year,” Okudah said, via Kyle Meinke of MLive.com. “I’ve been through a lot of things my first two years, had plenty of lows. So I don’t take any of these moments for granted. Winning these games, and being able to make plays, I don’t take any of that for granted. I’ve seen the other side of it. So I’m enjoying every single moment because you never know when the moment will be over.”

• Lions C Frank Ragnow was in a walking boot after playing against the Bears and has been dealing with foot and toe issues since last season. (Meinke)

Packers

Packers QB Aaron Rodgers believes second-round WR Christian Watson turned a corner on Sunday against the Cowboys.

“After those two drops,” Rodgers said, via PackersNews.com. “I felt like he reset on the sideline. I kind of came over to him and said, ‘The ball is still coming your way, buddy. Let’s get one of these and make a play.’”

“That first one I feel like was that monkey, the 800-pound gorilla, off his back,” Rodgers continued. “The weight of expectations and frustrations and drops and disappointment. Hopefully, that’s a big jolt for him moving forward. I think that catch probably on an atomic level shifted a lot of different things for him, exorcising some energetic demons. I’m proud of him. He made some plays.”

“That was a play we were trying to get to all night,” Watson said. “We called that same play a few times in hopes we could get the look we wanted so we could check it to that specific play. Finally, I think it was on the third time, we finally had that low safety on the backside. Obviously, safety to the two-man side, so just have to win with speed across the field, and that’s what I did.”

• Packers HC Matt LaFleur on S Rudy Ford, who added two interceptions on Sunday: “I thought he did an outstanding job. You could really feel his speed and physicality out on the field. I thought there were a couple of open-field tackles that were really impressive.” (Ryan Wood)
• LaFleur considers LB De’Vondre Campbell day to day with a knee injury and is unsure of his status for Thursday Night Football against the Titans. (Wood)

Vikings

• Vikings HC Kevin O’Connell confirmed both OT Christian Darrisaw and fourth-round CB Akayleb Evans are both in concussion protocol. (Chris Tomasson)