NFC Notes: Bears, Lions, Packers, Vikings

Bears

• ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler notes Bears assistant GM Ian Cunningham was a finalist for both the Titans and Cardinals GM vacancies and is the top name to watch for next year’s hiring cycle. 
• The Senior Bowl announced Bears OC Luke Getsy has been selected to be the head coach of the American Team. 
• The Bears had three other coaches appointed to the 2023 Senior Bowl staff, including LB coach Dave Borgonzi, assistant ST coach Carlos Polk and assistant TE coach Tim Zetts. (Kevin Fishbain)

Lions

Lions OC Ben Johnson informed interested teams that he will continue as Detroit’s offensive coordinator. Earlier this season, HC Dan Campbell said Johnson is worthy of a head coaching job. 

“He would be worthy of that,” Campbell said, via Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press. “I think a ton of him. I think he’s — I’ve said it before, I just think he’s extremely bright, he’s creative. He’s organized. He’s a great communicator. I mean, he just, he’s got it.”

Lions QB Jared Goff said Johnson was “instrumental” to his success this season. 

“He’s been as instrumental as any coach I’ve ever had,” Goff said. “Our communication is as good as I’ve ever been a part of and he does a great job with not just me but everybody, getting everyone ready to play. I joked in the middle of the year that I’m going to stop saying nice things about him because I know where that heads and if he does end up doing that, I’ll be thrilled for him. He’s a hell of a coach and that’s why you get into this profession is to do that but selfishly I’d love to continue to play for him.”

Packers

Packers GM Brian Gutekunst said “I would hope so” when asked if veteran David Bakhtiari would return as the team’s left tackle. There was some question about that given Bakhtiari’s age, injury history and sizable 2023 cap hit. But Gutekunst is optimistic about Bakhtiari’s long-term outlook and availability.

“I think we’re hopeful that he’s kind of cleared some of those injury hurdles that he had the last few years,” Gutekunst said via Packers Wire. “He got into a really good rhythm of learning what he needed to practice to get to the games, and I’m hopeful as we get beyond this season that rhythm will serve him well as we go forward.”

Vikings

• Vikings GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah said they have already had preliminary extension discussions with WR Justin Jefferson and doesn’t think they will run into any problems: “I wouldn’t use the word challenge. You got a special player, a special person. Those aren’t problems. Or at least those are champagne problems. So we’ll start there We’ve had initial dialogue with him his agent, all those things We get back to that in the planning but again it really starts from the player, the person and we’ll work on solutions from there on.” (Chris Tomasson)
• Adofo-Mensah said they expect Kirk Cousins to continue as their quarterback: “It’s our expectation that he will be our quarterback.” (Tomasson)
• When asked if Vikings DC Ed Donatell will return for 2023, HC Kevin O’Connell responded that they are still evaluating his role: “I’m in evaluation mode of everything that we did. I think that’s really important. Part of self-reflecting and part of us reflecting as a staff is making sure we’re taking a look at every aspect of our football team and our coaching staff to make sure that we’re doing everything within my responsibility and my power to put our players and our organization in the best possible situation to have success.” (Kevin Seifert)