NFC Notes: Bears, Lions, Vikings

Bears’ HC Matt Nagy opened up about turning the play-calling duties over to OC Bill Lazor, saying that his decision to make the move was a “gut feeling.”

“Is it hard to do? Absolutely,” Nagy said, via Dan Wiederer of The Chicago Tribune. “I’d be lying to every one of you guys if I told you that this is easy. It’s not easy. It’s one of my favorite parts of coaching. I love calling plays. I love it. But guess what? If this is what’s best for the team, then that’s what I’m going to do. If our team can be better because of this move – and I don’t know that – but if we can, then darn it that’s what we need to do. And (it’s what) I need to do. That’s just a part of this job that I signed up for. And I have to make these decisions. We talk about belief, we talk about trust. I talk about that all the time with the players. Do you believe in yourself? Do you believe in your teammates? Do you believe in your coaches? Do you trust your coaches? Well, this is showing my trust and my belief in our coaches. Is it going to perfect? No. Is every call going to be great? No. But that’s OK. And we’ll work through that.”

• Bears HC Matt Nagy said C Cody Whitehair is a “possibility” to be activated from the COVID-19 list for Week 10’s Monday night game. (Brad Biggs)
• Brad Biggs mentions that the Bears could promote DL Daniel McCullers, OL Eric Kush, RB Lamar Miller and possibly S Marqui Christian to their active roster before Monday’s game. 
• OUT for Week 10: DL John Jenkins (ankle), RB David Montgomery (concussion), QB Mitch Trubisky (shoulder), S Sherrick McManis (hand).
• DOUBTFUL for Week 10: OL Sam Mustipher (knee).
• QUESTIONABLE for Week 10: TE Cole Kmet (groin), OT Jason Spriggs (knee), WR Allen Robinson (knee), OLB Barkevious Mingo (shoulder).

Lions

Lions S Tracy Walker did not want to elaborate on why Detroit’s defense has struggled throughout this season. 

“I honestly don’t want to answer that question simply because that’s a question that I don’t need to be answering. I don’t think it’s a bad question. I just don’t want to answer that question, honestly,” said Walker, via Michael Rothstein. 

Walker feels that he has struggled to play consistently this season and must “fix myself individually.” 

“I didn’t play well at all, honestly. I felt like, you know, that I’ve been having my ups-and-downs. Sometimes I’ve played good and sometimes I’ve been playing bad so I feel like I have a lot to correct so that’s why I said I don’t really want to speak on it because I got to fix myself first, you know. I’ve been making mistakes out there and before I can talk about us as a whole I need to fix myself individually,” said Walker, via Rothstein.

Vikings

• Vikings HC Mike Zimmer said LB Eric Kendricks is their “emergency backup long snapper” for Week 10. (Tomasson)
• Regarding their Week 10 matchup against the Bears, Zimmer said RG Ezra Cleveland faces a “big test” against DT Akiem Hicks: “It will be a big test for him this week against Hicks,” via Tomasson. 
• When asked about waiving G Pat Elflein on Saturday, Zimmer said they had “better options” available: “We just felt like we had some better options,” per Tomasson. 
• Vikings OT Brian O’Neill called Eflein getting cut a “business decision” and praised the recently waived lineman: “I loved Pat and he was a great help to me.” (Tomasson)