NFC Notes: Brad Holmes, Jordan Love, Bears, Lions, Packers

Bears

When the Bears traded for DE Montez Sweat last year, the move was panned by a lot of people. It’s the type of trade contending teams make to put them over the top — except Chicago wasn’t close to contending and had plenty of other holes on the roster. But there was a clear impact on the defense after Sweat arrived and Bears assistant DL coach Justin Hinds explained Sweat was a force-multiplier for the other players on defense. 

“When you see that guy, it just takes the whole team to another level,” Hinds said via the Athletic’s Kevin Fishbain. “There’s more interception opportunities. There’s a game-plan player where offensive coordinators have to account for this guy, and it frees up a lot of opportunities for guys. That’s why you see the [Gervon Dexter] numbers go up, Justin Jones and DeMarcus Walker having the success. it’s awesome because those guys work really hard. It’s nice to have that type of player opposite you to help get some focus on him and then you can win on some of those one-on-ones.”

Lions

Lions GM Brad Holmes told reporters that the team’s 2023 success should not be considered a fluke and this should be the expectation for them moving forward.

“I don’t want anybody to think that this was a one-shot, Cinderella, magical journey that just happened,” Holmes said, via ESPN.com. “No, it’s real. This is exactly what was supposed to happen and I understand that based on history, from what’s happened in the past. I understand if you have a season like this, it’s easy to feel like this was kind of a one-shot, magical, lucky, cute story. Which I’m tired of hearing. It was none of that.

“It’s easy to think that, but no, every move that me and [head coach Dan Campbell] make, it has been made to sustain what we are building. Every single move. And I’ll say every single move we make and every single move we do not make is to sustain what we have been building. So, it’s real. Look, it’s all to normalize what we’re doing. This is to normalize it.”

Packers

Packers QB Jordan Love said the team’s game plan heading into the wildcard win against the Cowboys was to establish the run.

“The key for us going into the game was we needed to run the ball,” Love said, via Packers Wire. “That was a huge thing. Obviously, we played each other the year before, and I felt like we ran the ball well. That was our goal, to be able to run the ball, and that was going to set everything else up.”

Love added that RB Aaron Jones was tasked with a larger role in pass protection.

“Well, that’s the thing,” Love said, “our game plan, we have specific play calls where it’s like, we’re chipping, we got the running back, tight end chipping you (Parsons). We have stud jet protection where we are going after the stud. But Jones, in that game, did some phenomenal stuff. There were times when we were doing play-action stuff where he’s checking for the nickel coming off the edge, and if he’s not coming, he’s supposed to get out in his route. And he would feel you beat one of our O-linemen, and instincts he would just go to chip you and help in protection.”