NFC Notes: Dan Campbell, Justin Jefferson, Montez Sweat, Bears, Lions, Vikings

Bears

Bears DE Montez Sweat took a shot at his former team while praising HC Matt Eberflus following the win over Washington.

“Where I come from, it was kind of like just waiting on the season to end,” Sweat said, via Commanders Wire. “But here it’s like, every week is a new challenge, and people want to play for the man beside him…coach ‘Flus is a great coach. He keeps us motivated. I’ve never seen a head coach run the team and call defensive plays, so that’s new for me. A lot of respect for him as a coach.”

Lions

Lions HC Dan Campbell knows that despite the winning record, there are plenty of things his team can fix after a loss to the division-rival Bears.

“If we had won that game, I would have told you we played good ball,” Campbell said, via The Athletic’s Colton Pouncy. “Since we lost that game by two scores, obviously it’s not good There’s not going to be anything easy. I never assume we’re going to go into these games (saying), ‘Yeah, we’re going to win and we’re going to win by 30.’ That’s not the league. The point is we got to win these games. Just win, baby. Just win. We didn’t do enough to win today.”

“Look, I know that everybody’s trying to grasp straws, what are we, what is this,” Campbell added. “I know exactly what we are. We’re a team that will fight. We got to do things right because any little mistake, man, it throws us off now. That’s just the type of team we are. But we got plenty here. We got plenty. We do things right, we’re pretty damn good. We’ll get it cleaned up, man. We’ll move on.”

• Campbell on the potential return of LB James Houston late in the season: “I think there’s a chance (he plays this season), but we’re looking at late December, January.” (Kyle Meinke)

Vikings

• Vikings HC Kevin O’Connell says the team will determine who their starting quarterback will be throughout the week before adding that WR Justin Jefferson has a good chance of playing against the Bengals. (Ben Goessling)
• According to O’Connell, the team is also attempting to decide if now is the right time to open the 21-day practice window for LB Jordan Hicks, who has quickly recovered from compartment syndrome. (Kevin Seifert)