NFC Notes: Dan Campbell, Nick Mullens, Preston Smith, Bears, Lions, Packers, Vikings

Bears

• Bears HC Matt Eberflus on TE Cole Kmet‘s knee injury: “We’ll see where that goes in terms of his movement tomorrow.” (Adam Jahns)

Lions

• Lions HC Dan Campbell on designating LB James Houston to return from IR: “There’s a chance we start it. I made a comment this morning about it, we may, we may wait a week. He’s close to starting the clock.” (Dave Birkett)
• According to Josina Anderson, the Panthers are among the teams that have discussed and are aware of Lions OC Ben Johnson‘s asking price of $15 million annually.
• Although Johnson’s agent publicly denied the reported $15 million asking price, Anderson stands by the “integrity and viability of my sources.”

Packers

Packers OLB Preston Smith said they started Week 16’s game against the Panthers strongly, but they need to stay consistent in the second half. 

“We had two three-and-outs to start the game,” said Smith, via PackersWire. “We were putting the offense in position to score and doing our part early on. At halftime, they had 10 points, but we’ve just got to make sure coming out of halftime that we are finishing the game strong as we started.”’

Packers DC Joe Barry said he needs to put players in a position to succeed. 

“I’m a firm believer everything starts top-down,” said Barry. “So everything starts with me. So when things aren’t proper it’s my job to get it right. Now it is frustrating, you’d think at this point things would be running smoothly, but there’s a lot of things that take place in an NFL football game. There are so many subtle nuances that have to take place on every single play, with all 11 players. But that’s part of my title as the coordinator—to get it coordinated. And when it doesn’t go right, it is on me and it’s my job to get it done.”

Vikings

• Vikings HC Kevin O’Connell says the team will continue to evaluate QB Nick Mullens after the recent games against the Bengals and Lions before naming a starter: “We’re trying to work through what still gives us the best chance to be explosive, but we’ve got to still possess the ball.” (Ben Goessling)