NFC Notes: Jamal Adams, Jaylon Johnson, Bears, Lions, Packers

Bears

Following the Bears’ decision to fire HC Matt Eberflus after the Thanksgiving meltdown, Chicago CB Jaylon Johnson reportedly had a locker room outburst expressing his frustrations with the losing under the last coaching staff. Johnson doesn’t feel he played a role in the decision but said he hit a breaking point after years of tough losses. 

“Guys get fired all the time – players, coach, GM. It happens. I don’t necessarily feel like I was just some major part that played a role in getting [Eberflus] fired,” Johnson said, via 670 The Score. “That’s not on me. But at the end of the day, there was frustration. There were words from myself that I expressed just from my frustration of losing. Part of what I said after the game is I’ve been losing for five years. So, I mean, I feel like a high-level player like myself, after a certain point, losing games how we’ve been losing games, someone has to express something. It was one of those situations where it just got to that point where you don’t remember everything that was said.”

“It was just based around frustrations of losing. That’s what triggered it. Just some certain things and seeing the way things had went these last few weeks. From the outside looking in, you can say it’s the last few weeks. For me, it’s the last five years of my damn career.”

Lions

The Lions recently signed S Jamal Adams to their practice earlier this week. The veteran safety feels fortunate to catch on with the 11-1 Detroit team. 

“I mean, they’ve been kicking everybody’s ass,” Adams said, via Jared Ramsey of The Detroit Free Press. “So I’m fortunate enough to, again, just to be on a team that’s rolling like that. And whatever I can do to help, that’s what I’m here for.”

Adams still thinks he can do “a little bit of everything” and will do whatever he is asked to do. 

“I just feel like I can do a little bit of everything,” Adams said. “Whatever they ask me to do, I’m definitely going to do it to the best of my ability and just fly around and continue to make plays.”

Lions DC Aaron Glenn said they will make sure to have a reduced playbook for Adams to help him acclimate and pointed out how they’ve brought in other recent signings like DL Al-Quadin Muhammad and LB Kwon Alexander. 

“Muhammad was with us in New Orleans, so he understood some of the concepts that we have,” Glenn said. “We brought Kwon in, we had Kwon in New Orleans, he understands some of the concepts that we have. Then the other guys, we try to make sure that we spend as much time as we can with them and make sure that we can shrink the playbook to where, ‘These are the calls that we are going to have. Understand what your job is.’ Then make sure that they play a certain way and that’s the most important thing.”

• Lions HC Dan Campbell expects CB Carlton Davis to play Thursday but said LT Taylor Decker isn’t ready to return yet. (Justin Rogers)

Packers

After struggles to start the year from kickers Anders Carlson and Brayden Narveson, the Packers seemed to have found an answer in veteran K Brandon McManus. Green Bay QB Jordan Love spoke on their faith in McManus to come through when they needed it most because of his history in the league.

“We have a lot of confidence,” Love said, via Matt Schneidman of The Athletic. “Since he’s got here, he’s just proven who he is and what he’s about. He’s made some really big-time kicks for us and he’s came in and taken over that role and he’s done a great job. Obviously, he’s a vet … so I think it was just getting around him and getting to know him, which has been fun. But I mean, you look at last week’s game (against the Dolphins), just having all those kicks, having the two-minute drive before the half. To know you’ve got a guy who you’ve just got to get into his range and he’s going to put it through the uprights, it’s a good feeling to have.”