NFC Notes: Justin Fields, Bears, Lions, Packers

Bears

Bears GM Ryan Poles told reporters that he wants to see improvement across the board from QB Justin Fields this year. 

“You want to see him improve everywhere,” Poles said, via BearsWire.com. “Obviously, you know what he did with his legs was outstanding, but in the pass game, look at the different scenarios, situations, two-minute, and continue to improve that.”

• Bears HC Matt Eberflus on TE Cole Kmet‘s extension: “Certainly excited about that. Having that type of guy, that type of tight end, that type of man that reps everything we want to represent at the Chicago Bears…and certainly he has a bright future ahead of him with the Chicago Bears.” (Courtney Cronin)

Lions

Lions HC Dan Campbell is focused on the improvement of his team and doesn’t want them getting carried away with the hype surrounding Detroit ahead of the new season. 

“I think as always, the thing that’s gonna worry you is the hype train,” Campbell told ESPN’s Eric Woodyard. “I mean, as with most coaches, this thing is just taking off and it’s out of control right now and that’s fine, as long as we stay focused on the job at hand and the work. I just keep going back to that. We’ve got to put the work in and earn it.”

“I think you just keep the message consistent, and you call it what it is, and it just goes back to the work,” Campbell added. “And when you see it not going that way or we have some guys that are deviating a little bit, or they think they’ve arrived and they haven’t, you call them out on it. I think as long as we do that as coaches and players as teammates, we’ll be fine.”

Lions DE Aidan Hutchinson and QB Jared Goff are both aware that the outside noise can have an impact on the team but are buying into Campbell’s message to stay focused. 

“It’s kind of hard not to see it,” Hutchinson said. “We’ve got the TVs on in there and it just pops up so you see it and I think it’s smart if a lot of our guys stay off of it just because it can get to your head a little bit, but I think we’re doing a good job of keeping our mentality and keeping what we’ve been doing, especially even last year, and building off of it. I think we’re doing a good job with our mentality. We keep that underdog mentality. We haven’t won anything yet, so obviously there’s a lot of expectations, but then again, we still feel like the underdogs.”

“That so-called ‘hype train,’ I think it’s funny to me that like you go 9-8, you don’t make the playoffs and now you’re all of a sudden the favorite,” Goff noted. “Of course, we’ve got good players, we’ve got good coaches, we’ve got a good team, but we haven’t done anything. We have a lot of work to do. Minnesota won 13 games last year, Green Bay’s won the division a handful of times in the last handful of years, so we’ve got some work to do to put the stamp on who we want to be and are nowhere near that yet, but are on our way.”

Packers

• Packers HC Matt LaFleur says LT David Bakhtiari will have a modified practice schedule: “It’ll be a pretty fluid process between him and the medical staff developing a practice program. Obviously, we know what type of player he is. He’s proved himself.” (Ryan Wood)