NFC Notes: Justin Fields, Elgton Jenkins, Bears, Packers, Vikings

Bears

Bears’ former director of player personnel Josh Lucas believes the issues for Justin Fields and the team’s offense are “extremely fixable.”

“It looks extremely fixable,” Lucas said of Fields, via The Athletic. “He needs to be more confident. And to me, he’s just not very confident yet. … But it’s got to get better each week going forward. It doesn’t look to me like a guy that can’t play the position.”

Lucas mentioned that the number of hits and sacks Fields has taken since entering the league are likely impacting his performance.

“This is a guy that’s been shell-shocked and hit a lot,” Lucas said. “He does a great job of keeping the play alive and finding the open guy. But I’m willing to bet the quarterback coach is like, ‘Hey, trust it, trust it, trust it, trust it. You got 13.’ But he can’t throw that ball. He’s moving.”

Packers

Packers RB A.J. Dillon said he’s been focused on keeping a good pad level and making himself difficult to tackle. 

“I’m really happy with my pad level, my mentality, a lot of those runs finishing off going forward,” Dillon said, via Matt Schneidman of The Athletic. “That’s something we’ve been working on, something that’s been a big thing. And that’s actually going from Game 1 to Game 2. That was my emphasis for the week. I was like, ‘All right, let’s go back to the mentality of making it hard for people to tackle me, drag the pile with me and get those YAC yards.’ So I feel good with that.”

Dillon recalled a 3rd-and-2 situation where he collided with G Elgton Jenkins, which resulted in the offensive lineman suffering a knee injury. 

“I think looking back on it, watching it on film today, it was one of those things where I was a little too hesitant trying to read out where the hole was going to be,” Dillon said. “And then when I saw where the hole was going to be, I was like, ‘All right, I’m going to have to lower my shoulder here and run through this guy.’ And while I’m putting my pads forward, I went too far over my toes, so now my weight is too much forward.”

Packers HC Matt LaFleur thinks they need to clean up some things with their rushing offense. 

“There were some runs I’m sure he’d like to have back,” LaFleur said. “We’ve got to do a better job with our details … it’s across the board with our run game. It’s our aiming points, whether you’re an offensive lineman, tight end, running back. You’ve got to be more physical at the point of attack. There’s just so much that goes into it, so it’s never just on one person.”

• LaFleur said WR Christian Watson (hamstring) did not suffer a setback and they planned on resting him in Thursday’s practice, per Tom Silverstein. 

Vikings

• Vikings DC Brian Flores on the decision to play Theo Jackson over S Lewis Cine when S Josh Metellus was injured: “Theo has earned that.” (Kevin Seifert)