NFC Notes: Justin Jefferson, Justin Fields, Jared Goff, Bears, Lions, Vikings

Bears

Bears HC Matt Eberflus believes Justin Fields has shown the progress they’ve wanted over the last couple of weeks and wants him to keep distributing the ball to different players. 

“When you look at the growth that he has had over the year, it’s been really good,” Eberflus said, via Kevin Fishbain of Adam Jahns of The Athletic. “The steps he has taken the last couple of weeks have been where we all want it to go. He’s done that. … We’ve just got to keep building on that, and being able to distribute the ball to different skill (players) in our offense is going to be paramount going forward.”

• Bears HC Matt Eberflus says that C Lucas Patrick and RB Roschon Johnson remain in concussion protocol. (Courtney Cronin)

Lions

Lions GM Brad Holmes said they are “very, very proud” of Jared Goff for becoming much more than a “stop-gap” quarterback after acquiring him in 2021. 

“Very, very proud of Jared,” Holmes said, via NFL.com. “Again, like you said, I never thought of him of just a bridge or stop-gap or whatever just because I was all around the success he had early in his career in L.A. (with the Rams). It seems like when he got here (Detroit) when the trade was made that all that success was forgotten about. It was just this narrative that he was just a bridge. I always thought that was a lazy narrative. … Just because of, I guess, the narrative of how the trade went down and all of that.”

Holmes thinks Goff was in a “very difficult situation” coming from Los Angeles to Detroit given they did not have a lot of talent or money to spend on free agents. 

“In ’21, he was in a very difficult situation. We didn’t have a lot of talent around him, we didn’t have much money to spend in free agency, we had a lot of injuries. I mean we had to make a midseason OC (offensive coordinator) change. It was a lot. So, then everybody just hogged on to the narrative of the trade. Then what he had to go through in ’21. It was like ‘he can’t be the quarterback’ but no, we just kept our belief in him, and I think (coach) Dan (Campbell) and (OC) Ben (Johnson) have done an outstanding job of giving him ownership. His confidence is sky high. He’s playing at a high level right now.”

Holmes feels they’ve now been able to surround Goff with more weapons. 

“Obviously, we added stuff around him, but he’s in a really good place now,” Holmes said. “So, hopefully he can keep this going but even if he has some lows, I’m not worried about Jared because one of the more underrated components of him that I think is his mental toughness. He’s shown that, he’s displayed that and he’s doing a great job for us.”

Vikings

Vikings HC Kevin O’Connell said WR Justin Jefferson is feeling well but didn’t elaborate on if he’ll be able to return immediately after his window opens.

“With hamstrings, I don’t want to speculate on exactly when it will be,” O’Connell said, via ESPN’s Kevin Seifert. “But I know he feels pretty good considering where some guys feel at this point in the process, having been [injured] just this past Sunday. It’s just going to be about all that entails to go through the process to where he can have some time to start feeling like he can be at full speed again, as explosive as he is, and that will be a process he’ll work through, and hopefully we can get that window opened and we’ll see where he’s at.”

• ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler notes the Vikings were one of the teams interested in Jets WR Mecole Hardman as a free agent this offseason and could be interested now that he’s available via trade.