NFC Notes: Sam Darnold, Jared Goff, Bears, Lions, Vikings

Bears

The Bears are facing some heightened expectations after an offseason where they added first-round QB Caleb Williams, first-round WR Rome Odunze, WR Keenan Allen, and RB D’Andre Swift to revamp their offense. Chicago CB Jaylon Johnson is tired of hearing how good they are supposed to be and is keeping his focus on putting the work in collectively. 

“I’m done buying into the hype, honestly,” Johnson said, via Larry Mayer of the team’s website. “I feel like I’ve said it before plenty of times. I’ve had some pretty good rosters and plenty of talented people in the locker rooms where [it’s said], ‘Oh yeah, this is our year, this is our year.'”

“Everything that we’ve got in this locker room sounds good, it seems good, but none of that matters. What matters is what we’re going to do this weekend and from every Sunday or Monday, whatever game it is. That’s when it matters. The preseason hype doesn’t move me. We’ve all got to come in here and we’ve got to work, just top to bottom.”

Lions

Lions QB Jared Goff has seen a career resurgence in Detroit where he nearly led the franchise to a Super Bowl a year ago. Lions HC Dan Campbell said they are going to increase Goff’s responsibilities in response to how well he’s played recently.

“He’s been everything that we hoped he would be, and then some,” Campbell said, via Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk. “He brought a stable piece for us, a steady, reliable guy behind center who is going to do what we ask him to do. We take care of him, he’ll take care of the football, he’s gonna move it, he’ll be efficient and he’ll be our captain. And that’s at the least. What we got was so much more. We got that, and these last three years he’s continued to grow and gotten better.”

“I think he wants more, he continues to challenge himself, and the more he does that the more we load him up, the more we ask him to do, the more we put on his plate, because he wants it. Where he’s able to go our offense is able to go. We ask him to do a lot and we’re going to ask him to do a little more than he did last year, because he can handle that. He’s proven that. He’s playing at a high level.”

• Lions RB Jahmyr Gibbs (hamstring) said he’s about “98-100” percent recovered and is ready for Week 1: “I’m good, just had a little tweak. [I’m] more confident overall [entering Year 2.]” (Eric Woodyard)

Vikings

Vikings OC Wes Phillips hasn’t had any issues with QB Sam Darnold throughout the preseason and is confident in him going into Week 1. 

“He hasn’t had any issues, really, that I’ve noticed or that have come up,” Phillips said, via the team’s official X. “He asks good questions when something does come up in the meeting room. He’s got a lot of experience playing football — and being in different systems, I think you have some history with some concepts. A lot of us run very similar concepts. There might be a tweak here or there, or maybe we coach it a little bit differently, or coach the footwork a little bit differently. But the one thing he’s done is come out and be able to throw the football extremely well throughout the spring, throughout the [summer]. So, we’re really excited about Sam and the kind of year we believe he can have and will have. I don’t think lack of knowledge of the system or anything like that, history with our system is going to be any issue.”