NFC Notes: Sam Darnold, Preston Smith, Bears, Packers, Vikings

Bears

The Bears have lost two games in a row after an underwhelming performance against the Cardinals in Week 9. Chicago HC Matt Eberflus emphasized their need to run the ball better and protect the quarterback.

“We’ll work with the offensive staff tomorrow morning and find answers for running the ball, first, making sure you do that, and setting everything off of that, and setting up good actions off that,” Eberflus said. “I know we got sacked six times today.”

“When you protect your quarterback — and our quarterback’s a good quarterback — when you protect him, he can get the ball down the field and do a good job there.” 

Eberflus admitted the coaching staff needs to find the necessary changes to put players in better situations.

“It was looking good. Now we’ve got to find answers. That’s why I always say this league is week-to-week. We’ve got to find answers to put our players in a position to be successful, including Caleb.”

First-round QB Caleb Williams explained where he feels they can improve with a focus on getting off to better starts.

“I think it starts from negative plays,” Williams said. “I keep talking about it, and we keep talking about (how) we want to start fast. Get that momentum going so that we can figure out ways to maintain it. We would have negative plays, and that’s including myself. … There’s nothing that goes on in that field that happens that I’m not a part of and can be better at in some way.”

Packers

• The Packers traded OLB Preston Smith to the Steelers ahead of the deadline. GM Brian Gutekunst praised Smith for his time in Green Bay: “He’s done a lot of good football for us and won us a lot of games.” (Wes Hodkiewicz)
• Gutekunst is excited to see how OLBs Arron Mosby and Brenton Cox Jr. step up with Smith’s departure: “We’re excited to see both those guys see some more snaps. Certainly they’ve earned it.” 
• Regarding QB Malik Willis, Gutekunst said they’ve been impressed by the third-year quarterback: “Certainly, we weren’t expecting him to be pressed into duty as quickly as he did. You really have to credit Malik and the coaching staff.” (Ryan Wood)
• As for Jordan Love, Gutekunst said: “He’s really unflappable. He’s really the same guy every day. His focus is really, really good. Our offense has been very explosive at times because of him. And others as well, but very much because of him.” (Wood)
• Gutekunst has been pleased with veteran K Brandon McManus: “Veteran guy. Pro. He’s been in every situation, so I don’t think he gets flustered at all.” (Wood)

Vikings

The Vikings moved to 6-2 on the season after knocking off the Colts in Week 9. Before the game, Minnesota HC Kevin O’Connell expressed his appreciation for how well QB Sam Darnold has played but spoke on wanting to make his life easier.

“Sam has done so many really high-level good things, especially throwing the football for us,” O’Connell said, via ESPN’s Kevin Seifert. “We’ve all got to remember sometimes that it is his first year starting [in Minnesota], and we tried to prepare him as best we could, and there’s still going to be some times in games where the urgency of just playing a lot of football comes into play. I think he’s done a really good job improving on that as he goes through a process of preparation.”

“But there’s some other times where part of the bigger picture, the orchestrating of our offense, [is], ‘Can we make it a little easier on him? Can we make it easier on the guys around him to have clarity?'”

• Minnesota is signing K John Parker Romo following Will Reichard, who is going on injured reserve. The Vikings also worked out four other kickers before signing Parker Romo. (Darren Wolfson)

• Reichard is scheduled to have an MRI on his right quad on Monday dealing with soreness recently and straining it further in Week 9. (Andrew Krammer)