NFC Notes: Tyson Bagent, Aaron Jones, Bears, Lions, Packers

Bears

Bears QB Tyson Bagent discussed his faith and overcoming odds throughout his life and said that he’s going to play lose as he has nothing to lose on Sunday.

“I think my life has been planned out for me ahead of time,” Bagent said, via PFT. “I think everything that has happened and will happen was already set in stone to happen. And I think coming from where I come from, I’ve pretty much beat every odd that there was for me. So, I’ve got nothing to lose.”

Lions

Lions HC Dan Campbell said QB Jared Goff hasn’t exceeded expectations because he envisioned him playing at a high level for the team.

“No. No,” Campbell said, via PFT. “No, I’m not surprised. I knew he was tough, I knew he was resilient, and he’s grown. There’s been consistency in what we asked him to do, there’s been consistency in his play.”

• Lions S Brian Branch (ankle) said he plans on returning for Week 7, via Justin Rogers. 

Packers 

Packers RB Aaron Jones hopes that he’s able to bring a spark to the team’s struggling offense.

“I hope so,” Jones said, via ESPN’s Rob Demovsky. “I do hope so. I hope this give us a little confidence, but we know it takes all 11. I just know when I get in the huddle, the guys, they listen to me. They see me as a leader. So I hope I can bring a spark to them and give them that sense of confidence and we can just go out there and play.”

Jones was on track to play Week 5 before he experienced a setback a couple days before the game. He added that HC Matt LaFleur thought it was in his best interest to hold him out.

“I was still hopeful I could play,” Jones said. “I was feeling OK after. Coach LaFleur was like, ‘I don’t have a good feeling about this, you just tweaked it, I haven’t seen you run full speed, let’s be smart.’ And like I said, coach LaFleur always has my best interest in mind. I always respect him for that. It definitely was bothering me to sit out. Me and him were sitting there contemplating it for a long time, and he was just like ‘I don’t feel good about it.‘”

Packers QB Jordan Love added that having Jones back could help open things up in the passing game.

“They could play us differently, I’m not sure,” Love said. “They might put more emphasis on the run and on stopping Aaron Jones. When you’ve got everybody out there, it puts more stress on the defense to try to figure out what they want to do and how they want to stop everybody and who they want to stop that day.”

• Packers HC Matt LaFleur said CB Jaire Alexander (back) was limited in Thursday’s practice, via Matt Schneidman.