–Safety Eddie Jackson continues to amaze with his two touchdown returns in successive weeks.
“Eddie Jackson. Eddie Jackson, he’ll make a play anywhere,” defensive end Akiem Hicks said. “We’ve got guys like that all throughout every position room. Guys that will come up with that clutch play and guys that it means a lot to. I think that’s what makes us special.”
Jackson, this week’s NFC Defensive Player of the Week, isn’t alone, though. Jackson’s play is earning him support for the Pro Bowl, which provides good incentive.
“To me it does, it does,” Jackson said. “But you know the most important thing is getting a win and going to the playoffs. And I mean that’s just the most important thing for us right now.”
Nagy is among those jumping on the Jackson express.
“He’s very instinctual, he’s playing with a lot of confidence and I said (Thursday) I haven’t been around too many guys or safeties and defensive backs that have the awareness and instincts that he has,” Nagy said. “And then he’s got great ball skills. A lot of times we joke that if these DBs are back there because they can’t catch, he doesn’t fall into that category.
“This guy could be playing some wide receiver.”
The Bears have deployed Jackson on offense, but didn’t throw it to him.
Before the Lions game, defensive coordinator Vic Fangio was asked if Jackson would be a good offensive player.
“No,” Fangio said.
When asked why, Fangio deadpanned, “‘Cause I don’t want him to leave.”
–The Bears have 10 different players with interceptions.
The secondary is piling up interception numbers like they achieved at the end of the Lovie Smith era or even as far back as the Mike Ditka era.
With 20 interceptions in 11 games, at this rate they can surpass the most they’ve had since making 31 in 1990. That’s the same year Mark Carrier set the franchise single-season individual record with 10.
“They’re playing with confidence right now,” head coach Matt Nagy said. “They’re trusting their front seven to get to the quarterback so they know they can take chances if they need to.”
The Bears’ five TD returns on interceptions this season is tied for the second most in franchise history. The record is eight in 2012. Nine is the team record for total defensive touchdowns in a season, also set in 2012. And the Bears are three short.
The Bears had only eight interceptions each of the last three seasons. Fangio says the improvement is simple. It’s just improvement.
“Just guys improving, No. 1,” he said. “If you remember when I was standing up here in January, I said the guys that are coming back have to improve. That’s our No. 1 job. And they have.
“And then you add a guy like Khalil (Mack) to the mix and Roquan (Smith) and Aaron (Lynch) and we’ve just gotten better.”
–Bears offensive linemen have been flagged for three holding penalties this season. Center Cody Whitehair, guard Kyle Long and guard James Daniels had them. Tackles Charles Leno Jr. and Bobby Massie have avoided them.
–Cornerback Prince Amukamara, a rookie on the Giants’ 2011 Super Bowl champions, had plenty of practice battles with Giants receiver Odell Beckham Jr. during his time in New York.
“Odell’s easily top five, top three, top two receiver in the league,” Amukamara said. “He’s definitely a competitor. He’s as good as advertised. And we’ve had our battles when I was in New York and looking forward to this one also.”
He’s not divulging the flaws in Beckham’s game, if there are any.
“He really doesn’t have a lot of weaknesses because he’s fast as heck and he can jump out the gym,” Amukamara said. “My game is always to try to disrupt timing at the line, a press guy, and I try to press every play of the game so I’m not going to do anything different.”
Amukamara isn’t a familiar with running back Saquon Barkley, but has a teammate who is — safety Adrian Amos, a former Penn State player like Barkley.
“It’s funny, I remember (Adrian) Amos, when Barkley was at Penn State, Amos said right now Barkley’s a top-three back in the league. And he wasn’t even in the league yet, and everyone’s laughing at him,” Amukamara said. “And then you see what he’s doing now, of course he has to sustain it, but he’s been playing lights out for them.
“He’s such a big, big guy but can run fast, is elusive, can shake guys – coach Vic (Fangio) echoed it to us today that we’re going to have to bring our hard hats and we’re going to have to tackle.”
–The rise by the Bears to 8-3 might seem sudden to some who’ve grown accustomed to their last-place finishes, but it was a slow process for the players.
“It didn’t come overnight,” defensive end Akiem Hicks said of the Bears’ rise. “It’s something that we’ve been working on over the past couple of years: Building this culture and building this team. It’s so nice to see the other side.
“We had our dog days and we had the tough struggles, and now we’re on the other side and everything’s just a little bit prettier. My dad is from the South and he has this saying, ‘It ain’t no fun when the rabbit got the gun.’ It’s a great feeling.”
–Wide receiver Allen Robinson II would take issue with those who suggest the Bears have hit their peak with their current five-game winning streak. He sees plenty of room for improvement on offense, and sees it constantly on a day-by-day basis.
“We’re getting to certain things that we didn’t get to earlier in the year, and I think that’s the biggest thing,” Robinson said. “I think the biggest thing is just us going from in April, May, June, throughout camp, really just learning the offense, really just learning different positions, and now it’s us being able make adjustments on the fly and being able to make corrections, you know, maybe that’s throughout the course of a drive, during a timeout and stuff like that. So I think that’s the biggest thing.”
–Eli Manning takes a beating in the New York press, but Amukamara said the Bears’ defense sees a different type of performance.
“I feel like Eli has been playing great. I’ve seen his stats and he’s been having a lot of his career bests,” Amukamara said. “But it’s unfortunate because any time you don’t have a great record it always falls back on the quarterback but I feel like Eli has been playing great.
“And when you have a good running back and great wide receivers it’s going to be tough to cover them. And if you check the games they’ve really been in a lot of games and I think the only one that was probably out of hand was the Thursday night against Philly but other than that they’ve been in a lot of games.”
–The Bears’ Temptations tribute celebration following a touchdown in Detroit pointed out who is lacking when it comes to rhythm. It caused Hicks to laugh about Roquan Smith’s lack of any dancing ability. And Khalil Mack came under scrutiny from Amukamara.
“It seemed like he was digging or shoveling snow,” Amukamara said.
BY THE NUMBERS: 35 — The number of explosive plays allowed by the Bears defense — runs of 15 yards or longer and receptions of 20 yards or more. It’s the lowest number in the league through Week 12.
