After their early-week offensive coordinator shake-up, the Chicago Bears settled into their second practice of the week Thursday as they prepare for their game against the Green Bay Packers on Sunday.
Bears coordinators, offensive assistant coaches and players spoke with reporters before practice at Halas Hall. Here are four things we learned.
1. The Bears placed safety Jaquan Brisker on injured reserve.
Brisker has been in concussion protocol since Oct. 7, one day after the win over the Carolina Panthers.
Brisker was injured when he hit Panthers tight end Tommy Tremble hard, forcing a fumble. He finished the game but self-reported symptoms the next day, forcing him to miss the Bears’ trip to London. He has missed four games and more than a month with the concussion.
Coach Matt Eberflus already had ruled out Brisker for the Packers game at the beginning of the week, and by going on IR now, Brisker must miss at least four more games.
Brisker, a 2022 second-round pick, suffered concussions each of the last two seasons. He has been around Halas Hall since the injury, attending meetings and walk-throughs, and was in the locker room Thursday. But Eberflus said this month that he is still dealing with symptoms.
“It’s always going to be about his safety and his health and where he is,” Eberflus said Nov. 1. “Jaquan brings a lot of passion and energy to our team and certainly to our defense. He was having a really good year leading up to this. His health and safety is first, and we want to make sure that we do a good job with that first. And then he’ll bring back that passion and energy back like he always does.”
Brisker has started 35 games over three seasons with the Bears. Third-year safety Elijah Hicks has started in Brisker’s place.
2. Wide receiver DJ Moore brushed off Packers safety Xavier McKinney’s recent comments as ‘trash talk.’
McKinney added some drama to the Bears-Packers rivalry this week when he criticized Moore for walking off the field in the middle of a play against the Arizona Cardinals. The clip of Moore’s exit, while quarterback Caleb Williams was still scrambling, went viral on social media. But Moore explained last week that he injured his ankle during the play, and that’s why he walked to the bench.
McKinney wasn’t buying it.
“You’re supposed to be the guy and you’re just walking off the field,” McKinney told The Athletic. “You’re walking off the field on a rookie quarterback that you’ve been praising, so it’s like, that’s a whole other story.”
Asked about McKinney’s comments, Moore didn’t keep the jabs going.
“Trash talk is trash talk,” he said. “We’ll just see on Sunday what it all plays out to be.”
McKinney’s discontent with Moore apparently started when Moore made an appearance on Kay Adams’ “Up and Adams” show in the offseason. Adams told Moore that NFC North teams beefed up their secondaries. Moore asked, “Who?” And Adams mentioned the Lions’ rookie additions and McKinney’s arrival in Green Bay.
“That’s nice,” said Moore, who added he didn’t feel “no way about it.” That was enough to apparently get under McKinney’s skin.
“They were asking him about the Packers getting me and he was like, ‘Who?’ ” McKinney said. “All that stuff, that’s in my memory bank and I work accordingly to that.
“You know how people get before the season. They don’t really know what’s going to happen during the season and you just start talking too much and you don’t really know what you’re talking about. You’re just talking.”
Moore said Thursday that he didn’t think he could have hurt McKinney’s feelings.
“What did I say? ‘That’s nice?’ ” Moore said. “He’s a good player. Played against XM a few times. I’m looking forward to it now.”
McKinney leads the Packers with six interceptions this season.
As for whether McKinney’s comments are bringing more juice to the Bears-Packers rivalry, Moore said: “If you want it to be there. It’s already there.”
3. Quarterbacks coach Kerry Joseph believes Caleb Williams will adjust quickly to the coordinator change.
Joseph said his message to Williams this week amid the firing of offensive coordinator Shane Waldron and promotion of Thomas Brown is to “focus on the present moment.” Williams has four days of practices before the Packers game to get on the same page as Brown, so they don’t have much choice.
Joseph had been with Waldron for four years and said he loved him. But he also touted Brown’s honest and straightforward nature as traits that could help boost the Bears operation moving forward.
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“First of all, just Thomas’ command, his voice, his attention to detail, we’re all going to fall in line from that,” Joseph said. “And Caleb is so strong mentally that he will be able to make that adjustment. He already has. It’s been good thus far this week. Everything has happened really quickly. But we have all been able to adjust.
“I have a great relationship with Thomas. So we’re going to collaborate, put our heads together along with everyone on this staff to make sure we’re going in the right direction.”
The No. 1 priority for Brown and Joseph in the weeks ahead is to help steady Williams after a three-game drop in his performance. Joseph said it starts with getting Williams into the right rhythm and making sure he’s seeing what he needs to see.
“For the quarterback, it’s always about slowing the eyes down, slowing the thought process down and making it a little easier for him,” Joseph said. “So how can we help him make sure he’s focused, he’s detailed and everything slows down for him? Because the game can speed up for you, especially when you’re not having the success you want. As an organization, as a team, as a player. Now, OK, let’s slow everything down and just keep it small.”
4. Defensive end Montez Sweat returned to practice Thursday.
Sweat missed practice Wednesday with an ankle injury, but he was back in a limited capacity Thursday.
Left tackle Braxton Jones and right tackle Darnell Wright, who have knee injuries, were limited. So were defensive end Darrell Taylor (knee), linebacker Noah Sewell (knee) and defensive back Tarvarius Moore (concussion).
Left guard Teven Jenkins (ankle) and offensive tackle Kiran Amegadjie (calf) didn’t practice.
