Getty Chicago Bears safety Eddie Jackson. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
After a near-loss to the lowly New York Giants on Sunday, a game the Chicago Bears managed to win 19-14, the team celebrated in Club Dub afterwards, but many fans and former players were left unsettled yet again by their beloved team’s poor play. Some current Bears players also expressed displeasure with the team’s overall performance, including quarterback Mitchell Trubisky.
“We scored more points than them, but it’s not good enough,” Trubisky said in his postgame press conference. “We’ve got to be better in the red zone, we’ve got to be better on third down, we’ve got to be better on offense.”
Several former Bears agree with Trubisky’s assessment–and one Bears’ Hall of Famer called one player on the defense out specifically.
Former Bears Legend Calls Eddie Jackson Out for Poor Play
Former Bears defensive end and member of the famed 85′ Bears squad Dan Hampton had some choice words for All-Pro safety Eddie Jackson after the game on The Hamp & O’B Show With Koz. Hampton referenced a specific play before criticizing Jackson’s overall performance on the season. Referencing the coverage on a 23-yard touchdown pass Golden Tate caught over the middle with just over four minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Hampton blamed Jackson specifically for the defensive breakdown:
“He’s the safety,” Hampton said. “It’s inherent in the name: safety. You’re there to make a play on the ball,” he said, noting Jackson’s job is to be behind the pass, which he wasn’t. Hampton pointed out that it appeared as though Jackson was in front of the play trying to do too much: “You got your All-Pro safety standing at the end zone trying to make a play on an interception instead of doing his job and playing the ball and knocking it down…just sickening,” Hampton remarked.
Several Bears beat writers also agreed with Hampton’s take, with Pro Football Weekly’s Hub Arkush also noting that Jackson missed a few tackles:
Eddie Jackson says the Tate TD was miscommunication between him and Buster Skrine. He took the blame on it. #Bears
I don’t know what the hell is going on with Eddie Jackson but that missed tackle on Sterling Shepard was inexcusable.
Hampton also called the Giants a “crap team with a rookie quarterback,” and suggested this Bears defense wouldn’t be playing this way if former defensive coordinator Vic Fangio were still there.
Hampton: Fangio Would Hold This Defense Accountable
Hampton went all in on Jackson, saying he was having a disappointing season overall, while also noting the root of the safety’s problems may be coaching. “Eddie Jackson has been putrid most of this season,” Hampton said. “He made All-Pro last year, and good for him, cause he did make a lot of big plays and he was good. And Vic Fangio was the type of coach that held their feet to the fire,” Hampton continued.
Hampton then suggested that Fangio would be more upset with the way the Bears’ defense played at home against this subpar Giants offense than he would have been if his team was blown out by 30 points. He also called out Bears head coach Matt Nagy, along with new defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano, for their inability to maintain a disciplined team.
“This ‘Be you’ crap…it’s antithetical to the bottom line of being a team. You subjugate yourself for the good of the team. And we’ve got…50 guys out there trying to make plays and jump around even though we’re playing a real bad brand of football,” Hampton said.
Former Bears defensive end and co-host Ed O’Bradovich was harsher on the coaching staff, saying none of the Bears’ coaches were NFL caliber. “Do you think Bill Belichick would hire one of these guys to be on is staff? Not on your life,” O’Bradovich said, citing a lack of discipline and lack of knowledge the Bears possess that truly great teams do not.
The Bears play the Lions in Detroit on Thanksgiving day. Last year when the two teams met on Thanksgiving, Eddie Jackson scored the game-winning touchdown on a pick six with 6:00 left in the fourth quarter.
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