Worst 5-1 Team? Bears Have Made Note of All the Talk
The Bears say they don't care about what's said out about them outside Halas Hall.
Well, that's not entirely true according to safety Tashaun Gipson.
The worst 5-1 team talk has found its way to the ears of players even if they say what the media and fans on social media say amounts to nothing.
"Ah man, it's all over," Gipson said Fridya. "You know, you've been seeing it all over the internet. I watch 'Get Up,' 'Good Morning Football,' stuff like that, man. I think we are the most-talked-about 5-1 team, man. I don't think that people truly give us our respect, man. "You look at these power rankings and you're taught not to pay attention to those things and obviously we don't care, but we hear it. At the end of the day, man, five wins is five wins. I'd rather sitting at being the best 5-1 team then being the best 1-5 team."
The Bears failed to crack the top 10 in the NFL.com, Sports Illustrated and ESPN power rankings but did do it on the rankings by Bleacher Report and CBS Sports.
So it sounds like all that talk about outside talk means little isn't really true, but is it possibly a source of motivation?
"I think that everybody be lying if they said they didn't see it or they haven't heard about it or they didn't hear the chatter, but I don't think that it's nothing that ... coach Nagy, coach Chuck, nobody's put that on the big board and said, 'Hey, the talk out there is you guys are the worst 4-1 team or 5-1 team,' " Gipson said.
Gipson says he does participate on social media and sees it there besides on television.
"If you watch TV, I think that the Bears haven't been getting the type of love we deserve, but that's nothing that fuels us because at the end of the day, we're sitting at 5-1 and we're comfortable with where we're at and we understand the type of things we can do in this business," Gipson said. "So I don't think that people are out to prove people wrong or anything of that nature."
Punter Pat O'Donnell said the Bears recognize what they need to do to alter such talk.
"I think winning changes that," O'Donnell said. "I think each and every week the guys are just going out to prove all the doubters wrong and I think that's the mindset of the team.
"We're just going out and trying to win each and every week. So I don't think it's a specific game we're trying to win but I think it's just the next game is the most important game."
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
