Chippy Play Leads to Practice Fight

Bears defensive coordinator Alan Williams isn't worried about Yannick Ngakoue's reputation for being soft against the run, just like he isn't worried about his veteran safety Eddie Jackson getting into a fight at Saturday's practice with Chase Claypool.

Things are breaking the defense's way and life is good.

"I love a lively practice," Williams said. "And I'm not concerned about the offense. I have my hands full for sure just being the coordinator. But I love our energy. I love the way we run to the ball.

"But I would say this—to make sure it's competitive, not combative. That means we are competing. We want to be elite competitors. Elite guys in how we compete. But we don't want it to be combative. I don't like the pushing and shoving after the whistle. When they let us do that in the ballgame, hey, we'll be all over it in practice. Part of it is playing hard, playing fast, playing with energy. I love the chippiness. That says that we're establishing an identity. But the after-the-whistle stuff, yeah, I'm not for that part."

Claypool had been jawing with aggressive defensive players at various points during the past week and his own teammate, Darnell Mooney, said he can be one to fly off the handle too quickly.

We have a dust up. Chase Claypool made a reception over the middle and Eddie Jackson hit him while going out bounds. Some pushing and shoving. Jackson’s helmet went flying. #Bears
— Zack Pearson (@Zack_Pearson) August 5, 2023

"Oh, yeah, you've gotta watch him, he's a hothead for sure," Mooney said of Claypool. "You've got to calm him."

This kind of extra-cirrucular thing has been building since receiver Velus Jones Jr. took a swing Tuesday at several chirping DBs.

This time Jackson's hit was viewed as possibly a bit late as the play was going out of bounds.

"It's not a surprise to me," cornerback Jaylon Johnson said. "Guys get into it. Guys fight. I don't know. It's the NFL to me. A lot of people I feel like, you just try to sell, 'Don't fight. Don't fight.'

"You're a competitor at the end of the day. They competed and then they got chippy. I don't take nothing from it."

It's always the receivers and DBs going after each other it seems.

"I mean, I feel like, I'm never surprised to see a receiver and DB go at it," Johnson said. "If it was something else, somebody at another position, maybe. Naturally, receivers and DBs don't like each other."

That's only on the field. Afterward it's not supposed to linger. This one did a bit and GM Ryan Poles even had words for them to cut it out.

"Oh yeah, shoot, off the field, we go back to being teammates, we go back to being professionals at the end of the day," Johnson said. "I was speaking moreso on the field. We go against each other all the time.

"Naturally O-line and D-line they're not walking around being best friends off the field. You go and you shake hands, you talk, you laugh, you play, you do normally what you would do. I don't think it's anything personal on anybody."

The signing of Ngakoue has only fired up the defense all the more, and their coordinator in particular.

Williams doesn't think Ngakoue is going to have problems fitting into a scheme that emphasizes stopping the run.

"He'll be just fine, no, he'll be just fine," Williams said. "He can choke a guy out. Believe me about that. He can choke a guy out. That's our first thing."

It sounds like the DBs are better at choking people out these days literally but seriously, Williams says the mentality of his defensive scheme is not going to change just because they have an edge rusher who never had less than eight sacks in a season.

"The mentality is we stop the run," Williams said. "He'll be just fine. I've watched the tape, and he'll choke a guy out too."

Pro Football Focus doesn't quite see it like Williams. They had Ngakoue graded 109th out of 119 edge players in the league against the run last season.

"If you look at the tape, he has been productive–productive enough to win football game," Williams said.

Apparently he and PFF are watching different tapes. PFF had Ngakoue graded only 91st rushing the passer and this was after 9 1/2 sacks.

Only 19 players in the NFL had more than 9 1/2 sacks last season.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven