Bear Digest

Grady Jarrett lashes out at lack of support for 0-2 Chicago Bears

"We may be down but we're far from out," Bears defensive tackle promises, while saying he expected more support for the team.
Gene Chamberlain|
Grady Jarrett seemed somewhat irritated about a lack of support for the Bears after an 0-2 start.
Grady Jarrett seemed somewhat irritated about a lack of support for the Bears after an 0-2 start. | Chicago Bears On SI Photo: Gene Chamberlain

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Chicago Bears

Ben Johnson saying the Bears weren't practicing well enough is one thing.

Fans or media saying being less supportive is quite another.

When the Bears coach said Wednesday the team wasn't practicing at a championship level, it apparently hit a nerve but not necessarily in a bad way.

Players bristled a bit but couldn't argue much.

"I mean, we just go out there and prove him wrong, make the practice right," DJ Moore said.

They went through a hard practice in the heat with pads on Wednesday and then Thursday practicehd in the air conditioned Payton Center without pads and sorted through where they stand heading into Sunday's game with Dallas.

Veteran defensive tackle Grady Jarrett seemed to expect more support for the 0-2 team from sources outside coaching staff.

"He's our coach and our leader and if he said it wasn't good enough then we have to answer the call," Jarrett said. "We put in two very good days and that's the exciting part and we can't wait to get out there and play this weekend."

Jarrett returned to practice Thursday after sitting out Wednesday with a knee injury and seemed to relish the chance then to point out the so-called "non-believers" with a bit of a rant.

"I'm excited to go out here and play with my teammates and I'm going to choose a little positivity because at the end of the day we've got to continue to choose us and believe in the work that we put in because a lot of the validation, the pats on the back, it's not going to come from the outside world," Jarrett said. "And to be honest, it's really making it easer for us when we do have the success that we expect to have to block out the noise when we do get the pats on the back because you would think playing for this city, playing for this organization, you would get a little more support on that end for certain things.

"People are really pushing for it and obviously we've got a lot of stuff going on but at the end of the day it's pulling us closer together and making us focus more on the things we can control."

He wasn't done calling out the non-believers.

"But when the day comes that things turn our way it's actually going to help us be more focused on the things we control because we know how we were received and how we were talked about when things were a struggle," he said. "So when you're down, sometimes people want to kick you when you're down. When you're up you'll just be able to focus on the ones who were there when you were going through what you did when you were down.

"We're 0-2. It's no excuse but it's still early in the season and everything we want is still ahead of us and the teams that we lost to were two really good teams, but we get an opportunity to see both of them again. So that's the exciting part. We may be down but we're far from out."

The Bears seemed to have plenty of support in the season opener as the stadium had some of its loudest decibel levels in years when the Vikings had the ball, but it all went for naught when they squandered a 17-6 fourth-quarter lead.

Lecturing about lack of support seems like the last thing the Bears should be doing when they have lost 11 of their last 12 games to the Packers, six out of seven to Detroit, eight of nine to Minnesota, have one division title (2018) in the last 14 seasons, two playoff berths since 2010, one winning season since 2012 and seven last place finishes in 12 years.

Many of the current players had little to do with many of those losing ways. Some did. But more importantly, the people they want support from have been buying the tickets and lending the support all along even when they haven’t put a winning product on the field.

At some point, believers simply say "show me."

After a while, it gets old and skepticism becomes a natural reaction to 52-21 defeats. A win is exactly what the Bears need now. They have even lost the support of oddsmakers, too, as they've gone from 2 1/2-point favorites to one-point underdogs at home against Dallas.

"I mean, shoot, it would be just like the Packers game last year," Moore said of getting a win. "It would bring immense joy and everybody would be back on a happier track."

Maybe their support would be a little more solid in Jarrett's eyes at that point.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.