Bear Digest

What D'Marco Jackson's performance says for Bears' personnel future

The performance by roster pick-up D'Marco Jackson as a fill-in only underscores something apparent about this Bears regime since March.
Gene Chamberlain|
D'Marco Jackson hauls down Shedeur Sanders for a sack in Sunday's 31-3 Bears win over Cleveland.
D'Marco Jackson hauls down Shedeur Sanders for a sack in Sunday's 31-3 Bears win over Cleveland. | Matt Marton-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

Although D'Marco Jackson's role could be diminished against Green Bay, this week's NFC defensive player of the week has been yet another example of the extensive and effective interplay between Bears GM Ryan Poles and Ben Johnson's coaching staff.  

Whether it's been Nahshon Wright with his past ties to defensive backs coach Al Harris, C.J. Gardner-Johnson and Jackson with past ties to defensive coordinator Dennis Allen, or Jonah Jackson and his past playing under Ben Johnson, the Bears have continued finding players capable of quickly being integrated into their way of doing things on both sides of the ball through personnel/coaching cooperation.   

Jackson's play in relief of injured linebackers has been brilliant in the passing game. Pro Football Focus grades him the league's second-best linebacker for pass coverage this year, and he has the fift-best overall grade.

This ability to find such players in such a manner never seemed to exist with the past coaching staff. When they did find one in edge rusher Al-Quadin Muhammad, who had past ties to former coach Matt Eberflus, they let him leave in free agent before he had a chance to do much.

Muhammad now is one sack away from double-figures for the season with the Lions.

The Bear defensive coordinator had his eye on Jackson almost immediately after he was waived in New Orleans.

"My last year there in New Orleans, we kind of felt like he was maybe turning a little bit of a corner," Allen said. "Then, when they let him go after training camp, I knew that was a guy that we wanted to try to target to get in here and see if we could work with him."

It wasn't just the talent Allen saw.

"The thing that I knew about him, I knew what was inside his heart in terms of the type of person he was, in terms of the type of worker he was, in terms of how he was going to fit into the locker room," Allen said. "There was no question about that.

"I think, like with a lot of young players, sometimes it takes some time to develop but if you keep working at it and you're smart, you work at it, you’ve got some athletic ability, you end up getting better.”

Jackson never expected to leave New Orleans when cut in the first  place.

"You know, then it was unexpected, it put me down,"  he said. "But then when Chicago called and said they were claiming me I just felt like it was like a new pathway a new journey for me."

They journey could be diverted to more of a special teams duty and less play with  starters against Green Bay, as Allen has his juggling act expand from the secondary to linebackers this week.

Tremaine Edmunds could be activated from injured reserve for Saturday night's  game with Green Bay.

It means this week's NFC defensive player of the week will lose some playing  time and could also be back in the role of a strongside linebacker at times.

Based on what he's done to date, Jackson will adjust and find ways to contribute.

Meanwhile, Poles needs to keep on listening to his coaching staff. They seem to have formed an ideal partnership, and it's become apparent dating all the way back to just before free agency with the trades for Jonah Jackson and Joe Thuney.

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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.