Wright reacts to his pick-six, Jarrett disappointed in finish against Vikings |
Ariana Pensy
· · 14 hours ago
CHICAGO - For three quarters, Chicago’s defense shut down the Minnesota Vikings, holding them to only six points and scoring off a pick-six by cornerback Nahshon Wright.
While the pick from Wright was arguably the best play of the night, Wright said that did not matter in light of the outcome and plethora of penalties, 12 in all, by Chicago. “The individual accolades don’t matter once you don’t win. You want to come out on top by any means necessary. So, obviously, it was a great play. But you want to finish. So, we got to go back to the drawing board, not how to finish,” Wright said. “We just have to play disciplined football. I think we kind of let them off the hook with those penalties for sure.” Chicago came into the game short-handed in the secondary as All-Pro cornerback Jaylon Johnson, as well as versatile corner Kyler Gordon, were unable to play. That is how Wright came into the starting lineup. Wright said the players were not worried about being without some of their top playmakers, given that they have confidence in everyone in the locker room. “I think we have a next man up mentality,” Wright said. “We went through training camp with the guys who made this 53, and obviously, they put the 53 together the way they felt was necessary, and we believe in the guys that are out there, no matter who’s there and who’s out.” Interior defensive lineman Grady Jarrett had a quiet first outing with three total tackles. However, he played mistake-free football. Other players on the defensive line cannot say the same, although the penalties were an issue on both sides of the ball, even though there is debate if the call against offensive lineman Darnell Wright was accurate. “Some mistakes and penalties kept drives alive when we executed,” Jarrett said. “Some things (are) a little questionable, but however it go, we just got to play a cleaner game, can’t give them opportunities and it definitely was a point of emphasis for us going into the game, knowing that we had to play a clean game, and unfortunately, as the game went on, it got a little messy, little penalty yardage kept them alive and gave them some confidence because we were shutting it down. But, we got to keep pressure on it. When you’re going against a good team, you can’t give them new life.” The first half was exactly what Bears fans were looking for - stops on defense and scoring on offense, although the offense only put up 10 points in the first half. Still, defensively, it was what Chicago was looking for. Things fell apart in the fourth quarter when Minnesota’s quarterback J.J. McCarthy led the team to victory with two passing touchdowns and a rushing touchdown to seal the game. “We definitely (were) holding better in the first half versus the run and maybe as the game progressed, (they were) able to keep a couple runs alive and the zone read when J.J. (McCarthy) kept it, something that we just got to work our fundamentals on a little better,” Jarrett said. “At the end of the day, we just got (to) be better, be consistent all the way through because (we) were doing really well at first and then just got continue to keep that foot on the neck.” Despite the frustration from the opening game, Jarrett believes there are many positive things for people to take away. This is a talented defensive group that is committed to winning. “There’s a lot of good lessons to learn (from) this game. I (think) this (is) a good group of guys that want to win,” Jarrett said. “I think we’re going to go back to work and we’re going to be positive about the things moving forward and really just focus on where we (are) at right now and I think that’s all that matters (is) where we at right now and I think that should be the focus going forward.”
