Bears LB T.J. Edwards Calling for ‘More’ From Defense

Bears Edwards

The Chicago Bears lost their fifth game in six tries this season, falling 19-13 to the Minnesota Vikings. Many of the good things that they did might not get the attention they deserve before it’s time to move on to their next task.

Bears’ T.J. Edwards: ‘We Need More Turnovers’

Defense Can’t Save Day for Bears vs. Vikings

One thing they did was limit an admittedly short-handed Minnesota Vikings offense missing its best player to 220 yards. That includes 174 yards passing as they got their entire starting secondary healthy for the first time this season. Minnesota also tallied just 36 yards on six possessions after halftime.

But, as T.J. Ewards noted when asked about his forced fumble that Tremaine Edmunds recovered, it wasn’t enough.

“Sent me on a blitz and just was able to get there and affect the quarterback,” Edwards said of the play after the game. “And Maine doing what he does: always being around the ball and making big plays. So it was good to see. We needed that as a group. But again we need more. We need more.”

The Bears held Cousins to 181 yards, forced a pair of fumbles and an interception, and sacked him twice. They also did a solid job against the run, holding the Vikings to 46 yards on 22 carries. Through six games, the Bears have just three interceptions compared to seven for their opponents, a tally which grew by two on Sunday. They have also forced five fumbles but have only been able to recover two defensively.

That would seem to make the day stand out. But the results take a lot of the sheen off.

“It’s always tough to look at after a loss,” Edwards said. “But we’ll look at it with a good eye, and be critical of ourselves, and get right back to work. That’s all we can do.”

Jaquan Brisker certainly agrees.

Jaquan Brisker: Bears Must ‘Trust in Each Other’

Despite dealing with his fair share of ailments this season, Brisker – who says he is fine right now – and rookie Tyrique Stevenson are the only members of the secondary to start every game this season. Brisker is also preaching that the defense needs to keep pushing forward.

They certainly battled back and helped give the team a chance to win on Sunday.

“Really just trust in each other,” Brisker said. “Just make sure that we’re not looking at the scoreboard. We just gotta keep going. Just make stops – try to get stops, try to get turnovers. Just really don’t look at the scoreboard.”

Tough to do when your starting quarterback gets injured but Brisker’s message is the same.

“Definitely rally around the offense, and just stay together,” Brisker said. “Don’t look at anything like that. Just try to stay together, try to just keep going. Continue to get stops and things like that.”

Brisker forced one of the two fumbles, and Edwards appeared to recover it before going out of bounds.

Bears’ Tyson Bagent, Others Get Honest After Loss vs. Vikings

But officials overturned the call on the field after further review, much to the linebacker’s chagrin.

“It looked like I did [stay inbounds],” Edwards said. “Yeah, that one hurt because I’ve been itching to just get the ball. But it’s kind of how it goes. Sometimes it doesn’t bounce your way. But it’s all good.”

Edwards also noted the gains for the defense but that they still fell just short of the ultimate goal.

“I thought we played well,” he said. “It’s always tough when you lose. Because there’s always more that could be done to go win. But at the end of the day, that’s all that matters in this league is winning. So, again, I think, it’s a confidence thing. I think a lot of good things happened today. … But, at the end of the day, we gotta find a way to win those games at the end.”

The former Philadelphia Eagles linebacker added that he was sure they would right the ship because of the work they put in and the position the coaches put them in. But he wasn’t shying away from the reality that they need to get going in the right direction as a team.

But neither he nor his teammates are close to folding, though.

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“It’s real, there’s no running from it. There’s no excuses to be made. There’s nothing like that. We gotta find ways to … keep coming together, and I think we’re doing a good job of that right now in terms of there’s no quit in anybody. Everyone just wants to get back to work and get this fixed and get rolling.”

Cornerback Jaylon Johnson agreed, noting that they did the same thing after last week’s win, their first since Week 7 of last season.

“This is a resilient group,” said. “And good things are going to happen because we’ve been chopping, and eventually, it’s going to split.”