Eddie Jackson is one of my favorite players to watch in the NFL. He was also one of my favorite players to watch in college. Jackson snatched 6 interceptions in 2015 for Alabama and scored 7 career touchdowns. Based on that fact, you would think Jackson should have been drafted higher than the 4th round. I know I liked him a lot better than a 4th round player (insert emoji here).
Jackson may just be the Bears most important player in the back end. His new defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano gave Eddie and enormous vote of confidence:
“From a talent standpoint? Very, very similar,” Pagano said this week, via Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times. “Great instincts. Great range. Great ball skills. He’s only three years into it. Ed has a lot more time on task, obviously. He’s got a lot of the same traits. He loves football. He’s a football junkie. And again, the sky’s the limit for a guy like that. . . .When you know the defense and you know what you’re doing and then you can spend all your time figuring out the offense and being one step ahead, that’s where he’s got an edge on everybody. He’s very similar to Reed.”
Pagano isn’t really that wrong here. Jackson probably is the best ball hawking safety in the entire league. In 14 games, the Bears free safety picked off 6 balls, forced 2 fumbles, and had 2 defensive touchdowns. Name another guy in the league that’s doing that? This Bears defense is loaded. The only question is really the guy delivering the quote, Chuck Pagano. I would be awfully nervous if I’m a Bears fan. Pagano feels like a significant downgrade from Vic Fangio.
At the end of the day; the Bears defense is great, Mitch Trubisky is not. This defense can be awesome but it still has not shot to win a title. Trubisky stinks. Matt Nagy threw the entire trick playbook at teams a year ago. The Bears feel like a big regression team. It’s not because of the defense. It’s because of Pagano and Trubisky.
