Bears
- Bears DC Dennis Allen on giving up 42 points and 496 yards in Week 17 against the 49ers: “I’ll say this – I don’t think I coached well enough last week, I don’t think we played well enough last week. So, you learn your lessons, you make the corrections that you need to make. Now we move forward and we’re getting ready for Detroit.” (Courtney Cronin)
Lions
Lions HC Dan Campbell said the team not making the playoffs was “rock bottom” and said that the team has the opportunity to respond after missing the playoffs heading into 2026.
“Sometimes you’ve got to hit rock bottom before you can work your way back up. And relative to where we were at, this is rock bottom,” Campbell said, via ESPN. “But as bad as it looks — I said this the other day — it’s not as far away as it may appear. We’ve just got to get a few things back in line here.”
Even though Detroit is eliminated from postseason contention, the team is still looking to go out and compete to gain respect.
“It’s about respect. Not only respect for yourself within your own team but respect around the league,” Lions QB Jared Goff said. “We want to go out there and put something good on tape and gain a little bit of respect back from probably some of the loss of respect we’ve earned this year.”
Vikings
Vikings DC Brian Flores‘ contract is set to expire at the end of the season. Flores said there has been “great dialogue” with the team, and he will let his representation handle the situation.
“Obviously, there’s been a lot of talk about my personal situation and next year,” Flores said, via ProFootballTalk. “Look, I’ve said this many times. I’ve loved my time here in Minnesota. My family loves it. The state of Minnesota’s been tremendous to me. [Coach Kevin O’Connell] mentioned there’s been great dialogue, and there has. And now we’ll just kind of let the club and my representation handle the rest. And so that’s kind of where I’m at on that. I don’t, as you guys know, don’t like talking about myself. I think our players are doing a lot of great things on the field, and I don’t want to take away from them in any way. I think if anything, they deserve all of the recognition, I certainly don’t play, as you guys know.”
When asked if he’d like to be back next year, Flores said he loves Minnesota and working with HC Kevin O’Connell.
“Like I just said, I love Minnesota,” Flores said. “I love this team. I love working for and with [O’Connell]. You know, he’s been fantastic to me. I think the Wilfs are some of the best owners in the league. I love these players, the coaching staff. And, like I said, this place has shown me a lot of love and I show it right back. And so I don’t know how much more there is to it. I mean, if everything lines up and it fits, you know, from a football standpoint, it fits. And I think there’s always — it’s called a business part of this. The football all lines up, and we’ll just see where it all goes.”
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