The Chicago Bears have a big chip on their shoulders due to the way their playoff run ended earlier this year, and safety Eddie Jackson thinks it’ll propel the team to greater heights in 2019.
Speaking to reporters at a charity softball game, Jackson said the Bears “plan on taking this whole thing” in 2019, noting how the missed kick that ended his team’s 2018 season is a motivating force.
“Everything — how short, and how far, we came,” Jackson said, per Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun Times. “From the losing record to the winning record. How short we came, with the first-round playoff game with the field goal. Right now we just want to build off everything and let that be the fuel to our fire. We plan on taking this whole thing.”
Chicago is one of a handful of NFC teams favored to win it all next season. They went 12-4 in 2018 and, if not for a crazy block at the end of their playoff game last year, would have gotten to the divisional round, at the least.
A team that has almost all the pieces it needs to make a Super Bowl run, the Bears are still seeking an answer at the kicker position. It’s a battle that has been making headlines nationally all offseason — for all the wrong reasons. Hopefully for the sake of all the other players on the team, Chicago can figure this out.