BEARS NOTES
Bears defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said Thursday that the team “probably” should have taken outside linebacker Khalil Mack out of action sooner than it did instead of letting him play through the Dolphins and Patriots games.
Mack was inactive for the first time in 71 career games Sunday against the Jets because of a right ankle injury. He played through the injury for two games because Fangio said the Bears were trying to listen to Mack’s assertions that he was good to play.
“To his credit, he tried to play with it,” Fangio said. “Some people would say we were wrong to play him after he got hurt early in Miami in that game, and then wrong to play him the next game. But there’s another lens to look at that. … This guy is saying he can go. You don’t know him as great as you know some other guys, based on time. I prefer to look at it through the lens that this guy is trying to fight through and play. And he’s not letting an injury take him out.
“In hindsight, should we have taken him out earlier? Probably. But a guy says he can go, he can go, and we’ve got to see it.”
Mack sat out practice Wednesday and Thursday this week, and it’s not yet clear if he’ll miss a second straight game when the Bears visit the Bills.
Bears coach Matt Nagy said he and the coaches continue to impress on the defense that they can’t let Mack’s absence affect how they do their jobs.
“Our coaches have done a good job this past week of explaining that to them,” Nagy said. “ ‘Hey, we’re a good defense. Let’s play that way.’ It’s more about the mindset than anything else.”
But Fangio thinks he’s OK mentally.
“I think he’s in a good spot,” Fangio said.
He was talking about the unnecessary-roughness call on Bears safety Eddie Jackson with 13 minutes, 30 seconds to play against the Jets on Sunday. Jackson was barreling down on Jets wide receiver Andre Roberts, but Roberts dropped the pass and Jackson still hit him with full force.
Fangio said it was a tough play because Jackson wouldn’t have been penalized if Roberts caught the ball, but he acknowledged it was “probably the right call.”
“But I do not think that in any shape or form he should be fined for that,” Fangio said. “There’s been too many guys that are getting fined for plays that are just in the normal flow of the game. They’re not egregious or vicious or out of the scope of the way we want to play the game. I just don’t think guys should be fined for those things.”
The league hasn’t yet announced if Jackson will be fined for the play. Fangio also didn’t agree with Leonard Floyd being fined $20,054 for hitting Dolphins quarterback Brock Osweiler’s helmet with his forearm.
“Is it a penalty? By the strict definition of the rule, possibly,” Fangio said. “Should it be a finable offense? No way. I don’t like to see the league try and take hard-earned money away from these players.”
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