Ex Bears' coach Dave Wannstedt gives warning to Ben Johnson before facing Raiders
Ben Johnson got his first win as coach of the Chicago Bears last weekend. The blowout victory of the Dallas Cowboys at Soldier Field came with a mixture of relief, celebration and down right "Wow!"
Johnson arrived with much pomp and circumstance after leading the Detroit Lions' offense to record numbers. Though his first two games - an 11-point blown lead against the Minnesota Vikings and an embarrassing blowout in Detroit - the first win set off a party in the locker room fitting of a playoff win.
But now comes the hard part: Climbing down from Cloud Nine and repeating the performance Sunday in Las Vegas against the Raiders.
Like Johnson, former Bears' coach Dave Wannstedt also had to wait for his party to start. The architect of aa Cowboys' defense that helped win Super Bowl XXVII in 1992, he was hired by the Bears but began his 1993 rookie season also 0-2 before finally getting a win in his third game on his way to a 7-9 season.
During an appearance this week on Chicago's 670 The Score, Wannstedt offered Johnson some advice about not resting on his laurels.
"Getting that first win is a huge weight off your shoulders," Wannstedt said. "Now the challenge for Ben is getting back to ground zero. The Cowboys were giddy because they beat the New York Giants in overtime, they were giddy. That excitement they had was not a good thing. Ben's got his thumb on that, the coaches are going to get back to ground zero with that attitude. We can't go up there and assume that it's going to be easy against this Vegas team, we got to be ready to play. It's the NFL."
Adoree' Jackson's injury comes at worst time after his bounce back last 2 games
One of the most impressive turnarounds from Week 1 to Week 3 has to be Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Adoree' Jackson.
Everyone had written off Jackson after his awful performance in the Eagles' 24-20 win over the Dallas Cowboys. He had allowed five receptions for 103 yards, with all five catches being for first down.
After the game, it was all about whether the Eagles had made a fatal mistake signing Jackson over keeping either Darius Slay or Isaiah Rodgers. Jackson gave himself a grade of C, an opinion with which many people would likely disagree.
Ever since that game, though, it has been a completely different story. A great story that has Eagles fans believing in him...until his new injury occurred.
Jackson's spectacular last two games and the injury that might derail everything
Games against the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Rams ended up being good ones for Jackson. The Philly Special Show's Anthony DiBona shared Jackson's key stats from the last two games.
Against the Chiefs, Jackson allowed just three receptions on five targets for 26 yards. Last week in the Rams game, he had similar numbers with three catches on four targets for 23 yards.
Considering what happened in Week 1, this is a massive upgrade for Jackson. Playing better coverage and not allowing the big plays down the field is a big step in the right direction.
Unfortunately, all that might be a wash after Jackson left the Rams game with a groin injury. It was originally reported at the beginning of the week that his chances of playing against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 4 were not high. The good news is that, despite missing Wednesday's practice, Jackson returned on Thursday in a limited capacity.
It still feels like he might not be able to go against the Buccaneers, though, which is a crushing blow. Jackson was starting to gain the trust of the fan base and coaching staff, and for him to get hurt and potentially miss a game is a tough blow.
Especially with Jakorian Bennett on IR, Jackson will be needed more than ever. The hope is that he can recover quickly and return to the field to carry the momentum from the previous two games.
