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Grady Jarrett will walk back into the building where he spent a decade, and he is not pretending that means nothing. He is also not building a reflection day around it. After Wednesday’s press conference, the Chicago Bears defensive lineman said the only feeling that will fix Sunday’s loss at Green Bay is a win in Atlanta.
“Everybody kind of knows what that means to me,” Jarrett said of the return. “But at the end of the day, I think the most thing I’m excited about is going out here competing, getting back on the right track and doing what we need to do.”
A special building, a Bears week
Jarrett spent 10 years with the Falcons before signing in Chicago. He said he will allow himself a human moment when he gets inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium, then lock back in.
“My time in Atlanta was well served. Ten years, a lot of success, some struggles,” he said. “I gave it its due time and respect. I think all my focus is here right now, doing what I need to do and getting this team back on the right track.”
He expects Bears fans to travel. “It’s going to be a heck of a crowd out there. I think the Bears fans going to show up big time,” Jarrett said.
Odunze: fall back on fundamentals
Rome Odunze, who shared the podium, said film of the Packers loss showed a pile of plays that did not go Chicago’s way and five turnovers that were out of character. He owned his own fumble.
“Just putting the ball on the ground and got to have better fundamentals, taking care of the football,” Odunze said. “First and foremost, like coach was saying, take care of the fundamentals, and that’s taking care of the football.”
Head coach Ben Johnson’s message for a week like this, Odunze said, is to get back to identity work. “When you have a game like that where things aren’t going your way, you just kind of fall back on the things that you’ve trained on and the small things, and those are the fundamentals,” he said. “The only thing that’s gonna make us feel better is going out and get a win versus Atlanta.”
Asked about life without Caleb Williams (No. 18) when the starter is out, Odunze said the room still has confidence in whoever is under center. “Obviously, when you’re missing a player like that on the field, you’re going to feel it. But we have a ton of confidence in our quarterback room as a whole to go out there and make plays.”
Containing Bijan, trusting the front
Jarrett called Bijan Robinson a special challenge who will take a full unit, not a passive front. “It takes a whole unit to attempt to slow down a special player like Bijan,” he said. “God-given ability to see, to burst, to separate, to contact balance.”
He also praised young edge Austin Booker’s consistency and said whoever joins the front — including Shamar after time on the shelf — has to meet the same urgency. “We’re not waiting. We’re going now,” Jarrett said. “And that’s the expectation.”
The Bears visit the Falcons on Sunday, October 18.
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