Breaking Bears in the Right Way

Rookie Chicago defensive trio of Jaquan Brisker, Kyler Gordon and Dominique Robinson faces difficult challenge against Green Bay after huge contributions during their debut game

The Bears threw three rookies into the defensive fray, the water and the mud against San Francisco and got away with it.

Can that possibly happen at Lambeau Field Sunday night against Aaron Rodgers?

The chances might look bleak but they are a lot greater after Jaquan Brisker, Kyler Gordon and Dominique Robinson made impacts in their debuts. Now the most important thing for them might be capping their excitement.

"I would say just trying to be steady, not trying to get the highs and lows of a football season," defensive coordinator Alan Williams said. "Last week was one football game. We have a lot more to go. It's a marathon, not a sprint.

"So it just gives them the confidence, 'hey, this is the NFL, I do belong.' Then the challenge is going to be do I belong week, after week, after week, after week, after week, after week. So that's going to be the challenge for those guys and the rest of the team making sure that we have mental and physical stamina."

The excitement of going to Lambeau Field might be difficult to prepare rookies for, because it's one of the league's most raucous environments.

"They say it's crazy over there so I'm expecting it to be super loud," cornerback Kyler Gordon said. "Crazy hype, the fans will be all about the game and into the game and I'm just expecting it to be a wild atmosphere."

If there's a player Rodgers could be expected to pick on among the rookies it is Gordon, who is more vulnerable as the slot cornerback. He has picked on their slot corners with regularity since Bryce Callahan left the team in free agency for the 2019 season.

"I'm just excited to see what I can do against him, go out there, perform and give him some challenges," Gordon said.

Gordon's debut came with six tackles but he did allow a 44-yard completion to Jauan Jennings.

"On that play, it was really just me, myself having (to get) good eyes," Brisker said. "Nothing the receiver did or anything like that, just more me, myself having good eyes on that and that's something I can correct."

Gordon, like Brisker, played all 68 defensive snaps even though he is a slot cornerback. He moved over to the outside when they were in the base 4-3.

For Brisker, Williams' comment about having more confidence after Game 1 impact definitely rings true. 

While Brisker didn't have a perfect game, making a fumble recovery inside the 15-yard line and another third-quarter 2-yard tackle for loss from the 2-yard line made all the difference between San Francisco scoring 14 points and coming away instead with three on two of its four red zone possessions.

"I'll say a lot of confidence," Brisker said. "You know just the first game, just getting my feet wet, you know because I haven't played in a while, you know, so just getting my feet wet, getting back to playing football again and then, you know, now it's going into Week 2 where I got, like you said, a lot more confidence a lot more swagger and then you know just getting, again, my feet under myself, playing like myself."

Both of those two could have been expected to have earlier impacts as second-round draft picks.

Robinson was a fifth-rounder who has been a wide receiver until halfway through his college career at Miami (Ohio). And his 1 1/2 sacks now is more than any NFL draft pick had in Week 1.

It wasn't his only contribution. Robinson made seven tackles even though he was on the field only 28 plays, or 41% of snaps.

Stopping the run wasn't necessarily his advertised strength.

"I don't know that it was better than we had hoped," Williams said. "We thought that Dominique was a pretty good player and we were just waiting for the actual real ballgame rather than preseason to see how he was going to function and he did well.

"What we were looking for was just–I know you (media) guys may get tired of it–the HITS principle. Did he hustle? Was he No. 1 in the world in running to the football? When he hit, did he knock guys backward? Did he get lined up? Didn't necessarily take the football away but he almost did and did he play smart football? We're just really focused on that and not necessarily one specific part–run/pass.

"He was fine."

The biggest problem Robinson might have had was not celebrating his sacks.

"It was crazy, it was crazy," he said. "It happened fast and a lot of people are hollering for my celebration and I'm just like I didn't know what happened man it just happened so fast. I just got up and started running."

Robinson agrees he feels a little more comfortable now after breaking in with the sacks, even if they are going to hostile territory.

"I knew I could do this from the jump, honestly," Robinson said. "But you know getting those sacks and making some plays kind of helped me out a little bit, definitely boosts my confidence a little more than, you know, what I would have had I not made any plays.

"So just trying to piggyback on that and continue to do that throughout the season."

The game might have actually done less for Robinson's confidence level than practice success has.

"Whatever we do during practice it reflects on the field during the game," he said. "So, like, I like I've been telling the people I didn't do anything out of the ordinary.

"Most of the tackles that I made were off a hustle, you know? I was just out there running."

It's the desired approach against Green Bay for all defenders, rookie or not.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven