Byard wants to be playing "meaningful games in January and February" |
CHICAGO - Another game, another dominant performance by the defense. Under quarterback Andy Dalton, the Carolina Panthers were averaging 30 points per game until they faced the Chicago defense and were held to just 10 points as the Bears cruised past them for a 36-10 victory. They also extended their home winning streak to eight games, the longest active streak in the league.
On Carolina’s opening drive, they scored a 38-yard rushing touchdown. While that was frustrating for players like cornerback Tyrique Stevenson, who is incredibly competitive and never wants to allow the opposing team to score, it provided motivation to ensure they did not get into the end zone for the rest of the game. “When we came back to the sideline, we just constantly reminding each other that’s not enough. That’s not enough. They scored, which (wasn’t) supposed to happen. But shout out to them for scoring. But, we just kept coming back to the sideline reminding us that we got to keep going. We got to keep pushing. We got to keep striving,” Stevenson said. “(The win) felt good, honestly, to know that the preparation and how we practice and how we gave the offense good looks and how the offense gave us good looks this week, just turned out on the scoreboard for everybody to see … “We just want to be one of the top teams in the league and that’s what we (are) striving for and just each week, we just get one percent better.” The league has finally started to respect cornerback Jaylon Johnson, which has led to Stevenson getting more targets. This season has been a mixed bag for Stevenson so far, but he has proved to be a solid corner to play opposite of Johnson. He is one of five players on the Bears with an interception this season. The player who joined that list against Carolina was safety Kevin Byard. Byard, a two-time All-Pro safety, has recorded at least one interception since 2017; his rookie year in 2016 was the only season he did not. Byard said that pick was long overdue this season but seemed satisfied that it finally came to fruition. “I feel like we came out there, played with a lot of juice, a lot of energy. Just on that particular play, just locating the ball, tracking the ball in the air, not panicking,” Byard said. “Just doing what I’ve always been doing in this league, tracking the ball and just making a play.” His interception was one of three turnovers the Bears defense forced against Carolina. The other two were forced fumbles. All three turnovers led to Chicago points as the Bears had 16 points off of turnovers; it would have been 17 but for a missed extra point by kicker Cairo Santos, his first of the season. Byard says that performance demonstrates what the Bears defense expects to do weekly. “Had three turnovers, should have had four. (Safety Jonathan Owens dropped an interception), we definitely had a discussion about that on the sideline. But, just a great team effort. Guys got sacks and turnovers in all different varieties. The only one that was missing was a sack-fumble,” Byard said. “So, (it was) just (an) exciting day. That’s what it’s supposed to look like. That’s the standard that we play with, and that’s how we want to play every single game.” The Chicago Bears are hugely focused on maintaining their dominance at home. However, they will be going outside the country to London for their next game on Sunday, Oct. 13 (8:30 a.m. / NFL Network), to face the Jacksonville Jaguars. Byard says the team wants to win the division. Chicago is in the only division in the league where every team has a winning record through the first five weeks, so every win is crucial to this goal. “You want to win the division. You want to be playing meaningful games in January and February,” Byard said. “You got to protect your home-field advantage. That’s what we’ve been doing. Obviously, they’ve been doing it even since (before) I got here. But, this year, to be 3-0 at home, is huge for us.”
