SEATTLE — Bears players couldn’t stop talking about defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons after his dominant debut Monday in their 34-17 win over the Seahawks.
Offense or defense, it didn’t matter. Everyone had something to say.
They were happy when he arrived by trade from the Titans last week, but ecstatic once they saw the impact of one of the NFL’s best defenders blasting into the backfield in a No. 99 Bears jersey.
Quarterback Caleb Williams calls him, “Jefe,” the Spanish word for boss.
Fellow defensive tackle Grady Jarrett couldn’t wait to get a look at the game film for a better view of how Simmons loosened up the line of scrimmage for him, Montez Sweat, Austin Booker, James Lynch and other defensive linemen.
Cornerback Jaylon Johnson answered questions mostly by smiling.
Simmons embraced all of it, including the responsibility of being the new leader of this defense.
“You could feel the love,” Simmons said. “Around the building, everyone was excited.
“But they’re not going to be excited if I’m not out there doing my job. I know what comes with this job. … If I’m not doing what I need to do to help this team win, I expect them to hold me to a high standard. It’s a two-way street.”
Rarely in recent Bears history has a trade looked so good so early. Just days into his team with the team, Simmons is a perfect fit.
Not that general manager Ryan Poles needed it after feeling confident enough to trade two first-round picks to the Titans for him last week, but he got instant confirmation that it was the right move.
Simmons and the Bears got everything they wanted out of the deal. The team added a much-needed force at the heart of its defense, and Simmons jumped from a plummeting Titans team to the center of a Super Bowl chase.
His excellence is no longer being wasted in obscurity. All those great plays carry a lot more importance here.
“The last couple years have been hard, not winning football games, but also, for me, it was like, ‘What can I do to help this team get back to that?” Simmons said. “It sucks that I wasn’t able to do that, but I’m a Chicago Bear now. Things change, and right now for me, to be able to be here, praise God.”
He led the team with six tackles, including a first-quarter sack and another tackle for loss, and was instrumental in a stellar game by Sweat and Lynch’s game-sealing interception. His impact rippled through the defense in subtle ways, too, as the Bears held the defending champions to one of their worst offensive games of the season.
That earned him a game ball from coach Ben Johnson who yelled, “Welcome to the Bears, Jeffery Simmons,” as he handed it to him. Simmons replied enthusiastically, “I’m so happy to be a [expletive] Chicago Bear.”
The Seahawks would’ve preferred Poles wait another week before making the trade.
Running backs Jadarian Price and Zach Charbonnet combined for 49 yards on 16 carries. Quarterback Sam Darnold managed just 188 yards on 17-for-34 passing — his lowest completion percentage this season or last — with two touchdowns and an interception for a 74.1 passer rating.
The Bears have been calling Simmons as a “multiplier” because they expect he’ll make everyone around him better, and while that’s an overused term in the NFL, it certainly applies here.
Simmons’ effect on the defensive line is undeniable.
The Seahawks doubled him with center Jalen Sundell and guard Grey Zabel on Sweat’s sack in the third quarter — he had two others negated by penalties in the secondary — and left Sweat a very winnable one-on-one matchup against right tackle Abraham Lucas. He ripped past Lucas into a wide-open lane for the sack.
With the Seahawks desperately trying to rally late, Simmons and Sweat forced Darnold out of the pocket and into the face of Booker, who deflected his pass to Lynch for a pick that squashed the threat.
He also picked up two, maybe two and a half, linemen as Booker, immediately to the right of him, ran through to block Jason Meyers’ 33-yard field goal that would’ve pulled the Seahawks within a touchdown early in the fourth quarter.
But Simmons changed the game for the secondary, too.
“You know the ball has to come out,” Jaylon Johnson said. “It’s a lot easier to cover for two seconds than four, so you can be a little more aggressive.”
At one point on the sideline, Simmons exclaimed, “We don’t need to blitz!” because the Bears were getting consistent pressure from the defensive linemen. That’s a game-changer for defensive coordinator Dennis Allen, who had been running the fourth-most blitz-happy team in the league before Monday.
“That makes those guys’ job on the back end so much easier,” Simmons said.
He was conspicuous in every way, especially as the only Bears player wearing an undershirt with bright orange sleeves. He does that so his 3-year-old daughter can easily find him on TV — he wore red ones as a Titan — and it also was a helpful viewing enhancement for Bears fans wanting to zero in on the city’s newest sports star.
Sleeves or not, you couldn’t miss him. Individually, he was as advertised, and beyond that, he revolutionized the way the Bears played defense. For a team adamant that it’s ready to contend a championship, he sure looks like he was the missing piece.