SEATTLE — Bears players couldn’t stop talking about defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons after his dominant debut Monday night in their 34-17 win over the Seahawks.
Offense or defense, it didn’t matter. Everyone had something to say.
They were already happy after he arrived by trade from the Titans last week. They were 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 the 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,” he 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 time with the team, Simmons seems to be a perfect fit, giving general manager Ryan Poles instant confirmation that it was the right move — not that he needed it after feeling confident enough to trade two first-round picks to get his man.
Simmons and the Bears, it seems, got everything they wanted out of the deal. The team now has a much-needed force at the heart of its defense, and Simmons has jumped from the plummeting Titans into the center of a Super Bowl chase, his excellence no longer wasted in obscurity. Great plays carry a lot more importance here.
“The last couple of 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.”
Simmons led the Bears with six tackles Monday, including a sack in the first quarter and another tackle-for-loss, and was instrumental in Sweat’s stellar game and Lynch’s game-sealing interception. His impact rippled through the defense in subtle ways as well, as the Bears held the Seahawks 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!” while handing the ball to him.
“I’m so happy to be a [expletive] Chicago Bear,” Simmons answered.
The Seahawks no doubt would have preferred Poles waiting 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 of the last two seasons) 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. It’s an overused term in the NFL, but it certainly applies here, with Simmons’ effect on the defensive line undeniable. The Seahawks doubled him with center Jalen Sundell and guard Grey Zabel on a play in the third quarter play that ended with a sack by Sweat, who ripped past right tackle Abraham Lucas into a wide-open lane. (Sweat’s two other sacks were negated by penalties in the secondary.)
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.
Simmons also picked up two, maybe 2½ linemen as Booker, immediately to his right, ran through to block a 33-yard field-goal attempt by Jason Meyers that would have pulled the Seahawks within a touchdown early in the fourth quarter.
Simmons changed the game for the secondary, too.
“You know the ball has to come out [on a passing play],” cornerback 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 shouted, “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 unit 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, including as the only Bear wearing a bright orange sleeved undershirt, which allows his 3-year-old daughter to easily find him on TV. (He wore a red undershirt as a Titan). It also was helpful for Bears fans wanting to zero in on the city’s newest sports star.
Sleeves or not, you couldn’t miss him. Individually, Simmons played as advertised. Beyond that, he revolutionized the way the Bears played defense.
For a team adamant that it’s ready to contend for a championship, he sure looks like the missing piece.