NFC Notes: J.J. McCarthy, Caleb Williams, Bears, Packers, Vikings

“Today we had our first quiz in the QB room,” Williams said, via the team’s website. “We went over a few things yesterday, talked about a few things and Ben walked in this morning, flung open the door, made a grand entrance and then we got to work, him testing us about what we talked about yesterday. Already first day in and challenging us. Everybody loves a challenge in this sport. It’s one of the great things about this sport. Every day is a challenge and today we got our first one.”

Williams is excited to grow together with Johnson and believes his time with him early on in the off-season is invaluable.

“I think us growing together is key,” Williams said. “Him pushing me is key. I know that and he knows that. So building that bond, him pushing me and us growing together for years to come is going to be fun. I can’t wait [for him] to be able to help me learn more about ball – because he’s super smart, super sharp – and grow and progress in those ways.”

Packers

Packers HC Matt LaFleur explained what prompted him to bring back Luke Getsy in a senior offensive assistant role for the team.

“I know he’s had a rough go of it the last couple years, but he’s a guy that I have a lot of respect for,” LaFleur said, via ESPN. “Not only as a football coach, but as a man. I think he does a great job. He’s extremely organized, really smart, I think he sees the game the right way. He’s brought a lot of cool ideas as we went through all our cut-ups and kind of discussed as a staff. So, he’s going to bring a lot of value to us.”

LaFleur is hoping that QB coach Sean Mannion can bring his experience as a former player to help QB Jordan Love reach another level.

“I think his experience, his ability to relate to that position, understanding what’s going through that guy’s mind. I think early on, even when I coached him in L.A., I thought eventually this guy’s going to be a coach,” LaFleur said. “So, he’s very, very proactive in his approach. He’s very well prepared, and I think he can help prepare our quarterbacks the same way.”

Vikings

Vikings HC Kevin O’Connell said that QB J.J. McCarthy was improving vastly before suffering a knee injury and took really well to coaching.

“It started showing up more and more,” O’Connell said, via SI’s Albert Breer. “And that’s always a real positive from my perspective, when you can really start stacking coaching points on to things that he’s showing improvement on or ownership of. His overall understanding of our offense, the comfort level, even in the reps, whether it was versus the No. 1 defense or in competitive situations in practice, you were starting to see him play faster but under control while still maintaining the principles that we’re coaching.”

O’Connell added that McCarthy came into the NFL ready to lead a pro-style offense and already had a lot of the intricacies of the position down pat.

“He was already pretty accustomed to the play-action game, the keeper game,” O’Connell said. “He was already on the details of the play-action game—from the fake, to the setup at the top of the drop, and his ability to drive the football. He had already demonstrated that. So there really wasn’t a lot of transition there. It was more so the drop-back pass game. Whether you’re talking quick game, three-step, five-step, whatever it is. And just at the top of his drops making sure he had his base balance and body position set to throws. And then how could he read with his feet and progress fundamentally and with the speed of the play. And trying to learn how to tie all those things together and start playing fast, but playing calm and decisively.”

O’Connell recounted a play where McCarthy missed a protection assignment, but stood back in the pocket and delivered a good ball to move the chains.

“We have a protection breakdown, kind of a missed assignment in front of him,” O’Connell says. “But it’s the look we’re looking for on the play. And he stands in there, and doesn’t flinch at all, and just throws an absolute strike as he’s getting hit by the linebacker. To get drilled, and stand in there and make a pretty big time play-action throw was impressive.”

McCarthy took advantage of his time away from the field by absorbing everything he could during team meetings, which O’Connell hopes will translate next season.

“He was in meetings, he was taking great notes—I was meeting with him personally once a week, and he had great questions,” O’Connell says. “We were trying to steal whatever time we could, not only myself and him, but our other coaches as well. But the best part about it, he was in the building, he was around his teammates. He had a front-row seat to see the journey Sam went on. There was some value in that, albeit with the frustration of, Man, I wish I could be out there doing it physically every day. And that’s where for a young player, that can be hard sometimes, especially when you’ve had so much success. You really haven’t had to deal with things like this.”