Chicago Bears: Eddie Jackson already turning into a star at safety

Physical play exceeds expectations

Remember when we all wondered whether or not Jackson would be a physical enough tackler to be a starting safety?

Man, that seems like a lifetime ago.

Not only has Jackson been physical enough, he’s flying to the football and finishing plays with authority. The above example with Perriman isn’t the only time he’s made his presence felt at the point of attack.

Michael Campanaro made this catch Sunday, but Jackson made sure it came with a cost.

Plus, though he got there late to help Amos, look at the ground he covered and the instincts to know where the ball was going. Coming from the deep middle in Cover-1, he covers 12 yards in almost enough time to blast the ball loose from the receiver again.

Pretty impressive.

And he isn’t just hitting in the passing game, either. He’s also shown he can make strong plays in the run game, an area that many were concerned about with him coming out of college.

Here, as a strong safety, he comes screaming through the opening between the pulling guard’s trap block and Riley Reiff and Kyle Rudolph‘s blocks on Christian Jones for the takedown on Jerick McKinnon.

There’s no hesitation and no “catching” of the ball-carrier. He flies in and wraps him up as soundly as you could ask for a minimal gain.

Count his improvement as a tackler as arguably the most impressive thing Jackson has shown us this year, especially given what we expected from him.