Eddie Jackson is ready for Browns quarterback Joe Flacco to try to throw deep.
“I go in licking my chops,” the Bears’ free safety said this week. “Hey, look, that ball is going to be in the air.”
Flacco is always looking downfield. The Bears, who have forced 11 turnovers over the past three games, can’t wait to see him to do the same Sunday.
“I feel like he’s like [the Vikings’] Kirk Cousins where, if you let him sit back there and be comfortable, he’ll rip you apart,” said Jackson, who was tied for third in the NFL with four interceptions last year but has none this season. “If you give him a little bit of pressure and get him uncomfortable, mistakes start to unroll.”
The Bears have reason to be greedy. They’re one of only two teams this year to have at least two interceptions in three straight games. They’ve forced at least three turnovers in each of their last three games, too — only six other teams since 2020 can say the same.
Flacco, though, might be the wrong person to give bulletin-board material to. His resume would make him the best quarterback in Bears history. He is almost 11 years removed from winning the Super Bowl with the Ravens and has appeared in 16 playoff games in his 16-year career.
Just last month, though, it seemed the 38-year-old Flacco’s career was kaput.
After playing sparingly in parts of the last three seasons with the Jets, he wasn’t a member of any team this year — and even tried out for a TV gig with “Inside the NFL.”
The Browns signed him to their practice squad in Week 11 after losing Deshaun Watson to a season-ending shoulder injury. Two weeks later, he made his first start. After his second Sunday, coach Kevin Stefanski named him their starter the rest of the season.
Flacco was technically a member of the practice squad when he was promoted to start the last two weeks. Thursday, the Browns signed him to the 53-man roster, giving him a contract that promises him $75,000 for every game he wins the rest of the regular season, plus even more for playoff victories.
If the Browns are successful, it will be because of Flacco’s willingness to go deep.
“He doesn’t really want to do checkdowns,” Jackson said.
In his first start, Flacco threw 19 passes over 10 yards in the air, the most of any Browns quarterback in five years. The next week, he threw 15.
“He stretches the whole part of the field,” Bears coach Matt Eberflus said. “It’s not just vertically, it’s horizontally as well.
“There are certain quarterbacks that only throw in between the hashes, in between the numbers and you can certainly pack the paint, so to speak, on that, but he makes you defend the whole field.”
He averaged 7.8 air yards per pass against the Rams and 5.8 against the Jaguars. Both were more than Watson, Dorian Thompson-Robinson and P.J. Walker — who all started before Flacco’s arrival — averaged all year.
“We all know he’s got a strong arm,” defensive tackle Justin Jones said. “But he’s been around a long time, so his IQ is as dangerous as his arm.”
Flacco is the latest unlikely starter in a season filled with almost unprecedented quarterback turnover. The Cinderellas typically fade — most notably, Josh Dobbs, whom the Bears held to 10 points and the Vikings benched the following game.
Jackson said he’s been impressed how often the backups have won games fresh off the bench.
“Obviously later on they come and unveil themselves for what they really are,” he said.
