The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
Jeffrey focused on win, not Bears
Former Chicago wide receiver aims to help Birds win 9th straight against old team Sunday
PHILADELPHIA » Alshon Jeffery has six touchdown receptions for the Eagles, just four fewer than the Chicago Bears, his previous employer.
Jeffery is getting $9.5 million from the Eagles this season, more than the combined total of the top three receivers who will line up for the Bears this weekend at Lincoln Financial Field.
A second-round pick on the last Bears team to produce a winning record, Jeffery hoped his Windy City tour would end better. It didn’t, and he could have done more to help. His four-game suspension last season for PEDs contributed to a 3-13 record for the Bears last year.
All of which makes the reunion that Jeffery said he’d circled on his schedule, what’s this, “just a game we’re trying to run.
“Honestly, I’ve been having so much fun this season, every game I just want to focus on,” said Jeffery, on pace for a career-best 11 TDs. “I just look at it as a regular game and hopefully we just come out with a win and just have fun with it.”
The smirks and the grins obviously didn’t match the words. While Jeffery had nothing nasty to say about Chicago, which in recent years has become the NFL’s model for cheap, he’s living the dream with the Eagles.
The Birds are 9-1 and on an eight-game win streak, which is longer than anything Jeffery was involved in playing next to Lake Michigan. The magic number for the Eagles to put Jeffery into the playoffs for the first time in a sixyear career is 3.
Make no mistake, there are scars from those days with the Bears. In 2012 they started 7-1 but then lost five of six and finished 10-6 and out of the playoffs. Head coach Lovie Smith was fired. Until Smith was axed, Jeffery didn’t think it was that bad of a rookie season.
“That was a special locker room,” Jeffery said. “Those guys