Did the Bears even consider bringing back safety Jaquan Brisker?
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Why did Jaquan Brisker leave the Bears for the Steelers?
Layla Rahimi, Marshall Harris, Mark Grody, Rahimi, Harrison, Grody on 104.3 The Score. Second down and five. End zone, picked off. Intercepted by Brisker. Samuel was the target and Brisker's out near the 35. That is the first pick of the year for Jake Daniels. That is courtesy of ESPN. This is Rahimi Harrison-Grody on 104.3 The Score. And we will now take you back into a place we call the evidence locker room. It's like inside the locker room, but just different. And not to be confused with inside the clubhouse. That's a completely different show. So if you missed it, we talked about this earlier. Jaquan Brisker ends up signing with the Pittsburgh Steelers, a one-year contract. Now, Jaquan Brisker went to Penn State.
As we understand, Pittsburgh is the team he grew up cheering for. $5.5 million. He started all 17 games in 2025. But last year was a season where he only played in five because of concussion. And Mark, I think you and I are on the same page. Jaquan Brisker had a great game against the Rams in that final playoff game. He timed his exit brilliantly. And now he's with another team. And for that price, it all got us wondering if possibly the Bears were going to be able to keep him or Kevin Bayard. Bayard goes to the Patriots when you're $9 million. But in looking back at this, were there other signs that Brisker may have not been here regardless? Yeah, I don't think they were ever going to bring back Brisker, which in a way had to be a little bit difficult for Ryan Poles because he was part of his first draft class.
He drafted... Jaquan Brisker and Kyler Gordon in the second round, and I guess that would have been 2022, would have been Ryan Poles' first year. So there is some sentimental value there, or I would assume that there is for him. And yeah, like as I think it was Finley that was saying, it's not like he was a speedster, but he was an enforcer. There was a fear factor with Brisker is what makes him a very valuable player. The other part of Jaquan Brisker, And I said, Joquan Pritzker is one of my probably top five favorite polls bears on polls as watch just to talk to on and off the air. But he does talk a lot. He says things. And I'm talking about publicly that maybe, maybe if they needed something to push them over the edge, if it wasn't the concussions, which it very well could have been.
Very well could have been the five games, as you mentioned, that he only played in in the year prior to this past year. That could have been it. But I did start to think about the season and something that Jaquan Brisker said after the Detroit game, the second Detroit game, the last game of the season, I think it was. A 19-16 win for Detroit. Amon Ross, St. Brown goes off in that game. The Bears lose the game, but let's listen back to what Jaquan Brisker said about Dennis Allen, essentially. Jalen said that they kind of used their strength against you, getting a lot of stuff in the middle of the field, their offense against your defense. Why were they able to get away with that so easily? We're playing a whole bunch of man today.
No help in the middle. A lot of picks, rubs. Really, they schemed us up, and we just had to do a better job covering.
What impact did Brisker's signing have on the Bears' defense?
So, yeah, they just got us in the right car. They just out-schemed us, really. Just be honest. Direct, direct indictments. Direct hit. Direct hit. Casualties involved that he would say that they got out-schemed Dennis Allen. And I remember we got to that Thursday, and none of us, that includes me, I don't think anybody asked him about that because it was the playoffs, right? I think that we were talking about at that point, going into the Green Bay game, so... It became a moot point that maybe we should have followed up on, but there's no way in hell that Dennis Allen didn't hear that. And of course, he's a human being. DA, if he heard that, could not have liked that, maybe even talked to Daquan Brisker about it.
I am not saying that that's the reason, but it might be the resume of talking that Daquan Brisker has done through the years.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
Why did Jaquan Brisker leave the Bears for the Steelers?
0:01–3:36
2
What impact did Brisker's signing have on the Bears' defense?
3:36–5:45
3
How did injuries affect Jaquan Brisker's performance last season?
5:45–6:43
4
What were the Bears' options regarding other safeties?
6:43–7:54
5
Why might the Bears have decided not to retain Brisker?
7:54–9:02
6
What role did Brisker's public comments play in his departure?
9:02–11:57
7
How did Brisker's playing style influence his value to the Bears?
11:57–12:11
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