Tashaun Gipson Sr. didn’t take long to establish himself as one of the better free agent signings the Chicago Bears have made in recent years last season. He led the team with two interceptions, played well against the run, and didn’t miss a game. One can safely argue he outperformed the vastly more highly paid Eddie Jackson. So that begs the question. Why did he choose to return to Chicago on another one-year deal?
Granted, it came with a nice little pay raise to $1.8 million but one can safely believe he’d have gotten a multi-year deal somewhere else. Even if he’s in his 30s now. That never appealed to him. Gipson’s goal from the moment the offseason started was to stay in Chicago. Why? He’d become a full-throated believer in the culture GM Ryan Pace and head coach Matt Nagy were trying to build.
Gipson was skeptical at first.
He’d been sweet-talked by several teams in the past. That is why when the Bears first showed their interest in him last spring, he made sure to ask lots of questions. Not just of Nagy and Pace, but also of his former teammate and good friend Buster Skrine who’d spent 2019 in Chicago. Gipson described to Bears All Access that the big selling point centered around one word. A word everybody kept using over and over in conversations.
Everybody knows the NFL is a business. It can be cold in that way a lot of times. However, there are some organizations that try to maintain a more family-like atmosphere. One built around love, trust, and unselfishness. No egos. Just everybody working towards the common goal. That being to win games and a championship. It didn’t take Gipson long to realize the Bears weren’t lying. His brief time with the defense proved their words correct.
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Tashaun Gipson has a chance to be even better in 2021
People forget what he did last year was so impressive. He came into a locker room and defensive system he knew nothing about. COVID-19 took away OTAs, minicamps, and the preseason. So he had little preparation time. Yet he still manages to stand out as one of the most consistently effective members of the Bears defense. Now he’ll have all those benefits this offseason along with another year to learn the measure of his teammates.
Perhaps a shift over to Sean Desai as defensive coordinator, who was the safeties coach last year, might even get more out of him than last year. He will certainly be needed. The Bears have a lot of questions in their secondary following the departures of Skrine and Kyle Fuller. Having a veteran presence like Tashaun Gipson on the back end is quite fortuitous.
It would be even better if Eddie Jackson rebounds as well.
One thing is clear. Gipson is more motivated than ever to prove that the Bears defense is still one of the best in the NFL. Not just because of their talent but because they play the right way. Together. No glory-seeking. No infighting. Just 11 men working towards the common goal of keeping you out of the end zone.