Don't even bring up the fact he has no contract for next year because Bears defensive end Trevis Gipson is too busy trying to finish plays this year to worry about what happens in 2024.
"Honestly, man, I'm just focusing on bettering myself, what I can do to help this team, working on my pass rush, working on run defense and not really listening to the outsiders if I’m being completely honest, man," Gibson said.
Sure, Gipson can't afford another year with total sack output like last year. However, it would seem it won't take much for him to reverse his fortunes in this category.
And if any defensive end on the team can step up and make enough big plays so the Bears forget about signing a free agent or making a trade for a pass rusher, it's probably Gipson. He had seven sacks playing only part of the time as starter in 2021 and his five forced fumbles that season was one less than the entire Bears defensive end group on this roster has for their combined careers.
That was when he replaced Khalil Mack. Last year, though, he was held to three sacks and no forced fumbles for his first season playing in Matt Eberflus' defense.
However, Gipson had one more pressure than he had all of 2021 with 18. Easily, it could have been a six- or seven-sack season.
"I was very close, very close," Gipson said. "And you know, people ask me, was I discouraged? Mad? Sad? And none of those were the case at all. Actually I was encouraged.
"So taking that into my off-season, I'm focused on that part of my game and a couple of other things I took note of after a season and definitely upgraded those things."
He worked more at his conditioning to be better prepared for late in games, when everyone is more tired and when sacks can be more critical.
"Oh man, I turned it up. I went down to Texas the last 2 1/2 weeks before I came to camp, and just training in that 110 degree weather, almost dying, sweating, exhausted and knowing eventually it was going to pay off," Gipson said. "Basically put the track shoes on like our coach told us to."
He also honed technique with his hands and ability to change directions to be able to take advantage of being in position for sacks.
Like with rookie teammate Dominique Robinson last year, Gipson couldn't get his way into the stat column as the season went along. He had two sacks in Week 2 against Green Bay, then one in Week 17 against the Detroit Lions. He had one tackle for loss in his last 11 games. However, he had a career-high 11 quarterback hits.
"It was difficult, man, yeah, it was difficult," Gipson said. "But I couldn'tt shy away from it. It's life and I can't run away. I just, 'life, man.'
"You compete, some days you win, some days you lose, the sun rises the next day no matter what."
The end result were his efforts to improve.
"It was humbling, but you know I had to look myself in the mirror and realize what do I need to do to get better," he said. "It's always going to be trials and tribulations and I feel like in those cases is when you really testify to what you're made of.
"I never backed down, I never went and ran away. I never pointed the finger either. That's the truth of it. Especially this year I'm excited to rewrite the story and I couldn't be more anxious."
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