How Jeffery Simmons put aside a crazy week to lead the Chicago Bears in 34-17 win over the Seattle Seahawks

SEATTLE — Jeffery Simmons ran out of the tunnel ahead of Monday night’s 34-17 win over the Seattle Seahawks at Lumen Field, telling himself one thing.

It’s just football.

It had been an emotional week for the 29-year-old All-Pro, traded from the Tennessee Titans to the Chicago Bears on Thursday in a deal that sent two first-round draft picks back to the Titans. Simmons, an eighth-year veteran, spent his entire pro career up until this week as a member of the Titans.

He was leaving a place he called home. He talked earlier in the week about how hugging his 3-year-old daughter Mulani in Nashville before leaving for his flight to Chicago crushed him.

Simmons spent the next couple of days taking a crash course in Bears coordinator Dennis Allen’s defense to prep for Monday night’s prime-time matchup against the defending champion Seahawks. Just days ago he was preparing for a matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals. Now he had a whole new defense to learn.

There could’ve been a lot of thoughts running through his mind Monday night.

It’s just football.

Simmons came out sporting an orange undershirt beneath his white Bears jersey, carrying on a tradition of wearing bright colors so his daughter can spot him on TV. He admitted Monday that the emotions got to him during the national anthem.

Then the game started.

“I just kept telling myself: It’s just football,” Simmons said. “Go out there and be me. Play by play, be in the moment. That’s always been my goal, just embrace the moment — and that’s what happened tonight.”

With Simmons wreaking havoc in the middle, the Bears defense went to work on the Seahawks, forcing punts on four of their first five possessions. The Bears sacked Seattle quarterback Sam Darnold three times, and they hit him three more times. Simmons had a team-leading six tackles, one sack, two tackles for loss and a pass defended.

The Bears, who improved to 6-2, looked like the better team Monday. They’ve now won back-to-back games against New England and Seattle — the two teams that squared off in the Super Bowl in February.

“My message to the guys on the sideline and especially in the D-line room: It’s not about them,” Simmons said. “It’s about us and how we attack the line of scrimmage and how we attack the game.”

Prior to the acquisition of Simmons, the Bears were one of the heaviest blitz teams in the NFL. That’s what Allen needed to do in order to generate pressure.

Simmons’ addition changes the equation.

“Jeff was just saying it to me all game, ‘We need to get home with four so those guys in the back can cover,’” said defensive end Montez Sweat, who had one sack plus two more wiped away by penalties. “I think (Allen) felt that. I don’t think we blitzed as much as we usually do.”

Sweat and Simmons played college ball together at Mississippi State in 2017-18. The pair were good friends in college and have remained so since.

For Sweat, a player who led the Bears in sacks last year and who often has had to carry the load for this defensive line, Simmons is a welcome addition who makes life easier for everyone. Sweat felt that Monday.

So did defensive tackle Grady Jarrett, who helped Simmons learn the defensive scheme quickly this week.

“What better way to come out on a ‘Monday Night Football,’ defensive win type of game,” Jarrett said. “A big addition to our team. I’m so happy for him.”

The Bears held the Seahawks to 1-for-11 on third downs. With the pass rush in his face, Darnold completed just 50% of his passes Monday.

The Bears were dominant for much of the night, but Seattle was still in the game well into the fourth quarter. Bears defensive lineman James Lynch put the final nail in the coffin when he caught an interception on a pass that was tipped by teammate Austin Booker.

Booker put a hand in Darnold’s face and batted the pass. Booker appeared to be celebrating for a brief instant before he realized that his 6-4, 295-pound teammate caught the ball and was barreling toward the end zone.

“(I) turned around and he’s already five yards down the field,” said Booker, who also blocked a field goal in the game.

Lynch was tackled down at the 6-yard line, but the play helped set up running back D’Andre Swift’s third touchdown of the night that all but sealed the game. It marked Lynch’s first career pick.

“I got an interception,” Lynch said. “Like, that’s wild.”

In the postgame locker room, coach Ben Johnson celebrated with his customary “ Good, Better, Best” chant. He handed out game balls to Swift, Booker and Simmons.

He also left his team with this thought, on a night when they beat the defending Super Bowl champions: “We didn’t come here to make a statement. We came here to build something. And we’re just getting started.”

For a season and a half, Johnson and Allen have had to piecemeal things together on the defensive end. While the offense has developed into one of the NFL’s best, the defense had merely been good enough. Simmons showed in his first game with the Bears that he changes all of that.

After all the celebrations were over and everyone cleared out, one last player was working his way through the visiting locker room at Lumen Field, his interview obligations over. Simmons stuck his head into locker after locker, picked up three or four empty water bottles at a time in his massive hands and brought them to the garbage bin.

The Bears’ newest All-Pro defensive tackle was cleaning up after his teammates.

“We have a high-character locker room and he’s that himself,” Johnson said. “You can feel his presence out there, whether it’s during the play or even after the play.”

Or even after the game.

shammond@chicagotribune.com