When Jordan van den Berg talks about football, even a preseason opener, it's easy to view him as a throwback to less sophisticated days in the NFL.
You could say he would fit in attitude-wise with the players on 1985 Bears or, heck, even with Dick Butkus and Doug Buffone in the 1960s.
The Georgia Tech sixth-rounder's description of his playing style sums this up best.
"I play with violence," van den Berg said. "This is a place where you’re able to play with violence and get praise for it. I really enjoy that aspect of the game." It' s only preseason but don't tell van den Berg thatVan den Berg finally gets to show that off at full speed in Saturday's game with the Browns but he has been getting assorted first-team reps ion training camp and has definitely caught the eye of coaches.
Van Den Berg was AWESOME today pic.twitter.com/zg1lMSntHs— Swift Sports Network (@SwiftyNetwork) August 4, 2026When van den Berg says play with violence, the Bears are trying to get him to keep this under control. After all, he was the defensive tackle who body-slammed Bears offensive lineman Caden Barnett in practice earlier in camp. The Athletic's Dan Pompei wrote that coach Ben Johnson so liked the way the play fired up the team that he had an AI video made of van den Berg slapping Barnett and showed it to the team. THE GREATEST FIRST-ROUND PICKS IN CHICAGO BEARS HISTORY"I love the competitive nature, the nastiness, the meanness of playing the position," defensive line coach Jeremy Garrett said. "You like that. He plays with an edge. You have to play that position with an edge. He has that."
