The Chicago Bears really must’ve liked Trevis Gipson. Teams don’t normally hand draft picks to division rivals unless that’s the case. This is what GM Ryan Pace did. He gave the Minnesota Vikings a 4th round pick in 2021 in order to secure the 155th pick in the 5th round in order to draft the Tulsa defensive end. Afterward, Pace said they loved his talent, loved how he dominated the Senior Bowl, and believe he had a ton of upside to improve as a pass rusher.
There may have been an additional reason though. The Bears have always targeted kids of extremely high character in the draft. Not just hard workers but guys who embrace the role of leadership. Philip Montgomery, the head coach at Tulsa, insisted in an interview with Tulsa World that the Bears scored bigger than they realize in that department.
“This guy’s probably the best — and I’ve been around some really good ones — but overall, maybe our best team captain that I’ve ever been around and been with,” Montgomery said. “I’m just so happy for him and for both of them and their families and excited to see what the future holds.”
Understand this.
What Montgomery is saying isn’t just smoke for his former player. This is a guy who coached eventual #2 overall pick and Rookie of the Year Robert Griffin III at Baylor. He also coached eventual Super Bowl champion right tackle Sebastian Vollmer. These are guys who reached high peaks in the NFL and are lauded to this day as excellent teammates. So for him to call Gipson the best leader he’s ever seen, that means a lot.
Trevis Gipson had his shining moment after a devastating loss
Montgomery even had an unforgettable story that proved it. Tulsa plays in the AAC. One of their biggest rivals is Memphis. One of the conference powerhouses. His first two years as a starter in 2017 and 2018, the Golden Hurricane had lost to the Tigers in blowout fashion. The 2019 grudge match took place on Homecoming weekend and was Gipson’s last chance for revenge. It was an epic game. A shootout against a team that would finish 12-2 and play in the Cotton Bowl. Tulsa had a chance to win it in the final seconds. The coach will never forget what happened next.
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Montgomery didn’t even get a chance to talk to Gipson between the missed field goal and when Gipson had to sit at the podium behind a mic and answer questions from media about TU’s 42-41 homecoming loss to Memphis on Oct. 26. TU kicker Jacob Rainey had just missed a 29-yard field goal as time expired that would have ended the Hurricane’s four-game losing streak and given Memphis its second loss of the season.
“It’s not just one player’s fault just because it came at the end of the game,” Gipson said after that game. “Everybody makes mistakes throughout the game. I feel like a lot of people zero in on that key moment at the game just because that’s when it arrives. I don’t think that’s necessarily fair because people on offense and defense make mistakes — special teams, too. It’s not just special teams or it’s not just offense or not just defense, it’s us as a team.
“Unless we’re 100% making every play and no mistakes at all, then it falls somewhere on the team — not just one person.”
Bears fans can relate more than most.
They’re still feeling the sting of the infamous Double Doink loss over a year again courtesy of Cody Parkey. That Trevis Gipson was able to control his emotions and face such tough questions after a devastating loss like that? A lot of players wouldn’t be able to do it. Such composure and selflessness are hard to find. Knowing this, it’s not hard to understand why Pace felt compelled to go get him.
