Danny Trevathan ‘just trying to make a play’ on Davante Adams hit

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Bears linebacker Danny Trevathan said he’ll await the league’s response to his devastating hit on Packers wide receiver Davante Adams but doesn’t think he should be suspended.

“We’ll see,” Trevathan said when asked if he was bracing for a suspension. “I don’t think it should be a suspension. But you never know. I’m just going to send my prayers out. My main concern is that he’s OK.”

With the Bears trailing 21-7 in the third quarter, Trevathan leveled Adams with a brutal helmet-to-helmet hit that snapped Adams’ head straight back, knocked his mouthpiece out and left him prone on the ground for several minutes.

“I was just trying to make a play. It wasn’t intentional,” Trevathan said. “I was just trying to hustle to the ball and do my job. Unfortunately, he ended up hurt. I’m sorry about that. And I’m going to reach out to him and send him a message. Because we play a physical game, but you never wish that on anybody.

“I regret the level I hit him at. I could have been a little bit better. But you’ve got to understand, I was in a momentum and I was just trying to make a play. Unintentionally it happens in this game. Hopefully they see that. . . . I was just trying to make a play.”

Adams had just caught a short pass from Rodgers inside the Bears’ 10-yard line and was struggling with Bears defenders for more yardage when Trevathan came in with a head-first hit that drew a gasp from the crowd. Trevathan was penalized for unnecessary roughness, but almost certainly will face league discipline for the play. Players on both sides knelt in prayer as medical personnel tended to Adams.

Adams was conscious as he was taken off the field on a back-board and gave a thumbs-up to the crowd and teammates when he left the field and gave a thumbs-up to the crowd and teammates as he was taken off the field. The Packers reported that Adams had “movement of all extremities” and was being treated at a hospital for head and neck injuries and a possible concussion. Friday morning, NFL spokesman Joe Lockhart told reporters that he’d suffered a concussion.

“It was sad. I never wish that on nobody,” Trevathan said. I’ve been hurt a couple of times. I know how that is. Especially with the head. You never want to see that. But this game is physical.”

Trevathan said he did not know how bad the hit was when the play occurred.

“I realized it once he laid there for a while,” he said. “And I saw his mouthpiece over there on the other side. And he wasn’t moving. He was twitching. I knew it wasn’t good. I immediately dropped down and started praying.”

The Bears defense struggled early against the Packers. With running back Ty Montgomery gaining 28 yards on five carries on the first six offensive snaps, the Packers drove 75 yards on 10 plays to take a 7-0 lead. On third-and-one at the Packers 34, the Bears had a chance for a stop, but Montgomery cut back for a three-yard gain and a first down.

The Bears got a scare when nose tackle Eddie Goldman went down with an injury and walked off on his own. He returned later in the first quarter, but by then the Bears were down 14-0.

Mike Glennon’s fumble on a sack that the Packers recovered at the 3-yard line set up an easy score, with Rodgers throwing a two-yard touchdown pass to Randall Cobb for the two-touchdown lead.

The Bears’ defense finally got some footing after that, forcing three-and-outs on the Packers’ final two possessions of the first quarter. Rookie safety Eddie Jackson helped force an incompletion on a long pass to Jordy Nelson on the first one. McPhee beat McCray to sack Rodgers on third-and-5 at the Packers’ 20 on the second one.

But on this night, the Bears would need much more than stops from their defense to turn things around. And they didn’t get it.

Follow me on Twitter

@MarkPotash.

Email: mpotash@suntimes.com