Northwestern’s Chris Bergin goes from walk-on to nation’s leading tackler

IOWA CITY — Chris Bergin was in no mood postgame last Saturday to discuss his rather heroic performance. None.

The Northwestern linebacker had 19 tackles against Minnesota, a career high coming one week after setting a career high with 16 stops against Michigan. That’s doing some serious work.

But both of those games were lopsided Wildcats losses.

“Honestly, it means nothing if we don’t win,” Bergin said. “I’d trade every tackle in the world to win. I’ve been in the program, we’ve won three of my four years here. There’s no feeling like it, and I’d do anything to get that feeling back, including making zero tackles, if that’s what it would (take).”

This has not been a good season for Northwestern, which takes a 3-5 record into its Saturday night game at home against Iowa (6 p.m., Big Ten Network). The Wildcats have lost three of their last four games, being outscored by Nebraska, Michigan and Minnesota in those games by a combined margin of 130-28.

Northwestern must win three of its final four to become bowl eligible. For Bergin, that is the emphasis, not his individual performance.

“It’s just a decision we’ve got to make as a team, as a whole, as individuals,” he said. “To choose not to get blocked, to choose to be violent. It’s nothing our coaches can do for us, it’s a decision you’ve got to make as a grown man when you go on the field (and) someone is trying to take what you’ve got. You either get got or you get yours. We’ve got to get ours.

“Be violent, physically execute. It’s on me as a leader to get this defense ready. I failed at that. So I’m going to do a reflection … I’ve got to get better, see where I can help this team get better. Go from there.”

The graduate student is a great story, a former walk-on turned team captain who leads the Big Ten Conference in tackles by a large margin, who is tied for the lead nationally in tackles per game. He was considered too small physically coming out of Detroit’s Country Day High School, where he was a safety and running back.

But the cliché about not being able to measure heart applies here. Bergin was a special teams specialist as a true freshman in 2017 and ascended to a starting linebacker spot in 2018.

He set a career high with 12 tackles in Northwestern’s 21-20 win last season over Iowa, but that’s been nothing compared to his production this season, in which he took advantage of the NCAA ruling allowing players another year of eligibility because of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Bergin has 98 tackles in eight games, 60 of them solo. The average of 12.2 tackles per game is tied for tops in the country, the average of 7.5 solo stops per game flat out leading the country.

“He’s a guy who is relentless in his work ethic,” said Northwestern Coach Pat Fitzgerald. “You’ve got to be a pro at this level at taking care of your body, and he does an unbelievable job at that. The unrequired work, he’s a guy who is willing to put in 20 hours a week with the guys. It takes a lot of unrequired work, a lot of voluntary time to be the best he can possibly be and to take teammates along with you.”

Iowa linebacker Jack Campbell is fifth in the Big Ten in total tackles with 76, by the way.

“Chris does just a great job of making sure everyone is on the same page, to the best of his ability. Making sure that everyone is putting in as much work as possible,” Fitzgerald said. “Then just being a guy who is there who has had a lot of experience, helping guys through challenging situations. He’s got a high, high compete level. His care, his concern for our team, our program, his teammates is as good as you’re going to find.”

Bergin’s father, Joe, was a starting defensive lineman for Michigan State’s 1988 Rose Bowl team. His brothers, Owen and Joe Jr. previously played at Northwestern.

This is a football family.

“I think it comes down to one simple phrase that was taught to me by my dad, told repetitively, then my visit to Northwestern, I heard Coach Fitz say it verbatim, word for word,” Bergin said. “It was at that moment that I knew this place was going to be home. ‘Work hard, keep your mouth shut, and good things will happen.’ I think that’s kind of been my mentality. I’ve never really thought of myself as much of an underdog. You kind of just do what you’ve got to do, lay low … and here we are.”

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