Northwestern University Athletics
The Skip Report: The Brothers Bergin
10/11/2018 12:53:00 PM | Football
By Skip Myslenski
NUsports.com Special Contributor
The Brothers Bergin. . .
The elder is Joe, a junior. He is a core guy on all four special teams and, on this week's depth chart for the Wildcats' meeting with Nebraska, he is listed as the backup to safety JR Pace. The younger is Chris, a sophomore. He himself began this season as a core guy on all four special teams. But then Sam linebacker Nate Hall went down against Michigan and he replaced him for that game's second half and for all of last week's win over Michigan State. Both were stars in high school at Detroit Country Day. But here, in college with the 'Cats, they are simply walk-ons.
"You're given nothing. Expectations are low sometimes," Joe says when asked about life with that label. "So you've got to be a little angry sometimes. You kind of carry yourself with a chip on your shoulder. I feel that's the kind of attitude we come out with all the time. Be a little chippy on the field. You have to take that attitude with you to practice every single day. Special teams is a huge opportunity for me to get on the field. So everyday that was one of my huge focuses. Grinding hard on special teams."
"A huge chip on your shoulder for sure," Chris echoes. "I had a multitude of Division I offers. The MAC (Mid-American Conference), the academies and stuff. But my dream was always to play Big Ten football and to play with my brother, and the only route to do that was to walk on. When I met with Coach Fitz (Pat Fitzgerald) the spring of my senior year, he told me to work hard and good things will happen. That's all you have to tell me. I committed the next day."
Their father Joe was a starter on Michigan State's 1987 Big Ten champions and the last time he played for the school it won the 1988 Rose Bowl. His sons would later haunt Spartan Stadium as young boys and root-root for the home team, but never were they pushed to go there. It was just the opposite, in fact, and here is why.
The father grew up in Elmhurst, and attended York High School and DuPage Junior College, and would often bundle up his boys and come visit to Chicago.
"We grew up coming to Chicago. Loved the city," remembers Joe. "I always knew I was going to end up here eventually working (in finance). So it was a perfect fit, coming here to college."
"The 440 rule," says Chris. "The four years of college for the 40 years later. From an educational standpoint, this was a no brainer."
"He (the father)," says Joe, "was a big encouragement for us to go here rather than Michigan State."
No surprise, then, that last week's meeting with Michigan State was not just-another road game for them.
"When you grow up bleeding the green and going to every game," says Joe, "to take the field against them in East Lansing is pretty special."
"It was a surreal feeling," says Chris. "Then to get a win against them as a team was a dream come true."
"Personally I'm 3-0 against them now. Feels pretty good," says Joe.
"I'm 2-0," says Chris.
"We like giving our dad a little crap about that," says Joe.
"And we found out— we went back in the records," says Chris. "He played Northwestern once in his career and lost then too."
Fifteen months ago Chris Bergin was a callow first year walk-on. Now here, in East Lansing, he was making his first career start in place of a performer who was playing at an All-Conference level. Hollywood wouldn't buy that story, linebacker coach Tim McGarigle is told.
He laughs. "You never know when your time is going to come, but when it does you better be prepared to perform," he says. "Chris is the epitome of that. He's been working since he got here for this opportunity and he's played six quarters of football at a high level. Has it been perfect? No. Could it be better? Absolutely.
"But you know what? He's the kind of kid who's going to show up every single day to get better. Know what he needs to do. Know what he needs to work on. Know the defense in-and-out. And perform and do his job. That's all we told him. Go out there and play as hard as you possibly can and you're good enough to be a Big Ten football players. He's shown that the last six quarters against Michigan and Michigan State. His time came and he showed up."
"I felt great to be handed this opportunity to start. It was exciting," Chris Bergin himself says of his unlikely tale. "But you're never the finished product, so I feel I still have a long way to go. But having this opportunity to start is the best thing I've ever got to do. It's been so much fun. But you see in our defense that guys run to the ball hard and make your assignment real easy and make you, when you come onto the field it's an easy transition. Also, having all the reps in spring and in camp as Nate (Hall) recovered from his ACL (injury), I felt I had a jump. I felt very prepared, like I belonged when I got out there."
And did Hall offer him any advice?
"I've learned everything I know about the Sam position from Nate. He's been a better mentor than I could ever ask for. I try to mirror him. He's a phenomenal football player. Just try to get better everyday."
His appearance on the depth chart made no difference to Joe Bergin. Of course not.
"You have to go into every single game with the mentality that anything can happen and you can be playing at safety in two seconds," he says.
"One play away," says Chris.
"Look at Chris," says Joe. "He was one play away. He hadn't taken any Sam reps (in a game) until Michigan. Then he was in the entire second half."
"In crunch time," says Chris.
"That's an example, and they do a great job of preparing us," says Joe. "I think our twos and our depth below there are ready to play."
Most serendipitously, they are playing together, and as they talk about this they are smiling, truly smiling.
"A dream come true," says Chris
"The best thing in the world," says Joe. "He was taking visits. To Princeton. To Air Force. Then the third week he came and visited and he was hosted by me pretty much. I told my parents just before he came to Chicago, 'He's going to come here. He's going to love it.' Sure enough."
"I really wasn't taking it too seriously at the time," says Chris. "There was no way I'm going to walk on. I thought I had too much pride. But the second I got here the guys, the coaches, the atmosphere, it felt like home. And playing with Joe, we got to play with each other in high school and I knew I wanted to do it again after he left."
"It's a lot of fun," says Joe, finally saying it all.
