Speaker 1: Pleasant, good even everybody, and welcome to PNC Studios. Here
Speaker 1: at allis Hall. Welcome back to the Bears Coaches Show
Speaker 1: post bye week version with head coach Matt Nagge Jeff
Speaker 1: joniank here with you until eight o'clock tonight. Good to
Speaker 1: have you along. We're brought to you by a Whippley
Speaker 1: CPAs in consultants. How it wasn't buddy, It was good? Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, yeah, it's good. It's good to be back.
Speaker 1: We had a good practice earlier today and the guys
Speaker 1: were out there running around. It was refreshing, and so
Speaker 1: I think we were able to all get refreshed and
Speaker 1: ready to reload. What'd you do well? I was. I
Speaker 1: was able to do that reflecting reload and do a
Speaker 1: little bit hang out with the kids, which was great.
Speaker 1: You know, it's good to be a dad and let
Speaker 1: them um see you at dinner and let them see
Speaker 1: as some of their sporting events, but at the same
Speaker 1: time stay focused here at the task at hand, which
Speaker 1: is getting ready for the Saints. Yeah. You don't get
Speaker 1: you know, in the coaching industry, you don't get see
Speaker 1: your kids every day play sports. So I know they're playing.
Speaker 1: What did you get to see you over the week. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So I was able to see a football game yesterday,
Speaker 1: which was nice over at Lake Forest High School, and
Speaker 1: um and uh and now I got to see a
Speaker 1: basketball game in the evening, so I was able to
Speaker 1: check it out. And um, you know that that's what
Speaker 1: it's all about. That's that's being able to sit there
Speaker 1: and just take it all in, not say a word
Speaker 1: and just watch it all happen. Is it goes quick? Yeah? Yeah?
Speaker 1: How about when they come home a little bit. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we we hang out. We we we play catch in
Speaker 1: the in the front yard, and then we watch we
Speaker 1: watch a little football too while we're while we're at
Speaker 1: the house. Yeah. What I meant was, do you give
Speaker 1: them a little advice after the fact? Do you let
Speaker 1: their coaches do? Oh? I got you. No, there, I'll
Speaker 1: give them some You know what, though, Jeff, it's more about, um,
Speaker 1: you know, how they handle themselves in certain situations. It's
Speaker 1: not so much ex's and those. It's more about how
Speaker 1: do you handle this when something bad happens? And how
Speaker 1: do you share respect when you're playing the game. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I'm sure it's not easy when you're the head
Speaker 1: coach of the bears of sons, Right, Yeah, they might
Speaker 1: tell you they listen word to their mom than they
Speaker 1: do me. All right, in terms of let's get the
Speaker 1: day of the news out of the way first, and
Speaker 1: it's it's always about injuries coming out of a bye week.
Speaker 1: Who's coming back, who's not, what's the situation? And Kyle
Speaker 1: Long going at injury reserve, um with the hip injury
Speaker 1: and it is a season ender, so there will be
Speaker 1: no chance for a return. How you put that one
Speaker 1: in a in perspective, Yeah, it's it's always tough when
Speaker 1: you have those decisions to make and you see where
Speaker 1: guys are at and you have these these injuries that
Speaker 1: go on. But um, it is what it is. And
Speaker 1: we we we really appreciate Kyle and what he's given
Speaker 1: to us, and uh, it's a it's a part of
Speaker 1: the business. But he's he's done a m you know,
Speaker 1: he's worked really hard for us and um, you know what,
Speaker 1: he wants us to move forward and keep keep pushing ahead,
Speaker 1: and uh for him, we you know, we definitely wish
Speaker 1: him the best to year. And body's been through a lot,
Speaker 1: hasn't it. Hey has it has He's a he's a
Speaker 1: big guy. And he's been playing in this league for
Speaker 1: a while at a position that you know, you're you're
Speaker 1: you're banging bodies there for for a lot of a
Speaker 1: lot of plays and you know, back to back sessions.
Speaker 1: So but he'll be okay. He's a great guy, he's
Speaker 1: been good to us, and um, you know, we'll see
Speaker 1: where it goes. And everybody wants to know where you're
Speaker 1: at on Mitchell Trubisky. Yeah, same thing. You know, he
Speaker 1: was able to get out there today at practice and
Speaker 1: throw the ball around, and that's a step in the
Speaker 1: right direction. I think, uh, you know, we'll give him
Speaker 1: you know, tomorrow the players will have off, come back
Speaker 1: in all Wednesday and and and see how things go
Speaker 1: for him. But we're staying cautiously optimistic Kiem Hicks. Obviously
Speaker 1: you're you're still learning some information about that and and
Speaker 1: gauging that situation. But to any update and Akeem, yeah,
Speaker 1: no updates yet. You know, next twenty four to forty
Speaker 1: eight hours, I think we'll know more exactly decisions that
Speaker 1: we make, but um, no updates as of right now.
Speaker 1: But you're getting some of the guys back healthy, so
Speaker 1: Bala and Nichols, that would be a big return in
Speaker 1: the event that Keem's going to be out for a
Speaker 1: considerable monitor. Sure, yeah, that was an unfortunate situation for Balah,
Speaker 1: but um, he's taken some time. Now he's back, he
Speaker 1: has has that that cast and and so we're we're
Speaker 1: hoping that you know him out here at practice that
Speaker 1: he's able to run around pretty good and see what happens.
Speaker 1: How had he been playing for you really fancy? He's
Speaker 1: doing a lot of good things. Uh, it's neat watching
Speaker 1: him grow and Akeem's being his mentor you know, in
Speaker 1: the last year and a half that that's been pretty
Speaker 1: cool to see is how they interact with each other,
Speaker 1: how how how much he wants to learn from a
Speaker 1: guy like a team, and um, he's really improving. You know,
Speaker 1: you can never have enough speed on on an offense
Speaker 1: or a defense. But getting potentially Taylor Gabriel back this week,
Speaker 1: what would that do to infuse something in the offense.
Speaker 1: It's just the confidence that the players have in him,
Speaker 1: our quarterbacks that they have in him. And uh, he
Speaker 1: has experience, he brings some leadership. Uh, and he really
Speaker 1: works well together with with Alan Robinson when they're in
Speaker 1: a hold of together knowing where to line up, where
Speaker 1: to go, and how to do things. As you looked
Speaker 1: at things in this self scouting aspect, would you learn Well,
Speaker 1: there's always a lot of things to learn, and you're
Speaker 1: always very critical um of where you're at. I know
Speaker 1: that for us really into three phases right now. Defensively,
Speaker 1: we're we we're playing well, We're we're limiting teams point wise,
Speaker 1: that the past game against Oakland really wasn't us, and
Speaker 1: we know what we'll improve from that. Special teams has
Speaker 1: been doing great with field position, uh, you know, Eddie
Speaker 1: Fannia has been doing a really good job kicking field
Speaker 1: goals for us. But and then offensively, we understand that
Speaker 1: we want to improve in the one game and there's
Speaker 1: other other elements too. But the great thing, Jeff, is
Speaker 1: that we have a lot of really good guys on
Speaker 1: this team that understand that and they want to correct themselves.
Speaker 1: They want to get better, and they want to they
Speaker 1: want to do everything they can to do it. You know,
Speaker 1: in this situation with the offense struggling in the first five,
Speaker 1: you're still winning, you still get a winning record, You're
Speaker 1: still in the thick of things in the NFC. In
Speaker 1: a long season you have to go. But I think
Speaker 1: the images that you go back to, you know, to
Speaker 1: the drawing board or something. Is that the case, Well,
Speaker 1: you're always doing that. Um. The one thing that can
Speaker 1: happen is sometimes you end up going five and oh
Speaker 1: instead of three and two, and there's there's similar problems,
Speaker 1: you know, issues, and they don't get corrected or they
Speaker 1: don't get looked at per se. So this gives us
Speaker 1: a chance at this point in time during the season
Speaker 1: to be able to really take some time and step
Speaker 1: back and see where we're at and try to figure
Speaker 1: things out. That's what we're That's all we can do
Speaker 1: is try and it is as long as we're trusting
Speaker 1: each other and putting in the work to do that
Speaker 1: and working together, then you that the there's you know, improvement.
Speaker 1: You know, you're a super positive guy. You're going to
Speaker 1: take that stance all the way through your coaching career
Speaker 1: and your day to day living, no matter what it is.
Speaker 1: But as you went back through the tape and saw
Speaker 1: some like the runs in particular, that there's not a
Speaker 1: lot going on there is that there's how do you
Speaker 1: handle your own aggravation and frustration with it not popping.
Speaker 1: Just knowing that you know, we're all competitors. We as
Speaker 1: coaches um used to all play the game, and so
Speaker 1: you're you're competitive, and that's a challenge you have it
Speaker 1: you have something that's struggling. That's why you're here is
Speaker 1: to try to fix things. So it'd be really easy
Speaker 1: if everything was was roses and simple and you just
Speaker 1: keep doing your thing every day and there's no changes.
Speaker 1: But and we want to eventually get to that point.
Speaker 1: But there's there's always something and so that always something
Speaker 1: right now happens to be in an area on offense
Speaker 1: that we know we can get better at and we're
Speaker 1: gonna do everything we can to do it. Has it
Speaker 1: slowed a little bit what you want the offense to
Speaker 1: be at this point though, in terms of adding things, um, well,
Speaker 1: for no, I mean for us, you know, identity wise, again,
Speaker 1: we know where we're at, we know what we can
Speaker 1: do better and as coaches, we just got to do it.
Speaker 1: Sunday's game against the New Orleans Saints. He is brought
Speaker 1: to you by Hall of Fame partner Advocate Healthcare, the
Speaker 1: official healthcare partner of the Chicago Bears. With head coach
Speaker 1: Matt Neeggie coming along our special teams coordinator Chris Tabor
Speaker 1: at the bottom of the hour as the Bears get
Speaker 1: ready for a five and one Saints team. Let's look
Speaker 1: at you know at this point, you know your job
Speaker 1: in addition to making things seeing in the offensive aspect
Speaker 1: of what you put together, but you're putting out fires.
Speaker 1: That's your job in essence as as a head coach
Speaker 1: of this football team. Do you feel like there's been
Speaker 1: a lot more fires this year? Yeah, there there has been,
Speaker 1: but that I'm okay with that. That's that's a part
Speaker 1: of every year. These are the ones that you talk
Speaker 1: about writing a book, you know, and these are these
Speaker 1: are all these chapters of this book that you remember
Speaker 1: and believe it or not, these are the ones that
Speaker 1: when you have fires to put out, you you remember them.
Speaker 1: And it just it's kind of like being calloused it
Speaker 1: mentally or physically, whatever it is. For us as coaches,
Speaker 1: it's more mental and so how do you come up
Speaker 1: with solutions? And that's what it's all about. And there's
Speaker 1: times where you are calloused or you are mentally challenged,
Speaker 1: and but our guys have I have no doubt my
Speaker 1: mind of who our team is and who we believe
Speaker 1: in and I'm I'm really excited for the future here. Yes,
Speaker 1: And you know, you know these guys in a different
Speaker 1: way than any of us do. But I think the
Speaker 1: impression you've left upon us over the year plus here
Speaker 1: is this a team that has a lot of heart.
Speaker 1: And that's the part that does manifest itself typically in
Speaker 1: a very positive way. There was a lot of teams
Speaker 1: in that Oakland game, the way things were going, when
Speaker 1: it's seventeen to nothing, there's a lot of and I'm
Speaker 1: not saying by any means that this as a consolation prize,
Speaker 1: but what I am saying is being real here. There's
Speaker 1: a lot of teams that would have folded up shop
Speaker 1: and they would end up losing thirty four to nothing.
Speaker 1: And the one thing that I'll always look for the
Speaker 1: positives even when there is a loss, and what is it?
Speaker 1: And our guys never did that. They gave us a chance.
Speaker 1: Our whole team, offense, defense and special teams gave us
Speaker 1: a chance to win an NFL football game in the
Speaker 1: fourth quarter with five minutes to go, and so we
Speaker 1: didn't do it. Now we learn from that and we
Speaker 1: use that. How do we finish and so you take
Speaker 1: that and you use that for down the road. There's
Speaker 1: a lot of other teams right now that maybe you
Speaker 1: aren't going through that. So that's making us a better team,
Speaker 1: believe it or not. At three and two. Uh So,
Speaker 1: how are we going to spend that into helping us
Speaker 1: down the road? Uh? To make this final push? When
Speaker 1: they hit the field to day, what kind of team
Speaker 1: did you see out there? Say that? When when they
Speaker 1: hit the practice field today, what would you Yeah? They were,
Speaker 1: they were they energized, you know, they were refreshed. The
Speaker 1: players were, um, just it was a it was like
Speaker 1: a you know, we go right from we skipped a
Speaker 1: fall here right, there's no fall. We go right from
Speaker 1: this really hot to really gold. So there was some wind,
Speaker 1: it was chili. The guys had the hoodies out, they
Speaker 1: had the sweatpants. Um, the music was going. There was
Speaker 1: a nice crispness to it. I mean it was it
Speaker 1: was good. I mean, guys were they're ready. I mean,
Speaker 1: we'll we'll we know that, we'll give them off tomorrow,
Speaker 1: come back in on Wednesday, put a good week of
Speaker 1: practice together and see what happens. You know, you said
Speaker 1: this more than once and I'm paraphrasing I have an
Speaker 1: exact quote what we say. But you feel you know
Speaker 1: how to fix things that you are a fixer. Um,
Speaker 1: where's that born from? Is that just you being an
Speaker 1: ex quarterback and always being in command and being in
Speaker 1: control of a situation, the balls in your hand, you
Speaker 1: can dictate the outcome of everything. I mean, how do
Speaker 1: you Where does that come from? Yeah, there's a some
Speaker 1: of it is always being associated in athletics and being
Speaker 1: in competitions where you've got to be competitive and so
Speaker 1: usually I mean in sports in general, there's a lot
Speaker 1: more negatives and losses that occur for us to learn
Speaker 1: from and uh, that that you got to use in
Speaker 1: the in the right way. And so that's what we
Speaker 1: talked about going into this year. Right, everything that happened
Speaker 1: last year with the Eagles game, and how do we
Speaker 1: fix that? How do we correct that? Um, how do
Speaker 1: we use that as a team? And so it's more
Speaker 1: about mental toughness. It's about Um, every every player on
Speaker 1: this team handles certain situations, you know, differently, So how
Speaker 1: how am I able to and how our coaches able
Speaker 1: to to help them adjust to bad things that happen.
Speaker 1: That's a part of it that comes with this with
Speaker 1: this business. So I don't know, I've just always kind
Speaker 1: of been that way. Um, you got to try to
Speaker 1: stay positive and and just believe that that no one
Speaker 1: can hold you down. What did you instruct your coaches
Speaker 1: to do this week in the bye week and then
Speaker 1: moving forward here to make sure things stand the right track.
Speaker 1: So we were we were in last week on Tuesday
Speaker 1: and Wednesday, and then once Wednesday came around and they
Speaker 1: got out of the office, I just get away, Go
Speaker 1: spend time with your family. We need it everybody here.
Speaker 1: It's important that we have a long stretch here with
Speaker 1: a lot of hours coming up in front of us,
Speaker 1: to make sure that we're actually as coaches, UM, getting
Speaker 1: stronger mentally and you know, physically throughout the rest of
Speaker 1: the season. But get away, come on back, and then
Speaker 1: when you come back, let's go. Man, it's time to
Speaker 1: it's time to rock and roll. And so that's where
Speaker 1: we're at right now. Let's look at some things that
Speaker 1: that did go very well in the first five games.
Speaker 1: Alan Robinson right now, he's at the highest catch rate
Speaker 1: of his career. He's at seventy three percent of his catches,
Speaker 1: which he's never had he I think he's had one
Speaker 1: year with just over sixty but and seventy one percent
Speaker 1: of his catches have gone for first downs. What's that
Speaker 1: saying about his adaptation to this system, this offense and
Speaker 1: his health. So it doesn't surprise me number one with
Speaker 1: him just because he's such a such a guy that
Speaker 1: he's such a reliable player in person. So when you
Speaker 1: do that in practice, when you do it in a classroom,
Speaker 1: it you know, it goes on to the football field
Speaker 1: and you see that there's production right now from him. Uh,
Speaker 1: and we we need that. You know, he's a he's
Speaker 1: a guy that is making plays. When the ball is
Speaker 1: in his area, he's coming down with it. And as
Speaker 1: a wide receiver, it really doesn't matter who's covering you. Um,
Speaker 1: he's a he's in a good place. So that's that's Uh,
Speaker 1: he's so far after five games, he's doing a heck
Speaker 1: of a job. And you automatically think of him as
Speaker 1: an outside threat, right, but he really he can own
Speaker 1: that middle of the field very well. He seems to
Speaker 1: do a ton of damage in there. Well, he's smart,
Speaker 1: he understands coverages. So if you're gonna play his zone,
Speaker 1: he's gonna know where to sit, he's gonna know how
Speaker 1: to turn your leverage wives, turn inside, turn outside, and
Speaker 1: then he's making plays after the catch. Let's talk a
Speaker 1: little defense because they've made I mean the three red
Speaker 1: zone takeaways in five. Yeah, it's a lot like and
Speaker 1: that's just stiffening not break in at the key moment.
Speaker 1: You're you know, teams have had the ball, especially in
Speaker 1: the second half where they're driving, so you know, there's
Speaker 1: more an opportunity to create mistakes, which is one of
Speaker 1: the strengths of this unit. Do anything. Yeah, they're being opportunistic.
Speaker 1: You love that when they're in the in the red zone,
Speaker 1: teams are getting ready to score. And I just go
Speaker 1: back to to the punch at shirt. But Man has
Speaker 1: had at the one at the one yard line going
Speaker 1: in against Oakland, and those are those are game changers,
Speaker 1: and you want to be able to take advantage of
Speaker 1: our defense doing that right now, the aspect of being
Speaker 1: on the field goal there's a lot of ten play
Speaker 1: drives this year for some reason. Um, and is this
Speaker 1: what team want to do just to mute the pass rush?
Speaker 1: Is that really what's you know doing? The quick get
Speaker 1: rid of the ball, take a few yards here and
Speaker 1: there and just try and eat that eat that field up. Yeah,
Speaker 1: every team kind of has their own plans that they're
Speaker 1: going to go into it based off of who they
Speaker 1: are as as an offense and then what they want
Speaker 1: to do to our defense and in some of that too.
Speaker 1: There's been a couple of games this year where fourth
Speaker 1: downs have gotten us you know, where it extends drives
Speaker 1: in time and possession. Um. So you know, I know
Speaker 1: that coach Pagano and his guys will be hammering that
Speaker 1: through and trying to Hey, when we get a team
Speaker 1: to fourth down, let's finish them. You know, let's put
Speaker 1: them away. Let's talk special teams, because that's been a
Speaker 1: great source of comfort, I guess right now, right, it's been.
Speaker 1: It's been really good. Yeah, it's especially when we've had
Speaker 1: the struggles that we've had on offense, fuel position and
Speaker 1: protecting the football. So when you when you're able to
Speaker 1: flip the field, have have you know, a really good
Speaker 1: punt team, uh that can cover and keep the field flipped.
Speaker 1: And then you have a defense that's plan as well
Speaker 1: as they are. Uh. It's really right now, It's it
Speaker 1: worked out well, um, just because they're doing that. Now, offensively,
Speaker 1: you get things going and you score some touchdowns, you
Speaker 1: don't need your punt team as much. You need to
Speaker 1: go out there and you got your your your your
Speaker 1: kickoff teams and your extra point teams. So that's the
Speaker 1: automate goal. But overall that the special teams is playing
Speaker 1: really well and coach Tabor is doing a great job.
Speaker 1: Cordell Patterson, is there more that can be done with him?
Speaker 1: Because he's got this knack of get when the train
Speaker 1: geep gets going, man, he's tough to bring down. Yeah. No,
Speaker 1: And I think with the weather. As a weather changes,
Speaker 1: the ball gets a little harder, the ball doesn't travel
Speaker 1: as farther. On kickoffs, you'll see you'll see more opportunities,
Speaker 1: and with more opportunities comes the ability to have some
Speaker 1: successful plays and and hopefully you'll see that with him.
Speaker 1: Tell us about JP Holtz now that you've got to
Speaker 1: know him here for several weeks. Yeah, seems got a
Speaker 1: really edge edge to him. He does. He's a he's
Speaker 1: a he edge. He's a great way to put it.
Speaker 1: You know, he's tough. Uh, he's he He's always looking
Speaker 1: for contact. Give it to me anyway I can get it.
Speaker 1: I want to go in there, and I'm not. He's
Speaker 1: not afraid to sacrifice his body and he does the
Speaker 1: dirty work. But yet you see too, he's making some
Speaker 1: nice catches too, so teams can't just they understand it.
Speaker 1: We're able to throw the ball with him as well,
Speaker 1: So that's been a nice addition to our offense. It's
Speaker 1: interesting because again, the records the same as it was
Speaker 1: after five last last year. Eagles also want three and three.
Speaker 1: You guys met in the playoffs obviously, so people are thinking, Okay,
Speaker 1: you know it could be a replica. It could, but well,
Speaker 1: how do you tell your players what this rest of
Speaker 1: the season could be like given that what they did
Speaker 1: last year ripping off that great run there. I mean,
Speaker 1: it could take on many different shapes. Oh yeah, it's
Speaker 1: still it's still early, and you know that's that's that's
Speaker 1: why we as coaches and myself, you can never you
Speaker 1: can't listen to the noise, good or bad. You know,
Speaker 1: you've heard us say it a million times, the the
Speaker 1: um you know, the horse you know, the ear muffs
Speaker 1: and the horse blinders. I mean all that right there,
Speaker 1: We say it, and we gotta you gotta believe it.
Speaker 1: You cannot get into that. It's something that, Um, when
Speaker 1: you're doing well, you can't and when you're when you're struggling.
Speaker 1: But the fact of the matter is is I keep
Speaker 1: saying it. We're three and two, it's early on, there's
Speaker 1: eleven games to go, and we can only worry about
Speaker 1: this week. Yeah. I like what you had to say
Speaker 1: at your news conference earlier today because I look at
Speaker 1: some of the prominent playoff teams that go every year
Speaker 1: and you know, I mean end of November is when
Speaker 1: they really start to feel like, okay, we gotta kick
Speaker 1: it in gear here, and this is when we play
Speaker 1: our best football. So that's a long time from now.
Speaker 1: It is. There's a lot of and it's it's the
Speaker 1: instant gratification world. And you've heard us, You've heard me
Speaker 1: say that. But you can never panic. You gotta stay
Speaker 1: the course. Um, there's peaks and valleys throughout every season.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of teams right now that are going
Speaker 1: through some crazy situations as a team across the league,
Speaker 1: good end bad. So you know, as we talked about
Speaker 1: this morning with our team, is how do we handle
Speaker 1: our situation. Let's not worry about any other teams let's
Speaker 1: let's worry about where we're at and how we practice
Speaker 1: this week, and then what do we do at home
Speaker 1: Soldier Field with our crazy fans cheering us on against
Speaker 1: a five and one team in New Orleans Saints, and
Speaker 1: with a head coach that Sean Payton prominent Obviously that
Speaker 1: mind of his is always working. What do you think
Speaker 1: of his style and his schemes and his approach to football. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I have a lot of respect for him. Uh, you know,
Speaker 1: we we we got to play a couple of rounds
Speaker 1: in Tahoe together this summer, so I got to see
Speaker 1: what kind of golfer he was. Um but good? Bad? Yeah, yeah, No,
Speaker 1: he's he's uh, he's he's good, and he's he does
Speaker 1: a lot of good things. I think he's one of
Speaker 1: the best scheming coaches in the NFL. He knows how
Speaker 1: to use his personnel. His record shows that, uh, he's
Speaker 1: done a fabulous job with Drew Brezose guys working together
Speaker 1: where they're at. And then of course what he's done
Speaker 1: with his guys Kimara and Michael Thomas on offense, and
Speaker 1: that he has the defense playing really scrappy. So it'll
Speaker 1: be a big challenge he got a hot quarterback. Yeah,
Speaker 1: four o right now, you know, and he's a he's
Speaker 1: a playmaker. He's somebody that I know, Sean trust and
Speaker 1: he they're they're uh, they're they're able to. I mean, shoot,
Speaker 1: when you can win four games in a in the
Speaker 1: NFL with your backup quarterback, you're dealing with something right,
Speaker 1: and that's like that goes a lot of credit to
Speaker 1: those coaches. Have a good week. Thank you, Jeff. That's
Speaker 1: Matt Naggie joined Bears Care and Advocate healthcare and raising
Speaker 1: funds for programs supporting Chicago area breast cancer patients and
Speaker 1: their families. Purchase your real Bears fans wear pink shirt
Speaker 1: at Chicago bears dot com slash pink. Back on the program,
Speaker 1: Bears Coach a show with you until eight o'clock tonight.
Speaker 1: We're joined by Special Teams Coordinator Chris Tabor. Good to
Speaker 1: see you. Hey, how are we doing good? Good? Good?
Speaker 1: Did you uh have a little fun in addition to work? Yeah, no,
Speaker 1: it was. It was kind of a good to get
Speaker 1: away a little bit and recharge and refocus and now
Speaker 1: we're back at it and ready to go. So how's
Speaker 1: how's tabs recharge? Probably watch more football. I did watch
Speaker 1: a lot of football, I did, but I got a
Speaker 1: chance to watch my girls play soccer, so that was
Speaker 1: it was a lot of fun. One's in planning at
Speaker 1: the collegiate level, right, yes, one's playing uh here collegiately
Speaker 1: at the Lake Forrest, and the other one plays on
Speaker 1: a local club, so I don't get to watch them
Speaker 1: play a lot. So it was a it was a
Speaker 1: big thrill for me and be able to do that,
Speaker 1: and it was it was good. And from my experience
Speaker 1: and I'm sure yours. No matter if you're a coach
Speaker 1: or in my case abroad, no game is more tense
Speaker 1: and gives you more nuts than seeing your kids play.
Speaker 1: Oh question, it is. It is fun. It is. It's
Speaker 1: fun to watch him and uh, you know, I just
Speaker 1: wanted to have fun and have a little success. Why
Speaker 1: they're doing it all right? So you are tasked also
Speaker 1: like everybody else on the coaching staff, to do a
Speaker 1: little self scouting. What you would you learn about your unit.
Speaker 1: We got a lot of room for improvement. Uh you know,
Speaker 1: obviously our kickoff coverage has not been what it needs
Speaker 1: to be and that's been a very disappointing area that
Speaker 1: that we got to get rectified and got to do
Speaker 1: a bad job coaching it and uh and we got
Speaker 1: to do a beare job of executing it. So because
Speaker 1: this this week's challenge with the Saints is, I mean,
Speaker 1: they're excellent and they got a dynamic returner, so we
Speaker 1: got to get these these things fixed quickly and uh,
Speaker 1: get playing better ball in the coverage area. Yeah, you
Speaker 1: you jump the gun on me. Dionta Harris. I've saving
Speaker 1: him for last in our saying he can't him. He
Speaker 1: is very special. He's dynamic, he can from zero to
Speaker 1: sixty quickly. He can make you miss. He's not a
Speaker 1: real big guy. He reminds me a little bit of
Speaker 1: a Tarik Cohen, but he is. He is dangerous with football.
Speaker 1: Already has a touchdown on the year, probably should have
Speaker 1: had another one, but he actually just kind of tripped
Speaker 1: himself up because he was going so fast. To be
Speaker 1: honest with you, but he has our attention, as does
Speaker 1: their whole unit. I mean they're they're good all the
Speaker 1: way around. Punter, kicker, I mean the whole nine yards
Speaker 1: cover guys. So this will be a tough one. Not
Speaker 1: to make excuses or give you an opportunity to but
Speaker 1: the kickoff coverage, since there's not a lot of returns,
Speaker 1: do guys get lulled into okay, well they're not going
Speaker 1: to return. They were just you know, going down there
Speaker 1: and doing a sprint. I mean, I know that sounds bad,
Speaker 1: but I mean, could that be part of it? There's
Speaker 1: not an edge to it yet. I don't know. I
Speaker 1: have a tough time looking at like that. I mean,
Speaker 1: the other day in Oakland, I thought that we had
Speaker 1: him himmed up pretty good. And those are really self
Speaker 1: inflicted mistakes. So those are the good news on that.
Speaker 1: That's those are easy corrections. But anytime you do stuff
Speaker 1: like that, the opponent says, well, let's let's test them
Speaker 1: and see if they've fixed it yet. And we got
Speaker 1: to put on tape that we've that we have fixed it.
Speaker 1: So us it's still an attitude play. But but we
Speaker 1: gotta we gotta come through in that area. Everybody keeps
Speaker 1: asking me, Okay, so the Bears have solved their kicking issue,
Speaker 1: and I say, well, everything's for now because the season
Speaker 1: hasn't even really started yet. Because that season you have
Speaker 1: to deal with the turn of the calendar and and
Speaker 1: the autumn wind and whatever else is coming right, I mean,
Speaker 1: there's still a lot of boxes to check off. Am
Speaker 1: I proud of them, I sure am and and and
Speaker 1: with Scales and and Patio, they've done a great job
Speaker 1: bringing him along and the operation of it. But uh,
Speaker 1: we are far from from over. But I do think this.
Speaker 1: I think that we have a player that has the
Speaker 1: right mentality. I love his work ethic, I love how
Speaker 1: he attacks things, and he's you know, I can only
Speaker 1: ask him to be good each time he goes out
Speaker 1: and then at the end we'll look at the whole,
Speaker 1: the whole picture. So he's he's done well so far.
Speaker 1: And uh, but I but I also think that he
Speaker 1: is that type of player and he can do that.
Speaker 1: So I'm excited for him. How big is it that
Speaker 1: he's fought through this pain in his knee? I think
Speaker 1: it's I think it's been big. That's that's important, right, No,
Speaker 1: it is, uh you know because obviously this is I
Speaker 1: think really the first discomfort that he's had, uh as
Speaker 1: as a kicker. I mean, people don't realize this is really, technically,
Speaker 1: if you want to call it, his third year playing football.
Speaker 1: So and yes, in the in the in the whole
Speaker 1: deal two years at Florida, goes to Oakland and really
Speaker 1: obviously doesn't play, and then this year, So I mean
Speaker 1: we're still in some uncharted territory. But I think that's
Speaker 1: also a good thing too, because you can mold him
Speaker 1: the way you want to, because there's really he's still
Speaker 1: a piece of clay and that's what I get so
Speaker 1: excited about him though. Welcome back to the Bears Coaches
Speaker 1: Show here at PANC Studios at HALLI Saw. We're brought
Speaker 1: to you by a Whippley Cepas and consultants Jeff Joniac
Speaker 1: and Chris Tabor, Bears Special Teams coordinator. We touched on
Speaker 1: the excellence so far that the first five games of
Speaker 1: Eddie Pineto. But Patrick O'Donnell has stepped up in a
Speaker 1: new different way with the kickoffs with Eddie working through
Speaker 1: his niece Ornis, And how is that done and has
Speaker 1: it affected him at any way, shape or former. Maybe
Speaker 1: it's helped him in some weird way by staying so
Speaker 1: active during games. Well, I've been real pleased with it
Speaker 1: with Patio. I mean, he's I mean, we always say it,
Speaker 1: he is a pros pro to come in and say yes,
Speaker 1: you know what coach, I can kick off and not
Speaker 1: a problem and not miss a beat. And even the
Speaker 1: kickoff that they were when he kicked off from the
Speaker 1: twenty the other day, I mean he put the ball
Speaker 1: outside the numbers and essentially cut the field down to
Speaker 1: one third and did a beautiful job with that. I
Speaker 1: mean he's he's playing well, and he's using some different kicks,
Speaker 1: and I'm excited about about that, and I think as
Speaker 1: the weather changes, uh, those things will come into play
Speaker 1: for him even more. When you say using different kicks
Speaker 1: as the punter as the punter using okay, so I
Speaker 1: mean how many kicks are well, I mean we know
Speaker 1: the usual the taildown spiral, yeah, but but you know
Speaker 1: the rugby style showing one way and and and bringing
Speaker 1: it back the other way and making the returner chase
Speaker 1: the ball as opposed to him waiting on the ball.
Speaker 1: I think those are all things that can help your
Speaker 1: coverage units. And uh, it gives a little unpredictability for
Speaker 1: pat you know. I mean I can show this way.
Speaker 1: Soldier fields already tough to to punt, kick and catch in. Um,
Speaker 1: now you add those elements to it. I mean it's
Speaker 1: a it's a good deal. It's it's we're not there yet.
Speaker 1: But if you think of about a Sam Cook in
Speaker 1: Baltimore who's extended his career just based on all the
Speaker 1: different clubs that he has in his bag, it makes
Speaker 1: it tough to to return the ball against. What's the
Speaker 1: biggest fear a punt returner has with an opposing punter, meaning,
Speaker 1: is it hang time? Is it because you're you know,
Speaker 1: you're that ball is not coming out of the air
Speaker 1: and you know that the troops are coming, or I mean,
Speaker 1: what is it in your from your experience, I think
Speaker 1: there's there's a lot of things. I mean, if you
Speaker 1: have two good gunners outside and the punter is able
Speaker 1: to put it over in a location to where those
Speaker 1: guys can get there and pin him in, that's that's
Speaker 1: always tough on guys. Uh. If if you don't know
Speaker 1: exactly where he's going and now I'm chasing it and
Speaker 1: now those guys are in play even faster though, that's
Speaker 1: that's tough on punters. Uh. And then just you know,
Speaker 1: is he hitting a regular punt or is he hitting
Speaker 1: an end over end or is he hitting a knuckleball?
Speaker 1: I mean, what what what? What's coming out is kind
Speaker 1: of like a little like a baseball hit or you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, is he is he coming fastball?
Speaker 1: Here is he coming curve? Or you know, I mean,
Speaker 1: is it change up? What? What? What is the deal?
Speaker 1: Tries just try to get him on their heels a
Speaker 1: little bit to give yourself time to get down there.
Speaker 1: And do you feel Tarik Cohen handles all of those
Speaker 1: different balls? He's a good ball reader. He does, he does.
Speaker 1: He does a nice job. If one thing about Tarik
Speaker 1: that I can I can say you always say the
Speaker 1: ball chases you. You never chase the ball. And what
Speaker 1: I mean by that, obviously, is that you're in good
Speaker 1: position to catch it and then then you can go
Speaker 1: to work from there. And that's what he did the
Speaker 1: other day in Oakland. I mean, he set himself perfectly.
Speaker 1: He was waiting for the ball and then the balls
Speaker 1: in his hands and then you know, obviously has great ability.
Speaker 1: He can get around the corner and go and Buddy's
Speaker 1: helped him out quite a bit. Seventy one yards in
Speaker 1: that one. You sharek with a big block in that one.
Speaker 1: I think that the guys did a great job. And
Speaker 1: we watched it and I said, you know, really, I said,
Speaker 1: the good news is is that we had a big
Speaker 1: return set us up. That's what we're supposed to do.
Speaker 1: The other thing is that you just elevated your standard
Speaker 1: with regards to when you hit Paul's on the tape
Speaker 1: and the coverage is still thirty yards from the ball.
Speaker 1: Everyone is on their guy in good position, no stupid penalties,
Speaker 1: and that was That's big for us to teach off of,
Speaker 1: but also to emphasize, you did it once it's in there,
Speaker 1: we can do it again because you've showed me that
Speaker 1: that you can do that. So that's why I'm excited
Speaker 1: about the guys. They're they're getting to that. He wants
Speaker 1: the ball in his hands. He knows he's got these
Speaker 1: special gears and movements. How big was that just for
Speaker 1: the mind of Terry Cohen to finally cut loose with
Speaker 1: something big, but because he hasn't had many of those
Speaker 1: opportunities yet on offense this year, well, I thought, I mean,
Speaker 1: obviously it was big. It helped us. We needed that, um,
Speaker 1: but that that that's our job. But we also kind
Speaker 1: of said throughout this first part of the season, there
Speaker 1: were times and other games, um where we thought we
Speaker 1: had legitimate chances and something broke down. This was the
Speaker 1: case where nothing broke down and good things happen. So
Speaker 1: I felt good about from the standpoint of we were
Speaker 1: beginning to fix things and we still have a long
Speaker 1: way to go, but you know we're going to need that,
Speaker 1: especially as the weather changes. Here. As regardless penalties, you
Speaker 1: made the mention here we had no I don't even
Speaker 1: know if you said this, but dumb penalties or whatever,
Speaker 1: m is it almost unavoided bowl to to not have
Speaker 1: special teams penalties in this day and age of what
Speaker 1: they're calling there is what we what we talk about
Speaker 1: is it's a little bit like being a basketball player.
Speaker 1: Are they are they calling hand checking today or are
Speaker 1: they not? For me? That's not fair enough. But but
Speaker 1: you but I think you always have to remember it's
Speaker 1: a human game. Yeah, and if they're calling it tighter,
Speaker 1: well then you need to play. We need to adjust
Speaker 1: to that. I mean, we can't say, well they're calling
Speaker 1: it tight and I'm still gonna play reckless and then
Speaker 1: we get penalties. You have to adapt or die, is
Speaker 1: kind of our our motto. You know, we said the
Speaker 1: dinosaurs couldn't figure it out and they became extinct. You
Speaker 1: know what I mean, so you need to adapt as
Speaker 1: the game goes along, and that's what we're trying to
Speaker 1: do with with you know, with the calls back of
Speaker 1: the Bears coach you show here at Pancy Studios at Hallosaw.
Speaker 1: One more segment to go with Chris Tabor for a
Speaker 1: few minutes before we hear from head coach Matt Naggie.
Speaker 1: Let's talk Cordarrell Patterson. I got a tugg A war
Speaker 1: going on my broadcast partner Town there because you know,
Speaker 1: I say, hey, we have this battle during the broadcast
Speaker 1: because sometimes he's a little iffy about him taking it
Speaker 1: out nine and a half yards out of the ends
Speaker 1: or whatever. I go, he's got the green light? Does
Speaker 1: he have the green light at any deep as you
Speaker 1: can get? It's okay? Yeah, I mean there's a lot
Speaker 1: of things that go into that decision. But I like
Speaker 1: our guy that we have back there, and you know,
Speaker 1: knock on wood, we haven't haven't been tackled inside the
Speaker 1: twenty yet. And I would tell Tom as if you
Speaker 1: want to have an opportunity to establish good field position
Speaker 1: or you have an opportunity to score, the only way
Speaker 1: to do that is to bring it out. Now, we
Speaker 1: can keep it in there and have zero chance, that's
Speaker 1: one hundred zero chance of setting field position or even
Speaker 1: attempting to score. But you know you have to you
Speaker 1: have to be smart. You don't want to be reckless.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, obviously we're returning the ball
Speaker 1: because they just scored. Yeah, and we might. Our job
Speaker 1: is to change momentum and and and be able to
Speaker 1: do that. And the guy that we have, I mean,
Speaker 1: he's a he's a special player and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: if the balls in his hands, let's let's give hi
Speaker 1: an opportunity. Is there times you just say, okay, no
Speaker 1: matter what we're taking into twenty five? Is that is
Speaker 1: that something that you have to do too? Oh? Yeah, No,
Speaker 1: you have you have to be able to do that.
Speaker 1: I like I say, we want to be aggressive, but
Speaker 1: not reckless and uh ensure and when you bring the
Speaker 1: ball out there's there's chances that you might get tackled
Speaker 1: inside the twenty. Yeah, but I will say this, I
Speaker 1: feel good about our guy getting it between at worst
Speaker 1: the twenty and twenty five. All right, let's go back
Speaker 1: to the Saints and tell us what their special teams
Speaker 1: units are all about, Because they have an outstanding as
Speaker 1: you say operation with their their putterer and their place kicker.
Speaker 1: Well that's his outstanding. Yeah. No, they're specialists, are I mean,
Speaker 1: they're they're tops in the league. Yeah. The returners is
Speaker 1: a special kid from Assumption College there and he's he's dynamic.
Speaker 1: But they're cover players. Um, they got some. They got
Speaker 1: some crafty veterans led by Craig Robertson, who I know
Speaker 1: well he played for me in Cleveland and he's a
Speaker 1: really really good special teams player. But they and they're
Speaker 1: and they're well coached. So this will to date, this
Speaker 1: will be our toughest challenge going in. But we're excited
Speaker 1: about that and to see where see where we're at it. Also,
Speaker 1: and does a Sean Payton coach team keep you on
Speaker 1: edge a little bit with the whole threat of what
Speaker 1: is up as sleeve? Oh? Sure, I mean, I mean
Speaker 1: you have Tyson Hill, the third string quarterback, who's the
Speaker 1: personal protector that's run multiple fakes and you know, I
Speaker 1: mean and he was a big, tough, physical guy. I
Speaker 1: mean there's personnel alone, they create some some matchup problems.
Speaker 1: All right, Big Chris. As we wrap up with you,
Speaker 1: Gibson's restaurant group wants to thank you for joining us
Speaker 1: on today's Bears Coaches Show. Here's a gift guard to
Speaker 1: enjoy a meal at any of their Chicagoland locations. Have
Speaker 1: a great work Week'll get him on Sunday. That'll do
Speaker 1: it for tonight's show for Bears head coach Matt Eneggie
Speaker 1: and Special Teams coordinator Chris Tabor, our producer Dan Brelli
Speaker 1: and Jordan tread Up, Andy Gersher and Keith Johnson. I'm
Speaker 1: Jeff Joniak Bear Saints pregame at noon kickoff at three
Speaker 1: twenty five. Thanks for listening, everybody. This is News Radio
Speaker 1: seven eighty and one on five point nine FM w BBM. Goodnight,