Speaker 1: Hey, pleasant, good evening everybody, and welcome into the twenty
Speaker 1: twenty debut edition of The Bears Coaches Show with third
Speaker 1: year Bears head coach Matt Naggie. It's brought to you
Speaker 1: by a whipplely CPAs and consultants typically from PNC Studio
Speaker 1: at how To Saw, but for now, Matt somewhere on
Speaker 1: the football operations side of the building in your office,
Speaker 1: and I'm working from home this evening. So good to
Speaker 1: see you. I missed talking to you in the normal way. Yeah,
Speaker 1: good to see you in Jeff. It's uh, definitely different times,
Speaker 1: but you know what, we're all adapting, and it's just
Speaker 1: it's good to get back at it, I think, just
Speaker 1: to be able for us to have our conversations we've
Speaker 1: had going into our third year here and the players
Speaker 1: get to talk talk about them and how they've been
Speaker 1: dealing with camp. And before you know, guys were going
Speaker 1: to be rolling here in September thirteen. So it's exciting, right.
Speaker 1: I see your chair jangling in the background. Is that
Speaker 1: the nervous energy that the calendar flips to September one tomorrow?
Speaker 1: My man? You get going that everyone's talking about all
Speaker 1: these energy drinks and coffee in the morning. I'm ready
Speaker 1: to go. I don't need any of that crap. We
Speaker 1: just roll. Now. That's you. You're You're, You're that way
Speaker 1: every day on the practice field. Have your players met
Speaker 1: that same energy because you're the tone center. Frankly, yeah,
Speaker 1: they have. It's been It's been a lot of fun
Speaker 1: in camp just getting out there and seeing the grass
Speaker 1: and being able to run around. And the one thing
Speaker 1: that I've noticed this year, Jeff, that that I think
Speaker 1: we lost a little bit last year for whatever reason,
Speaker 1: is that energy that vibe that field that we had
Speaker 1: very similar to twenty eighteen, That that freshness of a
Speaker 1: kind of a new atmosphere. And they didn't really know
Speaker 1: what they didn't know in twenty eighteen. Last year, in
Speaker 1: twenty nineteen, um for a lot of different reasons, things
Speaker 1: didn't go our way and but we fall through it
Speaker 1: and it was it was somewhat of a down year,
Speaker 1: and now it's like, okay, fresh start, let's get back
Speaker 1: at it. And the players their energy at practice, their
Speaker 1: energy on the field, their enthusiasm for each each other,
Speaker 1: the coaches. You see, you know with some of the
Speaker 1: coaches talking trash to one another, it just spices up practice.
Speaker 1: That's how it needs to be right now, and we're
Speaker 1: just being ourselves and we're cutting to lose some of
Speaker 1: the coaches. How about let's get specific. Big Mike Fury,
Speaker 1: who's going to be in the weightlifting competition somewhere for
Speaker 1: a senior class because he's yoked up. I hope maybe
Speaker 1: he's getting you in the gym two. And then you
Speaker 1: got the Shade Towns in The wide receiver dB dynamic
Speaker 1: has always been interesting in college and professional football. Heck,
Speaker 1: back when you played in the high school level, because corners,
Speaker 1: yeap and soda receivers well, no doubt. And now you
Speaker 1: remember too, Furry was he played both sides. Now he
Speaker 1: was a true iron man back then and being able
Speaker 1: to be a starting safety at one point and then
Speaker 1: have ninety eight catches another year as a wide receiver.
Speaker 1: So he definitely likes to spice it up. And I
Speaker 1: think there's got to be a clip somewhere out there
Speaker 1: back in like the nineties or two thousands of those
Speaker 1: two facing each other in the NFL. You know, if
Speaker 1: we're any good, and maybe maybe we can try to
Speaker 1: find that and see it and get that up in
Speaker 1: front of the screen and see who won. But they're
Speaker 1: having a great time, and it's really you know, our
Speaker 1: players feel that, and they just they feed off of that.
Speaker 1: I looked it up. I know they were in a
Speaker 1: game against each other at some level. I don't know
Speaker 1: who produced what, but I did look it up on
Speaker 1: a website called Pro Football Reference dot com. Check it out.
Speaker 1: You can find out exactly. All right, let's get to
Speaker 1: the news of the day. Unfortunately, one of the guys
Speaker 1: that I really admire on this team, given his presence
Speaker 1: in the Chicago area swego high school to a small
Speaker 1: college Dubuque to undrafted free agent, really the longest of
Speaker 1: journeys and unlikely journeys to the National Football League. And
Speaker 1: in his third year, Michael Joseph was flashing some really
Speaker 1: impressive play on the practice field with his ball skills
Speaker 1: and just his body has matured into a physical type
Speaker 1: player at corner. But unfortunately he goes on to the
Speaker 1: injured list. What's the what's the diagnosis for Michael? And
Speaker 1: how do you feel about that? Yeah, so Michael was
Speaker 1: just having There's a lot of outliers these camps. You
Speaker 1: have guys that are having excellent camps, and then others
Speaker 1: that made me struggle a little bit, but he was
Speaker 1: one for sure that I think every coach that you
Speaker 1: talk to, every you know, Ryan Pace and whose guys
Speaker 1: on the personnel side. When you're talking we have our
Speaker 1: personnel meetings at night, his name kept coming up. This
Speaker 1: guy is really playing at a high level. He can
Speaker 1: do a lot of different things. And then of course
Speaker 1: with coach Tabor on special teams doing some great things
Speaker 1: there too, So we were all really excited to see
Speaker 1: what he's going to be able to do this year.
Speaker 1: It's unfortunate, it's sad, but he has a great personality.
Speaker 1: Like you said, he understands that it's a day by
Speaker 1: day journey. Right now, it'll be it'll be a wild
Speaker 1: for him to get back on track, but he will.
Speaker 1: He's young. You talk about being able to draft and
Speaker 1: develop guys, and here's a guy that we did not draft,
Speaker 1: but but we we had an eye for and brought
Speaker 1: in as a free agent. And those are great stories,
Speaker 1: you know, And to have a story like that in
Speaker 1: the way it did this year, it's just it's just
Speaker 1: one step back that he's going to take two steps
Speaker 1: forward here in the future. He's a hell of a kid,
Speaker 1: really good person y'all have back. You know, you talk
Speaker 1: about your coaches and you admire what they do as teachers.
Speaker 1: To shade Townsend getting a lot out of his men
Speaker 1: back there on the on the back end of the defense,
Speaker 1: he does a wonderful job. I think when you have
Speaker 1: a coach that has been a player in this league,
Speaker 1: has coached at the college level, so he's built relationships
Speaker 1: through the recruiting process with these young kids nowadays, and
Speaker 1: there's an instant credibility that you have as a coach
Speaker 1: when you've played the position and now it's just you
Speaker 1: put your own personality to it. So our players love
Speaker 1: to shake him and Sean decide back there just do
Speaker 1: a really great job at teaching, being teachers, helping them out,
Speaker 1: but then motivating as well and supporting them. And so
Speaker 1: they all know they have that with the SHA and
Speaker 1: to take that spot of the roster. Napoleon Maxwell comes
Speaker 1: back to the organization, initially signed as an undrafted rookie
Speaker 1: free agent out of Florida International Saint Petersburg, Florida kid,
Speaker 1: big back, six feet two fifteen, so he's back in
Speaker 1: the stable. How do you feel about all this right
Speaker 1: now with David Montgomery working his way back. It's going
Speaker 1: to be a few weeks. But what you're seeing out
Speaker 1: of that group and what Maxwell might be able to provide,
Speaker 1: you like something about him in the first place to
Speaker 1: bring him back, right. Yeah, So it's good to get
Speaker 1: Napoleon back in here. He was one of the guys
Speaker 1: when you cut down from ninety to eighty that we
Speaker 1: ended up having to have to release. But with the
Speaker 1: injury that David right now, you've got to be able
Speaker 1: to It gives you an opportunity to somebody else to
Speaker 1: see what they can do. And so you know we're
Speaker 1: in camp. Reps are very valuable. So he's going to
Speaker 1: get some chances here to carry the football, and he
Speaker 1: gives us an opportunity to see what he can do.
Speaker 1: So that running back room in general has been really good.
Speaker 1: It's just I think they really attacked this offseason. They
Speaker 1: put in a lot of sweat equity, and now we
Speaker 1: were seeing that. It's unfortunate what happened with David, you
Speaker 1: know the way that that happens. But he has a
Speaker 1: great mindset and he's going to take every to get
Speaker 1: ready as fast as he can and then whenever that is,
Speaker 1: he'll be back in there and it'll be what we
Speaker 1: know with David Willcomery back there. Alan Robinson working his
Speaker 1: way back today. Yeah, he did, and it's good to
Speaker 1: have him back again. We know how Alan can, We
Speaker 1: know what type of football player he is. We want
Speaker 1: to make sure that he's ready to go on September third,
Speaker 1: Keith against Detroit. So that's more of kind of a
Speaker 1: balance with Andre Tucker, head athletic trainer, with Mike Surre
Speaker 1: whide receiver coach, myself, Bill Laser, just making sure that
Speaker 1: we're smart there getting him back into this thing. Welcome
Speaker 1: back to the Bears Coaches Show with Bears head coach Mattneggie,
Speaker 1: brought to you by Whippley, CPAs and Consultants. Coming up
Speaker 1: at the bottom of the hour, will be joined by
Speaker 1: offensive coordinator Bill Laser. The Chicago Bears Network presents Inside
Speaker 1: the Bears, brought to you by Verizon. Anthony Adams and
Speaker 1: Laurence Greeden cover the world of Bears football on and
Speaker 1: off the field, every Sunday night, ten pm on Fox
Speaker 1: thirty two Chicago, or watch anytime at Chicago Bears dot Com.
Speaker 1: Around the Bears official app, you. As the season ended
Speaker 1: last January against the Minnesota Vikings. I believe that night
Speaker 1: you began the process of flushing twenty nineteen and beginning
Speaker 1: your own self analysis. Everybody seems to be going through
Speaker 1: this self analysis. The theme seems to be all funneling
Speaker 1: in through what you felt initially as the head coach. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you do feel that, and at the end of last
Speaker 1: year in that locker room, I think we all just
Speaker 1: felt like, you know what, we have a lot of
Speaker 1: good players and people on this team, and to finish
Speaker 1: eight and eight, we want to be better than that.
Speaker 1: We know that, and our goals are set a lot higher.
Speaker 1: So you have to be able to make changes with that.
Speaker 1: You need to be able to start with yourself, and
Speaker 1: that's what we've all done. And you know, I just
Speaker 1: talked about the details of a day to day, week
Speaker 1: to week basis. Being able to delegate more is sometimes
Speaker 1: hard at the start when you're coming in as a
Speaker 1: head coach. You want to, you know, have control and
Speaker 1: make sure you're doing everything the right way in your
Speaker 1: way that you've learned. But at the same time, there's
Speaker 1: a trust factor and there's there's delegation that's involved and
Speaker 1: it's the same thing then trust in your players and
Speaker 1: listening to what they have idea wise and where they're
Speaker 1: at with practices and that sort of thing. UM. So,
Speaker 1: what I'm really excited to see this year, Jeff, is
Speaker 1: I feel like when you when we go through our
Speaker 1: checklist and we see, Okay, where do we go wrong
Speaker 1: last year? Right now as we stand, m damn there,
Speaker 1: every box has been checked as to okay, we said
Speaker 1: we're going to do this, this and this, and it
Speaker 1: was also it wasn't just from coaches. It was in
Speaker 1: the player exit interviews that we that I had listening
Speaker 1: to them to to you know, as simple as hey, coach,
Speaker 1: we like it when you walk back the back of
Speaker 1: the plane on road trips and win loser draw. We
Speaker 1: like when you just come back all that. It just
Speaker 1: lets us know you got our back. And so that's
Speaker 1: just an example of little things that UM worked that
Speaker 1: we are going to fix and be different that way
Speaker 1: that I think will help us in the long run.
Speaker 1: So we're we're excited to get started. So far, so good,
Speaker 1: and we'll see where it goes. Well, is there something
Speaker 1: that you hadn't thought of that really resonated with you,
Speaker 1: Like Wow, I didn't realize that, you know, that was
Speaker 1: missing from this equation that you could share. There was,
Speaker 1: and I'll give you an example. So, um, after we
Speaker 1: get back from from London from playing the Raiders, that
Speaker 1: was a rough game for us. You know, that was
Speaker 1: a fistfight and we didn't win that we got we
Speaker 1: got beat up, coaches, players, everybody. They went there and
Speaker 1: they just they physically beat us up. And um, there
Speaker 1: was poor play calls and there was there was poor execution.
Speaker 1: So what I decided to do the day after we
Speaker 1: got back was take every one of those play calls
Speaker 1: and take every one of those poor execution plays, and
Speaker 1: had the whole team get together together in front of everybody,
Speaker 1: and we called each other out effort wise, We called
Speaker 1: each other out play call wise, and I told him
Speaker 1: this is the bullcraft. This is a terrible play right,
Speaker 1: not a good play call. Could have been better. I
Speaker 1: should have been better, Chuck, bad play call right here,
Speaker 1: You could have been better here, players right here, No effort.
Speaker 1: You're better than that. And so we call it a
Speaker 1: good to bad and the ugly. It wasn't all bad.
Speaker 1: There happened to be more bad that game, but we
Speaker 1: showed good plays too, good execution. And one of the
Speaker 1: feedback that was given to me at the end of
Speaker 1: the year was, coach, when you do that in front
Speaker 1: of everybody, there's an accountability and boy does that ever
Speaker 1: really get you going that, hey, I don't want to
Speaker 1: be on that clip for next week. And so that's
Speaker 1: what one of the things we're going to do this
Speaker 1: this year is instead of just one week after a loss,
Speaker 1: it's going to be every week that we're going to
Speaker 1: do that. And I didn't know that at the time
Speaker 1: that it impacted them as much as it did, but
Speaker 1: they enjoyed that. They liked being called out for their effort.
Speaker 1: And so we're going to continue with that, and I
Speaker 1: think it could be really good for us. What are
Speaker 1: you asking of them that maybe you feel you hadn't
Speaker 1: in the first two years. I've had a lot of
Speaker 1: trust with the players. That that part I love. I
Speaker 1: think that they've been phenomenal with the trust, the coaching staff,
Speaker 1: the way we do things. What we talked about this year,
Speaker 1: the biggest part was Okay, then I've said this to
Speaker 1: you the details, But what happens with the details is
Speaker 1: you talk about it and then after two or three
Speaker 1: or four weeks those details start slipping. That's not happening
Speaker 1: this year. It won't happen by me being able to
Speaker 1: delegate more to others on the staff. I can be
Speaker 1: on top of those details, the little things that maybe
Speaker 1: I wasn't on top end as much in the first
Speaker 1: two years. And there's an accountability that the players have
Speaker 1: as well with that. So if that means as we
Speaker 1: get later in the season we pull back reps slightly,
Speaker 1: then you know what, they better give us their best
Speaker 1: in the reps that we get. They better be quality,
Speaker 1: and I'm going to be on top of that. And
Speaker 1: if it's not quality, then we're to go more quantity.
Speaker 1: And there's a given given tape there. So um, you know,
Speaker 1: I think that's the biggest thing is staying consistent with
Speaker 1: it and not getting waxed with it. Welcome back to
Speaker 1: the Bears Coaches Show with Bears head coach Matteggie. Brought
Speaker 1: to you buy with these CPAs in Consultants, a proud
Speaker 1: partner of the Chicago Bears. Learn more at wip fli
Speaker 1: dot com. Matt, let's talk to quarterbacks. Now that you
Speaker 1: had a chance to watch the scrimmage at Soldier Field,
Speaker 1: on Saturday. What do you think the tempo, getting getting
Speaker 1: in and out that part they're running, the mechanics of
Speaker 1: the huddle, UM leading the guys, all that they both
Speaker 1: did really well with. UM. You know, we were trying
Speaker 1: to really see situationally where they at, whether it's red zone,
Speaker 1: whether it's third and one, third and five, backed up,
Speaker 1: where they ad with their cadences, are they do they
Speaker 1: have their eyes down field on scrambles, on broken plays,
Speaker 1: ball security, and both of them did a good job
Speaker 1: with that. You start off with Mitch. He started off
Speaker 1: with the one first and I thought his first drive
Speaker 1: was exactly what we thought he could do. You know,
Speaker 1: he there was you know, every place stripted. So even
Speaker 1: though a result of a play might be a first down,
Speaker 1: the next play might be second and eight. That part's
Speaker 1: a little different for him, but he's Mitch is doing
Speaker 1: a good job right now of staying calm in the pocket.
Speaker 1: There were some times last year where he was flushing
Speaker 1: out early and we were trying to get him from
Speaker 1: doing that, so that you just trust that pocket and
Speaker 1: you stay in there and push push up into pockets,
Speaker 1: see everything that's going on in the middle of the field.
Speaker 1: I think that's probably one of his biggest growths from
Speaker 1: the last two years to this year, is he's doing
Speaker 1: that now, He's not getting flushed out of the pocket.
Speaker 1: He's trusting and he's making throws. Yeah. You know, everyone
Speaker 1: sees the final statistics or they see he threw the
Speaker 1: pick to Powerful the first one. After watching it, there
Speaker 1: was a little bit of pressure on him and progression wise,
Speaker 1: you know, I think he would want that back possibly
Speaker 1: on throwing that there to that one. Kyle made a
Speaker 1: good play, he sat on it. Kyle's a good corner
Speaker 1: and um, but it didn't affect Mitch the next play,
Speaker 1: which was good. The tip ball that he had as well. UM,
Speaker 1: you know that that that's hard. That's hard too. But
Speaker 1: overall I liked how he played. Um, I thought for Nick.
Speaker 1: You know, you saw he missed a few throws over
Speaker 1: the middle to start right right, getting going against some
Speaker 1: of that timing with the guys. But he did a
Speaker 1: lot of good in the red zone. He was able
Speaker 1: to make some nice passes down in the red zone. Again,
Speaker 1: he kept control of the drive, he kept his eyes
Speaker 1: down the field and some scrambles, made a nice long
Speaker 1: throw deep on one scramble but they're in a good
Speaker 1: place right now. They're still battling, they're still competing. The
Speaker 1: room is very healthy. Like we said, uh, it's it's
Speaker 1: it's not easy for us, but it's for all of us.
Speaker 1: You know, we got one more week of practice here
Speaker 1: and then we'll have to get moving here with the decision.
Speaker 1: There are unintended consequences when players like a Keem Hicks
Speaker 1: to Seane Gibson, David Montgomery are injured and I look
Speaker 1: at Alan Robinson who is back, but guys like Javannah Whims,
Speaker 1: Riley Ridley below on Nichols, did they elevate with the
Speaker 1: additional reps and now the pressure on them a little
Speaker 1: bit to make plays during this camp? They have, They've
Speaker 1: they've stepped up to it, and that's gonna happen. It's funny.
Speaker 1: One of our one of my former colleagues when I
Speaker 1: was in Philadelphia and Kansas City, one of our position
Speaker 1: coaches that's been the game for a long time. He
Speaker 1: used to always say to me in training camp, Matt, Matt, Matt,
Speaker 1: it'll all play itself out. You know. I used to
Speaker 1: always wonder how we got so many guys here, How
Speaker 1: are we going to make the numbers. How are we
Speaker 1: going to keep five or six guys? And he's it'll
Speaker 1: all play itself out. And that's kind of where we're
Speaker 1: at right now. You're seeing some guys step up and
Speaker 1: take advantage of these opportunities. A robed down for a
Speaker 1: little bit with his ankle, he's out. Well, it gives
Speaker 1: other guys chances to get more reps. And all you
Speaker 1: gotta do is flash just a little bit and you
Speaker 1: can catch a coach's eye. And those guys that you
Speaker 1: just named there, they've been doing that. Darnel Moni also, yeah,
Speaker 1: same thing. The kids come in and you know, really
Speaker 1: done a great job. He's one of those guys that's
Speaker 1: taken the zoom, the zoom meetings, the zoom questions. He's
Speaker 1: transferred it to the field. He doesn't get lost very
Speaker 1: often on that field. He knows how to break the
Speaker 1: huddle and where to go. He asked really really good
Speaker 1: questions when we're in there, and you know, it's it's
Speaker 1: just really impressive to see a young kid like that
Speaker 1: be able to fall to us there in the fifth round.
Speaker 1: Everything that's gone on. In the simplest of terms, where
Speaker 1: are you and your team at right now, given everything
Speaker 1: that's transpired, including the social injustice in the start of
Speaker 1: our third year together, there's, hands down, without a doubt,
Speaker 1: we are the closest we've ever been. As simple as that,
Speaker 1: there's nothing but pure love for one another. I have
Speaker 1: players coming to me telling me, Coach, you don't understand
Speaker 1: how close we are right now from this whole building.
Speaker 1: You have no idea. And when I hear that, it
Speaker 1: just gives me absolute goosebumps, because this is something that
Speaker 1: hasn't just whenever something happens in the in the in
Speaker 1: the quote unquote real world. We've been having discussions internally
Speaker 1: throughout and I think again going back to guys like
Speaker 1: Super Campbell and Carla and Erica, they've done a great
Speaker 1: job of really keeping things open with communication amongst us
Speaker 1: and then the coaches. We're just real. We just shoot,
Speaker 1: we we we talk real, we have real talk. We're
Speaker 1: very honest. There's so much love for one another. It's
Speaker 1: it's powerful. I've never been a part of anything like this,
Speaker 1: and I think what's happening is is that it's gonna
Speaker 1: in the end, inevitably, it's gonna help us win games.
Speaker 1: And that's what's most important, good springboard. All right, coming
Speaker 1: up next, Bill Laser, Matt, thank you, good luck this week,
Speaker 1: all right, take care of Jock. Welcome back to Bears
Speaker 1: Coaches Show is welcome Bears offensive coordinator Bill Laser to
Speaker 1: the program. The coordinators will on to date each week
Speaker 1: as in years past, and Bill, you got plenty of
Speaker 1: zoom time now every news conference almost feels like a
Speaker 1: talk show in some sense. A couple of times we've
Speaker 1: had some errors, you know, the media errors with the
Speaker 1: mute on. Those have actually been the best ones we have.
Speaker 1: They're scrambling and you can't hear what they're asking. What
Speaker 1: have you learned about this team from your perspective since
Speaker 1: you got I think I think I've found it to
Speaker 1: be a team that works hard when they get on
Speaker 1: the practice field. That's something that it's hard to know
Speaker 1: until you're there and you see it. And what what
Speaker 1: I've observed every time is we've gone gone out under
Speaker 1: the field and Coach Nagis asked them to get after
Speaker 1: it and to work hard. They've done it, and so
Speaker 1: that's been really uh, that's been really real positive for
Speaker 1: me to see that. You know, I think on all
Speaker 1: sides of the ball, I think they've created a culture
Speaker 1: where they will work, and I think that's that's a
Speaker 1: great building block. What intrigues you about this offense because
Speaker 1: there are many many pieces to the puzzle, all shapes
Speaker 1: and isis Heck, you got a basketball team at tight
Speaker 1: end and receiver and a lot of different choices in
Speaker 1: terms of skill positions. With a limited amount of time
Speaker 1: that we've had to practice and to be together, It'll
Speaker 1: just be interesting to see how how quickly we are developing.
Speaker 1: And I say it in the present tense because I
Speaker 1: think it's ongoing. I think, um, you know, the passing
Speaker 1: game is the hardest thing to build in the National
Speaker 1: Football League, everything from protection to getting the quarterbacks and
Speaker 1: all the route runners on the same page, all the adjustments,
Speaker 1: and it's it's hard to it's hard to imagine the
Speaker 1: limited amount of work we have, knowing normally how much
Speaker 1: you put in to getting to your first game. So
Speaker 1: I think that's got that's still got a lot of
Speaker 1: work to do. So so I'm intrigued to see how
Speaker 1: quickly we pick that up and when things turn on
Speaker 1: full speed, how well we execute. I think the average
Speaker 1: fan would says a bunch of techling and passing and
Speaker 1: running and catching and making sure you do your fundamentals.
Speaker 1: But if you could put into context, somehow, some way
Speaker 1: in a comparative analysis of the challenge of this, yeah, well,
Speaker 1: I you know, the perspective I keep going back to
Speaker 1: is really we have have you know, seventeen practice opportunities
Speaker 1: this year, real you know, real practices before we start
Speaker 1: game week for our opening week to the season. And
Speaker 1: normally you would get you know, your ten OTAs and
Speaker 1: three days of mini camp. So that's thirteen. So so
Speaker 1: you're really talking about four days into normal fall camp
Speaker 1: and now you have to go to a game game week,
Speaker 1: you know, and so so it's just there's so much evolution,
Speaker 1: there's so much learning, there's so much getting to know
Speaker 1: each other that you normally go through in that and
Speaker 1: and it's it's just got to happen fast. So for
Speaker 1: us as coaches, we have to make some decisions really quickly.
Speaker 1: Some of it are is based on personnel, you know,
Speaker 1: personnel decisions, but some of it is more based on okay,
Speaker 1: very quickly, this guy has shown that he's good at
Speaker 1: certain things, maybe certain routes, but not great at other routes.
Speaker 1: You don't really have time to wait for someone to
Speaker 1: develop on the things they're not good. It's just got
Speaker 1: to move on. So Okay, give him what he's good at,
Speaker 1: give someone else the other stuff and go. And then
Speaker 1: the other part of it is we have to keep
Speaker 1: in mind is during the season, there's going to be
Speaker 1: an advantage for the teams that can continue to develop,
Speaker 1: you know. And I think over time, there's some teams
Speaker 1: in this league that have proven that they continue to
Speaker 1: get better and better as the season goes, you know, historically,
Speaker 1: so whether it be the coaching staffs there, the players there,
Speaker 1: or the culture. And I think that's another great challenge
Speaker 1: for us is Okay, we're in a real hurry. You know,
Speaker 1: we're trying to be smart and targeted with what we do,
Speaker 1: but we are definitely in a hurry to get to
Speaker 1: the first game. We got to win the first game. Well,
Speaker 1: then we'll also have to keep a mindset is just
Speaker 1: keep getting better throughout the year. It's almost like training
Speaker 1: CAMPI stands. And if we can keep that mindset and
Speaker 1: continue to improve, I think, you know, just the perspective,
Speaker 1: it's a long season. Just keep getting better, keep getting better.
Speaker 1: I think the teams that can do that this year
Speaker 1: in particular, even more than most years, will gain an advantage.
Speaker 1: During the twenty twenty season, the Chicago Bears are giving
Speaker 1: away one hundred and one thousand dollars to a deserving
Speaker 1: nonprofit organization in the Chicagoland area. Visit Chicago Bears dot
Speaker 1: com slash community all pros for more information and how
Speaker 1: you can help out back with Bill Laser, Bears offensive coordinator.
Speaker 1: Good to have you alongside. We'll be talking with the
Speaker 1: other coordinators throughout the course of the season as well.
Speaker 1: You're a scramp Pa guy. Actually, my dad used to
Speaker 1: work for Erie Loco on a railroad back. Was that right? Yeah,
Speaker 1: So I have roots to there too, so kind of it.
Speaker 1: But it's Naggi country, you know, kind of so you
Speaker 1: guys are all you know, with you and d Philippo
Speaker 1: and some others, it's quite the place for the roots
Speaker 1: of great football minds and the blue collar style of
Speaker 1: football that I think this city enjoys. We enjoyed growing
Speaker 1: up there and the atmosphere around high school you know, first,
Speaker 1: you know, youth football. We had a great, a great
Speaker 1: team when I was in eighth grade, and uh, you
Speaker 1: know we didn't have We did not have twenty two
Speaker 1: guys on the team the North Scranton Vikings, UM, but
Speaker 1: we won the championships, so we couldn't line up and
Speaker 1: play eleven on eleven on practice and we found a
Speaker 1: way anyway. So that's that would be like the theme
Speaker 1: of twenty twenty and find a way. Yeah, hopefully we
Speaker 1: don't have to go into a practice with less than
Speaker 1: twenty two players and the team like the Norse Scranton
Speaker 1: Vikings did. But it's it's proof that it can be done. Um. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And so now and actually now as a family, we're
Speaker 1: kind of excited to be to be uh in this
Speaker 1: area and UH I spent a little bit of time
Speaker 1: recruiting in the Greater Chicago area when I was coaching
Speaker 1: in college crud a couple of players, not not too many,
Speaker 1: but so we're excited to see high school football in
Speaker 1: this area too, right, Yeah, when it comes back, it'll
Speaker 1: be great. It's something that obviously we all miss. Feel
Speaker 1: bad for the kids right now you get you know,
Speaker 1: especially at the high school level. Bill and it's so
Speaker 1: important in Pennsylvania as it is in Ohio and in California, Texas, Florida,
Speaker 1: all the big ones, but no matter where you are
Speaker 1: in this nation. I mean, kids are transferring from Chicago
Speaker 1: schools to go play in places that are able to go,
Speaker 1: like Iowa, just to just to continue their their dream.
Speaker 1: And it's a it's a short window. You only get
Speaker 1: four years in high school and that's it. And some
Speaker 1: of these guys will never play again. And so if
Speaker 1: it's taken away, it's that's a tough one. Well let
Speaker 1: me I'll give you. I'll give you a slice of
Speaker 1: optimism with the Jeff And because my son is a
Speaker 1: high schooler here in the area and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: coming on to a new team and just trying to
Speaker 1: meet kids, and so he was able to go through
Speaker 1: a few weeks of summer camp of football before they
Speaker 1: pushed the season back to the spring. But a couple
Speaker 1: of weekends ago he told us he was some kids
Speaker 1: that asked them to be on a seven on seven team,
Speaker 1: and so we went. We didn't have practice that day,
Speaker 1: so I got I got out of the office early enough,
Speaker 1: and it was amazing to me. We went to a
Speaker 1: high school or I guess it would be a local
Speaker 1: youth field because they started out a high school field.
Speaker 1: Got kicked off the field, but they had a five
Speaker 1: or six team seven on seventh tournament lasted all day
Speaker 1: long and there were no adults. It was all run
Speaker 1: by the kids and it was just kids who missed
Speaker 1: playing football, and so they got together. They practiced for
Speaker 1: about a week, they formed, they formed teams. It was
Speaker 1: kids from at least four different high schools that I
Speaker 1: know of. They organized it themselves and went and just
Speaker 1: just we went, watched a couple of games, just played
Speaker 1: seven on seven football all day. So I it really
Speaker 1: it made me feel really good about Hey, these kids
Speaker 1: miss it so much, they're just finding a way to play.
Speaker 1: So I'm sure pretty optimistic. I think I think we'll
Speaker 1: get through this with football. Love of the game. Are
Speaker 1: you seeing that from your own guy right now? The
Speaker 1: love of the game. Oh. I think they were excited
Speaker 1: to be here. I think they had enough zoom it,
Speaker 1: tired of doing that. They were ready to get on
Speaker 1: the field. And like I mentioned earlier, they when when
Speaker 1: they're on the field, I think they work hard and
Speaker 1: so that that's a good start. And I think I
Speaker 1: think it was good being in the stadium this weekend
Speaker 1: for our scrimmage and that they enjoy that. Who knows
Speaker 1: what the atmosphere will be, but it might be one
Speaker 1: of those years we have to bring our own juice,
Speaker 1: you know. Yeah, we'll be ready. I think I think
Speaker 1: we'll be ready. Well, yeah it was loud. I can
Speaker 1: tell you that because I was sitting in there and
Speaker 1: the music couldn't be louder. My ears are ringing, so
Speaker 1: it'll be plenty loud. But I read a quote from
Speaker 1: Mike McCarthy last night. He said, you're playing stadiums throughout
Speaker 1: your career, and some stadiums have really bad fake crowd noise,
Speaker 1: and some are better than others. You do this long enough,
Speaker 1: you know what it sounds like, but it's just not
Speaker 1: the real thing. I don't even know if coaches or
Speaker 1: players actually hear the crowd. They may get juiced up
Speaker 1: to defensively, but I talking players off and they just
Speaker 1: it's like they're on their own little world. Anyway on Sundays,
Speaker 1: I think so. But I think the first thing that
Speaker 1: hits you is just whenever communication issues occur. And so
Speaker 1: I thought the experienced a different experiments that we did
Speaker 1: at the scrimmage. You could see a little bit of difference.
Speaker 1: But I think as you know, as as professionals, as
Speaker 1: professional football players, guys, they have to know how to
Speaker 1: deal with it, and you know, I think we will.
Speaker 1: I think we'll be able to to work in Welcome
Speaker 1: back to the Bears Coaches Show here on WBBMA and
Speaker 1: with the Bears offensive coordinator Bill Laser. We touched on
Speaker 1: it before the break Saturday at Soldier Field. What was
Speaker 1: your takeaway on the quarterbacks? First of all, they both
Speaker 1: looked like NFL quarterbacks. They both ran the huddle, they
Speaker 1: were both in control. I saw both of them have
Speaker 1: great command of making sure the formations were correct, and
Speaker 1: both both of them made made uh the kind of
Speaker 1: throws you expect to see in that stadium at times,
Speaker 1: you know. So it's it's I've been involved in quarterback
Speaker 1: competitions before. It's always easy when you look back to say, oh,
Speaker 1: this is why it worked out and now we know.
Speaker 1: But when you're in the midst of it, it's never easy,
Speaker 1: you know. See, it's you can always repaint history the
Speaker 1: way you want to, but the fact is, when you're
Speaker 1: in a competition, there's a reason it's a competition. Hopefully
Speaker 1: it's because they're both good and they both have the
Speaker 1: ability to play. I think that's where we are right now.
Speaker 1: If you took a poll, you'd probably come away feeling, Hey,
Speaker 1: a lot of guys on this team feel like they
Speaker 1: both can can help us win, So that that's that's
Speaker 1: a good spot. Well, it is, because frankly, you might
Speaker 1: and maybe we'll need both it happens. I've been, I've been,
Speaker 1: I've been through as you can imagine, through the years,
Speaker 1: we've we've actually started the third guy plenty of times.
Speaker 1: So I know, uh, you got to feel like everyone
Speaker 1: around the roster needs to be ready to help you win.
Speaker 1: Your eyes will tell the story. You watch the tape, Yes,
Speaker 1: that reveals all the detail, but you know what your
Speaker 1: eyes are looking for. Are you seeing things from both
Speaker 1: that you see what you're looking for? Yeah? Absolutely, And
Speaker 1: I expected to. You know, I have more more, a
Speaker 1: little more of a history with Nick having coaching, but
Speaker 1: that was a long time ago that I coached him, really,
Speaker 1: especially in the life of a football player, right however,
Speaker 1: many years ago that was, and that's how people grow
Speaker 1: and change. So so even though I had that history,
Speaker 1: I think I think you come into it with fresh eyes.
Speaker 1: Had a chance obviously to see both of them a
Speaker 1: whole lot on videos, so I think I had a
Speaker 1: good good sense of what to expect. Um. You know,
Speaker 1: it's just a it's really a methodical grind the process,
Speaker 1: just every day everything you can continue to coach him
Speaker 1: on and help him get better with and and then
Speaker 1: also learn, you know, you learn about the guy. How
Speaker 1: does he communicate, How does he best take coaching? You know,
Speaker 1: some guys take it better when they get really pushed.
Speaker 1: Some guys take it better when they get you know,
Speaker 1: gently tugged. Some guys take it better when they get
Speaker 1: yelled at in private, you know what I mean. It's
Speaker 1: just you have to find out. I mean, it's part
Speaker 1: of it's just like any teacher, you know, what's the
Speaker 1: best way to get through to the student? And um,
Speaker 1: you know, part of it is is making them understand
Speaker 1: that being uncomfortable is what helps them grow, you know,
Speaker 1: and no one likes like everyone likes to stay in
Speaker 1: their comfort zone. Right. But we're not just evaluating it.
Speaker 1: We're also trying to improve them and develop them. I mean,
Speaker 1: no one, no one gets to the point where it
Speaker 1: got it all. So we're just trying to keep keep
Speaker 1: them both developing as players, make them as best they
Speaker 1: can be and then let it play itself out in
Speaker 1: the field. That's that's the best way. Bill. We're gonna
Speaker 1: let you go appreciate it. We're looking forward throughout the season.
Speaker 1: That to talk about some Bears wins along the way. Great,
Speaker 1: my pleasure. I see again. All right, thank you, Bill Laser.
Speaker 1: That's a rap out Tonight's Bears Coaches Show. Want to
Speaker 1: thank our producers Jordan Trutup, Dan BARRELLI, Andy greshir At,
Speaker 1: Lisa Fielding, and most of all for listening for Bears
Speaker 1: head coach Matt Naggie an offensive coordinator Bill Laser. I'm
Speaker 1: Jeff Joniac, wishing you a pleasant, good evening. This is
Speaker 1: News Radio seven eighty and one h five point ATFM
Speaker 1: w BBM. Good night,