Speaker 1: Welcome into the Bears Coaching Show with head coach Matteggie,
Speaker 1: brought to you by Whiply CPAs and consultants Jeff Jonny
Speaker 1: act with you until eight o'clock tonight here on news
Speaker 1: radio one oh five nine WBBM, with Bears head coach
Speaker 1: Mattneggie here until the bottom of the hour and offensive
Speaker 1: coordinator Bill Laser joining as well. Second straight winning with
Speaker 1: the Bears coach convincing fashion against the visiting Giants yesterday
Speaker 1: twenty nine three. Good evening. First of all, how are
Speaker 1: you doing great? Jeff doing great? Thank you? And secondly,
Speaker 1: no game, by any means is stress free for a
Speaker 1: head coach, but that one yesterday had to be as
Speaker 1: close as any because boom, like that, you're up fourteen. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's the first time I've been a part of one
Speaker 1: of those where you know, from two plays in at
Speaker 1: seven and nothing and then a few plays later it's
Speaker 1: fourteen zero. And so we were able to just kind
Speaker 1: of maintain and hold that leade go into halftime with
Speaker 1: the nice league, come out at the third quarter, get
Speaker 1: a touchdown, and then really just you know, ride that defense,
Speaker 1: arrested away, play smart on offense, and like you said
Speaker 1: that they're never you never know the whole way up
Speaker 1: at the end of that fourth quarter. But the guys
Speaker 1: really played hard all fourth quarters, all three phases, and
Speaker 1: it was a nice win. Eight hundred win in franchise
Speaker 1: history you're a part of. It is at a cool
Speaker 1: angle to the story at all. Yeah, it's neat. It's
Speaker 1: neat to know. And again, it's amazing to think eight
Speaker 1: hundred wins. That's a lot of wins, you know, it
Speaker 1: said it'll be able to be that number and for
Speaker 1: these guys. And the significance too with being a part
Speaker 1: of which I'm sure you'll discuss and talk about with
Speaker 1: Robert Quinn and and everything, and just a lot of
Speaker 1: cool things in a season where takeaways have been really
Speaker 1: hard to come by, the impact of four and where
Speaker 1: they occurred remind you just how important it is to
Speaker 1: take the ball away, also to protect the football, but
Speaker 1: taking the ball away and where it happens, how it happens,
Speaker 1: the bounce that it gives your entire team, the defense
Speaker 1: flying around feeling good, having fun. Are those are so value,
Speaker 1: aren't they? They are? You know, because it flips the field.
Speaker 1: Anytime he gets football in the two yard line, you
Speaker 1: better score, and we were able to do that and
Speaker 1: we had to pick you know, we had an interception,
Speaker 1: we were able to the ball down in there inside
Speaker 1: the big red zone and we were able to turn
Speaker 1: that into a touchdown. So it's just it's it's complimentary football.
Speaker 1: If the offense goes down and gets a touchdown and
Speaker 1: maybe the defense gets a three and out or the
Speaker 1: punt team, you know, pins them on back with that
Speaker 1: complimentary football. So interval tween games going into the half,
Speaker 1: coming out of the half, that that was a twelve
Speaker 1: point exchange, as it turned out, and that's that's as
Speaker 1: as big a two for one as you're gonna get.
Speaker 1: And I know teams that are really successful do that routinely.
Speaker 1: Is that is that something that you'd love to have
Speaker 1: every week or as many weeks as possible during a season,
Speaker 1: because it's it's impactful as well, for sure, especially when
Speaker 1: you're giving an opportunity. We talk about it every week.
Speaker 1: We practice different scenarios every week and sometimes they don't
Speaker 1: ever come up, but those are the ones where you
Speaker 1: never want to look back and say, shoot, I wish
Speaker 1: we would have practiced this scenario or that scenario. So
Speaker 1: you're always got to talk about it, even as monotonous
Speaker 1: as it can get. But I thought for the offense
Speaker 1: with you know, forty eight seconds to go and not
Speaker 1: feel panicked to get three points. You know, we were
Speaker 1: able to do it how we wanted to. We used
Speaker 1: our timeouts, and then the very last play before the
Speaker 1: field goal, you know, a rob had a five yard catch,
Speaker 1: and then we went ahead and clocked with four seconds left,
Speaker 1: and we were allowed the special teams unit to come
Speaker 1: out and the field goal unit come out and make
Speaker 1: a field goal. And those are fun when it happens
Speaker 1: that way. Over the last month, there's so much change
Speaker 1: with missing players. I'm talking about the defensive side of
Speaker 1: the ball in particular here, but finding guys to fill roles,
Speaker 1: and you learned a lot about guys and Sean Decay,
Speaker 1: don't you think he did a nice job of mixing
Speaker 1: all that together and finding guys on the roster they
Speaker 1: can play and rotating a different spot, especially in that secondary. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, he's done a really really good job of
Speaker 1: making sure that he puts guys in great position to
Speaker 1: make plays, and his assistant coaches on that side of
Speaker 1: the ball as well. So I when you go back
Speaker 1: to you can go back to the week that we
Speaker 1: played in Minnesota where we were banged up so much
Speaker 1: on defense on the back end against that potent offense,
Speaker 1: and Shaw was able to make it back from the
Speaker 1: Codd protocol and get those guys to come out and
Speaker 1: play phenomenal defense in that week. So you know, we'll
Speaker 1: get ready for those guys this week as well. But
Speaker 1: you got to really credit those coaches and the players
Speaker 1: were executing. Dbe's combined allowed just one catch for twelve yards.
Speaker 1: They didn't get many pass rushing opportunities up front, but
Speaker 1: they made the most of those. They were I think
Speaker 1: three pass rushing opportunities really for Trevis Gibson, he's get
Speaker 1: two sacks and two force funnels. Yeah, there was there
Speaker 1: was production with limited snaps because of the running that
Speaker 1: they decided to do. Obviously they were beat up a
Speaker 1: little bit at wide receiver going into this game. But
Speaker 1: point being is, you still got to stop them on defense,
Speaker 1: and I thought our defensive line, outside linebackers, the front seven,
Speaker 1: they really worked well together. We didn't give up any
Speaker 1: real big runs and we made tackles when we had to,
Speaker 1: and then when they did throw the football. We were
Speaker 1: able to be opportunistic and the defensive line, not talking
Speaker 1: about the outside linebackers, they're just the d line combined,
Speaker 1: I think for sixteen tackles. So I think early on
Speaker 1: they realized it was this was the day, this was
Speaker 1: it was gonna be a tough game. Inside. They will
Speaker 1: run on a lot in between the hash marks with
Speaker 1: sa Quon Barkley, and he did get he did get
Speaker 1: some yards. But if that's all the yards you give
Speaker 1: up and you keep him out of the end zone,
Speaker 1: that's a that's a big day for the Bears. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and they did some wildcat back there with him catching
Speaker 1: the football and being quarterback and had some a little
Speaker 1: bit of success with that. But for the most part, again,
Speaker 1: our guys did just enough to get him into third
Speaker 1: down where we were able to pin our Ears back
Speaker 1: and get after Mike Glennon, and that offense came out
Speaker 1: of the game healthy, it looks like. And you're hoping
Speaker 1: for great health and an ability to get on the
Speaker 1: practice field Wednesday for Justin Fields with the hope is
Speaker 1: starting him against the Vikings. How's that looking for you? Yeah,
Speaker 1: so far, so good. Again, we'll know in the next
Speaker 1: twenty four forty eight hours, it should tell us a
Speaker 1: lot more as to where he's at. But um, that's
Speaker 1: the goal and again for these guys to get everybody
Speaker 1: back here and do everything we can to finish this
Speaker 1: season on a high note. How does it feel to
Speaker 1: enter the last week of a season with all the
Speaker 1: work that's gone into the season, yet no payoff for
Speaker 1: a playoff? But what's the what's the individual payoff for
Speaker 1: you and for this team, well for all of us,
Speaker 1: for coaches, for players. Every year is always different, whether
Speaker 1: you're playing like some teams are this year, where you
Speaker 1: go into this this final week and they're playing for
Speaker 1: a playoff spot. Literally in the AFC, there's two teams,
Speaker 1: you know, with the Raiders and the Charters, and then
Speaker 1: there's other situations where teams like us, we can't make
Speaker 1: the playoffs, and then you have some that might have
Speaker 1: a buy they know it, they're the one seeds. So
Speaker 1: a lot of different scenarios. It's our job in this
Speaker 1: role right now to make sure that we finished this
Speaker 1: thing off the right way. I'm really proud of the
Speaker 1: way that these guys have played since the news that
Speaker 1: we cannot make the playoffs, because that's never easy, and
Speaker 1: the players have done that. They've played hard and so
Speaker 1: now the goal is going to be to finish it
Speaker 1: off with this final game for us and end it
Speaker 1: with a three Dame Winstry, how did you impact their
Speaker 1: ability to play hard because they could have easily not? Well,
Speaker 1: you know, for me, the biggest thing is don't don't change.
Speaker 1: Make sure that you stay. You stayed. Of course everyone's
Speaker 1: watching after seeing that, but also have fun when you're
Speaker 1: at practice. Um, you gotta understand, and we're very fortunately
Speaker 1: keep things in perspective. But then on game day go
Speaker 1: cut it loose. And they've been able to do that
Speaker 1: and they see what type of team they can be
Speaker 1: when they do it. Snap back with time, Here comes
Speaker 1: quit what right into what's gotta breathed up in the
Speaker 1: ball comes out? Ball comes out. Giants have recovered, but
Speaker 1: Robert Quinn has just picked up sec Number eighteen in
Speaker 1: a regular season that has been nothing shorter spectacular and
Speaker 1: has set the Bears single season record for sacks that
Speaker 1: has held for thirty seven years. By Richard Dent. Welcome
Speaker 1: back to the Bears Coaching Show, brought to you by
Speaker 1: Whipley CPAs and Consultants a proud partner of the Chicago Bears.
Speaker 1: Learn more at whippley dot com with Bears head coach
Speaker 1: Matt Naggie. Geff Jonny Act just heard the record setting
Speaker 1: sack from Robert Quinn. From your perspective ground level when
Speaker 1: it happened, because it was close several times on a day,
Speaker 1: he wasn't going to get many opportunities. What did it
Speaker 1: look like? How did it feel on the sidelines, What
Speaker 1: was the reaction? It was special for him to be
Speaker 1: able to get that, Like you just said, we weren't
Speaker 1: sure how many opportunities he was going to get to
Speaker 1: be able to get it, and it was the big
Speaker 1: elephant in the room that no one talked about, but
Speaker 1: we all knew it was there, and for him to
Speaker 1: finally get it was a special moment to get recognized
Speaker 1: and just for his teammates to have feel so good
Speaker 1: about you know, they're part of that too. You know,
Speaker 1: he would tell you that they're all part of that,
Speaker 1: so special moment. It's a part of history and a
Speaker 1: special player that I happened to right. He did it
Speaker 1: within the sixteen game. See, he missed a game obviously
Speaker 1: this year, So to me, that is beneficial I again,
Speaker 1: you know me. I know you, but I love old school,
Speaker 1: so I don't like to see the history of the
Speaker 1: game meddled with too much. So now when you have
Speaker 1: an eighteen game season, all these records are going to
Speaker 1: be broken. I wish there was another way to still
Speaker 1: categorize it, because you're comparing apples to apples instead of
Speaker 1: apples to oranges here. And I don't know how you
Speaker 1: feel about it as a younger head coach, but it's
Speaker 1: significant to me that it happened within a sixteen game season.
Speaker 1: How do you feel about it? I agree with that, Jeff.
Speaker 1: I think that you know, there's probably going to be
Speaker 1: some asterisk to some of these records or some of
Speaker 1: these seasons that happens, or you just gotta started, you
Speaker 1: gotta started new right. Hey, this was a seventeen game season,
Speaker 1: so they'll all be a little bit different. I'm sure
Speaker 1: everybody has their own opinions, but I can agree with
Speaker 1: you on that. A symbol that he is, though, is
Speaker 1: of perseverance, given what he's gone through in his life.
Speaker 1: The resilience to bounce back after what he admittedly again
Speaker 1: told us in the postgame show was not Robert Quinn
Speaker 1: football last year, and then just his relentlessness as a
Speaker 1: pass rusher. There's a lot of ways to describe him,
Speaker 1: but maybe more so forget about performance. The way his
Speaker 1: teammates reacted tell me that he's really made a connection
Speaker 1: with this group. Is that Is that accurate? Yeah? He has.
Speaker 1: UM Again, I brought it up a bunch, just where
Speaker 1: he's at and how he does things in practice, and
Speaker 1: from a coach's perspective, it's really been neat to see
Speaker 1: literally from the first day that he showed up this
Speaker 1: past you know, training camp, the shape he was in,
Speaker 1: the way he practiced. I mean there was times in
Speaker 1: training camp where I had to yell at him a
Speaker 1: thousand times to pull back from what was hitting the
Speaker 1: quarterback in the halo, you know, because he goes so hard.
Speaker 1: But you'd rather have that than try to go the
Speaker 1: other way and tell somebody to practice harder. So he's
Speaker 1: done that, and so it really shows who he is.
Speaker 1: The biggest thing too, that you just mentioned is perseverance, resiliency,
Speaker 1: adversity hits. He gets anybody that gets questioned after a
Speaker 1: rough year, um, that's not easy, and he shows how
Speaker 1: mentally calloused and tough he is. To bounce back this season,
Speaker 1: stay healthy, be able to be out there and be available,
Speaker 1: and now he just went out and played great football.
Speaker 1: Because you're an offensive mind and a and a quarterback guy,
Speaker 1: there's more questions about offensive to you over the course
Speaker 1: of your career. But on the defensive side of the ball,
Speaker 1: we sometimes don't talk about it. Who's rising on that
Speaker 1: defense in your opinion? We can obviously point to Roquan
Speaker 1: still has a lot of room to grow and to
Speaker 1: let that horse ride. But where other areas do you
Speaker 1: see in terms of defensive personnel that are rising players? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think there's several, you know, and I don't want
Speaker 1: to leave anybody out, but I know, like just just
Speaker 1: from yesterday's game, you look at the development and growth
Speaker 1: of a guy like Travis Gibson to have the season
Speaker 1: that he's having this year is great. Lan Nichols really
Speaker 1: growing into a leadership role on that defensive line. You
Speaker 1: just brought up about rope On on the back end,
Speaker 1: you know, you have you know, Jalen Johnson who's really
Speaker 1: learning what it's like to be an number one corner
Speaker 1: in this league. And we got a bunch of other
Speaker 1: depth younger guys too. That are on this roster. So
Speaker 1: those are some guys that just jump out to me
Speaker 1: right now. But I think that when guys are presented opportunities,
Speaker 1: like guys like Thomas Graham and some of these other
Speaker 1: guys on defense, they've been presented challenges and they've stepped
Speaker 1: up to it. So the more of that that you have,
Speaker 1: the better. Do you sense a rejuvenation of sorts for
Speaker 1: Eddie Jackson? They've been you know, we've been critical sometimes
Speaker 1: of his play and his performance, but he seems to
Speaker 1: be having fun here in the last few weeks. He's
Speaker 1: I'm really proud of Eddie Jackson. I think that you know,
Speaker 1: at times, he's had so much production, whether it's interceptions, touchdowns,
Speaker 1: over the course of his career, and sometimes you go
Speaker 1: through a drought and there's different reasons for it, but
Speaker 1: he's really done a great job mentally of staying in
Speaker 1: tune physically doing I mean that hit he had yesterday
Speaker 1: on the sideline's I mean he was flying around in
Speaker 1: the backfield, making plays in the battlefield. You feel him.
Speaker 1: You know, he's an impact player right now, and that's
Speaker 1: what he's done his whole career, and it's it's really
Speaker 1: good to see that in him. I'm super proud of
Speaker 1: the way that he's handled this season. Snapback, Here comes pressure,
Speaker 1: Here comes Gibson knocks it out of the hands of
Speaker 1: the quarterback Glennon, and Trevis Gibson has his second sack
Speaker 1: of the day and second strip of Glennon. Bears recover
Speaker 1: the football up with a Carus Tonga. Download the Chicago
Speaker 1: Bears amp to play our new predictor game, Risk It,
Speaker 1: brought to you by Bette Rivers for your chance to
Speaker 1: win two hundred and fifty dollars in free bets and
Speaker 1: accustomed Bears Jersey. Just heard one of Trevis Gibson's sacks
Speaker 1: along with two forced fumbles. Here with Bears head coach
Speaker 1: Matt Naggie coming up next, Bill Laser, That is our
Speaker 1: final segment of the regular season here on w BBM.
Speaker 1: One more bit of reflection on Trevis, if you will,
Speaker 1: from the very first day he got here, the character
Speaker 1: of this kid is special. He wants to do right
Speaker 1: to all his coaches, all his teammates. He wants to
Speaker 1: earn coach shoe. He's done a great job of teaching
Speaker 1: him fundamentals and techniques how to play within this defense
Speaker 1: another guy that practice is really hard. I know he's
Speaker 1: watching Khalil. I know he's watching Robert when they're out there,
Speaker 1: and he sees that, and so I think he's got
Speaker 1: a really high ceiling. He's only going to get better
Speaker 1: that that second stack than he had yesterday. The first
Speaker 1: one was a cover zero look, so he was free,
Speaker 1: no one touched him, and he made a great play.
Speaker 1: The second one was awesome, and the move he made,
Speaker 1: the dip that he made and then to be able
Speaker 1: to slap the football underneath with his hand, that was
Speaker 1: really cool. You can make a case that the guy
Speaker 1: on offense who came the furthest this season, while he
Speaker 1: had a really good rookie season, I mean, maybe I'm off,
Speaker 1: but is it Darnell Mooney? I think so. I think
Speaker 1: he's been really really consistent even when teams know, you
Speaker 1: know that he's going to get to football certain points
Speaker 1: of the game, and that's where you want to see
Speaker 1: growth from him. As a wide receiver. His route running
Speaker 1: has always been special, his speed has always been special,
Speaker 1: his hands have always been special. But now I think
Speaker 1: what's happening is he's building a rapport with whoever the
Speaker 1: quarterback is obviously we've had a couple of different ones
Speaker 1: this year, but he's building that rapport, the quarterbacks are
Speaker 1: trusting him immensely, and then he's making plays. I mean,
Speaker 1: I just go back to Seattle. That that catch and
Speaker 1: run he had in Seattle at the end of the game.
Speaker 1: For a guy that's one hundred and seventy five pounds
Speaker 1: so wet to bust through you know, all those tackles
Speaker 1: and still make a play. That's who he is. And again,
Speaker 1: another guy with a super high ceiling. Man for you,
Speaker 1: did this season ever lose the fun factor? I know
Speaker 1: it fun is important for you. Did it ever become work? Yeah? No,
Speaker 1: it's well, when you're losing, it's never fun. So that's
Speaker 1: always that, you know, being completely real, That's that's the
Speaker 1: worst part is the competition and the competitor within you
Speaker 1: as you want to win every game, and when you don't,
Speaker 1: or if they're strung together, which we've had some of
Speaker 1: those where you have some losing streaks that are all
Speaker 1: strutting together, it makes it difficult. I think that's the
Speaker 1: biggest challenge is making sure that you continue to stay
Speaker 1: you be yourself, but also still remember and half perspective
Speaker 1: and still have fun as much fun as you can
Speaker 1: have with that balance of being serious and making sure
Speaker 1: you know where the mistakes are. And so you know,
Speaker 1: that's why right now, even though we can't make the playoffs,
Speaker 1: I am proud and I am having fun with these
Speaker 1: guys understanding that they do care and you're showing it.
Speaker 1: I saw a quote last night on the Vikings game
Speaker 1: on Mike Zimmer that he was told by Bill Parcels,
Speaker 1: and I don't know if you ever heard this. Parcells
Speaker 1: told them three things are going to happen about becoming
Speaker 1: a head coach, And tell me if these happened to you,
Speaker 1: your best friend is going to disappoint you. Four or
Speaker 1: five things happen every day in pro football you wish
Speaker 1: wouldn't happen, and if you can't handle those, you need
Speaker 1: to get another job. And lastly, it's lonely being a
Speaker 1: head coach. They're unique because you're talking about, you know,
Speaker 1: coach ourselves. He's been through a lot of different experiences
Speaker 1: and obviously coach zim are talking through and understanding that too.
Speaker 1: I think when you go through these situations that part
Speaker 1: of being lonely, like the nice thing is when you
Speaker 1: have a good support system around you. I can say
Speaker 1: that that hasn't been the case for me. You know,
Speaker 1: it's I got great people around me, whether it's people
Speaker 1: in this building or whether it's people outside of the building.
Speaker 1: And in the end, when you have that, I think
Speaker 1: that's probably most important is to know you have support.
Speaker 1: And when you have support, um, there's a lot more
Speaker 1: confidence in how you do things. So being able to
Speaker 1: have support from family or friends and people in this building,
Speaker 1: it definitely helps. And this is a part of the job,
Speaker 1: right this is this is there's thirty two of us
Speaker 1: right now in this league, in the NFL that are
Speaker 1: fortunate enough to be sitting in the chair that I
Speaker 1: sit in. And that's why every single day I'll never
Speaker 1: look back and say I wish I would have spent
Speaker 1: that Tuesday a little bit different, or a little bit harder,
Speaker 1: or not felt sorry for myself as I did. Forget
Speaker 1: that that's not going to happen, you know, and I
Speaker 1: can look back and say that, So as you go
Speaker 1: through life's journeys and the seasons of life, as I
Speaker 1: like to call it, everything happens for a reason. And
Speaker 1: that's the message to our players and our coaches as
Speaker 1: we go through you know, any peaks and valleys is
Speaker 1: never get too big, never get to you know, never
Speaker 1: get too low. And how you handle things and things
Speaker 1: that are supposed to happen will happen. That's how I
Speaker 1: attack it. Matt. Appreciate it. Another season in the books
Speaker 1: for the Coaches Show. You go out and play the
Speaker 1: Vikings for the second time here in a few weeks,
Speaker 1: So good luck in the finale. But from everybody here
Speaker 1: at WBBM and the Bears Radio Network want to say
Speaker 1: thank you for making yourself available. Because number one, there's
Speaker 1: never enough time in a day, certainly not enough time
Speaker 1: to do a one hour talk show about the game
Speaker 1: that just happened when you're preparing for the next one.
Speaker 1: But you've been enjoyed to work with as always and
Speaker 1: one hundred percent professional with great integrity. So thank you
Speaker 1: from everyone here at WBBM for this season and all
Speaker 1: the time you gave us. I appreciate Jeff, you know
Speaker 1: how much fun we have, whether we're on record or
Speaker 1: all record, we have a lot of good time together
Speaker 1: and you're you're the best at us. So appreciate you
Speaker 1: all right, appreciate it, Matt. Coming up next, Bill Laser,
Speaker 1: the Bears offensive coordinator trio left single right with Robinson
Speaker 1: snapped to Dalton on fourth down, staring into the end
Speaker 1: zone coming across flip the right, Darnel Moony the catch
Speaker 1: had a touchdown touchdown Bear. Come watch the Bears game
Speaker 1: at Durban's in Burbank on Sunday at this week's official
Speaker 1: Miller Light Chicago Bears Watch Party. Visit Chicago Bears dot
Speaker 1: com Slash fan Zone Slash Watch Parties for more information
Speaker 1: With Bears offensive coordinator Bill Laser. The Coaches Show continues,
Speaker 1: Bill Happy, New York. Congratulations on the win yesterday. How
Speaker 1: you feeling feeling good? It's always better after we win,
Speaker 1: always always coming out of the break. Here we have
Speaker 1: the highlight of Darnell Mooney's touchdown on a terrific throw
Speaker 1: by Andy Dalton on the end zone cross or to
Speaker 1: Darnell in the win yesterday. Can you break that play
Speaker 1: down for us? And had to be a pinpoint throw
Speaker 1: with everybody moving so fast to the right corner of
Speaker 1: the end zone. Yeah, well they uh, you know, they
Speaker 1: have the way they play their past coverage in the
Speaker 1: red zone. They got some extra players sitting in there,
Speaker 1: so the safety was was kind of trying to be
Speaker 1: a little robber and help, so we had a bunch
Speaker 1: of a bunch of things happening in front of him.
Speaker 1: He ended up sitting on one of the other crossers
Speaker 1: that he saw, and Darnell beat his man and got
Speaker 1: in behind him. Um, they're not easy to score on
Speaker 1: down there, you know, in fourth down. H Obviously is
Speaker 1: an ideal to put ourselves in that position. But I
Speaker 1: thought the guys played really fast and that that helped.
Speaker 1: Defense obviously had a good day, good day, setting up
Speaker 1: the offense nice and early. So how did that impact
Speaker 1: how you called the game? And I was the first
Speaker 1: thing I thought of. You're up fourteen nothing, you haven't
Speaker 1: probably even gotten into your top fifteen, So how does that?
Speaker 1: How does that work? Well? I think I think we
Speaker 1: were really happy that we took advantage of those first
Speaker 1: two uh short fields. Obviously the two the two yard
Speaker 1: or is a heck of a way to start the game. Uh,
Speaker 1: and to knock that in. I think those two things
Speaker 1: give you a momentum right away. Our next couple drives
Speaker 1: obviously did not move the ball. We did not move
Speaker 1: the ball nearly as well, and sometimes they do some
Speaker 1: things a little differently coming in. You know, they get
Speaker 1: they get paid to plan and game plan also, so
Speaker 1: we made some adjustments as we went and uh, we
Speaker 1: ended up kind of picking it back up. So like
Speaker 1: a lot of these NFL games, there are momentum swings
Speaker 1: that go back and forth. But I think when when
Speaker 1: when we started with that momentum on the two short
Speaker 1: drives and finished them off with scores, I think it
Speaker 1: gave our guys confidence that even when we hit maybe
Speaker 1: hit a lull, we were gonna be okay, We're gonna
Speaker 1: be able to get it turned. How'd you feel Andy
Speaker 1: Dalton played yesterday? And how important was him just to
Speaker 1: get another start because he's been an unbelievable teammate, came
Speaker 1: here for a reason and h has been nothing but
Speaker 1: a great leader and a great dude in that locker room.
Speaker 1: But just to get just to get another chance before
Speaker 1: the season ends, well, you know, you end up you
Speaker 1: end up really pulling for the guys. You know he's
Speaker 1: spent a lot of time around them, and uh, excuse me,
Speaker 1: I've been with Andy in the past also, But when
Speaker 1: you see how hard he works and the great positive
Speaker 1: effect that he's had on so many people in the
Speaker 1: locker room and in the meeting room and on the
Speaker 1: practice field, players and coaches. I think he's had a
Speaker 1: great effect on the team. So when you see that,
Speaker 1: then you can't help but root for them. Usually it's
Speaker 1: not ideal when you're starting multiple quarterbacks throughout the season,
Speaker 1: and we've started three, but we're just fortunate, you know that,
Speaker 1: in having these guys that can come in and win
Speaker 1: games for us. And so I yeah, personally really rooting
Speaker 1: for Andy to do well and to get the victory,
Speaker 1: which he did, and um, you know, so I think
Speaker 1: that was great. I think some of the stuff that
Speaker 1: Andy does out there, it's a little bit hidden. It's
Speaker 1: hard to see the he calls things, the adjustments he makes,
Speaker 1: the protections, the cadence he uses, just how he keep
Speaker 1: guys calm and communicates got with guys on the sideline.
Speaker 1: A lot of that stuff, you know, turns into the
Speaker 1: old saying of you know, he makes the guys around
Speaker 1: him better, And I think that's that's one of the
Speaker 1: things you could say about it. And he when when, when,
Speaker 1: when his presence starts affecting the other guys, it helps
Speaker 1: make everybody else better. I mean, just a simple thing
Speaker 1: when you're in four minute using the whole plate clock,
Speaker 1: or vice versa. When at the end of the first half,
Speaker 1: when we were in two minute trying to score before
Speaker 1: the half. You know how how quickly he gets guys
Speaker 1: lined up and all those little things he does. It
Speaker 1: helps make everybody else better. Snap with the two. Here's
Speaker 1: the handoff. Montgomery blessing up the battle head into the
Speaker 1: end zone. Put a touchdown, his second of the day,
Speaker 1: and the Bears lead is now blowed. It's twenty eight
Speaker 1: three over the New York Giants. Welcome back to the
Speaker 1: Bears Coaching Show with Bears offensive coordinator Bill Lazier. Were
Speaker 1: David Montgomery's second touchdown of the day and the Bears
Speaker 1: twenty nine three went over the Giants. Up His progress
Speaker 1: over the course of the season, obviously interrupted by an injury,
Speaker 1: but overall these two games, these last two games, perfect
Speaker 1: example of just sticking to the run and he's grinding.
Speaker 1: He's grinding. He may get he may get stuffed a
Speaker 1: couple of times, but he's grinding out yards. I got
Speaker 1: a lot of yards after contact yesterday. There were a
Speaker 1: number of runs where you looked at it and maybe
Speaker 1: guys were just edged a little bit, you know, where
Speaker 1: maybe the defender's arm was coming off or sold it
Speaker 1: was coming off, and and David ended up pushing, you know,
Speaker 1: you know, being decisive, sticking, sticking the ball and that
Speaker 1: kind of the small the small opening at times that
Speaker 1: he saw and pushing it forward. And I think our
Speaker 1: linemen were feeling good about it because they would kind
Speaker 1: of help him push him forward. Gosh, there were some
Speaker 1: there were some examples of the lineman hustling down Jeff
Speaker 1: at the end of some plays where maybe we were
Speaker 1: pulled up right before the sticks, you know, and the
Speaker 1: runner was trying to keep his legs going, and the
Speaker 1: lineman running down and pushing the pile forward, you know,
Speaker 1: either past the stakes or to make it a real
Speaker 1: short one. So that kind of effort in the running
Speaker 1: game I thought was excellent. But I think David's toughness,
Speaker 1: the ability to finish runs, I mean, just think about it.
Speaker 1: He finishes every run with his head and shoulders pointing
Speaker 1: towards the far goal line, you know. And it's just
Speaker 1: a little thing, but I know, when you're calling the plays,
Speaker 1: the difference between a second and three and a second
Speaker 1: five can be big and certainly third and two and
Speaker 1: third and five is huge, and that's that's what happens
Speaker 1: when he finishes runs like that. Well, clearly the offensive
Speaker 1: line know that because you know they're fighting for him.
Speaker 1: Then because he's he's not going down easy those legs,
Speaker 1: as you say, he gets the leverage and he keeps
Speaker 1: on churning. I mean, I don't know how many times
Speaker 1: that's happened this season. No, he's they're they're they're doing
Speaker 1: they're doing great, and he's doing great also, Klie Herbert,
Speaker 1: I mean, do you the two of them together, is
Speaker 1: that a good one two punch? I mean, I think so.
Speaker 1: I think it has been. I think I think the
Speaker 1: one thing you know is there are only so many
Speaker 1: balls to go around. So so when you are a
Speaker 1: guy like Khalil, you know, when the times when David
Speaker 1: was out, obviously he I think he made the most
Speaker 1: of it and has great production. And then David comes
Speaker 1: back and so then, uh, you know, sometimes you wish
Speaker 1: you could get it to him more also, but it's
Speaker 1: it's uh, I think it's it's good. The effort he
Speaker 1: plays with, whether he's in for a past player run play,
Speaker 1: just making the most of every opportunity he has and
Speaker 1: obviously special teams as part of it. So you know
Speaker 1: that's we all just keep doing our part. Seventeen game
Speaker 1: regular season, just keep keep plugging away. When your numbers
Speaker 1: called you, you you answer the bell. I think Khalil
Speaker 1: has done that. So I'm I'm really happy real quick
Speaker 1: on the wildcat and the throw because I'm sure the
Speaker 1: wind tasted great. Uh the wind felt great for David,
Speaker 1: but just some elevation on the throw. He's probably gonna
Speaker 1: keep thinking about that that one because you know, I'd
Speaker 1: love to play. I mean, we we've we've seen that
Speaker 1: in college obviously the pop to stop and pop, but wow,
Speaker 1: that would have been fun. Well, you know, everyone knows
Speaker 1: we're one of the thath more one of the most
Speaker 1: frequent uh wildcat usage teams in the league. In a
Speaker 1: lot of it's because we have David who not only
Speaker 1: is a great runner but also a great decision maker,
Speaker 1: so we can put him in those kind of positions
Speaker 1: and uh, you know we so because of that, we
Speaker 1: felt like it was really set up. And I think
Speaker 1: a fourth down, four minute uh situation is probably exactly
Speaker 1: the right time when you're going to have them really
Speaker 1: selling out to stop the run. So, believe it or not,
Speaker 1: David might be the best thrower on the team. I
Speaker 1: mean he can launch the ball far down the field,
Speaker 1: great spirals, very accurate. So uh, you know it may
Speaker 1: not be his last opportunity. Let's back it up a second.
Speaker 1: The best throw on the team, that includes on my
Speaker 1: quarter backs, he'd be in he'd be in the competition, Jeff,
Speaker 1: come on, if he did it, he can, he can,
Speaker 1: he can really slay it someone someday. You have to
Speaker 1: ask him to hear his high school cadence too, when
Speaker 1: he was the quarterback. That might be the best part
Speaker 1: of it. It's his high school cads. We don't let
Speaker 1: him do that on the game field, but everyone swile
Speaker 1: in practice he does, is it? Uh? Well, just give
Speaker 1: us a little sneak. No, I wouldn't do well, you
Speaker 1: get you have to get David on. But let me
Speaker 1: ask you this is it? Is it funny? Is it humorous? Well? No,
Speaker 1: it's it's uh the parts of humors? Seriously is about it? Okay?
Speaker 1: But he you know, we obviously trust him with with
Speaker 1: with everything, and uh he is he is a very
Speaker 1: good thrower, so I'm sure it won't be his last
Speaker 1: pass ever, and that's interesting to see. Also an interesting nugget.
Speaker 1: Before yesterday, he and Barkley each had forty two games,
Speaker 1: Barkley obviously a top ten pick the NFL and David
Speaker 1: at third round running back, but their numbers were virtually
Speaker 1: identical in their first forty two NFL game. Well, you know,
Speaker 1: we live with it every day with them. I didn't
Speaker 1: do a statistical analysis of the two of them, but
Speaker 1: I know what we've got in David. I mean, I
Speaker 1: just know when when David's going, and it's not just
Speaker 1: David usually when he's in rhythm, it's because the line's
Speaker 1: in rhythm and we get that going. That's that's probably
Speaker 1: everyone would agrees when we're at our best. Back In
Speaker 1: our final segment with Bears offensive coordinator Bill Laser here
Speaker 1: on the Bears Coaches Show, as we look back and
Speaker 1: look ahead, we'll get to the Vikings in just a second.
Speaker 1: What have you learned about this team? What have you
Speaker 1: learned about this unit over the course of the season
Speaker 1: and how things have gone. Well, Like we were talking
Speaker 1: about earlier, I think I think we operate best when
Speaker 1: we kind of have both running past going at the
Speaker 1: same time, which you know, is generally means that the
Speaker 1: line is playing well right because they're protecting and they're
Speaker 1: they're opening holes. And then I think, you know, we've
Speaker 1: seen David kind of get in those rhythms where he
Speaker 1: gets some momentum going and when when he was out.
Speaker 1: I think the same thing with Khalil and Um. When
Speaker 1: we when we add some big plays which generally have
Speaker 1: come for us, you know, our explosives in the passing game,
Speaker 1: I think that's when when we've really been at our best.
Speaker 1: So we just we just try to be able to
Speaker 1: do it all. Some week's calls for a little bit
Speaker 1: more than others, and these other teams they get to
Speaker 1: game plan too and try to take away what they
Speaker 1: want to take away, so we have to react. But
Speaker 1: I think when we can get it all all cylinders
Speaker 1: firing at once, that's that's when we've been at our best. Man. Now,
Speaker 1: you said earlier tonight on the Coaches Show that if healthy,
Speaker 1: if he's ready to get cleared uh and get on
Speaker 1: the practice field Wednesday, Justin Fields would get to start
Speaker 1: against Minnesota as he developed a new floor from where
Speaker 1: he started. As you look at this here in the
Speaker 1: final final week of the season for where he can
Speaker 1: take off from moving forward. Well, I don't. I probably
Speaker 1: don't spend as much time as as as people on
Speaker 1: the outside looking at the picture stuff and in labeling things.
Speaker 1: I think we just we just look at what his
Speaker 1: progression has been, and we spend so much time, Jeff
Speaker 1: just looking at each and every play and each and
Speaker 1: every drive, and each and every game. And you know,
Speaker 1: when you when you watch and some of these later
Speaker 1: games that he's played, how he's moved just down the
Speaker 1: field in the fourth quarter and put us ahead in
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter with some fourth quarter drives. You know,
Speaker 1: it really gives you your great promise and hope for
Speaker 1: the future and all those things you talked about with Andy.
Speaker 1: And I'm sure Nick has also put put some things
Speaker 1: in his cup as well. I'm talking about Justin's cup
Speaker 1: of information. Um, you only can lead a horse to water,
Speaker 1: you can't make him drink it. But do you think
Speaker 1: he's been drinking up that information? I think so. I
Speaker 1: think he's he's bright, and he works hard, and he
Speaker 1: wants to he wants to be great. Uh, he's just
Speaker 1: he's fortunate to have some some veteran guys around him.
Speaker 1: Whether it be watching them on the game field or
Speaker 1: even just the little things on practice field that they do,
Speaker 1: and um, you know, for him for him to be
Speaker 1: able to learn from them and at the same time
Speaker 1: to be getting some game experience this year, I think
Speaker 1: that's that's it's valuable to put those those two things together.
Speaker 1: So you're only going to see more and more of
Speaker 1: the little things show up with with justin Now it's
Speaker 1: time to look ahead. Brought to you by Bette Rivers,
Speaker 1: the official sports book partner of the Bears finale at
Speaker 1: us Bank Stadium, six time in eight years, the Bears
Speaker 1: close out in Minnesota, second look at the Vikings bill
Speaker 1: and a short turnaround. So we know exactly what we're expecting,
Speaker 1: right well, we know we know how they play defense.
Speaker 1: We know how good they've been on third down. We
Speaker 1: know they're they're very multiple in their blitz packages. We
Speaker 1: know they've got some bedroom players who've been in this
Speaker 1: system a long time who are are hard to fool,
Speaker 1: you know, in in who kind of know know how
Speaker 1: we've attacked them in the past. You know, I'm talking
Speaker 1: about their linebackers and their their safety. You know, these
Speaker 1: these are good, smart players. So it'll be it'll be
Speaker 1: a challenge. You know, I was on the COVID COVID
Speaker 1: Reserve Quarantine when we played them last time, so I uh,
Speaker 1: I'm going through the game film again now. But you
Speaker 1: know I watched this one from from Quarantine. It was
Speaker 1: which was tough. I expect it to be a battle.
Speaker 1: You know. I don't think they're gonna lay down, but
Speaker 1: by any means. And uh, you know, when when you're
Speaker 1: dealing with the division rival, guys know each other so well,
Speaker 1: uh that even the little things up front to a
Speaker 1: line and the deal and they start knowing each other's calls,
Speaker 1: they know, they know how guys play different blocks. So
Speaker 1: it becomes not only a chess match but also a
Speaker 1: real tight battle. So that that's what I expect. Bill.
Speaker 1: I want to thank you for all your time this year. Again,
Speaker 1: appreciate it. I no time is valuable for any coach
Speaker 1: in an NFL office, So you've been great to work
Speaker 1: with this year. Thank you so much. Thanks Jeff, I
Speaker 1: appreciate it. Good luck, good luck on Sunday. That's gonna
Speaker 1: do it for to Night Show. I want to thank
Speaker 1: Keith Johnson, Dan Billy and Jordan Trump for all there
Speaker 1: helped this season and tonight, along with head coach Mattoneggie
Speaker 1: and Bears offensive coordinator Bill Lazier, our coverage of the
Speaker 1: Vikings nine AM pregame neon the kickoff from Minnesota for
Speaker 1: the season finale. Good night, everybody. I'm Jeff Joniak and
Speaker 1: this is News Radio one oh five nine WDBBM