Speaker 1: Welcome in everybody to a Wildcard playoff edition of The
Speaker 1: Bears Coaches Show with Bears head coach Mattneggie. Jeff Joniac
Speaker 1: with you in two eight o'clock to nights and congratulations
Speaker 1: you're in the tournament. Yeah, thanks Jeff. You know it's
Speaker 1: it is exciting for us, and that's when you start
Speaker 1: this season. You want to be able to do just that.
Speaker 1: If you know, if you don't get into playoffs, you
Speaker 1: have no shot. So we have an opportunity here. We
Speaker 1: got to make the most of it against a really
Speaker 1: good football team. All Right. You don't like a lot
Speaker 1: of numbers, you don't like a lot of map, but
Speaker 1: this one's pertinent. I don't know if you know this,
Speaker 1: but now you're the eighth team since two thousand to
Speaker 1: get in at eight and eight. Those first seven teams
Speaker 1: that went in at eight and eight six and one
Speaker 1: in their playoff opener. So it's a clean slate. Easier
Speaker 1: said than done, of course, but it's a good point
Speaker 1: to rid your minds as a team of what happened
Speaker 1: against Green Bay and because it's your rival, because it's
Speaker 1: so emotionally attached and it's so necessary. I understand that
Speaker 1: it's hard to get rid of. But does that help
Speaker 1: clean the slate a little bit with knowledge like that, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think it does. And our guys understand, you know,
Speaker 1: they've worked really hard to get to the playoffs, and
Speaker 1: now you know, as this thing goes for this team
Speaker 1: and for us the last three years, you know, the
Speaker 1: only one that we have to work off of is
Speaker 1: that Eagles game, right that and the electric electricity that
Speaker 1: was going on in that stadium when we played them,
Speaker 1: and um, and now here we are we get another
Speaker 1: opportunity where everything amps up just a little bit more.
Speaker 1: And so our guys they know that there should be
Speaker 1: no reason for anybody to not be completely fired up
Speaker 1: to get into this game, get everything they got and
Speaker 1: know that no matter who we play, right, we always
Speaker 1: prepare the same in and out each and every week.
Speaker 1: And now we got to go out there and we
Speaker 1: got to play together all three phases on Sunday. Yeah,
Speaker 1: most of the key people that are going to be
Speaker 1: in charge of making the big place for you on
Speaker 1: Sunday in New Orleans have that playoff experience, and including
Speaker 1: your quarterback. That to me is a significant thing as
Speaker 1: opposed to being a first goal around in a playoff game. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's important to have that experience kind of know the
Speaker 1: mindset of that of how that thing goes, so they'll
Speaker 1: be prepared. We'll put we'll put together a good week
Speaker 1: of practice and and it'll be important for our coaches
Speaker 1: to be locked in as well. Will you do anything
Speaker 1: different practice wise this week then you have in the
Speaker 1: last month, given the protocols, the Monday Tuesday thing, I'm
Speaker 1: certain is still as a league rule, right, so you
Speaker 1: won't see him till Wednesday, And will you do anything
Speaker 1: differently or are you going to try and keep the
Speaker 1: same momentum. We'll keep most of it the same schedule wise,
Speaker 1: we might we might ramp up practice just slightly on
Speaker 1: Wednesday for just one or two periods, just to be
Speaker 1: able to get some some you know, some full speed reps,
Speaker 1: which I do think is important. But the guys, we
Speaker 1: also have guys that are taking care of their bodies.
Speaker 1: You know, you're this far into the season. That's very
Speaker 1: important to be sure that they're healthy. So we'll have
Speaker 1: a nice little balunce, but for the most part, it'll
Speaker 1: be the same. And just so everybody knows, there's no
Speaker 1: discussion right now on injuries to Roquan and Darnel Mooney
Speaker 1: or Jalen Johnson or buster screen that I'll be revealed
Speaker 1: on Wednesday. But needless to say, with those two young guys,
Speaker 1: the way they've played, it'd be it'd be tough to
Speaker 1: not have them. Yeah, no, for sure. I mean they're
Speaker 1: playing at really high levels. And Mooney yesterday, you know,
Speaker 1: he had that one long catch and made some I
Speaker 1: mean his effort run after the catch. He refuses to
Speaker 1: go out of bounce and you love that. And Roquean,
Speaker 1: we all know what He's been so vital to this
Speaker 1: defense all year long, playing at an extremely high level.
Speaker 1: So we'll have to keep an eye on them moving
Speaker 1: forward to see where they're at, you know, and just
Speaker 1: keep our fingers across and stay optimistic. And sometimes it
Speaker 1: looks different than it sounds, and sometimes it sounds different
Speaker 1: than it looks. But I thought it was one of
Speaker 1: the more physical games of the year. Do you agree?
Speaker 1: I do? Yeah, I really do. There are sometimes there.
Speaker 1: You saw Cole Comet low on his shoulder and those
Speaker 1: guys hitting pretty good, and we knew it was going
Speaker 1: to be like that. You know, they're a good football team.
Speaker 1: They're gonna be physical, but yeah, our guys are always
Speaker 1: ready for that. Tell us about the note card, because
Speaker 1: you showed the media this morning on a zoom the
Speaker 1: placard you gave the players four weeks ago after that
Speaker 1: six game losing streak, and what was the motivation behind
Speaker 1: it and how did it serve you? Do you feel
Speaker 1: and how will it serve you going into this game? Yeah,
Speaker 1: so you know what it was, Jeff, was something that
Speaker 1: we gave to every single person in that building. Um,
Speaker 1: it's about a six by six index card where it
Speaker 1: says January Sunday, January third, twenty twenty one and seven pm.
Speaker 1: And that was a goal that we had set out
Speaker 1: after we lost that Detroit game, was we have four
Speaker 1: games sitting in front of us, and if we do
Speaker 1: what we're supposed to do, which is windows games, will
Speaker 1: at least have an opportunity at the end to make
Speaker 1: the playoffs. So we had a goal, and every single
Speaker 1: day that they walked into the Hollis Hall on our
Speaker 1: big video board that never changed for over a month.
Speaker 1: It sat the first thing they saw when they got
Speaker 1: their connects on and put it on their wrists. So
Speaker 1: and then we had a Bears helmet and it had
Speaker 1: a dot dot dot with who our opponent's going to be.
Speaker 1: So now, Jeff, when they walk in on Wednesday for
Speaker 1: the first time, they're going to see the same deal,
Speaker 1: right with a Bears helmet versus the Saints, and they
Speaker 1: they've earned that, and so here we go that it's
Speaker 1: now there'll be a new challenge that we have, right
Speaker 1: and that'll be just our messaging as we go yesterday.
Speaker 1: The red zone touchdown efficiency, that's the key and the
Speaker 1: defense giving up a couple big plays but also not
Speaker 1: able to finish a couple big plays. And when you
Speaker 1: boil it all down despite the margin of defeat, despite
Speaker 1: the defeat itself, does it just boil down to that?
Speaker 1: I think it does. You look at again, a big
Speaker 1: part of that game was time and possession. A big
Speaker 1: part of that game was being able to to, you know,
Speaker 1: keep it right where you need to score wise, and
Speaker 1: then be able to have a chance to win in
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter. But when you look at the one
Speaker 1: stat they were four for four in the red zone
Speaker 1: and we were one for five. I think because all
Speaker 1: of that talk about the defense, is there anything concerning
Speaker 1: you right now about what they're giving up and what
Speaker 1: they're not getting. Sure, I think I think the biggest
Speaker 1: thing in our guys will be the first to tell
Speaker 1: you that we love to be able to get a
Speaker 1: couple more sacks and change the field position some turnovers.
Speaker 1: As you and I have talked previously, you know this
Speaker 1: is we had. We had a couple of chances yesterday
Speaker 1: where the ball, you know, make make make an interception
Speaker 1: here there, and it flips the field. But our guys,
Speaker 1: our guys are doing everything they can positionally into get
Speaker 1: in the right spot and uh, and now we just
Speaker 1: got to turn it up and you never know what
Speaker 1: happens here in the playoffs, all right, everybody has to
Speaker 1: step up when someone leaves. It's the chance, it's everybody's
Speaker 1: golden chance. Josh Woods had his chance yesterday, got put
Speaker 1: in some positions of difficulty with Aaron Rodgers because he will,
Speaker 1: he will orchestrate that and find mismatches. How did he perform?
Speaker 1: Because I know he's an excited player, an excitable player
Speaker 1: and a guy who works hard. I thought that he
Speaker 1: definitely did a good job coming on in there. And
Speaker 1: it's a it's a prime example, Jeff, for guys to
Speaker 1: always be alert all week in practice right always you're
Speaker 1: one play away, and Josh had his opportunity yesterday and
Speaker 1: against a really good offense, and there's a couple plays
Speaker 1: here there that he's gonna want back. But love his effort,
Speaker 1: love his want, love his passion, and times like that
Speaker 1: when that happens is that's when you're leaders on that
Speaker 1: defense can help him. And I thought they did that
Speaker 1: high formation backfield, Montgomery with a fullback ahead of him,
Speaker 1: Trivistian the taking the turn, Montgomery's sliding for the goal line,
Speaker 1: and he's in for the touchdown. Welcome back to the
Speaker 1: Bears Coaching Show, brought to you by Whippley CPAs and Consultants,
Speaker 1: a proud partner of the Chicago Bears. Learn more at
Speaker 1: Whipley dot com. That was David Montgomery's touchdown. Five straight
Speaker 1: games for the touchdown for Monty. I started calling him
Speaker 1: General Montgomery after the game yesterday on our TV show
Speaker 1: because I was saluting him, Matt. I was saluting this
Speaker 1: young man because again he continues to break tackles. He
Speaker 1: forced his guys to really want to tackle him. And
Speaker 1: in the end, after all the struggles this season and
Speaker 1: him missing a game because of a concussion. He wound
Speaker 1: up with over fifteen hundred yards from scrimmage in the
Speaker 1: regular season. That's among the tops in the league, So
Speaker 1: you gotta give it to him. In fact, no player
Speaker 1: other than Montgomery rushed for over a thousand yards and
Speaker 1: add over four yards receiving. So you think about that
Speaker 1: and all the great backs in this league, and I
Speaker 1: know a thousand yards anymore doesn't seem like a lot,
Speaker 1: but given what he went through, given what the offenses
Speaker 1: went through, that was a significant accomplishment for your entire offense,
Speaker 1: let alone him. I think that's the biggest thing you
Speaker 1: make notion of right there, is just that you know
Speaker 1: David or you know General Montgomery. As you say, he's
Speaker 1: one of the most selfless people you've ever met in
Speaker 1: your entire life. All he cares about as the team,
Speaker 1: and he's going to do everything he can to practice hard,
Speaker 1: to go out and give it every single ounce of
Speaker 1: effort that he has in every single game. And his
Speaker 1: teammates around him have stepped up. He's stepped up at
Speaker 1: big times, and it's just a credit to who he is.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about the old line too, because we've given
Speaker 1: them a lot of credit and you know, one of
Speaker 1: the things that obviously Mustafer and Bars brought to the
Speaker 1: table was just the unifying idea of hey, we're all
Speaker 1: here to help each other, whether it's to run into
Speaker 1: them to pick him up off the field. The more
Speaker 1: and more you talked about, the more and more I
Speaker 1: watched it and I noticed it, and it became a
Speaker 1: thing for everybody. How significant will this be for that
Speaker 1: group to stay together in this playoff game and do
Speaker 1: whatever it can to help this offense get the job done. Well,
Speaker 1: it'll be big. And they see they're they're very natural
Speaker 1: doing that that leadership stuff and the focus and determination
Speaker 1: and passionate fire and grid everything that they have to
Speaker 1: be the best that we can. And so you know,
Speaker 1: the thing that I like about them too, And then
Speaker 1: all the guys on that offensive line is if they
Speaker 1: make a mistake, or if they miss a block, or
Speaker 1: if they have something that doesn't happen the right way,
Speaker 1: there's an accountability. So every time they come off the field, hey,
Speaker 1: you know, hey, my bad, I missed that block. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna get it the next time. And you appreciate that.
Speaker 1: But there's a lot of great things that they're doing
Speaker 1: as a big reason for the resurgence in our rush game.
Speaker 1: All right, yesterday you young players, the Mooney, the Montgomery,
Speaker 1: the Commet production total two hundred and sixty seven yards.
Speaker 1: That's a great sign for now and in the future.
Speaker 1: But it's the way each of those three guys play.
Speaker 1: They come with attitude, they come with confidence, they come
Speaker 1: with Okay, if you're gonna hit me, you're gonna have
Speaker 1: to bring an army. What does that mean to you
Speaker 1: guys right now? Well, it's it's big because when you
Speaker 1: have young guys like that that are you know, these
Speaker 1: rookies that are coming in here and just bringing the
Speaker 1: energy and the juice and they're productive at this point
Speaker 1: in time in the season. That's huge. And I think
Speaker 1: that speaks volumes to what Ryan and his guys have
Speaker 1: done in regards to finding these guys in the draft
Speaker 1: and being able to have guys that are able to
Speaker 1: come in and play and be a big part of
Speaker 1: this You got you you got to be able to
Speaker 1: have them, and they've done that. You know, Mooney to
Speaker 1: have eleven catches yesterday, that's great, you know, for for
Speaker 1: Cole Commet early on in the game to be able
Speaker 1: to make some plays and bring the wood like you
Speaker 1: feel that from our tight ends, and uh, you know
Speaker 1: they're only going to get better. And that's what's pretty
Speaker 1: neat the fact he grew up a Bears fan and
Speaker 1: didn't have much taste for a packer green and gold
Speaker 1: in his house. As he said this week, you felt
Speaker 1: it right away with Colt Comet. You had some mere
Speaker 1: hustling going on there with those guys right getting in
Speaker 1: their face a little bit, he did, and you got
Speaker 1: to appreciate that, you know, And I always appreciate that
Speaker 1: from him. He's a tough kid, blue collar kid that just, uh,
Speaker 1: he likes he likes the physicality. Let's talk about that.
Speaker 1: When is enough enough on the physicality, meaning, for example,
Speaker 1: prone to having it torn out of there when you
Speaker 1: got taken on four or five guys. Yeah, it's just
Speaker 1: probably more than anything, Jeff, it's the awareness of knowing
Speaker 1: that the longer you do that, the more people are
Speaker 1: going to come around that pile and try to get
Speaker 1: the ball out. Now, on his fumble fall into the ground,
Speaker 1: and it was close, but he's just got to be
Speaker 1: super aware of that and make sure that he's always
Speaker 1: you know, five point in the ball, it's protected and
Speaker 1: because you know those those turnovers are big and he
Speaker 1: no one knows that more. I mean, he understands that,
Speaker 1: trust me, and he gets that. And I just love
Speaker 1: his effort. Two years in a row now only six
Speaker 1: lost fumbles this year, seven last year. That was a
Speaker 1: franchise record, So you topped another record there. So the
Speaker 1: ball may come out, but you may get it back
Speaker 1: and then that's that's a critical component too. You don't
Speaker 1: want these aggressive defenses prying the ball out of there,
Speaker 1: so that's that's a good thing. And then we got
Speaker 1: to talk about Cairo Santos set the team's all time
Speaker 1: record for field goal accuracy. Had no idea really how
Speaker 1: it was going to go thirty to thirty two, one
Speaker 1: hundred and twenty six points, most by ambarrassance. Robbie Gold,
Speaker 1: I don't know if you can throw enough bouquets in
Speaker 1: his direction, because the confidence you must have with putting
Speaker 1: him out there now is at an all time high. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's amazing, isn't it. How what we've gone from
Speaker 1: in the last couple of years, and now you have
Speaker 1: a guy like Cairo who's just kind of he's just
Speaker 1: done his things. He goes out there, he kicks the ball,
Speaker 1: he makes it and he comes on off and I think, well,
Speaker 1: we've been through in the last couple of years. Again,
Speaker 1: it's a credit to what Ryan and these guys have
Speaker 1: done and bringing in guys like that that all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, now you got a kicker that has come
Speaker 1: in here and just he's made a lot of kicks,
Speaker 1: you know, and you appreciate that. So he's had a
Speaker 1: great mental focus this whole time. And now we don't
Speaker 1: want a lot of field goals. We want more touchdowns,
Speaker 1: and that that's you know, that that's what we got
Speaker 1: to get touchdowns, no field goals. They're going deep to
Speaker 1: Moody down the field team makes the catch over the
Speaker 1: top of the defender, hitside the ten down near the
Speaker 1: yard line. What an incredible catch. But Darnel Mooney, Darnell
Speaker 1: Mooney where a wonderful fifty three yard grab over the
Speaker 1: top of safety Darnell Savage. And yesterday's loss to the
Speaker 1: Green Bay Packers. Here with Matt Naggie on the Bears
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Speaker 1: all Pros to learn more. I got to talk more
Speaker 1: about that catch. You high point it, but it's the
Speaker 1: body control all the way to the ground, gripping it
Speaker 1: and ripping it. That's one of the finest catches of
Speaker 1: the year. Yes or no, No, without a doubt, because
Speaker 1: that's not an easy catch. That's a catch that uh
Speaker 1: you know, when you are jumping up in the air
Speaker 1: like that, you got a defender on you. You gotta
Speaker 1: be able to high point it, come down and still
Speaker 1: when you land and hit the ground, you know, sometimes
Speaker 1: you see where it pauses you to just had that
Speaker 1: ball come out, and you know, Mitch did help. Mitch
Speaker 1: did a hell of a job of being able to
Speaker 1: put that ball out there to give him a chance
Speaker 1: to go make it, and he did it. Else that
Speaker 1: was good, an exceptional day. I think he surpassed everybody's
Speaker 1: initial expectations, maybe even for you as a fifth round pick.
Speaker 1: There's still a development window, you know, but and and
Speaker 1: now that development windows still open for this guy. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, you know, for what he's done. And you
Speaker 1: remember at the beginning when we had him in training camp,
Speaker 1: we weren't real sure until we got into some of
Speaker 1: those games in training camp as to how he was
Speaker 1: going to hold up. But the first route we saw
Speaker 1: him run in, uh, you know in training camp you
Speaker 1: just know knew it and you felt it, and you
Speaker 1: know his work ethic now is second to none, and
Speaker 1: his care factor is you know, the sky's the limits.
Speaker 1: So you put all that together and you get productivity.
Speaker 1: Commit you also set a team record for passing first downs.
Speaker 1: I don't think people would have realized that given the
Speaker 1: slow struggles this season, for every little step is more
Speaker 1: towards the end game and the journey. Right, Yeah, that's right,
Speaker 1: And it is just that it is a journey and
Speaker 1: and our guys are you know, it's it's it's we
Speaker 1: got to be able to understand. Okay, big picture is
Speaker 1: us is here. We are, we sit right now here
Speaker 1: on Monday, January fourth, and we have an opportunity sitting
Speaker 1: in front of us. What are we going to do
Speaker 1: with it? And as you said earlier in this you
Speaker 1: know call we Uh you know, there's some teams that
Speaker 1: go on in there and and and win, and it's
Speaker 1: not going to be easy, but we believe in each
Speaker 1: other and sometimes when that happens, that belief is strong,
Speaker 1: it's powerful, and crazy things happen. So we're I'm just
Speaker 1: proud of our guys and we got to get everything
Speaker 1: we got. All right, let's start talking about the Saints
Speaker 1: played them lost to him buy a field goal in
Speaker 1: overtime at Soldier Field. It was a well fought game. Um,
Speaker 1: what are you looking at with these guys right now
Speaker 1: in their home gym, Because Drew Brees obviously is no
Speaker 1: different in terms of his excellence in ball control, possession time,
Speaker 1: completion percentage, lack of interceptions, lack of sex and the
Speaker 1: guy you just faced in Aaron Rodgers. Yeah, no, I
Speaker 1: mean you're talking about back to back quarterbacks that are
Speaker 1: some of the best to ever play in the history
Speaker 1: of the game. So we understand that. But what a
Speaker 1: what a great challenge for us, you know when you
Speaker 1: look at that, and I also say in regards to
Speaker 1: their coaching staff and their personnel and their defense. You know,
Speaker 1: their defense has been really good the last couple of years,
Speaker 1: and Dennis Allen does a really good job with them.
Speaker 1: So we got to make sure we have our a game,
Speaker 1: you know, playing them in their home home turf. They're
Speaker 1: they're obviously really good there. There'll be some fans there,
Speaker 1: but our guys will welcome to challenge. And like you said,
Speaker 1: we faced these guys already this year and we went
Speaker 1: to overtime, didn't have the result we wanted. But here
Speaker 1: we go in the playoffs now against them. Full started
Speaker 1: that game, Mitch starts this game. What will be looking
Speaker 1: at in terms of that defense at Dennis Allen, they've
Speaker 1: done some really good things, as you said, fifth fewest
Speaker 1: points allowed in the league right now, fourth in rushing
Speaker 1: yards allowed per game, eighth and saxon most impressively number
Speaker 1: one and passes defense and number one tied for the
Speaker 1: league with interceptions. Yeah, I think that that's probably right
Speaker 1: there is what you just said is, you know, again
Speaker 1: what what coach Allen has done as a defensive coordinator
Speaker 1: is they're really good on defense, and so what they do,
Speaker 1: it's hard to find a lot of teams that are
Speaker 1: that good at stopping the run or rush defense and
Speaker 1: then yet the same thing with the pass and then
Speaker 1: points and all that. So we have to make sure
Speaker 1: that we are really locked in and we have a
Speaker 1: great game plan, our players believe in it, and then
Speaker 1: we just gotta go do it. Yeah, they got a
Speaker 1: couple of guys really surprising with their production in terms
Speaker 1: of name recognition. Trey Hendrickson is not somebody that people
Speaker 1: think of as a big time pass rusher, but he
Speaker 1: finished with thirteen and a half sacks this year. That's
Speaker 1: one guy to block in tomorrow. Davis on the other
Speaker 1: side as well. All right, mentally, how do you shed
Speaker 1: this disappointment in your first meeting with these guys tomorrow?
Speaker 1: What are you gonna tell him? Well, there's I mean,
Speaker 1: so there's zero disappointment right now with our guys. I
Speaker 1: mean that was that was yesterday, that was last night,
Speaker 1: and so our guys, I mean I've already you know,
Speaker 1: had had phone calls and text messages of the vibe
Speaker 1: that's in the in the building right now. Just uh,
Speaker 1: the guys with lifting weights and they're they're so they're
Speaker 1: so locked in and folcused on New Orleans. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's that's the beauty of this whole thing, you know.
Speaker 1: I Mean it's like, all right, we understand from the
Speaker 1: fans perspective that it can kind of hang on and linger.
Speaker 1: But from a player's perspective, that's the cool part of
Speaker 1: these guys that we don't have a choice. We have
Speaker 1: to move on and here we go, and I think
Speaker 1: that's what's exciting for our guys. So's just life in
Speaker 1: the National Football League. All right, Matt, good luck with
Speaker 1: your preparation this week and we'll talk to you throughout
Speaker 1: the week. Thank you, Thanks Chef. Welcome back to the
Speaker 1: Bears Coaches Show. It's brought to you by Whippley, CPAs
Speaker 1: and Consultants. Bears fans, when shopping for your game day celebrations,
Speaker 1: don't forget to pick up your favorite varieties of Lays,
Speaker 1: potato chips, and Tostitos. Tostitos and Laser, an essential part
Speaker 1: of the game day tradition and the official chip of
Speaker 1: your Chicago Bears. Go Bears, and go Bears in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: Congratulations Bill Laser, the Bears, a veteran offensive coordinator joined
Speaker 1: the program. Now, Bill, in terms of preparation for this game,
Speaker 1: do you rely a lot on what happened out November First,
Speaker 1: there was a different quarterback, Nick Foles was a starter.
Speaker 1: Now it's Mitchell Trubisky. Or do you add wrinkles to
Speaker 1: the plan that fits what's currently going on with your team. Well,
Speaker 1: I think you start with watching that game, because that's
Speaker 1: how they'll start watching us. And then and then they'll
Speaker 1: they'll study what we've done lately for sure, both with
Speaker 1: the quarterback change and just with the evolutions that the
Speaker 1: offenses and defenses both go through during the season. You know,
Speaker 1: if you study their first couple of games of the year, uh,
Speaker 1: and you try to base everything off of, you know,
Speaker 1: what their coverage tendencies were, well, it might be a
Speaker 1: lot different now. They may have different players in there,
Speaker 1: they may find things that work better or worse for
Speaker 1: them as they go. So, you know, I think I
Speaker 1: think you look at the big picture. I think you
Speaker 1: look at the time we play them, because it was
Speaker 1: head to head, and that'll show you the matchups. And
Speaker 1: then I think you you zero in on the themes
Speaker 1: of you know, what is it lately for them? How
Speaker 1: are they playing? Maybe you can figure out the why.
Speaker 1: You know, why are they playing more zone or why
Speaker 1: are they playing more man? Why are they blitzing more?
Speaker 1: Why are they blitz the less? You know, is it
Speaker 1: working for them? You know the other thing you have
Speaker 1: to remember is there's a tendency to watch teams on
Speaker 1: video and say, oh, this is how they play this situation. Well,
Speaker 1: you also have to remember that in that situation, they
Speaker 1: were playing that team, right their NFL coaches and players,
Speaker 1: So they study us and on Sunday they're gonna play us,
Speaker 1: and they're gonna do what they think stops us. So
Speaker 1: you know, there's also a little bit of strategy and
Speaker 1: gamesmanship of okay, based on what we know of them,
Speaker 1: what do we think they'll do against us? Because they're
Speaker 1: having coaching meetings right now too, and they're making decisions.
Speaker 1: In terms of your game plan yesterday against the Packers,
Speaker 1: it seemed to be working well in terms of controlling
Speaker 1: the ball, something you do against great quarterbacks, try to
Speaker 1: keep them off the field. I would imagine a similar
Speaker 1: plan would be appropriate with a guy like Drew Brees.
Speaker 1: The difference is if you could just find a way
Speaker 1: to finish those red zone drives, those gold to gold drives. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, this is the NFL. You have to score
Speaker 1: points to win, especially when you play good teams. So
Speaker 1: you know, there are certain things that went the way
Speaker 1: we wanted yesterday, But you know, in this league, it's
Speaker 1: points that win games, you know, on offense, and so
Speaker 1: we've got to do a better job for sure. How
Speaker 1: did you like the way these guys went at it?
Speaker 1: I complimented the play and the toughness the young players.
Speaker 1: Montgomery commit and Mooney just fought for every inch yesterday. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I think I think all three of those guys have
Speaker 1: shown that they're tough when the balls in their hand.
Speaker 1: You know, they give great effort with the ball in
Speaker 1: their hand, whether it's in tight quarters being physical, or
Speaker 1: whether it's in open space, you know, making people miss. So,
Speaker 1: you know, I think at this point, no one's surprised
Speaker 1: by it. They've they've kind of proven themselves, you know what.
Speaker 1: The playoff atmosphere being what it is, the intensity does
Speaker 1: ratchet up. Players feel it almost immediately. Do you as
Speaker 1: a coach feel it too? And does that mean that
Speaker 1: you turn things in a different direction in a way
Speaker 1: to be more creative or you just can continue to
Speaker 1: hammer the importance of fundamentals and getting ready for this. Oh.
Speaker 1: I think. I think if you have a system that
Speaker 1: you that you believe in for preparation, then I can't
Speaker 1: think of a reason why you would change your preparation
Speaker 1: in your system. You know, the playoff games I've been
Speaker 1: a part of in the past. Um, I've obviously all
Speaker 1: had fans, So I don't know what the plan is
Speaker 1: for New Orleans. I haven't heard, but certainly this will
Speaker 1: be a different atmosphere. You know, normally when you go
Speaker 1: into a stadium for the playoffs, it's just great electricity,
Speaker 1: you know, from from the parking lots to the two
Speaker 1: when you walk out the tunnel, So that that'll certainly
Speaker 1: be missed I would think to some degree in this one.
Speaker 1: But yeah, no, as far as preparation goes, I mean,
Speaker 1: if you weren't doing what you think the best preparation
Speaker 1: was up until this point, then then that would have
Speaker 1: been a problem. Montgomery sets to the right off Trubisky
Speaker 1: must have for around the ball, sends back although snap
Speaker 1: Tribisky arches back in a throw short right bott Montgomery
Speaker 1: slips a tackle inside the thirty stone us feet rumbles
Speaker 1: down there. Of the nineteen to the eighteen Welcome Back
Speaker 1: to the Bears Coaches Show with Bears offensive coordinator Bill
Speaker 1: Laser with you until eight o'clock tonight. That highlight a
Speaker 1: fourteen yards quarter catch and run by David Montgomery. What
Speaker 1: a terrific season that turned out to be for David Montgomery.
Speaker 1: Over fifteen hundred yards from scrimmage among the tops in
Speaker 1: the league, and the pass catching aspect of In fact,
Speaker 1: he's the only guy in the league bill that had
Speaker 1: a grant on the ground and over four hundred yards receiving.
Speaker 1: When you think of all the great backs in this league,
Speaker 1: that's pretty impressive. One of the things it's hard to
Speaker 1: do for a bath to have that kind of statistical
Speaker 1: year is to last, right, I mean, to make it
Speaker 1: through sixteen games is hard. To make it through even
Speaker 1: close to that is hard. And I think that's one
Speaker 1: of the things about David that we have to recognize
Speaker 1: that he's a tough guy and he's durable, and he
Speaker 1: shows up every day he practices. You know, you get
Speaker 1: to the point sometimes later in the year when the
Speaker 1: guys get beat up and they get to the point
Speaker 1: where they can't quite practice the same way anymore. You know,
Speaker 1: I've been around that, and it's understandable because they take
Speaker 1: a lot of hits, but David does not flinch them.
Speaker 1: Telling you now, he shows up every day to work,
Speaker 1: and you know it might be a little bit of
Speaker 1: an old school mentality. But I do believe that the
Speaker 1: guys that show up on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and practice
Speaker 1: hard are going to keep getting better. And I think
Speaker 1: that's a little bit the story. David Montgomery shows up
Speaker 1: every day, works hard, keeps getting better, and you know,
Speaker 1: the production shows despite his production. Yesterday, Montgomery after the
Speaker 1: game said that, you know, he takes a lot of
Speaker 1: responsibility for the outcome. He didn't play well enough in
Speaker 1: his opinion. But with him, it's not just lip service
Speaker 1: and it sounds good. He really comes from an organic
Speaker 1: point of view on how he wants to play. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I can understand where he's coming from because I don't
Speaker 1: feel real good today to be honest with you about
Speaker 1: about about how it went. You know, you know, we
Speaker 1: went into the game certainly believe in one hundred percent
Speaker 1: we were gonna score more points than they did, and
Speaker 1: we weren't able to. So, you know, there's there's some disappointment.
Speaker 1: I mean, we've we've turned the page. Now we're we're
Speaker 1: watching New Orleans as a staff. But uh, you know,
Speaker 1: it's it's it's it's never easy to lose. So it's
Speaker 1: a it's bitter sweet there's no question. I mean, there's
Speaker 1: nothing sweet. Yeah yeah, right, Well well again you're in
Speaker 1: the playoffs, you got another chance. Well what do you
Speaker 1: pull out of it as the play caller and as
Speaker 1: the co designer of this offense that that you now
Speaker 1: can use to your advantage. Well, yeah, there's always good
Speaker 1: and bad. I mean we we we obviously failed in
Speaker 1: the red zone, right one for five drives, scored a touchdown.
Speaker 1: We failed at some critical situations and third and fourth downs.
Speaker 1: You know that we have to have to be better at.
Speaker 1: So we'll look at those things. And I think it
Speaker 1: was the least amount the way we the way we
Speaker 1: categorize explosive plays, it was the least amount we had
Speaker 1: all year. Now our totally you know, our total number
Speaker 1: yards fine, our time of possession, fine, But those things
Speaker 1: only you the games. And you know, in the end,
Speaker 1: it's it's score. It's score. It's the critical missus the NFL.
Speaker 1: So it's it's the critical situations and so we just
Speaker 1: have to do a better job playing on them and
Speaker 1: putting guys in position to make those plays. And you know,
Speaker 1: we were playing a team that made makes you know,
Speaker 1: traditionally some of those players, you know, how make plays
Speaker 1: in those spots. So now you go forward, Right, We're
Speaker 1: playing another team with some really good players that we know,
Speaker 1: we all know about them, so you have to assume, right,
Speaker 1: you go in assuming in those critical spots they're going
Speaker 1: to make their plays. So however it is that we design,
Speaker 1: you know, the coach Nage designs the strategy, however he
Speaker 1: wants to play it. When we get down to that
Speaker 1: fourth quarter, right, man, we got to make those plays.
Speaker 1: And and just like in the first quarter, that first
Speaker 1: drive of the game, you know, we get down there,
Speaker 1: we scored a touchdown. Hey, every drive is going to
Speaker 1: count in the NFL, so we just have to take
Speaker 1: from it. All right, We've got to put the guys
Speaker 1: in a position to make the big plays. Big play
Speaker 1: might be a third and two, you know, a big
Speaker 1: play might be obviously a long touchdown. Whatever is so, well,
Speaker 1: I think we'll we'll, you know, I think as the staff,
Speaker 1: we've already looked at it this morning, We've gone through it,
Speaker 1: had a chance to talk through it, and as we
Speaker 1: plan for the next one, you know, let's not make
Speaker 1: make the same mistakes. I'm sure it'll come up when
Speaker 1: you meet the media this week just what they may
Speaker 1: have done or what just transpired with Alan Robinson's target
Speaker 1: total yesterday. Oh, you know, some of it is uh
Speaker 1: stuff that we would look back and say, gosh, now
Speaker 1: that you see the game, we should have put him
Speaker 1: on this side, or you know, we could have made it.
Speaker 1: You know, a couple more plays where we thought he
Speaker 1: was the first read, and some of it was when
Speaker 1: the play was called, it was covered. You know, That's
Speaker 1: that's one of the negatives about uh not one of
Speaker 1: the negatives I guess one of the realities about pe
Speaker 1: and a wide receiver. You can have some plays in
Speaker 1: your sheet that you know, you, hey, these are number
Speaker 1: twelve plays. These are the plays where we think he's
Speaker 1: the first read. But you know, as a pass catcher,
Speaker 1: a lot of it depends on how they're playing you
Speaker 1: at the moment and how the coverage might take it away.
Speaker 1: So the thing that we know as a staff, when
Speaker 1: you come out of a game and when you don't
Speaker 1: feel like your best players get the ball in their
Speaker 1: hands enough, you just have to look at the plan
Speaker 1: and say, Okay, if if there's some things we could
Speaker 1: have done better, let's do them better in the future.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to The Bears Coaches Show, brought to you
Speaker 1: by Whippley CPAs and consultants Jeff Jonny Act along with
Speaker 1: Bill Leiser, the Bears offensive coordinator. Together we made it
Speaker 1: here the Playoffs and or the Bears Playoff Sweepstakes at
Speaker 1: Chicago Bears dot Com to win a piece of this
Speaker 1: one of a kind season. As we look at Mitchell Trubisky,
Speaker 1: he's got playoff experience. How critical is that in this
Speaker 1: matchup against New Orleans? Anytime you get it on the
Speaker 1: big stage, you know, you'd like to think, Okay, it
Speaker 1: just becomes part of how I operate, and I can
Speaker 1: I can handle all the all the hype. Again, I
Speaker 1: don't know that there'll be a lot of crowd noise.
Speaker 1: I don't know that there'll be people throwing stuff at
Speaker 1: the buses on the way into the stadium with how
Speaker 1: this year is going right for our society. But I
Speaker 1: think I think the lead up to it, you know,
Speaker 1: can add a little bit of excitement and put pressure
Speaker 1: on people in general. So you just like to think
Speaker 1: that if you say, hey, wait a second, now, we
Speaker 1: have a procedure that we like to follow. Here's what
Speaker 1: it is, and just remember if we check off all
Speaker 1: these boxes that we've been checking off every week. Then
Speaker 1: we can know that we're prepared and then have confidence
Speaker 1: going to the game. We've done all we can do
Speaker 1: to prepare, and then you go play the game, you know,
Speaker 1: and just hopefully the biggest difference is just how how
Speaker 1: suite it feels afterwards in the locker room. Are you
Speaker 1: wanted to give advice to young players on what playoff
Speaker 1: football is like or do you let players themselves, the
Speaker 1: veterans who have been through them explain it that, yes,
Speaker 1: there is a different intensity. I know it almost sounds cliche,
Speaker 1: but it is a reality. I think you deal on
Speaker 1: each in each situation. You know, if you if you
Speaker 1: have a veteran player in a particular position room who
Speaker 1: you trust and you know they can do some of it.
Speaker 1: But sometimes sometimes there's a guy that that maybe you
Speaker 1: you need to just keep your eye on and watch them.
Speaker 1: I think, like you said, a lot of these guys,
Speaker 1: Mitchell has played in them before, and uh, we've really
Speaker 1: approached these last however many games we haven't said the
Speaker 1: word playoff, but we know what we've been up against.
Speaker 1: All right. Lastly, before we let you go, Dennis Allen's
Speaker 1: defense just put up some really impressive numbers here across
Speaker 1: the board. What do you think of what they're doing.
Speaker 1: They play with a certain attitude, you know, you can
Speaker 1: tell that they're a very very confident group. They believe
Speaker 1: in what they're doing, and they play fast, you know,
Speaker 1: so they can get people to the ball. I think
Speaker 1: there's great intensity from their front to rush the passer. Uh.
Speaker 1: And it's I think sometimes the numbers can tell you
Speaker 1: one thing, but then then then you turn the video
Speaker 1: on and you see what it looks like and you
Speaker 1: can see some guys with intensity to get after the passer.
Speaker 1: The other part of it is they've really challenging coverage
Speaker 1: or one of the higher percentage teams that press with
Speaker 1: their dB. So they're gonna challenge you and they're gonna
Speaker 1: try to disrupt everything you do in the passing game
Speaker 1: on the perimeter. Also, so I you know, I've known
Speaker 1: Dennis a long time, we worked together a long time ago.
Speaker 1: I think he does a great job. I think they've
Speaker 1: they've they've really got a good thing going on defense.
Speaker 1: You can tell the players believe in what they're doing,
Speaker 1: and I think it's gonna be a heck of a challenge. Well,
Speaker 1: good luck with your preparation and good luck in the game.
Speaker 1: All right, thank you appreciate it. That's a rapp up
Speaker 1: Tonight's Bears coach the show. Want to thank producers Jordan
Speaker 1: trut Up, Dan Brilly, Eddie Gercer, Keith Johnson, and most
Speaker 1: of all, do you for listening for Bears head coach
Speaker 1: Matt Naggie offensive coordinator Bill Laser. I'm Jeff Jonny Act
Speaker 1: Bears Saints twelve thirty three, Game three forty, kickoff Sunday.
Speaker 1: This is News Radio seven eighty and one oh five
Speaker 1: point out FM WBBM. Good night, everybody,