Speaker 1: Good to be with you, everybody, and welcome into another
Speaker 1: edition of the Bears Coaches Show with Bears head coach Mattneggi,
Speaker 1: Jeff Jonich with you until eight o'clock tonight, and just
Speaker 1: after seven thirty Bears offensive coordinator Bill Laser to join
Speaker 1: the program. Bears off to buy and back to work,
Speaker 1: getting ready with the Green Bay Packers. Met Good evening.
Speaker 1: How you doing, Jeff? How you know? Fantastic? Best thing
Speaker 1: you did all weekend? What was relax at home? I
Speaker 1: still watched a lot of football, still did a lot
Speaker 1: of prep, which is I think important, and but it's
Speaker 1: also good to just step away and reset a little
Speaker 1: bit and refresh. I think when you get to this
Speaker 1: far into the season, no matter whether it's on a
Speaker 1: four game win streak or four game losing streak, it's
Speaker 1: always good to just step back and see where you're at. Reset,
Speaker 1: And that's the part that gets exciting as we move
Speaker 1: forward here. It's pretty impossible to let your mind wander
Speaker 1: away from a plan, isn't it It is. Yeah, it's hard,
Speaker 1: and I do I believe that for the rest of
Speaker 1: the staff, the position coaches, the support staff, others that
Speaker 1: are in the building that I you know, and just
Speaker 1: for me being there in other roles, it is important
Speaker 1: that they go get away for a little bit, get
Speaker 1: to see the family, be a dad, be a mom,
Speaker 1: whatever that may be, and just reset and recharge. Now
Speaker 1: for me in my role, it's a little bit different
Speaker 1: and that's okay. But at the same point in time,
Speaker 1: I also need to do that as well, and so
Speaker 1: that's that's what I did for certain times of the day.
Speaker 1: But also you get locked in and you get excited
Speaker 1: to as any competitor, what to get back on track. Well,
Speaker 1: as you're thinking through your own team and what needs
Speaker 1: to improve and how do you approach the Packers. While
Speaker 1: you're watching these games unfold, what crosses your mind? What
Speaker 1: are you noticing in the league right now? Well, I
Speaker 1: would say the biggest thing is that Number one, you're
Speaker 1: never out of a game, and we've we've obviously experienced
Speaker 1: that all year long. One other thing that you're seeing
Speaker 1: is the ability to play a clean game in all
Speaker 1: three phases. That there's so many ebbs and flows in
Speaker 1: this game, and teams that are getting down in the
Speaker 1: red zone and all of a sudden they throw an
Speaker 1: interception in the red zone. And there's a sudden change,
Speaker 1: and how do you react to that? Do you panic
Speaker 1: or do you stay the course? Do you fight back
Speaker 1: to get on track? And that's kind of what I've
Speaker 1: noticed is the teams that are able to move the
Speaker 1: sticks on offense, the teams that are able to get
Speaker 1: turnovers on defense, they use that hand in hand and
Speaker 1: then they score touchdowns and they win games. And so
Speaker 1: it's it's always interesting to step back and see how
Speaker 1: other teams are going. My position specifically, I like to
Speaker 1: see decision making that coaches make in a game, and
Speaker 1: there's a lot of that that went on this weekend.
Speaker 1: So in review, now, did the week give you any
Speaker 1: new perspectives on what has transpired and where is this
Speaker 1: going here in the final six? Yeah? I would say
Speaker 1: that for us, you know, what we need to do
Speaker 1: is continue to fight every day together. The coaches need
Speaker 1: to do that, the players need to feel that, the
Speaker 1: players need to keep the energy going and know that
Speaker 1: it just takes one win, that there is still a
Speaker 1: lot of season remaining. That each and every game that
Speaker 1: goes by, Uh, it really does. Depending on what you do,
Speaker 1: mean more more and more as you go. So this
Speaker 1: one being a division game on the way such a
Speaker 1: huge rivalry against a great team, you know we are
Speaker 1: going to have to play our a game and go
Speaker 1: in there with a great attitude and and just have
Speaker 1: an ability to as we talk this morning, you want
Speaker 1: to expect it. You want to expect to win, you
Speaker 1: want to expect to play well. It's all about positive
Speaker 1: thoughts and so that's that's a part of the game
Speaker 1: that I really feel like can be one of our
Speaker 1: strengths and then we can get clicking, particularly on offense.
Speaker 1: Do you feel that the expectation to play well, the
Speaker 1: expectation to score points has been lost a little bit
Speaker 1: because of the frustration and the constant stuck in the
Speaker 1: mud type approach with with what's happened here in the
Speaker 1: first ten well, I would say that, yeah, for us
Speaker 1: to not play as well as we want to play
Speaker 1: on offense, it's the word frustrating is obviously what pops
Speaker 1: into your mind is you get frustrated, and that can
Speaker 1: lead to other things. And then and then what happens
Speaker 1: is is generally whether you're a coach or a player,
Speaker 1: you just start to press. And when when you press,
Speaker 1: you're not you're not playing to your highest your highest
Speaker 1: level of ability, so that you know, what we need
Speaker 1: to do is make sure that we stay relaxed, We
Speaker 1: don't press. We make sure that we as coaches are
Speaker 1: putting these players in great scenarios. And then the players
Speaker 1: got to go out and they got to execute and
Speaker 1: they got to make plays, and um, it's a matter
Speaker 1: of both of those clicking at the same time. Uh.
Speaker 1: And so it is a long season, and things happen
Speaker 1: for a reason. And until we stop this and until
Speaker 1: we get better and score more points, we won't know exactly.
Speaker 1: You know what could happen with a with a great
Speaker 1: day of offense combined with a great day of defense
Speaker 1: and special teams. Oh, you're using the extra day to
Speaker 1: to wait until Wednesday to make any decisions on various
Speaker 1: fronts or at least not reveal at the moment, whether
Speaker 1: it be injuries or the quarterback position. But is it
Speaker 1: it is safe to say, as you refer to this
Speaker 1: a week ago, really on this on this show and
Speaker 1: everything's on the table. Yeah, everything is for us, and um,
Speaker 1: you know that that's what I think is our job
Speaker 1: as coaches is to make sure are we putting everybody
Speaker 1: in the right position possible? But there's also that that
Speaker 1: fine line and making sure you're not just changing the
Speaker 1: change in certain areas and then what are we doing?
Speaker 1: And that's that's on the coaching side too, you know, schematically,
Speaker 1: what is it is? It? Is it because the play call?
Speaker 1: Is it because somebody missed a block? Like? What are
Speaker 1: the wise that we had the ability to go back
Speaker 1: and look at all that? I feel like offensively for us,
Speaker 1: the self scout that we've done, it was not fun.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you that. It wasn't fun going going through
Speaker 1: and seeing where we're at and where we rank and
Speaker 1: all and all this and there's some you know pretty
Speaker 1: uh you know, there's some things that you really want
Speaker 1: to you gotta get fixed. And and so what we'll
Speaker 1: do is do everything we can to stay away from
Speaker 1: what we're doing, uh, you know, poorly and what we're
Speaker 1: doing well, and then let's do more of what we
Speaker 1: were doing well. It's getting the run game back two
Speaker 1: weeks one and two and three. The key to the
Speaker 1: whole thing. Yeah, yeah, you have you have to you
Speaker 1: have to be able to run. And whether that means that, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, whether it means you're running the ball forty
Speaker 1: times a game or twenty five times a game. You
Speaker 1: want to be productive with your yards per tempt. I
Speaker 1: think that's what's key, is where's that at? And then
Speaker 1: you got to stay persistent with it and and but
Speaker 1: that's that's also that's also the easy thing to go
Speaker 1: to and say, you know, yeah, you gotta be able
Speaker 1: to run the ball. Well, you gotta be able to
Speaker 1: do some other things too. And I think that's where
Speaker 1: for us, whether it's throwing the football to open the
Speaker 1: run or it's running the football to open the pass,
Speaker 1: we have to figure out whatever it is. I really
Speaker 1: don't care. You know, what I care about is scoring
Speaker 1: points to scoring touchdowns. And that's not your mentality. Um,
Speaker 1: I don't care if it's a fourteen play drive or
Speaker 1: a two play drive. I just want six points. And
Speaker 1: that's kind of my focus right now. Back when you
Speaker 1: got the Bears Coaches Show with head coach Mattneggie, We're
Speaker 1: brought to you by Whippley CPAs and Consultant Time Jeff
Speaker 1: Joniac and the Chicago Bears improve An it Tre supporting
Speaker 1: Chicago small businesses for p Industrial Cleaning Corporation is this
Speaker 1: week's small Business All Pro Visit Chicago Bears dot com,
Speaker 1: slash small business all pros to learn more, Matt. Stats
Speaker 1: always tell a tale, but so of your eyes. We
Speaker 1: focused on what hasn't been working that you saw. You said,
Speaker 1: it wasn't pretty to watch, wasn't fun. But is there
Speaker 1: enough positives to harvest from the tape? Yeah, And because
Speaker 1: what's happened is, you know, when you're talking offensively, there's
Speaker 1: some spurts now and there's some things that we're doing
Speaker 1: well where we're able to show that Hey, when we
Speaker 1: do put it all together and all eleven people are
Speaker 1: executing at the right time, and we you know that
Speaker 1: things get really good, and so we try to hang
Speaker 1: our hat on that stuff as well. Unfortunately for us
Speaker 1: this season offensively, there's just been a lot more bad
Speaker 1: than good. And you know, so we spent this time
Speaker 1: being able to look at, okay, for instance, third down down,
Speaker 1: not just third down, but specifically an area in third down.
Speaker 1: And you know, we've done a pretty good job, Jeff.
Speaker 1: It's staying away from the third and longs. We're actually
Speaker 1: we're actually doing well at converting third and loans. Where
Speaker 1: we're struggling right now is in that third and three
Speaker 1: to six area where you want to kind of live
Speaker 1: in because they're manageable and we're not doing as good
Speaker 1: as we should be in that area. So we got
Speaker 1: to figure out to ourselves, Okay, how do we get
Speaker 1: better there? Right? You know other situational football areas that
Speaker 1: we can be better at across the board. I you know,
Speaker 1: again in the red zone, being able to get down
Speaker 1: there and say, okay, you know, we got these different
Speaker 1: players here in this system, and we want to be
Speaker 1: you know, we got to score touchdowns. Is it through
Speaker 1: throwing the ball or is it running the ball? I
Speaker 1: don't care. I just want touchdowns. And so what we're
Speaker 1: going to do is figure out, Okay, schematically, are we
Speaker 1: putting the guys in the right scenario, are we targeting
Speaker 1: the right guys? Are we executing the right way when
Speaker 1: a play is called? And so when all that goes
Speaker 1: in unison and we can be effective and we can
Speaker 1: really help out our team. I know you're not going
Speaker 1: to say, because you shouldn't. It's it's it's your strategy,
Speaker 1: it's your analysis. But when you did address all of
Speaker 1: those things you just said, were you surprised at what
Speaker 1: you saw what you heard from the coaches? And do
Speaker 1: you see fixes. Do you see where okay, yeah, here's
Speaker 1: where we are going to get better at third and
Speaker 1: three to third to six, or here's we are kind
Speaker 1: of hit the right targets in the red zone. Has
Speaker 1: that been revealing to you? I guess yeah it has.
Speaker 1: And I think that because we're all about answers and solutions,
Speaker 1: and that's kind of the that's the fun part in
Speaker 1: coaching is Okay, uh, we're not very good in this area. Well,
Speaker 1: what are we going to do to fix it? Are
Speaker 1: we going to just continue to keep trying it and say, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's execution. These guys just aren't running, or they're dropping
Speaker 1: the ball, or we missed a block here it was
Speaker 1: it was a poor accuracy on this throw um or
Speaker 1: you know, mental error or you know, bad play call.
Speaker 1: They didn't give us what we thought. Well, let's go
Speaker 1: ahead and let's let's say, okay, what do we do well?
Speaker 1: Who's playing well in these areas? And let's get the
Speaker 1: ball to them and and then but then also let's
Speaker 1: let's hold these players accountable, and let's hold ourselves as
Speaker 1: coaches accountable for calling the right players in the right scenarios,
Speaker 1: being efficient, being effective, And so I think that's where
Speaker 1: the collaboration of talking to players, um, talking to the coaches,
Speaker 1: getting different ideas. Uh, you know, stay staying open in
Speaker 1: that scenario will help us. And now you know, when
Speaker 1: we get in that scenario, did we change and are
Speaker 1: we better? And that's what that's what the goal is. Defensively,
Speaker 1: the impact of Roe quant Smith to me is the
Speaker 1: headline development of the first ten weeks because you are
Speaker 1: counting on a major jump. I think with the green
Speaker 1: dot on his helmet, he's taken that with some ownership
Speaker 1: and you feel some of the leadership that we heard
Speaker 1: about at Georgia. It may not be vocal, but it
Speaker 1: is by action. And are you excited about yet what
Speaker 1: he can put out on the table here Because he's
Speaker 1: setting new lines of scrimmages better than anybody in the league,
Speaker 1: playing one of the best line backing roles in the
Speaker 1: league right now, That to me is the big one.
Speaker 1: How do you look at it the same way? And
Speaker 1: I think with Roquan is what's impressive to me is
Speaker 1: he started off really hot and he's just become even
Speaker 1: better and better and he doesn't you know, there's just
Speaker 1: a pure consistency to the way he practices. He never
Speaker 1: gets too high low, but he just has this leadership
Speaker 1: trait when he's out there in practice where he's just
Speaker 1: so focused. I think what I'm seeing happen right now,
Speaker 1: Jeff is a great trust between him and Coach Pregano
Speaker 1: on the headset, and not so much even just him
Speaker 1: trusting Coach Bergano, but Coach Bregano trusting Roquan. When he's
Speaker 1: out on that field and being able to get guys
Speaker 1: in certain areas and certain lineups in different fronts, motions
Speaker 1: and shifts that you might see, he's done an amazing job.
Speaker 1: That's the mental side, the physical side of him being
Speaker 1: able to run around and make plays and tackles for
Speaker 1: losses and at opportune times guys are feeding off for that.
Speaker 1: He's becoming a player right now. He's currently a player
Speaker 1: right now that if you are scheming on offense, you
Speaker 1: have to know where fifty eights at on every play.
Speaker 1: That's a good thing to have when you have him
Speaker 1: on your team. Welcome back to the Bears Coaching Show,
Speaker 1: brought to you by Whippley CPAs and Consultants, a proud
Speaker 1: partner at the Chicago Bears. Learn more at whippley dot Com.
Speaker 1: Jeff Joanna Yac with head coach Mattneggie. How are you?
Speaker 1: How have you weathered the challenges of everything that has
Speaker 1: been twenty twenty football and beyond. Yeah, No, I'm doing good.
Speaker 1: I appreciate you asking you know that. I think that, Um,
Speaker 1: just from what we've been through as a as a team,
Speaker 1: as a family, as an organization. It's never easy. But
Speaker 1: you know, when you have great people around you and
Speaker 1: people that support you, you appreciate that. And these are
Speaker 1: these are what You've heard me say this a million times.
Speaker 1: This is what I've signed up for. This is what
Speaker 1: we've signed up for in this profession. And again, if
Speaker 1: it was going to be easy, I would not be
Speaker 1: the only one in this role right now. And it's
Speaker 1: not easy. So you got to be able to have
Speaker 1: a lot of belief. And the people around you, and
Speaker 1: your coaches in the personnel side, and a person like
Speaker 1: Ryan Pace and Ted and George and these players and
Speaker 1: people that you're around every single day, are that are
Speaker 1: just going to battle to do everything we can to
Speaker 1: get back on track. And so that's what gets you
Speaker 1: through it. And um, you know that's who I am.
Speaker 1: That's my DNA is to stay positive and to keep
Speaker 1: these guys going. I know that they're looking at meat
Speaker 1: and how I'm reacting to this whole thing, and so
Speaker 1: that's very important for me for them to understand where
Speaker 1: I'm at. And as I said the other week, you know,
Speaker 1: you can quit or you can fight. Well, we're gonna fight,
Speaker 1: and we're gonna fight each and every play. Uh and
Speaker 1: then once we get that one win, we're gonna take
Speaker 1: that one and try to stack the next one and
Speaker 1: see where this thing goes. One of the things I
Speaker 1: love about jan and Johnson. He does a lot of
Speaker 1: interviews with the media and he's very consistent. But before
Speaker 1: he was drafted, I think somebody found a story about
Speaker 1: one of the players he couldn't wait to see was
Speaker 1: Davante Adams in the National point. This is what before
Speaker 1: he was drafted by the Bear. So he it's his
Speaker 1: chance on Sunday night at one of the best receivers
Speaker 1: at the line of scrimmage, let alone everything else he does.
Speaker 1: But I love that confidence and he's not backing down
Speaker 1: at all. No, he's not. I think that's just the
Speaker 1: respect thing that that he has for Davanta. I mean,
Speaker 1: right now, Davante and Aaron Rodgers are playing at a
Speaker 1: level that not many people are playing at, and there's
Speaker 1: there's that ultimate trust that they haven't one another. They've
Speaker 1: been doing it together for a little while, and it's
Speaker 1: it's hard to stop. It's not easy. That's what. They're
Speaker 1: having a lot of success on that side of the ball.
Speaker 1: They're high powered and they score a lot of points.
Speaker 1: So we're certainly gonna have our hands full. I have
Speaker 1: a lot of trust and belief in our coaches, in
Speaker 1: our players on defense. I know they'll be looking forward
Speaker 1: to the challenge. But again, when you have a quarterback
Speaker 1: in a wide receiver that are in unison like they are,
Speaker 1: they certainly give you a big challenge. You know, I'm
Speaker 1: talking with Tom about this time. They're being an offensive
Speaker 1: lineman like himself, you know, loves the idea, the snap
Speaker 1: kind of whatnot. And and Aaron Rodgers is so great.
Speaker 1: Get the hard counts to draw people off sides because
Speaker 1: there's no noise quiet venues. Is it harder to stop
Speaker 1: the hard counts because it's already hard? Yeah, you know
Speaker 1: it gets harder. You can see it when you watch
Speaker 1: it on TV with the TV copies y'all can understand now,
Speaker 1: I mean, and they even add some noise to that,
Speaker 1: so when you're down around the field sometimes it's it's
Speaker 1: not loud at all. So it's a weapon for quarterbacks.
Speaker 1: You can use that as a weapon. And again, he's
Speaker 1: one of the best to ever do it. He knows it,
Speaker 1: and they have they have a great strategy to how
Speaker 1: they do it. So we have to make sure that
Speaker 1: we got our eyes and cross our t's on defense
Speaker 1: and you don't let that frustrate get and you just
Speaker 1: know that, Okay, you got to really be detailed into
Speaker 1: what you're doing. Your substitutions are crucial. You got to
Speaker 1: know how that goes, and then you got it. On
Speaker 1: top of that, you gotta still make plays to stop them. So, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, that's not even talking about their defense and
Speaker 1: the way that they're playing and moving around. And I think,
Speaker 1: you know, Mike Patton, I think the world of I
Speaker 1: think he's a really good coordinator. Yeah, the same characters
Speaker 1: involved in the revival of this rivalry defensively, with Zadarius
Speaker 1: and Jayre and Kenny Clark some of the big names
Speaker 1: on defense. They've added Christian Kirksey at linebacker but what
Speaker 1: do you see in how they're playing football right now?
Speaker 1: They did draw a lot of holding penalties. Yeah against
Speaker 1: the Colts, Yeah they did there there, there was a
Speaker 1: lot of penalties there. Um. You know, again, this is
Speaker 1: a team that I think, uh, you know, coach Patton
Speaker 1: does a good job of fitting his players into what
Speaker 1: they do best. And uh, you know, I think it
Speaker 1: starts with a guy like Zadarius Smith on that edge.
Speaker 1: He sets the edge, and then his partner on the
Speaker 1: other side, with with Preston Smith and Kenny Clark on
Speaker 1: the inside, and uh you know, all these guys, I mean,
Speaker 1: the list goes on and on. They they do things
Speaker 1: really well and they make you work hard, both in
Speaker 1: the run game and in pass pro. On the back end,
Speaker 1: Alexander is playing. You know, I've always respected the way
Speaker 1: he's playing. I think he's got great ball skills. He's smart,
Speaker 1: he savvy, he plays with a lot of instincts. And
Speaker 1: King on the other side, and then obviously they aim
Speaker 1: us on the back end with Savage. So all those guys,
Speaker 1: including their linebackers, they make it tough for you, and
Speaker 1: they play a lot of zone and they play man
Speaker 1: when they have to. But they're they're a good defense
Speaker 1: that compliments our offense really well. It could be a
Speaker 1: big weather day in terms of wind. That's what I'm
Speaker 1: hearing initially, so I'm brace for it. Right, it's lambeaux,
Speaker 1: It's November knocking on December's door. In the meantime, you
Speaker 1: have yourself a happy Thanksgiving all right, nice Jeff, you
Speaker 1: two man take care. This segment it Bears All Access
Speaker 1: is brought to you by Athletical Physical Therapy. Visit Athletico
Speaker 1: dot com to request an appointment in clinic or virtually
Speaker 1: and start feeling better tomorrow. Welcome back to the Bears
Speaker 1: Coaching Show, brought to you by Whip Please cepa's and
Speaker 1: consultant Jeff Jonnyac now joined by Bill Laser, the Bears
Speaker 1: offensive coordinator. After the bye week, Bill, I trust you
Speaker 1: had a good week, good weekend. Yeah, it was I
Speaker 1: think a much needed time for us to take take
Speaker 1: a little bit of time and go back do some
Speaker 1: self scouting, reevaluate. You know, did get to see the
Speaker 1: kid's awake a little bit too, so that helps. Any
Speaker 1: chance to get away from the grind is probably still
Speaker 1: thinking about the grind. For a coach in your position,
Speaker 1: isn't it. You know, certainly you do get to spend
Speaker 1: a little bit of family time, but you also have
Speaker 1: to take advantage of the opportunity to go back and
Speaker 1: you know, remove them the emotion of some of the
Speaker 1: games and you have a little bit more time so
Speaker 1: you're not in such a hectic schedule to to go
Speaker 1: back and watch things m you know, maybe sort them differently,
Speaker 1: watch all the third downs together, watch all the red
Speaker 1: zones together, just try to try to come up with solutions.
Speaker 1: And sometimes it's easier when you remove the emotion to
Speaker 1: see some of the issues that you think he can
Speaker 1: solve and try to get better at. And we got
Speaker 1: a lot of football ahead and let's let's see if
Speaker 1: we can make it better. With that being said, did
Speaker 1: you have any oh wow moments that Okay, I didn't
Speaker 1: really see that before. Yeah, I think I think there
Speaker 1: were little there were little things here and there, But
Speaker 1: but I think you try to get to the bottom
Speaker 1: of things. I think as coaches, we spend all of
Speaker 1: our time correcting the mistakes that come up, the issues. Obviously,
Speaker 1: you're trying to spend time doing a great job being
Speaker 1: a teacher ahead of time, but then when the mistakes
Speaker 1: come up, you deal with them one at a time,
Speaker 1: and now maybe during a bye week you have a
Speaker 1: chance to look at the big picture and just see, Okay,
Speaker 1: I know we corrected these issues when they came up,
Speaker 1: but there is there a theme here that we have
Speaker 1: to do a better job with. And sometimes it means, look,
Speaker 1: we've made a lot of errors in this area. Let's
Speaker 1: eliminate even trying to do that because we're not doing
Speaker 1: it very well. And sometimes it means let's just see
Speaker 1: if there's a better way to teach it, or if
Speaker 1: there are better people to put in that spot. Maybe
Speaker 1: are we asking the right people to do it? So
Speaker 1: I think a lot of those things, Jeff, come up,
Speaker 1: and we got to take the information and be better
Speaker 1: going forward. How did it feel to get back calm place, Well,
Speaker 1: it would have felt better, I'd say if if we
Speaker 1: scored more points, Jeff. So it wasn't really about how
Speaker 1: it feels, you know, it's really at this point, it's
Speaker 1: it's just about what can we do to be better?
Speaker 1: And uh, you know, personally, you just ask yourself every
Speaker 1: day and you come in what can I do today
Speaker 1: to contribute? So, um, I guess that that's I look
Speaker 1: at a little bit more that way than than how
Speaker 1: it feels. How about being in the in the booth
Speaker 1: upstairs as a give Do you like that? Is that
Speaker 1: more up your alley? Well? I think it was. It
Speaker 1: was eerie being up there with no crowd. I mean
Speaker 1: I had obviously gotten used to being on the sideline
Speaker 1: without a crowd and having very little reaction. It was.
Speaker 1: It was a whole different feeling being upstairs and not
Speaker 1: having any reaction or any crowd. It's it's a very
Speaker 1: very insulated area, so it was it was definitely unique. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I felt the same way as an announcer. I keep
Speaker 1: telling people I gotta leave my headset on because at
Speaker 1: least I'm hearing something, whether it's yeah, fake or whatever,
Speaker 1: because if I take it off, why I lose my emotion,
Speaker 1: I lose all my juice. Do do you feel that
Speaker 1: a little bit? Even as a coach, Well, you you
Speaker 1: just after a good play, you wait for the cheer
Speaker 1: and it doesn't so then you have to just double
Speaker 1: check to make sure we did we really catch that
Speaker 1: ball because no one cheered. Yeah, I guess again, down
Speaker 1: on the sideline, we got used to it, so I'm
Speaker 1: sure I'll get used to it, but it's different. It's
Speaker 1: a different year. And before we go to a break
Speaker 1: earlier today, Bears head coach Mattneggie still evaluating the health
Speaker 1: of quarterbacks Nick Foles with his hip glued injury and
Speaker 1: Mitchell Dubisky's right shoulder before determining who will start Sunday
Speaker 1: night in Green Bay. The first injury report comes out
Speaker 1: on Wednesday. There's also placing safety Eddie Jackson on the
Speaker 1: reserve COVID nineteen list. That designation required the year for
Speaker 1: players were either test positive or have been quarantined after
Speaker 1: having been in close contact with an effective person. And
Speaker 1: is my understanding the latter is the case here for
Speaker 1: Eddie Jackson, so he could be ready to go against
Speaker 1: the Packers on Sunday Night. Here with Bears offensive coordinator
Speaker 1: Bill Lasers, the Bears get ready for the green Bay Packers.
Speaker 1: The math obviously offensively doesn't read well up and down.
Speaker 1: But I asked even Matt this earlier tonight, is there
Speaker 1: success hidden in those numbers that you guys are comfortable
Speaker 1: pulling out? Well, I think we've had a whole weekend
Speaker 1: or half a week to see the things that we've
Speaker 1: done well, and I think we just have to we
Speaker 1: have to make sure we're focusing on those and letting
Speaker 1: those things push us going forward. And some of it
Speaker 1: is by people. You know, certain people have had success
Speaker 1: on maybe learning certain routes or certain certain runs and
Speaker 1: h and just just start leaning on those. And sometimes,
Speaker 1: you know, it's hard to take some schemes maybe that
Speaker 1: you really like, or we like, or maybe even the
Speaker 1: players like. But after ten games you're looking you say, well,
Speaker 1: you know what, it hasn't been real successful, so maybe
Speaker 1: it's time to trim the fat a little bit on
Speaker 1: some of those things we were hoping would be better
Speaker 1: for us this year, and you just trim it out.
Speaker 1: So sometimes you you emphasize what's good and sometimes you
Speaker 1: cut off what's bad, and hopefully between the two, you know,
Speaker 1: we get together with the good stuff. But um, yeah,
Speaker 1: I agree that you don't want to spend a whole
Speaker 1: lot of time looking at the overall numbers because they're
Speaker 1: they're not they're not pretty. Plus that's yesterday's news. Now
Speaker 1: it's a new paved road with six to go, starting
Speaker 1: with the Packers on Sunday night. Um, let's talk about
Speaker 1: a little bit about the return of Cody white Hair.
Speaker 1: Did that help things on the offensive line a little
Speaker 1: bit in terms of stable and things, and maybe moving
Speaker 1: forward that will be a good place to begin at
Speaker 1: the center position. Well, I think I think veterans on
Speaker 1: the offensive line always help you because they've they've seen
Speaker 1: a lot, they've been through a lot. I think things happen,
Speaker 1: so many things happen up front. It is. It is
Speaker 1: a little different game than it is in college in
Speaker 1: a lot of ways, especially when you get to third
Speaker 1: downs and blitz packages and the stunts and games defensive
Speaker 1: lines in the NFL runs. So the guy like Cody
Speaker 1: who's seen all that stuff before, he's been through it.
Speaker 1: Obviously he's he's uh, he's played the Packers before, you know.
Speaker 1: So I think it's I think it's a big help.
Speaker 1: And I think his his leadership also is a big deal,
Speaker 1: you know. I think right now, when when you're going
Speaker 1: through tough times, you need to have all the leaders
Speaker 1: you can get. And so Cody's gonna help us in
Speaker 1: a lot of ways. I'm an old school football guy.
Speaker 1: I love running games. I love I love running backs.
Speaker 1: It's always been something that's resonated with me. So it's
Speaker 1: easy for me to always say, Okay, offense begins with
Speaker 1: a running game, but it can be built obviously off
Speaker 1: the passing game too. But would it be fair to
Speaker 1: say that if that gets better, everything domino effect wise
Speaker 1: will get better. However you want to establish it either way, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think I think it's it's uh, it's easier right
Speaker 1: when you can make some first downs running the football.
Speaker 1: And I thought there were some times early last week
Speaker 1: where where we felt like we were getting a little
Speaker 1: bit of a rhythm and certainly weren't taking negatives. But
Speaker 1: when the when the run games, making your first down
Speaker 1: helping you get first downs, not only are you are
Speaker 1: you moving the football hopefully the first and second down
Speaker 1: run game is keeping you out of third down right,
Speaker 1: which is critical in the NFL. And then also it
Speaker 1: just it makes the defense makes some decisions. And let's
Speaker 1: face it, most defensive coordinators most of the time, if
Speaker 1: they feel you running the football, are going to react
Speaker 1: to that, and then it opens up other things. Now,
Speaker 1: do you have to do it? No, there are some
Speaker 1: people that they can get it all done through the air,
Speaker 1: you know, and there are games where we've we've had
Speaker 1: to do that. But I think life is easier for everyone,
Speaker 1: and you can do both. Mannaggie will get into more
Speaker 1: on Wednesday about injuries and the quarterback position, but in
Speaker 1: general and maybe the hope that David Montgomery be ready
Speaker 1: to return from his concussion protocol. But as I understood
Speaker 1: it from Charles London meeting with the media last week,
Speaker 1: there was a package of plays maybe for each of
Speaker 1: the backs. And how did you think that all worked out?
Speaker 1: With Patterson, Nall, Pierson, Lamar mill Are getting his first
Speaker 1: touches first of all, when when you only get whatever
Speaker 1: we got fifty plays or whatever the official count was.
Speaker 1: You know when when you have one of those kind
Speaker 1: of games where you couldn't stay on the field long enough,
Speaker 1: then no one typically gets enough, right, I mean you
Speaker 1: it's easy to come out of the game those kind
Speaker 1: of games, and you have them occasionally. But then you say, well,
Speaker 1: why didn't such and such get enough carries or why
Speaker 1: didn't such and such get enough catches or targets? Well,
Speaker 1: part of that is, uh, you know, when you have
Speaker 1: one of those games where you can't hang on to
Speaker 1: the ball and stay on the field and third down,
Speaker 1: I thought I thought for Patterson, I thought CP did
Speaker 1: a nice job, and obviously had had a little bit
Speaker 1: more higher percentage of the focus for us, and had
Speaker 1: some good, tough physical runs, which which we expected them
Speaker 1: to do. And they're a nice third down conversion as
Speaker 1: a catch as a receiver, So I thought that was great.
Speaker 1: I think all the guys that played showed us something
Speaker 1: we'd hope to go in and to see that. And
Speaker 1: I think, uh, you know, when when a young players
Speaker 1: gets a chance to get the ball in his hands
Speaker 1: the first time, you know, everyone's kind of excited, and
Speaker 1: I think usual pattern is it's only going to keep
Speaker 1: getting better from here. The Chicago Bears Network presents Inside
Speaker 1: the Bears, brought to you by a Verizon Anthony Adams
Speaker 1: and Lawrence Greed and cover the world of Bears football
Speaker 1: on and off the field every Sunday night at eleven
Speaker 1: o five pm on Fox thirty to Chicago, or watch
Speaker 1: anytime at Chicago Bears dot com or on the Bears
Speaker 1: official app by remaining moments with offensive coordinator Bill Laser.
Speaker 1: What right now is the critical element of sustaining drives
Speaker 1: and getting time of possession because especially against a team
Speaker 1: like the Packers, would like the I think they lead
Speaker 1: the league in time of possession, just to get that
Speaker 1: kind of confidence going, and you'll hope it leads to points. Well,
Speaker 1: I think I think you got to think every play
Speaker 1: has a chance to get your first down, you know,
Speaker 1: and sometimes and some parts of the drive it's going
Speaker 1: to mean first down, second down, and you're gonna have
Speaker 1: to convert a third down. But let's let's be just
Speaker 1: as happy to call a first down play and execute
Speaker 1: a first down play and get a first down and
Speaker 1: just keep adding first downs together. So uh, you know,
Speaker 1: we're not going to discriminate between running pass I just
Speaker 1: think just the mindset of every time I get the
Speaker 1: ball in my hands, let's let's turn the chains and
Speaker 1: keep it going. And uh uh you know what, what
Speaker 1: you're almost You're almost at the point, Jeff, where you
Speaker 1: feel like if we just get that rhythm started, you know,
Speaker 1: it'll be a big snowball effect and it'll keep going. So,
Speaker 1: uh here, here's hope we get that thing going right
Speaker 1: away at the beginning of the game. And no matter
Speaker 1: who the quarterback is, Nick or Mitch, do they need this, like,
Speaker 1: do the players just need that snowball right now? Do
Speaker 1: you feel that from a psychological point of view, well,
Speaker 1: I think I think we're all competitors, right, and I
Speaker 1: think we're also a human. So the human part of
Speaker 1: you says, guys, we just need to get to get
Speaker 1: it started, and once we do, then we'll all feel
Speaker 1: the momentum right, and then everything will be better. But
Speaker 1: you know, as a competitor, I think we just need
Speaker 1: all of us, coaches, players, everyone to say, We'll wait
Speaker 1: a second, let me be the one. I'll be the
Speaker 1: one I'll make this thing happen. And whether it be
Speaker 1: with a play call, whether it be a you know,
Speaker 1: breaking down film during the week, whether it be how
Speaker 1: we practice if I'm a practice squad player, you know
Speaker 1: the look I give the other side. I just think,
Speaker 1: you know, as competitors, that that's attitude we've got to take.
Speaker 1: Let me be the one to get this thing turned
Speaker 1: and not wait for someone else to do it. All right,
Speaker 1: quick glance at the packers up. What's Mike Petton doing
Speaker 1: right now these days with his crew? Yeah? I think
Speaker 1: you know, I think you got a defense that's that's
Speaker 1: very multiple. You know, he's gonna play a lot of
Speaker 1: defensive backs at times, even even when you have tight
Speaker 1: ends on the field. And so because of that, you're
Speaker 1: gonna get a lot of different looks. But he's got
Speaker 1: a number of players now who have been in this
Speaker 1: system for a while, so they can do those things
Speaker 1: and be confident, be confident with it, you know. So
Speaker 1: I think you see a lot of confident play, and
Speaker 1: especially in the front, when you get a bunch of
Speaker 1: different looks, you get those defensive ends moving around in
Speaker 1: different spots and pressuring. Uh, you know, they're gonna they're
Speaker 1: going to try to put a lot of pressure on
Speaker 1: on your offensive line. So um, you know, I think
Speaker 1: a lot. So as you mentioned, like we talked about Cody,
Speaker 1: some of our guys have been around and seeing this
Speaker 1: this front before, so that helps. But I think we've
Speaker 1: got a match, you know, both great preparation during the
Speaker 1: week with the physical intensity game day. You know, it's
Speaker 1: it's not a real complicated formula. It's just not always easy, right, Nope,
Speaker 1: nothing about the NFL is. Yeah, that's for certain. Some
Speaker 1: teams sometimes make it look easy, but that can change
Speaker 1: in an instant, as we all know. Well, Bill, Happy
Speaker 1: Thanksgiving to you in your family and good luck with
Speaker 1: your preparation this week, and thanks as always for joining us.
Speaker 1: Same to you. Thank you. That's a wrap on tonight's
Speaker 1: Bears Coach You show. Want to thank our producers Jordan
Speaker 1: trut Up, Dan Billy, Andy Gersher and Lisa Fielding. Most
Speaker 1: of all for you for listening. Happy Thanksgiving, all for
Speaker 1: Bears head coach Matt Naggie and offensive coordinator Bill Lasier.
Speaker 1: I'm Jeff JONNYAC wishing you a pleasant, good evening. This
Speaker 1: is News Radio seven eighty and one on five point
Speaker 1: OUTFM WBBM. Good night, everybody's