Speaker 1: Pleasant, good even everybody, and welcome into another edition of
Speaker 1: the Bears Coaches Show with Bears head coach Mattneggie Jeff
Speaker 1: Jonahac with you until eight o'clock tonight. We're brought to
Speaker 1: you by Whippley CPA's and Consultants. Just after seven thirty,
Speaker 1: Bears defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano joins the program. Outstanding win,
Speaker 1: terrific in every way, and most importantly two words, stay alive.
Speaker 1: And that's what happened here yesterday. Wasn't a man, Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was. It was we had to do that. You know.
Speaker 1: We knew that we talked about the most desperate team
Speaker 1: and the team that played the fastest would have a
Speaker 1: great chance to win. And I thought our guys did
Speaker 1: that yesterday. And offensively we were able to score a
Speaker 1: lot of points. Defensively, we made opportunistic stops at the
Speaker 1: right time, special teams wise again making those field goals
Speaker 1: or points. That's huge, And in the end came down
Speaker 1: to the final play and we got to win. Now,
Speaker 1: the old NFC Central was the Black and Blue Division,
Speaker 1: with both teams running the balls as well as they
Speaker 1: did yesterday. It reminded me of that such game and
Speaker 1: a December obviously, no whether when you're indoors, and did
Speaker 1: you feel that that was the case it was going
Speaker 1: to be a physical game against the Vikings. Yeah, we
Speaker 1: knew number one that the type of running game that
Speaker 1: they have, and with Dalvin Cook being there and what
Speaker 1: he can do and all the play actions and screens
Speaker 1: that they run. And from our end, you know, as
Speaker 1: you've seen the last couple of weeks, we feel like
Speaker 1: we're really getting our run game back on track, and
Speaker 1: so it could have been one of those games. It
Speaker 1: ended up being that. And for David to get thirty
Speaker 1: two carries, you can see that that's what he can
Speaker 1: do with that, and the offensive line creating some holes
Speaker 1: with the tight ends and it just it opens up
Speaker 1: everything else. All we were mission was the mud and
Speaker 1: the grime and the coal, right right, you'd like playing
Speaker 1: in those games when you're a kid, right, Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1: We just uh, instead of that, we had sixty eighty
Speaker 1: three weather on turf. Ten teams have already been eliminated,
Speaker 1: so you're one of the twenty two that are not.
Speaker 1: And that message must be really resonating from you to
Speaker 1: the team right now. The way you guys are playing
Speaker 1: it is and believe it or not. You know, we
Speaker 1: we started with that message two weeks ago and when
Speaker 1: we had four games left, we talked about we have
Speaker 1: four games left. We can control what we can control,
Speaker 1: and that's that's winning one game at a time. And
Speaker 1: it sounds like a coach cliche, but and it is.
Speaker 1: But when you approach it the right way like our
Speaker 1: guys have, and it starts in practice. We've had really
Speaker 1: good practices. They're taking that to the game and now
Speaker 1: you get to see what happens. That was a huge game.
Speaker 1: Yesterday's stayed in the obvious, a division game with two
Speaker 1: teams that are fighting for their playoff hopes and their lives,
Speaker 1: and for us to have it come down to the
Speaker 1: final play to get that win to celebrate afterwards, but
Speaker 1: now realize that we've done nothing right. We have won
Speaker 1: two games in a row, but that means that doesn't
Speaker 1: mean anything. So we have a team that we all
Speaker 1: saw with the Jets and the Rams what happened yesterday,
Speaker 1: that is going to come in here and try to
Speaker 1: do everything they can to knock us off. So we
Speaker 1: got to be prepared and we got to understand what
Speaker 1: we're getting into what has this offensive line as it's
Speaker 1: right now constructed unlocked for this offense, just the ability
Speaker 1: to keep the defense guessing and so you can't become
Speaker 1: one dimensional when you're able to get the run game
Speaker 1: going and then you work off the run game with
Speaker 1: the bootlegs and the play actions. It's hard for linebackers,
Speaker 1: it's hard for safety is it's hard for the d lineman.
Speaker 1: It just makes them have to guess a little bit,
Speaker 1: which means that you have a tick longer to get
Speaker 1: open on a route, which means you have you might
Speaker 1: have just a foot wider hole because they're not in
Speaker 1: the right gap. And then it's it's our job right
Speaker 1: when we're scheming throughout the week, is to make sure
Speaker 1: that stuff fits. It looks the same, but it's different,
Speaker 1: and that's where we're at. Take us back to the idea.
Speaker 1: When you guys are collaborating your coaches and working with
Speaker 1: one about the conversations presented to you, the options, the
Speaker 1: ideas of trying to get that offensive line which was
Speaker 1: beset with injuries and whatnot. Did you ever say, oh,
Speaker 1: I don't know, I don't know if that's gonna work.
Speaker 1: And where was the belief in some of these guys
Speaker 1: because some were a little bit of projection obviously, because
Speaker 1: you really didn't know these guys. Sam must have for
Speaker 1: one of them obviously, and he's turned out to be
Speaker 1: maybe the most important move of the year. Yeah. Yeah, No,
Speaker 1: I think that there's there's moving parts throughout the season
Speaker 1: for for you schematically, there's moving parts throughout the season
Speaker 1: for you with personnel, and sometimes things happen for a reason.
Speaker 1: And for us, we had an idea and feeling in
Speaker 1: the week of practice heading into the Rams game, even
Speaker 1: though we didn't play well offensively. When you're speaking to
Speaker 1: Sam Mustafer, you could kind of see a really neat
Speaker 1: leadership of him in practice. He unfortunately got hurt and
Speaker 1: was out a few weeks. But UM's he's really taken
Speaker 1: this new role as starting role, and he's a he's
Speaker 1: just a leader and guy's feed off of that. There's
Speaker 1: a different mindset right now with that offensive line, and
Speaker 1: Alex Barr is the same thing. And in between Leno
Speaker 1: and Cody you have worked together for a while and
Speaker 1: the Fettie coming in here this year. It's a it's
Speaker 1: a it's a combination that's really working. And Um then
Speaker 1: with what Juan is doing with these guys and Donovan Reola. Um,
Speaker 1: they're working well. There's communication and it's just working on
Speaker 1: it's working its way into every other position, and guys
Speaker 1: are just making plays. Was there a gut feeling you
Speaker 1: had to believe in this five when it was presented
Speaker 1: to you. That feeling comes when you start seeing what
Speaker 1: goes on in practice, just the simplicities and when a
Speaker 1: play is called, and the mentality of a guy like
Speaker 1: Sam Mustafer at center and how he handles that huddle. Um,
Speaker 1: there's extreme focus from him. So every single play looks
Speaker 1: over to the sticks and practice and gives it down
Speaker 1: a distance. Every single play never misses it gets up
Speaker 1: to the line of scrimmage. The tempo is great, points
Speaker 1: out the mic linebacker whether it's a run or pass,
Speaker 1: always hustling and finishing. And these guys are all doing it,
Speaker 1: you know, they're all doing it. And and but Sam
Speaker 1: coming in here just giving us that spark. Like you said,
Speaker 1: it ends up being a big time move and it
Speaker 1: just sometimes that's what you need. And uh, that's that's
Speaker 1: where we're at. And these guys are feeding off of it,
Speaker 1: and you feel it. You come to practice, you feel it.
Speaker 1: And with Montgomery one of the hard as he finished
Speaker 1: all of his runs yesterday. I watched it three times
Speaker 1: already just because I loved it. I just loved the
Speaker 1: finish of the runs. Uh, he's getting small when he
Speaker 1: needs to, he's bursting when he needs to. And those
Speaker 1: guys up front, you can tell. You can tell they
Speaker 1: love blocking form because they're being nasty. They're planting guys bars,
Speaker 1: planting a guy Cody. I mean, there's just a lot
Speaker 1: of physicality right now. There is. And you know, we
Speaker 1: were in the locker room afterwards, Jeff and right away
Speaker 1: in the celebration and Cole Comeet came up to me
Speaker 1: and like punched me in my chest like he always doesn't,
Speaker 1: and he said, uh, you know, he said one yard off,
Speaker 1: one yard off? And said, what are you talking about?
Speaker 1: He said, we're at one ninety nine. We predicted all
Speaker 1: week we're going to run for two hundred and Uh.
Speaker 1: You know, So you have guys that when they're talking
Speaker 1: about that and they're setting goals when you don't even
Speaker 1: know that as a coach that they're they're creating their
Speaker 1: own goals or what they want to do. And then
Speaker 1: when you make that you reach that goal essentially that
Speaker 1: that's what's neat is you just have a These guys
Speaker 1: are smiling out there, they're having fun. Look at him there.
Speaker 1: I mean, go watch Mustafer on that touchdown run that
Speaker 1: David has from fourteen yards out Watch how excited he is.
Speaker 1: And watched the smiles on these guys faces and the
Speaker 1: muscles are flex and then just they're having fun. Snap
Speaker 1: Trabis kick stand the handoff right opening from Mountcovery ten
Speaker 1: five hue with a couple of piggyback rides. Hello the Way,
Speaker 1: touchdown Bears David Montgomery. A two touchdown day now five
Speaker 1: in the month of December from Montgomery, something only a
Speaker 1: couple of Bears in history have accomplished, including Gayle Sayers.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Bears Coaches Show, brought to you
Speaker 1: by Whippley CPAs and Consultants, a proud partner of the
Speaker 1: Chicago Bears. Learn more at Whippley dot com. Jeff Joniac
Speaker 1: and Matt Naggy so eight forced misstackles. According to Pro
Speaker 1: Football Focus by Montgomery, nine runs resulted in first downs
Speaker 1: and this is a big stat Doug Colletti statistician has
Speaker 1: been doing it for thirty five years with us, and
Speaker 1: he feels in winning football ten rushing first sounds is
Speaker 1: a big deal. Yet thirteen yesterday the last time you
Speaker 1: played the Vikings in week ten one, Yeah, yeah, you
Speaker 1: feel that, and you know you go into that touchdown
Speaker 1: run that David had and just the look you literally
Speaker 1: you can stop the play and realize what this offensive
Speaker 1: line did at the line of scrimmage. It totally changed it.
Speaker 1: What these tight ends did, what the wide receivers did.
Speaker 1: And then it comes down to if you remember David's
Speaker 1: first touchdown run last week for eighty yards, comes down
Speaker 1: to a safety having to make a play one on
Speaker 1: one with the back and forty one came down and
Speaker 1: tried to make an arm tackle. It didn't work. You're
Speaker 1: not going to do that to thirty two and he
Speaker 1: took he carried the rest of the guys in the
Speaker 1: end zone. It's those are fun being and IOWA stayed there.
Speaker 1: I know the entire history of David Montgomery and followed
Speaker 1: him closely all his years there and listening to Matt Campbell,
Speaker 1: and it's probably a part of the big reason you
Speaker 1: guys drafted him was what he did for the culture
Speaker 1: at that school. And look where they're at now, a
Speaker 1: top ten team in the nation, and he gets a
Speaker 1: lot of credit for starting that process. So the leadership
Speaker 1: aspect of him, despite being early in his career, you
Speaker 1: have clearly underscored here as a significant development here in
Speaker 1: the second half of this season. What things are is
Speaker 1: he doing that reflect leadership? Oh, I would say this,
Speaker 1: here's what I would say. So last year's rookie year,
Speaker 1: you know, there were some challenges and frustration because I
Speaker 1: think he thought, and he's admitted to me, you know,
Speaker 1: you're going to come in here and all of a
Speaker 1: sudden be just like you were in college, and it's
Speaker 1: not always that that easy. And so we talked about
Speaker 1: this thing being a marathon and one of these days
Speaker 1: it's going to click. And you're seeing that right now,
Speaker 1: and he's feeling that he deserves that because never once
Speaker 1: did he ever complain about, you know, not getting enough
Speaker 1: carries or frustrated because of this, or that he just
Speaker 1: wants to win. And now you take that combine it
Speaker 1: with the way he practices Jeffie. I mean, every single
Speaker 1: play we have to wait for him to run back
Speaker 1: because he always finishes to the goal line, and you know,
Speaker 1: it's worth the weight because now what you're seeing is
Speaker 1: a guy that finishes, and other players see that, and
Speaker 1: here he is with a guy that just practices so hard.
Speaker 1: They see that. Now they want to practice just as hard, right,
Speaker 1: they have that accountability to do that. And so he
Speaker 1: deserves everything that he's getting right now because he is
Speaker 1: a selfless individual that only cares about winning. But now
Speaker 1: he's getting a lot of credit because he's doing so
Speaker 1: many good things. But he'll be the first to tell
Speaker 1: you it's because of the big old line and tight
Speaker 1: ends and wide receivers and everybody else but him, and
Speaker 1: that's just who he is. I found it interesting. I
Speaker 1: read some of Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated you guys
Speaker 1: spoke after the game, evidently wrote a story on Mitchell Trubisky,
Speaker 1: and a couple of things stick out. One You called
Speaker 1: him a satisfier, so a lot of people in his
Speaker 1: ear over the years on how to lead, how to
Speaker 1: be successful. I'm assuming that's people inside and outside the building,
Speaker 1: and that you told him at one point after making
Speaker 1: the decision to go to Nick, it could wind up
Speaker 1: being one of the greatest things that's ever happened. You
Speaker 1: can you delve into that a little more when I
Speaker 1: when I say that, and you know, and I've told
Speaker 1: Mitchell this is sometimes for all of us, no matter
Speaker 1: how old we are, things happen in our lives where
Speaker 1: you just say, why, why in the heck is this
Speaker 1: happening to me right now? Like you know, I've done
Speaker 1: this or I've done that. I don't deserve this. I
Speaker 1: don't deserve that. And it can be really frustrating, upset,
Speaker 1: it can make you mad. And then people take it
Speaker 1: two ways. They can either be negative or they can
Speaker 1: be positive. It's really not that hard, and you either
Speaker 1: choose one or you choose the other, and then you learn.
Speaker 1: And well, what he's done is he's taken the positive route,
Speaker 1: and now whenever that opportunity would come, be ready for it,
Speaker 1: be prepared for it. And that's what's happened with him.
Speaker 1: In my opinion, I think that when this all went down,
Speaker 1: it really kind of reset and reshifted, and it allowed
Speaker 1: him to step back and realize where he's at, and
Speaker 1: he instead of being negative about it and just falling off,
Speaker 1: you know, the just fallen off and fallen away from
Speaker 1: everybody and everything, he went the other way. And he
Speaker 1: said darned. If I ever get an opportunity again, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna come here and I'm gonna do it this way.
Speaker 1: And the way he's doing it right now is really
Speaker 1: really good. And there's other people around that are helping
Speaker 1: out and it's but again, regardless of where his future
Speaker 1: is and his career right all that stuff, regardless of that,
Speaker 1: he has turned this into a really good story and
Speaker 1: it's a credit to him. And so I just go
Speaker 1: back to that day. It's hard. That was a hard
Speaker 1: conversation for me. It was a hard conversation for him.
Speaker 1: But credit to him for handling this thing the right way.
Speaker 1: And now he's just going day by day and he's
Speaker 1: in a great place. The Chicago Bears Improven It are
Speaker 1: supporting Chicago small businesses. Thalia Hall is this week's small
Speaker 1: Business All Pro. Visit Chicago Bears dot com slash small
Speaker 1: Business all Pros to learn more. Final segment with Coach
Speaker 1: here on The Bears Coaches Show with Chuck Bugatto coming
Speaker 1: up at the bottom of the hour. Here, all right,
Speaker 1: let's try to do some quick hitters. So I had
Speaker 1: a three point stance after the game is a revival irrelevance,
Speaker 1: So that's big, and it should be resilience because you
Speaker 1: played the first six games of the year that way,
Speaker 1: you fought through the storm, and now you're playing that
Speaker 1: way again, resilient. The clutch touch, fourth down conversion stops
Speaker 1: by the Bears defense guys like John Jenkins, Paul al Nichols,
Speaker 1: Brent Urban, all those guys up front, along with the
Speaker 1: key Hicks making those things happen. The significance of that,
Speaker 1: and then I called it a family affair because you
Speaker 1: talk about family, you talk about love. How these guys
Speaker 1: are playing together and for the next man, for the
Speaker 1: man next to them, and all these little contributions. We
Speaker 1: could list so many that made a difference. Even the
Speaker 1: Alan Robinson catch where he didn't go out of bounds
Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter. It didn't result in a drive
Speaker 1: for points. Mitch's throw was intercepted, but it showed up
Speaker 1: clock on the back end of the game. It would
Speaker 1: have made a difference potentially with the vikings. So those
Speaker 1: things have a domino effect. Am I on the right
Speaker 1: track with all those points here? Absolutely? No, for sure,
Speaker 1: those are the type of those are the types of
Speaker 1: plays that you just talked about that will show on Tuesday.
Speaker 1: To the team because sometimes they don't show up in
Speaker 1: the paper, but they do show up with us and
Speaker 1: through our position coaches when we see stuff like that.
Speaker 1: I'll give you another one too. And this is one
Speaker 1: that I thought you see so many times, is that
Speaker 1: last play of the game. If you go back and
Speaker 1: watch that, that hell mary that they had, there's a
Speaker 1: lot of inside linebackers and that point in time that
Speaker 1: when they're running with a full steam ahead, they're gonna
Speaker 1: go ahead and just fly at the quarterback and hit
Speaker 1: him as hard as they can, and then typically what
Speaker 1: happens is you get a rough in the passer and
Speaker 1: an extra play fifteen yards closer. You go back and
Speaker 1: watch that, and you'll see Roquan did everything that he
Speaker 1: possibly could do to affect Kirk to where he does
Speaker 1: it without hitting him and getting that penalty. And I
Speaker 1: told him on the plane last ninth that's a that's
Speaker 1: a small thing right there. That is a big deal
Speaker 1: that allowed us to not give them another play. And
Speaker 1: we had a bunch of those throughout the Brent Urban
Speaker 1: did the same thing, same thing on that fourth down.
Speaker 1: As we brought it up on the broadcast, I thought
Speaker 1: that was because you're right, I dare say, of the time,
Speaker 1: it's gone hit him, hit him and hit him hard,
Speaker 1: drive him. That's just the mindset of a defensive player. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's how they're wired, you know. And and so it
Speaker 1: just goes to show the football IQ that Roquan had,
Speaker 1: the football IQ the herbs had on that and um,
Speaker 1: like you said, with Alan Robinson staying in bounds and
Speaker 1: chewing up another forty seconds in a crucial time. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, even with Mitchell on the third down run
Speaker 1: where the defensive end shot the gap and made a
Speaker 1: tough block for Cole Mitchell instead of losing three yards
Speaker 1: and running backwards because he very easily could have because
Speaker 1: the design of the play was to go outside the tackle,
Speaker 1: he cut it up inside and just he did not
Speaker 1: make a bad play worse. Those are the little things
Speaker 1: that help you with that field goal, Mitch's interception, We
Speaker 1: just want to touch out one thing about it. Okay,
Speaker 1: So maybe you make a handful of those over your career,
Speaker 1: but you start to shrink them over time in the
Speaker 1: same situation. Do you think that happens with a quarterback? Yeah,
Speaker 1: you will. You learn through experience. Now I will say this,
Speaker 1: his decision was right. The throw just it just the
Speaker 1: ball got You can see after he threw it, he
Speaker 1: kind of jumped in the air because he knew. It's
Speaker 1: like when you you know, you just know it. And
Speaker 1: the second he released the ball he knew it was
Speaker 1: off a little bit. He jumped because he just he
Speaker 1: had a few and then the corner made a good play.
Speaker 1: But yeah, the more of those that you have h situationally,
Speaker 1: you want to be able to shrink those and reduce
Speaker 1: those so that you know, in those situations you're you're
Speaker 1: throwing a touchdown pass, you know. But he's doing that
Speaker 1: right now. And that's that's the that's the good thing
Speaker 1: about where we're at all. Right, Pro Bowl voting in
Speaker 1: you got a couple of starters, Coldel mac outside linebacker,
Speaker 1: Couldel Patterson no question in the kick return game. Yeah,
Speaker 1: happy for those guys. And again, uh, you know, it's
Speaker 1: it's always very difficult. There's so many guys that are
Speaker 1: noteworthy of different positions, and those two guys right there,
Speaker 1: I think it stayed in the obvious. They they really
Speaker 1: help us out. And you know, if it was up
Speaker 1: to up to me or up to a lot of
Speaker 1: our coaches, there'll be a lot more on that list too,
Speaker 1: but it is what it is, and I'm proud of
Speaker 1: those guys that they did. They're well deserved for that.
Speaker 1: Don't know the Jaguars that great yet starting to do
Speaker 1: any of that, but we do know they have the
Speaker 1: Rockford running back James Robinson, who's had a heck of
Speaker 1: a rookie year. Yeah, no doubt. And again they've been
Speaker 1: in games this year now and they play hard. And
Speaker 1: I go back and you talk about the Vikings game
Speaker 1: they played. It came down to the last second field goal.
Speaker 1: A few weeks prior to that they had they gave
Speaker 1: Green Bay everything they wanted. So they're you know, they're
Speaker 1: right there and and our guys, trust me, we will
Speaker 1: know that. We will be very aware of that and
Speaker 1: we're going to have a great week of practice mentally, physically,
Speaker 1: and uh. And now it's just about going out there.
Speaker 1: And of those four games that we had left trying
Speaker 1: to get number three, yeah, they had six one score losses.
Speaker 1: They beat the Colts in the opener and have lost
Speaker 1: thirteen in a row. Oh so much more to talk
Speaker 1: about after a great win like this and a lot
Speaker 1: of optimism, but we're out of time. So it's not
Speaker 1: a check Pagano, Mac, Congratulations, have a great Christmas week.
Speaker 1: I know it's it's work. It's work, but there's a
Speaker 1: little family in there too, and Merry Christmas to your family.
Speaker 1: Thanks chef, all the best to you two. May marry Christmas.
Speaker 1: Give it a Dalvin Cook. He stood up pit stop wall.
Speaker 1: They stop him hot fourth an itches the front wall
Speaker 1: unpenetratable and the Bears are gonna takeover and downs deep
Speaker 1: in the Vikings territory back on the Bears Coaches Show.
Speaker 1: But check Pagano brought to you by Whippley CPAs and
Speaker 1: consuls one of two fourth downs stops by the guys
Speaker 1: up front. Those were exhilarating moments in the game and
Speaker 1: must have huge, huge plays obviously, and to be able.
Speaker 1: We consider those turnovers, you know, they're not they don't
Speaker 1: go in as takeaways you know on the stat sheet,
Speaker 1: but anytime you can turn the ball over and downs
Speaker 1: like that, we put it in that category. And our
Speaker 1: goal is always to get you know, three score on
Speaker 1: defense all that stuff. But those were those were monster
Speaker 1: plays and the guys did a great job of execute
Speaker 1: and we got you know, great push in the middle
Speaker 1: and you know. The last one, the boot pass, I
Speaker 1: mean was just I mean incredible. You know, Bigger got
Speaker 1: pressure on the quarterback. Clil was actually in coverage on
Speaker 1: that and did a great job of covering that guy.
Speaker 1: And it seemed like that ball hung in the air forever.
Speaker 1: We're all sitting there on the sideline just waiting for
Speaker 1: that thing to this land incomplete, you know. But it
Speaker 1: was a nice job by the guys. Oh that one.
Speaker 1: How about the hail Mary? That one seemed to hang
Speaker 1: in the air and it starts ping ponging around and
Speaker 1: you just put your hands on your head and your stomach.
Speaker 1: I mean, seriously, when you're as a coach, and you've
Speaker 1: been a coach for a long time, I mean, what's
Speaker 1: that doing to your insides? I mean, are you just breathless? No,
Speaker 1: Richard guts out because you're sitting there and they got time.
Speaker 1: They're reviewing the other one. So we're all talking, Okay,
Speaker 1: what's the best thing to do? You got seven seconds?
Speaker 1: Ten seconds. They tried to quick out, you know, to
Speaker 1: get a couple of yards. You know when they do
Speaker 1: that again, they going downtown. You know, I've faced you know,
Speaker 1: coach Kubiak, who's you know, is good it as they
Speaker 1: are in the business calling plays. Um. You know when
Speaker 1: he was at Houston and I figured they're gonna go,
Speaker 1: They're gonna go up top on this one with seven
Speaker 1: seconds to go, and yeah, you just you see your
Speaker 1: life flash right before your eyes, you know, and that
Speaker 1: thing's up in the air, and then you know, some
Speaker 1: guys were in great position. Uh, some other guys weren't.
Speaker 1: Eddie did a nice job. Shark's on the ground, Shark
Speaker 1: gets off the ground. You know, they got a guy
Speaker 1: sitting there just waiting for that ball happening to get
Speaker 1: you know, obviously we preached knock it down and it
Speaker 1: got tipped up. The guy eighty one did a nice
Speaker 1: job of tipping that thing up. And think, God, Cheryl,
Speaker 1: you know it landed in Cheryl's lap. Big site relief,
Speaker 1: you know, once that's over and get on your hands
Speaker 1: and knees and start thinking God. You know, that's what
Speaker 1: you call it, the Hail Mary, you know, all right.
Speaker 1: I mean it's exhilarating for everybody involved and certainly for
Speaker 1: the fans watching. And it's it's great when it leans
Speaker 1: in your direction, of course, but you know, you say,
Speaker 1: you see your life flash in front of you. We're
Speaker 1: seeing a season flash in front of you. Yeah, no
Speaker 1: doubt about it, you know, And it seems like we've
Speaker 1: been in that situation a lot this year, you know,
Speaker 1: where it comes down to the final play. So I think,
Speaker 1: you know, that's a good thing because our guys have confidence,
Speaker 1: you know, in themselves and each other and executing those things.
Speaker 1: And we've got out of a bunch of pickles this year,
Speaker 1: and again this one no bigger than this one because
Speaker 1: it keeps you in the hunt, you know, keeps you
Speaker 1: in the conversation. Yeah, you guys are now six and
Speaker 1: five and one score games out of the fourteen games
Speaker 1: you've played this year. So a lot of tight game
Speaker 1: experience that benefits though a team, you know, down the stretch,
Speaker 1: in the clutch moments, at when every single snap matters.
Speaker 1: All right, let's talk Below Nichols, because at least on defense,
Speaker 1: a case can be made. No player has risen more
Speaker 1: and been more impactful than Below Nichols. Is that a
Speaker 1: fair state? Yeah, you're spot on with that. He's our
Speaker 1: you know, player of the game, you know this week,
Speaker 1: and you know he'll get a game ball and all
Speaker 1: that stuff. But he's doing it. He's doing a phenomenal job.
Speaker 1: And Jay uh It does a great job with him.
Speaker 1: And you know, Shane tob came over, uh from the
Speaker 1: offensive year agoing now he's on the defensive side of
Speaker 1: the ball, and he's a bright, bright young coach and
Speaker 1: really really smart, and he's been doing a great job
Speaker 1: of diagnosed because he's been He's an old lineman, so
Speaker 1: he understands and he was on the offensive side, so
Speaker 1: he understands offensive line play inside now protections this, that
Speaker 1: and the other. So he's been doing some stuff for
Speaker 1: those guys, and in particular Balow uh just tips notes, this,
Speaker 1: that and the other. How how guys are you know
Speaker 1: from a pass protection run blocks all that stuff, and
Speaker 1: so a lot of credit goes to goes to Jay
Speaker 1: and to Shane you know, Shane Tobe, you know for
Speaker 1: you know in Coach Naggy pointed that out this morning,
Speaker 1: you know as we as we talked as a defense
Speaker 1: about the game. But um, yeah, the kids, the kids playing.
Speaker 1: His motor is always running hot, and like you said,
Speaker 1: he's gaining a ton of confidence and he's going out there,
Speaker 1: he's having fun. He's got it. You know, he's on
Speaker 1: a mission, and he's one of those selfless guys that
Speaker 1: do anything for this team. Hey, Bears fans, went shopping
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Speaker 1: defensive coordinator Chuck Pocgannald breaking down the win over the
Speaker 1: Minnesota Vikings. Let's talk about your defensive backs. I want
Speaker 1: to start with the veteran safeties. First of all, you
Speaker 1: didn't have Dan Bush yesterday, but your reliance in situational
Speaker 1: play with the DeAndre Houston, Carson Sherrick McManus and Dion
Speaker 1: when he's in there. What is the value of that
Speaker 1: for you as a defensive coordinator in terms of coming
Speaker 1: up with ideas and plans for all these different offenses
Speaker 1: you're facing. And you're getting good play out of all
Speaker 1: of them. Yeah, those guys give you a ton of versatility. Um,
Speaker 1: you know because not only you know, do they come
Speaker 1: in and you know in situations and um, you know
Speaker 1: back up, you know, you know Eddie and get but
Speaker 1: you know they know that they know the defense inside out.
Speaker 1: You know, Sean and Duchey do a great job with
Speaker 1: those guys. But their versatility to be able to put together,
Speaker 1: you know, a dime package. You know, Minnesota had been
Speaker 1: running a bunch of out two personnel uh leading up
Speaker 1: to our game, which is three whiteouts and two tight
Speaker 1: ends no backs obviously, but uh, you know, so we
Speaker 1: wanted to get into a dime package and uh again
Speaker 1: the guys come up with some great coverage ideas, uh
Speaker 1: coaching wise, and uh you know Sean and Dushey and
Speaker 1: and those guys go out and execute and you can
Speaker 1: throw them anywhere. You know, we got a bunch of
Speaker 1: personnel groups and you know, whether they're playing deep deep
Speaker 1: parts of the field underneath coverage zone, man, Uh, they
Speaker 1: do it. They do a great job. And um, you
Speaker 1: know they study really hard. They put a lot of time. Man. Again,
Speaker 1: there are two guys that you can really count on.
Speaker 1: You know, they're going to be prepared and doesn't matter
Speaker 1: what situation you put him in. Like Sherik, I mean
Speaker 1: he played two plays of defense and shoot, he had
Speaker 1: to play the game the interception at the end to
Speaker 1: seal it. So he's going to get a game ball too.
Speaker 1: I'm sure do you decide that or do some of
Speaker 1: Matt's decide who gets the game balls? Or is it
Speaker 1: a collaboration? Collaboration there you go. Um, yeah, let's talk
Speaker 1: about the young kids because they were thrown in against
Speaker 1: a very talented skill set group from Minnesota. There's it's
Speaker 1: a dangerous group. It's a dangerous group and that tight
Speaker 1: end also IRV Smith Junior is a dangerous weapon thrown
Speaker 1: into into the mix. So I don't care that Kyle
Speaker 1: Rudolph didn't play that that kid can play football. So
Speaker 1: we're talking about Duke Shelley, we're talking about Kildallville door.
Speaker 1: How'd they great out for you? You know what, they
Speaker 1: did a nice job. They're they're very very competitive. Again,
Speaker 1: Uh you know, Dha does a great job with those
Speaker 1: with those corners and you know, um, they prepared extremely well,
Speaker 1: they practiced well, and um they had you know, they
Speaker 1: had a few glitches like everybody has, you know, or
Speaker 1: ten to twelve year veteran guys, you know, have those
Speaker 1: who have those moments. Every seemed like we just spread
Speaker 1: it around a little bit. Yesterday, you know, a couple
Speaker 1: you know, plays here and there. It was on one guy,
Speaker 1: then the next guy. But those guys, those guys battle,
Speaker 1: you know, and to start that game, you know, we
Speaker 1: start with a sack and then you get a run
Speaker 1: stop by Danny and then Bildore coming up and getting
Speaker 1: thirty three on the ground on a third and sixteen play.
Speaker 1: You know, we're in obviously a dime package and he
Speaker 1: comes up out of nowhere and gets that guy in
Speaker 1: the ground. That's a great open field tackle. Duke Shelley,
Speaker 1: you know, in coverage, U quarterback scrambles and he's about to,
Speaker 1: you know, make the line to gain. It's third and nine,
Speaker 1: and Kyle comes up and wraps him up low, and
Speaker 1: then he delivers the wood on on Cousins and and
Speaker 1: keeps him short of the line of gain. It's fourth
Speaker 1: and one. We get to stop, you know, and the
Speaker 1: rest is history. But those guys went went out there
Speaker 1: and they battled and played well. It was great experience
Speaker 1: for him and they'll be better, you know, down the
Speaker 1: road for it. But really really proud of those guys.
Speaker 1: They're they're very competitive, they're you know, they're tough, they're smart,
Speaker 1: and they want to do good. They did run the
Speaker 1: ball with one of the best running backs, if not
Speaker 1: the best running back in football. And you talked about
Speaker 1: I loved your analogy and it was very sensory. You
Speaker 1: can feel what you were saying about. It was it
Speaker 1: BB's on a tin can, which was a great quote.
Speaker 1: I love that quote. Did that happen that way enough
Speaker 1: for you? Because yes, they did get yards, they got
Speaker 1: some points, they ran the ball, but in situations, as
Speaker 1: you just outlined here, you guys are outstanding. Yeah. No,
Speaker 1: again the couple third downs, you know, the red area,
Speaker 1: couple stops, the fourth downs. But you know we did
Speaker 1: get that h you know at times, but then at
Speaker 1: other times, you know, they out execute to us and um,
Speaker 1: you know, he can make him miss and he broke
Speaker 1: some tackles. Uh, And you know, we set we set
Speaker 1: a goal you know for ourselves. We didn't we didn't
Speaker 1: meet that goal with holding him to a certain number.
Speaker 1: And um, again he's a great back. Um, a great,
Speaker 1: great back, and they did a good job of blocking
Speaker 1: and and uh again, we didn't execute all the time
Speaker 1: like we wanted to. And I could have done a
Speaker 1: better job from a call standpoint and putting the guys
Speaker 1: in some some different situations, you know. And um, but
Speaker 1: we'll look at you know, we'll look at it tomorrow
Speaker 1: with the guys and and we'll clean it up and
Speaker 1: then and then we move on to Jacksonville. Back here
Speaker 1: on the Bears Coaches Show one more time with Bears
Speaker 1: defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano. I have so much to talk about,
Speaker 1: but not enough time. One gotta talk about Danny. Danny
Speaker 1: was all over the place yesterday. Danny Travathan. Yeah he
Speaker 1: uh he he played a great game. Um. He's physical,
Speaker 1: tough inside, um, sideline to sideline again. Um. You know,
Speaker 1: you just can't you just can't say enough about him
Speaker 1: and the way he leads, the way he plays. You know,
Speaker 1: he's not one of those guys that says a lot.
Speaker 1: He just does a lot. You know. He does a
Speaker 1: lot in the locker room, He does a lot of practice,
Speaker 1: He does a lot in the meetings. He makes sure
Speaker 1: that I'm on point. He makes sure that his teammates
Speaker 1: are on point. He makes sure that we don't have
Speaker 1: any gray, uh, you know, in any of our calls,
Speaker 1: you know, and if there is, we'll get together and
Speaker 1: we'll say, you know, do we need this and he goes, no,
Speaker 1: we don't need this. This probably too, you know, could
Speaker 1: cause a bad played a little bit too confusing. So
Speaker 1: he does so much behind the scenes that nobody sees.
Speaker 1: Everybody sees, you know, in that preparation, they get to
Speaker 1: see the by product or that you know on game
Speaker 1: day is him flying around and making plays all over
Speaker 1: the place. Is this game against Jacksonville make you nervous
Speaker 1: just like the rams? Fellow, Well, it's a trap, it's
Speaker 1: it's and our guys and coach Nagui'll do a great job.
Speaker 1: You know. It's a it's a you know, loaded with
Speaker 1: a trap. You're going to Sunny Florida. It's sunshine, it's
Speaker 1: you know, all the all the stuff that comes with that.
Speaker 1: And you know you've got a one in thirteen club
Speaker 1: all that. Just look at the games and look at
Speaker 1: the scores and look at the talent. It's pro football,
Speaker 1: and uh, our guys will handle it appropriately. We'll handle
Speaker 1: it appropriately, and we'll prepare just like we always prepare
Speaker 1: for anybody. Um, because you know how this this deal is, uh,
Speaker 1: in this league. I mean, you don't take anybody for granted.
Speaker 1: We'd won a couple of games, and the worst thing
Speaker 1: we can do is take our foot off the gas
Speaker 1: right now, eggxhale. You know, just you know, start feeling
Speaker 1: good some guys, you know, they start talking nice about
Speaker 1: you again when you win. And you know when they
Speaker 1: say all that nice stuff when you win, it ain't true.
Speaker 1: And when they say all that bad stuff when you lose,
Speaker 1: that ain't true. Somewhere in the middle is where you know,
Speaker 1: reality lies, you know. So we got to stay there,
Speaker 1: you know, and we gotta we just gotta. We got
Speaker 1: to stay the course and respect We talk about respecting
Speaker 1: the process, you know, and that process is preparation, preparation, preparation,
Speaker 1: and you don't take anything for granted, take no games
Speaker 1: for granted. We put ourselves in positions, you know, stay
Speaker 1: in this conversation and and uh we'll prepare for for
Speaker 1: them and uh uh and treat it the way it
Speaker 1: needs to be treated. All right. Last week only have
Speaker 1: like twenty seconds Max a pro bowler again, that announcement
Speaker 1: coming out. How do you feel about it? Who's that surprise?
Speaker 1: A surprise you? Well, congratulations to him obviously. Yeah, he's
Speaker 1: what a what a great talent, but just a great
Speaker 1: human being. You know, everybody in that building knows. He's
Speaker 1: such a special kid. And uh, I've said selfless one
Speaker 1: hundred times. He's He's a selfless dude. All he cares
Speaker 1: about is he is winning, you know, and he's very
Speaker 1: humble and and and you know, filled with grit and gratitude.
Speaker 1: So I love that kid, as teammates love him and
Speaker 1: proud of him. And congratulations. Still, that's awesome, all right, Chuck,
Speaker 1: Congratulations getting the win, and we will talk to you
Speaker 1: down the road. And Merry Christmas to you and your family.
Speaker 1: Shame to you, Jeff, take care of man. That's gonna
Speaker 1: wrap tonight's show. Thanks for producers Jordan trut Up, Dan burrelly,
Speaker 1: Andy Gercer, and Lisa Fielding. And for Bear's head coach
Speaker 1: Mattenegge and defensive coordinator Chuck Pogato. I'm Jeff, joniak Wuishing
Speaker 1: you a pleasant, good evening. Bears Jacksonville nine am pregame
Speaker 1: noon kickoff on Sunday, This is News Radio seven eighty
Speaker 1: and one oh five point OUTFM, w BBM, good night, everybody,