Speaker 1: The following is a presentation of the Chicago Bears Network
Speaker 1: now on news radio seven eighty and one oh five
Speaker 1: point nine FM. This is the Bears Coaches Show with
Speaker 1: Bears Head Coach Matt Naggie, the coaching staff and Bears management.
Speaker 1: The Bears Coaches Show was brought to you by Whitpley
Speaker 1: CBA's and Consultants and sponsored by Advocate Healthcare, Hilton and
Speaker 1: the Village of Bedford Park. Now from Hallis Hall, here's
Speaker 1: the Voice of the Bears w BBMS Jeff Joniac and
Speaker 1: a pleasant, good evening everybody, and welcome back to p
Speaker 1: NC Studios at Hallis Hall on a Bears Coaches Show
Speaker 1: with Head Coach Matt Nagge Jeff Joniac with you until
Speaker 1: eight o'clock tonight. Mat Congratulations. A collective, unified effort from
Speaker 1: the game plan to the execution and the way you
Speaker 1: guys beat the Vikings with a robust contribution from the
Speaker 1: sixty thousand fans that Soldier Field last night. It was
Speaker 1: a memorable night. You know, it's only one game, but
Speaker 1: everybody left there feeling pretty good about what's going on
Speaker 1: with this organization and this football team. Yeah, it was
Speaker 1: it was a special night, and you're right, you hit
Speaker 1: it right on the head. I mean it started with
Speaker 1: the fans, and I just know our players appreciate it
Speaker 1: so much for the support that they had from the
Speaker 1: first play on and uh, it just brings the energy
Speaker 1: up so much and the guys love that. And it's
Speaker 1: in particular on defense. It was a game that you know,
Speaker 1: from the start, getting that that third and one stop there,
Speaker 1: got the fans going, got the players going, went ahead
Speaker 1: and had a nice little drive and then from really
Speaker 1: from then on the rest of the game, it was challenging. Now,
Speaker 1: that's a good defense that they have, it's a good
Speaker 1: offense that they have in Minnesota, and so um, you know,
Speaker 1: there were some times ever they started creeping back, but really,
Speaker 1: all in all, the three phases came together collectively and
Speaker 1: pulled out a great win. Yeah, that's true, because they're
Speaker 1: a team that you're not gonna easily just feel comfortable
Speaker 1: with at any point of game. I'd imagine a because
Speaker 1: Kirk Cousins can throw fifty passes a game and get
Speaker 1: Artig and so forth. But that defense will always be
Speaker 1: ever present danger. But you guys never lost control of
Speaker 1: the game. Did you always feel like you were in control.
Speaker 1: We felt pretty good and a lot of that was
Speaker 1: because of our defense. They were so dominant last night
Speaker 1: and you know, in that first half, I think for
Speaker 1: them to have five possessions three three and ounce and
Speaker 1: two punts or the turnovers, it just collectively throughout the game,
Speaker 1: you could just feel that you felt in control. Now
Speaker 1: on offense, that's in those type of games, you got
Speaker 1: to make sure that you're real smart with the football,
Speaker 1: you respect the football. Now, we did have the two
Speaker 1: interceptions in the fumble, and we need to fix that.
Speaker 1: We gotta stay away from that. But luckily with our defense,
Speaker 1: they went ahead and flip that back to us. And
Speaker 1: then again, the one thing is is when when you
Speaker 1: had that fumble in the red zone, uh, they only
Speaker 1: gave up a field goal and there wasn't a touchdown
Speaker 1: and then so that that's big. How about this on
Speaker 1: the three sudden changes combined, twenty five yards allowed in
Speaker 1: six points. Yeah, that's that's rare. And that's where we're
Speaker 1: at right now with this defense, and those guys are
Speaker 1: playing hard, their trust and everything that that the coaches
Speaker 1: are teaching themen, and it's it's nice to be a
Speaker 1: part of and like you've been talking about, they've been
Speaker 1: flying around, especially the run game, you know, just filling
Speaker 1: their gaps properly and get into their spot quickly and
Speaker 1: with a purpose. And so the end result is you
Speaker 1: guys lead the NFL and rush defense, you lead the
Speaker 1: NFL and yards pret carry alloud, and you know, you're
Speaker 1: forcing teams to become one dimensional, which then allows everybody
Speaker 1: else to fly around to the ball. And the end
Speaker 1: result in this four game winning streak, ten takeaways, fourteen
Speaker 1: three and outs and just twelve scoring drives. That's pretty
Speaker 1: significant and that really defines what this defense is capable. Now. Yeah,
Speaker 1: they've they've been doing it from from really from the
Speaker 1: start in Green Bay until now, and we had that
Speaker 1: one game against Miami, but other than that, they've been
Speaker 1: u playing to another level and we're going to need
Speaker 1: that that they you know, as as the season goes on.
Speaker 1: Defense is so important to have a good defense, and
Speaker 1: and everything feeds off of each other, and so for
Speaker 1: the offense to be able to just continue to get
Speaker 1: first downs, get touchdowns, protect the football defensively, stop the
Speaker 1: run game, get after the quarterback, affect the passer, challenge
Speaker 1: all passes, and then in special teams. We're gonna have
Speaker 1: there's gonna be times, uh, just like last night the
Speaker 1: rest of the season where we're gonna have to make
Speaker 1: game winning field goals. And what a credit for Cody
Speaker 1: to come back yesterday, go three for three, bounce back
Speaker 1: after a tough week, you know last week, and h
Speaker 1: you could just see the emotion of our players and
Speaker 1: how happy everybody was. Yeah, and you you've alluded to it.
Speaker 1: You guys came a little tighter last night because of that.
Speaker 1: Don't either. We did. We did, and those are the
Speaker 1: moments that can carry you on. And really you look
Speaker 1: back to Okay, there's one game where we really started
Speaker 1: coming together and this I think last night was that game, Uh,
Speaker 1: for for for us to just say, hey, you know what, um,
Speaker 1: we're family, and when things were bad for one of
Speaker 1: our family members, we all hung together. We didn't hang
Speaker 1: them out to dry. We stuck together. Uh. It came back,
Speaker 1: had a chance to help us win, and he did that.
Speaker 1: And then you get to see how joyful that can be.
Speaker 1: And that's just it's um, it can it can just
Speaker 1: do so many good things for you as you go
Speaker 1: down the road. It was a critical kick the conversations
Speaker 1: between you and coach Tabor just looking down on the sidelines.
Speaker 1: What were those like, what are you factoring in and
Speaker 1: all those situations. Well, we try our best to try
Speaker 1: to go through all different types of situations um each
Speaker 1: week and decide, okay, if we're in this situation, that
Speaker 1: situation and and so uh um, you know, in that
Speaker 1: short moment, just kind of knowing where that ball was at,
Speaker 1: it was right at that gray area. And so there's
Speaker 1: a lot of different ways several options you can do there.
Speaker 1: You can punt the football, back them up and make
Speaker 1: your defense play and make them go the length of
Speaker 1: the field down seven. You can you know, you can
Speaker 1: attempt the field goal, or you can go for it.
Speaker 1: And so uh in our in our situation, it's just
Speaker 1: we all collectively discussed it and decided that's the way
Speaker 1: to go. And uh, after I said we're going to
Speaker 1: go for the field goal, I could see several of
Speaker 1: the players who were huddling around waiting for the call
Speaker 1: turn around and do fist pumps. They were excited that
Speaker 1: that was the decision. And so that's when I knew
Speaker 1: right away when I saw that, and I felt that
Speaker 1: that was the right decision and then Cody nailed it.
Speaker 1: You know, there's a psychological aspect, at least from my
Speaker 1: opinions as an analyst of football. When you get the
Speaker 1: ball to start the game and you're moving down the field,
Speaker 1: you already put a team a little bit on their heels.
Speaker 1: And that's been happening virtually every week of the season
Speaker 1: so far. An aggressive play calling and a plan that's
Speaker 1: just really almost frenetic and pace. Yesterday I felt it
Speaker 1: as an announcer. And the end result is, you know,
Speaker 1: I've played six games this season, You've never trailed, including
Speaker 1: four in a row, and you've let in the fourth
Speaker 1: quarter in every game this season. But the New England
Speaker 1: game is the genesis of that. That first drive. Yeah,
Speaker 1: no matter if you get the kickoff or not, well, yeah,
Speaker 1: I think it is. And for the offensive players to
Speaker 1: feel good about, Okay, hey we can move the all
Speaker 1: and regardless, you know, you always want to come away
Speaker 1: with touchdowns. That's hard, uh, and with that first drive,
Speaker 1: but at least chew up some first downs. Number one,
Speaker 1: it gives your defense a breather. Number two, it allows
Speaker 1: you as a play caller and your players to kind
Speaker 1: of get into a rhythm of where you're at. And
Speaker 1: I think that you've been seeing that this year that
Speaker 1: the players have really taken to the first fifteen that
Speaker 1: we have and we don't always stay on it. You know,
Speaker 1: there's times that we jump off of it if there's
Speaker 1: a feel, you feel somebody you know that that has
Speaker 1: a matchup that you like. But uh, uh yeah, that's
Speaker 1: that's important and then and now and then just adjusting.
Speaker 1: And there's been times too, Jeff, where we've we've come
Speaker 1: out and we've struggled in the first half and we've
Speaker 1: come back to the to the uh the third quarter
Speaker 1: to start after sluggish times and come out and done well.
Speaker 1: So that's that's been good. Can you define in uh
Speaker 1: the short forty five seconds we have before driving in
Speaker 1: the weather just the type of game that a Key
Speaker 1: Micks had last night because I went to I said,
Speaker 1: as the best game you ever played? Yeah, yeah, no,
Speaker 1: I could. I could see that, and you could feel it,
Speaker 1: and I knew that he was at a point where
Speaker 1: he felt like he could do some really good things
Speaker 1: in that game. And he's such a big, powerful guy
Speaker 1: and we just we we loved everything he did last night.
Speaker 1: Five tackles for loss. That's a big number and he
Speaker 1: could not be blocked in right now. Good luck trying
Speaker 1: to black black that guy. One on one The Bears
Speaker 1: Coaches Show with head coach Matt Maggie and w bbm'
Speaker 1: Jeff Joey at continues. Rudolph settles left feeling and the
Speaker 1: slot right. Cousins looking left as he goes to throw.
Speaker 1: He is sack drop for the loss. Keem Hicks does
Speaker 1: it again, Cousins having nowhere to go half third and
Speaker 1: two sacks. Welcome back to the Bears Coaching Show here
Speaker 1: at PNC Studios at Hallisall with Bears head coach Macneggie
Speaker 1: and it's brought to you by what Fleet Financial Advisors,
Speaker 1: a proud partner of the Chicago Bears. That was a
Speaker 1: Keem Hicks making another big play yesterday, really attacking the
Speaker 1: run game. And with this defense in general, let alone
Speaker 1: a Keem and Mac and Eddie Jackson and everybody making plays,
Speaker 1: it almost has a feel that, no matter what's happening
Speaker 1: the offense moving the ball against you, this defense is
Speaker 1: now one snap away from a big play. Do you
Speaker 1: feel that as a head coach? Yeah, very opportunistic and
Speaker 1: there's so many guys on our defense that can, you know,
Speaker 1: make those plays. And I think you've seen that all
Speaker 1: year long with the the the guys that have had
Speaker 1: the interceptions, the sacks, the fumbles, and that's what makes
Speaker 1: it hard and so challenging for the opponent. Uh, just
Speaker 1: not knowing where it's coming from. And so when you
Speaker 1: try to scheme and you have guys that are are
Speaker 1: good in all these areas and they just work off
Speaker 1: of each other, uh, it makes it difficult. And so
Speaker 1: we uh, we're glad that that they're on our side.
Speaker 1: We love the way they play, and everybody feeds off
Speaker 1: of that great quote from a team last night after
Speaker 1: the game. Anyone that steps in Soldier Field is gonna
Speaker 1: feel us. That was your mission as a head coach,
Speaker 1: wasn't it? It was? And our guys are living up
Speaker 1: to that right now. I think we needed to earn
Speaker 1: it and now to be able to be in a
Speaker 1: spot where we're you know, five and one at home
Speaker 1: is great and our our guys, we want opponents to
Speaker 1: know that when they step onto the field of Soldier
Speaker 1: Field that they are going to feel us. And that's
Speaker 1: all different types of ways, and you have to win
Speaker 1: at home in this league, and so when you take
Speaker 1: care of business at home, it helps you in other areas.
Speaker 1: And so now as we move forward here, we're gonna
Speaker 1: have some away games and that's going to be the
Speaker 1: new challenge. You can direct it on the offensive side,
Speaker 1: as I mentioned to you last night, eleven guys touched
Speaker 1: the ball last night, which is a crazy number. It's
Speaker 1: fits your vision though. But on the defensive side of
Speaker 1: the ball, fourteen guys have sacks, eleven guys have interceptions.
Speaker 1: Was that a conversation that you had when you sat
Speaker 1: down in your early days with Vic Fangio said, can
Speaker 1: we do this too on the defensive side of the
Speaker 1: ball or is that just happening organically. It's just happening organically,
Speaker 1: And that's I think that's better than anything. Is you
Speaker 1: got guys that are wanting it. They want to be
Speaker 1: the next guy to make a play, and so that
Speaker 1: they feel off of each other. So if it's not
Speaker 1: Khalil Mack, if it's not a chem Hicks, if it's
Speaker 1: not Leonard Floyd, if he's not Eddie Goldman, if it's
Speaker 1: not Roque On, if it's not you know, you could
Speaker 1: go on and on and on and these guys are
Speaker 1: just competing to get that ball. They want takeaways, they
Speaker 1: talk about it, they preach it, y everything all day,
Speaker 1: all the time. It's all about takeaways. And so it's
Speaker 1: it's working. I think it'll continue with us. And it's
Speaker 1: just an aggressive mentality that we love. In terms of
Speaker 1: the two point conversions, and you've touched on a little bit,
Speaker 1: I keep getting asked about the first one, why get
Speaker 1: to eleven right away? Well, this was something forget to score.
Speaker 1: This was just something that we decided we were going
Speaker 1: to do right away. So regardless of what the score was,
Speaker 1: our first time, we were going to do it, and
Speaker 1: we're gonna play it out. And see, we felt very
Speaker 1: comfortable with our our our red zone plays inside to five,
Speaker 1: and so when you have multiple plays that you like,
Speaker 1: why not use them? And uh and and the guys
Speaker 1: made some great plays yesterday down there. I mean, I'm
Speaker 1: telling you that first play they had great defense and uh,
Speaker 1: Mitch made a great throw to to Bellamy and made
Speaker 1: a great catch. And and in the second one, of course,
Speaker 1: was just a deadly accurate throw to Sheheen who made
Speaker 1: a great catch against a really big, good corner, you know,
Speaker 1: with a creative alignment with new bodies in there. We
Speaker 1: laughed about it last night, but you know, you're forcing
Speaker 1: teams to prepare for just about anything at this point.
Speaker 1: And like we've joked around, you know, you've had Callahan
Speaker 1: out there, Eddie Jackson now a Keeman, Roy Robertson, Harris
Speaker 1: and Leno splitting out. All these guys are gonna be
Speaker 1: knocking on your door. They're gonna want a little piece
Speaker 1: of this fun we have. We have fun with it,
Speaker 1: and they get a knock on the door, uh you know,
Speaker 1: each week and it's uh, so you're knocking on their door.
Speaker 1: They're not knocking on your They try to, but I
Speaker 1: tell them to stay away. I'll do the choosing man.
Speaker 1: Naggie our guest here on Bears Coaches Show. The Chicago
Speaker 1: Bears Network presents Inside the Bears, brought to you by Verizon,
Speaker 1: Anthony Adams and Lawrence Greed, and cover the world of
Speaker 1: Bears football on and off the field every Sunday, United
Speaker 1: eleven o five pm on Fox thirty two Chicago. Watch
Speaker 1: anytime at Chicago Bears dot com around the Bears official app.
Speaker 1: Leading into this one, after the Detroit game, you had
Speaker 1: concerns about where the running game was at, what was
Speaker 1: your focus and how you executed it against the Vikings.
Speaker 1: I liked what we did. I thought Jordan Howard ran
Speaker 1: the ball really strong. He was really sticking his foot
Speaker 1: in the ground, getting north and south. The defensive front
Speaker 1: that they have is really good against the run. They
Speaker 1: they balanced each other out really well. So we tried
Speaker 1: some misdirection stuff and had some success early on, and
Speaker 1: then they started making some plays. But for us, we
Speaker 1: just we we wanted to be able to establish a run.
Speaker 1: So we're going to continue to just keep trying to
Speaker 1: get better and better. And again, this Detroit team that
Speaker 1: we're playing, they're really solid toil as well versus a run, right,
Speaker 1: which you did learn in the first matchup, But we'll
Speaker 1: talk about it coming up in our next segment. Let's
Speaker 1: look at some other aspects of the game. The onside kick.
Speaker 1: We're not gonna ignore Benny cunning him because you know,
Speaker 1: you don't know how that ball is gonna gonna bounce around,
Speaker 1: and so surehanded veteran guy, one of your captains from
Speaker 1: time to time on special teams, saw him after the game,
Speaker 1: gave me a huge hug, almost broke my Ribs. I
Speaker 1: mean his excitement about just making that play, which was
Speaker 1: every every aspect of this is important because one bad decision,
Speaker 1: one bad mistake, can turn the tide. That was huge,
Speaker 1: just talking about that for a bit, just the importance
Speaker 1: of that on site kick. Well, obviously the week before
Speaker 1: we missed it, and so you know it's you gotta
Speaker 1: be able to get these on site kicks. And we
Speaker 1: knew in that situation too, if we get it, it's
Speaker 1: game over and we can get into victory. And so
Speaker 1: he made a great play getting at and it was
Speaker 1: just a great job by him him the best formation
Speaker 1: in football victory formation. No more of the Bears Coaches
Speaker 1: Show with head coach Matt Maggie on Newsweydio seven eighty
Speaker 1: and one oh five point nine FM w BBM motion
Speaker 1: man Dick Snap Cousins looking this way, throws best intercepted,
Speaker 1: there goes and he checks into the pick six. Wow.
Speaker 1: This defense is playing Magne Difference at Soldier Field called
Speaker 1: the Orange Crush today because they are crushing the Vikings.
Speaker 1: Eddie Jackson with a pick six now four touchdowns since
Speaker 1: his debut season in twenty seventeen. Nobody has as many
Speaker 1: return touchdowns on defense in the NFL during that period
Speaker 1: of time. Then Eddie Jackson and I gotta tell you,
Speaker 1: Scott Hagel was in the booth with us and during
Speaker 1: the time out he said, we're going to pick six here,
Speaker 1: So boom, first snap, pick six. Place erupted, erupted. And
Speaker 1: I don't think Soldier Field is quiet yet from that
Speaker 1: because through the time out, the place was going crazy.
Speaker 1: And it must just be a great feeling for you
Speaker 1: as a head coach to be in the bowl there
Speaker 1: in the bowl of the stadium feeling that energy. You
Speaker 1: could feel it. And that was a huge part of
Speaker 1: the game too, because offensively we were we were struggling
Speaker 1: a little bit. We were a little bit out of
Speaker 1: rhythm and uh and and again their defense is playing well.
Speaker 1: And for for Eddie to make that play and then
Speaker 1: not only to make that great catch, but then he
Speaker 1: started leading the guys. Hey blocked this guy block right away. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and and he became a ball carrying a runner and
Speaker 1: so um to get that touchdown that was that was huge.
Speaker 1: And as you can see the rest of the game,
Speaker 1: the game, you know, we still had a lot of
Speaker 1: game ahead of us, but in that point in time, man,
Speaker 1: what a big play. Is it fair to say, you
Speaker 1: know you answered the moment? Yeah, you know, yeah? I
Speaker 1: think I think so. For our guys, that was a
Speaker 1: big challenge. They know that, uh uh, and that was
Speaker 1: the test and they handled it well. So now again,
Speaker 1: keep the horse blinders on, okay, put the ear muffs on.
Speaker 1: Don't listen to all the hype. Don't listen to anybody
Speaker 1: outside when things are going bad. Don't listen to him
Speaker 1: when things are going good, don't listen to him. Let's
Speaker 1: just worry about us in here. It's kind of an
Speaker 1: open ended question. I asked all the guys in the
Speaker 1: booth last night after the game, what happened here last night?
Speaker 1: What happened to this evolving confidence together SNIT football team?
Speaker 1: Do you have an answer for that? Well, I mean
Speaker 1: we've been working on this all year long. We've been
Speaker 1: we've been tested in different areas. We've gone through a
Speaker 1: couple of losses, we've gone through a couple of wins together,
Speaker 1: and you know, this is why you play the game.
Speaker 1: If for these type of moments to get your game
Speaker 1: flexed at home on Sunday night football, what a better
Speaker 1: way to go out and try to show everybody what
Speaker 1: we're made of. And now that's over, that's in the past,
Speaker 1: and now we got to regroup now and get ready,
Speaker 1: you know, in less than eighty hours for another big
Speaker 1: division game. And so going back a few weeks ago,
Speaker 1: we discussed that and we talked about, hey, we have
Speaker 1: three games here in the next twelve days, and how
Speaker 1: are you going to prepare yourself mentally and physically, And
Speaker 1: so far, so good, but now we got to finish it.
Speaker 1: Does it feel because of the two wins a little
Speaker 1: light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak,
Speaker 1: because if it were any other way, maybe it would
Speaker 1: be a little more challenging. Well, yeah, you know, if
Speaker 1: it's the other way and you lose both of these games,
Speaker 1: then I think what people can tend to do is
Speaker 1: press a little bit and feel like they really got
Speaker 1: to have it. Then it takes you out of your game,
Speaker 1: and we don't want that. That's that was our message
Speaker 1: all week long was let's play loose, let's be ourselves,
Speaker 1: let's have fun, let's prepare like we know how to prepare,
Speaker 1: and go into this thing and let our personality show.
Speaker 1: And so they've done that now the past few weeks
Speaker 1: they've handled their business and now it's a matter of
Speaker 1: being able to have another challenge on a short week.
Speaker 1: These guys are beat up. Now you know physically that
Speaker 1: there's some bumps and bruises, and so how do we
Speaker 1: recover and get them back on track to get ready
Speaker 1: as healthy as we can for that game. What are
Speaker 1: some of your methods you have planned to do that? Well,
Speaker 1: the biggest thing is just making sure physically that we
Speaker 1: don't overdo it, and you really don't have an opportunity
Speaker 1: to do that with just so much short time. You know,
Speaker 1: we have the game plan putting pretty much put together.
Speaker 1: They'll come in here later on tonight and have an
Speaker 1: opportunity to go through everything, so it'll be a later
Speaker 1: night for us, but they understand that they know that
Speaker 1: they got to take care of themselves. They got to
Speaker 1: babysit themselves and make sure they're doing the right thing,
Speaker 1: and then tomorrow will have one day of practice and role.
Speaker 1: Did you have to work last night after the game? No? No,
Speaker 1: My work was shutting my eyes and closing my eyes
Speaker 1: for a little bit and coming in here early. What
Speaker 1: did you learn now as you sit here from the
Speaker 1: first meeting with the Lions. So number one, it's hard
Speaker 1: to win these division games. And for us, we had
Speaker 1: that game at home and we felt like there were
Speaker 1: some things that we we we did well both offensively
Speaker 1: and defensively. And now you see the game that they
Speaker 1: just played against Carolina. They showed up and they played
Speaker 1: a really good Carolina team at home, and you could
Speaker 1: see they did a lot of good things. So we're
Speaker 1: gonna have our hands full. Uh, it's always difficult to
Speaker 1: beat a team twice in one year, but that's the challenge.
Speaker 1: And so how are our guys going to reel it
Speaker 1: back in focus and give it all they got? You know,
Speaker 1: throughout the course of this season, in games where you
Speaker 1: had big leads or whatever, you were able to use
Speaker 1: your entire roster. A game like this, I would think
Speaker 1: would maybe afford an opportunity for certain times of the
Speaker 1: game to slip guys in and on both sides of
Speaker 1: the ball, to give guys arrest a little bit. Yeah,
Speaker 1: there's chances for that, and it depends on you know,
Speaker 1: who you end up having activated for the game. And
Speaker 1: again Detroit's going to be in that same scenario too
Speaker 1: with having guys and so whether it's the amount of
Speaker 1: plays you have or whether it's the amount of reps
Speaker 1: in practice you have all you know for these next
Speaker 1: couple of days. Uh you know, well, we'll see where
Speaker 1: that takes us real quick. I know you talked about
Speaker 1: it because he means a lot to you in the
Speaker 1: quarterback position. You know, by the way Mitch leads the
Speaker 1: NFL in rushing yards for a quarterback. I don't know
Speaker 1: if you ever envisioned that, did you know? I didn't.
Speaker 1: But Alex Smith goes down yesterday, and I think by
Speaker 1: and large, his reputation is so pure in this league
Speaker 1: right now as a just a great guy, let alone
Speaker 1: a great football player. Hits you pretty hard, didn't it
Speaker 1: It did? Yeah, that's rough. That's my guy. Has spent
Speaker 1: a lot of a lot of hours with him, and
Speaker 1: when I saw that yesterday, I was just crushed. You
Speaker 1: hate to see that. It's just so unfortunate. I know
Speaker 1: that he has a strong family behind him. I know
Speaker 1: who he is as a person. He'll battle back, and
Speaker 1: he's just having such a great year, great season leading
Speaker 1: that team, which I knew he would. He's a winner,
Speaker 1: he does things the right way, and he's a true
Speaker 1: example of who you want to be in the NFL.
Speaker 1: All right, coach, we'll let you go. I know you
Speaker 1: got a lot on your plate, so we'll look forward
Speaker 1: to the weekend Thanksgiving Day on Thursday against the Detroit Lions.
Speaker 1: Congratulations again, thank you. That is head coach Matt Naggie.
Speaker 1: Stopped by the middle of Light Chicago Bears Ultimate Tailgate
Speaker 1: to enjoy food, five dollars, Miller Light's music and games
Speaker 1: for every age located at the Field Museum Terrorists. The
Speaker 1: Ultimate Tailgate is free to enter, will be open two
Speaker 1: hours before through one hour after every Bear's regular season
Speaker 1: home game. But Bears Coaches Show with head coach Matt
Speaker 1: Naggie and this Hour featuring Josh Lucas, Bears Director of
Speaker 1: Player Personnel. Brought to you by Whippley CBA's and Consultants
Speaker 1: and sponsored by Athletico Physical Therapy for Rison and Miller Light.
Speaker 1: Once again the Voice of the Bears w BBMS Jeff Jodiac.
Speaker 1: Cherbisky looks it, overtakes the snap, ruling to his right.
Speaker 1: Cherubisky flips it into the end zone. Low pro It
Speaker 1: is cart for a touchdown Anthony but right side of
Speaker 1: the end zone, and the celebration begins. They're in the
Speaker 1: rowboat right now and having fun in the south end zone.
Speaker 1: The Soldier field nine nothing Bears truck bisky in the
Speaker 1: midder and his fifth touchdown catch of the year. Anthony
Speaker 1: Miller campy in eighty two yard drive with an eighteen
Speaker 1: yard touchdown last night. Welcome back into the Bears Coaching Show.
Speaker 1: We welcome in director player person on, Josh Lucas, how
Speaker 1: you doing, My man doing well? Thanks for having the
Speaker 1: congratulations on the win and congratulations on what's going on
Speaker 1: so far. Before we get into all that, let's talk
Speaker 1: Anthony Miller, because this guy's got a lot of vibrancy
Speaker 1: to him and he's only midway through his rookie year.
Speaker 1: What's his man capable of? Yeah, very high ceiling for Anthony.
Speaker 1: You know, there's a lot of conviction in the draft
Speaker 1: process with his player and you know there's a couple
Speaker 1: of people upstairs wearing his jersey are before we even
Speaker 1: drafted Anthony. So there's a lot of expectation for him.
Speaker 1: And really he's a he's the perfect mix of talent
Speaker 1: and he's just got this competitiveness that you know we
Speaker 1: all see sault in camp and as he continues to
Speaker 1: learn the pro game. You know, this guy's a limit
Speaker 1: for him and we're really excited about where he's at
Speaker 1: now and where he's heading. Yeah, he didn't back down
Speaker 1: from anybody. Boy, he was chewing the fat with Xavier
Speaker 1: Rhodes in that game. And he's just full of full
Speaker 1: of life, full of confidence, that's for sure. If you
Speaker 1: do all the math. The new additions on offense have
Speaker 1: produced some big number sixteen touchdowns, one hundred and thirty
Speaker 1: eight catches. Defensively, he got one hundred and twenty six tackles,
Speaker 1: fifteen and a half sacks, two picks, a touchdown by
Speaker 1: mac man. You guys did a great job in this
Speaker 1: offseason reloading the roster. What do you think of the
Speaker 1: impact so far with these new guys? Just to be
Speaker 1: perfectly honest, you know, it's imperative that these guys came
Speaker 1: out and had a huge impact because you know, there's
Speaker 1: a significant investment in place to acquire a lot of
Speaker 1: these players, both offense and defense. So you know, we
Speaker 1: were hoping it would be instant with regards to the impact,
Speaker 1: and so far, so good with all the newcomers. Oh,
Speaker 1: we know how coach Nagi looks at seven and three
Speaker 1: and how the players, you know, one day at a time,
Speaker 1: it doesn't really care where they are in the process.
Speaker 1: Admits that this becomes more and more important every single game.
Speaker 1: But from a front office point of view, how do
Speaker 1: you guys look at seven and three through ten and
Speaker 1: to be honest, right right where we're supposed to be,
Speaker 1: you know, right where we're supposed to be. We're playing
Speaker 1: in meaningful games and the end of November and heading
Speaker 1: into December, and you know, when we started this thing
Speaker 1: in twenty fifteen, you know, Ryan said, an outstanding job
Speaker 1: of you know, really putting together an organization with a
Speaker 1: lot of great people, and and you know, we're year
Speaker 1: four and it just it feels like we're right where
Speaker 1: we're supposed to be, a lot of excitement, a lot
Speaker 1: of positive vibes around here right now. We just got
Speaker 1: to keep it going, all right, We'll pick it up
Speaker 1: from there and look at where you came from, because
Speaker 1: you know what it's like to build a winner. This
Speaker 1: is Josh Lucas, director of player Personnel for the Bears
Speaker 1: here on The Bears Coaches Show. The Bears Coaches Show
Speaker 1: with Josh Lucas, Bears Director of Player Personnel, and w BBMS.
Speaker 1: Jeff Gildea continues two touchdown lead for the Bears, but
Speaker 1: the Vikings threatening staff back Mac on the inside move.
Speaker 1: He gets the Cousins and down he goes the relentless
Speaker 1: pressure humble our premier outside linebackers and pass rushers in
Speaker 1: the NFL SEC number eight this year, Kalil Mack and
Speaker 1: eight yard sacker Cousins looping inside on the stunt. They'll
Speaker 1: make another significant game in primetime the three night games.
Speaker 1: He's put up some big numbers and not afraid of
Speaker 1: the big stage. None of these Bears are as they
Speaker 1: moved to seven and three with a win over the
Speaker 1: Vikings last night. Welcome back to the Bears Coaches Show
Speaker 1: with Josh Lucas, Bears director of Player Personnel, joined me
Speaker 1: toime there on Luke Canellis for Bears Game Night Live,
Speaker 1: brought to you by IgM Stanergy, will recap every Bearers
Speaker 1: games on the United to ten thirty five pm on
Speaker 1: Fox thirty two Chicago. Josh, before we get into Mac,
Speaker 1: you know you've experienced moments like last night when you're
Speaker 1: in New Orleans. You were there for a long time,
Speaker 1: and you know what it looks like, how it feels
Speaker 1: when you have those games, those moments, or those points
Speaker 1: in a season where you know you're building something special.
Speaker 1: You guys want to shoot super Bowl there. Do you
Speaker 1: see any parallels with how you guys in your first
Speaker 1: four years have put together this roster? Yeah, I do,
Speaker 1: And I would say it starts with the culture, and
Speaker 1: I think that starts with the head coach, and very
Speaker 1: similar in two thousand and six when when Coach Payton
Speaker 1: came to New Orleans. You know, it's coach Naggie comes
Speaker 1: this offseason and there's just a lot of enthusiasm and
Speaker 1: energy in the building right now, and our coaches are
Speaker 1: coaches players, everyone's really feeding off of it. So I'd say, yeah,
Speaker 1: there's there's some there's some parallels there. And obviously we
Speaker 1: had a lot of great players in New Orleans, and
Speaker 1: I think we're getting to that point here where you know,
Speaker 1: you're seeing more and more of these young makers establish themselves.
Speaker 1: You know, building rosters is a sometimes a risker reward.
Speaker 1: It's it's trial and error and you find out exactly
Speaker 1: what you're looking for. What have you learned about building rosters?
Speaker 1: You know in your years in the NFL, going back
Speaker 1: to the previous question is culture and it's character of
Speaker 1: these guys. You know, I think there's there's got to
Speaker 1: be a certain level of talent that every guy needs
Speaker 1: to be able to succeed at their position. But at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, it's it's the makeup and
Speaker 1: the fabric of the guys we're bringing in here. And
Speaker 1: you know, I think, you know, Ryan's did an excellent
Speaker 1: job of establishing the blueprint of what a Chicago Bear
Speaker 1: is and it's allowed our personnel department really to go
Speaker 1: out and identify, you know, exactly these type of guys.
Speaker 1: And in each year, I think we're getting better at
Speaker 1: that and you're seeing it, you know, play on in
Speaker 1: front of us right now. It also seems like Manneggie
Speaker 1: is also very open and makes it very easy for
Speaker 1: you guys to know what he's looking for. Yeah, on
Speaker 1: his roster as well, regardless of positions. This help you
Speaker 1: guys as scouts in your scouting department that you're overseeing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: for sure. Yeah, Matt is such a clear and direct
Speaker 1: communicator and you know, it's it's one of the one
Speaker 1: of the things that it makes him really special. And
Speaker 1: he came in here with a clear vision for exactly
Speaker 1: what he wants in a player. Uh, and and he
Speaker 1: described that to us. You know, we pass it on
Speaker 1: to our our pro and college department, and it makes
Speaker 1: our jobs a lot easier when when the communication is
Speaker 1: clear and it's direct, you know, Uh, knock on wood.
Speaker 1: This team has been very healthy this season with his
Speaker 1: axception of a couple of guys. But you know, you're
Speaker 1: you've usually been on the phone during games, you know,
Speaker 1: looking to see what's available out there. How has it
Speaker 1: changed your day to day response? A little more relaxed, Josh? Yet,
Speaker 1: So it doesn't change the day to day and that
Speaker 1: you know we're doing anything different. Your champ and his
Speaker 1: pro guys, they're constantly updating that ready list because you know,
Speaker 1: you know, we have to be prepared if something does happen,
Speaker 1: and we're always bringing guys in for workouts, making sure
Speaker 1: we have those ready lists up day and we know
Speaker 1: where we're going to go something happens. But you know,
Speaker 1: to be honest, it doesn't change to the work. But
Speaker 1: it's made life a lot easier, you know, working with
Speaker 1: a consistent roster this year and keep them guys available
Speaker 1: for Sunday. What is it like watching games? Right? Now
Speaker 1: when when these games because two things. One, we're having
Speaker 1: a ball watching these guys. There's not a fan out
Speaker 1: there doesn't come up to me and said, this is
Speaker 1: just a fun team no matter what happens, whatever the outcome.
Speaker 1: But this team is winning while learning and learning, especially
Speaker 1: on the offensive side of the ball. As you guys
Speaker 1: sit up there and watch these games every week, what
Speaker 1: do you guys like up there? Let me put it
Speaker 1: this way. So so Ryan's daughter Cardon made me a
Speaker 1: stress ball to squeeze during the game. That stress ball
Speaker 1: did not make it one game. So there's there's no
Speaker 1: chance that this profession. Profession is good for my health,
Speaker 1: for our health. But none of us would trade it
Speaker 1: for the world. You know, there's there's nothing like being
Speaker 1: up there on a Sunday during a game, in the intensity,
Speaker 1: in the emotion, and um, you know it's it's stressful
Speaker 1: right now. Obviously it's a lot more fun when we're winning.
Speaker 1: Let's go back to Clail Mac because it may go
Speaker 1: down as the most significant move in the NFL here
Speaker 1: in twenty eighteen. What did you expect as it relates
Speaker 1: to what he's doing for this team aside from the obvious,
Speaker 1: Because there are intangibles here as well, Becaualy stating the obvious.
Speaker 1: We expected a high impact player that's going to affect
Speaker 1: the game on Sundays, and we're seeing that. What's been
Speaker 1: just unreal to watch is the impact of this guy
Speaker 1: in the locker room and in our culture. You know,
Speaker 1: this guy is he's selfless, he's relentless. Um, he is
Speaker 1: the the absolute definition of a multiplier. And it's spreading
Speaker 1: and you're seeing you're seeing guys step up their game.
Speaker 1: And when your best player is your best worker, you
Speaker 1: know that that goes a long way. And um, you
Speaker 1: know it's it's just been so fun to to have
Speaker 1: be around at him and just just wit and said
Speaker 1: first hand