Speaker 1: Good to be with you, everybody, and welcome into the
Speaker 1: Bears Coaches Show at Bears head coach Matt Naggie. I'm
Speaker 1: Jeff Joniac with you into eight o'clock tonight and we're
Speaker 1: brought to you by Whippley CPA's and Consultants. And just
Speaker 1: after seven thirty, Bears offensive coordinator Bill Lazier will join
Speaker 1: the program. Thirty six seven Matt Naggie, Good evening. That
Speaker 1: has a great ring to it, doesn't it. Hey, what's
Speaker 1: up Jeff yet? Does? It's about time for our players.
Speaker 1: I'm happy for them. I'm happy for just the way
Speaker 1: that they bounced back. They came with the juice early
Speaker 1: on and we got it going, which was great. I
Speaker 1: think we were able to just keep that momentum going
Speaker 1: for the rest of the game and able to get
Speaker 1: out of there with a good win. I'm interested to
Speaker 1: what you have to say about this more in detail,
Speaker 1: because you were quoted yesterday after the game that you
Speaker 1: sensed the vibe and and energy in the pregame. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's fifty six days between wins. It had a start
Speaker 1: even earlier than that. No, they did, and it's hard.
Speaker 1: It's hard when you go six weeks plus a bye
Speaker 1: week in there makes us seven weeks, and so that's
Speaker 1: a long time that you're going through. A lot of
Speaker 1: the same talks, a lot of the same meetings, a
Speaker 1: lot of the same practices, but um, you stay the course.
Speaker 1: And then these players have done a great job of
Speaker 1: leading each other. I think the coaches have done a
Speaker 1: great job of staying on top of the players and
Speaker 1: staying positive, as hard as that can be sometimes. And
Speaker 1: then on game day, let's face it, on game day, Uh,
Speaker 1: it comes down to the players. And they took it
Speaker 1: upon themselves before the game to have the fire and
Speaker 1: the juice and the energy. And it might sound crazy,
Speaker 1: but when there's no fans in the stands, it's hard
Speaker 1: and you have to create an edge. You have to
Speaker 1: you have to bring it on yourselves, and our guys
Speaker 1: did it and it showed right from the first play.
Speaker 1: I don't think it sounds crazy because it's real. I mean,
Speaker 1: they have to. There's nothing in there. There's no juice.
Speaker 1: You can have a PA announcer or the music, you
Speaker 1: could have whatever to make it feel like a real game,
Speaker 1: but it's just not the same. So that does have
Speaker 1: to come from these guys. It does, and it's it's
Speaker 1: funny to think, like, you know, I can remember back
Speaker 1: to the first game in the season in Detroit when
Speaker 1: it was it was a shot when there's no one
Speaker 1: in the stands. Now you've kind of become used to
Speaker 1: it and you understand it. But it's crazy to think
Speaker 1: of when we get back to when the fans are
Speaker 1: able to be in there, what that's going to be
Speaker 1: like in the appreciation for it. But without a doubt,
Speaker 1: you got to do it, and our guys did it
Speaker 1: and it helped us win all right, full game? How
Speaker 1: did it help that each phase did what it did well?
Speaker 1: It was huge because you know, Jeff, we've been talking
Speaker 1: about this all season long, like we will have the
Speaker 1: defense play really well, the offense will struggle or this
Speaker 1: the you know, the special teams is kick and tail
Speaker 1: and the defense is playing well, and then the offensive
Speaker 1: and then the offense is the last couple of weeks
Speaker 1: playing well and our defenses struggle. Well, Now what we've
Speaker 1: done is our guys got to see us. It's a
Speaker 1: pretty cool deal when you put them all three together.
Speaker 1: And so we did that and we're going to have
Speaker 1: an opportunity here with three more games to be able
Speaker 1: to do that again, and we got to see if
Speaker 1: we can follow up with that sour Our guys need,
Speaker 1: our players needed that, our coaches needed it. But there's
Speaker 1: you hit the reset button and you go back to
Speaker 1: what you know, what it felt like and where you're at,
Speaker 1: and especially against a good football team like Minnesota who's
Speaker 1: coming off a tough loss. Matt, there's always a temptation
Speaker 1: to write tomorrow's headline today, and that can be used
Speaker 1: to describe a lot of things in life. Some are
Speaker 1: asking if this win makes a difference, And when you
Speaker 1: look at your team or you look at yourself in
Speaker 1: the mirror, that is a very difficult question to answer
Speaker 1: when you're a competitor. How do you look at it?
Speaker 1: So you know the way I look at it is.
Speaker 1: Every season is so different for every team, and the
Speaker 1: automate goal is do you give yourselves a chance? Which
Speaker 1: means are you able to get into that into the playoffs?
Speaker 1: And every story is different, Every year is different, and
Speaker 1: our guys right now, this is what we're going through now.
Speaker 1: As good as it feels to be able to get
Speaker 1: a good win like that, the guys deserve that. Now.
Speaker 1: What we gotta do is we got to follow it
Speaker 1: up consistently. So we need to continue to get first
Speaker 1: downs on offense and stay out a third down. We
Speaker 1: need to continue to be effective in the red zone. Defensively,
Speaker 1: we have to continue to pressure the quarterback and get sacks.
Speaker 1: Continue with the takeaways, special teams wise, keep making our
Speaker 1: field goals every chance we get, flipping the field right
Speaker 1: with the punts, getting fumbles if we can. And so
Speaker 1: when we do that, we really we really have a
Speaker 1: great chance, you know. And so we have three games
Speaker 1: left and it starts this week again with Minnesota. But
Speaker 1: that's the exciting part. Is just another opportunity when you
Speaker 1: crystallize that performance. Is it what you envisioned this team
Speaker 1: when you started this season to be? Yeah? And and
Speaker 1: so the way I look at it is our defense
Speaker 1: for the season has been playing really well. I thought
Speaker 1: that if you really look back, there's three games with
Speaker 1: our defense, two against Detroit and one against Green Bay
Speaker 1: where I just felt like that wasn't our defense. The
Speaker 1: rest of the games against teams this year, I think
Speaker 1: our defense has played really well, whether it's getting stops
Speaker 1: ben but don't break, not letting them score. Against Atlanted,
Speaker 1: we had a bunch of sacks and turnovers, and but
Speaker 1: we weren't sinking right and offensively, we had to change
Speaker 1: the quarterback we had. We were trying to we had
Speaker 1: some fluidity there at the offensive line. Some guys get
Speaker 1: banged up trying to figure out what the change of
Speaker 1: the offense where we're at. And so now what you've
Speaker 1: seen in really the last three weeks is a little
Speaker 1: bit more of an identity on offense. And um, you
Speaker 1: know now that the defense yesterday picked it back up
Speaker 1: and we put it all together, and so there's a
Speaker 1: little there's a confidence that's going on right now with
Speaker 1: these guys, and that's what we got to be able
Speaker 1: to carry on over to Sunday. Is Mitch that difference
Speaker 1: maker with the confidence, Well, I just think that his
Speaker 1: confidence is a big part of it. And and but
Speaker 1: that said too, I'm gonna go ahead and say that
Speaker 1: I believe that the consistency at the offensive line, um,
Speaker 1: with what we've done with those guys and where we
Speaker 1: put guys has really really helped out because it's helped
Speaker 1: it helps any quarterback out when you're able to run
Speaker 1: the football and when you can pass protect and so
Speaker 1: when you when you can do those two things, it's
Speaker 1: going to always help all quarterbacks out. Now. Now you
Speaker 1: go ahead and you put a guy like Mitchell back
Speaker 1: there who is able to extend plays with his legs,
Speaker 1: and Mitchell right now, for his own good, is playing
Speaker 1: at a really high level. You combine that with an
Speaker 1: effective awesomouth offensive line are running back and running backs
Speaker 1: with CP and David that are running super hard, and
Speaker 1: you got a really good product. Let's talk about a
Speaker 1: couple of drives. I like the early second quarter drive,
Speaker 1: Mitch was perfect eight for eight seventy one yards. You
Speaker 1: got that four man bunch to the right the quad,
Speaker 1: and then you throw back to Jimmy Graham with the
Speaker 1: touchdown beat Eric Murray and then the one right before
Speaker 1: halftime with Alan Robinson. Yeah, those are important, you know,
Speaker 1: because you're coming away with touchdowns and we have guys
Speaker 1: on that offense that can make plays one on one,
Speaker 1: so when you get in the red zone. We felt
Speaker 1: like going into the season that should be a huge
Speaker 1: advantage for us. We got a lot of basketball players
Speaker 1: that can go up and get it, so that was
Speaker 1: nice to be able to get both of those touchdowns,
Speaker 1: and then we knew we were getting the ball the
Speaker 1: third quarter coming out and we want to be able
Speaker 1: to get a touchdown there. We got three, but just
Speaker 1: just hoppy of the way those guys have produced there.
Speaker 1: Mitch Trubisky goes into a shotgun, drags a receiver in
Speaker 1: motion to the right out of the gutty sticks into
Speaker 1: the belly of Montgomery. That crack turns into what can
Speaker 1: you not do? The outside left half to forty forty
Speaker 1: five to the fifty. Nobody's gonna get up twenty fifteen
Speaker 1: ten five skipping into the end zone. David Montgomery half
Speaker 1: first snap, eighty yard gallup for six han. The Bears
Speaker 1: lead the Texans on their first snap for the game offfectively,
Speaker 1: David Montgomery marching into the end zone. A tutty as
Speaker 1: Matt Nee he likes to say, Tuttyville in that first
Speaker 1: half last two games, Big Matt, My goodness, but you
Speaker 1: gotta go back to November of nineteen eighty eight, long
Speaker 1: before you were here against the Packers Neil Anderson the
Speaker 1: last eighty yard run in Bears history. The Chicago Bears
Speaker 1: improved it. Supporting Chicago small businesses, Bark Bark Club is
Speaker 1: this week's Small Business All Pro visit Chicago Bears dot
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Speaker 1: are still shots of the blocking and the hole that
Speaker 1: you probably haven't seen pictures of David Montgomery's run. It's
Speaker 1: pretty impressive. It's a huge canyon. Well yeah, it's it's beautiful.
Speaker 1: And you know, uh, we we always talk about the
Speaker 1: safety in these defenses. Uh, sometimes you don't have guys
Speaker 1: that account for these free safeties. And so when you
Speaker 1: call run play, you go ahead and get the first
Speaker 1: and second level blocked and the third level that's safety
Speaker 1: that's on the running back. That's one on one on
Speaker 1: the running back. And when you go back and you
Speaker 1: look at this and you see number twenty read he
Speaker 1: comes down, he breaks down to go ahead and make
Speaker 1: a tackle, and David just goes ahead and gives one
Speaker 1: little stiff arm and makes some miss and from then
Speaker 1: on it was a rob down the sideline that was
Speaker 1: able to really just get in the cornerbacks way and
Speaker 1: spring thirty two the rest of the way. So just
Speaker 1: to well executed play by these guys and to start
Speaker 1: the game with the ad our touchdown run was was
Speaker 1: really pretty cool. Well, he's not a four three back
Speaker 1: and it doesn't matter because he still hit twenty miles
Speaker 1: an hour apparently according to So you go, okay, that's
Speaker 1: fast enough, right, Matt, Yeah, we'll take twenty for sure. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I was joking with him, telling him that he looked
Speaker 1: like he was four four eight there and got a
Speaker 1: little chuckle. So he'll be pumped up about twenty miles
Speaker 1: per hour. Let's talk about the tight ends because if
Speaker 1: you if you combine the production of Cole and Jimmy,
Speaker 1: not just in this game, but for the season, it's
Speaker 1: it's a significant jump obviously from a year ago, but
Speaker 1: it would it would put them in the top five
Speaker 1: in terms of yardage and touchdowns eight and almost six
Speaker 1: hundred yards of tight end production for one individual. So
Speaker 1: obviously that's a significant jump. What's it doing for Mitch
Speaker 1: and the offense right now to get that production? Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's truly helping us out. I mean, you know, Cole
Speaker 1: Comet has just been really coming on late, and you know,
Speaker 1: in a perfect world, it would have been great to
Speaker 1: get him going a little bit earlier. And there's you know,
Speaker 1: you're learning this offense, you're learning that you never played
Speaker 1: an NFL game before, So it does take a little
Speaker 1: bit of time. But at the same point in time,
Speaker 1: he's done everything we've asked him to do, and now
Speaker 1: you're seeing he's getting more targets, he's getting football more
Speaker 1: and that play he made yesterday on the on the
Speaker 1: bootleg uh in the flat, just having three or four
Speaker 1: guys try to take them down and then no one
Speaker 1: get him down. Um, he's got great energy, and Jimmy's
Speaker 1: done a great job at being a mentor towards him
Speaker 1: and and explaining to him how you do what you
Speaker 1: do on and off the field. And those two guys
Speaker 1: together are really doing great and it's a huge it's
Speaker 1: a huge deal for our offense. Well does it also
Speaker 1: give the team a bounce? There's probably a half a
Speaker 1: dozen guys yesterday that you could put that label on them.
Speaker 1: Yesterday Cole obviously, and the way Montgomery finished his runs.
Speaker 1: You could talk about the way Mitch made his decisions.
Speaker 1: You could talk about Khalil fighting again through all the
Speaker 1: knicks that he's had been on the injury reports seven
Speaker 1: times this year, but he shows up. Mario Edwards had
Speaker 1: his best game. You could say, I mean, there's a
Speaker 1: bunch of guys in that in that category isn't there, Yeah,
Speaker 1: there are. They're they're playing hard, Jeff. And that that's
Speaker 1: what I love about these guys is these guys man,
Speaker 1: they're they're they're warriors and they care. Uh. And sometimes
Speaker 1: it's harden, you lose six in a row to keep
Speaker 1: that fire, but they've done that and when when they
Speaker 1: and then they feed off of each other and David
Speaker 1: Montgomery and you know, this kid's been running his tail
Speaker 1: off for a long time and I'm just excited for
Speaker 1: him now to be able to to have it come
Speaker 1: to fruition. And again, I'll go back to I think
Speaker 1: the consistency with do line is helping. You're feeling that.
Speaker 1: And then these guys that they're all Jimmy and Cole
Speaker 1: and these other types, they're all blocking. Uh. Last week
Speaker 1: they were blocking really well for the run game. This
Speaker 1: week really well. So it's it's pretty cool. Defensively, Tollyeah.
Speaker 1: If there's any sign of a team that is not quitting,
Speaker 1: all you gotta do is look at the blocking because
Speaker 1: that's one too, that's effort and it's happening. That Anthony
Speaker 1: Miller cut block on the Mooney touchdown was outstanding. I
Speaker 1: take that on any offensive line and today that cut
Speaker 1: block a rob special teams play. I mean there's a
Speaker 1: lot of that going on here. And that's just not
Speaker 1: something you just talk about. That's something you need and
Speaker 1: that's something that shows you that they're listening to you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and you know what, Jeff, But I think where it
Speaker 1: starts is there there are practices. The last couple of
Speaker 1: weeks have been super fast. The tempos, the speed, uh,
Speaker 1: the the energy, um, it's been really really good. And
Speaker 1: that's what keeps you really optimistic as a coach is
Speaker 1: when you see that as to where these guys are.
Speaker 1: So they're taking that and they're transferring that to the game.
Speaker 1: And even like special teams, you talk about a guy
Speaker 1: all this stuff happens with turnovers and you got a
Speaker 1: guy like Sherik McManus who comes on down and just
Speaker 1: makes a great tackle, strip strip fumble. Um. Those are
Speaker 1: huge plays and and and a lot of times they
Speaker 1: go unsung. And I just feel like our Special Teams
Speaker 1: coach Tabor, coach Ganner doing a great job too. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he played his tail off, three tackles on top of it,
Speaker 1: he was around the ball at all times. And then
Speaker 1: you know, you can't look past the Cairo Santo stretch
Speaker 1: right now, right now, he'd have a single season record
Speaker 1: in terms of accuracy in various history if he keeps
Speaker 1: this up over, up over. Yeah, that that's real, and
Speaker 1: you're you know, that's that's when you get into these games.
Speaker 1: So many games are won and lost by a field goal.
Speaker 1: Right now, he's kicking with a lot of confidence and
Speaker 1: the other parts of the the field goal team are
Speaker 1: doing well, So we gotta keep that calling. Watching Chase
Speaker 1: Prock out of the end zone sack for the safety
Speaker 1: and the Bears were relentless pressure. Khalil Mac gets it done.
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Bears Coaching Show, brought to you
Speaker 1: by Whippley CPAs and Consultants, a proud partner at the
Speaker 1: Chicago Bears. Learn more at Whippley dot com. That was
Speaker 1: one at safety sack Matt was one that was a
Speaker 1: terrific play, first of all, And is that an example.
Speaker 1: You know people talk about scheming receivers open, you could
Speaker 1: also scheme pass rushers open, and I thought that was
Speaker 1: the case going up against a struggling guard right now
Speaker 1: in Houston. Yeah, so you know, we we had one here.
Speaker 1: We had a little stunt here where you know, fifty
Speaker 1: two is gonna go ahead and go down inside with
Speaker 1: a game on Zach Fulton, their right guard and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, Roquon's coming down on the tackle. Their guard
Speaker 1: gets edgy, turns his hips, and Khalil's able to just
Speaker 1: get vertical and then all of a sudden, abroad comes
Speaker 1: on and Deshaun has nowhere to go, and it just
Speaker 1: it happens to be a safety. So those are games,
Speaker 1: Those are pivotal plays that happened for us to get
Speaker 1: the ball back. But I just I was really happy
Speaker 1: for Khalil because he's been fighting really hard this year,
Speaker 1: playing hard every single play, and it's nice to see
Speaker 1: him get rewarded for it. One of eleven hits on
Speaker 1: Deshaun Watson, that's a lot. He is a moving target.
Speaker 1: And seven sacks overall of quarterbacks. With Aj mccarrott also
Speaker 1: getting sacked by the Bears early on, we just starting
Speaker 1: to get a little itchy, a little worried because they
Speaker 1: were getting there but they just couldn't finish, and he
Speaker 1: was picking up some yards and moving them a little
Speaker 1: bit a little bit. But at the same point in time,
Speaker 1: as you know, I mean that that's what this kid,
Speaker 1: does you know DeShawn does that he's he has He
Speaker 1: finds magic ways to get out of trouble. And there's
Speaker 1: a couple times where we lost a little bit of contained,
Speaker 1: but he's a really good football player and some of
Speaker 1: those are going to happen. I thought the rest of
Speaker 1: the game, when we made him one more one dimensional,
Speaker 1: we did a better job. How's Jalen Jackson Hopefully pretty good.
Speaker 1: You know, he banged up his shoulder a little bit,
Speaker 1: I think on that hit when he stopped to Sean
Speaker 1: from the touchdown there at the one yard line. But
Speaker 1: he's a tough kid, and uh, you know, we'll keep
Speaker 1: a good clean eye on him this week and hopefully
Speaker 1: have him ready for Sunday. All Right, DHC made another play,
Speaker 1: gets in there, makes a play every time. He's a
Speaker 1: smart football player. And then Duke Shelley wasn't really focused
Speaker 1: on by Houston at all. You would think that that
Speaker 1: maybe be the case. But how did he look? No,
Speaker 1: they both did really well. DC. Like you said, you know,
Speaker 1: he's a role player for us. It just always comes
Speaker 1: up big and I love what he does on special
Speaker 1: teams and then what he's been doing for us this
Speaker 1: year with some big plays on defense and you just
Speaker 1: rely on that. And then for Duke Shelley to come
Speaker 1: in and have a great opportunity, I thought he fought
Speaker 1: his tail off. He went in there and got into
Speaker 1: the Briar patch a little bit and the run game
Speaker 1: was able to make some some plays and it's the
Speaker 1: stage wasn't too big for him. So that was good.
Speaker 1: The Briar Patch. I haven't heard that one helped me
Speaker 1: out on the Briar Patch. Yeah, just in the run
Speaker 1: game with all those big boys, all the all the
Speaker 1: all the people in the trenches. He was able to
Speaker 1: stick his head in there. Hey, I gotta ask you
Speaker 1: because this morning with your Zoom Media interview with the
Speaker 1: local media, somebody asked you about is this the key
Speaker 1: to unlock Mitch's potential? And you said, I think it's real.
Speaker 1: I think it. It caught a lot of people's attention
Speaker 1: given his journey and where he's at right now. Can
Speaker 1: you amplify a little bit on what you are looking
Speaker 1: at in that regard with Mitch. Yeah, I just think
Speaker 1: as a quarterback, and you know, any position, but we're here,
Speaker 1: we are talking about a quarterback. There's there's always growth
Speaker 1: in different ways and when it happens, and you know,
Speaker 1: he's he's had a very interesting first four years in
Speaker 1: this league and a lot of different highs and lows
Speaker 1: for him. But when you when you talk about somebody
Speaker 1: that cares immensely and you talk about the resiliency, persistence
Speaker 1: of a resistance, you talk about how to handle highs
Speaker 1: and lows. Right now, with where he's at, he's in
Speaker 1: a really good place and so that's about as real
Speaker 1: as I can be. I appreciate that from him. Again, Well,
Speaker 1: we're just working on day to day, week to week
Speaker 1: right now with our team and with him, and that's
Speaker 1: all he wants and that's all we want. So we're
Speaker 1: in a good place. We feel good about it. I'm
Speaker 1: happy for him, and uh, you know, you got to
Speaker 1: give him a lot of credit. All right, let's talk
Speaker 1: Vikings rematch. You're right now tied in second in the
Speaker 1: NFC with the Vikings, so we know the magnitude of
Speaker 1: the matchup. It's massive. Nineteen thirteen the first meeting, rather
Speaker 1: nineteen thirteen finish in that one. What's different? If anything
Speaker 1: gets You've noticed? I know Ierf Smith didn't play against
Speaker 1: the Bears in the first game, but he had a
Speaker 1: nice game against Tampa yesterday. Another weapon on their offense. Yeah,
Speaker 1: he's a special player. He didn't play m I what
Speaker 1: I think is, you know, I go back to that
Speaker 1: game offensively for us was we didn't do very much
Speaker 1: and we had and one of the things that we
Speaker 1: were harpering on all year to the defense, special teams
Speaker 1: and to our offense was let's get better field position. Well,
Speaker 1: our defense did a great job at containing Dalvin Cook
Speaker 1: that game. I think he had thirty carries for ninety
Speaker 1: six yards, and we had great field position, but we
Speaker 1: weren't able to capitalize offensively, and it was a it
Speaker 1: was a struggle and they limited us yard watt yardage wise.
Speaker 1: We didn't score obviously, I think that was the game
Speaker 1: were you know are we just didn't score a lot
Speaker 1: of points. For thirteen points, you can't win with that.
Speaker 1: So I think for our offense, let's have a let's
Speaker 1: have a better game, Let's continue to play well in
Speaker 1: defense and use special teams our advantage. All right, good
Speaker 1: luckily prep this week. We'll talk to you throughout the weekend.
Speaker 1: Nice win, Thanks Jeff, take care of him. Snapped Trabisky
Speaker 1: and a quickly sharth screen right side and Mooney great
Speaker 1: block to the ten to the five. Moony gets the
Speaker 1: front pilot and is he in for the touchdown? He is? Touchdown? Bears.
Speaker 1: Hey Bears fans, been shopping for your game day celebrations,
Speaker 1: don't forget to pick up your favorite variety of Las
Speaker 1: Potato chips and tostitos. Tostitos and laser in essential part
Speaker 1: of the game day tradition and the official chip of
Speaker 1: your Chicago Bears. Go Bears, and a nice win to
Speaker 1: come off of. As we greet Bill Lazier, the Bears
Speaker 1: offensive coordinator, back with you on the Bears Coaches Show,
Speaker 1: brought to you by Whiffly CPAs and Consultants. Good evening, Bill,
Speaker 1: How fun was that? How fun was that yesterday? Winning
Speaker 1: is always fun and that was a good way to
Speaker 1: do it. I'd say we had the Turbisky to Mooney touchdown.
Speaker 1: And when the thing starts with everybody contributing, including the
Speaker 1: blocks by Anthony Miller and Allen Robinson, you know everything's clicking.
Speaker 1: How do you think that's come on here in the
Speaker 1: last few weeks, overall blocking with other than just the
Speaker 1: offensive line, Well, I think I think it's a sign
Speaker 1: of guy's commitment, you know, and guys willingness to do
Speaker 1: whatever it takes. I think you go through tough times
Speaker 1: like we have, a lot of soul searching can go on,
Speaker 1: and I think guys, you know, when you're talking about
Speaker 1: receivers and skill players having to commit to work for
Speaker 1: each other, you know, to be aggressive and physical and
Speaker 1: a great teammate even when they don't have the ball.
Speaker 1: Those are the kind of things that you show you
Speaker 1: that people have bought in that they're going to do
Speaker 1: whatever it takes to get to w did you do
Speaker 1: your own soul searching? Well? You know, part of it
Speaker 1: was was our bye week, right we had, Yeah, we
Speaker 1: had some time to spend a whole lot of time
Speaker 1: looking at ourselves. So yeah, I think I think you
Speaker 1: try to evaluate yourself as as a unit as you
Speaker 1: go throughout the season. The bye week gives even extra
Speaker 1: amount of time. And if all the answers were easy,
Speaker 1: we certainly would switch things up right away as soon
Speaker 1: as we saw them. Sometimes they aren't easy answers. It's
Speaker 1: everything from scheme to personnel, to matchups with the particular
Speaker 1: team or playing well. You know, we try to do
Speaker 1: a great job evaluating all of it, and I think
Speaker 1: we have a little momentum going right now, you know,
Speaker 1: and obviously the win is the key, but I think
Speaker 1: even before that we had started to gain some momentum
Speaker 1: on offense. So we're gonna do everything we can to
Speaker 1: keep it going. What did you personally like the most
Speaker 1: about the offense of execution yesterday, aside from the obvious
Speaker 1: and scoring touchdowns or whatnot, but something more, maybe nuance
Speaker 1: that we don't see that you see. Well, I think
Speaker 1: you mentioned the the blocking, you know, on the perimeter.
Speaker 1: I think I think when that shows up, that tends
Speaker 1: to be the sign of a group that's committed to
Speaker 1: each other and doing the dirty work. Uh. There's some
Speaker 1: really good pictures of some of our offensive lineman chasing
Speaker 1: plays down field and being there to pick up the
Speaker 1: ball carrier, whether it was a running back or a receiver,
Speaker 1: you know, after the play, help him off the ground.
Speaker 1: So those are the kind of nuanced things that I
Speaker 1: think that you're asking about. But those things are showing up,
Speaker 1: and you know, I just think I think they're they're
Speaker 1: examples of how the guys how committed they are right now,
Speaker 1: you really feel I think Matt touched out it you
Speaker 1: feel you found the right mix for what you have
Speaker 1: available to you on the offensive line. Well, I think
Speaker 1: this group obviously it helps. I think people know this,
Speaker 1: but I'll say it anyway to gain consistency on that
Speaker 1: group as far as the same guys in there working together,
Speaker 1: that always helps. Uh. And it's it's everywhere I've been coaching.
Speaker 1: You know, some of the some of the toughest time.
Speaker 1: So when you shuffle on that group around and little
Speaker 1: things come up, that typically gets solved by time. You know,
Speaker 1: guys communicating together, working together. So I think the number
Speaker 1: one the consistency of the same group being able to
Speaker 1: work that really helps. Number two. I think it's a
Speaker 1: group that is a bunch of smart guys who are
Speaker 1: really good communicators, who understand football, and there's so many
Speaker 1: complexities that can go on with different defensive blitz schemes
Speaker 1: and adjustments, and gosh, it's hard to play on the
Speaker 1: offensive line in the NFL if if you aren't bright,
Speaker 1: if you are a quick thinker and a good communicator,
Speaker 1: and some of the communication is really subtle and really fast,
Speaker 1: and again it just takes them working together to get
Speaker 1: those things down. Snapped Cherbiski for the empty spread, tosses
Speaker 1: it quickly over the bent of Rabbits in the catch
Speaker 1: down touchdown Bear Welcome back to the Bear's coachesr Show,
Speaker 1: brought to you by Whippley Cepation Consulting that right before
Speaker 1: the half touchdown throw to Alan Robbins and himself a
Speaker 1: big day. The communication between Mitch and Alan clear on
Speaker 1: that throw and Matt touchdown at this morning with the media.
Speaker 1: He trusted himself, He trusted the communication. Would you agree
Speaker 1: when you have two guys who've worked together for a
Speaker 1: while now and obviously have proven that they can they
Speaker 1: can connect the subtleties of adjusting to different coverages and
Speaker 1: you know those things. Some of that's built in training
Speaker 1: camp and offseason work when you go into defense, and
Speaker 1: some of it is just built with live reps on games.
Speaker 1: And you're talking about two guys who've spent a whole
Speaker 1: lot of time throwing and catching together, and I think
Speaker 1: it shows. Let's talk more about Mitch h really on
Speaker 1: target on throws that didn't go more than ten past
Speaker 1: the line of scrimmage twenty two to twenty seven had
Speaker 1: streaked now of seventy two drops to throw without a pick.
Speaker 1: He said he's living in the present, and I know
Speaker 1: what that means. But maybe for every player and every
Speaker 1: person it is different. But is that reflected in his performance. Well,
Speaker 1: I think he's in a good rhythm right now. I think, uh,
Speaker 1: you see, you see a good mix of different things.
Speaker 1: We did not throw as many or try to throw
Speaker 1: as many balls over their head this week. Just the
Speaker 1: way it worked out. We got a couple, you know,
Speaker 1: a couple down the field, but not as many. But
Speaker 1: you know, sometimes you have to play the game a
Speaker 1: certain way. And I think for this game, his rhythm
Speaker 1: was good when when he didn't like it down the field,
Speaker 1: he was getting the completion on the checkdown. And I
Speaker 1: think that's the sign of a good NFL quarterback, you know,
Speaker 1: of just knowing when do I take the shot and win?
Speaker 1: Don't I? And it isn't an exact science. It happens fast,
Speaker 1: you're in the pocket, you don't always have perfect view
Speaker 1: of it, and you have to make a quick decision.
Speaker 1: And I think right now we really trusts Mitch's decisions
Speaker 1: of those types of things, and it's it's paying off
Speaker 1: for us. And that's why, you know, look at at
Speaker 1: David Montgomery and the production he's getting in the passing
Speaker 1: game right now. Some of those things are directed right
Speaker 1: at him, and some of them Mitch is living down
Speaker 1: the field and coming to David, and then David makes
Speaker 1: people miss. Yeah, let's talk about Montgomery. The eight yard
Speaker 1: run certainly catches everybody's attention. The blocking was unbelievable and
Speaker 1: he gave all the credit to them. But you know,
Speaker 1: he's got to finish the run. He finished all of
Speaker 1: his runs and he keeps doing that. That's his aggressive nature.
Speaker 1: What kind of pump up does that give the offensive line?
Speaker 1: Because the facts are the facts that the three first games,
Speaker 1: in the last three games, if you add all that up,
Speaker 1: it's it's almost six yards a carry and all six
Speaker 1: games over one hundred yards rushing. Well, I think that's
Speaker 1: a big part, a big part of the momentum we're
Speaker 1: feeling right now. And it's not just in the run game.
Speaker 1: I think when the quarterback sees that when he can
Speaker 1: dump the ball down on a checkdown and then watch
Speaker 1: that guy make people miss an open space, it gives
Speaker 1: him confidence. You know that, uh that I don't always
Speaker 1: have to throw it down the field. You know I
Speaker 1: can I can balance it, and David's gonna work for us.
Speaker 1: So I think all those things are working together right now,
Speaker 1: and I think we're in a good spot. And I
Speaker 1: think when you start the game off with a lot
Speaker 1: big play like that and you watch a guy, you know,
Speaker 1: the line, the lines job on a lot of those
Speaker 1: deals that hey, can we get him to the safety,
Speaker 1: you know, if we can get him clean to the safety,
Speaker 1: then let's see what happens. And they did, and David
Speaker 1: made the safety miss and Alan Robinson kind of, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, gave him a little uh yeah, a little
Speaker 1: help running down the field just to make sure no
Speaker 1: one's going to catch him. But I didn't look like
Speaker 1: anyone was catching him. No, not not not on that
Speaker 1: day anyway. A lot of juice, a lot of juice.
Speaker 1: You'll you'll likely get asked about this when you meet
Speaker 1: the media this week. They'll look at the ten carries
Speaker 1: after the adr run and thinking like, okay, man, this
Speaker 1: has been a twenty five carried day for for Montgomery.
Speaker 1: But when you add up the touches that equally as
Speaker 1: important because he's in the passing game as well, and
Speaker 1: he gets up to about fifteen or sixteen right there,
Speaker 1: I think. So you know, we we don't we don't
Speaker 1: you know that we don't go into the game necessarily
Speaker 1: saying that this is what the fantasy stats are gonna be.
Speaker 1: We we look at what's the best way to attack
Speaker 1: this this team, And you know, I think for the
Speaker 1: backs running passed together, you know, if the balls in
Speaker 1: their hand, the balls in their hand. And also you know,
Speaker 1: uh Patterson's gonna play at running back too, and sometimes
Speaker 1: some other guys. So I don't think you can you
Speaker 1: can worry about the touches. You just just like as coaches,
Speaker 1: right you just say, hey, this is this is the
Speaker 1: position I'm in right now, how can I best help
Speaker 1: the team. I think we've got a whole group of
Speaker 1: guys that are approaching it exactly that way, you know.
Speaker 1: And you couldn't have a greater example than David. You know,
Speaker 1: he's gonna be a big part of pass protection. He's
Speaker 1: gonna be a big part of the passing game. And
Speaker 1: he's gonna sometimes he's just by him getting out on
Speaker 1: his route fast, he gets somebody opened down the field.
Speaker 1: I mean that that's football, you know, and that's in
Speaker 1: the NFL. You really have to balance I think Okay,
Speaker 1: this is our identity like you asked earlier, and this
Speaker 1: is what we can be with. What do we need
Speaker 1: to do to win this game this week? Right in
Speaker 1: that kind of focus, and so there's a balance between
Speaker 1: those things, and that's why the number of touches goes
Speaker 1: up and down. But the other thing about footballs, they
Speaker 1: all count. Every play count. So the eighty yard or
Speaker 1: does count and we'll take it when prices every day
Speaker 1: until December twenty fourth with the twelve Days of Bears
Speaker 1: Giveaway sweepstakes at at at Chicago bears dot Com and
Speaker 1: double your Chances with the Bears Official app brought to
Speaker 1: you by Verizon. A couple of more moments here with
Speaker 1: Bill Laisher, the Bears offensive coordinate. I want touch on
Speaker 1: third down because I went back looked at one point,
Speaker 1: there were seven games this season where you guys had
Speaker 1: anywhere between fourteen and sixteen third down opportunities, and the
Speaker 1: last four games it's been about ten or eleven. I
Speaker 1: know it doesn't seem like a lot, but that's a
Speaker 1: range of four to five few or third downs to
Speaker 1: deal with. How much of a difference does that make
Speaker 1: in your play calling and in the offense ability to
Speaker 1: move to football. Well, we'd rather not get to third
Speaker 1: down ever, so, um, just because it's a difficult, right,
Speaker 1: it's a difficult down in football in general. Sometimes it's
Speaker 1: good and sometimes it's it's rough. You know. Some of
Speaker 1: it just depends on how many drives you're getting in
Speaker 1: the game, right, It's just just how the game is going.
Speaker 1: And as we've seen, some games tend to go fast
Speaker 1: back and forth and some games go slow. Uh So,
Speaker 1: so some of it's depending on how many drives you're getting.
Speaker 1: And certainly our favorite drives are the ones where we
Speaker 1: don't get to third down. So uh, you know, number one,
Speaker 1: we just have to focus. You know, you're gonna have
Speaker 1: some of the games, so let's get better at them.
Speaker 1: And we are constantly evaluating what should we do when
Speaker 1: these third downs to put our guys in the best position.
Speaker 1: But yeah, well when we can, when we can eliminate them,
Speaker 1: I think we're all happy. Well let's say look at
Speaker 1: the Vikings that was your first game calling plays. What
Speaker 1: can you learn from that matchup that can be useful
Speaker 1: in this one. Well, I thought, you know, no surprise,
Speaker 1: I thought they they played extremely hard. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: they certainly gave us some trouble with their blitz packages.
Speaker 1: You know that we weren't go happy about how we
Speaker 1: handled some of that stuff. So you know, well, I
Speaker 1: think the players and the coaches here are familiar with
Speaker 1: the scheme, which doesn't count for anything, I mean, until
Speaker 1: what you do on game day. But I think we'll
Speaker 1: do a good job evaluating what went wrong the first time.
Speaker 1: Obviously we did not possess the ball very well, number
Speaker 1: of plays production, average game per play. Because of that,
Speaker 1: obviously total time, it was another one of those that
Speaker 1: was a poor third down day for us. So there's
Speaker 1: a lot of negatives you can pull up from it,
Speaker 1: and so we just at this point of the week,
Speaker 1: you just start at the beginning and you start chipping away.
Speaker 1: It seems like when you look at that first game,
Speaker 1: you say, well, gosh, I you hate to play this
Speaker 1: team again. They just crushed us offensively. But you just
Speaker 1: go one piece at a time. You look at first
Speaker 1: downs and look at second downs, you look at third
Speaker 1: you look at shortyards, and you just you just handle
Speaker 1: each area and then after a while you just say, okay,
Speaker 1: we've got some momentum right now, let's make sure we
Speaker 1: carry it forward. And I think I have a feeling
Speaker 1: Wednesday are guys who going to come out and have
Speaker 1: a really good day of practice. And I think the
Speaker 1: way we've been practicing lately has really shown up with
Speaker 1: how we've been playing, and so I'm expecting Wednesday to
Speaker 1: be a really good day. All Right, Bill, we'll let
Speaker 1: you go, so appreciate it tonight. Good luck with your preparation. Great,
Speaker 1: thank you. That's gonna do it For tonight's Bears Coaches Show.
Speaker 1: I want to thank our producers Jordan Trutup, Dan Billy
Speaker 1: and Andy Gers. You're along with Lisa Fielding, and most
Speaker 1: of all to you for listening. For Bears head coach
Speaker 1: Matt Nagget offensive coordinator Bill Laser. I'm Jeff Jonny AAK.
Speaker 1: We'll call the Bears and Vikings Sunday from Minnesota, nine am, pregame,
Speaker 1: noon kickoff. This is News Radio seven eighty and one
Speaker 1: oh five point nine FM WBBM. Good night, everybody,