Coach Show: Nagy, Tabor on building momentum

From PNC Studios here at HATTI Saw. This is the Bears Coaches Show with Head Coach Matt Naggie. I'm Jeff Joniac. Nice come from behind win at Detroit's Ford Field back on Thursday twenty four, twenty over the Lions at three and one. Start at the second half of the season and you're fought back to five hundred. It's been quite the fight too, first time since Week seven, and it just is an interesting feeling about that. If I have it, you guys certainly have it in that locker room. Yeah,

you could, you could feel it after the game. It was it was just a feeling of guys. Um, they earned it. You know, they fought hard to get to that point, and uh, you know it was on a short week. You put all that together, it's a tough division game on the road, and uh it's a battle. And so here we are, like you said, we sit at a point. The last four games. Now we've able to go three and one, um and put ourselves in a decent position. So we know we have our hands

full yet. But here we are this week against the Cowboys, and it's important to get going. You already know you got competitors. You know, you know you've talked about the resilience of this team, and now you can look him in the eye and say, hey, guys, look what we're at.

I mean, yeah, you do need some help along the way, but only matters, What only matters is you taken care of this each step at a time, right, And it's it's just you look back at these moments and you go through things for certain reasons, and um, you know, when when I talk as a leader, as a head coach, they listen. But you also want to be able to say you see what I'm saying, see what I told you, And they're proving me right right now in regards to

them being fighters and guys that care. Were a family and what better way last week than than on Thanksgiving Day to be able to have a big win together as a family. And and and that's where it becomes powerful. Those moments are ones that you don't forget wherever you're at during the season, and who knows here as we go forward, how it propels us. You know, no bigger fighter right now, With all due respect to the other fifty two guys on the team. Mitch Robiski, Yeah, yeah,

it was. I mentioned it last week after the game that, um, it was. It was. It really was his day. And I and I and I say that after going back and watching the tape, you just you see the decisions that he's making, the throws that he's making at certain times, um, which is huge for for our offense. And he's growing as a leader. Uh, the players around him are stepping up and creating holes for the in the run game with the O line. The O line had a really

good game last week. I mean they protected Mitch, and when you protect you're able to throw the football. They created lanes in the run game. When you when you create lanes, you're gonna average four point seven yards per rush and then when the balls throw your way, wide receivers are gonna make plays. And the other thing too last week that that occurred, that that's kind of got lost in the shuffles there. There was a lot of drop eight by Detroit, so they'd rush three and drop

eight and there's not a lot of guys open. But Mitch, Mitch and the wide receivers did a really good job of the scramble drill and there were some plays that were made where, um, you know, it's hard to draw plays for a drop eight, but they made play. It was about the players. You know, you mentioned the offensive line, and there's a couple of double team blocks by Charles Lenno Junior and James Daniels that just blew the defensive linement off the line of scrimmage. What a great um again,

a great fundamental coaching tape for the rest of the season. Yeah, and those guys get to see that and they they took ride in it, and uh, that's not an easy front to to move. There's some big, big guys in there, and um, I think you just you you were able

to feel it. You you understood that. I know again, like I said, as a as a play caller, UM, when you look up and it's second and four, second and five, those are friendly down the distances, Yes they are because you've had a whole uh catalog of plays that you know, we're not that way this season so far. So you know that had to be a fun game for you to call. Yeah, it was. It was the beginning. We started with the first well, well we started started

the game off with the with the touchdown drive. We had had the ball around midfield after a great return by by Corderyl uh and then ended it with a touchdown, which is what we've been talking about all week long is let's get that touchdown that first drive. Then we stalemate it for two drives and and then we had the penalty fest where that that's those are tough to overcome. Uh. And then we were in two minute mode at the end of the half, so before you know it, that

was that UM. Then the second half, UM, our guys continue to battle, and then in the end we ended it with a ninety yard ninety five yard drive to win the game. And that's one we'll look back. Yeah. And you mentioned on Friday that that that that is the drive that could tell the story of twenty nineteen. It could, it could and we and we don't know that we'll see moving forward here. But that's certainly a drive that I know that any way you look at it.

It instills confidence in the players and end coaches in the fact that two huge third down conversions, a great throw to Anthony Miller in the corner route and then another great throw down into the inside the five on a on a go ball where he gave him a chance and was able to make a play. So and then again um throwing a touchdown pass to take the lead. Um is just that's what we look for. Well, you know after the interception he threw, Darius Slay picked off

ten of eleven. The drop in there, he would have been perfect, you know, it was one drop, ten of eleven, two downs. Yeah, that's the fight I'm talking about. And remember last week I brought up, or maybe it was in our pregame interview, there's something. There was something about Mitch the last couple of weeks, his attitude, his presence

and how he's processing everything. It just felt different to me. Yeah, well he's maybe it is, Yeah, he's well, he's been through a lot and and there's nothing wrong with that. We've all been through. It's a good thing. I'm not saying it is. You're right, it's it's he's That's what I'm saying. He's he's handled it really well. And um, and as as we've said from the start, you know this, this kid wants to win for the city of Chicago and for his teammates and family and for our organization

more than anybody. And I think you're seeing that the last couple of weeks. You feel it, and however you go ahead with with with finding how you do that. He's he's done that. Let's talk Anthony Miller. There were a certain number of guys I circled before the season. He was certainly one of them that if the stars played at their level on either side of the ball, and then these certain group of guys, it was like a half a dozen rose this this could be one

dangerous football team. And it's taken a bit, but Anthony Miller seems like he's on his way. Now. Yeah, it's it's about opportunities and you've seen that now the last couple of weeks. And that trust word is so big between a quarterback and a wide receiver. And it gets built on doing things the right way. It's built on timing and practice. And so Anthony's had more opportunities, he's taken advantage of it. He knows he can continue to grow in certain areas. But I just I love his fire,

I love his passion. I love is want for the ball. And it's clearly from your discussions with the media. And so he's a guy you kind of have to stay on about being in the right place. Yeah, you do, and he knows that. And none of it is is um because he doesn't have the ability to do that. It's just there is a there's quite a bit in this offense, and it takes a little bit of time.

And the one thing that I really love about Anthony Miller is and he made this statement to me before, is um, if he screws it up one time or messes it up one time, he won't do it again. And so there's gonna be that first time mess up. But and he's proved me right, so or he's proved himself right that he doesn't make the same mistake twice. This is the Bears Coaches Show brought to you by

Whippley CPAs and Consultants. The Bears Coaches Show with head coach Matt Naggie and w bbm's Jeff Joniac continues snap back to Chubisky looking to throw over the meadow in zone touchdown and uncovered David Montgomery for six. The Bears have delayed a three hour toss. With two seventeen left, Bears are back in front twenty three twenty Welcome back to the Bears Coaches Show, brought to you by Whippley

Financial Advisors, a proud partner of the Chicago Bears. Here at P ANDC Studios at HADI saw Jeff Joniac and Matt Naggie. You heard the highlight, believe it or not, and I had to go back and double check to make sure I wasn't wrong. But I mentioned in the broadcast that with the first pass catching touchdown for David Montgomery all the way back to high school, they didn't have one. He cut seventy one balls, but no touches.

Is that right, that's simbat We got meal now one. Yeah, Well, he did a good job and all things considered too, you know, that's a last week was a week where we weren't able to to do any uh live practice, you know, full speed. So everything was through mental reps. And that's a pretty crucial situation right there that those guys are in and uh, Mitch made a great decision he made he finished his route and then they made a play. Yeah, and that was third progression. Yeah, their progression,

which is part of the play. But at the same time that he uh, hey, they made a good decision. Bab placement poised Mitch. To everybody in the game, from a rob to Jasper horse Dead's touchdown catch, how would you evaluate, Yeah, that that touchdown catch there by Jasper, Uh, that throw to start really uh, it puts a smile

on your face. Yeah, it does, just because that that's uh you don't always talk about that being a throw on that play, but they players made the play and those are the ones that you really look back on and and and appreciate. And um, Mitch put it exactly where it needed to be and then it it was not an easy catch to come down and then land on the ground and stick, you know, catch the ball in between your your helmet and your arm and et cetera. So that's a pretty good first touchdown catch for him.

All right, let's flip to the defense. We gotta talk real quin I gotta talk real quin Smith. His star is shining right now. He was all over the place, triggering instinctive, a couple of sacks. It's clear he could be a very good blitzing linebacker and get to the quarterback and put him down to the ground. Yeah, that's what that's what we saw. That's what we knew we had with him. And you see it and you just

really appreciate it. You love, you love when you when you put on the game tape after the game and you see him flying around everywhere. It was an unfortunate call, um or you know, it's all effort for the out of bounds late hit there, but he made up for it with the big sacks. So, um, he's playing at a high level right now. You can see it, you

sense it, and it's it's good. Well, and you know he and he's a perfect example because you know, you talk about Mitch and clearly real Quine has been through something this season two and so you don't you don't stop watching the movie halfway through. It's a full sixteen game season. So all these guys are are these guys we talk about Anthony Miller, the nine for one forty career high. You talk about Mitchell Trubisky, you talk about Roe Kwan, talking about James Daniels moving over to guard

and making some big blocks yesterday. Are they taking guys with them? Are our guys coming with these guys now? Is everybody coming together here at the right time? Because you talk to the New England Patriots, I bring this up all the time. They start talking about Granted, you don't want to dig a hole, which the Bears did over the course of the season, and you start playing

your best ball late November into December. It may seem ridiculous because you take each quarter of the season the way it is, but it is that important to peak now. It's very important to peak now. And then there's also there's a silver lining as you go through the season for for several different reasons. But sometimes it's to find a player you never know that you have on the roster. Other times it's for whatever reason, just just like that as is, somebody gets hurt, another guy has a chance.

But then others go through certain things throughout the year, whether it's on the field or off the field. And now we all get to work together and show how tight of a family you are to pull through it and to persevere. And that's kind of where we're at right now. We know we still have several games left for sure, and the only thing we can do is focus on this week against the Cowboys. And I think that's what's so cool in this moment right now, is that we're back to a point of six and six,

we're still alive and we want to put this thing together. Yeah, it's the strangest sport when you think about it, because there's three hundred and sixty five days in the year and you're asking everybody on sixteen particular days to be mentally, physically, emotionally ready and to do your job. And every game is a little different, every single one. They're all different. So I mean, we can go back to the first game of the year, to the fourth game to the seventh.

Every one of them have a different flavor to them. So it's all about how you handle them. It's how you stick together, and then how you prepare and how mentally strong are you. You know, we've been mentally tested, We've been tested mentally and uh um, so far. I appreciate that where where we're at and now we just got to finish it. Third play of the game, right, Prince Mukamara not third third play for them, but on David Blast play he dak could stick in a guy's

head for the rest of the game. Did you worry about it? No? I did. And and it's uh, you know, they it's a nice little play that they ran where um down a distance wise, Prince was just kind of sitting on the sticks and the kid uh ran a little dagger and go, um, so you gotta have some protection to do that he made he got him and um, sometimes you live by the sword, you die by the sword, and that was one of those plays. But I had no doubt that Prince would come back and play well

as a quarterback guy just observing blood. Would you come away with just somebody that uh darts around and there within the pocket? Yeah, he had he had good good uh good vision within the pocket, could understand where things were at and um, you know, coached Daryl Bevill, their offensive coordinator, was able to put them in good positions and but uh, you know, in the end, our defense

was good enough to finish it out. No more of the Bears Coaches show with head coach Matt Naggie on Newsway Too seven eighty and one oh five point nine FM WBBS. The Tousta Cohen loves at the horse dead over the shoulder catch for the touchdown touchdown, Bears beautifully executed play call, and the rookie the Ivory Leaker with his first NFL touchdown. Welcome back to the Bears Coaches Show.

Shredded cheese beans, however you make them. Share your Bears game to Nacho Recipe at Tostitos Bears dot Com for a chance to win a Bears viptail getting experience and tickets At the December twenty second game against Kansas City made the best Nacho's win. Bears coming off their third win and four. This is the Bears Coaches Show. Bronti by Whippley, CPAs and consultants from Hallisau at P ANDC Studios, Jeff Jonik and Matteggie. They're the highlight. We talked about

it in an earlier segment, But jessper Horstead. Every day must be like a huge classroom in the mind for jessper Horstead. But when you get the opportunity like he did and you make that kind of play. What's the bounce for him going into the future, going into this week. There's a change a young man's perspective on the game. I'm sure it does. And you have you make such a big play, it's a scoring play, and um, it has to be able to bring your confidence up in

many different ways. And so, uh, that's what's been neat throughout some of this, and we talked about it earlier, is when you have these type of situations that pop up, it gives other people opportunities. And he's taken the most

of it. And and you know, you got to give credit to Ryan Pace and and uh the personnel side for um being able to find a guy like like jessper and and now here you are Sometimes you're you're you go into training camp and you're at the bottom of the roster and you're trying to make that that that ninety man roster, cut it down the three and where are you at in the practice squad, et cetera. And now here's a guy that gets an opportunity. And so it's a it's a great story. We want to

keep growing with it. And he's he's done a good job so far. Yeah, I want to go back to the Anthony Miller and a Rob you know, and third downs. Those two big catches on the final drive, but uh my math had at five of the six receptions on third down went for first downs, So a that equals a lot of extra plays. And entering the ending the game that was only like a forty six point three conversion rate on though, so you were thirty first in

the league. If that continues, do you sense that you'll be able to get those sixty to seventy five plays a game. Yeah, that's that's what we need to do. And the end score part is just as big. You know, we want to be able to convert on third down and uh uh we were fifty percent. Um, So I just think that for us to be able to roll through it and get better is very important. Hey hey again against the Giants, when when Miller his first down catches got you third team more plays in ten points? Yeah,

I mean, it's it's the game, the third down situational. Yeah, if you want to be it extends drives and so as a play caller you can get in a rhythm. Uh, you're able to make sure that now you can balance more of the run game the pass game, the screens, et cetera. And so the other thing too, is it gives you confidence when you convert these third downs as you're able to hum to get the first downs and then get into the red zone, and now you got

to be efficient in the red zone. Your defense has been put in some interesting situations, and some of it is their own doing overall, but the resiliency and the ability to bend and not break over the course of especially two minute situations has been one of the trademarks of the defense. I think I brought it up to you on Thursday. Only three points allowed in those situations this year. Yeah, that I shouldn't Redskins down a fuel.

That's unbelievable. Yeah, and you feel it, and you can you can feel the defense the way that they're playing in those type of situations. And I thought that, uh, last week's game that they were able to do that. I mean, obviously that that sack that occur with Roquan and knock him back that far and then for Eddie

Jackson to end it with the with the interception. Um. But you know, we get tested in those situations and our Chuck has done a great job at being able to stay aggressive in those moments, and then our guys have been resilient. You know. Funny thing, if you thought, if I asked you on a week one you're gonna have your tight ends would be Jessper Horstead, Bradley Saw and a guy named JP Holts you're gonna pick up from a team you would have never believed it, and

all factored in the last few wins. Yeah, it's it's really something. Yeah, and you're right, Um. But with all that said, what I think is pretty neat is that those three guys that you just mentioned, um, are very very important to where we're at right now. And JP Holtz is a guy that has really just come in here, doesn't say much, just does his job head down. Yea head down guy, and but is very very important to

to what we're doing right now. Bradley sal is somebody that uh, you know obviously last last week on the sweep the Sheds Award for things that he does on end off the field, and that just speaks to who he is. And uh, and now Jasper coming in here and and doing what he did last week I think is uh is a credit to them who they are. And that's where we're at right now. So that's that's uh, you want to you want to see these field good stories with these type of guys. It's a Thursday to Thursday,

so today's really Wednesday on this Monday night show. I know it's NFL language. People always get confused about that, but it is the case. So you got a normal week and a cowboy team coming in limp in three or four in the lost department, but loaded with talent. Offensively obviously, where do you begin here? And you look at them, yeah, well and you just said, you know, offensively,

but you look at these guys, I mean across the board. Um, their their offense is putting up points and um they got playmakers everywhere and then on defense too, they just they fly around that front four is some is you know, a group of guys that you have to know. Um that the different things that they do with all the stunts and the games that they have on the front line are we'll certainly have our hands full, but they're they're in a similar position as us and both of

us being six and six. It'll be an interesting week this week. Tom and I have been talking about this could be the La Rams game of twenty eighteen. Yeah, one way or another. Yeah, it could and it's exciting to be able to, uh to do it at home. And so we'll see where our guys are stepping up to the challenge. I'm feeling them ready to go. Mat Names, enjoy the rest of your week in your preparation. Thank

you very much, Thanks Jeff. The Bears Coaches Show with Special Teams Coordinator Chris Tabor, brought to you by Whippley CPAs and consultants Athletico Physical Therapy and the Village of Bedford Park. Once again the Voice of the Bears w BBMS Jeff Joey a prater this time puts a little more air under it and this drives him back further

than the ends on eight yards out. He's coming out left angling to the five to the ten, gets a block on the outside to the twenty other block to the thirty to thirty forty and knocked out of islands on the far side of the field. Bears are gonna start this drive in Lions territory. Some terrific blocking along the way, I'm money makes the stop for the Lions and the Bears will have a plus territory start to

their Thanksgiving Day special here in Detroit. This segment of the Bears Coaches Show brought to you by Old Spice. Never let a friend lose his swagger. That's a good way to bring in the man with a lot of swag. Chris Taylor, the Bears special team's coordinator, Right, how about that's perfect. That's Taylor made for you. I don't stay here. You know you got some of that going on. I'll

tell you a guy who does that. Highlight here, Cordell Patterson nine yards deep comes out on that second kickoff to start the game for the Bears offense, setting up a drive that was six plays and get you on the board for the first time since Week four in the first quarter. No, that was great by him and

the guys blocking. I mean, obviously, at the end of the day, it's hard to cover two kicks in a row, especially when you have a returner like we do, where they're emphasizing it all week, making sure that we're staying in our lanes. And it's the opening kickoff and they're geared up and they go down and then have to redo it again. There was no doubt if I mean, it had to go out of the back of the end zone for us not to bring it out. And he did a great job and the guys did a

great job. And that's our job. We either want to score or we say set up the score, and that's the deal. All right, Let's talk about the first one. Because he quick made a veer left plan or his decision. It's built in in the return and utilizing his skill

set that he has there. So they had a tendency and they did it in the first game also, and we bounced one on him here at Soldier, but it was really number forty four maybe has a really good football player, aggressive to the ball, and he likes to take off pretty fast to try to get in the mix, and you know that opens some things up on the

back side. Okay, And on the second one, Now, if in that situation, do you reprogram and say, hey, we're gonna we're gonna make a change now in the second one because maybe they or what do you do which changed it? Okay, we changed the call. They're based off what we saw in the first time. Okay, after watching the tape, how close was it to be in a six pointer? It's close, Yeah, it's close. And he had another opportunity later on in the game. Also ninety yards

and those two. Yeah, no, then he's h I mean, obviously he's big, strong, and fast, obviously all great qualities. But the guys are doing a great job blocking for him, and they take a lot of pride in U in getting him going, and as does he so U it's it's it's good combination. He leads the league, and you got to give credit to your blockers as well. Guys, they're picking guys off. He's the only guy in the

league with he leads in one hundred yard days. We only look at backs and receivers, but I'm I'm gonna start looking at returners because there are not many opportunities for a lot of these guys. But one hundred yard return days I did not know that. Yeah, yeah, number one in the league. Hopefully we can keep that going. I mean, obviously with the weather changing, you know, obviously there's gonna be more times to do that. But at the same time, we're gonna have to always be prepared.

As they hit the squib and it and it hit us. I got to talk about that. So it was a debate in the booth. Okay, the first one that hit them, bush Ye planned as an on side kick or do you think it was just one in a million shot to hit the guy in the shin and you're recover the football and it was going to be a squib talked to Prater and I saw his quotes in the paper. Okay, and you could tell on the field that it was going to be a squib kick because it was on

the field. It was going one hundred miles an hour. Yeah, yeah, yeah, and uh and obviously those things can happen. So can you target a guy and wish was that just perfect execution? I mean, I don't know if I don't, Like I said, he was trying to squib it through and if he

hits a guy, great, Yeah, some guys I've seen kickers. Actually, Phil Dawson in Cleveland, we used to practice it all time where we would just practice hitting the goal post and line drying the line drive the goalpost, just to see if we could do it on a consistent basis. And he was. He was able to do it. But it's a it's a hard skill. I've I've been on the other side of that where I've asked a guy to We had a punter had to kick off one time.

And ask him to squib it and he did the exact same thing and hit their guy, but they recovered the ball, so right, because you're giving them a lot of fields, you give up a block field position there, and it's obviously it's something that we always will have to learn from and uh, we'll always have to adjust just because of who our guy is back there. And

that's that I always tell the guys that's a good thing. Yeah, so well we gotta go actually in this segment, but we'll pick it up on the other side because I do have a what's the teaching point for Dion in that situation? Because if it comes on you're that quick and hit you in the lower leg. I mean, you're talking about a bouncing ball. It's it's like a ping

pong boss. So, well, you're the coach, you have the answers the Bears coaches show what Special Teams coordinator Chris Tabor and w BBMS Jeff Jodiac continues, Hey Bears fans hit the beach with its spice, Adams, Laurence Greeden, Roy Robertson, Harris blown Nichols, and more of your favorite Bears players. On March first, it was at Apple Vacations dot com slash Bears to book your trip to those Cabbos Mexico

today here with Bears special teams coordinator Chris Taber. When we were talking before the break, what are the teaching points on a squib that could come up on you and bounce crazy? I mean, obviously you're trying to avoid it at all costs. The tough spot where Dion Bush and actually dhc are lined up at they're in charge of a surprise on side if it comes up the middle. And at the same time, obviously they're closer to the football, so being able to adjust and move and see that.

You got to have an agile guy, and Prader did a good job of I mean he got us on that one. I mean he hit his ankle and obviously we didn't recover it. Fortunately they didn't get any points out of it. Yeah, and that's kind of in our world. You kind of look at the big picture that no harm, no file, right, and you just flush it and you move on and say, okay, let's keep playing football. Hey, let's talk about eighty pine. The leg was booming, man,

you didn't you have anybody a chance? No, he really, he really kicked off well and on a short week, on a Thursday game, those are those are critical factors because obviously some guys' bodies aren't as recovered as what they're normally are, and for him to be able to

kind of handle that force that was great. And then the last kick after the penalty, where we kick off from the fifty and to be able to bloop it and be aggressive with that and put it right on the goal line to get him inside the twenty is obviously what we were looking for and we accomplished that goal. So I was real proud of him. I thought he had a nice day and you know, hopefully we can

just kind of keep building on it. It was his first indoor game, so I don't know if he kicked any indoors in college at all, but you know, I know the Lions put this out there. I think they're opposing kickers were sixty two point three percent since eighteen in there, and I was shocked at the number. It's indoor football with no conditions. What's your familiarity with that? And why at Ford Field are these guys have in trouble or is it just who's kicking there? I mean,

I think it just happens. I do think there's a major stereotype of well, since we're indoors, we should be able to kick long field goals and everything should be accentuated even more on you know, on Thanksgiving Day, you're you watch the other games. There were six miss kicks in three games and they were all inside. So it's I think that I think people look at that. I think that's just kind of silly in my opinion, to look at it like that. I understand it. Yeah, but

you could understand because there's no win. No, there's no win, there's nothing. I mean, you hit your ball and you and you go to work. But at the same time, I think people you still have to play field position football, and what gives you the best chance. You just can't um, you know, start shooting at the him and say, just because we're inside, let's just start launching really long field goals because let's give it a shot. I mean, you

still you still got a handlefield position. Yeah, So is there a mental component that you address because is there a natural like relaxation. I'm indoors, I don't have to factor in the wind or you just know, we keep it out of the conversation. No, we talked about it. We talked. What we talked about was is stay true to the process, because let's learn from the LA game. And the LA game was was nice conditions, slight breeze. Let's call it no breeze though, all right, a slight breeze.

And guys when they get in those those environments want to kill the football because they think I'm going to have a huge day and then they don't play how they're supposed to play. And I said, let's let's learn from that. All right. Yes, we're going indoors. We're gonna stay true to our process, and we're not gonna think, hey boy, I'm going to swing for the fences because this is all perfect in here. No, we're gonna hit

our ball and we're gonna work. So I was pleased how he grew in that in that area right there, you know, back to the bloop, because you could easily, you know, you'd love to take advantage of their mental mistake of committing a penalty that gives you a fifty yard kickoff and just boom it out of there. But you want to take advantage of that to keep pointing the game, keep him get him a long feel with a rookie quarterback playing in its first game. So how

tedious is that that kick. It's a tough kick. It's obviously probably actually easier outside because there are win conditions and then you can kind of kick it into the wind where the win's holding it up for you and buying you some more hang time. Now you're inside and there's none of those conditions for him to be able to drop it right there at the goal line. We said, hey, be aggressive because even if the ball goes out of bounds, they get the ball at the twenty five, just as

if they were to touchback. So take a chance, take it, take a chance, be aggressive. And we have confidence in our in our kickoff team that we can get down there and cover these guys. So let we say, let the guys go have some fun. And he did that. Given the time in a week, normal week, but not a short week. How often you practice that kick? That's part of his routine on the I guess normal that

would be a Wednesday practice. After we kick our field goals and you know, we do our kickoff work and then that's the last part we like, we like to work on that kick. Yeah, and the coverage. Okay, you didn't have Sheriff McManus, and I don't know what the situation is. We'll pick that up on the other segment. Talk about some of these other guys that are stepping up and having good years on special teams for Chris

Tabor's crew. The Bears Coaches Show with head coach Matt Maggie continues exclusively on the Home of the Bears News Radio seven eighty and one oh five point nine FM w BBM. Here with Bears Special teams coordinator Chris Tabor, breaking down the Bears went over the lines and looking ahead to the Cowboys. Here in a moment before the break on, I want to talk about some guys that

are stepping up, and Kevin Pierre Lewis is one of them. Obviously, he's a veteran and starter grade linebacker in this league. Joel Ea, Booney Way, Josh Wood. Some of these guys it stepping in and and really closing the door on Danny Amondola in that game on Thursday. No, the guys we needed to step up from the previous week because we had one get out on us UH in the Giants game. So that was a point of emphast. This guys did a great job. Been real pleased with with

how we're growing. And because we're you know, Woods is now playing more and improving each week. Ryan Nall isn't a guy that's now getting his shot and he's he's playing well. But you know, it's led by guys like KPL and DHC and and I mean, I don't want to I could name so many guys. It's I will say this about the room, and and I love him to death because it is a close room and they

take they do take pride in it. The thing that I'm so really proud about him is just like in the kick return game, we had to make an adjustment right there during the game in the huddle on the sideline, and they all just shook their head like, yes, coach, we got it. Let's go, let's go to work. And that's that's where we're growing behind the scenes. And I've

just been real pleased with that. You know, a man you call the pony Corderold Patterson because of how he plays on coverage as well he's in is that endearing himself to the entire roster, let alone your own room. Um, And maybe guys want to pay it forward a little bit when he's on the other end of it returning the kid, no question. I mean, the pony plays well. He's a He's a guy that the other day just once again comes down, beats a double team, balls kicked

across the field, beats a double team comes across. They want to try to bring it back across to him, and there there he is, and he and he stops it and turns it right back into everybody else. He's a he's a really good football player. And people have asked me who you know he He does remind me of a Josh Cribbs. He really does, because that was a guy that could cover and return and and your version he is he is. He's a just a good

football player. What are the Cowboys like Special Team twice? Well, the good I mean, they have they have some weapons and uh, you know, obviously in our world, anything can happen, So we're just trying to dot all the eyes and cross the t's. But anywhere from Randall Cobb to Tavon Austin, I mean, and they got the Pollard kid as the returner. They have some guys that definitely have our attention. So we need to we need to play well and what

is there? What's your history with their special teams coordinator? And this will be my first matchup with him, he was this is his second year down in Dallas, and he does a good job. They play awfully hard. That's what when I wash the tape, that's what sticks out to me, just how they keep coming after you. And and uh so we we need to have our a

game for Thursday night. Much like Matt talked about the resiliency of this football team now looking back at what you feel like you see in light at the end of the time, at your six and six. You got some really impressive games coming up. But does it feel good to be where you're at right now to dictate some of your own Uh it's a future. Well, it's always good to win. But I you know, you look

at him. I mean, we're heading into the fourth quarter of the season, and it's you know, it's really to me, it's a it's a one game season, you know, And and and I think maybe maybe when it's all said and done, you you you know, you look at and review it and all that, but right now, just your head's buried in the stand. Let's get let's get the cowboard all right, And as we wrap up with Special Teams Coordinator Chris Tabor, Gibson's Restaurant Group wants it. Thank

you for joining us in tonight's Bears Coaches Show. Here's a gift card to enjoy a meal at any of their Chicago Land locations. Thanks as always, Thank you, w BBM and HD Chicago, w CFSFM and HD one Elmwood Parks, Chicago,