Coaches Show: Nagy, Pace, Phillips preview 2018 season

Bedford Park. Now from Hallis Hall, here's the Voice of the Bears w BBMS, Jeff Jodiac and good to be back with you on the radio. Bear season. Tickelvoorders here at the Walter Payton Center on the campus of Hallis Hall and Lake Forest, and they're jacked up about the twenty eighteen season. We're brought to you by Whipfley, CPA's and Consultants of Pleasident Even God Evening everybody. I'm Jeff Joniac, along with our special guests and our special edition of

the Bears Coaches Show. To my far rights, the general manager of the Chicago Bears, Ryan Pace, the man in the middle, First year head coach Matt Negge and the President and CEO of the Chicago Bears, mister Ted Phillips. Good to have you aboard, fellas, and we are ready to go an hour of conversation about the twenty eighteen Chicago Bears, and we will start with Matt Neggee. This is really your first introduction in an intimate setting with Bears fans, so Bears fans. This is mattan Matt Neggan.

These are your Bears fans right here. This is awesome, absolutely awesome. And you know, we sit here and we are in these buildings and on these fields so much and behind these walls working on stuff. But to come out here and be able to uh to see the the faithful and the true fans that are out here that support us, Trust me, we appreciate all of it. And we're really looking forward to getting started. What can

you tell them about what you like so far? You're fifty three man roster now set and a certain edition you know, dropped in just to to knocked down a few quarterbacks for the next many years. How about that. We're excited, Yeah, We're we're excited. It's uh being able to uh to come here and and obviously, uh, to work with Ryan and Ted and George and and all the great coaches on staff, it's been it's been awesome.

You know. We have unbelievable players and that's what makes it so much fun is trying to build this and and create this this culture of understanding what it takes to win and all the hard work and dedication that's involved. And so it's a it's a process, and uh, but we we we look forward to the challenge and we're really excited to creating this fifty three man roster. And we got a lot of good guys, all right, Ryan Pace about forty eight hours or so, I don't know

how many hours ago. But it's setting in. It's settling in that you pulled off this trade to get Khalil Mack from the Oakland Raiders. How would you characterize the impact in the building, the coaching staff, the locker room. We know how the fans feel, a body. You're getting your first taste of this because the city is going crazy about Khalil Mack. You know, Jeff, it's definitely energizing. It's energizing to our whole building and obviously our fan

base too. It kind of follows the mindset that starts at the very top with our ownership, and it's you know, be aggressive, be calculated, and everything we're doing it's all about winning games and this guy's definitely gonna help win games for the Bears. Ted Phillips, When this was all presented to you and the possibility became more a reality, what was your first thought? What was your first reaction?

Mine was whoa baby? Yeah, we got Kalil Mack. It. It was kind of a process and when it first was brought up, Um, I'm not sure I felt it was going to really happen. There were a lot of teams in the mix. Um, But the more it started to become real, it became as exciting as anything we've done in years. So my hat's off to Matt Ryan. Joey Lane did an amazing job in this process. It's really hard when you when you're not sure what's real, what's not out there, and to pull off that trade

and to still keep some nice assets with draft picks. Um, it's big and it's going to elevate the whole team, all right, that really is the key. Yes, two first round picks go, but that second round pick you get back. Is not something you just man, it's not just a throw in. That is a significant piece to this whole puzzle, Jeff.

That was key for us the whole time. We talked about getting the second round pick back because it gives us two twos in the twenty twenty draft, and I think we've we've shown and you know, we can do some work in that in that round for sure. Um So that was a critical piece to the trade. You know, when you go through the process of acquiring a player of this magnitude days before the season, it just doesn't present overnight. So the process was lengthy. It was not

something that just came out of thin air. It was there was a lot of thought going into this. This is not just something that you just said, oh, yeah, we're pulling the trigger on this. You met, the organization, the franchise, the ownership all had to think about this

for sure. And you know this. You know, the speculation with Khalil started probably about over the summer, and then Matt and I would talk about it a lot, you know, throughout training camp, and you know, Matt would always say to me, Hey, Ryan, persistence over resistance, and we would just talk about it. A lot and uh and then you know, as we got closer and especially over the

last week, that started to become a reality. And here we are and Matt today you discussed with the media in detail some of the emotions, the excitement, the qualities, the skill set of this particular player. Share with the fans here what you're seeing with Khalil Mack just the guy that you've just gotten to know a little bit. Yeah.

So I obviously know who he is as a player from from playing against him for the past four years in the same division, but really what sometimes can get neglected and a player like this and as talented as he is is, he's just as good of a human being in person and just such a quality hard worker and everything he does he does one hundred percent. He's

a good character guy. Today out here in the first day of practice, I mean, he steps on the field and he gets instant credibility from all of his peers, you know, and he hasn't even done anything out here with our team. So just listening to him talk, just seeing it in his eyes how passionate he is, and you you understand and you appreciate it, and you're sure's heck happy that he's on your team. Now that it's set, I always ask you this question our first segment, give

us a little state of the address. So the twenty eighteen Bears as we get ready to go up to the Green Bay Packers on Sunday night. Okay, Well, for our fans, thank you all for being here on Labor Day's huge for us to have all of you here in person. You guys are the lifeblood of our organization. And this year, I mean it isn't just Khalil Mack.

We had a big offseason, big draft, a lot of free agent acquisitions, got to keep our defense in tech, bring back coach Fangio, got the best offensive coaches, including the guy next to me here to help elevate our offense like you've never seen with a quarterback with like Mitch Traubisky. So there's a lot of excitement. So we need you guys cheering every Sunday home or away, and I think you're going to be really excited and happy

about what you see. I want to add, I know he only got a minute or two here before break probably, but this whole idea of bringing in Khalil Mack, the reason it became so such a positive thing and something that we knew made sense is because Ryan, Joey, Matt they know how to communicate, They know how to dig deep analyze the pros and cons of every decision we make at that level. So it made it a lot easier to say, you know what, it makes all the

sense in the world. So I'm fired up. I hope you are too, are you as we continue on with our special guest tonight in this holiday edition, the Labor Day edition, as Yeah, fans playing some football off to our right. You've got a great crowd. Thank you for coming out tonight, everybody. I love your support. We got a lot of familiar faces in the front row. I don't know how they come back Ted every year. They do. You know what, they're in the front row. They just

know how to beat the crowd. I don't know how they do it, but they do it. Same thing happens at training camp. And by the way, I gotta give a tip of the cap to the entire Bears football team, the coaching staff, Ryan Pace, Ted, when you were out there, I'm sure you saw it. The interaction with the fans

at training camp this year was extraordinary. Mitch Bisky went out of his way and always does to talk to as many people, shaking many people's hands, sign autographs, and all the fellas did it, and that that's a testament to you know, the culture that you're building here is about being good people first and foremost good football players obviously, but that comes from you, guys. That comes from you, guys. Is that what you want? Is that part of the being a bear? Yeah? I think so, I know so.

And this is all about us together and we appreciate all the support, all the cheers that go on, and it's about treating people the right way and as long as you do that, I think, you know, with everybody that we have here, and as we evaluate these players, we also take into consideration and put a lot of stock into it is who they are as people too, because inevitably, in this game there's adversity. It'll always strike and there's going to be a lot of peaks and valleys.

And when you hit those valleys, how do you respond? And when you build a culture of good people, um, then when the when the valley's hit, then you stick together, you figure out a way to get it fixed, and um, you know, you normally come out of it and it's the same thing when things are really going really well for you is you don't ever think that, you know, it's because of you, it's because of us, and everyone's

doing you know, working hard together. And and then so the best part is having training camp and seeing all the fans and the energy that's out there and just the the excitement and everyone's they care so much about our team and it excites our players. And in the end, that's why we all do this, is to do it together, is to win football games and and and have fun

doing it. Ryan, how do you like the roster? You know, there's obviously a lot of action throughout this offseason and um, starting with you know, free agency and through the draft and then all the way until the let this past weekend. Um. You know, Jeff, it's a good question because I feel like we're always still trying to improve. So it's it's never over. I mean, even now when we're looking at it,

there's always things we can tweak and add. But but I would say you we have a young foundation in place, we feel really good about our depth, and we're excited to get the season started. But I just as an evaluator, you were always trying to improve the roster. There are only I believe I read this nine players from your first team in twenty fifteen. That is a complete overhaul

of a roster. And it's not out of the ordinary, obviously, but you went and found men who fit the description that you have penciled down as this is the way it's got to be five at a minimum, five very specific qualities. Do you feel your locker room is fulfilled with those type of people. That's one thing Matt and I both feel really good about right now is the quality of men we have in our locker room. And

it's been an emphasis through the whole process. So every time we're talking about a player, if it's free agency or the draft, that's emphasized and we talk about with our scouts all the time, and it's really ingrained in their heads. These are the type of players that we want, you know, and there's you know, there's five key traits we're looking for, and we really make a strong emphasis

on that. And I think you see it now. You see it as this team's come together, how close they are, the kind of teammates that they are, and you know, Mattes said it, there's going to be there's so much parody in our league. There's so many close games in our league. When you have the right kind of guys or the right kind of makeup, I think they pull you through those moments and ted while the building of the roster has been ongoing and continues, and we'll always continue.

As Ryan points out, there's building going on here at Hallis Hall. The big structure is looking more and more impressive every day. But this is a major, major undertaking, a huge asset for football operations. Why this time in our game is that important as you move forward here in twenty eighteen and beyond, well, I think I think what we wanted to do and coach Nagy came in here and kind of set the tone with the culture

of being obsessed to be the best. And when Ryan came aboard, you know, he had a much more analytical view looking forward to sports nutrition, how do we get that extra edge on other teams? And so we've been moving forward in those areas and we realize that twenty years we've been at Hallis Hall here and we've never really done a huge overhaul of the football performance area. So that's what that new building is that you see

going up. It's going to be about one hundred and twenty thirty thousand square feet and it's going to be state of the art. The player. It's going to be great for the players. And when you have a working environment and when the players see that commitment from ownership to be the best we can be, makes a huge difference. They spend a lot of time here, Manton, Right. Do they like the new practice fields? The players? It's kind of tucked away a little bit. You got the train.

It's very unique in that regard. There's an Amtrak train going through there, and there's practice going on, and you've got the big hill and the sand pit and all that. I don't know if a lot of these guys have experienced these types of things before. I mean, I haven't been now these college campuses, I don't know what they

have now. They love it, absolutely love it. And so instead of calling them fields one, two, three, and four, they already named it track Is Field was the old field for so, and then Bear Hill because of our our hill that's out there now for them to train on and run on. So they they they've named it. And when you name something, you normally like something. And so, uh, it's perfect. You're you're set back a little bit. The

fields are are in great condition. Um, it's just uh, you feel like it's you, it's your place and so um. The guys just they appreciate it and they get a nice little walk over to a nice a little warm up from from Hollis Hall here to walk over to it. It's it's all, it's all great. Yeah, we have buses for them when it's twenty below zero. Maybe some of

those guys don't love that, that's for sure. No more of the Bears Coaching Show with head coach Matt Naggie along with Brian Pace and Ted Phillips on news Radio seven eighty and one oh five point nine FM w BBM. Well been right along here at the Walter Payton Center on a holiday weekend. Bears fans here and joining the conversation. It's the twenty eighteen Bears. It's a preview of sorts obviously with the Green bay Ers are waiting on Sunday night up at Lambeau Field and the work's begun practice

earlier today. Brian Pace, Mattneggie and Ted Phillips our guests join us for a day of music, food, football, and fun at the middle of Light Bears, Black Party and Logan Square Saturday, September eight. Visit Chicago Bears dot com for details. I will start off this segment with Ted because Ryan is a decisive individual. When he wants something, he goes and gets it clearly. Did you know that

when you hired him? Yeah? I think we did. That was one of the attractive characteristics he brought to the table. Ryan's the kind of guy that he is, transparent, great communicator, understands how to move forward in every area that affects football operations. People love working with him, and he's been everything that we thought he'd be when we hired him, and only good things ahead. You've kind of been in the in the national scope, Ryan almost been labeled now

as a as a gambler. Do you look at yourself that way or is that an Is that a term that you're not comfortable with sometimes? I think when you hear that, it sounds like I don't want to to be associated being reckless, you know, And I think that what we do is very calculated and very thought out

and also very collaborative. So when we talk about, you know, these decisions, you know, Matt and I are always arm in arm on these decisions, and then to go all the way up to the top to George and Ted and just being very transparent with our communication when we're making these moves, especially the significant ones like we did this weekend. So I just think, you know, we're going to be aggressive at the right time, but we're gonna

be calculated and thorough with those decisions. Reckless would imply you didn't do your homework and you just, oh, yeah, he's a very boom let's grab him. Yeah, that's not the case. This man he is and no stone unturned, Jeff. This is a business that is full of risks. Whether it's the draft, whether it's agency, whether it's injuries on the field that impact your play. You're always dealing with risk.

So it's about, as Ryan said, it's about having calculated risks, being smart, but not being afraid and not looking back. And he's outstanding at that. We talked to Chairman of the Board George Hollis McCaskey before the show tonight for a half hour and one of the things I asked him, and I'll ask you guys, in the process of the coaching search and knowing who you wanted to hire and the type of person you wanted to hire. Did you guys get closer as an organization because of the way

you went about the process. You guys worked on this together. You got to know Matt. You made the decision. Obviously George brought up the plane, right, that would get anybody closer, But it seems to me that happened. It really galvanized this organization the process to hire Matt. Yeah, I think that would definitely be accurate, you know, just as we talked through what we were looking for in the traits

we wanted to identify. And you know that was however long that that road trip was, that was five or six days with some twisting turns along the way, and uh, yeah, no,

we definitely got closer, I think through that experience. And then, uh, you know, it ended the right way, you know, and we'd done so much preparation for that, and I felt like I felt like we knew Matt before we even met them, you know, and then just fifteen minutes into that interview, I think we all could kind of look at each other because we talked about it so much

and say, Man, this this is our guy. Yeah, and I will add that you know you can't help but get closer because you're not just hiring a coach, you know, you're hiring a human. And so we're talking about like the characteristics and traits that fit being a Chicago bear Head coach. And when you're talking at that level, and then you start to connect and you realize that that George, Ryan, myself,

all we're feeling the same thing. It's pretty powerful. In turn, Matt, when you interviewed with them, did you feel it as well that these guys they did their homework, that you felt comfortable with what you were hearing In return? It

was instant, It was right away. And I can tell you I pulled up to the to the hotel and and uh parked my car and I got out, and instantly George was there waiting for me, and uh and grabbed me and we started walking into the lobby to head upstairs for the interview, and he started uh informing me on the history of his family and and and just just uh the the ability of him his family starting the mc caskey High High School in Lancaster, Pennsylvania,

where I grew up. And so we started off of just how ironic that was that I'm going for this head coaching interview, and here we are with you know, the the the owner of this team, and uh just just explaining to me that. So instantly that was the start. And then I walked upstairs. I sat down, and there's a hym and there's there's a there's a there's a pretzel and a plastic rapper from from it from Hammond's. It was a Hammond's pretzel, which is from Pennsylvania, and

and so there was that tie there. And then I started talking to to Ryan and to George and to Ted. Within he says, fifteen minutes, But within five minutes, I knew in my heart, I knew, I knew, I knew that this was this was it, and this was my opportunity to to let them know who I am, um, not only as a coach, but as a person. And I promised myself UM, and I told them this in the interview, that what they got in those four hours, five hours, whatever it was, was what they're going to

get on a daily basis. And hopefully to this point I've I've held true to that. UM. It was it was easy to go through the interview when you are just yourself and uh, I couldn't be happier. I'm so thankful.

I'm proud to be a part of this, and and now let's let the fun begin and and uh uh, you know, it just speaks volumes of of where this is, who were represented by, you know, and and one thing I want to I want to make sure I say is, uh Ryan, Ryan can attest to this as well, is not every team in the NFL in regards to this most recent trade we just made. Even if there's coaches and general managers that want to make this move, not every team in the NFL will do it. And so

that was the one thing that we talked about. So I just want to make sure that that's that's out there of how fortunate we are with our ownership and management to be able to put us in a situation to make this happen. So that's that's If you don't have that, then you can't make this. And so thank you for that, and now let's go let's go reap the benefits from that. So I'm just just so proud, and we're trying to get that to our players now

to understand how lucky they are. And it's been a tough couple of days here with the roster cutdowns, but here we got fifty three guys. We're ready to roll. The Bears Coaches Show a special edition live from the Peyton Center at Hallis Hall, between coach Matteneggie, General Manager Ryan Face, and team President Ted Phillips. Brought to you by Whitflee, CBA and Consultants, and sponsored by Athletico Physical Therapy,

Verizon and Miller Lite. Once again the Voice of the Bears w BBMS Jeff jodiad good to be with you everybody. We're at hattisaw at the Walter Peyton Center, home for our holiday gathering. Here a fine labor day. I hope you're all enjoying it back home as well. And if you've worked today, we appreciate your labor as always, and it was work being done here today at Hollisall Bears got some practice in today. Matt met the media before practice and or was it before I can't even remember

now yeah, after practice. Yeah, it's been a long day. I after practice, but just for the sake of review what happened today at practice of note, and I know a lot of discussions still about Rokuan Smith. Is he gonna play, how much he's gonna play, same with Khalil Mack, how's Aaron Lynch who's starting in left guard? Those are pretty much the questions you've been getting almost every day. Yeah, No,

it was a great day. So the guys had three days off here and we wanted to get them back out here on the field to run around and get the kinks out. We had a long training camp, lots of stuff going on, and so they got some rest, came back out and now you put together some of the stuff that you're gonna do in this in this first game, and so that's kind of exciting for them to really see what we're going to be about, how

much we're gonna do, not do and uh. And then you go ahead and you look at Khalil his first time coming out, and Roquan, everyone's doing well. It's um as I've been saying, it's arrow up right now for them and they understand that. But it is calculated and we want to be smart with how we use them. Thirty seven minutes into the program, I don't think we talked about Mitchell Trubisky yet. How about that? So Ryan, you've watched him grow every day since he's been a

Chicago Bear. What right now sticks out about the growth that you see in him. I think what sticks out is just his eagerness to learn, his eagerness to get better. He's Matt. And I talked about obsession or or being passionate. He's definitely that. And so you know, I think you're always striving for your most important players, in your best players to be your best workers, and Mitch fits that.

And he's always doing more. He's always at the facility he wants to be great, and just to see him working at that, and I think, you know, I think you know, Matt's done a good job too of surrounding him with a lot of really good talent that makes him better. So you start with coach Helfrich and coach Rougone, and you know Chase Daniel and Tyler Bray. It's a great environment for a quarterback to be successful. What have

you learned about Mitch? You didn't know Matt, Well, he's uh, he's he's more competitive than I thought he was going into it. He's extremely competitive. He cares a lot, which is we're fortunate to have. And and I've been around a lot of different quarterbacks that have a lot of different personalities, and this is the guy we want. He's uh, he has so much talent. He wants to do everything the right way all the time. Very driven, very focused,

loyal to his teammates, one of the hardest workers. But I'd say I really didn't know he was as competitive. And it's it's almost to a perfectionism that he's like a perfectionist. But that's a good thing as long as we just let him know that it's okay to make some mistakes. That's Matt Naggy with Ryan Patient, Ted Philips, I'm Jeff Johnyak. We're gonna step away for another check of WBBM's traffic and weather together on the eighth, at seven thirty eight, here's Abby Ryan, Well right now, only

Ryan outbound. Right before thirty first allians are still blocked with crash involving a semi and a fuel spell, this one in the local lanes. Traffic diverted off to the express lanes and it's backed up to Roosevelt inbound. Stevens in that ramp to the outbound Ryan is jammed as

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We are PNC. We are Bears Fans. PNC Bank, the official Bank of the Chicago Bears. Copyright twenty eighteen, the PNC Financial Services Group Incorporated, All Rights Reserve, PNC Bank National Association Member FDIC. The Bears Coaches Show with Matt Naggie, Ryan Pays, Ted Phillips and w BBMS Jeff Joniac continues and welcome back to the Bears Coaches Show, brought to you by a Whippley CPAs and Consultants. Some very energetic Bears fans excited about the season opener in the twenty

eighteenth season. How thrilled are you what has been done here in twenty eighteen. Let me hear you all right? Are your believers right now? All right? That's enough for me. Hey want to thank our engineer Paul's range. He's on our broadcast as well, Little Z the One and Only, helping out his brother Dan Burrell as our producer tonight, and John Flaws also helping us out on game date as the field MIC's there here giving up some of

their holiday for you as well. And the Chicago Bears Network presents Inside the Bears, brought to you by Verizon. Anthony Adams and Laurence Greeden cover the world of Bears football on and off the field every Sunday night at eleven o five pm on Fox thirty two Chicago, or watch anytime at Chicago Bears dot Com around the Bears official app. So Matt Yesterday sitting down Khalil Mac without the mic on, He's sit We're talking. Hey, do you know who Spice Adams is? He by ys Spice. He

laughed so hard. He apparently watches his stuff on the internet. And you've met Anthony Adams, I'm sure, but a great bear, right fun guy. He's made a cottage industry out of the out of social network. But he's a big part of the Bears family as well. But what really strikes me when the guys and Alan Robinson was the same way he knew the entire history of the organization. He followed it. They grew up eighty five Bears obviously big.

That's important to what you have going on here. It's a it's a museum in that building where you work every day. It is. And again, these guys are special and they understand the game of football. You talk to Khalil, he knows, he knows his history and coming here obviously with the history of such great defense as Uh. When I talked to him on the phone for the first time, that's the first and first thing he said is he's ready to come back here to the monsters of the Midway.

So he was pumped up about it, excited um. And and so when you when you have that a former defensive player of the Year joining a you know, a team that that has always had great defenses, it's just a match made in heaven. Ryan, You've had some players overcoming some obstacles in their career that are on this fifty three man roster. Are there any in particular you're proud of giving their return, how they've overcome, and how they maintained their their belief that they can be a

big part of this team. Jeff, it's hard to single out any one player. I think, you know, we're proud of this whole team right now. I mean, really, we've had We've had a long, intense offseason, starting with training camp July sixteenth, five preseason games all the way to this point. So I think our team here talking about being calloused and kind of put through put through that, and they definitely are, and I feel like we're ready to go. And so I don't want to, you know,

single out one single player. I just say I'm proud of the whole team right now. But I would say a guy like Kyle Long, who has had multiple surgeries, he's ready to go. Alan Robinson, who played ladies and gentlemen as you may or may I know one game, third play of the game, seventeen yard catch bam acl Tarren Jacksonville. And from what I've been told, the man has worked harder than anybody could possibly imagine. It's been an untold story somewhat of how hard he's worked to

get himself ready to go. A year later. You talk about Kyle Long, Alan Robinson, Kevin White, a lot of these guys that have faced adversity and kind of clawed their way back out of it. And with a rob as soon as he got here, just his sense of professionalism, how locked in and dialed in he is every day. He's working so hard, and that's infectious to not just

the receiver room, but the whole roster. And whenever you sign a college player or draft a college player, I feel like we know a ton about those guys because the draft draft process is so thorough. But one of the reasons free agency can be risky is these guys have been in the league for a handful of years and it sometimes it's hard to get those details. But I think our scouts, Josh Lucas, Champ Kelly, they did a really good job research in the background of these guys.

So when you talk about Alan Robinson or Trey Burton or some of these new acquisitions, really really high character in hitting all the traits we stress ted. You can only speak to this because you were there in the process of hiring Ryan. He laid out his vision so many years later. The belief in him clearly is there he got an extension as well. If you go back, did you the vision that you heard? Are you seeing

it come to fruition? Now? Yeah, That's what makes this season exciting is is the interview with Ryan, the interview with coach Naggie. They laid out their vision, They aid out who they were as people and as football executives to a t they have followed through with what they presented. Okay, and when you I am so proud to be next

to these two guys. Their passion, their work ethic, their attention to detail, the way this roster has just churned over in the last few years, and we've got so much young talent and infused with some free agent acquisitions. It's time to get going. It's time to beat the Packers.

On Sunday Night, The Bears Coaching Show with Coach Matt Maggie, team President Ted Phillips, and General Manager Ryan Face continues exclusively on the Home of the Bears News Radio seven eighty and one oh five point nine FM WVBM and welcome back everybody, Bears fans. Have you had a good time to night? Oh, you haven't seen anything yet. It's

gonna be a fun season. Indeed, as we get you set for the kickoffs Sunday night against the Green Bay Packers, will have it for you with a four pm pregame with my entire crew, Time Thayer, Ron Leash and Jim Schwanza and the seven time consecutive pro bowler Jay Hilgenberg and kickoff at seven twenty up at Lambeau Field in

Green Bay, Wisconsin. Ryan, as you evaluated this team, have you have your expectations changed with the evolution of this team over the course of the offseason of where we are today, Yeah, you know, I think our expectations are always going to be win championships, but to build this team the right way in order to accomplish that, and that's a combination of all the different player acquisition avenues

that we utilize. But you know, now that we're getting into the season here, our focus is a game by game approach and right now it's straight on the Packers and so but as we build this team, yeah, the goal what drives us every day is to win championship. Matt, you know what it's like to be a playoff coach. You've I believe, if my math is right, seven out of your ten coaching seasons, your teams have gone to

the playoffs, you know what it looks like. You've got Trey Burton who won a championship, he knows what it looks like. A Keem Hicks played for the Patriots. He knows where the super Bowl team looks like from the inside out. Are you starting to see some of those

elements around you and will you know? Well, you know as a coach instinctively when because players have told me when they've gone to a super Bowl, when the season has gone to that level where they get to a super Bowl and not necessarily winning it, but there's something that happens a moment, a split second, when they know they're going, they know they're good. Yeah, that's true. That

that is very true. And there's been a couple of years where a part of those playoff years where we've won nine in a row and you kind of know when it's going on where you feel it. There's also been the years where we've lost six in a row and you get through that and all of a sudden, you win one or two games and you start clicking. You say, okay, this is why, and you click and you get it going the right time. So the thing that's important here in all this, I know we have

a great energy and a great vibe. The message that we're all trying to send and what I'm personally trying to send to the team is you know, you you don't win anything on paper. So as long as every it all looks good and sounds good, but what we need to do is we need to go out there and play these games, and we need to show what we can do and show what all the hard works

out make it payoff and so it can look. I was a part of the Philadelphia Eagles team when we had to quote unquote dream team and so um that was that was that was a hard season and you know, the expectations going into it or this and that, and that's not where we're at right here with this team. It's different. But we the guys understand that you got to take it game by game. You can't look forward, you can't say what you're gonna do. You need to focus on one game at a time and that's all

you can control. You've been very good about because offense is a different animal. I mean, it's it takes time, yeah, and you've been very good about tamping it down a little bit because just because A, B and C does not equal D, right right? Yeah? So and can a city Just using that as an example with this offense, is it took time, and it was It was probably a good three years until you really started totally clicking

with it. But we still had success and won nine games in a row the first year in Kansas City when we still didn't know the offense as well as we ended up knowing it five years later. So the guys understand that, and we're really way past my expectations here this year with our players were past it, and that's that's why I get so excited and I have to just not peak too soon with these guys and

just control my emotions. But they're excited too, and they feel it and they deserve to feel good about themselves. But they we got to do it on the field. Ted when the trade happened from I'm sure you got a ton of text messages, but how did the fans react? Because they react, win or lose, they react, they'll be calling Antania how they're gonna fix it. Did you get a lot of feedback after the trade? All positive, all positive from fans, friends, business partners. That's what makes it exciting.

And you know, we're just from from Missus McCaskey through the McCaskey family, all the staff people who who put their long hours in here at the Bears and the football side of things. We're just dying for a winner. So and we're not afraid to say that we're out for championships. That's what we want to do. And I think probably most of you know the last time we opened the season against Green Bay was two thousand and six. Just saying that's a good goal to have. That's when

Devin Hester was ridiculous. I remember think Lance Priggs had a pick six in the season opener and the Bears didn't lose for quite a while. It was a great start to the season, all right. A little sneak preview in our remaining moments. So the Green Bay Packers, you're on the clock to get ready for the Green Bay Packers. We got Aaron Rodgers, you got a new defensive coordinator. Give us a little scouting report on what you know about the Green Bay Packers. Matt Nage. Well, obviously they

had a really good quarterback. We're well aware of that. Um as far as you know their offense and what they do. They played together. Anytime you have a great quarterback like that, you're gonna be able to move the ball. So they're successful there. Um. On defense, they're coming in with a new defensive coordinator and Mike Petton. Mike Petton and I go back to what we're both from from Pennsylvania. Another one, Yeah, another one. It's like the entire preseason

has been a family reunion from Matt Naggie. Really, where where's he from. He's from just outside of Philadelphia, Ok, yeah, in the in the Norristown area. But he's uh, he's a really good defensive coordinator. He'll have his guys ready. We respect that and we look forward to it. They have a they have a very good team, and it's you know, there's always there's always some unscattered looks on from both sides, and that's always the fun of the first game is as you start building the library of

what teams do. But we have respect for them, uh, you know, with where they're at, and and uh, we look forward to it. Typically, if I'm not mistaken, you can go back and look. But the first week is usually the great unknown. There's a high scoring games and a lot of upsets. Yeah, you'll have that. And again there's just not you don't know. You don't know whether it's offense or defense, what teams are gonna do, what they're gonna end up surrounding all their players with playwise,

But that's the exciting part. And I think for us as coaches, what you need to do is be as prepared as possible to adjust and adapt. There's gonna be surprises. How do you react to those surprises? Do you get do you get spooked off and all of a sudden you don't know what to do and you panic, or you just stay under control and try to fix the problem and you keep moving on. And your first game as an NFL head coach in the regular season is

Sunday night Football against Green Bay Packers. How cool is that? From Matt Nagee. Living in the moment. I don't want it any other way. I can't wait. All right, Well,

that's gonna wrap us up for tonight. Give him a big hand, everybody, gentle manager, Ryan Pace, head coach, Mattnegie, President at CEO, Ted Phillips, thank you very much for all your time, as well as our producer Dan Varilli, studio producer Eddy Gersher, our board operator Tonight Lisa Fielding, our engineer Paul's arrange and help from a little ze in John Flaws with the microphones. Tonight Bears Packers, lambeau Field Sunday Night pregame at four kickoff seven twenty. Thanks

for listening to everybody. I'm Jeff Johnny K. Have a great night from the Walter Payton Center. Great labor day, y'all. Here from Hallis Hall. This is News Radio seven eighty and one oh five point i FM, w BBM, Good night, everybody. I'm an HD Chicago, w CFSFMN HD one Elmwood Parks, Chicago,