Legacy Panel - Leading the Bears

buy in, there is conviction. And we've seen that from this group up here over the years, and certainly with Matt's arrival in twenty eighteen, and we saw dramatic wins, we saw near missus, we saw three wins in twelve days in the division in twenty eighteen, clinching the NFC

North A division title went over the Packers. Yes to the painful exit from the playoffs, to the dawning of a new day and the grind set to begin again here in twenty nineteen, with high expectations and a new battle cry of chasing great We present your leaders here today, everybody. So let's dig into the conversation. Big Tom. I'm gonna

let you lead off right out of the gate. Well, between Ted and Ryan, the both the process of Matt and Aggie being here, could you just you know, talk about the process of how that plan started and that Momentum moved on type of the hiring process. Yeah, you know, it's Ryan. It seems like you're thinking never stops, whether it's scouting players, watching games. And then when the investigative process of what we as Bears fans have been through

for generations, how does that process start for you? I think you know, just with anything we do, player acquisition, and definitely a head coach, it was very, very thorough process. Uh, there's a tremendous amount of research that goes into that. So it's obviously references talking to coaches, scouts, players, agents, equipment guys. It was pretty in depth. Um. I remember watching pretty much any interview Matt's ever done, just to get a feel first personality, um, as we want into

those interviews. UM, I was pretty sure the type of person he was, and I think Ted Can attested this too. Probably a couple of minutes into our interview with Matt, we knew pretty quickly that he was the going to be the head coach of the Chicago Bears and and so so to be honest, like, I'm this guy's a rock star, and I'm and I'm I'm I'm not, I haven't been surprised it hasn't surprised me, just because that's just who he is and we're really lucky to have

him as our head coach. Yeah, it's so it's easy for me. I get to sit here with the executive of the year and the head coach of the year. And I'll tell you what I mean. Ryan Pace, when he decided it was time to make a coaching change, his detailed review analysis was beyond beyond approach. It was unbelievable, and the whole process, It's what was really nice is that he kind of knew that Matt might be the guy.

And we were lucky enough because we had interviews with several different coaching candidates that Matt was the last one. So we went through some crazy times, including hair raising flights to New England and back. And when we got to Kansas City and we started interviewing Matt, I remember telling George and Ryan, I'm still waiting for one person to come in here and say I want to be the coach of the Chicago Bears and really mean it.

Sure enough, first thing out of Matt's mouth was that, and then I think we all kind of felt because, like Ryan said, he knew what Matt was about as a person that this is the guy and what can you say, first year, twelve and four Coach of the Year. We love having you, Matt. It's almost like a dream, isn't it? For you? Yeah? It is. It's this just right here speaks. You get to see who these men are,

and for me, it's completely a dream. But it's not a dream because I know it's real and I'm having fun. And so getting back to the interview. The day of the interview, the way I was going to approach it was to just let everything happen to way it's supposed to happen. And within five minutes of being in that hotel room with George, Ted and Ryan, it felt like family. And and for me, I knew right away that, um, this was my new home and this was my new family.

And so now the rest was going to be on me just being able to show them who I am and let them, you know, feel that from me. And uh, it's just when you know something and you feel good about it, it's just so easy to just let your own personality show. And that's where I talk about being you. And from day one, I can honestly say the relationship that we have from the top with Missus McCaskey, the whole way down to the very bottom of whoever that

is being all of us. We never changed and we're all here, and we're here for the betterment of the Chicago Bears and for the city of Chicago, for you fans, and we know there's only one reason really why we're all here, and it's time to do it. Ted, you've been a part of the Bears family since eighty three, So Ryan and Matt, I want to ask you this. Did you get a better understanding of family when you sat back there and you saw the generations of players

that have come through the doors? Because look, when we are kids, we watch highlights of Butt Kiss, we know what Walter Payton is all about. But now you're handshaking with generations of players and then you see and you hear the passion from their voices. Do you get a better sense of the family of the Bears from meeting

the generations of players? Without a doubt? And I'm going to show my youth here, which is going to be crazy to a lot of people out here, but the very first NFL game I ever remember was that Super Bowl against the Patriots. As crazy as that sound, and so I you know, things, things in life happened for a reason, and so for me, I was just like a little kid back there in that room when we got here on Friday night, just to be able to see the legacy of what these players have done from

years and years and years ago. To sit back and just take it all in. It's it's surreal. You can't make it up. It's a night that all of us will never forget. So fortunate to be a part of the stories that we're being told. Umm, I'm really excited to tell you the truth on Monday tomorrow, to get in there with our our players and our coaches. I cannot wait to hear the stories that they got and what they took in and how it's going to affect

them for this coming year. You feel it and it's real, and that's what I'm so you know, happy for you know, get up. I don't know, did you see or hurt here about the defensive line roundtable we had yesterday with a keeam. He was sitting right here and and they're we're talking about their careers, but they're bringing it all back to nineteen and they're talking to a cheam and he brought the house down. He was ready to play, he was ready to go, and he said, I accept

your challenge. Is that's all he said as a mic drop. Place went crazy. So that to the team tomorrow, and you know, one of the things that a lot of us saw back there, we kind of stood back. But Friday night, we were back in the room and in the back left corner with no one really paying attention to scept for everybody. We were all looking and Richard Dent and Khalil Mack and Richard Dent trying to help Khalil on some different techniques that he could do coming

off the edge, and we were all watching it. And I'm telling you, Khalil is sitting there taking it all in and it was pretty cool because this is what it's all about. It's about learning from some of the greatest that I've ever come through here. And you know, the players that we have are such good, high character people that they don't ever think that they got all the answers we have. We have a really a lot of good players, good people, and now it's we're all

trying to mix it put it together. I think Matt recommended a book that we're reading right now called Legacy, and it's about the New Zealand all blacks and they're rich history. And I think about us in Chicago and it's it's really a competitive advantage for us to have the history that we have, because not many sports franchises can say this. So when we're back there and you see our players and our coaches and our staff interacting with all these great people, um to me, it just

puts this sense of responsibility on yourself. You know, you want to leave our players want to leave the jersey in a better place than they found it. You know, I think of you know, Matt's talking to coach Ditka, we talked about George Hallis. I think about Jim Finks. I mean, we can go on and on and on about the history of the Bears and it just makes you so proud to be part of this. But then this tremendous responsibility to carry it on for those guys.

Did it did it hit you hard? Friday night? Did it really you personally? It really did? I think it sinks in and you know, I mean for us, for Matt and I had to sit back there and talk to Coach Ditka for forty five minutes. I mean, that's that's a highlight. That's huge, and and just just to feel it and see our we have a young team right now, and to see them, look at these players and see what this city can be like with success.

Is we get this thing rolling. I think that's a contagious energy that those guys feel, and it's awesome for all of us to experience. I have to say so, being with the Bears for thirty six years, Friday night was so special. In that back room, there were players there who haven't been back for twenty years. One of my favorite players, Neil Anderson. Okay for those who do that, don't know. He replaced at the He was the successor at running back to Walter Payton, huge huge shoes to fill.

And to see him there, he had his family, one of the most genuine, smiling Bearer players who just loves the Bears. It was so special. Tell you a quick story. A couple of years ago, on Draft Day, before the draft got started, one of our scouts, Jeff Shiver, was emailing someone and I said, what are you doing. He said, I'm emailing Neil Anderson and I was like, oh my god, I said, I haven't talked to him for fifteen years.

I emailed him two weeks later at home, I get a box of peanuts because he owns peanut farms in Florida. And I mean, that's the kind of I tell you that, because that's the kind of players we have at the Bears. They never forget you. They love, they love coming back here talking to each other, talking to the staff, and

it was just so special for me. So, you know, to amplify about Neil Anderson, He's a first round draft choice out of University of Florida running back to takeover for Walter, So his first year there, he's Walter still there. Neil Anderson came to the Bears nothing, he was against it. He was the greatest special teams player on punt team yes we've ever had. He was unblockable, unstoppable, and he

would deliver punishing tackles. And it was more of his respect for the team that he was drafted by and what he was willing to do. And I think it's neat because we are up here talking to a couple of Bears players when they come to the new Hollis Hall and they start in their locker room down field in earning your way up those stairs, earning your locker. It's important. It was important back in the old Hollis Hall. We are all in one hallway together, all in these

crappy metal lockers. But then you when you earn your opportunity. And that's a unique thing about guys like Neil and the other players, is they are concerned about earning their opportunity onto the field and ted in your position. I mean, as you said, you've been here for thirty six years. At beginning your thirty seventh year, you know who brought you into the organization. Why did you want to be in sports and having those relationships as a negotiator for

the early part of your career. That wasn't always easy to have those relationships that you reknew here in twenty nineteen. So in nineteen eighty three, I was hired by Jerry Venissi, who had just become the general manager of the Bears after Jim Finks left. So he hired me as the financial person. There's I mean, I can take up the rest of the time with negotiations stories if you want, just give us your best of all time. So I'll give you a couple of snippets. So nineteen eighty seven

I started negotiating player contracts for the Bears. Jim Harbaugh was our first number one pick, so I spent hours being really detailed preparing for that negotiation. His agent at the time was Lee Steinberg, at the time considered the number one quarterback agent in the business. They were in California. I was in Platteville, Wisconsin, so there was a three

hour time. Friends and those guys, purposely they knew I was a rookie, would call me at eight at night their time to start negotiating, so I'd be on the phone from eleven pm till three am. One day they finally came to Platteville. They came in with squirt guns and squirted me with water to try to lessen the attention. So I still love Jim Harbaught of this day because he was my first number one pick. But there's one

negotiation which stands out for me. I think it was about nineteen eighty nine, and it was with Steve McMichael. But understand it wasn't with his agent at the end. It was with him. So you know, you've probably saw Steve this weekend. He slimmed down. But back then he was about probably three hundred pounds. His biceps were bigger than my head. And we sat for a negotiation at one point and we were I wasn't any further away from him, probably closer than Tom is to me, and

it wasn't going well. And he had that long, stringy hair and that Texas drawl, and he looked at me near the end and he said, ted, you know what I'd like to do to you when this negotiation is over. I'm I'm about thirty one years old, so I'm trying to maintain composure. And I took a deep breath. I was scared to death. Inside my heart was pounding, and I just said, matter of factly, now, Steve, what he said,

I'd like to punch you right in the face. So I didn't end the negotiation there because he probably would have it ended a few days later, he stayed a bear and to this day, whenever I see him, gives me a big bear hug. Again. That's the kind of bit. And he hasn't hit me yet. Ryan, Hey's I got hit in the face with him at a lot of times. Ryan, how about your path to where you started? You set your sights and where you're at in this chair today. Yeah,

I think. You know, It's what's interesting is when you talk about how really all three of us started. We all have our stories. And you know, Matt was doing a ninety mile drive from Mannheim to the Eagles Complex at four in the morning, and you know, I know talking to Ted. You know, he took the reins of contract negotiations with the Bears when the Bears needed it

and he had never done it before. And then for me, it was two thousand and one driving down to New Orleans and standing in the the line of the job fair for a couple hours and walking in the door and telling them I'll work for free. That's you know, we all kind of have our story on how we started, but I think all those experiences have molded us into who we are now. And I just think you have

an appreciation for every single person in the building. I think it keeps you humble and operating with humility and just really proud of where we're at now, because you know, it's a tough road up in many respects, and we all do it to a certain extent, but all three of you, you bet on yourselves, you bet on yourselves, that you would climb whatever ladders put in front of you. Obviously you had to have people helping you along the way, but in large respect, you had to dig deep and

do it yourself. Would that characterize the three of you? Is that possibly why you guys get along so well, and why you picked him to be your general manager and why you guys chose Matt Neeggie to be your head coach. You have to believe in yourself. Like Ryan pointed out, I had never negotiated contracts in my life. I was thirty years old and I will always be thankful to a man and the Bears organization named Bill McGrain. He used to he used to run our headquarter operations,

our travel and he was really eyes. He had come into the Bears from Minnesota with Jim Finks in the seventies. He's since passed away, and I'll never forget him encouraging me to go to Mike McCaskey in eighty seven after Jerry Venisi had been let go, and he said, ted, you can do this, and I was scared out of my mind, but I did it. I thought to myself, you know what if you don't take a chance on yourself, who's going to do it for you? And it worked

out great. I am so thankful and blessed to be a bear every day, never had a bad day, never have a difficult day coming to work. I'm in the NFL with the best franchise in the business. When you decided you wanted to be a general manager and you were going to go for it, and you interviewed for this job, did you already have an idea of what type of player you wanted to bring into the building or did you tailor it to fit the mold of the history of this franchise, Because a lot of what

you do reflects the history of this franchise. I think, Jeff, when you're fortunate enough to get a job like this, the first step is you know there's going to be a lot of heavy lifting. You know they don't they come available for a reason, so you know what you're going into. And for me, I just had confidence that as long as we had time, we could slowly turn this culture, starting with our staff and then the right

kind of players. And it's an emphasis for us and Matt and I talked about it every single day, and I think now that we have our culture kind of dialed in. We're even more conscious on who we're bringing

into our locker room. And it really starts there. But I think it's a combination of your past experiences, what you've seen succeed for me in New Orleans, going from Katrina to a Super Bowl in two thousand and nine and seeing how that transpired, and then coming to Chicago and knowing what this organization stands for, with this city

stands for what will make our fans proud. And we're very conscious about his scouts in the draft room and free agency to make sure we're hitting on all those traits. And I think we get better and better each year as we refine that. Matt. I think it's admirable and cool what you did on the first snap against the Green Bay Packers. The T formation. Papa Bear left a lot of coaches, Honestly, a lot of coaches, and you know, I've been covering sports for thirty three years. Some are

real stubborn. They just want to do what they want to do. They don't they don't think about the bigger picture. You think about the bigger picture. You tethered to this franchise already deep deep into it from from day one. Is that a conscious decision or is it just the best way to relate. No, it's a little bit of both. I think you're crazy if you don't do that. Actually,

that's the way I look at it. I mean, for us, we as coaches and our players, we kind of sprinkled in and let them know when we first got here last year, we explained how richest tradition is and what it's all about. And they're they're how fortunate you need to feel to be in this position, all of us, and so, um, that was a way to tell our fans, our city, our organization, thank you, We respect you, and we're looking to carry the torch. And and so there'll

be a lot more of those coming. Don't worry. Those are fun. Those are fun. Um, They're they're fun when they work. Um coming up with names. You know, we're taking names from everybody right now, all over the place. But the guys remember it, and uh, but we we uh you know, we're we're trying to have fun with the players. And then you know, you go back and

we have film from back into forties. We have the film and there's some there's some stuff that's pretty neat and uh, a matter of fact, we found a play that was dark near identical to the result going to the left and the popa bear left that we ran against Green Bay last year for the same amount for the same gain of seven yards on first down. So those those are they signify who we are as fun.

I just have to add, if you guys could see how these two gentlemen worked together seamlessly in the office, you'd be so proud of him. And the results are showing. But every day they have such a great working relationship. And I have to add, when Ryan Pace interviewed, he knocked it out of the park. Okay, George and I wanted to hire him on the spot. However, we had one more interview to go and it was with an internal candidate who actually now is the general manager of

the Indianapolis Colts, Chris Ballard. So he's a really fine man. But we forced ourselves to go through that interview and then when it ended, if I'm not mistaken, we called Ryan and said you got to come back here now. So that's that's it's a kind of person he is. He was so well prepared. You can feel when he talks about the team, the fire and the passion and the competitive the competitiveness that he has and Matt has all of it as well. They're authentic guys. Love them both.

I want to second that with Uh. I want to second Ted. And you know, as the head coach, you get all the credit when you win. And um, you know, everybody needs to understand what Ted just said. How fortunate we are to have Ryan Pace as our general manager. He's behind the scenes and you want to talk about a rock star, he's the rock star and and so Uh and he'll he'll never tell you that, He'll one. The one thing about Ryan is he'll he'll never ever ever tell you that because he's one of the most

humble people I've ever met in my entire life. And it's just that's what it's all about. And when you have that, UM, good things normally happen. And we're in that right now. I'm lucky as heck to be his partner. And you know, we always say will either if there's times we'll agree to disagree, but there's not very many of those, and we're in this scene together and I just want to say thank you. I mean, because we're in a good spot right now. I gotta left the applause. So, Matt,

I have a question for you. So I was raised by the Chicago Bears, that type of run the ball football. My last year in the NFL, I went to the Miami Dolphins purposely to play there for a year and sitting meetings with Don Shula and learn a different aspect of football. In your background, you have a great deal of experiencing the arena league, and I've seen you go out to practice and throw one on one's in steven practice.

How does that type of education into football translate to the modern day game that seems to be not arena league ish, but getting the ball out of the quarterback's hands and the development of Mitchell Travisky, how does that translate to here? Ye, Tom, I think the number of the thing that it does the most for me with our players is probably the quarterback position. I played quarterback in it. Everything happens a lot quicker. Um, look at that. That's a that's a bad release. Bad break it down?

Break down that release? Yeah, you know, just okay, I hope it's a completion. Yeah, there we go on, Kyle Fuller, I will let yeah fire there it is. Uh, there's more of that to come in Bourbon at this year. Um. But it's it's uh, it's good. It's all about it. We call them anticipatory throws, throwing the ball on time. And in the Arena League the fields half the size, so the ball's got to come out quick, and so

our guys use that and our coaches use it. But the other part of it, too is just with some of the um the choices that you can give to the wide receivers with their adjustments within their routes in a play, and you have to do that a lot in Arena League. But other than that, there's no walls to be hit over or get you know, throwing footballs into the stands after a touchdown per se all the time in the end zone, falling over walls. But it

was fun, it was good. Let's talk Mitch Trobiski. In the Centennial scrapbook, which we just discussed, there's scouting reports in there, the original scouting reports of Brian Urlacher and reading about Bill Tobin, Jim Finks and how I put together that nineteen eighty three draft. Amazing stuff. Take us behind the scenes a little bit when he first got on your radar, and how you how you started to begin the scouting of miss Trubisky and why he's a

Bear today. I think Jeff, with any of the players that were drafting, it really starts for their area scouts. First, they're they're the first boots on the ground. They kind of get these guys on the radar, and then it trickles down to all of us. So for me, you know, it was probably mid season that year. I saw him live in the sun Bowl and you're trying to keep

these things quiet, especially with the quarterback position. But you fast forward to as we get sort of the draft, and I think you know how we operate, and it's when you have conviction. It's there's a no regrets mindset we all live by. Matt lives by it. When you have conviction on somebody, you know, let's make this work, let's make this happen. We applied it to Mitchum, we applied it to Kleil Mack. We can go on and

on on these decisions we made. I just don't want to ever look back when this is all said and done. And so man, we felt it, we had it in our gut, and we didn't act. We're gonna be responsible with how we do this, but there's a no regrets mindset. And I think Mitch is an example that Ryan you said, he you said, he came on your radar about mid season. Is that is that unique in the time of coming onto your radar or is your radar kind of shrink as time goes on? Yeah, Tom, it shrinks this time

goes on. David Montgomery would be a good example this year too. Um. I always I always like to ask our scouts, tell me a player, tell me the player in your area that you had the most can addiction on. And it could be in the first round, all right, it might be in the seventh round. Tell me a guy you have the most conviction on. Because those guys have been going to that school for years and they have a really good feel for that and I really

value our scout's opinions. And then it just goes from there, you know, and they narrowed down. For me, the ability to go see those guys alive helps a lot when I'm able to get out. Um. But I think that's how that's how it all happens. And then of course you go there's the combine and the we go visit him at his school and the thirty visits and there's

a thorough, you know, hard working process. But that's that's how it kind of went down with Mitch Matt How proud are you are of him taking the reins like he has and a year ago he kind of set the tone we are going to win. I don't know when, but it's going to happen. It was like the stamp from your quarterback and they did. Yeah, it's a it's an amazing challenge that we put in front of him

last year coming here. It's funny. I was just going through our our playbook, our training camp playbook from last year at this time, and I said to our to Helfrich and Ragone, I said, it's crazy how much we put in that last year at this time. We threw

a lot at him and he handled it all. Our players handled it all offensively and didn't blink, and they understood that we were going to try to see how much they could digest and in somebody, like in the quarterback position, when you have all these different responsibilities that you have between calling to play, getting up to line scrimmage, seeing the defense, making a throw, leading your players, telling them how to you know how to play there's a

lot on your plate. He never once ever fired back or got got so frustrated to the point to where he broke, And that was a testament to Mitch. And so he knows we have his back, he knows how much we believe in him. He knows we're gonna go as far as he goes and that and he wants that. And I'm just saying, right now, we are in such a great spot with this kid as a leader of

our offense and the leader of our team. I'm so excited to see where he's about to take this thing here as we go in training camp, and I'm just I feel very fortunate. Ted. As we are sitting at a draft event that night, the commissioner comes to the podium and he says there's been a trade, And the anticipation seemed like it was an hour long, but it was only seconds. When was that information transferred to you and go? And Ryan saying, Hey, this is the guy

we're looking at and we're jumping up to get him. Well, that's one of the special traits that Ryan has. And it makes me I'll answer that question this way. It makes me reflect a little. None of us have met George Hallis. I started four weeks before George Hallis died.

But when I think about some of the stories that Ed in Virginia, McCaskey family and others have told me about George Hallis, I think he would appreciate the risk taking, the making tough decisions, doing things that are in the best interests of the club, and having passion for it and all of that. Ryan said, Ted, I just want you to know, Trubisky's our guy. There's a lot of action and if we need to trade up one spot,

we're gonna do it. And I love that. If you don't take risks like that, when you know you found your leader for the future, you gotta go get him

whatever it takes. And he did that. You know if it's interesting because when you read the scrapbook of the Chicago Bears and you looked at some of the people that they did miss or pass up on at the quarterback, right, Yeah, I think it made the Bears fans when you see the dedication of Mitchell Trubisky, it makes everybody more encouraged and excited about the decision made and what Mitchell Trubisky's future can be. Well, every team's chasing quarterback. I mean,

that's that's the bottom line. It has to be. You gotta find one. Yeah. The other thing too, that sometimes I don't think many people other than the city here understands. I've been around a lot of quarterbacks in my life. I'm gonna tell you right now. You want to talk about blue collar tough, This kid is tough, and he's in there trying to lift weights with the old lineman. He's in there trying and we got pulp, Mitch, you can't do that. We gotta we got a shoulder right here.

We gotta protect. But this kid is he's dirty, tough, and we love that about him. They're every single player on our team will go to bat for him and understand how lucky we are. And when you have that toughness with the skill set that he has as a passer and as a leader and and everything else that he does, he's He's one hundred percent football, one hundred percent of the time. And I love that about him. Ryan. It just occurred to me, And don't you love these

folks the best. I mean, they're jacked up. We love this passion, love it. So it occurs to me because it's so easy in sports, and certainly in today's world with every medium out there, in the in the social realm, everybody plays general manager, everybody plays fantasy football. In their mind, oh you know he should do this, they should do this. You make these decisions with in a billion dollar industry. You ever had any of these decisions over time, these

quiet moments of reflection for yourself? Man, am I gonna do this? Like? Is this? Is this actually the right thing that? I mean, what are those moments like for you? And we can talk about kellil Mack also making that decision. I mean, when you're having just private Ryan pace time, I think, um, you know, I never want to just say me. You know, it's us and when we make these decisions, we're making these decisions together, and so you're

only as good as the people around you. So it's it's it's it's a team effort when we make these decisions, and you know, ultimately we're pulling the sugar together. But again, I think there's a lot of people that maybe can go through life and I discourage our scouts from doing this, of not wanting to make decisions riding the fence, you know, and it's easy to do that to really be successful, you got to be willing to make hard decisions. You know, are you Are you gonna be one hundred percent all

the time? You know, maybe not, but hopefully you're going to learn from those moments when you aren't. And I feel like we've done that over the years. But we're not afraid to make decisions. We'll ignore the media narrative and do what's right for the Bears. And that's what it all comes down to, what's best for the Bears.

So the Cleo Mac decision. I remember driving home that night we knew what was done, and going to bed that night and late and thinking, you know, I'm gonna wake up tomorrow morning and this thing is gonna be huge, and and really not knowing. Let me just cut in real quick. He was jamming the whole way home, the Return of the Mac. Did you sleep, Ryan, did you sleep at all that night? Yeah? It's it's funny. So

I walk in. It was Stephanie, but my wife is still was still awake, and uh, she's sitting on the couch and I walk in and uh it's late, and she goes, how was work? And I said, you know, how was your day? I said it was good. We got clear mack and and she's and uh but but no, I didn't sleep. There's just so much in that was there was so much build up to that, and we can talk about how that whole thing unfolded, but there was so much build up and so much collaboration and

so many hurdles we overcame along the way. Um. But still when it's about to happen, I mean, we're all human. You're you're you're a little nervous, you're you know, you're a little tense about it. Um. But it's been obviously it's been outstanding. But in terms ted checking all the boxes to finish it was in a very small time frame. I mean, there's no room for error. Really, yeah, it there wasn't. But you know, Ryan did a great job of being prepared, being transparent. We talked through like why

this guy was a different maker. And that night when it was done, I had about one hundred and forty million dollars one hundred and forty million reasons in my head like oh my god, what are we doing this for? You know, what what a what a pick? What a what a what a decision? And could you have picked the best first game for him to have. He's gonna be better this year with a training camp with Matt. Yeah. The other part of that too, is is what we all need to understand is you have It's it's like

you said about fantasy. You have we can make decisions, but then you also have to be able to have the okay from management right and from ownership to say, you know what, you got our backing, you have our support. And we had that and not every city and not every organization will give that to their head coach and general manager. We have that here, So I think we need to all understand that they had a good So and Ryan said it earlier, but when we we talk

about big decisions internally, we always say no regrets. When you can say that to yourself, you can sleep well at night and go forward. The other part of it is and it's culture. So yes, this is Khalil Mack. Okay, do we really know what he is? His person out? Is he gonna fit chemistry wise? He's a great player, one of the premier pass rushers in football, So you have to dig that out too, But then you don't. He's got it's got to filter into the lockerable is

he accepted. But he's your hardest worker or one of your hardest workers that fit. I would say this. We did obviously a tremendous amount of research on him. You know what the type of player is. He's young, he plays a premier position. But when you're talking about his makeup and his work ethic and all those things that he that he embodies, that's even exceeded expectations for us. I mean, he is the hardest worker on our team. You see it in the weight room, you see it

every single day. So when our players are watching Khalil Mack, you arguably the best defensive player in the NFL work like that, it trickles down to our whole roster. So he's definitely been a multiplier and even exceeded expectations on that level, which has been awesome. You know. Within the new culture of the Bears, um Ted and I both started at two fifty North Washington, one hundred thousand square foot a pure football pleasure. Now it's now it's a

Hallis Hall campus. And I think that and that a part that's an important part of the culture of the Bears and how the players accept it. Ted, how would did that venture start and how has it filtered through the team, the meetings and the players. Well, you know, we had been at Hallis Hall for the current Hollise Hall for twenty years and Ryan and I started talking and he's got such a he loves work, looking to the future. Um, you know, he's a he's a top

athlete himself, and he's always looking for that edge. How do we get that extra one two percent edge over someone else? And all of a sudden, it kind of we looked and we decided, Wow, we can actually fit this facility on our campus, and we need to do it for the team. We had done it for offices and as the staff grew, but to expand and make it a first class experience, a work environment for the players and the coaches and the scouts, that's what drove it.

And I think we have a headquarters now that's second to none and that'll lead us. You know, It's it's great today celebrating the first hundred years, but part of my job, Ryan's job, match job, is how do we start that next hundred years off the right way. We've got the team, we've got the GM and the coach,

we've got the facilities, so we're ready to go. Ryan, when you that whole idea, the inception of that idea, and then you see the end result for US alumni, it's as impressive as a facility as you can see anywhere around the country, around the world in sports. Is

it equally as impressive to you at this point? It's I mean, you guys know how much of a passion this is for us, And every single day pulling up right now, you have such a sense of pride when you pull up to the building because of our team and our staff and then now our facility, and for the Matt McCaskey family to allow us to do that, and really with George and Ted leading the charge and

making this happens, it's been a dream come true. And I think one of the things advantages we have Scouts is we're on the road and you see all these top college facilities and you can see how high those are going. And the NFL is doing it now too. So we went out and we visited you know what, seven, eight, nine,

ten places, and with the college facilities, you have to differentiate. Okay, this is for flash and recruiting for an eighteen year old kid, and they got fifteen different jerseys for us, it was okay, what can we take that from these facilities that functionally helps us win games? Like, how does this make our players better? And that's what we've done. And when our players walk in that building, there's such a sense of pride from them too, like our organization

is reinvesting in us to make us better athletes. And you can see it throughout the building, our staff, our draft room, or the coaches offices. You can feel it and it just it just gives you such support to succeed for this franchise. Man, what is the feedback from players about this unbelievable facility? And folks, it's spectacular. The pictures don't do it justice now that they understand completely

what they're dealing with. And we made it a message April thirteenth when they got here, it was completely fresh. Is by no means do you ever think you're getting spoiled with this thing? And you're not going to get soft. I mean, it's so nice that you've got to work even harder now because you have this and we've invested a lot to help you feel exactly how you should feel. That's at being the best in the NFL and they've done an amazing job. You know, we've talked about the

attendance in the voluntary camp. Everyone's showing up, everyone's working hard. It feels really good right now with where we're at coaches too, I mean the coaches that we have amazing offices that we're working from now, and there's just there's there's a there's an advantage for us right now that we need to take full advantage of of these facilities. And it's just a credit to everybody for being a part of it. All right, we have less than seven minutes.

Time's flying by, that's for sure. I know we have some questions from the crowd. Will be getting those here in a moment. Matt. It's an obvious question. It's asked if every head coach when they debut, what'd you learn about yourself in twenty eighteen that you can apply twenty nineteen and moving forward. Well, the biggest thing is that you're only as good as the people around you. And it sounds kind of cliche ish, but that's really true.

And for myself coming in as a for your head coach, the ultimate goal is to be able to earn the trust of your coaches and players. And that doesn't happen overnight. That doesn't happen in the first couple of weeks. You need to build it through relationships. That's at practice, in meetings, and then on game day, and then you also need to do it by winning. If you don't win, none

of us are going to be here very long. And so once you win, they start listening to more and more of what you have to say, they start believing in what you have to say. The trust gets a lot stronger, and now you build this bully and we're right there at that point to where everyone really believes in each other. It's becoming such a such a great bond that we have and we just can't get We can't wait to get back to training camp and then be rolling in that week one when that schedule came out. Hey,

it's hard for anybody deny week one. But the roller coaster schedule of starting times going to London does does that like, do you reinvent the thinking process or you have you had enough experience and seeing those roller coaster schedules where you know how to be able to set

up your your schedule before this season ever starts. So Tom, for me personally, I was my greatest mentor that I have in the football world as coach read and he's always taught me a lesson when you're when you're a head coach, you better not be hoping for twelve o'clock games. You better be wanting those primetime games. And if you're getting primetime games, it means you're doing something right. So when when we uh, we we're there right now, we're

not done. And and so six seven years ago when we got to Kansas City, UM, we had all twelve o'clock games, and by the end of it, the last couple of years, there was a bunch of primetime games. And now here we are last year, there was a lot of a lot of twelve o'clock when we got here, we had a couple of flexed As a year went on, they wanted a part of it, and now here we are this year. But there's a responsibility and an accountability

for all of us now. But if you don't crave that and you don't want that, you need to get out. And we want that. We want that. Are everybody here wants it, you know, So let's go right come on. I'm I'm getting like fired up right now. After after meeting. Um, there you go, talk about getting fired up, clubbed dub here's the deal, sweeping, here's the deal. I just had a goal this morning. I want missus mc caskey in the middle of that at the very end of the year in the big boy, I want her front and

center right in our reality. That has had more impact, I believe than people might have suspected, not only here but throughout the league. Guys talk, agents talk, agents talk. Have you guys heard back on that or just how you guys play the game, just your personality and how the players view you. Ryan and Matt, what have you heard from agents? And when you started interviewing free agents and so fourth and the draft picked. That's one true, Jeff,

Like this this free agency. We felt it right away. Players want to come here, Players want to be part of this. Players want to be part of that. And uh, it's it's it's because of Matt and the culture he started. I mean, we win, but we have fun doing it, you know, And there's a blend and players players since that around the league. It's a small fraternity. People talk and I think you know, in years past, we can go talk about previous free agencies when you're not winning,

you're not doing players. It's hard to get guys to come here, you know, and at fair contract. Well this guys want to come here. Guys, Guys will take less to come here to just to be part of this um because look how fun it is. Matt. You've alluded to it several times in a heart to heart with your team. How did you frame the pain? Well? I was real with them number one. You gotta be real and um. But then you got to be a teacher.

I do, and our coaches we need to teach our players of how are we going to use this thing and turn it into a positive. And we've done that now, we've we've shown other examples throughout recent history of how other teams have turned negatives into positives. I've said it from day one. We're not a team that is, We're not We're not full of pessimism, you know, we're we're glass half full. Let's use it to help us get better. And I promise you that's what we're gonna do. And

for some people it's hard to talk about. It's not for me talk. We talk about it and understand it and use it. And I just want our players to understand that when you're real and you're honest with people and you treat people the right way and you try to let them learn from prior experiences, that in the end, it just makes it that much sweeter when you do finally get that that trophy. And you got to realize there's some highs and loads throughout that, but that was

a low last year. At the end of the year, we acknowledge that, but we're not going to run away from it. I promise you that it's gonna make us stronger. Hey, all of you guys, the fan support at training camp, how important is that? Because there's not a lot of places that they'll get ten thousand wrapped around, and it's motivating to the players as they come through the gates

in order to get prepared. How important is that fan? Yeah, without a doubt, it's it's absolutely amazing to see just the amount of people and the passion that you feel when you're out there. Those are some some difficult days for those players. Now that there can be some hot days and they're tired, and y'all pick them up and you're excited to hear your cheering for him, And so we want to be able to give back as much as we can and just extend to thank you for

showing your support to us. So we love it. We think it's great. We appreciate it, and uh, it's it's about family, and that's a that's a great time to get all the family together and cheer everybody on. Honestly, we could spend a lot of time up here walking down memory lane with Ted and your journeys. But the journey that matters is underway now. Twenty nineteen is about to unfold, and I know I speak for time. We cannot wait. I know you guys can't wait. It's gonna

be quite the right. We thank you all a four how open you have been about the process and how it's been built and the stories behind it all. And we use the term organic a lot to describe Matt and Ryan. Ted's the very much the same way, and I I think from my perspective, it's why you guys resonate with everybody, not only your locker room, but the fans, ownership, and the city that loves this football team more than

any other. So I thank you for that. And Matt put it in perspective, what chasing great is to wrap us up, wrap up. One hundred years. Yeah, yeah, I really want to say something, but I'm excited, right, I'm peaking too soon, So I'm we're excited. This hundred year anniversary for us, chasing Great is being able to carry that jersey that represents so many amazing human beings and players that came through this great city and this great organization.

So for us collectively, we understand that we take it on. We want the challenge. Thank you to the greatest city in the world, to the best fans in the world. Thank you for supporting us. We appreciate it. It means a lot. I know everybody here has come from a lot of different states and other countries and we just can't thank you enough. We feel the passion, we feel the love. We want to give it back and there's only one way to do it. That's by winning. It

makes you all happy. So thank you, Thank you guys, Matt Neeggie, Ryan Pace, Ted Phillips. We've enjoyed it. I hope you have as well. Go Bears.