Matt Eberflus on developing during the Bye | Coaches Show Podcast

The coaches came in. You know, we did a little self scout the first couple of days, you know, Tuesday, Wednesday, and then I gave the coaches off Thursday through Sunday, so we got a chance to get away. We charge our batteries a little bit. But you know, self scout was good. We got a chance to look at ourselves like we did during the mini buy and improving our schemes as well as our players. You really never turned

the brain off football wives, do you. No, you always have your iPad with you so, which is always nice. You can always watch the little tape and uh, you know, always uh you know, get a little something from that, and we certainly did that, all right. Weird question, but do you have the iPad next to you when you're talking to your bride? You know, you get the weak once. The last time he took her on a date. I have not taken it on a date. That would not that would not go well. But now it was. That

was good. You get a chance to do a little bit in the mornings, you know, and uh, it was good to get away a little bit, but certainly stay connected. Has it been a challenge for you over the course of your career to find that work life balance, family cycle and all that that goes on, because it is it really is a three sixty five twenty four hour job. A little bit, Yeah, you really have to do a

good job of kind of compartmentalizing it. You know, where you have your breaks, like on Friday afternoons where you spend family time and then some some you know, some time a little bit on Saturday, a little bit for home games. But uh yeah, it's only a few hours here and there. You're pretty much wired in the rest of the time. Did you get a look at some

games yesterday for just for fun? Yeah? Yeah, I got a chance to watch the Philly game, of course, and I watched that, you know, on the way back I was flying back into Chicago, but I got a chance to watch it. On the plane thoughts. Yeah, they look really good. I mean, obviously they were humming on all cylinders, you know, umped out to a twenty one to zero lead, did a really good job running the football late to kind of close the game out. But played good offense,

defense and kicking. All right, we'll break into them a little more detail in our last segment of tonight's program, But yeah, they're cooking at twelve and one, first team to clinch a playoff spot in the NFL. Some remarkable quarterback play yesterday. With the magicians now decorating this league, I gotta put justin in that category as well. But the handiwork with the football almost like point guardish with

the guys like Jalen Hurts. Obviously, Patrick Mahomes the work of Brock Prudy, my fellow Iowa State alum, gets his first NFL start and beats Tom Brady and does so convincingly. I mean, what is going on in this league? I don't know. I knew you had to get to Iowa State plug in them. I knew that was coming. No, he did a great job, pretty did a really good job yesterday. And it's just, you know, the dynamics of

the league. It's changing, you know, the mobile quarterback and the guys that can really move in a US on the fly. You're seeing that alway through Alan our guy, you know, mahomes Lamar. All those guys are really dynamic players and they can hurt you about bunch of different ways. And it's an exciting time for the NFL. All right, what happened during the bye week that you're pleased with and what it's going to do for you moving forward for the final month. Yeah, I just would micro it

down to the individual. I think that you know, us, you know, partneringship with the with the coaches and players. You know, that's so important to be able to help the individual player, you know, so he can help himself to improve his fundamental techniques and therefore help our overall units. Because before you look at scheme, you know, winning football games comes down to the basic rudiments of the game.

That's blocking, tackling, you know, running your routes to the correct way, covering the right way, you know, and making plays on the ball and all the things that we talk to our players about. But there's details that go into that, and I think that's that partnership of working with that, So that's what I'm most excited about. And then secondly, obviously improving our schemes, you know, that's obviously a big part of what we want to do. We want to learn, you know, and do a better job

in situational ball. Third down defense has to improve, you know, the red zone run defense, we need to we need to get do a better job of two. And then on offense, you know, we were getting better in the passing game, the rhythm and timing that's been improved. But also let's learn how to you know, close out the end of the halves and you know, get you know, some no huddle going along, you know, in our two minute situation to make sure the tempo of that m

is doing, you know, is functioning the right way. So we're excited about getting our two minute offense going too. You've been commended over the course of the season for adjustments and what's taking place into the second half and out of that bye week thirty three twenty nine thirty two thirty points in those first four games, can we

expect something of that sort? Do you hope here in the final four games on either side of the ball, something significant like that because that has been a commendable part of this, even though the record doesn't reflect it. Yeah, we want we definitely want to see improvement. You know, when you emphasize something, you know, we want to see the fruits of that. So we want to make sure that we emphasize we do a good job of detailing it up for the players, but also keeping it simple.

You know, it can't really be, you know, this big complex thing. You know, you can get better at two or three things on either side of the ball, just like an individual does, and if you focus on those, good things will happen. Well. Certainly the explosion that is justin field shows up on the ground and in the air. And I think people would probably fail this quiz if they were asked who heading into week fourteen was leading the NFL on explosive plays as a team, and the

answer would be the Chicago Bears. Does that even surprise you a little bit. That's a lot of explosive plays on the ground and then through the air, and obviously he's a big part of that. Yeah, so obviously he's he is a big part of that. He's been a big part of our offense, and he does that, you know, multiple times of game, so it doesn't really surprise me. Again, it's hard to defend when you have somebody like that,

you know, running your offense. And he's exciting to watch six straight games with fifty year more yards rushing and at least one touchdown. That's the longest drink since Gale Sayers in nineteen sixty nine. And today is the anniversary

of Gale sayers six touchdown game. And I don't know if I ever told you this, but I had an opportunity in the at House Hall PNC Center to sit down with him and break down his six touchdown game against the forty nine ers at Wrigley Field in the mud, and it was one of the most gratifying moments of my career. But he was darting all over that field and the field was muddy for everyone but Gayale Sayers. That was the quote from Dick the Great Jack Brickhouse.

The announcer then says, you know, galloping, Gaale carries the mail. They won fifty four to twenty. It was a rookie performance of legendary. Note the two play different positions. Justin has the same kind of explosion, but that cat he may have cuts almost midair. Now I'm not saying Justin does that, but the explosion of an athlete is so rare. They come around once in a generation. Would you agree, Yeah, yeah,

I wouldn't agree with that. And you know, you get a chance to see these guys, you know, once every couple of decades that can move like this and can function in weather and different conditions, and it's just the you know, it's the god given talent that they're that they're blessed with that, the ability to stand on their feet, the ability to have balanced the ability to accelerate, the ability to cut and move. And what's great about it is they all move differently. You know, they come in

all different sizes. You know Barry Sanders, you know all the all the different guys that Gayl Sayre's, Walter Payton, you know, all the great runners that we've had in this league. And what's great about it is they're all unique. They all got their own style and Justin's no different. He has his own style and he's certainly exciting to

watch when he go when he does his thing. One segment in the books Snap his Back against the poor Man Rush Good protection SLINKs it to the left corner of the end zone, up in the air for the catch, darn Old Moody for the touchdown. Touchdown, Bears sixteen yards strike from Fields to Moody. Welcome back to the Bears Coaches Show Jeff Jonny act with Bears head coach Mattiberflus. Great seats available to see your Chicago Bears this season at Soldier Field. Get your tickets at Chicago Bears dot

com slash tickets Matt Eberflus. Fans are super jacked about Justin Fields and an offense that is scoring points. It's fair to say their excitement is justified. Seven weeks of it of late, and four more big games to go. We just heard one of Justin's big passing touchdowns to Darnell Mooney this season, and that's the elevation part of the game that we're all keeping an eye on. Certainly started to come to form against the Packers. Did you see a lot discuss a lot during this bye week

with your coach is about that aspect of his game. Yeah, And we were really pleased with the protection that the offensive line provided last week to give you know, Justin that opportunity to really function in the offense. And to build a see downfield, you know, with a clean pocket, and you know obviously that we want to do that every single week. But they're they're to be commended for

that for sure. But Justin's doing a really good job of keeping his shoulders, his platform, everything in the right spot to be able to deliver the ball down the field. So he's going to continue to work on that consistency. So we can still see we can see more of that going forward. What do you want to see from the offense from the rest of the season to feel

good about twenty twenty three. Now, I know that's a big statement to make because you got a month of games left here and this roster will be different next year, But justin fields and the platform and the foundation that's being formed here, I know you mentioned the word consistency a lot with all the questions today from the media this morning up at hallisaw regarding all all aspects of

the team, is that really it? Well, the most important thing is our style, you know, the way we play, you know, the hits principle is very important to us. That's our foundation that we believe in offense, defense and kicking. And you can see that you know, and that all starts with our running game, you know, the offense. The ability to run the football is very important to us defensively. Want to see a big jump you know in our run defense these next four weeks, to be able to

stop the run. That's one of our big things we need to work on, you know. And then obviously protecting the ball. You know, we got to do a great job protecting the ball, not only in the first three quarters, but also during two minutes. You know, we got to do a better job of finishing games. And us protecting the ball and be able to operate in a two minute offense is going to be very important to our

success going forward. And there are two minute defense you know, to be able to stop you know, people two field goals or holding the zero points in a two minute drive, you know, and get a four and out or a takeaway to end the game. That's something we would like to see also. But so again, that whole thing about finishing that is a team that is a team goal.

It's a team thing that we want to really accomplish here going forward and certainly improve on as we meet these really good opponents coming up here in the coming weeks. These opponents, in my opinions, serve as a great benefit to you as a head coach and this football team. Again, regardless of who's here who's not in next season, but you got four games against teams that have a lot to play for, including two big dogs right now back

to back. Can you create a playoff atmosphere in your building for these final four games and just hey, whatever's happens, happen, who can we be here in these next four weeks?

Is that possible? Can you create that? Well? I think the guys that are exciting excited about this opportunity to play these teams of these of this caliber, and it all starts with Philadelphia Eagles, the best team in football right now at twelve and one, and uh, you know, it's going to be a big challenge for us, and we'll see if we can operate and do a great job with just you know, staying in the moment, you know, and played in one play at a time, you know,

like we always say, and be able to function, you know, at a high rate and be able to execute at a high rate against this good opponent. There will be, no doubt, a lot of discussion comparative contrast articles. The media will be working there their tails off on Josh Allen, Jalen Hurts their first two years, the comparative analysis, the Justin fields in his first two years, and then each of these guys taking off in their third years. Is

there something to that? Yeah, I think there is. You know, there's these young quarterbacks develop at a certain you know, a certain time. They're all different, they all have a bunch of different skill sets. Uh, they're you know, they're like, there're a lot alike in a lot of ways, but they're also different in a lot of ways too, you know, and Justin's journey is different than Josh is different than Jalen's. It's it's his own journey and he's going to develop

at his own rate. And again, the pieces around those players are different, and that certainly does, you know, make a difference. Um, but we're certainly excited where Justin is and where his future is. Well. These opponents also give you some help in just further scheme development, the individual development, and the competitive aspect of things, because you know, you got a lot of young players going up against some

some really impressive talent here. Oh I think that's good, I really do you can really you know, see where everybody is. You know, I think it's a great evaluation for all of our guys. And uh, I think the guys are excited about going against some of the best players in the league. You know, these teams have really strong rosters and they got some really good skill. You know, their top ten players are really good players at all positions.

And that's why they're good football teams, you know, because they have those top ten players at each position, and the guys are excited about the challenge. Lance throws picked up Eddie Jackson's got it up with it at the forty thirty five thirty Eddie Jackson, it'side the twenty five yard line and down here the twenty two. It's been thirty one game since Eddie Jackson had a pick. Four man rush pressure coming, trapping him up and bringing him

down Downey goes. Dominique Robinson, a rookie out of Miami, Ohio, sacks Trey Lance on thirty eight calling out. Bears fans get the Ultimate VIP fan package for Chicago Bears. VIP secure a game ticket and appearance from Bears legends and more by visiting Chicago Bears VIP dot com Welcome back to the Bears Coaches Show with head coach Mattyberflus. Just

here at a couple of early season highlights. Eddie Jackson an interception, Dominie Robinson sack, some of the things you're looking a lot more of from your defense here in the final part of this sea and injuries and other situations defensively have certainly cropped up and put a big

challenge on your unit overall. But these are things you're going to preach from the until the cows come home, buddy, right, yeah, yeah, that's right, you know, and really we uh, you know, we hold ourselves to a high standard, you know, and that high standard is the ability to hustle every single play, the ability to have a strip attempt, you know, on every single play, and uh, you know, to cause takeaways

you know, during the course of the year. So you know, we fell short, you know, last few weeks of that, and we're looking to get that thing going here, um these last four weeks. But uh, you know, as you just heard on the radio, there, you know Eddie Jackson's interception, you know, he's got he had four interceptions. Obviously, losing him is a big part of that he's a big

ballhawk guy that creates a lot of takeaways himself. But he certainly has the knack for that and has great concentration and he does a really good job in a deep part of the field. I had forgotten this looking up some statistics on Dominique and that he had seven tackles in that first game, in his first NFL game. It's at your field. Now. The track was what it was, It was rainy, wet, all that business. But you mentioned a week ago you felt that there was major improvement

against the Packers. Uh. He talks about owning his other gap. He says, he does all right owning the first gap. It's the need to improve the second gap. And he tends to play too high as he nailed it. And what is he referring to with owning two gaps? Yeah, so we call that gap and a half, so meaning that if the guy's playing outside shade of the tackle and he's the defensive end, you know he owns that C gap. But if the ball gets run into the

B gap. Once the ball that clears in there, he can he can shut off and play the B gap as well. We call that gap and a half. So you own your gap. The first gap is the C gap. The half gap is the B gap. Once the ball declares in there, he can shed and make a tackle in that gap. So that's what he's talking to. UM. You know, defense line away always need to play lower. UM. You know, he you know, we talked about his hustle.

He's been really good at hustling um, you know, the whole year and given the second effort, and he has a high standard for that and it hasn't been where he wants it to be. But he certainly improved that last week and we look for him to keep improving

that in the coming weeks. Is there a common denominator with young player, especially rookies, and and in his case, particularly because he hasn't played the position for an entirety of his life that hustle plays and all that kick in because they're either thinking too much on the field or maybe feeling a little defeated at their lack of success on a down to down situation. I mean, what

is the common denominator with situations like that? Yeah? I would just say that he's you know, working to be consistent. You know, I know, I know that a lot of times rookies go through this rookie wall around Thanksgiving and that that is real. You know, some guys do go through that. But I think Dominic's strong enough mentally to push through, you know, and to do a really good job coming up here in the next four weeks and uh,

you know, we'll see where he goes. And we expected him to get some He was really close to hitting the quarterback last week. You know, he was in his past rush moves. We showed him those couple opportunities that he had. He just really needed to be a little bit stronger at the top of his rush and stepped through, and he's gonna get some hits on the quarterback Jack Sanborn. When you think about it, he opened the season as the fifth linebacker. You knew he would play special teams

if he made the football team. But the instincts are just popping all over the place. He's getting a lot of inc a lot of discussion. People are thrilled with this guy. Double digit tackles now three times in four games. Roquan did it six times as a twenty eighteen rookie. So he's got a chance to nail that. He's got. He's up to fifty nine tackles, five tackles for lost, two sacks, three quarterback hits, a fumble recovery, and all those special teams tackles. We mentioned it last week. He's

a revelation, but maybe not a surprise. And you forgot the interception taken away from him. But and a partridge in a pair of tree here in this holiday season, Matt, Yes, yeah, exactly. No, he's been really good, and he's got really good instincts for the ball and more importantly, hustles. This guy plays hard. Um, He's he's very instinctual. You know, He's does a really good job of working to the ball. He can read his keys really fast. I think that's very helpful for

a linebacker. You know. The biggest thing we talked to our linebackers about, and this is going to sound elementary, but it's hit the ball. As a linebacker in the middle part of the defense, you should hit the ball.

So you should you should get the TFLs, you should get the sacks, you should get the interceptions, you should get the cost fumbles, the recovered fumbles because you're in the middle of the defense and the Chicago Bear fans are no you know, it's it's they're very familiar with this position because of the greats we've had at that position at the Chicago Bears. And uh, you know, we

certainly want instinctual linebackers that hit the ball. Oh, Bailey's intercepted tider Garden down the right side thirty twenty ten. Then shut that down back to throw Mac Jones. Here comes a little pressure throws down the fields. Scared out of the air, Bark Rusker, what an interception? What up high one hander? I believe Tommy sucked it into it. Philly, welcome back to the Bears Coaches show with that coach Matt Iberflus. That's the counter Gordon interception of the Bears

last win in New England. Bailey Zappy's fourth quarter picked there. I also heard jikuon Brisker's amazing one hand at interception back with Matt Eberflus. I actually had a visit with a Brisker. We had an event last Tuesday, Tom Thayer and I with some Bear sponsors and had that interception meant a lot to him, he said, New England. It really never gave him a thought. And the draft and he was in the back of his mind, so he wanted to play all out for that game. I love

his attitude. No, he's got a great attitude, and he's got high energy. You know. Obviously, both those guys have a really good knack for taking the ball away. Both those plays that they made in that New England game are really special. Obviously the high point from Brisker being able to high point that with one hand, and then obviously the tip pass, you know that the concentration that it took Gordon to be able to catch that, you know, and obviously the good return he had and all those things.

But two impactful plays in that game up in New England. You know, at some point in your season, they're no longer rookies right there. They got to think and play like veterans. Have any of these guys reached that point? Um? Yeah, Well, the old time NFL guys would say that their rookies until the third game of the second year. That's the rule.

And I'm not going to break that rule. But these guys have had a lot of experience working, you know, this year, you know a much you know as Dominic and Brisker and you know, obviously Sanborn and all the rookies that have played in special teams and have stepped in on defense as well. So we've had a handful of those guys. I think it's eleven guys, eleven rookies that have played significant time either offense, defense, kicking. You know,

obviously Trenton Gill's done an awesome job as well. But when you play that many rookies in one season, there's a lot of benefit to that, you know, going into these last four games, because they do have a you know, a bunch of games under their belt. You know, like I said, once you learn these experiences, you only can get them through experience, and it's an important part to be able to put those things away and learn from them and get better and grow as a rookie. So

those guys are doing that. We're getting better before our eyes. Heck, I think it's fourteen because eight started a game. Six more on the active roster have impacted somewhere on all three phases. Forty eight starts. And again, we know your history, you believe in kids. Why the trust? Well, I just think that you know, in the last two spots that I've been Indianapolis and eighteen and here at the Chicago Bears, this is where we were, you know, we were kind

of put in that situation. And uh, you know when you draft guys that you believe in and you and you put them in there, and you have the coaches the ability that coach and teach really well, and you have the systems to be able to plug and play at an early rate like our offense, defense, and kicking systems are and our coordinators have done an excellent job, you know, Alan Luke and ht have done a great job of putting those guys in position to be successful.

Is it hard to have patients in building our roster? I think as a coach you have to have patients, Um, you really do. You've got to be able to see around the corner. You gotta be able to see the best of the player wise working through adversity. And I think sometimes and this happened to me when I was in college, that you know, my coach believed in me before I believed in myself, and then I started to

believe it and then I became a decent player. But and that's exactly what we want to do as coaches.

We want to believe in our players. We want to help them grow and help them fundamentally to succeed on Sundays, you said after the tough loss to Detroit thirty one thirty in week ten, this is your players are learning perseverance and determination and that clearly is part of football, part of winning habits, as you like to say, do you feel you see a lot of positive signs of winning habits that have already formed and yet to finish

forming obviously the finishing aspect that you mentioned earlier in the show. Yeah, I really do see that because our coaches do a great job of resetting every single week, and our players do the same. They reset every single week, and to me, that's winning habits. That's how you go on win streaks, that's how that's how you, you know, form championship habits and become a champion. To be able to look at the winds as the same as you do defeat and just be determined to go forward and

get better every single week. And our players have done that. They put the work in every single week in practice, and they're focused and they're detailed in their preparation. Snap his back looking to throw fields, jumps up of the pocket. Now he's gonna have to keep it himself. He runs, he gets the first down to midfield. How where at the forty field to the thirty to the twenty can he beat the Agle? He does. He finishes in the

end zone, touched down sixty one yard. A Sunday stroll for Justin Fields and the Bears do match fire with fire. The Bears match up with the Eagles is brought to you by United Airlines, the official airline of the Chicago Bears. Welcome back to the Bears Coaching Show with head coach Matt Eberflus. Has heard one of Justin Fields a tremendous fifty plush yard touchdown runs three most of any quarterback ever. He's done it in twenty nine days, and he did

it against Miami. I don't know, I can't pick a signature play of the season yet. You for Justin No, No, there's you have to go back and watch them again. They of them, so yeah, you got you gotta go back and watch because there's some really good ones in there. Um, obviously the three ones that they had over fifty yards, and then obviously the passes, the deep passes he've had he's had over the last couple weeks. Um, just some really remarkable plays by the young man, and he's only

getting better. All right. You touched on the offensive line. I don't feel like over the course of these shows it's my fault because I'm the one asking the questions. But we haven't given enough due to this offensive line, honestly. Uh.

And the protection was outstanding last week, no sacks. Hopefully they can build some momentum because boy, they got you know, we keep talking about the Eagles, but I know that you in a dream world would like to have two levels of starting caliber defensive lineman rotating in because it looks like they've got it. But so a big task. But explain exactly how pleased you are despite the const

and change upfront you are with this offensive line. Certainly they've done a hell of a job in the run game, and that's been the entire unit, including tight ends, receivers and backs. But the past protection, I mean, yes, they've given up some things. They've they've caused pressures, they've but you know, you've got an interesting mobile quarterback there too that they've had to adjust to. There's a a ying

and yang to this end development overall. Yeah, so overall it starts with Chris Morgan, you know, and Austin King, the two coaches that coach those positions, you know, they lay the foundation. We have a system in place, you know for how we do things, you know, in terms of teaching the run game step by step and then

teaching our protections step by step. And it's very thorough but easy to understand, but also complex enough to give obviously the defenses issues in the run game and pass protection so you know, and then really the skilled development you know that they've done also with the players, partnering

with the player to improve. You know, you can go across the line and really say each guy has improved and gotten better really from A to Z, from Braxton, you know, Tevin to everybody, to Sam to everybody's gotten better over the course of the year. Um, you know, even Cody, you know, Cody has improved, you know, you know, just you know, for him being a big vet, you know, he's improved over the course of the year too. But that's a tribute to the players and the coaches working together.

But uh, you know, we're pleased with those guys. Obviously they got a big task ahead of them the next couple of weeks going forward, and uh, we're gonna take it one day at a time. We got a big Wednesday, big petted Wednesday coming up coming off of our buy, and that's gonna be a big part of our success going forward. Explain if you can, what this season has been like for Tevin Jenkins and how you have seen him grow adapt big uncertainty to start the season and

pro football focus, which everybody keeps talking about. And obviously you grade differently than they do. But uh, he's been they say, the league's fourth best guard. We've seen a lot of good things about him. Well, what's your perspective on him? Yeah, So obviously the move to guard number one, you know, stepping in there and then feeling really comfortable, um in there pretty fast. You know, he really did a good job of stepping in there. Um, he's really smart.

Um understands that guard position does has some different things that we do, has some more calls. Um, you know, does more in the run game in terms of polling and jump into the second level than the tackle does. Um. So that fit him really well, you know. And it's really good to have a big body in there, you know. So you know he's got he's obviously got a really big frame. He's really Athletic. But it's certainly good to have that inside there in the pocket, to keep that

inside pocket clean um infirm um for the quarterbacks. So we're really pleased with that part of it. And uh, you know, he's done a good job of growing. You know, he's grown in terms of his consistency and practice, which has led to more consistency in the game. Adam Johns to The Athletic. I don't know if you saw the

feature he wrote one on on Tevin. Chris Morgan in that article said that they you guys track pancake blocks and he says, quote, the belt has changed hands quite a few times, but as a title that Jenkins wants to win, that's how he plays. He finishes every block to the echo of the whistle, puts guys on the back. No, he's got great wind. You know, he's got great stamina, which you know that comes naturally to a lot of players,

but it certainly comes natural to him. He's able to run all day, and he's able to get down the field on those screen blocks, and you know that when we break some runs, he's able to get down there and give second effort blocks as well. Braxton Jones, he keeps talking about his inconsistency handling bullrushes. Can an off season of lower body strength and technique help him withstand that and drop his anchor. Yeah, I think he can.

You know, he get with a strength staff, you know, and then working with his off site people that he works with and obviously gaining a little bit of weight, you know, and get some strength in his lowers and some technique improvement's going to help him in that, you know. And you know he's got to be able to set differently when he goes against different skill sets that will help him out with that bullrush, snap bootleg fields. He's got an opportunities pick clean the water but cool come

at make the grab of the eighteen. There he goes to the end zone touchdown touchdown Bears fifty yard strike on second and one and come out with this second touchdown of the day. Back in our final segment with Bears head coach Matt Heberflus out of the bye week back to work at Hallis Hall as they get ready for the Philadelphia Eagles. Will touch on them coming up in this segment as well. But last six weeks, coach Cole come at two hundred and sixty yards and five touchdowns.

I've I've felt all along he'd be excellent in the in the red zone and be a touchdown maker. It's starting to come to fruition. Four first down catches in the Green Bay game. That was a season high, and it's been elevating as the season goes on. Arrow up for this guy, isn't it. Yeah, no question. He's done a really good job of learning the offense, you know, and he's really taking you know, the physical style really to heart. You know, his run after catch has been excellent.

He's done a really good job of punch it forward. Obviously a big, big target, you know. Obviously in the open field. He's had that one big shot that we had the other week. You know, that corner route was really excellent and Bill catch that ball in the sun, you know, and then his red zone targets have increased,

and he's a guy that's always open. You know, when you get a big target like that, you know he can he can work himself away from the defender and has the big catch radius to always be opened in the strength at the catch point to be able to finish and seal the deal. So we're pleasantly surprised, not really surprised, pleasantly you know, optimistic about his future and about where he's gonna take this thing going forward. All right, let's touch you on the run game, because the numbers.

I love him. I love the run game, you know I do, and not clearly you do as well. So it does Luke Jetsy averaging one hundred eighty nine rushing yards I paced to set a single season franchise record with thirty two sixteen. This is just fun media stuff, so I know you don't get into all the math. But Baltimore the league record of thirty two ninety six and twenty nineteen, there's only been five teams that have

hit three thousand and rushing yards, including the Bears. Is it's something of a goal to get three thousand yards rushing or more here and and go for these records? Why not? Yeah? I mean, it's it's an important part that we just are able to run the ball efficiently, you know, And that's that's a big part of of the Chicago Bears, and that's uh, we'll be us going forward. We just want to do a great job or running

the ball efficiently and effectively to win the game. And we know, when the elements is you get down the stretch here, um, you know, into into December and into January, and you know, in later dates than that, we got to make sure that we got to do a great job be on a run to control the game, you know, with the run games. So that's always an important part for us going forward. You know, I failed to bring

this up earlier when we're talking about the rookies. How do you measure the balance of letting things kind of just happen naturally develop with players versus throwing them into the fire. Because I don't think you're necessarily throwing guys into the fire. You need to see it on the practice field. Guys are probably lost snaps or earned snaps on Wednesday. Yes, yep, that's so true. And that doesn't matter if they're a rookie or not, because it's important for us to be able to see it on the

practice field. You know, they got to perform in practice, you know, through the repetition of individual into the team reps for us to be able to say, Okay, we feel good, we feel confident that the guy knows what he's doing and knows how to do it, and then we put him in there, and the guys have done that, you know, And again that goes back to the teaching of the coaches. Coaches have to be great teachers to be able to put a young player out there, to

be able to get him to that point. So we can trust them and so we can be there and we understand there's going to be some bumps along the way when you put some young guys in there, but we know that the benefit of that down the road is going to be is going to outweigh that. So

we're excited where those guys are going. And again a big test here to the next four weeks away from the football field, there is a I've always been impressed certainly with this organization, but players around the league football gives back, in my opinion, more than any other sport. They get Tuesdays off for a reason, yes, to reload and get a little break, but they hit the commun

unity and it's something that is important to you. And the net result of that is everybody gets to Walter Payton Award nominee and this year it's Jalen Johnson announced last week He's done a lot in his Fresno area, impactful indeed, and why is it so important to you? Yeah, I mean, Jalen's done an outstanding job. That's why he's

our nominee. He puts himself out there and worked tirefully to help his community in a couple of different you know, charities and a couple of different events that he puts on every single year. And our guys have done a

really good job this year. We've made a real big emphasis on giving back to the community, and every single team meeting on the Wednesdays, we have a community pictures where we you know, show pictures and each guy talks about where he was and how impactful it was for him, not only for the people that he was visiting in that particular place, but very important to us about giving back because we are in this position to be able to do so, we want to make sure we maximize

that here in the Chicago area and lives right, Matt touching lives sir. All right, now, it's time to look ahead. Brought to you by Bette Rivers, the official sports book partner of the Bears. We've touched on it from the top to hear Eagles arrive red hot forty eight twenty two over the Giants first team to clinch a playoff spot. Jalen Hurt's top ten and touchdown passes through two ran for one first drive of the game. Matty had eight different receivers and made it look easy. He is definitely

an MVP candidate. Yeah, So the Eagles have a you know, a really complete football team, you know, you know, start with the quarterback. You know, the runners, you know that would see the talented receivers, you know, one of the best offensive lines in football. Um. Then you flip it over the defense, you know, starts up front and they got you know, two ways of defensive linemen. UM. You know, obviously I think they have five five players. They have

overre five sacks. UM. You know, their corners are really good, solid players that are ballhawk type players. UM. And the linebacker safeties you know, they're they're solid as well. So they have a really good roster and they got good schemes you know that are simple, um, that are easy to repeat, but also comp enough to give people fits in terms of their pace and how they do things. And uh, you know, the quarterback makes that thing go. And he's certainly having an MVP year and uh, you know,

he's exciting to watch you watched him yesterday. You know, there's a lot of things going on empty sets and different quarterback runs and you know in the quick passing game and the way they utilize their skill sets on both sides of the ball is impressive. And that's why they're twelve and one. The defensive line. They're getting into your and exterior pass rush and heck there linebacker has sound Raddick leads them in sacks with ten, so they're

they're getting it from everywhere. Is this the biggest challenge of the year, you know, right up there with the Dallas game, because you guys have faced really good fronts all year, right, Yeah, we certainly have. I don't know if we've faced one this deep though. This is a very deep defensive front, and uh again, we'll have our hands full, but we're up for the challenge for sure. Do you think you've uncovered anything that could ignite the pass rush during this bye Weekum, we'll see, we'll see.

You know, we were we were dets and different things, you know, pressure in different different different ways and you know, second level players and we certainly have to do that. But again, we'd like to get a passers from our front four, and we're working with those guys diligently to help those guys pass rush and get home to the quarterback. All right, welcome back, Good forward to seeing you this week, and good luck with the preparation. Appreciate it, all right,

thank you. That's Bears head coach Mattie Berflus. Want to thank Keith Johnson, Andy Gersher, Dan Bally, Jordan Trudup and Brandon Faber for helping us out tonight. I'm Jeff Joniac for head coach Mattie Berflous. We're back at Soldier Field for week fifteen as the Bears meet the Eagles. Pregame at nine, kick off at noon. That's it for us. Thanks for listening, everybody. This is News Radio one oh five nine w BBM. Good night,