Nagy, Lazor talk offensive improvement | Coaches Show

good to see you in Jeff. It's uh, definitely different times, but you know what, we're all adapting, and it's just it's good to get back at it, I think, just to be able for us to have our conversations we've had going into our third year here and the players get to talk talk about them and how they've been dealing with camp. And before you know, guys were going to be rolling here in September thirteen. So it's exciting, right.

I see your chair jangling in the background. Is that the nervous energy that the calendar flips to September one tomorrow? My man? You get going that everyone's talking about all these energy drinks and coffee in the morning. I'm ready to go. I don't need any of that crap. We just roll. Now. That's you. You're You're, You're that way every day on the practice field. Have your players met that same energy because you're the tone center. Frankly, yeah,

they have. It's been It's been a lot of fun in camp just getting out there and seeing the grass and being able to run around. And the one thing that I've noticed this year, Jeff, that that I think we lost a little bit last year for whatever reason, is that energy that vibe that field that we had very similar to twenty eighteen, That that freshness of a kind of a new atmosphere. And they didn't really know

what they didn't know in twenty eighteen. Last year, in twenty nineteen, um for a lot of different reasons, things didn't go our way and but we fall through it and it was it was somewhat of a down year, and now it's like, okay, fresh start, let's get back at it. And the players their energy at practice, their energy on the field, their enthusiasm for each each other, the coaches. You see, you know with some of the coaches talking trash to one another, it just spices up practice.

That's how it needs to be right now, and we're just being ourselves and we're cutting to lose some of the coaches. How about let's get specific. Big Mike Fury, who's going to be in the weightlifting competition somewhere for a senior class because he's yoked up. I hope maybe he's getting you in the gym two. And then you got the Shade Towns in The wide receiver dB dynamic

has always been interesting in college and professional football. Heck, back when you played in the high school level, because corners, yeap and soda receivers well, no doubt. And now you remember too, Furry was he played both sides. Now he was a true iron man back then and being able to be a starting safety at one point and then have ninety eight catches another year as a wide receiver.

So he definitely likes to spice it up. And I think there's got to be a clip somewhere out there back in like the nineties or two thousands of those two facing each other in the NFL. You know, if we're any good, and maybe maybe we can try to find that and see it and get that up in front of the screen and see who won. But they're having a great time, and it's really you know, our players feel that, and they just they feed off of that. I looked it up. I know they were in a

game against each other at some level. I don't know who produced what, but I did look it up on a website called Pro Football Reference dot com. Check it out. You can find out exactly. All right, let's get to the news of the day. Unfortunately, one of the guys that I really admire on this team, given his presence in the Chicago area swego high school to a small college Dubuque to undrafted free agent, really the longest of

journeys and unlikely journeys to the National Football League. And in his third year, Michael Joseph was flashing some really impressive play on the practice field with his ball skills and just his body has matured into a physical type player at corner. But unfortunately he goes on to the injured list. What's the what's the diagnosis for Michael? And how do you feel about that? Yeah, so Michael was

just having There's a lot of outliers these camps. You have guys that are having excellent camps, and then others that made me struggle a little bit, but he was one for sure that I think every coach that you talk to, every you know, Ryan Pace and whose guys on the personnel side. When you're talking we have our personnel meetings at night, his name kept coming up. This guy is really playing at a high level. He can

do a lot of different things. And then of course with coach Tabor on special teams doing some great things there too, So we were all really excited to see what he's going to be able to do this year. It's unfortunate, it's sad, but he has a great personality. Like you said, he understands that it's a day by day journey. Right now, it'll be it'll be a wild for him to get back on track, but he will.

He's young. You talk about being able to draft and develop guys, and here's a guy that we did not draft, but but we we had an eye for and brought in as a free agent. And those are great stories, you know, And to have a story like that in the way it did this year, it's just it's just one step back that he's going to take two steps forward here in the future. He's a hell of a kid, really good person y'all have back. You know, you talk about your coaches and you admire what they do as teachers.

To shade Townsend getting a lot out of his men back there on the on the back end of the defense, he does a wonderful job. I think when you have a coach that has been a player in this league, has coached at the college level, so he's built relationships through the recruiting process with these young kids nowadays, and there's an instant credibility that you have as a coach when you've played the position and now it's just you

put your own personality to it. So our players love to shake him and Sean decide back there just do a really great job at teaching, being teachers, helping them out, but then motivating as well and supporting them. And so they all know they have that with the SHA and

to take that spot of the roster. Napoleon Maxwell comes back to the organization, initially signed as an undrafted rookie free agent out of Florida International Saint Petersburg, Florida kid, big back, six feet two fifteen, so he's back in the stable. How do you feel about all this right now with David Montgomery working his way back. It's going

to be a few weeks. But what you're seeing out of that group and what Maxwell might be able to provide, you like something about him in the first place to bring him back, right. Yeah, So it's good to get Napoleon back in here. He was one of the guys when you cut down from ninety to eighty that we ended up having to have to release. But with the injury that David right now, you've got to be able to It gives you an opportunity to somebody else to see what they can do. And so you know we're

in camp. Reps are very valuable. So he's going to get some chances here to carry the football, and he gives us an opportunity to see what he can do. So that running back room in general has been really good. It's just I think they really attacked this offseason. They put in a lot of sweat equity, and now we were seeing that. It's unfortunate what happened with David, you

know the way that that happens. But he has a great mindset and he's going to take every to get ready as fast as he can and then whenever that is, he'll be back in there and it'll be what we know with David Willcomery back there. Alan Robinson working his way back today. Yeah, he did, and it's good to have him back again. We know how Alan can, We know what type of football player he is. We want to make sure that he's ready to go on September third,

Keith against Detroit. So that's more of kind of a balance with Andre Tucker, head athletic trainer, with Mike Surre whide receiver coach, myself, Bill Laser, just making sure that we're smart there getting him back into this thing. Welcome back to the Bears Coaches Show with Bears head coach Mattneggie, brought to you by Whippley, CPAs and Consultants. Coming up at the bottom of the hour, will be joined by offensive coordinator Bill Laser. 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, ten pm on Fox thirty two Chicago, or watch anytime at Chicago Bears dot Com. Around the Bears official app, you. As the season ended last January against the Minnesota Vikings. I believe that night you began the process of flushing twenty nineteen and beginning your own self analysis. Everybody seems to be going through

this self analysis. The theme seems to be all funneling in through what you felt initially as the head coach. Yeah, you do feel that, and at the end of last year in that locker room, I think we all just felt like, you know what, we have a lot of good players and people on this team, and to finish eight and eight, we want to be better than that. We know that, and our goals are set a lot higher. So you have to be able to make changes with that. You need to be able to start with yourself, and

that's what we've all done. And you know, I just talked about the details of a day to day, week to week basis. Being able to delegate more is sometimes hard at the start when you're coming in as a head coach. You want to, you know, have control and make sure you're doing everything the right way in your

way that you've learned. But at the same time, there's a trust factor and there's there's delegation that's involved and it's the same thing then trust in your players and listening to what they have idea wise and where they're at with practices and that sort of thing. UM. So, what I'm really excited to see this year, Jeff, is I feel like when you when we go through our checklist and we see, Okay, where do we go wrong

last year? Right now as we stand, m damn there, every box has been checked as to okay, we said we're going to do this, this and this, and it was also it wasn't just from coaches. It was in the player exit interviews that we that I had listening to them to to you know, as simple as hey, coach, we like it when you walk back the back of the plane on road trips and win loser draw. We like when you just come back all that. It just

lets us know you got our back. And so that's just an example of little things that UM worked that we are going to fix and be different that way that I think will help us in the long run. So we're we're excited to get started. So far, so good, and we'll see where it goes. Well, is there something that you hadn't thought of that really resonated with you, Like Wow, I didn't realize that, you know, that was missing from this equation that you could share. There was,

and I'll give you an example. So, um, after we get back from from London from playing the Raiders, that was a rough game for us. You know, that was a fistfight and we didn't win that we got we got beat up, coaches, players, everybody. They went there and they just they physically beat us up. And um, there was poor play calls and there was there was poor execution.

So what I decided to do the day after we got back was take every one of those play calls and take every one of those poor execution plays, and had the whole team get together together in front of everybody, and we called each other out effort wise, We called each other out play call wise, and I told him this is the bullcraft. This is a terrible play right,

not a good play call. Could have been better. I should have been better, Chuck, bad play call right here, You could have been better here, players right here, No effort. You're better than that. And so we call it a good to bad and the ugly. It wasn't all bad. There happened to be more bad that game, but we

showed good plays too, good execution. And one of the feedback that was given to me at the end of the year was, coach, when you do that in front of everybody, there's an accountability and boy does that ever really get you going that, hey, I don't want to be on that clip for next week. And so that's what one of the things we're going to do this this year is instead of just one week after a loss, it's going to be every week that we're going to

do that. And I didn't know that at the time that it impacted them as much as it did, but they enjoyed that. They liked being called out for their effort. And so we're going to continue with that, and I think it could be really good for us. What are you asking of them that maybe you feel you hadn't in the first two years. I've had a lot of trust with the players. That that part I love. I think that they've been phenomenal with the trust, the coaching staff,

the way we do things. What we talked about this year, the biggest part was Okay, then I've said this to you the details, But what happens with the details is you talk about it and then after two or three or four weeks those details start slipping. That's not happening this year. It won't happen by me being able to delegate more to others on the staff. I can be on top of those details, the little things that maybe I wasn't on top end as much in the first

two years. And there's an accountability that the players have as well with that. So if that means as we get later in the season we pull back reps slightly, then you know what, they better give us their best in the reps that we get. They better be quality, and I'm going to be on top of that. And if it's not quality, then we're to go more quantity. And there's a given given tape there. So um, you know, I think that's the biggest thing is staying consistent with

it and not getting waxed with it. Welcome back to the Bears Coaches Show with Bears head coach Matteggie. Brought to you buy with these CPAs in Consultants, a proud partner of the Chicago Bears. Learn more at wip fli dot com. Matt, let's talk to quarterbacks. Now that you had a chance to watch the scrimmage at Soldier Field, on Saturday. What do you think the tempo, getting getting in and out that part they're running, the mechanics of the huddle, UM leading the guys, all that they both

did really well with. UM. You know, we were trying to really see situationally where they at, whether it's red zone, whether it's third and one, third and five, backed up, where they ad with their cadences, are they do they have their eyes down field on scrambles, on broken plays, ball security, and both of them did a good job with that. You start off with Mitch. He started off with the one first and I thought his first drive was exactly what we thought he could do. You know,

he there was you know, every place stripted. So even though a result of a play might be a first down, the next play might be second and eight. That part's a little different for him, but he's Mitch is doing a good job right now of staying calm in the pocket.

There were some times last year where he was flushing out early and we were trying to get him from doing that, so that you just trust that pocket and you stay in there and push push up into pockets, see everything that's going on in the middle of the field. I think that's probably one of his biggest growths from the last two years to this year, is he's doing that now, He's not getting flushed out of the pocket.

He's trusting and he's making throws. Yeah. You know, everyone sees the final statistics or they see he threw the pick to Powerful the first one. After watching it, there was a little bit of pressure on him and progression wise, you know, I think he would want that back possibly on throwing that there to that one. Kyle made a good play, he sat on it. Kyle's a good corner and um, but it didn't affect Mitch the next play, which was good. The tip ball that he had as well. UM,

you know that that that's hard. That's hard too. But overall I liked how he played. Um, I thought for Nick. You know, you saw he missed a few throws over the middle to start right right, getting going against some of that timing with the guys. But he did a lot of good in the red zone. He was able to make some nice passes down in the red zone. Again, he kept control of the drive, he kept his eyes down the field and some scrambles, made a nice long throw deep on one scramble but they're in a good

place right now. They're still battling, they're still competing. The room is very healthy. Like we said, uh, it's it's it's not easy for us, but it's for all of us. You know, we got one more week of practice here and then we'll have to get moving here with the decision.

There are unintended consequences when players like a Keem Hicks to Seane Gibson, David Montgomery are injured and I look at Alan Robinson who is back, but guys like Javannah Whims, Riley Ridley below on Nichols, did they elevate with the additional reps and now the pressure on them a little bit to make plays during this camp? They have, They've they've stepped up to it, and that's gonna happen. It's funny.

One of our one of my former colleagues when I was in Philadelphia and Kansas City, one of our position coaches that's been the game for a long time. He used to always say to me in training camp, Matt, Matt, Matt, it'll all play itself out. You know. I used to always wonder how we got so many guys here, How are we going to make the numbers. How are we going to keep five or six guys? And he's it'll all play itself out. And that's kind of where we're

at right now. You're seeing some guys step up and take advantage of these opportunities. A robed down for a little bit with his ankle, he's out. Well, it gives other guys chances to get more reps. And all you gotta do is flash just a little bit and you can catch a coach's eye. And those guys that you just named there, they've been doing that. Darnel Moni also, yeah, same thing. The kids come in and you know, really done a great job. He's one of those guys that's

taken the zoom, the zoom meetings, the zoom questions. He's transferred it to the field. He doesn't get lost very often on that field. He knows how to break the huddle and where to go. He asked really really good questions when we're in there, and you know, it's it's just really impressive to see a young kid like that be able to fall to us there in the fifth round.

Everything that's gone on. In the simplest of terms, where are you and your team at right now, given everything that's transpired, including the social injustice in the start of our third year together, there's, hands down, without a doubt, we are the closest we've ever been. As simple as that, there's nothing but pure love for one another. I have players coming to me telling me, Coach, you don't understand how close we are right now from this whole building.

You have no idea. And when I hear that, it just gives me absolute goosebumps, because this is something that hasn't just whenever something happens in the in the in the quote unquote real world. We've been having discussions internally throughout and I think again going back to guys like Super Campbell and Carla and Erica, they've done a great job of really keeping things open with communication amongst us and then the coaches. We're just real. We just shoot,

we we we talk real, we have real talk. We're very honest. There's so much love for one another. It's it's powerful. I've never been a part of anything like this, and I think what's happening is is that it's gonna in the end, inevitably, it's gonna help us win games. And that's what's most important, good springboard. All right, coming up next, Bill Laser, Matt, thank you, good luck this week,

all right, take care of Jock. Welcome back to Bears Coaches Show is welcome Bears offensive coordinator Bill Laser to the program. The coordinators will on to date each week as in years past, and Bill, you got plenty of zoom time now every news conference almost feels like a talk show in some sense. A couple of times we've had some errors, you know, the media errors with the mute on. Those have actually been the best ones we have.

They're scrambling and you can't hear what they're asking. What have you learned about this team from your perspective since you got I think I think I've found it to be a team that works hard when they get on the practice field. That's something that it's hard to know until you're there and you see it. And what what I've observed every time is we've gone gone out under the field and Coach Nagis asked them to get after

it and to work hard. They've done it, and so that's been really uh, that's been really real positive for me to see that. You know, I think on all sides of the ball, I think they've created a culture where they will work, and I think that's that's a great building block. What intrigues you about this offense because there are many many pieces to the puzzle, all shapes and isis Heck, you got a basketball team at tight end and receiver and a lot of different choices in

terms of skill positions. With a limited amount of time that we've had to practice and to be together, It'll just be interesting to see how how quickly we are developing. And I say it in the present tense because I

think it's ongoing. I think, um, you know, the passing game is the hardest thing to build in the National Football League, everything from protection to getting the quarterbacks and all the route runners on the same page, all the adjustments, and it's it's hard to it's hard to imagine the limited amount of work we have, knowing normally how much you put in to getting to your first game. So I think that's got that's still got a lot of

work to do. So so I'm intrigued to see how quickly we pick that up and when things turn on full speed, how well we execute. I think the average fan would says a bunch of techling and passing and running and catching and making sure you do your fundamentals.

But if you could put into context, somehow, some way in a comparative analysis of the challenge of this, yeah, well, I you know, the perspective I keep going back to is really we have have you know, seventeen practice opportunities this year, real you know, real practices before we start game week for our opening week to the season. And normally you would get you know, your ten OTAs and

three days of mini camp. So that's thirteen. So so you're really talking about four days into normal fall camp and now you have to go to a game game week, you know, and so so it's just there's so much evolution, there's so much learning, there's so much getting to know each other that you normally go through in that and and it's it's just got to happen fast. So for us as coaches, we have to make some decisions really quickly.

Some of it are is based on personnel, you know, personnel decisions, but some of it is more based on okay, very quickly, this guy has shown that he's good at certain things, maybe certain routes, but not great at other routes. You don't really have time to wait for someone to develop on the things they're not good. It's just got to move on. So Okay, give him what he's good at,

give someone else the other stuff and go. And then the other part of it is we have to keep in mind is during the season, there's going to be an advantage for the teams that can continue to develop, you know. And I think over time, there's some teams in this league that have proven that they continue to get better and better as the season goes, you know, historically, so whether it be the coaching staffs there, the players there, or the culture. And I think that's another great challenge

for us is Okay, we're in a real hurry. You know, we're trying to be smart and targeted with what we do, but we are definitely in a hurry to get to the first game. We got to win the first game. Well, then we'll also have to keep a mindset is just keep getting better throughout the year. It's almost like training CAMPI stands. And if we can keep that mindset and continue to improve, I think, you know, just the perspective, it's a long season. Just keep getting better, keep getting better.

I think the teams that can do that this year in particular, even more than most years, will gain an advantage. During the twenty twenty season, the Chicago Bears are giving away one hundred and one thousand dollars to a deserving nonprofit organization in the Chicagoland area. Visit Chicago Bears dot com slash community all pros for more information and how you can help out back with Bill Laser, Bears offensive coordinator.

Good to have you alongside. We'll be talking with the other coordinators throughout the course of the season as well. You're a scramp Pa guy. Actually, my dad used to work for Erie Loco on a railroad back. Was that right? Yeah, So I have roots to there too, so kind of it. But it's Naggi country, you know, kind of so you guys are all you know, with you and d Philippo and some others, it's quite the place for the roots of great football minds and the blue collar style of

football that I think this city enjoys. We enjoyed growing up there and the atmosphere around high school you know, first, you know, youth football. We had a great, a great team when I was in eighth grade, and uh, you know we didn't have We did not have twenty two guys on the team the North Scranton Vikings, UM, but we won the championships, so we couldn't line up and play eleven on eleven on practice and we found a way anyway. So that's that would be like the theme

of twenty twenty and find a way. Yeah, hopefully we don't have to go into a practice with less than twenty two players and the team like the Norse Scranton Vikings did. But it's it's proof that it can be done. Um. Yeah.

And so now and actually now as a family, we're kind of excited to be to be uh in this area and UH I spent a little bit of time recruiting in the Greater Chicago area when I was coaching in college crud a couple of players, not not too many, but so we're excited to see high school football in this area too, right, Yeah, when it comes back, it'll be great. It's something that obviously we all miss. Feel bad for the kids right now you get you know,

especially at the high school level. Bill and it's so important in Pennsylvania as it is in Ohio and in California, Texas, Florida, all the big ones, but no matter where you are in this nation. I mean, kids are transferring from Chicago schools to go play in places that are able to go, like Iowa, just to just to continue their their dream. And it's a it's a short window. You only get four years in high school and that's it. And some of these guys will never play again. And so if

it's taken away, it's that's a tough one. Well let me I'll give you. I'll give you a slice of optimism with the Jeff And because my son is a high schooler here in the area and uh, you know, coming on to a new team and just trying to meet kids, and so he was able to go through a few weeks of summer camp of football before they pushed the season back to the spring. But a couple of weekends ago he told us he was some kids that asked them to be on a seven on seven team,

and so we went. We didn't have practice that day, so I got I got out of the office early enough, and it was amazing to me. We went to a high school or I guess it would be a local youth field because they started out a high school field. Got kicked off the field, but they had a five or six team seven on seventh tournament lasted all day long and there were no adults. It was all run by the kids and it was just kids who missed playing football, and so they got together. They practiced for

about a week, they formed, they formed teams. It was kids from at least four different high schools that I know of. They organized it themselves and went and just just we went, watched a couple of games, just played seven on seven football all day. So I it really it made me feel really good about Hey, these kids miss it so much, they're just finding a way to play. So I'm sure pretty optimistic. I think I think we'll get through this with football. Love of the game. Are

you seeing that from your own guy right now? The love of the game. Oh. I think they were excited to be here. I think they had enough zoom it, tired of doing that. They were ready to get on the field. And like I mentioned earlier, they when when they're on the field, I think they work hard and so that that's a good start. And I think I think it was good being in the stadium this weekend

for our scrimmage and that they enjoy that. Who knows what the atmosphere will be, but it might be one of those years we have to bring our own juice, you know. Yeah, we'll be ready. I think I think we'll be ready. Well, yeah it was loud. I can tell you that because I was sitting in there and the music couldn't be louder. My ears are ringing, so it'll be plenty loud. But I read a quote from

Mike McCarthy last night. He said, you're playing stadiums throughout your career, and some stadiums have really bad fake crowd noise, and some are better than others. You do this long enough, you know what it sounds like, but it's just not the real thing. I don't even know if coaches or players actually hear the crowd. They may get juiced up to defensively, but I talking players off and they just it's like they're on their own little world. Anyway on Sundays,

I think so. But I think the first thing that hits you is just whenever communication issues occur. And so I thought the experienced a different experiments that we did at the scrimmage. You could see a little bit of difference. But I think as you know, as as professionals, as professional football players, guys, they have to know how to deal with it, and you know, I think we will. I think we'll be able to to work in Welcome back to the Bears Coaches Show here on WBBMA and

with the Bears offensive coordinator Bill Laser. We touched on it before the break Saturday at Soldier Field. What was your takeaway on the quarterbacks? First of all, they both looked like NFL quarterbacks. They both ran the huddle, they were both in control. I saw both of them have great command of making sure the formations were correct, and both both of them made made uh the kind of throws you expect to see in that stadium at times, you know. So it's it's I've been involved in quarterback

competitions before. It's always easy when you look back to say, oh, this is why it worked out and now we know. But when you're in the midst of it, it's never easy, you know. See, it's you can always repaint history the way you want to, but the fact is, when you're in a competition, there's a reason it's a competition. Hopefully it's because they're both good and they both have the ability to play. I think that's where we are right now.

If you took a poll, you'd probably come away feeling, Hey, a lot of guys on this team feel like they both can can help us win, So that that's that's a good spot. Well, it is, because frankly, you might and maybe we'll need both it happens. I've been, I've been, I've been through as you can imagine, through the years, we've we've actually started the third guy plenty of times. So I know, uh, you got to feel like everyone around the roster needs to be ready to help you win.

Your eyes will tell the story. You watch the tape, Yes, that reveals all the detail, but you know what your eyes are looking for. Are you seeing things from both that you see what you're looking for? Yeah? Absolutely, And I expected to. You know, I have more more, a little more of a history with Nick having coaching, but that was a long time ago that I coached him, really, especially in the life of a football player, right however, many years ago that was, and that's how people grow

and change. So so even though I had that history, I think I think you come into it with fresh eyes. Had a chance obviously to see both of them a whole lot on videos, so I think I had a good good sense of what to expect. Um. You know, it's just a it's really a methodical grind the process, just every day everything you can continue to coach him on and help him get better with and and then also learn, you know, you learn about the guy. How

does he communicate, How does he best take coaching? You know, some guys take it better when they get really pushed. Some guys take it better when they get you know, gently tugged. Some guys take it better when they get yelled at in private, you know what I mean. It's just you have to find out. I mean, it's part of it's just like any teacher, you know, what's the

best way to get through to the student? And um, you know, part of it is is making them understand that being uncomfortable is what helps them grow, you know, and no one likes like everyone likes to stay in their comfort zone. Right. But we're not just evaluating it. We're also trying to improve them and develop them. I mean, no one, no one gets to the point where it

got it all. So we're just trying to keep keep them both developing as players, make them as best they can be and then let it play itself out in the field. That's that's the best way. Bill. We're gonna let you go appreciate it. We're looking forward throughout the season. That to talk about some Bears wins along the way. Great, my pleasure. I see again. All right, thank you, Bill Laser.

That's a rap out Tonight's Bears Coaches Show. Want to thank our producers Jordan Trutup, Dan BARRELLI, Andy greshir At, Lisa Fielding, and most of all for listening for Bears head coach Matt Naggie an offensive coordinator Bill Laser. I'm Jeff Joniac, wishing you a pleasant, good evening. This is News Radio seven eighty and one h five point ATFM w BBM. Good night,