Nagy preps for Thursday Night Football | Coaches Show

at it, frankly because of Tampa Bay coming in on Thursday. Yeah, you're right, Jeff. I mean we had to bust through it real quick and just kind of see to confirm what we thought we saw and I think you know um stayed and the obvious you got to score more than eleven points. You just can't have that. It is a good defense we played against, but we can be

a lot better Offensively. You couldn't get into a rhythm, struggled to establish the run game and then third down, you know, wasn't good enough for fourteen So that that was that special teams too many penalties, block punt, So we can be better there. I thought our kickoff return was just okay. And in defense it did you know, a couple of third downs that we gave up, But for the most part, Jeff, I felt them fine around overall.

What types of things that you try to do, you just couldn't seem to get going in the right direction. That maybe some of what they did. I know, you always like to say you want to dictate, and you know you have to worry about what you guys do, now what they do, but they did do some things well. They seem to be very sticky defensively. Yeah, you know what, Jeff,

I think you hit it on the head there. I think that they probably you walk out of this game, and at least for their their purposes on defense, they dictated a lot of what went on yesterday offensively, and so us it's back to the drawing boards for us. Sometimes you have these type of games that you got to use and you stay positive and you figure out the why part, and I think we'll do that. This

is Matt Naggie and the Bears Coaches Show. Jason Lescauso, the strength and conditioning coordinator, would join the program at the bottom of the hour. Let's let's break down the line of scrimmage. I know we talked before the game in our pregame interview right before kickoff, and I suggested that this could be one of these trench warfares that it turned out to be that way where you to battle up your fist and try to fight your way out of it. It was. It definitely was, and I think, um,

you know, when you look at it. Going into it, we knew that defensively we're going to have to stop the run. And really, for the most part, there was one or two runs, one of them being at the end of the game where they got a nice little chunk on it. But I really felt our guys up front except that challenge and do a great job of stopping the run overall from the course of the game. Offensively, again, I keep saying it, I know that we can be better, and I have no you know, no doubt we will.

But we got to do it. You know, you have to be able to run the football, and you got to be able to get some chunks too. It can't always be second and eight, second and nine, and and our guys will understand that that's that's that's that's part of the game, and we just getting Then we got a scheme better as well. Now, one of the things that let's talk defense for a moment too, because they only allowed two point eight to carry that two long runs of sixteen plus are two plays of sixteen plus.

That was really it. And you hold a team to nineteen points. Yes, everybody could play better, pass rush can get home better, make the hits on the quarterback better. But you know that's that's a pretty solid performance by the defense. Yeah, it is. And again that's what I felt yesterday at the end of the game. I thought, situationally, we've shown it all year long. Now, Jeff defensively when teams were kind of a bend, but don't break deal where teams getting in that red zone and we're not

giving up touchdowns, we're making teams kick field goals. And so that's a credit to Chuck and those guys, those players playing hard and playing fast. It it's gonna end up helping us out in the long run. Let's break down Nick Foles. First start, he said, you know, I need to execute better, but overall, how did you look at his performance? Well, again, you know there's a calibration

through this process. And when I say that there's a there's a calibration for him, uh, having his first start, you know since last year, getting into a groove and trying to figure out the best way that he plays with his teammates. And then there's also Jeff a calibration for us as coaches with Nick and how does he work And so you've you've heard me say it last week. There's gonna take a little bit of time here trying

to figure out how this thing goes with him. And that's where you know, with it being early on in the season, four weeks in, we need that's our job now is to get that calibrated as best as we can. And then how does that flip to the guys who's throwing the ball too? Yeah, the same thing again those guys, just the timing of where they're at with their routes and understanding schematically where we're at. Just all we're always going to talk about detailing routes and making sure we're

exactly where we need to be. And the defense is always there's moving parts and sometimes you gotta just win and execute. That's just sometimes how this game goes. And I thought yesterday you saw that towards the end of the game. Our guys, our wide receivers, tight end made some plays and the biggest thing is going to be for us just to continue to stay positive and work through this. A guy like Anthony Miller, is that an area of where you gotta stay positive from his point

of view because he's a guy that wants it. I can imagine him being frustrated. But I think he's like five or fourteen in terms of catches to targets here in the last a couple of weeks after making some big plays. Is there a way to get fine consistency for him somehow, just to have him feel some success and help out a little bit here and in taking

the pressure off a rob in the tight ends. Yeah, And you know, Anthony's playing a lot in the inside in the slot, and so there's gonna be some some traffic in there, and there's gonna be a lot of contested catches, and so what we can do is find ways to kind of get him some some easier catches

to get going. He obviously made that huge catch last week for the win, and we have a lot of faith in him, and I think that Nick's going to continue to just keep learning what he does and how he runs routes, and then we got we gotta execute. Hecula learning on the jab role for Darnelmoney right now is a fifth round draft pick. I know everybody's talked about it's not too big for him, and it's clearly not. He's gonna start seeing a lot more physicality. I get.

I get this feeling because not only can run by you, but he's doing a great job in traffic as well. Made a great catch on a thirty three yard Where do you see his progress already after just one month. Yeah, he's every week, Jeff, He's getting better and better, and that's what you love. I think that's the best part

of that is being able to see his growth. He's really learning under a rob on the details of playing that position, and there's gonna be times where he makes a mistake here there, but for him to go up and make that big grab yesterday down the left sideline was definitely good to see. Hey, let's talk special teams a little bit. I don't know if you get into the intricacies of it, but on that partially deflected punt, that kind of set a poor tone for the day.

I think you'd agree, right, right, out of the gate. Yeah, it did. And I know Coach Tabs again, I have a lot of so much faith in him and what he does, and he has so much passion back there with those guys, and we really feel like we have one of the best defense or special team junits in the game. And so we gotta, you know, get back and just understand the why parts. And I know Coach Tabs again will do that and our guys will, they'll they'll understand that we can't have that at all, let

alone the first punt of the game. And so we got to bounce back there. And how do you feel about having a veteran back there in Ted Ginn Junior, because there are many options on your two return punts right now for the time being anyone. Yeah, there are. And Ted's the guy that we trust. We understand it. He's gonna, you know, for the most part, make good decisions. And uh and that's probably the biggest thing while he's

back there. Alan Robinson with a second consecutive one hundred yard receiving day as the Bears fall in nineteen to eleven to the Indianapolis Colts at Soldier Field. That touchdown catch though, Uh, those are perfect examples of what he does in those areas. He gets fights for the ball fifty to fifty, go up and get a type of guy. And I think as the season goes on, more time spent with Nick Foles, I think, uh and I think you would agree that those are more possibilities there for

Alan Robinson and and and his quarterback. Now, yeah, without a doubt, you can see that that that catch there, that's a little different than when the ball when the when the DB's face guarding him or face shield him and he's got to reach around him to get it. When when he high points it he has a he does a really good job of going up and getting it. And you know, give credit to Nick for giving him

a chance. And so we just need to do more of those and have more of that like we did at the end of the Atlantic game, and do it earlier in the first, second, third quarter. Um and these next games coming up. I want to talk about Dave Montgomery because uh, yeah, you set a point of attack and he was just trying to burrow his nose in there. Man, it was not happening. It's hitting like a brick wall a little bit with the running game, but he kept

he kept trying, he kept trying. Are we under estimating this guy's physicality and his mental toughness and physical toughness to to know he's gonna get Claubert because that was a big, sturdy front wall yesterday that the Bears were haven't tried to move out of the way for him. Yeah, you know, Dave David is uh just he's a He's a ground and pale type running back that can do

a lot of things. Um, you know, in between the tackles outside he breaks a lot of tackles, and yesterday it was just one of those days where they did a good job of trying to you know, shut down those lanes that he doesn't have. And so you know he'll David's gonna bounce back. I have all the all the faith in the world and him and and our coaches and our O line and our tight ends of getting that back on track. And this is a part of the game. You know, you get tested like this.

It kind of tested you, test you a little bit and makes you say, okay, how do we get better? And it's good time and so our guys will be ready. I always go back to you on this, Yes, you're the head coach, but you're the play caller. What was your level of frustration throughout the course of the game yesterday? As we use this term rhythm. Last week we had a bunch of ours, relentlessness, you know, all kind of stuff. But this, I think, I think that would be a

fair thing, is the rhythm. Even as a play caller, Yeah, there there wasn't any rhythm. I think that's probably the best word to use for our offense yesterday, is that there was no rhythm, and um, it is difficult as a play caller, and that's my job as a play caller to try to find ways to get rhythm and um,

you know whichever way that is. Whether it's it's running the football, you get a rhythm and you hit some play actions and some screens, and or if it's throwing the football and then you pop some runs and you know there, once we started losing time, when we were down two scores, we had to become more one dimensional yet again, so we I think rhythm's probably a good word. Head and into this next week the tough defense because there were a couple of potential takeaways. Obviously, Khalil Mack

will be thinking about that one for a while. I know he's gotta, he's gotta get rid of it, but those are probably not as easy as they look. And Roquan with a terrific attempt to get that interception just by a hair. A great play there by Deshan Gibson. Do as you look back at it, with those two

plays make a big difference. Yeah, they would have situationally with where they occurred at You know, I know Khalil Khalil's an unbelievable athlete and he probably couldn't sleep last night just being able to watch that just fall right into his lap. And uh and then Roquan, what a special play. It's just you know, you talk about a game of inches. Literally his you know, his foot just being out by an inch is tough. But we gotta,

we gotta bounce back from those. And again I'm just gonna go back to you know, there was a couple third downs where Philip Rivers threw the ball up just and it wasn't like he was wide open. They just made a better play than us. It was good defense, it was great offense. But if we have those back, I thought the defense played really well. Let's talk about

Roquan because legian tackles. I think he had twelve or thirteen tackles, but he was playing physical downhill, sniffing out things and uh really with his hair on fire yesterday in the face of a loss. I mean, I would think that that would be bune of your prime players yesterday.

That was important for him to play like that. And again you felt that the defensive find the outside linebackers getting you know, putting some pressure on Philip and then he's getting the ball out to the backs and making plays. The one that jumps out to me in particulars when they threw the little hat back screen and he just shot out, you know, like a missile and just made a great tackle. And so that's where you felt him. He also felt him on the little flare route down

in the red zone. So all around, good game by Roquan. Yeah, well he is the missile. He's the Minezuma missile. There you go. Yeah, that's you know, I talked to him before the game and a feature interview and you know, just talking about more splash plays because he piles up

the tackles. He's got the rain sideline to sideline. Would you agree that the next level for him is making those splash plays like blowing up plays like that or taking an interception, or if he's calling on a blitz, get home and get the sack and get an interception, or I don't think he has a force mumble in his career yet. Yeah, yeah, that would be that. But again, you know that play that he made down there in

the red zone almost had an interception. And you just as long as you feel him, and then when they're running the football, he's closing up gaps and he's helping out other guys. Sometimes there's plays that are made when he's not making plays, and so that other stuff will come. But I'm really proud of the way that he's playing right now. I think Coach Da Leon's doing a great job with those guys on the inside, and you just

feel those guys playing fast. How did because we haven't talked about this, how did the change in start time affect you guys in any way, shape or form on Saturday in terms, Yeah, it didn't affect us at all. You know, initially the guys are a little bit surprised by it, but then you just you explained to him that, hey, we talk about expect the unexpected. We got to be

able to adapt an adjust. The cults are going through the same thing, and so as as they understand that this week right now they trust us and taking care of their bodies and making sure that we give them time to get their rest and heal up and get ready for Thursday night, they're okay with it. I refer to it as contingency twenty twenty in my lead in, because that's the word you've used all along. I think I think it's probably not the last time this might happen. No,

without a doubt, they'll they'll be more. I mean, it's that's just the way this year is going right now. And then if you get up in arms in it and you get frustrated and you get you know, out of sorts, it doesn't do any good. So we just rolled the punches. Well, what was your conversation like in the locker room with the fellas, what do you what do you gotta tell them? Yeah, you know what it was, Jeff.

It was just um letting these guys know that hey, this is uh, we're four games in, we're currently three and one. Uh, it doesn't matter how you get to it. That's the simple facts. And so it doesn't feel good right after the game when you're in there because you lost the game and you're frustrated. But what we have is a bunch of good guys that have been through these moments before, and now we got to you know,

rally back together. And the good thing of a short week is that when you lose the game, it's a it's uh. I mean, we're already on to Tampa Bay, and before you know, we're gonna be back at the hotel and back at Soldier Field and get back out there again to try to go to four and one. So that was really the biggest message. There was no yelling in the screaming. It was just let's just stay composed, let's stay together, and let's get back on track. How

did you guys get out of the game healthwise? Pretty good? You know, I think, uh, in regards to to Dion Bush, he has a has a hamstring, But other than that, um, I think that, uh, we're really in good shape. So knock on wood. You know, the addition of Tyler Bray to be active in terms of a fifty three man roster set up some flares out there. What was behind the thinking of that because it certainly created a lot of questions. Uh, just it's the way it is right

now at the quarterback position. Yeah, no, there there's absolutely nothing to it. It's just a it was ability to to flex him up and get him up to the active He can be down there on the sideline with us and literally nothing to it. You know, Mitch had a really good week. He was really supportive and great all week long. Uh, in the quarterback room and so uh, you know, I I totally understand why there's people that are questioning, you know and figuring out what's going on,

But there was absolutely nothing to it. All right, let's take one more look at the idea with no fans in the in the sound thing, because clearly the league's blowing up. Point wise. Um, we've talked about it now every single week. Are the benefits Are they gone for home field advantage right now? In a sense, Yeah, they're gone. There's there's no home field advantage. It doesn't matter where

you play. It doesn't matter. Um when you get down there, you know, third and one, fourth and one, Um, you're inside the five yard line. UM, when the crowd typically if you're at home and the defense is up and it's it's it's you know, the offense is on the road and you have the crowd cheering. You don't have

that anymore. So it's just a major advantage offense. And so when people want to say, okay, they want you know that we got these great pass rushers over the night, they're not piling up sacks and hitting quarterbacks routinely every week. You have to give that a little bit to this reason, right, I would say, yeah, I think so. And again, the quarterbacks that use their cadence that you get free plays.

You know, we we've fortunately, we've gotten four straight games now being able to get a defensive all sides, which which helps. And and so it's without a doubt, it's a it's a weapon if you use it the right way, and it's certainly an advantage for the offense on the road. All right, let's look ahead, Tampa Bay Buccaneers coming in and you're in a cramming session right now. But we all know what Tom Brady is still capable of at

his age. It's really remarkable when you consider he's in the same draft class as Brian Urlacher's already in the Hall of Fame, and he's still throwing five touchdown games. Yeah, that's just what he does, you know. I mean, here's a team that was losing twenty four to seven with forty five deconds ago in the second quarter, and all of a sudden to try to get out of the half fumble that goes back to Tampa and a touchdown is twenty four to fourteen, and then they just take

over from there. And that's what happens when you have him a quarterback. He's one of the best, if not the best, to ever play the game at that position. You're never out of it. He's only going to get better with that team. And you know, um, I just think that whenever you have him a quarterback, you're gonna have a chance to win. So I guess one of the preach points for you this week was no mistakes, no no easy giveaways. To give that guy a short field at any point in the game. Yeah, if you

do that, you're gonna be in trouble. It's got to be something where you're able to affect a pocket like any quarterback, but you want to be able to affect it. You know, he's a tall quarterback, so he can he can see over those those linemen and over the middle of a field. And but you got to do that. And then offensively, we have to score more than eleven

point and their defense is nothing to sneeze at. They get after it and they will be coming your your friend Todd Bowles likes to dial up the blitz and they got a big, beefy front line. Don't think, yeah, so eat up. He likes to do that and it doesn't really matter when or where he's going to do it. And I think that that front line that they have is is playing really well together. Again, there's there's when you have that those guys up front, it can get

after the quarterback. It's always advantage. It helps out those dbs. All right, matt enjoy your preparation this week. Good luck can thank you so much. Thanks, Jeff, appreciate it. Man. Does your Chicago Bears fandom go beyond the game. The NFL Fan of the Year contest aims to celebrate extraordinary fans who inspire others through football. Visit NFL dot com slash Fan of the Year. Welcome back to the Bears Coach Show. Please to be joined by Jason Lescauzo, the

Bear strength and conditioning coordinator. Good to have you alongside tonight, and uh, this is something that I enjoy doing with with you and the and the and the rest of that side of the building and football operations of staff because it's it's so interesting. We don't hear about a lot about what goes on other than you know, hearing about the blood, sweat and tears that's put in that

weight room and just getting ready for a season. But in the in the in the big sense, big picture sense, Now that you look back a little bit, what did you think of the challenges of this offseason. It's a little but it was difficult. It was a difficult offseason,

difficult for everybody across the league. But when you don't get to see the guy's part of you know, part of the whole thing about strength and conditioning is you know, the relationships you have with the players and then the relationships you have to build with the new players and um, you know, the relationships you have with the uh, with the vets that are coming back. And it's hard when you can't have that one on one interaction with guys,

especially during the working of stuff. But you know, we got through it. We uh, you know, we fought our way through it. Um, and I was. I was happy with the with the results that we got with you know, under the circumstances, how do you have to reprogram yourself? Uh?

You know it was I had to think outside the box the heck of a lot more than what I did because again, I'm you know, I'm more of a relationship guy, you know, the one on one or the group setting, just having guys there, that the personal interaction you have with the players, and um, you know, finding out what makes them tick, finding out what makes them motivate. Did you know the things that they liked, the things that they don't like. Um, So I had to do

some different things to try and cultivate that. It's harder too over zoom, but um, you know again, we got through it and we figured it out. Jason Lescazo our guest here on the Bears Coaches Show, the Bear Strength and Conditioning Coordinator and this has brought to you by Whippley CPAs a consultants a proud partner of the Chicago Bears.

Learned more at Whippley dot Com. I gotta say, because of the way the season's gone so far, the game's been going down to the wire, in the fourth quarter for the most part, and requiring you know, full effort for the full sixty minutes. Um. These guys, you guys, everybody did a great job. Yeah, you know, I'm really proud of the players and the way they came back. They came back better than I expected. Um. And that's a testament to them. It's a testament to their work ethic,

testament to to their to their motivation this offseason. UM. I'm really happy with the way we set up how coach helped uh, you know, me and my staff and how Ryan Pace and and Coach Nagy, they helped us set up that you know, the ramp up period that we had this year that was different than any other year. Uh. And I was really happy with how that worked out. And Um, I think it was a big time benefit for our players coming back and again just kind of

ramping into it. We didn't just go full bore right into it. I think the NFL did that right. Um. And then on top of that, the way we set the schedule up and the way we the way we put it together. I really think that was a benefit to us and how we started the season. I think that was a definite benefit physically. I'm sure you heard from players, you know, their own concerns about hey, am

I gonna really be ready for football here? Did you get any of those conversations in And how do you handle that as a strength coach and a and a guy that has to you know, they gotta trust you and you gotta trust them to do the work. That's the big thing is trust. And yes, we did have those discussions, you know, one on one with some players and even within the group. We let them know from the get go though, hey, we're here for them, this is this is for them, this is a player centric league.

We got to make sure that these guys are ready to go. We got to make sure that these guys feel comfortable. UM. We got to make sure that they know we have their back and then we have their best interests at heart. Uh. And I think they saw that once they saw the schedule and they saw how I worked. I think they saw that we were a couple of days into it and a lot of guys were excited about the way we did it. Um. There they you know, they gave their full effort. They gave

us everything we asked plus more. Um. And I think that's shown through the beginning of the season, not only physically but also mentally. I think the guys, you know, staying mentally tough and um and and staying in games and and you know, we're we're right where we want to be in terms of physically. Obviously we have a few injuries that that nobody likes, but that's just the game,

and that's the way it goes. Joined Bears Care and Advocate Healthcare and raising funds for programs supporting Chicago area breast cancer patients in their families. Purchase You're Real Bears Fans were pink shirt at Chicago Bears dot com slash pink. Jason lescous for the Bears, coordinator of Strength and Conditioning our guests today. So we're hearing a lot of this now from from around the league that, Okay, you've just completed the preseason first four games in the rearview mirror.

Even though starters don't play in games, they do prepare over the course of training camp for those four weeks before the season opens. Do you are you in that camp that it feels like the preseason is now over and this is week one coming up? In some sense, um for me, you know, it's a strength coach, not really. I mean for us, it's you know, we're when we start the season, you know, we're we're we're going, we're

ready to go. Like you know, the whole thing with strength and conditioning is if you've got to pump the brakes when the season starts, you've done something really wrong. So we've got to be we've got to be careful and we've got to be a cognizant of the things that that we're doing physically to make sure the guys are ready to play every week, no matter what week it is. Um So, you the one thing you can see those you can see guys getting in better shape

as we go. That's that's a definite first four games. You can see the guys are definitely getting in better shape as we go, especially those those upfront guys, which you just can't mimic that conditioning level for the D line, O line and just when you're pushing against bodies at full force, that that that's something that you have to do in order to get in shape in shape four.

Um So, as through these first four games, you can see that our our D line offensive line, they're starting to gel a little bit they're starting to get in better shape. Um, you know, they always play hard, they always work hard, but again it's that that level of conditioning that they need that they can only get through playing.

So we are getting in better shape and um, you know, but as a strength coach, we really don't see preseason versus in season, just basically how we set our workouts up and the mentality we need to have when we're when we're working out. What did you have to do more of and what did you have to do less of with the guys when he got him back. We had to do more movement type stuff. We had to

do more movement conditioning stuff. We had to do more movement assessment because we hadn't seen these guys all off season, so we had to find out, hey, where does this guy move well? Where's his deficiencies? Where is he good? Where is he bad? Where are the things we need

to improve? Um, So we had to do a lot more of that, uh, in the in the ramp up period, in the in the quote unquote preseason period, what we had to do less of was probably more of our of our and we did less in season type lifting during camp because we're not playing games. We're not playing any preseason games, so we almost had a little bit of a three or four week offseason program going. So you know, we did we did a little less of the maintenance quote unquote that we typically do in a

camp where we have games coming up. So, um, it was just a different offseason. Man, it was just really it was really different, and uh, I enjoyed it. I think that the players enjoyed it. I mean it's just one of these things that's everybody's going through it. And if you can't enjoy it, why are you doing it? You know, everybody has something to complain about. I mean, come on, this is we're in the NFL, this is we're having fun. We're we're getting out that we're trying

to win a Supper Bowl. Um, and you know we're competitive and and let's go. Let's let's line it up and let's go embracing the challenge. Jason lescaz our guest that Bear strength and Conditioning coordinator here on Bears All

Access on wbbm Uh. With that being said, you know, when you when you look at how you typically set up the weightlifting schedule during in season, then so are these guys still tapering now from what they would do to get ready for the season, or do you have them still doing things that they maybe are still catching up on a little bit. Um. You know, we're we're we're kind of right in where we like to be um,

And every team is different. I mean, if you go back to to you know, when I first got here in twenty eight team, we were a really young roster, really young roster, and then you fast forward to now we're a veteran roster. We haven't We have a little bit of an older roster and we got guys in their thirties on this team that we have to do things differently because of that. So every year is a little bit different, every year set up a little bit different.

So with that being said, you know, we're it's hard to compare you here because you know, the way we do our workouts, the way the way I set things up, it's based off of week to week. You know, I'm not gonna look back at twenty eighteen and say, well, we did it in this way in twenty eighteen, so we're gonna do that now. That's not the way this works.

We have a different team, dude. The rookies get the short shift in terms of this offseason and then their own ability to grow NFL strength or is that just kind of whitewashed because that typically isn't the case really until your first true full offseason with the rookies. No, I think they got short changed. Yeah, you know, I'll do, I really do. It's tough when they come in the

first NFL competition they see is in camp. Uh, they don't have any um any ability to come in and and and work out in our facility and do the things that we want them to do. And again we have to communicate those things over zoom and phone calls and text messages and that just that's just not the same. Again, we did the best we could. I'm proud of where those guys came in. But yeah, I think I think

that was that was tough for those rookies. When a two hundred fifty dollars jeweled Osco gift car to the Bears home gating sweepstakes to keep the snacks flowing on game day and at Chicago Bears dot Com, our final moments with Jason the scouts of the Bears strength and conditioning coordinator as he gets ready to get his guys on a Thursday night schedule for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers coming to Soldier Field. We'll have it for you starting at nine am. Excuse me, nine am, how about four

twenty pm? Off at seven twenty See I'm still shaking out the cobwebs after su turnaround for broadcasters to Jason, Hey, you're right exactly how how important are your eyes right now? What I mean by that is as you watch your players daily, hour by hour when they're in the building, what they're doing and how they're doing it as as a sense of relying on what you need to maybe inject into their performance or just their their moment, their

their their mental aspect of things. I think that's one of the most important things as a strange coach is being able to see what these guys need, see where they need help, see where they are excelling, see where they're starting to fall a little bit. Um So I think any time of year, no matter what time of year, I think that's the most important thing to see, um you know, And that's the only way guys improve is when you find the areas that they're they're starting to

fall a little bit in because everybody does. Everybody has deficiencies. No matter how good you are where you sit on the totem pull in terms of talent, everybody has deficiencies and we have to find those and sometimes they change week to week. The deficiencies can change week to week depending on injury status or banged up or you know, you know what they're doing mentally and all that stuff.

So I think eyes as a strength coach and making sure you're seeing your guys, knowing your guys, understanding what they're going through, understanding what they need to do. That to me is the biggest part of the game for us. Are there are a couple of players you could throw at us right now in terms of who gained strength that has helped their performance. I know there's been talk

about James Daniels and his lower body strength. This is a big guy and a lower body that I thought, Oh, that's that's surprising to me to hear because I thought he was always just you know, maybe that natural strength and the lower body. But is that a guy who helped himself in the weight room this offseason? Yeah? Yeah, I think James did a great job. Cody Whitehair did a good job. I think you're seeing a keem Hicks come back on a mission. And the guy that I've

really that I'm really proud of is Roquan. I mean, he's come back, he came back, He came back a beast. That guy put in a lot of work this offseason and um, you know, so coming off of his injury, you know, he was able to come in, were able to work together because of the rules in the NFL, we were able to work together a little bit most of the off season. So he's he's he's really come back strong. But you know, most of our guys, we really didn't have anybody that came back again. You know,

it came back better than I thought. We didn't really have anybody that came back and said, oh, this guy's in trouble. I was impressed with the team as a whole. But yeah, we had a few outliers, but Roquan probably sticks out the most, definitely showing up that way because he does look like a beast. He's playing like one too all over the field, and it's given him confidence, I think in a way that is going to really bounce the rest of his career. All Right, Jason, appreciate

it all the time. Thank you so much. Thank you. That's a rap tonight on the Bears coaches showing to thank our producers Jordan tread Up, Dan Barilli, Andy Gersher, Lisa Fielden and Keith Johnson, and most of all you for listening well. The Bears and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers starting at four twenty on Thursday night, kickoff at seven twenty. We'll join you then for Bears head coach Matt Nage, strength and conditionating coordinator Jason Lescauso. I'm Jeff Joniak, wishing

you a pleasant, good evening. This is News Radio seven eighty and one oh five point nine FM WBBM. Good night, everybody,