Nagy, Tabor on room for improvement | Coaches Show

BBMS Jeff Joniac and a pleasant, good evening, everybody. Welcome back into the Bears Coaches Show this week with Bears head coach Matt Naggie. Winners over the Carolina Panthers now five and one through six weeks of this season. Jeff jonyak with you until eight o'clock tonight. Coming up, Bear Special Teams Coordinator Chris Tabor. He'll be joining the program at around seven thirty And as I always are, brought to you by Whipplee, CPAs and Consultan's Matt good evening.

Congratulations again, and you know, as odd as this is going to sound, at week six, Week seven, the Bears are in first place. That's not the oddity. The oddity is you control your own destiny. Right now, honestly, six weeks into the season, you're in first place in the NFC North And that's just the facts, man, That's exactly right, Jeff.

And I think that's what's so really really cool for our team to understand is that, hey, this is just the start, but it's so important to be able to put yourself, you know, in a position to where you do control your own destiny in the end essentially. And so they're really sticking together in these games. And hey, there's a lot of these games that have been tough, they've been hard, they're sometimes hard to watch, but what our guys are doing is they're fine ways to win.

And I think right now what's happening as a team is we're building a little bit of an identity as a team forget offensive, especially as a team. We're kind of figuring out that, hey, this is where we can roll through adversity like we can go now. It doesn't matter what hits us, We're gonna stick together. And that's powerful.

So as you feel the same kind of frustration maybe for somebody watching it or listening to it, you know, and things aren't going well, how are you managing that because I'm sure your blood's up at time or two. Not to mention some of the calls that didn't go our way, you know, in terms of those past interference penalties and whatnot. No, you're right, I mean the competitor in all of us is to make sure that we are just trying to be as close to perfect as

you can be. And then when I talk about offense, you know, you get to a point where, okay, hey, listen, now we try to make an adjustment in the game yesterday of being able to go a little bit more tempo and just kind of break the monotony of where we were with the flow of the game and the rhythm. And so it's for different reasons it hasn't been where we want it, but at the same point in time, when you look back and you say, okay, in the first half, we had an eleven play drive. You know,

we st on three or four possessions. We had a touchdown in the red zone after a sudden change on defense with the intersection. You know, in the second half we had two ten play drives. We had a touchdown that took four and thirty seconds and another field goal

that took ten. So there are some positives, and I think that's what keeps you going is now saying, Okay, when we fix the end of the game third and three, third and two, and when we convert those or we don't have the issues with the time out in the delayed game on the first possession, you get that corrected, it feels a lot better. And at one point in time in that game, we were up twenty to six, you know, and so it could have been twenty eight to six, twenty seven to six, and it feels even

more different. So we know we're close. We love being five or one. We know we can be a lot better. But that's that's excite. There were twenty six snaps yesterday with three receiver, one tight, a one back and you know it was a rob and it was Anthony Miller and it was a darnel money. You had eighteen passes and eight runs and you average seven point oh eight yards of play and five point seven five yards to carry.

So that's does that give you an indication yet? Okay, that's a lot of good snaps right there in that personnel grouping. And do you use that as a place to start. Yeah, Well, you know you know where a lot of that came, Jeff. Was a lot of that was when we we went a little bit more tempo in that personnel, and you could feel that there in

the second half. On those runs we had a run for five or run for eleven, or run for twelve or run for zero, a run for nine and a run for two, So that's what you're feeling when you say that, and then vice versa. When we weren't that, we had a run for minus one or run for one or run for minus one. So you feel a little bit of that. And some of those personnel's, Jeff, are the same as what you just mentioned, the eleven personnel, So there's just a little bit of a rhythm to it.

And when you do get those runs that put you in second in three, second and two or first and ten, you can get in a rhythm and you can mix it up and do some play ashes, etc. So it's just a matter of doing that probably a little bit earlier, and how we can get to it. But the guys went there, and again I'm just gonna keep harpening going back to when it would be one thing if these guys didn't care, if they didn't care but they do, and that's the part that we know by sticking together,

we're gonna be all right. Yeah, Nick Foles definitely is one of those guys leading that way for you. And his news conference yesterday was compelling and I think every Bears fan that would have heard it would feel really good about what's in store for this team because he brought up things that you just did about the culture.

He's thrilled to be here, he feels honored to be with this organization right now, and he was all jacked up after the game win aside admitted where the difficulties were, Yeah, I shouldn't have thrown that ball and learned from it. But overall, just imagine what this will look like down the road. That's what I think is really really going to be important for all of us to understand, is

just that. And you know I saw that yesterday. You know, I heard about how good he did and what he was saying because it was so real and so authentic. And so when you watch it and you see how organic it was, that's who he is and that's what that's the way he handles certain situations with his teammates offense and defense, special teams but when you feel that and you understand that we as a team, players and coaches, we all understand where we're at right now on offense.

And it's not for lack of effort. It's it's just a matter of okay, when we do get this thing going with the way our defense is playing, it's it's better to be having to go this way and only get better than it is to go the other way where you start out really hot and all of a

sudden you go the other way. So we're just keeping things in perspective, and I think, uh, you know, you know me, Jeff, and you understand that how how how what we believe here, and that's that's staying very very positive, and when when bad things happened, it's okay, next play mentality, let's roll, let's stick together, and that's what we're doing. I still feel strongly too, that it's now a large sample size because it's happened throughout your three years and

many of these guys have been with you for this long. Uh. Winning tight games definitely, as you say, callous you and builds character and they do pay off in December and January. I really believe that without a doubt I mean, and you know where that helps you is when when it matters the most, which is when you try to get

to the to the deal at the end. There you know, to be able to get into that deal at the end, you know you can, you can say it, you can say what it is, the deal at the end we get there, that's when it matters most because you've been through those you've been you've been tested, right, you've been You've been through those obstacles and we've accepted it. So now think about where how that can help us mentally, um and then knowing that it's we've been there, done that.

And when you have that, you got a team that's very resilient and persistent and keeps going six together, it's hard to stop. And that's that's kind of where we're Atting the Bears Coaches Show with head coach Matt Maggie and WBBM's Jeff Joniac continues, fules throws, build the end zone, then tight coverage cut for the touchdown touchdown. Cole come

at touchdown, Bears they lead at six nothing. Here on the first first cammer touchdown for Notre Dames, Cole commet the local product, who I learned from an article by Dan Wider or the Chicago Tribune that uh, Mama Commet was in the stands watching it there down in Carolina. So there were fans there and you felt that their presence a little bit. I couldn't tell calling it from from a television screen what it was like, but I

heard there was a lot of chanting going on. But you know, from mom to be there to see son going catch his first NFL touchdown and what a play it was, both throwing catch. That's pretty cool. Yeah, there's without that show. They'll always remember that one. And yeah, I just think back to the data we drafted Cole and his family in the living room and how excited they were. So I can only imagine what that would have been like for her to be there to see

her her son's first NFL catch. I mean, it just gives you chills. And it was a really, really good catch. It was well contested, they were in a good coverage and so that's good. That's a good way to get started for him and hopefully we'll see a lot more of those in his career. All right, let's talk about the defense. Hard fought again. This is a character driven unit. I believe as well. They're feeling the roads right now.

Three takeaways, four sacks. But on the big plays, the splash plays, I numbered ten or eleven players had a hand in it. It's not just the guy making the play. There are ten or eleven guys. Fact, five guys had a hand in those four sacks for example. Um, that tells you that they're swarming and they're playing at the ball.

And the type of coverage yesterday was significant because I kept watching tape of the last couple of games with the Panthers and seeing these in cuts crossers and they have the speed to break away and rip off big yards after the catch. That wasn't happening. No, it wasn't it. And just like you said it was. It was that some of the stunts and the defensive line movement that we had, the linebackers were playing fast and it just

in the back end. It helped our guys out so much and they do a lot of good, good things. They have speed on offense in Carolina, and I thought that really they had. They had a couple of drives where they had, you know, thirteen fourteen play drives, but they ended in field goals and That's what we've been doing all year long, is being able to mean, you know, contain them and make them kick three points instead of

getting that touchdown. So overall, everybody flew around. I mean, Eddie Jackson right now is having an unblieable Sea season. He's flying around very very oppert gandistic. I mean, punching that ball out. Obviously, had that touchdown taken away, which is a part of the game. But they're they're just all rolling right now. They're they're they're in a really good place. Coach Bagana's putting him in a good place,

and they're just feeding off of each other. I think a lot of these guys are feeding off Kyle Fuller's physicality. He's really hitting people hard and they're not getting anything after the catch. Obviously, when you play aggressively, and I think you'd prefer they play aggressively, and if they're going to be a flag or two, you know, you gotta deal with it. But because it is really it really is harder to find what passion interferences right now. But

I'll take the shoulder to the chest any day. If it's going to be a fifty fifty decision, I'll go with that, wouldn't you? Yeah, absolutely, I think the Kyle's he's really having a great season, playing very physically. He's smart, he watches so much tape, so he's able to have great He already has great instincts, but now he can really use everything that hit all his knowledge that he takes into it. So being able to fall off in his own and hit a shallow cross guy like that

another one. It's it's it's hard to be able to criticize the guy that's playing tough like that and playing physical. So it is what it is, and Kyle's great. He handled it awesome and he's gonna keep that going though. All right, how about you guys up front? Every one of those defensive linemen, between some of the games that they do with the twists and stunts, they're really I can't just sing a while one because they were all

doing a lot of good stuff. And then along with those outside linebackers, you know, with with with Khalil that from the very first play of the game, Kalil makes a heck of a play on the run, dips inside and makes the play. And then I thought that Robert Quinn the entire game, his motor was going one hundred miles an hour and that's why he's here. So he

affected the game. He affected the quarterback, and then Vaughters and Mingo again you felt them too, So the four of them really put together a great game along with his d Lineman. We knew this was coming. We felt it was coming, we heard it from him, and now six weeks in, we're feeling real. Kuan Smith, you talk about feeling, how about that play sniffing out the screen where he created the leverage by just dipping out it would not he would not be blocked, and that play

was sighting. That's a great play right there, firing his gun, He's like a missile. That's not you know, you've been seeing it all year, man, he's been He's been making those plays on those screens. And what I thought was so important at that point in time was he made a He not only made that tackle, but he you know, keeping them in bounds to keep that clock rolling. We're very very important too. So he's playing at a very high level. I love his confidence. Coach da Leone is

getting those guys going. Danny Trevizi yesterday played I think his best game in the season. I think you really felt him. So those two guys combined with everybody else on d it's there. You know you really like it. You made a decision to go with Rochette Coward at left guard instead of Alex Bars. Is that what you wanted? A more physical presence at this time? And how did

you think that all worked out? No, they're they're both physical players, and you know, Rochette has a little bit more experience and he's doing they're both doing really well in practice, you know, leading up in training camps as backups, and now they get an opportunity. So I think Shad would tell you that there's a couple plays yesterday that he could have been a little bit better apt But we're foolish if we all think that he's going to come in here and just be perfect on every single stime.

That's just not realistic and it's not fair to the kids. So you just have to minimize those right when it do happen, you have to minimize him, and then he's got to learn from those, and he will, and then you just continue to keep learning from your coach. Coach Castile in practice the rest of it this weekend and can you improve and be the best guy you can

beat for the end of the season. No more of the Bears Coaching Show with head coach Matt Maggie on News Way Too seven eighty and one oh five point nine FM w BBM snapped up Ridgewater it as he throws near your site. Broke it up, editors up, get on the tip, hit side of the ten head take it out of botonds on the near sideline. It is

intercepted by to Shaun Gibson. Shaun Gibson with his twenty fifth career interception, Jalen Johnson getting his hand in there to create the breakup and the deflection of the hands up to Sean Gibson. So it's one thing to get the ball and you're defending a player, but another to be in the area code which Eddie Jackson and to Shaun Gibson clearly are thinking. A tremendous offseason pick up for Deshaun Gibson. Um, this was his m O. And these are the kind of plays, a lot of deflective

passes here in the last few recent weeks. And that's a sign that you guys are still continuously and specifically making plays on the ball. Yeah, they are. They're they're they're anticipating the throws and then when you just get those those PBUs those pass breakups, ball goes up in the air and uh. And now you got ball hawks back there with two safeties that are just they roam around man and they know where to go and they're at the right spot at the right time. All right.

Back on special team's Cairo Santos really kicked well there in Carolina for you as a Kansas City chief. He had four field goals in one game and an overtime win. I don't know if you remember that one I kicked one. I guess as time expired, and so clearly comfort zone for him in a fifty five yard or in a comfort zone for you to get him try that one. That was big. Yeah, it was. It was neat to see him hit that fifty five yarder. You know you could you could feel a little bit of the breeze

going left right there for for that. So I felt real confident from from fifty five and just had to go straight and he did it. The offense well continues to grow. You continue to get more comfortable Nick with the offense, you working with him, working with players more and more figure out more of what works, what doesn't, what in your opinion, needs to improve first, to kind of set the platform for it to build and grow on.

What I would say when you ask that is is right now is collectively for all of us, and I know I've been saying it for a few weeks now, but for all of us to just do our job, you know. And when I say that, you know, if that's in the run game, calling a run at the right time by myself right, by mean being able to have the exact footwork and path by the running back, the old line communicating and making their double teams up to the mic linebacker on the same time that everybody

else is doing the same blocks. Whether it's in pass protection, you know, are we are they just dropping off and they're having a four man rush and we're protecting in a play action pass and we we take the check down for gimme. Sometimes it's just the little things that you know, it might not be a forty yard pass play, it might get a checkdown, but you just doing the little things and doing your job, we'll get this thing

back on track. And the reason why I feel confident about that is because of the styles of personalities that we have, the leaders that we have on the offensive side of the ball, they're they're grown men. They understand that and they care and that's that's the starting point. Penalties tie for most in the league right now. Is this a problem for you? Yeah? I mean it does it.

The last several weeks, it's felt like there's been a lot of penalties, and that's a you know, we gotta make sure that we're doing everything we can to lead to learn from them and why are they happening. Yesterday we had a couple of substitution issues and those those gotta you know, you gotta eliminate those as you can't have those um and we gotta just know the why part, and then we got to do our job as coaches to make sure that we bring it up to the

players so that they can eliminate them. All right. I think it was in the preseason or maybe uh right before it, you said team flights this year. You did it once last year. You're gonna walk around the plane, You're gonna talk to people front to back. Are you doing that? And it's been beneficial and you indicated in your press conference earlier today with the media that it was a fun ride home. I've been on a lot

of team flights. It's usually, you know, even win or lose, everybody says always a crazy and there it's not a party. I mean, people are working on the iPads, they got their headsets on. But you kind of indicated that maybe it was a little different last night. Yeah, you know, it wasn't. It wasn't that it was different, and it was just that there's a there's a really good sense and there's a feel right now of where we're at

and understanding. You know, six games and we won five and you need to be able to position yourself the right way. But also, Jeff, what I think is probably more important and why we're at and why we are the way we are as a team is you know, some teams can be really happy and content with being five or one and just all of a sudden, you know,

they're just okay, right, they're just even kill. The reason why I get insighted is from the converse stations last night on that plane is that we know there's a lot more ahead of us. We know there's a lot more room for improvement. And so when you know that, how do you not get fired up? About that, and so we're in a good We're in a good spot.

We got a great challenge ahead of us this week going to LA They're a really good football team and they're well coached, so it's gonna be a big challenge, and we just got to keep doing what we're doing, which is we got to do everything we can to win the football game. It's a little mini rivalry starting to develop here right with the Rams. Yeah, they're they're difficult, they're tough, and you know, they got us last year.

And I just have a lot of respect for Sean McVay and what he does there and how he does it. And they got a great football team. So you know, being an NFC team does matter. They matter a lot. And so they're coming off a tough loss last night to San Francisco. So we just got to make sure we have a really really efficient and productive week of practice, we take care of our bodies, and then we go

out there and statementally focused. That's Bears head coach Matt Naggie calling all Bears fans h five to twelve to join the Chicago Bears Kids Club. Brought to you by Jule Last for exclusive content and Sweepstakes, visit Chicago Bears dot Com, Slash Kids Club, The Bears Coaches Show and this hour featuring Special Teams Coordinator Chris Tabor, grunt to you by Whippley CPAs and Consultants and sponsored by Athletico Physical Therapy and Miller Litte. Once again the Voice of

the Bears w BBMS Jeff Jodiac. Snap placement made kicked by Cairo Santos climbing to the uprights and the kick is good from fifty five yards. Cairo Sancho snail's ay career long fifty five yard or a key boot right before halftime and the Bears get the win over the Carolina Panthers. Welcome back to the Bears Coaches Show, brought to you by Whippley, CPAs and Consultants. Jeff Joniac joined now by the Special Teams Coordinator Chris Tabor. Good to have you alongside it. I feel it was a mighty

important three points. How do you feel about it? No, it was. It was a big three points. Obviously him hitting his career long that that was big, But the just the whole operation, the guy guys blocking snap holding kick was is great. And then anytime you can get points right before you go into halftime, and then you know, we were receiving the ball in the second half, so it gives you an opportunity, you know, to get that two for one going. So that was big. Really proud

of Cairo on that, and hopefully we can continue that. Well, he's on a roll right now. I called it sizzling Santos. He's seven for his last seven. That's good. It's a lucky number. Hopefully we can increase that number. Hey, listen, don't don't. Don't field goal kickers like that kind of success in terms of streaks, they start to feel a certain mojo or or am I just making that up in my own head? I think everyone talks about streaks, Uh,

I mean we don't. I mean it's it's really it's always about the next kick at the end of the day, because that's the one people are going to remember. And uh, you know, he's he's hitting. The thing I'm really proud about him is it is the way he's just striking the ball, the rotation of it. He's shortened his steps a little bit and he's making great, great contact and

he's sitting there where he wants it to go. And the thing that I'm really nosing about him is when we go out to practice, how he's handling the wind. Whereas a few weeks ago he was he was figuring it out. Now he's now he's taking it on. So I think those are signs of you know, that's that's what you want, and a guy that's going to kick

in Chicago. Patrick O'Donnell yesterday set up some long fields, didn't he He did, and he really m I think that's that's why I don't get caught up in looking at stats, because I think that our net might have been like thirty seven or thirty five or something, not a it's not a high net. And uh, but the offense was doing a great job of if getting into midfield and then Pat was was pinning him in there and causing long field. So I was really proud him.

I thought that was his best game, uh, that he's had this year. And uh, in fact, when that one that checked up on the two yard line, I'm not so sure during a TV time out, if someone didn't come out and replace the sand, you know, put a little sand in there because of a divot out there. I mean that thing just stuck. And I was really proud of I mean the last the last punt getting it off and he did a great job there and

uh and really helped us. Yeah, that was oh moment. Indeed, break that down for us a little bit because Trenton Cannon, they're they're running back kind of was free. There was at a missed assignment type of situation. That's a mist assignment that uh, you know can't happen, especially in a moment like that. And uh, you know I told Pat he was the cleaner on that. Uh you know, my first go around here, we had Brad Maynard and we

always called him the cleaner because there's something happened. He was able to get the ball off so fast and clean up everybody's mistakes. Pat Patio really did it there and uh, you know, Dodge dodged a bullet, but something that has to get rectified. Yeah, because honestly, that's a couple in a few weeks and an important phase of the game, certainly dictating philps tion or God forbid a scoop and score if it's blocked. Um partially the week

a couple of weeks back. But uh, these part of the details that Matt talks about absolutely and It's not hard concepts h to get done, just uh, you know, guys just have to do their job and have to continue to coach better to make sure that they do their do do their job. So uh, we still have happy that we are five and one. Happy that you know, Pat got that that off there and in those things. But we have plenty of things that we need to

clean up in our area. So I'm still I'm excited about that because we need to improve and uh and we will join Bears Care and advocate healthcare and raising funds for programs supporting Chicago area breast cancer patients and their families. Purchase your real Bears fans wear pink shirt

at Chicago Bears dot com slash pink. The Bears Coaches Show with Special Teams Coordinator Chris Tabor and WBBMS Jeff Jonia continue Welcome back to the Bears Coaches Show, brought to you by whippleye Epas and Consultants, a broad partner of the Chicago Bears. Learn more at w ip fli dot com. Joined by Chris Tabor. Jery McManus was back felt him again on the field, had to lead the game again with a hamstring I don't know what the status is, but you can't ever overvalue the veteran impact

of a guy like himself. What he does and what he does in terms of getting downfield as one of the first guys has really really become something of significance, No, no question. It was nice to have him back. You know, he recorded those two two tackles and then the downing of the ball at the two yard line. Those are those are three big plays. And anytime a player is able to get multiple, uh special teams tackles in a game, that's always that's always a good thing. So it was

good to have him back. Um, and then hopefully, you know, he'll be ready to roll for Monday night because we need him. Josh Woods is starting to stack up some tackles as well, but I don't know if he got any yesterday, but I think he was up to six maybe for the year. As he developing in that regard, he's developing, he's a player. It still needs to improve, um and uh, you know, we we just got to keep keep him, keep him going. There's you know, I'm

proud of all the guys. I'm always concerned with what do we need to fix and so I didn't even realize that he had that many tackles, to be honest with you, because I'm thinking about other things. But I know I am proud of him. He's a good football player and UH can still improve. So so we're excited about that. In the first kickoff of the game, our Tavis Pierce down there. I had to check the scorecard real quick, and there he was. So that's Is that

a development as well? No, it is. And you know that's a first time he's ever played on special teams and you know, I don't believe that he was a big special teams player in college, but those were his first live reps and that's kind of the you know, it's a COVID effect really, yeah, from from you know,

from the standpoint of no preseason games. But the official came over to me a couple of times because we have to line up on the thirty four yard line on a kickoff, and he said, coach number forty six need needs to move up or also we're gonna have to call flag. I said, oh no, no, please don't call flag'll he'll be fine. I said this, I said,

this is first game. I said, just just cut him a little slack and he says, okay, coach, I'll keep tell him, I said, just I said, I'm sure when you talk to him he's he'll look right at you and say, yes, sir, need did. But now I was happy for him. It's that's always exciting and tough for for a rookie to get his first reps, let alone and be a kickoff rep. See. I wouldn't imagine that's the kind of equity you build up over the years

with the officiating croup. But I guess it helps. And maybe there are new guys that are in the same position because there are a bunch of new officials this year. No, there is, and and uh, we're just all trying to work together. Yeah, but what would you say? That's somewhat rare. I mean, because when you you're talking about calling the game, you just gotta call it the way you see it

as an official, No, no, no question. But I will say this, I think the officials try to do a good job of letting the players play and they don't want to call silly penalties like for a guy who's not even moving and maybe he's on the thirty three and a half yard line as opposed to the thirty four, you know, a nitpicking there, So I think that's always good. They do a good job of coming up and saying, hey, coach, you were close here, you're close here, And I do

appreciate that because that's the thing. We've been trying to eliminate penalties, and we accomplish that goal yesterday in our area, but we still we still got to improve technique wise as we move forward here. Have you over the years been one to be gregariously communicative with the officials over the years, do you like to partake in conversation? No, I'm I always want to be very respectful. I respect

the job that they have to do. I mean, when you're down on the field, it is moving so fast and for those guys to have to make those call so quickly, I really respect that. And I know that people get upset with officials, but that's not it's not an easy job. And to be honest with you, I think more times than not, you know, I know there's

there's miscalls, just like there's misplays by by players. Uh. Overall, though, I think when you slow it down, you go, boy that that official got it right and and in you know, live action. Uh there, it's it's a bang bang play and they got to make a decision. So very respectful of those guys and what in their job they have to perform. Quiet day in the return game, and you kind of intimated that Joey Slive is probably not going

to give Cordall Patterson a look. And I don't know how many more will well, I think that, you know, I mean, you know, we we knew he had a big leg, and he hits a lot of touchbacks and the guy is a good kicker. At the same time, you know, we always talk about sometimes when they try to hit it so hard and get out, he's gonna

make a mistake. Yesterday he didn't make a mistake. But uh uh, you know, we're all is going to treat every game is different, you know, and hopefully we'll have an opportunity when we head out out west here to be able to get some returns. The Bears Coaches Show with Head coach Matt Maggie continues exclusively on the Home of the Bears News Radio seven eighty and one oh five point nine FM WBBS. The Chicago Bears Network presents

Inside the Bears, brought to you by Verizon. Anthony Adams and Lauren Screeden cover the world of Bears football on and off the field every Sunday night at eleven o five pm on Fox thirty two Chicago, or watch anytime at Chicago Bears dot com or on the Bears official app. Jeff Joni, Acabhama, Chris Taber, Bears Special Teams Coordina. Let's

talk about DHC, otherwise known as DeAndre Houston Carson. When you see him making back to back game ending defensive plays and you know he's one of your core special teams guys that always probably has an eye on gosh, I could wish I could get on the field defensively and gets an opportunity and makes the most of it. How how does that make you feel? And I'm certain it's a It's a lot of pride for a who to me is just a pure football player. No he is.

I'm so proud of him. And in fact, I was trying to fix something from that previous punt play, so I didn't even see the interception, so I didn't know that it was him, and then they told me, and I was just so fired up for him, because in our world, DHC, I mean, he's he's the straw that stirs the drink for us. And and he's just a really heavy football player. And the thing about him is you go out to practice, he's going to be out there thirty minutes before practice even starts, so we can

do some extra stretching and get going. He'll he'll text me at nighttime, hey, I was watching this watching that. I mean, the guy studies more tape. He truly is a coach on the field, and it's I can just and that doesn't matter what special teams or defense. And there's a reason why he puts himself in good positions to make plays at the end of the game. Defensively,

him doing that doesn't doesn't surprise me. There's a lot of a lot of people don't know much about him, you know, honestly, and even though he's been here five years. That's great insight on DeAndre Houston. Carson clearly a core player on a very good special teams unit, and those types of guys they last in the league a long time. Perfect example with Sherik McManus over the years. Matthew Slater with the New England Pay also a very book smart football,

book smart player, right, no question. You can't can't have enough of those guys because they I think what really helps having a DHC in your room and McManus and those type of things, guys that really study and work at their craft, is the young players, the rookies that come into our room and they're able to watch, you know, they figure out, hey, how this guy's been playing this long in the league. Why is that? And then they start seeing his study habits and how he does it

and those type of things. Then that's you beginning to build your culture and you can build your unit that way and they develop pride together. So it's a it's you got got to have those guys. Chris, let's talk the Rams Special teams unit. I'm gonna start with the punter, Johnny Hecker. He can throw it, he can boot it. He's one of the guys you always bring up, no question. I mean, he's very crafty, has a lot of different clubs he can hit with regards to you know, punting

the football. But then you know he's really like their third string quarterback. I mean he throws. The guy can throw it is very impressive. So you always got to be alert on that. So we'll have our hands fall. We know this unit and they're a well coached unit, but you know, we gotta at the same time, we need to fix our things and worry about ourselves and improve that way. And if we can do that, that'll give us a chance to play well on Monday night.

All right, good luck with your preparation. Thanks very much, Chris, And that's a rap on tonight's Bears Coach you show. Want to thank our producers Jordan tread Up, Dan Billy, Eddie Grisher and Keith Johnson, and most of all to you for listening. Bears and Rams pregame four fifteen kickoff seven fifteen from La Prepars head coach Matt Naggie, Special teams coordinator Chris Taber. I'm Jeff Joni, acquishing you a pleasant, good evening and this is News Radio seven eighty and

one h five point nine FM w BBM. Good night, everybody,