Declan Doyle, Dennis Allen, Richard Hightower look toward Vikings | Chicago Bears

Declan Doyle, Dennis Allen, Richard Hightower look toward Vikings | Chicago Bears

I know me, you talked about liking Kyler Gordon and all the different things that he’s capable of doing. Are you seeing some of that with CJ Gardner Johnson now as well? The versatility that he gives you is Yeah, look, he’s he’s always had a lot of versatility um you know, and and uh we played him both at Nickel and Safety back in New Orleans and and so he does have some versatility to play, you know, a couple of different spots. Um, but you know, obviously where we’re at right now, you know, he’s he’s he’s playing the nickel position and and doing a hell of a job of it. How did you know how how did you know that he would fit in the locker room so well so quickly? Uh listen, I’ve been with him, you know, um and my experience with him uh was was really positive and so we felt like it would, you know, it would be a good fit and uh he’s come in and and uh been exactly what we thought he would be and and been a good addition for us. Why do you guys connect your personalities so well, do you think say our personalities are different? There’s something there. you guys connect so well? Like what’s the secret? I look, it it it really just goes back to, you know, um I was in New Orleans when we drafted him. Um you know, we we were the first, you know, group that got an opportunity to coach him. He had success with with us in the system. And I I think there’s there’s a trust level um you know, on both sides. Um I know exactly what we’re getting in the player. um and and I think it’s it’s positive and I think he understands you know how we’re going to operate and and how we do things and uh you know really can appreciate that. So I I think really as with every relationship that anybody’s ever in, okay, it starts with building trust. Um and and so uh and then and then from there it goes with communication you know and and having open dialogue in terms of what what’s expected in all different you know uh in all different situations and and uh uh I think he trusts that you know what we’re asking him to do and what we’re telling him that you know we need to do is is the right thing to do and so um I think it’s just been you know it’s been good. What makes him such a good blitzer and what’s the key to someone his size timing up a blitz the correct? Yeah, I look I mean I think it’s really just he’s he’s a good football player. He understands how to play the game. Um and uh and that’s you know when when you play the game of football um there’s certain rules and certain things that that you you’re supposed to do within each um you know call on the defense. and yet um football players have to make decisions on the football field and and that’s an instinctual thing and I think he’s I think he does a really good job of that. What are some of the biggest differences you’ve seen from the Vikings offense from week one now going into this week 11 matchup? Um you know I I don’t know. I don’t know that I’ve seen just a ton you know of of difference um in terms of what they’re doing schematically. Um, you know, obviously Jordan Addison being back is a is a big addition for them. Um, you know, quarterback’s got a little bit more experience now than what he had when we first faced him. So, um, but but I don’t see a whole lot schematically that’s that’s a lot different from what we what we faced in the first game. Do you feel like you’re a different defense 10 weeks later? Uh, yeah. And yet, I still feel like we’re a we’re we’re a growing defense. I don’t think we’re I don’t think we really have even scratched the surface of what I think we can be. And so, um, but I do know, you know, where we were in week one to where we are now. I think there’s, um, I think there’s more of a belief in what we’re doing and and a little bit more confidence uh, in our squad. JJ McCarthy, not Look, I mean, you know, he’s a good quarterback. He’s a top 10 pick. Um I I think his his ability um you know to use his feet to create uh in the passing game I think is a is a is a challenge for us. Um and and I just think you know they got so many skilled players that that make it so difficult to defend. Um you know you want to load the box and and and try to take the run game away and got skill position players on the outside that make it a challenge. Um, and then, you know, you want to play them in a light box and, you know, try to devote more resources in the passing game and now the run game comes alive. So, uh, I think there and and look, you know, I’ve gone against Kevin Oonnell and and his offensive schemes, you know, several times and and it’s always been, uh, a big challenge to defend. So, I don’t expect it to be any different this week. Coach, with Justin Jefferson, he he I think it’s probably fair to say he’s an elite wide receiver. What What is the difference between somebody like Justin Jefferson and just say a good wide receiver like what do the great ones and maybe just Justin Jefferson specifically what does he do so well because everybody’s fast, everybody’s athletic. Yeah, I Well, look, I think um we talked about, you know, making decisions defensively. It’s the same thing offensively. You just have a feel for the game. Um I think he’s got a great feel for the game. Uh he he does a great job of of understanding how to set up his routes to create separation. Um and I think more so than anything else. Um this guy is is one of the more competitive guys uh that we’ll go against. And I think that’s what I think that’s what really makes great players great. And I don’t care what position you play um is is uh is just that that competitive nature. Um he expects that, you know, every ball that’s thrown his way, he’s going to go make a play. Coach, small sample size. What did you like from what you saw from Joe Triinka? Um yeah, look, I think I think Joe’s smart. I think he he came in and kind of picked the system up uh pretty well. There’s still, you know, there’s still a growing process to go along with that. Um and uh but I think he’s he’s athletic. That’s that’s really probably what I like the the best is that, you know, he’s an athlete, so I think he’s going to add a little bit something to us in terms of the pass rush. He does understand the game. Um, and he’s he’s an instinctive football player. You’ve been studying quarterbacks your whole 25 years in the league. What do you think when you see Caleb Williams get out of some of those incredible predicaments that it looks like he’s dead to rights and all of a sudden he finds a way to get out? Well, am I am I on the bare sideline rooting for him or is am I trying to defend him? Because if I’m trying to defend him, I’m like, damn. No, in your just in your opinion watching him, like what what what do you think of him? Um, look, I think he’s grown tremendously. Uh, from where he was, you know, in the spring and in training camp, where he’s at now, I think you seeing the field, you know, much better. Um, and he’s always had that athleticism. he’s always had that ability to get himself out of trouble and and so um you know when you see when you see that happen you know first thing I’m thinking is I’m glad I’m glad he’s on our side you know because it’s it’s it’s a pain when you see uh you know guys that can create with their feet it’s just you know it creates a lot of problems for the defense um you know in terms of how you want to rush him um you know if you want to play do you want to play man coverage in the back end well okay if you play man coverage in the back end and he escapes. There’s a lot of backs turned to him. Um, you know, you want to you want to rush four and and and play zone coverage behind it. Well, they got five and six people blocking versus four creates escape lanes for the quarterback. So, um, uh, I think I think the the mobile quarterback is is is a huge challenge defensively. I I know you’ve dealt with Go ahead. Keep moving and pre- snap penalties. How’s that something that how we Yeah, I I don’t know that we really go into it, you know, with with that type of anticipation. I think we go in in and we go play our game and um I think that’s more something that they they got to they got to worry about. I know you dealt with all your years as coordinator dealt with injuries. Nobody has sympathy for the injuries, but you have at least four starters down. You talked about you guys are not where you want to be. How hard is it to do what you want to do and get to where you think this defense should be when you have key starters not playing right now? Yeah. Um I think that’s the nature of the game that we play, you know. Um and so I think you have to constantly be able to evolve and change. Um you know, I think you get I think you get into into trouble when you just say this is who we are. This is what we do and we’re just going to go do that. Well, that may not be what the guys that we have out there playing, that may not be what suits them the best. Um, and so each and every week, each and every game plan, um, you know, you’re looking at, okay, what do our guys do well and then how do we put them in those positions based on what we’re seeing offensively? How do we put them in positions to have success? Uh, spoken about uh, you know, in terms of stay staying in the pocket like a tick longer to make the play down the field. He’s talked about going through his progressions a little bit too quickly. What do you think when he hears it and how do you keep him from doing that or why does that happen, I guess? So, sometimes that happen and it can happen for a number of different reasons. Um, one being, you know, your eyes being too quick to process what’s happening and kind of moving off those things, but the thing we’re always trying to gather to trying to tie together are their feet and their eyes. And so, uh, a lot of times, you know, the feet kind of lead the eyes and and that stuff is ingrained, um, throughout the week or all offseason as we practice kind of these concepts. Um, your feet keep you on time and then your eyes are evaluating, hey, is that open? Can I pull the trigger or not? If that’s not there, then my feet lead me on to whatever my next uh, read in the progression would be. And so, uh, those two things we’re trying to tie together all the time. Keep we’re we’re constantly working it. Um, and it’s something that that can always improve. Kevin Oonnell was saying yesterday that he understands just the way the world is now. Everybody wants to judge a young quarterback, not only week to week, but day to day and throw to throw. How do you agree with that? Number one, and number two, how do you kind of live in that world where people want immediate feedback and that’s just kind of not the way it works? Yeah, I I think it’s like it’s how uh most of the world works is a lot of people want instant gratification for, you know, anything that they’re doing. Um and that really just it it speaks to any profession, any uh any job, anything worth doing. Um you have to go through kind of a growth process in order to get to where we want to go. Uh we’ve taken that um really from the very beginning and kind of preaching to Caleb that, you know, it’s a growth mindset. It’s it’s every single day we got to show up and do the work to be able to get better. Um, you know, obviously these these young guys have to deal with a lot of outside noise. Um, and so that can be challenging, but uh, just speaking to to Caleb, I think he’s done a great job of staying, uh, you know, kind of tunnel vision and and understanding that this is, uh, this is a long process. Um, and, you know, every day we’re just working to get a little bit better. Is that is it is it hard especially with the you know younger guys to say like you know when you’re that age you know a year seems like forever to sit there and say like no like we’re building longterm we could try and get better every day but you still have to kind of set your sights. Yeah I think it it um is something that you’re constantly talking through. Uh it’s something that you constantly have to monitor especially just with how much you know outside noise there is in a positive or a negative way. you know, we we go out and play well, they’re going to hear a lot of praise um that, you know, sometimes it’s deserving and sometimes it’s not, but it really doesn’t matter. You have to go do it again. And um that’s the main thing is just making sure that there’s constant communication and uh kind of a vision of, you know, you’re you’re you’re driving this car, but you don’t want to be um you know, looking out the window. You want to be looking in windshield at the road in front of you. You know, otherwise you’re going to end up swerving off and and being off track. And so, uh, biggest thing is, you know, what can we control right now? What’s right in front of me that I can, uh, go try to be the best in the world at? And then, you know, we’ll worry about the next thing later. How much growth have you seen from Luther Bird and in practice and in games? And what do you want to see from him the rest of the year? Uh, I’ve seen a guy that uh comes to work every day. He’s done a really good job of uh I mean, he does a lot of work behind the scenes with L. um just with the offense, you know, trying to ingrain um you know, really the the techniques and the fundamentals that we’re going to ask him to to go out and execute. Uh I’ve seen a guy that has taken advantage of uh the times where the ball may find him and and he’s gotten better without the ball in his hands as well. And so, uh that’s really the area that, you know, you like to highlight and and uh that’s the the biggest area of growth. when you teaching a quarterback to play more quickly, but also not too quick where he gets through his reads too fast. How do you how do you find that that sweet spot? And how do you teach it? Yeah, I think it’s a balance of uh really it’s it’s play specific, but it’s you’re creating habits all the time. And so when we go out and we take a rep, you are you’re further um installing into this groove of okay, you know, I’m reading this concept, you know, it’s got to be gamelike all the time. And so, um, that’s really what our our main focus is is is that as we build these habits, they’re right. And then when we’re a little bit off course or off track, you have to constantly be open to, uh, not only like the criticism, but the correction uh, involved in that. And, uh, that’s the biggest thing. You’re you’re always kind of balancing um, you know, what do you coach, what do you what do we need to make sure that uh, is getting corrected? And then, you know, that communication process has to happen. Declan with um I don’t know I said brain fade uh going against Brian Flores. I know Caleb’s only taken two sacks and I think there’s always that perception that he’s had more pressure that that’s going to result in that but it has been with him over his history. Like why is that do you think? Um I think uh Flo is game to game as far as what he’s going to show you. They’ve done a great job of generating pressure just as a a defensive front. Um and so every game is is a new one when you’re going against them. You know, I I think that uh the first week, you know, we play against them. It it’s different than uh what we’re going to get this week. We’re a different team. They’re a different team. And so, um Caleb’s done a good job of of getting the ball out of his hands. Um you know, avoiding sacks and becoming a scrambler when he needs to. Our offensive line has has gotten better at some of that stuff. Um and but really, you know, it it doesn’t uh carry over to this game. We have to go out and execute at a high level. How has the the jumbo formation and being able to use Azie in those packages? How has that helped this offense? Uh, I think it always helps when you have a tackle that you feel good about in that role. Um, you know, you got a guy that you feel good about blocking the C gap and and gives the defense another thing to have to deal with. Um, you know, obviously less times that guy is is a passing threat. However, you can find ways to be balanced offensively as um, you know, forcing them to defend different things. Uh, anytime we have a lineman that we feel good about, it’s always good to have that as an element of our offense. Does he have good hands? Aussiey’s got pretty good hands. How do you how do you put into uh into context for people that are not on the inside of it uh and ex and have expertise on it like you do, how Joe Tuni is contributing right now. Uh Joe Tuni, it it starts kind of behind the scenes what you guys don’t see, just how he carries himself every day. Um, and then really the the biggest thing is that he’s he’s incredibly consistent. Um, Eric Benemy when we were kind of going through the process, talked about him and his relationship with him in Kansas City, he’s just said he’s going to he’s going to bore you to death with how consistent he is on his details. You know, you’re not even going to notice him. Um, and that’s the the biggest thing. He’s done a great job of doing everything that we’ve asked of him. Uh but the leadership behind the scenes is really the area that he has the biggest impact on our team. With the run game being as like you look at it from the beginning of the season to where it is now and as successful as it is, how much of that is just play specific to play design of running out of those contested conditions? Uh I think it’s always both. Um it can be play specific designs where you know we have space. There are certain plays where uh you know maybe nothing’s there and our back goes and makes a huge play on his own. And so I think it’s a little bit of a combination of both. We’re doing a better job of understanding um you know what we’re being asked to do, you know, fundamentally playing better with pad level and coming off the ball. Um and really uh from where we started to where we are now. Just the details have been cleaned up a little bit. But again, it doesn’t carry over. We have to continue to stay on that and and continue to tighten those things up. Caleb Caleb joked the other day that that it might have been a six sense. You know, when there’s somebody coming from his blind side and he just kind of gets out at the last minute. What do you contribute or what do you attribute his ability to kind of get out of those situations? Is that somebody who’s played a lot of football, somebody who knows where the pressure is coming or are you kind of just bored with it or you’re not? Um, that’s a that’s an area that, you know, he’s a leadin as far as feeling the rush and being able to evade. Um, and you can see it all the way back to his college film and things like that. Um, you know, I think some of that can be coached and some of that can be worked and and other elements of that are or you have it or you don’t. Um, and he certainly does a good job of it. What are the challenges who Yeah. Um, the biggest challenge with them is is they force you to think on every snap. They’re a smart defense. Um, they move around a lot. They’re in different spots. And so, uh, as you prepare for them, they they do a good job of utilizing their personnel, uh, in a number of different ways and putting those guys, uh, in different spots. And so, they’re not sitting ducks. Um, you know, as an offense, we want to be able to morph and be able to play and and dictate in different ways. They certainly do that as a defense. They’re able to morph to week. Uh, and so when you’re looking at the big picture over a season, uh, it feels like a lot of defense because they’re able to morph uh, and kind of change the way they play. Um, and yet when you watch them in game, it’s kind of like, hey, you know, we’re they’re asking their guys and trying to put them in, um, spots to go have success. And so, uh, that’s the biggest challenge is is their ability to morph you, figuring out, all right, um, how do we think they’re going to play us and then going and planning and attacking that? Dan, how do how do you get like that? Caleb described the end of the game being like, okay, we have no other choice but to try to go out and win the game. How do you carry that kind of urgency, I guess, and have it be more consistent throughout the whole game? Yeah, that’s a that’s the challenge that we’re constantly dealing with all the time. It’s the same urgency we want to have when we go out and practice third down. Um it you’re trying to simulate at all times. Like it’s it’s this or nothing. Like you know that what we’re going to do today directly impacts how Sunday goes. U no different than you know you’re at the end of the game, it’s crunch time and we got to go out and score or we’re going to lose this game. Um, so it’s something that we’re constantly trying to press our guys on and and trying to put them in positions where uh, you know, they have to go out and execute at a really high level. Uh, that’s going to simulate what they’re going to experience on Sunday. When when the drops happened last week, how did you see Caleb interact with anybody on the sideline? Maybe afterwards like in just trying to be encouraging guys because I know it felt that’s more of an aberration than a trend. Yeah, I’m upstairs so um, I’m not, you know, with him down there. Um, however, you know, just communicating through the headset to all of our our coaches and it seemed that everybody was is um, you know, there was no flinch. We just we kept believing. We really felt like, hey, you know, we can get this going here. Um, and so I I think that he was a uh, a great example of that down there on the field. Uh, just being able to communicate with our guys and keep them in it. All right. Afternoon. Afternoon. Afternoon. All right. How’s everyone? Doing fine. Go ahead. Shoot. In what ways have the longer field goals this year and just being able to keep the K ball changed the way you look at the sport? It seems like you know people making longer field goals than ever and you know the game’s evolving. Yeah, games are definitely evolving. Uh Kball has been a great thing uh for the league. Um obviously something uh we all voted on. Um, every team had a chance to vote on at the owner meetings and, uh, it’s been a good thing, uh, so far. Uh, the one thing I’ll say about the Kball is, you know, sometimes like, you know, you get it in, sometimes you don’t get it in. Um, and in some places, uh, it’s worked better for other uh, kickers depending on what the weather is. And in our place, you know, we got inclement weather conditions. So, uh, it’s definitely a difference here, uh, when it when it goes to, um, K balls and some games opponents haven’t been able to get their K balls in in our games and that’s affected them. Richard, when you think back to the Cincinnati game and how the unit performed and then look at New York, what’s just been your overall assessment from the change there? Yeah, I saw a resilient group. You know, they did what I thought that they would do. Um, they would fight back. Uh, it’s a prideful group. Um, they worked their tails off. um they know that uh there’s a high standard and they know they’re living up to a a high standard which has been the standard um here and and obviously living to a higher standard last year and every year is a different year but they know they got to live up to a high standard and our standard is not going to change. So, uh, I was proud from that standpoint that the guys, uh, responded in the way that they did. Now, the things we still need to, uh, work on and more impact plays we want to make. We still want to make more plays, so we’ll never be satisfied, but um, they rose to the occasion. Um, obviously, they weren’t going to do that again. So, I was proud of them for that. We’ve seen Cairo kind of try these knuckle kickoffs, these these dirty kicks in warm-ups, but we haven’t really seen that implemented in game time. Is there a reason why we haven’t seen that implemented or just trying to get used to it or what’s the rationale there? Yeah, it’s all strategy and gamesmanship at all times, anytime you see it. So, um, it’s always going to be that way and you have seen them in some games. You just have to go back and look at which games those were, but he’s kicked them in some games. um and has work for us in some games. So, he could do him at any time. Um and it’s just a matter of when we want to do him. If we we’ll do anything we think is necessary to win the game. What did you think of Kyo’s kickoff off the pylon? I loved it. Yeah, I loved it. I wish he’d do it every time. Yeah. No, it was sweet. Yeah. What’ you think of their muff punt? Is that just like special teams go to the other team? their muff punt. Which one you talking about? Maybe before the shank, right? The shank. Oh, the shank punt that they had. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, I’m with you now. I’m I’m with you now. I’m with you. I’m with you. I’m with you. No, no, you’re all right. I mean, that’s We’re all in here. We all learning every day. You know what I mean? We’re all still learning every day. Me included. But uh yeah, I thought I thought that the unit did a hell of a job putting pressure on that punter early on. Uh obviously the weather was a uh a factor in the game for him on kickoffs. Uh you and really you never want to see that happen to any specialist unless you’re playing them. Like you have empathy across the league for some guys, but like when you’re playing them, who cares, right? So, um, it was it was great to see and that pressure that was put on him early on, uh, I think it affect Well, I know it affected him if you go look at his body language and stuff that he did in the in the game. And it just so happened on that one, we weren’t even pressuring him, you know. Um, showing pressure, but didn’t pressure him. And, uh, that was a huge play in the ball game, shanking that that punt. And then, uh, you know, you give 18 and and the boys a ball right there. at that time of the game. I mean, that’s that’s as good as a big return or as good as a block or tip or that’s as good as anything you’re going to get there. And uh just really a huge momentum swinger. So happy that the guys executed the plan from the beginning and it came back to pay dividends for us later. So that was good. That came after an offensive touchdown and a defensive stop. How do you describe that momentum swell that you guys had across all three phases down the stretch? Yeah, I I just think we we’re at a point where we believe in each other. All three phases believe in each other and uh anytime someone else makes a play, the other unit just wants to feed off of it. But that was an outstanding uh sequence of events right there, complimentary football, and we just want to do that for four quarters more often and not have these games go down to the wire as much. Um but we’re working to get get to that point and we’ll keep working on that. Sorry, this is your last indoor game, I think. Uh, do you like being able to have seven outdoor games all in, you know, you know, November, December, January? Do you feel like there’s an advantage to you guys having the experience in the cold weather and maybe some of the other teams? Yeah, I mean, I definitely looking forward to this game first of all. This the first this only one that matters. Getting our first division win um is is what we got to do. So looking forward to playing in the indoors. And the the second part of your question, of course, like we love it. The outdoor weather is bare weather. We embrace it. We love it. Uh so when we get to that stuff is is what we’re built for. We we built for what’s happening in the fourth quarter right now. We’re built for that type of weather and we’re built for uh adversity. So we want to just keep rising up through all of this stuff and and show what our football team’s made of. Richard, Miles Price is one of the better returners and I know he had a rough game last week. How do you approach a young somebody who’s that inexperienced coming off something that Ravens clearly capitalized on? Do you see opportunity to I don’t know if a player’s in that situation to get a jump on that? How do you view that? Yeah, I mean you view it, you watch the tape. I mean there’s good tape. Um obviously outstanding tape with Miles Price even from preseason. I thought Miles, if you remember the last time we played these these guys, I said that I thought he was gonna be a really good returner for years to come. Uh, in that and and so far it’s that’s held true with what he’s doing. He’s a really good player. I mean, had a touchdown call back already this year. Um, had a 61 yard uh kickoff return. He’s had several big punt returns. Um, so you just show the guys the tape. You show them the good, the good, and you show them the bad. here are opportunities that we can capitalize on. Here are things that we got to eliminate. Here’s things we need to be aware of. Here are tips or reminders when this happens with this player. All right, we got to have this leverage and and and go to work from there. But it’d be a good challenge for us. We got a lot of respect for their unit. We got a lot of respect for um the player there, the player Miles, and then they’ve gotten uh they’ve acquired a lot of good talent on special teams now. I mean, it’s a different unit this year than it was last year. They they’re doing a really nice

Defensive coordinator Dennis Allen, offensive coordinator Declan Doyle and special teams coordinator Richard Hightower address the media Thursday at Halas Hall.

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