Chicago Bears at St. Louis Rams Sunday, November 15, 2015 Edward Jones Dome, St. Louis, Missouri Bears Head Coach John Fox (On injuries) There are no injuries to report. (On what changed after the first series) We did start slow, without a doubt. The offense did a good job of some explosive plays early to answer. (On the growth of the Bears defense from week to week) The whole football team is growing. This is a new system with a lot of new players as far as relating to coaches and coaches relating to players. We are starting to know our football team better. A lot has changed over the nine weeks quite a bit. Last week was the halfway point. The way we are trending, I like the way the guys are going about their business. (On unlocking TE Zach Miller) The guys prepare really hard. He has improved. (QB) Jay Cutler has gotten more comfortable with him. The staff has gotten more comfortable with calling some of his numbers or even personnel groups. He is in the game with (TE) Martellus Bennett and has done pretty well the last couple of weeks. (On his impressions of the offense) Coming into this pretty stingy defense that we played today, statistically at the half-way point, I know Jeff (Fisher) and his staff are terrific coaches and they do a great job. We were here a year ago, with another team and they handled us pretty well. But, I thought our guys played a pretty good football game, especially on that side of the ball. (On being surprised at the score) I ve been on both sides of many of these. I think it went our way, I think our guys tilted it in our favor in their performance. Sometimes they happen like that. It s not really common but it does happen. (On if there was a sense the team was tired of hearing about Rams RB Todd Gurley) You don t fear anybody and respect everybody. I think when they watched the tape, he has earned that. I don t really think that was the mindset. I just think they prepared hard and they played good team defense. Anytime you run or pass the ball it s.and the guys are taking care of their responsibility, I thought we were getting better at that. (On the progress of TE Zach Miller) He is a guy we saw a little bit of film on a year ago in camp and early in the season he had an injury. We liked what we saw and we liked his makeup and we had coaches that knew of him or people who spoke with him. He fits our mold and he just needed to stay healthy and he has. He has been a big, good producer and I think he has earned his production as we go. (On if this is the best game QB Jay Cutler has played) Without watching the tape it is pretty hard. I really liked one of his audibles on a third down play. He continues to kind of amaze me with what we are doing and how hard he works out. Obviously, we are all evaluated by how we execute on Sunday. It is up there as one of our better games as a team. (On the team s execution and getting rid of the self-inflicted wounds) This game is about execution in whatever phase, offense, defense, kicking what goes unnoticed is that the number 11 (WR Tavon Austin) that they have is a pretty dynamic, explosive guy. I thought that in both the kicking game and on defense we did a decent job of corralling that. Again, it is a team game and we clicked as a team as probably as good as we have clicked thus far. We will evaluate it and look at it and get ready for the Broncos next week.
(On if Cutler is getting better) I am not a big stat guy. There is only one important stat to me and that is winning. I know he has played very well, I have said that countless times. I think he is having a very good year. QB Jay Cutler (On how he felt offensive coordinator Adam Gase was able to control the game) We knew coming in that this was an unbelievable defense. Their pass rush, two cornerbacks, safeties coming down to fill in the holes. You try to just control the game with some formation stuff, try to get the ball out quick. We knew we were going to need to run the ball consistently and efficiently to be able to compete with these guys. We just got some big plays. Guys on the outside were making some plays. The offensive line blocking the front and blocking downfield made my life easy. (On the team s confidence after putting together big plays early) The defense gave us some short fields there at the end. I thought the defense really dominated the game. We could have been a little better in some areas. But Zach (Miller) with the long one, and then you come back a series later and Jeremy (Langford) rips off a long one. You know things are going well when you get some of those easy ones. (On if he was surprised Miller was able to get past the secondary on the 87-yard touchdown) I think that s the surprising part of it. There wasn t anything to it. It was a quick out, we run it all the time. He busted it back inside, broke a tackle, and outran 22 (Trumaine Johnson), one of their starting corners. The guy had an angle on him and he made a good move and finished it. That s what we ve been preaching more and more of. It s hard to go, especially a defense like that, 10 yards a clip, five yards a clip. It s hard to do that against this team. So to be able to rip off some big ones, some one-and-dones, it was nice. (On his conversation with T Kyle Long during Langford s touchdown catch-and-run) I dumped it, and they blitzed there, so I knew we had a good play there if we could get rid of it. I dumped it to him (Langford) and Kyle was just right at my feet. The ref came over and was checking for flags and I looked down at Kyle and said, You good? Then the ref and I looked up and said, Wow. He was gone and then I said to Kyle, We ve got to get up and go. Great effort by Jeremy, obviously, to finish the play. Great blocking downfield and great call by Adam (Gase) to dial that up at the right time. (On the timing that is required to make a long play like that happen) We ve had days when it was not that great. We keep fighting through it. We missed a couple out there today that I think would have been big plays. But if you get a couple of those that go 80 (yards) and some of those chunk plays, it makes it worth it. If you go two, two, two and then you rip one for 40, you re doing things right. (On if he reached top gear on his 26-yard run) That was top gear. I was already top gear. I saw 26 (safety Mark Barron) coming and I thought maybe I d stiff-arm him and keep moving, but figured, no, I m going to run out of gas here pretty soon, so I just got down. (On if he saw a tackler approaching on the video board) I m not that talented, no. (On how this game compared to others this season) I don t feel like I did that much. I think the offensive line did a great job controlling the ball in the second half. I think some guys on the outside made some plays. Against a front like that and a secondary like that, very rarely are you going to get some chunk plays like that. I think they had only given up a couple past 25 yards all year long. You ve got to give guys on the outside credit, they didn t back down. Up front, we knew it was going to be a physical game against a really talented team. (On being consistent with the run) Those two guys were hitting the hole pretty quick. They re getting downhill, and even when we don t block it up exactly right, they re still getting four or sometimes five yards, which is huge. Second-and-5, 2nd-and-6, you can live in that world. It makes it a little easier for Adam (Gase) and makes us a little more unpredictable going into second down and third down.
(On how much the team relishes surprising people on the outside) We don t even really talk about it that much, to be honest with you. I think we do a good job of blocking out the noise on the outside and concentrate on day-in, day-out, just trying to get better. I don t think this team believes it s arrived, by any means. I think, offensively, there s a lot of stuff we left out there. It s kind of a next man up mentality, because we re losing guys. Alshon (Jeffery) still wasn t 100 percent, but he gave us all he could. Some other guys made some plays, so we just need to keep on that track. (On how G/C Matt Slauson has improved in making reads against defensive tackles) Yeah, against the tackles, No. 99 (Aaron Donald) is an unbelievable player. Getting off the ball fast, and it s hard moving from guard to center. I think snapping was probably the biggest transition for him, and then communicating to the right side as well, because he s communicated to the left a lot, but having to communicate to the right, we couldn t ask for a better guy. He knows the offense inside and out, he knows how to play technically at guard and center, and he s able to communicate with the tackles out there. (On the Bears defensive performance after the Rams first drive) After that, it was pretty much shut it down. (Defensive Coordinator) Vic (Fangio) does a good job, and we go against it in practice, and they re very multiple. The 3-4 presents a problem. We ve got some talented guys in the back playing well right now. Bryce Callahan is coming in there at nickel and he s done a great job for us. We re still getting home with the pass-rush even without 92 (Pernell McPhee). Hopefully, we ll get him back and it will be even better. (On building his rapport in the passing game with TE Zach Miller) I ve always enjoyed going to Zach. He s one of those easy guys where you always know where he s going to be and he s a friendly target and he s a smart player. He used to be a quarterback, so he knows tempo things, knows when to gas it a little bit. I ve never really second-guessed throwing him the ball. (On if that level of trust really took hold this year) He s just a guy who, on his first day he got with us, you could tell that this guy knows how to play football. He knows how to run routes and battle through injuries. He s still battling through some stuff. It couldn t happen to a better guy the last two weeks. We ask him to do some of the dirty work, so for him to get a few balls and make some big catches, it was great. RB Jeremy Langford (On his screen pass) That was a great call on (Offensive Coordinator Adam Gase s) part. They brought the linebacker in and Cutler did a great job of finding me. The offensive line did a great job and the receivers as well. (On feeling the play would be successful) Once I got the ball and I saw the linebacker coming, I felt like if I could get the ball and everybody got their job done, which they did a great job at, I could find green grass. (On the blocking by G Matt Slauson on the screen pass) When he came over, he said Good job setting me up. That s what as a running back you want to, try to get them in a good position to get that cut block. He did a great job of getting his man down. (On building on his success from last game) I feel like in the last game I left a lot of yards on the field. I wanted to come out here and do a little bit better and keep getting better from game to game and get more yards after contact. LB Shea McClellin (On defending Rams RB Todd Gurley) (You have to) make sure he doesn t hit those cutbacks and seams. Everyone did a great job of being in position. (On overcoming setbacks in the game) You ve just got to keep playing. Things are going to happen, and you keep playing. That s what we did. (On his forced fumble) I just stripped it and it kind of spun into my belly. I was just trying to make a play.
(On how that turnover impacted the game) I think any turnover helps. Any time we can get a turnover I think it s going to help our composure. I think it helped out quite a bit. G Kyle Long (On the play calling of Bears Offensive Coordinator Adam Gase) I think Gase does as good a job as anybody in preparation and for attacking instead of playing in a defensive mindset. He wants to go right at the teeth of the defenses and we love that. (On facing the Rams defense) With pass rushers like those, they want to get home every play, so you have to take advantage of that sometimes. (On if he has confidence in the offense and playcalling) No doubt. If it doesn t work initially we know that we have a group that s tough enough to keep going and find a different way. TE Zach Miller (On his first touchdown) After I made the initially guy miss, Alshon (Jeffrey) threw a great block and then once I got by him it was just don t get caught. I was looking up at the Jumbotron and I saw them closing in and I gave them one swerve over to the right and I was lucky to get to the end zone. (On his second touchdown catch) The second one was just a great call. We installed it during the week. It s a simple pop pass, sell run, where we chip the defensive end and hopefully get linebackers or safeties to come up like on the run and then get behind the defense. Initially, I thought it was going to be dead in the water because of the way they lined up. And then we snapped the ball and the defensive end really didn t play anywhere. I was expecting him to shoot the gap on the goal line and he really didn t do what I thought he was going to do. So it was just a matter of getting off of him and finding a space in the back of the end zone. (On what it feels like after battling so many injuries and waiting so long) It s great. It s a great feeling. I m blessed to be in this position and to play here. We ve got a great team and a lot of weapons. You know, when other people are covered, they have to throw it to someone. You just have to make the play when it comes your way. (QB Jay Cutler trusting him as a receiver) We spend time with each other off the field so obviously we re starting to trust each other. We had a great week of practice. If we do that and it carries over to the game, that s the plan on how you do it. So, it s starting to get there and we ll keep building and keep working. (On the reasons why the Bears are having big plays) Jay (Cutler) made a couple of great checks. We had a third down run where he made a great check, I think it was Jeremy (Langford). I think it was third and ten or something, he ran up the left to get a big first down. And (Adam) Gase called an absolutely flawless game I thought. Late in the game where we re getting a short field and we re coming up with points, it was a matter of taking care of the ball. I think it was an all around good game from all three phases. (On the Bears play calling and how it feels) It s just confidence and we were able to keep them on their heels. We had a good mix of run and pass. Late in the game we got run heavy, but with the lead like that I think it s smart to do it and control the clock and put points up. They all matter so I think he (Gase) did a good job of being consistent and spreading it out. (On the overall season momentum changing for the Bears) I thought I could start to feel it three weeks ago, even when we had some of those close losses. It s a different feeling and we started to build a little more confidence. We didn t finish well in those weeks, but now we re getting to the point where we re starting to. At the beginning of the second half I thought we came out a little slow you don t want to come out and go three and out in a two minute drive. We took two minutes off the clock and punted it back to them. I would have liked to see us start faster in the second
half. But, to finish a game like that and still defensively get the ball back and then we were able to put up three, put up three, put up three as we move forward, I feel we re in a good position. We re in a good spot. Head Coach Jeff Fisher (Opening remarks) First off, I congratulate my close friend (Bears Head Coach) John Fox on the win. Not easy to do what he did, to go on a west coast trip, play Monday night, come back and on a short week, and get back on the road again. Those things are hard and teams in the last five years have been 2-7 in that. Their coaching staff did a nice job. I give them credit. We got outplayed, got out coached. We didn t play well. I m really disappointed. We just need to keep working. We had a few injuries, JB (OL Jamon Brown) doesn t look good, it looks like a lower leg fracture. So he ll probably be done. Then we had (OL) Rob (Havenstein) come out with a calf sprain, so we made some changes up on the offensive line. Nonetheless, it shouldn t be the reason that we lost the game. Two big plays on defense were kind of backbreakers. We had threeand-outs in the first opening drives of the last four weeks, which is not good. We spent some time on it. It was really good to get the ball in the end zone on the opening drive. I thought we were on our way, and then we give up the big play defensively, and then we just kind of battled back and forth. I ll take the fake punt, that s on me. I m trying to win the game. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don t, but that s our personality. You ve seen them work, you ve seen them be difference makers in games. But we ll keep going. We ve got to bounce back this week and go. (On if OL Jamon Brown s injury was because he fell awkwardly) You know what, I don t know. When I got over there he was in a lot of pain. It was on the interception return. He tried to make a tackle and in those particular situations, sometimes you get landed on in the back or get your foot caught in the turf. It s unfortunate for JB because he was off to a great rookie year. (On if he considered a quarterback change during the game or if he will moving forward) No. That s my choice, but no. I m just going to look at it. We have to play better around him (QB Nick Foles). I ll look and see how he played, but he was prepared. He had a great practice this week and he missed a couple of throws and we had a couple of drops. We ll look at it, but at this point, no. (On if Foles has lost any confidence) He s a confident, competitive person. He thought, with seven minutes left to go in the game, we were going to put two drives together and score. That s how he is and it s real. It s got some realness to it. It s not one of those things that you think how someone is supposed to act. I don t think confidence is an issue with him. (On if the first long touchdown by the Bears was a result of a missed tackle on the blitzing side) Yeah, we were in postdefense with single coverage and they got a block and we missed a tackle. You don t see that happen against our defense, and of course the screen pass as well. You don t see those big plays against our defense. Uncharacteristic of us today defensively. (On if any part of Bears RB Jeremy Langford s performance caught the Rams coaching staff off-guard) No. We really had respect for his play, including this game. We had him rated quite high coming out of the draft and we have respect for his ability. I think he had close to 150 all-purpose yards last week, so he s filling in for (Bears RB) Matt (Forte) really well and they re excited to have him. So no, we felt like he was one of those guys we had to contend with. (On if he feels like he should be past games like this at this point in his tenure with the Rams) Yeah, I don t like it. I don t like it. With four minutes to go in the game we had eight first downs. You can t win games like that. QB Nick Foles (On what happened to the offense after the fast start) We started out fast. That s what we ve been wanting to do. That s one of the things that we ve been harping on it. It just came down to too many penalties. Everybody had their fair share. I mean, we just didn t play well, didn t execute. It takes 11 guys on offense to execute. If one piece is out of whack, it s not going to work. We have a young group. We just have to continue to work on it, continue to be disciplined
in everything that we do. We just have to keep working. The Bears came in here and played a great game. I know they had a tough week and they came in here and beat us. It s as simple as that. (On how he thinks he performed) I mean, not good enough to win. We re not winning, so I have to keep working to get better, working to make sure offensively we get rolling. I feel good. Rhythm, I feel good dropping back, throwing, reading defenses - I feel good about it. But, I have to continue to play better. Part of being a quarterback is making the guys around you play better, understand. We as an offense just have to keep improving. Tomorrow, we ll go back in there, watch the film and look at it critically and improve on things. That s the game of football. We re 4-5 right now, and we have a team that will continue to work, continue to stick together and can t say any more than that. (On if he has any explanation for his high throws) No. I was just high on a few throws. To that, I just have to be more accurate. (On if he feels comfortable in the pocket right now) Yeah, I mean, I feel comfortable dropping and reading. Sometimes, things happen. Sometimes, guys get in and that s part of football. That s just stuff that we have to keep working on. (On if defensively the Bears threw anything at them that they weren t expecting) No. They did their stuff. They rotated their coverages at times. They brought different blitz s at times, but they stayed based to what they were doing. (On how he feels the team is gelling) I feel like gelling-wise, we re all brothers. There s no doubt in that. We re all brothers and we all stick together. There s no pointing fingers in situations like this, because it s easy to point fingers. But, when you re family and you re brothers and you have that atmosphere, there s going to be no pointing fingers because it s all of us. We re all going to continue to work together. We re going to push each other. We ll be back in tomorrow watching film and being around each other. That s what you want. We re fortunate to be able to play in the NFL, but on any level, you want that camaraderie. It s easy when things are going great, the bad stuff get (swept) under the rug, shoved under the rug. But, when things don t go how you want them to go, like today for instance, people want to complain about everything but there s no complaining in that locker room. Everybody s sticking together. I m proud to be a part of this organization. I m proud of my teammates for how they handle these situations and it builds character. The character of the team will continue to grow and we will improve. (On if he s frustrated with the way things are going in his first season as a Ram) Yeah, I mean, there s no written book on what s going to happen in the NFL. I mean, there s teams that have gone 1-15. We re 4-5. We have a really talented team. We have a lot of young players. Those aren t excuses. That s excitement. That s what I m excited about. We have guys that are going to continue to grow, that are going to continue to get better. These opportunities throughout my career games like this, situations like this, I look back at these moments like, Hey, that was that moment that built character in me. That made me the person I am, that made me the teammate I am. Even with teams that have been on, there s always that moment early on that you look at that moment like, Hey, without that moment, we wouldn t be the great team we are today. So, that s how you look at moments like this is, Hey, it s just a character building moment. That s all it is. Now, it s how you handle these situations from here on if your character s going to build or if you ll diminish. I know the guys in that locker room and they re going to continue to grow. (On if the team s mindset is to make a run these next few games with two tough losses back to back) Yeah, there s always that. That s the optimism in the guys. That s the optimism going around the locker room afterwards and everybody s staying positive. Absolutely. That s what we want. There s no giving up on this team. There never will be. With (Head) Coach (Jeff) Fisher, they re never going to give up. It s just back to work and keep pushing each other, keep improving, keep analyzing the film. We ll eventually get there. (On if he wants to ever lash out at his teammates for penalties) No. It s one of those things where you go back to it and, Hey, you have to be more disciplined. You have to trust your fundamentals. Especially not during the game, we have to move on to the next play. But, even now, it s like I know guys are fighting as hard as they can. It s just, Hey, what can we do in the next situation if this arises, whether if it s your hand placement or whatever, to do it right? That s how I lead.
I m not going to chew anyone out. I m not going to belittle anyone because those are my brothers. I m going to treat them with respect. I m going to keep it real with them, but I m always going to treat them with respect. (On the how he played with WR Wes Welker today) Wes is a pro. I mean, he s one of the craftiest receivers to ever play the game. So, I m excited about what he can do. As he and I go week to week, it s going to be fun just continuing to grow as quarterback and wide receiver. (On if he would expect to be further along as an offense than he is in Week 10) I mean, we are where we are. I ve never looked in advance what we would ve been or what we should ve been, because if you do that, your head s going to be spinning and good luck. We are where we are. What we need to do is we need to improve. We need to continue to run the ball well. We have (No.) 30 (RB Todd Gurley) back there and we also have (RB) Tre Mason and (RB) Benny Cunningham) and we have talented wide receivers. So, it s just coming down to, Hey, what can we do better? If we can get the ball out quicker, get the guys running. I know we had a couple quick passes that (WR) Brian Quick caught one and almost went to the house. So, it s stuff like that that we ll continue to improve on. We re all young and we re going to continue to keep working. RB Todd Gurley (On the team s fast start and why they couldn t maintain it) Like you said, it was downhill. We just didn t execute like we did that first drive. I don t know what we did, but we need to find a way to do what we did that first drive. (On if he was surprised at the way things went today) Oh yeah, man. It s just one of those (butt)-kicking losses that happen sometimes. You know you can t win them all. (On if the Bears did anything defensively that the team wasn t expecting) No. But like I said, they came ready to play and we didn t. (On if he thinks that teams are loading up defensively to stop him, specifically) No, I don t think that. (On if he ever did any hurdling during his track days) Yes. (On why he thinks he didn t get many touches after the first quarter) We were down. We were down by 14 points so there s no reason to keep running the ball when you re down. LB James Laurinaitis (On if he thought the team had turned the corner) Anything can happen in the NFL on Sunday, but I didn t expect this one today. (On what he saw on the two long touchdown plays) Just missed tackles, and that s something we ve been doing a really good job on. For whatever reason today, we got a phenomenal start from our offense. Then we came out thinking three-and-out and get the ball back and we can open this thing up, but two plays later they re in the end zone. (On if the Bears showed them anything they hadn t seen on film) No. Just a lack of execution from us. They showed us a lot, just when you have big plays like that, it s really hard to overcome those when they occur. When those happen and you get down big like that, they can do whatever they want with the football. That s what happened today. (On if he was surprised that things changed so much after the first drive) Oh yeah. I was surprised when that second play went to the house. I mean, we re a good tackling defense but for whatever reason today, that didn t show up. We have a lot of reflection to do, but that can only go on for 24 hours and then you got to move on. Yeah, this one hurts. (On if criticism of Nick Foles and the offense is fair) I can t worry about anything on that side of the ball. We have plenty of problems today on our side, so I can t really answer that.
(On why the lack of pressure on Jay Cutler hurt the defense) It felt like in the first half they were doing a good job on first and second down. We weren t doing very well on it, so it seemed like every third down was third-and-1 or thirdand-2. They can use their quick passing game or really run the ball for first downs. It really didn t allow us to get our pass rush going until the second half and at that point we were just scratching and clawing in the third quarter trying to get momentum, just trying to get a turnover. Unfortunately, that fumble came too late in the game to mean anything. We ll humble ourselves, which we need to do. We ll just look in the mirror and figure out, me personally, what can I do better and not worry about anyone else, but what can I do better to help our defense. Did I play to the capability that I can play? You just hope that the other guys on the squad do the same thing. S T.J. McDonald (On the Bears big plays) That s not us. That s not how we play. We ve got to tackle better. Everyone s just got to do the job. Wish we could have some of those back, but we can t. So, the only thing we can do is just build on it, look at it on film tomorrow. (On how they get it back after two tough losses) We only know how to work one way. We ve been through things before. We ve been through worse. We ll come back next week, work hard, try to get things right. The only thing we can do is just do your job and try to do it to the best of your ability. You ve got to put more time in the film room. That s just what we ve got to do, and we ll do that next week. (On if they thought they were beyond having a game like this as a team) No, I don t think in this league you can put anything past anybody. But, we definitely didn t walk in the building and expect it to go like this, but it did. It went that way and started going that direction. Not many positives you can take away from it, but we kept fighting. Had a good turnover at the end of the game. (S) Rodney (McLeod) forced a fumble. Just gave up too many plays at the end of the day. DT Michael Brockers (On how today felt) It hurt. Nobody likes to lose, especially this way and at home. It hurts. We ve just got to learn from our mistakes and fix it and move on to the next one. (On the loss) Like I said before, it hurts. There s nobody out here that s not trying to win. Everybody is trying to play hard. Everybody is trying to make plays. The ball s not rolling our way. We ve got to go back to practice and do what we ve been doing. We ve been coming to practice, grinding, practicing hard, enjoying it. We just didn t make the plays we needed to make today. (On what he thinks went wrong) I think they schemed us up very well. They made some plays. They get paid, too. They re OK to make plays. We ve just got to make sure we manage it and keep it to a minimum. You don t want two huge plays to the end zone, stuff like that. Defensively, we ve just got to fix the mistakes we made today and like I said before, move on to the next one. (On if that s as off balance as they ve been all season) Yeah, I think so. Defensively, just didn t look strong. They were making some big plays that usually before games, they wouldn t make. We ve got to look at the film first and foremost. But definitely fix the mistakes from the film. (On if he tips his hat to Bears QB Jay Cutler) Oh yeah, you definitely tip your hat. These guys are in the NFL, too. They made plays. They made the plays they were supposed to make and they made plays that killed us. Definitely hats off to them. We can fix our mistakes, too it might ve been a closer game.