CHICAGO BEARS POSTGAME QUOTES SUNDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2015 HEAD COACH JOHN FOX (Opening statement) Just on the injury front, Eddie Goldman left the game with an ankle [injury] and did not return. Matt Forte left the game with a back [injury] and did not return. (On the importance of the defensive takeaways today) It s one of the more critical statistics other than winning or losing. I think we were plus-three on the day. I think all of them were rookies. Jonathan Anderson was responsible for one, [John] Timu recovered [two] and then Harold Jones-Quartey had the one interception that was key. That was down in minus territory. Those are always big, to be on that side of the turnover margin and that helped us win today. (On if he knew players would show up to play this week after the tough loss last week) As I told you, I never had any doubts. This team has responded pretty well. Last week was not one of our better performances. They knew it better than any of us standing here. I like the way they responded. The game didn t start real smooth [Tampa Bay] blocked the punt that went in for an early touchdown. But our guys just kept clipping away and I liked our toughness. (On safety Harold Jones-Quartey) He s a guy that obviously we thought well enough of to pick up late in the claiming process. He did play and start earlier in the season. Chris Prosinski stepped in, did a good job, kind of owned the spot for a minute and then it was time to give Harold another shot. I thought he did good. (On what he saw that made him name Jones-Quartey the starter again) He had zip. He was fresh. This part of the season, you get worn down a little bit. It s a long season. But he had a great week of preparation. I saw him improve. He got better just in practice. We get to watch him every day. So I was proud of the young man and the way he performed. I know it was a great pick. He played the ball well on that one. He ll just continue to get better. (On the key to eliminating penalties and other mistakes on offense) Well, we made the same penalties. [On two of the first three] possessions, we had three holding penalties, so I think we just did a better job overcoming them, responding to negative stuff. Penalties are always hard. (On the limits to the passing game when without a downfield threat for third downs) It s not new to us. It s not the first opportunity that we ve had in that situation. Like I ve said, Jay [Cutler] has done a great job. He doesn t care who s out there. Our coaching staff has done a great job of getting guys ready spur of the moment. Eddie Royal is sick today not really, really sick so he was in and out of there. It wasn t an injury, but he was pretty sick. Other than that, it s kind of a tribute to our players. They just keep handling it and don t look for excuses. It s next man up and they always keep fighting for it. (On eclipsing last year s win total) We feel it; those guys feel it. We re getting there. We need to improve, they know it, but they re still trying to finish this year well and we ve got one more game to try to avoid a double-digit losing season. (On who is to blame for the blocked punt) I don t really call guys out. I ll just say we didn t execute very well. QUARTERBACK JAY CUTLER
(On what changes in the offense without a deep threat like Alshon Jeffrey) Yeah, it s difficult, especially against a defense like this where we re going to be a lot of Cover 2, keep things in front of them when they re playing single high. So we knew going into this game it was going to kind of be a dink and dunk. We get some plays on the outside to get them, but we wanted to rub the ball efficiently and try to get in the fourth quarter and make some plays. (On his mindset going into this game and knowing he can t be too aggressive) Yeah, I practiced against this defense enough, you kind of just have to have that going into it, and a play caller has to do a good job of putting us into that position. I think Adam [Gase] did all day long, not getting greedy at all and just saying, Hey, we re going to be methodical and just kind of, if it s boring, it s boring. That s how we have to do it. (On if it is frustrating not being able to pass downfield) We didn t have a lot of opportunities, anyway, coverage wise, the two times we got man, it was kind of the end of the game, we were trying to burn up the clock a little bit, so we just weren t getting a lot of opportunities even if we wanted to, to be honest with you. (On what made a difference this game) I don t know, it s not a significant amount I think that s going to make that big of a difference, and there s so many new guys on this team, so much turnover, in a good way. I think Ryan [Pace] and John [Fox] are doing a great job at putting the right guys in this locker room. The coaching staff is doing a good job at putting us in position each and every week, we just have to continue to get better. (On keys to eliminating the amount of penalties this game) Being patient, harping on it every day at practice. In that first quarter we put ourselves in a few holes, we had a few holdings that kind of hurt us a little bit, but for the most part it was a pretty clean game. Against a defense like this, that s how you have to play. Second-and-long, third-andlong, against a Lovie [Smith]-type defense, it s not going to go very well. (On his emotions after being intercepted but having the ball returned due to a penalty) I came off and I was like, Yeah I m not throwing a screen until 2016, I m done with screens, and you got to laugh at that, then you see the flag and you don t really know what it s for. Usually you don t get that break, so to get that turned around, I think we went down and scored after that, that s a huge break for us. (On running the ball efficiently) Going into it we knew we were going to have to. We didn t do a lot of play action, because we didn t have a lot of opportunities with the coverage they were playing. We knew it was going to be a run the ball, hopefully get 5 yards a carry, maybe bust a few and maybe dink and dunk and make some plays on third down and that s what the guys did. (On minimizing mistakes and how to credit that) We ll take a look at it at the end of the year. I mean obviously the numbers are down, so there has to be improvement. I don t think it s solely on me, though, with the guys around me, with Adam [Gase] and Dowell [Loggins], they deserve a lot. They deserve as much credit as I do. (On using the tailbacks to make plays) Just getting some more dynamic playmakers back there, be able to give it to the first guy, the deep guy, we had a play action to Ka Deem [Carey] that came off of it, so the more dynamic guys you have on the field, the better, so that s just kind of what we re trying to do. (On Tampa Bay s defensive line) Played well, [Gerald] McCoy is really good. They got a few other guys 54 [Lavonte David] can fly around. Played a lot of base coverages, didn t blitz that much, so blocking the front four which
panned out for us, I think we kind of wore them down as the game went on with our tempo. Kind of helped our running game. (On center Hroniss Grasu) I knew he had that in him. That s nothing new, he s such a tough player. He takes things really personal out there, it s extremely important to him, which is what you want, you want more guys like that in our locker room. (On wide receiver Marc Marini s big play) I was thinking throw. We were actually working left, didn t like it, we got a lot of depth over there, so I kind of stepped up and Marc [Marini] was going down the middle of the field in flash for me, and just put it on him. It was a huge play for us, guys just being in the right spot. (On the mentality of the team going into this game) I thought we had a really good week of practice, but we have had other good weeks of practice and it didn t convert to Sunday, so you never know. We got a lot of young guys, we got a lot of new guys in and out. With Alshon [Jeffrey] being out, Eddie [Royal] being doubtful, you just never know how it s going to go. Our whole offensive line kind of set the tone. Adam [Gase] did a good job at play calling for us, and just kind of keeping us in rhythm, not letting us get out of control. Defense, I think, stepped up, they played great that second half, forced some turnovers, gave us some short fields, and a good team win for us. (On the familiarity of playing against Tampa Bay s defense from his years with Lovie Smith) Yeah, just going against them at practice all the time, you know where their soft spots are, you know how to attack it, and they played true to their colors. They played their defense, and we stayed in the rhythm, didn t really have penalties. We did all the things that typically we have to do against a defense to win football games. RUNNING BACK KA DEEM CAREY (On being the unexpected star of the game, given Tampa Bay s Doug Martin) [Doug Martin] was having a decent game, but our defense came out ready for him. (On showing that a three running back system works) We definitely showed that three backs is definitely better than one. Everybody did their job and we got the win. (On whether he has had fun the past few weeks with his carries) It s been fun, definitely. Just seeing the coaches grow more trust in me and just going out there and making plays for my team. The line did their thing. It s been a journey so far this year. (On being given opportunities to get in the end zone) That s definitely the goal. Like I said, there s one yard there and if you can t get that one yard, they re going to have to find a fullback or somebody else to get it. I had to make sure I was getting in there. (On his touchdown run) Jerm (Jeremy Langford) hit the dive with it against Detroit for his first touchdown, so we put it back in the playbook and Jerm had a little success, so we put him in the backfield for the defense to get a little trickery, and then I just slide in there. LINEBACKER JOHN TIMU (On rookies taking it upon themselves to make a name for themselves)
We don t really think about us being rookies going out there playing. It s just a matter of a team, a Chicago Bears team, each having each other s back, and going out there being well prepared and executing well. Some of those big plays they had but majority of the game we did our jobs and did our jobs well. (On having success with takeaways today) It was a big emphasis. Each week is a big emphasis on taking the ball away. If we can do that as a defense, it s creating more possessions for the offense, the chance of winning just goes up. The more we can do that, the better we are as a team. (On getting to play the last two weeks after only practicing) I mean it felt great, but that went over my head a long time ago. To be out there, I just want to make this team the best that it can be and if it includes me then so be it. If it doesn t, then so be it also. But I m just going in, preparing very well so these guys know the answers to the test and go out there and just go grab a win. (On if he was just in right place at right time for his two fumble recoveries) Yeah, I think so. I just did the last part, get the ball. The defense did a great job of taking it out, I was just there in the right place at the right time, grabbing the ball and celebrating with my teammates. (On if it s an important factor to always be around the ball) Yeah, that s always an emphasis from day one in camp. Guys got to run to the ball because you never know what happens. In this case, we had a couple balls end up on the ground and I happened to be around there, so you just got to grab it so you can celebrate with your teammates. SAFETY HAROLD JONES-QUARTEY (On what skills he worked on to return to the field) Just prepare better. Just being a rookie, trying to figure how to prepare is a lot different than college. Listening to the old guys, watching the old guys and just taking everything they say and produce. I m trying to make plays out there that will help us win. (On transitioning from college to the professional level) I was at a little All-Star game, there wasn t many guys. I had a tryout at Arizona, made the team, got cut from the 53-[man roster]. They wanted to put me on the practice squad. Ryan Pace and those guys brought me in here and that s how my journey went. (On if a team picking him up make him feel wanted) For sure, for sure. Ryan talked to me and you know we have a good relationship. He talked to me when I first got here, told me what he wanted and I m just glad to get the opportunity. (On which All-Star game he attended) Gridiron Showcase, it was a small one out in Austin Texas, I think. Yeah, for sure. Coming from a small school, it s not easy to make the NFL, so every time you get an opportunity you ve got to kind of push your body out there and kind of play your heart off and that s what try to do every time my number is called. (On his forced fumble) I saw him run, I saw him cutting back, you know he s a tough runner, he s very strong. Coach has been preaching on it all day, just to come out there and put it on the line for your brothers and your teammates and that s what I tried to do out there. (On if he and other first-year players have has graduated from being rookies)
The vets probably wouldn t say that, but no we still got one more game left. We re still learning and we re still trying to be better pros every single day. (On where his swagger comes from) My swagger? It s just the confidence that I have to carry. I mean, I ve been an underdog all my life. Small-school guy I ve played against big time guys and I m not afraid, so I ve got to do something to make them know that timid out there. (On emphasis coach had wanting secondary to make more plays) Big-time emphasis. Coach Sam Garnes is our safeties coach and he preaches that every day. Take the ball out when you re running. When you see a running back you ve got to come strip the ball. That s just our chance to flip the game. Turnovers are huge and coaches have been preaching that all week and I think we came out there and executed. GUARD MATT SLAUSON (On the message in locker room coming off of three straight losses) Focus, because a lot of our issues over the last couple of weeks have been mental breakdowns. It s been us beating ourselves. So the message of the week has been Tighten up, focus more on the details. That way we don t get the holding calls, the false starts, whatever else that causes our drives to stop. We still had a couple penalties today but to clean that up, it ended up not being a huge issue for us. (On having three running backs that each get carries) It is rare. The only other time I have experienced that was my third year at the Jets. LaDainian Tomlinson, Shonn Green and Bilal Powell, so a pretty good group of three there. But it is rare, and all three of those guys run tremendously hard. (On mixing in fresh runners help offensive line) Oh yeah. And we can t afford to think about what back is in and what their style is. We re just going to block the way we block and they re running with their heads down and they re trying to find contact and that s great. (On liking physicality in the run game) I think all across the board, the whole team, it was easy to see guys were flying around trying to hit. They wanted to show Tampa our physicality. LINEBACKER PERNELL MCPHEE (On the feel of getting three turnovers on defense) It felt awesome man, it was a blessing man. It just came with the excitement leading into the game. It just made all of us go out there and just play. (On rookies making plays) It was awesome. We ve got talent all around the field and we have a lot of young guys that have talent and it showed today. The two inside linebackers played a lot, the two rookie safeties. We have some special young talent on this team. (On rookies showing up today) That s what we need. When people lock in on older guys, we need the young guys to step up. And they did it all year. They answered the bell. It was fun out there today. (On importance on ending losing streak) It was real important. I don t want to go into the offseason with double digit losses. So it s something at least positive we say at least we didn t go in with double digit losses. It s something we can build
on, especially ending the season with two wins. Of course we ve got to go get the one next week, but that s just going to be something to build on, momentum and strive for the best next year. ###
TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS POSTGAME QUOTES SUNDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2015 HEAD COACH LOVIE SMITH (Opening statement) I thought we would play a lot better than we did today. It s tough to win when you do some of the things we did out there turnovers, starting off with that. Two fumbles, one really put them in position, we threw an interception in the end zone. It s tough duty. We had momentum early. That penalty when we got the interception really put us on our heels and we never really recovered after that. [I] have to give them credit. They controlled the ball. They had 15 or so more minutes [of possession]. It s going to be tough to win when you play ball like that. As far as the reason why, we had a lot of reasons to play well. I thought we practiced well. I thought we were prepared, but again, normally you have a loss when you play like that. (On if quarterback Jameis Winston was trying to throw a touchdown or throw the ball away when the ball was intercepted) I can t tell you. You can t throw it, period. He wasn t trying to throw it to them, for sure. Bad play on our part. (On having lost three games in a row at the end of the season) Well we re disappointed [about this game]. We re going to talk about this one right now. We re not going to talk about our wins that we had before. We re just going to talk about this loss. That s disappointing because we are a lot better football team than that. What it says about our team is that if you turn the ball over like that and you make a couple critical mistakes on the other end, you have an outcome like that. Let s not group it all together. This is a better football team. Today we didn t play our best ball. Let s keep them separate. (On running back Doug Martin s two fumbles and if that s the part of his game he needs to improve) Yes, but that s not something he s done a lot of lately. Doug Martin has had an outstanding season. He didn t play his best ball today. That s why we just have to look at it like that. Some days you just don t have it and it really put our team in a whole, simple as that. It s about us bouncing back next week. That s the taste that we ll have in our mouths of how we play our last football game. This one won t be it. (On if he is surprised about how Chicago was able to run the football) Yes I am. They shouldn t be able to. We weren t set up in a lot of situations where we couldn t stop the run. We should play the run a lot better than that, yes. (On not having a takeaway) We got one and a penalty stopped us, but on record right now we don t have enough, No, [I] don t know the answer why. It s more than just putting an emphasis on it. It s not like we had a lot of opportunities to intercept the ball. They just haven t come for whatever reason. It s something we ll have to continue to try to figure out. (On the Bears defense holding Martin to 49 rushing yards) These questions you re asking, we would have done something about it out there if we knew why. We just have to give them the credit for how they played. These are normally situations where everyone has tried to stop our running game all year and we continued to [run the ball] and we had success doing it. Whatever the reason was today, we were unable to get it done. Again, I m just going to say that it was good play on their part. (On tackle Demar Dotson starting over Gosder Cherilus) Demar is a good football player. It s not like he lost his job or anything like that. Circumstances didn t let him get a lot of reps this season and we wanted to give him a long look this week. We ll
never put someone in the starting lineup if we feel like there is going to be a major drop-off. That s why we went with him today. (On if he was concerned about Winston s health after the hit he took on the long pass to tight end Cameron Brate) Not very concerned. I mean if he wasn t able to go we would have kept him out. You re going to take some hits. I think any time a quarterback takes a solid hit you re going to feel it a little bit. It s not like there s a threat of injury or anything like that when we put him back out there. He was good to go. (On Winston s performance today and if he progressed) Yes, right now we re talking about today. It s not a great taste in our mouth on how any of us played today, but yes. Jameis is our future and our future is bright. He is one of the reasons why our future will play out that way. Again, right now there s disappointment and that s about it. (On Winston trying to make a play when throwing an interception on the goal line) I think there s a big difference when you throw [a pass] like Cameron Brate s when you throw it up. That s a good punt. It s a little different when you are in the red zone and you have at least a field goal right there. Circumstances will allow you to be a little more aggressive. That wasn t one of them. QUARTERBACK JAMEIS WINSTON (On the third quarter interception and if he was just trying to make a play in the end zone) You said it. Trying to get somebody to make a play in the end zone. (On the play of running back Doug Martin) He s still the best back in the NFL, and you better believe it. (On if the past three weeks have taken away the momentum from when the team was 6-6) We ve just got to bounce back. It s the NFL; sometimes this stuff happens. Obviously, we don t want it to happen to us, but it happened. We ve got to be accountable and every one of those games, it s our fault. You can pick two or three plays to say, This could ve changed the game, and that s what this game comes down to and that comes in my development as a quarterback, especially today just making the throw. If you want to be great, if you want to have a great team, you ve got to make every single play count. (On what he learned from today s game) It s just another game of football. We ve got to make plays. That s been the same thing with us the whole year. Got to make plays, can t turn the football over. We didn t take care of the football today, especially me, and we ve got to bounce back. We ve got to learn from that, got to play against the best team in the league next week. (On how he felt after being hit on the 46-yard completion to tight end Cameron Brate) I was great. I was happy that Cam made a heck of a play. I looked back at the ref; I mean, I don t know how many times you re going get hit to the head and [aren t] going to get a call, but that s how it is. That s how it is. People playing hard, we re playing fast, and I ve just got to lock in and can t turn the football over in the red zone. That s it that s all on me. (On if he thought there was a late hit) I mean, I thought it was but I m not a ref. I can t speak on them. [The Bears] did a great job today, and we can t let other people determine the outcome of the game. As a player, my job is to play football. Their job is to do what they do. (On his 43-yard touchdown pass to Austin Seferian-Jenkins at the end of the game)
It just shows the personnel that we have. Austin made two big catches for us today and he wanted it. He went up there and boxed the guy out and made the play. He s a great player and that s what he does. (On if completing deep passes is something he wants to work on in the offseason) That s something that I work on every day at practice, and that s what I was just talking about making the plays. If I want to be good in this league I have to make those throws, and the good quarterbacks in the league make those throws and complete those throws. So, like I said, that s a learning tool for me. I ve got to make those throws. When you ve got Mike Evans, and arguably one of the fastest guys on our team [Donteea Dye] wide open, you ve got to put it in the bread basket and those have got to be touchdowns. (On if there was a mix-up of the cadence with center Joe Hawley who had a couple bad snaps ) He had one bad snap because he s out there working his tail off and he s sweating and going against 300-pound linemen and he sweats a little bit. We are playing in Tampa Bay so it gets kind of humid. I think the field, actually, the way they put the ball, guys chopped up grass everywhere so I commend him on the snaps that he does make. Is that one bad snap on the year? I think it is. It s the game of football, some things happen. You can t learn from that, but he s not going to do it again. That s just a freak thing. (On facing the 14-1 Carolina Panthers next week) I mean, we ve just got to win. I want this team to win. Any time somebody s talking about someone losing, they re happy that somebody s losing, I want to be on that side of the field and I think we re capable of that. They re having a great year, so one loss I guarantee you, they re not worried about that. They re going to come and try to take our heads off like they ve been playing well all year, so we ve got to come and compete. That s the mentality that we have to change here at Tampa Bay. We want people to be talking about, Oh, did you know Tampa Bay lost today? and be happy that we lost. You know, that s a good thing, because that means that we re winning a lot of games. So, when we get to that point where people are happy that we re losing games, I think we re going to be set. We re going to be in the playoffs and we re going to be winning a lot of games. (On what Chicago was doing defensively to cause Tampa Bay s struggles on third down) When you re trying to convert on third-and-15, third-and-20, it makes the level of difficulty hard. And that situation, we beat ourselves. We had two penalties that hurt us. Thank God for Mike [Evans] making a great play, knocking that ball that I threw straight to the dude, but it hurts our chances when we re trying to convert from third-and-15, third-and-20. We ve been a great third down team for the year. These last three weeks we haven t converted on third down over 50 percent we lost the last three games. I take full responsibility for that. We ve got to convert, but we also can t hurt ourselves and put ourselves in those situations. (On the play of running back Charles Sims) You all can attest to me, every time I m in here and you all talk about Doug [Martin] and Doug having a great game, the next thing that comes out of my mouth is Charles Sims is a great complement to Doug Martin. Those two guys make our team go. When they re playing a great game, we re doing good. On that drive, it was Doug and Charles Sims. That s our identity. We give everybody the ball, everybody has to make plays for us, I have to be on top of my game the offensive line, they ve been solid the whole year. So it s up to me and the skill [players] to help us move and win the games. (On Sims 50-yard touchdown reception) He s going to make the catches. Cam Brate, same thing. That s why [offensive coordinator] Coach Koetter, he tells me, Let these guys make plays, and that s why it goes back to the deep balls. I ve got to give them a chance to make a play for us.
DEFENSIVE END WILLIAM GHOLSTON (On what the defense needs to do to improve) We really just got to execute when we need to and make the plays that we got. [There were] a couple balls in there that we didn t catch or sometimes we didn t stop the run from gaining too many yards. (On if his interception being nullified by penalty took the air out of the defense s sails) I don t think so, I think we got quite a few three-and-outs once we got our adjustments in. (On if the defense executed its game plan early) There s a lot of things that we could have done better, as far as our game plan. We did follow it through, we did make some key stops and we did get our hands on to bat some stuff down a couple times. We need to capitalize more. (On how tough it is to lose the home finale) We just have to give [the fans] something good to watch, let them know that next year is going to be different. Next year, we are going to try to push with our momentum. Today we didn t take the win home. (On how frustrated it is to have penalties or the three turnovers and allowing the opponent to score) Like I was saying early, we have to capitalize when we get the ball. We got to get the ball out and that s something that our defense preaches, to get the ball out. (On the Bears running backs three running backs) All three of them are good backs and they schemed us just like we schemed them and sometimes they made the play when we should have made the play. RUNNING BACK CHARLES SIMS (On his 50-yard touchdown reception) Jameis did a great job scrambling and I just made a [guy] miss. (On how disappointing it was with three losses in a row after being 6-6) Really disappointed, just got to finish man (On his touchdown) I was just making a play. Jameis did a great job with, it was a good ball, and I just made a play on the ball. WIDE RECEIVER MIKE EVANS (On the team performance) We are a young team; we will be good in the future. (On not winning the home finale) We wanted to get a win, send our fans off with something good for next year. We wanted to quadruple our win total from last year, but that won t happen. We won t finish with a winning record or.500 so we were disappointed. DEFENSIVE END GERALD MCCOY (On the loss putting a damper on a promising season)
Kind of, it s not how we wanted to finish. We definitely wanted to finish with momentum. We have an opportunity to finish next week with a win, but you get one more home game, get the chance to give the fans a good taste in their mouth and that s how you finish? It just goes to show we are not where we want to be yet. (On the interception that was nullified by penalty) It was a screen, I was able to get some pressure, tip the ball and Will Gholston made a great play. It s kind of what we been all year. We shoot ourselves in the foot with penalties. (On the focus of the defense winning the turnover margin) Coach always shows the turnover margin and how huge it is. You go plus-three, you have a 95 percent chance of winning the game, so there it is right there. (On Doug Martin having a subpar day) That s the NFL, it happens. He s resilient, but it s our job as his teammates to make sure we hold him up. As dominant as he been all year, you have one bad day, there is no reason to hold his head. That just shows you re human. We re all human, we all have our moments and our time. One bad game doesn t define it. RUNNING BACK DOUG MARTIN (On the frustration of fumbling twice) Right now it feels like a bad dream. That s out of character for me to fumble the ball twice in one game. I m embarrassed. It is frustrating. The stage was set for the rushing title, Pro Bowl and all that. I let the team down. I let the team down. (On if turnovers cost them the game) Definitely, turnovers is why we couldn t win the game. I think we had three turnovers. We can t do that and win games. We emphasize that all the time. It s easier to say that than do it. We just have to keep on practicing on not turning the ball over. (On if the Bears defense was making an effort to strip the ball) The two fumbles that I had were helmet-to-ball contact, but that s still no excuse. I still have to keep it tight to my body. They were doing what every defense does, strip the ball. (On if he is shocked that he had two fumbles when fumbling has not been a problem for him) I am in shock. Like I said, I had everything to play for this game. I feel like I let the team down. It s a tough one to swallow. We re going to prepare for the Panthers next game. ###