Chicago Bears 25, Seattle Seahawks 24
PETE CARROLL: That was about as disappointing a loss as we've had. We were in control in so many ways to win it and put it away, and we just never did and let them stay alive, and they found a way to make their plays, and we had to do some stuff to give them that opportunity, and they took advantage of it, and give them credit. They've been struggling all year too, and it's a big win for those guys.
I feel like I have to do more. I feel at a time like this, I feel like I've got to find ways to help our guys more so we don't get in a situation where we can give them a chance. That's what I'm doing. I'm going to try to figure out how I can help and get us cleaner right down the stretch and win a football game and not give something up and the penalties that we did and all that kind of stuff. We have things we can do better. We have to do better. I'm asking them to do the same thing.
Q. Finishing as always been a point of pride for you and your team. There's been a lot of close games that haven't gone your way. Are you seeing any recurring theme or is it --
PETE CARROLL: Well, there are some occurrence of themes in that the time of possession happened again, third downs happened again. We did a lot of really good things. We ran the football really well today. We protected well today, and did some good things, but the fact that they get more first downs than us and it's 38-20 something, or whatever it was in the time of possession, that's been pretty constant, and that's not a good way to be playing.
I liked our balance that we were able to run the ball and mix it. We had a couple of good touchdown passes, but we still came out 3 out of 10 on third down again, which that's just not good enough execution. We've got to be better there. When you look at the other side of it, we went back to the old ways. We were 7 out of 14. We've been so much better than that throughout most of the year, and then to come back to that really pissed me off because that's not the way we want to play.
Q. Eight minutes to go, third and four, down in the end zone there. Russell takes a 13-yard sack. You miss a field goal. Seems like everything went off the rails there for you. Your thoughts through that whole sequence?
PETE CARROLL: That's a situation right there that did give them a chance to shift it and the momentum of it. In that situation that third down in field goal range to go up by ten, we've got to get rid of the football. We can't take a sack there, and we need to look at what happened on that play.
Again, that's what I'm talking about. I've got to get that done. I've got to get them to execute that way. I've got to get Russ to pull that off. I've got to get the coaches to make sure we reminded him well enough so that didn't happen. You sail out it out of the end zone right there, kick the field goal. I don't know what yard line we were on, but --
Q. The play was from the 8th.
PETE CARROLL: 8 yard line. So it was as short as you can get on the field goal. That's as makeable as can be, and then we've got to hit the field goal too. That's part of the thinking and mentality that we practice that stuff all the time, and we just didn't do that. There was a clear situation where we gave them an opportunity to get some momentum from us.
Q. Beside the third down, what did you feel like the defensive issues were in the second half?
PETE CARROLL: Well, they did a couple of things. They didn't run the ball at all in the first half, and then they got a couple of runs going on us on a couple of nice little plays that they ran. That was the difference that they did run the ball a little bit. I think they ran for 20 yards or 22 yards or something in the first half. We didn't want that to happen. When we went be into the third quarter trying to make sure we didn't give up any running game and let them them get any momentum to get back where they could balance out their stuff, and we didn't pull that together. That was the intent as we we went on the field in the third quarter, and we didn't execute well enough for get that done.
Q. Your passing game in the second half, D.K. got involved a lot early and not so much kind of as the game wore on. Were they doing some things, or what was -- on offense.
PETE CARROLL: Wasn't good enough. Wasn't good enough.
Q. You mentioned the running game. For Rashaad to not just put up these numbers, but it was four games in a row of having a pretty big workload. Just for him to be out there week after week, what does that show you?
PETE CARROLL: There's no doubt he is a factor. He looked like big-time running the football today, and he busted a number of different types of runs and hit some different style runs that were great to see him break tackles and get out, and that's a ton of yards for him to get in that game. I don't know if it was seven yards a carry or something like that, whatever it was. It's really great to have him back. He is legit.
Q. Talk to me about that 32-yard run by Penny. Gets you down to the 8th. I don't know if you know this. He came off the field. Do you know what the reason for that was? Was he just tired? The drive stalled after he came out.
PETE CARROLL: I think he was gassed after the run. I was hollering at him too, but he needed to come out.
Q. You were hollering at him --
PETE CARROLL: Yes, I was trying to get him to go back in, but he had something. I didn't ask him what it was.
Q. How did you feel like John Reid handled stepping up to the cornerback spot?
PETE CARROLL: John was surviving tonight, and they gave him plenty of work. They did the right thing. At the end they were going on John, and we had zone on them. We kind of knew what was coming, but Jimmy made a nice play, and you've got to give him credit. Great throw, too.
Q. Are you surprised --
PETE CARROLL: Was the guy inbounds on the extra point?
Q. (Inaudible)
PETE CARROLL: I can never see it.
Q. Are you surprised they haven't responded either to you or to the situations or you say --
PETE CARROLL: I'm taking it the other way. Greg, I'm taking it like I need to do better. I'm not calling players for not responding. I have to respond better. I've got to do more for them and help them more so. Maybe that's coach's ego or whatever, but I don't mind holding myself to that kind of accountability, and I've just got to find a way, and I'm expecting our other coaches and the players to do the same thing where everybody gives it everything they have to give us every shot to be as good as we can possibly be, and it starts with me.
Q. Is that in preparation or during game or --
PETE CARROLL: I'm going across the whole. I have to do better. I can't let that happen. I don't even recognize games like this. I don't even know what to tell you.
Q. I know they were on a short week as well. On the short week, how did you guys feel? Like you were physically --
PETE CARROLL: No factor. No factor. I think we made it out. I don't have a name for you, so we were very fortunate. That's where you can see coming back early, the guys make it and get banged up. We got out of here pretty clean, I think, for the most part.
Q. Thoughts on Carlos Dunlap? He has five sacks in five days right now.
PETE CARROLL: He has just turned it up. The play is similar. It's all power. He is rushing with great power, and he is finding his ways to break the pocket down regardless of what side he is on or who he is going against. It's a fantastic surge by him here late in the season.
Q. Rasheem Green has had a really strong finish here, too. Five quarterback hits and two sacks today.
PETE CARROLL: Yeah, it's great to see. He has had such a good year in so many ways, but consistently we move him all over the place. He plays everywhere. He has taken to all of the roles that we've given him. You can see, if you remember, when Carlos got going a year ago, other guys also picked up. Our pass rush really shifted, and I think they're feeding off of one another like good pass rush does. The last couple of weeks these guys were really going.
Q. Has Rashaad Penny put himself back in plans for next year the way he has played this past month?
PETE CARROLL: I don't think he was ever out of plans. We were just trying to get him back. I don't know what you mean by that, Greg.
Q. I just mean his contract is ending after this year.
PETE CARROLL: I don't even know where we are in that. He looks really good. He looks really good playing ball, and we need him on our team.
Q. Jason Myers has missed a few kicks, I guess, the last --
PETE CARROLL: Yeah, I don't know, man. I don't know why that's happened a couple of times this season that Jay hasn't hit his stuff. He is a fantastic athlete and a great competitor and a great worker and all of that. It's too bad. We should have made -- that should have been from the 25 yard line, whatever that was, that field goal. He still should make those. He makes them in his freaking sleep. He is really, really good, so it's unfortunate.
Q. At the end of the half you guys got the stop and chose not to use a time-out there.
PETE CARROLL: I know you were going to ask about that one. There's a debates there on how you want to do it. Do you want to use your time-out and save as many seconds on the clock in that regard or have the time-outs in our back pocket so we can dictate how we manage the drive? We chose to do it that way. We often do that. That's to give us those time-outs that are so precious when you need them right down the stretch there, and we just decided to go that way. You could blow the time-outs and get 1:50, but then you can't stoop the clock either. That's the way we've chosen to do it. It's just a different way of looking at it. It's not like we didn't think of it, just so you know.
Q. You had a fourth down at their 43 at the end of the third quarter. Did you think about going for that one at all? You punted it in, and they --
Q. Fourth and four.
PETE CARROLL: Yeah, we did talk about that. We went through the whole thing and decided to kick them deep and play defense.
Q. You may have been asked this already, but preparing for Foles when you hadn't seen him start a game, was that any sort of factor not having seen any film on him?
PETE CARROLL: He kind of did what Nick does. He makes plays, and he came through for them. He was under duress. We were rushing well. We had coverage on guys, but when it came down to it, he has been a playmaker throughout his career, and he did it today. The throw to Jimmy and the throw on the two-point conversion was ridiculously perfect. He did it. We had guys around him when it happened, too. Got to give him credit. That's not a surprise that Nick makes plays like that. He has been doing it, and I was worried about the fact that he was coming in the game when we got that just knowing and having respect for the game that he has always been able to present. He has always come through in a lot of difficulty situations. Give him credit.
Q. Do you feel like you guys need to rebuild after this season?
PETE CARROLL: I don't know. I can't -- we're just going through this week. That's all we're doing. We're talking about this week.
Q. At this point when you see the games with the time of possession ending up where they are on a week in, week out basis. I think it's 38th or 21 this week. How puzzling does that end up being to you?
PETE CARROLL: It's really easy to see. It's just third downs. That's how it goes. You give them another drive when you don't get off the field, and I think we had at least one penalty on third down that gave them a first down, but that's what that is telling you. They get restarted. It's almost like a turnover in a sense. They get to go again. Particularly when you have chances to get off because we had some plays to be made when we made the tackle and get off the field. They kick the football, and they did a nice job of getting to the sticks, and there were three of those I think in the game, and that's the difference. Those three plays. And those three plays they go sit down and instead the clock rolls again, and they get four, five more minutes, and that's how you do it.
Q. You opened it saying there was as disappointing a loss as you have had. Why do you feel that way?
PETE CARROLL: Just because it was just our game to be had. It was our game to be had. We had the opportunity to win this football game and didn't do it.
Q. Do you feel like before this game you guys were all but eliminated from playoff contention -- do you feel like the engagement and the effort is there from the players at this point of the season?
PETE CARROLL: Yeah. Absolutely. Look how hard they played. They played hard the whole time, and we're clawing to get a win the whole time.
Q. Whey weren't Alex and Kerry active today? Alex Collins, Kerry? They're off the COVID list. Are they injured?
PETE CARROLL: Kerry wasn't ready. He wasn't ready to play. He wasn't physically ready to play even though he came back. He tried to work out yesterday, and he didn't feel right to play, so that was not really a choice. Then Alex, he just got back, and we just need to make sure that he is back all the way.
Q. How --
PETE CARROLL: It's a combination of things.
Q. How did the snow affect the game, if at all?
PETE CARROLL: I don't think it did. It was more of a factor in warmups. It was more snow there and more of a factor then. The guys kept field clean and did a really good job throughout, so it wasn't even a factor.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports