Bears - 27, Seahawks - 11
COACH CARROLL: Man, there just seems to be so many lessons for us right here. We have a big list. And there's some really obvious things, just trying to win a football game, that the penalties and the special teams, the gimmes, the hundred yards in returns, something like that, setting up scores and all. It's really hard to win when you play like that. It's hard enough anyway. So there's big lessons.
I have to really zero in on the guys that are having the problems, like Charles had problems on the line of scrimmage in this game, four penalties on procedure penalties and stuff that you can obviously clean up, little different situations. But we have to get that out of your football. You can't play football like that. It's bad.
And so we'll learn a lot here. I'm not going to make any bellyaching about turning it around for Thursday night. We have to do that during the season. This is what you have to do and we have to do it better than we did, regardless what the travel was or whatever. That's no excuse.
You have to get it done and both teams have to play fast. We'll learn from this.
You saw that a lot of guys didn't play again tonight. And we're still working our way through that. We'll figure out what happens for us this week coming up. So one of the things I have to evaluate is where are the errors coming from and how meaningful is it.
Our leverage on the return game is really bad in special teams for two weeks in a row. I don't remember us ever looking like that. So there's some things that -- some things and some people, there will somebody changes. And we'll make those decisions as we go.
We finally have a really cool week. This is a full week for us. We can get prepared and have good practices and get our work done and really take our time getting through the week and the installation of the game plans and all that. So we'll really appreciate how that works. And then we'll come back after that with some really good time we need. We need every minute of it.
The thing I have to stay up on is, where are we going. And I know that a lot of the guys that are not playing would be making some really nice plays for us. They'll be making some tackles and some hits and some catches. And we're counting on those guys.
But otherwise you look at the game. It was not a great game for us at all, in any way. I will say this. The defense did a nice job. They hung in there pretty tough, didn't give up a lot of yards, did pretty good on third down. Three explosives for the night. Nice little stand down there on the 1-foot line, which is great. But all in all, we gotta get better in a lot of areas.
Q. How is --
COACH CARROLL: D Luke (phonetic) came out, is that what you're asking? D Luke, we're very fortunate. He had a lateral ankle sprain out of the deal. Got rolled up on and all that. All the X-rays and stuff were negative. Very fortunate there. He was upbeat about that a little bit. Maybe surprised by the results but we're thrilled by it as well.
You asked about Geno? Geno banged his knee on the ground. Has a little bursa thing, like a bruised knee. So I just -- Penny Hart was going to go into the game if we needed somebody in the second half. Geno could have gone back in.
But I would have -- we were thinking about him coming back playing in the third quarter just to get some more plays. It just wasn't the right thing to do.
Jacob battled out there. He did a nice job and I'm fired up. Got a chance to get a lot of air time and a lot of situations. And we talked through a lot of stuff as the game was going. It was a really good learning experience for Eason. So that's really good for him. It was good to see. Made some big plays, some big throws.
We have to catch the ball better in general. The guys that are trying to make this club have got to catch the football for us and make our plays.
And it happened a little bit to Geno again, couple of balls that could have been we need to catch. The first third down was a beautiful read and play and protection and all that, didn't make the catch. Those things we've got to keep evaluating. There's a lot of information coming at us.
Q. Did Smith get hurt on the scramble out of bounds, when he landed on his knees?
COACH CARROLL: Yeah.
Q. What did you tell the guys in the locker room?
COACH CARROLL: Let me tell you what I told them at halftime. There's games you don't get started right you fall behind and it takes a while to come back. And there's a mentality about coming back and understanding the patience that it takes.
You can't score three times and get the game back in order so you can feel good about it. You have to patiently work your way back into it and build the momentum of a comeback. And so we got to feel that last week and we got to feel that again this week. Those are important things to learn so that you can stay poised and make comebacks and make games come back to you. That's a big-time lesson for us there.
Afterward, it's preseason, and we have to make some big evaluations, and everybody needs to be accountable. Everybody needs to get their act right. We can't give up 13 different things and might have been 15 or 16 different things we did in the game, to give stuff to the other team. And when you do that you can't win.
So I try to, I would try to make the impression on them that everybody is responsible for taking care of their own business here. And we have to all own that and then fix that. And don't let it be you.
Last week we had three penalties. We had a great start. And everything looked fine. But this week, you know, we went into the garbage can on it and it wasn't good enough.
Q. You mentioned the tackling straight out last week, too. And it seemed to be another issue. What do you kind of take away --
COACH CARROLL: I'm going to check on the tacklers. I'm going to check on the tacklers, the guys missing. That's the important thing. I'm going to see who is missing tackles and fix that problem. I don't think it's like an epidemic kind of thing.
It looked like that last week a little bit. But we gotta clean some stuff up with some guys. If they don't get it right, then they won't be able to be here. We'll get guys that can.
Q. How do you fix that at the NFL level when you're worried about injuries?
COACH CARROLL: You have to drill it. You have to drill it and emphasize it. We did a bunch of stuff this week to point out the situational tackling, understanding the situation.
Sometimes the guy gets one tackle is way different than another one. What it calls for is way different. They have to recognize the situation. And sometimes you've just got to get them down. And sometimes you gotta get lined up and take a big shot, and you can go attack the football all that. Have to assess that.
Some guys are ahead of other guys in doing that. So that's important at this level is that they recognize what the opportunity is and then what it calls for and in that chance that they take their shot. So sometimes if you're a little bit out of whack, you're overjacked up or whatever, you can miss the opportunity of assessing. So we're trying to -- we can get that done that makes a big difference for us.
Q. You gonna bring the gymnastics mat out and bring guys out (indiscernible)?
COACH CARROLL: We're doing all kinds of stuff. We're going to do everything again. This wasn't the week to really --
Q. How do you evaluate Geno's night?
COACH CARROLL: He did okay. We needed to come through. We needed to help a little bit. We needed to make the plays around him. We missed a block on the screen. We missed a third-down conversion. There's another one in there.
He's running the show well. He's doing okay. Got rid of the -- got out of the pocket when he needed to, and threw a couple really good balls that could have been converted.
We have to come through for him. Our receivers have to make the plays for him. And we need to see DK and Lock and the fellows out there. We're going to count on DK and Lock and Marquise has a chance to help us. And Eskridge has a chance, Eskridge had a chance to come back this week.
We need those guys to come through if he's going to be good. Tight ends did a nice job. Really good play by Coby. There's some bright spots. We have to assess the stuff for guys that are going to playing when it comes time in the opener.
Q. With Charles, can you adequately assess what his issues were?
COACH CARROLL: We already talked through it. And each one of them is a different situation, different plays. Anyway, every one of them had its own little storyline to it. And they're not like all the same.
But him being comfortable, assessing the cadence adjustment and the things that we have to do, it's just experience. And so this is not going to be something that bothers him forever. We've just got to get it cleaned up and settle him in and make sure each situation, that he makes the right assessment does the right job. It's like the tackling thing.
Q. Because how it looked tonight, are you any more curious what Drew Lock might look like, what the offense might look like with him running it?
COACH CARROLL: It's disappointing that he didn't get a chance to play tonight. We had a different plan for this night. And we weren't able to execute it. Couldn't do anything about it.
I'm still curious to see how he plays with us. Yeah, I am. And he's done enough good things. He's got some real stuff to him and some real exciting ability and playmaking stuff that you all see when he does get his chances eventually. And just disappointed we didn't get to know some more about it tonight.
Q. Does that change your thinking on how you would normally do a final preseason game with starters?
COACH CARROLL: Really, I postponed the thought of that. And we had a long week here. We'll figure it out. I don't know exactly how to do that yet because I don't have to. So I'll let you know. I might let you know. I'm not very good letting you guys know that stuff.
Q. How is Drew doing?
COACH CARROLL: He's really sick. He's sick. I think it was this morning or something I talked to him. It hit him pretty hard.
Q. He hasn't tested negative yet?
COACH CARROLL: I don't think he's even tested. There's no reason for him to test at this point.
Q. With Damien, does he have a chance to get back for the opener?
COACH CARROLL: I don't know that.
Q. Seemed like Coby Bryant made some plays in the second half, couple (indiscernible) tackle?
COACH CARROLL: He was really aggressive. You can see the difference. He played at a different level of some of the other guys, running and hitting and making tackles. He's a football player. We're getting that information on this guy. He's a ball player.
Q. Does it tell you something about a guy, the goal-line stand with Iggy, the game is kind of out of hand, a preseason game?
COACH CARROLL: The whole crew, to hang in there that type. Look at what we did. These guys, their attitude is to come back and make the plays. They're believing. That's why they make stuff like that happen. That's why we had a shot with an onside kick, here we go. Flash of a -- from J.J.'s catch down there and I think it was Aaron down there. Beautiful attempts. And so it's close. That's because they're giving themselves a chance with the way they think. And that's really encouraging.
Q. Those returns on the kick and punt return that went past midfield, what do you think were the biggest issues there? Was it about the pursuit?
COACH CARROLL: The issues of guys recognizing where they are in the coverage format and where they have to stay the leverage, where the ball carrier is, in concert with the other guys.
We didn't look like we had a clue how to do that the past two weeks. We've been working at it, but it doesn't show up. We have a bunch of guys out there all trying to go make the tackle as opposed to working together. And it's a young bunch of guys.
I'm just not used to seeing that happen in our games. It's unfamiliar. Sometimes the guys, they have to do it right. And we're spending time on it. We'll spend more time on it. We're not going to scapegoat on some kid can't make a play or whatever. We have to post up right. That's fundamental stuff. We're not done with that yet.
Q. That's something that is really difficult with the way the practices now are catered with the physicality?
COACH CARROLL: Sometimes you don't have the right guys in the right spots. We're trying to -- trying out guys. We're trying to see what they can do. We're throwing them into the fire, and we're getting a lot of information. Sometimes it doesn't help them. But it helps us understand where we are.
Q. What did you think about the running game tonight?
COACH CARROLL: We never got going. We ran for 90 yards or something like that. It didn't feel like we ever got really going. We didn't have enough plays. We've heard this before. We were 1-for-11 at one time on third downs or something like that. It's not the kind of rhythm that will give you a chance.
Q. What did you think about Jacob Eason in the fourth quarter?
COACH CARROLL: I thought he did a good job. I thought he did a really good job. Was really resourceful, clear, competitive, made some big-time throws. That was a great opportunity for him playing the game. So I thought we saw a lot of good stuff.
Q. With all of what you're trying to do new, Pete, defense and offense, how worried are you? Are you worried?
COACH CARROLL: Am I worried? No. What I am, I want to maintain my patience knowing who's playing and the guys that are going to play on game day when we open up. I'm more concerned about, are they ready based on the amount of work that they've been able to get? This week just did not help us in that regard. So we can't do anything about it.
But these next two weeks are enormous for the other -- the guys who haven't been playing in the games and to make sure they're ready. They feel like they are. They can't wait to get out there. They have a sense that the pups are out there playing for them.
We've got some really good players that aren't out there right now. And so we know that. So preseason is good. We're learning a lot.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports