Minnesota - 31, Chicago - 17
MATT NAGY: I'll get started here. So no injuries for our team, so that's a good thing coming out of that game.
Big picture just from the game, we weren't able to get going in that big red zone from that plus 35 to the plus 25, you felt it. I felt like we controlled the game for the first half. We get down there to that fourth and goal when we got the touchdown called back by Andy and weren't able to get that play. We took some sacks on fourth down throughout.
So I just -- when you have 80 plays like we were, we were moving the football doing different things, similar to the first time we played these guys. We just weren't as productive. They have a good third down defense. I think, when you look at the numbers, 20-something attempts on third and fourth down, one for six on fourth down, you felt that.
That's a credit to them. They did a great job there. We just didn't come out in the second half and finish them. You've got to give credit to them. The game kind of got away a little bit there towards the end, unfortunately, with the pick six. That's where we're at right now. Was able to talk to the guys and just explain to them, hey, listen, this has been a long season, but at the same point in time, the thing that we all need to use these life experiences to make ourselves better in how that is and how you handle yourself.
You look back, and you say did I stay the same? What did I change? Then how do I make myself better moving forward? It's important. These guys care in there. They care in that locker room. We care as coaches.
As I say every year to the team, the last three years and now this year, every NFL team is different heading into the next year. Whether it's players, whether it's coaches. So individually reflect, see where we can get better. This isn't where we wanted to be or how we wanted to do it, but use it to get better. That was kind of our message.
Q. Matt, what does this moment look like to you personally now, having today cave in on you in the second half and facing uncertainty?
A: Sure. There's a lot of realism to everything. When you're in this position and you're a leader of a team, you go through and try to create and build a culture like we have here, you want to be able to get better. You want to be able to go through the highs and lows throughout the year.
We know how the season went this year. We know how it went towards the end of the year and of course today's game. Right now it's not really -- I'll have time here when the season ends to be able to reflect, as always.
These guys, I think the big picture is understanding that it hasn't been what we wanted, but again trying to always keep this mentality of how do you use this to make yourself better? Even myself as a head coach, how do I make myself better? And then the players do that. We know that we've got to use that to get better down the road.
Q. What did you learn, I guess, with the season? What did you learn about yourself as a head coach and your offense?
A: Sure. I think probably for me as a head coach, when you go through this season, you understand that the other 31 coaches are going through the COVID protocol stuff that we have. You understand you have different positions that when you're competing and you're getting young guys to come in and compete, you have a coaching staff that you're dealing with.
For me, probably the biggest thing is just making sure that I think that it's not what we wanted and how did we react to that as the weeks went by? When you go through a losing streak like we did, that can be difficult. That's challenging. Did you change, and how did you use it to get better? Did you fight through it?
We did that, but at the same point in time, you always look back, and you say, okay, what was your record? Did you win enough? Did you get into playoffs to have an opportunity? Because once you get into playoffs, it's 0-0, and we didn't do that.
I think right now at this moment I don't have a great answer other than being able to reflect at the end of the year when I think about it a little longer.
Q. Matt, how do you feel about your time here?
A: Again, my four years that I'm here, I look at a few things. You look at developing players specifically at their positions, guys that you're a part of in the draft process with Ryan and all of our personnel and our coach and all the time that goes into that.
Then you look into each specific season. We had a really good first year together at 12-4, and now we continue to grow here. As you build through the draft, you have young guys that are getting better and better each year, and they're improving. We have some older guys too on this roster that have been a part of this and just kind of seeing how that role is.
I'm just proud of these players. I really am. I'm proud of the coaches. I know how much they care, and I know how much they want to be better. To me, that matters. Now, again, we understand our record. We know that that's real, that's a part of it. But do the guys care, and do they fight? And they do do that.
Q. Do you believe you have the answers for why the offense didn't work here? Is that something you need to dig into in the off-season to be able to answer for when you have future opportunities?
A: There's a lot that goes into that question. There's so much when you look at different teams and where they're at and whether it's different positions, how they work together in all three phases, whatever that is. It's a team game.
We know we want to be better offensively. We know it hasn't been what we wanted it to be, but that's what you need to do as a coach is try to find answers. You get together with personnel, and you figure out where you're weak at position-wise. Then schematically, that's probably part of your question too, is okay, I would say, stating the obvious, that we need to be better in the red zone, right? I don't think we were good enough this year in the red zone. So being better there. Whether that's players, whether that's scheme, whatever it is, you've got to score more points when you get down in the red zone.
Q. Matt, what's your understanding of when you'll learn your future, how you'll learn your future the next day or so?
A: Again, I've never been in this position before. For me, I continue to just go about business like normal. I mean that. I've had conversations as nothing has changed, as I've told you guys a few days ago. I know this. Whatever is supposed to happen will happen.
I'm a positive person. Again, I think that it's about these players right now, and these players have fought their asses off to play hard. They sacrifice their body every day. Everything else will take care of itself how it's supposed to.
Q. You guys have talked over the years about, when you're worried about next week's opponent, you can kind of just focus on that and not worried about the outside noise. Did it creep in for you any of the past four to six weeks? It seems like as the noise outside got louder, it would creep into that some.
A: No, probably for people that are outside the building, you guys, everybody has a job that they need to do to create stories and to have things to write about, both in a good way and sometimes negatively. That's a part of where we're at right now. That's not leaving, and that's not changing. It's about how you handle it. So there's true reports. There's false reports.
Again, you need to be able to create a wall, and I think that's part of the strength of the character of your building. We went through that on Thanksgiving. We went through it on Thanksgiving. That's an experience for me that I'll always be able to use and understand that, when you see guys that pull together and play together when you go through something like that, it actually brings you closer. That's really what happened with these guys.
So they're all distractions, and we always talk about eliminate distractions. I think the players have done a great job with that. It's not easy, but they've done a great job with that.
Q. When you came here, you acknowledged the opportunity you had to be the coach of the Bears. It hasn't worked out. Are you disappointed in yourself? Are you disappointed in circumstances? How do you just feel the way the whole thing has transpired?
A: You look at the big picture of where we're at. There's different seasons. There's different records. You build these relationships. After every year you can reflect and look into the reasons as to why you got to where you got to and how you get better. Then you do that from a head coach's perspective, you do it from a teaching perspective, you do it from schematics perspective.
Again, the position that I'm in right now, I just feel like it's my job as a leader to make sure that I continue to stay positive with these guys. Whatever has happened in my four years here, good and bad, there's a reason for all of it. Even selfishly and individually for me, there's a reason why this is happening right now.
When this stuff happens -- again, like I told the guys in there -- let this stuff in here refine you, not define you. That's important, right? So I'm sure you guys have bad days every now and then too, right? You have a bad day, how do you react to it? Do you stay negative and stay in a bad mood for two weeks, or do you get out of it?
In this profession as a leader, you've got to make sure you stay positive, you've got to make sure you lead, and then you use it to make yourself better. Regardless of what happens, whether it's with another player or myself, I promise you I'm going to do that, and I will let this refine me and not define me.
Q. You sound like a guy who's pretty comfortable no matter what happens. You've kind of accepted both fates.
A: Well, it's not that. It's the fact that, again, when you -- the day that I signed up to be the head coach here in Chicago on a year-to-year basis, you're always understanding that what comes with your position. That's real. That's life.
So the situation that we're in this year is one where we know our record is not good enough. We all want to be better. We know that. So this is all stuff that comes attached to it. So you've got to deal with it. You can't run from it. You've got to be real. You can't run from it. You've got to understand it.
Then you've got to be able to have a plan understanding individually, but also as a leader and a team leader with these guys because these guys deserve that. We've got great players. We've got great people. We've got great coaches. I just respect all of them too much. So sometimes I'm very honest, and I talk about that stuff. I always try to hit every avenue.
Q. We've heard two words from you in terms of your partnership with Ryan. It's been collaboration and conviction. Assuming that's completely true, collaborating in all the decisions, draft picks, free agent signings, other personal decisions, what do you think has gone wrong about those things even though you have such conviction on those things on the front end?
A: I don't see it as what's gone wrong. I actually think of it the other way. When you look at it as what's gone right with the players we have in this building right now and since we've been together, I think we all understand this isn't something that happens in one or two years. When you draft a player, it takes a little bit of time to get that player going. When you draft a lot of players together, it takes several years.
Now all of a sudden you get to the point where they're rocking and rolling because they're three or four years into it. That's where we're at right now. It's exciting. It's knowing that there's a nice group of young leaders on this team right now that are good football players. So that's probably what you say about the collaboration and the communication that we have is that has not changed with Ryan and myself from the very first day. It hasn't changed us as people.
When sometimes adversity can strike, people start acting different. Ryan's not different. I'm not different. Too much respect. You do things the right way. I'm proud of the way we've handled all of this together, and the players that we've talked about, selected, our personnel department, our coaching staff, all of it. There's a good thing going here right now, and there's a really good franchise quarterback that's here that's going to be good for a long time. Both Ryan and I were a part of that.
Q. You guys have expressed optimism genuinely the last three years.
A: Yeah.
Q. With the nucleus that's in the locker room right now, what's realistic for this football team in 2022? A lot has to happen, but what's realistic for you?
A: There's a really bright future for our team, and I think that, when you look at, again, you start getting these young guys -- look at Roquan Smith, right? He is only getting better and better. Again, for me selfishly, with Ryan that was a first draft pick of mine that I've ever been a part of, where you're there with Ryan doing it. So I'm proud to see him grow.
Then you look at a guy like David Montgomery and how he's grown. You look at a guy -- and I'm talking offensively now with Darnell Mooney and Cole Kmet, and you've got these young tackles. There's a really good youthfulness to the offense. I think there's still some time. You've got Justin. You've got other pieces.
You look at defense and just the way that with some of these younger guys, with the Bilal Nichols, for example, that doesn't get a lot of name recognition, with Gipson growing and what he's doing, with Jaylon Johnson. So you look at this -- with Eddie Jackson being in the middle of his career right now and understanding how he can continue to improve. There's a lot of good stuff. I like that about these guys.
The other part of this is this. These players, they're finally learning how to be good football players, but what's going to take us over the top is having them learn how to be great leaders because championship Super Bowl football teams have great leaders that are great football players because, when you hit a little bit of a snag and you lose a few, the players are the ones that get you through that because they're great leaders, they're high character people that are great football players. And the more of those that you have, you win a lot of games. Then you have an opportunity to get in the dance to win the whole thing.
That's what this team has right now. It's there. That's what I'm selfishly proud of with Ryan of what's here. Then again, the excitement of Justin at quarterback because Justin's going to have a very bright future.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports