Viking 29, Bears 22
A. Okay, yeah, so just got in there with the players. Obviously the group is disappointed in the finish there. Overview, of the whole game, obviously we need to start better on defense. We gave them the 21 points in the first three drives and we have to do a better job there, of course.
And then really from there, the offense came out and scored the field goal and we started to create some momentum at the very end of the half. We end up getting a sack, scored a touchdown there before the half, and the second half we came out and fought and did a nice job.
The offense did a great job coming out and scoring a touchdown. We end up going for a two-point conversion two-point conversion; don't get it.
Then we onside kick. We though we had something there, some alignment that we could take advantage of. Didn't work for us. Defense does a great job stopping them there and forcing the field goal and blocks it, which was, again, a momentum changer there.
I think offense scored on every drive in the second half except for the last one. Really the message for the guys in there was just this: Hey, in the NFL it's never going to be perfect and it's always going to come down the end. We learned that the last two weeks. We have to make the plays to finish the game and seal the deal.
That's what it is. It's about playmakers making plays, coaches putting the guys in position, and we just have to finish and give ourselves a chance there. Again, to me that would be the defense getting a stop on one of those third downs in that drive.
There was a third and one, third and four, third and five, third and eight, third and one. We got to stop them there and make them kick a field goal.
At the end, operation was really good by Justin. Justin one of his best days of his career, 15 of 21 for 208, a long of 39, had a drop, one of the drops was a big one. Had a pass rating 18, so that was good.
At the very end, I thought he was operating the two-minute drive really nice. Obviously we need to get out of bounds there. We tell the players when they're on the numbers or wider to get out of bounds. If you're inside the numbers, get north. That's just a simple function of two-minute mechanics.
We have to do that better.
With that, open to questions.
Q. What went wrong early on? (Indiscernible.)
A. Yeah, so I give credit to them. They obviously moved him around a lot, had a lot of the motions, kept him on the move, but we need to do a better job with our setup there for sure.
We just got to do better job.
Q. (Indiscernible.)
A. No. I mean, so when you get them on the move there it's hard to roll up to them sometimes, so I think I that was mainly it. But you have to do a better job there when that does happen to do some different things even when he is on the move.
We just got to do better job.
Q. What is it about this team that allows you guys -- you talk the different adjustments you make, how intentional, how detailed you are at halftime, to come out and give guys a chance to play better in the second half. What is the key to trying to unlock that from start of the game?
A. Yeah, I mean, it's just bring it to the guys' attention. You know, I've done that before where this has happened in my career of course over the long career. You come out there and make sure they're executing to start, the start of practice.
We always talk about fourth quarter, built for the second half, and all these things. We have to make sure in practice we're executing at the start of the practice as well. That's just something you got to set up and put it on the guys' minds and make sure it's simple but also aggressive, the game plan to start, and then go from there.
Q. Is that just analytical decision there?
A. Yeah. Just analytical decision. Yep, it was a green light on that.
Q. What message do you think you send to the guys?
A. Well, it's something we practiced. You know, we practiced it all week. We knew and it's set up perfectly. When do you something like that, I always -- I told the entire defense, I said listen, we're going for this. There is a chance we don't get it. But listen, I want you to respond to this if we don't get it. Sudden change, you respond to it.
They all did. They rose up there and they ended up blocking a field goal. To me it was really a wash right there. We got them on basically on downs right there with the blocked field goal.
Q. Fourth and four decision, is that another analytical thing?
A. No. That was where we were, the numbers where we were for this game in that part of field was a fourth and four; green light all the way.
Q. Obviously Ihmir feels terrible after the game. Have you pulled him aside, talked to him one on one, something like that?
A. Oh, yeah. Yeah, listen, I'm close with all these guys. I talk to every one of them about their performances, how we can improve going forward. If I guy had a really good game, what's the mindset for the next game.
That's part of coaching, and I'll certainly do that for sure.
Q. What do you take out of being able to come out of a hole?
A. Yeah, it's positive. To me it's positive. But, again, I told the guys, of course we're going to do that because of the character of the men in the room. They know that and they're a tough group. Tough group, and they're resilient. They're going to always fight.
Like I said, just got to make the plays at the end for a different outcome.
Q. Justin, his big throw, I think 39 yards in the first half, how do you think that happened spark him?
A. Yeah, I think any time you get explosive plays on offense that's a spark. I think that was definitely a confidence builder for sure.
Q. On the play before the go-head field goal, it's third and three. It's a little short. Is there a conversation about do we want to go for it here?
A. Yeah, it was all based on the yards. All based on the yards. We discussed that way before. That's usually given to Luke on first down, sometimes right after the first down call, so he knows what a green light is and he can set himself up for that.
Q. The play where David Montgomery scored the touchdown, was that set him up for fourth down territory.
A. Yep.
Q. Speaking of David Montgomery, having him back in the lineup, how much do you think that affected your ability to run the ball and pass the ball?
A. Yeah, it was good. Any time -- I think I said it before the game, any time you have a one-two punch back like that, him and Herbert, it's really good to have those guys.
You can see and D-Mo does in the passing game, too. He does a really good job of getting north on those checkdowns. He's a different style. He is an aggressive cutter, getting vertical, so I thought he did a nice job.
Q. And the Vikings last touchdown drive, there was no egregious miss plays, at first glance anyway. Is there a play that you regret or recall or that you think that really was key?
A. Yeah, they executed. They did a nice job. Give credit to them. Like I said, we had the third downs. We had a third and four, we had a third and eight, and we got to win those downs. Got to win the matchup, either if it's the front getting the pressure or the coverage breaking up the pass.
It's one of those two things. We just got to do a good job there.
Q. Pocket was really clean the second half with Justin.
A. Yeah.
Q. Making his throws, he's on time, he was accurate. How impressive is that not only for him in terms of being able to make those throws when he has time, but for the offensive line?
A. No, that's a good point. We certainly recognize that. It was cleaner. He had time to deliver. He can see down the field without being in a rush and ride the pocket like we talked about last week, so that's definitely an encouraging thing to see.
I think he had two sacks I think today for 15 yards. But, yeah, that's an encouragement to keep that thing clean.
Q. Matt, first half the game you had some personnel issues, delay of game. What was your understanding of what happened there?
A. Yeah, that's not good ball. We got to be on pointe there. That's just not good.
Q. (Regarding rushing for 94 yards.)
A. It was good. I think it was 3.8, 3.8 average I want to say, so that's what we really look at. The team could run it for 50 yards for whatever. So the 3.7 average, 3.8 average is solid. To me, it was still you saw some of the runs in there that were going for ten and all that. That's a little bit too much for my liking.
So we'll get those things cleaned up. 3.8 is better for sure.
Q. The disparity between the first half defense and second half defense seems to be growing. What do you make of that?
A. Yeah, just got to start faster, keep what we're doing in the second half and just start faster. Your next question is going to be how? We got to bring it to the attention of the coaches and the players and set it up for practice.
And we just got to do better in the beginning. Obviously that's the first touchdown they've scored in the entire year in the second half on us. We just got to keep doing that and get better in the start.
Q. Is it a matter of being flat in the beginning?
A. I don't think it's that. Our guys are ready to go. I see it as just executing, setting our guys up as coaches for the right success in the beginning. We can do a better job.
Q. We'd ask you in the pre-season about going for two and stuff like that, you would just smile and say you plan on being aggressive. Do you think today was a reflection of the way you want to coach?
A. Yeah, I think it changes every week. Depends on who you're playing, depends on the other quarterback, the situation of the game. So we want to be aggressive. I can't tell you how many times I've said, green light, go, and just hadn't happened. I say it every time we get in certain zones of the field, and that's been that way. Just hadn't come up; today it did. That's the way it goes.
Q. With the quick turnaround, what's the plan for how you go about your schedule this week?
A. Yeah, so you got to be mindful of the guys, but you got to get the plan in. The guys are coming in at 1:00 tomorrow and have a walk-through. So have meetings, go over the plan, and you really can't talk much about this game. Make your corrections, a handful of plays, but you got to go on the to next one, and we'll get that later.
Certainly will make the big ones, the corrections, but then you got a walk-through practice. The next day is a longer day and we have a walk-through practice on the second day. The third day we have a short helmet practice with speed, the day right before the game.
They will have two days of rest, get some speed practice in there, short practice, and then we'll travel down to the stadium and have the light meetings, and wake up the next day and have a walk-through and play the game.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports