Bears coordinators Dennis Allen (defense), Declan Doyle (offense) and Richard Hightower (special teams) spoke to the media Thursday at Halas Hall. Here are seven things we learned from those sessions:
(1) Doyle has been impressed with tight end Colston Loveland's continued emergence.
The rookie first-round pick played a significant role in last Saturday night's 31-27 comeback win over the Packers in a wild card matchup at Soldier Field. Loveland caught eight passes for 137 yards, including seven passes for 115 yards in the second half to help the Bears rally from a 21-3 halftime deficit.
The 10th overall pick in this year's draft had receptions of 29, 22, 22, 21 and 19 yards in the game and also caught a two-point conversion pass that drew the Bears to within 27-24 with 4:18 remaining in the fourth quarter.
In the process, Loveland became the first rookie tight end in NFL postseason history with at least eight catches and 100 yards. And that came after he had compiled at least 90 yards and one TD in each of the Bears' final two regular-season games versus the 49ers and Lions.
"The biggest thing is he's challenging to defend," Doyle said. "He just gets better every week. He has really maintained the same type of temperament in the building. Just the process, his growth is a byproduct of that. I think the more he plays, the more confidence he has. He's far from a rookie. This is going to be our 22nd game or something like that. He's an NFL player. He's an NFL tight end. And he's proven that he can be really good in big moments."
Loveland's two-point conversion came on a play that featured three tight ends. He split out wide and beat one-on-one coverage by linebacker Nick Niemann.
"There are a lot of different things that [Loveland] does well, one of those being his change of direction and his ability to have a big catch radius and be able to go get that ball in a clutch moment," Doyle said. "That was really a byproduct of all those things."
(2) Doyle felt much better returning to the coaching booth after halftime than he had heading down to the locker room with the Bears losing 21-3.
Doyle knew that the Bears had rallied to win six games they had trailed with 2:00 remaining during the regular season but wasn't sure what state of mind the players would be in being down by 18 points to their fiercest rival in a playoff game.
"I'm upstairs, so I come down from the press box, and you don't know exactly what you're walking into because you're like, 'OK, how are our guys going to be?'" Doyle said. "I walk down there and the first thing [quarterback] Case Keenum's walking by me and he goes, 'Well, we've been here before, so here we go. This is what we do.'
"The message really to those guys was: 'It's not going to take a superhuman effort; it's going to take our best effort to be as clean as we can. We have to focus on the process and one play at a time. Don't look at the scoreboard and we will climb right back into this thing where we want to be.' That was really the mindset."
(3) Caleb Williams' game-winning 25-yard TD pass to DJ Moore came on a well-designed play that was perfectly executed.
To make it appear as if Williams was going to throw a screen pass to receiver Luther Burden III to the left, right tackle Darnell Wright lined up just outside left tackle Ozzy Trapilo. When Williams pump-faked to Burden, Green Bay cornerback Carrington Valentine bit on the fake, freeing up Moore downfield.
"We were in an unbalanced look," Doyle said. "First of all, the defense has to talk and communicate their front mechanics and their roles as to how they are going to adjust to that. So that's some eye candy there. Secondly, we released Darnell into the flat really giving them the illusion that we are getting ready to throw this ball out there to Luther.
"We really needed to fool one guy. DJ did a great job. We have been talking about that for a couple of weeks of him really threatening that outside player, getting him to trigger. Once he stepped up, I think we all knew it was going to be a touchdown if we put a good ball on him. That was just a byproduct of us doing something we felt really comfortable with and trying to give them things to look at and mess with their eyes a bit to get them to bite on something else."
(4) Allen is confident in D'Marco Jackson's ability to replace the injured T.J. Edwards at middle linebacker.
Jackson excelled when called upon as the next-man-up earlier this season and will be counted on in the same scenario Sunday versus the Rams. He'll replace Edwards, who exited last week's Packers game in the second quarter with a broken fibula.
Jackson recorded four tackles and one tackle-for-loss in relief of Edwards against Green Bay. In four midseason starts, the fourth-year pro compiled 30 tackles, two tackles-for-loss and one interception. Jackson was named NFC defensive player of the week after registering a interception and a sack in a Week 15 win over the Browns.
"I'm very confident," Allen said. "He's stepped up and performed well for us when he's been called on. What he was able to do last week—going from every rep in practice playing the [strongside] linebacker position and then next thing you know early on the game he's playing the [middle] and he's got the green dot, communicating the defense—I've got a lot of confidence in his ability to go in and play well."
(5) Allen feels that the biggest difference with the Bears defense in the second half versus Green Bay was the unit's ability to stop the run.
After allowing the Packers to rush for 93 yards on 16 carries in the first half, the Bears permitted only six yards on seven attempts in the second half. That created more third-and-long situations for Green Bay, which converted 4 of 6 third downs in the first half and 2 of 9 in the second half.
"We played more aggressively," Allen said. "And so we were better on first and second down. [They] struggled to run the ball on first and second down, so [we] just shut that down. You get them in more manageable third-down situations. We got off the field on third down, so that was the biggest difference."
(6) Hightower was pleased how kicker Cairo Santos performed in cold and blustery conditions against the Packers.
Santos made all five of his kicks: two extra points and three field goals, including a 51-yarder that is the longest field goal in Bears postseason history.
"It's tough to kick in Soldier Field," Hightower said. "Everyone knows that. I was proud of the way our field goal team went out there and executed. I thought they were a major factor in the game. Cairo going out there, being focused along with the rest of the operation kicking the only 50-yard-plus field goal in Bears history in the playoffs, that's something to be proud of."
Hightower also lauded Santos for his role in the Bears forcing a fumble on a kickoff return after they had cut the deficit to 21-16 early in the fourth quarter.
On the first kickoff return of running back Josh Jacobs' career, Santos slowed up the 5-10, 223-pounder, enabling Elijah Hicks to punch the ball loose, creating a fumble that the Packers recovered.
"The play wouldn't have been able to be made if Cairo didn't get in Jacobs' way," Hightower said. "So it's a big ups to Cairo because I have seen defensive players that don't want to tackle Josh Jacobs and Cairo stood in there like a man. And because of that, Jacobs had to veer off and slow down. Go back and look at that play and see what allowed Elijah to punch that ball out."
(7) Hightower felt that Devin Duvernay helped spur the comeback with two big plays.
Duvernay's 37-yard punt return to the Green Bay 35 late in the third quarter set up a field goal and his 22-yard punt return to the Chicago 34 in the fourth period led to a touchdown.
"They were huge," Hightower said. "We got points out of both those returns that he had. Anytime you can return a ball to the opponent's 35-yard-line, you would think that you have points there, so that was outstanding.
"Now what we're focused on is trying to get the ball in the end zone because that's the next thing. We're never going to be satisfied. We're trying to get the ball in the end zone, but it was an incredible play by Duvernay. It was incredible by the guys blocking, but those guys in their meeting room are a little ticked that they didn't get it in the end zone."
