Learning experience: Kevin White rookie mistake shouldn't happen again

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In the wake of the Bears’ loss to the Houston Texans, rookie wide receiver Kevin White chose to say very little about a turning-point play on which he appeared to stop running his assigned route, with Jay Cutler throwing to the designated spot but to a Houston defensive back. White needed to see the film, he said.

White has seen the film — and presumably heard from Cutler and multiple members of the coaching staff — and is owning the mistake as the Bears prepare for the Philadelphia Eagles in Soldier Field next Monday night. The Eagles fielded one of the NFL’s poorest defenses in 2015 but the pressure in on White to be a contributor with correct plays, not ones that help defenses.

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The Houston secondary gave White something he wasn’t expecting and the rookie, with his limited experience after missing all of last year and only some of this year’s preseason.

“It was a different look that we got [from Houston],” White said. “Wasn't expecting it. Should've ran out and just stayed with my job, but it caught me off guard. The more reps I get, the more game time I get, I'll get a lot more comfortable with it.”

If there was one positive, it lay in White’s attitude, which has been a force in his drive to be great. Indeed, the mistake and resulting play “weighed on me a little bit,” White conceded. “I hate messing up. I like to try to be perfect and do a lot of exciting things. I could do better. Can't hang my head, have to move on.”

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