Nick Foles is fired up, and that gets the Football Aftershow crew fired up! After the Bears beat the Panther to improve to 5-1, Foles was particularly animated when responding to media questions about how the Bears offense continues to struggle moving the football at times. He conceded that the team needs to improve but was emphatic when defending his team’s ability to find a way to win close games.
“Ok, that was awesome!” said David Kaplan right as the press conference concluded. “That was, I thought, really impressive.”
Lance Briggs and Olin Kreutz were equally impressed.
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“You know, Nick spoke like a true wildcat,” Briggs said. “There’s a lot of leadership that oozed out of his response… He knows things have to get better. He knows they’re 5-1, but there’s changes that have to be made. We just want to stay positive while we make those changes.”
“Nick Foles is saying all the right things to say,” Kreutz said. “I would say to him, ‘Welcome to Chicago,’ because the frustration mounts. Because it’s ‘What’s wrong with your offense? What’s wrong with your offense? What’s wrong with your offense?’ even when you're winning. So, it’s frustrating.
“They’re frustrated, and he’s right. You heard him say they’ve got to learn details. You heard him say they have to get better.”
As a guys who remembers the scrutiny of Chicago media from his playing days, Alex Brown empathized with the Bears QB.
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“I think it’s the feel,” Brown said. “It’s the feel as if they’re losing these games. Well, hell, they’re 5-1. Be happy, you know what I mean? Can I get a couple smiles in the room? It’s just like, gosh, where’s the excitement for the team?”
Brown goes on to recall one of the most critical moments from Chicago media during his time, in what should’ve have been an incredibly exciting moment.
“We won the NFC Championship game. Ok, we won the NFC Championship game, here. I jump in the car. We beat New Orleans. I turn on 670TheScore and this is what I heard, ‘Well it doesn’t matter who they play they’re going to lose. It’s either Indy or New England. And I just turned it off. It just made me mad.
“Really? This is the best feeling I’ve ever had, ever, in football, and this is what I hear?”
To that Kreutz had the perfect quip:
“Now you know how Mitch (Trubisky) felt when he was still winning and he turned you on.”
Seems like the more things change, the more they stay the same.