Defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley
On Micah Parsons’ injury:
The amount of one-on-one time we spent talking football, just getting to know him, just the amount of respect that I have for him and how he came in and worked, and how hard he worked, and how hard he played, and how hard he does play in the run game, in the pass game, the way he strains, I just have so much respect for the guy, and I’m sad for the guy. But at the same time, just knowing who he is, just wait until you guys see how hard he works to come back, how fast he probably comes back. If I were a betting man, I would bet that he comes back even better and probably breaks the sack record next year. That’s the confidence I have in him.
As far as the team goes, I told them you can’t let circumstances dictate behavior. A week ago we’re in here after we beat the Bears, and we’re all walking in here all upbeat and ready to roll. I said, ‘Shame on you if you walk in here any different today.’ That’s not who we are. That’s our job as leaders and coaches, to make sure that we don’t do that. We’ve got really good players. We’ve played good defense, and we’re going to continue to play good defense. Our guys understand that, and I think it’s important for everyone to understand that these guys have a lot of pride, and they’re going to get even closer because of this. And they’re going to play well. Our best players are going to step up. And the guys who haven’t played a lot, that’s been our job all year, is to develop those guys, so in situations like this, they’re going to step up. And we’re going to play hard and we’re going to coach hard and we’re going to do everything we can to win. That’s my take on all this. This is press on, full speed ahead, and we’re ready to go.
I’m upset for the player. I care about these guys and to see — Devonte Wyatt’s out, he’s been out for the year, that’s upsetting to me. We have other guys, (Lukas) Van Ness hasn’t played a whole lot this year, those are upsetting. Micah’s out, it’s the same thing. But my responsibility is to this defense and to the Green Bay Packers and now we’ve got really good players in the room that we need to lead and we need to coach and we need to press on. So certainly it’s upsetting and did I have a few moments where, yeah, seeing Micah and looking him in the eye and seeing him sitting there, that’s hard. It’d be hard for anybody who cares about somebody. I mean, I love the guy. But then you wake up and you get back to work and you have to move on. I mean, that’s part of the job. When you are the leader, people are going to look to you and how you respond to things. And that’s how I’m looking at our players right now, our coaches right now and it is go forward to the Bears as hard and as fast as we can, and I’ve got all the confidence in the world in the guys in the room right now.
On adjusting the scheme without Parsons:
I don’t have a playbook where I say this is the playbook, this is what we’re running because we have the people in this room. Here’s what I believe my job is to do: Figure out who’s in the room and how to put those players in the best position to succeed and each week figure out the best way to win the game. That’s what I believe is my job to do as the defensive coordinator. So if we had a certain player with a skillset, I need to figure out how to use it to take advantage of what we need to do to win. Different players, whatever we need to do to win. If that’s new scheme, it’s new scheme. If it’s putting guys in new positions, it’s putting them in new positions. If it’s putting certain guys in position to make more plays, that’s my job and it doesn’t matter how long I have I need to figure it out, and that’s what we’re looking to do.
On having a plan to rush Bears QB Caleb Williams:
He’s hard to tackle. You can’t just run full speed and try to launch at him, and you can’t go high on him because he’s strong. It’s like tackling somebody in the open field. You’ve got to come to balance and not just take a shot, (because) he’ll duck and he’ll miss and he’ll spin one way. He loves to go out to our left, his right, and he makes a ton of plays doing that, so you need to know where you are on the field. Obviously, their boot game has been very successful with him getting the edge on people. I just think it’s how you approach him when you’re about to tackle him and how many people we can get to the ball and how hard we run to the ball, because that’s what it’s going to take.
