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http://wgnradio.com/2015/12/20/hoge-pernell-mcphee-challenges-bears-calls-losing-sad-and-sick/

Adrian Amos takes a knee after losing to the Vikings. (Nuccio DiNuzzo / Chicago Tribune)
MINNEAPOLIS — Pernell McPhee has never felt like this before. He’s never been on a losing NFL team.
“Hell yeah,” he said Sunday when asked if it’s been a hard adjustment. “It’s sad. It’s sick.”
Sick is probably the best way to describe the Bears’ lackluster 38-17 loss to the Vikings Sunday at TCF Bank Stadium — a loss that guarantees a losing season for the second year in a row.
Missed tackles. Blown coverages. Miscommunication. It all piled up in Minneapolis and had McPhee questioning his team’s effort after the game.
“I just think that other teams want it more than we want it,” McPhee said. “And that’s the end of the story. I mean, when you want something, you go take it. And right now, nobody ain’t really trying to take it. Everybody just trying to fill it out.”
No, McPhee didn’t pull a Jimmy Butler in the locker room after the game. He didn’t call out anybody by name and he offered solutions. His comments stood out, but they weren’t poignant. He challenged his teammates — including their practice habits — but didn’t throw anyone specific under the bus.
“Me and everybody just need to look at ourselves in the mirror and point at ourselves — we can’t point at each other — and say, ‘What can we do better to help our team win?’ That’s what it’s all about.”
McPhee’s most notable solution?
“I think it’s habits in practice. When you be in practice and you don’t finish a play wrapping a guy up and you don’t do it in practice, of course when you get on the field you ain’t going to do it. And I think we gotta start practicing good habits. (When) we start practicing wrapping up tackles and driving our legs and taking a guy down, that’s when we’ll start showing it on the field.”
Of course, you can’t actually tackle anyone at full speed in practice, but McPhee doesn’t think tackling habits are being emphasized enough — and that’s a problem.
“I think it comes from not really practicing that, emphasizing that,” he said. “I don’t say we don’t actually do it, but we don’t emphasize it enough. Hey, wrap up every play, make sure you drive your legs and take a guy down — I mean, mentally, not physically in practice.”
This sure sounds like the first hint of a player questioning the coaching staff in the John Fox era, but maybe Jimmy Butler should take notes. McPhee brought up a very valid solution without naming names or challenging anyone’s credibility.
That’s actual leadership.
And McPhee is smart enough to know he has to look at himself too. It was just three days ago when he claimed Washington wouldn’t have gotten off to the hot start they did a week ago if he had been on the field. He missed the game because of his on-going knee injury.
“If I had been out there, that shit never would have happened,” he said. “We won’t start off like that again.”
But the Bears did start off like that again. The Vikings marched right down the field and scored a touchdown on their first drive of the game — a methodical, 13-play, 88-yard drive that included six first downs.
“Real frustrating. It was crazy man,” McPhee said about that drive. “A lot of it came with missed tackles. Shit. We had them 3rd-and-10 and you know, blown coverage, missed communication. We got a lot of young guys on the back end. We just got to keep competing and keep communicating.”
This isn’t the first time McPhee has questioned some of the talent around him and his gripes are obviously warranted.
“If I got to be the only dog out there, I will, but you know, I got my boys’ back,” he said. “I think we just had a lot of miscommunication and a lot of missed tackles we just got to fix that in practice. That’s it.”
McPhee has played through a knee injury the entire season and while his play has suffered at times, his effort hasn’t. He just wants that effort matched by the other 10 guys on the field with him, and he certainly doesn’t want to be on a losing football team again.
“I ain’t never felt like this. But you know what, you live and learn and it’s just growth in life,” McPhee said. “It’s going to show what kind of guy I am, how I’m going to respond to it. I promise I’m going to respond the right way. I’m going to continue to be behind my teammates and continue to do whatever I can to help this team move forward.”
His message after Sunday’s loss is a good start.
Adam Hoge covers the Chicago Bears for WGN Radio and WGNRadio.com. He also co-hosts The Beat, weekends on 720 WGN. Follow him on Twitter at @AdamHoge.

Adrian Amos takes a knee after losing to the Vikings. (Nuccio DiNuzzo / Chicago Tribune)
MINNEAPOLIS — Pernell McPhee has never felt like this before. He’s never been on a losing NFL team.
“Hell yeah,” he said Sunday when asked if it’s been a hard adjustment. “It’s sad. It’s sick.”
Sick is probably the best way to describe the Bears’ lackluster 38-17 loss to the Vikings Sunday at TCF Bank Stadium — a loss that guarantees a losing season for the second year in a row.
Missed tackles. Blown coverages. Miscommunication. It all piled up in Minneapolis and had McPhee questioning his team’s effort after the game.
“I just think that other teams want it more than we want it,” McPhee said. “And that’s the end of the story. I mean, when you want something, you go take it. And right now, nobody ain’t really trying to take it. Everybody just trying to fill it out.”
No, McPhee didn’t pull a Jimmy Butler in the locker room after the game. He didn’t call out anybody by name and he offered solutions. His comments stood out, but they weren’t poignant. He challenged his teammates — including their practice habits — but didn’t throw anyone specific under the bus.
“Me and everybody just need to look at ourselves in the mirror and point at ourselves — we can’t point at each other — and say, ‘What can we do better to help our team win?’ That’s what it’s all about.”
McPhee’s most notable solution?
“I think it’s habits in practice. When you be in practice and you don’t finish a play wrapping a guy up and you don’t do it in practice, of course when you get on the field you ain’t going to do it. And I think we gotta start practicing good habits. (When) we start practicing wrapping up tackles and driving our legs and taking a guy down, that’s when we’ll start showing it on the field.”
Of course, you can’t actually tackle anyone at full speed in practice, but McPhee doesn’t think tackling habits are being emphasized enough — and that’s a problem.
“I think it comes from not really practicing that, emphasizing that,” he said. “I don’t say we don’t actually do it, but we don’t emphasize it enough. Hey, wrap up every play, make sure you drive your legs and take a guy down — I mean, mentally, not physically in practice.”
This sure sounds like the first hint of a player questioning the coaching staff in the John Fox era, but maybe Jimmy Butler should take notes. McPhee brought up a very valid solution without naming names or challenging anyone’s credibility.
That’s actual leadership.
And McPhee is smart enough to know he has to look at himself too. It was just three days ago when he claimed Washington wouldn’t have gotten off to the hot start they did a week ago if he had been on the field. He missed the game because of his on-going knee injury.
“If I had been out there, that shit never would have happened,” he said. “We won’t start off like that again.”
But the Bears did start off like that again. The Vikings marched right down the field and scored a touchdown on their first drive of the game — a methodical, 13-play, 88-yard drive that included six first downs.
“Real frustrating. It was crazy man,” McPhee said about that drive. “A lot of it came with missed tackles. Shit. We had them 3rd-and-10 and you know, blown coverage, missed communication. We got a lot of young guys on the back end. We just got to keep competing and keep communicating.”
This isn’t the first time McPhee has questioned some of the talent around him and his gripes are obviously warranted.
“If I got to be the only dog out there, I will, but you know, I got my boys’ back,” he said. “I think we just had a lot of miscommunication and a lot of missed tackles we just got to fix that in practice. That’s it.”
McPhee has played through a knee injury the entire season and while his play has suffered at times, his effort hasn’t. He just wants that effort matched by the other 10 guys on the field with him, and he certainly doesn’t want to be on a losing football team again.
“I ain’t never felt like this. But you know what, you live and learn and it’s just growth in life,” McPhee said. “It’s going to show what kind of guy I am, how I’m going to respond to it. I promise I’m going to respond the right way. I’m going to continue to be behind my teammates and continue to do whatever I can to help this team move forward.”
His message after Sunday’s loss is a good start.
Adam Hoge covers the Chicago Bears for WGN Radio and WGNRadio.com. He also co-hosts The Beat, weekends on 720 WGN. Follow him on Twitter at @AdamHoge.
