Offensive Coordinator Tommy Rees (12.11.25)

So, as you know, the weather’s beautiful in Chicago this time of year. 

“It is.” 

 

I mean, three days out, how does it really affect preparation? 

“We will be outside, which obviously the weather’s beautiful in Cleveland this time of year too, so helps prepare us there. Look, at this time of the year, you have to account for some of that. You know, we’ll see what it ends up being like come game day. And, you know, the wind can swirl there, as we know, and it’s right off the lake, so we’ll see how that affects it. We’ll see how the real cold temperatures affect it. But our focus is strictly on our preparation and getting our game plan ready to go. We’ll adjust as need be, but that’s not really something that put into a huge part of the factor during the week, and your focus is really on where you need to be and making sure that our guys are in their playbooks and understanding what we’re asking them to do and making sure we’re ready to go.”

 

What are some of the things that Shedeur (Sanders) showed you this past game to make you believe that he’s taking those next steps forward? 

“Yeah, I think the improvement, you know, you’re looking at all your players, all your young players to see just gradual improvement on the areas that you’re focused on. I thought he did a really nice job of moving in the pocket, stepping up in the pocket. You know, he had some opportunities to step up and attack the defense, whether it was throwing the ball on the move. We hit Harold (Fannin Jr.) on a good one there in the two-minute, or climbing in the pocket and finding Jerry (Jeudy) on the end cut or climbing in the pocket and running with it needs be. I thought, you know, those are signs of improvement in those areas. I thought operationally we were clean and that’s what you’re after with all your players, specifically the young guys are the things that you’re trying to ask them to do and are the things that you’re focused on being accomplished and credit to him and credit to Coach Mus (Bill Musgrave) for continuing to get him ready to play.”

 

Tommy, if there’s one thing that you could pinpoint from the Spring to now that you’ve, like, tangibly that you’ve really seen improved with Shedeur, what would that one thing be that you’d point out? 

“Yeah, I think just what I just talked about really like the overall improvement of our footwork and our understanding – what footwork applies to what concepts and our ability to work through progressions. And he’s put a lot of work in these last few weeks to get ready to play these games. And you see the steps as he progresses, which is again what you’re after with your young players, which you’re after with all your players is are they coachable, are they applying some of the things that you’re trying to ask them to do and he has shown that. And obviously he played a nice game for us last week and really made some plays that showed those signs that, he’s improving in those areas.”

 

Maybe it’s the same answer, Tommy, but that 60, the touchdown to Jerry, you talked about how he’s been better seeing a route a second time or whatever. Did you see that as an example of that? And what did you like best about that drill? 

“Yeah, we ran that play, the first play of our second drive, we had Harold on the end breaker for like 16 or 17 yards there to our left. It was the same play. We just aligned it a little differently and they played a different coverage, which would get you to your second or third part of your progression, which is what happened on the second play. It’s always a good thing when you’re in the box yelling, but when we’re talking about getting to a route and then it happens in that moment, like you and the player are on the same page as you’re watching, and that’s what happened on that long play to Jerry, which is – it just shows the signs of improvement, like our ability to see the coverage get through a progression, play on time, play within the pocket. You know, the part that should be noted on all those plays where you’re getting through them, is that our protection was excellent there. And so, we’re an empty protection, no help on the tackles, and we were able to really stay in the cylinder and deliver a great throw and Jerry did the rest for us. But like you said, that was a repeated call in the first half there, and we’re able to continue to get through our progression versus a different look.”

 

Tommy on the second two-point play, understanding that you guys practice those types of situations, a weekly note to a game. You have certain plays in mind, and you probably go into that drive kind of with that peg in the back of your mind, like, if we score here, we’re going to do this play. Are there ever conversations when you get to that point about doing something different, running a different play? There’s been a lot said just about, like, Shedeur playing so well, and you took the ball away from him. 

“Yeah, no, I hear you. Yeah, if that play had worked, it would’ve been a totally different conversation, right? So unfortunately, we got to do a better job as coaches to make sure that we can execute in those moments. You have a menu of two-point plays when you go into a game. You know, we rep those every Friday. It’s the very last thing we do against our defense. So, it’s full speed, full reps. The two two-point plays that we ran in the game were the two that we repped on Friday. You know, we had success like as we rep them. So, you know, like we had confidence in that call. It’s one that’s been up for probably a month, and we just didn’t execute it in the moment when we needed to. And as coaches, you try to, figure out why so you can get it corrected moving forward. There’s a lot of conversations that take place, in those critical moments. We knew early that, ‘hey, if we score on this first two-minute, we’re going for two.’ Being down in that situation, we were going to go for two. We knew what the first call was. There was a conversation that takes place leading up to the next drive – ‘Hey, this is going to be the call. Let’s make sure our guys are prepared for it’ And then away we go. You know, like that’s more about the play than any individual, I think. Like we had confidence in that play, we had confidence in our guys to execute it and you know, we got to make sure that we do our job as coaches so that they can.”

 

How big is that menu on Friday? 

“Yeah, I think like that’s a really good question. I think as you know the two-point play conversation with it being used more frequently, that menu’s increased probably a lot over the last 10 to 12 years. You know, you have certainly have low red zone plays that you also kind of tab as like these are also backups for two pointers if you need to have one. I don’t want to go into the specifics on how many we carry, but there is a menu there that get carried over week to week that you know, can be used in those situations. And there’s going to be game plan calls that are used for inside the five that can also be used in those situations.”

 

I just wanted to ask you one other thing on that. Is the short yardage package different than the two-point package? 

“That’s a really good question. I bet if you studied over the last however many years in the NFL like the success of running the ball in two-point plays, it’s probably pretty high. You know, especially like maybe in those non-last play of the games, like the two-point plays we’re trying to get in. Short yardage and two-minute are like, when you say short yardage, do you mean like goal line or fourth and two?” 

 

Or fourth and two.

“Yeah, anywhere in the field, you get different defenses a little bit in the two-point play than you would in a short yardage in the field. So, I would say there’s some similarities, but probably not the exact same menu. There might be one that you say, hey, this works in the zone because of the defense you’re getting, but it doesn’t always carry over the center.”

 

Was Quinshon (Judkins) supposed to pitch that to…

“I don’t want to get into specifics on how it should or shouldn’t be. I just look at it as, hey, we got to do our job and make sure our players execute the plays.”

 

So, do you think it would have been executed if there was green grass in front of the intended runner? 

“I don’t play that, you know, I don’t know. I can’t foresee the future there. I know they have good players on defense. We have good players on offense.” 

 

Tommy, there was a report that you interviewed for the Penn State job. Just what is your feeling on, you know, you kind of wanting to be here or whatever the case may be or these opportunities that are probably going to come your way? 

“Yeah, I’m really focused on trying to play good offensive football, get a young quarterback ready to play, you know, support our players. Look, some of those things are flattering and you listen as a competitor. But you know, for me, like, my focus is really how can we go score enough points to win a game? How can we put our young players, put our quarterback, put our offense in the right position to have succes? How to lead our staff? Like that’s really where my focus is right now.”

 

Any interest in the Michigan job? 

“I’m gonna just keep my focus here right now.”

 

Tommy, the first failed two-point conversion, what happened on the snap exactly? Do you think it was an issue with Luke (Wypler) coming in there and Ethan (Pocic) being out? And what’s important for Luke and Shedeur, I mean, I know they worked together when Shedeur was in the backup role. 

“Yeah, they’ve worked, you know, we’ve had plenty of snaps with Luke and Shedeur. They got snaps beforehand. It’s a quick hitting play. You know, we got to stay in there, and you got to execute the exchange. Not much more to it than that. You just gotta execute the exchange on a play that’s gonna hit pretty quickly. That’s about all there is to it.”

 

Tommy, so I’m thinking the week before the Fannin Jr. fumble on the fourth down. So, the commonality there, the guys touching the ball are all first-year players. Is that the generalization or is that the reason for lack of success? 

“Yeah, I think anytime, you know, you see guys across the league have issues, I don’t want to put a blanket statement on it like that. I think our job as coaches is to ask them to do things that they can handle, and we got to have some ownership on executing those. Look, we’re pouring everything we have into our young players right now to make sure they can execute at a high level. You know, like the big coaching point for Samp (Dylan Sampson) on the one down the stretch there was like…where the ball is, which shoulder we’re leading with in relation to which shoulder we’re carrying the ball in. Like we try to look at all these things for our young players as opportunities to improve them, to coach them, to get them better moving forward. That’s really been our message this week – like let’s look at some of these things that did not execute the way we wanted to and let’s boil it down to what thoughts are we having pre snap? What’s our communication? Fundamentally, is there something in ball security that we can be doing better? You know, instead of just saying, ‘Hey, you need to get the snap, or you need to take care of the football.’ Why are those happening? Like what can we coach, what can we improve upon them to make sure that those don’t happen moving forward?”

 

Tommy, if we say that Harold is like ahead of schedule or better than advertised, better than expected. Is that accurate to say? 

“Probably wouldn’t say it that way. I mean, we thought he was pretty good when we drafted him.”

 

But he’s 21?

“Yeah. So look, the guys a football player. I mean, from the day he came here and rookie minicamp, you guys were here and you watched him catch however many balls he did in training camp. Like he’s been an impressive rookie, I’ll say that. Like he’s come in, he doesn’t play like a rookie all the time. He makes a ton of plays for us. He’s competitive, he’s tough, he does a lot of stuff in the run game well for us. He’s an impressive young player that CJ’s (Christian Jones) done a really nice job with. The rest of those guys in the room have done a really nice job with. He’s hit the ground running. I’m excited for him and his future and the player that he’ll continue to be and grow into.”

 

Joel (Bitonio) mentioned how much you guys have put on Ethan’s plate, especially with the rookie quarterback. So without Ethan, how do you kind of divvy up all the responsibilities? 

“Yeah, we have a lot of confidence in Wyp (Luke Wypler) and where he’s at mentally. He’s a guy that works really hard at it. He can be annoying. Wyp, he talks too much, but he’s into it, he loves it. Like, even in his backup role, like very similar to how a backup quarterback needs to prepare, it’s the same for a backup center. He’s always taking snaps when the ones are going, making the calls. He’s always into the protection meetings. He’s always into our protection walkthroughs. He’s on it, you know what I mean? Like, he’s a good fit for what we’re asking him to do. I think as you see the quarterback continuing to grow and be comfortable and confident in what we’re doing, you know, you can start to put a little bit more there as well. And so, you start working together up front. You know, we want our guys to see it through one set of eyes. So shoot, we should have all 11 knowing what we’re trying to get to in certain calls, but we have a lot of trust in Wyp to get those things done.”

 

Another question on goal line and short yardage, you haven’t had (Adin) Huntington available the last couple weeks. Is it fair to say that you’ve had to expand your menu as a result of that? 

“Probably doing some different things, you know, without his role. You know, certainly we probably looked a little differently in our short yardage opportunities last week than we did the week before. And you know, we’re going to find ways to attack what they do defensively and put our guys in the right spot. You know, Adin’s been a great contributor for us all year and you know, when he comes back, we’ll be excited to have him back.”

 

Tommy, with Shedeur starting the final four games of the season for a total of seven, what can you know about a quarterback in a seven-game sample size? Can you know everything that you need to know, what are your thoughts? 

“We’re taking it one day at a time. I think you learn about quarterbacks in year five, in year 10. Like, I don’t think you ever stop learning and evolving with those players. You know, certainly, we’re going to pour everything we have into our group right now and going to continue to find ways to improve and find ways to, you know, put emphasis on certain things and continue to get him, you know, ready to play. You’ve already seen some growth. You know, we’re excited to continue to take that one day at a time and continue to see growth take place. Look, we’ll evaluate it and we’ll continue to move forward in our focus on improvement of our players.”

 

Tommy, when you look at this Bears defense, specifically the run defense, what stands out?

“Yeah, they’ve done a great job all year of taking the ball away. I mean, I believe they lead the NFL in takeaways. You know, two of their DBs – I think between two of them, 10 or 11 interceptions. I mean, they’ve done a really nice job of taking it away. You know, they play well within the scheme. You know, they try to get you in…situations. They have a really good pressure package – I think they lead the league in in 3rd and 7 to 10 percentage and pretty complex there. So Coach (Dennis) Allen does a great job, well respected, obviously, and they have really good personnel at all three levels. You know, 98 (Montez Sweat) is a great player up front. They have some size inside, which, you know, can cause some issues in the run game. And then, you know, 31 (Kevin Byard III), 26 (Nahshon Wright), they’ve taken the ball away at a high clip, so they present a lot of challenges that way as well.”

 

Speaking of, like, the turnovers, Shedeur sort of talked about his interception from this past weekend and how it was just him kind of feeling like the offense was kind of stuck trying to make a play. Just what was the conversation like with him sort of teaching off of that, and sort of helping him?

“One of the things that we had talked about throughout the entire game is like, he was making great decisions, right? When to scramble, when to step up, when to throw it away, when to play the play as it’s intended to be played. Like, just continue to make those great decisions, right? Like, don’t get bored with making the right decision. You know, we had hit a good chunk there to Harold two plays, three plays before. We come right back to a run. We get called for a holding. Now we’re first and 20. We’re incomplete on first and 20. Now we’re second and 20 and don’t feel like we need to press. Let’s just get half of it back. We’re kind of right there on the fringe of field goal range. So, like all those situations that come up in a game, they’re learning opportunities for him. Like, ‘Hey, if we get half this back, we’re back in scoring position or third and manageable to continue the drive going.’ Don’t need to get it all back at once. Just continue to make the right decisions. Let the game come to you, and you’ll know when the plays are there to be made, and you’ll know when to make the right decision and, you know, find the outlet.”

 

 

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