Bears head coach Lovie Smith
*
*(on being the only NFL coach from Texas) **"I defiantly take pride in that. Of course I'm from Big Sandy, Texas and we were
beat this past Saturday in the semi-finals. Each day I can't wait to get on the
website to see. I'm a proud product of Texas football and of course I'm biased
and think the best football is played in Texas and all that stuff. Yes, to answer
your question, I definitely take pride in that."
(on making the transition from baseball to football and having to spend time off the field)"It wasn't really that frustrating. My big thing was looking at what I could do to get better and for me it was working on some of the little things – it was nice to get reunited with (quarterback's coach) Wade Wilson up here – and work on some fundamentals and just work on learning the offense and improving the things I could control at that time. Of course you always want to be on the field but I just kind of viewed it as taking the time to get better in some of those things I hadn't had a chance to work on."
*(on how much better he would be at football if he hadn't taken time to play baseball) *"Considering I would have had three more years of football I think I would have been quite a bit further ahead. That's just the kind of the risk I took."
*(on advice he would give Cowboys QB Drew Henson, who also started playing baseball) *"Just persevere. I think the main thing too is for him to be patient with himself. It takes a while being away from the game three and a half, four years and then coming back and straight into the NFL. It takes time to get the feel back and readjust to the speed of the game."
*(on if there is pressure on players like him and Henson to pick the game up quickly) *"Yeah. It's unfair. It's unfair for a guy just coming straight out of college who has been playing football continuously. You look at the struggles Eli Manning has had this year. It's unfair for them to place (high) expectations upon him right now. You take a guy like Drew, (who) has been out four years; it's going to take time."
(on injuries to quarterbacks on the Bears roster)"I think it's not only quarterback. We're banged up on the offensive line and we've had a lot of key injuries. You don't get into a rhythm as an offense when you have so many changes taking place."
(on the Texans defense holding the Colts to 23 points Sunday)"They played great. They mixed up their coverages and their blitzes and really did a nice job of shutting down Peyton (Manning)."
(on Bears QB Jeff George)"It's been nice having him here. He's got so much experience and some amazing stories. It's nice to have him here. He's a veteran. He's been in the league for 14 years and he has got a lot of experience and knowledge."
(on still being in the playoff race in the NFC)"It's very nice. Very nice."
