Headcoach Mike Holmgren
(On the status of the team…)
‚I think we are as prepared as we could be. We have some things we are going to do in Chicago tomorrow, but the physical part of the practice is over. I think the attitude is good, we’re prepared to play a really fine football team, we know that, but we will give it a go, we’re ready.”
(On the status of Darrell Jackson and DJ Hackett…)
‚Those will be Sunday decisions. They did not practice as you know, and they are going to have to show me on Sunday that they can do something. But I am hopeful that I will have one or maybe both of them on Sunday.”
(On how this team is different than the one that played the Bears earlier in the season…)
‚Well, some guys are going to be playing that didn’t play that first game. Some guys are going to be playing at different positions. From a practical standpoint, that is real. I think in the playoffs, when you are thinking about the finality of playoff football, I think probably both teams in their minds, may be a little different than a regular season game, but I am glad we have a couple guys that can play that didn’t play in the first game.”
(On how the special teams practice went this week…)
‚I think it went fine. That is a situation where we, I referenced it earlier in the week, where you are having to sign guys to come in and play, and you are having to move guys up because of different situations, we’ve lost a couple key guys on special teams, but we’re counting on the new guys to come in, fill in and do their jobs. I know this, we have a good punter, we have a good place kicker, we have guys that want to do it, and we can’t give up the big play on special teams.”
(On leaving on Friday instead of Saturday…)
‚Well, the league, they encourage teams to go in playoff situations, particularly when you are traveling back there where the weather, or coming to Seattle where you could have snow. The second thing is just to get in there and acclimate ourselves to the situation in Chicago, the time change, those types of things. We didn’t have to rush today, we are leaving a little bit later here, we could have a good solid Friday practice without feeling like we had to sprint to the airplane, so that was another reason.”
(On Jerramy Stevens receiving the game ball…)
‚Well, he came up big in a big game. I don’t have anything to do with the game balls, the offensive staff picks the offensive player, the defensive staff picks the defensive player, but I think he has had kind of a bumpy season in some respects, but he came up big in a big game and I think they wanted to reward him for that.”
(On if they need to be near perfect to win on Sunday…)
‚Well I think we have to play a good solid football game. When you are talking about perfect, or near perfect games, I think you are really referencing the things we talk about every week; turnovers, penalties, assignment breakdowns, those types of things. I don’t think you ever play the perfect game, but you shoot for that. You really do, you shoot for doing everything right. In playoff football, I think the teams that finally get to the Super Bowl, along the way, they have been pretty solid and don’t make mistakes and don’t turn the ball over. We have to have that type of game.”
(On if he senses that the defense is picking up momentum…)
‚I hope so. If we ever got into a momentum, we really need it now. It has been well documented, we have some young people in our secondary that are playing with not a lot of experience, so our front seven really has to come through and continue to play well. It is no different.”
(On Marcus Trufant’s progress…)
‚I saw him, he was moving around. The thought was, he had a chance if we were fortunate to get there to maybe play in a championship game, with the timing. I was encouraged with the fact that he was out here doing some things. But, who knows, he can’t play this week, I know that.”
(On if Gerard Ross is ready to play…)
‚Well, we will see. He has worked with us, and worked hard all season long and now he gets a chance to step up and play a little bit. He has probably been thinking about this all year, and he has been preparing himself all year, we will see what he can do.”
(On if Ross will help on special teams also…)
‚Yeah I think so.”
(On North Park University…)
‚Well, it goes back a long ways. Cathy’s family, her grandfather was the pastor of the North Park Covenant Church, which was right next to the university. Her mother and father, they all went to school there. Cathy went to school there, my kids went to school there, and it s our Church’s school university. It is a really fine liberal arts college; it is right in the city. If a kid wants to get a pretty diverse experience, right in a big city and get a good education, it is a great little school. I was very happy with how they treated my children and I would recommend it highly. Expensive tuition though.”
(On if the Bears are harder to put guys in bad match ups because of their versatility…)
‚You don’t think about match ups that much when you play them because they play their defense, and they blitz, but they don’t blitz like some teams blitz, but their very talented guys and you can move all over the place and they line up and they play. So the match up question isn’t as big for an offensive strategy as you might have it against other teams.”
Runningback Shaun Alexander
(On being able to play against the Bears this game since he was out during the season match up…)
‚It is always exciting to play in the playoffs. It is always exciting to play against a team that is number one. This is what they playoffs are all about.”
(On the Bears defense…)
‚It is very good. If they are not stopping things that you are good at, they are causing turnovers right when you think you are good at something. We have a great challenge in front of us.”
(On Brian Urlacher…)
‚Being part of the Millennium Crew, which is all of the guys that were drafted in 2000, he fits the tone well. He changes the things that you want to do because he is so fast and so strong. He just makes plays. If you don’t focus your game on limiting some things that he does well, he will embarrass you.”
(On if Urlacher has a mystique about him like Dick Butkus did…)
‚I don’t know if anybody can get like Butkus. If he was playing, we would all start thinking about that. He is definitely one of the best in the game. If you don’t come ready to play, it is a long day for you.”
(On being extra motivated to play the Bears after the loss during the season…)
‚Totally. It doesn’t matter who you are playing against. Once you are in the playoffs, it is just it. You have to go play. We all, especially the guys in this building, we know what it feels like to get to the top of the mountain. It is great to be there, but we didn’t finish, so just playing against Chicago, it just adds to the great picture.”
(On how important playoff experience is…)
‚I hope it matters a lot. I don’t know. I think that everybody prepares different, everybody gets excited different. It is a game to go back to the basics, turn the ball over and making big plays. Hopefully the ball falls our way a lot.”
(On what it is like to be the underdog and the defending NFC Champion at the same time…)
‚I think with all that we have been through, on paper, I would say we deserve to be underdogs, but at the same time, we are a dangerous animal right now because we have been through so much and we still seem to be where everybody really wants to be and that is in the second round of the playoffs.”
(On if he thinks they still haven’t played like they are capable of…)
‚We haven’t even been even close to what we are capable of, that is why I am proud of our guys. We said from the very beginning, we’re not going to be guys who make excuses for injuries or drama or windstorms or rain storms or snow storms, we’re just going to go play and at the end of the day everybody do as much as you can and we’re going to be proud. We are, we’re standing here in the midst of it just like every other team that is in it still. We like where we are.”
(On the advantage to playing with Jerramy Stevens…)
‚Jerramy Stevens changes the game. When you have a good tight end, you automatically give yourself a couple more first downs and you give yourself chances to hold on to the clock. Playing against a team like Chicago, that is going to be very key.”
(On how he and Stevens will change what the Bears have seen since last time…)
‚Well hopefully it will let us keep the clock a lot longer. They controlled the game. Our red zone, we kicked two field goals down there early, and then they were up 14-6. With Jerramy and me in, it gives us a great chance to score more first downs and also move the ball in the red zone a little bit easier. Hopefully it goes well for us.”
(On how well the coaches have done this season…)
‚I think top to bottom I am proud of everybody. Everybody is giving it all they got. I am sure if you looked at Matt’s (Hasselbeck) body, you would be like ‘wow, you are doing that with how beat up you are.‘ Same with mine, same with Walt (Walter Jones), up and down, and everybody is sore at this time of the year. Everybody has had injuries at this time of the year, but it think that our guys keep on playing and when the buzzer goes off, the Seahawks have the win, and that is our only goal.”
(On if he gets 25 carries and more than 100 yards, is there a chance they will lose…)
‚There is always a chance. Against their defense, if I get 100 yards, then we’ve done very, very well, because their defense is that good.”
