Getty Bears QB Nick Foles got fired up after the team's 23-16 win over the Panthers.
Nick Foles and the Chicago Bears may be 5-1, but they’re not about to get complacent. The Bears are fresh from a 23-16 road win over the Carolina Panthers, but their offensive struggles continue, particularly when it comes to running the ball.
Still, the Bears have managed to find ways to win, which, in this league, will buy them some time to fix their problem areas, if nothing else. Foles, who is one of the more mild-mannered and even-tempered players in the league, was asked by Mike Berman of NBC 5 Chicago if the Bears were more than a team who wins ugly, and the question seemed to light a spark in the veteran quarterback.
Foles gave a passionate, fiery, articulate response to Berman, and it sent Bears’ media into a bit of a frenzy, largely because after years of Jay Cutler and Mitchell Trubisky, it’s not the kind of response Chicago quarterbacks typically give.
This is my 10th season covering the #Bears and I’m struggling to remember a better QB press conference than the one Nick Foles just provided. Passionate, entertaining and informative. Not hard to understand why his teammates love him everywhere he goes.
This is some presser by Nick Foles. He’s fired up talking about this win and this team. This is pretty fun. #Bears
Nick Foles just gave us quite the animated response to a @MikeBermanNBC question about the Bears’ offense.
“Great teams find a way to win a game.”
Kept emphasizing that they know they have to improve, but is glad to take the 5-1 record.
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Bears’ QB Nick Foles Asks: ‘Would You Rather Lose Pretty or Win Ugly?’
Foles is in his ninth season in the league; He knows how difficult wins are to come by in the NFL. Thus, when he was asked if he cared whether the Bears won ugly, his response was strong, swift and laced with truth. “Would you rather lose pretty or win ugly? I think we’d rather win ugly,” he said, adding: “Ultimately, in the NFL, it’s about winning games. It doesn’t matter how you do it, it just matters that you get it done. If you put up 50 points and lose the game, those 50 points don’t mean anything.”
Foles reiterated several times that he knew the offense in particular needed to find more cohesion and rhythm, and he took accountability for the ugly interception he threw in the third quarter. But he didn’t stop there. He let the media and anyone listening know that he and his teammates are well aware of their issues — and he shared why he thinks this team’s best days are yet to come.
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Foles on Bears’ Offense: ‘We Know…’
Foles has played for five different teams in his nine seasons, and he has won a Super Bowl once, so he understands what it takes to get there. He assured reporters he and the offense are actively working on their issues, and he also noted that based on his previous experience, he likes where this current Bears team is at.
“We’re a team that is young. Offensively we’re growing, and we’re getting to know each other, we’re figuring out who we are and we’re doing it at the right time and as a team we’re winning these games. And I think that is what is important. Now, we’re not going to get complacent and say, ‘Hey man, we’re 5-1. This is it.’ No! We’re sitting there in the locker room after the game talking through it, ‘We gotta be better here. This is what we gotta do. Communication here. Route running here. Hey, we gotta be able to run the ball here.’ We know that. I know you all are going to ask those questions. We know that. And that’s what’s exciting because we don’t have to have ya’ll say, ‘Hey, are you doing this?’ We know. But we also know we’re going to improve because we believe in one another and that’s what great teams do. Great teams find a way to win a game. Bad teams win with prettiness. Good teams win no matter how it takes.”
You can watch Foles’ full interview below. He gets asked about winning ugly around the 1:10 mark, and he only gets more animated from there. In a good way — it’s the kind of fire the team has been sorely missing at the position for some time.
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