Bears coordinators Shane Waldron (offense), Eric Washington (defense) and Richard Hightower (special teams) spoke to the media Thursday at Halas Hall. Here are five things we learned from those sessions:

(1) Washington was impressed but not surprised with safety Jaquan Brisker's performance in last Sunday's 24-18 win over the Rams.

The 2022 second-round pick from Penn State joined Roquan Smith as the only players in Bears history to record double-digit tackles, a sack and an interception in a game. Brisker sealed the victory with a late interception after he had an apparent pick in the end zone nullified because he went out of bounds and failed to re-establish himself in the field of play.

"As a blitzer, he was impactful," Washington said. "He was just a couple of inches away from having a two-interception game. He was just all over the place. It was awesome to see, but not surprising. That's the way that he has invested and worked to be able to put himself in position to call on those types of things when we need it most."

(2) Waldron was pleased that running back D'Andre Swift's perseverance and determination paid off with a breakout performance.

The free-agent acquisition became the first Bears player to compile at least 70 yards rushing and 70 yards receiving in a game since Jeremy Langford in 2015. Swift led the team in both rushing with 93 yards and one touchdown on 16 carries and receiving with seven catches for 72 yards—more than doubling his season output. In the first three games, he compiled 68 yards rushing and 46 yards receiving.

"Talk about a guy who works hard," Waldron said. "And hard work pays off. I know the start of this season was not what any of us were looking for for him, and a lot of things went into that. But he never flinched, never blinked, went right into the next game with that workman-like approach. So I think what we saw there was just the culmination of a lot of hard work from throughout his career, throughout his life and not wavering when the next opportunity came to him."

(3) Waldron said that employing backup center Doug Kramer Jr. as a fullback in goal-line and short-yardage situations was a group decision.

Kramer lined up as the lead blocker on Roschon Johnson's 1-yard TD run in the second quarter and on Johnson's 3-yard run on third-and-1 late in the third period.

"When [the offensive assistants] get together … we're always going to get back to, 'What do we see as something that we could utilize this week?'" Waldron said. "And for that particular package right there, [we] went with Doug at the fullback spot. On the plays he was in there, the guys in front of him operated at a high level there to give him a good, clean look."

Kramer was selected by the Bears in the fifth round of the 2022 draft out of Illinois. Prior to last Sunday, he had played just two snaps on offense—both in last season's 30-12 win over the Raiders Oct. 22 at Soldier Field.

"He's been a guy who has worked his tail off and done all the right things," Waldron said. "He has been in a backup role. Anytime you're on the active roster, there's somewhere that we can utilize you and maximize our opportunity on some of those. That's something those [assistant coaches] saw, and he went out there and executed."

(4) Hightower lauded punter Tory Taylor for an outing against the Rams that earned him NFC special teams player of the week honors.

The fourth-round pick from Iowa averaged 55.4 yards on five punts, the third highest average by a Bears punter in a game since at least 1960 with a minimum of four punts. Taylor landed three punts inside-the-20, forcing the Rams to start possessions at their own 5-, 8- and 8-yard lines.

"Kid works extremely hard," Hightower said. "The great thing about him is he doesn't care about stats. All he cares about is helping his team and being there for the team. I was really excited to see him be a weapon in such a huge way to help the football team right there and the punt team in general is doing a really nice job for him, allowing him to be comfortable."

Hightower was amused to learn that Taylor told reporters Wednesday that he was determined to make Hightower and general manager Ryan Poles look like geniuses for drafting him in the fourth round.

"It makes me feel like we have the right player in the building because that's a selfless comment," Hightower said. "That's somebody that's putting other people before themselves, just like he does with his team. It makes me feel lucky and fortunate to be able to work with someone like that and continue to develop him. That's really cool."

(5) Hightower will have the special teams unit on high alert Sunday when they face Panthers veteran punter Johnny Hekker, a trick play specialist.

In 13 NFL seasons with the Rams (2012-21) and Panthers (2023-present), Hekker has completed 15 of 25 passes for 193 yards and one touchdown.

"He can throw the football," Hightower said. "He's thrown so many passes. We've got to be alert. We've got to be on guard. There's a lot of tape to look at and a lot to study. Believe me, we look at a lot of it. Players have done a great job of looking at a lot of it. They're so detailed. Meetings have been good this week."