General manager Ryan Pace spoke with Jeff Joniak Sunday morning on the Bears pregame radio show on WBBM Newsradio 780 AM and 105.9 FM. The following is a transcript of Pace's comments.
On last Sunday's win over the Lions:
"A division win at home in front of our fans, which is obviously important. But we hit some big plays on offense, we won the turnover battle, we were effective in the red zone really on both sides of the ball. But I think all these games, when you look back, there are things you want to improve on and it's just good to make those improvements off of wins."
On Mitchell Trubisky's touchdown passes and a long completion to Allen Robinson being signs of progress for the offense:
"I think we saw what happened when we're really clicking throughout on offense. The offensive line did a good job in protection on those throws and I think Mitch played with a lot of confidence and conviction that really shined through that game."
On flip-flopping Cody Whitehair back to center and James Daniels back to left guard:
"It's one of those things we talked about for a while, and I think one of the things I like most about our players and coaches is just the ability to adjust and adapt, look for solutions within a season, which that was, and I think just an example of doing what's best for our team."
On balancing growth on offense with all the slow starts in games:
"I think with us there's no doubt we need to start better. But really our evaluations … the totality of the game is what we're looking at. We do isolate into some of the areas on why some of these slow starts are occurring and collectively we're working together to fix it."
On Danny Trevathan's injury status:
"He's got the elbow. Our plan right now is to just take it week by week. You know how much Danny means to our team as a player and a leader and we know he'll be working hard to get back as soon as he can."
On it being good news that Trevathan is not being placed on injured reserve:
"I think it speaks to who he is too. And our trainers and docs are doing a good job too. You never want to count that guy out."
On super-sub Nick Kwiatkoski:
"I couldn't be more proud of him. Matt [Nagy] preaches all the time, 'Stay ready. You never know when your opportunity is going to come.' And that's really Nick. No matter what he's doing—it could be special teams, it could be defense—he's attacking it and he's a great teammate and really he's a playmaker on the field."
On whether there's any frustration on defense that unit is not generating many takeaways:
"I don't know if frustration is the right word. It's more a sense of our guys being hungry for those turnovers. We were really close a couple times last week and I think they're going to come. We just have to keep playing fast and playing aggressive and they'll come."
On Khalil Mack drawing double- and triple-teams:
"I think this is something that he's accustomed to. If you ask any opposing coach about our defense, the first thing that's going to come up is Khalil Mack. Khalil understands that, he accepts it. It's a challenge and a sign of respect really."
On waiving running back Mike Davis last week:
"It was a tough decision for us because of our investment in Mike and I think where we had forecasted him for our offense. But I think after drafting David Montgomery and seeing his development in such a short time, I think this move just made sense for our club overall and I think Mike's a good player and he'll be successful going forward."
On Davis' release saying a lot about Montgomery:
"A hundred percent. Just as fast as he's accelerated, the well-rounded back that he is. The combination between him and Tarik [Cohen] is a pretty dangerous combination."
On attending the Colin Kaepernick workout:
"Like any workout, we really keep those things in house and that's where we'll keep that one."
On whether a win over the Rams would spark the Bears to make a run over the second half of the season:
"That's a good question. We're really just focused on this game, Rams only. Matt says 1-0 and that's 100 percent where our mindset is right now. We know this is a good team we're playing tonight. Our focus is on the challenges that come with this game."
On how the Rams are playing:
"You look at their talent on their roster, you look at their talent on their coaching staff, you can clearly see why these guys are dangerous. They've been that way for a while and I think you also see they were in the Super Bowl last season. So this is a good team. We're going to have our hands full."
On Rams receiver Cooper Kupp:
"He's playing at a high level right now. You can clearly tell their quarterback trusts him a lot and you know why. He consistently gains separation in man coverage. He's very hard to cover from the slot. I think he's one of the tops in the league in yards after contact, so really just a well-rounded player and a significant factor in their offense's success."
