Colts Head Coach Frank Reich on Facing Comeback Bears: ‘My Foot is Always Down’

INDIANAPOLIS — They’re unbeaten after three games, but the Chicago Bears have been living on the edge.

Indianapolis Colts head coach Frank Reich is well aware of the Bears’ comeback tendency entering Sunday’s 4:25 p.m. road game at Soldier Field. (Game has been flexed to a later starting time due to Patriots-Chiefs postponement.)

The Bears trailed at Detroit 23-6 entering the fourth quarter of the season opener, but rallied with 21 points for a 27-23 win. Last week at Atlanta, the Bears were down 26-10 entering the fourth quarter, but backup quarterback Nick Foles led the offense to 20 points in a 30-26 comeback victory.

Foles, who won a Super Bowl ring in Philadelphia when Reich was the Eagles offensive coordinator in 2017, has been named the Bears starter.

The Colts (2-1) are coming off home blowouts of the New York Jets (36-7) and Minnesota Vikings (28-11).

Reich was asked Friday about the importance of not letting up on offense, should the Colts have a lead entering the final quarter. In both of those Bears comebacks, the opponent didn’t score in the final 15 minutes.

“I can honestly tell you ‘Chap’ (Mike Chappell) that for me, my foot is always down,” Reich said. “Yes, you’re right, I might call the game differently on offense depending on the situation and depending on the feel, but it’s just ingrained in my brain from a very young age – probably the way my dad was a coach and ingrained it into me – that you never let your guard down no matter what the score, until that final whistle is blown. I sure hope that that is ingrained in this team – that we never let our guard down, no matter what.”

Defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus has also emphasized the importance of finishing strong and going for the proverbial jugular. The Colts have outscored the last two foes 15-8 in the fourth quarter and 32-8 in the second half. In a 27-20 opening loss at Jacksonville, the Colts were outscored 10-3 in the fourth quarter and 13-3 in the second half.

“I think they’ve been informed of that,” Reich said of players being reminded of the Bears’ penchant for rallying. “I know ‘Flus’ (Matt Eberflus) and the guys have done a good job. I didn’t talk to the team specifically about that. I know ‘Flus’ has covered it. We play disciplined football and I think our guys are pretty wired in that no matter the situation, our mindset is always going to be the same. It’s one play at a time, resetting after every play, focus for each play, understanding the situation, and never letting our guard down.”

The Colts are three-point road favorites, which might seem like surprising odds considering the home team is undefeated. Perhaps it’s because the Colts have prevailed so convincingly in back-to-back weeks with an efficient offense and suffocating defense. The Colts sacked quarterbacks for safeties in both games and, last week, returned two interceptions for touchdowns.

Reich calls the offensive plays and will be matching wits with Bears defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano, who was the Colts head coach from 2012-17. The Bears have two elite pass-rushers in linebacker Khalil Mack and defensive tackle Akiem Hicks. They expect to get pressure with their four- and five-man fronts.

“Just very well-coached, disciplined, really good at disguise on the backend,” Reich said. “Coverage wise, they do a really good job. Then pressure wise with the personnel that they have, I think one of the things Chuck – I have not played him a lot, but I think just watching and admiring his coaching career – he does a good job of adapting to his personnel. Yeah, they can bring exotic blitzes, but that’s not what they major in. They major in kind of five-man pressures because they like their defensive front so they’re just trying to get one-on-ones to get the win up front. That is just kind of the M-O and that is pretty common and pretty smart, to be honest with you.

“We’ve got to play good football, one-on-one football. We talk about it every week, we’re going to prepare, but at the end of the day, we have to win our one-on-one matchups. A big part of this game will be our one-on-one matchups in pass protection. Chuck’s not pressuring a real high amount this year in general. I would say it’s pretty average. Plus or minus from that, we’ve got to be really good in protection. They obviously have good pass-rushers.”

MORE: Check out Horseshoe Nation’s premium page

(Phillip B. Wilson has covered the Indianapolis Colts for more than two decades and authored the 2013 book 100 Things Colts Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die. He’s on Twitter @pwilson24, on Facebook at @allcoltswithphilb and @100thingscoltsfans, and his email is phillipbwilson24@yahoo.com.)