Does it just come down to not being able to finish in the second half?
Plain and simple. We didn't finish in the second half. We didn't do a good job of tackling, for one, and then we had too many guys just open. We knew that they were going to get the ball out the quarterback's hand fast. It comes down to being disciplined. I guarantee when we walk in that meeting room and hear Dennard (Wilson), everything's going to be discipline. That's all we've been talking about; discipline. From eyes, the way we tackle, rush lanes. The quarterback got out of the pocket a couple of times. We've got to be better, especially in the second half. We've got a chance to put a team away, we've got to put the team away.
In that second half, was it just, as you mentioned, just a matter of not being disciplined? Not executing?
That's exactly what it was. You see guys just open. You see guys breaking tackles. I don't know what the number is right now, but from what I saw and what you felt on the field, we just weren't tackling, getting guys on the ground and just guys doing their job. Like on the run play, we had them stoned in the backfield. We'll see it on the tape but every 11 had to do their job. And then just get them on ground, we got to be able to tackle. Especially when it comes to later in the game like that where we know they're going to try to run the ball. The game is in close range, and that last touchdown run, it shouldn't happen.
You've got young, inexperienced DB's involved in that run play and in the two touchdowns that ended the game. Is there a scenario where you ask too much of those guys and they just have to step in and get it done? What do you say to guys?
I'll just say everyone has a job to do. I can't control injuries. I can't control who's on the back end. Those guys knew that they were going to have to play Monday. We had a couple of injuries last game. Some guys went on IR. The way we try to operate, the way Dennard (Wilson) coaches the defense is everyone has to be ready to play. And at the end of the day, when you're talking about the game of football, these guys, we're professional athletes. Everyone dreamed to play in the NFL. So, when you get your opportunity, it doesn't matter if you're young and experienced because these guys practice for this. This is the reason why we practice through the week is to play on Sundays. So, we just have to be better at doing our job. Yes, maybe the nervousness and just being able to be in that mindset of 'I've got to go out here and play football, but I've got to step up.' That's what you want. That's what you should expect as a professional athlete. You want to be on the field in that type of situation. So, it takes all 11 though, it's not just on these young guys that are having to fill in. Yes, when you've got a lot of guys going out with injuries and traded, yes, it's hard as hell – don't get me wrong. But the way I was taught, the next man up mentality. We just have to do a better job of, like I said, when it comes down to just doing your job and tackling, it doesn't matter if you're young or old. We have to be able to make tackles, and everyone just got to do their job.
You had a lot of momentum on both sides of the ball early. How disappointing was it that you couldn't really sustain it late?
Disappointing. Like I said, when you have an opportunity to put a team out and take the life out of a team, you have to do it. That's something we didn't do in the second half, and we talked about it at halftime, go finish the game and we didn't do that. So, yes, it's frustrating and the question is, when you're walking off the field after a game, it's just like, how in the heck did we let that one slip away? And just go back to doing the basic fundamentals of the game of football. Is everyone doing their job? And just get the guy on the ground.
You're going to have one game left obviously next week, but what's your overriding feelings as you walk out here for the last time this year?
It's been a rough season. We won one game here in Nissan Stadium and I just want to get back to winning football games. I want to get back to packing these stands. In my first three years here, we won football games. We packed Nissan, and come in — like last week, you're here, you sing the national anthem, you hear the 'Chiefs,' which, that's what they do, they travel. But I remembered when we had the Chief's here a couple years ago, and you didn't see much red. You may have heard it, but you didn't see much red. So, I just want to get back to being able to win football games around here. It's been a rough season for us, especially at home. I'm sure it's not the way our fans wanted it to happen. I know for a fact it's not the way we wanted it in the locker room. So, it's been a rough season, but we've got one more. Like I said, in the locker room after the game, this coming up week is going to be the last time this team is together as a whole. We've got to go out this week and take every day one day at a time, but we've got to embrace it. We've got to embrace being around each other. We don't know who all is going to be back in that locker room next year, coaches included. So, we've got to embrace it, and we've got one more. I don't know, I didn't check on Jacksonville (Jaguars). I'm sure they're still in the playoffs, but we've got an opportunity to maybe knock them down one. I don't really know what's going on with them, but we just got to go out there with a mindset that we can finish the season off the right way. One more time with this team, and that's kind of what my message to this team. Just take this week with a mindset that we're going to play for each other and finish the season off the right way.
How much closer is this team to getting back to playing winning football than it was this time last year or earlier this season?
We improved. You saw the improvement from guys on this football team. The reason why we were able to — I'm sure everybody will say because they were missing (Patrick) Mahomes — but the reason why we were able to win the game last week, you see the improvements from guys, especially our young guys. So, when you can see improvements throughout the year, that's what you expect. We've got a whole offseason though; we've got a lot of work to do. I'm not going to sit up here and just say maybe what somebody want to hear, but I feel like we've got to work to do. It's not going to just fix in a couple of days. Like I said, we have been getting better as a team and we've got one more to try to finish the season off the right way.
Why has it been so difficult to just win two in a row?
I wish I knew. When I heard the coach say last night that we haven't won two in a row in a long time, that was surprising. I'm like, what the heck? That's why I want to get back to winning football games. That's got to be our mindset of how can we stack wins because we haven't done that in a very long time. We've got one more. We can't stack no more wins right now, we've just got to focus on this last one against Jacksonville. When we get ready to come back this offseason and leading up to next year, it's going to be different.
How do you evaluate (Tyler) Shough's performance today? How did you prepare for him?
They won. Shout out to them for winning. They got the ball out of his hand quick after we got to him a couple of times. He's got playmakers. He was able to throw the ball. We've got to do a better job on our side of the ball, but shout out to them, they got a win.
