On having DE Juqua Parker line up on the left and DE Trent Cole line up on the right side: "You are always looking for matchups, whether it's the offense, defense, or special teams phase of the game. You are always looking for matchups and they had an ex-Pro Bowl left offensive tackle that we thought we could we could move Trent and take advantage of their right tackle. That's a part of the matchup game."
On whether the linebackers in the base defense will be the same this week as they were last week: "We'll have different combinations based on the situation at this point. We are still trying to work through some of those different combinations with who is available, who's healthy and who's not at this point."
On whether LB Akeem Jordan will practice today: "We're not sure. Right now I think he is checking with (head athletic trainer) Rick (Burkholder) at this time, but you'd have to check with Coach (Andy Reid) on that and we'll go from there."
On whether any of the defensive ends could play linebacker if necessary: "On first and second down? Chris Clemons is a guy that has some linebacking experience, having played that at Georgia. Mostly on third downs is where we move some of those guys around once in a while where you saw DE Jason (Babin) last week, where you saw Trent the first week, so on and so forth."
On whether he's optimistic about CB Sheldon Brown playing against the Bears: "I think it's day-to-day at this time. You'd have to ask Coach (Reid) on that, but he says he's going to play. We'll just have to see."
On what he thought of LB Chris Gocong's play at middle linebacker: "The thing you appreciate about Chris is that he's the consummate team player. He came in last week, prepared himself like he would to play any position and he played a game, just like any game, there are plays that he would tell you that he'd like to have back. You appreciate how he got us lined up and his effort."
On whether moving Cole to the opposite side has an impact on his technique: "No. It's a position he's played before. He played some of that last year. It's playing on the other side for sure, so the angles are the same just from a different side."
On why he doesn't have the cornerbacks switch sides and if there is ever temptation to do so to match them up with specific receivers: "There is and some corners are comfortable – I think when you talk about matchups and changing sides, specifically to the end position as was addressed earlier or the corner position it's important that the players are comfortable doing that as well. Some corners are comfortable changing sides, some are not. At the defensive end position we knew Trent was comfortable having played the left side as well."
On LB Moise Fokou's play and how he can avoid getting some of the penalties he's drawn recently: "Penalties come down to discipline and focus. That's my responsibility to make sure that we are disciplined each and every play. If it means jumping offsides or hitting guys out of bounds, we can't do that, regardless of the situation. You cost your team too many yards and keep the defense on the field too long. I thought, specifically speaking to Moise's performance, for a young player in the second game of his NFL career, basically starting, he did a nice job. He was very productive around the football, which is what you look for in a linebacker."
On his decision to activate CB Ramzee Robinson over CB Jack Ikegwuonu: "With Ramzee, he's a guy that has NFL playing experience. He's played a number of years and we felt that he was comfortable with the role that he would have to be involved in during the game. When (CB) Sheldon (Brown) went down early in the game he was inserted into that role. He got himself up to speed last week and came in and tried to execute for us."
On how much young or inexperienced players limit what the team can do defensively: "It limits some of what you can do. Part of that is timing. In terms of what you can anticipate going into a game and then what happens during a game. It's important that when the player - in Sheldon's case last week (he) went down in the first quarter or so that Ramzee and I dialogued on the sideline what we was comfortable executing. Then I called plays or defenses that he's comfortable executing."
On whether it will limit his ability or willingness to blitz if Brown can't play:"There are two ways you could go on that. You could say it limits you ability to blitz, but you could also say that it enhances your ability to blitz based on your personnel. You're always looking at what you have at your disposal and what skill set those guys bring to the table, then developing a plan off of that."
On whether there is any chance Ikegwuonu will be active this week: "Yes."
On the defense struggling to get off of the field on third down: "Third down specifically, going back to the Dallas game, we weren't on our game number one. It's important in the critical situations, the two that you mentioned, that we are able to get off of the field and get the ball back to our offense. We didn't do a good job with that. That comes back to me calling the right defenses, whether it's pressures or coverage and also the execution part of it."
On what happened on the touchdown that CB Asante Samuel gave up: "He's a cornerback and you are expected to cover your receiver. The play design was a high red zone type play and he tried to double move Asante initially and he did a great job covering the double move and then when the quarterback started to move in the pocket he lost his man."
On why the defense has struggled to create turnovers in the last few games: "Going back I would say more specifically this past game is the first game in a while that we did not have a turnover or maybe the first game all year that we haven't had a turnover. Leading or being one of the top one or two or three teams in the NFL, I don't think it's a problem necessarily. I think it's something that we've got to get back to putting pressure on the quarterback and putting pressure on the perimeter and attacking the receivers and you guys all know, you've been around attacking oriented defenses long enough that if you get pressure turnovers come."
On Bears WR Devin Hester's transformation from kick returner to receiver: "I think he's a year better. Having faced him last year out there in Chicago I would say he's a year better than he was at this time last year. The transformation is still taking place, but he's done a nice job and the coaches out there obviously have been working hard with him. He's a formidable receiver due to his speed, number one, and I would say the same thing about (WR) Johnny Knox, number 13 and (WR) Earl Bennett, number 80. They've got some speed-oriented receivers that, if you lose them at the line they can get behind you in a hurry."
On whether having CB Dimitri Patterson matched up on Chargers TE Antonio Gates was an ideal match up: "There was one specific play where that happened and that was not the initial design of the defense at that time. It just so happened that within the play, before the snap, the execution went such that Dimitri ended up on Gates."
On Bears TE Greg Olsen: "He brings different things to the table. Gates obviously moves tremendously well in space but Olsen does as well. I think you mix in (TE Chris) Cooley and (TE Jason) Witten and then (TE Tony) Gonzalez that we'll see later on down the road here and every week is a tight end that brings something different to the table other than just blocking and catching five yard routes like they used to back in the day."
On whether he has to tell his cornerbacks to be aware of Bears QB Jay Cutler's willingness to throw the ball to any receiver at any time: "Definitely, he's got a rocket for an arm and he tries to fit every thrown in there. That's where some of the turnovers have come on offense for them. I think against the Arizona Cardinals we looked at a play yesterday where he's got a guy 50 yards down the field and the defense starts to relax and he lasers one right in there."
On his role in making coverage checks before the snap: "It comes back to my responsibility being the execution part of that and making sure that the players understand the why and how. The why of what we are doing and also the how and how we want to approach it and the technique involved."
On whether he might move Gocong back to the strong side linebacker and Witherspoon back to the middle linebacker spot within his combinations at the position: "You might see Gocong moving back to SAM and Will back to the middle, or different combinations of the sort with different situations."
