(670 The Score) New Bears coach Matt Eberflus stressed at his introductory press conference that the hallmarks of his team will be high effort and intensity.
To help reinforce those traits, Eberflus emphasizes his HITS principle, which he explained at length Monday at Halas Hall. HITS stands for hustle, intensity, taking the ball away and smarts.
“The foundational pieces are hustle, effort,” Eberflus said. “We’re going to be an effort-based team. OK? That’s the No. 1 piece, and we’re going to have measurable ways for standards of performance that are going to be detailed. Every single rep, every single practice, every single game, it’s going to be an effort-based team. So that’s the H part to our HITS principle.
“The next thing is the I. The I is intensity. We will play with maximum intensity. That’s focus, mental focus in intensity but also physical focus in intensity. The toughness we’re talking about for the Chicago Bears is a hitting, physical style. Offense, defense, kicking. So that’s going to be the second foundational piece. And we’ll measure those. We have ways to measure them and be very detailed.
“The next T is taking care of the ball and taking the ball away. It’s all about the ball. It’s all about the ball. That’s the most important thing for winning and losing, is taking the ball away and protecting the football.
“And then the last one is S. It’s being smart, situation players. So smart is really being what? No stupid penalties, making sure we’re squared away with the penalties. We should be in the top five every year in (fewest) penalties. OK, the next thing is situations. We want to be great in the red zone, third down, two-minute, backed-up and being smart situational players.
“So hustle, intensity, taking care of the football, taking it away and being smart situational players. Those will be the foundational pieces that we can measure.”