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HEAD COACH MIKE MUNCHAK
(on if he has talked to Mike Reinfeldt about the meeting with Chris Johnson)
I have not talked to Mike (Reinfeldt) at all, he got back after I was already out here at practice, so you probably know about as much as I do about it.
(on if it's better that he stays out of it)
I think so, that's Mike (Reinfeldt's) area and his experience in handling that. Like you said, I have enough to deal with what I have to do to get the guys ready for the game this weekend and with the roster and all the things coming up in the next 10 days. It's probably better that way that I'm not really involved in that other than hoping that it gets worked out soon.
(on if there was any reason to be more optimistic today)
I think when someone comes into town you are at least heading in the right direction. What happens when they come in I don't know, but at least it's good that Chris (Johnson) did come in and hopefully that's a good sign. I know he wants to get this thing resolved and know he wants to play this year and I don't think he wants to take the chance of missing games early so you hope his thinking is that same as ours and not to just be here but help us win the Jacksonville game.
(if he will try to take him to dinner tonight)
As coaches we work late so I don't know if I will talk to him or not. I'm sure I will talk to him once I find out what is actually going on.
(on if he saw positive effects from having the day off yesterday)
Yeah, I think it's more of a mental thing. I think it was a nice relief for them to kind of move on and we had good meeting today and got into the routine … I knew it would be hard when you finish camp, it's always a little struggle to get back into it. It was probably good that it was hot. It was hot and we still did some competitive periods where it was Titans vs. Titans periods where it wasn't all carded for the Bears and that kind of kept the tempo going a little bit. They had to fight through it no doubt because you have to get used to these types of practices where you are doing more show teams and scout teams. It was a good start for us, we ran a little bit here at the end to help with the conditioning because it's going to be hot like this when we play Jacksonville so we have to continue to work on our conditioning. We will cut back tomorrow a little bit as far as the pads, but we need a good work day and it's going to be a good test for us on Saturday night.
(on Kerry Collins un-retiring today and signing with the Colts)
He was a guy I thought could still play and when I heard that he retired we were surprised for that reason. The Colts had a close up view of his last game where he passed for almost 300 yards on them so I think they knew how good he still was and that he could still make the throws and how he is a smart player. I think they saw that, and we knew that and like I said we were surprised when he did retire because I felt that he could still contribute in a big way to an organization and I'm happy for him.
(on how not having Chris Johnson affects his long-term preparation)
Well as far as what we are doing, his not being here doesn't affect anything as far as our preparation for Jacksonville or the Ravens and so on. The positive is the other guys get a lot of reps and you hope they improve quite a bit so if they do have to play early in the season these guys are ready to help us. For Chris (Johnson's) part, it's not something that you can just plug in on a Friday and think he is going to play at his best on Sunday. I'm sure he could do some good things in a short period of time because he is a special type of player, but for us to think he is going to touch the ball 30 plus times if he is not here, its highly likely he would be able to do that and do it well without having injury issues.
(on how he feels about the running back position)
I feel good about it. If (Javon) Ringer didn't have the nick and miss last week, I think we would be very excited about it. Obviously, we have run the ball very well and preseason or not, when you run the ball well it's a good thing for everybody. Those guys have made some good runs and they have gotten better. It's only been two games and we still have two more games to play so they have an opportunity to improve more which is a good thing to see. We would still like to get (Javon) Ringer out there this week and we are still not quite sure where he is going to be in that equation and if he is going to be able to play Saturday night.
(on what goes through his mind when he hears the numbers that Chris Johnson is asking for)
I am like that with any player, the league has changed. When I hear what lineman are making what even kickers are making these days it shocks me that that's the kind of money that this game generates, but that's what we went on strike for in 1987 to get free agency for these guys and it shows you how great the game has become and I think more power to them. Players can only play so long and I think players are generally done playing by five or six years. I don't look at any particular situation like (Chris Johnson's), I'm sure he is trying to get what he thinks he deserves. We would like him here, but hopefully we get it worked out real soon.
(on Javon Ringer's health)
I think it's more frustrating than anything, I think he is frustrated that he still has some soreness in there. I think we all thought that he would be back quicker than he is. We are still not ruling him out by any means for this weekend because he has been out here doing everything and he has been doing running without a lot of issues, but is still not quite right to be at game time speed so we are still waiting until tomorrow or the next day when we feel like he has turned the corner.
(on getting back Matt Hasselbeck, Barrett Ruud, Kenny Britt, David Stewart)
I think it's always nice when you get four or five guys back today that didn't practice or missed a game last week and knowing that these guys are on the right track and that they should be about ready to play this weekend and that's a big plus but we still have a couple we are concerned for.
(on some of the unique idea he implemented in training camp)
Well you think you have a lot of good ideas of what you would do but then when it's your time to do it you start thinking 'well do I want to do that' and when it's your turn to pull the trigger on certain things like when you are trying to give guys the day off its more about if this is something that they really need. You don't plan for that, those kinds of things just kind of work their way into the schedule. It almost seemed like the schedule was telling 'hey, these guys need a day off, don't try to force another day out of them on Tuesday; That's the fun part about it and there is a little uncertainty about how you want to handle some of that stuff. I enjoyed it, I thought it was a challenge and that was one part just like each part of this job has been interesting from signing coaches, to the draft, to now camp and now we are getting into preseason games and into the season. I have enjoyed it and it has been a challenge and I know it will be an interesting next couple games.
