Defensive Coordinator Nick Sorensen Press Conference

Defensive Coordinator Nick Sorensen

Press Conference – December 5, 2024

San Francisco 49ers

How does this offense look different under Chicago Bears interim head coach Thomas Brown than it did under Chicago Bears former offensive coordinator Shane Waldron?

“They’ve just been in so many good, tough, combative games. They have the talent, I feel like their record doesn’t show that and really good teams that they’ve played close. They have so much ability. I think the quarterback is getting better, all the skill players that they have are weapons and they’re just a resilient team that’s been executing better and just continually improving throughout each week.”

How has LB Dre Greenlaw looked out there?

“He’s looked good. I think he feels good. I think with him it’s day-to-day in hoping that he feels good today and then he feels better tomorrow and we’ll see. But he looks good. I think he’s enjoying it, being back out there.”

Does he look like the old Dre and like his reflexes and seeing everything?

“Oh, yeah. He looks great. He looks like Dre.”

What about S Talanoa Hufanga?

“Same. He’s been, those guys have so much energy and they bring so much just having him out there, it’s cool. It’s good to see those guys back. I think they’re excited and we’re all feeding off of that.”

Have you seen him catch anything with his club yet?

“Yeah, not so much. But he’s, we’ll work on it. He’ll be able to catch it. If it’s close, he’ll catch it. He’s a playmaker.”

I’m sure when the season began you didn’t envision DL Evan Anderson starting a lot of games. He did on Sunday. It seemed like he came out pretty well. What was your assessment of him?

“Yeah, he’s been really stout for us. Like you said, we felt like we had some good depth there and he was someone that we could develop and hope that we could have on our team. But just like a lot of guys, they’ve had to step up and Evan’s done that. I think he, there was a moment there in mid-season or so, he continually got better kind of right after training camp and that’s when he started to have to play and get up there and play more and then continually play more. And just from him, he’s stayed really stout, knowing what he’s doing, doing his job. He’s got good strength, so he can get off of blocks too when he’s at the point of attack and make tackles. So he’s just, pleased with how he’s doing.”

In your wins, you’ve defended the run really well. In your losses, it seems like the run defense has been a bigger issue. What do you see as the main way you need to fix the run game?

“There’s a lot of ways. Whether it’s just execution, whether it’s tackling, I think it’s different each time. But it’s just definitely not good enough. We need to do it better earlier in the game, because then they start to control the game and then it gets out of hand or it gets just uneven. That’s not how we want to play. Giving up over 100 yards in a half, let alone a game, it’s in a half, it’s just unacceptable. We can’t do it, our guys know it. We need to be disciplined. It doesn’t matter who is playing, it’s their opp. We expect a lot from whoever is in the game. We just have to be better. Got to coach it better, we’ve got to play better in every aspect, in every way.”

The redzone is just, nine-for-nine the last two weeks, 100-percent, it can’t get worse, it’s a crisis situation. Is there a solution? Is there an answer?

“We’re looking at everything. Whatever needs to be done, we’re trying. We’ve got to ask the same thing. Same as the run. We’ve got to, same as not taking the ball away, same as third down. These situational parts of our defense have to get better. And it doesn’t matter who is in there. We’ve got to coach it better, we’ve got execute better. So, we look at every aspect of it, evaluate everything. Looking at how, looking at ourselves even more throughout what we’ve done. Are there things we need to change? Do we just need to tighten up what we’re doing? We just evaluate. Then it’s also your opponent. Does that apply to who you’re playing? It’s not good. It’s not good enough. We have to get it better.”

Is it guys trying to make plays instead of sticking to their assignments? Is that what the issue is? Because I know you build it so that it will work, but what’s the disconnect?

“It’s just a combination. It’s just a combination. We’ve just got to, we just have to finish. Sometimes we get it to a third down in the redzone too, or it gets down to the one. Well, we can’t let it. First of all, it shouldn’t get to the redzone. That’s the best way to play good redzone defense is not let it get down there. And when, like you said, nine-for-nine, five times, five-for-five, next game, four-for-four. That’s a lot of opps in the redzone. I don’t care if they started there and it’s some type of sudden change, it doesn’t matter. If we’re hitting the redzone, we’ve got to stand up, we’ve got to stop them. And it just hasn’t been good enough.”

You mentioned discipline. Is it people, is it guys not staying on their assignment?

“It’s all of us. It’s all of us. We’ve got to do better.”

No DL Nick Bosa, of course, in Buffalo and Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen had a pretty good game. What’s the plan of attack if Bosa is not able to go this week, knowing that he hasn’t practiced and he has that injury? Who are you guys really focused on picking up the slack against another skilled quarterback?

“With Nick it’s, yeah, everybody, it’s everybody. With this quarterback it’s, we knew Josh could move, you kind of know he would move more one certain direction, but [Chicago Bears QB] Caleb [Williams] is just, he kind of can go everywhere. He’s explosive and there’s not one way he goes, there’s not one certain time, because he’ll get rid of the ball quick and be on time and be really efficient that way. He can get to his progression sometimes, but he gets out of the pocket in every aspect and he can extend it. And then he’s got the arm talent too, and you see that when he’s outside the pocket. So really it’s, it’s really everybody. It’s not just if Nick played or didn’t play, is it just Nick. Even if he is playing, it’s still everybody. It’s the second wave of guys because he can run and he will run and he can throw it too. So it’s not just the guys rushing, it’s the guys covering too. So we all have, we’re all a part of it. If he extends a play seven seconds, you’ve got to chase him for seven seconds, but you also have to cover for seven seconds. So it’s really everybody.”

How do you think CB Charvarius ‘Mooney’ Ward faired in his first game back and under pretty difficult circumstances with the snow and everything?

“Yeah, outside of a couple plays, I thought he did good. And the situation, he battled back and I thought the last couple weeks he’s had really good practice. I was excited to have him out there. I think he was too. It was, because of the whole situation and everything, I thought he did well. I was just happy to have him back.”