LAKE FOREST – On Sunday, the Bears will host the 49ers at Soldier Field to begin their 2022 NFL Season. For Matt Eberflus and the rest of the Bears’ coaching staff, they will get their first opportunity to see if the new culture, the offensive and defensive schemes and if the “H.I.T.S” principle will all translate to create a better product on the football field. 

With two days separating us from the start of another long season, I went around the locker room and asked players one question on Friday afternoon. 

“What is your why?” 

Here is what the players said:

RB David Montgomery 

“My kid. My family really. Really mainly my kid for real. So I can just set them up the best way I can. The way I know how, so that I can help them for their future endeavors or whatever they need. Really just my family.”

LB Roquan Smith

“I would say first and foremost my family and then I would say where I’m from. Well just starting with my family just all the sacrifices they made throughout my life you know to put me in the position that I’m in today. Then where I’m from just knowing that not many people make it out of the small rural area where I’m from, and then to be on this level. And then pay back to the game. The game has done so much for me and just being able to go out there and do something that I love dearly each and every Sunday it don’t get no better than that. I’m grateful to be in the position that I’m in, and I’ll never let myself down, family down or the game down if I can help it.”

OL Teven Jenkins 

“My why is because I get to challenge myself every day. It’s the best I can be every day and how much I can push myself. It’s about bettering myself and ultimately it’s just about providing for my family and making sure they live comfortably and doing what I can to make that possible.”

LB Nicholas Morrow

“I wasn’t prepared for that, but that’s a good question. I think right now I mean really is just getting back to playing the game again. I haven’t been able to play it, but getting back to playing the game again at a high level and constantly improving. That’s something that I have always kind of done, and that’s what I want to continue to do. Just to get better week to week. This week just make this week better than my last week that I played.”

CB Kyler Gordon 

“I can say there’s a lot of whys really. As far as my why, I guess one of my biggest ones is besides me having just love for the game and loving what I do and my job and just the sport in general, it’s my family. Just really everyone that sacrificed and put their time into me that allowed me to be in certain situations, positions in my life to get to where I want to be. And really being able to go and take care of people that are my family and people that are in bad situations. Just stuff like that and people that I want to take care of. Just really do it the right way. I would just say family and being able to give back is really a big part of my why. Not the only one but definitely a big part of it.”

TE Chase Allen 

“I would say mine is so many people have invested in me in order to help me get here, and I owe it to all of them to give everything I can to complete the task at hand and to continue to prove that I belong here.”

OT Riley Reiff

“Love it. Love it. Best job in the world. It’s awesome. Do it for your teammates. I mean it’s fun.”