If there’s one anecdote that can properly sum up Bears’ running back Tarik Cohen, it’s probably the one Matt Nagy told on Thursday morning.
He and Cohen were walking to practice this week and chatting about the Queen’s Guard, the famously-stoic uniformed guards that stand outside of Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle. Trying to get the soldiers to break character has become as much of a tradition as the soldiers themselves, and the Bears’ head coach is fascinated by their discipline.
“I don’t know how a human being can sit there and do that like they do,” he said. “That’s crazy, but it’s pretty cool. So, I just sat there like a little kid, just staring.”
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But Cohen wasn’t impressed.
“And I said, you realize that these guys – they’re pretty impressive,” Nagy added. “And he goes ‘ah nah, I’ll get ‘em to move. I’ll definitely to get ‘em to move.’”
“I’m funny, coach. I’ll get ‘em to move.’”
From the sounds of it, the Bears don’t have much time for sight-seeing. If he gets the chance to lay some material on the Queen’s Guard, though, he’s going in confident.
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“I’m like Kevin Hart, Eddie Murphy,” Cohen said. He wasn’t interested in giving a preview, though.
“It’s got to be natural. It’s got to be in the moment. You can’t have anything planned. You can’t have knock-knock jokes – they’ve probably heard all the jokes in the world.”
And yeah, it’s mostly a silly anecdote. But the Bears talk all the time about how fiercely dedicated they are to building the right culture, and Cohen’s impact on that culture is undeniable.
His humor (he continues, to Nagy’s chagrin, insist that he’s the emergency QB) keeps the locker room loose, so maybe it could do the same at Buckingham Palace.
“If there’s someone who could make them laugh, it’s Tarik,” Kyle Long said. “He’s funny. He’s very funny.”
“I’m pretty sure he could get it done,” Nick Williams added. “He’s got some good jokes.”