LAKE FOREST, Ill. — For DeAndre Houston-Carson, a meeting with former Bears special teams coordinator Jeff Rodgers during his rookie year will always be significant. It’s remembered for the shock he felt but also for how he wanted to handle what came next.

“You know, you’ve got more penalties than you have tackles,” Houston-Carson remembers Rodgers saying.

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“Well, that’s true,” he replied.

Rodgers told Houston-Carson, a sixth-round pick in 2016, that he was going to be inactive for the first time.

“I’m getting benched pretty much,” he said.

Coming from William & Mary, where he was a four-year starter and all-conference selection — “I was the man in college,” Houston-Carson said — it was failure felt at a new level.

“It’s hard to deal with those things,” he said. “A lot of guys won’t admit it. But some people fold in those situations when they deal with adversity, and they don’t know how to handle it. And it kind of ruins them. The way I think I’ve handled it is just take it on the chin, let it hurt for a little bit, and then look at it, evaluate it and try to work on it.”

For Houston-Carson, a conversation with Rodgers’ assistant on special teams that same season also will be remembered for its significance. Richard Hightower saw something in Houston-Carson.

“He told me, ‘You can play in this league 10 years if you want to,’” Houston-Carson said during an interview with The Athletic at Halas Hall. “And I think he was the first person who expressed something like that to me. I don’t even know if I had that vision in myself when he told me that. And really, ever since that day, I really took that to heart and thought, ‘I can do this.’”

This season is Houston-Carson’s seventh with the Bears. In it, he was reunited with Hightower, who returned this season as coach Matt Eberflus’ special teams coordinator.

Houston-Carson and guard Cody Whitehair are the only two players remaining from the Bears’ 2016 draft, and only long snapper Patrick Scales has spent more time with the team, having appeared in five games during the 2015 season. Houston-Carson has played for Eberflus, Matt Nagy and John Fox.

“He’s still the same guy as he was when he was a rookie, still detailed, still really taking advantage of every opportunity he gets, really not taking any moment for granted,” Hightower said. “And I think that’s what has allowed him to be successful. Because he never changed.”

Houston-Carson did change, though. He’d tell you that it happened when he went to Massaponax High School in Fredericksburg, Virginia, where he was a decorated two-way star, including being named a first-team All-Commonwealth District selection. He grew up going to church. But he searched for more.

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“This is so empty,” he said he remembered feeling. “And there has to be more than this.”

Houston-Carson will tell you that his story starts with God. Heading to church turned into more prayer and reading in high school. It turned into a love for people. He wants to be a good football player — and he has been, particularly over the last few seasons for the Bears — but he wants to be a good man first.

“Being a part of the Chicago Bears has been a blessing, it’s been a journey, and it’s been extremely important and I’m grateful for it,” Houston-Carson said. “But myself and everyone else who’s involved in this, who we are as men is much more important. And I think sometimes that can get lost in the mad rat race of trying to win football games in the National Football League.”

Only after his faith will Houston-Carson’s hard work and triumphs in football be discussed. That’s how he would tell his story if you asked him.

“Be a good man,” he repeated. “And I think everyone, that should be our first aspiration, not to get too caught up in everything else.”

The Chicago area is now home for Houston-Carson. He met his wife here. She’s from the western suburbs. He’s a father of two, including a 9-month-old.

“For my kids to have at least one set of grandparents here, cousins and all that sort of stuff goes into why Chicago means so much to me,” he said. “Now it definitely feels like home.”

It didn’t always look that way.

But that’s the point. He’s still here.

“The No. 1 thing is I really think that this has been God’s purpose for me thus far in my career,” Houston-Carson said. “My first two years in particular — my first year — it was kind of rough. I could have been out of the building.”

Houston-Carson, 29, didn’t need to be introduced to Alan Williams after Williams was named the Bears’ defensive coordinator. They’re William & Mary guys. They know each other well. They go back.

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Williams worked him out before the 2016 draft. It included getting together with him at a deli in Williamsburg, Virginia.

“We talked life,” Williams said.

Williams saw a tough-minded person who didn’t just play football but liked everything about it. He saw an intelligent player, one who had the ability to handle different roles. And he saw a difference-maker on special teams.

“When I got here, you know all those things were confirmed but just at a higher level,” Williams said.

One of their first conversations together with the Bears didn’t surprise him.

“When I first got here, I go, ‘Hey, how are things going?’ and he goes, ‘Coach, you know the drill. Every year they try to replace me, but they can’t. I make it hard for them to replace me,’” Williams told The Athletic. “And some people don’t give enough credence to that.”

Williams used Houston-Carson as an example when he started to meet with his new players at Halas Hall, regardless of position.

“There’s a reason why guys like DHC stay around when you have different coaches, different head coaches, different coordinators, different position coaches,” Williams said he told his players. “And usually there’s something in common with guys that stay around like that. They have a great work ethic. They have a great attitude. They have an ‘I can’ type of demeanor to them, great habits, positive habits. And so those are all things that keep you in the league for a long time.”

The Bears have a 3-13 record for the second time in Houston-Carson’s seven seasons with the team. With one more loss Sunday, this year’s team will finish with the most losses in team history. But through it all, Eberflus’ methods resonated with Houston-Carson.

“Not a lot can get him ruffled, which I like,” Houston-Carson said. “He’s steady in that way, and I think he’s done a good job this year of doing that, keeping things steady. The way that the season has been going, it could have went a lot different as far as the morale feeling and locker room and stuff, and I thought he did a good job with helping in that way.”

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The successful 2018 season under Nagy always will be different. The Bears’ locker room felt like it was going to win every game that season. The defense knew it was going to score to dance.

“Nagy used to always preach about being yourself and having swag and all those sorts of things,” Houston-Carson said. “And I thought he did a good job exemplifying that. He definitely had a swagger about him, a very confident guy.”

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The Bears went 3-13 during Houston-Carson’s rookie year. Looking back, he feels fortunate to have learned from Vic Fangio, Ed Donatell and Sean Desai early in his career. He called Fox a “smooth cat” and fondly remembers the veteran coach walking through their lines during stretches and telling jokes and stories. How Fox dealt with his players was different for him.

“Coming from college, it’s like player (and) coach,” Houston-Carson said. “There’s kind of like a hierarchy. And I remember talking to Foxy and I felt like we’re equals here. That was something that took a little bit of getting used to in the league.”

By the end of this season, Houston-Carson sat next to two players in the locker room who weren’t present at its start: receiver Chase Claypool and tight end-turned-defensive lineman Sammis Reyes, who is on the practice squad. He still remembers the days when Bears rookies had lockers in the basement of Halas Hall before joining the rest of the team.

“We used to be down in the dungeons,” he said.

Now the Bears rookies are placed in the massive new locker room with the rest of the team after they’re drafted or signed as rookie free agents. Going through a list of teammates with Houston-Carson can show you just how long he’s been here. He was asked to briefly describe each one.

Tarik Cohen: “Explosive.”

Eddie Jackson: “Ball hawk.”

Jay Cutler: “Cool.”

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Jordan Howard: “A bulldozer.”

Alshon Jeffery: “A veteran.”

Pat O’Donnell: “Good hair.”

Khalil Mack: “Leader.”

Akiem Hicks: “Savage.”

David Montgomery: “Dog.”

Cordarrelle Patterson: “The best ever.”

Justin Fields: “Electric.”

Sam Acho: “Smile.”

Sherrick McManis: “One of my best friends.“

During a tie game against the Packers in Week 17 of the 2020 season, former Bears tight end Demetrius Harris knocked the ball loose from returner Tavon Austin on a punt return early in the second quarter. It resulted in a mad scramble and a fight for the ball — among teammates and close friends.

“In a pile, it gets really messy,” McManis said in a phone interview. “Me and DHC were in the pile.”

So were other teammates. But it’s not surprising that the Bears’ two special teams aces each had the ball in their hands, fighting for it.

“Those things are precious,” McManis said.

Replays showed the two side by side.

“It was kind of like a mutual thing, almost,” McManis said. “I mean, we both kind of had it.”

Houston-Carson and McManis embraced in celebration when they walked off the field. The ball was in Houston-Carson’s right hand. He officially received credit for it.

At one point, McManis was the longest-tenured Bears player, a nine-season run not defined by survival but by his personal perseverance that spanned four coaching regimes, from Lovie Smith to Marc Trestman to Fox to Nagy.

“(Houston-Carson) reminds me of myself,” McManis said. “He approaches the game in a similar way: God first, family and then football, of course.”

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It’s also Houston-Carson’s resilience and what he embraces. He’s a “utility belt” much like McManis was for the Bears.

“What sets guys like me and DHC apart is we embrace our role that we’ve earned and that we’re given,” McManis said. “It’s not necessarily saying we’re content and we think that’s all we’re able to do. Absolutely not. But at the same time, we don’t let it consume us, like I feel like most players may. They think like they’re owed more, you know what I mean? They let the politics get in the way. They’re not happy with where they are. But what sets people apart and makes them have longer careers, in my opinion, is you’re able to get that out of your head as soon as possible and embrace the role you’re given.”

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McManis would define “politics” as the changes that take place for teams, from new draft classes to new free agents to new position coaches to new front offices. It can feel endless in the NFL. He and Houston-Carson have been through a lot of them with the Bears — and yet they remained.

“You’re trying to be the best at what you’re doing, your contribution to the team,” McManis said. “And instead of moping about what you’re not or what opportunities you’re not getting, you take full advantage of that. And just that little piece right there can make it so you’re not just a good player, but a great player.”

In October, Patriots coach Bill Belichick spent more than seven minutes and more than 1,000 words going over the Bears roster in the lead-up to their Monday night matchup. In the middle of the monologue, which was long by even Belichick’s standards, the greatest coach of all time mentioned Houston-Carson by name.

“Houston-Carson is really one of the better coverage players that we’ll see all year,” he said.

Houston-Carson didn’t like it. He wasn’t convinced that Belichick really meant it.

“It made me upset,” he said. “Because I thought he was the mad genius and stuff. I thought he was trying to like mess with us and mess with me.”

It turned into motivation for Houston-Carson, while that game turned into the Bears’ high point of the season with a 33-14 win. That’s another thing about Houston-Carson. He’s not done. He might be “one of the better coverage players” in the league, but he wants to be more.

And he believes he can be.

Sunday will be Houston-Carson’s sixth start this season at safety, doubling his previous career high of three set last season. Every year he takes five to six plays that bothered him from the previous season and uses them as fuel for the next.

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“I love playing football,” Houston-Carson said. “I’d be lying if I said that all throughout my life since I’ve been dreaming about playing football my dream was I want to play special teams and play 20 snaps a game. That’d be a lie. Like, I want to play defense; I want to get pick sixes. That’s always your goal.”

But goals can change with your roles, and Houston-Carson always will embrace who he is and what he can do to best help the Bears. It makes him not only a core special-teamer but part of the core of the entire team.

“It might sound crazy, but I haven’t scratched the surface of how I can play, and that motivates me,” Houston-Carson said. “Like, I know I can play football, you know what I mean? I’m still just working for it.”

(Top photo: Steph Chambers / Getty Images)

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