Speaker 1: The following is a presentation of the Chicago Bears Network
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Speaker 1: day and now welcome to Bears All Access, your all
Speaker 1: access pass into Chicago Bears football. Bears All Access is
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Speaker 1: CDW and four Welcome into another edition of Bears All Access,
Speaker 1: presented by IGS Energy, Jeff Jonnick and Tom There my
Speaker 1: broadcast partner from news Radio seven eighty one five point
Speaker 1: fw BBM, and well please to be joined by veteran
Speaker 1: tight end Ben Bronniker. I know that sounds weird, but
Speaker 1: that sounds good. You're in the grind. You're you're grinding
Speaker 1: boards along career in the National Football League. Good to
Speaker 1: have you here, Thanks for being here. I know it's
Speaker 1: a crazy time, short week for sure, Yes, and two
Speaker 1: games in five days, lots of meetings. While you're doing
Speaker 1: one thing, other half of your brands are getting ready
Speaker 1: for the regular season opener. How's it all been? How's
Speaker 1: it all been for you? It's been quite a ride.
Speaker 1: Now that I'm looking back on it, it's amazing. To
Speaker 1: see the progress, not only the progress that I made,
Speaker 1: but everything that players have done since we first got here.
Speaker 1: We've got the sankest second longest preseason in the NFL,
Speaker 1: second to the Ravens reported I think the day earlier
Speaker 1: than us, But just like the amount of time that
Speaker 1: we've all committed to this journey, it's it's pretty amazing
Speaker 1: that it's almost over. But you know what, your whole
Speaker 1: journey has increased because here you are. You come in,
Speaker 1: you don't know a lot. Where's your place going to
Speaker 1: fit in this offense? Number one? And then it fits
Speaker 1: in multiple places on the offensive line of scrimmage, and
Speaker 1: then you start playing a little bit in the backfield,
Speaker 1: full back, h back. So Jeff says that you got
Speaker 1: one side of your brain thinking about Buffalo, one of
Speaker 1: it thinking about Green Bay. But then you got four
Speaker 1: different assignments that you have to be alert too, and
Speaker 1: even even special teams duties. Yes, for sure, it's a
Speaker 1: challenge something that I've really had to focus on and
Speaker 1: work hard on since I got into the league because
Speaker 1: the adjustment um coming from Harvard or coming from college
Speaker 1: football in general. I was specifically an offensive player. I
Speaker 1: think it maybe played kickoff return my senior year. But
Speaker 1: to come into here and the circumstances be completely different,
Speaker 1: and then your job list you pretty much have to
Speaker 1: be a Swiss Army knife and do everything. It was.
Speaker 1: It was quite stressful rookie year, but I think of
Speaker 1: I think of managed well since then. So going back
Speaker 1: to high school in Indiana, First of all, did you
Speaker 1: have any Indiana colleges that you look, you liked, or
Speaker 1: you grew up around or I guess because now it
Speaker 1: would be an appropriate attempt to like throw shade to
Speaker 1: all the Big ten schools that that passed up on me.
Speaker 1: Uh No, I had a Big ten offers, no Division one,
Speaker 1: Single A offers, just Southern Illinois, Illinois. But you had
Speaker 1: all these impressive stats as a high school football player.
Speaker 1: But then I read honorable mention. Also, what the heck
Speaker 1: is that it says I'll stay and that has got parenthancies?
Speaker 1: Honorable mention? Who when the heck was in front of you?
Speaker 1: I don't really know. I know that, at least in
Speaker 1: Indiana high school athletics, the opinion of the people that
Speaker 1: determine all those ratings is that there's nothing south of Indianapolis,
Speaker 1: which which I guess is kind of true if you
Speaker 1: I mean, if if anybody's ever been in Indiana and
Speaker 1: you can drive south of Indianapolis just a bunch of farmland,
Speaker 1: that's that's where I'm from. Um. And so the competition
Speaker 1: that I was facing and putting those big numbers up
Speaker 1: against was less than stout, I guess, or less than impressive.
Speaker 1: So I didn't, Well, you can only perform to what
Speaker 1: your opportunity. And it's that's what the thing about it
Speaker 1: was is that's kind of making a joke because you
Speaker 1: had those oppressive high school stats, but you've always been
Speaker 1: climbing the ladder because when you got here, we're talking
Speaker 1: about the student from Harvard. That's no longer a part
Speaker 1: of your introduction. Now it's the multiple faceted football player
Speaker 1: for the Bears. It's kind of neat how you've climbed
Speaker 1: that ladder. Yeah, it's it's been really difficult, um, but
Speaker 1: focus and determination has gotten me to where I am
Speaker 1: what has been the most difficult aspect of it. And
Speaker 1: you know you're in a place right now where other
Speaker 1: guys in that ninety man locker room are are currently in.
Speaker 1: I mean, you did get waved twice. They kept you
Speaker 1: here though, So you did enough that they wanted to
Speaker 1: keep you here. And now you know that this process
Speaker 1: continues and you continually keep adding to your repertoire. You're
Speaker 1: getting stronger, bigger, faster, better, you're getting smarter. At the
Speaker 1: NFL level, you got a new system that hey, may
Speaker 1: you know, you're gonna tell us that you may fit
Speaker 1: ideally in, you know, and so a lot of things
Speaker 1: going in the right direction. But so when you put
Speaker 1: all that together, it is a process, right, The whole
Speaker 1: thing is a process when you come into this league.
Speaker 1: But what was in what is maybe still to this day,
Speaker 1: the most difficult aspect of it all. I guess the
Speaker 1: biggest challenge that I faced work a year was really
Speaker 1: coming to grips with how much pressure there was every
Speaker 1: single game, every single opportunity. It was quite the realization
Speaker 1: for me that I was no longer playing football for fun,
Speaker 1: that this was a business, this was a job. This
Speaker 1: is going to determine my future or my teammates future.
Speaker 1: So there was there was a lot writing on that line.
Speaker 1: I didn't really understand that coming into or making the
Speaker 1: transition from college to when did it crystallize what moment
Speaker 1: maybe we'll see. I got injured in a rookie preseason,
Speaker 1: and they kept me around until I was until I
Speaker 1: get active I think week three, so that then I
Speaker 1: was without any like, without playing an NFL snap under
Speaker 1: the lights. I was thrown out there on Sunday. I learned.
Speaker 1: I learned really fast that I had to grow up.
Speaker 1: So I tripped up a couple of times, but eventually
Speaker 1: got on the right course. Well, Jeff just said, you're bigger, stronger,
Speaker 1: faster better than when you got here. A lot of
Speaker 1: guys when they come into the NFL, they probably never
Speaker 1: achieved the numbers in the combine that they did at
Speaker 1: that time. Are you bigger, stronger, faster better now? I
Speaker 1: think you had twenty reps in the combine, So have
Speaker 1: you elevated your strength, your size, your speed and those
Speaker 1: types of things? Definitely. I kind of a lot has
Speaker 1: been made about my combine numbers. I was on the
Speaker 1: back of the Wall Street journals saying or something like that.
Speaker 1: But to be honest, I was quite disappointed with my
Speaker 1: performance because I was tired and ready to go home
Speaker 1: by the end of the combine. I think every athlete
Speaker 1: that goes through that to some extent it's ready for
Speaker 1: it to be over because they keep you up late
Speaker 1: and then you wake up early to do drug tests
Speaker 1: or more meetings, and they really drag you around from
Speaker 1: from from interview to interview there at night. But to
Speaker 1: answer your question, yes, I've it's really important, or at
Speaker 1: least in my case, it was important to adjust from
Speaker 1: playing ivy League football to NFL football. Like the defenders
Speaker 1: on the other side of the ball are quite different,
Speaker 1: so I had to improve my body, improve my speed,
Speaker 1: that sort of stuff, and to be more competitive. As
Speaker 1: it is, it's time indicated and this is ancient history
Speaker 1: now or once you get past the combine. But he was.
Speaker 1: He had the fifth fastest forty time. He had the
Speaker 1: third most bench reps among tight He had twenty Yeah,
Speaker 1: and he had a vertical thirty five and a half,
Speaker 1: which I'll take any day or the week, and that
Speaker 1: was second among tight ends. Had half of Jeff's. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And you say you should have done better, So we're
Speaker 1: your pay workouts, yes, better or your workouts for the
Speaker 1: d Yeah, I improved. I didn't do everything of my
Speaker 1: protey because some of those numbers were just going to
Speaker 1: be sufficient. But I think it jumped higher on the
Speaker 1: on the verb and then ran faster. In my forty
Speaker 1: I think that might have been the only two games
Speaker 1: that it did in addition to Catchen Grounds. Yeah, we'll
Speaker 1: get into the XS and host part of it and
Speaker 1: football part of it, where you're better also because that's
Speaker 1: one thing that you can control, is how you prepare
Speaker 1: your body and so forth. And then you know, systems
Speaker 1: change and things change, and now you got to recalibrate
Speaker 1: on that aspect of well. Ben Bronicker is our guest
Speaker 1: here on Bears All Access on Chicago Sports Radio six
Speaker 1: seventy The Score. Welcome back to Bears All Access, brought
Speaker 1: to you by IGS Energy at proud partner of the
Speaker 1: Chicago Bears, providing electricity natural gas at home warranty products
Speaker 1: to over one million customers across the country. Learn more
Speaker 1: about IGS Energy at igs dot com. Jeff and Time
Speaker 1: with You along with Pause Oranger engineer and Dan but
Speaker 1: really producing the show for us and Ben Bronicker kind
Speaker 1: enough to give up some of his day for us.
Speaker 1: A veteran tight end out of Harvard making an impact
Speaker 1: last week. I love the way you played last week.
Speaker 1: You got you got us all excited, you got us excited.
Speaker 1: The run after the catch was big with Chase Daniel.
Speaker 1: Yes last week, much of the yards after the catch.
Speaker 1: Is that a major component of this offense? The yards? Yuh,
Speaker 1: for sure. I think that the scheme in general gets
Speaker 1: everybody that's able to catch the ball in the right
Speaker 1: spot or in spots that are able to guess the defense. Um.
Speaker 1: So I'm really excited about playing in this offense and
Speaker 1: scene for one, and secondly just seeing what it can
Speaker 1: do against NFL defenses. So just a backtrack a little bit.
Speaker 1: So you come out of college, if this offense was
Speaker 1: presented to you, now, are you still Ben Bronnicker the
Speaker 1: tight end that's going to block on the line of
Speaker 1: scrimmage or would you be Ben Bronicker the you tight
Speaker 1: end and kind of a Trey Burton role because you've
Speaker 1: been able to I was looking at some of the
Speaker 1: past tight ends you've played within your career, and there's
Speaker 1: a lot of them. But you've also morphed into that position.
Speaker 1: And there is two differences between the tight end here. Yes,
Speaker 1: I would say probably the latter one because that's I
Speaker 1: played in slot and out wide at Harvard, more comfortable
Speaker 1: out there. And two, I played wide receiver in high school,
Speaker 1: so a lot of the adjusting process or the adjustment
Speaker 1: process for me the first two years of my career
Speaker 1: was learning to play with my hand in the dirt
Speaker 1: as an inline tight end. But I recognize that there
Speaker 1: was going to be a little bit of a job
Speaker 1: change with the just the way that the the personnel
Speaker 1: and the staff wanted me to play. So this offseason
Speaker 1: that cut a little bit of weight, thought about or
Speaker 1: focused more on running faster, improving agility to make way
Speaker 1: for myself make transitioning to more as a U tight end.
Speaker 1: You told everybody last week, and I was unable to
Speaker 1: get it in the pregame show because we got guys on.
Speaker 1: Jim Schwantz was a special teams guy with the Chicago
Speaker 1: Bears and the San Francisco forty nine ers. Tom did
Speaker 1: special teams his entire NFL career, And here Ben Brownicker
Speaker 1: was talking talking about I mean, you're just really grab
Speaker 1: my Attention's talking about how great special teams is, you know,
Speaker 1: and that it's relaxing, and I'm like, whoa, whoa wa,
Speaker 1: We'll back up a minute. Relaxing. I've never heard a
Speaker 1: player in my twenty two years in this building or
Speaker 1: covering the Bears, or back to eighty five, say, special
Speaker 1: teams was relaxing, but he finds it relaxing. Will you
Speaker 1: please explain to Tom why you it's relaxing relax Well,
Speaker 1: I compared to offense, I find it to be more
Speaker 1: freeing and in the same sense, in the same sense
Speaker 1: relaxing to a certain extent. Uh, there are parts of
Speaker 1: special teams that are not relaxing, like punt, for example,
Speaker 1: you're put in a disadvantageous position and ask to run backwards,
Speaker 1: stop a man's full charge, and then run down field
Speaker 1: tackle AI. Yeah, exactly. But specifically offense asks you to
Speaker 1: be at a certain spot in a certain amount of time.
Speaker 1: There were all these rules. Who you're supposed to block,
Speaker 1: who you're supposed to read. Special teams compared to that
Speaker 1: is just like football for front for fun in high school.
Speaker 1: Just run it down on kickoff with your with your
Speaker 1: friends and everything like that. It's you know, it's really
Speaker 1: I've found it really relaxed at this level. It's it's
Speaker 1: really the first wrong of the ladder, because if you're
Speaker 1: coming in here as a rookie and you're not one
Speaker 1: of the high draft choices. That's going to be immediate
Speaker 1: considered immediate starter for sure. You better contribute on one, two,
Speaker 1: or as many special teams as you can. Then you're
Speaker 1: gonna get that game day jersey, that game day activation.
Speaker 1: It gets you more reps at your craft on the
Speaker 1: practice field and now here you are. That's exactly what's
Speaker 1: happened to me. Uh yeah, so I guess I'm really
Speaker 1: fortunate and the lucky to enjoy special teams as much
Speaker 1: as they do. Some can't stand it, some don't want
Speaker 1: to ever do it, you know, rectly right, I hate
Speaker 1: to do exactly. I hate to keep bringing it up,
Speaker 1: but I did plan it from my first game in
Speaker 1: the NFL to my last game and every year in between,
Speaker 1: and I was on the wedge on kickoff return. But again,
Speaker 1: it is it is a more of a sense of
Speaker 1: belonging because when you go to the room and you
Speaker 1: look at they always hang up whatever special team they're doing,
Speaker 1: they hang up the depth chart, and when your name
Speaker 1: is there on the top of the depth chart, it's
Speaker 1: just another aspect and you kind of take pride in it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it shows that the special teams coordinator coach has face.
Speaker 1: Thank you that the staff upstairs trusts you to do
Speaker 1: something that's difficult, and they have a lot of voices
Speaker 1: these days too, special teams coordinators that dictate. You know,
Speaker 1: it's going to dictate in some cases not a grand
Speaker 1: number of players, but it'll dictate who makes this football
Speaker 1: team on Saturday afternoon and the cut to fifty three.
Speaker 1: It reminds me of reading about Trey Burton's background because
Speaker 1: special teams. He was a quarterback at Florida for crant Old.
Speaker 1: He played multiple positions, but the special team. So apparently
Speaker 1: he's in a meeting with Dave Phipp, who at that
Speaker 1: time was the special team's coordinator still maybe in Philadelphia,
Speaker 1: I don't recall, but Dave Phip, you know, he's Trey's
Speaker 1: asking him questions about stuff, and that guy shines the
Speaker 1: little pen light on the depth chart and treys like,
Speaker 1: you know, the fifth tight end or sixth tight end,
Speaker 1: so you know, don't focus on offense, focus on this. Well,
Speaker 1: Trey turns out to be the NFL's on the NFL
Speaker 1: All Rookie Team. As a special teams player, he was great.
Speaker 1: I remember. Yeah, so trades production was amazing first couple
Speaker 1: of years in the league and that's the key, and
Speaker 1: that's the key. And if everybody comes in the league
Speaker 1: thinks the same way you do, I think they have
Speaker 1: a greater shot at being somebody that can be here
Speaker 1: and put together a five, eight, ten year career. It's
Speaker 1: a humble pie, though, because for the first time in
Speaker 1: some five star careers, you know they have to be
Speaker 1: on special teams. You know, you're not a five star
Speaker 1: high school kid going to whatever program. You're coming to
Speaker 1: the National Football League and look, you're gonna play participate
Speaker 1: on special teams. There is a big difference between special
Speaker 1: teams coordinators. I think we've talked to people about this,
Speaker 1: including yourself. What do you think about our friend right now,
Speaker 1: because he's been here before. We love tabes and he's
Speaker 1: he's got a lot of intensity. Yet he's just that.
Speaker 1: He comes off as being just you know, hey, old
Speaker 1: golly gee. Yeah, but he's not. He's he's a character.
Speaker 1: On one hand, he will if you're having a bad day,
Speaker 1: he will give you five different jokes, one liners, knock knock,
Speaker 1: whatever you need to get you to get you to
Speaker 1: smiling and you like, have a better day. But on
Speaker 1: the other hand, he's got this fire within him kind
Speaker 1: of kind of crazy fire that comes up on game day.
Speaker 1: If you watch him on the sidelines, it's it's like,
Speaker 1: it's it's amazing. It's just like the craziness, the look
Speaker 1: in his eye, it's it's unlike anything you've ever seen. Well,
Speaker 1: the personalities you're dealing with on the special team, especially
Speaker 1: when you have guys like Balami and stuff that have
Speaker 1: made a career on a special team. Sherrick McManus. He
Speaker 1: makes a huge play the other day on the punt,
Speaker 1: perfect form tackle, you know, getting downfield, and you know,
Speaker 1: I think when you see how important it is that
Speaker 1: guys like that and it carries a lot of weight,
Speaker 1: and then you see the personalities of some special teams coaches,
Speaker 1: then you do you get an understanding what that room
Speaker 1: is like. I think he's really been able to connect
Speaker 1: with the guys that have these big person like as
Speaker 1: you were saying, So, I think just from sitting in
Speaker 1: the room and being a part of special teams, I
Speaker 1: feel like the group is more closely knit, it's working
Speaker 1: better together as a result of his ability to use
Speaker 1: the sense of humor to connect us. That's also the
Speaker 1: feeling I get from talking everybody with Ben Brown are
Speaker 1: the Bear's tight end. Here on Bears All Access on
Speaker 1: Chicago Sports Radio six seventy. The score brought to you
Speaker 1: by Igs energy that Matt Neggi from the moment he
Speaker 1: got in this building is set the tone for the
Speaker 1: entire year, end for the immediate future of the Chicago Bears.
Speaker 1: There's a great response and a great respect for Matt already,
Speaker 1: and it's rare that a first time head coach can
Speaker 1: absolutely get that from day one. That's just my experience
Speaker 1: with it. Anyway, what is it a bottom that resonates
Speaker 1: with those ninety guys, including yourself. I think one, he's younger.
Speaker 1: Two he was very specific about what he wanted from
Speaker 1: us as far as like a team culture goes in
Speaker 1: from day one. Like you said, when he showed up
Speaker 1: and we had our first team meeting, he was like,
Speaker 1: be yourself, it's one of the most important things. But
Speaker 1: also we need to be obsessed about this, this mission
Speaker 1: to win the Super Bowl this year. So I thought
Speaker 1: it was obviously this is my this is my first
Speaker 1: NFL head coaching change that I've experienced, but it was
Speaker 1: to me, it was very concise and specific as to
Speaker 1: what he wanted and that was for us to be
Speaker 1: a family, to be ourselves and to be obsessed about football.
Speaker 1: Did he change your locker position because he wants to
Speaker 1: be a family. I think that's part of the growth process.
Speaker 1: I heard that was Tony Medlan, but could have been.
Speaker 1: It goes along with Night's agenda. Yes, yeah, I'm mixing
Speaker 1: and matching and you know, getting to know what he wants. Family. Yes,
Speaker 1: can't get stronger than family's right. Can't get strong and
Speaker 1: fen That's how you get through all the tough times
Speaker 1: and work through all the great times as well, because
Speaker 1: you got to deal with success as much as failure.
Speaker 1: We'll continue our conversation with Ben Bronicker here on Chicago
Speaker 1: Sports Radio six seventy. The score Cap the latest Bears news,
Speaker 1: photos and videos delivered straight to your mobile device. Download
Speaker 1: the Chicago Bears Official mobile app presented by Verizon. Jeff
Speaker 1: Jonny back in top there with Ben Bronnicker or the
Speaker 1: Bears tight end as he gets set to play some
Speaker 1: snaps out are they going to play against the Buffalo
Speaker 1: Bills and Thursday Night and get ready for the Green
Speaker 1: Bay Packers on September ninth. It's it's very exciting to
Speaker 1: know what's on the agenda coming up, a division battle
Speaker 1: against the Green Bay Packers. Everybody's got to get through
Speaker 1: the weekend, though it's probably made for a little nerve
Speaker 1: racking week maybe for a lot of guys who don't
Speaker 1: know their future. You get that sense, do you feel that?
Speaker 1: And you could speak to it better than anybody because
Speaker 1: you've been here, Yeah, and I've been cut. Yes, Yes,
Speaker 1: I can. I can definitely feel a mood change from
Speaker 1: pretty much everybody, especially the guys in the bubble. The
Speaker 1: starters essentially know that they're going to be here, that
Speaker 1: that you know, there's there's job security there. But everybody
Speaker 1: else feel they pull back a little bit. The uncertainty
Speaker 1: gets to them, um, and pull back in terms of
Speaker 1: the conversation, or they quiet in a sense, they get quieter. Um.
Speaker 1: But that's just that's just part of the job and
Speaker 1: the competitive nature of this business. How is Kevin Kilbride
Speaker 1: been your position coach, Kevin Gilbride Junior. First of all,
Speaker 1: he's the best drop foot or drop kicker I've ever seen.
Speaker 1: I've been watching you know, you see you get through
Speaker 1: these games. You can check them out. Left footed drop
Speaker 1: kick from like forty yards away, with consistency. But anyways,
Speaker 1: how has he been able to manage a group of
Speaker 1: you know, there's a diverse group of guys in there.
Speaker 1: You guys are still a young group of tight ends.
Speaker 1: You got Dan Sims with experience, But how is his
Speaker 1: transition bend through this system and to you as a
Speaker 1: young player. Oh, he's been great. He's spent time to
Speaker 1: really understand what Naggie wants from the tight end position
Speaker 1: and convey that perfectly to us like he's he does
Speaker 1: a fantastic job of being an NFL coach and what
Speaker 1: that means is allowing us to express ourselves and be
Speaker 1: professionals and handle our business, but then again being a
Speaker 1: coach and making sure that we're doing the right thing
Speaker 1: in the system. Are all you tight ends in one
Speaker 1: room or is so Trey Burton as a you tight
Speaker 1: end will be in there? Okay? Yeah, we're all together
Speaker 1: and he coaches us all. Do you feel more comfortable
Speaker 1: now three years in too volunteer some information to your
Speaker 1: coach or in terms of hey what about this? Or
Speaker 1: not yet? Yes, But that's it's a difficult thing to do.
Speaker 1: I have a good enough relationship with Kevin that I
Speaker 1: could do that that I'm confident enough to do that,
Speaker 1: but it's not always the case, not always the case
Speaker 1: around the league that, yeah, anybody would be able to.
Speaker 1: Are you exposed to a lot more routes this year
Speaker 1: than you have with the last systems you've been in,
Speaker 1: even going back to college? Because I think he had
Speaker 1: a big midfield catching Denver at practice too. And I
Speaker 1: always thought you guys really benefited for having Chase as
Speaker 1: your quarterbacks sometimes with the second reps because he knows
Speaker 1: his system so well. But you know, is it still
Speaker 1: this consistency in the routes? Are you have more? I
Speaker 1: think that the Titans are just featured more, especially in
Speaker 1: the seam in the middle of the field than we
Speaker 1: have been the past couple of years, and that production
Speaker 1: is what you're seeing. We're being where Titans are the
Speaker 1: first or second read in the quarterbacks progressions and really
Speaker 1: taking advantage especially when the in the middle of the
Speaker 1: field when the safeties are split. That's do you have
Speaker 1: it down cold? Pretty much gotten living for the past
Speaker 1: Oh it's been six seven weeks. Yeah, Well, you know,
Speaker 1: Matt's been very good about telling everybody listen now, how
Speaker 1: listen Now we're gonna be fine. But this is a process,
Speaker 1: this offense and Mitch Trubisky executing it and seeing the
Speaker 1: things or as he's said recently, Matt just the other
Speaker 1: night about bones are buried in the offense, which Chase
Speaker 1: Daniel knows and Taylor Bray is now six years with
Speaker 1: this coach knows where they're buried as well. It's gonna
Speaker 1: take time for everybody to know where they're all buried, right,
Speaker 1: And I think that's an important thing everybody wants and expects, Okay, results,
Speaker 1: because you got to change. They look at the LA
Speaker 1: Rams last year. Not everything works so black and white.
Speaker 1: There is a lot of gray in the National Football
Speaker 1: League and just putting together an offense that functions at
Speaker 1: a baseline level, you could be the worst offense in
Speaker 1: the NFL. That's hard to do, if I'm being honest.
Speaker 1: To get everybody, all eleven men doing their job correctly
Speaker 1: and even gaining a yard on a play tough to do.
Speaker 1: Have you seen these guys with play defense? Amazing? But
Speaker 1: to like to know where the bones are buried, to
Speaker 1: know understand the nuances of the coverage, the position of
Speaker 1: everything that a quarterback has to go through. It's it's extraordinary.
Speaker 1: The best offenses in the NFL, they're essentially they should
Speaker 1: be viewed as like magical, just like the amount of talent,
Speaker 1: the amount of dedication, the amount of study that it
Speaker 1: takes to execute an NFL offer. And this offense can
Speaker 1: do it at each level. It's interesting how it could
Speaker 1: take advantage of each level. If you're gonna go and
Speaker 1: evaluate your opponent and you see they're susceptible to something
Speaker 1: one thing or another, you have an opportunity within this
Speaker 1: offense of attacking all three levels. And that's not whether
Speaker 1: it's the size of Alan Robinson, the speed of Taylor Gabriel,
Speaker 1: the efficiency of Trey Burton. You guys as the other
Speaker 1: opposite tight ends the running game, and you know there's
Speaker 1: so many weapons here that it's gonna be neat to
Speaker 1: see the evolution of this. And you know when you
Speaker 1: say that, oh yeah, you've been living it for six
Speaker 1: and seven weeks, that's not a long time. This is
Speaker 1: something that you have to an adjust an offense for years.
Speaker 1: When you think of Ben Roethlisberger, you think of Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 1: If you get your group of guys with one system
Speaker 1: for five, six, seven years, that's when that's that's when
Speaker 1: you're dangerous. That would be almost unbeatable in my mind, right,
Speaker 1: and that's rare. Yes, for sure, there's too much impatience,
Speaker 1: there's too much injury. Uh you know that people get,
Speaker 1: you know, a little itchy about when things don't go
Speaker 1: well right away. And you know you can sit here
Speaker 1: and talk to your blooming if you get the right
Speaker 1: guy behind center though, that's what I'm saying. Yes, yeah,
Speaker 1: you have a great opportunity to it. But Tom paired
Speaker 1: with the same coaching staff for that periostime. Because if
Speaker 1: there's constant change, you know, every time you're taking two
Speaker 1: steps back to make one giant step forward. In most cases,
Speaker 1: it does happen every now and again. Well, look at
Speaker 1: these guys. His offensive line didn't didn't miss a game
Speaker 1: for how many years? A long time, seven years, seven
Speaker 1: years as an offensive line. But they were together. That's beauty.
Speaker 1: That's what he's that's the magic he's talking right. But
Speaker 1: you know, when you talk about coaching staffs, coaching staffs
Speaker 1: being long tenured with the same team, a lot of
Speaker 1: it has to do because of you. You know, they're
Speaker 1: not making a change with Brady, They're not making a
Speaker 1: change with Roethlisberger, although coordinators, not hit coach and the
Speaker 1: other crews around the other. Great. Yeah, I mean they've
Speaker 1: been together, you know, Sean Payton and Andrew Brees. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean it all seems to go hand in hand.
Speaker 1: Then you keep the same offensive line coach, and then
Speaker 1: you know, the whole system stays in place, and then
Speaker 1: the tight ends are running a route for the thousandth time,
Speaker 1: not not one hundred, or you know, whatever, whatever the case.
Speaker 1: And at that point you essentially don't have to think
Speaker 1: the whole offense Jeff, which your special case. You don't
Speaker 1: have to think if you think you're beat. He has
Speaker 1: been something as a cerebral football player I had to
Speaker 1: learn and just to quite difficultly. So have you conquered
Speaker 1: that yet? Yes? How did you part? As you said,
Speaker 1: it's a process, Well, how did you do it? How'd
Speaker 1: you have to? Okay, so you're getting yelled at if
Speaker 1: you make a mistake or you getting pulled from blah
Speaker 1: blah blah, and you're you're you're going home and think
Speaker 1: out what God, how can I slow this down? Or
Speaker 1: I don't have to? I mean, what was your own process?
Speaker 1: Because you are a unique individual you really want to know, Yes,
Speaker 1: I do. I discovered meditation, and it essentially allows me
Speaker 1: to focus hard at being me in the moment, so
Speaker 1: I don't have to worry about, oh I dropped this pass,
Speaker 1: or did I run the right route, or all I
Speaker 1: made this mistake now they might cut me or anything
Speaker 1: in these million things that might be floating around or
Speaker 1: that we're floating around in my head. Rookie, here, they're
Speaker 1: just gone, and I'm focused on what I'm doing at
Speaker 1: the moment, being the best version of me possible. So
Speaker 1: you train yourself through meditation. How often do you meditated,
Speaker 1: like for minutes hours? Well, if I want to sit
Speaker 1: down and commit time to meditation I do that in
Speaker 1: the morning and at night for at least ten minutes
Speaker 1: to get to keep me like focused. But you can
Speaker 1: do it at anytime of the day like I have
Speaker 1: been during this this interview, if I'm being honest, Yeah,
Speaker 1: just like find a spare breath and I can just
Speaker 1: really refocus myself and yeah in between questions, Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: you and I are gonna have to visit off here
Speaker 1: because if anybody needs meditation, it's this guy right here.
Speaker 1: Big skill that you should and I know we got
Speaker 1: to go to a break, but to just stay on
Speaker 1: this topic for a moment, when did you start feeling
Speaker 1: and seeing it bear fruit for your The meditation as
Speaker 1: it pertains to football specific, it's quite difficult to get
Speaker 1: started with because at least how we're built in this society,
Speaker 1: we are trained to be impatient, to look for the
Speaker 1: next thing. To teach yourself. At twenty two years old,
Speaker 1: to be patient took months, half a year. I really
Speaker 1: didn't start noticing myself being almost a different person maybe
Speaker 1: a year down the road. Yeah, have you had others
Speaker 1: follow your lead? I've tried. It's pretty weird. It's pretty
Speaker 1: weird to try to explain. They just sit in a
Speaker 1: room and just focus on your breath, you know, with
Speaker 1: all the distractions that we have in our culture. But
Speaker 1: we have a ton, Yeah, we have a ton. Ben Bronnick,
Speaker 1: or our guest here on Bearzow Access, will continue the
Speaker 1: conversation with Tom there Jeff joni Ac in Chicago Sports
Speaker 1: Radio six seventy. The score the August thirty of preseason
Speaker 1: game against the Buffalo bill brought to you by Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame partner United Airlines First twenty five thousand, fans
Speaker 1: Enimy Soldier fields. He bade schedule magnet courtesy of United
Speaker 1: Airlines United probably flying the Bears for over forty years. Jeff,
Speaker 1: Jonnyak and Tom there with Ben Bronicker here on Bears
Speaker 1: All Access. One more question to follow up about the meditation.
Speaker 1: Was there one instant that let the fuse that you go, okay,
Speaker 1: I need something to pull me out of this or
Speaker 1: did you just start learning about and then okay, I
Speaker 1: think this is a process that could help me in
Speaker 1: my job in life. To be honest, it was a
Speaker 1: series of stressful weeks and a string of mistakes that
Speaker 1: led to a referral to the team psychologist, Gloria Blague,
Speaker 1: and she led me to this app called Vision Pursue
Speaker 1: that I think was developed by somebody an x NFL player.
Speaker 1: I can't remember his name right now, but it essentially
Speaker 1: takes you from never having heard about meditation to practice
Speaker 1: trained meditator. And she's serving quite a role in this organization.
Speaker 1: Very few people know who she is. Obviously, it's not
Speaker 1: somebody that is written about or talked about, but she's
Speaker 1: been around here last few years. You got guys from
Speaker 1: various backgrounds, ages, issues, whatnot. I know Trey Burton just
Speaker 1: I did something on some website about his experience with
Speaker 1: being anxious, a lot of anxiety, and how he managed
Speaker 1: to work exactly the same as as my path. Yea, yeah,
Speaker 1: and work through that because the mental health of everyone
Speaker 1: is a concern, obviously, but everybody needs a little something
Speaker 1: to get them through their career, their day or whatever.
Speaker 1: And just because it's exercising your brain to be it's
Speaker 1: no different than exercise in the weight room. It's hard
Speaker 1: to expose yourself in a locker room too, when you're
Speaker 1: the new guy there. You don't want to seem like
Speaker 1: a guy that's anything other than a committed NFL football player.
Speaker 1: So I think what they're the attation they're trying to
Speaker 1: pay to everybody. I think it's really important because you
Speaker 1: can come to work with a problem, you can have
Speaker 1: one happened during the day or you know, over the
Speaker 1: course of the night. I mean, you just detailed the pressures.
Speaker 1: I mean again, you're you're twenty something, your little kid
Speaker 1: who you know clearly could do whatever the heck you want.
Speaker 1: You have, you are a smart individual who you know
Speaker 1: down the road you have other other plans and so
Speaker 1: forth when you're talking about a guy who studied molecular
Speaker 1: and cellular biology. Yes, yeah, But the thing of it is,
Speaker 1: if you care about this game, and you care about
Speaker 1: the limited time that you have to play this game,
Speaker 1: anything you can do to me that tells me you
Speaker 1: love the game, that tells me you want to be
Speaker 1: a signific thicking part of the history of the Chicago
Speaker 1: Bears and maintain this career because not everybody loves it
Speaker 1: like that. Right. Yeah. When I first got in, when
Speaker 1: I first showed up at this building, I met with
Speaker 1: Frank Smith, my then tight end coach, and he told
Speaker 1: me that there are two guys that make it in
Speaker 1: this league, one absolute freak shows and two guys that
Speaker 1: will not be denied. Obviously, I need to I need
Speaker 1: if I want to make it, I need to fit
Speaker 1: into that letter category. And the vision pursue meditation and
Speaker 1: training is an example of that. Does it make it
Speaker 1: you know, does does it make it easier on a
Speaker 1: day to day basis for you because you have somewhere
Speaker 1: to go and help yourself? Or are there days that
Speaker 1: still are frustrating because you know you sit in a
Speaker 1: room full of your peers and coaches have to make
Speaker 1: a point that you're not doing such a good job.
Speaker 1: I mean, the strength that it has provided for you
Speaker 1: has to get you through those times. Yeah, Criticism, failure,
Speaker 1: anything like that. It's a necessary part of oth really,
Speaker 1: not just in becoming a foot better football player, but
Speaker 1: just like growing as individuals. So it's yeah, it's really
Speaker 1: important to be able to be able to accurately or
Speaker 1: not with your ego in so much of a of
Speaker 1: a bind, handle criticism and just focus on having a
Speaker 1: growth oriented mindset and getting better. But you know, the
Speaker 1: pressure of professional sports never goes away, Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1: So it's more of managing the pressure as opposed to
Speaker 1: absolving it and getting really bitter entirely? Are you conditioned
Speaker 1: like my friend here is who is this way in
Speaker 1: our day to day broadcast sense, also conditioned to sweat
Speaker 1: out every day fear of failure, fear of fear of
Speaker 1: losing yours, your job. I mean, do you live in
Speaker 1: that world? I did, But that is very dangerous to
Speaker 1: do because if you're always afraid of losing your job,
Speaker 1: you kind of are always looking behind you. And then
Speaker 1: the saying is you can never see what's happening in
Speaker 1: front of you. If you're always looking in the review
Speaker 1: of mirror or something like that. So it's it was
Speaker 1: part of the meditation training is focusing on where you
Speaker 1: are and what you're doing, so that you don't have
Speaker 1: to always be so concerned about if you make a
Speaker 1: mistake you might get cut or whatever. It's trust in,
Speaker 1: trust in the process, and whatever happens happens. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean that was always the care that was dangle in
Speaker 1: front of our face, as if you don't provide perform,
Speaker 1: where you are going to get cut. That kind of right,
Speaker 1: But you know, Dick could probably he emphasized that point
Speaker 1: on a regular basis too. But again it's something that
Speaker 1: you live through and I've learned from. So yeah, I
Speaker 1: put a lot. I put as much pressure on myself
Speaker 1: to succeed is anybody's ever put out. For sure, I
Speaker 1: can be an amazing motivator correct if you handle it
Speaker 1: at least somewhat correctly, but it can also be crippling. Yeah,
Speaker 1: But the interesting thing when you have somebody that does that.
Speaker 1: In my case, he's my broadcast partner here, but he's
Speaker 1: also a guy we all respect on our crew, and
Speaker 1: there's there's just not Tom and Jeff doing the game.
Speaker 1: It's everybody else, but we all thrive off of his
Speaker 1: desire to be great, And I think every successful team
Speaker 1: needs groups of guys like that or leaders like that,
Speaker 1: male or female, and he's that guy. So we all
Speaker 1: kind of follow his lead a little bit. That's rooted
Speaker 1: in his offensive line roots. Obviously as a as a
Speaker 1: football player, follow us will take care of business. But
Speaker 1: I do think it's important. You think you'll down the
Speaker 1: road now that you have, you've dipped your toe on
Speaker 1: the athletic world at the professional level and hopefully have
Speaker 1: a ten year career here afterward. Do you think you
Speaker 1: will be able to impart some of this own self
Speaker 1: introspection and have it be beneficial to others in the
Speaker 1: sporting world. I sure hope. So that being said, I
Speaker 1: understand that everybody's path is a little bit different. Maybe
Speaker 1: guys coming into the league have it more figured out
Speaker 1: than I did, or aren't as anxious or nervous. So
Speaker 1: I'll definitely be here to help, but I'm not going
Speaker 1: to be a speaker horn saying, oh, this is how
Speaker 1: I did it, so it's got to work for everybody. Definitely,
Speaker 1: not do you pay attention to sports and your free
Speaker 1: time or are I'm pretty saturated, right, But I mean
Speaker 1: if there's a college football game on and you have
Speaker 1: time on a Saturday, or you're flying, you know, to
Speaker 1: a game, they have live TV. Generally don't, but I'm
Speaker 1: not opposed to it. Right. Tim Murphy, head coach at Harvard,
Speaker 1: He's impacted a lot of folks. Well respected football coach.
Speaker 1: What did he do for you? What's the impact on you?
Speaker 1: It was big. What he did for me was essentially
Speaker 1: turn me into a man at at to some extent.
Speaker 1: When you get to an environment that's as different from
Speaker 1: your hometown as Harvard is from Farmtown, Indiana, there's a
Speaker 1: lot of doubt or fear or anxiety that might cross
Speaker 1: into a young boy or young man's mind. Murph is
Speaker 1: is a fantastic motivator in a sense that he's not
Speaker 1: going to be a raw, raw coach in your face.
Speaker 1: He's more like a mastermind with not not only player
Speaker 1: development as a as a as a football player, but
Speaker 1: also like development as a human on and off the field. UM,
Speaker 1: character building, UM, just making yourself a better man. What
Speaker 1: he did for me was he made me realize that
Speaker 1: I had the ability to do whatever I wanted. So
Speaker 1: as long as I really believed in myself and focused
Speaker 1: and attacked everything with relentless determination, that I could do
Speaker 1: essentially whatever whatever I wanted to do, whether that was
Speaker 1: be the first NFL player from your hometown or be
Speaker 1: a doctor someday, whatever it is I wanted to do,
Speaker 1: if I attacked it with the skills that he or
Speaker 1: the yeah, the skills that he told me to, then
Speaker 1: I could do it. Ben Broncker Arc guessed one more
Speaker 1: segment with the Bears tight End is that you're ready
Speaker 1: to meet the Buffalo Bills on Thursday night. It sold
Speaker 1: your field after this break on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy.
Speaker 1: The score this segment, it bears all the access is
Speaker 1: orchestrated by cd DW people who get it, Jeff and
Speaker 1: Town and Ben Bronnocker. It's been a fun, fun time
Speaker 1: with you here on the show. We really appreciate you
Speaker 1: taking the time out of all these things we've discussed
Speaker 1: and if you just joining the show, it's been a
Speaker 1: meandering discussion on all things life, which is a reflection
Speaker 1: of football in many regards. You get knocked down, you
Speaker 1: have to dust yourself off and get back up and
Speaker 1: get on your feet and get onto the next play.
Speaker 1: Are you a smarter football player based on what you've learned?
Speaker 1: And did you think you knew a lot about football
Speaker 1: until you got here? And then say, whoaa, I really
Speaker 1: didn't know this, or you know now you got a
Speaker 1: brand new playbook and and another very smart, bright offensive
Speaker 1: mind surrounded by other smart offensive minds like Mark Helfrich
Speaker 1: and Brad Childress and Dave Ragone and so on and
Speaker 1: so forth. Yeah, the telling them that offensive meeting room
Speaker 1: is amazing. Talking about the the NFL offensive minds, it's
Speaker 1: incredible as far as I go, Yes, I'm definitely a
Speaker 1: more smarter NFL or football player in general. At Harvard,
Speaker 1: I was very good at my niche my small little
Speaker 1: bubble that I had to perform in, which was playing
Speaker 1: in line a little bit, but especially in the slot,
Speaker 1: running down the scene, blocking for screens on the perimeter.
Speaker 1: I was very good at that, and so I had
Speaker 1: a sense of what I was lacking heading to the
Speaker 1: next level, and those were the things that I definitely
Speaker 1: had to work on. But it was it was a
Speaker 1: lot to adjust to immediately. Yeah, you talk about your
Speaker 1: college coach, Tim Murphy help you grow up? In that
Speaker 1: time you had there. So now you come to the
Speaker 1: OTA's mini camp or a training camp. Now you're in
Speaker 1: full pads and you got a Keem Hicks lined up
Speaker 1: over you. You got Leonard Floyd, you got the speed
Speaker 1: of Danny Trevathan, you got the rest of these guys.
Speaker 1: How are you able to Okay? Except I did this
Speaker 1: at Harvard, I have the ability to do it here
Speaker 1: against season that the linebackers, defensive backs on and so far.
Speaker 1: It's amazing how your body and mind adjust to the
Speaker 1: speed of the game. Obviously, the temple that I played
Speaker 1: out in college probably wouldn't get it done at this level.
Speaker 1: And I realized that after the first couple of reps
Speaker 1: maybe rookie year OTAs. But then as I spent more
Speaker 1: time exerting more effort and just focusing on becoming a
Speaker 1: better football player, I was amazed that the progress that
Speaker 1: or the amount of information that I could process more
Speaker 1: in those short first five steps off the ball or
Speaker 1: something like that, it was. It was quite incredible. The
Speaker 1: body's an amazing machine and it can do you can
Speaker 1: do if you treat it right. I can do pretty
Speaker 1: much anything you wanted to. And adapting to the speed
Speaker 1: of the NFL game has been one in my experience,
Speaker 1: almost every conversation with an offensive player begins and ends
Speaker 1: in some format with the reporters asking about Mitchell Trubisky.
Speaker 1: So let's get your two cents on the Bear's second
Speaker 1: your quarterback. His two cents is worked like a dollar though.
Speaker 1: So I've really noticed him taking a step forward as
Speaker 1: far as well, not only he's going to be a
Speaker 1: better quarterback this year than he was last year, just
Speaker 1: the types of balls that he can throw, his timing
Speaker 1: in the offense, all that across the board. He's improved.
Speaker 1: But what I've really noticed this is understanding that this
Speaker 1: is my team and that I'm going to lead it
Speaker 1: with this perfectionistic motivational latitude. That's been a really big
Speaker 1: eye opener for me. It's something that I've really really
Speaker 1: stuck out. You know, it's amazing. I think it's underappreciated
Speaker 1: thus far. From Mitchell Trubisky is that you learn the
Speaker 1: terminology of last year's offense, You memorize, you gotta down
Speaker 1: forget everything he just told you, and then you're going
Speaker 1: to learn a new language. Within a couple of months,
Speaker 1: go out there, speak affluently and know exactly what you're
Speaker 1: saying to ten other guys in the huddle. That impresses
Speaker 1: me a lot about you know, Mitch being within the
Speaker 1: system for a small period of time. Yes, I to
Speaker 1: be honest, I don't know how anyone human being is
Speaker 1: able to do that. I agree. It's the amount of responsibility.
Speaker 1: And just like the the criteria to be an NFL
Speaker 1: quarterback is just astounding. That anybody can do it well
Speaker 1: is befuddling to me, from being honest, But I think
Speaker 1: he's done. He's done really well, adjusting to forgetting everything,
Speaker 1: unlearning what you learned, to try to master a completely
Speaker 1: new subject. Yeah. Yeah, they don't get enough credit. Actually
Speaker 1: I don't think so. I mean some people say they
Speaker 1: get too much when they win. I don't think they get.
Speaker 1: People that understand the game understand you could affect that
Speaker 1: you couldn't take a part. Well you could. I'm just
Speaker 1: saying if you just kind of showed him. Listen, I
Speaker 1: want you to learn five plays by the morning, and
Speaker 1: then we're gonna take you out. We're gonna go over them.
Speaker 1: Then you got to repeat them. And but then you
Speaker 1: think of that, Mitch has got to know three hundred
Speaker 1: you know and then they could change an events and
Speaker 1: if the person changing what we were talking about earlier,
Speaker 1: finding the bones in the offense, that's the next level
Speaker 1: as opposed to where baseline is just getting everybody lined
Speaker 1: up and then doing the job. You could you could
Speaker 1: do that and be the worst offense in the NFL.
Speaker 1: But to take that next step is where you just
Speaker 1: have to be honestly special. In my mind, well, it
Speaker 1: looks like you're taking the next step as well. We
Speaker 1: wish you nothing but the best here in twenty eighteen
Speaker 1: and beyond, and we really appreciate your time good luck
Speaker 1: this year. Ben Thank you. Just week on Inside the Bears,
Speaker 1: Roquan Smith's journey from Smalltown to Chicago and Alan Robinson
Speaker 1: hangs with Spice, Adams and Big Guys in a Benz
Speaker 1: Inside the Bears airs Saturday six pm on CW fifty
Speaker 1: Chicago and Sunday's at eleven o five pm on Box
Speaker 1: thirty two Chicago. You can also watch show segments online
Speaker 1: at Chicago Bears dot com or on the Chicago Bears
Speaker 1: official app anytime. Thanks to our producers Herb Lawrence and
Speaker 1: Eli Hirskovitz, We've got Paul's Arrange and Dan BURRELLI here
Speaker 1: helping us out at Hallisaw for Ben Bronnicker. And there,
Speaker 1: I'm Jeff Joniac. This has been Bears All Access on
Speaker 1: Chicago Sports Radio six seventy The Score. Thanks for listening
Speaker 1: to this Chicago Bears Network presentation of Bears All Access.
Speaker 1: Podcasts are available on Chicago Bears dot com and on iTunes,
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