Speaker 1: Cut over that DJ Moore En Zode touchdown touchdown pair.
Speaker 1: I am Jeff Jonia.
Speaker 2: Glitz Is on.
Speaker 3: What was like playing for coache goodge.
Speaker 1: I don't want to answer any questions like that pressure
Speaker 1: coming is a big trouble. Donnie Goos Montest Sweat.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: Bears et Cetera brought to you by Geico with the
Speaker 1: voices of the Bears, Jeff Joniac and Tom Thayer. Well,
Speaker 1: there's nothing better than a flight home after a big win,
Speaker 1: even more when it's coming back from London after a
Speaker 1: week in the English countryside, and that's an investment of
Speaker 1: time away and adapting to prepare for a game in
Speaker 1: a training campush way the Bears Hamburg Jacksonville coming out
Speaker 1: of that thirty five to sixteen with Super Bowl winning
Speaker 1: Bears guard Tom Theayer. I'm Jeff Joniak. Welcome into episode
Speaker 1: one oh two of the Bears et Cetera podcast were
Speaker 1: brought to you by Geico. Bears four and two through
Speaker 1: six weeks, extending their designated home winning streak to nine,
Speaker 1: the longest since five oh six, and again the longest
Speaker 1: active streak in the NFL, longest stretched by a defense
Speaker 1: of sub twenty one point scoring, the longest since the
Speaker 1: two thousand and five Bears defense. So much to get
Speaker 1: into tom Wow, but welcome back. We survived. We survived London.
Speaker 2: Do you feel closer to me now that you spend
Speaker 2: a week in the English countryside?
Speaker 4: I do.
Speaker 1: We didn't really get on each other's nerves. A few
Speaker 1: pot shots here and there. We enjoyed a couple of
Speaker 1: doubt beverages. We enjoyed some dinners, some lunches, some breakfasts.
Speaker 1: So yeah, all good, and we had a great time
Speaker 1: calling that game. You have to admit these last few
Speaker 1: weeks have been some of the best weeks we've had
Speaker 1: in a long time, as you know.
Speaker 2: Leading up to the game, though, I did have some
Speaker 2: apprehension because of some of the substitute players that were playing.
Speaker 2: But they came in and they played right in the
Speaker 2: tempo of the way they've been practicing since they've been here.
Speaker 2: And I think the efficiency of the way they went
Speaker 2: about business last week in the English country side more
Speaker 2: of a training cab atmosphere, I think it paid dividends
Speaker 2: in the game.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And as far as you and I are concerned,
Speaker 1: we got to know some of the guys a little
Speaker 1: bit better. Some guys you had never even met, and
Speaker 1: I always want them to meet you. You got a
Speaker 1: lot of knowledge, a lot of background. You wear that
Speaker 1: Bear color proudly for some forty years of your life
Speaker 1: as a player and a broadcaster, and certainly as a
Speaker 1: homegrown fan.
Speaker 4: So you know, it's in a casual surrounding.
Speaker 2: It's not like everything we're talking about at that point
Speaker 2: is football. It's just kind of fun sitting around a
Speaker 2: table in a cafeteria.
Speaker 4: That is just idle conversation.
Speaker 1: All right, let's break things down. We'll hear from head
Speaker 1: coach Matt Everflu's coming up as well, And we should
Speaker 1: also tell you the Chicago Bears and PNC are supporting
Speaker 1: Chicago's small business community. If your small business is in
Speaker 1: the food service industry, head over to Chicago bears dot
Speaker 1: com slash small Business all Pros to submit your application
Speaker 1: to get a two week marketing partnership with the Bears.
Speaker 1: So apply. Now let's start. Let's start on the offense.
Speaker 1: Let's start with Caleb Williams. I think we're all very
Speaker 1: impressed with what's going on here. If you just slow
Speaker 1: the tape down and watch them goes through progressions alone,
Speaker 1: you're impressed. I mentioned with Flus that we'll get into
Speaker 1: about his rapid fire getting rid of the football and
Speaker 1: his accuracy with that high percentage high percentage completion and touchdowns.
Speaker 1: After that, the blitzes that are coming at him, he's
Speaker 1: definitely sliding by. Yeah, he's been sacked in a tight
Speaker 1: pocket a few times here, even in this game. But overall,
Speaker 1: the arrow if this were a diagram again, Tom, the
Speaker 1: graph would be just one giant straight lineup.
Speaker 2: You know, since the existence of the NFL, you're never
Speaker 2: going to talk about the quarterback as an individual accomplishment.
Speaker 2: It's how do you factor in and the system and
Speaker 2: the team that you're playing with. And I think the
Speaker 2: development of not only the offensive assets that Caleb has
Speaker 2: at his disposal, but also the entirety of learning the
Speaker 2: offense and the improvement from week one to what are
Speaker 2: we in week six now through week six Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: I just think it's an incredible accomplishment by the Bear's team,
Speaker 2: the Bears offense, the Bears coaching staff, and so Caleb
Speaker 2: is a huge part of it and a huge part
Speaker 2: of where they're going. But the overall performance of the
Speaker 2: Wiley veterans like DJ and Keenan to the young guys
Speaker 2: like Rome, and I still consider guys like Cole a
Speaker 2: young guy and another veteran in DeAndre.
Speaker 1: Back to back weeks, the offense going five touchdowns first
Speaker 1: time in sixty eight years, Tom back to nineteen fifty.
Speaker 1: I mean, come on, yeah.
Speaker 2: Well, we used to run the ball in the eighties,
Speaker 2: so it was more of a time consumption type of offense. No,
Speaker 2: I'm kind of joking about that, Listen. It's a part
Speaker 2: of the explosiveness of this offense. And I think it's
Speaker 2: been talked about almost at nauseum throughout the entire offseason
Speaker 2: that if the Bears were able to use all these
Speaker 2: weapons they have, it could be this type of a
Speaker 2: scoring offense.
Speaker 4: And kept talking, Oh, there's only one football.
Speaker 2: Wait, we know that, but look at how it's being
Speaker 2: distributed inefficiently, you know, profited by all.
Speaker 1: Right, let's look at that. Targets are pretty much even
Speaker 1: across the board. DJ's got the most, but it's not
Speaker 1: by a big margin. Keenan's missed a couple games, so
Speaker 1: his yards per catch at eight point one. Everybody else
Speaker 1: is ten plus. So you're getting a first down every time.
Speaker 1: These guys on average, you're touching the football, and so
Speaker 1: that's all you're asking for. That's what we're talking about.
Speaker 1: This is good stuff, you know.
Speaker 2: The thing about it is, you know, I guess you
Speaker 2: can talk about football and offensive football balance in a
Speaker 2: couple different ways.
Speaker 4: What is your run to pass ratio?
Speaker 2: And then as one guy being isolated so much that
Speaker 2: now the defense can try to factor him out of
Speaker 2: the game and then try to challenge you to get
Speaker 2: to the other components of your offense. But that's the
Speaker 2: great thing about this, and you talk about the amount
Speaker 2: of equal targeting, it's super difficult for an opponent's defense
Speaker 2: to just try to take one player out of the mix.
Speaker 1: Yeah, so right now the Bears are forty three percent
Speaker 1: running the ball and fifty seven percent throwing the ball.
Speaker 1: So I prep with that, Yeah, one hundred percent. Uh,
Speaker 1: that's very solid right there, and and and the balance
Speaker 1: on Sunday was incredible as it turned out. So in
Speaker 1: terms of the defense, now, before we get into flues,
Speaker 1: what are they doing that you didn't expect them to
Speaker 1: be doing at a high level right now because obviously
Speaker 1: they're number one of the league and taking the ball
Speaker 1: the way since the start of last year, they're among
Speaker 1: the tops. They are the tops now in points off
Speaker 1: turnovers at fifty four points. Pass rush, maybe I would say,
Speaker 1: you know, if I had answered my own question, i'd
Speaker 1: say pass rush is better than I thought it would be. Actually,
Speaker 1: right now.
Speaker 4: I think they're undetectable. So they're not.
Speaker 2: You can't preemptively get ready for what they're showing at
Speaker 2: the line of scrimmage because they have deployable weapons. As
Speaker 2: you always like to say, between brisk Er, between Kyler Gordon,
Speaker 2: between True Tremaine and TJ. Edwards and even Jack Sandbord
Speaker 2: for that matter. So when you come to the line
Speaker 2: of scrimmage as an offensive line, you understand what the
Speaker 2: protection called. In the huddle, you look at all of
Speaker 2: your commitments that include a linebacker. So now all of a sudden,
Speaker 2: you have Jakwan Brisker or Kyler Gordon that come in
Speaker 2: and out of your responsibility. Now you're putting thinking and
Speaker 2: confusion in the head of the responsibility. But you're also
Speaker 2: making the quarterback responsible for one of those guys. So
Speaker 2: that's what I mean about undetectable. It's yeah, the efficiency
Speaker 2: of eight defensive linemen. They all have different asset abilities
Speaker 2: about their type of game, but it's the way that
Speaker 2: they put the assets in motion to make them undetectable
Speaker 2: according to what they listen to in the huddle and
Speaker 2: what they're seeing at the line of scrimmage.
Speaker 1: Okay, Tim, this is a great entrede to this question.
Speaker 1: If you are an offensive game planner right now looking
Speaker 1: at the Bears defense, what are the things that you
Speaker 1: have to concern yourself with? But they just play hard.
Speaker 1: They play hard, they get in your face, they hit
Speaker 1: you hard. There's hustle on this team. How is it
Speaker 1: offensive core? Are you looking at the Bears defense right now?
Speaker 2: I need to have the commitment out of my offensive
Speaker 2: tackles to be primarily responsible on a one on one
Speaker 2: commitment to the defensive ends that they're facing, because I
Speaker 2: need multiple bodies on the inside to be able to
Speaker 2: take care of the first level and that could be
Speaker 2: Billing in, Javon Dexter along with Tremaine TJ. Kyler in
Speaker 2: Jikwan and I need multiple bodies to take those guys
Speaker 2: out of the mix. And then I need if it's
Speaker 2: a running game, I need a commitment to a point
Speaker 2: of attack run because I need an organized plan of
Speaker 2: attack exactly where I'm going with it, no matter what
Speaker 2: the Bears are going to do. And I'm not giving
Speaker 2: away secrets about what I would do if I'm looking
Speaker 2: at to block the bear, block the Bears, but primarily
Speaker 2: I need my offensive tackles committed to the defensive end position,
Speaker 2: both run and pass.
Speaker 1: I think big picture, you're worried about how my points
Speaker 1: you're going to be able to score because they're not
Speaker 1: letting you score right.
Speaker 4: And you know the thing about it.
Speaker 2: Over the last two weeks, Jeff, even though that Jacksonville
Speaker 2: Jaguars open up with a twelve play drive, I believe,
Speaker 2: and they were limited to a field goal. And you
Speaker 2: look at Carolina last week with Andy Dalton an experience
Speaker 2: at the quarterback position, they're limited to field goals. Same
Speaker 2: thing with the Rams a couple weeks ago, with experience
Speaker 2: at the quarterback, they're limited to field goals. And we
Speaker 2: sit up there in the booth now for almost thirty years,
Speaker 2: and every time we think about field goals, we always say,
Speaker 2: field goals will get your beat. And that's what this
Speaker 2: defense is doing is keeping the opponent out of the
Speaker 2: end zone and making them settle for three.
Speaker 1: All right, let's get the status from hallis from Bears
Speaker 1: head coach Maddy b Reflus and Bears fans. Steinhoffel's a
Speaker 1: proud partner of the Chicago Bears this Bear season. Steinhoffels
Speaker 1: is partnering with Special Spaces Illinois to create dream bedrooms
Speaker 1: for children battling cancer. For every false start cause by
Speaker 1: Bears defense during the home game, Steinhoffels donates one thousand
Speaker 1: dollars to Special Spaces Illinois shop in store and online
Speaker 1: at Steinhoffels dot com. And the Bears are forcing a
Speaker 1: fair number of false starts already this season. All right,
Speaker 1: here my conversation with a head coach. First of all, congratulations,
Speaker 1: Now what's transpired not only the winning streak that's obviously
Speaker 1: the fruits of the labor, but what's been going on
Speaker 1: between the coaching staff and the players and the communication
Speaker 1: that we've been talking about for weeks now. But it's
Speaker 1: evident in the way you guys are playing and the
Speaker 1: way the respect, the mutual respect for one another, teammates,
Speaker 1: the teammate and coach the teammate has really taken off.
Speaker 1: Matt really impressed. How do you feel about it?
Speaker 5: I feel good about it, you know, because the foundation
Speaker 5: that's been laid for a couple of years now. We
Speaker 5: started off in twenty two and then working into twenty
Speaker 5: three of building that foundation of you know, mutual respect,
Speaker 5: how we respect everybody in the building and really working
Speaker 5: to get the right answer, not necessarily your answer, you know,
Speaker 5: going forward. That could be anything and performance, you know,
Speaker 5: and you know, training, if it's nutrition, whatever that might
Speaker 5: be for that particular player. I mean, it's all about
Speaker 5: the players always, right, So we're always trying to the
Speaker 5: players are the performers. We're always trying to put them
Speaker 5: in the best position to perform. And that's no different
Speaker 5: with what we're seeing now in terms of the communication
Speaker 5: and putting guys in position, you know, to make plays.
Speaker 3: And that's going to be ongoing.
Speaker 5: That's an ongoing process as you go during the course
Speaker 5: of the season. You're going to have adversities during the
Speaker 5: course of a game. You're going to have adversities during
Speaker 5: the course of the season, but the communication has.
Speaker 3: To be there and it's got to be on point in.
Speaker 5: Terms of what you're going to pivot to or move
Speaker 5: to next to get the job done.
Speaker 1: And it really boils down the one simple word.
Speaker 4: It's trust.
Speaker 1: If there's a lack of trust in either direction, then
Speaker 1: you know progress is probably going to be muted. Would
Speaker 1: you agree with that?
Speaker 3: Yeah? And I trust the leadership of this football team.
Speaker 3: You know they've done a really good job.
Speaker 5: You know, not only the captains, but throughout, you know,
Speaker 5: the guys that are you know, the the younger players
Speaker 5: that are developing, or if it's the guys that have roles,
Speaker 5: certain roles and on our team, but those guys have
Speaker 5: all worked together for a common goal. That's just working
Speaker 5: to be our very best on Sunday and getting better
Speaker 5: every single week.
Speaker 1: You learn a little something more every day, let alone
Speaker 1: every week about every performance. What'd you learn this week?
Speaker 1: What did you learn about your football team this week?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 5: I learned that they can handle adversity in game. There
Speaker 5: was a lot of adversity. We didn't start out the
Speaker 5: way we wanted to. You know, on offense, we had
Speaker 5: a couple of three and outs. Defensively, they had a
Speaker 5: long drive. We did a nice job in the red
Speaker 5: zone stopping them. And then we just know that we
Speaker 5: just stay at it. You know, we just stay at
Speaker 5: it and keep going. And you know, it's always about
Speaker 5: execution and always about us being on the same page,
Speaker 5: you know, in terms of that execution. You know, all
Speaker 5: eleven of us out there at the same time, and
Speaker 5: we just kept pressing forward and eventually it turned our way.
Speaker 5: But you know, you know, all games are different, you know,
Speaker 5: and you can't really, you know, predict exactly how it's
Speaker 5: going to be. You can predict some things, but there's
Speaker 5: unforeseen events that happened during the course of the game
Speaker 5: and you have to be able to respond to those
Speaker 5: rather than react.
Speaker 1: Obviously, fans are going bananas. I mean the whole week
Speaker 1: in London. Anytime you met a fan, it's all about
Speaker 1: you know, Caleb and I know it's the team, but
Speaker 1: his attention is obvious. It is, and we knew it
Speaker 1: would be this way. But I mean, we're talking about
Speaker 1: people coming up with research about things that haven't happened
Speaker 1: since nineteen seventy or nineteen fifty eight. In terms of
Speaker 1: the passing game. I know it's early, but I don't
Speaker 1: know how you look at that, or even if you
Speaker 1: look at that, but it's pretty eye opening what's going
Speaker 1: on here. And it's just the beginning. It's like new
Speaker 1: floors keep getting set and we know that ceiling is
Speaker 1: super high. Right.
Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, you can look at those things, but
Speaker 5: you know how the football season is, it's all about
Speaker 5: right here, right now. So we have to really do
Speaker 5: a good job of focusing on where our feet are
Speaker 5: and our feet are planet right here after week six
Speaker 5: in a bye week, and we're going to focus on
Speaker 5: getting ourselves better. I will meet with the coordinators here
Speaker 5: this morning and we'll outline two or three items we
Speaker 5: need to improve on on offense, defense, and special teams,
Speaker 5: and then we'll have an outline for how we're going
Speaker 5: to get that done in the meetings, in drill work,
Speaker 5: in practice, and then in the game, and then we'll
Speaker 5: follow through with checkups on those items. So it's important
Speaker 5: that we do a good job of detailing this plan
Speaker 5: during the course of the bye week. And it's no
Speaker 5: different than any other bye week we've had since we've
Speaker 5: been here. And it's important that the individual position coaches
Speaker 5: meet with the individual players in terms of one or
Speaker 5: two items they can get better at, you know, in
Speaker 5: terms of their fundamentals and technique, you know. So we'll
Speaker 5: be looking at that over the next couple of days.
Speaker 5: Get that to the players when they come back on
Speaker 5: the bonus Monday next week and after a good recovery
Speaker 5: and rest that well needed for those guys as they
Speaker 5: enjoy their family and friends.
Speaker 1: I recently saw a quote and it kind of stuck
Speaker 1: with me because it can apply to all walks of life,
Speaker 1: let alone sports and specifically football. But yesterday's success is
Speaker 1: the most dangerous thing in the world because people fall
Speaker 1: back on there, you know, whatever the case may be.
Speaker 1: I think we all know what that means. Do you
Speaker 1: feel this group, your guys, you know them better than
Speaker 1: anybody is equipped to handle success that they're experiencing right now.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 5: I think we have really good veteran leadership here and
Speaker 5: also a bunch of good young leaders as well, and
Speaker 5: you can see that throughout our football team. So I
Speaker 5: trust those guys, you know, to be where their feet
Speaker 5: are and really have that mindset of getting better every
Speaker 5: single week.
Speaker 3: And you know, we know what time it is and
Speaker 3: where it is in the season.
Speaker 5: We're still early on in this process of running our race,
Speaker 5: and we got to make sure we focus on it's
Speaker 5: always going to be about us and how we do things.
Speaker 1: All right, So there have been ten games played. We
Speaker 1: talked about this a couple of weeks ago. The majority
Speaker 1: of those have been away from home, including preseason, and
Speaker 1: a lot's happened. Do you feel this bye week? Some
Speaker 1: might say it's so early.
Speaker 4: I don't know.
Speaker 1: If it were me, I'd say it's in just the
Speaker 1: nick of time, especially after a trip to London. How
Speaker 1: do you feel?
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think the season sets up well in terms
Speaker 5: of that, you know, in terms of the natural breaks
Speaker 5: in it. We had six weeks and then our normal
Speaker 5: buy and then we got six weeks coming up, and
Speaker 5: we got what we call here a mini buy for
Speaker 5: a Thursday game, you know, in Detroit. So it's important
Speaker 5: that you know, we focus on, you know, this next
Speaker 5: block of games. But really the first thing is that
Speaker 5: is executing the BUYE week correctly and then working on
Speaker 5: to that Washington Commander week.
Speaker 1: The thirty third report, the team report a bunch of
Speaker 1: NFL former coaches, gms or whatever they have other research
Speaker 1: people that write stories, and one was about Caleb said
Speaker 1: he had his best game is a quick passer. In
Speaker 1: week six he was thirteen or fourteen for one hundred
Speaker 1: eleven yards and three touchdowns on throws under two and
Speaker 1: a half seconds. So I don't know how detailed you
Speaker 1: are about all that. But if you heard that from
Speaker 1: one of your researches or or research assistants or coach,
Speaker 1: is what what did that mean? Does it mean that
Speaker 1: he's seeing it so well? You know, is that what
Speaker 1: that answer is?
Speaker 4: Right there?
Speaker 3: Well, I think it's about you know, going through his progressions.
Speaker 5: You know, he's been going through his progressions well, him
Speaker 5: understanding the concepts of where the ball needs to go
Speaker 5: and just getting better at it. You know, he's just
Speaker 5: improving his game as a as a quarterback. You know,
Speaker 5: that's part of that's getting the ball out of his
Speaker 5: hands and and getting it to his first, second, or
Speaker 5: third read. And he did that yesterday, and you know
Speaker 5: that to me, it's always about good quarterbacking.
Speaker 3: And he did a nice shot of that yesterday.
Speaker 5: I had a quarterback rating of one twenty four that
Speaker 5: you know, had all those touchdown passes, you know, so
Speaker 5: to me, that's that's the mark of a good quarterback.
Speaker 5: And he protected protected the ball well too. I know
Speaker 5: he had the one interception, but again that's a that's
Speaker 5: a that's a shot that we took in that particular
Speaker 5: part of the game. And again that's got to be
Speaker 5: our ball or nobody's ball and then working it there.
Speaker 5: I'm sure he you know, he would tell you that
Speaker 5: he need to put a little bit more error on
Speaker 5: that one, a little bit deeper. But you know, again
Speaker 5: that's that's just something that we responded to. On defense.
Speaker 5: We went three and out and then the defense offense
Speaker 5: gets the ball at the fifteen and goes down the
Speaker 5: field with a couple of quarterback runs scrambles you know,
Speaker 5: for twenty three and nineteen, him using his legs when
Speaker 5: everything is covered, and then we score a touchdown there
Speaker 5: with giving those guys thirteen seconds on the other side.
Speaker 5: So to me, that was good, you know, really good
Speaker 5: complementary football by the whole.
Speaker 1: Team there, absolutely one hundred percent agree. And the balance,
Speaker 1: I mean, I think it was twenty nine and twenty
Speaker 1: nine run pass, which is, you know, these things just
Speaker 1: fall together that way sometimes, right, because when you're hot
Speaker 1: at hot at one thing, you keep going with it.
Speaker 1: And so but the balance and the whole notion about
Speaker 1: spreading the ball around. I looked at the overall statistics
Speaker 1: here through six weeks, and it's Keenan missed a couple games.
Speaker 1: Otherwise you'd have five guys basically having the same number
Speaker 1: of targets all all but Keenan averaging over ten yard
Speaker 1: as a pop touching the football. I mean as those
Speaker 1: are first downs on average that every time they touch
Speaker 1: the ball, So I mean things are really setting up
Speaker 1: nicely using all of this talent.
Speaker 3: Man.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think that Shane and the offensive staff have
Speaker 5: done a really good job, and really Caleb has done
Speaker 5: has done a good job on distributing the ball. Playing
Speaker 5: point guard like we talked about, you know, and and
Speaker 5: the ball goes to certain players based on coverage contour
Speaker 5: a lot of times, yep. But also players are designed
Speaker 5: to go to certain players and we always have a
Speaker 5: balance of that, and you have to have a balance
Speaker 5: of that.
Speaker 3: And you like to get guys involved early.
Speaker 5: On, you know, in the scripting, to make sure that
Speaker 5: they get touches so they can get going.
Speaker 3: And that's always.
Speaker 5: Important to be able to distribute the ball evenly early
Speaker 5: but also throughout the game.
Speaker 1: Defense continues to take the ball away. Best in the
Speaker 1: league right now, are at the top since last season,
Speaker 1: best in the league. It's everything you've preached. It's it's
Speaker 1: now a way of life, and there's no there's no
Speaker 1: way around it. This is the way the Bears are
Speaker 1: going to be that identity has been totally set, right,
Speaker 1: You're pleased with that?
Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, yesterday I thought Tremaine's cause fumble and
Speaker 5: recovered fumble was really good, uh, you know, in terms
Speaker 5: of operating and causing that fumble and being uh you know,
Speaker 5: really on top of it, you know, in terms of
Speaker 5: jumping on the football right there in that crowded area.
Speaker 5: It's it's unfortunate they took that away from him from us,
Speaker 5: but that's the way it goes. And then obviously Hardy
Speaker 5: had a really good cause one on kickoff.
Speaker 3: You know, we have to be really good.
Speaker 5: In terms of being you know, instantaneous reactions to be
Speaker 5: able to get on those as soon as possible because
Speaker 5: that would have been a big field position as well.
Speaker 5: And then you know, obviously the one TJ had to
Speaker 5: open the second half.
Speaker 3: Was big, really big there.
Speaker 5: What a great job of being on the spot and
Speaker 5: he doesn't get that unless he's hustling, you know. So
Speaker 5: part of our Hits principle is the effort in which
Speaker 5: we play and you can really see that on that
Speaker 5: particular play where he did a really good job of
Speaker 5: punching it, you know, from behind that particular player didn't
Speaker 5: have five points of pressure or a lock up on it,
Speaker 5: so did a really good job with that. And then
Speaker 5: obviously Elijah with a nice return for I think it
Speaker 5: was nineteen yards to the forty one, I believe somewhere
Speaker 5: in there on the plus side. And then Blackwell had
Speaker 5: a nice interception yesterday, you know, playing cover two. He
Speaker 5: was trying to get the middle sit down there on
Speaker 5: that particular play and he did a good job of
Speaker 5: vision and breaking.
Speaker 3: On the ball, you know.
Speaker 5: So we just need a little bit better return on
Speaker 5: that one. Got to get the offensive lineman blocked and
Speaker 5: then we'll be up the sideline. But to answer your
Speaker 5: question there, Jeff, it's something that we do in practice.
Speaker 5: It's something that's important to us, something that's emphasized not
Speaker 5: only by the coaches, it's emphasized from the inside out.
Speaker 3: And that's what it works best.
Speaker 1: All right. Then lastly, and we'll let you go appreciate it.
Speaker 1: I mean, I could talk defense all day with you.
Speaker 1: Tried to hit all these points. Hard to do, but
Speaker 1: the blitzing, you know, the blitzing, the well time blitzing.
Speaker 1: We always think of just the past game. But your
Speaker 1: run blitzes have been very beneficial as well, and Kyler
Speaker 1: Gordon a big part of that.
Speaker 4: TJ.
Speaker 1: Edwards a big part of that. Kyler's game was sensational.
Speaker 1: Saw him after the game. I said, man, you had
Speaker 1: me so excited about your performance. He was slithering and nasty.
Speaker 4: He was awesome.
Speaker 3: Awesome was Kyler is a really good player for us.
Speaker 5: He's one of the best nickels in football, and we're
Speaker 5: excited to have him, obviously our first draft pick.
Speaker 3: You know him and him and Brisker.
Speaker 5: He's everything we stand for in terms of his work ethic,
Speaker 5: in terms of how he plays the game, his passion
Speaker 5: for his teammates, and he was having a really good
Speaker 5: performance yesterday. Was unfortunate that got hurt, but he made
Speaker 5: a lot of good stops, you know, a lot of
Speaker 5: good TFLs, you know, and he's special and there you
Speaker 5: need a guy that's got really good instincts, that has
Speaker 5: you know, quickness instincts and striking ability, and he has
Speaker 5: all of those.
Speaker 1: All right, Matt enjoy your bye week. I know there's
Speaker 1: some work involved with some relaxation as well. Look forward
Speaker 1: to coming out the other end way to go. A
Speaker 1: nice job.
Speaker 3: Thanks for having me on you got.
Speaker 1: It, Tom. I know you're uniquely interested in that whole
Speaker 1: thing about how do you deal with success? And I
Speaker 1: think every young team and a team that's just now
Speaker 1: learning how to win. Going back to last season, they
Speaker 1: won eleven of the last nineteen games. This is a
Speaker 1: different team though. Is that what you wanted to hear
Speaker 1: from from coach Flues?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 2: You know, Matt is really interesting because he's never going
Speaker 2: to offer or give or take too much credit for
Speaker 2: any individual player himself. He's just going to give credit
Speaker 2: to the effort, to the attitude, the preparation, to the
Speaker 2: coaching staff, and to the preparedness. And so he's a
Speaker 2: difficult guy to get an answer out of. But I
Speaker 2: kind of respect that about him because he's not going
Speaker 2: to over compliment anybody until the ultimate job is done.
Speaker 1: So I didn't really get into a lot of it,
Speaker 1: but certainly interested in what's going on with the injury Bears.
Speaker 1: There's some scans that have to be done. We'll probably
Speaker 1: know something when they get back together next week next Monday,
Speaker 1: with that practice and they don't even have to give
Speaker 1: an injury report just then, but by Wednesday we'll know.
Speaker 1: But Kyler Gordon in the hamstring, certainly Tyreek Stevenson and
Speaker 1: his calf, certainly, Jakwan Brisker. Concussions protocol still remains in
Speaker 1: that so those are big right there, and then what
Speaker 1: do you do at lung snap.
Speaker 4: Well, I'm sure Ryan has had eight or nine in
Speaker 4: the building already and.
Speaker 2: He'll continue that process throughout the week and investigating along
Speaker 2: with Tory, Taylor and Cairo to make sure that they
Speaker 2: have an eyewitness account of who the candidates could be
Speaker 2: for that position. Ryan I have all the confidence of
Speaker 2: the world that he'll take care of this by early
Speaker 2: this week. And then when you look at Tyreek and
Speaker 2: Kyler Gordon and Jakwan Brisker, they're fortunate to have a
Speaker 2: top notch training staff that will get these guys up
Speaker 2: in hopefully ready as soon as possible. I don't want
Speaker 2: to jeopardize anybody because this is a big picture look
Speaker 2: and they have some quality talent behind him, because we
Speaker 2: also have to look at guys like Zach Pickens and
Speaker 2: Terrelle Smith, these guys that can come in and contribute
Speaker 2: to the depth of their position specifically, So there is
Speaker 2: a over a handful of guys now that we're looking
Speaker 2: at to get back on the field healthy in asap.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Jacob Martin started. We don't know a whole lot
Speaker 1: on in terms. We know his career. He has been
Speaker 1: a really good pass rusher, so he's back in pract
Speaker 1: The scene was in London, good new Chicago United Airlines
Speaker 1: getting brand new planes with all the bells and whistles,
Speaker 1: like Bluetooth connectivity screens at every seat and room for
Speaker 1: everyone's rollerbag. United proud to fly the Chicago Bears and
Speaker 1: you two. I want to look at red zone. They
Speaker 1: were four for four, one turnover in the game. They
Speaker 1: converted half of their third and fourth down conversions. I'll
Speaker 1: take that too. Twenty five first downs on sixty one plays.
Speaker 1: Tommy had only two penalties for the game. I would
Speaker 1: put this in the clean category game.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, it's kind of funny.
Speaker 2: If you're an offensive lineman and you play seventy two
Speaker 2: plays per game and you give up a sack on
Speaker 2: one play, the whole game is awful. And I think
Speaker 2: about even a Caleb's interview on the field after the
Speaker 2: game and talking about the one interception. You can have
Speaker 2: a great game and you can score every opportunity in
Speaker 2: the red zone. You can make scrambling plays or great
Speaker 2: reads like to Cole Comet, but it's that one play
Speaker 2: that always comes back and haunts you. And I'm not
Speaker 2: belittling the effort that the Bears put in or Caleb himself,
Speaker 2: but it's always that one play that you want to
Speaker 2: make sure that you don't make that mistake again.
Speaker 4: So, you know, excited to see what will happen with that.
Speaker 1: You know, who's the leading receiver among running backs in
Speaker 1: the NFL over the last three weeks.
Speaker 4: DeAndre Swift.
Speaker 1: DeAndre Swift with one hundred and forty seven outstanding rushing
Speaker 1: touchdowns three He's in the top five of just about
Speaker 1: every statistic, and so that that's an important that's important
Speaker 1: because of the early lack of success and concern. But
Speaker 1: we knew what he's capable of doing in this offense.
Speaker 1: You said it a long time ago, long time ago,
Speaker 1: you said, this offense is going to run through DeAndre Swift.
Speaker 2: Right, He's the key component of the moving parts of
Speaker 2: this offense. And whether it's screens run efficiently and so
Speaker 2: well timed, understanding how to follow his blocking those exterior
Speaker 2: outside his own plays, and how to read and set
Speaker 2: up his blocking the interior effort that he puts in
Speaker 2: there against the physical runs and again opens up opportunities
Speaker 2: play action passes for guys like Rollman stuff that have
Speaker 2: had success with that because of the influence of DeAndre Swift.
Speaker 1: Tom Caleb is really good in he He was extraordinary
Speaker 1: on Sunday, scrambled when he needed to, ran ourpo very
Speaker 1: well four times, fifty six yards in rushing, six incompletions,
Speaker 1: and controlled again at the line, use the middle of
Speaker 1: the field to his advantage quite a bit. Cole Comet
Speaker 1: the benefactor. He's been taking what's given. Yeah, he had
Speaker 1: the underthrowing, the deep shot, the interception by Andre Cisco.
Speaker 1: That's not going to happen too many more times. That
Speaker 1: connection is going to pay big dividends. The big shots
Speaker 1: are coming. We keep saying it, but they are coming.
Speaker 2: You know, Jeff, if you go back in your revisit
Speaker 2: everything that was said about the Bears this offense, Shane
Speaker 2: Waldron Caleb after the first two weeks of the season
Speaker 2: and then stop it there and then restarted over the
Speaker 2: last four weeks. It's incredible what he has taken on
Speaker 2: his shoulders, the pressure of the constant podium visits or
Speaker 2: the outside interviews that are requested of him, and then
Speaker 2: what he's been able to accomplish in How so you
Speaker 2: don't have Keenan Allen for a minute, but then you
Speaker 2: don't lose sight of him once he comes back. You
Speaker 2: have the ability to help Roma Dunes. They continue to develop.
Speaker 2: Now the next guy. Just think if they get Gerald
Speaker 2: Everett somehow involved in this game. Now you're talking about
Speaker 2: Cole Gerald Everett, all three running backs in every wide
Speaker 2: receiver and it's all you know with the continuous development
Speaker 2: of Caleb and the development of the relationship between Shane
Speaker 2: and Caleb.
Speaker 1: Tastes like Miller time. Go to middle Lane dot com
Speaker 1: slash Bears pod to find delivery options near you. Celebrate responsibly.
Speaker 1: Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Ninety six calories three point
Speaker 1: two carbs per twelve ounces. All right, let's talk Cole
Speaker 1: comment two touchdowns away from Tyan greg Olsen, who had
Speaker 1: twenty as a Bear from most seven to twenty ten,
Speaker 1: second in the league behind George Kittle this season in
Speaker 1: and receiving first downs, tied with Brock Bauers, the rookie
Speaker 1: for Vegas third in receptions with twenty six and yards
Speaker 1: with two eighty nine plus the long snapping last week,
Speaker 1: or I should say the short snapping for the field goes.
Speaker 1: He didn't have to long snap a punt. And then
Speaker 1: the blocking he's asked to do, those wam blocks, the
Speaker 1: perimeter work.
Speaker 4: He's doing a lot time everything that's asked of him.
Speaker 2: You know, when you look at what the tight end
Speaker 2: has to do in a modern day NFL offense, when
Speaker 2: you play h back, you're leading and you're trapping, you're
Speaker 2: wham blocking, you're playing point of attack tight end, you're
Speaker 2: going downfield, you're a red zone target. Listen, Cole is
Speaker 2: doing everything that's asked out of the tight end position,
Speaker 2: and I think he's probably got more to give if
Speaker 2: you want to. And he has been at fullback, so
Speaker 2: I think he's only tapping the surface of what the
Speaker 2: Bears thought about him when they drafted him and they
Speaker 2: signed him to a new contract.
Speaker 1: How about the work of the defensive secondary from Jalen
Speaker 1: Jones to Josh Blackwell to Elijah Hicks.
Speaker 2: Listen to me, a lot of that credit and I'm
Speaker 2: not taking minimalizing the effort of the players, but I'm
Speaker 2: also looking at the credit of the coaches, because that's
Speaker 2: one of the most difficult positions to get depth ready
Speaker 2: and to come in there and play against NFL quarterbacks
Speaker 2: and have the entire defense up front and not skip
Speaker 2: a beat being able to play the same coverages, have
Speaker 2: the same disguises that this defense is is really working
Speaker 2: well with. So every one of those guys you mentioned,
Speaker 2: I'm really happy for him because they have the same
Speaker 2: desire to be a player that anybody else does in
Speaker 2: the NFL. And then when your time comes, you kind
Speaker 2: of have those expectations from every one of those guys
Speaker 2: up front of you that I'm playing hard to play
Speaker 2: up to the same level of whomever you're taking over
Speaker 2: for in that game.
Speaker 1: I've you got Bears quarterback coach and passing game coordinator
Speaker 1: John Hoak, David Overstreet the nickel coach, and Andre Kurdish
Speaker 1: the safety coach, doing a heck of a job with
Speaker 1: all those guys. And there are more guys that are
Speaker 1: there are getting schooled and taught properly and they can
Speaker 1: step in as well as we move forward. You hope
Speaker 1: you don't go too deep in that, but you.
Speaker 2: Know one thing about defensive backs, and it's a lot
Speaker 2: like offensive Lineman. There's no two that have the same template.
Speaker 2: You have something different about you, whether it's size, skill, speed,
Speaker 2: whatever your abilities are, and so every one of these
Speaker 2: coaches have to coach that talent up to these guys
Speaker 2: to the best of their ability. So I again, credit
Speaker 2: to the coaches, but credit to the performance that the
Speaker 2: players put on.
Speaker 1: Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois right here at home,
Speaker 1: driving access toward healthier communities through it all. Okay, so
Speaker 1: time for our Geico brings you more football stat of
Speaker 1: the day. There's so many, I'm just going to have
Speaker 1: to pick one here, but Caleb Williams seventy nine percent
Speaker 1: completion percentage, the highest market in league history, league history
Speaker 1: by a rookie with twenty five or more attempts and
Speaker 1: four plass passing touchdowns. Tuda keenan to to cole Comet again,
Speaker 1: this is just scratching the surface of what he's going
Speaker 1: to be doing and what this offense is capable of.
Speaker 1: But worthy as this, We've been quarterbacks starved in terms
Speaker 1: of stuff like this to be the best of something,
Speaker 1: and so let's enjoy it while you know, let's enjoy it.
Speaker 1: Let's just enjoy it and not now nothing too crazy
Speaker 1: about it, because it is a long season and there's
Speaker 1: still a lot of growth to be had.
Speaker 2: A secondary stat to that also, five point two yards
Speaker 2: per rush. I think when you look at that and
Speaker 2: you and I have been asking for four point yards
Speaker 2: per rush when you're getting a a yard plus more
Speaker 2: per rush, and then how that factors in the entirety
Speaker 2: of the offense because you're not one dimensional.
Speaker 4: You're getting equally equal profits.
Speaker 2: From running the ball as you are the stats that
Speaker 2: you mentioned in throwing the ball. So you just can't
Speaker 2: lose sight of the importance of that running game.
Speaker 1: Yeah, some other nuggets montest what now number three in
Speaker 1: the NFC since last season in sacks with fifteen. Mercedes
Speaker 1: lewis the second player in NFL history with a reception
Speaker 1: in nineteen plus seasons. Jerry Rice says the record catch
Speaker 1: in twenty seasons, the great Hall of Famer Jerry Rice. Okay,
Speaker 1: couple of league wide things and will wrap up so
Speaker 1: you can enjoy your bye week until we drop another
Speaker 1: podcast on Thursday. Aiden Hutchinson, Now, if you look at
Speaker 1: a single player on any team and say, Okay, this
Speaker 1: is a guy we cannot lose, I would say that
Speaker 1: would be. With all due respect to everybody else on
Speaker 1: the Detroit Lions. There's a certain aura about him that
Speaker 1: he brings to the table, his full throttle Max Crosby
Speaker 1: ish type impact on the defense, and you got to
Speaker 1: put your big boy pads on every single rep against
Speaker 1: Aiden Hutchinson, a pretty nasty leg injury. Is out for
Speaker 1: the year. He's leading the league time at this point
Speaker 1: in nearly every pass rush category you can think of,
Speaker 1: from pressures to pressure rate, to sacks, to hits on
Speaker 1: the quarterback and early down pressure. And that's a kind
Speaker 1: of an irreplaceable guy. I don't know if they're gonna
Speaker 1: now go out and try and get somebody like a
Speaker 1: sounderratic or they're mentioning Max Crowd who knows, but you're
Speaker 1: not. The fact is him, Yeah, you're not getting him, this young,
Speaker 1: vibrant energizer bunny for that. How do you look at
Speaker 1: the Detroit Lions in that light?
Speaker 3: Now?
Speaker 2: You know? I think Dan Campbell is a type of
Speaker 2: guy that h still has command of the locker room
Speaker 2: and he'll just raise the expectations of whomever is going
Speaker 2: to take his spot again. He's not replaceable, but I
Speaker 2: don't think they're going to lose sight of what they
Speaker 2: have going there. They have a super supportive crowd when
Speaker 2: they play at home. They're bringing a really legit offensive line,
Speaker 2: running game, and good receivers on the offensive side of
Speaker 2: the ball. So what I do is I don't ever say, okay, defense,
Speaker 2: you're not capable. Is I increase the expectations of my offense,
Speaker 2: time of possession, scoring, you know, just everything else about
Speaker 2: what their offense is capable of being, and just the
Speaker 2: personal side of it, the human side of it. I
Speaker 2: just feel awful for him because I would I rather
Speaker 2: see a young man continue to flourish in the effort
Speaker 2: that he gives rather than be injured and be out
Speaker 2: of the lineup. So I think everybody collectively is praying
Speaker 2: for the young guy, right.
Speaker 1: And how about this division? The top four teams in
Speaker 1: point differential in the NFL are the Green Bay Packers,
Speaker 1: Minnesota Viking, Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions. No division can match that.
Speaker 2: No, But I think that was kind of expected at
Speaker 2: the beginning of the season, but you just didn't know
Speaker 2: in what order they were going to fall. There was
Speaker 2: high expectations for Detroit in their offense. There was high
Speaker 2: expectations considering what the Green Bay Packers came off of
Speaker 2: last year.
Speaker 4: You didn't know.
Speaker 2: And then when you talk about the weapons that the
Speaker 2: Bears put into play throughout the offseason and then drafting Caleb,
Speaker 2: there was that type of expectations.
Speaker 4: For them as well. And then you didn't know.
Speaker 2: Because JJ McCarthy was drafted by Minnesota. Sam Darnold, who's
Speaker 2: had a frustrating start of his career, was signed as
Speaker 2: a backup, and I don't think people put a lot
Speaker 2: of faith in him. But what they've been able to
Speaker 2: do in Minnesota is equally as impressive as any team
Speaker 2: in this division.
Speaker 1: And that's why, you know, we keep saying it, I
Speaker 1: keep saying it. The season begins at week eleven now,
Speaker 1: and honestly, every week matters. But this is that's why
Speaker 1: bankrolling all of these performances and gaining strength both mentally, physically, spiritually,
Speaker 1: combining everything and being a tight football team, a team
Speaker 1: that believes in itself is so important. Coming out of
Speaker 1: the by they got to hit it hard, they gotta
Speaker 1: they gotta come out with a fury because Week eleven's
Speaker 1: approaching and the division is staring right at you.
Speaker 4: It's gonna be tough. It's gonna be awesome.
Speaker 2: I can't wait, you know, because at the beginning of
Speaker 2: the season, when they went through the first couple of games,
Speaker 2: I said, well, it's gonna be week eleven. But there's
Speaker 2: gonna be a lot of information that these teams are
Speaker 2: gonna have about Caleb William and the Bears, and the
Speaker 2: Bears are gonna have a lot of information about their
Speaker 2: opponents that's increased since you look at the performance of
Speaker 2: this division. This is gonna be one of the most
Speaker 2: investigated divisions between each other then there's been in a
Speaker 2: long time. And so let's roll.
Speaker 1: Yep, let's roll Bears fans. Steinheffels probab partner of the
Speaker 1: Chicago Bears this Bear season, steinh Hoffel's partnering with Special
Speaker 1: Spaces Illinois to create dream bedrooms for children battling cancel.
Speaker 1: For every false start caused by Bears defense during the
Speaker 1: home game, Steinhoffls donates one thousand dollars the Special Spaces
Speaker 1: Illinois shop instore and online at Steinhoffels dot com. I
Speaker 1: leave you with this John Harbaugh opening up about the kickoff.
Speaker 1: I'd like to see more returns. Tom so he is
Speaker 1: and he is supporting the idea of the ball at
Speaker 1: the thirty five or forty yard line on touchbacks. That's
Speaker 1: cool to encourage kick returns with them.
Speaker 2: What are we playing arena ball? What are we go
Speaker 2: start playing in fifty yard fields? Come on, stop trying
Speaker 2: to fix the wrong leak.
Speaker 4: Just listen.
Speaker 2: If you don't want to return it, you get it
Speaker 2: at the thirty. Now you got seventy yards to travel.
Speaker 2: If you're crappy offense, you're still not going to be
Speaker 2: able to score. So, uh, you know, I'm not looking
Speaker 2: at it like that, Jeff. You're just trying to fix
Speaker 2: all these problems year and in, year out, and they're
Speaker 2: not that big.
Speaker 1: So what is your answer to the kickoff? Though you'd
Speaker 1: like to see the ball returned.
Speaker 2: Let me see a season of it. Let me see
Speaker 2: it when conditions deteriorate. Okay, let me see when they
Speaker 2: get a kicker that puts it in a spot where
Speaker 2: the team only gets it at the twenty five.
Speaker 1: So you're saying, let it breathe a little bit, let
Speaker 1: it play out. I mean, my gosh, I'll tell you
Speaker 1: the kickoff by Santos that short hopped tank Bigsby. You
Speaker 1: put that in a different weather condition or on a
Speaker 1: grass field, because that was that was turf there in
Speaker 1: London at Tottenham. I mean that could turn into a
Speaker 1: big problem.
Speaker 2: Like that could be you know, the San Francisco game
Speaker 2: when it had the trenchial downpour, the San Francisco game
Speaker 2: in Chicago when it had forty five mile an hour wins.
Speaker 4: Let's play out a season.
Speaker 2: Wait until that second half of the season where you're
Speaker 2: playing divisional games after week eleven, in the conditions inside
Speaker 2: Green Bay, inside Soldier Field, inside San Francisco, inside all
Speaker 2: these other areas.
Speaker 4: It's so horrific.
Speaker 2: You don't know if the ball's gonna stay on the
Speaker 2: tee or you're gonna have to get that twelfth guy.
Speaker 4: To come out and hold it. So hold off, everybody.
Speaker 1: You must have gotten some good sleep overnight. I love
Speaker 1: the vibrancy because you didn't sleep very well in London.
Speaker 2: I listen, man, I was ready to roll as soon
Speaker 2: as I got home. And uh, you know, it's just
Speaker 2: that I'm I just don't want to sit here and
Speaker 2: listen to as a coach's complaint about something that is
Speaker 2: irrelevant to their concerns.
Speaker 1: All right, big time, we will wrap this thing up
Speaker 1: and be back with you on Thursday for another episode.
Speaker 1: Obviously it's the bye week, so we will have a
Speaker 1: surprise or two along the way, but we'll look ahead
Speaker 1: a little bit. We'll look at you know. Flus even
Speaker 1: said he's looking at this in six game chunks kind
Speaker 1: of there's natural break, so we'll go look at it,
Speaker 1: will take stock a little bit. You good with that?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm fine with it, man. Just keep your nose
Speaker 2: of the grindstone. I think the Bears set the template
Speaker 2: for success and overseas trips how they went about business
Speaker 2: last week, and if this is a continued process, I
Speaker 2: hope they do the same thing.
Speaker 1: Special thanks to Maddie Refolution for time.
Speaker 4: I'm Jeff.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening. Everyone. Please subscribe now on the Chicago
Speaker 1: Bears official Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcast.
Speaker 1: Bear Down, Everybody,