Speaker 1: Right justin middle of the field forty five to fifteen,
Speaker 1: bring Russ in front of a leading Lions in this way.
Speaker 1: I am Jeff joniyancklitz is on don go r What
Speaker 1: was like playing for Coachy boddom Ah.
Speaker 2: I don't want to answer any questions like that.
Speaker 3: Sixty one yards?
Speaker 4: What's Sunday stroll.
Speaker 3: For justin Field?
Speaker 1: Ye Bears, et cetera with the voices of the Chicago
Speaker 1: Bears Jeff Joniac who challenge waits the Bears this Sunday.
Speaker 1: It is Christmas Even A three twenty five kickoff into
Speaker 1: the Bears and the Arizona Cardinals. Kyler Murray coming to
Speaker 1: town and Jonathan Gannon, the new head coach of the
Speaker 1: Arizona Cardinals, brings a three win outfit to Soldier Field.
Speaker 1: We'll have it for you starting at three twenty five
Speaker 1: on ESPN one thousand of the Bears Radio Network with
Speaker 1: Tom Thayra. I'm Jeff Joniak and this is episode forty
Speaker 1: four of Our Bears et Cetera podcast coming up. We'll
Speaker 1: be joined by Doug Flank, the ferocious Bears safety. The
Speaker 1: forty six defense invented by Buddy Ryan because of the
Speaker 1: blonde bombshell, and we'll talk to him.
Speaker 2: We always love talking to Doug.
Speaker 1: He's still doing national work on radio and has keen
Speaker 1: insight on the Arizona Cardinals and your Chicago Bears.
Speaker 2: Tom.
Speaker 1: I know the Bears suffered that defeat and it sucked
Speaker 1: the wind out of everybody in Cleveland. But I'm certainly
Speaker 1: very excited about Sunday. I know it's a holiday. People
Speaker 1: are gonna be listening, people are gonna be watching if
Speaker 1: you're on the road, going to family or whatever. I
Speaker 1: love talking to our fans on the holiday because holiday
Speaker 1: and football goes together. In recent years, we've had some
Speaker 1: Christmas Day games, some Christmas Eve games, and whoever shows
Speaker 1: up at Sojier Field on Sunday, I think they'll be
Speaker 1: entertained with two mobile quarterbacks like Kyler Murray and Justin Fields.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know.
Speaker 5: Kyler Murray is interesting to watch on tape because although
Speaker 5: I've never been a huge fan of his, just because
Speaker 5: I didn't know if that his size was gonna be
Speaker 5: usable and his escapability was gonna be an asset.
Speaker 3: At the NFL level.
Speaker 5: But I gotta say, when I watch him on tape,
Speaker 5: I see a player with his assets, plays with extreme confidence.
Speaker 5: He's got great escapability. He's willing to throw across his body.
Speaker 5: He's willing to throw across the field. He's willing to
Speaker 5: extend pockets to for one of his receivers to get open.
Speaker 5: But also he's willing to drop if he feels pressure
Speaker 5: rather than taking a hard hitting sack.
Speaker 3: He'll go to the ground and go to the next play.
Speaker 5: And sometimes that acceptability is you know, keeps them healthy
Speaker 5: and on the field. So I'm really interested to watch
Speaker 5: two dynamic, young developing quarterbacks this Christmas Eve.
Speaker 2: Coming off that Aco.
Speaker 1: He hasn't played a lot obviously this year from from
Speaker 1: last season and the Cliff Kingsbury experiment didn't work out
Speaker 1: there in Arizona. That led to Jonathan Gannon. But you
Speaker 1: know they've signed him to a big contract. But is
Speaker 1: this home for him? Is this gonna be Kyler Murray's
Speaker 1: football team moving forward? This is a three win team
Speaker 1: that's going to a high draft pick and could be
Speaker 1: interested maybe in one of those quarterbacks that are coming out.
Speaker 5: Yeah, they could also be interested in the big time
Speaker 5: receiver because if you look at Kyler Murray, you know
Speaker 5: he's got an explosive arm, he's got great confidence and
Speaker 5: he's got great you know wherewithal in terms of the
Speaker 5: passing game and how to extend the time behind the
Speaker 5: line of scrimmage to make sure one of those receivers
Speaker 5: get open. So if you have a contract that you've
Speaker 5: already signed Kyler Murray to, and you have a high
Speaker 5: draft choice where maybe you can get one of those
Speaker 5: top two or three receivers that have an immediate impact
Speaker 5: on your offense, you know, maybe that's the route to go.
Speaker 5: You bring in a head coach. Kyler Murray is understanding
Speaker 5: of the terminology and the development of the system. He
Speaker 5: had time to wait until he actually had to play because,
Speaker 5: as you mentioned, the recovery of the knee injury.
Speaker 3: So it is the fastest route to success.
Speaker 5: Because it seemed like they have a tight end in
Speaker 5: place who's a real weapon on this offense. James Connor
Speaker 5: is a really good running back. So just think if
Speaker 5: you add another receiver to this football team that can
Speaker 5: kind of play off of the other you know assets
Speaker 5: they already have on this team.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and they do have an excellent second year tight
Speaker 1: end and Trey McBride, somebody the Bears are gonna have
Speaker 1: to be keenly interested in given what David and Joku
Speaker 1: did a we could go to the Bears with ten
Speaker 1: catches and over one hundred yards and the lost to Cleveland.
Speaker 2: Murray is the guy.
Speaker 1: Obviously, he will steal yards outside the pocket because of
Speaker 1: his mobility. He does not take a lot of hits.
Speaker 1: Tom He will slide out or get away without getting touched.
Speaker 1: He is maneuverable in that pocket. And I call him
Speaker 1: tiny but mighty.
Speaker 3: I agree one hundred percent.
Speaker 5: Again, you know, I'm kind of old school in the
Speaker 5: way that I've looked at you know, height and as
Speaker 5: an importance for the quarterback position. You know, when Doug
Speaker 5: Flutie really proved a lot of us wrong in terms of,
Speaker 5: you know, longevity at the position and how good you
Speaker 5: could possibly be. And I didn't know what to think
Speaker 5: God Kyler, But like I said said at the beginning
Speaker 5: of the program, I really admire his confidence and he's
Speaker 5: willing to do a lot of things. But can you
Speaker 5: block passes? Can you surround him in the pocket? Can
Speaker 5: you try to keep him from really seeing the receivers downfield?
Speaker 3: Yes?
Speaker 5: However, like you said, if he gets outside the pocket,
Speaker 5: he's got incredible sliding ability because of his baseball background,
Speaker 5: but he also can convert pressure into a first down
Speaker 5: by when he does get outside the pocket.
Speaker 1: Cardinals made some noise with Murray during the early portion
Speaker 1: of his career, but just seven and twenty four the
Speaker 1: last two seasons, obviously missing the end of last season
Speaker 1: and the early portion of this year, so they got
Speaker 1: a lot of work.
Speaker 2: To do to make it happen.
Speaker 1: But they feel they got one of their franchise cornerstones
Speaker 1: at one of the tackle positions in Paris Johnson. He's
Speaker 1: had his ups and downs this season, a fair amount
Speaker 1: of penalties, I think tied for second in offensive penalties
Speaker 1: this year, but a really good left tackle from Florida
Speaker 1: DJ Humphries and so pieces Will Hernandez the guard is
Speaker 1: an nasty blocker. He will root you out in the
Speaker 1: run game. What's your look at their offense overall? Hollywood
Speaker 1: Brown to the outside at receivers, got some speed as well.
Speaker 1: So the offense not scoring a ton, but a dangerous
Speaker 1: outfit indeed.
Speaker 5: Yeah, but I think the offensive line, when you're talking
Speaker 5: about having all those five pieces in place for a
Speaker 5: period of time, they have to learn the quarterback and
Speaker 5: how to play with the quarterback they have, because when
Speaker 5: you talk about a protection, there's an exact there's a
Speaker 5: real specific how you want to make sure that you
Speaker 5: have your hands in place as an offensive lineman and
Speaker 5: where you try to get to. But also if you
Speaker 5: have the uncertainty of Kyler Murray and maybe if you
Speaker 5: think the protection strength is to the right but he
Speaker 5: takes off of the left, that kind of makes you
Speaker 5: vulnerable to penalties at time. So I think it's a
Speaker 5: process where you have to have a head coach that
Speaker 5: understands the willingness of the quarterback and then how to
Speaker 5: work with an offensive line if you can keep them
Speaker 5: in play for a while.
Speaker 1: So I'm still trying to figure out how the forty
Speaker 1: nine ers gave up over two hundred yards of the
Speaker 1: Cardinals the number one rushing defense in the NFL. Is
Speaker 1: this put you on alert for the Bears defensive front seven.
Speaker 3: Oh one hundred percent? But I think you so if
Speaker 3: you're a defensive coordinator.
Speaker 5: Jeff, you've been around the NFL long enough and then
Speaker 5: you're getting ready to play against the Arizona Cardinals. So
Speaker 5: where do you start with when you're talking about limiting
Speaker 5: the success of their offense. Do you start with the
Speaker 5: arm of Kyler Murray, the escapability of Kyler Murray, or
Speaker 5: the running ability of their running backs? Because they have
Speaker 5: a couple of good running backs that run hard, they
Speaker 5: have explosiveness, and they get outside.
Speaker 3: So what's your first goal?
Speaker 5: And I think whether you're a play by play guy
Speaker 5: evaluating how you look at the Arizona Cardinals or you're
Speaker 5: a defensive coordinator, what is your first goal? So I
Speaker 5: think that's what you kind of have to look at
Speaker 5: when you're looking at the Arizona Cardinals and limiting their success.
Speaker 1: Up the run period. Michael Carter also a jitterbug back.
Speaker 1: He was a waiver claim from the Jets not just
Speaker 1: a few months ago, in the early portion of November,
Speaker 1: and he can do some damage as well. We're brought
Speaker 1: to you by PNC Official Bank of the Bears with
Speaker 1: Tom Thayer Jeff Joniak. All right, let's take a look
Speaker 1: at that defense, and it is a little bit of
Speaker 1: an interesting adjustment for the Bears to take a look
Speaker 1: at because they throw a lot of different personnel packages.
Speaker 1: Jonathan Gannon worked for Matt Eberfluss as a defensive back
Speaker 1: coach for the Colts. For several years, so they know
Speaker 1: each other very well, but operates a slightly different kind
Speaker 1: of defense, doesn't he he does.
Speaker 5: You know, I was interesting watching the tape of them
Speaker 5: because it's almost like a.
Speaker 3: Five one five approach when because you know.
Speaker 5: There's an interesting because you're gonna have five men against
Speaker 5: the across the defensive line of scrimmage, but they're all
Speaker 5: up at the line of scrimmage. So that means when
Speaker 5: you call a pass protection, the offensive lineman are you're
Speaker 5: you're responsible for everybody up front, and then you'll have
Speaker 5: a linebacker that runs really well kind of that in
Speaker 5: the middle position, and then all of a sudden, you're
Speaker 5: going to have a lineup defensive backs. They may line
Speaker 5: up straight across a line that's about twelve yards behind
Speaker 5: the offensive lineup scrimmage, and now the quarterback has to
Speaker 5: figure out who they're going to cover, how they're going
Speaker 5: to cover. Is it going to be man coverage, is
Speaker 5: it going to be zone coverage, or are they going
Speaker 5: to bring one of those bodies up to the line
Speaker 5: of scrimmage to provide an extra personnel of pressure. And
Speaker 5: it's going to be interesting to see how they do
Speaker 5: go about attacking this defense, and you know, the one
Speaker 5: thing about it, if you get a defensive coordinator that
Speaker 5: plays an unconventional style and a defense and they have
Speaker 5: success with it, they're going to stay with it. It's
Speaker 5: not like if you don't have success against it, they
Speaker 5: won't change. So that's one thing that the Bears are
Speaker 5: going to have to do is they're going to have
Speaker 5: to have some explosive plays both in the running game
Speaker 5: Justin's escapability and downfield passing.
Speaker 1: Visy heart Seltzer, the official heart Seltzer of the Chicago Bears.
Speaker 1: That defensive line for Arizona, they will do some damage.
Speaker 1: They've got a variety of different guys, all shapes, all
Speaker 1: kinds of speed. Bj Aujulry, their young outside linebacker, is
Speaker 1: talent that he's got rush ability and is very slippery.
Speaker 1: Dennis Gardek, who went to Crystal Lake South, really was
Speaker 1: not recruited very heavily, went into colleges and including Division
Speaker 1: two West Virginia State, wound up at Sioux Falls College undrafted,
Speaker 1: and he's got forty five tackles in five sacks this
Speaker 1: year and a really great resume as a veteran on
Speaker 1: special teams with over fifty special teams tackles. Boy, you
Speaker 1: talk about getting there the hard way for a local guy,
Speaker 1: that's the hard way right there.
Speaker 5: I listen, man, I love guys like that because the
Speaker 5: game is important to them.
Speaker 3: If they're not going to Division I school and they.
Speaker 5: Got to be coddled through three or four years of
Speaker 5: college and tell them every day how great they are
Speaker 5: and how important they are to the program and what.
Speaker 3: They're going to do at the next level.
Speaker 5: I like these guys that show how important getting through
Speaker 5: the ranks so they can get a professional evaluation, and
Speaker 5: then when they get their helmet and a professional team,
Speaker 5: they do the most to keep.
Speaker 3: It and have success.
Speaker 5: I mean there's guys from the Bears and every team
Speaker 5: across the NFL that have had that type of success.
Speaker 5: You look at Big Cat Williams going to Cheney State.
Speaker 5: You know how he turns into the one of the
Speaker 5: best offensive tackles in the history of the Bears. So
Speaker 5: it's when it's important to you, it tells me a
Speaker 5: lot about what you're able to accomplish.
Speaker 1: Look at Richard Dent, You're a good friend. I mean, right,
Speaker 1: same store, right, same story.
Speaker 3: Right, I mean exactly. But you know some of these schools.
Speaker 5: You know, it's always interesting to look at a roster
Speaker 5: and you look at some of the schools that I've
Speaker 5: still and have never heard of, that these guys are
Speaker 5: on an NFL roster and they're having a successful career.
Speaker 5: You know, listen, man, I really I admire them because
Speaker 5: you know, I went to Notre Dame and I set
Speaker 5: my sights on the NFL, and I had the opportunity
Speaker 5: because we are on national TV every week. When you
Speaker 5: have these guys that they have the size, the ability,
Speaker 5: and the gifts that you need physically to get to
Speaker 5: this level and then they're able to accomplish that, I
Speaker 5: have all the admiration in the world for them.
Speaker 1: Take a chance download the bet Rivers app. Today we
Speaker 1: also got to talk about Buddha Baker. He is their
Speaker 1: kind of their tempo setter, I would guess, not unlike
Speaker 1: in many respects and who he's growing into, Jakwan Brisker,
Speaker 1: but Buddha Baker been around a bit, just twenty seven
Speaker 1: years old, but a highly instinctive player with an urgency
Speaker 1: to his game. He packs a punch, don't he, Tommy.
Speaker 3: Yeah, he does. He's always been good. You know, this
Speaker 3: is not a guy that's you know, waited his time.
Speaker 5: He's been good since he came into the NFL, And yeah,
Speaker 5: you know, he's the type of guy that you can
Speaker 5: build a defensive backfield around, and you can have him
Speaker 5: like Chakwan Brisker, line up at a lot of different
Speaker 5: levels and take advantage of personnel groupings that the offense
Speaker 5: is putting out there and sometimes put him at as
Speaker 5: an advantage. Is he quicker than a tight end? Is
Speaker 5: he stronger than a wide receiver blocker? How do you
Speaker 5: deploy him? Is you know, you're always going to get
Speaker 5: value from him?
Speaker 1: And Josh Woods, the former Bear three years special teams,
Speaker 1: a guy who always believed himself, went to Detroit Lands
Speaker 1: in Arizona. He's a starter Tommy with sixty one tackles
Speaker 1: and he's getting the calls and making the calls for
Speaker 1: the defense at that linebacker position. The one thing you
Speaker 1: know to expect from Josh is high energy and he
Speaker 1: had a lot of belief in himself.
Speaker 2: He plays urgently.
Speaker 5: Congratulations to him because I kind of lost track of
Speaker 5: him and I said, I don't know if this guy's
Speaker 5: really a legitimate NFL player. You know, he can dance
Speaker 5: a lot at practice. But he made a couple of
Speaker 5: special teams early in his career, and he ran as
Speaker 5: well as anybody on the field. I'm including fast cornerbacks,
Speaker 5: big time receivers. And I said, Okay, if this guy
Speaker 5: can ever take his God given gifts and turn him
Speaker 5: into a football player, no matter what position they put
Speaker 5: him at, he's got the ability to play. But it's
Speaker 5: someone really taking not necessarily a chance at him, but
Speaker 5: finding out where and how he fits best. And obviously
Speaker 5: he's shown these coaches where it is.
Speaker 1: Another player I like on the Arizona Cardinals from just
Speaker 1: watching tape is the box safety Jalen Thompson. Another player
Speaker 1: who plays near the line of scrimmage with an attitude.
Speaker 1: That's the one thing that I've noticed on this group.
Speaker 1: There's a lot of high motor guys that played through
Speaker 1: the whistle and they do punch him many. They're an
Speaker 1: aggressive bunch and they play with their hair on fire.
Speaker 1: Despite their record of just three wins, the Bears are
Speaker 1: going to have to match that intensity on Christmas Eve
Speaker 1: at Soldier Field.
Speaker 5: In my opinion, listen, you know they fired Cliff Kingsbury,
Speaker 5: who was an offensive minded head coach, came from a
Speaker 5: high profile program in college and they didn't have success.
Speaker 5: So they go, Okay, we're going to go out. We're
Speaker 5: going to find a head coach that has a defense background,
Speaker 5: and what type of players do you have already there,
Speaker 5: and what type of new players do I need? And
Speaker 5: I think that's really the thing about this defense and
Speaker 5: why they're playing so well is because you have a young, creative,
Speaker 5: defensive minded coach that goes, Okay, I think I have
Speaker 5: a group of personnel here that I can develop that
Speaker 5: are really good at their position, or you know, maybe
Speaker 5: I can change a little bit about their style of
Speaker 5: play and get better play out of them.
Speaker 1: Game day snacking calls for good foods. Chucky guacamodi made
Speaker 1: with has avocados, tomatoes, onion, cilantro, and a squeeze of
Speaker 1: lime juice. It's the perfect snack to watch while the
Speaker 1: Bears win. Score some today at your local grocery store.
Speaker 1: Game Day is guac Day. Time out to switch gears
Speaker 1: and bring in our old friend and former Chicago Bear
Speaker 1: is Great, one of the top one hundred history. Tom
Speaker 1: and I are tickled right now. We miss seeing him
Speaker 1: around Chicago. We see him every now and again.
Speaker 2: The unbelievable.
Speaker 1: Chicago Bears safety still looks like he can play. There's
Speaker 1: not a wrinkle on his face, and he's still got
Speaker 1: the blonde hair. Are you dying your hair, Doug Plank, No.
Speaker 4: I wish I wish I was. Though. It's you know,
Speaker 4: it's it's amazing how how we look it matters in
Speaker 4: what we say, don't you think, Jeff.
Speaker 6: I mean, it's like, the better you will, the more
Speaker 6: credibility you have.
Speaker 4: And it's just like I frequently speak to younger people athletes, and.
Speaker 6: It's important for me to look like I could tackle somebody.
Speaker 6: I could throw football, I could catch it football.
Speaker 4: If I come rolling down there at two hundred and
Speaker 4: eighty nine pounds or whatever, and I can.
Speaker 6: Barely walk, I got my knees are shot, they're already shot.
Speaker 4: But I have to look like, hey, listen, this guy
Speaker 4: could at least play for a couple of plays.
Speaker 5: And you know, Doug clide Emeric used to say that
Speaker 5: all the time. He always used to say, you know, Tom,
Speaker 5: he got to think about the big picture. He goes,
Speaker 5: when you meet people and you meet kids twenty thirty
Speaker 5: years after you're done playing, you want them to recognize
Speaker 5: that you were a football player at one time, instead.
Speaker 4: Of instead of somebody saying, what happened to you? Where
Speaker 4: is Dug Plank at? Somewhere inside that two hundred and
Speaker 4: eighty pound body, Dug Plank is hiding out. So I'll
Speaker 4: give this for the surgeries I've had. Though I've had
Speaker 4: the poor joint replacements, the knees and the shoulders, it's
Speaker 4: been a blessing because it's reduced my ability to have
Speaker 4: to deal with pain every single day, you know, so
Speaker 4: it allows you maybe I'm wearing it out though I'm
Speaker 4: still bench pressing. And last time I went to the doctor,
Speaker 4: he goes, what have you been doing, Doug, And I said, well,
Speaker 4: I've been bench pressing. He goes how much. I said,
Speaker 4: four hundred pounds. He goes, if you want to come
Speaker 4: in for another surgery. Keep doing what you're doing, He said,
Speaker 4: you are wearing your joints out.
Speaker 3: So, guys, I will stand here.
Speaker 4: I'm trying to look ten years down the road and say, Okay,
Speaker 4: I'm gonna need this joint for another ten years, so
Speaker 4: I need to wise up.
Speaker 1: You know what Tom told me. Tom told me abs
Speaker 1: and calves are the hardest things to develop. You do
Speaker 1: you have abs and cabs?
Speaker 2: Are you? Are you sporting a six pack?
Speaker 4: Yes, I am, I am. You know what you know
Speaker 4: with muscle is more dense than fat, And I think
Speaker 4: I can say the word fat, So you maybe don't
Speaker 4: look like it, but you know you're you're denser and
Speaker 4: you're heavier. And but you know I enjoy lifting weights.
Speaker 4: You know, I call it a walk through workout. Every
Speaker 4: room in my house has weights. So as I walk
Speaker 4: through my house from my kitchen to my bedroom, I'm
Speaker 4: lifting weights, doing sit ups, doing pushups, uh, doing band
Speaker 4: I've got bands. Every room is different, so it's not
Speaker 4: like I get bored doing something. No, I can do everything.
Speaker 4: I like to go jump in my pool later on
Speaker 4: in the day.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you right now before Tom jumps in, I
Speaker 1: got to jump in because you're making me look bad
Speaker 1: as a sixty one year old. I mean, Tom, I
Speaker 1: mean I got people tell me, Hey, you gotta do X,
Speaker 1: Y and Z. Yeah, I'll do it after the season, Doug,
Speaker 1: I have no excuse after what you just laid out,
Speaker 1: I have zero.
Speaker 2: Excuses from this day forward. You are an inspiration.
Speaker 6: You know what, if you want to really make yourself
Speaker 6: feel guilty.
Speaker 4: Make sure you get a log like this, and you
Speaker 4: log and you dictate everything you do every single day,
Speaker 4: and you go wait till Sunday and go back and
Speaker 4: look at.
Speaker 6: Your past seven days. Are you proud of what you did?
Speaker 4: Or is it a lot like this?
Speaker 6: I woke up, I ate three meeals a day. I
Speaker 6: jump back in bed.
Speaker 4: I got nothing, You've got nothing on here? I go.
Speaker 4: You know what that incriminates you, that holds you liable
Speaker 4: for the things that happen to you, the things that
Speaker 4: you say and what other people say to you.
Speaker 5: Wow, all right, before I get to a football question,
Speaker 5: Doug Clyde always used to say, it's more important to
Speaker 5: eat right than it is to work out.
Speaker 3: What about your eating habits?
Speaker 5: Are they discipline or do you have freelance at that
Speaker 5: a little bit?
Speaker 4: Well, you know, I would say I'm disciplined. And until
Speaker 4: thirty days ago, I used to drink a six pack
Speaker 4: of mountain Dew every day. I don't drink wine, I
Speaker 4: don't drink I don't drink alcohol, I don't smoke. But
Speaker 4: the mountain dew had me. And I've slowly been able
Speaker 4: over these last thirty days to get back into more
Speaker 4: I guess more authentic drinks, you know, fruit drinks, non sugar,
Speaker 4: you know, just water. You know, it's a great way
Speaker 4: to start off your day. You know, everything is to happen.
Speaker 4: We are who our habits say we are. So now
Speaker 4: I get up, I have three glasses of water. Tom,
Speaker 4: You know, before I do anything, before I start thinking
Speaker 4: of anything, I just go one, two or three.
Speaker 6: That kills your appetite. It kills yours for at least
Speaker 6: through lunch. Right, If you get through lunch, then you're
Speaker 6: in good shape, you know. Then it's into the fascinating.
Speaker 6: You know whatever. You do it at night and don't
Speaker 6: eat until at least.
Speaker 4: The next afternoon.
Speaker 2: Do you drink coffee?
Speaker 4: Yes, I do cups before we got on so well,
Speaker 4: the caffeine is not my energy. This is partly four
Speaker 4: cups of coffee.
Speaker 3: Also, you know, douge your energy.
Speaker 5: Everybody that goes to a Bears game, they're reminded of
Speaker 5: it every week because there's a Hall of Fame mascot.
Speaker 3: That wears a forty six jersey.
Speaker 5: But I want to talk to ask you a question
Speaker 5: about the forty six defense. Two questions is it is
Speaker 5: it a talent generated defense or and is it usable
Speaker 5: against the RPO offense.
Speaker 4: I think it is. I think what happened though he
Speaker 4: has a lot of the techniques of that defense Tom
Speaker 4: was attack the quarterback and make contact with the quarterback,
Speaker 4: which is now becoming less and less conducive, you know,
Speaker 4: whether it be through penalties or fines or ejections on
Speaker 4: a football games. You know, we used to be allowed
Speaker 4: to just literally abuse the quarterbacks and make sure that
Speaker 4: every single play somehow he got knocked down on the ground.
Speaker 4: Every time a quarterback would throw an interception against us,
Speaker 4: the guy with the ball was on his own. The
Speaker 4: other ten guys were going and hitting the quarterback and
Speaker 4: the like circus play. It was so much fun. He
Speaker 4: would laugh, like we were at the playground. We'd come
Speaker 4: back to the huddle, high five and everybody. I mean,
Speaker 4: and if there's one thing that still bothers me about
Speaker 4: watching Chicago Bear games, and they've been doing better lately,
Speaker 4: but it's individual effort, like blocking and tackling. You know,
Speaker 4: some of the tackling techniques, especially once they get past
Speaker 4: in the line of screamagi in the secondary. I'm not
Speaker 4: saying abuse people, just grab them, wrap them up instead
Speaker 4: of trying to make like a blocking tackle. You know,
Speaker 4: blocking tackles don't work against the world or Payton's of
Speaker 4: the world. You know, the Patrick Mahomes. Those guys are
Speaker 4: too good, They're too athletic, they can move left and right.
Speaker 4: You know, everybody says, what, you know, what do you
Speaker 4: attribute to this forty nine year offense too lately? You
Speaker 4: know what, if you watch those plays over and over again,
Speaker 4: they take great pride in blocking, blocking other defenders, and
Speaker 4: that's what makes their offense so great.
Speaker 6: That allows their quarterback to throw the ball down the field.
Speaker 4: It allows McCaffrey to get into the line of screamage
Speaker 4: and then in the secondary and do his thing.
Speaker 6: It's those little things that add up to big things.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 5: So then you think about the peanut punch that's become
Speaker 5: so famous around the league and even into college and
Speaker 5: into high school, guys actually attempted. Do you think that
Speaker 5: stripping the ball has affected the way eyes tackled nowadays
Speaker 5: because the second guy is always stripping instead of hitting,
Speaker 5: where you can probably take more of a toll if
Speaker 5: the second guy was hitting as much as the first guy.
Speaker 4: You know what, though, and I really try to concentrate
Speaker 4: which you can't use your helmet out for a lot
Speaker 4: of things, especially if it's the first thing you're leading with.
Speaker 4: Even coming up to a ball carrier, I always try
Speaker 4: to put my helmet on the ball, and I was
Speaker 4: aware of that every day in practice. Now I wasn't
Speaker 4: doing it against our players, but I would go up
Speaker 4: there like a mock interpretation, and then at the last
Speaker 4: second before I was going to hit somebody, just veer
Speaker 4: off left or right. And you do that time and
Speaker 4: time and time again, tom in practice. When the game
Speaker 4: come comes, you don't even think about it.
Speaker 6: When the ball snaffed.
Speaker 4: And that guy has that ball, your body is drawn
Speaker 4: like a magnet to that ball carrier and you're thinking football.
Speaker 6: Football. Now here's my whole point.
Speaker 4: If I didn't get that football, I would be criticized
Speaker 4: in lambasset in meetings. Doug, what are you doing? Why
Speaker 4: don't you make the tackle? What were you thinking of?
Speaker 4: He goes, I was thinking about the ball. That is
Speaker 4: the most I feel like turnovers is the most important
Speaker 4: dynamic in football. It changes games. Look at some of
Speaker 4: the games recently where the ball obviously wasn't caught or
Speaker 4: controlled or something at the end of the half or
Speaker 4: the game that could have been the difference.
Speaker 6: Between winning and losing.
Speaker 4: So when I'm a coach right now, the last coaching
Speaker 4: I did in the National Football League was with a Jets.
Speaker 4: I coached every single day, get the ball, loose, grab
Speaker 4: that ball. Whatever happens. Even if you missed the tackle,
Speaker 4: then somebody else behind you has to be working their
Speaker 4: butt off to try to get over there and make
Speaker 4: that tackle. One thing that frustrates me watching Bears on defense,
Speaker 4: I think there's guys that make assumptions. They're coming up
Speaker 4: to make a tackle and they think another guy has
Speaker 4: made the tackle and he hasn't. He hasn't made the tackle.
Speaker 4: You know, he's only grabbing the guy. Well, somebody has
Speaker 4: to be there to make sure that guy's on the ground.
Speaker 4: And I don't know, I just think that it's a
Speaker 4: different game right now. Guys are scared about hitting people
Speaker 4: with their helmets to getting fined and suspended. So I
Speaker 4: don't blame you for that.
Speaker 1: Doug Plank, our guest here on the Bears et Cetera
Speaker 1: podcast episode forty four with Tom Thair Jeff Joniant getting
Speaker 1: Ready with the Bears and Cardinals On Christmas Eve three,
Speaker 1: twenty five, the kickoff. All right, So a twelfth round
Speaker 1: pick out of Ohio State. Before you got on, Tom
Speaker 1: and I were just going over a guy on the Cardinals,
Speaker 1: Dennis gard Deck, who played at West Virginia stated Division
Speaker 1: two program. He came from Crystal Lake out here in
Speaker 1: the northern Northwest suburbs and then finished his college career
Speaker 1: at Sue Falls College, which I've never heard of, but
Speaker 1: yet he is a veteran. He was a special teams demon,
Speaker 1: and now he's five sacks. I mean, he's still playing.
Speaker 1: He's got the hair. He's got better hair than Tom
Speaker 1: ever had in his life.
Speaker 2: It's a flowing main.
Speaker 1: But we just ticked off a bunch of guys that
Speaker 1: came from parts unknown to make it in this league
Speaker 1: despite all the scouting and all the work and the
Speaker 1: money invested in scouting to find some of these gems.
Speaker 1: But the gem's got to be willing to do it,
Speaker 1: and they got to be willing to do it at
Speaker 1: all costs, and they gotta love it. You would have
Speaker 1: been an undrafted free agent back in the day because
Speaker 1: the drafts were, you know, sixteen rounds or whatever, and
Speaker 1: you would have made it and you would have been
Speaker 1: the star that you were over the Bears. I mean,
Speaker 1: just a nasty defensive gem and a great teammate. Don't
Speaker 1: you have a great deal of respect for guys that
Speaker 1: took a long way to get to the big stage.
Speaker 6: I really do, you know? Because they weren't.
Speaker 4: They weren't encouraged every day, they weren't the first ones
Speaker 4: to the training table afterwards. To me, because I wasn't starting,
Speaker 4: I was known in the category in Ohio State as
Speaker 4: the Ayos. And that was not the first team, not
Speaker 4: the second team. The Ayos, the a yos were.
Speaker 6: The all you others and your wife. Force is an acronym,
Speaker 6: just like in the military. And for three straight years.
Speaker 4: When I was eligible to plate in varsity football Ohiose State.
Speaker 4: My first my first day, I told you, I someone
Speaker 4: grabbed my knee and rode like an alligator and threw
Speaker 4: my ligaments or cart leach and tore one ligament. And
Speaker 4: so the second day I was at Ohose State, I
Speaker 4: was on the operating table. I was getting my knee
Speaker 4: operated off. So I came back with a vengeance. I
Speaker 4: could never get to be the regular starter. I was
Speaker 4: the next man up guy. But I led the team
Speaker 4: in tackles on kickoffs for three straight years. Now.
Speaker 6: If you want to talk about.
Speaker 4: A I shouldn't say the word. You know, there's something
Speaker 4: where you collide with people continually and you have to
Speaker 4: have a mindset that is like nobody else. And you
Speaker 4: know what, you can be a very nice guy on
Speaker 4: the sideline and you know, look at cheerleaders and all
Speaker 4: this kind of stuff. No, when you're on that field,
Speaker 4: this is life and death. And many times I had
Speaker 4: to run through guys two fifty to three hundred to
Speaker 4: get through the ball carrier because he was a kickoff returner.
Speaker 4: I had to run into wedges. I knew that this
Speaker 4: was gonna hurt. But you know what, that mental training
Speaker 4: is what got me the success at Ohause. You got
Speaker 4: the Shuggle Bears. There was nothing else that was gonna
Speaker 4: bring me fear. I already played with a two time
Speaker 4: Heisman Trophy, Archie Griffin. I already played with seven guys
Speaker 4: that were in the first round draft pick in my class.
Speaker 4: You know what, I was already in the NFL. I
Speaker 4: was doing it every single day in practice, and on
Speaker 4: every kickoff, I would look at who was down there
Speaker 4: that I wanted to go knock out hopefully not myself,
Speaker 4: because you know, it was easy to run through blockers.
Speaker 6: Blockers didn't expect to be tackled.
Speaker 4: When you ran down on a kickoff, the guy was
Speaker 4: thinking he was coming to get you. No, you were
Speaker 4: going to get him. I can't tell you how many
Speaker 4: times I hit guys. They never saw me coming, Thank you,
Speaker 4: guys to.
Speaker 6: Eighty two ninety, they'd go boom, flat knocked out. I'd
Speaker 6: go make the tackle.
Speaker 4: You learned how to become a very aggressive player in
Speaker 4: the circumstance.
Speaker 1: Didn't you say one time you wish that every fan
Speaker 1: could run down kickoff one time to understand what you're
Speaker 1: talking about here?
Speaker 3: You know what?
Speaker 4: Honestly I think of that, and I tell my wife
Speaker 4: there isn't much else in life. I feel like I
Speaker 4: needed to accomplish one hundred thousand people.
Speaker 6: You're running out there and you can hear this roar, this.
Speaker 4: Crowd because it's like something out of a movie scene,
Speaker 4: and to tackle some Oh my gosh.
Speaker 6: I mean the first time I ran onto a field
Speaker 6: in Ohio.
Speaker 4: State, the first game with there wasn't one hundred thousand
Speaker 4: back then, there was eighty or ninety thousand, ninety thousand.
Speaker 4: I guess that it was so loud you didn't feel
Speaker 4: like you were even running onto the field. Jeff, you
Speaker 4: felt like you were flying onto the field. And you
Speaker 4: know what, I started crying before the game. I don't
Speaker 4: I don't even know why I'm crying. I'm crying because
Speaker 4: my energy level is so high. Tears are the next
Speaker 4: thing to come out. And I would run on that.
Speaker 4: How many times a coach said, I've never seen a
Speaker 4: play that ever made a tackle with a small ones space,
Speaker 4: But you, Doug, You're the first guy saw made a
Speaker 4: tackle with the out of face.
Speaker 3: Hey, Doug.
Speaker 5: So if you look at the modern day quarterbacks in
Speaker 5: the NFL, we'll talk about Justin and Kyler Murray. Do
Speaker 5: you think that would take away a little of your
Speaker 5: preemptive aggressiveness because of the fear of them getting outside
Speaker 5: the pocket? Or would it have any change of style
Speaker 5: of how you played the game?
Speaker 4: It would because those guys are such great athletes. I mean,
Speaker 4: you think back in the day, other than Frank Tarkan,
Speaker 4: and that's the only guy I can think of right now.
Speaker 4: It was a small, little, very agile though good roun
Speaker 4: If everything was covered, man, they took off. That's the
Speaker 4: standard now by how you measure a quarterback. Once everybody's covered,
Speaker 4: what are you going to do with the ball? How
Speaker 4: are you going to get out of this pocket? And
Speaker 4: I think you know a lot of the quarterbacks, you know,
Speaker 4: like the Chicago Bears, obviously I saw plenty of hitting
Speaker 4: from Ohio State. Those kind of guys are great at
Speaker 4: just getting out, getting getting into the open. You know.
Speaker 4: The one thing that surprises me though, is that instead
Speaker 4: of you know, chasing, you know, one thing I noticed
Speaker 4: about a lot of defenses now, instead of containing the
Speaker 4: quarterback and maybe attacking him a little bit more slowly
Speaker 4: tom you know, and keeping in their lanes, too many
Speaker 4: guys they take inside releases as defensive ends. You're toast
Speaker 4: the quarterback. Those quarterbacks today, boom, they're gone. It's fast,
Speaker 4: and they're faster than almost all your secondary guys. So
Speaker 4: even though you want to hit somebody or contain them,
Speaker 4: go slower, don't ever give up the outside edge. I
Speaker 4: was always told as a safety in a corner as
Speaker 4: I played corner also in Ohio State, the short side corner.
Speaker 4: You know, it's amazing how different the hashes are in
Speaker 4: college than the pros. On the outside hash Oh my gosh,
Speaker 4: you only got like ten fifteen yards and the sideline.
Speaker 4: So you don't have to be this athletic, they ask corner. No,
Speaker 4: you have to be ready to take on sweeps and
Speaker 4: things like that, which is where my position was. But
Speaker 4: the important thing is with those quarterbacks, you can't give
Speaker 4: up the outside edge because you are going to get beat.
Speaker 5: So you're a defensive coach now you know you went
Speaker 5: on to the coach defenses. So the Bears have DJ Moore.
Speaker 5: I'm a huge fan of Marvin Harrison junior, and I.
Speaker 3: Think he should have won the Heisman Trophy.
Speaker 5: When you look at the receivers in the game today,
Speaker 5: does that back you up? Are you coaching your safeties
Speaker 5: to stay backed off the line of scrimmage because of
Speaker 5: those guys or do you still want them sticking your
Speaker 5: nose into that second level to be you know, more
Speaker 5: of an create immediate response for the quarterback.
Speaker 4: You know one thing I noticed too, just the Chicago
Speaker 4: Bear secondary, and I'm not trying to be extra critical
Speaker 4: with him or not. When they're running backs or quarterbacks
Speaker 4: get through the line of screamage. Too many times guys
Speaker 4: in the secondary to state these quarterbacks they're not making tackles.
Speaker 6: They're trying to run up there and do a block tackle.
Speaker 6: Just try to cut the guy legs out.
Speaker 4: These are guys or pro athletes, they're used to that,
Speaker 4: and all they have to do is just fight off.
Speaker 6: Fight you off for.
Speaker 4: One one foot or one step, and now they're on
Speaker 4: their feet and they're gone. You have to add the
Speaker 4: tackling aspect, even if that means if you have to
Speaker 4: slow down. You can't be running at somebody full speed
Speaker 4: and try to get under control. You have to go
Speaker 4: under control, be able to wrap people up, bring him
Speaker 4: to the ground. That's why I used to tell people
Speaker 4: what I did with the struggle bears. If it wasn't
Speaker 4: for my grip doing dumbbell cleans all the day, you know,
Speaker 4: exercises with the dumbbell, hanging down with a rock, whatever
Speaker 4: you want to call it, Tom, That's what I did
Speaker 4: so I could grab an earl Campbell, who was a beast,
Speaker 4: that man ran over people and bring him to the ground.
Speaker 4: I mean, that is that was the standard of it
Speaker 4: that I always judge myself by. If I can't bring
Speaker 4: him down, then I shouldn't be out here.
Speaker 5: Hey, Doug, did you ever have an honest, one on
Speaker 5: one tackley experience against Walt her and because because I
Speaker 5: know back in our inner squad games there was times
Speaker 5: playing against McMichael was worse than playing against anybody on
Speaker 5: an NFL day.
Speaker 3: Did you ever have any of those?
Speaker 4: Yeah? And you know what I would I wouldn't say
Speaker 4: Walter wanted or I wanted, because it was never in
Speaker 4: the wide open, but a lot of times it was
Speaker 4: almost It reminded me of when Earl Campbell Jack Tatum,
Speaker 4: which was trying to tackle Earl Campbell in one of
Speaker 4: those games. It's a video that's been on for a
Speaker 4: long time, and they both hit each other at the
Speaker 4: line of scrimmage and it was like like a stillmate. Obviously,
Speaker 4: Earl Campbell still went on afterwards another five yards, but
Speaker 4: he was almost like knocked out.
Speaker 6: Here's the other thing.
Speaker 4: Once I realized that Walter Peyton was ninety nine percent
Speaker 4: of our team, Tom, I'm.
Speaker 6: Not going to touch you a right, I ran the
Speaker 6: other way.
Speaker 4: I never wanted to be anything, you know, because I
Speaker 4: roomed with him my first training camp. They put everybody
Speaker 4: by authetic order. How can you hurt your your roommate?
Speaker 4: He he you know, he doun it out too. Tom.
Speaker 6: He had a oh my gosh, he he.
Speaker 4: Was that thing. It was like get hit with a
Speaker 4: baseball bat, you would just ring your help, your helmet
Speaker 4: would just ring. And uh. Once I figured out, hey, listen,
Speaker 4: this guy, he's the start. And the first workout that
Speaker 4: we had, they brought all the rookies out and we
Speaker 4: had a camp down in Florida for three days and
Speaker 4: I played with the only two time Heighschool Trophy winner.
Speaker 4: That guy could have been that same guy. He he
Speaker 4: could have won that thing if he was on an
Speaker 4: Ohio State team instead of jack State. He got the state, right,
Speaker 4: he just got the Jackson in the Ohio rang. He
Speaker 4: was in Ohio State, he would have won. You know,
Speaker 4: one of the he was something else. He could punt,
Speaker 4: he could throw, he could run, I mean, he could catch.
Speaker 4: There wasn't that he couldn't do.
Speaker 6: So I immediately, you know, gain respect, huge respect. In
Speaker 6: three days.
Speaker 1: Doug Plank our guest here on the Bears et cetera
Speaker 1: podcast with Tom Bayer, Jeff Jonahak and as always we've
Speaker 1: got sponsors to compliment as well. And this is brought
Speaker 1: to you by United Good News Chicago, United Airlines is
Speaker 1: getting brand new planes with all the bells and whistles,
Speaker 1: like Bluetooth connectivity screens at every seat in the room
Speaker 1: for everyone's roller bag United, Proud to fly the Chicago Bears,
Speaker 1: and you too, I know this well. I don't remember
Speaker 1: all of our conversations, but we've had plenty dougs, certainly
Speaker 1: at the one hundred as well when the Bears celebrated
Speaker 1: their one hundred. But you know, I often look at
Speaker 1: the looking at this Bears team right now. It's a
Speaker 1: young team. There's a lot of these guys won't be
Speaker 1: here when the Bears are winning, like winning and competing.
Speaker 1: And you experienced a life with Walter Payton and Dan
Speaker 1: Hampton and Mike Hartenstein and some others that trickled into
Speaker 1: the eighty five Bears and became centerpiece. Is for the
Speaker 1: eighty five Bears kind of paving the way a little bit,
Speaker 1: taking their lumps, but building that camaraderie, the chemistry, that
Speaker 1: something that you cannot define until you actually see it
Speaker 1: come to fruition. How hard was that for you not
Speaker 1: to be a part of taking that one last step
Speaker 1: to get to the eighty five team and the championship
Speaker 1: team I'll.
Speaker 4: Tell about Jeff. You know, there's you know, the ladder
Speaker 4: to success is a step by step. When you're up
Speaker 4: there and you have some success or you're a starter
Speaker 4: or whatever, the trip down goes quickly. And especially I
Speaker 4: firmly believe there's only so many concussions, there are only
Speaker 4: so many torknees, shoulders hips, whatever the human being can
Speaker 4: endure it.
Speaker 6: And I think at the end, if I was still
Speaker 6: a young.
Speaker 4: Person that could run and all that, I would maybe
Speaker 4: felt like I was left out. But at that point
Speaker 4: in time, I really felt like the the body parts
Speaker 4: that I had, they were they were already being replaced.
Speaker 4: And uh and concussions. Concussions were another thing. I mean
Speaker 4: that was a no big deal back then, but you
Speaker 4: know that those you know, after a while, those things
Speaker 4: accumulate and there's long term aspects to it. And I
Speaker 4: just started thinking, what kind of a husband, what kind
Speaker 4: of a father am I going to be down the
Speaker 4: road if I'm continually you know, deteriorating.
Speaker 6: My body maybe in terms of even my mental acumen.
Speaker 4: So did I watch them? Yeah? I watched them every
Speaker 4: single game I could. At that time, I was still
Speaker 4: running fast food businesses, so sometimes I couldn't watch the
Speaker 4: game because I was down.
Speaker 6: Serving the customers, so to speak.
Speaker 4: But I, you know what was so funny though Jeff,
Speaker 4: was to watch the games and watch Buddy Ryan on
Speaker 4: the sideline. Buddy is giving the same defensive signals that
Speaker 4: was there. I was there. I used to call I
Speaker 4: used to call it the play before the has even happened,
Speaker 4: you know, and here company Mike around the corner or
Speaker 4: press them on the outside. Oh. It was fun watch
Speaker 4: in the game because I felt like I was part
Speaker 4: of it and I knew exactly what they were doing.
Speaker 4: And people say, you know, everybody has their own little niche,
Speaker 4: and sometimes sometimes we go above our elevation in terms
Speaker 4: of job responsibilities which maybe we were unqualified for or
Speaker 4: that wasn't us. I think Buddy at that defensive coordinator position,
Speaker 4: there was like nobody like him, and he would make
Speaker 4: you feel so good or so bad, and you.
Speaker 6: Always wanted to be on the good side. Even when
Speaker 6: I got knocked down.
Speaker 4: Sometimes I remember telling myself get off the ground, because
Speaker 4: this is done film and I have to run into
Speaker 4: the ball afterwards. So I never spend any time on
Speaker 4: the ground. In fact, I would practice in practice ruling
Speaker 4: because if I knew I got blindsided or something Tom
Speaker 4: and I'm flying through the air, I would duck my head,
Speaker 4: roll and get back up on my feet to go
Speaker 4: make the tagle. You do that, I go. I do
Speaker 4: it every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday here in practice. And
Speaker 4: if you're welcome to join me, if.
Speaker 2: You want, you do you do? You agree with me
Speaker 2: on something about the safeties.
Speaker 1: I know the game is won and lost to the
Speaker 1: line of scrimmage, and I know quarterbacks are getting all
Speaker 1: the attention. Obviously, you got to have one to win
Speaker 1: a super Bowl. In most cases that's one hundred percent true.
Speaker 1: But you also have to have a tone ceter at safety,
Speaker 1: and you paired with obviously with Gary Fencik and his
Speaker 1: early portion of his career and he carried out to
Speaker 1: lead the lead the Bears and interceptions for his career. Playmakers.
Speaker 1: Guys that set tone is that necessary to win a championship?
Speaker 2: Because I feel it is.
Speaker 4: I do it is, Jeff, without a doubt. Somebody has
Speaker 4: to be your leader, you know what. And if you
Speaker 4: think you're a leader, you're always following somebody else. And
Speaker 4: nobody knows that there was Guys on our team. I'm
Speaker 4: not going to say to the word well hit. Some
Speaker 4: of them were on defense, Walter with the guy on offense,
Speaker 4: I'll tell you that. And I'm thinking, man, why can't
Speaker 4: I be like him? He brings it every play, I
Speaker 4: mean every single play, even if you need to make
Speaker 4: any yards. He ran through and broke three tackles. Getting
Speaker 4: back to a lot of scrimmage. He set the standards
Speaker 4: for like what the team should be. And I think,
Speaker 4: you know, you know, you forget all these people in
Speaker 4: this meeting room. Once they watched that film one time
Speaker 4: or maybe twice, then they're they're scanning around the other
Speaker 4: guys on the field.
Speaker 6: What did he do on that play? The guys or whatever.
Speaker 4: My teammates years after I was done playing and say,
Speaker 4: you know what, Doug, I appreciate you because even though
Speaker 4: you had nothing to do with the play, you somehow
Speaker 4: made it part of you to get in on that
Speaker 4: play and you went up there he blasted to a
Speaker 4: blocker or something and made a tackle. I just think
Speaker 4: every single time the guy was running with the ball,
Speaker 4: what happens if the guy misses a tackle, Who's gonna
Speaker 4: be there to make that tackle?
Speaker 6: I always wanted to be that guy.
Speaker 4: I don't care what sideline it was on, whether they
Speaker 4: were coming up the middle, I would take it right
Speaker 4: to the very very end. And sometimes it was good
Speaker 4: for me. Sometimes was it. You know, sometimes I got
Speaker 4: pen lies.
Speaker 6: You know, when you're run.
Speaker 4: He threw a hole from a free safety. You got
Speaker 4: a ten yard run and that holes opening and here
Speaker 4: comes the running back. Suddenly though a guy gets right
Speaker 4: in front of you. It's a referee. He's trying to
Speaker 4: look at the play too. There's been times where I
Speaker 4: hit referees. They made the tackle, I hit him in
Speaker 4: the back. They went flying forward. They made the greatest
Speaker 4: four tackle I've ever seen in my life.
Speaker 2: Collateral damage.
Speaker 6: You know what the good news is they didn't even
Speaker 6: know who it was.
Speaker 4: They couldn't they couldn't penalize me because there was no
Speaker 4: replays and that I fell back then and I don't
Speaker 4: even know you give credit to I mean I always wanted.
Speaker 2: That got the tackle.
Speaker 7: Yeah, hey, Doug, when you look at so the Bears
Speaker 7: in the final three games, so they could possibly have
Speaker 7: the first pick in the draft because of Carolina.
Speaker 3: Right now, I think they're number five.
Speaker 5: And if it was only the Bears draft choices. I
Speaker 5: think everybody saying, oh, we want the Bears to tank
Speaker 5: these final three games. Yeah, I see you got your
Speaker 5: Bears alumni shirt on there, proud of Lomnife.
Speaker 3: You're if you're in there.
Speaker 5: Given the message to this team the final three games,
Speaker 5: what would your message.
Speaker 3: Be to them?
Speaker 4: How?
Speaker 3: How do you want them to approach it?
Speaker 4: I would say number one, the one thing that will
Speaker 4: get you to be faster than anything. It's mental mistakes,
Speaker 4: being going in the wrong direction, having the wrong technique,
Speaker 4: jump off sides. I do broadcasting. Also, you guys know this.
Speaker 4: This year I watched a team I'm not going to
Speaker 4: tell you who they were. Twice the same guy jumped
Speaker 4: off side. How in the heck do you jump off
Speaker 4: sites twice on the same team after you've already been
Speaker 4: penalized once. Now it's another five yards Tom, I'm just thinking,
Speaker 4: you can't play with guys like that. You have to
Speaker 4: identify them. You know what, all the coaching in the
Speaker 4: world will make a difference. You could keep those guys
Speaker 4: in there for five hours watching films. They don't have
Speaker 4: the mental.
Speaker 6: Acumen to say, hey, listen, I'm going to discipline myself.
Speaker 4: I'm not going to make mistakes. I'm going to do
Speaker 4: my assignment. I'm not going to go in the wrong direction.
Speaker 4: But I definitely believe, you know, I believe practice what
Speaker 4: you preach.
Speaker 6: In other words, if.
Speaker 4: It gets to the end of the game and somebody
Speaker 4: else is trying to do a hell Mary play, should
Speaker 4: you practice it occasionally? How many teams I don't even
Speaker 4: know how many teams never even practice plays like that.
Speaker 6: Go and put yourself.
Speaker 4: One time I talked with Bill Belichick after a game,
Speaker 4: and you know one thing he said, because they made
Speaker 4: a great play on a specialty because we practiced that
Speaker 4: all the time. Now it was played much like that, Tom.
Speaker 4: You would never expect yet any team they would do it.
Speaker 4: But they practice on side kicks, but not to hell
Speaker 4: Mary's very often. You know, those were decided. Those were
Speaker 4: game decisions this past week, big plays like that, you know.
Speaker 4: And so when you go down there, expect something expecting, unexpected, expected,
Speaker 4: the ball is going to come to you, and be
Speaker 4: ready for it instead of just running down there like mindless,
Speaker 4: you know, nothing on your brain. Always be thinking about
Speaker 4: what's gonna happen in the next few seconds that I
Speaker 4: can maybe be part of.
Speaker 2: Doug do you have a game this weekend.
Speaker 4: No, I'm off this week I mean I enjoyed, enjoyed tremendously.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 4: It's some games are better than others, you know, you
Speaker 4: know sometimes you know, just know.
Speaker 6: Before the game even starts, this is going to be
Speaker 6: a great game.
Speaker 4: I enjoy seeing people that I've met over the course
Speaker 4: of my life, not during my playing years. But like
Speaker 4: John Lynch, you know, the general manager of the forty
Speaker 4: nine ers, I always appreciate him. You know, I think
Speaker 4: what the stuff that he brings to the table in
Speaker 4: terms of detail. He's a great person for just the
Speaker 4: details of the game. You know, when I watch their
Speaker 4: team play, every one of the players on the defense
Speaker 4: is making an effort, I mean crazy effort, one hundred
Speaker 4: percent effort to get to the ball. On the offensive side,
Speaker 4: they don't miss any blocks. You wonder why those receivers
Speaker 4: and running backs McCaffrey for example, Oh my gosh. Now
Speaker 4: he's not the most gifted guy. You know, he doesn't
Speaker 4: run the fastest, he doesn't bench press the most. But
Speaker 4: you know what, you want to give him the ball,
Speaker 4: He's going to find a way to gain yards. He's
Speaker 4: going to get that first out and you know what,
Speaker 4: and when he does, he comes back to the and
Speaker 4: it's like a you know, a cheering session. Everybody is complimenting,
Speaker 4: and they line up again and they're going to do
Speaker 4: it all again. And I noticed also along the lines
Speaker 4: of scrimmage, those those guys blocked, but they don't just block,
Speaker 4: they sustain their blocks. And I heard it Kurch one
Speaker 4: time says, you're only as good as how well you
Speaker 4: get off blocks and how well you sustained blocks.
Speaker 3: Hey, Doug, one question, Jeff, I'm sorry.
Speaker 5: So this past week, I'm watching the tape of the
Speaker 5: San Francisco Arizona game and it's a whole Arizona home game,
Speaker 5: but when Kyler Murray is in shotgun, he's using a
Speaker 5: silent count. Is are the are the opponents fans coming
Speaker 5: into Arizona Stadium at such a high level that there's
Speaker 5: crowd noise against Arizona even though they're at home.
Speaker 3: And I don't know if.
Speaker 5: You even get a chance to go in the stadium
Speaker 5: or been there.
Speaker 4: You're bringing up a perfect point. When Chicago comes to town.
Speaker 4: This is truper hockey, baseball, and basketball. Okay, I know
Speaker 4: I live here. You think you're in Chicago. These are
Speaker 4: all Chicago bands. I mean not just murmuring. No, they're
Speaker 4: jumping out of their seats, They're yelling, they're screaming. It's
Speaker 4: the craziest thing I've ever seen in my life. Same
Speaker 4: thing as true for San Francisco on their the forty
Speaker 4: nine ers. When I was watching that game, I didn't
Speaker 4: do that game. I just watched it on television. They
Speaker 4: would scan like they didn't want to scan the stands
Speaker 4: too much because it looked like a home game for
Speaker 4: the forty nine ers. Everybody had the colors on and
Speaker 4: the crowd was so loud. I mean, it totally negated
Speaker 4: especially the year that the Cardinals are having. And you know,
Speaker 4: I love like the forty nine ers. Yeah, they had
Speaker 4: a downturn of what those three games, but man they
Speaker 4: got back on track and you know, look out here
Speaker 4: we come. And the other thing I like about it,
Speaker 4: they're they're willing to design plays Tom that are so
Speaker 4: wide open. You know, like watching that game last week's
Speaker 4: game they played they were unbelievable. It just they got
Speaker 4: behind early against the Cardinals, but as the game was
Speaker 4: going on, you could tell the plays that were being
Speaker 4: called from the San Francisco side were so much better
Speaker 4: than the flip side over here in Arizona because guys
Speaker 4: were wide open. You know, they were misdirection crossing routes,
Speaker 4: things like that that we all learned back in high
Speaker 4: school and colleague and all that sort of thing. But
Speaker 4: you know what, though, it takes a lot of courage
Speaker 4: to call those plays during a game, because what happens
Speaker 4: if they don't work?
Speaker 6: You look like a fool.
Speaker 4: You know, some of those plays, like McCaffery one time,
Speaker 4: he was so wide open he had time to catch
Speaker 4: the ball, fall on the ground, get back up and
Speaker 4: run another ten yards, a forty one yard touchdown. I mean,
Speaker 4: how does that happen? Nobody even knew he was over there.
Speaker 4: I mean it's you know, sometimes that's your job, is
Speaker 4: free safety. When you see everything in front of you,
Speaker 4: and when you see there's a screw up, you got
Speaker 4: to go. I gotta get deeper now because now I
Speaker 4: got to play that. I got to play for that
Speaker 4: guy's responsibilities because no, but he should be that wide open,
Speaker 4: and I'm going to run over there just in case
Speaker 4: somebody throws the ball, which they did, and you know
Speaker 4: they just you could tell them the second half momentum.
Speaker 6: Just switch so much in the crowd. The crowd just
Speaker 6: they took the.
Speaker 2: Game, all right.
Speaker 1: Our final question with Doug Plank the Great Chicago Bear
Speaker 1: with Tom There, Jeff Jioniac Here and the Bears et
Speaker 1: cetera podcast, So, have you called an Arizona Cardinal game
Speaker 1: this year?
Speaker 2: Yes or no?
Speaker 3: First?
Speaker 4: Yes, we did?
Speaker 1: Okay, So what is what's your mini scouting report as
Speaker 1: the Bears get ready to meet this three win team
Speaker 1: with Kyler Murray healthy and ready to roll.
Speaker 4: You know what, it's amazing because you don't really know,
Speaker 4: you know what, what Colin Murray was going to show up.
Speaker 4: He's such a really talented person. I know he's had
Speaker 4: disagreements with the front office in terms of what the
Speaker 4: summary some of the responsibilities or limited responsibilities that he
Speaker 4: should have. But if he gets lose path line scrimmage,
Speaker 4: look out. He's a He's a beast. He can run
Speaker 4: any direction, he's tough, he utilizes the sideline very well. Uh.
Speaker 4: I would say one thing about his game, although they've
Speaker 4: got a real good they got a nice tight end.
Speaker 4: That's you know, done some good things over the last
Speaker 4: couple of weeks. A lot of times there's a chance
Speaker 4: for him to run on a pass play. As we
Speaker 4: all know, if everything's covered, he's he's taught. Now here's
Speaker 4: the other thing. When he takes off running, he doesn't
Speaker 4: throw passes to the sideline because that takes time to
Speaker 4: set up, set your feet, and now you're only looking
Speaker 4: at one direction, not the other. You could get hit.
Speaker 4: Most times, he's concerned about receivers to the inside of
Speaker 4: the field because that goes with his taking off with
Speaker 4: the ball out of a pocket. He likes in the
Speaker 4: interior routes, crossing routes because if everybody's covered, he's through
Speaker 4: that line so fast you can't even believe it. And
Speaker 4: you know he's been hurt and he's had you know,
Speaker 4: some medical attention, you know, recently, last couple of years.
Speaker 4: And but no, I think it really should be an
Speaker 4: awesome game. But I would just say he's one weapon.
Speaker 4: If you give him the chances, you'll take advantage of it.
Speaker 2: Doug, we could talk to you forever.
Speaker 1: Your wealth of information and your exuberance and good health
Speaker 1: and good thoughts are certainly perfect for this holiday version
Speaker 1: of This bears cet our podcast. Thanks for taking the time,
Speaker 1: Big Doug. We miss you, Tom Hey.
Speaker 6: Always a pleasure talking to you guys.
Speaker 3: Thank you you too, Doug, Thank you so much.
Speaker 2: Merry Christmas.
Speaker 4: Thake care.
Speaker 2: How much fun was that with Doug playing?
Speaker 5: He's awesome, Like could and we could do a whole
Speaker 5: afternoon with him.
Speaker 1: Just amazing. The passion for the game. It's still there.
Speaker 1: I mean, he's in his seventies, he's fit, as we
Speaker 1: heard at the beginning of the show, but he's still
Speaker 1: calling games on a national network on radio and does
Speaker 1: a great job and he watches everything, and that's a
Speaker 1: football lifer. And he's made himself a great deal of
Speaker 1: post football career decisions in business, dabbled into coaching, finished,
Speaker 1: you know, all his head coaching opportunities, whether it be
Speaker 1: Arena league or in other venues. He finished with a
Speaker 1: sixty five winning percentage, So he was a winning head
Speaker 1: coach and had some assistant jobs in the National Football League.
Speaker 5: But all people were afraid of him, you think, yeah,
Speaker 5: why yeah, because his toughness resonated in his personality and
Speaker 5: he overshadowed some of the passive coaches that he worked with,
Speaker 5: and they were intimidated about by his look.
Speaker 3: And his success and his demeanor.
Speaker 5: His enthusiasm, his requirements, all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 1: Very interesting perspective. Bears fans, you could be there for
Speaker 1: live NFL action all season long. As the official ticket
Speaker 1: marketplace with the Bears of the NFL, Ticketmaster has a
Speaker 1: wide selection of tickets available for every home game. Fine
Speaker 1: tickets today at ticketmaster dot com. All right, Tom, final
Speaker 1: thought on Bear's Cardinals. So you got a key to
Speaker 1: the game in this one for us?
Speaker 5: Yeah, got a key to the game is the quarterback
Speaker 5: play of both of ye both quarterbacks. You know, Justin
Speaker 5: has to be the dynamic decision making quarterback that he
Speaker 5: has been since he's returned from the injury. He's got
Speaker 5: to understand to keeping you know, DJ Moore and Cole
Speaker 5: commit involved, don't forget about Darnel Moody. And then defensively,
Speaker 5: you can't over commit to Kyler Murray. And you better
Speaker 5: do things fundamentally perfect because you don't want to contribute
Speaker 5: to the escapability of Kyler Murray.
Speaker 2: All right, that's going to wrap us up for our
Speaker 2: show this week. For Tom.
Speaker 1: There, I'm Jeff Joniac. Thanks to Doug Plank our guest.
Speaker 1: Our Next Bears, Etc. Podcast comes up on Tuesday. We
Speaker 1: will recap the Bears Cardinals game. Thanks for listening, and
Speaker 1: please subscribe now in the Chicago Bears official app, Apple, Spotify.
Speaker 2: YouTube, or wherever you get your podcast.
Speaker 1: Bear down, everybody, and have a merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, everybody.
Speaker 4: Most instant strings steps
Speaker 3: Less,