Speaker 1: Cut over that DJ Moore nisode Touchdown Touchdown Pair. I
Speaker 1: am Jeff Jonihan Witz is on Dottie go up.
Speaker 2: What was like playing for coach did?
Speaker 1: I don't want to answer any questions like that pressure
Speaker 1: coming is a big trouble, Donnie Go Mottest.
Speaker 3: Sweat Now, Bears, etc. Brought to you by Geico with
Speaker 3: the voices of the Bears Jeff Joniac and Tom Thayer.
Speaker 1: Well, we knew it was going to be a big test.
Speaker 1: Road games always are, certainly in Houston where that place
Speaker 1: was stirred up and the Bears hung in there to
Speaker 1: the finish. They had the ball in their hands with
Speaker 1: a chance to win the game and could not close
Speaker 1: the deal. Welcome back to Bears, et cetera. Everybody. This
Speaker 1: is episode ninety four and we're brought to you by Geico.
Speaker 1: I'm Jeff Joniac, voice of the Bears, along with my
Speaker 1: broadcast partner, super Bowl winning Bears guard Tom Thayer, and
Speaker 1: we'll hear from head coach Maddy Berfluse coming up shortly. Tom,
Speaker 1: what's your take after watching tape?
Speaker 4: You know, I'm disappointed in the outcome because I really
Speaker 4: respect how well the defense is playing as a team.
Speaker 4: The contributions of the special teams, but it's an organization
Speaker 4: process of the offense. And I'm not surprised then the
Speaker 4: fact that got beat. Listen, I want the Bears to
Speaker 4: go seventeen to zero all the way to the super
Speaker 4: Bowl every year. But when you look at the schedule
Speaker 4: beforehand and you think of everything that you put in place,
Speaker 4: you got a rookie quarterback, you got a new offensive coordinator,
Speaker 4: you got some new pieces in place on offense. I
Speaker 4: wasn't unrealistic about I thought the difficulty of going into
Speaker 4: Houston and winning this game. But it's just that when
Speaker 4: you look at the development of an offense and you
Speaker 4: go back and you watch the tape and you can
Speaker 4: slow it down and you can look at it from
Speaker 4: different angles, there's significant areas of improvement that can be
Speaker 4: made quickly. And I do think that should be the
Speaker 4: preached process from the head coach to the offensive coordinator
Speaker 4: into all the leaders on the offensive side of the ball.
Speaker 1: Well, the first thing I would imagine is just helping
Speaker 1: out an offense in terms of running the ball, and
Speaker 1: you know, make a defensive coordinator think twice about like
Speaker 1: these blitzes that we saw and the extra pressures that
Speaker 1: we saw. Some teams are going to do it regardless.
Speaker 1: That's their makeup, that's their chemistry. If that can be solved,
Speaker 1: get the running game going. Heck, what did I talk
Speaker 1: about before the game yesterday was all the math that
Speaker 1: happened in the league yesterday with one, two, three, four
Speaker 1: teams with over two hundred yards rushing, including two sixty
Speaker 1: one for Green Bay against the Colts. Teams in the
Speaker 1: one eighties, one forties. I mean, you know that was
Speaker 1: going to be a big part of this if they
Speaker 1: could get the run game going. But that has not happened.
Speaker 4: But a lot of those stats from the running games
Speaker 4: that you've been talking about, they are established programs that
Speaker 4: have a number of veterans inside their program. When you're
Speaker 4: talking about the Bears and they have a running play
Speaker 4: called it's got to be things where the offensive line
Speaker 4: has to be organized of how to get to their
Speaker 4: angles of responsibility so then the running back can commit
Speaker 4: to the hole. I would try to encourage less freelance
Speaker 4: ability by the running back, but I would also encourage
Speaker 4: more line of scrimmage movement by the offensive line that
Speaker 4: continues upfield to the second level. And then when you
Speaker 4: start fitting into that process together, where the back meets
Speaker 4: the front. I do think that you can get much
Speaker 4: more efficiency out of this running game.
Speaker 1: So in that case, Texans did blitz Caleb twenty times
Speaker 1: according to next Gen Stats, the highest blitz rate in
Speaker 1: the game under Demico Ryans, and once it started paying off,
Speaker 1: they weren't going to stop until you stop it. I mean,
Speaker 1: that's just how it's going to be.
Speaker 4: You know, you got to think of our viewing advantage point.
Speaker 4: What are were seven or eight floors above the playing surface,
Speaker 4: so we have a chance to easily see all twenty two.
Speaker 4: We know the down and distance, we know the way
Speaker 4: they break the huddle, and we know how many guys
Speaker 4: are on the opposite the opposing line of scrimmage, and
Speaker 4: then you can start counting. Okay, in this pass protection,
Speaker 4: they're outnumbered, they're gonna have one free rusher regardless, or
Speaker 4: they're sometimes gonna have two free rushers, and it's really
Speaker 4: difficult until you beat that repeatedly.
Speaker 5: They are gonna keep doing it. Just like you said.
Speaker 4: So, I do think that some of the growing pains
Speaker 4: that the Bears are gonna face throughout the early portions
Speaker 4: of this regular season and a.
Speaker 5: Caveat to that.
Speaker 4: As I tell you what, I've never been impressed by
Speaker 4: toughness before by a guy than I was with Caleb
Speaker 4: last night, because he took some unpredictable shots from angles
Speaker 4: that he didn't know they were coming from, and he
Speaker 4: bounced up, got back into the huddle, clearheadedly, called to
Speaker 4: play and went on to the next down and distance.
Speaker 4: So all my hat my hats are off to Caleb
Speaker 4: Williams and what he proved to me as a Bear alumni.
Speaker 1: Yep, it was definitely a vicious attack. We are brought
Speaker 1: to you by Geico and middle Light taste like midder time,
Speaker 1: celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Company Milwaukee was kind. Ninety six
Speaker 1: calories and three point two carbs per twelve ounces. All right,
Speaker 1: everybody got in late last night after four am at
Speaker 1: hallis Hall, and so a short rest for Mattiberflus to
Speaker 1: watch the tape, get into meetings and start breaking it
Speaker 1: all down. Let's get the status at allis now with
Speaker 1: the Bears head coach. Matt, thanks for joining us. I know,
Speaker 1: very early morning arrival, so I'm ach sleep you got
Speaker 1: but enough to break down tape and all that, but
Speaker 1: to get in the game. You know, I kind of
Speaker 1: referred to this as a twelve round fight last night,
Speaker 1: so I learned this morning. By the way, twelve round
Speaker 1: fight in the heavyweight boxing world is referred to as
Speaker 1: the championship distance in boxing vernacular. So a lot of sparring,
Speaker 1: a few punches thrown, some landed, and as it turned out,
Speaker 1: literally from Aziz al Sharu, there was a punch thrown.
Speaker 1: So but it took into the last snap to knock
Speaker 1: you guys out. And I think that's very important to
Speaker 1: state right out of the gate here.
Speaker 6: Yeah, these NFL games, as you know, will always come
Speaker 6: down to the last drive and you know, the last
Speaker 6: part of that fourth quarter. So that's why we practiced
Speaker 6: those moments and those situations during practice and during the week,
Speaker 6: during training camp and all year long really, so it's
Speaker 6: important for us to be able to execute during that time.
Speaker 6: We gave ourselves a chance to get victory. You know,
Speaker 6: we set up a you know, got a three and out.
Speaker 6: You know, offense did a nice job with you know,
Speaker 6: getting down there to kick that field goal. Kirol hit
Speaker 6: a nice.
Speaker 5: Field goal there, and we did a good job.
Speaker 6: Of going three and out, utilizing our time out and
Speaker 6: getting the ball back for the offense with plenty of
Speaker 6: time to be able to go down there and score.
Speaker 6: And you know, we just got behind the sticks, you know,
Speaker 6: on the one sack and then ended up being fourth
Speaker 6: and seventeen. So those two players were unfortunate. But again
Speaker 6: we put ourselves in a good spot to be able
Speaker 6: to win that football game at the very end.
Speaker 1: Did you like my analogy, the boxing one?
Speaker 6: Yeah, oh I love boxing, so yeah, it was yeah.
Speaker 1: Real good sparring a bit really kind of the theme
Speaker 1: of the first two weeks, you know, when you talk
Speaker 1: about a new quarterback, a young quarterback, and a new offense.
Speaker 6: Yeah, no doubt. And again those guys are going to
Speaker 6: find their way, you know in terms of you know,
Speaker 6: being efficient, being effective, and I thought they were better
Speaker 6: yesterday in terms of, you know, Caleb was good being
Speaker 6: able to get the ball out of his hands and
Speaker 6: and the timely throws and the accuracy was there and
Speaker 6: and those things. And we had a chance to make
Speaker 6: some bigger type plays and those didn't happen during that time.
Speaker 6: But again, chunk players are gonna be big. We got
Speaker 6: to have those, and again we got to establish the
Speaker 6: run game first.
Speaker 1: Yeah, let's pick it up from there, because you know,
Speaker 1: we talked about that in the pregame interview. Saw what
Speaker 1: was going on around the league yesterday. My gosh, the
Speaker 1: numbers for run games and everybody's at a different point.
Speaker 1: Obviously you can't compare everything, but people are running the ball.
Speaker 1: And so if that happens, doesn't that change a lot
Speaker 1: of what Caleb's gonna see from defense?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 6: Absolutely, And I think that's that's a good starting point,
Speaker 6: is to establish that running game. And I think that
Speaker 6: sets up a lot of things for you offensively. I know,
Speaker 6: on the other on the other side, when you when
Speaker 6: you don't defend the run the right way, you know,
Speaker 6: it's it's demoralizing. Well, you feel like you don't have control,
Speaker 6: you know, because you're not controlling the down and distances.
Speaker 6: And that's what it is. And that's really about controlling
Speaker 6: the line of scrimmage.
Speaker 1: When you're not running the ball and you're stuffed, you
Speaker 1: lose yards. There's false starts, there's sacks. So there were
Speaker 1: a number of behind this chain's situations. Yesterday, I counted
Speaker 1: thirteen of those situations of third and long or second
Speaker 1: and long or first and long. Again, this is correctable.
Speaker 1: This is not like something you're stuck with. It's correctable.
Speaker 6: I told them in the team meeting. You know, it's
Speaker 6: about controlling the controllables. We can control penalties, we can
Speaker 6: control you know, in terms of how we operate and
Speaker 6: fundamentally on first and second down. And that's important for
Speaker 6: us because when you were in front of the sticks,
Speaker 6: you know a lot.
Speaker 5: It's a lot a lot.
Speaker 6: Better and more efficient in terms of functioning on third
Speaker 6: down if you get the third down and going forward
Speaker 6: from there.
Speaker 1: Every defense is a different personality. So just because Demiko
Speaker 1: Ryans through twenty blitzes at a young quarterback, doesn't mean
Speaker 1: everybody's going to do that. May not be in there
Speaker 1: DNA to do that, but at the same time, it's
Speaker 1: there now right. So knowing that doesn't that help your
Speaker 1: team in some way because they're going to be bracing
Speaker 1: for that. They're going to be focusing in that. You
Speaker 1: guys are going to coaching on that. I don't think
Speaker 1: Gus Bradley next weekend into him. I don't think he
Speaker 1: has his mindset. They're not a big blitzing team, but
Speaker 1: that doesn't mean they won't.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean, you're always ready for everything you know
Speaker 6: in terms of you know, it's a copycat league and
Speaker 6: when things start to work, you know, you'll see those
Speaker 6: things until you get it corrected. And that's something that
Speaker 6: we're gonna have to.
Speaker 1: Do right without a blitz. I don't know if you
Speaker 1: did this math of they told you about this, but
Speaker 1: Caleb was twenty of twenty five. They're on the football
Speaker 1: under no pressure. That's that's a building block for the offense.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean I think he started out, uh seven
Speaker 6: seven or seven, Yeah, so seven for seven in the
Speaker 6: first couple of drives there, and yeah, I thought it
Speaker 6: was very efficient to start. I thought he had a
Speaker 6: really good drive to in the first half with a touchdown.
Speaker 6: Like we said at the end of the game, he
Speaker 6: had two nice drives to put us in position one
Speaker 6: for a field goal and then won for us to
Speaker 6: win the football game at the end, and we got
Speaker 6: behind the sticks at the end there.
Speaker 1: I know you've probably been asked a lot about the
Speaker 1: blocking up front, but as you pointed out, I think
Speaker 1: many times and explain to me and it's just football.
Speaker 1: It is a lot of different reasons. Also, it's the
Speaker 1: entire offense.
Speaker 6: Yeah, no question, everybody's got a hand and when things
Speaker 6: go well, everybody's got a hand in that. That means
Speaker 6: all eleven guys are working together. Everybody's doing their job,
Speaker 6: and that's on all sides of the ball. And then
Speaker 6: when something breaks down, it's all eleven. You know, it's
Speaker 6: about the operation. It's about one particular group. But when
Speaker 6: it comes to protection, protections, you know, starts with the
Speaker 6: offensive line, but then it goes to the running backs,
Speaker 6: goes to the tight ends, it goes to the receivers,
Speaker 6: you know, running the right depths of the routes and
Speaker 6: adjusting you when you do see pressure, and it.
Speaker 5: Goes to the quarterback.
Speaker 6: I mean, so it's a whole group that's working together
Speaker 6: to make sure that that's a clean operation in terms
Speaker 6: of protection.
Speaker 1: All right, let's talk the defense again, giving you guys
Speaker 1: a chance to win every game. And it goes back
Speaker 1: and again. I know you don't love talking about what's
Speaker 1: happened in the past, but the fact of the matter
Speaker 1: is thirteen in the last fourteen games, you guys have
Speaker 1: allowed twenty points or less eight games in a row.
Speaker 1: So that speaks to the continuity, the consistency of personnel
Speaker 1: you calling the plays. This is a significant moment to
Speaker 1: give you guys a chance to win all those games.
Speaker 5: Yeah, if you old.
Speaker 1: Team under twenty points, you got I.
Speaker 6: Would say that, you know, the guys understand where we are,
Speaker 6: you know, you know in the season, and the guys
Speaker 6: that are doing a good job of executing the calls
Speaker 6: and doing a good job of hanging together and being
Speaker 6: there and really setting the field for the offense. And
Speaker 6: that's going to continue to be that way because I said,
Speaker 6: since the beginning, we got to play well around this
Speaker 6: rookie quarterback, around Caleb, and he's getting better, and he
Speaker 6: got better from week one to week two. You could
Speaker 6: see that. That's clear and evident. If you watch the
Speaker 6: tape and look at it. You know, everyboy's gonna be
Speaker 6: talking about, you know, sacks and those types of things,
Speaker 6: but you know, the evidence is there that he's getting
Speaker 6: better every single week and he made a big jump
Speaker 6: to me from week one to week two.
Speaker 1: All right, two games, four quarters, three points allowed in
Speaker 1: the second half. What's that say about what's happening? And
Speaker 1: even in terms of adjustments, they're just making teams go
Speaker 1: the distance with you. In terms of the your defense.
Speaker 6: Always goes back to the players, right it's about execution.
Speaker 6: So the players execute the calls that are made, and
Speaker 6: I think that they're doing a really good jobs. It's
Speaker 6: because they've been together now for a couple of years.
Speaker 6: They understand when we tweak and adjust little things here
Speaker 6: and there, you know, during halftime or during a serial
Speaker 6: in you know, in game adjustments. And they've done a
Speaker 6: nice job with that.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 1: I always like to use that word deploy. You deploy
Speaker 1: some guys yesterday that I don't hear anybody talk about.
Speaker 1: But Jack Sanborn had great blitzack, gotten the way of
Speaker 1: a pass early in the game. Anytime you ask him
Speaker 1: to do something, he seems to make a play.
Speaker 6: Yeah, he did a really good job at the end
Speaker 6: of that game. Not only that, but in the four
Speaker 6: minute mode too. We put him in there. Nice play,
Speaker 6: a couple of nice tackles there. But that that that
Speaker 6: sack was huge to be able to reset the field
Speaker 6: for us and get the ball back for the offense.
Speaker 1: Also, restraint, let's talk about that. Because you have a
Speaker 1: high character football team. You want this team to play hard,
Speaker 1: play physical, but you wanted to do it with some
Speaker 1: great responsibility in terms of character. But Temper's flair so
Speaker 1: Roshawn Johnson got popped in the popped in the face
Speaker 1: on the sideline. He could have taken a swing he
Speaker 1: did not, Tyreek Stevenson. Wide receivers and corners they do
Speaker 1: bad all the time. That could have been a situation
Speaker 1: where that got out of hand. How do you feel
Speaker 1: about that, especially on the road, in a very tempestuous
Speaker 1: environment and things not going completely well offensively, that people
Speaker 1: maintain their composure.
Speaker 6: Yeah, that's that's important, you know. I talked to the team,
Speaker 6: you know, on situational Friday. We watched a situation's tape
Speaker 6: you know, around the league, and we showed that a
Speaker 6: couple of weeks Togo, I think the first week on
Speaker 6: the sideline when a I think it was one of
Speaker 6: the quarterbacks in the league got hit and one of
Speaker 6: the guys that were on in street cloths and practice
Speaker 6: squad ended up, you know, bumping into the guy who
Speaker 6: did it, and he got fined, He got the organization
Speaker 6: got fine. I said, guys, we can't have that, you know,
Speaker 6: we can't have fouls on the sideline. I know, we
Speaker 6: don't like when people hit you know, illegally. Let the
Speaker 6: let the referees call the foul. And then move forward
Speaker 6: from there, and we can't make a bad play on
Speaker 6: their part, you know, a bad play on our part.
Speaker 6: So we got to make sure we keep our water
Speaker 6: temperature the right temperature during the course of the game.
Speaker 1: I quick look at what's ahead here with Indianapolis. They've
Speaker 1: given him a lot of rushing yards to forrest Buckner
Speaker 1: maybe out I suffered an ankle injury and played ten snaps.
Speaker 1: I know it's very early, but you know this team
Speaker 1: very well. We practiced against them last summer, a lot
Speaker 1: of the same personnel there. This is an important game
Speaker 1: for them. Anytime the teams facing a three game losing streak,
Speaker 1: panic sets in from the outside in. How are you
Speaker 1: looking at this in terms of the build up from
Speaker 1: a bear's perspective.
Speaker 6: Yeah, just really focus it on us. Like I said,
Speaker 6: control the controllables. We need to get better this week.
Speaker 6: We have to improve as a football team, and us
Speaker 6: coming together and doing that's going to be of the
Speaker 6: utmost importance starting today and then working through the Wednesday, Thursday, Friday,
Speaker 6: Saturday practice.
Speaker 1: So you be ready for the questions about your ex
Speaker 1: colts days again, because that's always an easy one, right,
Speaker 1: But you had a great time there, sir.
Speaker 6: My time at the Colts was awesome. The Ursay family
Speaker 6: is a wonderful family, and I enjoyed my time in Indianapolis.
Speaker 1: All right, I appreciate your time. We'll talk to you
Speaker 1: next week. Thank you. Right, Tom, He's gonna he's gonna
Speaker 1: keep talking about resiliency because resiliency is necessary to win
Speaker 1: in this league, no matter what week it is. And
Speaker 1: complimentary football. And there were moments in that game where
Speaker 1: there were complimentary moments, including at the end of the
Speaker 1: game when they force a turnover and the Bears have
Speaker 1: the football on a chance to win the game. So
Speaker 1: that has to be top of mind. You got to
Speaker 1: you gotta stay together as a team. We heard from
Speaker 1: col COMBT today. We heard from Tremaine Edmunds as well,
Speaker 1: so they discuss some of these same topics, big moments
Speaker 1: to take advantage of from a teaching perspective, Like you said,
Speaker 1: but any other takeaways from Eeberflus, You.
Speaker 4: Know, it's just the fact that you got to hang
Speaker 4: your hat on what the defense is offering you right now.
Speaker 4: They bring stability inside that locker room that no matter
Speaker 4: where you go, no matter where you play, how much
Speaker 4: experience you have or how inexperience you are, that you
Speaker 4: can attack from every possible angle. They got depth and
Speaker 4: the defensive line. They got quality linebacker play and guys
Speaker 4: that can come in and out of the lineup, and
Speaker 4: they have a number of defensive backs that, as you
Speaker 4: always say, they're deployable in a lot of different ways.
Speaker 4: So if you have to have one side of the
Speaker 4: ball to hang your hat on, it's gonna be the
Speaker 4: defense right now. And then when you listen to guys
Speaker 4: like Tremaine Edmunds, who is just a character of unbelievable
Speaker 4: strength for that locker room, and he understands that, Look,
Speaker 4: you're going to go through some growing pains with this
Speaker 4: offense because there's youth there in the most important position
Speaker 4: in football. Allow them to grow through their building opportunities,
Speaker 4: and defense keep going out there and doing what's asked
Speaker 4: of you, because there's going to be a turnover. There's
Speaker 4: going to be something that's going to get this thing
Speaker 4: turned around, and it may and be initiated by the defense.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think they know that. The journey here, I
Speaker 1: mean it started late last year when they started playing well.
Speaker 1: Three second half points allowed in two total games, that's incredible,
Speaker 1: that's best in the league. And eight games in a
Speaker 1: row allowing less than twenty and thirteen of the last fourteen,
Speaker 1: so less than twenty points. You put yourself in a position,
Speaker 1: then your team has a chance to win.
Speaker 4: Right, you know, you go back and you just look
Speaker 4: at the defensive line, the different configurations of lineups they
Speaker 4: can have the way that people. You know, you get
Speaker 4: your Von Dexter rushing from the end, you got DeMarcus
Speaker 4: Walker rushing from the end of the defensive tackle position.
Speaker 5: You got big push up in.
Speaker 4: The middle by Billings, You've got Montese Sweat, Austin Booker,
Speaker 4: and Darryl Taylor that can rush from the outside as
Speaker 4: well as any three rushers on any team in the
Speaker 4: National Football League.
Speaker 5: And then they're backed up by a quality group of athletes.
Speaker 4: So I still think that no matter what building you
Speaker 4: go into, home or away, that the Bears defense can
Speaker 4: dictate the pace of a game.
Speaker 1: So when we break it down even further, when he
Speaker 1: was knat Blitz last night, Cata Williams twenty of twenty
Speaker 1: five for one hundred and fifty nine yards and an interception,
Speaker 1: better protection use that run game. In fact, let's listen
Speaker 1: to Cole Comett talk about just that very topic, getting
Speaker 1: that running game going to help open the passing game.
Speaker 7: Well, I always think it always starts with running football.
Speaker 7: I think every you know, every offense, you know, the
Speaker 7: number one goal is to run the football effectively. So
Speaker 7: I think it always starts there, and you know, from there,
Speaker 7: I think we can open up so things off things
Speaker 7: up in the past game as well, and you know
Speaker 7: that includes saying how of the change there, and then
Speaker 7: being more disciplined upfront as well with our with our
Speaker 7: cadence and whatnot.
Speaker 5: Stuff.
Speaker 7: So we had a few false starts was included in that.
Speaker 7: So getting those things corrected and you know we can't
Speaker 7: have those things kind of shooting ourselves in the foot there.
Speaker 2: Blue said something similar just about how you know you
Speaker 2: won't get those sorts of pressures and probably as many
Speaker 2: blitz looks if you're able to run the ball effectively.
Speaker 2: And when he's talking about pass protection, he says, it's
Speaker 2: on everybody. How do you guys view your responsibility like
Speaker 2: for just collectively in combating some of those pressures, knowing
Speaker 2: that those looks were you know, as aggressive as they
Speaker 2: were last night, and it's probably a formula teams are
Speaker 2: gonna try to replicate here.
Speaker 7: Yeah, sure, you know, I know obviously with Kleb being
Speaker 7: a rookie, they're going to test them to see to
Speaker 7: see what he knows protection wise. But yeah, I mean,
Speaker 7: like coach is saying, protection's not I know, everyone wants
Speaker 7: to just look at the offensive line and you know,
Speaker 7: you see a sack and maybe you feel like it's
Speaker 7: on the offensive line. But there's a lot of things
Speaker 7: that go into it. Whether it's the receivers having to
Speaker 7: right the run the right routes and you know, if
Speaker 7: they're not there, that causes a quarterback to hold the
Speaker 7: ball a little bit more and those lead to sacks,
Speaker 7: you know what. There it's protection adjustments that you know,
Speaker 7: you see pressure and having to adjust off the pressure
Speaker 7: that you see and you know, maybe making a slide
Speaker 7: different here there, and you know, getting the alignment to
Speaker 7: the right spots in that regard, or whether just a
Speaker 7: miscommunication upfront on us to what, you know what what
Speaker 7: play we're running. So there's a lot of thing that
Speaker 7: goes that goes into it. I don't think it's a
Speaker 7: necessarily a talent issue necessarily up front. I don't think
Speaker 7: that we were just getting overmatched totally physically upfront. But
Speaker 7: I think, you know, us getting on the same page
Speaker 7: mentally speaking can lead to those adjustments and we can
Speaker 7: kind of see those sacks come down a little bit.
Speaker 1: All Right, everything Cole said there, I think you'd agree
Speaker 1: with one hundred percent.
Speaker 4: You know, there's a lot of the variations to a
Speaker 4: successful running game, and it's gonna go tight end to
Speaker 4: tight end, including the backs and the entire offensive line.
Speaker 4: And when they start developing some better understanding of each
Speaker 4: other and trust and how the blocks are going to
Speaker 4: unfold in front of them, you're gonna get better decisions
Speaker 4: made by the run. So you're gonna get offensive line
Speaker 4: that understands how to initiate their block on the line
Speaker 4: of scrimmage, that catches, that brings them up to the
Speaker 4: second level.
Speaker 5: Yeah, DeAndre Swift, you know, he hasn't been here very long.
Speaker 4: And like we talk a lot about how many reps
Speaker 4: it takes for a quarterback to stand behind this offensive line,
Speaker 4: it takes that many reps for a running back to
Speaker 4: learn how an offensive line is flowing into their blocking responsibilities,
Speaker 4: and then there's a predetermined understanding of how their momentum
Speaker 4: is going to take him off field and all that
Speaker 4: stuff is going to work out. And Cole understands it.
Speaker 4: But I think every under they position, every other position
Speaker 4: understands it as well.
Speaker 1: We're brought to you by PNC Official Bank of the Bears.
Speaker 1: So yes, growing pains are inevitable. And you know they're
Speaker 1: talking about the same thing as We're going to look
Speaker 1: a little bit towards the Indianapolis Coats and Anthony Richardson.
Speaker 1: So they looked up his numbers for the first two
Speaker 1: games because he's shown some great ability to get the
Speaker 1: ball down the field. He's got an unbelievable arm, He's
Speaker 1: a big guy, he's built like a defensive end. So
Speaker 1: this is what happens, right when you start getting statisticians
Speaker 1: like Doug Colletti or just people who look at this stuff.
Speaker 1: So in his first six NFL starts, Richardson at fifty
Speaker 1: five percent completion, just under one thousand yards, six touchdowns,
Speaker 1: five picks, quarterback rating seventy seven to nine. I'm going
Speaker 1: through the exercise just for illustration. So they go back
Speaker 1: and see Peyton Manning's rookie year, his first six starts
Speaker 1: even less of a completion percentage at fifty three percent.
Speaker 1: He did throw a lot more so he had thirteen
Speaker 1: hundred yards, six touchdowns, fourteen interceptions, fifty five point seven
Speaker 1: quarterback rating. He finished that year with twenty eight interceptions.
Speaker 1: Josh Allen in his first six games, less completion percentage
Speaker 1: than Richardson, only three passing touchdowns, five interceptions like Richardson,
Speaker 1: sacked eighteen times, and he fumbled the ball five times,
Speaker 1: losing three. So again, when we're talking about Caleb Williams,
Speaker 1: we're talking about these second year quarterback. Yes, CJ. Stroud's
Speaker 1: in a different place right now. He happens to be
Speaker 1: in a situation that's ideal for him at the moment,
Speaker 1: and he learned from whatever mistakes he made early in
Speaker 1: his career in the first few games of last season
Speaker 1: and he just kept elevating his game. You can't really
Speaker 1: compare every person's growth. Everybody's going to do it in
Speaker 1: a different way, and there are many different circumstances. This
Speaker 1: is like that game cerplunk. Well, you have those little
Speaker 1: sticks you remember you put in there, and you got
Speaker 1: to make sure you put You don't know when the
Speaker 1: sticks are going to be, which one's going to be
Speaker 1: pulled that's going to make all those marbles fall. And
Speaker 1: that's how I look at this.
Speaker 4: So pre draft evaluation of Anthony Richardson, Peyton Manning, Josh Allen,
Speaker 4: and Caleb Williams.
Speaker 5: There is certainty that Caleb.
Speaker 4: Williams and Peyton Manning were going to be super successful
Speaker 4: in their NFL career no matter what the beginning numbers were.
Speaker 4: There's a lot of uncertainty about what Anthony Richardson's going
Speaker 4: to turn into because he's so inexperienced in his college
Speaker 4: on a playing time in the same thing with Josh Allen.
Speaker 5: And then so when you look at.
Speaker 4: Their numbers, it's always where they're going to be in
Speaker 4: three to five years after their career begins, not necessarily
Speaker 4: after five games. And so this will be an interesting
Speaker 4: comparison to pay attention to when we're doing this podcast
Speaker 4: in four years, Let's revisit those same stats about those
Speaker 4: four guys and see what's become of them. Because to me,
Speaker 4: when you look at Peyton Manning and you look at
Speaker 4: Caleb Williams, I think they're comparable to where their careers
Speaker 4: are going to go. When you look at where Josh
Speaker 4: Allen went to college, and the inexperience of Anthony Richardson.
Speaker 4: It's almost they have to prove it to me that
Speaker 4: they can play at an NFL level and continue to
Speaker 4: accelerate their performances.
Speaker 1: Let's go back one thing about the pressure, because yes,
Speaker 1: he definitely got his share of pops. He admits it
Speaker 1: as well. Seven sacks, eleven quarterback hit, sixteen pressures and again,
Speaker 1: various evaluations from different stat companies, whether it be Pro
Speaker 1: Football focused or Next Gen Stats or other ones are
Speaker 1: going to come up with different types of analysis. But
Speaker 1: that speaks to me as a broad compilation of reasons
Speaker 1: why it's not just a particular offensive lineman or interior
Speaker 1: versus exterior or Caleb. It could be backs, it could
Speaker 1: be tight ends, it could be down in distance, it
Speaker 1: could be the play call. It could be a lack
Speaker 1: of execution of the play. Right. So this is not
Speaker 1: just one reason that this happened yesterday.
Speaker 4: No, So put yourself in the mind of a quarterback.
Speaker 4: You're in the huddle and those that circumstances that they
Speaker 4: were playing in Houston. You hear the crowd noise that's
Speaker 4: building during the process of the huddle. You call the
Speaker 4: play in the huddle, and there's a million things going
Speaker 4: through your mind. Okay, you called the protection. You know
Speaker 4: the time needed to get the routes run downfield, you
Speaker 4: know what the down and distance is. So you're filtering
Speaker 4: all the information that you have to make sure works
Speaker 4: accordingly in order to safely get the ball out of
Speaker 4: your hands. The development and trust of your protection is
Speaker 4: a key ingredient to any quarterback success. If you take
Speaker 4: I think it might have been the first pass in
Speaker 4: the second half out of Caleb's hands where he scrambled
Speaker 4: and overthrew DeAndre Carter.
Speaker 5: Sorry, it's you got to make sure that you trust
Speaker 5: your protection.
Speaker 4: You don't think anybody's coming on the attack in any
Speaker 4: way you can set your feed and efficiently throw the football.
Speaker 4: So that's part of the process as well, is you
Speaker 4: say a thousand things in your head that you know
Speaker 4: mean the success and failure of that play. But it
Speaker 4: all comes down to trust every element.
Speaker 1: Busy heart, sounds, your flavors for every vibe, celebrate responsibily.
Speaker 1: Most in course Beverage Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. There are a
Speaker 1: lot of analysts out there that explain offensive line play,
Speaker 1: but you know I've got I've got a guy here
Speaker 1: that's an expert in it, talk talk about and explain
Speaker 1: to the listener the isl count and the impact of
Speaker 1: it on the road or as a weapon even in
Speaker 1: your own building when it is quiet, and how it
Speaker 1: affects all five of the offensive line and maybe in
Speaker 1: a different way, how it impacts their get off from
Speaker 1: the line of scrimmage. How you can use it as
Speaker 1: a weapon on the road with that kind of din
Speaker 1: of sound in Houston yesterday. Break that down for it
Speaker 1: in the most common terms that we can understand.
Speaker 4: Well, you go to Soldier Field, the crowd cooperates with
Speaker 4: the Bears offense. Caleb breaks the huddle, says, okay, everybody
Speaker 4: on one on one.
Speaker 5: Ready break.
Speaker 4: They go to the line of scrimmage and he starts
Speaker 4: a non rhythm volume count and then you can hear it.
Speaker 4: You know, okay, it's on one.
Speaker 5: So that means.
Speaker 8: That that tick Jeff, that instant of a second before
Speaker 8: he gets that out of his mouth, that last single,
Speaker 8: you're already coming off the ball and you're initiating contact
Speaker 8: to the defensive player and now you're in control, stalemate, movement, run.
Speaker 5: Past, whatever the case is.
Speaker 4: When you go and play in an environment like last night,
Speaker 4: just every time you break the huddle, you make sure
Speaker 4: you take this in the account. Neither tackle can hear
Speaker 4: the cadence tight ends, multiple tight ends, one tight end.
Speaker 4: They cannot hear the cadence. If you're in shotgun, you
Speaker 4: really can't hear the cadence up front, So you have
Speaker 4: to understand what the rhythm of timing you've been developing
Speaker 4: in practice. If he's under center, the center and guards
Speaker 4: can hear the cadence. The center can here feel the
Speaker 4: movement of his hands before he snaps the ball, So
Speaker 4: you give those guys a chance to get off the ball.
Speaker 4: And now that with periphial vision, the tackles are trying
Speaker 4: to read you as well, but they're never going to
Speaker 4: be off the ball at the same time as the
Speaker 4: defensive lineman. And so given that it's gonna be, you know,
Speaker 4: it's so difficult to initiate contact as an offensive line
Speaker 4: on the road like that because it's just brutally difficult
Speaker 4: to anticipate the cadence of caleb that you really don't
Speaker 4: have the amount of reps that you need. If you're
Speaker 4: with a quarterback.
Speaker 1: Over years, does played direction matter in that situation as well?
Speaker 1: So you got to run slated to go off left
Speaker 1: tackle or off right tackle, or you got to throw
Speaker 1: to the outside or to the middle. Does anything impact
Speaker 1: the success or failure of that play based on the
Speaker 1: silent count situation?
Speaker 5: One hundred percent.
Speaker 4: If you look at the first running play that the
Speaker 4: Bears ran to the left the other night, it was
Speaker 4: outside the shoulder the left tackle, Braxton Jones was late
Speaker 4: getting off the ball, so that means the white jersey
Speaker 4: was across the line of scrimmage before he could get movement.
Speaker 4: And then you look at the block between the center
Speaker 4: and left guard. As Tevin Jenkins came off the ball,
Speaker 4: he's thinking, give a hand to the center, Let the
Speaker 4: center get in control of that defensive tackle, and then
Speaker 4: move on field of the field of the second level.
Speaker 4: Because Tevin gave him that punch, the center was not
Speaker 4: able to get his body in front of the defensive
Speaker 4: tackle and that created penetration tackle for a two yard loss.
Speaker 5: And a lot of that is because of.
Speaker 4: The not being able to hear the snap count and
Speaker 4: the point of attack is to the outside shoulder of
Speaker 4: the left tackle.
Speaker 1: Can that be improved over time, of.
Speaker 5: Course, one hundred percent.
Speaker 4: Because Jeff I mean, we sat there all training camp
Speaker 4: and we always had this number in our head. How
Speaker 4: many reps does the take for that quarterback then become
Speaker 4: familiar with the cadence of a quarterback if they have
Speaker 4: a silent count. And to me, if that same offensive
Speaker 4: line can be in place for a thousand noisy reps.
Speaker 4: Noisy reps, I mean an opponent stadium where they have
Speaker 4: the crowd noise, where it's a non volume, it's an
Speaker 4: anticipated count. That's when they start becoming familiar with the count.
Speaker 4: And that's when the quarterback can use a very of
Speaker 4: counts to keep the defense off balance.
Speaker 1: Before we ramp this up and look at the colts,
Speaker 1: one more take on who really stood out, now that
Speaker 1: you've had a chance to look at it on the
Speaker 1: defensive side of the ball and on special teams, if
Speaker 1: anybody sticks out obviously Byered and Edmunds leading tackles. You
Speaker 1: had the pass rushers coming home on three occasions. And
Speaker 1: we're brought to you by Blue Crossing Blue Shield of
Speaker 1: Illinois right here at home, driving access toward healthier communities.
Speaker 4: Through it all, you know, I'm still really impressed with
Speaker 4: the continuous improvement out of Jervon Dexter. You know, he's
Speaker 4: the type of guy that's blessed with great size, length,
Speaker 4: speed and strength, and he's able to use all of
Speaker 4: it as a defensive line asset.
Speaker 5: Darryl Taylor.
Speaker 4: A great job by Ryan Poles of identifying a pass
Speaker 4: rusher that can immediately help the depth of that position. Listen, Mat,
Speaker 4: I'm still all in on Montest Sweat and I like
Speaker 4: where Austin Booker is going. But when you have a
Speaker 4: guy that's newly introduced to us and you see what
Speaker 4: he can do, it's great. In the back set, Shoot,
Speaker 4: they're as good as you can get. If defensive backs
Speaker 4: play physical, they're like, again using your word, deployable. The
Speaker 4: linebacker position, including Jack Sanborn, is super effective.
Speaker 5: He comes in.
Speaker 4: And he's intermittently used between he and Kyler Gordon. They
Speaker 4: put him in, they let him blitz, and it results
Speaker 4: in a sack. The guy's a legitimate NFL linebacker. So
Speaker 4: when I think that how well the Spars defense can travel,
Speaker 4: how difficult it'll make for opponent's offensive coordinators to be
Speaker 4: prepared for sixteen seventeen players, I just think they're gonna
Speaker 4: really help the Bears have some sustained success as this
Speaker 4: season winds on.
Speaker 1: Steinhoffels is an employee owned furniture in matresstore. Is it
Speaker 1: any of their for Chicago land locations in Vernon Hills,
Speaker 1: Crystal Lake, Downers Grove, and Horwood Heights or shop online
Speaker 1: at Steinhoffels dot com. One in one, headed to zero
Speaker 1: and to Indianapolis. So you know what they say about
Speaker 1: three straight losses, that's time to panic, and so the
Speaker 1: Indianapolis Colts will try to avoid panic when they host
Speaker 1: the Bears. That is not of the Bears concern. What
Speaker 1: is of the concern of the Bears, though, is how
Speaker 1: to deal with this team. What are the Bears defense
Speaker 1: dealing with here? With a young quarterback like Anthony Richardson.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know again, I think they're playing through the
Speaker 4: mind of a young, inexperienced quarterback, regardless of how great
Speaker 4: of an athlete he is. They can crowd the line
Speaker 4: of scrimmage and make every read difficult for the amount
Speaker 4: of bodies at the line of scrimmage. If they want
Speaker 4: to call a run play, there's more guys than you
Speaker 4: can block. If you want to put more guys at
Speaker 4: the line of scrimmage that have pass rush ability, and
Speaker 4: the quarterback has a pass called, then he's starting to
Speaker 4: think about protection and he's starting to think about the
Speaker 4: timing of the route. So I think it creates a
Speaker 4: real inefficiency in their offense by the number of bodies
Speaker 4: that you have the luxury of putting at the line
Speaker 4: of scrimmage. You saw last night in the game where TJ.
Speaker 4: Edwards and Tremaine Edmonds, they ran a great stunt in
Speaker 4: the middle that resulted in a sack for Tremaine Edmonds.
Speaker 4: But TJ. Edwards gave himself up. He crossed the face
Speaker 4: of the center and he dragged the back with him.
Speaker 4: So the Bears have a wide variety of things that
Speaker 4: they can do at the line of scrimmage that can
Speaker 4: create a lot of thinking by the opponent's quarterback. And
Speaker 4: if you think your beat, We've always said that one
Speaker 4: thing I'm interested to see. They asked Trumaine about the
Speaker 4: support of the Bears crowd in Houston, and he said
Speaker 4: it was evident behind their bench about the Bears fans.
Speaker 4: I think this is going to be a well attended
Speaker 4: game by Bears fans. It's Indianapolis, It's drivable there and
Speaker 4: back within a day, and so if the crowd noise
Speaker 4: was as hectic as it was last night in Houston.
Speaker 5: I think you can take.
Speaker 4: The crowd out of this game if the Bears defense
Speaker 4: goes in there and makes their offense look dysfunctional.
Speaker 1: All right, Tommy, they're hemorrhaging against the run Colts with
Speaker 1: out to Forest Buckner yesterday for just ten snaps right angle,
Speaker 1: looked kind of bad, kind of bent under his body.
Speaker 1: Letuatu the defensive end from UCLA. He only was limited
Speaker 1: to twenty eight reps with a hip injury, and so
Speaker 1: they've given up four hundred and seventy four yards in
Speaker 1: two games in the run game.
Speaker 4: So if you have Buckner in the lineup, you know
Speaker 4: he's becoming an elder statesman. And when you consider what
Speaker 4: the NFL age limit is of success, so maybe he
Speaker 4: was before he got hurt, getting pushed around a little bit,
Speaker 4: and then when you do put in a replacement for him,
Speaker 4: obviously not going to live up to the starters caliber
Speaker 4: as of yet. So I think, you know, the Bears,
Speaker 4: they have a real opportunity here to be successful because
Speaker 4: they just don't have the defensive profile that is intimidating
Speaker 4: like the Bears defense is. So I expect the Bears
Speaker 4: to get into their play books, get into the meetings,
Speaker 4: get into these practices, have a positive working atmosphere throughout
Speaker 4: the week. Take it to Indianapolis and put on display.
Speaker 4: Hopefully you get guys like Keenan Allen back and if
Speaker 4: you don't, you're Tyler Scott.
Speaker 5: Colin Johnson, DJ Moore.
Speaker 4: All those guys have to live up to what's expected
Speaker 4: of them.
Speaker 1: The other thing, Gus Bradley, the defensive coordinator, under fire
Speaker 1: in his third season. Not a big blitzer, So that
Speaker 1: doesn't mean he's not gonna blitz this quarterback. But that's
Speaker 1: not kind of their way they go about their business.
Speaker 1: But if they kept getting gouged in the run game defensively, wow,
Speaker 1: and hopefully the Bears can take advantage of that as well.
Speaker 5: I mean, that's a cure.
Speaker 4: All You give the Bears an opportunity to get you
Speaker 4: one hundred and sixty yards rushing.
Speaker 5: What a relief that would be for Caleb.
Speaker 4: How much more the play action pass game wore to
Speaker 4: work against them, and then you start getting a little
Speaker 4: bit more involvement from backs catching the ball and tight.
Speaker 1: Ends abandoned the run with Jonathan Taylor yesterday in a
Speaker 1: tight game, and that's a bit of a He was
Speaker 1: averaging over eight yards of carry, but they went to
Speaker 1: a passing game backfield with Trace Sherman and Tyler Goodson instead,
Speaker 1: and that's drawn some criticism there in Indianapolis.
Speaker 5: Right.
Speaker 4: That surprises me too, because you have one of the
Speaker 4: premiere fast running backs in the National Football League. He's
Speaker 4: gone through some injury issues over the past couple of years.
Speaker 4: But if you're running the ball that well, and you
Speaker 4: can take that type of pressure off of the mind
Speaker 4: of Anthony Richardson and maybe exposed him to a little
Speaker 4: bit more running opportunities. Man, I think you're you know,
Speaker 4: you're kind of deflating two of your best assets in
Speaker 4: game day competition.
Speaker 1: All Right, One last thing about Richardson, it's just the
Speaker 1: body composition. We saw him up close last year at
Speaker 1: training camp. We were amazed. He's six four to two
Speaker 1: of forty four and he runs a four four to
Speaker 1: three and he's got a cannon so he can throw
Speaker 1: the ball seventy yards. He did that in Week one
Speaker 1: to Alec Pierce. Unbelievable throw while he slipped and was
Speaker 1: falling backwards. I know, you keep mentioning a guy like
Speaker 1: Randall Cunningham. But Randall Cunningham wasn't two hundred and forty
Speaker 1: four pounds.
Speaker 4: Well, you know, he had an incredible arm. He had
Speaker 4: a whip of an arm. He was six ' four.
Speaker 4: He could throw the ball all over the place. He
Speaker 4: was a great runner in a day where you could
Speaker 4: really punish at a running quarterback nowadays, I think Anthony Richardson,
Speaker 4: I don't know. It's difficult for the offensive coordinator for
Speaker 4: Indianapolis because you're kind of feeding Anthony Richardson experience in
Speaker 4: the playbook intermittently. But you know, you don't have an
Speaker 4: experienced quarterback that you're trying to put out there in
Speaker 4: game day against the defense as versatile as the Bears.
Speaker 1: Jim Bob Couter is the offensive coordinator, but to play
Speaker 1: calling is Shane Stike in the head coach. So should
Speaker 1: be fun noon start. We'll break that one down on Thursday,
Speaker 1: hoping to get Bill Brooks, he does analysts work for
Speaker 1: the Indianapolis Colts, to join us for that and we'll
Speaker 1: have a player guest as well as Bears weekly this
Speaker 1: week as we will break down Week three. It's moving quickly.
Speaker 1: We're moving through that AFC South hopefull the Bears can
Speaker 1: get back in the win column. On Sunday in Indianapolis.
Speaker 1: Good new Chicago United Air Lions getting brand new planes
Speaker 1: with all the bells and whistles like Bluetooth connectivity screens
Speaker 1: at every seat in room for everyone's rollerbag. United Proud
Speaker 1: to fly the Chicago Bears and you two as in
Speaker 1: a side. Tom Bryce Young, the quarterback in Carolina, is
Speaker 1: not the starter anymore, at least for the time being.
Speaker 1: Andy Dalton will be the starter. He has really endured
Speaker 1: a tough year plus with the Carolina.
Speaker 4: Pats eighties quarterback football, Jeff, Because that was the way
Speaker 4: it was back then. No matter where you drafted a guy,
Speaker 4: you allowed him to set and sit down and mentally develop,
Speaker 4: and then you put him in the game. You come
Speaker 4: here and you take the worst team in the National
Speaker 4: Football League, you put the first pick in the draft
Speaker 4: in there, and under size quarterback you're throwing into the
Speaker 4: Wolves as an early careered young man.
Speaker 1: Yep, and lots of coaching change in that window as well.
Speaker 1: All right, special thanks to Matt ebri Flus for joining
Speaker 1: us for Tom. I'm Jeff. Thanks for listening everybody, and
Speaker 1: please subscribe now. The Chicago Bears official app, Apple, Spotify, YouTube,
Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcast. Spear down everybody