Speaker 1: Right justin middle of the field forty five fifteen, bring
Speaker 1: Russ in front of them, leaving Lions in his way.
Speaker 2: I am Jeff joni Acklitz.
Speaker 3: Is not done us.
Speaker 4: What was like playing for coach Bogdom.
Speaker 3: I don't want to answer any questions like that.
Speaker 5: Sixty one yards?
Speaker 2: What's Sunday stroll for? Justin field?
Speaker 1: Ye Bears et cetera with the voices of the Chicago
Speaker 1: Bears Jeff Joniac. The Bears have won two in a row,
Speaker 1: three of four and five of nine, and they've stoked
Speaker 1: thoughts of a late season playoff run after knocking off
Speaker 1: the visiting Detroit Lions at Soldier Fields Sunday twenty eight
Speaker 1: thirteen in the final with Super Bowl winning Bears guard
Speaker 1: Tom Thayre. I'm Jeff Joniak and this is Bears et
Speaker 1: Cetera episode number forty one. We discussed and sit down
Speaker 1: with Bears head coach Mattyberflus for our weekly chat in
Speaker 1: a little while. But Big Tom, the feelings are different.
Speaker 1: They're different up at Hallis Hall today. I listened to
Speaker 1: some of the press conferences, not only coach Eberfluss and
Speaker 1: then having a chance to talk to him, but Lucas
Speaker 1: Patrick's perspective from a veteran coming over from Green Bay
Speaker 1: two years into this the long road to get here.
Speaker 1: Also Jiakwan Brisker, who is emblematic of what growth looks
Speaker 1: like and what starting from scratch looks like and getting
Speaker 1: guys with his mentality to become immediate impact players and leaders,
Speaker 1: and you see the growth and it all came to
Speaker 1: fruition yesterday with a seventeen tackle game.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 6: You know, the neatest thing about the game is we
Speaker 6: can talk about individual great efforts like Toakwan Brisker, DJ Moore,
Speaker 6: Cole Kamd or Justin Jones, those types of efforts. Well,
Speaker 6: you know, Jeff, after watching the game live and then
Speaker 6: going back to watching again on video, it's the best
Speaker 6: team efforted game by every segment that I've seen around
Speaker 6: here in quite a while.
Speaker 5: And it was a complete group effort.
Speaker 6: Although I mentioned the individual outstanding efforts, I think it's
Speaker 6: more important when you play great as a team.
Speaker 5: Rather than us just.
Speaker 6: Highlighting great individual efforts that don't factor and wins. This
Speaker 6: kind of compute this computer to everything that we want
Speaker 6: to see going forward.
Speaker 2: Can you be specific?
Speaker 1: I mean watching the tape as well, just the the
Speaker 1: individual blocking efforts that we're done in every phase of
Speaker 1: the offensive side, the special teams impact the punt return game,
Speaker 1: the blocking and the punt return the you know, that's
Speaker 1: the tough you're talking about, the gang tackling, the awareness
Speaker 1: of everybody on defense at layers.
Speaker 5: It's exactly. It's you know, you go back and you
Speaker 5: look at the reason.
Speaker 6: The Bears defense played so well against the run, that
Speaker 6: kind of gained momentum throughout the game and really was
Speaker 6: a force in the second half. Go back and look
Speaker 6: at some of these plays. How many guys are in
Speaker 6: ont of the tackle. I mean, there's a fourth and
Speaker 6: one that stops the drive that Jack Sandborn makes initially
Speaker 6: an unbelievable tackle after deflecting a block of a tight
Speaker 6: end and a pulling offensive lineman. But then you got
Speaker 6: Tyreek Stevenson on the spot, he got Montes Sweat involved,
Speaker 6: he got Tremaine Edmonds right there. It's just those multiple
Speaker 6: layered efforts of everybody giving such a high percentage of
Speaker 6: just desire and willingness. And it's that one play stands out,
Speaker 6: But there's ten or twelve plays versus the run game that,
Speaker 6: like I said, it's the best combined effort that I've seen.
Speaker 1: Just the shutdown of you know, Sam Laporta and also
Speaker 1: i'man Ross Saint Brown less than fifty yards and receiving
Speaker 1: on five catches fifteen targets combined. It's because they were surrounded.
Speaker 1: At me, there were so many people involved in defending
Speaker 1: those two players. I could see why that quarterback Jared
Speaker 1: Goff had some difficulty. And then on top of it,
Speaker 1: you know, whether it's the pressure, accombination of the weather,
Speaker 1: the glove you talk about, but the ball wasn't coming
Speaker 1: out of his hands. Well, I mean I don't think
Speaker 1: he trusted his throes.
Speaker 6: Yes, I don't think he had time to trust himself.
Speaker 6: Because if you look at Montese Wepon, you look at
Speaker 6: you Econ Gakway, you look at Justin Jones, you look
Speaker 6: at your Von Dexter, you look at the blitzes of
Speaker 6: Brisker or Tremaine Admins or TJ.
Speaker 5: Edwards, there are just so many multiple.
Speaker 6: Levers level levels of pressure coming at the quarterback. He
Speaker 6: doesn't have the luxury of time. So now you're trying
Speaker 6: to speed up the thinking process in your head and
Speaker 6: maybe you don't have to get your arm at the
Speaker 6: right angle. You don't have a chance to release the
Speaker 6: ball perfectly. You're trying to avoid contact with the helmet
Speaker 6: of an incoming defender because they're giving up pressure. So
Speaker 6: you have to take all these little increments of time
Speaker 6: into account when you talk about a defense being able
Speaker 6: to create create, create deficiencies in specific timing.
Speaker 1: We're brought to you by PNC Official Bank of the Bears.
Speaker 1: This is the Bears, et cetera podcast with Tom Thayer.
Speaker 1: We'll get to coach Eberflucent just a moment. Go right
Speaker 1: to the two guys that just mentioned, and they are
Speaker 1: bringing up some of the same things you brought up,
Speaker 1: but that it started a long time ago and it's
Speaker 1: been building to this. First of all, they're healthy, they're together,
Speaker 1: they're starting to get that chemistry. Brisker touched on that,
Speaker 1: and then Lucas Patrick. You know, he was the winning
Speaker 1: program with a winning quarterback and a Hall of Fame quarterback,
Speaker 1: so they got used to it up there in Green Bay.
Speaker 1: But he felt the impact in the room was really
Speaker 1: starting to become a big deal about the cross pollination
Speaker 1: of offense and defensive players hanging out and you know
Speaker 1: that better than anybody from your eighty five stretch and
Speaker 1: all the way into the nineties, what close that team was?
Speaker 1: Is that important to note right here at this point
Speaker 1: with four games to go in the season and winning
Speaker 1: five of nine.
Speaker 6: You know, I can't state how important that is. I
Speaker 6: think every team I played on I liked, enjoyed the
Speaker 6: company of every guy I played with offense, defense, from
Speaker 6: defensive backs to and kickers, and I enjoyed the friendships
Speaker 6: and the camaraderie that you are able to develop because
Speaker 6: when you had something that carried from the cafeteria to
Speaker 6: the weight room, to the meeting room, walking onto the
Speaker 6: practice field, walking off the practice field at training camp,
Speaker 6: you have to enjoy the people that you're working with,
Speaker 6: and it creates a more positive working atmosphere, and it
Speaker 6: creates a lot more underbelly of encouragement.
Speaker 5: And I think when you look.
Speaker 6: At some of these veterans that have been around other teams,
Speaker 6: they have an understanding what it takes to get to
Speaker 6: that level that you need to be considered a competitive,
Speaker 6: you know, a competitive champion.
Speaker 7: All right.
Speaker 1: So what I referred to Lucas Patrick, the Bears starting
Speaker 1: center on the team growth this locker room.
Speaker 8: This is probably the best week I've seen this locker
Speaker 8: room in a long time. You could just you could
Speaker 8: just tell that there was a confidence, like a calling confidence.
Speaker 8: The other cool part is there's a lot of crow
Speaker 8: across the locker room talk. I know y'all are in
Speaker 8: there a lot. See how it's kind of O and
Speaker 8: D split, But it's just fun.
Speaker 7: We're walking around.
Speaker 8: You can see guys mingling, and his team's pretty close
Speaker 8: right now. You know, kind of build build over the
Speaker 8: season and relationships build. But it's credit to the importance
Speaker 8: Fluis has put on that since since the spring. Kind
Speaker 8: of all we put into that, I think we're seeing
Speaker 8: a lot of that come to fruition now.
Speaker 1: And that's exactly what you're pointing out here. And this
Speaker 1: is also how he's felt about the turnaround. It's it's
Speaker 1: not about him, it's about everybody else. But he's had,
Speaker 1: you know, a star cross time here with injuries and
Speaker 1: moving in and out of the lineup. But it's a
Speaker 1: nice stretch here as the starting center, I.
Speaker 8: Think, I think and taking more gratification and the guys
Speaker 8: around me seventy six couldn't be doing better than he
Speaker 8: is now. What he's I guess what everyone sees his tape,
Speaker 8: but y'all should see what he's doing in the locker room,
Speaker 8: what he's doing, communicating, what he's doing off the field.
Speaker 8: I mean, it's the growth from him him has been impressive,
Speaker 8: and then you know, getting to mix in with seventy
Speaker 8: and his leadership role is improving, and you know, getting
Speaker 8: Nate back from the injury that he had and him
Speaker 8: finally settling in and really kind of settling down Darnell
Speaker 8: and letting Darnell be Darnell Becauseate Nate's a veteran and
Speaker 8: just doing amazing with that and getting of course to
Speaker 8: work with one such a dynamic player. I mean, we
Speaker 8: saw that kind of backed up clip where he got
Speaker 8: us completely Scott free out of there, of course protected
Speaker 8: and watching to go play. Like I don't take as
Speaker 8: much gratification, I guess from my success or playing or
Speaker 8: it's about the team, it's about the sea, it's about
Speaker 8: this city, like you know, it's this place deserves deserves.
Speaker 8: I think what's coming to us. We've put the work in.
Speaker 8: There's a lot of good people here, a lot of
Speaker 8: good people, and they've been nothing but good to me
Speaker 8: and kind to me. Since I've got here, So.
Speaker 6: You know, and you know, you have to admire what
Speaker 6: Lucas has gone through because there's a psychological aspect to
Speaker 6: his game. When you're in and out of the lineup
Speaker 6: and you take over for a guy like Cody Whitehair,
Speaker 6: who has tremendous respect in the locker room, but you're
Speaker 6: also expected to come in and do the job that
Speaker 6: you were brought in to do. And Chris Morgan, the
Speaker 6: offensive line coach, he definitely hasn't had an easy job
Speaker 6: since he's been here. But when you can get a
Speaker 6: stabilizing force, you can get a veteran that has experiences
Speaker 6: of success and the way that you can relate that
Speaker 6: message to some of the younger guys and how they
Speaker 6: need to work in order they get better individually, and
Speaker 6: how if they get better individually, it affects the rest
Speaker 6: of the lineman up front, including the tight end.
Speaker 1: I let me get to Brisker in his work at
Speaker 1: the podium, because you know, the guy has a lot
Speaker 1: of fun playing the game, but it's raw. It's raw
Speaker 1: enthusiasm and love of the game, and we know he
Speaker 1: studies the game. It's important to him and it always
Speaker 1: has been. And the way he explained it at the
Speaker 1: podium on Monday really gets you to understand why he
Speaker 1: is how he is.
Speaker 2: Let's take a listen.
Speaker 4: Just you know, a couple of weeks, maybe before the
Speaker 4: Vikings game or during the Vikings game, I just told
Speaker 4: myself I want to be able to take over a
Speaker 4: game and show.
Speaker 7: That I can.
Speaker 4: And yesterday wasn't my perfect game. No, I still had
Speaker 4: a drop interception. I probably could have had another interception
Speaker 4: later in the game that ended off and I feel
Speaker 4: like when I beat the running back, I probably could
Speaker 4: have been quicker to get that strip sacked, but Jalen
Speaker 4: ended up getting an interception anyway. So I feel like
Speaker 4: I'm just getting there, but I'm not where I want
Speaker 4: to be because I know I could take over a
Speaker 4: game how I want. I want to take over, and
Speaker 4: that's not a complete game for me. So that's not it.
Speaker 4: That's not that's not it.
Speaker 6: It was a little frustrating for you earlier in the
Speaker 6: season because you weren't maybe taking as big as steps as.
Speaker 4: You wanted, or uh, frustrating just because we didn't have
Speaker 4: an identity as a defense and just the certain scheme
Speaker 4: that we went from last year to this year, we
Speaker 4: were just trying to still find ourselves. Obviously we went
Speaker 4: from two different dcs, but so it was kind of
Speaker 4: you know, frustrating how I was playing and how my
Speaker 4: body was reacting and things like that. But now I'm
Speaker 4: getting back into swing of things. I feeling like more
Speaker 4: of myself and then I'm definitely picking out the right time.
Speaker 1: So Tom, he's had some issues with injuries here this year,
Speaker 1: all the way back to training camp, and so you know,
Speaker 1: one more cut before I get your comments on it,
Speaker 1: because he's now feeling really good and it's showing in
Speaker 1: his play. He's all over the field. He's all over
Speaker 1: the field, and he's bringing the physicality to the game.
Speaker 4: It's a portant just because you know, we came in
Speaker 4: and you know, they they wanted us to turn it around,
Speaker 4: and I'm one of those guys that they brought in,
Speaker 4: you know, very early to do that, Me and Caler
Speaker 4: to start off with the new coaches staff. So, you know,
Speaker 4: just coming in and just focusing on changing this thing around,
Speaker 4: changing the secondary, you know, changing the whole team. You know,
Speaker 4: it's always been poor to me, especially the lead, and
Speaker 4: getting my foot in the door was very important and
Speaker 4: show who I am as a player, who I am
Speaker 4: as a leader, and who I am on and off
Speaker 4: the field was always important to me and to get
Speaker 4: this this Chicago thing into a winning direction.
Speaker 1: So Tom like his arrow is rising, that arrow is
Speaker 1: pointed straight up in the air, aline with Kyler Gordon
Speaker 1: and a bunch of other defensive players, veterans and or
Speaker 1: young second year first year players.
Speaker 5: But you know, Jeff, it's the journey on how you
Speaker 5: got here.
Speaker 6: Why were you evaluated by the staffs and the scouting
Speaker 6: departments thinking, Okay.
Speaker 5: I got an eye on this guy. He's on my radar.
Speaker 6: Let's watch him a little bit and see what he
Speaker 6: we think he can develop into. How many levels can
Speaker 6: he play on the defense, what can his contributions be,
Speaker 6: and what's his attitude like? And when you start investigating
Speaker 6: all that information, also you set your sights on saying, listen, man,
Speaker 6: we need this guy in our organization.
Speaker 5: We need him on our team. And then when you.
Speaker 6: Talk about the positive influences some of the veterans that
Speaker 6: have been around, you have to have that same influence
Speaker 6: of some of the new guys coming aboard, because they're
Speaker 6: important to these young guys that are coming into the
Speaker 6: locker room, whether they just have been drafted or they're
Speaker 6: free agents that are coming in as young people. Because
Speaker 6: you need a positive working atmosphere that filters from the
Speaker 6: experienced veterans down to the guys that have been around
Speaker 6: for a year or two.
Speaker 1: Miller Lite, the official beer of the Chicago Bears, tastes
Speaker 1: like Miller Time Chicago. Here's the status that had us
Speaker 1: with Bears head coach Mattieberflution in his weekly Monday visit.
Speaker 1: All right, welcome back, Big Matt. That was scintillating yesterday.
Speaker 1: I want to thank you because you and your guys
Speaker 1: just brought a motion. The building came to life. The
Speaker 1: touchdown throw by Justin to DJ just kind of brought
Speaker 1: the house down. On the defense, it felt like, I
Speaker 1: feel like the Monsters of the Midway. Man, How did
Speaker 1: that feel to you from your perspective on the sideline?
Speaker 3: That was good because of the We were able to
Speaker 3: seize momentum, and that's a big part of it. You know,
Speaker 3: you you're playing good fundamentals and good technique, but there's
Speaker 3: points in the game where you seize momentum and you know,
Speaker 3: we hard counted there and got them to jump and
Speaker 3: you know certainly got the you know, great pass and
Speaker 3: you know in great catch by DJ, and that was
Speaker 3: a momentum, uh, you know, clincher right there. And then
Speaker 3: you know they fumbled two plays later and you know
Speaker 3: TJ's just the heads up play and and you know
Speaker 3: jumped on the ball and again we got momentum there again.
Speaker 3: So and then you got to finish it. You know,
Speaker 3: it's always about you know, winning the ball, which we did.
Speaker 3: We were plus three yesterday. And also it's about finishing
Speaker 3: the fourth quarter. We were nine to zero in the
Speaker 3: fourth quarter yesterday. So that to me is is what
Speaker 3: it's all about. But it takes plays. You have to
Speaker 3: make plays down it's down the stretch. It takes what
Speaker 3: it takes, you know. So when our defense was out
Speaker 3: there playing the two minute, you know, we had to
Speaker 3: stop them on four downs. You know, I think we
Speaker 3: did that twice. I believe maybe three times.
Speaker 1: Well they were one of five on fourth.
Speaker 3: Right, and then one of them was a turnover. We
Speaker 3: got to main. Tremaine's interception was another one. But you
Speaker 3: have to make those plays. And then to seal the deal,
Speaker 3: you got to come back on offense and you got
Speaker 3: to get a first out and the guys did that.
Speaker 3: I think in two plays they got a first down
Speaker 3: then wenealed it out for victory. But it's about finishing really.
Speaker 1: And field position changed dramatically also in the second half
Speaker 1: for you guys, and that's an ode to complimentary football.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, no question. On the In the first part,
Speaker 3: it seemed like we were playing on alongside a lot
Speaker 3: of times our offense had to go you know, ninety
Speaker 3: yards or we were back on the minus field a lot.
Speaker 3: But the second half, and that's really attributed to a
Speaker 3: couple of things. Our defense going three and out. I
Speaker 3: believe we went three in a row, and on the
Speaker 3: short on when they were on a long field. And
Speaker 3: then our punt return did a heck of a job.
Speaker 3: Our punt return team in the heck of a job
Speaker 3: of putting it back to midfield. So that was a
Speaker 3: big part of it too.
Speaker 1: You know, you talk about this in other weeks, but
Speaker 1: I always feel a loud defense is a good defense.
Speaker 1: And your defense is roaring right now. The attitudes, the
Speaker 1: confidence from from Brisker, obviously he's the guy that gets
Speaker 1: everybody moving to mind twice sets addition to Kyler Gordon
Speaker 1: to t everybody's feeling it, and now it feels like
Speaker 1: a knitted together, do you get that sense?
Speaker 3: Yeah, the guys are a tight group, you know, they
Speaker 3: always have been. But since the you know, the consistency
Speaker 3: of the lineup, you know, with getting everybody back, you know,
Speaker 3: I think it was really, you know, right after the
Speaker 3: Denver game. I believe it was where we started to
Speaker 3: get guys back, and not fully really until a little
Speaker 3: bit after that. So I really feel that the consistency
Speaker 3: with the group and those guys being able to play
Speaker 3: off each other. You know, our system is a system
Speaker 3: that that's been in place for a long time. You know.
Speaker 3: It started way back, you know, with the Steelers of
Speaker 3: the seventies, you know, and then it went you know
Speaker 3: through the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Right then it came to
Speaker 3: Chicago the first time, right and then we had it
Speaker 3: in Dallas, and had it in Indianapolis, and now it's
Speaker 3: back in Chicago again. So the system has a history
Speaker 3: to it, and away we play and how we go
Speaker 3: about our business and how we practice and and those
Speaker 3: guys are really starting to buy into that and understand
Speaker 3: what the system's about.
Speaker 1: See.
Speaker 7: I love that.
Speaker 1: I love that because people like to take systems and say, yeah,
Speaker 1: well they're out of out of bowl and offenses are
Speaker 1: different now and and hey everything goes in a dip, right,
Speaker 1: But you said the magic word yesterday. Proof, it's proof,
Speaker 1: right this proof guys are leading the league and takeaways
Speaker 1: the last how many weeks? Uh, And it's it's like
Speaker 1: the ball just doesn't happen to be bouncing that way.
Speaker 1: I know people like to dig into that a little bit,
Speaker 1: says it's a little luck involved, but you.
Speaker 2: Got to be in the right place at the right time.
Speaker 1: How else can you explain Jalen Johnson who's could have
Speaker 1: had six interceptions this year and Brisker knocked one away
Speaker 1: that could have been a seven. You know what I mean?
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 3: It's really about two things. You know, all my mentors
Speaker 3: would say this is that it's about rush and cover.
Speaker 3: Cover and rush, so they go hand in hand. So
Speaker 3: in order to uh get the sacks or the strip socks,
Speaker 3: you got to have great coverage because it takes you know,
Speaker 3: a tick. You know, the pass rushers don't get home,
Speaker 3: you know, you know, just clean all the time. Right,
Speaker 3: there's going to be a guy blocking them and it
Speaker 3: takes them just another second half a second to get home.
Speaker 3: So the coverage has got to be tight and it's
Speaker 3: got to be good. So our back end has been
Speaker 3: doing a great job with that in terms of the skies,
Speaker 3: in terms of you know, getting them to hold it
Speaker 3: an extra second. We got a couple of sacks because
Speaker 3: of that, you know, And then the rush has always
Speaker 3: got to be there, you know, when you could rush
Speaker 3: with four, you know, and cover with seven, that obviously
Speaker 3: you can do more with your coverages. And that's what
Speaker 3: we've been able to do as of late. And it's
Speaker 3: not to say that we don't butz we still but
Speaker 3: you know, quite you know, quite often. But I think
Speaker 3: it's important that that we tie it in together to
Speaker 3: the front and of the back end.
Speaker 7: All right.
Speaker 1: So if you have dexter and i'd have to go back,
Speaker 1: you probably know I don't dexter sweat and blitzing Tremaine
Speaker 1: at six six sixty six, six ' five, all that
Speaker 1: coming at a quarterback. Keep blitzing them. I mean, man
Speaker 1: that that like he's got the wing. The wing, I mean,
Speaker 1: doesn't that cloud vision significantly?
Speaker 3: It sure does, it sure does. And those guys we
Speaker 3: got a lot of good blitzers, you know. You know,
Speaker 3: Kyler's a really good butzer. You know, Uh Briskers are
Speaker 3: really good from the second level. And both our inside
Speaker 3: backers can pressure, you know. So it's good to be
Speaker 3: able to have all those guys that could really come
Speaker 3: from the edges, you know, along with your d line,
Speaker 3: because it gives you some variants and give you some
Speaker 3: variety of what you can do.
Speaker 1: You know, at this point now, because everybody's healthy and
Speaker 1: everybody's feeling it on defense and we'll get to the offense.
Speaker 1: I'm not going to ignore that. But as a play
Speaker 1: caller now and just put the head coach aside for
Speaker 1: a second, do you feel now like you got stuff
Speaker 1: at your disposal like you can you can draw on
Speaker 1: a lot of things.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I do feel that, But I also
Speaker 3: know this is week to week league, you know. I
Speaker 3: know that we got a big challenge ahead of us
Speaker 3: with the Cleveland Browns, and they got a really good,
Speaker 3: you know, diverse skill set, and it's gonna be it's
Speaker 3: gonna be a big challenge for us to defend them.
Speaker 1: I guess I am past the twenty four hour rule,
Speaker 1: so I should shut it down on to Troit.
Speaker 2: Now we got my hour late. I didn't follow the rule.
Speaker 3: Just it's postgame, so you got till three.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, okay, okay.
Speaker 1: Fields handled the blitz well yesterday again one hundred and
Speaker 1: twenty two yards. The passes were on heart. He threw
Speaker 1: some really really some beauties. You know, uh, some are
Speaker 1: not going to you know, every quarterback has some that
Speaker 1: don't land. But just overall and just his running ability,
Speaker 1: he just felt you could feel his confidence yesterday again, right.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no doubt, no doubt. And I thought the olone
Speaker 3: did a nice job protecting for the most part all
Speaker 3: day yesterday, as did the backs. You know, we always
Speaker 3: can clean clean it up some, but did a really
Speaker 3: nice job and situational football of you know, in third down,
Speaker 3: red zone of making it happen, you know, so you know,
Speaker 3: if he able, he's able to extend the plays. You
Speaker 3: saw that third down in the red zone when he
Speaker 3: scored a touchdown when he ran. And also you know
Speaker 3: he evaded the rush in the first half on some
Speaker 3: third downs to really create the first down. So that
Speaker 3: was always good to see. And he's doing a great
Speaker 3: job in normal situations and first and second down of
Speaker 3: giving the ball to the skill and letting them run
Speaker 3: with it. And that's that's what he did a good
Speaker 3: job of. And obviously a quarterbacks number one job was
Speaker 3: to protect the football, and we had zero zero turn
Speaker 3: offs yesterday.
Speaker 2: Yeah, huge, huge.
Speaker 1: Darnell right, Pro Football Focus said, forty past blocking snaps,
Speaker 1: one hit, no no sacks against a really good pass rusher.
Speaker 1: So again, more evidence the growth is going in the
Speaker 1: right direction.
Speaker 7: Yeah, he did.
Speaker 3: He did some really good things yesterday, you know, in
Speaker 3: the run game and the pass game, you know, in
Speaker 3: the protection. And he's continuing to grow.
Speaker 1: All right, Let's take a look at the Browns then,
Speaker 1: because they're number one right now. You know, the cumulative
Speaker 1: things change obviously in chunks, just like your team is
Speaker 1: getting a lot of ink about your defense over this
Speaker 1: last nine games. But number one overall, number one on
Speaker 1: third down, number one against the pam a lot of
Speaker 1: number ones, Miles Garrett gets all the attention. Are they
Speaker 1: much more than that defensively?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 3: This is a high energy group. You know, they play
Speaker 3: a similar style of ours. You know, it's a four
Speaker 3: to three group and they play a lot of different coverages,
Speaker 3: you know, and Schwartze, he does an excellent job, you know,
Speaker 3: coordinating that defense. And you know he's he's been a
Speaker 3: good coordinator, you know, for a long time. So it's
Speaker 3: a big challenge for our offense.
Speaker 1: He's still doing the wide nine. Oh yeah, yeah, what's
Speaker 1: the challenge of that for offense?
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's just about being able to, you know, really
Speaker 3: capture the edges. You know, you'll be how do you
Speaker 3: protect the edges and how do you capture the edges
Speaker 3: in the run game. And that's that's the big part
Speaker 3: of it.
Speaker 7: All right.
Speaker 1: When you see a story like Joe Flacco who today says, hey,
Speaker 1: I just love football. I want to keep playing. He's
Speaker 1: playing for his kids now five He's got five kids
Speaker 1: age five to eleven. So it's exciting for him to
Speaker 1: have them see his da, their dad play meaningful football
Speaker 1: in December for a new team that has on their
Speaker 1: fourth quarterback. How do you look at that at thirty
Speaker 1: eight year old Joe fo.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it's I think it's pretty cool. It's
Speaker 3: what the NFL is all about, you know. So you know,
Speaker 3: we got big dog here, so you know, Mercedes and
Speaker 3: he's thirty eight, right, he got you know, they got
Speaker 3: great wisdom. They've seen a lot of football. They've seen
Speaker 3: a lot of coverages. You know, he's you know, he's
Speaker 3: seen a lot of things and a lot of different
Speaker 3: pressures and all that. So it's going to be important
Speaker 3: that we're on top of our game, and that's the
Speaker 3: most important.
Speaker 1: I always are quite sorry about that. I didn't mean Steban.
Speaker 1: I always a quite the north divisions in both guys,
Speaker 1: they're they're very similar in terms of you think of physicality,
Speaker 1: you think of teams that like to run the ball,
Speaker 1: you think of rust Belt, you know, great football fan base,
Speaker 1: and you're an Ohio guy. That stadium is a tough
Speaker 1: place to play for the visiting appen Yeah.
Speaker 3: You know, you know, I've worked there a long time
Speaker 3: ago for a couple of years, and no doubt it's
Speaker 3: a it's a the fans will be, you know, rowdy,
Speaker 3: and it's it's it's really a cool place to play.
Speaker 1: And a chance to again knack off right now at
Speaker 1: number five seed in the AFC.
Speaker 2: Good luck. We did prepped this week, all right?
Speaker 3: Thanks?
Speaker 1: All right, we got into Cleveland a little bit. We'll
Speaker 1: touch on that later in the program, but you could
Speaker 1: just see it on his FaceTime. You weren't here to
Speaker 1: see it, but you could. I mean, he is as
Speaker 1: dialed in right now. He knows something's bruin. And I
Speaker 1: know it's late in the season and there's been a
Speaker 1: lot of pain along the way, but for me, better
Speaker 1: late than never.
Speaker 6: That's the thing about it, you know, Jeff. We often
Speaker 6: talk about, oh, it's a seventeen game stretch. They're in
Speaker 6: it for a marathon. It's not a sprint. There's so
Speaker 6: many more games ahead of them. And when you talk
Speaker 6: about cutting coming down to the tail end of the season,
Speaker 6: and you talk about your team when they're really developing,
Speaker 6: playing the best and starting to really perform on the
Speaker 6: field that you've always expected of them, it makes you
Speaker 6: excited to get back to work, you know. And he
Speaker 6: talked about the twenty four hour rule that's almost expired.
Speaker 6: But then you look forward to going back into that
Speaker 6: room with your assistant coaches and start studying tape with
Speaker 6: your opponent. And then you think about where Matt started
Speaker 6: the season and where he's at now and the influence
Speaker 6: that he's had on the defense because he's become the
Speaker 6: defensive coordinator. How as exciting as that for him, when
Speaker 6: you see this group of guys that they've brought together,
Speaker 6: and they've been able to bring in a guy like
Speaker 6: Montese Sweat, who I'm not saying that he's individually responsible
Speaker 6: for making this whole team better, but you know, Matt
Speaker 6: realizes how important his role is on this team and
Speaker 6: in the locker room.
Speaker 5: So I'm excited for him, but it kind of makes
Speaker 5: me excited too.
Speaker 6: So you have to get ready for next week's Cleveland
Speaker 6: game because as well as we've seen him play throughout
Speaker 6: the season, and as well as they played against Detroit,
Speaker 6: who's considered a playoff team, I'm excited to see.
Speaker 5: How they bring their defense on the road.
Speaker 6: And you always say defense and running games travel, well, yeah.
Speaker 2: They sure do.
Speaker 1: You know the other thing, meaningful games in December are
Speaker 1: so important for a franchise because you know, even Montes
Speaker 1: what intimated what's going on in Washington felt like guys
Speaker 1: were just playing out the string and we've seen that here.
Speaker 2: You don't want that in your building at any level.
Speaker 2: Do you do not want that in your building?
Speaker 1: This will lay groundwork for the future if they can
Speaker 1: finish this season strong, no matter how many wins they
Speaker 1: may or may not get. And I'll tell you. It's
Speaker 1: a great feeling. Like you said, you can't wait then
Speaker 1: to get to the next game. And I think the
Speaker 1: players probably feel that too. I mean, they've experienced unmatched
Speaker 1: success over the last two years by going five and
Speaker 1: four here and so that winning is contagious and being
Speaker 1: in games and boy, they're going to bemoan some of
Speaker 1: those losses, the ones that got away.
Speaker 6: The ones that got away. There's nothing you can do
Speaker 6: about it. And Matt always says, you always have to
Speaker 6: be looking forward. The thing that I'm really happy about
Speaker 6: for the remainder of the season is there is no
Speaker 6: negative conversation infiltrating the press conferences are the locker room
Speaker 6: about draft choice positioning, because everything is going to work
Speaker 6: how it will work out, and I think that you
Speaker 6: have to keep your foot on the gas pedal and
Speaker 6: not worrying about what could possibly happen and how you
Speaker 6: could affect your draft position. And I think that really
Speaker 6: puts a more positive atmosphere in the locker room about
Speaker 6: where they need to go and where they could possibly
Speaker 6: end up at the end of the year. So that's
Speaker 6: one of the things I'm really grateful for that they
Speaker 6: don't have to worry about that message being asked and
Speaker 6: really undermine the positive atmosphere that they have right now.
Speaker 1: Bears fans, you can be there for live NFL action
Speaker 1: all season long. Is the official ticket marketplace with the
Speaker 1: Bears in the NFL. Ticketmaster has a wide selection of
Speaker 1: tickets available for every every game. Buying tickets today at
Speaker 1: ticketmaster dot com. Slash Bears Jeff and Tom and the
Speaker 1: Bears et cetera podcast got to talk about that keep
Speaker 1: playing the game that turned the momentum in the right
Speaker 1: direction for the Bears in an eighteen to nothing second half,
Speaker 1: and that was the fourth and thirteen, the hard count
Speaker 1: and the drawing of the off sides. It was detailed
Speaker 1: here in this press conference on Monday from Lucaspatrick.
Speaker 8: I think Justin's done a great job handling it. This
Speaker 8: is an intricate cadence, and I'd probably say we might
Speaker 8: have one of the tougher silent cadences across the league.
Speaker 7: We do.
Speaker 8: We do a lot of stuff, and we put a
Speaker 8: lot on him with run checks, past checks and understanding
Speaker 8: how his his motion timing effects a snap cadence he
Speaker 8: wants to use. So he kind of pulled it all
Speaker 8: together in that moment, So credit to him. And even
Speaker 8: this week, you know, we were talking how I think
Speaker 8: came up to him and I thought cadence was going
Speaker 8: to be huge this week back at home, you know,
Speaker 8: I think we what did three or four four on
Speaker 8: the road in a while, so teams had a while
Speaker 8: to study our cadence. There's a lot of self scout
Speaker 8: on our side, but there's opponent scout with TV copies
Speaker 8: and how big the league is now, there's microphones everywhere.
Speaker 8: So it's a credit to him for honing in on
Speaker 8: a situation and not just taking information that was in
Speaker 8: the play, but information from a few weeks and executing
Speaker 8: them pletely.
Speaker 5: Didn't happen though, unless you snapped the ball.
Speaker 7: So can you kind of explain what you have to go.
Speaker 8: Through process wise in terms of whether you're deciding to
Speaker 8: snap the ball or not.
Speaker 7: I mean you obviously have to make sure they're outside. Yeah,
Speaker 7: it's it's definitely a fun plays of center.
Speaker 8: I gotta be honest, like when when a certain situation
Speaker 8: comes up and we get to play call, I actually
Speaker 8: get pretty excited for it because it's a I don't
Speaker 8: know if you can see it. I was pretty elated
Speaker 8: on that. But yeah, you got to be locked in.
Speaker 8: You got to know, you got to know that they're
Speaker 8: clearly off sides because they can step across and go
Speaker 8: back and then if I rip it, it would be
Speaker 8: a false start. There's just there's a lot of nuances
Speaker 8: to that, a lot of practice that goes into it.
Speaker 8: Like fortunately on the on the scout team this week,
Speaker 8: some were not planned and then some gets you'll just
Speaker 8: mix it up and you know, we could have a
Speaker 8: play that's you know, a goal line play and snap
Speaker 8: it and so it's it's something that we do train.
Speaker 7: But yeah, in that moment, you got to be locked in.
Speaker 8: And it's weird, like your peripherals get better because you're
Speaker 8: so like paying attention to it and kind of keeping
Speaker 8: you know, one eye this way, one eye that way.
Speaker 5: Heart start pumping a lot more when you see the
Speaker 5: guy actually cross the line.
Speaker 8: No, I mean, uh, fortunately, I've had quite a few
Speaker 8: reps of free plays both practice games, so it's not
Speaker 8: something new to me.
Speaker 7: And you know, credit to everyone there.
Speaker 8: I mean, it was it was a well executed play
Speaker 8: and it was it was good to get that one
Speaker 8: there and just really swing the momentum.
Speaker 2: All right, So you heard it a lot to break
Speaker 2: down there.
Speaker 1: One that he said, the cadences in this offense are complicated,
Speaker 1: and the silent counts are complicated. They're going to go
Speaker 1: into Cleveland probably with a silent count. Just explain all
Speaker 1: of the significance of what Lucas kind of put all
Speaker 1: together there and how that play is something we see
Speaker 1: from betteran quarterbacks all the time and it usually means
Speaker 1: good things.
Speaker 6: Well, first of all, the more of a voice flection
Speaker 6: that a quarterback can use throughout his cadence means the
Speaker 6: better he's starting to understand the terminology and the offense
Speaker 6: now as he's able to use a.
Speaker 5: Hard count where he can throw his voice up and down.
Speaker 6: That can make a defensive lineman that wants to get
Speaker 6: off the ball so quickly it can make him jumpy
Speaker 6: and get into that neutral zone.
Speaker 5: So I think it's such an asset to have.
Speaker 6: And if you look at around the NFL over the
Speaker 6: course of years, from Boomer Aside and to Steve de
Speaker 6: Berg to guys like Aaron Rodgers now justin fields, the
Speaker 6: more that you can make that unpredictable snapcount be a
Speaker 6: factor on the line of scrimmage, especially at home the
Speaker 6: more that you can get one or two of those again,
Speaker 6: and now if you can get one or two of
Speaker 6: those a game, and then you can turn it into
Speaker 6: an active play like Justin.
Speaker 5: Did you see the results of it and how important
Speaker 5: it was.
Speaker 6: So now they're going to be preaching, Okay, you got
Speaker 6: to watch this count at home.
Speaker 5: It's you know, it's really difficult to kind of get
Speaker 5: a tempo on.
Speaker 6: So now defensive linemen are a little less jumpy at
Speaker 6: the line of scrimmage, so they're getting off the ball
Speaker 6: a little bit slower, and it's allowed the offensive lineman
Speaker 6: to get in a more successful position. So there's a
Speaker 6: lot of tentacles too as snapcount like that and how
Speaker 6: it can help the offensive line. It can create big
Speaker 6: plays for the offense at some of the most important
Speaker 6: times in the game and on every third down home.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think we can all agree that when Justin
Speaker 1: gets some success running the football, it energizes him and
Speaker 1: makes him play better, and it kind of lingers throughout
Speaker 1: the course of a game. And you go to the
Speaker 1: last seventeen games that he started, he's got over three
Speaker 1: thousand passing yards, twenty five touchdowns, eleven interceptions, none in
Speaker 1: his last ninety three attempts and twelve hundred and thirty
Speaker 1: seven rushing yards and eight touchdowns. That's one full season
Speaker 1: in today's NFL dating back to last year. Those are
Speaker 1: good numbers. But the runs yesterday, it just kind of
Speaker 1: energized him and he didn't take well. He did take
Speaker 1: some big hits. We're gonna get into that too, but
Speaker 1: on the plays that were successful, he did not take
Speaker 1: any big hits, and it just energizes his game. Is
Speaker 1: he finding the right balance? Is Luke Getze finding the
Speaker 1: right balance? The game was not without errors in the
Speaker 1: target and accuracy of some of his throws, but big
Speaker 1: plays they were there.
Speaker 6: You know what you have to impress me most about
Speaker 6: Justin's escapability, yes, man, especially on that third and eighth
Speaker 6: went for nineteen yards. Is he's finding escape routes through
Speaker 6: the center of the defense. They all don't have to
Speaker 6: be to the outside. They don't have to try to
Speaker 6: get to the edge and then turn it off field.
Speaker 6: If he sees an opening in the middle of the
Speaker 6: defensive line, that filters through the second level and onto
Speaker 6: the third and you get him a little space between
Speaker 6: he and that second level and third level defenders then.
Speaker 5: Justin has the advantage.
Speaker 6: And so that's the most encouraging thing to me about
Speaker 6: yesterday's escapability by Justin is a couple of them, and
Speaker 6: the most and the best ones were through the center
Speaker 6: of the defense.
Speaker 1: Just like last year. Those were explosive.
Speaker 6: Well, you know, you just imagine DJ Moore's touchdown run,
Speaker 6: which I was really surprised that that was the first
Speaker 6: touchdown run of his career. But you know, a major
Speaker 6: part of that influence was Justin Fields lined up at
Speaker 6: kind of in a wide receiver position to the far left,
Speaker 6: and as he ran back towards the center of the field,
Speaker 6: they were thinking, Okay, here's a trick play. DJ Moore
Speaker 6: is going to flip it back to Justin. Then he's
Speaker 6: going to try to throw a downfield. So now they
Speaker 6: become susceptible to fooling themselves. And as DJ Moore kept
Speaker 6: it and got around the corner, he turned it into
Speaker 6: a touchdown. And it's because of the influencing ability of
Speaker 6: Justin's athleticism they're created that outside running lane for DJ.
Speaker 1: Good news Chicago United Airlines is getting brand new planes
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Speaker 1: let's take a look at some of the hits that
Speaker 1: Justin is taking as a running quarterback.
Speaker 2: Jakwan Brisker was asked about it.
Speaker 1: He feels a certain way about what the opposition is
Speaker 1: doing to fields.
Speaker 4: If it was us, they'll be throwing it. It won't
Speaker 4: even be a reaction, They'll just throw it. So I
Speaker 4: think they should just treat him fair. He is a quarterback,
Speaker 4: and I know he's two thirty and he's running a
Speaker 4: four to three, but it doesn't really matter. He's still
Speaker 4: a quarterback and we have to protect them. And it's disappointing,
Speaker 4: obviously the other teams being told to do dirty stuff
Speaker 4: after the play hit him like this a certain way,
Speaker 4: it's obviously being told just by the way they've been
Speaker 4: treating him, just like a couple of weeks, a lot
Speaker 4: of shots to the head, and it's it's very disappointed
Speaker 4: seeing a guy like that get hit and take hits
Speaker 4: like that, and one of those hits, you know, you know,
Speaker 4: God forbid, you know, it could be something very bad.
Speaker 4: So that I think the league need to get on
Speaker 4: that and notice that it's bad.
Speaker 9: But the common thought the locker room that it's sort
Speaker 9: of systematic that I think you just said that they're
Speaker 9: coaching these guys to hit the fields hard or late.
Speaker 7: Or at the echo.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you just tell like just from the other teams,
Speaker 4: like we don't we like, you know, coach Flulsen, he
Speaker 4: doesn't tell to do anything like that. But you could
Speaker 4: just tell, like just the way like they just you know,
Speaker 4: hit him after their play. They just try to, Like
Speaker 4: you just tell how they're just trying to tug and
Speaker 4: you know, try to do whatever they can to get
Speaker 4: him out of the game.
Speaker 7: And it's obvious.
Speaker 4: It's obvious Autumn hit shots yesterday, Autumn lay hits, trying
Speaker 4: to mess with his hands and things like that is obvious.
Speaker 4: So Lee just has to protect the quarterback and we're
Speaker 4: going to protect orders at all time.
Speaker 1: So all right, Tom, you're you've been outspoken on this
Speaker 1: topic when it comes to players. Doesn't matter if it's
Speaker 1: quarterback or any other player taking hits before they get
Speaker 1: out of bounds or in the field of play good
Speaker 1: and bat and I think you've been pretty on point
Speaker 1: about it. Do you think the Lions over did it
Speaker 1: yesterday and the referee should have thrown some flags. Ibra
Speaker 1: Flu said it was worse than Week eleven against Detroit
Speaker 1: versus Week fourteen. What's your thought.
Speaker 6: I think Justin's the most disrespected a quarterback running quarterback
Speaker 6: in the league by the officials.
Speaker 5: He never gets any hits. He did. Yeah, it did.
Speaker 6: Happen in the first Detroit game. It happened this week
Speaker 6: in the game. And you know, Jeff, they only have
Speaker 6: to give Justin a call one time early in the game.
Speaker 6: That's gonna stop it for the rest of the game
Speaker 6: because the defense is going to attack Justin as much
Speaker 6: as they can until they get a call against him,
Speaker 6: and for him not to get more calls. And I'm
Speaker 6: not asking for a sympathy call. I'm asking for an
Speaker 6: infraction call. And I see it whether you know, there's
Speaker 6: times also that I stick up for the opponent. When
Speaker 6: Justin is still in bounds and a defender hits them
Speaker 6: and hits them, you know, it's a hard hit to
Speaker 6: get him out of bounds.
Speaker 5: You know, that's the legal part of the game as well.
Speaker 6: However, when Justin takes multiple bodies jumping on him or
Speaker 6: hitting in the upper body when he's sliding feet first
Speaker 6: and giving himself up.
Speaker 5: Where is that call?
Speaker 6: When is Justin start going to start getting the respect
Speaker 6: he deserves Like a lot of other quarterbacks do around
Speaker 6: the league, And you see these other quarterbacks pop up
Speaker 6: to their feet and start complaining to the official.
Speaker 5: Justin never does that.
Speaker 6: He just pops up to his feet and gets back
Speaker 6: to the huddle. So I think eventually, if the NFL,
Speaker 6: I mean, if Matt or the Bears can bring it
Speaker 6: to the attention of the officials, maybe they'll start recognizing
Speaker 6: it a little bit more and understanding, Look, this is
Speaker 6: a dynamic athlete playing quarterback, and if he does run
Speaker 6: and he gives himself up, we have to give him
Speaker 6: the respect he deserves.
Speaker 1: Yeah. I think it's ridiculous that we're even having this
Speaker 1: delineation between right and wrong. It should be consistently called.
Speaker 2: That's it.
Speaker 1: I mean, the call is the call. It doesn't matter
Speaker 1: if Justin's a unique athlete. It's the call. That's the call.
Speaker 1: I mean, quarterback, you are supposed to be protected.
Speaker 6: Right, Well, you know one thing about it, Jeff, until
Speaker 6: a quarterback, you know plays you know, a double digit
Speaker 6: to a whole season worth of games. They kind of don't.
Speaker 6: They're not familiar with the type of game he plays.
Speaker 6: Justin's been playing enough games now and you read about
Speaker 6: the rushing stats that he's accomplished since he's been around.
Speaker 5: They know what he's capable of doing.
Speaker 6: So when you get ready to you know, you come
Speaker 6: out of your officials locker room, you got to know
Speaker 6: what type of quarterback you are officiating. And like I said,
Speaker 6: it's about respect and he's at the point where he
Speaker 6: deserves it.
Speaker 1: Tom They remained pretty healthy and got Kaway came down
Speaker 1: with an ankle eq Saint Brown's going to be week
Speaker 1: to week with a peck injury. But I mean, you
Speaker 1: can't ask for a better healthy roster right now. This
Speaker 1: is outstanding that gives a lot of options to iber
Speaker 1: Fluss as a defensive play caller as I mentioned him
Speaker 1: in our interview, but also from an offensive standpoint. Just
Speaker 1: keep that offensive line healthy, man for the rest of
Speaker 1: the year. Knock on wood, keep it going in the
Speaker 1: right direction because as they get ready to take on
Speaker 1: the Cleveland Browns, Dewan Jones, their big right tackle rookie
Speaker 1: at Ohio State who has had a fantastic year. He's
Speaker 1: out for the year, needs knee surgery. They have two
Speaker 1: healthy guys on the offensive line, and they are the
Speaker 1: number five seed in the AFC, and that changes things.
Speaker 1: That puts a lot of pressure on Joe Flacco, the
Speaker 1: thirty eight year old quarterback. We'll dip into that. But
Speaker 1: aren't you feeling the same way. I mean, the healthy
Speaker 1: you are in December, the stronger you are in December, no.
Speaker 5: Doubt about it.
Speaker 6: When you look at the weather report, it's going to
Speaker 6: be fifty three and sunny. So you look at this
Speaker 6: group of Bears athletes and they have a chance to
Speaker 6: come out there, and I hope it's good field conditions.
Speaker 6: They get a chance to get loose and they get
Speaker 6: to play up to the level of athleticism they're capable of.
Speaker 6: But when you talk about the health status of the Bears,
Speaker 6: and you think of what the Bears have gone through
Speaker 6: throughout the season, whether it's Kyler Gordon, Jakwan Brisker, Tremaine Edmonds,
Speaker 6: the offensive line, as you mentioned, the running back position,
Speaker 6: they are just un fortunate justin yeah, yeah, justin themselves.
Speaker 6: So I do believe that all the counterparts that factor
Speaker 6: in a healthy roster. Are doing their due diligence. From
Speaker 6: the Jimmy, Arthur and Pierre in the weight room, to
Speaker 6: the hydration staff, to the dietitians, to all the training staff,
Speaker 6: to everything that matters. They're doing a great job of
Speaker 6: keeping this group of guys, you know, in the best
Speaker 6: health position they can be in at this part of
Speaker 6: the season.
Speaker 1: For all your journeys ahead, go with a partner who's
Speaker 1: been on your team from the beginning, the one members
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Speaker 1: with you, for you.
Speaker 2: Through it all.
Speaker 1: All right, Cleveland, They knock off Jacksonville with a banged
Speaker 1: up Trevor Lawrence in Joe Flacco at age thirty eight,
Speaker 1: throws three touchdown passes. He did fumble and he did
Speaker 1: throw a pick. He's having a great time. He wants
Speaker 1: to keep playing as long as that body allows him to.
Speaker 1: It's a love of the game thing. Quite the interesting
Speaker 1: story here brewing for Cleveland. He's already got the attention
Speaker 1: of his teammates and the head coach now has made
Speaker 1: him the starting quarterback period for the rest of this season,
Speaker 1: one in which They've won four games with four different quarterbacks,
Speaker 1: the first time since nineteen fifty in the NFL. So,
Speaker 1: Kevin Stefanski, you've done a nice job overall. How do
Speaker 1: you look at this team and this visit by the
Speaker 1: Bears will break it down in depth on Thursday.
Speaker 6: I think it's very Joshua dob esque where you come in,
Speaker 6: you're flying by the seat of your pants. You get
Speaker 6: the team in a winning position, everybody's anointing you as
Speaker 6: a quarterback of the future, and then the next thing
Speaker 6: you know, your benched and they bring in Minnesota, brings
Speaker 6: in somebody else and no offense with Joe Flacco. I
Speaker 6: think when you come by and you're basically a hired
Speaker 6: gun and you're kind of playing reactionary football according to
Speaker 6: the information that you're saying, but you're also being coached
Speaker 6: into the speaker your helmet of where you know quarterback
Speaker 6: passing awareness.
Speaker 5: From the play that's being called. So I think there's
Speaker 5: a lot.
Speaker 6: Of elements that help and inexperienced quarterback in the system,
Speaker 6: But then you also have to rely on the experiences
Speaker 6: that you've already lived through as an active NFL quarterback.
Speaker 5: So to me put as much pressure.
Speaker 6: On as you possibly can see if you can affect
Speaker 6: his throwing fundamentals, can you get inside of his circle
Speaker 6: to keep him from you know, having perfect fundamental throwing
Speaker 6: windows and you know, make him look like a thirty
Speaker 6: eight year old quarterback that maybe you can get him
Speaker 6: exhausted from running away from pressure.
Speaker 2: Crazy thing.
Speaker 1: They threw him forty five times forty five Wow?
Speaker 5: Right, I don't know.
Speaker 6: I mean, is that the fastest way to success? Do
Speaker 6: you have no faith in your running game? Do you
Speaker 6: have no faith in your offensive line?
Speaker 5: Do you think that.
Speaker 6: Putting him on a three step drop he can get
Speaker 6: the ball out of his hands before pressure can get
Speaker 6: to him.
Speaker 5: So there's a lot of.
Speaker 6: Different elements that I think that we're going to have
Speaker 6: to pay attention to when we get a chance to
Speaker 6: look at some of the some of the tape of
Speaker 6: him playing quarterback.
Speaker 1: Well, they do like to run the ball over there
Speaker 1: in Cleveland too, and they've had a bunch of injuries
Speaker 1: at that. But it's something the Bears have to lock down.
Speaker 1: They gave up a little bit in that first half
Speaker 1: against Detroit, which is also a good rushing team, and
Speaker 1: got better in the second half.
Speaker 2: Really, it was.
Speaker 1: One big run Jamiir Gibbs thirty six. You got one
Speaker 1: hundred and four yards the rest of the day, but
Speaker 1: you can't take away that play. That's the way it will.
Speaker 6: They got a solid offensive line in Detroit though, so yeah,
Speaker 6: I mean it was a battle up front. It wasn't
Speaker 6: like they got, you know, five guys out up there
Speaker 6: that can't block.
Speaker 5: They got five guys up there.
Speaker 6: And I know they have an injury to Frank Ragdow,
Speaker 6: but however, they have a good quality offensive line.
Speaker 1: All right, we've been teasing it. It's not something that's funny. Certainly.
Speaker 1: The first pro start of Justin Fields in Cleveland turned
Speaker 1: into a nightmare. He was sacked for more yards than
Speaker 1: he threw, and Miles Garrett had four and a half
Speaker 1: sacks and six hits.
Speaker 2: What's the best way to block this guy?
Speaker 6: First of all, you're gonna have to have the proper
Speaker 6: direction of protection. You're gonna have to use multiple guys,
Speaker 6: whether it's Cole Comet, Robert Tanya and Marcedes Lewis, Rochawn Johnson,
Speaker 6: Kyrie blasting game just to give a little bit of
Speaker 6: backside help to whatever offensive lineman is assigned to him.
Speaker 6: You have to give him all the respect in the world.
Speaker 6: He'll play on each side of the ball. If he
Speaker 6: feels that they have design protection to come at him
Speaker 6: every time, he'll wait until you break the huddle and
Speaker 6: he'll go to the other side and see if he
Speaker 6: can insure himself a one on one. And then you're
Speaker 6: gonna have to have a variation of silent snapcounts. The
Speaker 6: worst thing they did to Justin the first time around
Speaker 6: is they were super consistent in the tempo of their
Speaker 6: silent count and that turned out to be the most
Speaker 6: dangerous thing that you can do to a young, first
Speaker 6: time starting quarterback. And then you have to allow Justin
Speaker 6: to run the ball. And you know, you saw what
Speaker 6: they did when they played against Max Crosby in the
Speaker 6: Raiders game, and they kind of designed plays and protections
Speaker 6: and routes that took him out of the play. And
Speaker 6: I think that you can do those same types of
Speaker 6: things with this offense.
Speaker 1: Number one defense in the NFL, third in yards per play.
Speaker 1: Also they are number one on third down first downs
Speaker 1: allowed per game, also third in the NFL, and kick
Speaker 1: return average. Some of the things defending the kick return,
Speaker 1: I should say so some of the things that are
Speaker 1: really good at the Cleveland defense. Offensively, as you might
Speaker 1: expect with four different quarterbacks. The numbers ten towards the
Speaker 1: bottom of the league versus the top of the league,
Speaker 1: including thirtieth in third down efficiency. So this is an
Speaker 1: opportunity again for the Bears defense to lay the hammer
Speaker 1: down on this Cleveland offense and for the Bears to
Speaker 1: get creative and aggressive against a very physical Cleveland defense.
Speaker 1: We're brought to you by PNC Official Bank of the Bears. Anyway,
Speaker 1: you gotta be thrilled about the Bears right now, Big
Speaker 1: Tom and DJ Moore, I hope you can embrace this.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you will or not. After the game,
Speaker 1: DJ Moore's quote was simple, our plan is to win out.
Speaker 2: Do you want to hear that? Yeah, exactly, of.
Speaker 5: Course I do.
Speaker 6: I mean, I don't think anybody should stand in front
Speaker 6: of the podium and say, oh, I'll be happy if
Speaker 6: we win you three out of.
Speaker 5: Four or we win a cup. No way, man.
Speaker 6: This is a team that should have their sites said
Speaker 6: on getting into the playoffs, however possible.
Speaker 5: And I thought at the beginning of the season, before
Speaker 5: the season.
Speaker 6: Ever started, that the Bear's sole goal should be able
Speaker 6: to win the division and get into the playoffs, and
Speaker 6: I think it's awesome that they've been able to work
Speaker 6: through some difficult times and have the possibility of that
Speaker 6: in their sights.
Speaker 2: That's going to wrap us up for our podcast today.
Speaker 1: We'll be back with you on Thursday with an in
Speaker 1: depth preview of the Browns along with some guests along
Speaker 1: the way. For time there, I'm Jeff Joniac and for
Speaker 1: head coach Matt Ibraflus.
Speaker 2: Thanks for listening.
Speaker 1: Please subscribe now in the Chicago Bears official Apple, Spotify, YouTube,
Speaker 1: or wherever you get your pie cats.
Speaker 2: Bear Down, everybody, h