Speaker 1: Get over that Dj Moore episode Touchdown Touchdown Pairs.
Speaker 2: I am Jeff Jonihan whitz is.
Speaker 3: On Donnie go up.
Speaker 4: What was like playing for Coachy Dido.
Speaker 2: I don't want to answer any questions like that.
Speaker 1: Pressure coming is a big trouble Dotie go Montest Sweat.
Speaker 5: Now.
Speaker 2: Bears et Cetera brought to you by Geico with the
Speaker 2: voices of the Bears, Jeff Joniac and Tom Thayer.
Speaker 1: Big Test in Houston awaits the Bears in prime time,
Speaker 1: Bears Texans, Rainy Division, whatever the wild scene expected at
Speaker 1: NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas with Super Bowl winning Bears
Speaker 1: guard Tom Fair.
Speaker 2: I'm Jeff, Joniak and Rondo.
Speaker 1: Week two after the bears thrilling come from behind win
Speaker 1: over the Tennessee Titans. Welcome to episode ninety three of
Speaker 1: the Bears et Cetera podcast, and it's brought to you
Speaker 1: by Geico.
Speaker 2: Tom. How are you feeling? I feeling good? Ready to go.
Speaker 6: It's Wednesday, It's work week, looking forward to Sunday Night football.
Speaker 6: It's gonna be an environment that some of these rookies
Speaker 6: have never seen before, and it's going to be an
Speaker 6: incredible learning and growing experience.
Speaker 2: For the Bears as a team.
Speaker 1: Going to be a white out meeting white jersey, white pants,
Speaker 1: and probably a lot of white hankies or towels in
Speaker 1: the crowd of seventy two thousand plus.
Speaker 2: They're in Houston and.
Speaker 1: The Bears wear an orange, so we're gonna have a
Speaker 1: cream scool, a cream socle game.
Speaker 6: Tommy, Well, listen, wear white gloves and wear white sleeves
Speaker 6: because it's dangerous when you have that offsetting color, because
Speaker 6: then holding calls are more easily seeing by the offensive
Speaker 6: line in the defensive back. So understand the importance of
Speaker 6: making sure you try to match their color.
Speaker 1: Coming up, we have the voices of the Houston Texans
Speaker 1: joining us. All four of us break down this matchup
Speaker 1: and talk about all things broadcasting NFL football. Also Kevin
Speaker 1: Byerd a portion of the interview that you will see
Speaker 1: on Bears Game Day Live ten thirty Sunday morning Live
Speaker 1: from Houston and NRG Stadium and the.
Speaker 2: Bears player profile.
Speaker 1: Okay, as you had a chance to really go through
Speaker 1: this tape one more time, as we look back in
Speaker 1: order to look forward offensively, where are the things that
Speaker 1: are correctible that could really advance the Bears offense immediately
Speaker 1: against a very good defensive team. They're in Houston with
Speaker 1: the Texans, especially on the edges with daneil Hunter and
Speaker 1: Will Anderson Junior, who is the reigning defensive Rookie of
Speaker 1: the Year, as is CJ. Stroud, the offensive rookie of
Speaker 1: the Year from the Houston Texans that made it to
Speaker 1: the playoffs and won the AFC South last year.
Speaker 6: Number One is the offensive line tackle. The tackle has
Speaker 6: to play a more physical brand of football. If they
Speaker 6: don't go out and match the intensity of what the
Speaker 6: Houston puts on the field defensively week in and week out,
Speaker 6: the Bears are going to have a really difficult time
Speaker 6: competing against these guys. And so you need to be
Speaker 6: able to provide the pass protection for Caleb and you know,
Speaker 6: and what he's growing through, and just in the running game,
Speaker 6: you know, you got to set that standard. That's one
Speaker 6: thing about the Bears in the last couple of years,
Speaker 6: no matter where they've gone, they've been able to run
Speaker 6: the ball.
Speaker 2: Effectively and physically.
Speaker 6: I just think, you know, and then when you look
Speaker 6: at Caleb himself, he's got to have more patience in himself.
Speaker 6: He's got to be able to understand that when he
Speaker 6: calls to play in the huddle, understand the protection and
Speaker 6: then be able to have time according to the play
Speaker 6: call to make sure that you have enough time in
Speaker 6: your mind to do what you're responsible to do. But
Speaker 6: I think if there was any one thing that I
Speaker 6: would want to point out, it would be the offensive
Speaker 6: line must be a lot more, must be more physical
Speaker 6: in their performance.
Speaker 1: It's because at bird's eye view from the quarterback Cat
Speaker 1: Williams of the podium on Wednesday at Hallis Hall.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it was around six throws that you know,
Speaker 3: obviously we would have hit those. Everything would have seemed
Speaker 3: a lot different throws that you know we hit in
Speaker 3: practice all the time on simple routes on enemy and
Speaker 3: then you know the one or two deep balls. You know,
Speaker 3: if you hit those the game, everything kind of explodes,
Speaker 3: and you know, you know, things would have been said
Speaker 3: differently about about how we playing on offense, and so, uh,
Speaker 3: you know, we're just we're here getting better.
Speaker 7: Obviously it was week one for us. We came out
Speaker 7: to win. We're really excited for that, like I said before.
Speaker 3: And then uh, you know, just just getting back out here,
Speaker 3: make sure we're focused on the small things, the details,
Speaker 3: you know, whether it's myself of footwork drops things like that,
Speaker 3: or whether it's the routes, whether it's the run game,
Speaker 3: hand placements, all these other things when blocking to make
Speaker 3: sure that you know it's an offense were successful.
Speaker 8: Feel good to get that first game in the the
Speaker 8: way and not to kind of focus on which you saw.
Speaker 7: Now, Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 3: I you know, going into that game, it was a
Speaker 3: little a little weird for me because it's my first
Speaker 3: game and we didn't really have anything on the decoordinator,
Speaker 3: so it's a little weird for me.
Speaker 7: But when I got out there, you know, I was
Speaker 7: seeing it well.
Speaker 3: Missed a few passes obviously, but you know, going back
Speaker 3: and watching the film, I was in the right place
Speaker 3: when I was throwing the ball. Like I said, I
Speaker 3: had a few also battle balls, but you know, going
Speaker 3: to the right places, you know, seeing it well, making
Speaker 3: some O line you know, adjustments and things like that.
Speaker 3: You know, having good communication on the sideline with my
Speaker 3: teammates and coaches for adjustments or just you know, constantly
Speaker 3: communicating with them. So I think the process, you know,
Speaker 3: throughout that game was well, whether it was mental or
Speaker 3: or or the small things you know on the sideline
Speaker 3: or like I say, communicating with everybody. I think you
Speaker 3: know that process as well. So that was encouraging to see.
Speaker 3: And then so waking up, I believe it was Monday
Speaker 3: or Tuesday morning. You know, you woke up and you
Speaker 3: realize that, you know, you won your first game in
Speaker 3: the NFL. Regardless of how you felt of your performance,
Speaker 3: you know, we won the first game, and you know,
Speaker 3: fell super excited, feel super excited about you know, necessarily
Speaker 3: not necessarily how I actually performed, but you know, like
Speaker 3: I said, being able to come out with that win
Speaker 3: and being able to help lead these guys to to
Speaker 3: to those to that win, and so, uh, you know,
Speaker 3: it feels good, really excited. You know, it builds confidence
Speaker 3: when you come out and do that. And you know,
Speaker 3: like I said, we're we're we're building on the small things.
Speaker 3: Make sure we get the small things down so we
Speaker 3: can go dominate and and and have fun doing it,
Speaker 3: you know when we get out there in the field
Speaker 3: as a team as a collective. So yes, it feel
Speaker 3: really good game.
Speaker 2: That you can improve from week one to week two.
Speaker 2: What do you think it would be?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I would say the drops sometimes I rushed my
Speaker 3: drop a little bit, you know, not not needing to.
Speaker 7: You know, one one specific.
Speaker 3: Route that uh that I can that I can think
Speaker 3: of is roam when he was I think it was
Speaker 3: a ten yard route right over the ball, and I
Speaker 3: rushed my drop and then uh, you know, try to
Speaker 3: try to juice it in there a little bit and missed.
Speaker 3: You know, I didn't need to, Just trying to help
Speaker 3: him get the ball to him, getting his hands fast
Speaker 3: as possible so he can you know, make magic and
Speaker 3: do what he does.
Speaker 7: And so you know, just making sure, you know.
Speaker 3: Trusting to drop, trusting the reads and things like that
Speaker 3: and getting through them.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: Uh, I say, that's probably the biggest thing that I'm
Speaker 3: focused on. And then you know, my finishes on my
Speaker 3: playfakes or anything like that.
Speaker 9: Some of the best quarterbacks in the league struggle throughout
Speaker 9: their rookie year before becoming.
Speaker 2: Really good at it.
Speaker 4: Was there anything you saw Sunday that gives you a
Speaker 4: confidence that it will be a quicker fix than that
Speaker 4: for you?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I think, uh, I think having a realization,
Speaker 3: like I said before, understanding that you know, it's not
Speaker 3: throws that I usually miss throughout all the time that
Speaker 3: I've been playing quarterback, and all the practice that you
Speaker 3: know that I've that I've had, and and and you know,
Speaker 3: with other teams here in Chicago, all the you know,
Speaker 3: all these other you know things and moments and games
Speaker 3: and all of that. So I think that's one. And
Speaker 3: then also understanding it's the NFL. They got good players
Speaker 3: on the other side, They're gonna make plays like a
Speaker 3: few bad at balls that we had, you know, right spot,
Speaker 3: you know, going the right spot, throwing the right shoulder,
Speaker 3: all these other things, trying to throw it over back,
Speaker 3: all these other things that you know, sometimes player is
Speaker 3: gonna get his arm up, you know, bat it down.
Speaker 3: So I think those have an understandment of those two
Speaker 3: things is really important to keep growing and progressing and
Speaker 3: and and to not lose faith in you know, whether
Speaker 3: it's the you know, the play, uh you know, the team, yourself, offense, run,
Speaker 3: whatever the case may be.
Speaker 7: You know, keep that that that.
Speaker 3: Confidence and understand that, uh, you know, we obviously didn't
Speaker 3: play as we wanted to us as well as we
Speaker 3: wanted to, and we came out, uh twenty four to seventeen.
Speaker 7: Chicago Bears went for.
Speaker 5: As good as a season great as the season that c. J.
Speaker 5: Stroud had last year, it took him a little bit
Speaker 5: before he became as good as he was. Does that
Speaker 5: are there parallels that you can draw just at the
Speaker 5: early part of your career as a rookie was trying
Speaker 5: to do the same thing.
Speaker 3: I'm more so I was looking at like say, for instance,
Speaker 3: I was looking at the NFL this past weekend and
Speaker 3: and I'm looking at all the all the teams and
Speaker 3: things like that and realizing that, like I've said in
Speaker 3: many other interviews that you know, the job is hard.
Speaker 3: NFL is hard. You know, the and the defense is
Speaker 3: gonna make it tough on you. So you know that's
Speaker 3: what they're gonna do day or weekend and week out.
Speaker 3: So you know, comparing you know that too, you know
Speaker 3: myself and in his rookie year. You know, typically guys
Speaker 3: coming in they have to figure it out and things
Speaker 3: like that, and so you know, that's what we're doing
Speaker 3: right now. You know, I didn't have obviously the performance
Speaker 3: that I wanted to, uh So trying to figure it
Speaker 3: out as fast as possible, and you know, making sure
Speaker 3: that we're all on the same page, making sure that
Speaker 3: we're you know, handling, handling the things that we need
Speaker 3: to handle, because like I said, all the small things
Speaker 3: become a lot larger on game day and so, uh,
Speaker 3: you know, make sure we handle those things, myself included,
Speaker 3: and progress from there. But you know, speaking on that
Speaker 3: and getting back to what I was saying about the NFL.
Speaker 3: The guys in the NFL this week quarterback wise, you're
Speaker 3: go and watch. It wasn't necessarily week sixteen for even
Speaker 3: the guys that you know, I have been playing ball
Speaker 3: for ten fifteen plus years. You know it's always gonna
Speaker 3: be a little rouch rough patch. So understanding that, maintaining
Speaker 3: your confidence, if not growing it because obviously you know,
Speaker 3: realizing that you can you know, keep keep getting better.
Speaker 3: And so that's what we're doing. That's what I'm doing,
Speaker 3: and we're excited about it.
Speaker 5: More from the Texans defense.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I expect them to be aggressive.
Speaker 3: I expect them to be you know, excited to get
Speaker 3: out there, you know, be in front of their home crowd.
Speaker 3: Believe they played at the Colts last week, so you know,
Speaker 3: get out there, be excited, you know, be aggressive, you know,
Speaker 3: running around, you know, playing well, playing playing together. You know,
Speaker 3: that's that's that's how they coach it, I would say,
Speaker 3: is that you know they you know, play well, play together,
Speaker 3: you know, fly around, tackle all these other things. And
Speaker 3: you know, we get to go versus a great defense
Speaker 3: again this week. So we're excited. I know they're gonna
Speaker 3: be out there excited. I know that the stadium is
Speaker 3: gonna be rocking. So h you know, getting a practice
Speaker 3: prepare for that, and uh yeah, we're all excited.
Speaker 7: Go Bears.
Speaker 1: One thing we know about Caleb al righty, he's very aware.
Speaker 1: He's very aware of everything around him. How he explains it,
Speaker 1: he's very open, and how he explains what he feels
Speaker 1: he needs to work on. And and the fact of
Speaker 1: the matter is it is true a half a dozen
Speaker 1: passes here or there, you extend to play, you get
Speaker 1: first downs. They only had two third down conversions. And
Speaker 1: now you're talking about not having that big time of
Speaker 1: possession difference in the first half. You're talking about maybe
Speaker 1: some touchdowns. You're talking about a different version of the
Speaker 1: Bears offense in week one.
Speaker 6: Right, you know, and and Caleb, you know, when you
Speaker 6: have time, take your time. When you understand the types
Speaker 6: of passes that you want to throw, you've thrown them
Speaker 6: a million times.
Speaker 2: Just throw them as efficiently as.
Speaker 6: You have throughout your course of your football life in
Speaker 6: practice and in games. And I expect Caleb's curved.
Speaker 2: To be huge.
Speaker 6: I don't think he's going to be a slow process
Speaker 6: of improvement. However, given the circumstances of what they're going
Speaker 6: to go into in Houston, it is going to be
Speaker 6: more difficult. But just make sure that you put an
Speaker 6: emotion the things you practice. And like you said, he's
Speaker 6: very aware of the things that he needs to do
Speaker 6: to become a better quarterback in the NFL, and it's
Speaker 6: evident and obvious by the things he says at the podium.
Speaker 1: And even it's the you know, the passing game in
Speaker 1: terms of amount of yards you have to throw the football.
Speaker 1: I strongly feel that these weapons are all catch and
Speaker 1: run guys. So again, when you're talking about finding your skill,
Speaker 1: letting your skill do your thing, let them do their thing.
Speaker 1: Some of those third and shorts, third and three, third
Speaker 1: and four, third, five, I call those third and shirts.
Speaker 1: They're actually third mediums and NFL vernacular. But I mean,
Speaker 1: let them go and pick throw it two yards and
Speaker 1: make them go get the other three or four. I mean,
Speaker 1: I think these guys are very capable of that. On
Speaker 1: ten yards or more exgen stats, Caleb was zero for
Speaker 1: seven pass on the football on his way to the
Speaker 1: fourteen for twenty nine in that day. But is eleven
Speaker 1: yard scramble on third down? You often in the past
Speaker 1: have said, and these were non running quarterbacks, so he's
Speaker 1: in that category. He doesn't look to run, looks to throw.
Speaker 1: You often come up with a key to the game
Speaker 1: in the past, quarterback access to pick up three first
Speaker 1: downs with his legs. You know, that's twelve plays, that's
Speaker 1: twelve additional place. That's you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: Yeah, But.
Speaker 1: With Caleb on the road at Houston, with really good
Speaker 1: exterior pass rushers on the outside, if that middle is open,
Speaker 1: you take the green grass and pick up a few
Speaker 1: first downs through the legs. How important would that be
Speaker 1: by Caleb?
Speaker 2: I mean so important, But you said it.
Speaker 6: With the exterior outside pass rushers they have here, if
Speaker 6: the two tackles can escort them to the outside and upfield,
Speaker 6: and then the interior three can take care of the
Speaker 6: two rushers on the inside, maybe there will be some
Speaker 6: invited opportunities for Caleb to run and get a couple
Speaker 6: first downs, but maybe that same type of pass rush
Speaker 6: may afford Caleb to get the ball into the hands
Speaker 6: of Gerald Everett and Cole Comet a few more times
Speaker 6: in the game. Because I think as much as we've
Speaker 6: been talking about this wide receiver group all preseason, still
Speaker 6: the running backs that can catch the ball DeAndre Swift
Speaker 6: and Cole and Gerald Everett. I think if you can
Speaker 6: simply put the ball into their hands for that three
Speaker 6: or five yard distance and allow them to get a
Speaker 6: couple yards after completion, then you're talking about the offense
Speaker 6: getting that first down and you know, staying on the field.
Speaker 1: We are brought to you by Miller Lite tastes like
Speaker 1: Miller Time Celebrate Responsibly. Miller Brewing Company Milwaukee was con
Speaker 1: ninety six calories and three point two cards per twelve ounces.
Speaker 2: As of this taping.
Speaker 1: We don't know what the injury report's going to look like,
Speaker 1: but it will certainly have Keenan Allen on at Roma Dounza.
Speaker 1: To say the least, that's two weapons that may or
Speaker 1: may not be ready to go. We'll find out as
Speaker 1: the week rolls on. Short of that, what does your
Speaker 1: attention then go? If that's the case, DJ had a
Speaker 1: good game. He had a couple of good catches on
Speaker 1: good throws by Caleb And of course you mentioned the
Speaker 1: tight ends. And let's not forget DeAndre Swift out of
Speaker 1: the backfield right and.
Speaker 6: Listen, Tyler Scott, this guy, he's a burner. He came
Speaker 6: up at the end of the preseason and really made
Speaker 6: an impression on me that maybe he could be ready
Speaker 6: to take the next step.
Speaker 2: And then when you.
Speaker 6: Talk about Souch in an early process of the regular season,
Speaker 6: if he gets on the active roster listen, if I
Speaker 6: would go into the game and I would see myself
Speaker 6: on the inactive list, I would put it in my
Speaker 6: sole intentions to make sure I do something on the
Speaker 6: practice field to impress the coaches and the special team
Speaker 6: coordinator to let them know that I should be a
Speaker 6: game day active.
Speaker 2: Here's your opportunity, young man.
Speaker 6: If you go into that stadium and you make a
Speaker 6: couple of those big catches and a couple of big
Speaker 6: plays that you were able to do in the preseason,
Speaker 6: right there, you're elevating yourself into that receiver position that
Speaker 6: maybe you're a week to week game day active.
Speaker 1: Bears defense played extremely well in the second half of
Speaker 1: that football game. Overall, limited third down opportunities kept things
Speaker 1: in check. Head adjust to the run game. Powdered had
Speaker 1: some good runs in that game, but overall they shrunk
Speaker 1: the defense down and put a lot of pressure on
Speaker 1: Will Levis. We're gonna talk to Kevin Byer here in
Speaker 1: a moment, more of a feature interview than I did
Speaker 1: with him, but we'll hear from him in a minute.
Speaker 1: But I was thinking about this first of all, DeMarcus Walker.
Speaker 1: I just saw him in the locker room before we
Speaker 1: started taping this podcast, and he had this look in
Speaker 1: his eye, go hey man, nice job, nice step.
Speaker 2: You know, we forget.
Speaker 1: He had four quarterback pressures. His pressures resulted in the
Speaker 1: two interceptions the Jalen Johnson at the end of the game,
Speaker 1: Tyreek Stevenson pick six that was so crucial in this game.
Speaker 1: And then I think about Andrew Billings. Andrew Billings, I'll
Speaker 1: tell you what, that's an invaluable guy who's There's not
Speaker 1: another Andrew Billings that you can just slip in there
Speaker 1: and say, Okay, go to work. No, Andrew Billings is
Speaker 1: a vital piece to this defensive puzzle, and he is
Speaker 1: the value is really high right now.
Speaker 6: So we talk about the versatility of the offensive defensive line.
Speaker 6: The first play on offense, they were an unbalanced line
Speaker 6: and right tackle Darnell Wright was lined up to the
Speaker 6: far left outside outside shoulder of Braxon Jones. It was
Speaker 6: the fifth or sixth player of the defense. Andrew Billings
Speaker 6: was lined up at the defensive end outside the left tackle,
Speaker 6: and DeMarcus Walker was lined up over the offensive guard.
Speaker 6: DeMarcus Walker got on, got pressure and made the play there.
Speaker 6: So you're talking about Billings in the versatility of the
Speaker 6: two lines. If you can do that and you can
Speaker 6: incorporate some athleticism at a more dangerous point of attack
Speaker 6: and then get results from it, all of a sudden,
Speaker 6: you're starting to increase the preparation of your opponent. And
Speaker 6: if Billings can do what he did on the inside
Speaker 6: from this past week, but maybe be a big run
Speaker 6: stopper on first down at the outside end position, you're
Speaker 6: talking about the type of versatility that, like you said,
Speaker 6: you can only you only see it really from a
Speaker 6: few guys of that size, strength and power.
Speaker 1: Yeah, thirty attempts in the run game for the Houston Texans.
Speaker 1: New running back Joe Mixon that doesn't happen very much.
Speaker 1: Last year, only six running backs in the league ran
Speaker 1: the ball thirty times in a game that ted his
Speaker 1: career high. You had the young man over there in
Speaker 1: San Francisco getting the start as an undrafted rookie a
Speaker 1: couple of years ago. He had twenty eight carries.
Speaker 2: Interesting.
Speaker 1: I bring it up because Slowick is a part of
Speaker 1: that tree of Shanahan Shanahan. I kept listening to the
Speaker 1: forty nine Ers broadcast the other night, Monday night, and
Speaker 1: hearing about a magic number is now thirty rushing attempts
Speaker 1: for Kyle Shanahan. Here, Joe Mixon, it's that magic number.
Speaker 1: Slowik is a disciple thirty. Are we expecting this and
Speaker 1: this tree, branches of the Shanahan Sean McVay tree, to
Speaker 1: start pounding.
Speaker 2: The football a little bit more? Thirty carries is.
Speaker 6: A lot for a back, right, So if I got
Speaker 6: DeAndre Swift, and I got Rashawn Johnson, and I got
Speaker 6: Khalil Herbert, if you give me that mark, I want
Speaker 6: to give me thirty five carries in the course of
Speaker 6: a game.
Speaker 2: If I have seventy five plays, and I.
Speaker 6: Will distribute them amongst them all, I don't need one
Speaker 6: guy to give me thirty carries. But if you gave
Speaker 6: me thirty carries, Jeff that averaged four yards per carry,
Speaker 6: I'll be celebrating with pom poms.
Speaker 2: And that's what I would like to see. And you
Speaker 2: know that's one thing.
Speaker 6: You know that that's what Joe Mixon did one of
Speaker 6: the NFL season. If you did that weekly, would you
Speaker 6: wear them out by week eleven in an NFL season?
Speaker 6: If you have a stable of backs like the Bears
Speaker 6: have done over the last couple of years and it
Speaker 6: was spread out by a variety of guys, I would
Speaker 6: like to see that if the Bears came, if we
Speaker 6: are doing this podcast at the last game of the year,
Speaker 6: said wow, you know the Bears have averaged four point
Speaker 6: or four point one yards per carry, I would say
Speaker 6: the Bears are doing pretty well and they have a
Speaker 6: winning record.
Speaker 1: All right, let's listening to Kevin Bayern again our sit
Speaker 1: down for a Bears game day line by player profile.
Speaker 1: It all begins with passion. On this Bears defense, they're
Speaker 1: trying to find as many players as possible team wide,
Speaker 1: but specifically defensively, they play with passion. Where did that
Speaker 1: passion get born in Kevin Byard.
Speaker 9: Never really had the opportunity to play youth sports growing
Speaker 9: all the way up. I didn't actually play my first
Speaker 9: youth football game until eighth grade, So it's pretty much
Speaker 9: just growing up in the neighborhood. Obviously, my father, my
Speaker 9: family's big Eagles fans. Growing up, I was a Steelers fan,
Speaker 9: so they didn't really like that. But but growing up
Speaker 9: watching Troy and know that that great Steelers defense was
Speaker 9: very exciting and just the urge that once I was
Speaker 9: able to get out there and actually play with the guys,
Speaker 9: it was one of those experiences that you didn't want
Speaker 9: to let go. And uh, that's kind of where the
Speaker 9: game grew, the love of the game grew, and it
Speaker 9: just kind of took it off from then.
Speaker 1: And you've never stopped, never stopped from going from a
Speaker 1: team where you were beloved and you beloved that city
Speaker 1: in Tennessee Nashville, and then getting traded by that team,
Speaker 1: being released by the Philadelphia Eagles, and then signing here.
Speaker 1: That's a whirlwind. But yet you transition quickly enough to
Speaker 1: be named a captain again. You're one of the new
Speaker 1: guys here, not in the league. But what does that
Speaker 1: say about Kevin Byern.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I just try to be myself. I don't try.
Speaker 9: I didn't try to come in and try to make
Speaker 9: it an effort to put my person out to play
Speaker 9: my person out on this team. It just naturally organically happened,
Speaker 9: you know that. I think that's just the respect of
Speaker 9: the guys on the team that they have for me,
Speaker 9: just the way I come to work every single day,
Speaker 9: the type of person I am every single day, And
Speaker 9: I do feel like I'm a natural leader by trade,
Speaker 9: just a natural born leader. But we have a lot
Speaker 9: of great leaders on this team. So I always said
Speaker 9: that all Pros and Pro Bowls are very nice. Everybody
Speaker 9: wants those, But I think the two most respected are
Speaker 9: the most highest honors you can get in the league
Speaker 9: is walk pay Man of the Year and being voted
Speaker 9: a team captain. I think we played this game obviously
Speaker 9: the respect of your opponents, but the respect of the
Speaker 9: people in your organization, and so, like I said, if
Speaker 9: you voted captain, it is definitely one of the higher
Speaker 9: honors that I definitely don't take lightly.
Speaker 1: At one point, you were the highest paid safety in
Speaker 1: the NFL. You never missed practice, You're one of the
Speaker 1: best takeaway players in the NFL. You've been captains on
Speaker 1: two teams. Your resume screams excellence and the way you
Speaker 1: carry yours so also screams maturity and leadership. As you
Speaker 1: pointed out, are you almost underrated for everything that you've
Speaker 1: accomplished up to this point because and you're still doing
Speaker 1: it at a high level. I just get the sense
Speaker 1: that that may be true. At one point you were
Speaker 1: also a top forty NFL player or the top one
Speaker 1: hundred voted by your peers, though, so maybe not.
Speaker 7: Well.
Speaker 9: I mean, I always kind of felt like I've been underrated.
Speaker 7: You know.
Speaker 9: It was a two star prospect come out of high school,
Speaker 9: didn't have a lot of offers, Kentucky pulled their offers,
Speaker 9: so I ended up going to Militancy State, didn't get
Speaker 9: invited to the combine. Most people don't know that as well,
Speaker 9: nom so my notes. So obviously I've been underrated throughout
Speaker 9: my entire journey, and I think that's where the chip
Speaker 9: on my shoulder comes from. But also just my upbringing,
Speaker 9: having a lot of siblings, watch my mom go to
Speaker 9: work every single day and do what she did, That's
Speaker 9: where the humbleness comes from. The appreciation and gratitude of
Speaker 9: every single day because you know, I lost my mom
Speaker 9: a couple years ago, and so I just try to
Speaker 9: wake very day, which is gratitude, you know what I mean. Like,
Speaker 9: I'm a very confident person, but I'm also humble at
Speaker 9: the same time to know that everything that I've done
Speaker 9: and accomplished I've worked very hard for. And I know
Speaker 9: that if I want to continue to have the success,
Speaker 9: I have to continue to work and continue to grind
Speaker 9: and this journey for me, my football journey, is far
Speaker 9: from over, so I have a lot of work to
Speaker 9: still put in. So if I want to get to
Speaker 9: the you know, obviously the place I want to get
Speaker 9: to is obviously being a Super Bowl champion and things
Speaker 9: like that and more things that complish my career. How
Speaker 9: to continue to work. So I just keep my head down,
Speaker 9: keep working, and you know, I'll look up and kind
Speaker 9: of really cherish everything I've accomplished once I'm done playing.
Speaker 1: Byron and Brisker has a ring to it, the B
Speaker 1: and B Brothers, the Bam Bam. I don't know, know I'm
Speaker 1: going to come up with something during the game that's
Speaker 1: just gonna resonate. Will do you do you feel that
Speaker 1: connective tissue with this emerging player entering his third year.
Speaker 9: Yeah, Brisker is an exciting player to play with. I
Speaker 9: really enjoy it, just even just being in the meat
Speaker 9: and just his mentality. I've said this before, but he
Speaker 9: definitely reminds me of myself when I was a younger player.
Speaker 9: When I was a younger player, I had this I
Speaker 9: still have a chip on my shoulder, but the chip
Speaker 9: was so huge that, like you said, being underrated, to
Speaker 9: feel like you know, every single day right if it
Speaker 9: was practiced in the game, I had to go out
Speaker 9: there and improve myself and make sure that by the
Speaker 9: end of the game everybody knew my name. And I
Speaker 9: see that, I see that energy from Brisker, and I
Speaker 9: just enjoyed watching him, and uh, I think he's gonna
Speaker 9: have a big year one hundred soon. I don't want
Speaker 9: to make any predictions of what he's going to do,
Speaker 9: but I'm super excited to watch him this year.
Speaker 1: So I've been thinking this through too, because you present
Speaker 1: to me as a guy that if you wanted to,
Speaker 1: if you love the game, you can enter the coaching
Speaker 1: realm after maybe you'll be media. She's a great talker,
Speaker 1: But you know, I'm thinking, Okay, I know that Don
Speaker 1: Shula was a defensive back in the NFL, one of
Speaker 1: the best coaches in NFL history. Tony Dungee was a
Speaker 1: defensive back. Todd Bowles was a heck of a dv
Speaker 1: A safety, Dick Leboe, right, you know, Dick lebou absolutely
Speaker 1: and Kevin Bien. You know, could you that's a thinking
Speaker 1: man's position, It's a it's a leadership position, it's a
Speaker 1: settling position. Everything that we're looking at you for this year,
Speaker 1: for this team, a blend of veterans and young players.
Speaker 1: Do you ever see that in your future? Potentially?
Speaker 9: Yeah, I definitely could. The way I kind of see
Speaker 9: it is that it can go a lot of different ways,
Speaker 9: you know, Like you mentioned media, actually experiment with some
Speaker 9: media stuff this year as well, so you know, I
Speaker 9: just wanted to be able to put as many stuff
Speaker 9: out there to kind of see what post career will
Speaker 9: look like. I think the first thing that my wife
Speaker 9: will for sure want me to do when I'm done
Speaker 9: playing is kind of take some time off a little
Speaker 9: bit family exactly. But no, I definitely could see coaching
Speaker 9: in the future, right if it's in pro football or
Speaker 9: if it's you know, high school, college or anything like that.
Speaker 9: I'm just, like said, appreciative of everything I've learned from
Speaker 9: this game. I've been around a lot of great coaches,
Speaker 9: like you just mentioned. Dick Lebow was my first defensive
Speaker 9: cordion on I got in the league, and just I
Speaker 9: told you, I was a Pittsburgh fan growing up, and
Speaker 9: so to be able to be in the room with
Speaker 9: him and you know, get so much knowledge for him.
Speaker 9: This guy didn't even have a play call sheet. He
Speaker 9: literally just called plays off the top of his head,
Speaker 9: which is I don't know how he used to do it.
Speaker 9: But I've been around a lot of great coaches, and
Speaker 9: Mike Braber was obviously another great coach. He's tell me
Speaker 9: this all the time, likee, you're gonna be a coach
Speaker 9: one day, You're gonna be coach one day, so you
Speaker 9: never know. Definitely just being on my feet at enjoying
Speaker 9: the moment right now.
Speaker 2: So I know.
Speaker 1: I mentioned a bunch of members of secondaries and days
Speaker 1: gone by in the NFL that became head coaches or coaches,
Speaker 1: and you were quick to point out some others at
Speaker 1: once were the bear uniform.
Speaker 6: Give me to me, Boddy, I'm Jeff Fisher, Leslie Fraser.
Speaker 6: All of them defensive backs went on to become head
Speaker 6: coaches and had great playing careers backed up by great
Speaker 6: head coaching careers. Well, you know, when I was listening
Speaker 6: to your interview with Kevin Byrd, I had a hard time.
Speaker 6: He reminds me of DJ Moore because the respect he
Speaker 6: talks with, the intelligence he talks with, the tone of
Speaker 6: voice he talks with, he reminds me it makes me
Speaker 6: think of a veteran that's really valuable to a football
Speaker 6: team and to a locker room. And so I was
Speaker 6: kind of sitting there listening to the interview thinking of Wow,
Speaker 6: he reminds me of how much respect I have for DJ.
Speaker 6: And it's I think, two real assets that you can
Speaker 6: have in the locker room.
Speaker 1: DJ, Byerd and Swift all born in Philadelphia. Tough Philadelphia,
Speaker 1: so interesting backgrounds for all of those. Steinhoffels is an
Speaker 1: employee owned furniture and mattress store. Visit any of their
Speaker 1: for Chicago land locations in Vernon Hills, Crystal Lake, Downers Grove,
Speaker 1: and Horwood Heights, or shop online at Steinhoffels dot com
Speaker 1: and Good New Chicago, United Airlines is getting brand new
Speaker 1: planes with all the bells and whistles, like Bluetooth connectivity
Speaker 1: screens at every seat in room for Everyone's roller Bag United,
Speaker 1: Proud to Fly, the Chicago Bears and YouTube all Right,
Speaker 1: we had fun of visiting with the voice of the
Speaker 1: Houston Texans, Mark vandermir and his sideline reporter John Harris.
Speaker 1: Andre Ware, the veteran quarterback that we might remember from
Speaker 1: the University of Houston is their color analysts. But we
Speaker 1: did a little breakdown of what's ahead for this matchup.
Speaker 1: A big matchup for Houston. It's the first time in
Speaker 1: a long time that they've been in a national TV
Speaker 1: spotlight on a Sunday night, and the Bears have had
Speaker 1: plenty of Sunday opportunities, but the results have not been
Speaker 1: very good. So a tough matchup. Let's break it down
Speaker 1: with the voices of the Houston Texans. What's going on
Speaker 1: in h town.
Speaker 8: Fellas, excitement, excitement galore for Sunday night football. It's gonna
Speaker 8: be Liberty white out, so everybody's encouraged to wear white
Speaker 8: to the game. I think if the Bears were white too,
Speaker 8: that'd be very helpful, But I don't think they will,
Speaker 8: but the Texans will be decked out in their new
Speaker 8: Liberty white uniforms. It's gonna be fun, obviously, both teams
Speaker 8: coming off will when you guys know this is awesome.
Speaker 2: It's going to be a jacked up atmosphere. Yeah.
Speaker 4: I think what's interesting we were just talking with the
Speaker 4: Cassario or a GM guys, and we played in twenty
Speaker 4: twenty two. I mean, it doesn't seem like all that
Speaker 4: long ago. I mean it was just two years ago.
Speaker 4: But you think about how different these two organizations are
Speaker 4: in just two years. I mean, you guys go through,
Speaker 4: you know, the Justin Fields experience, and then you get
Speaker 4: to Caleb this year and just the changes. I mean,
Speaker 4: Montez comes over last year and I mean just gives
Speaker 4: you guys such a boost defensively, and yeah, the secondary
Speaker 4: where you guys are starting to kind of come into shape.
Speaker 4: But for us, you look back to twenty twenty two
Speaker 4: and you're like, man, who still exists from that team
Speaker 4: on twenty twenty two. So even though it was just
Speaker 4: two years ago, these teams are in incredibly different shape.
Speaker 2: And I think that's gonna make Sunday night really exciting.
Speaker 6: Well, you know, a part of your recent success. Were
Speaker 6: you guys curious of your scheduling before the schedule came
Speaker 6: out about your national audiences? This is a Sunday night
Speaker 6: game to open up your season at home? And are
Speaker 6: you happy with the way that your team is scheduled
Speaker 6: this season?
Speaker 8: We do fourteen hours of radio every week, so we
Speaker 8: have nothing better to talk about.
Speaker 2: Then what's the schedule gonna be?
Speaker 8: Like, I'm kidding, the off season is exciting, by the way,
Speaker 8: we have fewer hours in the off season, just five
Speaker 8: hours of radio a week. But the point is this, Yeah,
Speaker 8: we were placing little, you know, fun gentleman bets on
Speaker 8: what the amount of primetime games would be. Now we
Speaker 8: have seven national windows, including the Hall of Fame game
Speaker 8: with the Bears six in the regular season, this being
Speaker 8: one of them, and we knew it would be a lot.
Speaker 8: But that's more than I thought because the Texans have
Speaker 8: the Christmas Day game, so you add that into the mix.
Speaker 8: You got a Thursday night or at the Jets. I'm
Speaker 8: not going to go through them all, but it's a lot,
Speaker 8: and you expect it because you've got a hot quarterback.
Speaker 2: And what should be a good team. Well, we're in.
Speaker 1: Each other's divisions this year, so we're gonna find out
Speaker 1: who wins the AFC South and the NFC North. Oddly enough,
Speaker 1: and we got three out of the first four weeks
Speaker 1: crazy in the division.
Speaker 8: We're both one tozer in the AFC South. So how
Speaker 8: about that? Yes, yes, thank you for beating Tennessee. We
Speaker 8: really appreciate that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, or maybe we can think Will Levis for that,
Speaker 4: but either way, Yeah, it's gonna be pretty exciting. I mean,
Speaker 4: this is the first time we're playing a Sunday night
Speaker 4: game at home. Actually, it's our first Sunday night game
Speaker 4: at home. I think definitely the first Sunday night game
Speaker 4: at home in five years. Haven't been on Sunday Night
Speaker 4: football since before COVID. We beat the Patriots that night,
Speaker 4: and then obviously our organization took a turn and we
Speaker 4: had every single game at noon last year. Tom to
Speaker 4: your question, we're at noon every single week last year
Speaker 4: until we got to Week eighteen against Indianapolis Colts. So
Speaker 4: to see a bunch of primetime games on the schedule
Speaker 4: this year, we were all really excited about that.
Speaker 2: We're just kind of curious where it was all gonna go.
Speaker 1: They're gonna be whipped into a frenzy, and so the
Speaker 1: Bears are going to be walking into quite the trap
Speaker 1: over there in Texas.
Speaker 2: I mean it's gonna be loud. Yeah, what did you expect?
Speaker 2: I mean, this is gonna be insane.
Speaker 6: And it's kind of a part of my question because
Speaker 6: when is the last time that you've walked into a
Speaker 6: season with expectations because of your success last year, the
Speaker 6: expectations of your fan base, is you match that and
Speaker 6: improve upon it. When is the last time going into
Speaker 6: the season that you've had expectations of this status?
Speaker 8: Of this status? I have to go back to maybe
Speaker 8: twenty twelve, right Bill O'Brien, to be fair, look, going
Speaker 8: into twenty nineteen, we thought the team was going to
Speaker 8: be pretty good and they went to the playoffs in
Speaker 8: twenty eighteen. That was Watson's second season, first season back
Speaker 8: from knee surgery.
Speaker 2: We thought, twenty nineteen, let's go.
Speaker 8: But they made a big trade before the season, getting
Speaker 8: Laramie Tunsel. They had to get a new running back
Speaker 8: because they lost Lamar Miller in the preseason.
Speaker 2: They got Carlos Hide.
Speaker 8: We knew they weren't as good as this team is
Speaker 8: projected to be and Johnny, I think you'd agree after
Speaker 8: this opener, this team has a lot of potential, but you.
Speaker 2: Got to keep it going. Obviously.
Speaker 4: Well, I think the thing that nobody saw coming was
Speaker 4: Joe Mixon for thirty carries in one hundred and fifty
Speaker 4: nine yards in a touchdown.
Speaker 2: Like, nobody saw that coming.
Speaker 4: He was injured or in training camp when I don't
Speaker 4: even know that he traveled to Ohio. I think he
Speaker 4: might have been there, but I don't remember, and I
Speaker 4: think we talked about it in the booth guys in
Speaker 4: the Hall of Fame game, I don't know that he
Speaker 4: was there. And then we saw him very limited in
Speaker 4: training camp and he didn't play in a preseason game.
Speaker 4: So everybody's kind of like, well, what's the deal with
Speaker 4: Joe Mixon? How's this going to look? And we saw
Speaker 4: it a little bit in the practice. We had a
Speaker 4: joint practice with the Rams and Joe had a really
Speaker 4: good practice and thought, man, if they can put that together.
Speaker 4: But to me, it was more about the passing game, like, Okay,
Speaker 4: you can use Joe in the passing game, but look,
Speaker 4: if he runs for seventy five to eighty yards, we'll
Speaker 4: be dancing in the streets, and then they just took
Speaker 4: it to a defensive front that has dominated that Grover
Speaker 4: Stewart DeForest Buckner front has.
Speaker 2: Dominated us for years years.
Speaker 4: I mean even in beating them in Week eighteen, we
Speaker 4: threw the football against him, but we couldn't run for
Speaker 4: I mean, we couldn't run for two yards in that game.
Speaker 4: And then all of a sudden, here's Joe Mixon pounding
Speaker 4: and pounding and it's eight yards, it's thirteen, it's six,
Speaker 4: it's five.
Speaker 2: He just kept going.
Speaker 4: And we're talking during the broadcast during breaks like are
Speaker 4: we seeing this? Because that got us even more excited, thinking,
Speaker 4: all right, if you are the Bears, what do you
Speaker 4: go into your defensive meeting room and say, like, okay,
Speaker 4: we got to stop these three wide receivers. But all
Speaker 4: of a sudden, man, if we to play a little
Speaker 4: bit more nickel or dime even, does that mean that
Speaker 4: they're gonna run Joe Mixon another twenty five to thirty
Speaker 4: times And now the Bears have to stop that. And
Speaker 4: so it just added a whole different dimension that we
Speaker 4: really didn't even see coming. We thought the running game
Speaker 4: would be better, but to do that against that team,
Speaker 4: I think let us know, maybe this is gonna be
Speaker 4: a little bit better upfront than we thought. And look,
Speaker 4: running against the Bear is not gonna be easy. I
Speaker 4: mean we know that front is really really good. You
Speaker 4: know Nick Cassaria, we just had him in here and
Speaker 4: he's like, man, if you thought the Cults were good,
Speaker 4: wait to see the Bears.
Speaker 2: So it's not gonna be easy.
Speaker 4: But just to have that element of a run game,
Speaker 4: to not allow defenses to just go, Okay, well we're
Speaker 4: gonna we're gonna dare you to run and just sit
Speaker 4: back there and take away the pass. Okay, well if
Speaker 4: you dares to run now and now we can hurt you.
Speaker 4: And I think we showed that on Sunday and that
Speaker 4: was really nice to see.
Speaker 6: So when you look at what the Houston Texans brought in,
Speaker 6: did you need both Daniil Hunter and Joe Mixon in
Speaker 6: order to get this team to the next level or
Speaker 6: could you have won about your business with either facet
Speaker 6: staying a status quo.
Speaker 8: You had to replace Jonathan Garnard because he was leaving
Speaker 8: via free agency. You had to find a running back,
Speaker 8: and they were in on the Berkley sweepstakes. Obviously didn't
Speaker 8: get that Devin Singletary. Nick was very honest that they
Speaker 8: made an offer to Devin Singletary, who's now with the
Speaker 8: New York Giants. He was a pretty good back for
Speaker 8: the Texans last year. Mixon is at another level. You know,
Speaker 8: mix In is he Barkley is. Let's not even debate it.
Speaker 8: Mix In is a really good back and he's great
Speaker 8: in this system. And I haven't seen a back this
Speaker 8: kind of back, this kind of production from a back,
Speaker 8: and the potential since Arian Foster. Because Arian Foster was
Speaker 8: so good for this team. Arian Foster caught the ball
Speaker 8: so well Mixon. You look at his receptions throughout his
Speaker 8: stay in Cincinnati. We haven't had a back like that
Speaker 8: who could catch the ball like that since Arian. So
Speaker 8: I'm excited to see all the little nuances what they
Speaker 8: can do offensively as they continue to move forward.
Speaker 1: John, you got your masters of the University of Virginia
Speaker 1: in accounting, So let me ask you this question. Have
Speaker 1: you done the yard before contact with Mick in week
Speaker 1: one and yards after contact? As I'd be curious with
Speaker 1: those numbers.
Speaker 2: You know I hadn't done it yet. Ja, Yeah, but
Speaker 2: you will. I know you you're a deep diver.
Speaker 4: Yeah, but with just eyes just seeing what we saw,
Speaker 4: I think one you know, it's funny a lot of
Speaker 4: times they say that stats are for assistant coaches, geeks
Speaker 4: and losers. Nick Cross and Julian Blackman, the two safeties
Speaker 4: for the Colts, had fourteen and thirteen tackles respectively. Ouch
Speaker 4: the other two corners had sixteen tackles between them, and
Speaker 4: that's forty three tackles in the secondary. And it was
Speaker 4: pretty evident that Joe was getting to the third level unabated.
Speaker 4: A number of times he was reeling off eight, ten,
Speaker 4: thirteen yard runs and the only people there were crossing Blackman,
Speaker 4: and if one of those guys ended up missing the tackle,
Speaker 4: then Joe was gonna end up.
Speaker 2: There was one time Joe I made one of them miss.
Speaker 4: And I thought he's taking that to the house, and
Speaker 4: then he stumbled and ended up being a thirteen yard game.
Speaker 2: But he really he.
Speaker 4: Got to that level, and that's really where he physically
Speaker 4: like he tried to run them over each and every
Speaker 4: time he got back there to kind of prove that
Speaker 4: he has still got that physical presence about him. But
Speaker 4: those are the guys making the tackles, So he was
Speaker 4: getting there pretty easily. But the one thing that we've
Speaker 4: seen from Joe that I think was really interesting was
Speaker 4: how fast he gets into the line of scrimmage. And
Speaker 4: when you're running at zone game, he gets into the
Speaker 4: line of scrimmage. And so what he does, and I
Speaker 4: think Tom would appreciate this, is he makes his offensive
Speaker 4: lineman right. No matter what the defensive tackles do. Defensive
Speaker 4: ends do, just get on him. Just get a hat
Speaker 4: on a hat and let Joe go because if you're
Speaker 4: at least on him, you got him locked up a
Speaker 4: little bit. The only thing they can do is stick
Speaker 4: an arm out to try and tackle him. Joe's gonna
Speaker 4: run through that. So he makes his offensive lineman right.
Speaker 4: And I think that was something that we hadn't had
Speaker 4: in a while because the backs would take too much
Speaker 4: time trying to read where they were.
Speaker 2: Supposed to go, and Joe is two steps and go.
Speaker 4: And I think that really helped our offensive line just
Speaker 4: get even more physical because they knew they could just
Speaker 4: pop off the ball and just.
Speaker 2: Get on a guy.
Speaker 4: Just get physical with Buckner and get physical with Stewart,
Speaker 4: and then Joe's going to take care of the rest.
Speaker 4: And what that ended up being in the fourth quarter
Speaker 4: was our offensive line locking them up and giving Joe
Speaker 4: some pretty good alley ways to not take that contact.
Speaker 2: Joe.
Speaker 6: One thing about mix and he's got great angular vision.
Speaker 6: He has a great he can pre predict how the
Speaker 6: hole is going to open up and where his next
Speaker 6: step is going to come from. Really fun watching that
Speaker 6: on tape.
Speaker 2: So curious.
Speaker 6: You know, we talk a lot about the Bears, and
Speaker 6: they talk about everybody from Roma Dunza to DJ Moore
Speaker 6: to Keenan Allen, to Coole comb At to DeAndre Swift. Oh,
Speaker 6: there's only one football. But when I look at you guys,
Speaker 6: and I think a Stefon Diggs, does he have the
Speaker 6: personality to fit in when you got thirty three touches,
Speaker 6: including the catches by Joe Mixon and the other talented
Speaker 6: receivers you have along with the talent to tight ends.
Speaker 2: Is he a guy that's gonna fit in accordingly?
Speaker 6: Or if he doesn't get his predetermined desire of touches,
Speaker 6: will this become an issue?
Speaker 1: Won't be an issue if they run any place again?
Speaker 1: Because they ran any place? I mean wow, But yeah,
Speaker 1: great point.
Speaker 8: They had Nico Collins six catches over one hundred yards.
Speaker 8: He was amazing. Dell did his thing with a carry
Speaker 8: with three catches. Dig Still had two touchdown receptions. The
Speaker 8: whole band contributed to the sound, and Joe Mixon did
Speaker 8: what he did. So I think they call it a
Speaker 8: five headed monster what they have here. And I think,
Speaker 8: you know, you have to also add in Brevin Jordan.
Speaker 8: You know, he actually is a pretty good player for
Speaker 8: them at tight end. Kate still over played some fullback
Speaker 8: for them, and he's gonna play some tight end obviously
Speaker 8: a lot.
Speaker 2: Of tight end. That's what he is.
Speaker 8: I think Diggs is fitting in very well. He likes
Speaker 8: it here, he likes the atmosphere. I know, we talk
Speaker 8: about culture all the time in this business. Let me
Speaker 8: tell you, Demiko Ryans. I mean, I've been in the
Speaker 8: bill for a long time. I've never seen it like this.
Speaker 8: I've never seen football operations like this with this guy
Speaker 8: in charge. The positive vibes, the positive attitude, win or lose,
Speaker 8: We're all in it together. He has family Night on
Speaker 8: Tuesdays with the assistant coaches. He wants the players to
Speaker 8: be better men. Husband's fathers want he legit wants that,
Speaker 8: and I think they all feel that and I think
Speaker 8: Diggs is part of the mix right now. These are
Speaker 8: good guys to be around. I can't anticipate that being
Speaker 8: a problem here. I think he's gonna get plenty of touches.
Speaker 8: But he knows he's got eyes. He knows they have
Speaker 8: Nico Collins. He's going to be an a leade receiver
Speaker 8: in this league. He already is, but the reputation hasn't
Speaker 8: quite caught up with the production yet.
Speaker 1: Busy Heart Seltzer Flavors for every vibe, Celebrate Responsibly, Most
Speaker 1: course Beverage Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. We're with the broadcasting crew.
Speaker 1: Andre Ware is the color analyst, but we got Mark
Speaker 1: Vandermer and John Harris the sideline reporter and analyst as well.
Speaker 1: All right, what are your I see when you see
Speaker 1: the bear on tape?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I always get this question.
Speaker 4: I mean, for it's got to start with eighteen, I
Speaker 4: mean with Caleb because we all saw him in college.
Speaker 2: We obviously watched Hard Knocks.
Speaker 4: Of course, opponents early in this season are watching Hard
Speaker 4: Knocks with a fine tooth comb to see, you know
Speaker 4: what you can pull out of there. But I think
Speaker 4: it's interesting when Tom asked about Diggs because I think
Speaker 4: there are a lot of preconceived notions about how Diggs
Speaker 4: was going to be in a locker room with a
Speaker 4: lot of you know, a lot of stars around him.
Speaker 4: I think the biggest thing about Diggs is he's one
Speaker 4: heck of a leader. I mean, he's one of the
Speaker 4: most vocal leaders I've seen on this in this organization
Speaker 4: since I've been in the lot and been here at
Speaker 4: with the Texans.
Speaker 2: I think with Caleb, the thought was, well, you know,
Speaker 2: Prima Donna, you.
Speaker 4: Know he's he's not gonna be working hard, doesn't no football,
Speaker 4: you know, paints his nails, all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 4: And I think what you end up finding about Caleb
Speaker 4: is that guy loves ball. He loves to play, loves
Speaker 4: the chest match of it. He has a great time
Speaker 4: out there. He's a really good leader. Going to be
Speaker 4: a good leader for that organization. I think it's got
Speaker 4: to start there. But when you look at the their
Speaker 4: three headed monster wide receiver, we'll see about Roma Dunsay.
Speaker 4: But you know DJ Moore, I think we face him
Speaker 4: at Carolina. He scared us to death and we only
Speaker 4: saw him once every so often. But you know, Keenan
Speaker 4: Allen was the guy the Texans were in on so
Speaker 4: you know, the Texans were pretty high in Keenan Allen.
Speaker 4: He's Greensboro, North Carolina guys, so I got North Carolina
Speaker 4: in the family. So they'll be cheering for Keenan Allen
Speaker 4: on Sunday, so it'll be kind of tough to get out.
Speaker 2: But I think the Bears offensive line has gotten better.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 4: Darnell Wright, Braxton Jones, I think was a little bit
Speaker 4: of a surprise a few years ago. But defensively, Sweat
Speaker 4: scares everybody, you know, the way he comes off the edge,
Speaker 4: and I think and I was watching something about Sweat
Speaker 4: this offseason and said once after Sweat got with the Bears,
Speaker 4: they were one of the most productive and best defenses
Speaker 4: in the league for the last half of last year,
Speaker 4: So you know that he's gonna be roaring off the edge.
Speaker 2: I don't know that.
Speaker 4: Laromy Tunsel is quite one hundred percent totally coming off
Speaker 4: the offseason injury, and the Colts got four sacks, so
Speaker 4: protecting against Sweat and that defensive line. I loved Austin
Speaker 4: Booker coming out of Kansas. I think he's gonna be
Speaker 4: a phenomenal player in due time. I thought the pickup
Speaker 4: of Taylor was incredible. I was watching a game the
Speaker 4: other day and I'm like, who's fifty two? He's got
Speaker 4: some bursts and went, oh, that's Taylor. I'm like, man,
Speaker 4: that was a great pickup by Ryan Poles experienced secondary.
Speaker 4: I think those guys back there are gonna be very
Speaker 4: very good. Buy Art helps Edmunds and Edwards at linebacker
Speaker 4: could really be a thorn on our side because Franklin
Speaker 4: and e J. Speed for the Cults are a little lighter, faster,
Speaker 4: but I think some of the heaviness between Edwards and
Speaker 4: Edmunds just their size, can end up being something that
Speaker 4: helps them. So to me, the Bears are a little different,
Speaker 4: differently constructed than us, but I think there is so
Speaker 4: much talent at key spots that they're gonna make it
Speaker 4: really tough on us to get Joe Mixon one hundred
Speaker 4: and fifty nine yards for us not to get sacked
Speaker 4: four times. It's a really talented team. And if Caleb
Speaker 4: really gets going with making some magical plays out of
Speaker 4: the pocket, the rolling right, thrown back left and you know,
Speaker 4: rolling to the sideline, spinning around and doing what he does,
Speaker 4: and you get a few plays. Tom you talked about it.
Speaker 4: Energy Stadium is going to be jack there's no question.
Speaker 4: But if Caleb does a couple of those plays and
Speaker 4: those magical things that only he can do, this place
Speaker 4: will get quiet in a hurry, and then all of
Speaker 4: a sudden, it's like, oh boy, we're in a fistfight again,
Speaker 4: and that's really not where we want to be. So
Speaker 4: that's something they've got to take away. But I'm looking
Speaker 4: forward to seeing this Bear squad. It's a really talented
Speaker 4: group that we're excited to see. I'll tell you one thing.
Speaker 8: Everybody talks about Caleb Williams around the country, and I
Speaker 8: guess that's natural. Look how the Bears won the game
Speaker 8: last week. You got to be ready for everything, the
Speaker 8: third phase, the defense. Look how they won games last year.
Speaker 8: I know fields ran well down the stretch, but my goodness,
Speaker 8: you can win games in a variety of ways in Chicago,
Speaker 8: and you got to be ready for everything as the
Speaker 8: Houston Texans, but.
Speaker 2: I think they'll be ready. It'll be a nice battle.
Speaker 8: The last time the Texans played in this building regular season,
Speaker 8: well wasn't regular season, was the postseason, and they dominated
Speaker 8: the Browns. And I'm not saying that's going to happen again.
Speaker 8: But the fans want to see it, so yeah, it's
Speaker 8: going to be an electric atmosphere.
Speaker 6: Just one question about the building. Is the roof repaired?
Speaker 6: And will it be open? And what is the temperature
Speaker 6: going to be inside the facility once the game starts.
Speaker 8: I'm not telling now. They fixed they fixed part of
Speaker 8: it for this game. Okay, so if it rained, it
Speaker 8: would not rain on the field, all right, So that's
Speaker 8: that's done. They might open it, they might not because
Speaker 8: it's based on whether and if it's you know, if
Speaker 8: it looks to be in the seventies and there's no
Speaker 8: rain in the forecast, I think why not open it?
Speaker 2: But that's me, so we'll see how it goes.
Speaker 8: I don't think you will not have an uncomfortable temperature
Speaker 8: situation of the building, regardless whether it's open or closed
Speaker 8: or whatever. So I you know, expect to have a
Speaker 8: nice evening weather wise, you know, whether it be indoor
Speaker 8: or outdoors at NRG Stadium Sunday night.
Speaker 6: Can you hear the difference in the noise though with
Speaker 6: the rough open as as compared to when it's closed.
Speaker 8: Johnny can answer that better because you guys know in
Speaker 8: the booth. Sometimes you don't really get the best measurement
Speaker 8: of this in an audio way.
Speaker 2: What do you think, Johnny. Yeah, when when.
Speaker 4: Bill Obrian was here and I was when I started
Speaker 4: down on the sidelines, he wanted the roof close because
Speaker 4: you wanted that sound on top of you. And there
Speaker 4: were games back then. I mean, we played a Thursday
Speaker 4: night game against the Colts. It was the lottest I
Speaker 4: ever heard it, and I was standing right next to
Speaker 4: I was standing right next to Shane Leckler at the time,
Speaker 4: and we were trying to talk about something that was
Speaker 4: happening on the field.
Speaker 2: I couldn't hear him.
Speaker 4: So there's a distinct difference with it opened versus closed.
Speaker 4: But even at that point, I think the crescendo that
Speaker 4: will be there, hopefully on Sunday, and then that's gotta
Speaker 4: be something that I would think that Maddens coaching staff
Speaker 4: are talking to them about, is look, burst that bubble
Speaker 4: early and get this crowd sitting on its hands, Like,
Speaker 4: do something early to get them sitting on their hands,
Speaker 4: and then you kind of got them where you want them.
Speaker 4: So it'll be interesting. I mean, it'll probably be a
Speaker 4: kickoff probably eighty six eighty seven outside at that point,
Speaker 4: so I don't think it'll be bad down on the field,
Speaker 4: but if it's open. But if it's closed, it'll be fine.
Speaker 4: You won't even you won't even sense it, and I
Speaker 4: don't even know if you can see the top of
Speaker 4: it from the booth on the eighth floor. So I
Speaker 4: think it'll end up being a good and it'll be
Speaker 4: fine on both sides. It won't let it be like
Speaker 4: being in Chicago in September, but it'll be good enough
Speaker 4: for a Sunday night game.
Speaker 6: For as an offensive lineman, I'm worried about the noise
Speaker 6: because if you cannot hear the volume cadence from Caleb,
Speaker 6: it can really create some dysfunction on the line of scrimmage.
Speaker 6: So as an ex offensive lineman, that was my concern.
Speaker 6: And I'm not a big fan of the extreme heat
Speaker 6: and humidity as well.
Speaker 4: I don't think anybody in Houston is either, Tom. I
Speaker 4: don't think we like the humidity. But you bring up
Speaker 4: a great point and that it's only the second game
Speaker 4: of Caleb having to hear the play and then communicate it,
Speaker 4: so I would imagine the first quarter.
Speaker 2: It's gonna be pretty tough.
Speaker 4: But if the Bears hit back and you don't make
Speaker 4: this a tough game and start getting people in energy
Speaker 4: stadium a little tense, it might quiet down a little bit.
Speaker 2: So that's gotta be big for them.
Speaker 4: But if they let the Texans get off to a nice,
Speaker 4: little nothing lead, that noise is gonna amp up, right,
Speaker 4: you yamp up for full sixty minutes.
Speaker 2: All right, We had fun doing that.
Speaker 1: We appreciate and respect all our fellow booths around the
Speaker 1: National Football League. We gain valuable insight obviously from those
Speaker 1: discussions because they're in the building like we're in the building. Again,
Speaker 1: I mentioned at the outset of that set up of
Speaker 1: the interview, Bears on Sunday night have really struggled. Now
Speaker 1: it's not the same team, obviously it changes every year,
Speaker 1: but it's a string of games that have proven to
Speaker 1: be very difficult. This will not be any easier trying
Speaker 1: to beat this Houston team in their own building, which
Speaker 1: will be rocking and rolling.
Speaker 6: Right, It's going to be, like I said, it's going
Speaker 6: to be an environment unlike rookies or first year players
Speaker 6: have maybe never seen in their career. If you come
Speaker 6: from a small program and you never get into that
Speaker 6: big of a stadium that's packed to the roof and
Speaker 6: it's as loud as you can possibly get. They have
Speaker 6: one of these whiteout games where they want the crowd
Speaker 6: to be supportively dressed in white as everybody on the
Speaker 6: field is dressed in white. And you know, it's difficult,
Speaker 6: you know, to contend with. However, if you bring a
Speaker 6: defense on the field that you have a lot of
Speaker 6: respect and you like to travel with, the defense makes
Speaker 6: a couple big plays early in the game and then
Speaker 6: you put the crowd into shock. Because even though the
Speaker 6: Houston Texans were so successful last year, I still think
Speaker 6: there's a little let's wait and see. Was this in
Speaker 6: an anomaly or is this going to carry over to
Speaker 6: CJ second CJ Stroud's second year in his career.
Speaker 2: So I guess it's still wait and see.
Speaker 6: They did beat Indianapolis in Indianapolis by two, but now
Speaker 6: it's their first home game and the crowd's going to
Speaker 6: be excited to see.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it was interesting to take a look at that
Speaker 1: game because they really kept the ball. Forty minutes of
Speaker 1: time of possession. The Colts had just twenty and still
Speaker 1: put up twenty seven points.
Speaker 6: Yeah, you know, I mean time of possession was a
Speaker 6: factor in a lot of games this week, and that's
Speaker 6: what the Bears are fighting to have more ball control
Speaker 6: and if they can have a defense early in the
Speaker 6: game that gets them some three and outs and the
Speaker 6: Bears can compute that into one big play or maybe
Speaker 6: a physically dominated running series, then all of a sudden,
Speaker 6: you know, that's the type of confidence you can build
Speaker 6: off of.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well, they were limited to three field goals from Kyemie
Speaker 1: Fairbane from fifty plus, so that that took off a
Speaker 1: few touchdowns.
Speaker 2: Otherwise it would have been a.
Speaker 1: Much bigger beating of the Indianapolis Colts, whom the Bears
Speaker 1: play in Week three in Indianapolis.
Speaker 2: One thing up, oh go ahead.
Speaker 6: One thing about Houston is they open up an Indianapolis Dome,
Speaker 6: they go home domb week three, they play Minneapolis Dome.
Speaker 6: You know, and I know your feelings of indoor football, but.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I gotta adapt, I gotta adapt and overcome. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, because that roof is not completely fixed down
Speaker 1: in Houston from the past hurricane earlier this summer, it
Speaker 1: is still even if they don't open the roof, because
Speaker 1: there is a gap, it's gonna be It's considered an
Speaker 1: outdoor game. So if if per chance there was a storm,
Speaker 1: and there was, you have to adopt the lightning delay
Speaker 1: because of that sliver of light. And apparently that sliver
Speaker 1: of light will if it's a sunny day, there's like
Speaker 1: a patch of ten yards of white light that is
Speaker 1: on the field, like a UFO hovering over the stadium.
Speaker 1: So you might, you know, you might find that it's
Speaker 1: a little warm down there. Tommy in the building, it's
Speaker 1: Jimmy warm. It's a daytime temperature high of ninety four degrees.
Speaker 1: But luckily Hurricane fran Scene is going to be skirting
Speaker 1: to the northeast, so it won't give the deluge of
Speaker 1: rain that they had earlier this hurricane season, so maybe
Speaker 1: we'll get through unscathed.
Speaker 8: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well, and it was supposed to go towards the Midwest
Speaker 1: right around our travel times. Hopefully that won't interrupt our
Speaker 1: travel plans on Saturday, big time.
Speaker 7: A right.
Speaker 2: Last lastly, well, you know, I'm a little jumpy.
Speaker 1: I'm a little jumpy on the plane real quick. Matti
Speaker 1: reflues to when his Wednesday meeting with the media, one
Speaker 1: of the first things he talked about was going to
Speaker 1: the practice field, and we're gonna have a very physical practice.
Speaker 1: And you've mentioned the kicking game of Houston and he
Speaker 1: I think he means special teams in general. Frank Bush
Speaker 1: outstanding special teams coordinator. They had the number one rank
Speaker 1: special teams unit in the league last year according to
Speaker 1: those who analyzed those things. That's a very good unit
Speaker 1: with a very good kicker, obviously, but I thought, I
Speaker 1: felt it is interesting that that's the first chink in
Speaker 1: the armor. Not chink in the armor, that was that
Speaker 1: was the first bullet that Matt Eberflu's touchdown was special
Speaker 1: team's toughness for this game.
Speaker 2: No doubt about it.
Speaker 6: But you know, how impressed are you with the special
Speaker 6: teams performance this past week by the Bear? Great field
Speaker 6: position on punt return, really good field position on a
Speaker 6: kickoff return, block punt for a touchdown. So if it's
Speaker 6: you know, they're special teams going up against the Bear
Speaker 6: special teams, you know, I think our group of guys
Speaker 6: will go toe to toad with them, and Coach high
Speaker 6: Tower puts a motivated group of guys out there knowing
Speaker 6: their importance in the overall success of this football team.
Speaker 2: So hey, it's part of the battle I look for.
Speaker 6: Two and you know it definitely has You know it
Speaker 6: definitely had.
Speaker 2: A hand in the outcome of the game last week.
Speaker 1: Visy Heart Seltzer Flavors for every Vibe, Celebrate Responsibly, Motion
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Speaker 1: Shield of Illinois right here at home, driving access toward
Speaker 1: healthier communities. Through it all, this should be a good time. Tom,
Speaker 1: We'll see you on Sunday. Don't be late. Special Thanks
Speaker 1: to the guys from the Houston Texans and for Tom there,
Speaker 1: I'm Jeff Jonahak. Thanks for listening. Everybody, please subscribe now
Speaker 1: in the Chicago Bears Official Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever
Speaker 1: you get your podcasts. Bear down and congratulations to Tyreek
Speaker 1: Stevens and Tom. He is the NFC Defensive Player of
Speaker 1: the Week for his pick six and overall performance he
Speaker 1: had one Week seventeen last year as well.
Speaker 2: Coming on, I believe that's his first pick for a touchdown.
Speaker 2: Though you've heard him out the podium. I was blown
Speaker 2: away by that. The kids talented plays a cornerback position.
Speaker 6: You could have thought somewhere along the line he would
Speaker 6: have stumbled into one.
Speaker 1: Well, hopefully we see many more that'll do it for us.
Speaker 1: Bear down everybody, most steps