Speaker 1: Cut over that DJ Moore episode Touchdown Touchdown Pair. I
Speaker 1: am Jeff Joniyan Glitzes on don go.
Speaker 2: What was like playing for coache Goodgo.
Speaker 3: I don't want to answer any questions like that pressure
Speaker 3: coming is a big trouble Donnie Goes, Montest Sweat.
Speaker 1: Now Bears, et cetera brought to you by Geico with
Speaker 1: the voices of the Bears, Jeff Joniac and Tom Thayer.
Speaker 1: Nine games in the NFL decided by one score in
Speaker 1: Week eight, Unfortunately, the Bears at the center of the
Speaker 1: drama after an agonizing twelve second play that actually was
Speaker 1: seventeen seconds snapped to finish that ended in a Noah
Speaker 1: Brown touchdown on a Hail Mary launch by Washington rookie
Speaker 1: quarterback Jayden Daniels and the Bears go down in DC
Speaker 1: with Super Bowl winning Bears guard Tom There. I'm Jeff Joniak.
Speaker 1: Episode one oh six of the Bears et Cetera podcast
Speaker 1: is brought to you by Geico. All I gotta say
Speaker 1: is what a Sunday Tom. If you love the sport,
Speaker 1: if you love the excitement, you're loving the NFL, which
Speaker 1: now I believe is up to sixty six games decided
Speaker 1: by one score so far in this first half of
Speaker 1: the season, NFL record. But when you're on the losing
Speaker 1: end of it, the pain is real. But just like
Speaker 1: a win, you gotta flush it. You gotta flush the
Speaker 1: loss and tuck it away somewhere. I don't know how
Speaker 1: you feel as a broadcaster, I know how you'd feel
Speaker 1: as a player. As a broadcaster, I think this one's
Speaker 1: gonna sit for a couple of days.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I can't flush it. I need to get out
Speaker 4: the plunger and help it down because I can't get
Speaker 4: rid of it. And I've been a part of nearly
Speaker 4: eight hundred games as a player and a broadcaster, and
Speaker 4: this is the first time I've ever been a part
Speaker 4: of this. And I think the winning end is as
Speaker 4: exciting as the losing end is disappointing, because in the
Speaker 4: reality of watching it last night from the booth as
Speaker 4: you and I were seeing it, the overwhelming disappointment of
Speaker 4: watching the opponent catch the ball in the end zone
Speaker 4: and knowing that all the effort that the players put
Speaker 4: in to fight a great comeback, to be resilient about
Speaker 4: getting themselves an opportunity to win that game, and then
Speaker 4: it all go down The drain within that seventeen seconds.
Speaker 4: As I sit here today, it's still hard to get over.
Speaker 1: I remember I said, what felt like two seconds on
Speaker 1: the board felt like twenty so I was a little off,
Speaker 1: but I was in the right area code. It felt like.
Speaker 4: It was that way his you know, the quarterback scrambling
Speaker 4: ability and then almost the flight of the football was
Speaker 4: the great unknown of what was going to happen.
Speaker 1: He scrambled for over forty yards back and forth.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, I guess that's what you have to
Speaker 4: do when you know that you have to allow your
Speaker 4: receivers to get in position to make that type of play.
Speaker 4: It's not something you can have a five step drop back,
Speaker 4: throw the ball up in the air and let those
Speaker 4: guys be in position. So he scrambled long enough to
Speaker 4: you know, have the results they have. And we are
Speaker 4: talking about a little earlier. I remember playing the Denver
Speaker 4: Broncos on Monday Night football and John Elway scrambled against
Speaker 4: our great defense for thirteen seconds, lined up in the
Speaker 4: same spot in the field that Jayden Daniels did. Let
Speaker 4: a pass go downfield and it was like a twenty
Speaker 4: seven to twenty eight yard completion that factored in the
Speaker 4: outcome of the game. So yeah, you have this memory
Speaker 4: recall of maybe I've seen this before, but the end result,
Speaker 4: I haven't seen that.
Speaker 1: Before, which is something because there have been plenty of
Speaker 1: hail mary's and plenty that have hit. But to be
Speaker 1: a part of all that, I mean our one season
Speaker 1: which was my first at the mic. You know, the
Speaker 1: Bears back to backs against San Francisco and Cleveland, the
Speaker 1: walkoffs with Mike Brown's interceptions. But one of those games
Speaker 1: was Shane Matthews of James Allen that would be considered
Speaker 1: a hail mary into the end zone that forced overtime.
Speaker 1: Right now, that was about as close as I remember.
Speaker 1: But you know, you mentioned Elway, and I think with
Speaker 1: certain quarterbacks and you could never do this as a player,
Speaker 1: but as a viewers, as a broadcaster, I'm not sweating
Speaker 1: many quarterbacks to heave it that far down the field
Speaker 1: and have something like that happen. Certain quarterbacks, Yes, John Elway,
Speaker 1: Aaron Rodgers, Johnny Yanidis. Yeah, Jaden Daniels has got a
Speaker 1: arm on him. He just whips the football and so
Speaker 1: he launched that thing from his thirty five yard line.
Speaker 4: So you know he's got he's got the scrambling ability,
Speaker 4: and that's the key ingredient of even setting yourself up
Speaker 4: for this opportunity, because even if you go back and
Speaker 4: you look at the Peyton Mannings or the tom Brady's,
Speaker 4: they don't have the escapability Dan Marinos the escapability to
Speaker 4: extend to play for that long before they have to
Speaker 4: get rid of the ball. So he's a uniquely talented kid,
Speaker 4: and I think he and Caleb will see each other
Speaker 4: on the field, and everybody's always going to have a
Speaker 4: big interest and it's always going to be a story
Speaker 4: that's revisited every time Jalen and Caleb line up against
Speaker 4: each other.
Speaker 1: The weird part is, and we mentioned in the broadcast,
Speaker 1: Caleb did that exact same thing just ten miles away
Speaker 1: at Gonzaga Prep College Prep, in that big hail Mary
Speaker 1: that put him really in the national spotlight. Pulled it
Speaker 1: out almost the same length, same scenario, scrambling to find
Speaker 1: time and at the high school level there. But the
Speaker 1: other thing about it is too is that when a
Speaker 1: game like this happens, you just hope that it doesn't
Speaker 1: come back to haunt you. And you could say that
Speaker 1: about any play obviously that casts you a game, but
Speaker 1: you just hope that it doesn't cost you, and especially
Speaker 1: what if.
Speaker 4: It improves you? Though? How about if it makes you
Speaker 4: a better football team because of what you just faced,
Speaker 4: what Tyreek Stevenson has just faced the message inside the
Speaker 4: locker room to everybody that has to pay attention to it.
Speaker 4: And we talked a little bit about the resiliency in
Speaker 4: the flight of this football team to get themselves back
Speaker 4: in the big play to Keenan Allen, not the interference,
Speaker 4: but the scramble throw by Caleb to Keenan. So there
Speaker 4: are plays and there are instances in time that you
Speaker 4: have to really take into account what they meant in
Speaker 4: this game.
Speaker 1: Takets like Miller Time. Go to Middle lank dot com
Speaker 1: slash bears pod to find delivery options near you. Celebrate responsibly.
Speaker 1: Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Ninety six calories and three
Speaker 1: point two carbs per twelve ounces. All right, So Tarik Stevenson,
Speaker 1: we're gonna hear from him. We're gonna hear from Cole
Speaker 1: Comet and Kevin Byern. They were made available on Monday
Speaker 1: to the media. But first our sit down interview with
Speaker 1: the head coach, Mattyberflus each week the status at haus
Speaker 1: with coach all right man, thanks for joining us once again,
Speaker 1: appreciate your time. First, befall before we get into the tape,
Speaker 1: and what you saw. Mood of the team. I think
Speaker 1: that's always important to address after a win or loss,
Speaker 1: and it's particularly one this way.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I would say that the mood of the team
Speaker 5: is good. You know.
Speaker 6: I know the guys are still disappointed, you know, meeting
Speaker 6: with them today day after the game, but you know
Speaker 6: they're also encouraged, you know, because of the things we did,
Speaker 6: you know, to be able to come down from a
Speaker 6: you know, twelve zero deficit and to be able to
Speaker 6: get ourselves in winning position at the end of that
Speaker 6: game was was really good by the whole group.
Speaker 7: You know.
Speaker 6: We had to obviously had a nice drive going there.
Speaker 6: We fumbeled the ball in the one, the defense responding
Speaker 6: with US three and out. We get down there again
Speaker 6: and then have the ability to you know, score a touchdown.
Speaker 5: We're a really good third down.
Speaker 6: Conversion by Rome on third and ten, you know, and
Speaker 6: then also Keenan Allen being able to draw that that
Speaker 6: file the DPI puts US at to one and then
Speaker 6: we punched in on a second play, which is really good.
Speaker 6: And uh, you know, so we were at scoring position
Speaker 6: there in defense. You know, I know that they had
Speaker 6: a couple of yards on them, but you know, we
Speaker 6: played good on third down, really played a lot of
Speaker 6: really good red zone defense and held into you know,
Speaker 6: four field goals, which is which is pretty good versus
Speaker 6: that particular offensive group that's been scored a bunch of points.
Speaker 5: So a lot of good takeaways from this.
Speaker 6: And again we didn't execute on the last play the
Speaker 6: way we wanted to the way we had in the
Speaker 6: past and the practice. But again that's been addressed and
Speaker 6: we'll work to get.
Speaker 5: Better there going forward.
Speaker 6: But again there's a lot of positives to take from
Speaker 6: this particular game, and you know, the guys see that,
Speaker 6: and the guys are.
Speaker 5: Working working to improve.
Speaker 6: And again we just ripped off three wins in a row,
Speaker 6: and you know, this was a hard fought battle and
Speaker 6: again we ended up coming up short. But there's again,
Speaker 6: after every performance and every every time you play, there's
Speaker 6: only something good and something you could work on to
Speaker 6: improve on.
Speaker 1: Is it okay to have a little anger, I mean
Speaker 1: as a player, as long as it's channeled properly, correct.
Speaker 6: Anger as long as it's channel in the winning and
Speaker 6: bringing the team together. If there's anger, you know, and
Speaker 6: you know, a little bit mad or pissed off, how
Speaker 6: do you want to say it? And it's and it's
Speaker 6: dividing and pulling people apart, then it's not good, you know,
Speaker 6: because then it's about you and it's about being selfish.
Speaker 5: And I don't tolerate that.
Speaker 6: But I do tolerate guys that are passionate that they
Speaker 6: care and they are pissed and they want to work
Speaker 6: to improve and bring the team together and work on
Speaker 6: themselves to make the team better too.
Speaker 1: I know you spoke to Tyreek. I know he's speaking
Speaker 1: to the media today, but in a private moment, is
Speaker 1: he angry at himself?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 6: I believe he is, you know, so I didn't visit
Speaker 6: with him privately, And you know, the big main message
Speaker 6: to him was how can we use.
Speaker 5: This to develop and how can we use this to grow?
Speaker 6: And as a player, because he's made a bunch of
Speaker 6: plays for us, He's done multiple things well for us
Speaker 6: over the course of his time with us, and he's
Speaker 6: made real impactful interceptions, tackles and he's a really good
Speaker 6: player and he's one of ours. So we got to
Speaker 6: make sure that we you know, obviously you know, work
Speaker 6: with him to improve. But again there's also for him.
Speaker 6: This is going to take a minute to get over
Speaker 6: because it was it was a big deal just about
Speaker 6: his focus and attention to detail in terms of in
Speaker 6: that moment.
Speaker 1: Yes, because then as a head coach and you know
Speaker 1: his position, coach, John Holk, I mean, I'm certain you're
Speaker 1: going to watch him this week because you got to
Speaker 1: make sure it doesn't impact his next performance he doesn't
Speaker 1: go into the tank a little bit or he feels
Speaker 1: he can't show that same emotion. I mean, yes, something
Speaker 1: should not have been done like that, no question about it.
Speaker 1: You can never excuse it, but you can't multiply the
Speaker 1: problem now right.
Speaker 6: Yeah, And I think that it's it's important to use
Speaker 6: it as fuel, you know, to really, you know, for
Speaker 6: your next performance. You know, so you could always use
Speaker 6: adversity in a good in a good way, you know,
Speaker 6: really use it as fuel to make you motivated to improve,
Speaker 6: you know, motivated to do it better and make you
Speaker 6: a better player.
Speaker 1: From watching the tape, let's go in the defense the
Speaker 1: bend no break that happened multiple times three you know,
Speaker 1: I think three red zone field goals, which you'll take
Speaker 1: any day in those situations. What was the what's been
Speaker 1: the key to the red zone defense? You guys are
Speaker 1: now number one and a red zone touchdown efficiency allowed
Speaker 1: this season under forty percent conversion for touchdowns, A big
Speaker 1: reason why your defense is playing so well in the
Speaker 1: big picture. What's what's the key in what you've seen
Speaker 1: on tape in the red zone defense.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's always going to come back to the players.
Speaker 6: You know, the players are doing a really good job
Speaker 6: of executing the calls in there. The guys know where
Speaker 6: they're supposed to be when they're supposed to be there,
Speaker 6: and they're doing a good job of that. But in
Speaker 6: the offseason, we did a really good job of studying that.
Speaker 6: You know, we really had to improve on that from
Speaker 6: last year. That in third downs, that was going to
Speaker 6: be a big point of ephesis for us, and I
Speaker 6: think we've improved on both those so far. And again
Speaker 6: it's the year is still young, but we got to
Speaker 6: keep working it and making sure the looks are right
Speaker 6: and making sure we're executing the calls down there. But
Speaker 6: we put a lot of time and attention to it
Speaker 6: from a from a coach's standpoint, but also, like I said,
Speaker 6: it comes down to the players executing those calls.
Speaker 1: All right, look to the offense. Caleb obviously struggled to
Speaker 1: find completions just ten for the game, finished those six
Speaker 1: of eight. How was it that he was able to
Speaker 1: mentally stay in the focus of the game plan despite
Speaker 1: that and still managed to put the Bears in a
Speaker 1: position to win the game.
Speaker 6: Yeah, So you know, it's about the grind, right, He's
Speaker 6: got to be a grind through it, you know. And
Speaker 6: we were fortunate that our defense, you know, kept us
Speaker 6: in that position to win the game, and special teams.
Speaker 6: Our special teams played really well yesterday. The kickoff cover,
Speaker 6: the kickoff return, putt return. We have really good protection
Speaker 6: obviously toy on the punt and pins you know, created
Speaker 6: those field positions for our defense to be able to
Speaker 6: get those three and outs or set the field for
Speaker 6: our offense, you know, in the in the last part
Speaker 6: of the games. But you know, I think as a team,
Speaker 6: I think all together performed well going down to stretch
Speaker 6: as a couple of plays.
Speaker 5: You know, everybody's talking.
Speaker 6: About the Doug Kramer play and talking about the last play,
Speaker 6: but there's a lot of plays in between that where
Speaker 6: we executed well and did a nice job in terms
Speaker 6: of coming together to find a way to win that game.
Speaker 6: And again we just came up short. And that's what
Speaker 6: everybody's disappointed about. But in terms of Caleb, I believe that,
Speaker 6: you know, he just has to find his rhythm, you know,
Speaker 6: inside the offense and really do a good job of
Speaker 6: you know, when the titans are there and the backs
Speaker 6: are there in those in those lower part of the intermediate,
Speaker 6: you know, in the shallow routes, you know, really just
Speaker 6: take take the layups there. And again they weren't open
Speaker 6: every time, and the protection wasn't great all the time.
Speaker 6: But again I thought we did a decent job you know,
Speaker 6: going into the second half in terms of having that protection.
Speaker 6: You know, with all those different players and combinations in there,
Speaker 6: that what to me was was really impressive. Doug Kramer's
Speaker 6: coming in, their Quran's coming in there. You got different
Speaker 6: guys moving around, and you know, I thought for the
Speaker 6: most part, you know, with with that being said, you know,
Speaker 6: all the different combinations did a solid job of in
Speaker 6: the second part of the game there of keeping it
Speaker 6: pretty solid.
Speaker 1: Yeah, let's even let's talk about Amagaji because you know,
Speaker 1: as Tom always says, there's no notification you're in.
Speaker 4: That's it.
Speaker 1: You know, you've got to be ready to go and
Speaker 1: you prepare to play, no matter what your position or
Speaker 1: place on the depth chart is. I watched it all,
Speaker 1: you know, you know, I'm not the expert obviously, but
Speaker 1: I thought he handled himself quite well. Sure, there's some
Speaker 1: things he'd like to have back and work on technique,
Speaker 1: It's always going to be the case for any offensive
Speaker 1: lineman on any given day. But just kind of frame
Speaker 1: what he did in the situation that in a high
Speaker 1: pressure situation.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean to come in there and execute the
Speaker 6: way he did. You know, I think he had some
Speaker 6: really good pass procepts. You know, I think he really
Speaker 6: really did a nice protecting all bad times.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 6: Obviously, I think he was laid out a couple, you know,
Speaker 6: opened the gate a little bit of a couple. So
Speaker 6: that's you're going to have that, you know, as a
Speaker 6: as a young player. But for the most part, it
Speaker 6: was was pretty consistent. You know, again he's again he's
Speaker 6: got to improve, you know, it was you know, it
Speaker 6: was overall was it was. It was a good performance.
Speaker 6: But not you know, up to his up to where
Speaker 6: he can be. And again that's just all part of
Speaker 6: getting in there, getting that exposure.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you guys have learned a lot about him
Speaker 1: how he worked in this offseason, working through that quad
Speaker 1: uh tear. So that was from last season obviously in college,
Speaker 1: So you learned a lot, You bank rolled a lot
Speaker 1: of information on him. And do you feel he made
Speaker 1: a lot of strides despite his injury, even metal reps.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, I really do.
Speaker 6: That showed when he came in and played, so you
Speaker 6: know it was it was a good, good performance in
Speaker 6: terms of his first performance, but again we looked.
Speaker 5: To get better from here.
Speaker 1: Swift's n't he.
Speaker 6: Yeah, exciting to see him play. You know, he was
Speaker 6: really the energizer, you know, you know, defense hold him
Speaker 6: to the field goals and the special teams and then all
Speaker 6: of a sudden, now we get that big, that big
Speaker 6: run over fifty plus yards, really good blocking on the
Speaker 6: perimeter and the guys did a really good job with that.
Speaker 6: But again, you got a player like like Swift that
Speaker 6: can gass it all the way. You know, some guys
Speaker 6: can't take it all the way like that, you know,
Speaker 6: and he's one of those guys that's dynamic that way
Speaker 6: in terms of his you know, his h his ability
Speaker 6: to cut and move, and his ability to take it
Speaker 6: take a home run, you know, with his speed. So
Speaker 6: it was exciting to see that. Then he had a
Speaker 6: really cool run in the fourth quarter. You know, he
Speaker 6: hurt it over. That guy had good ball security. Really
Speaker 6: gave us a lot of energy there, you know, going
Speaker 6: down to stretch.
Speaker 1: I want to mention Tory Taylor real quick because five
Speaker 1: inside the twenty one shive of a Bear single game record.
Speaker 1: So some weeks he's kicking sixties, other weeks he's just
Speaker 1: trying to place it. He really does every every club
Speaker 1: in the bag, and his performance should be noted. That's
Speaker 1: a pretty significant game right there.
Speaker 6: Yeah, there was four Putton pins and what we deem
Speaker 6: as a putt and pin. It was a really good job,
Speaker 6: you know, be able to set the field there, you
Speaker 6: know for us defensively, and then we took advantage of
Speaker 6: that a couple of times. A couple of times we didn't.
Speaker 6: We let him out of there a couple of times.
Speaker 6: But we've got to make sure that we take advantage
Speaker 6: of that every time. So we st set the field
Speaker 6: at midfield for our.
Speaker 1: Offense, five punts down inside of the Washington twenty, tied
Speaker 1: for the most by any punter in the NFL this season.
Speaker 1: All right, now another road test before you'll get three
Speaker 1: straight at home. I got to finish up this this
Speaker 1: chunk of road games in Arizona against a team you
Speaker 1: beat at Soldier Field last Christmas Eve. Kyler Murray had
Speaker 1: returned by then. I noticed that he's had great success
Speaker 1: with Trade McBride, the tight end bridging last season of
Speaker 1: this season, some really significant production. What do you look
Speaker 1: at their offense real quick?
Speaker 6: Yeah, just about you know, it's always about Kyler right
Speaker 6: in his ability to move out of the pocket extend plays.
Speaker 6: You know, that's always going to be something that you
Speaker 6: talk about with him, and he's got done a good.
Speaker 5: Job of that.
Speaker 6: I know they've scored a lot of points to start
Speaker 6: the season, you know, and have been down in the
Speaker 6: last couple of weeks. But again, a two big win
Speaker 6: for those guys here in the last two weeks.
Speaker 5: But it's going to be a big challenge for our guys.
Speaker 1: Yep, no easy outs in the NFL. As this weekend proved,
Speaker 1: what a lot of crazy last second finishes nine games
Speaker 1: decided by one score, so once again, the league's on
Speaker 1: a record pace for one score wins sixty six through
Speaker 1: week eate.
Speaker 4: Crazy.
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's what it all comes down to.
Speaker 6: That's what we talked about the tving today, about the
Speaker 6: in the game, in the game scenarios and executing those
Speaker 6: calls and executing those plays, you know, at a really
Speaker 6: high rate in terms of being consistent and being on
Speaker 6: your job and being on the screws dinner. So again,
Speaker 6: we'll keep repping those and looking at those and making
Speaker 6: sure we're doing everything the right way.
Speaker 1: All right, Matca Lucky be the prep this week. We'll
Speaker 1: talk to you next week. So yes, he is going
Speaker 1: to look at a lot of the positives that led
Speaker 1: the Bears to put themselves in a position to win
Speaker 1: the game. And that's what he does every week, winner, lose,
Speaker 1: and the stuff you have to work on. So what
Speaker 1: are the building blocks from your perspective of what went
Speaker 1: well despite a slow star offensively going seven drives, shout
Speaker 1: out on the first seven drives of the game, and
Speaker 1: then hope arrived when DeAndre Swift takes that crack toss
Speaker 1: left fifty six yards.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, just The thing about it is as
Speaker 4: challenging as it was for the offense to go out
Speaker 4: there and gain yards get into scoring position. It didn't
Speaker 4: happen until they had that nice sweep that was led
Speaker 4: by karn Amagaji and DeAndre Swift filed as blockers and
Speaker 4: was able to get into the end zone right there.
Speaker 4: If you look from the you look from the end
Speaker 4: zone to the sideline, it's a whole different football team.
Speaker 4: They're motivated, they're excited, they know they're back in the game,
Speaker 4: they know that this thing has just started because there's
Speaker 4: still time left in the third quarter and then the
Speaker 4: Bears have an opportunity to come back. And I think
Speaker 4: it kind of ignited the fight in the Bears, in
Speaker 4: these players, and that's what I was excited to see.
Speaker 4: But I know earlier in your interview with coach Fluse,
Speaker 4: you talked about the red zone efficiency of the Bears defense.
Speaker 4: And I think you know, Jeff, as we set up
Speaker 4: there broadcasting this game every time over the last in
Speaker 4: the Rams game, in the Carolina game, every time a
Speaker 4: team kicked a field goal, we never lost sight that
Speaker 4: the Bears can win this game. Yeah, if they keep
Speaker 4: them to those field goals and that's what they did
Speaker 4: with that nine to noth in the lead.
Speaker 1: You know, would have been too bad. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: too bad he was out with an injury. That was
Speaker 1: Montese sweat. If he was in there on that final
Speaker 1: drive because he eats grass. He's the guy that can
Speaker 1: track down Jaydon Daniels and put pressure on him even
Speaker 1: on a double team. So that would have been That's
Speaker 1: too bad that that happened. That's a victim of circumstance.
Speaker 4: There, all right.
Speaker 1: So a lot of the guys had plenty of sand
Speaker 1: the locker room after the game. You saw, they wore
Speaker 1: it on their faces. They had that stare that comes
Speaker 1: with losing something you thought you had. But Cole Comet
Speaker 1: had some really important things to say about the outcome
Speaker 1: of this game. I think it's it's worth listening to
Speaker 1: right here, Bears tight end.
Speaker 8: Cole Comet, Yeah, well, I mean from Tyreek, Uh just
Speaker 8: kind of stood up and, you know, in a way
Speaker 8: said that what he did was was unacceptable and uh
Speaker 8: that he's got to be on the p's and q's
Speaker 8: there and you know, which which we all appreciate. I think, uh,
Speaker 8: you know, unfortunately, in that scenario, like he's a guy,
Speaker 8: you know, and gets caught with somebody with a camera
Speaker 8: and and obviously the result to play that happens and
Speaker 8: all those type of things. But I think it's a really,
Speaker 8: uh a good lesson for everybody to learn from in
Speaker 8: terms of how to respect the game. And I think
Speaker 8: we had examples of that throughout the game and quite
Speaker 8: frankly throughout the week of practice this past week, where
Speaker 8: you know, there's there's moments where maybe some guys lay
Speaker 8: off here and there, and those are the type of
Speaker 8: things that can happen when you do that for for
Speaker 8: just a split second, and you know, it doesn't always
Speaker 8: come to bite you in the butt, but when it does,
Speaker 8: it hurts, and that's the that's the unfortunate. And I
Speaker 8: would also say beauty of this game is that you know,
Speaker 8: you disrespect it in a certain way and it'll come
Speaker 8: to haunt you in some form of fashion. So I
Speaker 8: think it's a learning experience for everybody. We all play
Speaker 8: with a lot of passion. Tyreek plays with a lot
Speaker 8: of passion, and we all love him for that, but
Speaker 8: there's definitely a respect level of the game and knowing
Speaker 8: that you got to finish it out into those double
Speaker 8: zeros at the clock. Cool.
Speaker 4: I've got a separate question.
Speaker 9: But when you said there's moments in practice where people
Speaker 9: lay off, what do you mean?
Speaker 7: Just wanted to clarify what you're saying.
Speaker 8: Yeah, it's more of a general thing. I'm not not
Speaker 8: necessarily whether it's how you operate in the weight and
Speaker 8: this is all like things done in the dark, things
Speaker 8: that you only you know personally. And that's like if
Speaker 8: you're in the weight room, are you doing all six reps?
Speaker 8: Or are you doing five reps and getting out of there?
Speaker 8: Are you you know, when you're on the field, are
Speaker 8: you getting the jugs after practice? Are you doing this?
Speaker 8: Or is your footwork correct? And the walkthrough and just
Speaker 8: those little things that can't necessarily always be addressed by
Speaker 8: a coach or another teammate, but things that you do
Speaker 8: in the dark that really come to fruition on game day.
Speaker 8: And I think that's what respecting the game is. And
Speaker 8: if you relentlessly respect the game, I think you you'll
Speaker 8: get the results that you want. And unfortunately, if you know,
Speaker 8: if you get caught disrespecting the game in some form
Speaker 8: or fashion, it does come to get you at some point.
Speaker 1: Tom is a former player yourself, and how much we
Speaker 1: enjoy Cohle's conversation. I thought he crystallized the whole moment there, right,
Speaker 1: There's no other way to put it. You have to
Speaker 1: respect the game at all times, otherwise it's gonna come
Speaker 1: back to bite you.
Speaker 4: Is there any one word out of his interview that
Speaker 4: you come back and you think about it? He used
Speaker 4: the word dark a lot, there's a dark place, and
Speaker 4: you got it. What do you do in the dark?
Speaker 4: Do you do five reps when you need six? Do
Speaker 4: you have the correct footwork and the walkthrough when you
Speaker 4: know that?
Speaker 1: Well, when no one's watching, what are you doing?
Speaker 10: Right?
Speaker 4: Yeah? And that's the thing about it is I I
Speaker 4: like that message by Cole because, as you know, Jeff,
Speaker 4: this is probably one of the first times I listened
Speaker 4: to him that I can think captain, I can think leader.
Speaker 4: I could hear it in his voice. I can hear
Speaker 4: the frustration and the determination, And I thought it was
Speaker 4: a great interview. And I really liked how he represented
Speaker 4: himself the individual, not everybody, the individual, how he represented
Speaker 4: himself and his role in the importance of everybody's role.
Speaker 1: All Right, the man that's getting talked about league wide
Speaker 1: right now. Obviously on social media, it's a big conversation.
Speaker 1: But Tyreek Stevenson spoke to the team, then spoke to
Speaker 1: the media via zoom on Monday, explained his stance on everything.
Speaker 1: Didn't get into the weeds on exactly what he said,
Speaker 1: but took responsibility for engaging the crowd. He says it
Speaker 1: was Bears fans. He was just trying to pump up,
Speaker 1: but for some four seconds of that play, his back
Speaker 1: was turned before the play started. So I've never seen
Speaker 1: that in an NFL game before. I don't think you
Speaker 1: have either. Uh, but it can't happen again. Let's listen
Speaker 1: to Tyreek.
Speaker 11: Honestly, just letting my teammates down in a situation that
Speaker 11: we pretty much know how to handle on any day,
Speaker 11: you know, pretty much with.
Speaker 7: Our eyes closed.
Speaker 11: So I would say only regret I have from yesterday
Speaker 11: is just letting this team down from you know, working
Speaker 11: hard and coming back and putting us putting ourselves in
Speaker 11: a in a in a in a w column, you know,
Speaker 11: just for me to be out of place and you know,
Speaker 11: do do do something that's out of character of me
Speaker 11: and just you know, costs us a loss.
Speaker 9: What's your process now of kind of gathering yourself emotionally
Speaker 9: and also dealing with what is going to be kind
Speaker 9: of a tsunami of outside criticism.
Speaker 7: Hey, wor everybody.
Speaker 11: Honestly, my my focus is on this building and how
Speaker 11: the people in this building field.
Speaker 7: Understand that's anger.
Speaker 11: Understand you know, somebody ticket I understand that the things
Speaker 11: that go outside of the building that could you know,
Speaker 11: possibly affect how somebody feels and all that. But you know,
Speaker 11: to be honest, I'm worried about the opinion of the building.
Speaker 11: And you know, if you know, these guys got my back,
Speaker 11: and that's how I'm moving forward.
Speaker 7: Tyreek.
Speaker 12: It looks like in the video that you're talking to
Speaker 12: fans since the ball is snapped, and then Matt said
Speaker 12: today that your obligation was to go box out. Noah Brown,
Speaker 12: when you run in and you leap, are you trying
Speaker 12: to make an interception? Are you trying to bat the
Speaker 12: ball down? And is doing that related at all? Trying
Speaker 12: to kind of prove what prove a point or anything
Speaker 12: like that?
Speaker 11: Nah? The play was I opposed a box out? Eighty
Speaker 11: five had to be out to play? Was you know,
Speaker 11: cheering on just cheering with some Bears fans when taughting
Speaker 11: no fans, was just sharing with some Bears fans and
Speaker 11: the Washington fans react to how they wanted to.
Speaker 7: And my goal, My.
Speaker 11: Job was to box out eighty five and you know
Speaker 11: when I went up to hit the balls pretty much
Speaker 11: to knock it down interceptions and then you know, especially
Speaker 11: in the close game like that, so uh, just try
Speaker 11: to make a make a play for my team. And
Speaker 11: you know, he either could have went either could have went, oh, Tyreek,
Speaker 11: you know, good pass not down.
Speaker 7: Or when the situation we're in.
Speaker 12: Right now, when the ball was your back was turned
Speaker 12: to the ball when it was snapped, what was your
Speaker 12: thought process when you turn around and you saw receivers
Speaker 12: running down the.
Speaker 7: Field pretty much to get in my space and all my.
Speaker 5: Space, Tyreek?
Speaker 13: What was when you get to the locker room and
Speaker 13: when you get on the plane, what was what was
Speaker 13: that experience?
Speaker 11: Like it's like every other loss, quiet, you know, everybody
Speaker 11: to theyself trying to figure out what the individual could
Speaker 11: have did better to you know, help help the team win.
Speaker 7: So pretty much like any other loss.
Speaker 13: Heb told us just a couple of minutes ago that
Speaker 13: he's you know, he've used it his his responsibility to
Speaker 13: like pick you up in these moments. What has the
Speaker 13: response been from your teammates?
Speaker 14: Today's pretty much just picking me up, because you know,
Speaker 14: any day, if this happened to anybody else, any anything
Speaker 14: else would have went down like this or any other teammate,
Speaker 14: we all would have been there just for them, just
Speaker 14: as they do it for me.
Speaker 11: So a lot of encouraging words from the guys, a
Speaker 11: lot of love and I know a lot of picky
Speaker 11: heads up. You know, let's focus on next week. So
Speaker 11: great energy coming from the team. Can't ask for nothing better.
Speaker 7: Trek Matt told us this morning that you addressed the
Speaker 7: team and a team meeting.
Speaker 11: How did that come about and what message did you
Speaker 11: want to give.
Speaker 7: To your teammates? Honestly, I can't.
Speaker 11: Honestly do them feel like I should probably share what intimate
Speaker 11: side of me that I shared with the guys, because
Speaker 11: you know, I let them down and them guys hold
Speaker 11: me to high standards, such as everybody in this building.
Speaker 11: But to give you the brief message, just you know,
Speaker 11: I probably apologize in them voice for letting them down.
Speaker 11: I let the moment get too big, and it's something
Speaker 11: that you know can't never happen again.
Speaker 7: It won't ever happen again.
Speaker 10: To the to the coaching side of it, Tyreek, have
Speaker 10: the what of the coaches said and have beyond telling
Speaker 10: you you shouldn't have done that? Are there any consequences
Speaker 10: for it? Beyond that?
Speaker 11: I don't think there's no consequences. As of right now,
Speaker 11: we haven't met having met with the coaches that we've
Speaker 11: been going over film and doing walkthroughs and trying to
Speaker 11: get everything corrected. So honestly, I can't give you no
Speaker 11: details on that.
Speaker 2: But how do you play with an edge like you do,
Speaker 2: but not over overdo it like you've also done? Is
Speaker 2: how tricky is that for you? Do you think that's
Speaker 2: kind of a maturity thing that you need to go
Speaker 2: through or just you know something? How do you improve
Speaker 2: on that? How do you without taking away the edginess
Speaker 2: that makes you you know who you are? How do
Speaker 2: you how do you kind of refine that?
Speaker 11: I don't think it has nothing to do with my
Speaker 11: level of play. I think it's more of a mental
Speaker 11: part of the game that I should improve on far
Speaker 11: as just figuring I mean not figuring out. It's like
Speaker 11: understanding that the game ain't over to all zeros on
Speaker 11: the clock, no matter if we're up about thirty or
Speaker 11: we up by one point, you know, So I would
Speaker 11: just say probably the mental game is just staying locked
Speaker 11: in through the whole sixty minutes instead of you know,
Speaker 11: instead of just you know, fifty eight minutes.
Speaker 7: You know, the game could come down to any any.
Speaker 11: Type of play such as it did yesterday, and no,
Speaker 11: I got to realize that this is the NFL.
Speaker 15: After the unnecessary roughness penalty, Is there ever a moment
Speaker 15: to yourself for you thinking I'm reving up too high here,
Speaker 15: I've got to doll it in. Or does anybody approach
Speaker 15: you and say, hey, you got to lock in here
Speaker 15: after that penalty?
Speaker 11: Oh yeah, No, there's always correction after appenally like that. Uh,
Speaker 11: it's just you know, being a football player and being
Speaker 11: on the field and having your emotions and genuine pumping,
Speaker 11: sometimes things get a little bit out of character. And
Speaker 11: if it happens to me, if it happens to any
Speaker 11: other guys, we always, you know, quick the nip it
Speaker 11: in the butt and let each other know, like you know,
Speaker 11: that that ain't who we are and that in our standards.
Speaker 7: So a couple of guys, let me know, let me know.
Speaker 11: I got to keep my cool, and you know, at
Speaker 11: some point you got to keep my cool.
Speaker 9: Erry Mark asked you a couple of minutes ago about
Speaker 9: consequences being part of this team when when the standard
Speaker 9: is violated? What is the sense of accountability? What should
Speaker 9: be the accountability from one teammate to another in situations
Speaker 9: like this?
Speaker 11: Pretty much what pretty much what's going on on? You
Speaker 11: can't do nothing. You can't take back the game it
Speaker 11: was yesterday. I understand the emotions and how everything flared up,
Speaker 11: but pretty much anything that a teammate could do, it's
Speaker 11: pretty much just point out the problem, address it how
Speaker 11: they feel it. And you know, if I don't respect
Speaker 11: that teammate, then I take it a certain way.
Speaker 7: But I respect all these guys and I love all
Speaker 7: these guys.
Speaker 11: So all I could do is take it on the
Speaker 11: chin and you know, letting them boys know that you know,
Speaker 11: this won't ever happen again. They ain't got to worry about,
Speaker 11: you know, me me playing out a character like that again.
Speaker 1: So Tyreek, you know he answered the questions I mean,
Speaker 1: and he is right in one aspect of this. You
Speaker 1: can't undo what happened, it's done now, and you learn
Speaker 1: from it, and you just can't go down that path
Speaker 1: ever again.
Speaker 4: Okay, then let's not go down that path ever again.
Speaker 4: That's all I leave it at. I don't want to
Speaker 4: see another personal file out. I don't want to see
Speaker 4: you poking your finger in the face of an opponent.
Speaker 4: I don't want to see all that extracurricular activity that
Speaker 4: can lead the Bears as a football team into negative yardage.
Speaker 4: And yeah, you better have learned a lesson. That's a
Speaker 4: teachable lesson to everybody in the NFL about what not
Speaker 4: to do in those important instances of time. You talk
Speaker 4: about the time of the play. He scrabbled for however
Speaker 4: many seconds then he released the ball. The flight of
Speaker 4: the ball took time, and so there's a lot that
Speaker 4: goes into the entirety of that play by the time
Speaker 4: from the time they break the huddle to the time
Speaker 4: that catches made. But I just want Tarik to accept
Speaker 4: accountability and understand that these infractions can ever happen again.
Speaker 1: Have a new or gently used coat laying around. Head
Speaker 1: to your local jewe Alasco until February tenth and donate
Speaker 1: one of your new or gently used coats to the
Speaker 1: thirty six annual Chicago Bears Coat Drive help keep Chicago
Speaker 1: ins warm this winter. A guy Tony Medlin spearheads that
Speaker 1: for a long long time. It means everything to him,
Speaker 1: It means everything to the organization. I know it means
Speaker 1: a lot to you two. You're a big contributor of
Speaker 1: that as am I, and will continue to do so
Speaker 1: on behalf of those who need it as the winter
Speaker 1: months are fast approaching. Right. We love what Tony does.
Speaker 4: Listen, man, I think the coach Drive is one of
Speaker 4: the greatest things the Bears ever started doing. And you
Speaker 4: know they're Gary Hager, the old equipment manager for the Bears.
Speaker 4: He had a big part of putting this whole thing together.
Speaker 4: And Tony is spearheaded it ever since he's been the
Speaker 4: head equipment manager. And when I see people walk in
Speaker 4: the streets of Chicago during the wintertime and I don't
Speaker 4: see them with sufficient and enough clothing or a jacket on,
Speaker 4: I think back about this cod drive and I just
Speaker 4: want them to keep on doing it, and anybody and
Speaker 4: everybody who can participate, please participate, because it's not You're
Speaker 4: not giving up any time or effort all you're doing
Speaker 4: is you're going into your closet and you say, I
Speaker 4: haven't put this coat on in five years. It can
Speaker 4: certainly help somebody else. Go there and deliver it to
Speaker 4: wherever these bins are offered to the general public and
Speaker 4: help somebody stay warm.
Speaker 1: And thank you to a long time partner with the Bears,
Speaker 1: jewel Osco, for their assistance as well. All right, digging
Speaker 1: back in, Kevin Byard also was at the center of
Speaker 1: that Hail Mary Throwbike Daniels in the catch by Brown
Speaker 1: for the win. He also discussed his teammate and landed
Speaker 1: support right where it needs to be, because teammates have
Speaker 1: to take care of teammates no matter what, and that's
Speaker 1: what Bayern's doing with Tyreek Stevenson.
Speaker 16: You know, at the end of the day, you know
Speaker 16: it's a tough way to lose. You never know what's
Speaker 16: going to be to play. But I always kind of
Speaker 16: look at it whereas though like we shouldn't have been
Speaker 16: in that place playing that situation in the first place.
Speaker 16: There's a lot of plays that we could point to
Speaker 16: h during that game deficiently offens best teams whatever it
Speaker 16: may be. Tours though we don't have to be defending
Speaker 16: the last play hell Mary to lose the game like that.
Speaker 16: Obviously it was an exciting game playoff atmosphere. But yeah,
Speaker 16: obviously I know Tarka's kind of you know, been getting
Speaker 16: hammered rid of it was social media and obviously been
Speaker 16: in meetings and things like that.
Speaker 7: But I'm gonna support my guy.
Speaker 16: I think for him, it's gonna be a great lesson
Speaker 16: for him just as we go forward throughout this season
Speaker 16: and just in life period, you know what I mean,
Speaker 16: just you know, how to be able to handle his adversity.
Speaker 16: And you only lose when you don't learn. And I
Speaker 16: think he's gonna learn from it and we'll get better
Speaker 16: from it.
Speaker 9: As a captain, k how do you help him gather
Speaker 9: himself understanding that one he's an emotional player and two
Speaker 9: that there's a lot coming at him from the outside
Speaker 9: right now.
Speaker 7: Yeah, Like I said, man, it's life.
Speaker 16: You know, Like if you know, if any of you is,
Speaker 16: you know, have any children or anything like that, you know,
Speaker 16: if your children does something that you're disappointed in or
Speaker 16: you don't like, does not mean that that's not your
Speaker 16: child anymore, you know what I mean?
Speaker 7: You still love them, You still love on them.
Speaker 16: You know, you can chastise them, you can hold them accountable,
Speaker 16: but you still love him at the end of the day.
Speaker 16: And Ricaus our brother. He's my brother, and I will
Speaker 16: continue to love on him and support him. And you know,
Speaker 16: like I said, I know it's going to be a
Speaker 16: lesson learned from him, and I believe that he'll learn
Speaker 16: from this lesson. And he addressed the team without anybody asking,
Speaker 16: and you know, kind of set his piece and said
Speaker 16: what you need to say.
Speaker 7: And I thought it was a great message.
Speaker 16: Just apologizing, it's saying that you know, he wasn't locked
Speaker 16: in and things like that. So that just shows growth
Speaker 16: right there within hisself. So that's all you can hope
Speaker 16: for in a situation like that. And like you said,
Speaker 16: we'll continue to support him.
Speaker 4: All right.
Speaker 1: Everything we're hearing is what leaders need to say. They
Speaker 1: need to be out in front. And Byard is a
Speaker 1: team captain as well.
Speaker 4: Tom any thoughts, Yeah, I mean, listen, Kevin Byer's got
Speaker 4: a world of experience. He's got years of experience that
Speaker 4: Tyreek hasn't even scratched the surface of yet. But he
Speaker 4: also understands what type of player Tyreek Stevenson can be
Speaker 4: if he stays focused in on his job as a
Speaker 4: football player and what it can mean to the rest
Speaker 4: of his life and the future of his family. So
Speaker 4: Kevin Byard is just trying to give advice to a
Speaker 4: child because he talks about the importance of having kids
Speaker 4: and how you teach them lessons, and when you look
Speaker 4: at the life of a football player, Tyreek is a
Speaker 4: child compared to a parent that Kevin Byard can be.
Speaker 4: It's not an insult and I'm not trying to mince
Speaker 4: words or mix words, but Kevin Byard has got a
Speaker 4: world of experience in the NFL that he can help
Speaker 4: teach Tyreek some really important preparation lessons.
Speaker 1: We're brought to you by PNC Official Bank of the Bears.
Speaker 1: All right, let's dig into this a little bit deeper.
Speaker 1: Let's go defensively, because the defensive line was quite active,
Speaker 1: Tom They had a lot of tackles in this game,
Speaker 1: which you want to see twenty nine combined tackles by
Speaker 1: the defensive lineman only I'm not talking linebackers or anything
Speaker 1: like that. So that was pretty good production. Javon Dexter
Speaker 1: at four solos, Montese sweat three hits on the quarterback
Speaker 1: in a sack. At the linebacker level, Tremaine Edmunds the
Speaker 1: tackle leader with ten TJ six taps. Edwards also had
Speaker 1: a sack. And the three running backs that were of
Speaker 1: concern to me in this game, they only had three
Speaker 1: catches for seventeen yards. So I thought, overall, despite four
Speaker 1: hundred and eighty one yards of offense, and you take
Speaker 1: the sixty one yard completion of Terry McLaurin, scary Terry
Speaker 1: and then the hail Mary, that's one hundred plus right there,
Speaker 1: it looks a little more manageable. But overall, I thought
Speaker 1: the defense spent, they didn't break. They managed things at
Speaker 1: the linebacker level, which was part of your big key
Speaker 1: to the game.
Speaker 4: Actually yeah, but you know, yeah, yardage production is one thing.
Speaker 4: Keeping them out of the end zone for touchdowns as
Speaker 4: another thing. So if you allow them to be productive
Speaker 4: in their offense from their goal line to the thirty
Speaker 4: yard line, you know, that's part of you know, being
Speaker 4: a good defense. When you skid inside the red zone
Speaker 4: inside the twenty and you become a stingy defense and
Speaker 4: keep them out of the end zone, that's what really matters.
Speaker 4: And so I understand there's a lot of yard cards
Speaker 4: giving up. They have a lot of playmakers on that
Speaker 4: football team. Jayde and Daniels did some nice job in
Speaker 4: scrambling when he had to. However, they kept him to
Speaker 4: nine early points and you know, kept themselves in the
Speaker 4: opportunity to play up until the last play.
Speaker 1: Of the game, right and they did miss a field
Speaker 1: goal that you know, maybe that size up front was
Speaker 1: a little too much for Austin Cybert kicking from distance
Speaker 1: because he didn't get any elevation on that kick. He
Speaker 1: might have scraped the ground at first when he wound
Speaker 1: up to make that kick. Also, a terrific job by
Speaker 1: Tory Terry Taylor in the punt game. Five inside the twenty,
Speaker 1: I think three inside the ten. So that's playing good
Speaker 1: chess match defense with your leg. Among the top backs
Speaker 1: in the league right now is DeAndre Swift. Tom last
Speaker 1: four weeks had some really good productions getting into the
Speaker 1: end zone. I'd like to see him more involved in
Speaker 1: the passing game, honestly, right out of the gate. I
Speaker 1: know you agree, get the tight ends and the backs involved.
Speaker 1: Those are the easy completions that Caleb couldn't find in
Speaker 1: the early part of the game, and it kind of
Speaker 1: lingered until late when he went six to eight. But
Speaker 1: finding ten completions is not enough, obviously.
Speaker 11: No.
Speaker 4: I'm glad you transitioned though, to DeAndre Swift to Caleb,
Speaker 4: because I think the best thing you can do for
Speaker 4: Caleb and a young developing quarterback is to have him
Speaker 4: have a decisionless process at the line of scrimmage where
Speaker 4: he's not audible concerned, where he knows if he has
Speaker 4: an outlet passed to a wide receiver. He's not thinking
Speaker 4: about reading defenses and changing the play. He's concerned about
Speaker 4: efficiently getting the snap of the ball off correctly and
Speaker 4: getting the ball out of his hands into the hand
Speaker 4: of a playmaker, that being DeAndre Swift or any of
Speaker 4: the other backs. So I think the best process we
Speaker 4: can talk about there is how DeAndre Swift can improve
Speaker 4: the thinking process for Caleb to make him a more complete,
Speaker 4: efficient and decision making quarterback.
Speaker 1: Good New Chicago United Airlines is getting brand new planes
Speaker 1: with all the bills and whistles, like Bluetooth connectivity screens
Speaker 1: at every seat in room for everyone's rollerbag. United Pride
Speaker 1: to flout, United Proud to fly the Chicago Bears, and
Speaker 1: you too, let's take a look at the Cardinals, because
Speaker 1: this is a team I didn't put a lot of
Speaker 1: faith at all on their defense, but their defense is
Speaker 1: playing actually a little bit better than I thought they would.
Speaker 1: And then with Kyler Murray, obviously, now we have to
Speaker 1: be really aware of what he does with his legs.
Speaker 1: He does not take direct hits. If you're going to
Speaker 1: try and deck them, he's gonna slide first or get
Speaker 1: out of bounce, he'll go down. He does not take hits.
Speaker 1: The Bears got a taste of him last year on
Speaker 1: Christmas Eve as Soldier Field, but now he's at home.
Speaker 1: I think it'll be a partisan Bears crowd. A lot
Speaker 1: of people I know are going, you know, they're going
Speaker 1: to fill that joint up with Bears crowd. So it
Speaker 1: may feel a little bit like London than Arizona for
Speaker 1: a Cardinal home game, at least that's my guess. But
Speaker 1: where your concerns lie, especially offensively with this team, well.
Speaker 4: You know, Kyler Murray thirty six pass attempts and he
Speaker 4: was not sacked. It's really frustrating for a defensive line
Speaker 4: because it means that the less he's sacked, the more
Speaker 4: you're chasing him around and he can be super fatiguing
Speaker 4: and he can make you frustrated if he gets you
Speaker 4: on the periphial and gives you a headfake and turns
Speaker 4: it into a first down. So to me, and we
Speaker 4: always talk about it, you got to limit the first
Speaker 4: downs by third down scrambles of a quarterback like Kyler
Speaker 4: Murray and make him throw the ball more often, even
Speaker 4: though if you're not putting him on the ground, try
Speaker 4: to create incompletions or interceptions. And you have a guy
Speaker 4: like James Connor and he's you know, in this last
Speaker 4: game he had twenty rushing attempts and then he had
Speaker 4: two catches on three targets. He's a versatile back and
Speaker 4: he's really physical. He plays well with Kyler Murray because
Speaker 4: Kyler Murray creates running lanes for him because of the
Speaker 4: contained type of rush that you have to have by
Speaker 4: the defensive ends and then the interior of the defensive
Speaker 4: lineman and the separation of the linebackers to either you're
Speaker 4: not necessarily going to spy Kyler Murray, but you're always
Speaker 4: going to try to keep him in front of you.
Speaker 4: So the way that Kyler Murray's athleticism changes the style
Speaker 4: of the defense. It opens up opportunities for Connor. And
Speaker 4: we haven't got to your favorite guy at the tight end, Yeah,
Speaker 4: Travan Harrison Junior.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Trey McBride became aware of him at Colorado STATEED
Speaker 1: a couple of years ago. They drafted him, and now
Speaker 1: he's really hitting his stride. But since Murray's return last year,
Speaker 1: that was in Week ten, So this is a cumulative
Speaker 1: number here. So in his last fifteen games, one hundred
Speaker 1: and twenty two targets and ninety five catches, So that's
Speaker 1: a high completion percentage to him. Almost one thousand yards,
Speaker 1: ten point three a catch, forty nine first downs, and
Speaker 1: he's off to a great start again. He had eleven targets,
Speaker 1: nine catches, one hundred and twenty four yards in that game.
Speaker 1: He's not caught a touchdown pass this year, but he's
Speaker 1: moving the sticks, Tom and then you throw in Marvin
Speaker 1: Harrison and he's starting to get going. So you have
Speaker 1: a weaponry to be concerned about here.
Speaker 4: Harrison Junior eighteen to five, eighteen point five per catch,
Speaker 4: so he's almost got two downs per every catch he makes.
Speaker 4: He made six six catches on seven targets, so Murray,
Speaker 4: Connor McBride, Harrison Junior, and they have other guys. But
Speaker 4: when you talk about the big four in the athleticism
Speaker 4: and the production of those guys, that's a heck of
Speaker 4: a you know, a heck of a responsibility for the defense.
Speaker 1: Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois right here at home,
Speaker 1: driving access toward healthier communities through it all back to
Speaker 1: the hail Mary, how is it practiced? Well, here's the
Speaker 1: only I know. Here's the one thing because you're not
Speaker 1: doing that full live. You don't want guys jumping turning
Speaker 1: an ankle and practice. So yeah, it's ripped and you
Speaker 1: do it frequently. I don't know how frequently they do
Speaker 1: it during the season, but you have to. You have
Speaker 1: to stay sharp with it. Everybody's got an assignment go
Speaker 1: do it, but just everybody's clear time you don't. It's
Speaker 1: like a special teams play. You don't run that thing
Speaker 1: full blast.
Speaker 4: No, but what you do, it's almost like doing a
Speaker 4: rebounding drill in basketball, where you don't necessarily want guys
Speaker 4: jumping up in groups because you'd have the threat of
Speaker 4: turning an ankle. But you understand your responsibility a body
Speaker 4: position against your assignment. So if I'm covering Jeff Joniac
Speaker 4: on a hail Mary, I know that I gotta be
Speaker 4: by I gotta be feeling you. I gotta have an
Speaker 4: elbow on you. I gotta be able to have something
Speaker 4: touching you that I know if you leave your feet,
Speaker 4: either I gotta leave my feet, I gotta nudge you
Speaker 4: with my hip, or I gotta out rebound you to
Speaker 4: that position. You cannot leave a character in the back
Speaker 4: of the end zone all by himself. And then the
Speaker 4: last thing that you can't you cannot tip the ball
Speaker 4: in the air, you.
Speaker 1: Know, sit down, knock it down, knock it down.
Speaker 4: That's all you ever hear about the hail and so
Speaker 4: lessons learned Again. We talk about being in this game
Speaker 4: now for thirty years together and it's the first time
Speaker 4: we've had this happen to us. I don't expect it
Speaker 4: to happen again. But the responsibility of your specific technique,
Speaker 4: it is a technique, it's not just a by chance.
Speaker 4: So you got yeah, that's the other thing, right place,
Speaker 4: at the right time.
Speaker 1: I'm glad you brought that up, because, yeah, we called
Speaker 1: a hail mary, which is in other words of prayer,
Speaker 1: and yeah, in many respects. You could look at it
Speaker 1: that way, but there's technique involved across the board right
Speaker 1: offensively and defensively, techniques of rush off front.
Speaker 4: How you want to keep he contained, keep the guy
Speaker 4: inside the pocket so he doesn't have that outside throwing lane.
Speaker 4: To extend time and try to get to an open
Speaker 4: throwing area, you have to have a linebacker there. That's
Speaker 4: kind of spying that midfield in case the quarterback decides
Speaker 4: to run and do the whole lateraling thing that we've
Speaker 4: seen happening.
Speaker 1: Here is a painful loss. Remember the Atlanta game in Atlanta,
Speaker 1: Matt Ryan, he had no time left hit I think
Speaker 1: it was Harry Douglas on an out rot gets out
Speaker 1: abound seconds. Yeah, and they kicked the field going won
Speaker 1: the game. Yeah, so we've had our ship, believe me
Speaker 1: and Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 4: I meant, did you get a hail married? You get
Speaker 4: a hail foot?
Speaker 1: I guess I don't know.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I was.
Speaker 1: I was gonna say yesterday, but I didn't want to.
Speaker 1: I didn't want to make it all about I didn't
Speaker 1: want to make it all about Washington. But I know
Speaker 1: the Sun Times used the headline, oh hail No. I
Speaker 1: was gonna say that, but I chose not to because
Speaker 1: they they'd made this big thing Hale Washington, Hale Command
Speaker 1: all that. So all right, well, let's talk injuries because
Speaker 1: the offensive line now is is a little bit in
Speaker 1: question here. What's going to happen. Don't know the severity
Speaker 1: of Braxton Jones or Tevin Jenkins. Tevin had to leave
Speaker 1: the game twice, both in the end with knees. I'm
Speaker 1: not thinking it's severe, but I don't know, won't know
Speaker 1: until midweek until guys start practicing or not. And how
Speaker 1: you felt about Karanamagaji.
Speaker 4: You're inserted in the game in the middle of a
Speaker 4: high profile game where it's distracting crowd noise. I think
Speaker 4: Amagaji came in there he had no mental errors and
Speaker 4: that was that's the key ingredient right there. Yeah, he
Speaker 4: had a couple times that he was trying to be
Speaker 4: over aggressive and he got his head down and missed
Speaker 4: his block. But the result of the play was a
Speaker 4: second down and three. The hurdle play by DeAndre Swift, Yeah,
Speaker 4: but he made the defender take a longer path to
Speaker 4: get to the point of attack, and so he never
Speaker 4: got there. And DeAndre Swift was up the field. I
Speaker 4: want to see a guy miss being aggressive, then I
Speaker 4: want to see a guy miss being passive. And so
Speaker 4: I'm not going to sit here in downgrade karam Amagaji
Speaker 4: for what he did in Week one, because there are
Speaker 4: significant improvements you can make if you know that you're
Speaker 4: going to be the starter, and if that's the case,
Speaker 4: I have high expectations for him. A super intelligent kid.
Speaker 4: He's got good bendability, he's got good arm length, he
Speaker 4: uses his punch well. And so if you are drafted
Speaker 4: to be a starter in the NFL, your time has come,
Speaker 4: my son.
Speaker 1: Okay, father Thayer. The thing about it is he just
Speaker 1: faced the most significant competition he's ever faced in his
Speaker 1: college or high school football plan life. Right then in there.
Speaker 4: No doubt about I don't I don't think there's a
Speaker 4: lot of those guys playing against Hinsdale Central, so they
Speaker 4: are you know, I'm not gonna you know, I listen,
Speaker 4: there's a lot of great high school football players, and
Speaker 4: there's a lot of great players in the IVY. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 4: no doubt about it. But I'm just proud of his
Speaker 4: mental preparation. So the Bears didn't have to shrink the playbook.
Speaker 1: I really like his length and as athleticism too. He
Speaker 1: can move, he can move as we saw on that
Speaker 1: toss Cracks We've Left, which I do love that play
Speaker 1: Braxton Jones also and I wish they would use it more. Actually,
Speaker 1: Bears fan Steinhoffel's a proud partner of the Chicago Bears.
Speaker 1: This Bears season, Steinhoffel's partnering with Special Spaces Illinois to
Speaker 1: create dream bedrooms for children battling cancer. For every false
Speaker 1: start caused by the Bears defense during a home game,
Speaker 1: Steinhoffls donates one thousand dollars to Special Spaces Illinois shop
Speaker 1: in store and online at Steinhoffels dot com. We'll be
Speaker 1: back with you on Thursday. We'll get in the weeds
Speaker 1: on Arizona. Look at their defense a little bit. They've
Speaker 1: had a lot of injuries, a lot of injuries on
Speaker 1: the defensive line, so I don't know what's left for
Speaker 1: them to deal with. But I'm expecting a bounce back
Speaker 1: performance by the Bears in a much needed way, frankly,
Speaker 1: because things are going to start getting real interesting here
Speaker 1: in a couple weeks and you can't look past obviously,
Speaker 1: but you're gonna have three home games coming up after
Speaker 1: this trip to Arizona, which will be the eighth trip
Speaker 1: to the Bears will have taken so far this season already,
Speaker 1: so it's a lot of trips. When you put in
Speaker 1: the preseason in London, they're traveling the most air miles
Speaker 1: I think of any team in the league, and you
Speaker 1: know travel does come with a price at times. One
Speaker 1: last one we got to get to. Tommy is our Geico.
Speaker 1: The Geico brings your more football stat of the day.
Speaker 1: It's not about the Bears. I think you're gonna like
Speaker 1: this one, tom This is about the Jets. They became
Speaker 1: the first team since nineteen forty. Put that in perspective
Speaker 1: to lose a game, scoring twenty or more points, no turnovers,
Speaker 1: and holding their opponent under two hundred and fifty yards
Speaker 1: of offense. Previously teams were seven hundred and fifty six
Speaker 1: and oh under those conditions. Well, that's interesting. That's an
Speaker 1: interesting math for me on that one. Because you know
Speaker 1: your baseball. You can always say, you know what, there's
Speaker 1: no way on the face of this earth that if
Speaker 1: you watch the game even for one hundred years, say
Speaker 1: you're one hundred and ten years old, and you watch
Speaker 1: baseball since you've been a ten year old kid, something
Speaker 1: new is always going to happen. You can say that
Speaker 1: less of the case of the Nation Football League, but
Speaker 1: I keep getting proved wrong. That's another example.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean it is. I I think if you're
Speaker 4: a fan of football no longer, how no matter how
Speaker 4: long you've been a fan of football, you can always
Speaker 4: see a first. And this was my first Sunday in Washington.
Speaker 1: You better not have a second unless it's a Bears win.
Speaker 4: Yes, I only want a second.
Speaker 1: No, no, no, let me let me ask you as
Speaker 1: it's happening. Okay, the first it's an art well, first
Speaker 1: was an incomplete, then it ERTs throw, and then and
Speaker 1: the one to McLaren. Forget about you as an analyst
Speaker 1: for a second, as somebody just watching the game. What
Speaker 1: was going through your head as this is unfolding in
Speaker 1: the final twenty three seconds?
Speaker 4: Do you recall you know? Well, I was thinking I
Speaker 4: don't like the easy completions that they're giving up because
Speaker 4: of how dynamic kickers are in the NFL and how
Speaker 4: long of attempts that they're willing to give them. Then
Speaker 4: the speed of McLaren, and then you know, Jade and
Speaker 4: Daniels and his escapability, his arm strength and just luck.
Speaker 4: I'm going God, please don't let these guys get lucky.
Speaker 4: The bear, you know, luck is gonna come in, is
Speaker 4: going to answer this thing somehow.
Speaker 1: Hey, Daniels could have run for a touchdown for all
Speaker 1: we know. It would have been hard to do.
Speaker 4: But hey, I'm not TJ would attract him down and
Speaker 4: lit them up.
Speaker 1: But I gotta say, you're yelling a body caught. It
Speaker 1: was just priceless. They played it on NFL Network time.
Speaker 1: They played the Washington call. They were very calm. They
Speaker 1: were very calm, and then throwed because there's a long
Speaker 1: developing play and then they lose their mind. You and
Speaker 1: I calm making the play sounded a little tense. Boom,
Speaker 1: ball falls into his hands. I couldn't believe my own eyes,
Speaker 1: and you took it right from my eyes to your mind.
Speaker 1: And then I just quietly said, he caught the ball,
Speaker 1: and the game is over. Miracle finish, it's the Marilyn miracle.
Speaker 1: I guess that's what they're calling to me. What are
Speaker 1: you gonna call it?
Speaker 4: I need to think of another word for disaster that
Speaker 4: rhymes with bears.
Speaker 1: Right, come up with one. For our podcast, episode one
Speaker 1: oh seven that'll drop on Thursday. We'll preview the matchup
Speaker 1: against Arizona. Also plan to talk to a Bears player,
Speaker 1: and heck, who knows, we may talk to a few
Speaker 1: surprises along the way. Special thanks to Matt Eberflus As
Speaker 1: usual for Tom Thayer, I'm Jeff Joniac. Thanks for listening. Everybody,
Speaker 1: please subscribe now. I'm the Chicago Bears official Apple, Spotify, YouTube,
Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcasts give us.
Speaker 4: I will not revisit the Hail Mary after today.
Speaker 1: No, I don't want to talk about it anymore. It's
Speaker 1: it is, It's over. That book is close, Tom, that's it.
Speaker 1: It's a wrap, right, Go Bears. One less