Speaker 1: Right justin middle of the field forty five fifteen bring
Speaker 1: Bress in front of all leaving lions in his way.
Speaker 1: I am Jeff joniha Litz is not Donny go R.
Speaker 2: What was like playing for coache gooddo? I don't want
Speaker 2: to answer any questions like that.
Speaker 1: Sixty one yards? What Sunday stroll for? Justin field? Ye Bears,
Speaker 1: et cetera.
Speaker 3: With the voices of the Chicago Bears Jeff Joniac.
Speaker 1: It's Thanksgiving and the Bears are doing the holiday balancing
Speaker 1: act of welcoming family and friends from parts unknown into
Speaker 1: their homes while going to work and preparing for the
Speaker 1: Monday night matchup with the Minnesota Vikings. And most of
Speaker 1: us in football work all the holidays, so we always
Speaker 1: have been used to it. Same with the players and staff.
Speaker 1: We hope your Thanksgiving is joyous and wonderful. And there
Speaker 1: is nothing better than Thanksgiving and football, and nothing better
Speaker 1: to break down than with my guy, Tom Thayer, the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl winning Bears guard. Here, Bears, etc. I'm Jeff
Speaker 1: Joniac coming up for our conversation with former Bears front
Speaker 1: office man at the former GM of the Miviamy Dolphins
Speaker 1: in Minnesota Vikings Rick Spielman. So the status at Hallis
Speaker 1: is Thursday will be late as they get ready for
Speaker 1: the Vikings, and then back to work on Friday and Saturday,
Speaker 1: depart on Sunday to take on a Viking team that
Speaker 1: you know, we only look at how the Bears lost
Speaker 1: their game in Detroit. They lost it similarly in Denver.
Speaker 1: Their defense played great, held them to field goals, they
Speaker 1: owned the clock, They did everything in their power to
Speaker 1: win that game, except they turned the ball over a lot.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, I never played in a Monday night
Speaker 4: game during Thanksgiving week, so Thanksgiving Day was a normal
Speaker 4: practice day for me throughout my career or else we
Speaker 4: played on Thanksgiving Day.
Speaker 2: So I think it's the right way to go about
Speaker 2: the schedule.
Speaker 4: To get the week started, to get through some meetings,
Speaker 4: bring them in for a short period of time on Thursday,
Speaker 4: then get back to work on Friday, and you know,
Speaker 4: try to you know, figure out the last four minutes,
Speaker 4: but play more like the first sixty fifty six minutes,
Speaker 4: and I think they can have a positive outcome come
Speaker 4: Monday night.
Speaker 1: I would say the status at Hallis is exactly that.
Speaker 1: The focus on the finish we've been talking about it
Speaker 1: all season, every week, focus on the finish. But frankly,
Speaker 1: it's a theme that's never going to stop in football,
Speaker 1: from the best teams to the worst teams, from high
Speaker 1: school to college to the NFL. That's the way it works.
Speaker 1: You find a way and you got to figure it out.
Speaker 4: To me, I'm not looking at the players. I'm looking
Speaker 4: at what the coaches would do differently, because when you
Speaker 4: talk about the scheme and what they're thinking and the
Speaker 4: calls that come in from the sideline, it's then the
Speaker 4: players go out and do their jobs accordingly.
Speaker 2: So as much as you.
Speaker 4: Know you want to talk about the outcome of the game,
Speaker 4: I you know, I'm you know, concerned about what would
Speaker 4: the coaches do differently?
Speaker 2: And they are four minutes. If you know, if you
Speaker 2: you know.
Speaker 4: You could have the privilege of asking the questions when
Speaker 4: you look at the down and distance, you look at
Speaker 4: the time remaining on the clock, you look at the
Speaker 4: defensive formations, how would you go different about your business?
Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm not gonna absolve the players though, because they
Speaker 1: got to make They got to make the play. They
Speaker 1: got to figure out how to make the play. If
Speaker 1: it's defense making an interception, that you got to have,
Speaker 1: or the quarterback making a pass that you got to have,
Speaker 1: or the offensive line making a protection you got to
Speaker 1: have because that's where the money's made, and it's it's
Speaker 1: across the board. Yes, coaches, but I'm not going to
Speaker 1: absolve players from this either, not just this game. I'm
Speaker 1: talking about finish for the whole season, like this team
Speaker 1: is not finished for two years.
Speaker 4: And right, well, okay, well I was talking specifically about
Speaker 4: going on, but I know I know what the bigger
Speaker 4: picture is, so it'd be a good I guess it'll
Speaker 4: be a debate for the plane between Yeah, it's not
Speaker 4: gonna it's not gonna be a podcast debate. It'll be
Speaker 4: on plane debate.
Speaker 1: And then the status we won't know until the injury
Speaker 1: report did it doesn't have to come out until Friday now,
Speaker 1: Oh no, I guess they'll do a Thursday if they
Speaker 1: practice type scenario. So Deontay Foreman, I want to know
Speaker 1: where he's at at running back and Lucas Patrick at center?
Speaker 1: Who left the game of the back endury? Am I
Speaker 1: missing anybody?
Speaker 2: You know?
Speaker 4: How did Tremaine Edmans come out of the game and
Speaker 4: where is he going forward?
Speaker 2: But I think everybody else. It seemed they've come out
Speaker 2: of the game pretty healthy.
Speaker 1: I want to retrack before we start preview. I got
Speaker 1: to talk about the offensive line more because Tevin Jenkins,
Speaker 1: again at least in pass protection, got a high grading
Speaker 1: from Pro Football Focus. But this year he has not
Speaker 1: given up a sack. It's been a test for the tackles,
Speaker 1: Braxton Jones to start the season with Larry Borum now
Speaker 1: Braxton Jones and Darnell right at tackle. And I'm interested
Speaker 1: because we don't ever talk about Darnow. I want to
Speaker 1: get your impression about how he's played.
Speaker 4: I think he's playing really well. I think he's a
Speaker 4: really good, thinking rookie offensive tackle. I think he plays
Speaker 4: with strength. I think he's a heck of an athlete.
Speaker 4: I think he has a high desire to stay on
Speaker 4: the field, because we've seen him from the broadcast booth
Speaker 4: where he's limped after a play or shaken something off,
Speaker 4: but never wanted to leave the huddle.
Speaker 1: Even Sunday, even Sunday.
Speaker 4: Right, yeah, well it's more than once, you know, you
Speaker 4: look at the full picture of his season.
Speaker 2: He's done a great job.
Speaker 1: Field's played for the first time in thirty five days,
Speaker 1: with that dislocated thumb. He says he's going to keep
Speaker 1: it taped the rest of the season, just to be safe.
Speaker 1: At the podium on Wednesday, up at Hallis Hall talked
Speaker 1: about a couple of things. A one, if the pressure
Speaker 1: that Brian Flores brings at the line of scrimmage will
Speaker 1: affect his ability to run on the edges like he's
Speaker 1: been apt to do. I still think the middle of
Speaker 1: the field man. A couple of those against Detroit and
Speaker 1: several last season some of his biggest runs he exploded
Speaker 1: off off a guard or a tackle and it opened
Speaker 1: up and he was gone down the middle of the field.
Speaker 1: If that will be complicated at all, Here's the quote
Speaker 1: from Justin at the podium.
Speaker 5: If they bring all out, yeah, I mean you really
Speaker 5: don't have anywhere to go because you got your your
Speaker 5: outnumbered and protection. You know, that's when you got to
Speaker 5: get the ball out quick. So that's how you combat that.
Speaker 5: But yeah, when they bring their all out covers, you're
Speaker 5: a pressure then, I mean, yeah, you're not gonna likes
Speaker 5: you just completely out athlete. You know, the d N
Speaker 5: set them up somewhere one way or the other, but
Speaker 5: not really looking you know, covers zero. That's not really
Speaker 5: answer to beat that is, try to scramble and stuff around.
Speaker 5: You just want to get the ball out quick and
Speaker 5: you know, let the playmakers make plays and work for you.
Speaker 3: So, as disappointing as it was in Detroit, are you
Speaker 3: excited to have a primetime opportunity to kind of show
Speaker 3: that that's not who you guys are.
Speaker 4: Uh?
Speaker 5: I think for the most part we showed who we were,
Speaker 5: you know, except until the end of the game. But
Speaker 5: you know, focus on finishing better and you know, finishing
Speaker 5: out the game with it when it counts, and you know,
Speaker 5: when a drive comes up, you know, making that big
Speaker 5: play when it matters. But I mean, yeah, we're definitely
Speaker 5: excited for this opportunity. You know, the Vikings that they've
Speaker 5: been playing, you know, great fast past few weeks. So
Speaker 5: definitely excited for the opportunity. We get to have a
Speaker 5: Monday night and get to go out.
Speaker 1: There and bawl out and so talk about that because
Speaker 1: do you see that field when it opens up up
Speaker 1: the middle, he should just go because it's a lot
Speaker 1: of green grass you have.
Speaker 4: But Brian floores very creatively with his defensive scheming. He
Speaker 4: doesn't allow open lanes, even if he's blitzing from the
Speaker 4: inside or outside.
Speaker 2: So it's more.
Speaker 4: Of how quickly can you get the ball out of
Speaker 4: your hands downfield, and you have backs that are good receivers,
Speaker 4: you have a good tight end that's a receiver, and
Speaker 4: you have great wide receivers. So the immediacy of the
Speaker 4: ball out of your hand is going to dictate the
Speaker 4: way bliand Brian Floores runs a screen.
Speaker 2: It runs his scheme.
Speaker 4: If you become vulnerable to protection at the line of
Speaker 4: scrimmage and the offensive line has has some uncertainty, the
Speaker 4: crowd noise is effective, and then they set that outer
Speaker 4: edge that they don't give just an escapability.
Speaker 2: It's the type.
Speaker 4: Of game plan that Brian Floores has been as successful
Speaker 4: as he's been in some of the biggest games against
Speaker 4: some of the best quarterbacks.
Speaker 2: But Justin, uniquely.
Speaker 4: Enough, he has the type of talent that if they
Speaker 4: bring a blitz and he makes one guy miss that
Speaker 4: he can be gone. If he reads the hot read
Speaker 4: during the cadence, it can be a really big play.
Speaker 4: So there's a lot of ways that Justin can counter
Speaker 4: act the blitzing of Brian Flores in. One of them
Speaker 4: is is his supreme athleticism.
Speaker 1: Now, this is something that I liked with. Justin had
Speaker 1: to say. He was very confident about his deep ball.
Speaker 1: You it's almost taking the words out of your mouth.
Speaker 1: You've been saying it all year. We're gonna hear it
Speaker 1: from Rix Bielman here in a moment about Justin's deep ball.
Speaker 1: He's very proud of it.
Speaker 5: I mean, to be honest, I feel like deep balls
Speaker 5: just in general. I feel like that's kind of what
Speaker 5: I do best. To be honest with you, I think
Speaker 5: I throw the ball down the field exceptionally. I feel like,
Speaker 5: you know, it's one of my strengths. And you know,
Speaker 5: I've been doing it since high school college, so you know,
Speaker 5: I think it's one thing that I do best, and
Speaker 5: you know, one thing that I think we're like to
Speaker 5: keep doing and you know, get to more.
Speaker 4: So.
Speaker 1: Yeah, And so I think it's important that he own that.
Speaker 1: He said at the podium, this is what I do best.
Speaker 1: This is what I think I do best. A lot
Speaker 1: of folks think that Justin Field's best trade his run
Speaker 1: on the football, but I like to say he does
Speaker 1: both of those things well, and now it's everything else
Speaker 1: in between that can round out his play.
Speaker 4: So the two things about deep ball. If you provide
Speaker 4: the protection for him, like in the Commander's game, he
Speaker 4: shows that he has small window of opportunities that he
Speaker 4: can take advantage of to give the receiver or an
Speaker 4: opportunity to make a catch. If he reads well inside
Speaker 4: the pocket and is able to step up field without
Speaker 4: crossing the line of scrimmage, he's got downfield accuracy that
Speaker 4: is as good as anybody in the league. So it's
Speaker 4: the things where and when and how you want to
Speaker 4: make that longer throw. And like I said, he can
Speaker 4: compliment protection or he can stay up in the pocket
Speaker 4: and still make the great throw.
Speaker 1: We have brought you by Blue Cross Blue Shield for
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Speaker 1: for you through it all.
Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 1: We had an opportunity to visit with Rix S Pielman.
Speaker 1: He's bouncing around to many different media outlets after a
Speaker 1: post management career with multiple teams, including the Bears back
Speaker 1: in ninety seven when we got to know him well
Speaker 1: for his three years before he went down to Miami
Speaker 1: as one of the pro personnel directors for the Chicago
Speaker 1: Bears at that time. I'll tell you he's done a
Speaker 1: great job with the thirty third team if you happen
Speaker 1: to get that newsletter. Also at CBS Sports CBSHQ. I've
Speaker 1: seen him at the combine and he loves the draft.
Speaker 1: He's been diving into it. We talked about many different
Speaker 1: topics for a good half hour. Here's our conversation with
Speaker 1: Rix Bielman Rick. How you doing? The former NFL Executive
Speaker 1: of the Year, the Masson, Ohio native, the siu alum,
Speaker 1: the former Bears, Dolphins, Viking executive, and now Big Tom.
Speaker 1: He is all things media. You've got like half a
Speaker 1: dozen jobs right now.
Speaker 2: I like it.
Speaker 3: Trying to make it living, Yeah, no, I'm trying to
Speaker 3: live the life you guys have always that I've always
Speaker 3: dreamed of that you guys live.
Speaker 2: So this is quite the lifestyle.
Speaker 1: You know. Can you sum up where you're working? Actually,
Speaker 1: because a lot of folks if they want to see
Speaker 1: your work, because you do great job, great job analyzing
Speaker 1: the NFL and also always with an eye on towards
Speaker 1: the NFL Draft, which the scout in you you can't escape, right.
Speaker 3: No, No, I'm doing a lot of work for CBS
Speaker 3: and CBS HQ on the weekends and then have a
Speaker 3: with the First Pick podcast and it's all draft related,
Speaker 3: talk a lot about the Bears and what should they
Speaker 3: do with their picks this year as a season unfolds.
Speaker 3: And we do that every Tuesday and Thursday on with
Speaker 3: the First Pick, doing a lot of serious XM radio hosted.
Speaker 3: Saturday nights, I do a show with zig Ficasi getting
Speaker 3: the previews on the game games coming up, some stuff
Speaker 3: with a thirty third team, and about three or four
Speaker 3: other side jobs.
Speaker 4: You know, Rick, the thirty third Team I was interested
Speaker 4: in because I really enjoy your contributions. So all of
Speaker 4: us are kind of used to talking about football and
Speaker 4: it comes easy to us. But when you're sitting down
Speaker 4: behind a computer and now you're starting to write, however
Speaker 4: long the articles have a tendency to be Is it
Speaker 4: more difficult to write or is the writing part just
Speaker 4: as easy as the talking.
Speaker 3: The writing part is the reason why I didn't go
Speaker 3: into English literalgy. I can write a report on a
Speaker 3: player with these but trying to make that sound halfway.
Speaker 3: I'm not going to win any Politzer Prize with my writings.
Speaker 3: They do a great job with the editors, trying to
Speaker 3: make a chicken salad out of chicken crap is what
Speaker 3: they say in the business as I learned, so but
Speaker 3: they do a great job.
Speaker 2: It's just being.
Speaker 3: Able to express your thoughts and doing it in words
Speaker 3: is a lot easier because we all do that, but
Speaker 3: when you have to actually sit down there and write it,
Speaker 3: it makes it a totally different ballgame. It's getting easier
Speaker 3: the more you do it. But it's just like when
Speaker 3: you watch tape on a player and then you write
Speaker 3: up that report. Well, you can do it at a
Speaker 3: blink of the eye now. I remember the first player
Speaker 3: that I wrote up was Major Harris, a quarterback at
Speaker 3: West Virginia, and it took me about two and a
Speaker 3: half three hours to write that one report, which I said,
Speaker 3: We're going to have a long career if I can't
Speaker 3: figure out how to do this a lot quicker because
Speaker 3: there's a lot more than one guy I have to
Speaker 3: write up. But I'm finding that out that the articles
Speaker 3: are becoming easier to write. Although I would say that
Speaker 3: I don't know if I'll ever be a newspaperman and
Speaker 3: writing articles or editorials, especially if I don't have the
Speaker 3: supporting cast around me that the thirty thirteen provides.
Speaker 4: Rick, is each position equally difficult to evaluate? Or is
Speaker 4: there a position that may be a little bit more
Speaker 4: difficult to evaluate then you know all the other positions
Speaker 4: you're looking at at.
Speaker 2: You know it depends.
Speaker 3: You got to say, the quarterbacks, for anybody's the most
Speaker 3: difficult and the hardest one to predict on who.
Speaker 2: Will have success or not have success.
Speaker 3: I would say probably the most film you have to
Speaker 3: watch to get a true feel is on a defensive
Speaker 3: safety or a defensive back because they're not involved in
Speaker 3: the play every snap. When you watch the Tom Fairs,
Speaker 3: they're hitting someone every snap on the offensive line or
Speaker 3: defensive linement that you're watching, so you can get a
Speaker 3: pretty good sense or running back with all the touches.
Speaker 3: But it's the quarterback that's the most difficult to evaluate
Speaker 3: because you're trying to project a college offense and call
Speaker 3: it what he's doing at the collegiate level to what's
Speaker 3: going to produce or you know, at the NFL level.
Speaker 3: But watching a safety, I mean, you take seven or
Speaker 3: eight games before you really figure out because they get
Speaker 3: limited opportunities in a game. They're not going to get
Speaker 3: the ball thrown to them every snap. You got to
Speaker 3: figure out if they can run support the angles and
Speaker 3: run support when they do get opportunities and coverage, which
Speaker 3: comes sometimes few and far between, to get a true
Speaker 3: field of what they're going to be projected at the
Speaker 3: next level.
Speaker 1: Rick, That's why I whiffed in the two thousand draft.
Speaker 1: When I was watching tapes that you and George Peyton,
Speaker 1: now the general manager of the Broncos. You're a good friend,
Speaker 1: worked with him all those years at Minnesota, and I
Speaker 1: was looking at safeties that year and George says, well,
Speaker 1: who do you like? And I said, well, here it
Speaker 1: is Rogers Beckett San Diego State. And he goes, okay,
Speaker 1: and he slides me Mike Brown. He goes, I think
Speaker 1: you gotta watch this. I already watched it. I said,
Speaker 1: I don't know, it's just it looks a little slow
Speaker 1: out there. Well, Rogers beck It didn't have a very
Speaker 1: good career. And Mike Brown is one of my favorite
Speaker 1: bears of all time, and I would love to watch
Speaker 1: him play no matter what Mike Brown was all about
Speaker 1: angles and attitude and stubbornness and working his tail off
Speaker 1: and just a outstanding Chicago Bear. I'm sure as a
Speaker 1: scout and a general manager, that makes you laugh when
Speaker 1: a guy like me is trying to evaluate NFL talent, No.
Speaker 2: Because you at least giving efforts.
Speaker 3: Some of the guys to talk about NFL talent don't
Speaker 3: even watch the tape.
Speaker 2: I mean, we're all wrong. I've been wrong, George has
Speaker 2: been wrong.
Speaker 3: So but at least if you're doing the work, you
Speaker 3: respect the opinion. You may not agree with the opinion,
Speaker 3: but at least you're respected.
Speaker 2: Hey, Rick, Jeff.
Speaker 3: Even back remember when I was with the Bears as
Speaker 3: the pro director, one of my favorite things to do
Speaker 3: was to come on your pregame show and give the
Speaker 3: advanced scouting report. That's where I finally figured out that
Speaker 3: one day, when I'm done working in this executive office BS,
Speaker 3: that I might enjoy doing the media. Was all because
Speaker 3: of Jeff Jonah giving me my first shot in front
Speaker 3: of a microphone.
Speaker 1: Well, you did a great job, and I was honored
Speaker 1: to have you guys on, and you guys gave me
Speaker 1: a lot of access and you trusted me, and I
Speaker 1: always have appreciated that.
Speaker 2: So do you guys.
Speaker 3: Still use that little number you remember walking to the
Speaker 3: trailer before the games?
Speaker 1: Yep, No, that is long gone. That's the previous radio station.
Speaker 1: And now we're on ESPN Chicago, so it's a whole
Speaker 1: different ballgame. Hey, you mentioned quarterbacks, and I just talked
Speaker 1: about this with Tommy last week on our podcast. Here
Speaker 1: and teams fall all over themselves. They mortgage the future,
Speaker 1: they make deals, they shred their roster just to move
Speaker 1: up to get a guy that they hope is going
Speaker 1: to be the guy. Every team in the league has
Speaker 1: basically done it, with rare exception. It's become such such
Speaker 1: a hard task it seems to get harder as opposed
Speaker 1: to easier. I know that you are doing this draft,
Speaker 1: and I think you've put on thirty third team or
Speaker 1: maybe it was CBS, I can't remember. Now, you think
Speaker 1: there's eighteen draftable quarterbacks coming out of this draft, which
Speaker 1: is to me a very very high number. I'm sure
Speaker 1: it may whittle down as time goes on, or maybe
Speaker 1: it'll increase when there's a dark horse. Do you agree
Speaker 1: with my assessment that it's becoming more and more difficult
Speaker 1: and more and more challenging, and more and more risky
Speaker 1: as opposed to the round.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think it's always been more and more difficult,
Speaker 3: more and more challenging, because if anyone had the answer
Speaker 3: to the burning Bush question, there wouldn't probably be as
Speaker 3: many bus and including some of the bus I had
Speaker 3: trying to select a quarterback during my tenure.
Speaker 2: But I think that everybody is trying to find an edge.
Speaker 3: I know the evaluation of a quarterback has changed so
Speaker 3: much on trying to apply analytics to it, trying to
Speaker 3: do this or that, trying to figure out what ticks,
Speaker 3: you know, because to me, you can see the physical ability,
Speaker 3: you can see him run, you can see him throw,
Speaker 3: the arm talent. It's the quarterback position. And Tom you
Speaker 3: know you've played, you play with some pretty good quarterbacks.
Speaker 3: Is that do they have that leadership or whatever that
Speaker 3: trait is that everybody in that locker room wants to
Speaker 3: go win for that guy or play for that guy.
Speaker 2: And you know this year when CJ.
Speaker 3: Stroud came out and the test score that s two score,
Speaker 3: I believe said he was the lowest out of all
Speaker 3: the quarterbacks. Well, going forward, I would want to make
Speaker 3: sure my quarterback scores as low as.
Speaker 2: Possible on that s two tests. I know he's going
Speaker 2: to be the next CJ.
Speaker 3: Stroud, so but that's just such a hard prediction to
Speaker 3: make it the quarterback position, not because of the physical ability,
Speaker 3: but it's because you're trying to get in the mind,
Speaker 3: in the heart of that player. You're trying to figure
Speaker 3: out what makes him tick. Does he ticked when the
Speaker 3: pressure is on the line. I mean, you see CJ.
Speaker 3: Stroud for example, when the game is on the line
Speaker 3: for some reason, he plays like a veteran, like he's
Speaker 3: been lined up for the last ten years and he's
Speaker 3: won two i think two games here recently that he
Speaker 3: took his team down for the winning drive in the score.
Speaker 3: So those are things that you can't watch on tape.
Speaker 3: You can try to evaluate it. But everybody's trying to
Speaker 3: go through, like I said, the psychological testing, the analytics,
Speaker 3: whatever you can do to try to get the answer
Speaker 3: to the test on what mentally makes these guys taken successful,
Speaker 3: because it's not all about just physical ability.
Speaker 4: Hey, Rick, I'm interested in your GM point of view
Speaker 4: on this question. So Kareem Jackson from Denver is suspended
Speaker 4: for four games, second time he's been suspended this year.
Speaker 4: He appealed the first one, then he got suspended for
Speaker 4: a hit on Joshua Dobbs as a GM, how do
Speaker 4: you go to bat for him? Or because it's the
Speaker 4: second time around, do you have to live with the suspension?
Speaker 3: Well, if you do that within the first five plays
Speaker 3: coming back off of a suspension, I mean, what you know,
Speaker 3: you almost ask yourself, is this guy a knucklehead? Or
Speaker 3: what are you thinking? I understand the aggressiveness and you
Speaker 3: want to play the game hard and you want to
Speaker 3: play the game physical, but you have to know, after
Speaker 3: you lost money, after you've been suspended, to maybe just
Speaker 3: keep your head up instead of launching with the top
Speaker 3: of your head into a player that's not going to fly.
Speaker 3: The thing that surprised me the most about that game
Speaker 3: was that there wasn't a penalty called on that play.
Speaker 3: And I would have thought for sure, potentially someone in
Speaker 3: the New York office would have binged the officials on
Speaker 3: the field and say get him out of there because
Speaker 3: he just did it again, because they were able to
Speaker 3: see the replay.
Speaker 2: But since the.
Speaker 3: Penalty was not called, maybe they held judgment until after
Speaker 3: the game, and then they saw the replay. Now they
Speaker 3: pinged him again. But there's a line between playing physical
Speaker 3: and aggressive but also playing smart and biting by the
Speaker 3: rules that are put in place for players safety. And
Speaker 3: it just seems like if you didn't get it the
Speaker 3: first time, hopefully you get it going forward after the
Speaker 3: second time, you're going to get popped, you know.
Speaker 4: So I questioned outside football a little bit. So when
Speaker 4: we used to play in the Metrodome, I hated more
Speaker 4: of the walk back and forth of the locker room
Speaker 4: of any stadium I played in. So now that the
Speaker 4: Bears are on the cusp, but possibly building a new stadium,
Speaker 4: is there any immediate thoughts come to your mind about
Speaker 4: the dos and don'ts of building a new stadium for
Speaker 4: the home team or maybe that longer walk for the
Speaker 4: away team.
Speaker 3: I know Kevin Warren, you know, when he was in Minnesota,
Speaker 3: he was did a phenomenal job leading our organization along
Speaker 3: with a couple other executives and getting that stadium, our
Speaker 3: new stadium built, So he knows the ins and outs
Speaker 3: of that. The one thing that I would say that
Speaker 3: was vitally important for the home team was to make
Speaker 3: sure that not only you have the locker room and everything,
Speaker 3: but all of the things you need to do after
Speaker 3: a game to recover your body, because I remember we
Speaker 3: didn't have the facilities to do that at the Metrodome,
Speaker 3: but the hot tubs and whirlpools, all the amenities that
Speaker 3: go along into a training room. If we played at
Speaker 3: home on a Sunday and had a Thursday game the
Speaker 3: following week, we would make sure the players stayed there
Speaker 3: after the game to start all their treatments and everything
Speaker 3: so they didn't go home. So I just would make
Speaker 3: sure that you have all the amenities that you need
Speaker 3: to give your team potentially a competitive advantage, especially if
Speaker 3: you're playing on a short week.
Speaker 2: There's rules in the NFL.
Speaker 3: You have to meet x standards in order for a
Speaker 3: visiting locker room to get a checkoff from the league office. Now,
Speaker 3: whether you walk, you know, two hundred and fifty yards
Speaker 3: across the field or around the stadium, you do three
Speaker 3: loops around the stadium to get to the field, that's
Speaker 3: that's something that you know. Yeah, I don't know if
Speaker 3: it will pass inspection, but there's ways. Like I said,
Speaker 3: but most of the time's going to come down as
Speaker 3: our team by other in your team and who's going
Speaker 3: to execute execute the best. And whether you hated that
Speaker 3: walk or not in the Metrodome, I'm sure you guys
Speaker 3: had a lot of success in that Metrodome as well.
Speaker 2: Regardless of the walk. I still hated it. Rick maybe
Speaker 2: a major mad so you played better. Maybe it had
Speaker 2: a counter effect on you.
Speaker 1: Rix Bielman our guest here on Bears Etc. Podcast and
Speaker 1: we are brought to you in part by Ticketmaster. Bears fans,
Speaker 1: you can be there for live NFL action all season long.
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Speaker 1: Ticketmaster has a wide selection of tickets available for every game.
Speaker 1: Find tickets today at ticketmaster dot com. Slash Bears. So
Speaker 1: it's Bears Vikings on Monday Night. I know you basically
Speaker 1: ran the division with the Bears. You started with the
Speaker 1: Lions as a player, you helped out there, you got
Speaker 1: your first start as a scout with them, and then
Speaker 1: a great career with the Minnesota Vikings and a lot
Speaker 1: of other great stuff in between, including the Dolphins. You
Speaker 1: know that roster, some of those guys are still your guys.
Speaker 1: How do you feel about the Vikings where they're at
Speaker 1: and this whole Joshua Dobbs story.
Speaker 3: Well, make make sure you throw that player thing around
Speaker 3: very loosely, because I might have been a Hall of
Speaker 3: Fame camper, but not much more after that.
Speaker 1: Hey, all I know it was an asker, is what
Speaker 1: was the other camp you were in?
Speaker 2: I started out in the Chargers camp.
Speaker 3: I remember the first time I lined up at mini
Speaker 3: camp because there were no to it OTA's back. Then
Speaker 3: is went out there for mini camp. Dan Fouts was
Speaker 3: a quarterback, and then I was a linebacker and I
Speaker 3: was covering in a one on one drill. Kelln Winslow,
Speaker 3: Oh my, and I didn't know whether to ask them
Speaker 3: for an autograph or do I touch him? Or how
Speaker 3: does this thing work? Next thing? You know, I got
Speaker 3: spun around like a top when he ran a route,
Speaker 3: and I said, this may not be the best shot
Speaker 3: for me because it ain't going to last too long.
Speaker 3: So maybe I can find another angle to get a
Speaker 3: career in the NFL.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 3: So yeah, let's not use the word player. Brother, he
Speaker 3: was a player. Yes, he was born with the change
Speaker 3: of direction. I was born with the hair and good looks,
Speaker 3: even though we can't see.
Speaker 2: It right now.
Speaker 1: How about Dobbs. The Dobs story, it's crazy story.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and there's no question his intelligence and you know
Speaker 3: what he was came and did for Minnesota, you know,
Speaker 3: because Kirk Cousins to me was playing almost at an
Speaker 3: MVP level and his game even went up a notch
Speaker 3: when Justin Jefferson went on IR. And you've seen some
Speaker 3: of the guys, you know, the tight end Hockinson, Addison
Speaker 3: has stepped up kJ Osborn, so they've done a great
Speaker 3: job and I think Kevin O'Connell has done a phenomenal
Speaker 3: job with that offense and what they're doing. Their defense
Speaker 3: is much more aggressive than when you watched last year.
Speaker 3: Last year they were more of a zone.
Speaker 2: Just sit back.
Speaker 3: It was almost like watching a seven on seven drill
Speaker 3: at times and try not to give up the big
Speaker 3: play where coach flow Right now, Brian Flores is way
Speaker 3: more aggressive in sending pressure from all different angles on
Speaker 3: that field, different guys coming from everywhere.
Speaker 2: So it's kind of hard I think.
Speaker 3: To get a bead for offenses on what they're doing
Speaker 3: on the defensive side of the ball, which I think
Speaker 3: has helped.
Speaker 4: Hey, Rick, you know you brought up your brother's name.
Speaker 4: I had a pleasure of playing against him. I love
Speaker 4: your brother, He's a phenomenal player. But you know, you
Speaker 4: Spielman brothers, you guys belong in the NFL. Is there
Speaker 4: Can you have conversations now with Christen's he's with the
Speaker 4: Detroit Lions that maybe you couldn't have if you were
Speaker 4: with the Minnesota Vikings. Or do you even get a
Speaker 4: chance to talk that much about you know, either life
Speaker 4: or going on in football.
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: No, we talk almost on a daily basis right now.
Speaker 3: I do a lot of for a lot of the
Speaker 3: stuff I'm doing in media, I watch a lot of
Speaker 3: tape on a lot of these college kids, So you know,
Speaker 3: we'll bounce just between me and him, just what we
Speaker 3: think on certain players and what's going on. But it's
Speaker 3: funny when they did not play very well against the
Speaker 3: Baltimore Ravens a few weeks ago, I got the call
Speaker 3: on Monday, because usually my rule was like, let me
Speaker 3: get through Monday and then Tuesday we can talk. And
Speaker 3: when he was broadcasting and I was in the front office,
Speaker 3: that was kind of our rule.
Speaker 2: So I didn't call him.
Speaker 3: And then Monday after that Baltimore game, I got a
Speaker 3: call and I was like, I got to hope everything's okay,
Speaker 3: and he just rant and rave for twenty minutes how
Speaker 3: frustrated he was when they the lost the way they.
Speaker 2: Did, and then he hung up on me. I was like, oh, yeah,
Speaker 2: Mom's doing great. Yeah, but I'll call you next week.
Speaker 2: But it's great.
Speaker 3: We are a lot more probably open with each other
Speaker 3: as far as you know, sharing things from a football side,
Speaker 3: we know where the line is and even when he
Speaker 3: was broadcasting when we talk to each other, we're never
Speaker 3: going to jeopardize each other's integrity on what we have
Speaker 3: to do in our respective roles. But it's pretty unique
Speaker 3: and it's pretty It means so much to me that
Speaker 3: I have a brother that's now experiencing a lot of
Speaker 3: things that I experienced over thirty one years, and to
Speaker 3: share ideas, to share things that you've been through that
Speaker 3: maybe you would have done differently here or there, to
Speaker 3: be a sounding board for him, and like I said,
Speaker 3: respecting that line of integrity as well. We're nothing to
Speaker 3: share it outside the conversations between me and him.
Speaker 4: You know, Rick, there's a lot of people that want
Speaker 4: to put a timeline on the evaluation of justin fields.
Speaker 4: Now put yourself in that same position. How do we
Speaker 4: evaluate him? And in your mind is there a timeline
Speaker 4: on his evaluation?
Speaker 3: Well, the timeline is going to be at the end
Speaker 3: of the season because they're going to have some decisions
Speaker 3: to make, especially if they have Carolina's pick and end
Speaker 3: up with the number one overall pick, And to me,
Speaker 3: the evaluation is going to be Like Justin Fields before
Speaker 3: he injured his thumb, I think he had like one
Speaker 3: hundred and twenty quarterback rating the way he was playing,
Speaker 3: and he was on fire and came back and I
Speaker 3: thought he played very well last week against the Detroit
Speaker 3: Lions in Detroit. So they're going to have to make
Speaker 3: a decision. Do we go and continue with Justin Fields
Speaker 3: or how strongly do we feel about maybe a Caleb
Speaker 3: Williams or Drake May who are the two top quarterbacks
Speaker 3: coming out in this draft. And then if we do
Speaker 3: draft one of those, what are you going to do
Speaker 3: with Justin Fields? Do you try to trade him?
Speaker 2: Then?
Speaker 3: So I think they got a wait to see how
Speaker 3: the season unfolds.
Speaker 2: Hopefully Justin can stay healthy.
Speaker 3: He hasn't been able to stay healthy and on the
Speaker 3: field for a full season, I believe was it last
Speaker 3: year he got hurt as well, had a knee.
Speaker 2: And couldn't play this year. It's the thumb.
Speaker 3: So there's some third bilding questions probably that they need
Speaker 3: to answer. They know inside better than anyone what he
Speaker 3: is in a meeting, how well he picks up things.
Speaker 3: There's no question about his arm talent. To me, he's
Speaker 3: one of the best deep ball accuracy as far as
Speaker 3: accuracy throwing the ball deep down the field, that was
Speaker 3: one of his strengths coming out. The question is is
Speaker 3: he one of those quarterbacks that can speed up his
Speaker 3: progressions and get through his reads?
Speaker 2: And I don't know that.
Speaker 3: I think people in that building know that they know
Speaker 3: a lot of things that outside the building you don't know.
Speaker 3: So that's how they're going to have to base their
Speaker 3: decision on if they're going to be justin Field's going
Speaker 3: forward or if they're not going to be and try
Speaker 3: to get one of these two young quarterbacks, especially if
Speaker 3: they think that Caleb Williams or Drake May is that unique.
Speaker 1: Rex Buelman, our guest, are remaining moments with our good friend,
Speaker 1: former Chicago Bear executive and NFL Executive of the Year
Speaker 1: in twenty seventeen with the Minnesota Vikings. So I've always
Speaker 1: loved the draft. I've always dove deep into the draft
Speaker 1: as much as I can for all the twenty seven
Speaker 1: years I've been associated with the Bears. But the last
Speaker 1: two years in particular have been crazy. I think the
Speaker 1: draft business has truly become just that, with all the
Speaker 1: different pots and in timing, with the way social media
Speaker 1: and different platforms in this whole podcast thing has taken off.
Speaker 1: There is discussion about it on the daily. There are
Speaker 1: projections on the daily. Used to get them a month
Speaker 1: before from the media and maybe there'd be some discussion
Speaker 1: and features and so forth. Really exploded, Rick, And do
Speaker 1: you think that's I'm not gonna say it's a bad thing.
Speaker 1: It's great for the sport. But for a quarterback like
Speaker 1: Justin or a quarterback like in New York Daniel. The
Speaker 1: pressures that are then coming almost from the jump about
Speaker 1: what's coming next and what your team may or may
Speaker 1: not be thinking. You can't tell me. It doesn't seek
Speaker 1: into their seep into their psyche a little bit, or
Speaker 1: people in their family or in their circular towing them, Hey,
Speaker 1: you know, Bears could be looking at a quarterback. Is
Speaker 1: that something that you think is happening, and do you
Speaker 1: think that that's good or bad?
Speaker 3: Well, you hope that the players mature enough to handle
Speaker 3: the outside noise, because I'm sure they're.
Speaker 2: Getting it whether they perform well or not. So you
Speaker 2: have to have.
Speaker 3: Very callous, thick skin to play quarterback in this league.
Speaker 3: And you have one bad game and all of a
Speaker 3: sudden the world's on fire, you know you can't You're
Speaker 3: not good enough anymore. So I think that as long
Speaker 3: as it's the messaging, I think that comes from the
Speaker 3: front office. And I think but during the season with
Speaker 3: all the noise, because there's more noise out there than
Speaker 3: just a draft, although I can't believe I already did
Speaker 3: two mock drafts for not even tell thanksgifting yet.
Speaker 1: Who'd you mock to the Bears? Who'd you mock to
Speaker 1: the Bears?
Speaker 3: You'll have to go look, But you'll they have to
Speaker 3: be strong enough mentally to handle that pressure because that's
Speaker 3: such a high pressure job and you're going to get
Speaker 3: the heat no matter what. And if you're starting to
Speaker 3: listen to the outside noise that maybe you're not strong
Speaker 3: enough to handle what comes along with that job.
Speaker 1: All right, one more for me and then we'll wrap
Speaker 1: with Tom. Are we at the age in the draft
Speaker 1: that it's okay to draft any position number one regardless
Speaker 1: because there could be an elite talent that you just
Speaker 1: cannot pass up.
Speaker 2: Are you talking about Marvin Harrison? John?
Speaker 3: I am who to me is going to be a
Speaker 3: future Hall of Famer. But I also think these two
Speaker 3: quarterbacks are very, very interesting.
Speaker 2: I compared Caleb Williams to Drew Locke. I guess Drew
Speaker 2: lock is who.
Speaker 3: Kind of he reminded me of coming out as far
Speaker 3: as that kind of savvy for the position. I said,
Speaker 3: Drake may and you guys can laugh at me. I said,
Speaker 3: he has some similar traits, not as good yet, but
Speaker 3: similar traits to Trevor Lawrence with his length and the
Speaker 3: way he throws the ball, in his athletic movement skills.
Speaker 3: So those are the tough decisions that you're going to
Speaker 3: have to make. I think you have a generational receiver.
Speaker 3: And I'm going to ask you guys this am I
Speaker 3: allowed to ask a question on this podcast.
Speaker 1: It's free flowing. We're friends, we're friends.
Speaker 2: What do you think is.
Speaker 3: More important to have if you had a combination a
Speaker 3: quarterback and a receiver or a quarterback in an elite
Speaker 3: left tackle.
Speaker 1: I'll let time answer first.
Speaker 2: I'll go I'll because I'm an offensive lineman.
Speaker 4: I'll go with elite left tackle and a mentally strong quarterback.
Speaker 1: I would probably be in the same camp because the
Speaker 1: line of scrimmage, you never can have enough great talent.
Speaker 1: And I'd like to see offensive lines grown together through
Speaker 1: a draft. But you know, there's there's a sexy part
Speaker 1: of it too. I mean, you know, the wide receiver
Speaker 1: is just so unique.
Speaker 3: But Austin Jefferson, Yeah, yeah, I'm just telling you this now,
Speaker 3: I'll probably never get drafted or asked on this podcast again,
Speaker 3: that's not true. I'm going to disagree with you both.
Speaker 3: I'm just looking at Philly had a pretty good offensive line.
Speaker 3: But what helped the development of Jalen Hurts When they
Speaker 3: went and traded for aj Brown, Tua was considered a
Speaker 3: bus Look what he did, what Tyreek Hill did for
Speaker 3: the MAA for Tua down in Miami. So to me
Speaker 3: and Tom, you guys have watched this NFL for a
Speaker 3: long long time. I think the game has changed where
Speaker 3: everything is quick, where than timing throws. A lot of
Speaker 3: the stuff that Miami does a lot of the stuff
Speaker 3: that they do out in San Francisco with Purty and
Speaker 3: Kyle Shanahan.
Speaker 2: To me, I think having an elite receiver in an elite.
Speaker 3: Quarterback or a quarterback that is a very good quarterback
Speaker 3: will give you a far better chance to get to
Speaker 3: the Super Bowl and win a Super Bowl than without one.
Speaker 3: Now I may be wrong, but that's how I feel, all.
Speaker 4: Right, Rick, last question for me, when you look at
Speaker 4: junior eligibility for All Star Games, does that make the
Speaker 4: mock drafts more difficult for you or does it give
Speaker 4: you a better evaluation going into the draft.
Speaker 3: I think it gives you a jump on the evaluation
Speaker 3: because you were never able to even talk to or
Speaker 3: first time you got a chance to get in front
Speaker 3: of the juniors was usually at the Combine. By them
Speaker 3: now being eligible to play in these All Star Games,
Speaker 3: you're going to get a lot bigger, a lot faster
Speaker 3: jump on these kids. So you can really, once you
Speaker 3: get to the combine, hone in on maybe your top prospects,
Speaker 3: not just all juniors. We always had the philosophy, let's
Speaker 3: interview and knock out as many seniors as we can.
Speaker 3: At the Senior Bowl at the East West game, so
Speaker 3: we can allocate our time to the juniors because that's
Speaker 3: first time we're going to get in front of them.
Speaker 3: But it'll be interesting to see how many juniors actually
Speaker 3: participate and does this make the participation rate even more
Speaker 3: competitive to go out there, because you go down to
Speaker 3: the Senior Bowl. Now some of these guys practice one
Speaker 3: or two days and they sit out. Well, if they
Speaker 3: have a junior that's going to practice and compete and
Speaker 3: they're jockeying for position in the draft, it'll be interesting
Speaker 3: to see how these kids respond, especially if the juniors
Speaker 3: are going to start filtering into these All Star games.
Speaker 1: They have a rare opportunity here back to back years
Speaker 1: to have really strong high draft picks. What's your philosophy.
Speaker 2: Don't pass a blue player.
Speaker 3: I remember when my first draft in Minnesota Vikings and
Speaker 3: Adrian Peterson was there. We had Chester Taylor at the time.
Speaker 3: We had a very good year previously. But don't pass
Speaker 3: a unique player. And because that's going to be a
Speaker 3: game changer for you. If your board says you can
Speaker 3: have you have four or five guys in the same
Speaker 3: area of the board, then maybe you move down and
Speaker 3: try to get as many of those type of guys
Speaker 3: as you can. But if there is someone that's unique
Speaker 3: that I would classify as a blue future Hall, whatever
Speaker 3: you want to call them, you can't pass on those
Speaker 3: guys because those guys change games for you.
Speaker 1: Well said Rick. We can't thank you enough. This was awesome.
Speaker 1: We could keep talking to you for hours. Join us
Speaker 1: again sometime, would you, even if.
Speaker 3: I disagree with you on the damn offensive quarter.
Speaker 1: Hey, that's the beauty of the sport. Hey, listen, it's
Speaker 1: like politics, right, everybody's got an opinion. But no, it's
Speaker 1: great to talk football. I always appreciated you, have a
Speaker 1: ton of respect for you, and I think what you're
Speaker 1: doing right now is fabulous. You got a big smile
Speaker 1: on your face. I hear you're playing pickleball too. Oh
Speaker 1: my goodness, yeah, golf. I got pickleball elbow right now.
Speaker 1: Broke a little bursa sack.
Speaker 3: Get my arse kicked every week by seventy seventy five
Speaker 3: year old.
Speaker 2: So it's a tough life down here on an island.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're on Santa Bell, Right, you're on Santa Bell. Yeah.
Speaker 4: Well, we just talked to Scott Kolakowski in Detroit, who
Speaker 4: is an enormous pickleball player. He and his wife, and
Speaker 4: he's talking about another game similar to paddle ball that's
Speaker 4: been brought into the United States from Europe.
Speaker 1: I can't remember the name of it. Padel, Yeah, pidell.
Speaker 1: It's not paddle but padel.
Speaker 4: Right, And so he's talking about that, the growth of
Speaker 4: that and the growth of the pickleball courts in the
Speaker 4: Detroit area.
Speaker 2: So yeah, you know, stay on your feet, keep moving.
Speaker 3: Keep the Yeah, there must be one hundred and fifty
Speaker 3: pickleball courts on the island down here.
Speaker 2: That's the number one thing to do on the island.
Speaker 1: Is Michelle.
Speaker 2: She's playing.
Speaker 3: She kind of pulled a calf muscle the other day.
Speaker 1: She's got a calf. She's got a calf.
Speaker 3: So now she's been laid up for three weeks. And
Speaker 3: I would say, well, Joe Burrow went out there and
Speaker 3: gutted through it.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: I was like, you got to play hurt sometimes hunt.
Speaker 2: And then I got to shoe up side my head.
Speaker 2: And then we moved on to life.
Speaker 1: All right, Rick, we appreciate it.
Speaker 3: All right, thanks for having me on, guys. It's fun.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much.
Speaker 4: All right.
Speaker 1: So we learned a lot there. I love that he's
Speaker 1: still acting like a general manager. He's watching tape every
Speaker 1: single day just like you would, you know.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I love the Spielman brothers actually because Rick is
Speaker 4: you know, really pays attention to details of all the
Speaker 4: jobs that he's had in the NFL front offices. He's
Speaker 4: got a brother, Chris Bielman, who was a Pro Bowl caliber.
Speaker 4: He was a Pro Bowl player, All Pro player, played
Speaker 4: against him plenty of times, and it's They've been dedicated
Speaker 4: to football their whole lives.
Speaker 2: And I'm glad to see him, both of them still
Speaker 2: involved in the.
Speaker 4: NFL, because the NFL is better with the Spielman brothers
Speaker 4: in the league.
Speaker 1: All right, before we get into the vikings twenty twenty
Speaker 1: three aren't Rooney Sportsmanship Award. Every team has a nominee,
Speaker 1: thirty two of them, though I'll be voted on at
Speaker 1: the end of the year to see who wins that honor.
Speaker 1: But TJ. Edwards was the Bear's choice, and I couldn't
Speaker 1: think of a better guy wearing that uniform right now
Speaker 1: for the Bears to have that. He is a tremendous guy,
Speaker 1: soft spoken, but a very big leader in the locker room.
Speaker 4: You know, what's so awesome about that is the immediate
Speaker 4: impact he has on the Chicago Bears in such a
Speaker 4: short amount of time. You started in an OTAs it
Speaker 4: traveled through training camp, it began with the regular season,
Speaker 4: and he's approved improved every game since then. And then
Speaker 4: to have this honor bestowed.
Speaker 2: Upon you, it just shows you, you know.
Speaker 4: What a good choice Ryan Poles went out and bringing
Speaker 4: a player like that back to his hometown and having
Speaker 4: the impact in the locker room and on the field
Speaker 4: that he has.
Speaker 1: All Right, let's dig into the Vikings on Monday night.
Speaker 1: Maybe you know their streak stopper was something that raised
Speaker 1: their attention in their eyebrows that they could not finish
Speaker 1: that job in Denver after winning five in a row
Speaker 1: of the Bears defeat at their hands back at Soldier
Speaker 1: Field in Week six, So that started the ball rolling
Speaker 1: for the Vikings. But they lose Kirk Cousins. They did
Speaker 1: not have Justin Jefferson against the Bears in week five
Speaker 1: or week six. Rather, he injured himself in a Week
Speaker 1: five against Kansas City. So the hamstring, it's a it's
Speaker 1: an interesting injury. It's been a while. He still does
Speaker 1: not have to come back just yet. Will the will
Speaker 1: the Vikings risk Justin Jefferson re injuring his hamstring and
Speaker 1: put him on the field Monday night.
Speaker 2: They're not going to risk him for anything.
Speaker 4: It's going to be when he feels that he's one
Speaker 4: hundred percent and he can play equally in all four quarters,
Speaker 4: then you'll see Justin Jefferson back.
Speaker 2: On the field.
Speaker 4: My thing is is, I'm not going to be enamored
Speaker 4: by this feel good story about Joshua Dobbs. I have
Speaker 4: a tremendous amount of respect for him, but I'm going
Speaker 4: to attack him like an opponent. I'm going to try
Speaker 4: to keep him inside the pocket with no escapability, where
Speaker 4: he can't use his legs in looking downfield and kind
Speaker 4: of a desperate throwing situation. I'm going to make him
Speaker 4: throw on a decision from inside the pocket because I
Speaker 4: think that's where he's most vulnerable. So, yeah, it's a
Speaker 4: great story and it's capital, it's capturing the attention of
Speaker 4: NFL fans. But for one week you have to push
Speaker 4: set aside and attack, attack, attack.
Speaker 1: So what do you think he does well?
Speaker 4: I think he runs outside of the pocket with vision downfield.
Speaker 4: I think because he's in a situation that there's no
Speaker 4: expectations of him.
Speaker 2: He's willing to make some chance he throws.
Speaker 4: He's developed a quick relationship with the tight end that
Speaker 4: is not necessarily long drawn out routes that sometimes you're
Speaker 4: you're bigger in the type of protector or the type
Speaker 4: of coverage you're receiving, and he takes chances with him,
Speaker 4: And I think Addison is a nice complementary receiver with
Speaker 4: the loss of Justin Jefferson.
Speaker 2: So that's why is you.
Speaker 4: Know, Kevin O'Connell, the coach does a lot of coaching
Speaker 4: on the quarterback headset. I'm going to make him live
Speaker 4: through that while I put pressure on him, hopefully the
Speaker 4: way the Bears can.
Speaker 1: Tj Hockinson is the trusted target. He's got the target
Speaker 1: high right now with Dobbs, but he's been taking a
Speaker 1: pounding much like Colekmet does. It's a position you're going
Speaker 1: to battle through some stuff. He's battling through a rib
Speaker 1: injury right now. They got the bye week coming, just
Speaker 1: like the Bears you played, you got some bye weeks,
Speaker 1: right Yeah. So two teams both going into the bye
Speaker 1: week after a holiday with friends and family in town.
Speaker 1: You know, where does the edge lie here?
Speaker 4: Well, bye weeks were different when I was there. They
Speaker 4: dangled the reward like carrot in front of a horse.
Speaker 4: If we played well in one, then we only practiced
Speaker 4: for three days in pads and then we got a
Speaker 4: couple days off. If not, we practiced the whole week
Speaker 4: like a normal practice week.
Speaker 2: And I know the collective bargaining agreement is different.
Speaker 4: I think there's a lot of incentive for the Bears
Speaker 4: players to come out there and play fresh, play hard,
Speaker 4: play aggressive, be able to finish the game at the
Speaker 4: end with the victory, and have that bye week as
Speaker 4: a late season reward before this thing winds down.
Speaker 1: Good news, Chicago United Airlines is getting brand new planes
Speaker 1: with all the bells and whistles, like Bluetooth connectivity screens
Speaker 1: at every seat in room for everyone's Reulder bag United
Speaker 1: trying to fly the Chicago Bears, and you too, a
Speaker 1: new change up at running back. I think there's some
Speaker 1: concern with Alexander Madison with the fumbles. He hadn't been
Speaker 1: bad since early in the season with that, but overall
Speaker 1: this team has the most fumbles in the NFL. They
Speaker 1: haven't lost all those fumbles, but it's a big number
Speaker 1: and they have the same turnover margin now as the
Speaker 1: Bears do at a minus six. Ty Chandler though ty
Speaker 1: Chandler is a bigger back, explosive. He had a thirty
Speaker 1: one yard on the fake punt, but he struggles in
Speaker 1: pass protection. So is this an area of an attack
Speaker 1: for the Bears at that running game?
Speaker 4: Of course, I think he got to be physically with
Speaker 4: Madison because here's a guy that played a backup role
Speaker 4: basically to Dalvin Cook, so he didn't have the abuse
Speaker 4: of a year that was solely on his shoulders. So
Speaker 4: if you can be physical with him and you can
Speaker 4: create the collision, don't allow him to lower his shoulder
Speaker 4: pads into you. That's when you can separate him from
Speaker 4: the football. And if it comes down to a running
Speaker 4: game that is going to decide the fate of this game,
Speaker 4: then you have to attack them. If it's going to
Speaker 4: come down to a passing game and they use both backs,
Speaker 4: then you're going to have to create vulnerability and their protection,
Speaker 4: whether it's through the offensive line or the running back.
Speaker 1: You know, looking back at that Vikings game, they held
Speaker 1: the Vikings to three to thirteen on third down. The
Speaker 1: Bears defense two hundred and twenty yards one hundred and
Speaker 1: thirty net passing right, and he held them under twenty
Speaker 1: points less than that because Jordan Hicks took one back
Speaker 1: on the fumble. So they really played well well enough
Speaker 1: to win against the Minnesota Vikings with Kirk Cousins. So
Speaker 1: now they don't have Marcus Davenport, there's other players injured,
Speaker 1: but they do have Daniel Hunter tom and at us
Speaker 1: Bank Stadium. He's got forty five and a half career
Speaker 1: sacks in fifty six games, seventy hits and five forced fumbles.
Speaker 1: He is, as you say, playing for extra dough and
Speaker 1: playing for a big, big contract. He is playing out
Speaker 1: of his mind right now. He's playing extremely well. How
Speaker 1: do you deal with this guy right now?
Speaker 4: You have to have a creative game plan for Justin
Speaker 4: devised by Luke Getzi. You have to put Justin in
Speaker 4: multiple positions to.
Speaker 2: Throw the ball.
Speaker 4: The Bears only had one hundred and thirteen yards passing
Speaker 4: in the first game and they were sacked five times.
Speaker 4: If you try to make Justin sit in the pocket
Speaker 4: inside Minnesota, I think you're playing with fire. But if
Speaker 4: you allow him to roll out to his right and
Speaker 4: to his left and have bootlegs and have designed quarterback
Speaker 4: runs with blockers in front of him. I think that's
Speaker 4: the biggest hindrance to aggressiveness at the line of scrimmage
Speaker 4: for Brian Flores, because if you can't exactly guess where
Speaker 4: Justin's release point is going to be, or if it
Speaker 4: is a designed run with an escort in front of him,
Speaker 4: it's difficult to feel confident about putting those blitzers in
Speaker 4: the box because of run outside and get to the edge.
Speaker 4: Those blitzers are for nothing. So you definitely got to
Speaker 4: improve on the yardage that you put up there in
Speaker 4: the passing game, and you know, take again, take advantage
Speaker 4: of Justin's athleticism. We saw it this week in the
Speaker 4: first drive of the game against Detroit and it was
Speaker 4: as impressive first drive in that environment as I've seen
Speaker 4: in a long time by the Bears.
Speaker 1: All Right, different topic, now, just hit this because he
Speaker 1: really got my attention, and you and I spoke on
Speaker 1: the phone about it yesterday and we both agree. So
Speaker 1: Tom Brady, I know it's been talked about on Stephen A.
Speaker 1: Smith Show this week. I'm just going to read the quotes.
Speaker 1: I think there's a lot of mediocrity in today's NFL.
Speaker 1: I don't see the excellence I saw in the past.
Speaker 1: I think the coaching isn't as good as it was.
Speaker 1: I don't think the development of young players as good
Speaker 1: as it was. I don't think the schemes are as
Speaker 1: good as they were. The rules have allowed a lot
Speaker 1: of bad habits to get into the actual performance of
Speaker 1: the game. I think he's referring to tackling number one,
Speaker 1: and he says it's not up to a defensive player
Speaker 1: to protect an offensive player. And we talk about these
Speaker 1: hard hits, the hard hits of the gay days gone by,
Speaker 1: of the ray Lewises and the eighty five Bears. For
Speaker 1: crying out loud, they killed people. It's an offensive player's
Speaker 1: responsibility to protect himself. How to get rid of the ball,
Speaker 1: how to throw it, how to run out of bounds,
Speaker 1: how to get down, how to lower your pad level.
Speaker 1: They used to work on the fundamentals of those things
Speaker 1: all the time. So these are really bold to the point,
Speaker 1: no messing around. Words from the future lead analysts on
Speaker 1: Fox next year. I think you and I probably agree
Speaker 1: with all of that. INNENSA oh, I.
Speaker 2: Agree with them.
Speaker 4: One hundred percent, and I'm glad someone finally had the
Speaker 4: guts to say something about it because I watched football
Speaker 4: on a regular basis, and not only the Bears in
Speaker 4: their opponent. I watch every game that I have access to,
Speaker 4: just like I'll be sitting there on Thanksgiving watching all
Speaker 4: three of the games, and I watched undercoached guys.
Speaker 2: That is frustrating for me to watch.
Speaker 4: And I see quarterbacks that lead receivers that they have
Speaker 4: to catch the ball, and all of a sudden, the
Speaker 4: defensive player hits them because of a lay throw by
Speaker 4: a quarterback, and then they blame it on the defense.
Speaker 2: I think all those things you have to take into account,
Speaker 2: and I'm.
Speaker 4: Finally glad the Goat stood up there with this half
Speaker 4: a billion dollars in earnings and had the guts to
Speaker 4: say something that needed to be said.
Speaker 1: I do believe that he Peyton Manning. They want to
Speaker 1: preserve the game. The game is what we knew. I
Speaker 1: know there's changes that's never going to stop. Evolution of
Speaker 1: everything in the world is going to make different looks
Speaker 1: to things. But I also I heard Ron Rivera, your
Speaker 1: old teammate, on Sirius XM this week, and this whole
Speaker 1: thing came up, and it's about more time spent on
Speaker 1: task dealing with tackling, tackling properly and those types of things.
Speaker 1: When they brought up the hip tackle and all that,
Speaker 1: the hip drop tackle, because they're not getting a chance
Speaker 1: because there's only limited number of days that they can
Speaker 1: be in pads during the season. And I think that
Speaker 1: needs to be discussed at the union level. And I think, guys,
Speaker 1: if you want to be better and you want to
Speaker 1: avoid injury, do it the right way. Do it the
Speaker 1: right way, and let's talk about it as a football
Speaker 1: community here. Not to have your agents or the union
Speaker 1: say hey, you know, we can't have that. It's hurting
Speaker 1: the game and guys are getting hurt regardless.
Speaker 4: And then have more physical practices when you have the opportunity.
Speaker 1: I'm saying, so what I'm saying, and I.
Speaker 2: Yes, I agree with you. I guess you're saying it
Speaker 2: in a different way.
Speaker 4: But if you want things fundamentally done correctly in football,
Speaker 4: then you have to practice them in football.
Speaker 2: You can't sit out.
Speaker 4: There and have a drill that's run at a certain
Speaker 4: percentage of effort and think that's the way it's going
Speaker 4: to happen on a game day.
Speaker 2: That's just not the case.
Speaker 4: And these guys get paid handsomely to take the chances
Speaker 4: in life that the sport it challenges you with, just
Speaker 4: like the generations before me, my generations of the generations
Speaker 4: that come. So again, getting back to the original topic
Speaker 4: of Tom Brady, I think this is the first time
Speaker 4: I said I admire him.
Speaker 2: For speaking out that way.
Speaker 1: All right, here's another one. Steve Young. I don't know
Speaker 1: if you heard this today. He was at trun Golf Club.
Speaker 1: There was an event and Jim McMahon was in the audience.
Speaker 1: They clearly had a golf tournament, and Young was speaking
Speaker 1: and he said of Jim that he learned the game
Speaker 1: from Jim McMahon tells McMahon's dad all the time. I
Speaker 1: owe Jim everything. How I dropped a throw. I didn't
Speaker 1: know how to throw a football. I didn't know how
Speaker 1: to get the ball to spin. Jim taught me all
Speaker 1: of that. And as he departed with his final comments,
Speaker 1: he said, yeah, Jim left byu with the bag of
Speaker 1: seventy three NCAA records, which I had no clue, but
Speaker 1: just to see that that heartfelt honesty from Steve Young.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you are aware of this kind
Speaker 1: of admiration of Jim from Steve and that he owes
Speaker 1: him everything. That's a pretty big statement to make by
Speaker 1: Jimmy Mack.
Speaker 4: I heard that before, and I talked to Jim about
Speaker 4: this and about the Lavelle Edwards approach the head coach
Speaker 4: there at BYU at this time, and that developed this
Speaker 4: offensive proficiency.
Speaker 2: That carried through to a lot of other positions.
Speaker 4: So Jim's two offensive tackles when he played at BYU
Speaker 4: was Andy Reid and another guy named Nick Earr. Nick
Speaker 4: ear was my offensive tackle in the USFL. So I
Speaker 4: got to understand a little bit more about McMahon before
Speaker 4: I ever had a chance to play with them.
Speaker 2: And then when you get a chance to play with them.
Speaker 4: Jim understood covered so well that he didn't need to
Speaker 4: sit there and watch tape for hours. And I remember
Speaker 4: sitting at the Bears facility one years ago and I
Speaker 4: was watching tape and he came back in the back
Speaker 4: room where we used to sit and watch it and
Speaker 4: came to say hi, and I was watching something. He goes, oh,
Speaker 4: they throw the ball here.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 4: He looks at the play for an instant and he
Speaker 4: knows exactly just by the positioning. So Andy Reid, why
Speaker 4: is Andy Reid such a considered a quarterback guru? Why
Speaker 4: does he have the most wins in Philadelphia in Kansas
Speaker 4: City history. He's a little bell edwards guy, even though
Speaker 4: he played offensive tackle. So I have heard the compliments
Speaker 4: by Steve Young before by Jim, but I think being
Speaker 4: around Jim in the game, and for example, the first
Speaker 4: play the second half of the Super Bowl, Jim said, hey,
Speaker 4: you guys, if you sell this run fake, this is
Speaker 4: going to be a huge play to Willie Gld and
Speaker 4: I think it was a sixty seven yard past to
Speaker 4: Willie Gald. It's the preemptive telling us of how the
Speaker 4: play is gonna go if in fact we did the
Speaker 4: things correctly.
Speaker 1: Must give you an amazing amount of confidence in your quarterback.
Speaker 1: When he's steep speaking like that in the huddle and
Speaker 1: then it comes to me, you.
Speaker 4: Know, it's amazing because it's you know, there is no
Speaker 4: listening device at that time. He's hearing the play either
Speaker 4: from the sideline or someone's bringing it in, and he's kind
Speaker 4: of given a description what's gonna happen while he's calling
Speaker 4: the play. You know, hey, Matt, show me a good
Speaker 4: fake here, Hey Walter, carry this out and I'm gonna
Speaker 4: hit you over to the left hand side. Hey Dennis,
Speaker 4: if you hit that slant and go, it's coming to you.
Speaker 4: And then we break the huddle on one and boom.
Speaker 4: The rest is history.
Speaker 1: Late Sid Luckman born on this day, one hundred and
Speaker 1: seven years ago.
Speaker 4: You know, I had dinner with Sid Luckman right before
Speaker 4: he passed away at Gibson's and.
Speaker 2: A great story was, I don't know if you ever
Speaker 2: been to Gibson's.
Speaker 4: They have unbelievable desserts there, and so during the time
Speaker 4: of year, they had apple strudel, and so he told everybody,
Speaker 4: you order what you want, because no one's going to
Speaker 4: have any.
Speaker 2: Of my apple strudel.
Speaker 4: He ordered it, and he ate the whole thing, all
Speaker 4: the whole interior of it, with a spoon.
Speaker 2: And you know what, he was a great gift giver.
Speaker 4: When we went to dinner that night, he gave me
Speaker 4: a tie and it was a really nice had a
Speaker 4: nice gold chain on it, a really nice tie, and
Speaker 4: I know I still have it somewhere, But you know,
Speaker 4: the guy was just incredibly gracious.
Speaker 1: And incredibly good, four time NFL champion with the Bears,
Speaker 1: and football's first great tee formation quarterback. Now I got oh,
Speaker 1: this is a side note that he never got into
Speaker 1: the game broadcast on ESPN on Sunday in Detroit. You
Speaker 1: know who the winningest coach in Lion's history is. It's
Speaker 1: a sub fonse, yes, but it's a sub five hundred record.
Speaker 1: I mean, we're talking about it. Team was very good
Speaker 1: in the fifties and you know, but yeah, it's Wayne Fonts.
Speaker 1: That's just an arbitrary thought that really doesn't make any impact.
Speaker 1: But I just thought I was just.
Speaker 2: Off the top of my head too, But that's pretty good.
Speaker 2: I just thought that he.
Speaker 4: Did have some success when he was there, and he
Speaker 4: was not a pushover now in terms as being as
Speaker 4: a coach.
Speaker 1: Number one, And then I'm gonna agree to quote and
Speaker 1: you tell me who you think it could possibly be.
Speaker 1: It doesn't necessarily have to be an NFL player. My
Speaker 1: best bench press was five twenty five, my best deadlift
Speaker 1: was seven to ten, and my best squat was six ' ten.
Speaker 1: First of all, you probably came well you the most
Speaker 1: you ever benched was what five something? Right, most ever
Speaker 1: bench was five thirty five, you beat him? How about deadlift?
Speaker 2: Deadlift? I was weak.
Speaker 4: I think my best deadlift ever was five to seventy
Speaker 4: five eight ten.
Speaker 1: Well, you're no Arnold Schwarzenegger. But that's who made that quote.
Speaker 4: And Arnold Schwarzenegger waged a lot less than I did, too,
Speaker 4: Even at the height of his bodybuilding and his strength.
Speaker 2: He was not a heavy guy. He was just super strong.
Speaker 2: Had a chance.
Speaker 4: I met him a couple of times, once at Gold's
Speaker 4: Gym out in California, and once with Jim Belushi filming
Speaker 4: a movie Red Heat here in Chicago, and I asked him,
Speaker 4: I said, hey, Arnold, how much do you weigh?
Speaker 2: He said to twenty two?
Speaker 1: Two twenty two. So when you were throwing this up,
Speaker 1: you were in the two sixties too, seventies three hundred.
Speaker 2: No, I was.
Speaker 4: I was probably about two eighty five, okay.
Speaker 2: And they were all under the witness of Clyde Emrick.
Speaker 1: Well, I guarantee, yeah, you know, we're not doubting.
Speaker 4: You purely departed. I'm not, you know, making up numbers here.
Speaker 4: It was all in front of him.
Speaker 1: Silver screen star, former governor, and a bodybuilding champion. Many
Speaker 1: times over, you beat him in everything but the deadlift.
Speaker 2: But I was a lot heavier.
Speaker 4: And you know, but I remember as a kid driving
Speaker 4: from Chicago to the movie theater on Rush Street to
Speaker 4: watch the documentary Pumping Iron and with he and Lou
Speaker 4: Frignol and SERGIOA.
Speaker 2: Levey and.
Speaker 4: Frank Colombo and all the greats of the greats, And
Speaker 4: he used to walk into the bodybuilding contests and look
Speaker 4: around and say, I'm just wondering who's gonna get second,
Speaker 4: because he was the greatest of all time.
Speaker 1: Take a chance download the Bette Rivers app today and
Speaker 1: we're brought to you by PNC Official Bank of the Bears.
Speaker 1: Any final thoughts on what has to happen Monday. The
Speaker 1: Bears have a twelve game losing streak dating back to
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one in the NFC North. They've been beaten
Speaker 1: by an average of twelve plus points per game in
Speaker 1: those games, and Justin has won one game against an
Speaker 1: NFC North opponent in games that he's played. He hasn't
Speaker 1: played in all of those due to injury. But you
Speaker 1: gotta win, you gotta win in your division. I think
Speaker 1: before we talk about anything else, it's got to be
Speaker 1: about winning games in the NFC North big time.
Speaker 4: Start fast and finish strong, and that that should be
Speaker 4: the theme of the week. And whether you're on defense
Speaker 4: and you got to provide some pressure on Joshua Dobbs,
Speaker 4: or you can have a drive as well constructed as Luke,
Speaker 4: Etsy and Justin and the rest of the guys did.
Speaker 2: Opening drive in Detroit.
Speaker 1: Steinhoffels is an employee owned furniture and mattress store. Is
Speaker 1: it any there for Chicago leand locations in Vernon Hills,
Speaker 1: Crystal Lake, Downers Grove, and Hartwood Heights. Our shop online
Speaker 1: at Steinhoffels dot com. Big Tom, enjoy your Thanksgiving, multiple
Speaker 1: brunches and layouts of food from your family, and we
Speaker 1: all hope we'll have a nice, beautiful time with our
Speaker 1: families and friends. And we'll be back on the radio
Speaker 1: on Monday night in Minnesota for the kickoff against the Vikings.
Speaker 1: For Tom there, I'm Jeff Jonieck. Thanks for listening. Our
Speaker 1: next podcast drops next Tuesday. We'll recap the Bears Vikings.
Speaker 1: He am to look forward to the bye week. Thanks
Speaker 1: for listening, everyone. Please subscribe now in the Chicago Bears
Speaker 1: official app, Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1: Happy Thanksgiving and bear down everybody