Speaker 1: Right justin middle of the field forty five to fifteen,
Speaker 1: bring Russ in front.
Speaker 2: Of a leading Lions in his way.
Speaker 1: I am Jeff Jonaha litz Is on Donny go houtcur
Speaker 1: What was.
Speaker 3: Like playing for coach?
Speaker 1: Good done?
Speaker 2: I don't want to answer any questions like that. Sixty
Speaker 2: one yards?
Speaker 1: What's Sunday stroll for? Justin field?
Speaker 2: Yeah, Bears et cetera with the voices of the Chicago
Speaker 2: Bears Jeff Joniak.
Speaker 1: A promising performance for nearly three quarters, extinguished in a
Speaker 1: heart wrenching thirty one twenty eight loss to the Denver Broncos.
Speaker 1: The comeback engineered by a future Hall of Fame quarterback
Speaker 1: who leads to the NFL and come from behind wins
Speaker 1: Russell Wilson. Now with forty that's the tenor of the morning.
Speaker 1: As we get you set for a look at the
Speaker 1: Washington Commanders as well, A lot jammed into our Bears
Speaker 1: et Cetera podcast. Welcome in episode twenty one with Super
Speaker 1: Bowl winning Bear time. There, I'm Jeff joningf. We come
Speaker 1: to you every Tuesday and Thursday during the season. This week,
Speaker 1: due to the Thursday night matchup in Washington, will come
Speaker 1: to you on Friday to recap that Week five matchup.
Speaker 1: But thanks to our producers Dan Really, Jordan tread Up,
Speaker 1: and Katie Tuber coming up, we go over the loss
Speaker 1: with the Broncos with head coach Matt eber Flus in
Speaker 1: our weekly discussion, and Tom has lined up one of
Speaker 1: the NFL greats, Washington Redskins quarterback Doug Williams, his old
Speaker 1: buddy from the USFL, would join us as well. So
Speaker 1: we'll combo attack this one today, Tommy, and we'll go
Speaker 1: review and preview on one podcast. So let's dig in
Speaker 1: first and foremost, the impact of a loss takes out
Speaker 1: a different feel at times in terms of how you lose.
Speaker 1: It still counts as one, but for some reason, this
Speaker 1: one stings a little bit more than normal.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but you know, Jeff, I'm disappointed it's on the
Speaker 2: beginning of a short week because this is one tape
Speaker 2: that I think has a lot of value to be
Speaker 2: able to show the team and break it down in
Speaker 2: slow increments, because there's a lot of things that we're
Speaker 2: done really well. I think Luke Getzi had a better
Speaker 2: grasp on how to feed justin the right plays, the
Speaker 2: right information that can keep you in the attack mode
Speaker 2: justin took advantage of some great throws and some really
Speaker 2: small windows. I thought that the process and the fluidity
Speaker 2: of the offense was the continuous growth process that I
Speaker 2: want to see. So that's why I'm saying I wish
Speaker 2: it was on a longer week and maybe during the
Speaker 2: bye week. This is a video that you would like
Speaker 2: to revisit to the team to say, hey, here's some
Speaker 2: examples of what we've done in the past. Let's continue
Speaker 2: this process.
Speaker 1: Here's Coole Comet on losing a game like this one.
Speaker 4: My grandfather was just to say he's a baseball coach,
Speaker 4: but he the one to zero losses were so much
Speaker 4: worse than the ten oh losses, just because of you know,
Speaker 4: those feelings he had, and especially a game like that,
Speaker 4: when you're up and you're in control of the game
Speaker 4: and you lose like that, Yeah, that hurts.
Speaker 2: It hurts for sure.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know he plays with the motion. A
Speaker 1: lot of guys in that locker room after the game,
Speaker 1: and I talked about it. We'll talk about it with
Speaker 1: coach Ebriflues well after to the game ended and everybody
Speaker 1: was cleared out their lockers. It tells me that it
Speaker 1: really did hurt. It hurt this one. They played well
Speaker 1: enough to win the game and they just didn't finish well.
Speaker 2: You know. The unfortunate thing for a guy like Cola
Speaker 2: is he had a big game.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he and Justin.
Speaker 2: You know, they had some great connections, some big touchdowns,
Speaker 2: some plays that had some big value to that game
Speaker 2: and going forward, and when you have to kind of
Speaker 2: leave that in the rearview mirror, there's nothing that could
Speaker 2: be more disappointing. You got to continue that positive frame
Speaker 2: of mind, take the growth process from the game. But
Speaker 2: you can't sit there and high five and celebrate because
Speaker 2: the outcome wasn't what you wanted.
Speaker 1: Right And you know Ron Rivera in Washington is saying
Speaker 1: the same thing. He said, no moral victories after a
Speaker 1: great performance and a near upset of the Philadelphia Eagles
Speaker 1: down the road. But you know, getting over the hump
Speaker 1: is key. Here's Tremaine Edmonds.
Speaker 3: You know, I think yesterday, you know, obviously it was tough,
Speaker 3: you know, going home thinking about it, sleeping on it.
Speaker 3: But think about this league is you know, the next
Speaker 3: game comes quick, and you know, I think, based off
Speaker 3: my experience, you know that next day it's a step
Speaker 3: towards how you want this next game to go. And
Speaker 3: you can even look at it one or two ways,
Speaker 3: like you could take a step back and you know,
Speaker 3: feel sorry for yourself, make excuses, point the finger, you know,
Speaker 3: whatever it may be. Or you could take a step
Speaker 3: forward and say, listen, this is what we need to
Speaker 3: get better with, understand what it is, and we take
Speaker 3: positive steps forward. So energy this today was just that's
Speaker 3: what the mindset is, That's what my mindset is, that's
Speaker 3: what the guys around me mindset is, and that's what
Speaker 3: we focus on. Thursday is gonna be here before we
Speaker 3: know it. So it's no need for us to feel
Speaker 3: sorry about ourselves. You know, I think that's the really
Speaker 3: the only way to deal with it. You know what
Speaker 3: I mean is to get better, to get to think positive,
Speaker 3: and to get ourselves ready to play on Thursday.
Speaker 1: And I thought Tremain acted like a true captain at
Speaker 1: the podium on Monday. He was very direct, he was
Speaker 1: very thorough in his expl of where this is at.
Speaker 1: You know, you got to look at it the way
Speaker 1: it is, You got to put it in a proper
Speaker 1: frame here and if it was a win, you'd be
Speaker 1: feeling the same way. You got to forget about it and
Speaker 1: move on. Can you do the same things you did
Speaker 1: against Denver against Washington?
Speaker 2: Yeah, because I think you still have the same exposable
Speaker 2: athleticism by a guy like Justin Fields. I think that
Speaker 2: you have a guy like Khalil Herbert that's always gonna
Speaker 2: run hard. You have a good tough guy, I mean
Speaker 2: a tough guy, and Dj Moore who's got the willingness
Speaker 2: to make catches even then even when he knows he's
Speaker 2: gonna get hit. So all those types of things are transferable.
Speaker 2: And then you know the offensive line is starting to
Speaker 2: get that gel and now that Tevin Jenkins is going
Speaker 2: to be activated again, how does that depth fit in
Speaker 2: the mix? So yeah, there's a lot of things that
Speaker 2: you can bring with you to Washington. And then the
Speaker 2: defensive side of it, you got to continue to play fast.
Speaker 2: You got to get those tackles for lost by DeMarcus.
Speaker 2: You got to get a nice blitz by Jack Sanborn
Speaker 2: that sets up a sack opportunity for Dominique Robinson. You
Speaker 2: still got to unleash a guy like in Gocway to
Speaker 2: see if you can get some one on one matchups
Speaker 2: against this offensive line that you feel favorable with. And
Speaker 2: I like last year you're getting a defensive backfield because
Speaker 2: they're playing with depth that are getting experience. So when
Speaker 2: guys turn around and get back on that creates depth.
Speaker 2: One thing I would like to see. I'm waiting to
Speaker 2: see more out of Jakwan Brisker, And I don't know
Speaker 2: if it's a coaching element to a defensive back game
Speaker 2: or he's just it's just been quiet for him. So
Speaker 2: I have high expectations for Jakuan and that's what I
Speaker 2: want to see him, how I want to see him play.
Speaker 1: Meanwhile, let's let's find out the status from Houase with
Speaker 1: head coach Mattiberflussh. All right, welcome back coach here on Bears,
Speaker 1: et cetera. Let's take a look at things in preview.
Speaker 1: We've got to do a double duty today, short week
Speaker 1: or brought to you by PMC Official Bank of the Bears.
Speaker 1: The first is the impact of a loss take on
Speaker 1: a different feel in terms of how you lose. So
Speaker 1: what I'm saying is they all count the same, but
Speaker 1: is it more devastating to lose a game like that
Speaker 1: when you had a big lead.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I would say that you know, you look at
Speaker 5: the first three quarters. I believe that we're going to
Speaker 5: create some momentum for ourselves here, number one, because we
Speaker 5: we did things right for three quarters, and that's what
Speaker 5: we're going to build upon, and I think that's where
Speaker 5: our player's mindset is. Certainly, we're all disappointed that we
Speaker 5: didn't finish that game the right way. You know, we
Speaker 5: got to take care of the ball. We got to
Speaker 5: take the ball away in the fourth quarter. You know,
Speaker 5: obviously the go forward on fourth down. You know, if
Speaker 5: we get that, we can seal the game and certainly
Speaker 5: put the game in our tilt, in our favorite you know,
Speaker 5: at that moment. But again, the first three quarters were
Speaker 5: really good, and we took a step forward. We focus
Speaker 5: on the details and focus on fundamentals and really did
Speaker 5: a good job of enhancing the skill of our players
Speaker 5: in terms of the play calls and the different things
Speaker 5: that we did with our offense. And I thought our
Speaker 5: defense played well too for the first three quarters. We
Speaker 5: just got to do a better job of finishing.
Speaker 1: You often hear quotes from injured players that could apply,
Speaker 1: I guess in this case on four start. But the
Speaker 1: comeback is greater than the setback. Can you use that
Speaker 1: belief to your advantage anyway?
Speaker 5: Yeah, you know the main thing is, you know, guys
Speaker 5: sticking together. You know, we got a tight group. You know,
Speaker 5: the relationships that we have together are strong. The bond
Speaker 5: and our team is strong. And you can feel that.
Speaker 5: You can see the way they're fighting for each other.
Speaker 5: You can see the way they fought last week. You know,
Speaker 5: get to get it done and again, only good things
Speaker 5: are going to happen when we keep fighting for each other.
Speaker 1: To your point, I went into the locker room very
Speaker 1: late yesterday how to do some stuff for Marquee Network
Speaker 1: and Eddie Jackson, Jalen Johnson, Khalil Herbert, Takwan Brisker, Tremaine Edmunds,
Speaker 1: t J. Edwards. They were all in there, some still
Speaker 1: hadn't even gotten into the shower yet. And this is
Speaker 1: well after that locker room cleared out, and it stuck
Speaker 1: with me, is they're sitting there talking, they're chopping it
Speaker 1: up doing whatever they're talking about the game. You know
Speaker 1: they are, and you could just see it on their faces,
Speaker 1: like and then talk to Herbert, you know, you could
Speaker 1: see the pain on his face. We gotta get we
Speaker 1: gotta get that we gotta get that. Yeah, we got
Speaker 1: we gotta, we gotta, we gotta. So to your point,
Speaker 1: it is a tight team. They were they were talking
Speaker 1: about the game, talking about what's next.
Speaker 5: Yeah, you know it's important to them. You know, these guys,
Speaker 5: we spend so much time together, you know, and we
Speaker 5: invest so much energy and time into preparation for each week.
Speaker 5: You know, when you put that passion into it, you know,
Speaker 5: you expect to win, you know, And and those guys
Speaker 5: do you know, we just got to put our best
Speaker 5: foot forward going into Washington, and our preparation has got
Speaker 5: to be right.
Speaker 1: Heck, you know, we'll preview Washington in a second. But
Speaker 1: my key to the game, I was always asking, fourth quarter.
Speaker 1: That's it, no matter the circumstance, trailing, leading, done matter,
Speaker 1: fourth quarter, decision making, execution.
Speaker 2: All that.
Speaker 1: That that's the key to this league. It's fourth quarter.
Speaker 1: You can it's perfect evidence support it to yesterday.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, it's most of them come down to
Speaker 5: one score games. And again that's uh, you know a
Speaker 5: certa the case that we had to finish in that
Speaker 5: game last yesterday. But again again we got to put
Speaker 5: a rest foot forward this week.
Speaker 1: Did justin fields need a game like that to exhale
Speaker 1: a little bit. I'm not suggesting that, you know, there
Speaker 1: was anything tied up in his head about how he's
Speaker 1: been playing or how the offense has been playing, but
Speaker 1: just to have that success. And I keep using your
Speaker 1: term finding his skills, you know, finding his skill the players,
Speaker 1: the tight ends, the running backs, the targets to the
Speaker 1: wide receivers. Fourteen targets, thirteen catches. So he found his skill.
Speaker 1: Did he need a game like that?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 5: I mean, I think it's it's really a good step
Speaker 5: in the right direction.
Speaker 6: You know.
Speaker 5: I think that he has a lot of confidence anyway,
Speaker 5: you know, and now he's able to look and see
Speaker 5: the fruits of his labor. He's been working his tail
Speaker 5: off to be able to have a game like that.
Speaker 5: And again he was on fire. You know, he had
Speaker 5: obviously that first half and you know in the four
Speaker 5: touchdowns and all the things that he accomplished during that game.
Speaker 5: But again, he will be the first to tell you
Speaker 5: that we need to finish, you know, and that's not
Speaker 5: just him as everybody and you know, I just saw
Speaker 5: him in the hallway. We're just talking about it together.
Speaker 5: So it's really important that we learn how to do
Speaker 5: it as a football team. But again, this is a
Speaker 5: step in a momentum direction for us as a football
Speaker 5: team this last.
Speaker 1: Week, and you can have things, situations pull the rope
Speaker 1: on that momentum. So, Jase Claypoole, you discussed it at length.
Speaker 1: We don't need to go into every question about it.
Speaker 1: But he will not be with the team this week.
Speaker 1: A part of it is how he's acted, performed, et
Speaker 1: cetera day to day to day, clearly, but with a
Speaker 1: young team that's still learning how to win and a
Speaker 1: locker room full of young guys, professional examples have to
Speaker 1: be set by veterans.
Speaker 2: Is that part of this.
Speaker 5: Well, I would say we have a lot of great
Speaker 5: examples in our locker room that are just awesome.
Speaker 1: But you can't have anybody pull the rope on it.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, so you know, the guys have to
Speaker 5: pull the rope in the right direction, you know. So
Speaker 5: it's important for us to be able to look at
Speaker 5: the positives and making sure that we're you know all
Speaker 5: you know, you know, on time for things right, being professional,
Speaker 5: being respectful, you know, and then working you know, working
Speaker 5: hard and working smart. And you know, the guys in
Speaker 5: the in the in the building are doing a great
Speaker 5: job of that and they're hanging together.
Speaker 6: All right.
Speaker 1: Let's turn our heads to Washington. Ron Rivera a great
Speaker 1: Chicago Bear, also a coach here as a defensive coordinator
Speaker 1: in Love Smith. I tell you the first thing that
Speaker 1: sticks out is that defensive front for that Yeah, and
Speaker 1: you placed them last year I think week six.
Speaker 5: Right, Yeah, the defensive front is is really good. You know, uh,
Speaker 5: all first rounders up there, and you know, they roll
Speaker 5: pretty good, and they got they rotate guys in there
Speaker 5: as well. But again, those first four guys are really
Speaker 5: good players, and they can really create pressure on the quarterback,
Speaker 5: which allows them to play a lot of coverage. You know,
Speaker 5: so they certainly do that, and and Jack does a
Speaker 5: good job of coordinating that defense.
Speaker 1: Jack del rio. Let's not talk about Sam Howe, an
Speaker 1: emerging player. He's had moments of great success already this season,
Speaker 1: other times not because of taking a lot of sacks
Speaker 1: or whatever. But what's your quick snap of analysis of
Speaker 1: Sam Howe.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean he's poised, you know for a young guy,
Speaker 5: and and and delivers the ball and distributes the ball
Speaker 5: well within the offense. I think he has a really
Speaker 5: good grasp of Eric's offense, and I think that, you know,
Speaker 5: he's doing well and he's progressing, He's getting better every week.
Speaker 5: And you saw the game yesterday, you know against Philly.
Speaker 5: You know, they played you know, variations of the coverage
Speaker 5: and he was able to read him and deliver the
Speaker 5: ball in the right spots and you know, made some
Speaker 5: big plays you know down the stretch there to obviously
Speaker 5: tie the score, to get it into overtime.
Speaker 6: You know.
Speaker 5: So I thought he's really he's really progressing.
Speaker 6: Well.
Speaker 1: Take a chance down though. The Bette Rivers app today.
Speaker 1: You know, a really good division that NFC East. They
Speaker 1: play a very particular brand of ball, just like the
Speaker 1: NFC North does what you saw on tape. Does it
Speaker 1: look like Kansas City fence with Eric b enemy a
Speaker 1: little bit? Uh, He's got his own touchout.
Speaker 5: No, I think there's a there's certainly that Kansas City
Speaker 5: style to it, but I think Eric's got his own
Speaker 5: little flavor.
Speaker 6: To it, you know.
Speaker 5: So, uh, you know, we'll keep studying it, looking at it,
Speaker 5: and again we put a lot of time on it,
Speaker 5: you know, in the.
Speaker 1: Past, you know, obviously before the plan ahead, Yeah, you
Speaker 1: got a.
Speaker 5: Plan ahead and we did that and again we'll be
Speaker 5: ready for it.
Speaker 1: All right. So in terms of our health and our players,
Speaker 1: I had good news with Kevin Jenkins cleared to start
Speaker 1: that process of getting back from his calf injury. Are
Speaker 1: you optimistic even for this game?
Speaker 5: Yeah, he's been He's clear to practice, like you said,
Speaker 5: and we'll see where he is, you know, we'll see
Speaker 5: where he goes and see how he's moving around and
Speaker 5: uh and we'll just look at him as you know,
Speaker 5: I know, they will only walk through practices. But again
Speaker 5: he'll be working out on the side to get more
Speaker 5: get himself moving around and we'll see where it goes.
Speaker 1: And then Kylie Gordon saw him no cast anymore, nothing
Speaker 1: at So that's also coming soon.
Speaker 6: Yeah, that's that's really good.
Speaker 5: And again to get some of those starters back is
Speaker 5: going to be you know, a shot in the arm
Speaker 5: for us. You know, when you get talent you know,
Speaker 5: back into your team, it's certainly helpful.
Speaker 6: All right.
Speaker 1: We will talk to you on Thursday with our pregame interview. Okay, look,
Speaker 1: this week, we'll see you. That thinks all right. A
Speaker 1: part of the discussion there was Chase Claypole and you
Speaker 1: know he talked about it in depth. We're not going
Speaker 1: to go through it in depth. You got so many
Speaker 1: questions about why he's not going to be a part
Speaker 1: of this this week, and his future certainly is in
Speaker 1: some serious question here with the Bears. Whatever happens next
Speaker 1: is up to the general manager Ryan Poles in the
Speaker 1: front office and that kind of conversation. But I pose
Speaker 1: this question, and you just heard it to coach Iberflus,
Speaker 1: I'll pose it to you. Despite the man's talent, whatever's
Speaker 1: been going on, it's not just what he's saying, it's
Speaker 1: what he's doing, clearly not doing that meets a certain
Speaker 1: standard weekly, daily and on the field that they have
Speaker 1: surmised that, hey, you know what you need to step
Speaker 1: away here? Is that the right move with a young
Speaker 1: team because you don't want you want veterans that influence
Speaker 1: you be professional, You don't want to have those types
Speaker 1: of players that give a different kind of vibe in
Speaker 1: the locker room. Would you say that's a fair representation
Speaker 1: of why this may be happening.
Speaker 2: Jeff, Have you ever competed in a real tug of
Speaker 2: war with a rope?
Speaker 1: I have, But sadly now it's a serious topic We're
Speaker 1: going to laugh because it was with Anthony Adams on
Speaker 1: the beach with a bunch of ex Bears and a
Speaker 1: Bears fan trip.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I did it, Okay. To analogize, you have to
Speaker 2: have everybody pulling in the right direction. You have to
Speaker 2: have everybody giving their best in the same direction in
Speaker 2: order to try to win a struggle of that type
Speaker 2: of that type of struggle, and it's a week to
Speaker 2: week struggle in the NFL, So you need people talking positively.
Speaker 2: You need people if they have something that they would
Speaker 2: like to get off their chest, they have to do
Speaker 2: it to their coach privately. And if you feel that
Speaker 2: you're being underutilized them, bring that to the head coach
Speaker 2: and tell them what your concerns are. You make sure
Speaker 2: you don't start a negative topic outside the locker room,
Speaker 2: because now, if you start a negative topic outside the
Speaker 2: locker room, Jeff, every single media person that walks in
Speaker 2: that locker room is going to ask everybody the same question,
Speaker 2: no matter if you're a receiver to a defensive back,
Speaker 2: to a defensive lineman, to a tackle, And once you
Speaker 2: start answering a question about somebody else, it's a distraction
Speaker 2: that continue that brings on a negative preparation process.
Speaker 1: Good new 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 and room for everyone's roller bag. United
Speaker 1: Proud to fly the Chicago Bears and you too, Jeff,
Speaker 1: Joni k Tom Thare and the Bears, et cetera. Podcast.
Speaker 1: All right, without further delay, let's jump into our conversation
Speaker 1: with Doug Williams, your old teammate in the United States
Speaker 1: Football League and a great member of a Super Bowl
Speaker 1: champion Washington Redskins team back in the day. From Zachary
Speaker 1: Louisiana to Grambling in the mid seventies, to the seventh
Speaker 1: teenth pick of the seventy eight NFL draft by Tampa
Speaker 1: Bay to the USFL and the Arizona Wranglers to the
Speaker 1: Washington then known as the Redskins from eighty six to
Speaker 1: eighty nine. A two time Super Bowl winner and one
Speaker 1: of the greatest players in Washington history. I'm telling you, folks,
Speaker 1: we're just scratching the surface of a man with a
Speaker 1: long resume and a deep, deep love of the game
Speaker 1: of football. Also in administration and currently senior advisor in
Speaker 1: Washington with the commanders. Please welcome the great Doug Williams
Speaker 1: to Bears, etc. How you doing, Doug, how you feeling?
Speaker 6: I'm good man, Thanks for having me the main man, Tom,
Speaker 6: call me Tom. Damn man, that's my man.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Why why is he your man? Tell us? Tell
Speaker 1: us the why what?
Speaker 6: You know what? Go back you know to the USFL.
Speaker 6: I mean Tom was so easy man. When he walked in.
Speaker 6: I knew, right Dan, you know, he's that guy that
Speaker 6: you can just latch on too and he become your
Speaker 6: free and that's what it was for us.
Speaker 2: Well, Doug, you know how much I love you. You know,
Speaker 2: you know, Doug, when I was thinking about you, I
Speaker 2: was thinking about your career with Tampa Bay, your career
Speaker 2: as a coach now given what Dianna is doing, the
Speaker 2: excuse me, eighty six eighty seven Redskins when you beat
Speaker 2: the Bears in Chicago and then your time of success.
Speaker 2: So honestly, I don't know where to begin, but in
Speaker 2: the state we're at with the Bears. Have you ever
Speaker 2: faced a scenario like this where you're kind of searching
Speaker 2: for answers and you being a quarterback and we have
Speaker 2: a quarterback as athletic, as talent as any quarterback in
Speaker 2: the league. What are the solutions of the problems that
Speaker 2: we're facing.
Speaker 6: Well, you know, it's hard for me to answer the
Speaker 6: problems with which you all face, but I can say
Speaker 6: this when I'm the rookie, when I went to Tampa
Speaker 6: and became a starter, you know, Tampa was was I
Speaker 6: don't want they They was bad. They was bad year
Speaker 6: they won two teams. And I thought when I went there,
Speaker 6: you know, the players that we had, we had some
Speaker 6: pretty good player, especially on defense. And then they saw
Speaker 6: a little hope because I played until I got my
Speaker 6: job broke, and by that time we had already won
Speaker 6: four games, and four games, you know, that's like four
Speaker 6: games we had won the previous two years. So I
Speaker 6: think a lot of people saw a lot of hope.
Speaker 6: The fans saw hope, and and and the coaches realized
Speaker 6: what was happening because it came back the next year
Speaker 6: and we ended up winning winning the conference, which you know,
Speaker 6: with the guys around and with Leroy Selman and David
Speaker 6: Lewis and all those guys playing defense. Uh, coach Coach
Speaker 6: McKay used to always say, we'll go to meeting on
Speaker 6: Monday morning. He said, hey, guys, if we if you
Speaker 6: keep it closed, Dougie will win it for us. That
Speaker 6: was what you always say. So we had confident that
Speaker 6: we can win the game. We never went out there
Speaker 6: trying to trying to win a game. We went out
Speaker 6: there with the idea that we was going to win.
Speaker 6: And that's what happened that second year. The third year
Speaker 6: we got beat up again. But you know, three of
Speaker 6: those five years down then we was able to go
Speaker 6: to the playoffs, which was pretty good.
Speaker 2: Okay, now you're in a locker room with y'all Fields
Speaker 2: and you're saying, Justin, this is my experience, this is
Speaker 2: my advice to you going forward. What would that be? Wow?
Speaker 6: You know, still working for the Commanders.
Speaker 1: I hate Well, I'm not.
Speaker 2: I'm not talking about Chicago gainst the Commanders. I'm talking
Speaker 2: about your personal experience and your growth process to Justin Well.
Speaker 6: The same thing. You know, last week, I was a
Speaker 6: young quarterback, had a bad week and the full interceptions
Speaker 6: and stuff, and after the game, you know, I had
Speaker 6: a chance to talk to him in the parking lot.
Speaker 6: And the thing, you know, because he got talent, just
Speaker 6: like Justin has talent. You know what I told him,
Speaker 6: He got to keep his head up. Number One, I
Speaker 6: played with a guy named Ricky Beall blessed, bless his soul.
Speaker 6: When I was a rookie. When I had a bad game,
Speaker 6: you know, Ricky would always come to the dress room
Speaker 6: and sit by me. He say, hey, man, you know
Speaker 6: what you can do. You got to keep going forward.
Speaker 6: I think that's the most important thing. You know what
Speaker 6: is happening now. These young guys got the media to
Speaker 6: work about. They got the radio shows and everything that
Speaker 6: they got to work. The talking head is gonna say
Speaker 6: whatever you want to say, but you'd have for a reason.
Speaker 6: You was the first round pick. Hey, they picked you
Speaker 6: to play this game. So mentally, he got to get
Speaker 6: himself together and overcome any distraction outside of football and
Speaker 6: let it all be about football.
Speaker 1: The great Doug Williams our guest here on Bears, et
Speaker 1: cetera with Tom Thayer. I'm Jeff CIONI that good to
Speaker 1: have you alongside. You mentioned distractions, and there are so
Speaker 1: many now and put yourself if you advance yourself from
Speaker 1: what you were as a twenty twenty two to twenty
Speaker 1: three year old kid coming into the NFL, how would
Speaker 1: you have handled it today. And because it is, you're
Speaker 1: like you're almost like a CEO of your own company
Speaker 1: and you're representing the team. But you have to do
Speaker 1: there are requirements to get to that podium every week
Speaker 1: after every game on the team radio broadcast after the game,
Speaker 1: not to mention what's swirling and social media.
Speaker 6: Well, you know what, I don't m of these guys,
Speaker 6: be honest with you know, because when I played, we
Speaker 6: had that to worry about. You just had to worry
Speaker 6: about doing your job and going in and facing the
Speaker 6: coaches on Mondays and stuff like that. These guys got
Speaker 6: so many things coming at them. I mean, they got
Speaker 6: so many things that they want to do. And I
Speaker 6: think it's a little different too because and Tom, what
Speaker 6: answer is back in the day, you went to the
Speaker 6: locker room and practice was over, you set around, you
Speaker 6: talk to the guys you played with. You know, it
Speaker 6: was more that togetheringness that you knew what the other guys. Now,
Speaker 6: you know, these guys got so many toys. They don't
Speaker 6: have time to set around and talk to their teammates
Speaker 6: and stuff like that. They don't go out to eat together,
Speaker 6: they don't do a lot of things together and I
Speaker 6: think back in the day, all that happened and it
Speaker 6: became cohesive and it brought down to you do your job,
Speaker 6: I do my job, and we do our job together.
Speaker 6: It's not like that anymore.
Speaker 2: And when you think about your time and just ownership alone,
Speaker 2: you think of the owner that you played for and
Speaker 2: then where it went to and where it is now.
Speaker 2: Is this ownership is it a culture change from where
Speaker 2: you started to where it is is now and is
Speaker 2: it moving in a positive direction?
Speaker 6: Well, let me say this. When I got here, Jack
Speaker 6: kin Cook was on right and Joe Gills was the
Speaker 6: coach and Bobby Bethtie was the germanager. All I know
Speaker 6: is that Jack king Cook stayed away from football and
Speaker 6: gave Bobby and Joe whatever they needed to coach and
Speaker 6: make the team work. And all the other ones say
Speaker 6: was just win, you know, and that's what he did.
Speaker 6: You know. I come here, I've been going here, been
Speaker 6: here by the last ten years, and the ownership was
Speaker 6: a little different. It's up on the different direction, you know.
Speaker 6: I just had to deal with what was here, and uh,
Speaker 6: they was here before I got here, had spent the
Speaker 6: last nine years here, and now this new ownership come
Speaker 6: in now I see what it's like the changing of
Speaker 6: guards the ownership today. The guys that when I played,
Speaker 6: and the guys before me played that lived in this area,
Speaker 6: so they understand what it was like when we was winning.
Speaker 6: So I think by them being the owner, the love
Speaker 6: of the game, the passion of the game is back.
Speaker 6: That's the feeling at this particular time that these owners
Speaker 6: understand what it was like when they was living around
Speaker 6: here and we was winning. So that's what they want
Speaker 6: to get back to, and I think they're gonna give
Speaker 6: us everything we need to make that happen.
Speaker 1: As a result of that, Doug, with Josh Harris's arrival,
Speaker 1: I noticed that the fans appear to be a little
Speaker 1: more excited, maybe a lot more excited, more engaged, and
Speaker 1: more hopeful for the future. And with President Jason right
Speaker 1: there as well. So when you work closely with do
Speaker 1: you feel it from back from the fans because it
Speaker 1: is one of the greatest fan bases in America.
Speaker 6: Hey, I'll tell you what. The last few weeks, you know,
Speaker 6: the preseason was so great, the camp was so great.
Speaker 6: We I mean we had people coming here that we
Speaker 6: hadn't seen before. I mean, we had two days. But
Speaker 6: we had over ten thousand people at camp. And I've
Speaker 6: been here for nine years and we never had that
Speaker 6: type of people that many people here, And I think
Speaker 6: the enthusiasm of the people with the changing regard was
Speaker 6: a big plus. And now that you know we won
Speaker 6: two game loss two would have you. But this was
Speaker 6: a good football team and we're trying to go forward.
Speaker 6: And you know, the more we win, the more these
Speaker 6: this fan base gonna come back together. But I think
Speaker 6: they all applaud the fact that we do have new
Speaker 6: ownership and they looking for a good ride.
Speaker 2: Doug, when you when you think about your career, the
Speaker 2: pressures of your career from Tampa Bay when you're a
Speaker 2: first round draft choice to coming with incredible expectations with
Speaker 2: the Washington team, was it was the pressure the same
Speaker 2: or was it different? And then you consider the success
Speaker 2: you had as a super Bowl winning quarterback? What was
Speaker 2: the difference in the two pressures?
Speaker 6: You know what time? You know, I think about that
Speaker 6: a lot. You know, what was the pressure? I don't
Speaker 6: you know coming up, I've been an athlete all my life.
Speaker 6: I came out of family that was full of athletes,
Speaker 6: my younger brother, my oldest brother, my sister. Everybody was competing,
Speaker 6: and I've always felt that pressure was something that the
Speaker 6: individual put up on themselves. And when I went out
Speaker 6: to play, the one thing I always say, you played
Speaker 6: to win, and it wasn't pressure to win. You know,
Speaker 6: if you do what you're supposed to do and the
Speaker 6: guy next to you and everybody else do their job,
Speaker 6: you know you're gonna find a way to win it.
Speaker 6: Just like baseball, and I was a pitcher. I knew
Speaker 6: rad then. You know, it's a team sport. But if
Speaker 6: you're a pitcher, you got to catch it. It's you
Speaker 6: and him and you try to make it work. And
Speaker 6: if you win, the team win. And that's why I
Speaker 6: always look at it. But I'm putting pressure on myself.
Speaker 6: And I know, you know in that hudder in Tampa
Speaker 6: back when I was a rookie, you know, you had
Speaker 6: so many fans. You know, being a black quarterback in
Speaker 6: nineteen seventy eight was wasn't fashionable, and I understood that,
Speaker 6: but I had people to lean on. My oldest brother.
Speaker 6: I was always able to call coach Rob and we
Speaker 6: talked stuff through and he used to always say, do
Speaker 6: what you did. He had Grammar play football and don't
Speaker 6: worry about the outside. And I tried to do that.
Speaker 6: And coming here to Washington, you know, I knew I
Speaker 6: was with a better football team. I knew I had
Speaker 6: a better offensive line. I know Coach Gibbs who coached
Speaker 6: me down in Tampa when I was a rookie. So
Speaker 6: I knew Coach Gibbs when I came up here, and
Speaker 6: you know, to me, it was a blessing knowing that,
Speaker 6: you know, I got a great offensive line, and as
Speaker 6: a quarterback, that's one thing you need. I don't care
Speaker 6: what happened. If your offensive line is not working, I
Speaker 6: can promise you the quarterback won't be rewarded. You know,
Speaker 6: I was fortun enough to come here to have that
Speaker 6: type of feeling, an offensive line to protect me.
Speaker 1: Super Bowl winning quarterback, super Bowl MVP Doug Williams with
Speaker 1: us here on Bears, et cetera. You mentioned what it
Speaker 1: was like in that atmosphere in the late nineteen seventies.
Speaker 1: I don't know if Bears fans remember this at all,
Speaker 1: but you and Vince Evans made history first NFL game
Speaker 1: ever to have a black starting quarterback on both teams
Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy nine. I didn't have the time to
Speaker 1: look up the outcome of that result. I don't remember.
Speaker 1: You probably do, but we don't talk that way anymore.
Speaker 1: That's a good sign, right, No, you know.
Speaker 6: What I think once we get away from them, you know,
Speaker 6: I think the two guys that played in the Super Bowl,
Speaker 6: both of them was African American. They played, and a
Speaker 6: good part about that they played well, you know, one
Speaker 6: didn't play. It was a situation where somebody had to
Speaker 6: lose the football game, and it's a shame that they
Speaker 6: both could win. But I think what they did for
Speaker 6: the Super Bowl was gave America in the world a
Speaker 6: chance to see two quarterback, not black quarterbacks, two quarterback
Speaker 6: playing the National Football League.
Speaker 1: Do you remember the outcome of that Bears game with
Speaker 1: Vince Seven's.
Speaker 6: I think we won.
Speaker 2: I'm not for sure.
Speaker 1: Hey, he was at Kaba Athlete too, right he was, Yeah, but.
Speaker 6: I do remember that game. And you know I talked
Speaker 6: to Bens every.
Speaker 1: Nine and then, oh, okay, how's he doing.
Speaker 6: I try to keep in touch with him, man. And
Speaker 6: that was a great day. And when you think about
Speaker 6: that in nineteen seventy nine and where we are today,
Speaker 6: that was history of seventy nine and the first the
Speaker 6: season open around here, fourteen black quarterbacks started the National
Speaker 6: Football League, which I think is a good thing. And
Speaker 6: it's not about the color of the skin of the guy.
Speaker 6: It should be the guy who playing the position, how
Speaker 6: well they could play, because I mean, when you look
Speaker 6: at TV, no matter what color are, there's some bad
Speaker 6: quarterback play across the league. When you look at the
Speaker 6: realistic situation.
Speaker 2: You know, Doug Will you talk about Amy Robinson, your
Speaker 2: coach at Grambling, what a great coach he was. Joe
Speaker 2: Gibbs to me, is always an offensive minded head coach.
Speaker 2: And now you have Ron Rivera there with the commander's
Speaker 2: you know, ex Chicago Bear, a great friend of mine.
Speaker 2: How is the influence of a defensive minded head coach
Speaker 2: in Washington because you look at guys like Jonathan Allen
Speaker 2: and your defense as a whole, I think it's a
Speaker 2: solid defense. How is the transition with Ron ben from
Speaker 2: new ownership to the head coach position that he's held
Speaker 2: down for a while.
Speaker 6: Now, Well, I think Ron got here. This is a
Speaker 6: fourth he had three years ago. You know, he was
Speaker 6: with the old ownership and he knew defensively, we had
Speaker 6: some people already in place, and then they brought in
Speaker 6: Chase Young with everybody expecting, you know, his defense to
Speaker 6: really jail. You know, you got a full first round
Speaker 6: pick across the front line, and to me, that's almost
Speaker 6: unheard of. So you expect this team to jail. And
Speaker 6: I think Ron being a defensive coordinating, you got Jack
Speaker 6: del Rio working with you. I think at the end
Speaker 6: of the day, you know, the other day might not
Speaker 6: been as good as they would have liked for what
Speaker 6: that being, but this defense has been playing pretty good.
Speaker 6: If you a quarterback on the other team, it's one
Speaker 6: thing you know about this defense that they gonna get
Speaker 6: after you. And you know, I like what they're doing.
Speaker 6: And if they can keep doing and everything come together
Speaker 6: and put this offense together was played well yesterday. I
Speaker 6: think eventually, you know, we'll be happy. What's going on.
Speaker 1: Middle Light, the official beer of the Chicago Bears, tastes
Speaker 1: like another time. Chicago, Tom, I know you got a
Speaker 1: big kick out of that. You love embracing your past,
Speaker 1: as clearly Doug did as well.
Speaker 2: Listen, you know one thing I think my relationship with
Speaker 2: Doug Williams after all these years, it's the brotherhood that
Speaker 2: is created in a team working atmosphere, and everything wasn't
Speaker 2: positive during our time in the USFL. You know, we
Speaker 2: had some struggles and the us was a new started
Speaker 2: football league that you know, some teams didn't have it
Speaker 2: as good as US. But every day I had the
Speaker 2: opportunity to work with Doug, I just had in my mind,
Speaker 2: here's a guy as a first rounder in the NFL
Speaker 2: that has Hall of Fame qualities about him. He came
Speaker 2: in as a leader. Doug Williams never asked to have
Speaker 2: permission to be a leader. He presented himself as a
Speaker 2: leader the moment he got there, and people weren't offended
Speaker 2: by it. People accepted and respected it. And I think
Speaker 2: when I think of all these years and the times
Speaker 2: that I've we've got to talk to Doug in the past,
Speaker 2: I just I just have more respect for him every
Speaker 2: single time I talked to him, and you had a
Speaker 2: chance to study a little bit about his background and
Speaker 2: how he was never given anything. That everything from the
Speaker 2: time he grew up in Zachary, Louisiana to the time
Speaker 2: where he's sitting in his office at the Commander's building.
Speaker 2: The dude has paid his He's paid his dues in
Speaker 2: order to earn the opportunity he's earned.
Speaker 1: Busy Heart Seltz the official Heart Seltzer of the Chicago Bears,
Speaker 1: are part of the Bears, Etc. Podcasts. All right, let's
Speaker 1: flip now into preview mode against Washington. I cannot escape
Speaker 1: the obvious first round picks across the board on the
Speaker 1: defensive line. That defensive line could pose a lot of problems.
Speaker 1: If they're not blocked up, they get to the quarterback,
Speaker 1: they stop the run. Each of them have the qualities
Speaker 1: to rush the passer inside defensive line, outside edge. Guys,
Speaker 1: How problematic is this for the Bears?
Speaker 2: Well, you know, I don't know. I see. I don't
Speaker 2: look at as a problem. I look for the solutions.
Speaker 2: And I think when I see a guy like Chase
Speaker 2: Young who hasn't played in a couple of years and
Speaker 2: he wants to rush the passer, I'm never going to
Speaker 2: give him that, right, Jeff, I am going to attack
Speaker 2: him in every way shape possible. I'm gonna see if
Speaker 2: I can get him at the point of attack where
Speaker 2: I can have multiple blockers on him, whether it's tackle
Speaker 2: tight end or multiple tight ends, whatever the case may be,
Speaker 2: I would like to take it, make him uninterested in
Speaker 2: being out there because I think if you can expose
Speaker 2: an attackable area of the field, then you can open
Speaker 2: up opportunities for the running game. And I think Khalil
Speaker 2: Herbert and Roshawn Johnson can take advantage of the outside
Speaker 2: element to the running game. I think that if Chase
Speaker 2: Young doesn't and the contained rushers don't respect the athleticism
Speaker 2: of Justin Fields, he can continue to take that passing
Speaker 2: game to the outside. And so yeah, there's exposable opportunities.
Speaker 2: They're still, you know, first rounders and are great. Jonathan
Speaker 2: Allen is the one guy that I have concerned about
Speaker 2: because he's a big, strong man.
Speaker 1: Yep, he is outstanding. He is one of my keys
Speaker 1: to the game dealing with him Montese sweat obviously in
Speaker 1: Deron Payin in that group. Sam Howe has been sacked
Speaker 1: a lot, not more than Justin Fields. He's had some
Speaker 1: tough time. Five more sacks against Philadelphia. Could this be
Speaker 1: the game with the Bears start getting home?
Speaker 2: Sam Howell is always going to have an uphill battle
Speaker 2: because he's not a first round marquee draft choice. He's
Speaker 2: the guy that's come aboard and he's earned his opportunity
Speaker 2: to win the starting job. But when you're a mid
Speaker 2: round pick and you're starting quarterback, you have to earn
Speaker 2: your stripes every week, and sometimes the offensive line is
Speaker 2: not giving him the opportunity to succeed. But when you
Speaker 2: have a guy like Terry McLaurin who can fly, you
Speaker 2: always have that outlet receiver if you feel that you
Speaker 2: can take advantage of pass protection that computes with speed,
Speaker 2: that computes with arm talent. So yeah, you know, to me,
Speaker 2: Ron Rivera is always going to be kind of even
Speaker 2: though he's a defensive head coach, always has a run
Speaker 2: first mentality because that's how he grew up in his
Speaker 2: years in the NFL. So yeah, you have to rush
Speaker 2: the passer the whole time. But like John Tierlink, the
Speaker 2: great defensive line coach, used to say, rush the past
Speaker 2: or why you're stopping the run? And I think that's
Speaker 2: kind of the mantra on the mentality.
Speaker 1: The defensive front has to have Ryan Robinson Junior, their
Speaker 1: lead back pilot up some yards since last season, So
Speaker 1: another guy the Bears have to deal with on Thursday Night.
Speaker 1: For all your journeys ahead, go with that partner who
Speaker 1: has been on your team from the beginning the one
Speaker 1: members and communities have trusted over eighty five years, Blue Crossing,
Speaker 1: Blue Shield of Illinois, always standing by you, with you,
Speaker 1: for you through it all. We always do a one
Speaker 1: thing heard around the league. This is on the downside.
Speaker 1: You certainly played on the same field as Russ Francis
Speaker 1: in your NFL career. He passed away in a private
Speaker 1: plane crash on Sunday in Lake Placid, New York.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he was a great guy. I met him out
Speaker 2: of the Pro Bowl one year. He's a private pilot
Speaker 2: that used to fly himself to practice a lot when
Speaker 2: he lived a certain distance away from the forty nine
Speaker 2: ers practice facility. And I always admired that about him,
Speaker 2: that he was kind of thinking outside the box even
Speaker 2: as an active player. And unfortunately that was the result
Speaker 2: of his demise, but it's something that he loved. It
Speaker 2: was a passion of his and his whole life and
Speaker 2: one and the first time I met him in Hawaii,
Speaker 2: That's the first way I was introduced to him.
Speaker 1: Right, he is Hawaii, need it isn't he any Yeah? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I win your opinion is the best team in the
Speaker 1: league after a month of the season.
Speaker 2: I believe Philly is. I think when you look at
Speaker 2: their the depth of their talent on the defensive line,
Speaker 2: the continuous improvements of Jalen Hurts, their running game and
Speaker 2: how much they're willing to use it, plus their receivers.
Speaker 2: I'm super impressed by that team.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I go with that, and one A is San Francisco.
Speaker 1: They're just finding ways to get it done. Brock Pritty
Speaker 1: was as successful throwing the football as Justin Fields was
Speaker 1: in terms of high completion percentage. I think he hit
Speaker 1: twenty of his twenty first throws of the game on Sunday.
Speaker 2: You know, the one thing that worries me about San
Speaker 2: Francisco is some way, shape or form, they always suffer
Speaker 2: an injury during the course of the season and they
Speaker 2: don't have the depth if they lost to Bosa or
Speaker 2: if they lost Purdy again like they did last year unfortunately,
Speaker 2: And to me, I want to see Purdy play the
Speaker 2: whole season because I really admire of where he came from,
Speaker 2: mister irrelevant, how nothing was really expected of him and
Speaker 2: he's exceeded every expectation. So I kind of, you know,
Speaker 2: I pull for him individually because he proves a lot
Speaker 2: of people wrong every time he goes out and wins
Speaker 2: another game.
Speaker 1: Yeash, we're sitting here talking about two NFC teams when
Speaker 1: the AFC is loaded, loaded with teams and talent. So
Speaker 1: it'll be an interesting ride over the final.
Speaker 2: Three quarter A team in the AFC.
Speaker 1: Well, you know, I was thinking it was Miami until yesterday.
Speaker 2: Right until yesterday.
Speaker 1: Then yeah, I don't know. That's a great one, right,
Speaker 1: do you know?
Speaker 2: Joe Burrow is suffering, he's in sacked. The Cleveland Browns
Speaker 2: defense is as good as you can get. But Deshaun
Speaker 2: Watson didn't play this week. Miami still has all the
Speaker 2: speed on Earth, and but if you put him in
Speaker 2: a situation late in the season, if they have to
Speaker 2: go to the most unclimate Miami conditions, you don't know
Speaker 2: how that is going to effect their play. So I
Speaker 2: still think Philly is the best team in the league.
Speaker 1: All right, Tom, We will meet again on tonight, as
Speaker 1: we do Bears weekly on ESPN one thousand. We'll here's
Speaker 1: some of that Doug Williams interview, some of it that
Speaker 1: didn't make it here to the podcast for time purposes,
Speaker 1: and we'll break down the Bears and Commanders, and then
Speaker 1: on Friday will recap the whole thing, Tommy. So we
Speaker 1: got a busy week ahead, fun times, two games in
Speaker 1: five days and then ten days off to sort through
Speaker 1: whatever it's going to look like after five games in
Speaker 1: this season.
Speaker 2: Look forward to it, you know, as much as I
Speaker 2: look forward to the Denver game after what both teams
Speaker 2: face the week before, I look forward to a short
Speaker 2: week battle with Ron Rivera.
Speaker 1: Please subscribe now in the Chicago Bears official app, Apple, Spotify, YouTube,
Speaker 1: or wherever you get your podcast Bear Down Everybody.
Speaker 3: Its