Speaker 1: Cut over that DJ Moore episode Touchdown, Touchdown Paars, I
Speaker 1: am Jeff Jonia.
Speaker 2: Blitz Us on Donnie got.
Speaker 3: What was like playing for coache goodgo.
Speaker 2: I don't want to answer any questions like that pressure
Speaker 2: coming is a big trouble, Donnie Goes.
Speaker 4: Mottest Sweat Bears et Cetera brought to you by Miller
Speaker 4: Light with the voices of the Bears, Jeff Joniac and
Speaker 4: Tom Thayer.
Speaker 2: Well, this is one of the best weeks on the
Speaker 2: NFL calendar where we situated in downtown Indianapolis for the
Speaker 2: annual NFL Scouting Combine with Super Bowl winning Bears Guard Town. There,
Speaker 2: I'm Jeff Joniac. Episode one thirty four. The Bears et
Speaker 2: Cetera podcast is brought to you by Miller Light. NFL
Speaker 2: GM's head coaches go through the media car wash Tuesdays.
Speaker 1: At the Combine and on the back end of.
Speaker 2: His interviews scheduled today, we will hear from Bears General
Speaker 2: manager Ryan Poles on this show. Lots of interesting stuff,
Speaker 2: Ben Johnson at the podium and Tom. Really, I want
Speaker 2: to start with Ben because it's his real first introduction
Speaker 2: to the national media as head coach of the Bears.
Speaker 2: Had not done anything since his introduction as the Bears
Speaker 2: head coach back in Chicago. I thought he handled himself terrifically,
Speaker 2: had great optimism, great insight, and he's got me real
Speaker 2: excited about twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1: How about you.
Speaker 5: Oh, you can feel the excitement. The excitement's out the roof,
Speaker 5: the energy is palpable. And then when you think about
Speaker 5: what the combine means to either a college football player
Speaker 5: going there for the first time or an NFL head
Speaker 5: coach going there for the first time, you got to
Speaker 5: be prepared because you don't know what direction the questions
Speaker 5: are going to come from, who they're going to come from, or.
Speaker 3: What you're going to be asked about.
Speaker 5: And I think Ben was as prepared as any first
Speaker 5: time coach has ever been in my NFL lifetime. And
Speaker 5: I was excited to hear it because I don't want
Speaker 5: him thinking about answers. I don't want him trying to
Speaker 5: look for information that isn't realistic or isn't there. So
Speaker 5: I felt super confident about the decisions that Ryan Poles
Speaker 5: and his staff made. By the hiring of Ben Johnson
Speaker 5: and his staff, I.
Speaker 2: Was listening to one of his old teammates I'm speaking
Speaker 2: of Ben Johnson in the coaching department. To Aaron Glenn,
Speaker 2: the defensive coordinator, Int Trode, now head coach of the
Speaker 2: New York Jets, was asked about Ben Johnson called him
Speaker 2: very very smart. You hear that constantly about him. Understands
Speaker 2: defense too and how to attack it. That's significant as
Speaker 2: the play caller, especially how to maneuver, and that goes
Speaker 2: with things like motion and how you can create your matchups,
Speaker 2: the out of structure stuff, the off schedule stuff. So
Speaker 2: that is going to be a very fun task to
Speaker 2: figure out how he's going to pull all this together
Speaker 2: to make it really interesting offensively.
Speaker 1: For the Bears.
Speaker 2: And what he said about Caleb Williams, you know, stripping
Speaker 2: everything by position, but also with Caleb stripping it down
Speaker 2: to the bear wire again down to the studs.
Speaker 5: Stripping it down to the studs, and he's excited about
Speaker 5: what he can do off schedule. And those are the
Speaker 5: type of plays that I think encourage you a lot
Speaker 5: about the quarterback that you're going to start working with soon.
Speaker 5: And he kind of even made mention this is the
Speaker 5: first time that he has a quarterback with those types
Speaker 5: of qualities. And when you think of Ben Johnson. Think
Speaker 5: about Ben Johnson, the offensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions.
Speaker 5: He probably knows the defensive personnel of the Chicago Bears
Speaker 5: better than he knows the offensive personnel of the Bears.
Speaker 5: But he's going to come in here and he's going
Speaker 5: to be the offensive coach and he's going to have
Speaker 5: to learn about the offensive personnel of the Bears. And
Speaker 5: it's kind of an interesting perspective when you are you
Speaker 5: become a head coach of a divisional opponent, because you
Speaker 5: spend so much time studying the infrastructure of your division,
Speaker 5: but you you spend a lot of time studying the
Speaker 5: defensive personnel groupings. And now it's going to be interesting
Speaker 5: to see how he puts all the parts. And I'm
Speaker 5: glad that he brought up the fact that it's not
Speaker 5: about five offensive line and it can be eight or nine.
Speaker 5: And that is the reality of shortyards and goal line
Speaker 5: offense and the different packages that we've seen out of
Speaker 5: Detroit over the last couple of years. And we haven't
Speaker 5: seen a team get through the season with five offensive
Speaker 5: linemen in quite a while, and so you need a
Speaker 5: significant package of offensive linemen to make your offense run efficiently.
Speaker 2: The other part is because everybody has the assumption, and
Speaker 2: I've been down that road as well, that you have
Speaker 2: to hire a bunch of new bodies to create this
Speaker 2: offensive line. He goes, one guy can change an offensive line. Now,
Speaker 2: I think that won't be the case here. I think
Speaker 2: you'll need more than that. But that's quite the statement too.
Speaker 2: You get one guy that makes everybody better. Do you
Speaker 2: agree with that?
Speaker 5: I do, because if you bring that alpha in the building,
Speaker 5: because the alpha in the building isn't only on seventeen
Speaker 5: weeks on game day, It's about what are you doing
Speaker 5: in the weight room, what attention to details are you paying.
Speaker 3: In the eating rooms?
Speaker 5: What are you doing in the commitment to come out
Speaker 5: to practice when you feel less than one hundred percent.
Speaker 5: You need that type of personality, that type of guy
Speaker 5: that's inside the room that's elevating the desire, the willingness,
Speaker 5: the ability of every other guy in that room. Then
Speaker 5: all of a sudden, that becomes contagious. That one guy
Speaker 5: starts to attach to two, and then that goes to three,
Speaker 5: and then all of a sudden, it's the entire room.
Speaker 3: So I do think.
Speaker 5: That Ben was right on what he said but I
Speaker 5: think that one guy can be important enough to attach
Speaker 5: himself to the other ten or eleven.
Speaker 2: This podcast is brought to you by the official beer
Speaker 2: partner of your Chicago Bears.
Speaker 1: Tastes like Middle Time Chicago.
Speaker 2: Go to millernine dot com slash Bears pod to find
Speaker 2: delivery options near you. Celebrate responsibily Middle Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Speaker 2: Ninety six calories and three point two carbs per twelve ounces.
Speaker 2: So let's listen in to the podium at Indianapolis at
Speaker 2: the combine from head coach Ben Johnson to the Chicago Bears.
Speaker 6: My condolences to the McCaskey family. You know, only being
Speaker 6: there for five weeks in Miss Virginia, passing like she did.
Speaker 6: You talked about a powerful experience for your young coach
Speaker 6: like myself. Just to see the level of support, respect,
Speaker 6: love come from the community and her family was overwhelming.
Speaker 6: So I want to start off with that. Listen, the
Speaker 6: last five weeks have gone outstanding. Putting the staff together,
Speaker 6: that was that was priority number one. Feel really strongly
Speaker 6: about the quality of people that we brought in. Character, integrity,
Speaker 6: those were the first things we were looking for. And
Speaker 6: then great teachers, great work ethic, demanding on and off
Speaker 6: the field. I think we checked those boxes with all
Speaker 6: the coaches that we.
Speaker 7: Brought on board.
Speaker 6: And then as we've gotten going with the roster evals
Speaker 6: of our current guys, the free agents coming up, as
Speaker 6: well as getting into the draft prospects here, it's been
Speaker 6: it's been a great process. I can't speak highly enough
Speaker 6: about Ryan Poles and his staff.
Speaker 7: I've been able to sit in some.
Speaker 6: Of their their draft eval so far and to see
Speaker 6: how well that that machine's clicking.
Speaker 7: It is, It's just rolling on along.
Speaker 6: It's very impressive to see and so looking forward to
Speaker 6: seeing that grow as we go through the springtime.
Speaker 7: If you only get one opportunity to make that much
Speaker 7: set the president Brian for.
Speaker 8: How they'd amazing.
Speaker 7: So you've got to be play oppositions. What you told him,
Speaker 7: you got to have all out of the.
Speaker 6: Draft and Grant well, we we as a coaching staff,
Speaker 6: we sat down with the entire personnel department and we
Speaker 6: went through position by position what the ideal athlete would
Speaker 6: look like for each spot. We're very flexible on both
Speaker 6: sides of the ball. Coach Allen, myself, Declan, Richard Higetower,
Speaker 6: big process everyone's going to be.
Speaker 7: Heard in terms of what we're looking for, and.
Speaker 6: We very clearly outlined what the ideal look would be
Speaker 6: in terms of attributes, high weight, speed, in terms of makeup,
Speaker 6: which is of critical importance for what we're looking for.
Speaker 6: But at the same time, if it's a good football player,
Speaker 6: we're going to make it work as a coaching staff.
Speaker 6: So there's a balance going on with that, and I
Speaker 6: think the dialogue has been very, very very healthy so far. Listen,
Speaker 6: everywhere is different, and this process is a little bit
Speaker 6: different than what I've been a part of.
Speaker 7: You know, it was different in Miami.
Speaker 6: It's different when I first got to Detroit, it was
Speaker 6: different when I when I left Detroit, and and so
Speaker 6: whatever way you go with is is your way. And
Speaker 6: I feel really good about the voice that not only
Speaker 6: I have, but the rest of the coaches are going
Speaker 6: to have in terms of picking these players.
Speaker 2: When I talked about the ovision of people establishing a
Speaker 2: foundation of das steps of years, that kind when I
Speaker 2: got out with.
Speaker 6: Well the springtime, not just for Kleb but for the
Speaker 6: entire team is we're going to go back to the basics,
Speaker 6: and that's the fundamentals of each position, blocking, tackling, catching
Speaker 6: the football, running after the catch, ball security. We're going
Speaker 6: to break it down to the studs and work to
Speaker 6: develop it from there. And so for Caleb, it's the
Speaker 6: what are the important things about playing the quarterback position
Speaker 6: at the NFL level.
Speaker 7: It's as simple as the.
Speaker 6: Procedure of the huddle, breaking the hull, using cadence, motion shifts,
Speaker 6: all those things that can help attack a defense that
Speaker 6: we feel like can take another step here in Chicago.
Speaker 6: That'll be the starting point and we'll look to build
Speaker 6: around him as well with the talent level and the
Speaker 6: rest of the support staff. Yeah, Listen, talking with Da
Speaker 6: has been very enlightening because we share the same mindset
Speaker 6: when it comes to defensive football, which is we want
Speaker 6: to affect the passer and there's a lot of different
Speaker 6: ways you can do that. Certainly up front, the pass
Speaker 6: rush is the primary thing you think of, but also
Speaker 6: on the back end it's challenging the receivers and disrupting
Speaker 6: the timing.
Speaker 7: And so when we look get.
Speaker 6: Guys that are available, absolutely we want to upgrade the
Speaker 6: pass rush and we also want on the back end
Speaker 6: to be able to come up and lock down receivers.
Speaker 7: As well.
Speaker 6: So it's that fine balance and marriage between the Russian
Speaker 6: covers that we're looking to augment.
Speaker 8: Your offensive background.
Speaker 5: But you think it's quarterback, You think of those defensively
Speaker 5: to what are some of the things.
Speaker 1: That I don't want this on the other side of
Speaker 1: the line, ways the guys that I.
Speaker 3: Don't want to waste to stand the foreign back and are.
Speaker 1: Those kind of the guys here.
Speaker 8: Lost foreign big and most of those evans.
Speaker 6: Yeah, but I understand where you're coming from with that. Yeah,
Speaker 6: we we want playmakers all over the roster, doesn't matter offense, defense,
Speaker 6: d line, secondary, we want them all over the place.
Speaker 6: And uh yeah, as an offensive guy, I look on
Speaker 6: at defensive players and if it's an issue for me
Speaker 6: to game plan against, and absolutely we'd love to have
Speaker 6: them on our roster as a defensive player to go
Speaker 6: after our opponents, but it's not always that easy, and
Speaker 6: it really at the end of the day, it comes
Speaker 6: down to eleven guys doing their job.
Speaker 7: If you don't have that star, that's okay. You can
Speaker 7: still be an effective unit.
Speaker 6: And so, uh yeah, we want as many playmakers and
Speaker 6: stars as we possibly can. But at the same time,
Speaker 6: we know that complimentary football wins in this league. We
Speaker 6: know that eleven guys playing is one also wins in
Speaker 6: this league.
Speaker 3: Tries to look at hil Mary's.
Speaker 7: Damer would have no more and one of the guy.
Speaker 6: He's the most is to start to build the OOSUS in.
Speaker 7: A round listen super talented uh.
Speaker 6: I think Declann mentioned it when when he got interviewed
Speaker 6: a few weeks ago.
Speaker 7: The out of structure, the off schedule, the creation.
Speaker 6: That's that's what stands out the most because that's really
Speaker 6: the way that this league's going right now. It seems
Speaker 6: like as much as you want to make it pure
Speaker 6: progression one to two to three, there's just too much variety.
Speaker 6: The pass rush is coming down and to have an
Speaker 6: athlete like Caleb extend to play and potentially find it
Speaker 6: explosive down the field, that's what That's what gets me
Speaker 6: going a little bit. I get excited thinking about that
Speaker 6: because I haven't really been around that since I've been
Speaker 6: in the in the in the league, but I've seen
Speaker 6: I've been on the other side, and I have experience,
Speaker 6: and it's demoralizing when you're on the other side and
Speaker 6: you're watching that happen to your defense.
Speaker 3: Have a lot of run games and plane and don't necessarily.
Speaker 7: Curious.
Speaker 6: Yeah, there is a marriage between the two, there's no doubt,
Speaker 6: But I I would agree with what you just said.
Speaker 6: You don't necessarily have to be a great running team
Speaker 6: to get reaction in the play action game. I think
Speaker 6: it all starts with what your line up front can do,
Speaker 6: what your backs do well, and you take it from there.
Speaker 6: And and listen to what's so beautiful about the coaching
Speaker 6: staff that we put together is I didn't hire a
Speaker 6: bunch of my friends. I went outside of my circle
Speaker 6: on purpose because I wanted to collect a different mix
Speaker 6: of experience, of energy, ideas, and we're all gonna make
Speaker 6: it come together and it's gonna be the Chicago Bears
Speaker 6: going forward.
Speaker 7: And so uh, it can look a number of different ways.
Speaker 6: Eric Biennemy's got a lot of experience in the in
Speaker 6: the Gun Run game and what they did in Kansas
Speaker 6: City obviously, and Declan has a lot of success from
Speaker 6: the Sean Payton tree and Press Taylor has a lot
Speaker 6: of success from the Chip Kelly all the way on.
Speaker 6: And so we've got a lot of library, if you will,
Speaker 6: to draw from and and we'll see it all come
Speaker 6: together once we get our hands on these guys.
Speaker 3: You see DeAndre Swift season the.
Speaker 8: Potential.
Speaker 7: Yeah.
Speaker 6: So I was with Swifty when when we first drafted
Speaker 6: him in Detroit a number of years ago, and I
Speaker 6: followed his career even after he left Detroit, and uh,
Speaker 6: I think very highly of him. He's an explosive athlete.
Speaker 6: There's a number of things that he can do, both
Speaker 6: in the running game in the passing game. I do
Speaker 6: think he can help ignite an offense because he's got
Speaker 6: that playmaking ability.
Speaker 7: So it'll be fun to start to work together again
Speaker 7: here this spring time with him. Why Chico how Park
Speaker 7: like Antwine ran Hill to Chicago. Listen, L's a stud
Speaker 7: and that's that's one of the reasons was Uh.
Speaker 6: Not only will he help me out tremendously, but he's
Speaker 6: gonna make this offense. He's gonna make this team. He's
Speaker 6: gonna make that receiver room better. He's gonna leave it
Speaker 6: better than when he found it. I know that for
Speaker 6: for certain. And it helps that he's coming home too.
Speaker 6: So I'm really excited about him being able to get
Speaker 6: in the building be around these players because he does.
Speaker 6: He's got a special energy and aura about him that
Speaker 6: just rubs off on everybody.
Speaker 7: Working.
Speaker 6: Yeah, so I think Ryan talked about it this morning
Speaker 6: a little bit. We feel really good about free agency
Speaker 6: in the draft and and how the supply matches up
Speaker 6: with our demand. And so it's, uh, we've we've been
Speaker 6: able to dive into the film over the last few weeks.
Speaker 6: But now we can verify the personality, the football intelligence,
Speaker 6: and all those types of things that you wouldn't normally
Speaker 6: have known just by watching the tape. So it's just
Speaker 6: the next step in the process right now. And and uh,
Speaker 6: we're just cooking on along. You want names, Is that
Speaker 6: what you're looking for?
Speaker 7: There's a listen. Yeah, we want a physical group, all right.
Speaker 7: It starts with that.
Speaker 6: And that's just not that's not just the offensive line,
Speaker 6: that's the entire team. D A and I have been
Speaker 6: talking about what that looks like on defense. Uh, it's
Speaker 6: gonna look that way on offense. Starts in the trenches
Speaker 6: up front. Uh, we talk about finishing in a dominant position.
Speaker 6: We want to be around the football. The best football
Speaker 6: players they finish around the ball.
Speaker 7: Uh.
Speaker 6: And so that's what you're gonna see from our unit.
Speaker 6: The five guys that that we roll in to and
Speaker 6: it's not even just going to be five. Last few years,
Speaker 6: it ends up being six, seven, eight, nine guys end
Speaker 6: up playing significant number of snaps. So we've got to
Speaker 6: find those five best guys, but we also have to
Speaker 6: get a good bullpen.
Speaker 7: If you will ready to go to go in at
Speaker 7: a moment's notice, makes sense, you.
Speaker 8: Ut frame, Is it realistic?
Speaker 3: Flip that any offen?
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think it's been done before, right, I mean,
Speaker 6: I think there's a number of teams that did that
Speaker 6: last year. The Panthers come to mind when they went
Speaker 6: out in free agency and got a couple of top
Speaker 6: guards and really changed the dynamic of their offense. And
Speaker 6: you saw them clicking there in the second half of
Speaker 6: the season once they started to really gel. So there's
Speaker 6: no question that you can change the dynamic of a
Speaker 6: room just like that, uh that particular room. It does
Speaker 6: take a little bit of time for five guys to
Speaker 6: come together, especially if you have to deal with the
Speaker 6: attrition and the injuries. For five guys to be be
Speaker 6: working on the same page. It's when you watch the
Speaker 6: tape and you come away with I think I made
Speaker 6: this statement in my opening press conference that that's an
Speaker 6: area we have to get better. That doesn't necessarily need me,
Speaker 6: and we need five new starters because all it takes
Speaker 6: is one individual to blow up a play. And so
Speaker 6: we're just identifying where we can get a little bit better,
Speaker 6: and we're gonna continue to raise that floor and and
Speaker 6: we'll find the right mix of five to eight nine
Speaker 6: ten guys.
Speaker 3: Also saw that thanks getting yourself with the quarterback and
Speaker 3: your staff to make sure that.
Speaker 7: Clock management. Well, I'm not working with the quarterback right now,
Speaker 7: but I will be soon enough.
Speaker 6: So we are already we already have a plan in
Speaker 6: place in terms of Uh, Harry Freed was already on staff.
Speaker 6: He's someone I've got a relationship with from going back
Speaker 6: to Miami. I think very highly of him, and uh,
Speaker 6: I'm really looking forward to sitting down. We've already started
Speaker 6: this process. We call it the breakfast Club. He and
Speaker 6: I go thirty minutes every day right now, and he's
Speaker 6: just taking I said, teach me like I'm a rookie
Speaker 6: quarterback from the start to the finish.
Speaker 7: And so we're about halfway through his program right now.
Speaker 6: And so once we get through that, we'll make a
Speaker 6: decision on where we want to go in terms of
Speaker 6: when the players get in and educating them on how
Speaker 6: we want to handle the situations that can pop up
Speaker 6: and potentially win or lose ball games for us.
Speaker 7: Declan so a great story about him.
Speaker 6: I ended up calling John Morton, who took the OC
Speaker 6: job at Detroit. He'd worked with Declan the last couple
Speaker 6: of years, and.
Speaker 7: I asked him. I said, Hey, how's Declan doing? Is
Speaker 7: he ready to be a coordinator?
Speaker 6: He said, Ben, listen, he's another Ben Johnson, which I
Speaker 6: think that's a good thing. I'm banking on that being
Speaker 6: a good thing, So listen. I think he and I
Speaker 6: are a match made in heaven. He thinks very much
Speaker 6: like me. It's been awesome getting him into the building
Speaker 6: the last few weeks and extremely detailed, extremely organized. The
Speaker 6: age does not matter. He is going to be respected
Speaker 6: by not only the players, but also his fellow coaches
Speaker 6: as well. I can already see that coming into place
Speaker 6: with the coaching staff meetings that we're having right now.
Speaker 7: He's very well informed. It's just like anybody.
Speaker 6: If you can help make the people around you better,
Speaker 6: they're going to find value in you. And so that's
Speaker 6: what Declan's bringing to the table force right now.
Speaker 2: Ye thank you a couple other big things that really
Speaker 2: stuck out to me because we talk about this, you
Speaker 2: and I all the time off the air. He wasn't
Speaker 2: interested in hiring a whole staff of his friends, and
Speaker 2: I thought wow, because I saw him beforehand. Tom, he
Speaker 2: was getting ready to walk over to the podium just
Speaker 2: exchange pleasantries, and I said, Man, I'm really impressed with
Speaker 2: the type of staff you brought together, the different experiences,
Speaker 2: the older guys, the guys in their sixties to the
Speaker 2: young guys. And he goes, Man, he goes, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: I just I'm excited about it, you know. And I said, yeah,
Speaker 2: this is something that's not small. This is a big deal,
Speaker 2: like the type of staff you put together. And you'll
Speaker 2: hear in our interview with Ryan poles Out, you know,
Speaker 2: he gave Ben a lot of credit for picking those coaches.
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm sure there was some talking conversation, but
Speaker 2: he picked his staff.
Speaker 5: Picking a staff of your friends is detrimental to success
Speaker 5: because you can't be worried about hurting feelings. You have
Speaker 5: to be making sure that these guys are brought in
Speaker 5: with the successes. They had to coach the different positions
Speaker 5: that they have to be accountable for and sometimes you
Speaker 5: have to hold them up to a certain level of
Speaker 5: expectations that you need in order to ultimately see the
Speaker 5: success that you're fighting for. And that was one of
Speaker 5: the most encouraging lines out of Ben throughout the press
Speaker 5: conference was the fact that he didn't go out and
Speaker 5: hire friends.
Speaker 3: He went out and.
Speaker 5: Hired quality coaches, and that's super encouraging for the development
Speaker 5: of the players, and the players should be excited about that.
Speaker 2: Also, looking for the type of people that you want.
Speaker 2: He talked about physicality, physicality across the board on this team.
Speaker 2: Certainly you need it in the trenches. So in my
Speaker 2: mind's eye, I close my eye. I know I have
Speaker 2: a definition of what physicality looks like. I don't know
Speaker 2: if it matches what a town Thayer's definition of physicality
Speaker 2: looks like, or Ben Johnson's or Ryan Poles for that matter,
Speaker 2: But I know speed is king in this NFL. But
Speaker 2: I'm rolling it back a little bit. I'm back to
Speaker 2: the old days. I don't care how fast you are anymore.
Speaker 2: I care how physical and violent you're gonna be, because
Speaker 2: if you're a smart player, you're gonna play fast.
Speaker 1: And so I know you know you can't substitute a
Speaker 1: four to two guy beating you deep. I get that,
Speaker 1: but those guys are rare.
Speaker 2: I want a physical, nasty football team to watch and
Speaker 2: enjoy and wrap my arms around in the city of Chicago,
Speaker 2: and I think that's what they're heading towards.
Speaker 5: I look at physicality from the defensive side of the football.
Speaker 5: I want sideline to sideline physicality. I want to see
Speaker 5: an offensive opponent if he's going to make his way
Speaker 5: to out of bounds and that defensive player has a
Speaker 5: chance to take a shot at him before he gets
Speaker 5: out of bounds, I want him to take it. I
Speaker 5: want him to be relentless in getting to the quarterback.
Speaker 5: I want them to be able to be physical enough
Speaker 5: where there's players that have concerned if they're going across
Speaker 5: the middle or they're exposing themselves a little bit. I
Speaker 5: want them to be able to research the vulnerabilities of
Speaker 5: the offensive opponent they're taking their playing and then take
Speaker 5: advantage of that. And then when I think about physicality
Speaker 5: on the offensive side of the football, I want to say,
Speaker 5: if I have a designated point of attack and I
Speaker 5: go to the line of scrimmage and I say, okay,
Speaker 5: we're going to run the ball right here for three
Speaker 5: yards that you can do it, that's the type of
Speaker 5: physicality you have to put on display. And then if
Speaker 5: you have those multiple offensive line packages that add that
Speaker 5: element of physicality to it because you have bigger bodies
Speaker 5: up at the line of scrimmage, maybe taken advantage of
Speaker 5: what the defense is trying to do to you. Then
Speaker 5: that's part of the success of the movement of the
Speaker 5: football on your offense. And physicality can be in the
Speaker 5: play action passing game as much as it could be
Speaker 5: in a physical running game.
Speaker 3: And from what we've seen out of Ben Johnson.
Speaker 5: And preparing for him as a coach of an opponent,
Speaker 5: he's shown it, he's called it, he's put it on display,
Speaker 5: and we see results of it. So I'm encouraged when
Speaker 5: you use words like physicality because that's the type of football.
Speaker 3: Team that we want to see.
Speaker 5: And then obviously it's got to carry over to special
Speaker 5: teams as well, because they can make some huge plays
Speaker 5: in the special teams game, either to get you in
Speaker 5: a scoring position or take your opponent out of scoring
Speaker 5: position someone else.
Speaker 2: To sustain physicality because you can all taste the tone
Speaker 2: of the day when special teams down the opening kickoff
Speaker 2: rock somebody and you have to start your eleven yard
Speaker 2: line on a long field. Crowd's going crazy. But as
Speaker 2: the game where I want the physicality that started then
Speaker 2: to continue over the course of the game. So you
Speaker 2: finish and have that other team just feel battered, weakened
Speaker 2: and there's no way we're going to be able to
Speaker 2: bought up our fist anymore.
Speaker 1: Today and we're cowering out of here. That's my mindset.
Speaker 5: I think you're talking about physicality that's a reward to
Speaker 5: the people in the stands because when you talk about
Speaker 5: physicality and do you see something that you're really excited
Speaker 5: about in the first quarter, imagine if you're seeing that
Speaker 5: in the fourth quarter as well, and then everything in between.
Speaker 5: Now you're talking about a packed house at Soldier Field.
Speaker 5: That's rewarding the players their effort on the football field.
Speaker 5: That can help you sometimes make your opponent look a
Speaker 5: little dysfunctional on offense. So physicality is a great reward
Speaker 5: to everybody sitting in the stands at Soldier Field. And
Speaker 5: because of the Bears travel so well, that physicality on
Speaker 5: the road that travels well is something that is a
Speaker 5: reward in opponent stadiums as well.
Speaker 2: I know your mind works in mysteriarious ways and that
Speaker 2: you can you can remember virtually everything that's happened in
Speaker 2: your football playing life.
Speaker 1: Do you remember a game.
Speaker 2: As physical as the Bears are back in those days,
Speaker 2: and as physical as your offensive line was that you
Speaker 2: met your match, so to speak, with a physical opponent
Speaker 2: that you remember like, wow, that was a war.
Speaker 8: Give me.
Speaker 3: I remember two games.
Speaker 5: We played San Francisco forty nine ers in Soldier Field
Speaker 5: on Monday Night football.
Speaker 3: We ended up winning the game ten.
Speaker 5: To nine, and it was one of the most physical
Speaker 5: collision games I've ever played in. I probably had the
Speaker 5: biggest long distance hit of my career against Ronnie Lott
Speaker 5: in that game.
Speaker 3: And then another one was.
Speaker 5: The Philadelphia Eagles after Buddy Ryan became the head coach,
Speaker 5: when they had Reggie White and Jerome Brown and they had.
Speaker 3: Pits and they had.
Speaker 5: Simmons and they had that whole defensive backfield, linebacker Seth
Speaker 5: Joyner and the crew. That was just an unbelievable physical opponent.
Speaker 5: We won the game, but when you walked off the field,
Speaker 5: you felt the game. And that's something different because usually
Speaker 5: when you win a game, you don't feel the game,
Speaker 5: but sometimes you win the game and you still feel
Speaker 5: the game. In those two games, specifically the forty nine
Speaker 5: ers on Monday Night football in Philadelphia Eagles in Chicago,
Speaker 5: you felt them, and you know sometimes I still feel.
Speaker 2: Yeah for savings and service, get more with Geico had
Speaker 2: a chance and thankful for his time to sit down
Speaker 2: with Ryan Poles a part of what we call the
Speaker 2: car wash here at the scouting combine. He did many
Speaker 2: interviews here on Tuesday, so did Ben Johnson for that matter.
Speaker 2: That's part of the course for every NFL team. But
Speaker 2: Ryan sat down with a number of folks, including us,
Speaker 2: to discuss the hiring of Ben Johnson, what's going on
Speaker 2: behind the scenes, and what the future looks like. Well,
Speaker 2: I appreciate it, but now you're an old pro here.
Speaker 2: I think it's bigger than ever radio row here at
Speaker 2: the combine.
Speaker 1: I didn't. I walked in and was startled.
Speaker 8: But you're used to this now, right, used to it.
Speaker 8: It's the old car wash and uh, but it's fun.
Speaker 9: It's it's kind of a gateway into this this next
Speaker 9: season in terms of you know, acquiring new players to
Speaker 9: help us take the next step.
Speaker 2: I like what you had to say earlier this morning
Speaker 2: with the with the local and national media. You know,
Speaker 2: momentum or things that didn't go well doesn't matter season.
Speaker 2: This season, you're starting fresh. You have to and this
Speaker 2: is obviously a reboot that can't get lost on everybody. Right,
Speaker 2: that's significant statement.
Speaker 9: Demand, Yeah, it is, it is, and we got to
Speaker 9: remember that, you know, coming off a successful year or
Speaker 9: coming off a year like we just had, it's opportunity
Speaker 9: to hit the reset button and we got to focus
Speaker 9: on places of improvement and attack that, you know with
Speaker 9: all of our energy so that we can you know,
Speaker 9: show up next year and be as successful as we
Speaker 9: possibly can be.
Speaker 2: And it is a heavy lift when you're trying to
Speaker 2: build a football team and then reboot. I'm talking about
Speaker 2: your job. So there's no there's no time for anything
Speaker 2: but that. Now, take us behind the curtain a little
Speaker 2: bit after you can X say a little bit the
Speaker 2: staffs together.
Speaker 3: What have you learned?
Speaker 9: Yeah, first, starting with Ben, you know I've talked about
Speaker 9: this is just how thoughtful and strategic he is and
Speaker 9: really all the decisions that he makes, uh, seeing him
Speaker 9: work through and talking through different you know, hires that
Speaker 9: he had on the staff and hear him talk about
Speaker 9: the chemistry of the group and not just the individual.
Speaker 9: He's got really good perspective and really just a really
Speaker 9: smart football person, which is really encouraging because we're gonna
Speaker 9: have a lot of these tough decisions we got to
Speaker 9: make and we have to be thoughtful and it can't
Speaker 9: be about one person or any type of ego. It's
Speaker 9: got to be what's best for the organization. So it's
Speaker 9: been really fun to see him work through that and
Speaker 9: then spending time with the staff that he's hired, and
Speaker 9: really seeing our front office and coaching staff come together
Speaker 9: to talk about how we want to move forward into
Speaker 9: the future.
Speaker 8: So we have really good group of coaches.
Speaker 9: We have good are good evaluators, highly community communicated at
Speaker 9: a high level, and just a lot of fun to
Speaker 9: work with.
Speaker 2: How does it help your job when they're good evaluators,
Speaker 2: because I've seen many coaches have not been good a value.
Speaker 1: They think they are, but they're not.
Speaker 2: They don't that's not their full time job, obviously, But
Speaker 2: to have the range of age and experience on the staff.
Speaker 2: How purposeful is that? How purposeful was that and how
Speaker 2: important is that?
Speaker 9: Yeah, that was very strategic and that's where I thought
Speaker 9: Ben did a great job is just pairing expertise with
Speaker 9: with former players, with guys that bring a lot of energy,
Speaker 9: that have been around a lot of different types of
Speaker 9: of of players and organizations.
Speaker 3: So when you.
Speaker 9: Combined all of that, you have a really good group
Speaker 9: that's very knowledgeable and not only just building football team
Speaker 9: but coaching and developing players, which is critical for us.
Speaker 9: But that communication has got to be there. So again,
Speaker 9: we're not gonna see eye to eye with everything, but
Speaker 9: you do want to kind of be within certain parameters,
Speaker 9: so you feel really confident about bringing in the type
Speaker 9: of players that you think can help your football team.
Speaker 2: You know, and anybody's walk alike if they have a
Speaker 2: group of people they've been put together with and there's
Speaker 2: this moment when there's an excitement and electricity and you
Speaker 2: just feel, man, this is gonna be good.
Speaker 1: I got a good team of people.
Speaker 2: If you had those moments, can you share one? I mean,
Speaker 2: does anything like oh my gosh, this is better than
Speaker 2: I thought is.
Speaker 1: Going to be. This is gonna be good.
Speaker 8: Yeah.
Speaker 9: The one thing I can point to is when we
Speaker 9: brought the coaches into the draft room, had all of
Speaker 9: the scouts from all over the country come in for
Speaker 9: our meetings, and we went position by position and went
Speaker 9: over the criteria that they're looking for for our offense
Speaker 9: and defense and special teams to perform at a high level.
Speaker 9: And I think just the back and forth, the questions
Speaker 9: that our scouts asked, the response from the coordinators, the
Speaker 9: openness between the two groups. You can really feel that
Speaker 9: energy amongst the whole unit. So I'm excited. You can
Speaker 9: feel that energy through the whole building with with everybody
Speaker 9: that's here.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Now for scouts, they go out during the season and
Speaker 2: you're looking for your types of guys for the current
Speaker 2: staff at that moment. Is it a is it a
Speaker 2: title shift? Is it a seismic shift in types of
Speaker 2: personnel now? And does that challenge your scouts to now
Speaker 2: try to come together and find the right types of guys.
Speaker 9: Yeah, it depends on the position and the side of
Speaker 9: the ball. So there's a couple of tweeks with different
Speaker 9: positions where you know, maybe physicality outweighs speed. Obviously both
Speaker 9: front office and coach would like to have both. Yes,
Speaker 9: but you always get to right. So there's always a
Speaker 9: point in player acquisition where you can't have all the
Speaker 9: trades in one bundle, so sometimes you're left picking and deciding,
Speaker 9: and that's where it helps us create clear vision of
Speaker 9: how we're gonna go about and who we're gonna target.
Speaker 9: So slight adjustment. There's some you know, schemes, adjustments defensively
Speaker 9: where we're gonna change some things up where the physical
Speaker 9: criteria changes a little bit, So we'll work through that.
Speaker 9: I think there's some guys on our team that adapt
Speaker 9: really easily. Other it's gonna be a little bit more
Speaker 9: challenging and we'll work through that. But the one thing
Speaker 9: I just love is is that the communication has been
Speaker 9: very clear.
Speaker 2: You know, I say, the third of the roster, the
Speaker 2: bottom of the that turns over every year, a lot
Speaker 2: of wave of one year signings of free agents, you know,
Speaker 2: to give you depth and plug people in that can
Speaker 2: play right away, and were looking at a potential like
Speaker 2: there could be a lot of new personnel.
Speaker 8: On the team.
Speaker 9: We have the opportunity to bring in quite a few
Speaker 9: players this offseason. I wouldn't say it's gonna be, you know,
Speaker 9: anything crazy, but when I look at the draft and
Speaker 9: I look at free agency, I do love the fact that.
Speaker 8: Our needs and the supply to match up nicely.
Speaker 9: So I think there's gonna be opportunity to bring in
Speaker 9: players that can help us win early.
Speaker 2: I mean, everybody knows and everybody feels that we've talked
Speaker 2: about the line of scrimmage is certainly important, but you've
Speaker 2: done this before, so the best steps to building an
Speaker 2: offensive line that can make an immediate impact. Because everybody's oh,
Speaker 2: you know, I'll be able to draft for starting offensive lineman.
Speaker 2: They're gonna make mistakes. I mean, how do you balance
Speaker 2: that with the need to succeed, you know, while growing,
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I think it's been in locks up with Ben
Speaker 8: and his staff.
Speaker 9: I also think it's gonna be some type of combination
Speaker 9: of older players that can get up and get running
Speaker 9: fast with some younger players that come through the draft
Speaker 9: and maybe some guys that are in their second year
Speaker 9: that are still learning.
Speaker 8: How to play at a high level.
Speaker 9: And when you combine those with good coaches, good teachers,
Speaker 9: you can still achieve some of those goals of getting
Speaker 9: up and getting running fast. But we also know that
Speaker 9: when you are putting new scheme together, you have a
Speaker 9: new coach, new players coming in there is going to
Speaker 9: be a process to get this thing up and get
Speaker 9: the full speed and but we're excited to go through that.
Speaker 2: Thank you to our partners CDW and Lenovo who make
Speaker 2: amazing happen. Learn more at CDW dot com, slash Lenovo.
Speaker 2: Let's talk Caleb because it all it all centers around
Speaker 2: his continuing development and I know you mentioned it's like
Speaker 2: almost a reset for him. Fundamentals, techniques, process, all that
Speaker 2: learning with a guy like Ben who's how impactful do
Speaker 2: you suspect it will be and what their relationship will
Speaker 2: grow with?
Speaker 8: Yeah, it's going to be very impactful. And their relationship
Speaker 8: has to.
Speaker 9: Be strong and their trust in each other has to
Speaker 9: be very very high because in order to get Caleb
Speaker 9: to where he needs to go, there needs to be
Speaker 9: a lot of truth talk in terms of what he
Speaker 9: needs to accomplish to his game to a level that
Speaker 9: can elevate the entire team, which is gonna take time
Speaker 9: and everybody knows that.
Speaker 2: And there's truth talk like that's been mentioned quite a bit.
Speaker 9: What does that mean just telling it how it is?
Speaker 9: Like in terms of what's good enough and what's not
Speaker 9: good enough? And I think one thing we talked about
Speaker 9: at the end of the year. Is just like challenging
Speaker 9: everybody to elevate their game consistently.
Speaker 8: Whether you're a pro bowler, all pro like, there's always
Speaker 8: room to get better.
Speaker 9: And I know Ben's gonna challenge Caleb to take the
Speaker 9: next step because we saw some special moments.
Speaker 8: We just got to see that consistently.
Speaker 9: But we got to attack some of the areas that
Speaker 9: he's got to improve, and I know they'll get that done.
Speaker 1: The business of football.
Speaker 2: Do you feel good about some possible extensions.
Speaker 9: Yeah, that's that's another really fun part with the new
Speaker 9: staff coming in is watching tape, getting caught up and
Speaker 9: making sure that the players, certain players fit what we're
Speaker 9: trying to do. So we'll we'll meet with some reps
Speaker 9: while we're here just to see if things make sense,
Speaker 9: and then we'll get back and have some good conversations
Speaker 9: and spend some time with Matt fein Stein, who's done
Speaker 9: a wonderful job making sure our cap space is in
Speaker 9: a healthy position, remain flexible, and obviously we always wanted
Speaker 9: to take care of our own and resign guys that
Speaker 9: we draft, so we'll look into that and hopefully some
Speaker 9: of those things will work out.
Speaker 8: As we go forward.
Speaker 2: Also, I know you like challenging yourself. How have you
Speaker 2: said about doing that for twenty twenty five.
Speaker 9: Yeah, this whole process, you know, going through the coach search,
Speaker 9: reflecting on why we came up short this past year
Speaker 9: has been really impactful, not only for me, but for
Speaker 9: our whole group, just in ways that we can improve
Speaker 9: both play, our acquisition and pur agency and the draft,
Speaker 9: making sure that we're honed into the right areas, that
Speaker 9: guys are coming in with the right criteria to elevate
Speaker 9: our team and elevate their own game and develop. And
Speaker 9: then even like I said, going through the coaching search,
Speaker 9: just learning so much through that process of what is
Speaker 9: necessary to coach at a high level and bring a
Speaker 9: team together. It's been a lot of fun to go through.
Speaker 9: And again the most important piece like can you self
Speaker 9: assess and be critical of yourself? And I think we've
Speaker 9: done that as a group and I've done that as
Speaker 9: an individual to make sure we don't make repetitive mistakes
Speaker 9: and we continue to grow and get better.
Speaker 2: Good luck, good to see you, and it's going to
Speaker 2: be fun fun right, Good luck with everything. Thank you
Speaker 2: Tom As always when I do these interviews, I miss you. Well,
Speaker 2: what are some of your takeaways when you heard that.
Speaker 5: I'm super excited for Ryan Poles because Ryan Poles is
Speaker 5: the man in charge. He is running this football team
Speaker 5: from the driver's seat all the way down to the
Speaker 5: last seat on the bus. And I think when he
Speaker 5: came aboard in the first go around with the Bears,
Speaker 5: he there was already pieces that were in place that
Speaker 5: Ryan Poles didn't have a hand. And right now, Ryan Poles,
Speaker 5: when you look at some of the evolution of his
Speaker 5: scouting staff and bringing in this coaching staff and being
Speaker 5: allowed to make these choices that he has been setting
Speaker 5: hisself up for his whole career, you can almost hear
Speaker 5: it in his voice, the excitement, and you know, his
Speaker 5: ability to sit up there and answer questions from you
Speaker 5: without needing to know the questions beforehand. But he's intelligent
Speaker 5: enough to know exactly how he's going to answer the question.
Speaker 5: So I'm super excited for him, and I wish him
Speaker 5: all the success in the world going forward. Because you know,
Speaker 5: I don't know if he said it to Ben or Ryan,
Speaker 5: but you talked about the excitement for the announcer as well. Yeah,
Speaker 5: and you know Ryan, Yeah, and I was excited like
Speaker 5: what I heard out of Ryan, his tone of voice
Speaker 5: and the way he addressed the media.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I saw some other interviews and Poles indicated that
Speaker 2: some foundation steps in the process of getting Caleb up
Speaker 2: and running as a rookie were skipped and felt that
Speaker 2: that need to kind of accelerate the process. You can't
Speaker 2: skip steps, and that's what he realized. And so you know,
Speaker 2: team games can pour over tape and find all the
Speaker 2: weak points that maybe you didn't emphasize enough. So it
Speaker 2: feels Ben Johnson are not going to allow bad habits,
Speaker 2: are not going to allow things to regress.
Speaker 1: That's not the way he rolls.
Speaker 2: So you know, it's quite the admission, obviously, and he
Speaker 2: is one who does a lot of internal analysis. I
Speaker 2: appreciate the honesty, and yeah, in the name of winning
Speaker 2: as soon as possible, you still can't you still can't
Speaker 2: cut corners.
Speaker 5: Of course not, but sometimes your hands are tied. When
Speaker 5: you're taking a quarterback to first pick in the NFL
Speaker 5: draft and then you annoying him as a starter immediately,
Speaker 5: then everything is moving forward with Caleb. Caleb doesn't have
Speaker 5: a chance to go through the growing pains and maybe
Speaker 5: suffer some setbacks during the course of the season. You
Speaker 5: have to be treated like a veteran, expected to live
Speaker 5: up to a veteran type of performance and then see
Speaker 5: how it goes from there.
Speaker 3: And then when you have the opponents studying the.
Speaker 5: Vulnerabilities of your offense, sometimes you're asking Caleb to get
Speaker 5: you out of that when he doesn't have all the
Speaker 5: answers about everything. And you know, for one of the
Speaker 5: things that frustrated me towards the end of the season,
Speaker 5: I thought they were neglectful on using Cole Kmet as
Speaker 5: a really valuable.
Speaker 3: Tight end weapon.
Speaker 5: And I think when a guy like Ben Johnson comes
Speaker 5: aboard and studies a little bit about a little bit
Speaker 5: about what a guy like that is capable of being,
Speaker 5: you know, that could be a quarterback's best friend. And
Speaker 5: he knows what DeAndre Swift is about. He uses the
Speaker 5: play action pass as well as any coach in the league.
Speaker 5: So I do think there are solutions to some of
Speaker 5: those answers that he's going to be able to figure
Speaker 5: out as he watches tape.
Speaker 3: With the rest of his coaching staff.
Speaker 2: It sounds like they have clear vision here on what
Speaker 2: they're looking for by position, So that'll help in free
Speaker 2: agency and then the draft. And you know a lot
Speaker 2: of people are looking at free agency saying, well, it's
Speaker 2: not a great free agent, but in terms of of
Speaker 2: what's available, however, they do match up with bears needs
Speaker 2: and wants both the draft and free agency in terms
Speaker 2: of availability, and obviously they're not shatt away from it.
Speaker 2: Everybody knows the line of scrimmage on both sides of
Speaker 2: the ball will get some serious attention.
Speaker 3: Well, you know, Jeff, the cupboards aren't bear.
Speaker 5: This isn't looking you know at a ross that you're
Speaker 5: trying to overhaul from top to bottom.
Speaker 3: You got it.
Speaker 5: As good as a defensive backfield as there is in
Speaker 5: the division, and some of the better in the league.
Speaker 5: You have great linebacker play. Like I said, I think
Speaker 5: you have good tight ends. I think you have good
Speaker 5: running backs. I think you have good wide receivers. So
Speaker 5: if you can take some of the assets that you
Speaker 5: have available to you, both money and free agency and
Speaker 5: the draft, and you want to start developing that infrastructure
Speaker 5: the offense and defensive line that can last eight to
Speaker 5: ten years, you have access to it right now, as
Speaker 5: soon as free agency opens, and then as soon as
Speaker 5: the draft takes place. So this is not a cupboards
Speaker 5: are bear type of a roster. This is how can
Speaker 5: we get the piece. This is the put in place that, yeah,
Speaker 5: maybe there's a guy playing a couple of weeks faster
Speaker 5: than you thought he would be playing, but then all
Speaker 5: of sudden, two months down the road, he's developing into
Speaker 5: the veteran that you thought he would become.
Speaker 3: And then you know, behind the scenes, you and I have.
Speaker 5: Talked about a couple of second year players that if
Speaker 5: they take a big step forward, it's really gonna, you know,
Speaker 5: add more to last year's draft than what's already been
Speaker 5: at it.
Speaker 2: And you're talking about Karana Magaji and Austin Booker, both
Speaker 2: sides of the ball, right.
Speaker 5: You know, Karanamgaji, if he takes a starter step and
Speaker 5: all of a sudden he is in there competing as
Speaker 5: one as the starting offensive lineman. You're talking about a
Speaker 5: guy that's played very little to a guy that's going
Speaker 5: to play a lot. And if he proves of the
Speaker 5: coaches that he can be a starter, that's a tremendous
Speaker 5: asset that you got in last year's draft. And then
Speaker 5: if you look at Austin Booker, I'm not asking for
Speaker 5: you to come in here and play sixty five snaps
Speaker 5: a game. I'm asking you to come in here and
Speaker 5: play thirty five snaps a game and an extremely high
Speaker 5: level both run stopping, rushing the passer, and being the
Speaker 5: athlete that you've already put on display.
Speaker 3: If those two guys that.
Speaker 5: Are contributors from last year's draft choice, you're talking about
Speaker 5: a significant upgrade in the overall draft class of last year.
Speaker 2: Her savings in service get more with Geico and this
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Speaker 2: So the executive director of Football Technology is Mike Santarelli,
Speaker 2: and he has a big role in having everything ready
Speaker 2: for the new.
Speaker 1: Coaching staff to hit the ground running.
Speaker 2: And Ryan Poles made a point of that in his
Speaker 2: news conference with the media from all over the NFL
Speaker 2: in Chicago, because that's a big deal. He wants that
Speaker 2: to be known as world class and Mike does a
Speaker 2: ton of work getting the computers set up. Coaches all
Speaker 2: have different wants and needs, and some are more educated
Speaker 2: in the technology and some are not, so you got
Speaker 2: to bridge that gap.
Speaker 1: And apparently it went real smooth.
Speaker 2: For the new coaching staff, and that was officially announced
Speaker 2: obviously last week, but they've been in the building, so
Speaker 2: I've heard a lot of great things about that. And secondly,
Speaker 2: Matt Feinstein becomes the vice president of football administration. I
Speaker 2: know Ryan's been very fond of Matt and what he's
Speaker 2: done to help him understand the salary cap. And as
Speaker 2: we sit here right now, with the expansion of the
Speaker 2: salary cap per team and the departure now of DeMarcus
Speaker 2: Walker and the departure of Gerald Everett, the Peers have
Speaker 2: the fourth most cap space available. That's to re sign,
Speaker 2: to go into free agency, to take some big swings
Speaker 2: if they so desire, or to populate the roster with
Speaker 2: bodies that are no longer going to fit what the
Speaker 2: new schemes are going to call for.
Speaker 1: And then you have all these draft picks.
Speaker 2: They're they're well positioned, and I gotta I gotta give
Speaker 2: a tip of the cap to those two.
Speaker 5: Gentlemen, Oh you get and they're deserve it. And Mike,
Speaker 5: Mike and Matt both they both deserve a pat on
Speaker 5: the back because their role in their importance and the
Speaker 5: overall success of the entirety of a roster and how
Speaker 5: they fit inside the building. Yeah, they're not going to
Speaker 5: stand up there and be doing interviews at podiums, but
Speaker 5: their value to a football team is as much as
Speaker 5: anybody that can stand at a podium.
Speaker 3: So I'm super excited for both of them.
Speaker 5: And I know that they're professionals, and you know, it
Speaker 5: doesn't surprise me that things are so professionally done by
Speaker 5: the two of them that they're in a good position
Speaker 5: on both of their what they're both responsible for.
Speaker 2: A couple of observations. Since you're not on X, you're
Speaker 2: not on Twitter all these Number one, I've been coming
Speaker 2: here for thirty years, almost even before I was involved
Speaker 2: with the NFL, and it's stunning with the radio row
Speaker 2: now even this year has probably grown by another thirty
Speaker 2: forty percent.
Speaker 1: I walked in today.
Speaker 2: And then you know, our good friend Pete Burst from
Speaker 2: the Vikings Radio Network and the Chicago area native and
Speaker 2: a Golden domer.
Speaker 1: You know, he was there.
Speaker 2: We just cannot believe how many people are broadcasting live
Speaker 2: on their version of radio row here and it's just exploded.
Speaker 2: And so you're seeing videos from all over the NFL.
Speaker 2: So I caught one at Pete Carroll on a plane
Speaker 2: ride with his former general manager in Seattle, and the
Speaker 2: thinking is they spent like an hour talking, whispering, and
Speaker 2: all they're trying to get Geno Smith over in Vegas.
Speaker 2: Then you see shots of it's just it's crazy what
Speaker 2: this has become. Like rumor city and it's video. Everybody's
Speaker 2: getting videotaped, and wonder what they're talking, who they talking to?
Speaker 3: What agent?
Speaker 1: Oh that must mean this is going to happen. Oh,
Speaker 1: they're trying to trade for Miles Garrett. Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1: If you love ball and you love the off season,
Speaker 1: you're loving this.
Speaker 7: Yeah.
Speaker 5: I wish someone turned the camera around and walk back
Speaker 5: to coach and look at the poor players that are
Speaker 5: sitting back there six', five three hundred and five pounds
Speaker 5: sitting in the.
Speaker 3: Middle scene and, Coach so you saw you saw that?
Speaker 1: Video NO i, DID i JUST i JUST i flew on.
Speaker 3: That, Plane, JEFF i know THAT i know that player plane.
Speaker 2: That, Well, No i'm talking about you, know on the
Speaker 2: flight To oh you're saying the flight To, indie they're
Speaker 2: not giving you first class, ticket, Right that's What i'm.
Speaker 5: Saying they got those coaches that are setting up there
Speaker 5: in first class and they're sharing stories and strategies and.
Speaker 5: Stuff that's WHY i, SAID i wish someone turned the
Speaker 5: camera around walk back into coach and watching the poor
Speaker 5: kid that's flying in From, Seattle, washington that's six,' five
Speaker 5: three hundred and ten pounds sitting in the center seat.
Speaker 2: And, COACH also I got i saw a quote that you.
Speaker 2: Will like it's From The philadelphia eagles, general Manager How.
Speaker 2: He roseman he's done a great job at the. Podium today,
Speaker 2: he SAYS and, I quote i have an unhealthy obsession
Speaker 2: with offensive and. Defensive lineman he simply can't. Have ENOUGH,
Speaker 2: and i, YOU know i think we both subscribe to that.
Speaker 2: Same Theory and ryan was asked a question by one
Speaker 2: Of the chicago media members and, he was, you know
Speaker 2: he made an assumption where you have the tenth pick
Speaker 2: and you've got all this money in, free agency so
Speaker 2: if you spend money on a pass rusher in free
Speaker 2: agent doesn't mean you're you're not going to get one
Speaker 2: at the, tenth Pick and ryan corrected him because and,
Speaker 2: rightly so you can ever. Have enough you can never
Speaker 2: have enough pat look at what happened In The. Super
Speaker 2: bowl you can never have enough.
Speaker 5: Pass, rushers, right well more defensive, you know on that
Speaker 5: conversation of offensive, defensive LINE and i know we probably
Speaker 5: don't have time to do IT because i would go
Speaker 5: off on a rant that may be even not be
Speaker 5: suitable for.
Speaker 3: A podcast is this whole deal with the?
Speaker 5: Tush, push okay and the fact that there's a team
Speaker 5: out there that's saying they. Should outlawed it's insulting to
Speaker 5: me as an, offensive lineman because offensive lineman they win.
Speaker 5: By leverage the tush push is a play that is
Speaker 5: Leveraged one and in my forty years Around The, chicago
Speaker 5: bears we have probably had two centers that would be
Speaker 5: good enough to run the, tush push and that'd Probably
Speaker 5: be Jay.
Speaker 3: And olan and.
Speaker 5: It's not, simply, Done right and if it was, simply
Speaker 5: done everybody would be. Doing it and then for a
Speaker 5: team to go out there and be so offended that
Speaker 5: they want to go out there and say we want
Speaker 5: to outlawed it, that's Offensive.
Speaker 2: And nick, sirianni said as much. He goes we spend
Speaker 2: a lot of time working on.
Speaker 5: That play it's not an easy play for anybody that
Speaker 5: thinks that it's just a matter of. Lining, Guys, SO
Speaker 5: jeff i think we were Playing The dallas cowboys back
Speaker 5: in nineteen eighty Five and Walter And william perry was in.
Speaker 5: The Backfield walter payton was stuck in the at the.
Speaker 5: Goal Line william perry picked him up and dragged him
Speaker 5: across the. Goal line they threw a flag because that
Speaker 5: used to be called a, legal advancement and then they
Speaker 5: took that rule out. Of it and that's why you
Speaker 5: can have this play that they have designed. It NOW
Speaker 5: and i just, think that, you know when somebody can't
Speaker 5: defense a certain, successful play then they go to change.
Speaker 3: The rules and it's just got my blood.
Speaker 5: Going today, you know you can take it out of,
Speaker 5: this podcast, BUT no i just want my feelings to.
Speaker 2: BE known, i, KNOW no i, respect It and i'm
Speaker 2: not taking it out because, if hey what's the old
Speaker 2: saying IN, the nfl you run it until somebody. Stops
Speaker 2: it that Was the, lombardi sweep it Was The. Dallas
Speaker 2: cowboys they had a play that they kept, running it,
Speaker 2: running it. RUNNING it, i, mean hey a coaching staff
Speaker 2: For The chicago bears ran power oh on the first
Speaker 2: nap of every offensive, game plan and you know we're
Speaker 2: going to.
Speaker 1: Do it they, stop, IT right i mean that's the way, it.
Speaker 3: Works right.
Speaker 5: You know and that's the thing about, it is some
Speaker 5: times success is. In simplicity and if you're just a
Speaker 5: more powerful line of scrimmage than, your opponent and you
Speaker 5: can run that same, play repeatedly then do it until
Speaker 5: they figure.
Speaker 3: Out a way to.
Speaker 2: Stop YOU so i guess the only way that it
Speaker 2: would become a red flag if there were repeated injuries
Speaker 2: or a serious, injury developed how that would.
Speaker 1: Be taken it wouldn't be taken in a. Great way
Speaker 1: it's a.
Speaker 5: Minimal collision it's offensive line and defensive line are probably six.
Speaker 5: Inches apart it's who can get lower and who can
Speaker 5: get off the ball. More powerfully that's what. It's about
Speaker 5: it's not when you're having a running back that's running
Speaker 5: fifteen yards into an. Oncoming linebacker that's not.
Speaker 2: The, case WELL all i got to say is after
Speaker 2: listening to, everybody Here and i'm going to be here
Speaker 2: the rest of. The week you get more and more
Speaker 2: excited about what shape the twenty Twenty five bears are going.
Speaker 7: To.
Speaker 2: Take cool they'll add they want, playmakers Everywhere And ben
Speaker 2: johnson said.
Speaker 1: As much you can't have. Enough playmakers and that's the way.
Speaker 1: Head coach just look.
Speaker 2: At things scouts are on. The march they're looking for
Speaker 2: those playmakers for savings. And service get More. With geico
Speaker 2: you hat any final thoughts BEFORE we, i mean you
Speaker 2: were ready to. Play today if this was a, game
Speaker 2: day you would be ready.
Speaker 7: To go you came.
Speaker 5: Out ready it's more COMBINE because i. KNOW what i
Speaker 5: know HOW excited i was to go to, the COMBINES
Speaker 5: and i know what the PERFORMANCE that i wanted to put.
Speaker 5: Out there when you look at the Guys Like dave
Speaker 5: Remington And jimbo Covert And bruce Matthews And don mosebar
Speaker 5: and just the great offensive linemen that were a part
Speaker 5: of the, MY combine.
Speaker 3: I wanted i wanted to live up to. Those guys
Speaker 3: and so the combine is still exciting.
Speaker 5: For me and one thing About this bears offense is
Speaker 5: we're going to have to be prepared for the UNEXPECTED
Speaker 5: because i think the mind and. The Creativity and ben
Speaker 5: talked about it how he and his brother used to
Speaker 5: draw plays when they were, little kids and no play
Speaker 5: is unusable and because you don't know If is caleb
Speaker 5: stuff umbling or is that part of? The design Is
Speaker 5: Uh darnell wright gonna pull out to his left and
Speaker 5: throw a pass or throw. A block, i mean there's
Speaker 5: so many exciting elements to what the future of this offense.
Speaker 5: Could be it's gonna be fun.
Speaker 4: To.
Speaker 2: WATCH well i also like what he said about the
Speaker 2: different influences on. The Coaches declan doyle has Been With,
Speaker 2: Seahn peyton you've got you know and others on. The staff,
Speaker 2: you've got You, Got ben you've got the influence now
Speaker 2: on the defensive side of the Ball Of. Dennis allen
Speaker 2: there's gonna it's gonna be. Whatever happens it's gonna be
Speaker 2: a blend, of something.
Speaker 1: And it's gonna Be the.
Speaker 2: Bears offense it's not gonna be a Replica of detroit
Speaker 2: or and it's going to Be a bears offense and
Speaker 2: it could be.
Speaker 1: Quite UNIQUE and i love.
Speaker 3: The ex players that are part of.
Speaker 5: THE staff i Do they they've all have a great reputation,
Speaker 5: and uh they deserve to be here and they've earned.
Speaker 2: Their stripes i'm gonna tell you that the guy who's,
Speaker 2: Making THEM like i, Asked, somebody hey, you know have
Speaker 2: you met you spend any Time with Antoine. Rendel man
Speaker 2: he's he is, juiced up he's he's got a lot
Speaker 2: of charisma in. That Building, ex, player quarterback wide receiver IN,
Speaker 2: the nfl. College quarterback, Uh yeah i'm Excited about andre
Speaker 2: and window l and how.
Speaker 1: He coaches He's a, chicago guy so it's in. HIS
Speaker 1: blood i.
Speaker 5: LOVE that I think ben only referred to him at
Speaker 5: the podium As. L, oh, yeah yeah.
Speaker 1: That's.
Speaker 2: Exactly right, all right well you're you're. T Squared so
Speaker 2: i'm gonna wrap up with this, and uh we appreciate
Speaker 2: it for savings.
Speaker 1: And service get More.
Speaker 2: With geico the sponsor Of The bear setup podcast is
Speaker 2: brought to You By.
Speaker 1: Miller lite four. Time There I'm. Jeff joniah thanks.
Speaker 7: For.
Speaker 2: Listening everybody please subscribe now In The chicago bears, Official, App, apple,
Speaker 2: spotify YouTube or wherever you get.
Speaker 1: Your podcast, spare, down everybody