Speaker 1: Cut open that Dj Moore nisode Touchdown, Touchdown Bear.
Speaker 2: I am Jeff joniya.
Speaker 3: Blitz his ho Donnie go R?
Speaker 1: What was like playing for coache goodgo I don't want
Speaker 1: to answer any questions like that pressure coming is a
Speaker 1: big trouble. Donnie Goes Montest Sweat.
Speaker 2: Now Bears, et Cetera.
Speaker 4: Brought to you by Geico with the voices of the Bears,
Speaker 4: Jeff Joniac and Tom Thayer.
Speaker 1: Just like that, the one hundred and fifth season and
Speaker 1: Bears history comes to a close at five and twelve,
Speaker 1: but with a sterling and signature win at Green Bay
Speaker 1: to open the twenty twenty five calendar. Year one that
Speaker 1: begins with a significant, thorough and broad head coaching search
Speaker 1: with a long list of potential candidates including interiroom head
Speaker 1: coach Thomas Brown with Super Bowl winning Bears guard Tom Thayer.
Speaker 2: I'm Jeff Joniac.
Speaker 1: Episode one, twenty six Hope the Bears et Cetera podcast
Speaker 1: is brought to you by Geico. Tommy Tuesday here at
Speaker 1: Hadi saw a review of what has transpired in a
Speaker 1: preview of what next from general manager Ryan Poles. We're
Speaker 1: gonna hear comments from him as well as President and
Speaker 1: CEO Kevin Warren. They went off to the side in
Speaker 1: midway at hallisall and Chairman George hallis McCaskey as well. Overall,
Speaker 1: everybody's upset to what's happened and now looking forward to
Speaker 1: what's next. And what's next part is what's got everybody excited,
Speaker 1: how they're gonna turn this thing into a positive and
Speaker 1: how they're gonna make this thing sing like they all
Speaker 1: wanted to, all the parties involved. And I know it's
Speaker 1: important to you how that all turned out in the
Speaker 1: Packers game. I was talking to several people here in
Speaker 1: the building today, Tommy about.
Speaker 2: That, just what it meant to everybody.
Speaker 1: And it may not mean much in the big picture
Speaker 1: for the standings and all that, and what's happened doesn't
Speaker 1: put us off on the wound of the big picture,
Speaker 1: but you got to take these small snapshots now and
Speaker 1: build from it.
Speaker 3: Everybody, remember where you were.
Speaker 5: You and I were up in the booth in lambeau Field,
Speaker 5: and we couldn't have felt happier about the Bears winning
Speaker 5: the game because the way they did it, they didn't
Speaker 5: lose sight of what was important to that even though
Speaker 5: they had an interruption then they got the ball back.
Speaker 5: They made some complete plays, got the ball into a
Speaker 5: position where they gave it to Cairo and he was
Speaker 5: able to finish it with the game winning field goal.
Speaker 3: That was super exciting to me.
Speaker 5: I'm not going to lie to you, but I think
Speaker 5: when you look at the locker room, all these guys
Speaker 5: have to remember what that feeling was like.
Speaker 3: Not only the.
Speaker 5: Sense of accomplishment, but like Kevin Warren said, the commitment
Speaker 5: to before game that you knew what you were up for.
Speaker 5: It was going to be cold, it was going to
Speaker 5: be unpleasant, you were fighting one of your biggest rivals
Speaker 5: in the one hundred and five year history of this
Speaker 5: football team. But you got to remember that moment coming
Speaker 5: back in the locker room. You just won that game,
Speaker 5: and see if that can catapult you to the successes
Speaker 5: in twenty twenty five that we had in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 5: But we believe they can still happen in this immediate future.
Speaker 1: And as much as anybody, the guy who benefits the
Speaker 1: most from that is Caleb Williams because he was in
Speaker 1: that position eight or nine times this season, bon his hands,
Speaker 1: fourth quarter, chance to take the lead, chance to win
Speaker 1: the game, and not every one of those were slotted
Speaker 1: in the win column. That one was, and it just
Speaker 1: kind of wipes everything clean. No more talk of this
Speaker 1: double digit losing streak, No more talk of this double
Speaker 1: digit losing streak to the Packers.
Speaker 2: Now, let's just see where it goes. See where the
Speaker 2: freeway goes. It's open road, open road.
Speaker 5: Tommy, Well, one hundred percent agree with you that it
Speaker 5: is important win for Caleb because you know, you kind
Speaker 5: of get an understanding, you get a feeling about the
Speaker 5: emotions that going to the visional games you played, and
Speaker 5: you started every single one of them. You know what
Speaker 5: the frustrating end results of a couple of those games
Speaker 5: were earlier in the season, and then you have that
Speaker 5: certain sense of accomplishment that you finish the season on
Speaker 5: a high note and it can really carry weight into
Speaker 5: the draft, the offseason preparation, the OTAs and everything that's
Speaker 5: set before you. So I think you kind of got
Speaker 5: to walk away with that game with a little bit
Speaker 5: of that last game high and really let that kind
Speaker 5: of resonate in understand what that feeling was like until
Speaker 5: the very.
Speaker 2: End, Tommy.
Speaker 1: Chairman George Allis McCaskey had plenty to say about Thomas.
Speaker 1: Brown said he did great work on behalf of the
Speaker 1: Bears in a very unusual situation, basically having three jobs
Speaker 1: in one season. Also knows that the fans are incredibly
Speaker 1: frustrated from the expectations he put it of September through
Speaker 1: the disappointment of December, but they still stuck with the Bears.
Speaker 1: They stuck with us, and that's what the Bears fans do. Says,
Speaker 1: they deserve a winner. We're going to do whatever we
Speaker 1: can to give them one. He's very disappointed, for example,
Speaker 1: in the Lions fans trying to take over Soldier Field
Speaker 1: buying up tickets. So he understands the passion of the
Speaker 1: fan base better than anybody, and the challenge for the Bears,
Speaker 1: as he put it, is to put a team on
Speaker 1: the field that Bears fans are so excited about they're
Speaker 1: not interested in selling those tickets. He's also excited about
Speaker 1: Ryan Poles and the plan he's got laid out, and
Speaker 1: that laid out plan we're going to get in to here.
Speaker 2: But it's broad.
Speaker 1: He indicated it was going to be a wide search
Speaker 1: and it's probably not over on the list of candidates
Speaker 1: that he's going to bring to the table. But they
Speaker 1: got a plan, They've worked on it for a month,
Speaker 1: and now they got to start executing that plan.
Speaker 5: You're right, though it is broad. There's a lot of search,
Speaker 5: There's a lot of stones that you have to overturn.
Speaker 5: There's a lot of research you have to do to
Speaker 5: see who is the best qualified for where the Bears
Speaker 5: are at right now, but where you ultimately want them
Speaker 5: to go and to have one of those center pieces
Speaker 5: like Caleb Williams. There's not going to be a lot
Speaker 5: of guys that are going to shy away from the
Speaker 5: opportunity to interview, So you have to have a strict
Speaker 5: process of your interviewing and make sure you answer every
Speaker 5: question that you Ryan Poles needs answer that's going to
Speaker 5: benefit the Chicago Bears. So I do think this is
Speaker 5: probably in the history of the Bears one of the
Speaker 5: more exciting times to be interviewed as the head coach.
Speaker 5: And I just think that there's going to be a
Speaker 5: lot of qualified candidates. You got to find out what
Speaker 5: best best fits the culture of the Bears and then
Speaker 5: be convicted about it and go strong forward.
Speaker 1: You'd love to be in a room with all these
Speaker 1: guys wondering what the plan is, you know, because everyone's
Speaker 1: going to have a different little take on it.
Speaker 3: And this whole.
Speaker 1: Notion though also about you know, the questions regarding what
Speaker 1: Ryan poles this contract may or may not be, and
Speaker 1: how that would impact the arrival of a coach not
Speaker 1: necessarily being on the same timeline and all that. I
Speaker 1: think Kevin Warren's correct, and I think Ryan's correct. This
Speaker 1: is a coveted job.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: I know things haven't gone well consistently here for a while.
Speaker 1: It's been an up and down ride. But it is Chicago.
Speaker 1: It is the charter franchise of the National Football League,
Speaker 1: and you know better than anybody, when you win here,
Speaker 1: your love forever.
Speaker 2: You're admired, you're cherished. And that's how passionate this fan
Speaker 2: base is. They just want to win.
Speaker 1: So I would believe that it'd be a long line
Speaker 1: of people say, hey, look at me, I'd like to
Speaker 1: do this. I don't think for one second somebody's going
Speaker 1: to run away from this job.
Speaker 3: Not a chance.
Speaker 5: Listen, if you're a guy that you want a head
Speaker 5: coaching job, you're willing to make some concessions. You're not
Speaker 5: necessarily concerned about who the general manager is. You're just
Speaker 5: trying to get in lockstep with him to put the
Speaker 5: best pieces in place to make you a success, a successful,
Speaker 5: winning franchise. And you know that's the one unique quality
Speaker 5: of head coaches is we see how many hours these
Speaker 5: guys put in at this job. We see the difficulty
Speaker 5: of ultimately getting a head coaching job, how many times
Speaker 5: some of these guys move from place to place with
Speaker 5: a moment's notice. So if you have an opportunity to
Speaker 5: come and coach the Chicago Bears, you are gonna offer
Speaker 5: every of every bit of what you think you have
Speaker 5: what it takes to turn the Bears into that winning
Speaker 5: franchise that George and Kevin and Ryan all talk about.
Speaker 1: Taste like Miller Time, go to Miller Like dot com,
Speaker 1: slash Bears pod to find delivery options near you. Celebrate responsibly.
Speaker 1: Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Ninety six calories and three
Speaker 1: point two cards per twelve ounces. All right, let's listen
Speaker 1: in to a portion of what nearly was a forty
Speaker 1: minute Q and eight with General manager Ryan Poles. Will
Speaker 1: give you about fifteen minutes here of what he had
Speaker 1: to say, beginning with his opening statements about what this
Speaker 1: franchise is working with right now and where it's headed.
Speaker 6: First, I want to thank our players for their time
Speaker 6: and their energy this year. I want to thank our
Speaker 6: support staff and our coaches preparing our players weekend and
Speaker 6: week out. Want to take a moment to think Thomas
Speaker 6: Brown was put in a really tough situation. Was given
Speaker 6: a lot of responsibility as the season went along, and
Speaker 6: I thought he handled it with poise, with command.
Speaker 7: I thought he did a great job leading.
Speaker 6: Just watching him inside the team meeting room, seeing him
Speaker 6: address the team, they did a great job and accountability
Speaker 6: to the forefront, being a truth teller was really important
Speaker 6: at that time. I want to thank our fans for
Speaker 6: their support and their patients. I understand their frustrations just
Speaker 6: with where the team is right now, and they have
Speaker 6: my word. I'm doing everything I can and we are
Speaker 6: as an entire group to get this thing back on
Speaker 6: track and headed in the direction it needs to be
Speaker 6: and they can take pride in their team. I want
Speaker 6: to give a special shout out to Jalen Johnson for
Speaker 6: making Pro Bowl for the second year.
Speaker 7: That's no surprise from anyone in our building.
Speaker 6: His preparation, his detail, his process is always on point
Speaker 6: and that's allowed him to be successful and consistent in
Speaker 6: terms of injuries, some of the long term ones with surgery.
Speaker 6: Braxton just got out of surgery a couple of days
Speaker 6: ago with his ankle and he's healing up. Billings got
Speaker 6: his peck prepared. He is out of the sling already
Speaker 6: and getting stronger, which is no surprise. And Jalen Jones
Speaker 6: all so had a shoulder operation as well. In terms
Speaker 6: of the concussion guys, Brisker and Baits, they're filming back
Speaker 6: to themselves and I got faith and all those guys
Speaker 6: that they're going to be back ready to help us
Speaker 6: next year. I don't have a specific timetable in terms
Speaker 6: of their return, but they're heading in the right direction.
Speaker 6: In terms of UFAs, we have just a few of
Speaker 6: them in terms of our starters, and we have a
Speaker 6: couple guys that definitely will be up for some type
Speaker 6: of extension this offseason. But I think it's really important
Speaker 6: to wait for coaching staff to be in the building
Speaker 6: because we want to make sure we have that alignment
Speaker 6: with vision.
Speaker 7: Fit and roll as we move forward.
Speaker 6: Looking back at the season, not happy with the results
Speaker 6: it's been a long season where those Mondays have been really,
Speaker 6: really difficul cult because we continue to come up short,
Speaker 6: and I have to take responsibility as the leader of
Speaker 6: the football operation for that, and I also have to
Speaker 6: make sure that we find solutions to make sure that
Speaker 6: we don't make that mistake again.
Speaker 7: And we can continue to improve.
Speaker 6: I think anytime you have a struggle, but I also
Speaker 6: think when you have success, too, it's important to listen, reflect, learn,
Speaker 6: and adjust to make sure that you're putting yourself in
Speaker 6: a good position. I also think part of that is
Speaker 6: taking a look in the mirror to make sure that
Speaker 6: you know, just in terms of myself as a leader,
Speaker 6: I'm doing everything that I can to help our football team.
Speaker 6: After spending time going through the exit process with our
Speaker 6: players yesterday, reflecting and taking time to look back, one
Speaker 6: of the things that popped out I think it was
Speaker 6: a common theme is I think we have to change
Speaker 6: back to our process over outcome. I think this year,
Speaker 6: with the excitement of the season, it was very much
Speaker 6: outcome over process, winning expectations. All of those things which
Speaker 6: goals are fine, you never want to back down from that,
Speaker 6: but the detail, the accountability, the competitive poise, and critical situations.
Speaker 6: Finding edge to win games is something that we came
Speaker 6: up short with. I think as a front office, we
Speaker 6: got to continue to add talent to this roster. We
Speaker 6: have to make sure that the players we bring into
Speaker 6: this building also fit the culture that we want so
Speaker 6: we can continue to make strives forward. So I'm disappointed,
Speaker 6: just like our fans are, but I'm not discouraged. I
Speaker 6: believe we have a strong core of players that we're
Speaker 6: going to connect to the right staff as they come
Speaker 6: in to make the progress that's that's needed. I'm grateful
Speaker 6: for George and Kevin and they're trust in me to
Speaker 6: continue to get this.
Speaker 7: Thing back on track and get it corrected.
Speaker 6: I do want to address some of the things that
Speaker 6: I've heard about the relationship between Kevin and I that
Speaker 6: couldn't be further from the truth. We spend almost every
Speaker 6: single day together talking about solutions and direction of where
Speaker 6: we want to be and where we're going to go,
Speaker 6: and I mean, it is so far from the truth.
Speaker 6: It was a little disappointing to hear that, to be honest,
Speaker 6: But we do have the strong core that we're going
Speaker 6: to get with the right staff and make things happen.
Speaker 6: I was proud of the way some of our core
Speaker 6: veteran players played this year with dj Jalen Johnson, TJ. Edwards,
Speaker 6: Kevin Bayern, Cole Kmet, and I was very excited and
Speaker 6: happy with the development of guys like Dexter, Darnell Rome,
Speaker 6: and Caleb.
Speaker 7: Looking at Caleb, I thought he.
Speaker 6: Did some really good things, but I also know that
Speaker 6: there is so much more left than him and his
Speaker 6: game and his skill set.
Speaker 7: I love the flashes that he showed.
Speaker 6: I love the two minute drills and his ability to
Speaker 6: put the team in a position to win games multiple
Speaker 6: times this season. As the championship caliber trade, we watched that,
Speaker 6: especially this time of year. Moving forward, we watched that
Speaker 6: happen a lot, and we're going to continue to build
Speaker 6: off of that. We have cap space, we have draft capital,
Speaker 6: and like I said, we have continuity to continue to
Speaker 6: roll forward. In terms of our coach search, we've taken
Speaker 6: shoot the last month or so to prepare our process.
Speaker 6: We've taken time to look back at the past processes
Speaker 6: to make sure that we were making changes and adjusting
Speaker 6: so that this is an absolute success. We've been in
Speaker 6: information gathering mode, looking at data research, making countless calls
Speaker 6: to make sure that we have everything we need to
Speaker 6: make a sound decision.
Speaker 7: What we're looking for.
Speaker 6: We're looking for clear vision, a developmental mindset, really good
Speaker 6: game management, and obviously a plan to develop a quarterback
Speaker 6: is going to be a key part of that as well.
Speaker 6: We're going to cast a wide net. It's going to
Speaker 6: be a diverse group. There's will be different backgrounds from offense, defense,
Speaker 6: specialty teams, college pro. We are turning every stone to
Speaker 6: make sure that we're doing this the right way. We
Speaker 6: believe that's gonna be really, really important. There's gonna be
Speaker 6: some names that you don't expect that are gonna surprise
Speaker 6: you because we're digging deeper than we.
Speaker 7: Ever have before.
Speaker 6: In terms of timing, we're gonna move with urgency, but
Speaker 6: we are not going to rush the process again because
Speaker 6: we want it to be a sound process. In terms
Speaker 6: of the interview panel, it'll be George Kevin, Matt Feinstein
Speaker 6: who does ADMIN with me, football admin, Jeff King who's
Speaker 6: on my staff, Liz Guys who's in HR.
Speaker 7: And obviously missing Ian there.
Speaker 6: I think it's really important to allow Ian to go
Speaker 6: through his own interview process.
Speaker 7: If that pops up, if it doesn't.
Speaker 6: He will be in that group as well as we
Speaker 6: move forward, and then our senior leadership here with the
Speaker 6: Bears is also everyone's gone through the league training in
Speaker 6: terms of inclusivity and sound hiring practices that the league
Speaker 6: puts in place, and as we move forward in our process,
Speaker 6: they will have time to spend with our candidates, especially
Speaker 6: as we get down to the finalist group.
Speaker 7: I'll open up to questions.
Speaker 8: There seems to be a maybe an overriding or at
Speaker 8: least a theme in the locker room that the players
Speaker 8: need more discipline, need to be challenged more.
Speaker 7: Is that true?
Speaker 8: Is that the type of coach that this locker room
Speaker 8: needs based on you learning more about your players.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think that's important for any locker room. I
Speaker 6: had made it coming a couple of weeks ago about
Speaker 6: training camp. I think one important thing is, you know,
Speaker 6: we look at the wins and losses, but you got
Speaker 6: to go to the root calls on how we got there.
Speaker 7: And I do think we need to challenge our guys more.
Speaker 7: And when we talk.
Speaker 6: About accountability, there's systems of accountability. It's how we're going
Speaker 6: to put tape up of this is not how we
Speaker 6: do it. And then with examples of this is how
Speaker 6: we do it, and sometimes that can be uncomfortable. I
Speaker 6: call it healthy friction, and I definitely think we need
Speaker 6: more of that and that would help result in closing
Speaker 6: that gap on some of these games that we came troup.
Speaker 7: What could the numbers get to.
Speaker 6: I haven't put a limit on it. I think the
Speaker 6: restriction at some point is how much time you have.
Speaker 6: There's a lot of rules that go along with kind
Speaker 6: of setting your calendar up, so we want to make
Speaker 6: sure that it fits that and it's not stressing us
Speaker 6: out to an extent where we're not doing quality work.
Speaker 7: It absolutely needs to be quality, but I haven't put
Speaker 7: a number on it.
Speaker 9: Rian, what assurances will you give candidates about the power
Speaker 9: structure inside alas all about who they work for? The
Speaker 9: clarity there there seems.
Speaker 7: To be some questions. Yeah.
Speaker 6: No, So I'll end up selecting the coach and I'm
Speaker 6: taking a lead on that and George and Kevin have
Speaker 6: put me in charge of that, and that'll be the
Speaker 6: relationship between the coach and I.
Speaker 9: You know that coaches are going to ask about your
Speaker 9: status and about being aligned with you. What will you
Speaker 9: tell them?
Speaker 6: Yeah, I'll have that conversation with them.
Speaker 4: When we talk about coaches having a wide enough pool
Speaker 4: where there might be some coaches that surprise you are
Speaker 4: all options on the table. Would you consider giving up
Speaker 4: draft capital to trade for a coach of be current
Speaker 4: it's currently employed by another team.
Speaker 7: Yeah, we'll look at it. All avenues to get the
Speaker 7: best coature.
Speaker 10: Right over the summer, you you guys talked about the
Speaker 10: culture here, the leadership here, a lot about what you had.
Speaker 10: How did it get from that to where we're talking
Speaker 10: about details and lack of accountability?
Speaker 7: What?
Speaker 10: What do you do you think kind of fractured that?
Speaker 7: Yeah, there's there's a couple of things there.
Speaker 6: When we talk about culture, and I've talked about this,
Speaker 6: I strongly believe cultures people, I completely I mean, you
Speaker 6: all spend time with them.
Speaker 7: Those are there's a really good locker room and they're
Speaker 7: with the really good guys.
Speaker 6: I think there's some foundational things that you have to
Speaker 6: address from the beginning to kind of hold the standard
Speaker 6: throughout the entire year. I believe when you go through struggle,
Speaker 6: some of those things get difficult. Right, guys are struggling
Speaker 6: with just being down and losing games, and I think.
Speaker 7: That's some of the things that we saw.
Speaker 6: Any team needs, like a certain standard and certain measurements
Speaker 6: of how we're gonna do things, because at some point
Speaker 6: in the season you're gonna have adversity in your house,
Speaker 6: is gonna be shaken and and your foundations tested. And
Speaker 6: at that point you got to go look at the
Speaker 6: reo cosse did we do everything we're supposed to in
Speaker 6: terms of detailing everything we needed to, because if you didn't,
Speaker 6: it's a little bit often. Like I said, I think
Speaker 6: we looked at the outcome and winning more than the
Speaker 6: process and doing those things, then those things show up
Speaker 6: and bubble up. Especially you know, we were put in
Speaker 6: a lot of situations where you know, we're a couple
Speaker 6: of yards away from a kickline.
Speaker 7: We were right there in a.
Speaker 6: Lot of situations, and I think some of the competitive
Speaker 6: poise popped up in terms of doing what we need
Speaker 6: to do and being disciplined to get over the hump.
Speaker 11: And I'm sure you guys want the discussion too, about
Speaker 11: pairing an offensive guy with the young quarterback versus you know,
Speaker 11: a guy that can kind of oversee the whole thing.
Speaker 7: And as head coaching experience.
Speaker 11: Things like that, just what is your general philosophy when
Speaker 11: it comes to that kind of tuggle war between those
Speaker 11: two head coaching candidates.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I think there's like for a young quarterback. Obviously
Speaker 7: there's ideal fit.
Speaker 6: But at the end of the day, you got to
Speaker 6: look at all the characteristics of what you're looking for
Speaker 6: in a head coach, and then you got to see
Speaker 6: what's the best bundle of those to bring in the building.
Speaker 6: Obviously we're talking about leadership, accountability, some of those important
Speaker 6: things that carry over regardless of what the situation is,
Speaker 6: so like those have to be there. To ignore those
Speaker 6: just to go to the other side I think is
Speaker 6: a bad deal too. So really it's the candidate that
Speaker 6: has the best collection of all of those things. And yes,
Speaker 6: the development of a young quarterback is going to be
Speaker 6: a huge factor in that.
Speaker 8: People locker room itself needing more leadership, like the players
Speaker 8: are asking for a coach.
Speaker 10: But I'm wondering if you're looking at the locker room
Speaker 10: right now.
Speaker 3: Thinking I need somebody to come in there, and.
Speaker 6: Yeah, well we definitely will take that into consideration as
Speaker 6: we add more talent the roster. I've also challenged in
Speaker 6: some of our exit meetings some of our guys to
Speaker 6: take the next step to lead as well. You know,
Speaker 6: I was in the same category, and some of our
Speaker 6: guys were too, in terms of you know, I saw this,
Speaker 6: and I just was should I say something about this?
Speaker 7: Should I step up? And and I.
Speaker 6: Encourage all those guys. We got to get to this place.
Speaker 6: We've been together long enough. There's continuity. We aren't going
Speaker 6: to take things personally or amongst each other, both in
Speaker 6: the front office and then football operations, but also in
Speaker 6: the locker room and then coaching. We got to be
Speaker 6: able to have healthy friction, like I talked about, to say, hey,
Speaker 6: that's not the way we're supposed to do it. Let's
Speaker 6: clean it up and get better, because again that will
Speaker 6: show up later in the season.
Speaker 9: Historically, this franchise hires assistant coaches and makes them head coaches.
Speaker 9: I think only one in the last hundred years has
Speaker 9: been a head coach before. What is the value you
Speaker 9: put on experience at the head coaching level versus how
Speaker 9: you project an assistant to be Given that Mattyberflus was
Speaker 9: an assistant and maybe some of the traits you thought
Speaker 9: would translate did not.
Speaker 6: It's a great question, you know, when you look at that.
Speaker 6: You know, good coaches come from different places, different backgrounds.
Speaker 6: What how are you supplementing your your the thing, your
Speaker 6: blind spot's your void. So if your first time head coach,
Speaker 6: what can we put in place for you to help
Speaker 6: support you?
Speaker 7: What do the coordinators look like? Are they former head coaches?
Speaker 6: You have an advisor that's a head coach, that's you know,
Speaker 6: at your right side to pick up some of the
Speaker 6: blind spots to say, hey, you might want to take
Speaker 6: care of this. This could turn into something later, or
Speaker 6: I think you might be missing here. So how are
Speaker 6: you supporting some of those blind spots if you are
Speaker 6: a first time coach, if you have been a head
Speaker 6: coach before, yeah, there's a lot of value because some
Speaker 6: of the new things, like you've already experienced those, You've
Speaker 6: been around it, and you have kind of the playbook
Speaker 6: and the blueprint on how to counter things when they
Speaker 6: go away from you or you know, when you have success,
Speaker 6: how do you make sure that everyone stays humble and
Speaker 6: they continue working?
Speaker 2: Coming out three two one times?
Speaker 1: Did you jot down any notes you'd like to share
Speaker 1: about what Ryan had to say over that of course
Speaker 1: of the forty minutes, but specifically this little chunk we played.
Speaker 5: You know, you address the podium, you thank all the
Speaker 5: support staff that gave their time and effort in order
Speaker 5: to make sure that they put a team on the
Speaker 5: field week in and week out. And there's a lot
Speaker 5: of different important moving parts that really have a difficult
Speaker 5: job at times when you talk about what you face,
Speaker 5: what you suffer through, and what you're able to accomplish
Speaker 5: during an offseason, So that's a big part of it.
Speaker 5: And then talking about the search process that you're going
Speaker 5: to go through looking for the best head coaching candidate
Speaker 5: that fits the Bears right now. And I do think
Speaker 5: that everybody is going to be interested in this opportunity because,
Speaker 5: like I said, when you have one of the most
Speaker 5: difficult pieces to put in place in place, and that's
Speaker 5: the quarterback position, and then you have other guys like
Speaker 5: DJ and Roman Cole and other other players out there
Speaker 5: that he brought up that you know, you're talking about
Speaker 5: making sure that you have that foundation, that core group
Speaker 5: of guys that you can build that supporting cast around.
Speaker 5: And I'm excited to see where Ryan's gonna go with this.
Speaker 5: I'm going to see where his vision takes them, where
Speaker 5: the support that he has in the building, are not
Speaker 5: going to tell him where to go, but are going
Speaker 5: to advise him and help him how to make that decision.
Speaker 5: And I think everybody he mentioned in there, Wull that
Speaker 5: would be part of this research crew are all qualified
Speaker 5: people in the football business to help make the most
Speaker 5: correct decision for the Bears, right.
Speaker 1: And that list that there's a list, and it's being
Speaker 1: reported by reporters, the traditional reporters from NFL Network and ESPN,
Speaker 1: So you can see the list.
Speaker 2: You can find the list. He's not going to comment on.
Speaker 1: Specifics just yet, but when they do complete an interview
Speaker 1: with one of the candidates, they will announce who they've interviewed.
Speaker 2: But you know, you know the names.
Speaker 1: Everybody knows the names that the top coordinators on both
Speaker 1: sides of the all but also some interesting coordinators names
Speaker 1: have popped up, maybe a little bit off of everybody's radar,
Speaker 1: and former head coaches, former head coaches, there's a there's
Speaker 1: a list here going into the college area. I see
Speaker 1: David Shaw's name mentioned, the former Stanford head coach and
Speaker 1: now an executive in the Denver program. Arthur Smith, the
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh offensive coordnate, former Atlanta falcon head coach. You know,
Speaker 1: I'm not going to go through the whole list, because
Speaker 1: you guys can all find it out there, but it's
Speaker 1: a it's a broad, wide ranging list of all ages
Speaker 1: and types.
Speaker 5: But one thing I'm glad Ryan is not doing this exclusively.
Speaker 5: He's not sitting in a room by himself only listen
Speaker 5: to these candidates. That he has a support staff around
Speaker 5: him that are able to listen, absorb the information, and
Speaker 5: give him some of the feedback that he needs to hear.
Speaker 5: And that's what I like what Ryan brought up at
Speaker 5: the podium, that this is not a one man job.
Speaker 5: This is kind of a group effort, and everybody's going
Speaker 5: to have a chance to look this candidate in the
Speaker 5: eyes and try to get a feeling from them what
Speaker 5: they need to hear, what they want to hear. And
Speaker 5: maybe so there are some questions outside the box that
Speaker 5: maybe Ryan didn't ask, that these support staff wants to hear.
Speaker 1: PNC Bank is our sponsor, brought to you by a
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Speaker 1: until February tenth and donate one of your new or
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Speaker 1: Coat Drive help keep Chicagoans warm this winter. My perspective
Speaker 1: on what Poles had to say are some of the
Speaker 1: things that he and I have discussed for all these
Speaker 1: pregame interviews over the course of the seventeen game season.
Speaker 1: It's pretty lockstep with it. He's taken responsibility. He knows
Speaker 1: he's made some decisions that didn't work out and other
Speaker 1: decisions have but he also believes in his process and
Speaker 1: he believes how they go about it. He still wants
Speaker 1: to be draft driven. That I can tell you for
Speaker 1: a fact. He wants to be a draft devant team.
Speaker 1: As he dipped into free agency like all teams, yes,
Speaker 1: but or not, this is not going to be a
Speaker 1: free agent driven team. It's going to be a draft
Speaker 1: driven team. And so they do have draft capital. Salary
Speaker 1: cap looks good, it looks really good. So it'll be
Speaker 1: one of the better ones in the NFL. And that's
Speaker 1: been consistent. I think that will always remain consistent as
Speaker 1: far as he can help it, based on how developed
Speaker 1: players you know, become available for contracts moving down the road.
Speaker 1: But always have that ability to be fluid and flexible
Speaker 1: Tom to make additions down the roster or make the
Speaker 1: right moves right.
Speaker 5: You know, if you break down this roster, Jeff, if
Speaker 5: you look at every level from running back to quarterback,
Speaker 5: to offensive line, to receiver, to tight end, to defensive
Speaker 5: line to linebacker to defensive backfield, they have quality candidates
Speaker 5: in place already. So now it's how can you get
Speaker 5: these other draft capital as you say, which I'm encouraged
Speaker 5: to hear, to fit in with some of these wily veterans,
Speaker 5: wise veterans and kind of become accustomed to what they
Speaker 5: need to do to become the pro that we all
Speaker 5: want to see out of him, in which I'm sure
Speaker 5: and the staff want to see out of them. So
Speaker 5: you're not putting anybody into a position there isn't solid
Speaker 5: support around them. And I think right now, when you
Speaker 5: look at the development and the building blocks of a team,
Speaker 5: I think it's super encouraging when you have some pieces
Speaker 5: in place here that can expedite the learning curve of
Speaker 5: a lot of young guys that you want to come
Speaker 5: to this football team and be immedia contributors.
Speaker 1: And experience is the best teacher. Big time failure is
Speaker 1: also a fertilizer. You're going to grow from it and
Speaker 1: everybody in that position, first timers, veterans, you can take
Speaker 1: it all the way through the National Football League. Only
Speaker 1: a few teams have made it to the Super Bowl
Speaker 1: and recent vintage and few or less have won the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl. So it's not an easy task to win
Speaker 1: in this league. Not to cover for anybody's mistakes or missteps,
Speaker 1: but that's the reality.
Speaker 2: It's tough. It's tough to win.
Speaker 1: With that being said, in your mind's eye, forget about
Speaker 1: who the candidates are, forget about that.
Speaker 2: If you had to create a head coach, what would.
Speaker 1: Be the give me like two or three must have
Speaker 1: that you would like to see in a head coach,
Speaker 1: regardless of name, regardless of where they came from.
Speaker 7: You.
Speaker 5: I'm going to give you the word that I've heard
Speaker 5: Caleb say, I've heard Gordon say, and I've heard Ryan
Speaker 5: Pohl say.
Speaker 3: It today, accountability.
Speaker 5: When you have the opportunity to have a job as
Speaker 5: awesome as being an NFL player, accountability is such an
Speaker 5: enormous requirement because you're in a team sport and how
Speaker 5: that pertains specifically to your job. It means everything your
Speaker 5: accountability in the weight room, your accountability in the meeting room,
Speaker 5: on the practice field, on the game field, all those
Speaker 5: types of things that you want to have a guy
Speaker 5: up there that has such alpha status that he's in
Speaker 5: charge of everybody that he stands in front of on
Speaker 5: a daily basis and gives them that team speech and
Speaker 5: before they break up into their segmented position. But I
Speaker 5: just to me, it's that one word of accountability that
Speaker 5: I've heard being said by a couple of the major
Speaker 5: players on the football field itself and players. But Ryan
Speaker 5: Pohle said it today in his press conference, and I
Speaker 5: think that's one of the biggest words, the most responsible
Speaker 5: words that you can, you know, be a requirement of
Speaker 5: a head coach and a leader on this team.
Speaker 1: And you know, thinking back to whom you played for
Speaker 1: at all levels, whether it be position coach or head coach,
Speaker 1: I think you could speak to this because I don't believe,
Speaker 1: with rare exception, I had imagined that you ever played
Speaker 1: for a coach that did not carry that attribute and
Speaker 1: that trade, am I correct you.
Speaker 2: You don't want to throw anybody in the bus. I'm
Speaker 2: just saying I'm not.
Speaker 5: Going to put anybody under the bus because you know,
Speaker 5: I played for Dandy Fine. He was a peculiar guy,
Speaker 5: but he had great supporting assistant coaches, some of the
Speaker 5: best I ever played for. And I was a young kid.
Speaker 5: And then Jerry Foules came in to know and he
Speaker 5: hired a bunch of his friends. You know, this was
Speaker 5: his first offensive coordinator, this is his first All American
Speaker 5: offensive lineman at Mohler and the pieces didn't fit, and
Speaker 5: our record was a result of at first losing record
Speaker 5: in eighteen years at Notre Dame. Then I played for
Speaker 5: George Allen, who's a Hall of famer. I played for Ditka,
Speaker 5: who's a Hall of Famer, for Dick Stanfeld as a
Speaker 5: hall of famer, for Don shul who's a Hall of famer.
Speaker 5: So then I got to see the best of the best.
Speaker 5: And it's not necessaryly the uber alpha like a guy
Speaker 5: like Ditka, because that is not the George Allen. George
Speaker 5: Allen is a guy that's over prepared. He pays attention
Speaker 5: to every single detail. Before analytics became a part of
Speaker 5: the NFL format of you know, predicted success and predicted
Speaker 5: preparation in the NFL, so you don't have there isn't
Speaker 5: only one template of person that you have to have
Speaker 5: is going to be successful. It's about the attention, the details,
Speaker 5: the accountability, the requirements that a head coach is putting
Speaker 5: on his players and how he can see them to
Speaker 5: be the most successful. And that's the unique quality of
Speaker 5: great head coaches, is what they see in the player
Speaker 5: and how they get that out of them.
Speaker 1: Don't forget your high school coach, please, he's a holodimergically
Speaker 1: Gordy Gillespie.
Speaker 5: I I yeah, it would be a shame to overlook him.
Speaker 5: And you know, and he did it with a variety
Speaker 5: of kids where we are kids playing football, and he
Speaker 5: didn't want guys to play both ways. He wanted everybody
Speaker 5: to play. And that was one of the unique traits
Speaker 5: of a guy at that level. Because when you go
Speaker 5: to college and you go in the NFL, you have
Speaker 5: everybody is designated to a position. There isn't both way players.
Speaker 5: But in high school we didn't face that either and
Speaker 5: we are successful because of it.
Speaker 1: I also want to throw in my two cents because
Speaker 1: I'm with you on the accountability thing, and I just
Speaker 1: need a guy who is going to impress the player
Speaker 1: with his ability to have them think they can win
Speaker 1: every game, right, no matter what your talent level is,
Speaker 1: whatever your situation, whatever the matchups are going to be
Speaker 1: on the table, and I get these guys to play
Speaker 1: their hair on fire on all three phases. There's been
Speaker 1: some of that, no question, But to have that complete
Speaker 1: trust in the coach that he's gonna put us in
Speaker 1: the best position. We're not gonna win every game, but
Speaker 1: dang it, we're gonna be putting up a fight and
Speaker 1: that other team's gonna feel it every single time they
Speaker 1: play us.
Speaker 2: That's what I'm looking for. That's another point.
Speaker 5: It's a great point by you, and I wish I
Speaker 5: would have set up myself because some of those Wednesday
Speaker 5: morning meetings, when Mike Dicka would stand up there or
Speaker 5: Don shul would stand up there, their offensive guys George
Speaker 5: Allen would be on the other.
Speaker 3: Side of the room with the defensive players.
Speaker 5: But when they gave up and they gave that leadership
Speaker 5: speech of what we are going to do this week
Speaker 5: and to the opponent, it was inspiring. And I'm glad
Speaker 5: you brought that point up because it's such a huge
Speaker 5: part of.
Speaker 3: What the co coach can offer a team.
Speaker 1: Blue Cross and blue shield of Illinois right here at home,
Speaker 1: driving access toward healthier communities through it all. Let's listen
Speaker 1: in to the president and CEO of the Chicago Bears,
Speaker 1: Kevin Warren, who met with the media after the news
Speaker 1: conference with Ryan Poles. This is a clip about how
Speaker 1: he feels about where this team is at in terms
Speaker 1: of wins and losses and how much it stings, but
Speaker 1: how much hope and excitement he has for the future.
Speaker 12: I despise losing, and so I am focused at every
Speaker 12: level and from at anything I compete in. You know,
Speaker 12: winning with integrity is my focus. And so from a
Speaker 12: critical standpoint is we need to do better here. I
Speaker 12: mean collectively, and it's not them when I say we,
Speaker 12: I'm talking about me collectively. And I'm going to continually
Speaker 12: pour every ounce of energy in here from a business
Speaker 12: operations standpoint, from a stadium standpoint, from a football standpoint,
Speaker 12: to provide all the resources that I have access to,
Speaker 12: all of my energy and insight to win. And I'm
Speaker 12: confident that we will win here. We will win championships here.
Speaker 12: It's not going to be easy, and I know we
Speaker 12: sometime in life you got to go down to be
Speaker 12: able to come up. But that's part of it. We're
Speaker 12: built for this. We have the support of ownership. And
Speaker 12: the thing that I like about is that there has
Speaker 12: been no taking a step back. You saw it in
Speaker 12: Green Bay. It would have been that would have been
Speaker 12: a very easy game for our players. It was cold,
Speaker 12: it's on the road. We hadn't won in the division,
Speaker 12: we hadn't beat them in a long time. But to
Speaker 12: come together and even the way the game went to
Speaker 12: make our mind up that even after the turnover, to say,
Speaker 12: let's rally together. And I thought it was apropos to
Speaker 12: end the season one and on in twenty twenty five,
Speaker 12: but do it with a with a walk off field goal,
Speaker 12: and I think that helped set the tone. But yes,
Speaker 12: we're gonna do all that we can to build a
Speaker 12: champion here.
Speaker 2: Tom.
Speaker 1: I appreciate his honesty and let's go get it. That's
Speaker 1: my opinion of him. He's uber positive all the time
Speaker 1: and so he recognizes some difficulties, but he's also not
Speaker 1: going to dwell on them. He's going to try and
Speaker 1: fix them. That includes the business side, the stadium site.
Speaker 1: Obviously touchdown the stadium thing, still some work to be done.
Speaker 1: Never easy, not like building a house, not like buying
Speaker 1: a house.
Speaker 2: I like what he had to.
Speaker 5: Say, right, I mean, he's got a lot on his
Speaker 5: plate significant in the history and the future of the
Speaker 5: Chicago bears the state of Illinois in everything you take
Speaker 5: into consideration. However, the first thing that came out of
Speaker 5: his mouth is winning. And that's the most important element
Speaker 5: for anybody to talk about. The winning part of football
Speaker 5: is the most important part of football. Yes, all the
Speaker 5: other things that you have been brought here to develop
Speaker 5: and help build and bring along, you've never you know,
Speaker 5: that has not been your focus. However, I think everybody
Speaker 5: in the building has to have one focus together, and
Speaker 5: that's winning. So whatever we're hired to do, whatever our
Speaker 5: job is, that's a we do. Kevin's got a lot
Speaker 5: on his plate as much or more than anybody in
Speaker 5: that building. However, winning is a key ingredient.
Speaker 1: And a big message sent to all the candidates. Because
Speaker 1: George says, hey, he believes in Ryan Poles, Kevin Warren
Speaker 1: says he trusts Ryan Poles. He appreciates his hunger, his curiosity,
Speaker 1: his self reflection on himself hard as he is on
Speaker 1: anybody other than himself, and strives to do the right thing.
Speaker 1: So everything's aligned, So there can be holes poked in
Speaker 1: at all they want, but they are aligned, and now
Speaker 1: they're ready to go find their guy.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think you know, the front office, the upper
Speaker 5: office of Hallas Hall is in place. Like you said,
Speaker 5: they're all aligned, and I think it'll be an exhaustive search.
Speaker 5: I don't think they're going to get a lot of
Speaker 5: sleep in between now until the day that the head
Speaker 5: candidate is hired, and then they have a whole assistant
Speaker 5: coaching staff to fill in, and you know, let's get
Speaker 5: this thing right immediately and allow offensive coordinator to come
Speaker 5: in here and start a dialogue with Caleb so he
Speaker 5: understands the terminology of the future, so that can expedite
Speaker 5: the learning curve and the developmental process of this whole
Speaker 5: football team.
Speaker 1: One more thing from Kevin Warren. Some of the things
Speaker 1: he brought about the discipline, accountability, hard work, vision, foresight, leadership,
Speaker 1: game management, and commit to the standards they set for
Speaker 1: those Anything below the line, can't use it. Everything above
Speaker 1: the line, you're going to be a finalist, a candidate,
Speaker 1: and so you got to be clear I meeting that standard,
Speaker 1: you can't you can't sacrifice the standard. I do believe
Speaker 1: in that for anything, you just can't it's too it's
Speaker 1: too hard otherwise.
Speaker 5: But you know all those words you said, I think
Speaker 5: that word accountability snuck in there, and I just think
Speaker 5: that if you do have that ultimate accountability, that takes
Speaker 5: care of all those other things that we've been talking about.
Speaker 3: So let's find that and you will find success.
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Speaker 1: dot com. There's five openings tom, So there's going to
Speaker 1: be a lot of candidates for those five openings, and
Speaker 1: everybody assumes certain coordinators are going to be at the
Speaker 1: top of the list, but who knows. Everybody's going to
Speaker 1: have different tastes. It's no different than sitting down at
Speaker 1: a restaurant and ordering off a menu. There is this
Speaker 1: positive in this Bear search that there are only five openings.
Speaker 5: I think there are because but the thing with the
Speaker 5: five openings and a lot of candidates. It's going to
Speaker 5: be super competitive, you know, who can come to the
Speaker 5: decision the quickest and then make the offer that that
Speaker 5: candidate is happy with. But then again, I think there's
Speaker 5: a lot of candidates out there that are going to
Speaker 5: look at what who is there offering being made by
Speaker 5: in what do they have in place? And how quickly
Speaker 5: can they get from why they're being interviewed to success
Speaker 5: and so like I keep repeating, and I think it's
Speaker 5: as important as any position on the football field. What
Speaker 5: they have here in the quarterback. I think it is
Speaker 5: going to be super enticing because that is the most
Speaker 5: difficult obstacle to get in place, to be the best,
Speaker 5: the quickest, and you know Caleb is that guy.
Speaker 1: Good news Chicago United Airlines is getting brand new planes
Speaker 1: with all the bells and whistles, like Bluetooth connectivity screens
Speaker 1: at every seat in room for everyone's rolltor bag United
Speaker 1: proud to fly the Chicago Bears and you too. Any
Speaker 1: thoughts on the weekend's playoff games? Time before we break here?
Speaker 1: As I know, we're always jealous of this time of
Speaker 1: year we're not in it.
Speaker 5: I am so jealous. I am so jealous I'm not
Speaker 5: going to hide that fact. But I think that we're
Speaker 5: getting ready to be a board of one of the
Speaker 5: greatest weekends in football. When you talk about two college
Speaker 5: playoff games, you talk about all the NFL games up
Speaker 5: into the Monday night. So you think Thursday night, Friday night, Saturday, Sunday, Monday.
Speaker 5: Your time, your free time, if you have it, is
Speaker 5: going to be occupied by quality football. But as I
Speaker 5: sit there and watch the NFL games, Jeff and I've
Speaker 5: always been like this, at the end of the game,
Speaker 5: I have to turn it off because I turn it
Speaker 5: off immediately because I don't like looking at the fun
Speaker 5: and the excitement that the winning team has, and that
Speaker 5: makes me even more envious and jealous. And I know
Speaker 5: it's very petty, but I've been in that winning locker room,
Speaker 5: and I've been in that losing locker room, and I
Speaker 5: know the one, the happiness and the sadness of it,
Speaker 5: and so I'm looking forward to watching it, but as
Speaker 5: soon as that final second ticks, I will shut it out.
Speaker 1: I think I covered twenty five twenty six Super Bowls
Speaker 1: and had a good fortune of calling one with you
Speaker 1: in two thousand and six and started my career with
Speaker 1: the eighty five Bears.
Speaker 2: But people say, why do you want to even go?
Speaker 1: You know, Bears are not in it, and I always
Speaker 1: felt that, Yeah, it's kind of cool. You learn stuff,
Speaker 1: You learn things about the teams that are involved, You
Speaker 1: learn what it kind of takes in terms of the personalities,
Speaker 1: the alphas, the head coaches, the quarterbacks, obviously, and you
Speaker 1: you were one of those like, man, I'm not going
Speaker 1: to a super Bowl just to go No, no way,
Speaker 1: no how Bears are in it.
Speaker 2: That's right.
Speaker 5: And the only time I've ever worn my super Bowl
Speaker 5: ring was the last time the Bears were in the
Speaker 5: super Bowl. So it's you know, there's a lot of
Speaker 5: great memories that surround football and that part of my life.
Speaker 1: Time to take that thing out of mothballs and get
Speaker 1: it back on your finger.
Speaker 3: Tongue, right, let's go.
Speaker 1: All right, that's gonna wrap us up. Well, another podcast
Speaker 1: later this week. I'm not sure exactly what avenues will take,
Speaker 1: but we'll always have something for you, that's for sure.
Speaker 2: For top there, I'm Jeff Joniak. Thanks for listening to everybody.
Speaker 1: Please subscribe now in the Chicago Bears Official Apple Apple
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