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Speaker 1: saw a great Thursday night to all of you, Thanks
Speaker 1: for listening. We're doing our first live show of the
Speaker 1: regular season here at hat Us on our PANC Studios.
Speaker 1: Bears fans are here in attendance. Tom's been entertaining. He's
Speaker 1: been like the warm up, warm up guy for the show.
Speaker 1: You've done a nice job, jokes and everything. Yeah, yeah, No,
Speaker 1: I think you're Johnny Carson. I really do. Yeah, there's
Speaker 1: only one. How do you do? Everybody? Not bad? All right?
Speaker 1: We got Bears fans here and FedEx folks here, so
Speaker 1: we're gonna be awaiting the arrival of Big Bad Achim Hicks.
Speaker 1: He'll be joining the program. Were brought to you by
Speaker 1: IGS Energy. Pause Ranger Engineer Adam Stidzinski. Our producer at
Speaker 1: our Score Studios and good to have you. And while
Speaker 1: we await a key, let's talk news of the day,
Speaker 1: News of the day. Practice today. Still no a Kilil Mack,
Speaker 1: no Alan Robinson. We still do not see any definitive
Speaker 1: information on Kyle Long and what his injury to his
Speaker 1: right foot is actually going to entail in terms of
Speaker 1: time away. And then a new addition to the injury report,
Speaker 1: no practice today for the rookie defensive lineman Balow Nichols.
Speaker 1: Just your overall thoughts on all that as we get
Speaker 1: ready for the Bills. You know, first near and dear
Speaker 1: to my heart is the Kyle Long injury because I
Speaker 1: saw the effort he put in throughout the off season
Speaker 1: and throughout training camp to be ready to go out
Speaker 1: there and play once the regular season got here. And
Speaker 1: I keep saying it's a different one if you're playing
Speaker 1: on an All Pro level or a Pro Bowl level,
Speaker 1: and Kyle was playing at an all pro level. I
Speaker 1: mean he added that he added that strength to the
Speaker 1: inside he and a lot to the guys inside the
Speaker 1: locker room and all of his teammates. So it's really
Speaker 1: unfortunate when you see a guy like that get injured.
Speaker 1: But if you play long enough, one of those injuries
Speaker 1: are going to haunt you, whether it's Peewee high school
Speaker 1: or professional for And when you say one of those injuries,
Speaker 1: what are you referring to, Well, you know, as a
Speaker 1: guy that's really invested himself in the organization and the
Speaker 1: organization is invested in him, He's gone through a lot
Speaker 1: through the other injuries he's faced to come out here
Speaker 1: and play at the power and the level he has
Speaker 1: the ability to play at. Because if you don't dedicate
Speaker 1: yourself one hundred percent of the offseason, you're never gonna
Speaker 1: play during the regular season. And that's one thing that
Speaker 1: I really admired about Kyle is is what the way
Speaker 1: he you know, took over and was able to come
Speaker 1: back and function as one of the most powerful offensive
Speaker 1: linemen after going through the injuries. And the fact is,
Speaker 1: you know, because you've played it in a way that
Speaker 1: none of us can even understand. You put yourself out
Speaker 1: there every day and you played through a lot of pain.
Speaker 1: You still experience a lot of pain after the fact.
Speaker 1: You never complain about it. But his injuries were severe,
Speaker 1: they were severe, They were very difficult to overcome and
Speaker 1: not everybody would have. Not everybody can, and not everybody
Speaker 1: would be willing to go back out there and do
Speaker 1: it all over again. But you know, that's the thing
Speaker 1: that why his teammates respect him so much, because they
Speaker 1: you know, when they're going to get their ankles tape
Speaker 1: before practice. He's the guys that's going through rehab for
Speaker 1: four or five six hours a day, every day throughout
Speaker 1: the entirety of the pre surgery to get prepared to
Speaker 1: have surgery, and then the post surgery effort that you
Speaker 1: have to put into it. And so these guys aren't
Speaker 1: they're not numb to what he and committed to be unready. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and that was a roll up injury, right. We like
Speaker 1: to say, you know, it gets the trash. You're trying
Speaker 1: to work through the trash, and sometimes you know it's
Speaker 1: friendly fire. Yeah, running back runs into you or a
Speaker 1: teammate runs into you. That's happened many times. I'm trying
Speaker 1: to remember specifics too. And he just got named offensive
Speaker 1: line coach in Dallas and that's Mark Colombo and he
Speaker 1: get you know, hit from behind. John Alred member John
Speaker 1: Alread the tight end. You always say it was most
Speaker 1: manned hours lost to injuries a tight end position, and
Speaker 1: we've seen what's happening is Zach Miller here and over
Speaker 1: the years those rolled up injuries. You know what it is?
Speaker 1: Dangerous one up. Yeah, Dick sNaN Felt, our offensive line coach,
Speaker 1: you always used to have a saying, keep your head up,
Speaker 1: in your feet moving when you're playing in sports and
Speaker 1: you have a chance of being in a pile. If
Speaker 1: you stop your feet, that's when you have a greater
Speaker 1: chance of being fell on and that can be injury.
Speaker 1: That can hurt you, injure you. And so that's why
Speaker 1: you gotta keep your feet churning. You got to keep
Speaker 1: your head up. And I know it sounds a little
Speaker 1: bit more, but you really do. We we were in
Speaker 1: practice one time when William Perry was playing fullback and
Speaker 1: we are going through short yardage goal line period and
Speaker 1: Stefan Humphreys got stalemated at the line and practice and
Speaker 1: Fridge went into him and fell on him and did
Speaker 1: the same thing that the Kyle was. Do you have
Speaker 1: anything close to that? No, I mean I personally I
Speaker 1: tore my planner fashiit. But that was during a play,
Speaker 1: so not like having an injury that you know, tons
Speaker 1: of wait, fell on you with that type of impact.
Speaker 1: All right, Well, the good news is they do have depth.
Speaker 1: They have depth. They believe him on the interior of
Speaker 1: the line. So James Daniel's getting his first NFL start
Speaker 1: last week at left guard. I'm assuming he will stay
Speaker 1: there at Cody White Harett center, and then Eric Cush
Speaker 1: Brian Whitzman the two options at right guard. Also, you
Speaker 1: still have Bradley soul on this roster who can play
Speaker 1: multiple positions. He's a good swing veteran that you can
Speaker 1: put anywhere, and he's certainly been a factor in that
Speaker 1: extra attacker on the offensive line. The thing about Whitzman,
Speaker 1: he has experience in the system, so he knows it
Speaker 1: very well thirteen starts last season for Kansas City, and
Speaker 1: Eric Cush obviously knows it very well as well. He
Speaker 1: was limited today still with the next stinger working through that,
Speaker 1: but he should be available well. Best case scenario would
Speaker 1: be that Eric Cush would be able to go into
Speaker 1: the right guard line up and stay there for the
Speaker 1: rest of the year and turns until Whitzman really gets
Speaker 1: up the speed. It would be difficult if he went
Speaker 1: into Buffalo under that at a hostile environment. The changes
Speaker 1: that they're trying to interrupt your blocking schemes with upfront
Speaker 1: by the movement of their bodies. You want to make
Speaker 1: sure that you have guys that have repetitiously done it
Speaker 1: before throughout this system, but you might not have that luxury.
Speaker 1: So I think, no matter what Harry he said, the
Speaker 1: offensive line coach will have these guys prepared well, and
Speaker 1: he does a great job. I mean that mess around.
Speaker 1: The demeanor of all these guys too, is what you
Speaker 1: want as interior offensive linemen. These guys are not finessed playing,
Speaker 1: you know, any of them. The thing about injuries is, um,
Speaker 1: you know, I was a guy that sat there and
Speaker 1: not waiting for someone to get injured. But I knew
Speaker 1: in my chants or my number was called, you had
Speaker 1: to be ready. And so you have these guys that
Speaker 1: they got to be sitting on their edge of the
Speaker 1: seat exactly waiting for what happened to Kyle. It happens, unfortunately,
Speaker 1: they got to be ready to go. And it's not
Speaker 1: something that you got to be, you know, kind of
Speaker 1: encouraged to go in or be excited about your opportunity.
Speaker 1: This is what you play for and prepare for your
Speaker 1: whole life. And you know guys that have been sitting,
Speaker 1: you know, sitting waiting for their opportunities for quite a
Speaker 1: period of time, and then when they're they're opportunity unity
Speaker 1: has presented. We've seen guys that aren't ready, but we
Speaker 1: see guys that the reason they're in the NFL is
Speaker 1: for that opportunity. All right, Well, sitting into the big
Speaker 1: chair and joining us here. I don't know how long
Speaker 1: we got before we take a break, but I Kim Hicks,
Speaker 1: everybody getting a nice round of applause. Thank you for
Speaker 1: joining us. The fans are here, Kim, how you doing nice?
Speaker 1: And late? Nice? Well, you know, I'll leave that up
Speaker 1: to Tom to discuss. Tom is very particular about timing. Well.
Speaker 1: I was just trying to explain that, you know, once
Speaker 1: the game concludes in the week, begins your hand and
Speaker 1: itinerary for the week, and you kind of have every
Speaker 1: increment of time spelled out for you, so you kind
Speaker 1: of know what's going on. Hey, I saw a video
Speaker 1: of you from September when you had your longer hair.
Speaker 1: When did you cut your hair? Shoot? I want to
Speaker 1: say it was like week three or four? How come
Speaker 1: it was time for a change, man? I just I
Speaker 1: felt like I was looking too rough. My mom didn't
Speaker 1: like it, so she wants the beard going too. But
Speaker 1: we'll see, right, a lot of people I've seen him,
Speaker 1: You've seen pictures with him without it, and I would
Speaker 1: not recognize. Well you would because you're you're a big dude.
Speaker 1: So you know what you're gonna do. You know you're
Speaker 1: gonna you know you that's a chem walking hey, But
Speaker 1: you would, I swear to you. And I've seen pictures
Speaker 1: without any facial air. You got a baby face going on.
Speaker 1: Well you you look like a young man without a beard.
Speaker 1: I look like I'm twelve years old. Honestly. Is that
Speaker 1: why you have it? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, it definitely is.
Speaker 1: But I did get one thing. My dad gave me
Speaker 1: a butt chin. So if I shaved this office right there,
Speaker 1: you could wipe this office. All right. Well a keem,
Speaker 1: We're gonna take a break. We'll get reset, and we'll
Speaker 1: dig in and talk about the twenty eighteen Chicago Bears
Speaker 1: and how things are going for you with our studio audience. Here.
Speaker 1: We're brought to you by IGS Energy. This is Bears
Speaker 1: All Access on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy. The Score
Speaker 1: and Welcome back to Bears All Access frost to you
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Speaker 1: dot com. Jeff Joniac and Tom Fair with you until
Speaker 1: seven o'clock tonight, joined by defensive li'm at a chem
Speaker 1: off to another great start this season with the four
Speaker 1: and three Bears head of the Buffalo on Sunday. And
Speaker 1: there have been a lot of different statistical organizations that
Speaker 1: come up with all sorts of formulas to describe offenses
Speaker 1: and defenses in the league. Right now, it's just not
Speaker 1: the NFL stats that are put out. But there's a
Speaker 1: lot of love right now for the Chicago Bears defense,
Speaker 1: as you've seen on Twitter, and we've retweeted some of
Speaker 1: these things, well well deserved. I mean, this defense is
Speaker 1: playing some really good football. I think so too, man deservingly.
Speaker 1: So I think that we're getting some national recognition based
Speaker 1: on just the play and the intensity that I think
Speaker 1: our defense is playing with. I think that we've got
Speaker 1: eleven guys that are just hungry and at anytime somebody
Speaker 1: can make a play, and it's it's a fantastic situation
Speaker 1: to being as a defensive linement because they're locking up
Speaker 1: coverage back there and you get a chance to rush.
Speaker 1: Khalil gets a chance to rush. It's it's a it's awesome.
Speaker 1: But you know when you look at a team's preparation
Speaker 1: to block the Chicago Bears, they start the protection against
Speaker 1: you and then they kind of move it up and
Speaker 1: down the line of scrimmage. So as the season to
Speaker 1: tear or the seasonal winds on and you get more
Speaker 1: depth into the offensive line, is there ever a chance
Speaker 1: for a Keem Hicks to rush against the weak link
Speaker 1: or move around and see if you see something on
Speaker 1: film that maybe this guy doesn't have the experience that
Speaker 1: give you better opportunity. It would be nice. And you
Speaker 1: know what, I see it across the league all the time.
Speaker 1: I see guys going for the weak link, you know,
Speaker 1: on the offensive line. They'll find a guard and they'll say, hey, man,
Speaker 1: he looks soft and he looks like we can take
Speaker 1: advantage of him, so they'll put their best rusher on him.
Speaker 1: And that's not really hasn't really been our manstre here
Speaker 1: since since I've been here, it's really take your match
Speaker 1: up and kick his butt and no matter who it is.
Speaker 1: And you know, I take pride and then I take
Speaker 1: pride in being able to line up against whoever's out
Speaker 1: there and saying I'm going to be the better man today.
Speaker 1: You know, me thinking about that is because one of
Speaker 1: the first time I did a radio show with you
Speaker 1: back at Oliver and Nazarene, I said, you have comparisons
Speaker 1: to Reggie White, And this past week on third and one,
Speaker 1: you used to move that Reggie White is famous for.
Speaker 1: You dominated the guy you made a tackle for a loss,
Speaker 1: and it's something that gets played and replay videos throughout
Speaker 1: the rest of your career and all over the league.
Speaker 1: It's something you thought about or was it just instinct
Speaker 1: that you used it? I felt and we had we
Speaker 1: had really good keys um this past week against the
Speaker 1: Jets and um. You know something that I gave a
Speaker 1: lot of credit to Jay Rodgers on this my position coach,
Speaker 1: just because he's I have never had a coach that
Speaker 1: is as prepared as he is coming into a game.
Speaker 1: And he gives me so many tips as far as
Speaker 1: you know what I can expect on certain blocks and
Speaker 1: I knew for sure that that tackle was coming down
Speaker 1: to hit me, and I just gave him what he
Speaker 1: wanted came in there, you know, I gave him a
Speaker 1: little bit of me talking about the hull. He has
Speaker 1: a move that Reggie, Reggie White startup. There's a couple
Speaker 1: of other other guys that use it too. It's called
Speaker 1: a hum who was where? If I'm an offensive lineman
Speaker 1: and I'm getting my momentum going this way, a keem
Speaker 1: picks me up with his arm, continues my momentum going
Speaker 1: and I can't recover. But Reggie, why did it? There
Speaker 1: was another guy that New Orleans says, jump jump jumping
Speaker 1: Gathers was unbelievable at it. So, but you gotta you
Speaker 1: have to have a unique style and strength. And you know,
Speaker 1: it's funny that when I talked about you and Reggie
Speaker 1: years ago and then I saw you use that movie,
Speaker 1: it was really as going wild there. That's a you know,
Speaker 1: just a sign of what he's able to do. What
Speaker 1: Reggie was able to do. You know, you make me
Speaker 1: blush every time you say I just love for people
Speaker 1: that don't know, Reggie White is the best defensive lineman
Speaker 1: ever played this game. And anytime you get compared to
Speaker 1: somebody as great as he is. I just I melt
Speaker 1: a little bit for Tom here. But yeah, well, you
Speaker 1: know it's funny because I was watching these two guys
Speaker 1: signed autographs during the commercial break right there, and uh, Tom,
Speaker 1: who was super strong as a player and a big guy,
Speaker 1: and now he's reduced into my size comparatively speaking to
Speaker 1: a Keim's he's like two of you right now. And
Speaker 1: so I'm thinking, how would Tom block this guy, or
Speaker 1: how it would akeem rush against Tom ed guard. It
Speaker 1: would be an interesting vicious collision. It would be a
Speaker 1: battle because I know, just from talking to him several times,
Speaker 1: I just know he has a mentality that wants to
Speaker 1: attack people. And I would just be hesitant to just
Speaker 1: go in there and throw anything on the table. Cut first,
Speaker 1: you would be cutting. It's different the snap count that
Speaker 1: the way we use the snap count back in that
Speaker 1: generation is different than the way they use the snap
Speaker 1: count now. So for me, I would get my hands
Speaker 1: to a keem to try to stop any momentum that
Speaker 1: he had before he'd get off the ball, because if
Speaker 1: he got momentum, it's over the thing. If I would
Speaker 1: try to jump the snap count and get to you.
Speaker 1: You see what I told you, He's already thought about it.
Speaker 1: He's already thought about how he would beat me. Look,
Speaker 1: I gotta watchop for guys like that. But you know,
Speaker 1: you study though, you study tape, and you you know
Speaker 1: what you're looking for. To you'd be finding whatever. I'm
Speaker 1: not suggesting you had any any inequalities in his game
Speaker 1: or any holes in his game that you would try
Speaker 1: and poke if you're studying his tape. If I'm studying
Speaker 1: his tape, I'm throwing power at Tom because I'm trying
Speaker 1: to beat aggressiveness with aggressiveness, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: Because I like to feel like I am the stronger
Speaker 1: person out there and so which it may not be true, right,
Speaker 1: but I like to feel that way. He's giving you
Speaker 1: a lot of credit on this show. We talk about
Speaker 1: you a lot, and you know, when we're talking without
Speaker 1: offensive lineman and have been on the show or whatever,
Speaker 1: you can tell, like you brought up, you could tell
Speaker 1: when a chem Hicks is ready to let it loose
Speaker 1: it time goes just like here it comes the truck, right.
Speaker 1: That's what you know in my evaluation of watching opponents
Speaker 1: throughout the season. Then you kind of read and okay,
Speaker 1: where is their interruption? And the starters of offensive lineman
Speaker 1: And having played against Reggie White, and you knew if
Speaker 1: he lined up, if he lined up on you the
Speaker 1: first third and long, it was kind of a oh moment,
Speaker 1: and you better do something or else He's gonna be
Speaker 1: there all day. And then I'll move up and down
Speaker 1: the line of scrimmage. So it'd be interesting if Akam
Speaker 1: had that right to evaluate, find and then attack. Well,
Speaker 1: Vic's moving you guys am out a little bit right,
Speaker 1: definitely in some of our packages. And I'm not going
Speaker 1: to divulge any you know, information that we need to
Speaker 1: keep secret, but I would say that Vick is one
Speaker 1: of my favorite defensive coordinators ever. Not I'm not just
Speaker 1: saying that because I get to play in this scheme,
Speaker 1: but I watched him back when he was in San
Speaker 1: Francisco and just how he had those guys just coming
Speaker 1: off the ball, hitting blocks and just making plays. And
Speaker 1: I was so excited when I came here to be
Speaker 1: able to try to be the next Justin Smith, You
Speaker 1: know what I mean? Yeah, the crazy thing. You mentioned
Speaker 1: Coach Rodgers too, and Coach Rogers was a college quarterback.
Speaker 1: He's teaching defensive line play to me, and he's outstanding
Speaker 1: at it. We both have thrown him many accolades for
Speaker 1: what he's done with this unit. He does so with
Speaker 1: an intensity that you can only appreciate being in the room,
Speaker 1: but I can see it. To me, that's one of
Speaker 1: the most unique aspects of this particular coaches. That he
Speaker 1: was a quarterback. I'd never seen it, and when I
Speaker 1: first learned that, I was like, I don't know how,
Speaker 1: I how this is going to work out. But man,
Speaker 1: when you see his intensity on the field, when you
Speaker 1: see his intensity every day in practice, like he has
Speaker 1: his sayings, his bring the juice, and he brings that
Speaker 1: dang juice every day and you know some days you're like, oh, man,
Speaker 1: can we have like a diet drink today? But he
Speaker 1: wants the juice and he likes to go after and
Speaker 1: then he's a really good coach. You know. It's different
Speaker 1: coaching you with the skill that you that you met
Speaker 1: him with. It's different when he coaches Bal Nichols or
Speaker 1: Roy Robertson Harris because you can see growth in their
Speaker 1: fundamentals and the techniques that they use to have successful plays.
Speaker 1: And I think it's more interesting when you see these
Speaker 1: young guy from Delaware, Roy Rob who hasn't really had
Speaker 1: to you know, been able to stay at one position
Speaker 1: for a long time. To watch those guys develop, because
Speaker 1: that's what's gonna make the Bears better. You're you are
Speaker 1: what you are, These guys, they got a lot of
Speaker 1: development to do. Yeah, man, And it's awesome to see.
Speaker 1: It's awesome to see them come along. One of my
Speaker 1: favorites to watch right now. As you mentioned below, Nichols
Speaker 1: just he's so receptive and wants to learn the game
Speaker 1: and wants to be a great defensive lineman. And when
Speaker 1: you have a guy like that, you just want to
Speaker 1: give him everything, Like I give him information that he
Speaker 1: doesn't even want, you know what I mean. Just I'm
Speaker 1: there for everything that he needs because he seeks it out.
Speaker 1: You know that's good. Well, you know he's We had
Speaker 1: him on the show a couple of weeks ago and
Speaker 1: he said that during the preseason you made him sit
Speaker 1: down next to you on the team plane and go
Speaker 1: watch tape after games. I don't know how many guys
Speaker 1: do that. I mean, that's a heck of a gesture
Speaker 1: on your part. So why do you do it? Because
Speaker 1: I like to um, I guess I'll say this my
Speaker 1: The way I was treated as a rookie is the
Speaker 1: way I wanted to treat my rookies. You know, when
Speaker 1: I got to that point and as rookie, I felt
Speaker 1: like there were people in my organization that wanted to
Speaker 1: see me succeed and they wanted the best for me,
Speaker 1: and they would push me to that point. And I
Speaker 1: want to return the favorite to Bill out and make
Speaker 1: sure that he gets everything that he can and learns
Speaker 1: from the thousands of snaps that I have. You know,
Speaker 1: it's it's rare thinking because we've had guys that come
Speaker 1: through here and I remember stories players telling hey, you
Speaker 1: know what, I'm not gonna do what other players did
Speaker 1: to me and not be willing to help me because
Speaker 1: they didn't want to lose their job. I'm certain time
Speaker 1: you were that way, like you're not gonna I mean,
Speaker 1: I know you're a team guy, but you know what,
Speaker 1: I need to start, I need to plan, need to
Speaker 1: keep my job. Was that not true? You know, hey,
Speaker 1: you always want to be a starter, and even if
Speaker 1: they you know, there's times throughout your career where they
Speaker 1: draft a guy that's they want to him to come
Speaker 1: and take your job. And it is the political season,
Speaker 1: isn't it time there with the political answer? I want
Speaker 1: to exactly all right, We're gonna take a step away
Speaker 1: here a Keem Hicks with Tom There and Jeff jonih Act.
Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us here on Bears All Access here
Speaker 1: from P and C Studios at have us All on
Speaker 1: Chicago Sports Radio six seventy strac This segment, it Bears
Speaker 1: All Access, is orchestrated by CDW CDW people to get it. Jeff,
Speaker 1: Jonny Ack and Tom There here at PANC Studios at
Speaker 1: Abasas with some folks and FedEx customers with FedEx here
Speaker 1: live our first studio show. Couldn't have picked a better
Speaker 1: guest to Keen Hicks to join us, because you know,
Speaker 1: no matter what, you're the engine that actually starts that defense.
Speaker 1: In my opinion, you could say Danny Tivit Trevathan is
Speaker 1: also one of the heartbeats of that defense, and he
Speaker 1: is he gets you guys all lined up. But the emotion,
Speaker 1: the physicality of the actual, the just the energy of
Speaker 1: that defense, I believe it starts with you. Is that
Speaker 1: is that? Is that a title you're okay with? I'm
Speaker 1: very okay with it. I like to be uh, I
Speaker 1: like to be the the aggressor. I like to be
Speaker 1: the one in there calls and havoc. And I think
Speaker 1: that when you do that, I think that it gives
Speaker 1: your defense a boost. Right, we get that momentum, we're
Speaker 1: we're telling the offense that you're not going to come
Speaker 1: in here and run, You're not gonna come in here
Speaker 1: and pass, You're not going to do the things that
Speaker 1: you want to do, and we're going to take that
Speaker 1: away from me. And I think that starts with the
Speaker 1: defense having great energy. Can I follow up that one question?
Speaker 1: Then if we take a temperature of the Bears on
Speaker 1: defense on any given Sunday, and if your temperature isn't
Speaker 1: exactly where it's where you want it to be, would
Speaker 1: we be able to say, Okay, the defense is just
Speaker 1: not homing today. Maybe a keeam needs to you know,
Speaker 1: do this that or the other thing. Or there's a
Speaker 1: way that these guys are you know, getting you out
Speaker 1: of the out of the defense and making plays by
Speaker 1: the way they scheme against you. Have you seen teams
Speaker 1: do that to you yet? Oh? That I definitely feel
Speaker 1: like it's a sign of respect. Right when you when
Speaker 1: you get schemes to that, Taylor, you out of the
Speaker 1: out of the game plan, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: And I think that with the camaraderie that we've established
Speaker 1: and the culture that we've established, we got ten other
Speaker 1: guys out there that will tell your head off or
Speaker 1: they get a chance. So we're okay with it. Okay.
Speaker 1: I got a backtrack one more time. This season, you
Speaker 1: had a wild moment when you got ejected and it
Speaker 1: was to us in the stands, to you, and there
Speaker 1: was a big fine that went along with it. What
Speaker 1: did you teach yourself? What did you learn from that?
Speaker 1: And what are you going forward? How do you prevent that? First?
Speaker 1: I seed you, but you don't have a history of that, Okay,
Speaker 1: so exactly, Yeah, that's what I'll start with. Um, I'm
Speaker 1: not a guy that gets a lot of flags. I'm
Speaker 1: not a guy that's ever been a jecked out of
Speaker 1: a game playing since I was fourteen. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: there's no pointing fingers. It was an unfortunate situation on
Speaker 1: the field. There were emotions flying. Me and the guard
Speaker 1: had had gotten to a little tussle and uh, one
Speaker 1: of the referees hopped in between and he got you know,
Speaker 1: you got some aggression out of that pile of people,
Speaker 1: and I caught the bullet, so I had to go home.
Speaker 1: It was a very disheartening feeling and it was very humbling. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, I take I take pride in being you know,
Speaker 1: super emotional and passionate about the sport, right and um,
Speaker 1: you just got to make sure that you keep it
Speaker 1: in check so when when an official does jump in there,
Speaker 1: he doesn't get a taste of what you're trying to
Speaker 1: give to the guard. You know, it's weird because salaries
Speaker 1: and those types of things are printed in the newspaper
Speaker 1: and people get to read it. For an old guy,
Speaker 1: you know, that's one fourth of my salary my first year,
Speaker 1: and so it's but it's more. But it's not that,
Speaker 1: it's just more of I guess we see the emotions
Speaker 1: that you bring to the football field, and you know,
Speaker 1: once you go through that one time in your career,
Speaker 1: is that something you got to leave that behind. There's
Speaker 1: nothing worse than showering by yourself. And it may sound funny,
Speaker 1: but at the end of the game, right you know,
Speaker 1: when you come in at halftime and you're in there
Speaker 1: by yourself, and the shower is just hitting you and
Speaker 1: you're saying to yourself, Wow, I'm going it's it's a
Speaker 1: horrible feeling and I'm sure nobody wants to taste again.
Speaker 1: And that was really the message that I gave to
Speaker 1: the team after the situation had happened. It was just that,
Speaker 1: you know, the younger guys and everybody in the room,
Speaker 1: just take this lesson for everybody. I'll take this one,
Speaker 1: but we just can't let it happen to another one
Speaker 1: of us again. So that's a great message coming from
Speaker 1: a senior leader inside the locker room, going, look, don't
Speaker 1: do this because this is not the way to go.
Speaker 1: And it probably it carries a lot of weight in there.
Speaker 1: Did you hang around after the did you wait to
Speaker 1: the game was over to? Yeah? You couldn't out? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I couldn't leave my guys there. It was just, you know,
Speaker 1: it's kind of one of those things where you know,
Speaker 1: you getting pulled away, You're like, no, wait, I still
Speaker 1: got a little bit more, but um, you know you
Speaker 1: just have to uh, you just have to take it
Speaker 1: on the chin and and be better next time. I
Speaker 1: really enjoyed what Vic Fangio today talked about. He doesn't
Speaker 1: think it's proper to see his guys losing money. And uh,
Speaker 1: he doesn't think the Eddie Jackson hit, for example, last
Speaker 1: week is a findable offense. And I don't know if
Speaker 1: he is or if he will be, but he got
Speaker 1: flagged um for his hit, and you know, he says
Speaker 1: the same thing about you. So there are certain things
Speaker 1: that you want from your coaches and that kind of support.
Speaker 1: He did so very directly, which we know him to be, uh,
Speaker 1: and I do. I do appreciate that aspect of a
Speaker 1: coach looking out after his guys. There's never been a
Speaker 1: day on this team where I didn't feel like Vic
Speaker 1: Fangio was in my corner, you know. And that says
Speaker 1: something that makes as a player, that makes you want
Speaker 1: to play even harder for him because you know, at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, he wants the best for you. Um.
Speaker 1: And just a little bibit about what you said about
Speaker 1: being one fourth the salary. Now we do get paid more,
Speaker 1: but they also find us a lot more. I think
Speaker 1: it's unfair too. I hate to see that what you
Speaker 1: players go through in the terms of them finding it.
Speaker 1: They took a fully loaded Nissan Ultimate from me, so
Speaker 1: he couldn't fit it, but I couldn't fit it, but
Speaker 1: it'd be nice to have. Sometimes the finds are warranted, right,
Speaker 1: sometimes they are. In this league, I think there are
Speaker 1: some egregious actions out there on the field, and they
Speaker 1: got to be really egregious. They got to be something like,
Speaker 1: you know, trying to put a guy in the headlock
Speaker 1: and take his helmet off. But during the course of
Speaker 1: let's just take pass rush for instance, right, Leonard Floyd
Speaker 1: came in on a pass rush and he beat his
Speaker 1: guy and he's going there and he touches the top
Speaker 1: of the guy's helmet. I think it was in Miami
Speaker 1: supposed to rush with their hands up. What do you do? Right?
Speaker 1: And so at this point it's just it gets kind
Speaker 1: of frustrating. But the thing is you have to play
Speaker 1: within the rules of the game. You don't have a choice.
Speaker 1: Have you ever lost any momentum because you know, sometimes
Speaker 1: people are really luctant to hit the quarterbacks hard. Are
Speaker 1: you still playing initially with the same momentum you've always
Speaker 1: played with, and then maybe control depending upon how you're
Speaker 1: getting blocked to flow the play. It's now it's turned
Speaker 1: into one of the scariest feelings in the world to
Speaker 1: just have the quarterback, you know, dead in your sights
Speaker 1: and you've beat your guy and you come off your
Speaker 1: block and you're saying to yourself, oh, I'm gonna tattoo them.
Speaker 1: And you get there and you're like, oh, man, I
Speaker 1: gotta pull this off and maybe fall to the side
Speaker 1: a little bit so I don't catch a fine. But
Speaker 1: you know, the early highlights of you throughout the season,
Speaker 1: the conclusion of your tackles are really violent. Whether you're
Speaker 1: throwing around Josh Rosen or Aaron Rodgers, or it's a
Speaker 1: running back that you get behind the line of scrimmage,
Speaker 1: it's got to be the intent to conclude them with emphasis.
Speaker 1: I started playing football because you got to hit people, right.
Speaker 1: I enjoy running full speed and throwing my body and
Speaker 1: the somebody else. I don't know if there's something wrong
Speaker 1: with me because of that, but I'll say this, it
Speaker 1: does take a little bit of, like you said, momentum
Speaker 1: off your your your play off the game, and I'm
Speaker 1: sure the fans want to see us hit people hard, right. Okay, Well,
Speaker 1: we talked about bringing back the monsters in the midway defense,
Speaker 1: that physicality that inmidation, that you want teams to know
Speaker 1: that they're gonna feel you as they leave Soldier Field
Speaker 1: when loser draw, and you know that kind of flies
Speaker 1: in the face with I had a conversation with some
Speaker 1: folks today about how many years we've been calling games
Speaker 1: and do you feel the brutality of the game, And
Speaker 1: it was brought to my focus because of the injury
Speaker 1: to Kyle Long and what it sounded like over the
Speaker 1: parabolic mic. I just asked that the mic be turned
Speaker 1: away because he was screaming. I mean, he was in
Speaker 1: a lot of pain, and so, yeah, you have to respect.
Speaker 1: I think there's a respect level there. But that doesn't
Speaker 1: mean I don't love hard hits, right. I love the
Speaker 1: physicality the game as a fan, as an announcer, and
Speaker 1: the game is still rough, right. This is week eight,
Speaker 1: and I know I was late coming in here because
Speaker 1: I was trying to get in the hot tub loosing
Speaker 1: up my back. But it's just the game is still rough, right,
Speaker 1: The game is still hard hitting, but you know there's
Speaker 1: an aspect that's been taken away and we'll see how
Speaker 1: the rules play out. Would you have been fined by
Speaker 1: any chance last year in New Orleans when your engine
Speaker 1: was running hot because there was the Saints for a
Speaker 1: lot of different reasons, and your rag dog drew Breeze
Speaker 1: down to the ground and got to him. Would you
Speaker 1: you think that would have been a flag last year?
Speaker 1: I will buy five new fully loaded Ultimates if I
Speaker 1: can hit your breezes again. It's one of my favorite
Speaker 1: things to do. So I would have taken the fine
Speaker 1: happily last year, but that would be this year in
Speaker 1: the playoffs when you get the chance. So listen, I mean,
Speaker 1: do you from the time you you know you in
Speaker 1: good times in bad you're a believer. You're a believer
Speaker 1: in your guys, whether they're winning or not. You're a
Speaker 1: believing in your guys. But there are certain times when
Speaker 1: I can just see it on your face when not
Speaker 1: that you never meant it before you do mean what
Speaker 1: you say, But you really have a lot of love
Speaker 1: for this group of guys, not just the defensive players,
Speaker 1: but the locker room. When did that kick in for
Speaker 1: you for this edition of Bears? When did you know it?
Speaker 1: Because I think there's a lot of guys that know it.
Speaker 1: There's something special about an NFL locker room. You can
Speaker 1: attest to this just in general and you've seen it
Speaker 1: a million times yourself. There's something special about a NFL
Speaker 1: locker room and being around your boys all day and
Speaker 1: working together and grinding together, winning games, sometimes losing games.
Speaker 1: You have that brotherhood established. And just being here for
Speaker 1: my third year with the Bears and having the same
Speaker 1: guys around me for the most part, it's, uh, we
Speaker 1: just get closer and closer. For instance, tonight, we're having
Speaker 1: dinner at my house right my girlfriend's cooking lasagna and
Speaker 1: we're gonna sit there, we're gonna tear it apart and
Speaker 1: talk some trash, and it's just that that that fellowship.
Speaker 1: It's just it just means so much. And when you
Speaker 1: step on the field and and there's a play and
Speaker 1: you want to make a play for your boy, make
Speaker 1: a play for your guy, and just have fun together. Man.
Speaker 1: You know it's cool about this defense is you're being
Speaker 1: complimented by the development of this offense. And you could
Speaker 1: see this months ago when you guys are on one
Speaker 1: side of the ball and your your defense is getting
Speaker 1: better than you see what this offense is doing, what
Speaker 1: their capabilities are. So that's got to be even more
Speaker 1: fun for the defense to be great because what this
Speaker 1: offense is going to provide. It's awesome. We actually get
Speaker 1: a break this year. We get to come off the
Speaker 1: field for a couple of plays. Um Our offense is
Speaker 1: just firing on all cylinders. It's something that Naggie is
Speaker 1: brought here. Just you know, there's a there's an element
Speaker 1: of just swagger and and excitement behind their offense because
Speaker 1: you never know who's going to get the ball. You
Speaker 1: never know how this play is gonna happen. I remember
Speaker 1: we was the first play in Green Bay that came
Speaker 1: out in the T formation. Like it's just it's awesome. Man.
Speaker 1: Our offense is rolling in. As a defense, you just
Speaker 1: get behind that and keep him out of the end
Speaker 1: zone and you can win a lot of games. What
Speaker 1: old school Jersey? Did you pick? Mike Singletary? He did?
Speaker 1: I had to. I got to meet Mike Singletary in
Speaker 1: New Orleans in my third or fourth year and he
Speaker 1: was in the building and I happened to be passing by,
Speaker 1: and I came in the D line room and we
Speaker 1: just sat there and talked for like forty minutes. And
Speaker 1: I don't know if he remembers it, but it meant
Speaker 1: a lot to meet because it was somebody that I
Speaker 1: grew up, you know what I'm saying, Like watching the
Speaker 1: NFL films and seeing this guy in his intensity and
Speaker 1: how he played, and I just have a lot of
Speaker 1: respect for that, and even more so after getting a
Speaker 1: chance to sit on and speak with him. His actual
Speaker 1: sized jersey probably wouldn't fit you without shoulders that he
Speaker 1: had shoulder pads underneath, because he's not a big guy,
Speaker 1: but I mean he is. I always say he's one
Speaker 1: of the most well prepared, professionally dedicated athletes I've ever
Speaker 1: been around. Yeah, yeah, did you guys genuinely appreciate that?
Speaker 1: By the way, the Legends uniforms, what was the buzz light?
Speaker 1: What was a buzz of seeing those guys in their
Speaker 1: cheese and familar to hear just because they get you know,
Speaker 1: it's it's like something from the past and you get
Speaker 1: to pull that and you get to wear it, and
Speaker 1: it's just there was a feeling behind I think Nagi
Speaker 1: knew what he was doing. Well, you gotta get these
Speaker 1: things signed and frame, then that's that's that's memory, right,
Speaker 1: Giving it a shot, Give it a shot. A Keem
Speaker 1: Hicks our guest here on bears All Access here until
Speaker 1: seven o'clock tonight on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy. The
Speaker 1: score M there and now you're doing it. Keep it going, man,
Speaker 1: you want to read the spot too. The Chicago Bears
Speaker 1: Network presents Inside the Bears, brought to you by a Verizon.
Speaker 1: Anthony Adams and Lauren Screeden cover the world of Bears
Speaker 1: football on it off the field every Sunday night. It
Speaker 1: eleven o five pm on Fox thirty two Chicago. I
Speaker 1: watch anytime at Chicago Bears dot com or on the
Speaker 1: Bears official app. Jeff and Tom here with a Keem Hicks.
Speaker 1: I mentioned Anthony Adams. I gotta share one quick funny story.
Speaker 1: I think it's funny anyway. So we're on a Bears
Speaker 1: trip this summer to Punta Kana and at the end
Speaker 1: of the trip there was a Q and a session
Speaker 1: with Kim and some of the fellas. Uh Adrian Amos
Speaker 1: was there, and Marcus Cooper and who else was there?
Speaker 1: Charles Leno, Charles Leno yes, and then uh, and so
Speaker 1: I'm going through my questioning and all that, and all
Speaker 1: of a sudden I say, hey, you know, I don't
Speaker 1: know if you heard the news today, but Anthony Adams
Speaker 1: was named the Bear's new defensive line coach. And you
Speaker 1: should have seen the look on A Kim's face. He's
Speaker 1: like looking around, is this really? All the guys are talking?
Speaker 1: And I had them going, I had him, had him cold.
Speaker 1: I'm asking, you know, comment on Anthony Ban your defensive
Speaker 1: line coach. And he answered the question like, why did
Speaker 1: you do that? I thought it was funny. It was funny, man,
Speaker 1: it was very very funny. And Anthony Anthony, you know,
Speaker 1: I was on the trip too, so and Anthony played
Speaker 1: it up obviously. So then all the wives and the
Speaker 1: girlfriends and friends were asking Anthony's wife, is this is it? Congratulations?
Speaker 1: You know? Can you imagine? How do you take him? Seriously?
Speaker 1: There will be so much energy in that room. I
Speaker 1: mean there would be constant laughter. I'm sure we'd find
Speaker 1: our way onto his Instagram page, but it would be awesome.
Speaker 1: Everybody enjoyed that. But Jay Rodgers the only one I
Speaker 1: didn't get a kick out that give away. Your own
Speaker 1: journey had play. That's a fair point, big Tim. Uh so. Uh.
Speaker 1: We talked a lot about the defense and about the
Speaker 1: chemistry of this football team, but we have you have
Speaker 1: to talk about the man that's stirring the pot. And
Speaker 1: that's the head coach, Matt Naggy. Just what he's doing,
Speaker 1: the buttons he's pushing, uh, the energy with which he
Speaker 1: comes to work every day, what he's like on the sideline.
Speaker 1: We got a little snippet of it fans did or
Speaker 1: what a sideline demeanor is. I don't know if you
Speaker 1: caught it. He was miked up during the game against
Speaker 1: the Jets. So he's fiery, and he's instructive, and he's motivational,
Speaker 1: and he had a great moment with Mitch Trubisky saying, Hey,
Speaker 1: I want greatness out of you here in the second half,
Speaker 1: and yes, sir, and went out had a much better
Speaker 1: second half. I mean, for a young guy forty years
Speaker 1: of age in his first NFL head coaching job, do
Speaker 1: you feel he's pressing a lot of the right buttons
Speaker 1: that a veteran coach might even do. No question, no question. Um,
Speaker 1: you know, it was my first time having a transition
Speaker 1: like that as far as you know, having a new
Speaker 1: head coach right in the middle of you know what
Speaker 1: my contract. And I wasn't scared, but I didn't know
Speaker 1: how I would be perceived or how I would perceive him.
Speaker 1: When he got here, I think that he instantly showed
Speaker 1: everybody in the room that he was prepared to be
Speaker 1: a head coach. And he's shown that week end and
Speaker 1: week out. Now, everybody makes mistakes, and when he makes
Speaker 1: a mistake, he calls on himself and he says he
Speaker 1: owns it in front of the team. And there's something,
Speaker 1: there's a character that that that goes with, and you know,
Speaker 1: as a player, you have to respect it. And I
Speaker 1: just think that he's done a great job of creating
Speaker 1: this locker room, creating this team, and having us in
Speaker 1: the right places to be successful. You know, Ryan Pace
Speaker 1: has done a nice job of bringing in high character guys,
Speaker 1: both of offensive free agents, and then they went out
Speaker 1: and drafted Roquan Smith. Tell us a little bit about
Speaker 1: his development, because what we see from a Bob is impressive.
Speaker 1: He can ron, he's a great athlete, he's intelligent, he's dedicated.
Speaker 1: He's got a guy like Danny Trevathan to learn from.
Speaker 1: But in the huddle, what do you see the differences
Speaker 1: from when he got here after his contract situation to
Speaker 1: where he is now. He reminds me of a lot
Speaker 1: a lot of Balah Nichols. He's just he's receptive, he
Speaker 1: wants the information, he wants to be a good football player.
Speaker 1: And when you have a guy that's self motivated, he
Speaker 1: can go so much further than somebody that you have
Speaker 1: to push every step of the way. And I think
Speaker 1: that he showed that when he first got here, and
Speaker 1: he's shown that every week to this point. You know
Speaker 1: Tom had in their day, they had to watch tape
Speaker 1: as a team after games, win, lose, or whatever. And
Speaker 1: I don't know that that's always been the case here,
Speaker 1: But if it hasn't, do you like it that way?
Speaker 1: I think that you have to have a good mixture
Speaker 1: of the of both of them. I think that you know,
Speaker 1: when you're separate and you get a chance to watch
Speaker 1: it with just your defense and just offense, that's great.
Speaker 1: But also when you come back in from a hard
Speaker 1: week and you get a chance as a team to
Speaker 1: sit here and watch you know, Trey Burton have five
Speaker 1: catches for one hundred yards and you get to watch
Speaker 1: there coo and go crazy. It's just awesome to see
Speaker 1: that side of the ball, you know in depth, and
Speaker 1: watch their good plays. They're bad plays too, right for
Speaker 1: both sides, but to just watch your teammates to be
Speaker 1: successful against other defenses. It's it's it's awesome, and it's
Speaker 1: a great benefit for us to watch. You watch it
Speaker 1: sometimes just as a second just as defensive line, because
Speaker 1: you know, things change for us like we're watching as
Speaker 1: an offense. You know it. Coaches could be a little
Speaker 1: bit softer on you just because you're with all your peers.
Speaker 1: But when you get in that closed room where you
Speaker 1: only got the eight guys or the ten offensive lineman,
Speaker 1: the evaluation and the strictness of what's being said to you,
Speaker 1: it is amped up a little bit. Is at the
Speaker 1: same I think that you know with with coach Nagy,
Speaker 1: we get such a mixture of the boath. Like I
Speaker 1: said previously, is that you know, we get to see
Speaker 1: those plays together and there's no softenness in in in
Speaker 1: Coach Nage easy. He lets you know how it is, straightforward.
Speaker 1: He's um, it's good, it's good. Let's live it at that.
Speaker 1: You've had a lot of you've had a lot of
Speaker 1: different types of coaches already in your career. With three
Speaker 1: stops uh from the legendary Bill Belichick, Sean Payton also
Speaker 1: an outstanding coach to being here with John Fox and
Speaker 1: now being here with with Matt Nagi. Um, you'll learn
Speaker 1: something from everybody that has infiltreated, infiltrated the way you
Speaker 1: play the game in any way, or learned the game.
Speaker 1: Most definitely, I try to take something from everybody that
Speaker 1: I come in contact with, especially when it comes to football. Um.
Speaker 1: I think that you know, I had certain lessons when
Speaker 1: I was in New Orleans, certain lessons when I was
Speaker 1: in New England, and uh, you know, then coming here
Speaker 1: and having coach Fox, you know, coach has been coaching
Speaker 1: the Leaf for thirty years and just seeing everything and anything,
Speaker 1: you know from both sides of the ball it. Um,
Speaker 1: It's been a great ride for me and I've got
Speaker 1: to to learn under some of the best coaches in
Speaker 1: the league. I thought it was great that Coach Nagie,
Speaker 1: when he did get highter as a head coach, that
Speaker 1: he was mature enough to keep Vic Fangio here because
Speaker 1: a lot of guys that you know, they you don't
Speaker 1: want to be in the same age group. But it's
Speaker 1: a lot of respect that Matt has for Vic to
Speaker 1: be able to continue the process that he started with
Speaker 1: you guys a couple of years ago. I think that
Speaker 1: he knew that it was necessary for us to have,
Speaker 1: you know, that continuity on that side of the ball,
Speaker 1: because we had played good football over the past couple
Speaker 1: of years. Do we have the results in the games
Speaker 1: that we wanted? No? But did we play good, hard
Speaker 1: football being coached by Big Fangio. We sure did, all right.
Speaker 1: You know we talked about Bala Nicholson before the season.
Speaker 1: You were also very high, and so was Tom. Anybody
Speaker 1: in the nineties on the team he wanted. He thought
Speaker 1: it was important at the nineties became the number nineties
Speaker 1: allus you guys would be really significantly improving. You know,
Speaker 1: these young guys Bullard I'm talking about, and Roy Robertson
Speaker 1: Harris and Eddie Goldman, and that would be one of
Speaker 1: the major keys for the season. Do you see all
Speaker 1: of that happening? I was definitely do. I was so
Speaker 1: happy when they, you know, extended Eddie, just to know
Speaker 1: that I'll have a guy next to me for the
Speaker 1: next few years, that it's going to dominate centers across
Speaker 1: the league. It's phenomenal. All right, let's take a break.
Speaker 1: We got one more segment to go with a Keem Hicks.
Speaker 1: The Bears defensive lineman. I mean he's already. I'm telling
Speaker 1: you he's got Pro Bowl written all over him this year,
Speaker 1: There's no question about it. I'll go do you name it.
Speaker 1: Things are looking good for the Bears. We'll have more
Speaker 1: coming up on Bears All Access on Chicago Sports Radio
Speaker 1: six seventy the Score, and we got to thank a
Speaker 1: Keen Hicks's ruining us tonight here on Bears All Access.
Speaker 1: Ruth's Chris would like to have you except this one
Speaker 1: hundred dollars gift certificate to enjoy one of their chicagol
Speaker 1: That area steakhouses, and not because you were unfortunately fine.
Speaker 1: You know, this is just their very good generosity. But
Speaker 1: you can't beat the steak obviously. Thank you, Chris, Ruth. Chris, Yes,
Speaker 1: So enjoy, enjoy, have a good time, and enjoy on
Speaker 1: Bears All Access here a few more minutes with a
Speaker 1: team Hicks. So it's off the Buffalo. Without having looked
Speaker 1: at your playing career, obviously played in the EFC, so
Speaker 1: I don't know if that was in time enough to
Speaker 1: go to Buffalo. But have you been to Buffalo if
Speaker 1: you played in Buffalo, because I don't know that you
Speaker 1: have I don't think that I have all these years
Speaker 1: start running together after while, you know, But I don't
Speaker 1: think that I've been to Buffalo. Yeah, the stadiums. I
Speaker 1: haven't been to our Buffalo, the Redskins and San Diego. Okay,
Speaker 1: well you won't be going to San Diego White four
Speaker 1: more years maybe maybe, But it is an experience. It's
Speaker 1: you know, it's small town obviously, but it's a it's
Speaker 1: a football town. So Matt Negge has preached from the
Speaker 1: moment he started the Coaches Show on Monday night. Uh man,
Speaker 1: he's serious. These fans are are into it. It's going
Speaker 1: to be loud, it's going to be a blue collar
Speaker 1: atmosphere from the Buffalo Bills. Is that, in fact what
Speaker 1: he's been hammering in your heads? As well as a
Speaker 1: football team, Oh, most definitely, most definitely. He is um.
Speaker 1: He said, it's a small town feel kind of like
Speaker 1: going into Green Bay and you know, you just you're
Speaker 1: going through the neighborhoods and you just come up on
Speaker 1: the stadium and so I'm excited to see it. And
Speaker 1: I even heard actually today, I think it was somebody
Speaker 1: in the media. I said that they jumped through tables.
Speaker 1: They do a lot do these backflops. You know, which
Speaker 1: was weird for me and during my career, is this
Speaker 1: is going to be your first four quarter game on AstroTurf.
Speaker 1: All the other games so far that you have played
Speaker 1: has been on natural surface, even in Arizona. For me,
Speaker 1: it was weird playing my first regular season game on
Speaker 1: turf then, because I really like natural grass a lot more.
Speaker 1: Are you a natural grass guy? Do you feel faster
Speaker 1: on turf? Because it affected some guys differently that I
Speaker 1: played with it. They felt swifter on AstroTurf. You know,
Speaker 1: the the the wide receivers and the dbs, they all
Speaker 1: rave about playing on fast grass and stuff like that.
Speaker 1: For defensive linement and offensive linem we just want to
Speaker 1: be able to get our cleatsnea ground and hit somebody
Speaker 1: in the mouth. So I love natural grass and you
Speaker 1: get a little bit more DG you know, when you're
Speaker 1: taking on those double teams, you get a dig in
Speaker 1: the ground, and you know, it's just it's a different field.
Speaker 1: That's how we grew up playing right on regular grad right,
Speaker 1: but you know, not having the opportunity since the preseason
Speaker 1: and only playing none or a couple of snaps, it's different.
Speaker 1: When you have, now, what the seventh eighth game of
Speaker 1: the year, and this is your first turf game, it
Speaker 1: is different. So with the Bills, you know, I guess
Speaker 1: maybe I'm being naive, I don't know, but this Bears
Speaker 1: team is a young, hungry bunch. There's a few veterans
Speaker 1: like yourself obviously, that are knocking on thirties door. I
Speaker 1: don't know that you hit that yet, right, wait a second,
Speaker 1: But anyway, the point is that I don't think this
Speaker 1: team is capable of overlooking an opponent because, honestly, there's
Speaker 1: still a waste to go for you guys. You guys
Speaker 1: know that too. You guys have still a lot to
Speaker 1: prove to yourselves, let alone to fans and everybody in
Speaker 1: this building. So when I see a two in whatever
Speaker 1: football team that has problems at quarterback, yeah I get it.
Speaker 1: But they've already beaten the minute the Vikings. They've already
Speaker 1: beaten Tennessee when they were in first place. So they
Speaker 1: are capable despite what we perceive as their limitations. Is
Speaker 1: that how you approach this. Naggie has an analogy is
Speaker 1: talking about teams that you know, I have been beaten
Speaker 1: a couple of times and aren't even good place to
Speaker 1: calls them a wounded dog, right, And when you get
Speaker 1: a wounded dog in the corner, what are they gonna
Speaker 1: do if you walk upon them, They're gonna try to
Speaker 1: bite you, right, And so I think our mentality going
Speaker 1: into this game is to not give them a chance
Speaker 1: to bite us and just come out there and play
Speaker 1: the best football we know how to play. And like
Speaker 1: you said, we have a lot to prove. We have
Speaker 1: a lot to prove to ourselves. We lost two tough
Speaker 1: games in the past couple of weeks, and you know,
Speaker 1: one in Miami where their bench was shaded, but we
Speaker 1: won't talk about that, and then against New England where
Speaker 1: it was a hard fought game but we gave up
Speaker 1: two special teams touchdowns. I think that, you know, for
Speaker 1: this team, we really feel like we have you said
Speaker 1: it a lot to prove to ourselves and to our fans. Well,
Speaker 1: you're just gonna play your system. That's the thing that
Speaker 1: Matt Naggie has been preaching every week is offensively speaking,
Speaker 1: it's not necessarily who you're playing, and it's how your
Speaker 1: offense is going to improve the next week. And it's
Speaker 1: got to be the same for the defense because with
Speaker 1: the pieces you have in place, the interchangeable parts, the
Speaker 1: guys moving around, it's the same process is making sure
Speaker 1: you play good defensive system football against the opponent you're
Speaker 1: playing against. And it's a message that I drive home
Speaker 1: to our guys on the defense is that it's about us.
Speaker 1: You know, any team could step out there and do
Speaker 1: what they want to do, but it's about us at
Speaker 1: the end of the day. How are we playing our blocks,
Speaker 1: How are we getting to the ball? How are we
Speaker 1: taking away the ball? You know, how we perform is
Speaker 1: going to dictate this game. Are you as loud as
Speaker 1: you've ever been in the locker room now? Meaning you
Speaker 1: have a you have a bear voice? How are you
Speaker 1: and are you embracing that? Yeah? How do you do it?
Speaker 1: I definitely am um. You know, there's a there's a
Speaker 1: small amount of wizard that comes with, you know, playing
Speaker 1: the NFL for seven years and and playing thousands upon
Speaker 1: thousands of snaps. You you just you've seen it before.
Speaker 1: You've seen a lot of things before that guys haven't seen,
Speaker 1: and you know it's it's it's really it's very humbling
Speaker 1: to have guys come to you and look for guidance
Speaker 1: in certain situations. So I'm definitely embracing my role and
Speaker 1: just trying to perform like everybody else. Do you dance
Speaker 1: when the disco ball goes up? And yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: you got to celebrate your wins. Man, I'm giving it
Speaker 1: all I got. I get more tired sometimes in the
Speaker 1: locker room than I do in the game. Just a
Speaker 1: little bit of the footage we see, I mean, it's
Speaker 1: it's a group, it's a it's a great it's a
Speaker 1: great atmosphere, and it's fun. Just not having been a
Speaker 1: part of that, you know, being a big guy back
Speaker 1: in the day, I would have been in the background,
Speaker 1: not dancing. It's new to me. It's new to me
Speaker 1: to have that type of celebration in the locker room after.
Speaker 1: But I can see the benefits, you know, when you
Speaker 1: go out there and you lay it all out on
Speaker 1: the field for four quarters and you come in there
Speaker 1: victorious and your guys are there and you the energy
Speaker 1: is good, turn the music on, the light start flash,
Speaker 1: and I can't help me. Well, I can't wait to
Speaker 1: see the video, and I can't wait for you to
Speaker 1: experience it. When you have what you would call a
Speaker 1: signature win for the season. That kind of is a
Speaker 1: benchmark moment for the team to go take themselves to
Speaker 1: the next level. That's want it will really like. You'd
Speaker 1: be looking forward to getting in there for sure most
Speaker 1: definitely once we uh, you know, the team that plays
Speaker 1: the best ball in December gets that opportunity, you know,
Speaker 1: so we got to go. I believe, I do believe.
Speaker 1: I hear it all the time, you know, if you
Speaker 1: if you love the game, you'll listen to some of
Speaker 1: the stars of the game that have experienced great success.
Speaker 1: And Tom Brady always talks about it really doesn't get
Speaker 1: started until around Thanksgiving. And I went back last week
Speaker 1: and I went back and looked at Matt Neeggie's experience
Speaker 1: in Philadelphia and Kansas City after about in November twentieth,
Speaker 1: and in almost every case the records were five and two,
Speaker 1: seven and one, six and three, eight game winning streak here,
Speaker 1: five game winning streak here. Because that's really when it
Speaker 1: gets serious. Tom and I laughed about it the other
Speaker 1: day at season hasn't even started yet. You gotta be
Speaker 1: in you gotta be in the conversation. You can't be
Speaker 1: like Oakland and San Francisco tonight exactly but so you
Speaker 1: you you punch your way through the tough spots and
Speaker 1: you try to round into shape at some point and
Speaker 1: become a team with a certain identity which I don't
Speaker 1: even know if you your identity yet, honestly do you
Speaker 1: as a team probably still being team. We're chosling things out,
Speaker 1: but as a defense because I can only speak to defense,
Speaker 1: because that's where I put my work in at UM
Speaker 1: as a defense are I think that we are very
Speaker 1: established as far as what we want in the culture
Speaker 1: that we have in this building. We are coming out
Speaker 1: to hit you. We're coming out to hit you, and
Speaker 1: we want you to feel every piece of it. It's
Speaker 1: nice to see that everybody's a part of that because
Speaker 1: you can you look at a guy like Bryce Pan
Speaker 1: and the opportunities he's given, whether he's running through bodies
Speaker 1: and making a hit at the line of Scrimmager, it
Speaker 1: seems like everybody's all in. And that's that's the neat
Speaker 1: thing to see, is everybody is kind of fulfill their
Speaker 1: agreement with the guys in the locker room by show
Speaker 1: and we're gonna do what's asked of us. It's it's
Speaker 1: it's an awesome thing to see to watch this see
Speaker 1: because they didn't just start this year, right and if
Speaker 1: this has been growing in our locker room, right in
Speaker 1: our defensive room, point you know what I mean. It's
Speaker 1: it's something that we've gotten to. Like, we worked to
Speaker 1: get to this point to where when teams come to
Speaker 1: play us, sayre like, oh man, dude, they're gonna hit
Speaker 1: us in the mouth. Um. We love that feeling and
Speaker 1: we want to continue that. Who are tightess with on
Speaker 1: the team right now? Oh man, I've had a lot
Speaker 1: of guys that I really like to leave. Drell Freeman left,
Speaker 1: Willie Young left, Pnemi Fie left, my guy, You're the
Speaker 1: guy now? But who hangs out with the key guys?
Speaker 1: Talk about hold I am one more time. It's the
Speaker 1: experienced part of it, because when you talk about those guys,
Speaker 1: they have a great deal of experience in their NFL lifetimes. Yeah.
Speaker 1: What I'll say is my guy on the locker room
Speaker 1: right now is a Danny True eight than man. He
Speaker 1: just he just has my back. I got his back, man,
Speaker 1: And it's a great relationship to have with your middle linebacker. Yes,
Speaker 1: oh man. We just look out for each other on
Speaker 1: and off the field. It's It's a great love how
Speaker 1: he plays love, his emotion and energy and his h
Speaker 1: want to each and every Sunday. All right, we look
Speaker 1: forward to watching you against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday.
Speaker 1: Thank you for taking the time and joining us tonight.
Speaker 1: Thank you, Kim Hicks. Everybody Bears defensive lineman here on
Speaker 1: Bears All Access. Thanks as always to Jordan tread Up.
Speaker 1: Thanks to pauls Ran rangineer at Adam Chauzinski in our
Speaker 1: Score Studios for a Keiman tempt there. I'm Jeff Joe Act.
Speaker 1: Have a good night, everybody. Bears Bill Sunday nine am
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