Speaker 1: Welcome in to Bears Weekly powered.
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Speaker 3: Here are your hosts, Jeff Jilliac aka the Mayor of
Speaker 3: Bearsville and his sidekick Tom the Surfmaster Thayer.
Speaker 5: Well. After facing three straight second year quarterbacks, the Bears
Speaker 5: now deal with a crafty, consistent sixteen year veteran Matthew
Speaker 5: Stafford and the La Rams at Soldier Field. On Sunday,
Speaker 5: Jeff joniak on Bears Weekly with my Super Bowl winning
Speaker 5: Bears guard and partner Tom Thayer. Here on ESPN one
Speaker 5: thousands of Bears Radio Network joining us this week as
Speaker 5: well for a couple of segments. Jim Miller will be
Speaker 5: along the former Bears QB. We've got Roma Doonsday coming up,
Speaker 5: Big Tom. We got the Voice of the Rams, JB. Long,
Speaker 5: we got Coordinator Talk. We've got all kinds of surprises
Speaker 5: for you tonight. We're audio tonight in the ESPN studio,
Speaker 5: spinning the dials. Charlie Bevins and thanks to our producers
Speaker 5: Dan Brilly and Jordan Trunip, and the executive producer of
Speaker 5: the Bears Ready Network is Eric Ostrotski.
Speaker 6: Tom, we got the Rams coming to town. Baby, Let's
Speaker 6: go big, Jeff.
Speaker 7: I feel like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz because
Speaker 7: I click my heels and I just want to be home.
Speaker 7: And I think for the next two weeks, we're gonna
Speaker 7: learn a lot more about the Bears, about what type
Speaker 7: of control they have on offense and how aggressive they
Speaker 7: can be defensively.
Speaker 6: So I'm excited to see what happens. Yeah, it's gonna
Speaker 6: be fun to watch.
Speaker 5: Always respect Sean McVay, I always respect Matthew Stafford. They're
Speaker 5: just brilliant football people, brilliant minds, and that alone can
Speaker 5: be a challenge for a team no matter what else
Speaker 5: is on the roster. When you got a Matthew Stafford
Speaker 5: and a guy like that particular head coach making decisions
Speaker 5: in calm plays.
Speaker 7: Yeah, nothing's gonna be He's in the NFL, and that's
Speaker 7: the great thing about this league. But I think if
Speaker 7: you can be the Chicago Bears and you can go
Speaker 7: home and you can have a performance that you can
Speaker 7: be proud of. What a sense of accomplishment, what a
Speaker 7: sense of improvement. That's exactly what this football team is
Speaker 7: looking for. And this is what you want to look
Speaker 7: forward to seeing.
Speaker 5: All Right, Bears injury report pretty long, Bakers doesn't on there,
Speaker 5: Darnell right limited, Kevin Byrd unable to go to day,
Speaker 5: Keenan Allen though back on a limited basis, trying to
Speaker 5: get back on the field. Get the three guys that
Speaker 5: are your top three weapons in the receiver game on
Speaker 5: the field for Sunday. That would be great as the
Speaker 5: Bears look to win their seventh in a row at
Speaker 5: home dating back to last season. That's the longest active
Speaker 5: streak in the NFL. So some good news. Billings also
Speaker 5: been practice. Maybe that's a little rest, I don't know,
Speaker 5: but he has a sore knee as well, so there's
Speaker 5: others on there. But don't want to lose Billings, certainly
Speaker 5: not against this Rams team that does like to run
Speaker 5: the ball as well with kyn.
Speaker 6: I don't want to lose any of those guys.
Speaker 7: But the real reality of it is, per game day,
Speaker 7: if you're gonna say that you're healthy and ready to
Speaker 7: go on a game day activation, you got to be
Speaker 7: ready to go. For four quarters. You can't go out
Speaker 7: there and say I'll give it a try in the
Speaker 7: first quarter and if it doesn't work out, then put
Speaker 7: in my substitution, because then that roster is down one guy.
Speaker 7: So some of these veterans and some of these young
Speaker 7: guys are gonna have to be honest with the coaching staff.
Speaker 5: All right, let's talk about the Bears run game for
Speaker 5: a minute. Had a chance the offensive assistants were available
Speaker 5: this week, so I had a chance to talk with
Speaker 5: Chad Morton, the Bear's running back coach, and I asked him, Hey,
Speaker 5: is it possible that in this league running backs can
Speaker 5: press a little bit and maybe like quarterbacks or receivers
Speaker 5: who fight the football whatever. Here's his answer as he
Speaker 5: goes into what's been going on with the Bears rushing offense.
Speaker 8: Oh?
Speaker 7: Absolutely, yeah, absolutely so do you see some of that now?
Speaker 9: Even I don't really see it right now. I don't.
Speaker 9: I just think it's just like everybody has to be better,
Speaker 9: you know what I mean. It's not it's not a
Speaker 9: running back, it's not a you know, just the old lie.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 4: The receivers are a big.
Speaker 9: Factor in that. The tight ends, even the quarterbacks carrying
Speaker 9: out fakes, you know, being good with the motions, just everything.
Speaker 9: So there's just a lot of stuff that we all
Speaker 9: have to get better at. And it was coaches too.
Speaker 9: You know you're better at you know, creating great plays
Speaker 9: and you know we all have a part in this thing.
Speaker 5: So as a coach, you as a former NFL player,
Speaker 5: when you see a guy pressing, like, what's the what
Speaker 5: are the signs.
Speaker 4: That you Oh, that's a good.
Speaker 1: One, a sign of something you went through.
Speaker 9: Yeah, just when you start looking for you know, you
Speaker 9: don't trust stuff. You know, you don't. You don't trust
Speaker 9: where the intended run is supposed to go. You just
Speaker 9: you know, get the ball and you start dancing around
Speaker 9: and looking everywhere else where you know, besides whereas the
Speaker 9: ball is supposed to go, and not pressing it because
Speaker 9: you just want to hurt and get there. You see
Speaker 9: open space, so you just take off that way without
Speaker 9: because every every run is designed right, you got to
Speaker 9: press it, get the flow of the linebackers, get the
Speaker 9: linemen going, cutting it back, whatever it is. So when
Speaker 9: you start seeing that, that's when you really got to
Speaker 9: get on the guys and just really tell them about
Speaker 9: trusting it and just stick with the details, the design
Speaker 9: of the play, and then just execute the best of
Speaker 9: your ability.
Speaker 5: There's still a point of attack, and there's cutbacks are
Speaker 5: welcome and so forth. But it is a there is
Speaker 5: a design point of attack on even outside.
Speaker 9: Absolutely, I mean all these runs, I mean you just
Speaker 9: you just read it out. I mean there's there's keys
Speaker 9: and things that backs are reading. So I mean it's
Speaker 9: really pretty simple.
Speaker 4: It really is.
Speaker 9: And then with the guys that separate themselves is after
Speaker 9: they get through the hole and then they you know,
Speaker 9: then their natural ability takes over and then that's the
Speaker 9: ones that separate. But like I tell these guys, from
Speaker 9: point A to point B, you guys should all look
Speaker 9: the same that first cut. It should all be the same.
Speaker 9: Then after that you do what you do. If you're
Speaker 9: a big guy, run them over. If you're a quicker guy,
Speaker 9: you can make a miss whatever, or do both, you know.
Speaker 9: But we have to be detailed from the running back
Speaker 9: standpoint of A to B where we get the handoff,
Speaker 9: we you know, press the hole and they'll make our
Speaker 9: cut from there and then we go.
Speaker 5: All right, Tom there, Tom and I can see each
Speaker 5: other on zoom. He's nodding his head affirmatively. So I'll
Speaker 5: give you the floor and Jim Miller will join us.
Speaker 5: Now he's on with us here on ESPN one thousand
Speaker 5: of the Bears. Ready, Now we're go ahead, Tommy.
Speaker 7: Very specific to the run game, and I've been saying
Speaker 7: this for the last couple of weeks. The way you
Speaker 7: want to get the most improvement in your running game
Speaker 7: and the best evaluation of how the guys are doing
Speaker 7: in front, you got to hit the hole on the
Speaker 7: inside running game. You got to trust that the offensive
Speaker 7: line is going to develop a hole from the first
Speaker 7: level to the second level, and then you become a
Speaker 7: running back. So Chad Morton, he's wise beyond his years
Speaker 7: and he's got experience. Because it's exactly what I've been
Speaker 7: saying the last couple of weeks.
Speaker 5: Say Jim, I'm sure you agree as well. How you doing,
Speaker 5: by the way, Well.
Speaker 10: Yeah, I'm doing great. Obviously. You know what the Bears
Speaker 10: to succeed, you know, a very exciting year with a
Speaker 10: lot of goodwill that has been built up, and you know,
Speaker 10: like we said, I think it's going to take to
Speaker 10: week eight or week nine. You know, it's a shame
Speaker 10: that you mentioned Jeff that they missed the opportunities against
Speaker 10: these young quarterbacks. I mean, Anthony Richardson didn't complete fifty
Speaker 10: percent of his passes, and so now the test becomes tougher.
Speaker 10: But the offense has to get up and running and
Speaker 10: humming minimum by week nine because week twelve all those
Speaker 10: division games. Here's what I'd say. Obviously they got to
Speaker 10: run the ball a lot better. You know, you mentioned
Speaker 10: Tom about right being limited. They've had some issues up
Speaker 10: on their offensive line. And as Tom just mentioned on
Speaker 10: the inside zone run and Chad Morton met this is
Speaker 10: not hard stuff, all right. You just played a basically
Speaker 10: a four to five defense. If you're running inside zone run,
Speaker 10: if the weak side backer crosses basically the center, you're
Speaker 10: cutting that sucker back. If he flows over the top,
Speaker 10: you know it'll open up either front side or backside,
Speaker 10: depending on what the backers do. And I'd say the
Speaker 10: same for the outside zone run. It's not complicated stuff.
Speaker 10: But they have to run the football better to really
Speaker 10: protect a young quarterback fifty two times throwing I think
Speaker 10: probably all Chicago's No, that's not the map the roadmap
Speaker 10: you want for young Caleb Williams.
Speaker 5: No, Jim, what are other observations. We talked to you
Speaker 5: a couple of weeks ago. You're gonna be joining us
Speaker 5: every couple weeks here. What are the things that you
Speaker 5: noticed so far about the Bears.
Speaker 10: Well, I just think for him, like the two interceptions
Speaker 10: obviously forcing the ball, he's going to learn that. You
Speaker 10: just got to move on your read. There'll be a
Speaker 10: point in time in the future where he'll be able
Speaker 10: to get that stuff. And like the one that bounced
Speaker 10: off of Roma Doonsay, that was actually it hit Roma
Speaker 10: Donsay in the chest. Yes, but it's a tight throw.
Speaker 10: I think we know it's double coverage there. Just move
Speaker 10: on and your read with different golt of jerseys. You're
Speaker 10: the coverage is going to get you to the right guy,
Speaker 10: but you've got to get through your reads with speed
Speaker 10: set and throw an accurate ball. Last week, I think
Speaker 10: we all know, for granted credit Kleby got the two
Speaker 10: touchdown passes, but the three turnovers, the four sacks. It's
Speaker 10: got to stop guys and they got to be able
Speaker 10: to run the ball.
Speaker 6: Yes, and to me, the play action plays off of that. Tom.
Speaker 6: We saw it work. We saw it work.
Speaker 5: First couple weeks there was only eleven play action attempts
Speaker 5: according to Pro Football Focus. I haven't checked what it
Speaker 5: was this past week, but it definitely paid off with
Speaker 5: the big play to Donsay.
Speaker 6: We'll be talking to him later on of the show.
Speaker 6: So two things there.
Speaker 7: You know, Caleb from the podium on Wednesday, he was
Speaker 7: talking about how he needs this running game, excuse me,
Speaker 7: to average four yards per carry, and if you can
Speaker 7: do that, you can really set yourself up offensively. But
Speaker 7: if you're averaging four yards of carry, it can be
Speaker 7: a lot more influential in the past play action passing game.
Speaker 6: So that's what you need to get out of it.
Speaker 7: It's not looking for unrealistic yards attached to the run game.
Speaker 7: It's just got to have a nuts enough of an
Speaker 7: attachment where it's an influence.
Speaker 5: And Jim, this Rams defense that we look to look
Speaker 5: forward to this matchup. I mean, obviously, if you look
Speaker 5: at the numbers, you're gonna think this offense, these defense
Speaker 5: is really poor. They're they're lasting the league in a
Speaker 5: lot of categories. They've been up a lot of yards
Speaker 5: a lot. They're not good against the run, but they're
Speaker 5: a lighter front. They're a three to four defense, but
Speaker 5: at the same time. They put a lot of pressures
Speaker 5: on brock Perty last week. They got a lot of
Speaker 5: guys that can get to the quarterback. It's a young,
Speaker 5: young defense with a bunch of hungry guys, many rookies
Speaker 5: and undrafted players.
Speaker 6: They just play a little gritty.
Speaker 5: I don't know if you've watched them at all in
Speaker 5: the first three weeks of the season.
Speaker 10: Look at last week. I mean they did not lead
Speaker 10: the entire game versus the forty nine ers, and then
Speaker 10: the momentum and they carry it and they get the
Speaker 10: victory literally the last minute of the game. So this
Speaker 10: team will fight, and they scheme well with Sean McVay
Speaker 10: and what they do offensively defensively, Like you said, they
Speaker 10: are very young, but these guys aren't scared. Braden Fisk
Speaker 10: who they drafted defensive end, defensive tackle from Florida State,
Speaker 10: Jared Verse, the first round pick who they also drafted
Speaker 10: from Florida State, and that Cam Kitchens is a big safety.
Speaker 11: That is a ballhawk.
Speaker 10: So they are young, they're inexperience, they don't know, they'll
Speaker 10: try a lot of things. They don't have Aaron Donald,
Speaker 10: so you're right, they get pushed around, but they fight.
Speaker 10: They fight, and with Jared go or not Jared Golf,
Speaker 10: but Matthew Stafford as their quarterback. They do not quick
Speaker 10: because Matthew will compete the entire time, so it gives
Speaker 10: him a puncher's chance, that's for sure. But they are
Speaker 10: not the legitimate strong team they once were. They are
Speaker 10: rebuilding with young players.
Speaker 5: And their defensive coordinator, first year Chris Shula, with a
Speaker 5: senior assistant and associate head coach Sean Desai.
Speaker 6: So there's gonna be some Fangio defense in here as well.
Speaker 5: All Right, when we come back, we're gonna listen into
Speaker 5: some of the work of Eric Washington at the podium
Speaker 5: today as the Bears get ready for the Rams. Jim
Speaker 5: Miller in Tom there, I'm Jeff Joniak on ESPN one
Speaker 5: thousand and the Bears Radio Network.
Speaker 2: Is Bears Weekly with the voice of the Bears for
Speaker 2: twenty four years Chef Chef on the Bears Radio Network.
Speaker 5: This segment of Bears Weekly is brought to you by Igs.
Speaker 6: Energy, Jeff and Tom and Jim Miller.
Speaker 5: I got the guys here, former Bears with great insight.
Speaker 5: Good to have you guys along as the Bears get
Speaker 5: ready to meet the Rams, Eric Washington in the Bears
Speaker 5: defensive cord in there a couple of minutes from the
Speaker 5: podium as we do each Thursday, looking at what Sean
Speaker 5: McVay and that offense is cooking up for the Bears.
Speaker 8: It's big play capable. There's a lot of things that
Speaker 8: happen before the ball is snap. We've got to do
Speaker 8: a good job with our alignments, with our assignments, and
Speaker 8: just making sure we have our feet in the ground
Speaker 8: ready to play.
Speaker 2: How does after sixteen seasons in the NFL Matthew Stafford
Speaker 2: still challenge his.
Speaker 8: Arm talent has not waned at all. He can make
Speaker 8: every throw on the field. He knows exactly what you're in,
Speaker 8: so our disguise will be critical and he just he
Speaker 8: knows how to get the football out of his hand,
Speaker 8: how to get them into it.
Speaker 12: I would say an ideal plays from.
Speaker 7: Facing the second here quarterback in your first three games
Speaker 7: to Matthew Stafford.
Speaker 12: How does that show up just on the field, just
Speaker 12: his experience, his poise, his command of the offense, his
Speaker 12: ability to communicate to all all ten pieces to be
Speaker 12: able to id us without a whole lot of extra things.
Speaker 8: That offense is typically used to help the quarterback position.
Speaker 8: Just a lot of experience, a lot of accomplishments, a
Speaker 8: lot of things that he's seen.
Speaker 12: You guys put a lot of big bos.
Speaker 10: So Jack Sambarn's not out there a lot, but he
Speaker 10: made two real nice plays in the red zone, especially
Speaker 10: the interception.
Speaker 12: And what you thoughts about him.
Speaker 8: Well, the fact that when Jack comes into the game,
Speaker 8: he's the last couple of weeks, I mean, we bring
Speaker 8: him in the game in Houston, gets a sack. He
Speaker 8: comes in the game last week, uh, and he gets
Speaker 8: his hands up and he for he helps to create
Speaker 8: the the takeaway deep in the red zone. He got
Speaker 8: his actually tip the football. He's just ready to play.
Speaker 8: He's a great equalizer for us, very versatile player, extremely intelligent,
Speaker 8: smart and works his tail off er.
Speaker 1: What have you learned about your defense the past three.
Speaker 8: Weeks when the offense is not.
Speaker 10: Their standards and you know, so you guys are kind
Speaker 10: of right out there and situations you don't want to
Speaker 10: be in, but you're still getting tho stuffs.
Speaker 12: What have you learned about the guys and kind of
Speaker 12: their resolve.
Speaker 8: What I know about our players, and I'll say this
Speaker 8: every week, is we have great character and and and
Speaker 8: that's you know, we're not we don't we're not separated
Speaker 8: from the results of the game. But I've been watching
Speaker 8: this now since I came on board. The players work hard,
Speaker 8: they're dedicated, they're very hum there's a lot of humility,
Speaker 8: there's selflessness, and they're up to the challenge. They're focused
Speaker 8: on what they have to do to help us win
Speaker 8: week in and week out. And they're their own worst critic.
Speaker 6: Yeah they are.
Speaker 5: You know, I talked a couple of guys in the
Speaker 5: locker about that. They don't want to give up the
Speaker 5: big play. Obviously, they got to continue to stop the run.
Speaker 5: But the big plays and no matter when they happen,
Speaker 5: obviously it's not part of the plan. Tom this man,
Speaker 5: he gets to the podium and he's very direct.
Speaker 1: Every day.
Speaker 6: He mad a few words, but he gets right to
Speaker 6: the point.
Speaker 5: And what he had to say about the Rams and
Speaker 5: what they're facing, it's right to the point.
Speaker 7: Yeah, why should you shy away from it? Because you
Speaker 7: have to know exactly what you're looking at When you
Speaker 7: talk about the Bears defense this week, it's not going
Speaker 7: to be about Levis throwing in embarrassing interception that results
Speaker 7: in a touchdown. It's not going to be about to
Speaker 7: Anthony Richardson throwing an interception in the end zone.
Speaker 6: To Tremaine Edmonds.
Speaker 7: It's gonna be about individual defensive players making great man
Speaker 7: demand plays, whether it's coverage on the back end, a
Speaker 7: defensive lineman beating an offensive lineman instantly and creating a
Speaker 7: sack out of it, or having those tackles that we've
Speaker 7: come to expect from TJ and Tremaine. So it is
Speaker 7: going to be about defensive skill effort more than looking
Speaker 7: for a quarterback to make a mistake.
Speaker 5: I'll tell you, Jim, Without Cooper Cup and without Pouka Nakua,
Speaker 5: you look at what they have at receiver and you're like, okay,
Speaker 5: two two that has been making plays. Okay, Kolby Parkinson,
Speaker 5: a former Seattle Seahawk. They invested in a free agency
Speaker 5: three or twenty two million dollars deal. Then Kyron Williams.
Speaker 5: They've got Blake Korham in there, but they haven't used
Speaker 5: him yet. Just eight carries. So you look at this
Speaker 5: team and the offensive line has five guys on the
Speaker 5: injury reserve list right now. So but yet they go
Speaker 5: and beat the forty nine ers because Matthew Stafford knows
Speaker 5: exactly what he's doing up there. What would you do
Speaker 5: against this Rams offense if you're the Bears defense, Because
Speaker 5: for the I mean, he hasn't done this a ton.
Speaker 5: He did a lot of twelve personnel in this game,
Speaker 5: and that's two tight ends, one back, and that kind
Speaker 5: of made a difference for the Rams.
Speaker 10: Well, I We'll say this because of his offensive line
Speaker 10: and without the receivers, his release time is a lot longer.
Speaker 10: Even the NFL tracked it. He before all the injuries,
Speaker 10: he's getting the ball out of his hand about two
Speaker 10: point six seconds. After all the injuries closer to three,
Speaker 10: closer to three seconds actually two point nine.
Speaker 6: So that means opportunity, opportunity.
Speaker 10: There's opportunity. But like Tom said, it's not gonna be
Speaker 10: just a flat out stupid bad read by Matthew Stafford
Speaker 10: that leads to a turnover. It's gonna have to be
Speaker 10: You're gonna have to work for it. Obviously, strip sack, fumble,
Speaker 10: tip ball at the line of scrimmage, you know where
Speaker 10: you bet the ball, like what the happened to c
Speaker 10: Dra Stroud last week. Because you're not going to fool
Speaker 10: Matthew Stafford, and every play looks the same. You know,
Speaker 10: this is a team that when they run their play action,
Speaker 10: it looks exactly like the run play. So it causes
Speaker 10: you pause. They try to put you in conflict as
Speaker 10: a defense, and it doesn't matter. Granted, we know Kupp
Speaker 10: and pukin the corp are great players, but they're still
Speaker 10: going to run their offense. They're going to do what
Speaker 10: they do with kyn Williams. I think he's had a
Speaker 10: touchdown in six straight games running basically ride thirty four
Speaker 10: at the goal line, and nobody seems to be able
Speaker 10: to stop it. So this team will fight. They're young,
Speaker 10: they're inexperience because and they don't know, especially on defense.
Speaker 10: And look what they accomplished last week by not knowing.
Speaker 10: I mean that's a division rival opponent in the forty
Speaker 10: nine ers that they should know inside and out. But
Speaker 10: yet these young players on defense don't. They're just out
Speaker 10: there playing and much like the Bears did two years ago,
Speaker 10: throwing the young bucks out there and see what they
Speaker 10: can do. Right, yet they're still winning games.
Speaker 5: This is what I love about you. You can't take
Speaker 5: the quarterback out of the man. Tell everybody what ride
Speaker 5: thirty four is because I don't know.
Speaker 10: Yeah, well, it's an inside zone run that they run
Speaker 10: all the time, and it can bust both front side
Speaker 10: depending on how the linebackers flow and how the guard's
Speaker 10: double team up to the backers. But it could break
Speaker 10: front side or it could break backside. Like I said,
Speaker 10: if those linebackers flow over the top, more than likely
Speaker 10: it's going to cut back where that voided area is
Speaker 10: because they flow too far. Centers able to work up
Speaker 10: kind of get that little backer in the mix as
Speaker 10: well as pick up the mic backer, and you got
Speaker 10: that backside cutback lane on'd ride thirty four.
Speaker 5: Dom I guarantee your Ride thirty four was not in
Speaker 5: your playbook.
Speaker 7: Well, we didn't have the ride part. We had a
Speaker 7: thirty four. We had a slant twenty four, slant forty five,
Speaker 7: but we kind of took the backside look option out
Speaker 7: a bit and we created a point of attack. We
Speaker 7: offer that to Walter and then he took the two
Speaker 7: and a half yards that we offered him, and then
Speaker 7: he added an extra two and a half to it
Speaker 7: and we got five yards of carry.
Speaker 5: Yeah, so in other words, you did have ride thirty four.
Speaker 5: It was Walter Payton, Right, exactly, good point.
Speaker 6: Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 5: Hey Jim, a broad scope before we let you go
Speaker 5: here tonight, and thank you again for joining guess love
Speaker 5: to have you back on here in season. The division,
Speaker 5: it's looking tougher than we even thought, right with the
Speaker 5: Minnesota Vikings and the way they've been playing, I just
Speaker 5: have been very very impressed with their defense and what else?
Speaker 5: In about a minute of time, can you explain what
Speaker 5: else has caught your eye league wide other than that
Speaker 5: Minnesota defense and what they're doing over there with sam Donold.
Speaker 10: Well, I think you hit on a good point. Probably
Speaker 10: the two most polished teams that weren't choppy through the
Speaker 10: first three weeks, you'd probably have to say is Minnesota
Speaker 10: and probably Buffalo. Right, everybody else has been pretty Everybody
Speaker 10: else has been pretty choppy, is what i'd say. Offensive lineman,
Speaker 10: there's already ninety over ninety offensive one linemen hurt so
Speaker 10: pass protection, yeah, what, there's ninety offensive linemen around the league.
Speaker 10: There were a couple who is it Drew Dolman today
Speaker 10: in Caleb McGarry of Atlanta. Both those guys are so
Speaker 10: there's like ninety guys around the league. So offensive line
Speaker 10: is a problem. Quarterbacks are getting hurt, and obviously the
Speaker 10: sack totals, right, the Bears had four sacks last week,
Speaker 10: got them. The sack totals are out of control. I mean,
Speaker 10: look at the Deshaun Watson in two out of the
Speaker 10: three games he was sex seven times and two of
Speaker 10: them ridiculous. The sacks going on.
Speaker 6: Well, this is an epithet, that's an epidemic.
Speaker 5: Does this have anything to do with how things are
Speaker 5: done in the offseason, preseason and leading up to Week one?
Speaker 7: Well, let me leave to a real wise crack, because
Speaker 7: we hear that, Oh, the first three or four games
Speaker 7: of the regular season are just an extension of the preseason,
Speaker 7: because that's when teams and players really get their feet wet.
Speaker 7: Look at where they're at in terms of the health
Speaker 7: status of the league. When you have a passive preseason,
Speaker 7: you increase the chances for injuries.
Speaker 6: Once you turn the dial up to ten, you.
Speaker 10: Gotta play football in order to hone your craft. I mean,
Speaker 10: what was Carolina thinking by not playing Bryce Young in
Speaker 10: any preseason game? Has that due to arrived yet or
Speaker 10: something that we all don't know about. I mean, not
Speaker 10: the guy's benched you can't even get one snap in
Speaker 10: the preseason in a new offense. Shameful what the Carolina
Speaker 10: Panthers did to him.
Speaker 5: Hey, big Jim, appreciate you, buddy, and now we'll talk
Speaker 5: to you in a couple of weeks.
Speaker 10: All right, thank you, all right, guys, go Bears.
Speaker 6: All right, that's Jim Miller.
Speaker 5: When we come back, Roma Doonzay Jones the program as
Speaker 5: the Bears prepare for the Rams.
Speaker 6: Here on esp and Chicago and the Bears Radio Networks.
Speaker 3: We welcome back to Bears Weekly on the Bears Rainio Network.
Speaker 3: Here's your host, the Voice of the Bears.
Speaker 1: Jeff joan Well.
Speaker 5: Here on ESPN one thousand of the Bears Radio Network,
Speaker 5: Jeff Joniak and Tom Thair and our special guest this
Speaker 5: week is Bears rookie wide receiver Rama Doonzay.
Speaker 4: How you doing man, Well, I'm doing well. Thanks for
Speaker 4: having me on.
Speaker 5: Congratulations on your first NFL Touchdow. We got to start
Speaker 5: there because you and Caleb. I told Caleb the other
Speaker 5: day I interviewed him for something down the road, and
Speaker 5: I said, you guys just like little kids playing in
Speaker 5: the playground after you just did something fun. That's what
Speaker 5: it looked like. Yeah, and give me your perspective out
Speaker 5: of all how it was.
Speaker 4: Yeah, No, it was awesome.
Speaker 13: You know, it was a great moment, honestly, you know,
Speaker 13: something that I'm forever gonna cherish. You know, hopefully you know,
Speaker 13: many more moments like that to come. But it's always special,
Speaker 13: you know, regardless of you know, the moment or what
Speaker 13: was going on, like scoring your first NFL touchdown, like
Speaker 13: that's something you got to celebrate and have fun with
Speaker 13: and a great memory for.
Speaker 4: So it was awesome.
Speaker 5: And then the ongoing discussion about the ball and you
Speaker 5: know he's graciously going to lot to keep it for perpetuity.
Speaker 4: Yes, so graciously.
Speaker 1: That'll cost you something, right, It's gonna cost you something, bro.
Speaker 2: Mom.
Speaker 7: I'm kind of thinking about your career going forward and well,
Speaker 7: taking a step back to your college career. Your sophomore
Speaker 7: year you got four hundred and fifteen yards receiving your
Speaker 7: junior year you got eleven hundred and forty five. Why
Speaker 7: was there an eight hundred yard increase in that one year?
Speaker 7: Because I'm kind of thinking ahead for you as as
Speaker 7: terms of where you're going.
Speaker 13: I think it was just you know, continue to develop
Speaker 13: as a wide receiver.
Speaker 4: You know, I think that jump from high.
Speaker 13: School to college wide receiver is a big, big jump
Speaker 13: and play big jump in you know, things you need
Speaker 13: to know to you know, be proficient out there on
Speaker 13: the football field. So you know, finally clicking for me
Speaker 13: as well as you know, coaching staff putting me in
Speaker 13: positions that have success and have to credit them as well.
Speaker 13: You know, I had a foundation built from the previous staff,
Speaker 13: and then when a new staff came in, they did
Speaker 13: a great job of you know, utilizing my skill set
Speaker 13: within the offense, and you know, both those elements came
Speaker 13: together for a successful year.
Speaker 7: Okay, now jumping ahead to your NFL career up unto
Speaker 7: this point. They often talk about the window of opportunity
Speaker 7: for a quarterback that it's a lot smaller in the
Speaker 7: NFL than it was in college. The window of opportunity
Speaker 7: for a receiver. Is it equally as small or are
Speaker 7: you in control of that window of opportunity?
Speaker 4: You know, I'm not sure.
Speaker 13: I haven't looked at it, you know, in in that light,
Speaker 13: but I think it's it's definitely small regardless of what
Speaker 13: position you play here at the NFL. You know, so
Speaker 13: you have to make the most of the opportunities, for sure,
Speaker 13: But I think it's definitely, you know, a smaller window
Speaker 13: at wide receiver, just especially in today's game when you
Speaker 13: know there's so many you know, great wide receivers out
Speaker 13: there and the way that the game is being played nowadays,
Speaker 13: with wide receivers being a great asset to offenses, you know,
Speaker 13: something that every organization is looking to add, you know,
Speaker 13: or improve upon. So you know, just making sure I'm
Speaker 13: making the most of my plays and and and understanding
Speaker 13: that every time I step up a step out on
Speaker 13: that field, I want to you know, be be, be explosive.
Speaker 5: Hey, Tom, you broke down for the Bear's playbook this week,
Speaker 5: the forty seven yard catch the longest by a Bear
Speaker 5: pass play this year by Roma Dunza from Caleb Williams.
Speaker 5: I love how you broke that down. And now let's
Speaker 5: put two good minds together, two former NFL players break
Speaker 5: that thing one more time. What stuck out to you
Speaker 5: on that play? For for you, Tom, and then you roam.
Speaker 7: You know, I'm Romama nex offensive lineman. So anytime you
Speaker 7: can incorporate play action pass into the protection, because I
Speaker 7: think it's a more aggressive type of pass protection for
Speaker 7: the offensive line and you kind of you can use
Speaker 7: a little bit more on the line deception, but the
Speaker 7: way that you know, Dj Moore helped you that intersection
Speaker 7: and then as soon as you got around that corner,
Speaker 7: you were kind of put that defensive back in the
Speaker 7: trailing position and then you take it from there. Because
Speaker 7: it wasn't a huge window of opportunity as I was
Speaker 7: alluding to, but it was an incredible completion that I
Speaker 7: think meant a lot to Caleb's confidences.
Speaker 13: Yeah, no, absolutely, and I'll echo whatever everything you said
Speaker 13: about offensive line. You know, it starts with them up
Speaker 13: front and and then me and didn't.
Speaker 1: You're just sucking up to him now, I'm kidding.
Speaker 13: You know, without the protection, I'm not getting that ball.
Speaker 13: So yeah, Caleb put it in the perfect spot. You know,
Speaker 13: I had to defend a little uh a little bit
Speaker 13: over my shoulders, so I knew I was gonna, you know,
Speaker 13: try and catch that one over the shoulder to protect
Speaker 13: the throw, and Caleb put it right where needed to
Speaker 13: be on my house soldier and was able to make
Speaker 13: the play.
Speaker 5: And you were blown by that guy. He runs a
Speaker 5: four to three. Oh yeah, yeah, you got you got
Speaker 5: up on top of him. So that's pretty damn good,
Speaker 5: right there. I'll take that every day, Uh have you
Speaker 5: you know, it's it's uh in college when you got
Speaker 5: a really powerful offense like you did, and Tom left
Speaker 5: out the best part in his All American FBS best
Speaker 5: sixteen and forty yards receiving last year. It's a it's
Speaker 5: a fireworks show. Do you do you have an appreciation
Speaker 5: as we move into a week four just how hard
Speaker 5: it is to score points in the NFL?
Speaker 13: Oh man, No, definitely, you know, and for first for
Speaker 13: our first few weeks, Like it's definitely an adjustment for sure.
Speaker 13: Like just the melody of the game is like, man,
Speaker 13: why are we not scoring every driver? Why are we
Speaker 13: not you know, putting you know, points ups and and
Speaker 13: you look across the league as a whole ass never
Speaker 13: how it is, you know, it's never you know, you're
Speaker 13: scoring every single drive, even though that's something that we
Speaker 13: strive for and one want our offense to look like
Speaker 13: and be, you know, reminiscent of something like that. But no,
Speaker 13: it's it's tough. It's tough to win games in the NFL.
Speaker 13: It's tough to put up points. So you know, just
Speaker 13: just nailing down and himmering down on you know, our
Speaker 13: details and making sure you know we're we're doing all
Speaker 13: the things that we need to move forward.
Speaker 1: And starry to interrupt you.
Speaker 5: And then from a college perspective, all those games and
Speaker 5: without me going back and looking at it all, we're
Speaker 5: coverages fairly on the simple side, or did they get
Speaker 5: depending on your opponent, you know, pretty challenging to kind
Speaker 5: of decode versus what you're getting in the NFL what
Speaker 5: you're about to the rest of this season.
Speaker 4: Yeah, No, it definitely was a little bit simpler in college,
Speaker 4: for sure.
Speaker 13: You know, defenses, their tendencies on film tend to be
Speaker 13: their tendencies that they would play in the game, where
Speaker 13: you know, here at the NFL level, there's a lot
Speaker 13: of more deception and having to redefenses on the fly
Speaker 13: and stuff like that. So something I'm learning, and you
Speaker 13: know we're all learning as well.
Speaker 7: Kind of analogize when you're an offensive lineman and you're
Speaker 7: playing against the team that has a dominating pass rusher
Speaker 7: and if he lines up on you that first third down,
Speaker 7: you're kind of designated as a.
Speaker 4: Guy that he's going to attack.
Speaker 7: When you look at the coverages that you're you've been facing,
Speaker 7: and you look and you study the defensive backs that
Speaker 7: you've been facing, can you determine where, like as it
Speaker 7: always DJ number one, then you number two and and
Speaker 7: the rest of the guys accordingly, or are you kind
Speaker 7: of breaking the huddle getting into your position, running your
Speaker 7: route and you're not really concerned with who's covering you,
Speaker 7: or you know, if they're sliding your way.
Speaker 13: I definitely recognize that, you know, safeties and stuff are
Speaker 13: sliding towards DJ's way on several different snaps as well
Speaker 13: as well as you know, the play that we're talking about,
Speaker 13: them putting me kind of one on one with that
Speaker 13: dB coming downfield and allowing you know, DJ to to
Speaker 13: soak up the safety as well as the corner that's
Speaker 13: playing on him. So recognizing those games is different, you know,
Speaker 13: from play to play, but definitely, you know, an emphasis
Speaker 13: was on DJ for sure, a good bit less game.
Speaker 13: So you know, going forward, we'll see how that will continue,
Speaker 13: especially with you know, Keenan getting snaps and and me,
Speaker 13: you know, having that game and them maybe want to
Speaker 13: minimize you know, my production as well, So we'll see
Speaker 13: what it is going forward.
Speaker 7: Natural Grass to Sports turf on an NFL level, because
Speaker 7: the Bears pretty much have a perfect outdoor field. What's
Speaker 7: your what's your take, what's your go to? What do
Speaker 7: you like better?
Speaker 4: I love grass.
Speaker 13: I love grass just because of you know, the give,
Speaker 13: you know, and you know, the less risk to injury.
Speaker 4: You know, this is the six and all that.
Speaker 13: But as well as it's kind of like backyard football again,
Speaker 13: you know what I mean, playing on the grass, like
Speaker 13: man the line up and let's go.
Speaker 5: Roma duneesay our guest, the Bishop Gorman product, the Gatorade
Speaker 5: player of the Year in Nevada. The reason I bring
Speaker 5: it up I told Roman the locker room the other
Speaker 5: day a couple of weeks ago that the second most
Speaker 5: NFL players right now and active rosters comes from the.
Speaker 4: State of Las Vegas, Nevada.
Speaker 1: Yes, how about that?
Speaker 5: I mean, wow, it shocked the locker room, that's all
Speaker 5: I got to say.
Speaker 4: Shocked me too. I'm like, hold on, I got to
Speaker 4: go down and check who's all.
Speaker 6: Right from there.
Speaker 1: But you probably played against a few of those guys.
Speaker 1: But but Gorman is a powerhouse.
Speaker 5: Oh yeah, yeah, you learned a lot there, right, Yeah,
Speaker 5: there's a lot of NFL futures in that place.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, no, one hundred percent.
Speaker 13: You know I had you know, Jalen Taylor, who's doing
Speaker 13: great job with Minnesota Vikings, just played Brevin Jordan, Dorian Thompson, Robinson.
Speaker 13: I mean, there's a list of guys who came before
Speaker 13: me who are you know, doing their things. So it's
Speaker 13: one of those places you go if you want to
Speaker 13: be on that Triggector.
Speaker 1: Right, what are you seeing with the La Rams? A
Speaker 1: young team?
Speaker 5: It's a I think there's eleven rookies on that team, Tom,
Speaker 5: every one of their linebackers inside linebackers are undrafted free
Speaker 5: agents summer vets.
Speaker 1: But Man's game.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean they're they're they're doing it the young way.
Speaker 5: But what what do you see because it looks like
Speaker 5: a gritty defense.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, definitely a gritty defense.
Speaker 13: You know, they play with a lot of effort, you know,
Speaker 13: a lot of intensity, and you know we're gonna have
Speaker 13: to you know, bring our own you know of skills
Speaker 13: to kind of match that. So, you know, seeing a
Speaker 13: bunch of different things, seeing some different ways that we
Speaker 13: can hopefully exploit their coverages and stuff like that and
Speaker 13: come up with a big day.
Speaker 7: Roll when you play in front of your home crowd
Speaker 7: and you have that offensive silence as opposed to playing
Speaker 7: on the road where you have a lot of noise.
Speaker 7: And at this stage of the development of your off
Speaker 7: your career as an NFL player, do you like the
Speaker 7: silence or do you like the crowd noise or does
Speaker 7: it really matter to you?
Speaker 13: I like the crowd noise honestly sometimes because I feel like,
Speaker 13: you know, that adds a little element to it, you know,
Speaker 13: exactly when it gets too much and it's like, Okay,
Speaker 13: what did he just call in the huddler, you know,
Speaker 13: trying to get that. But it's always nice to have
Speaker 13: silence as well. So I like there's pros and cons
Speaker 13: for both. But you know, the away games kind of
Speaker 13: add a little bit more juice. But it is always
Speaker 13: nice to just go out there when you're at home
Speaker 13: and just be like, Okay, let's go execute. I'm going
Speaker 13: to hear the call, know what's going on, and go play.
Speaker 7: Is there anything too hot to you because Jeff talked
Speaker 7: about you being from Las Vegas, and you know me,
Speaker 7: I'm not a great hot weather player, but nothing was
Speaker 7: ever too cold to me. Here we are in Chicago
Speaker 7: and you don't know what the future brings. Have you
Speaker 7: had cold weather experience or you know, are you a
Speaker 7: warm weather guy because of your Las Vegas roots?
Speaker 13: You know, I honestly you think I'm dasitive playing cold weather.
Speaker 13: You know, it's different out here in Chicago for sure.
Speaker 13: You know, I don't know if I've ever played in
Speaker 13: anything cold like that, but Seattle has its fair share
Speaker 13: of cold games for sure. Got to play in eastern
Speaker 13: Washington as well, where it was you know, super cold,
Speaker 13: close close to the twenties and stuff like that.
Speaker 4: But I know, with the wind shield up.
Speaker 13: Here and the you know, cold degrees that gets over
Speaker 13: here is going to be a different element. But you know,
Speaker 13: there's so many things to support us nowadays, the heated benches,
Speaker 13: you know, warm thermal gear and all that.
Speaker 4: So I'll be okay, all.
Speaker 7: Right, Well, even for practice tomorrow, it's supposed to be
Speaker 7: thirty four mile an hour wins tomorrow, so you'll get
Speaker 7: a little bit of a feel for those outdoor throwing
Speaker 7: conditions in the wind.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that'll be a challenge. It will be fun, all right.
Speaker 5: Last one, we'll let you go appreciate the time something
Speaker 5: strikes me about you and Caleb and not to dismiss
Speaker 5: any of anybody else, but you guys are top ten picks.
Speaker 1: You had to yourself with humility.
Speaker 5: You're very expressive in the way you deliver your your
Speaker 5: answers to a very wide array of questions.
Speaker 1: You guys are professionals already.
Speaker 2: Man.
Speaker 5: It's just do you notice that about him? And does
Speaker 5: he notice that about you?
Speaker 13: I appreciate that, And no, thank you. I you know,
Speaker 13: I definitely know it's about him. I can you know,
Speaker 13: say if he he notices about me, But you know,
Speaker 13: it's definitely you know, comforting knowing that he's going to
Speaker 13: go out there and and and I have, you know,
Speaker 13: be voisterous about his opinion, to be able to articulate himself.
Speaker 13: That's something that you know, special to the young man.
Speaker 13: So that's much appreciate it. But shout out to our parents.
Speaker 13: You know that those who instilled in us, but hopefully
Speaker 13: we you know, are reflection of them.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well it is.
Speaker 5: And so congrats mom and dad for both of you.
Speaker 5: All right, good luck this week and the rest of
Speaker 5: the season. Thanks for all your time. You appreciate That's
Speaker 5: roma dunes Hey Bears wide receiver Jeff and Tom back
Speaker 5: after this on ESPN one thousand of the Bears Radio.
Speaker 2: Networks, Bears Weekly with the Voice of the Bears for
Speaker 2: twenty four years, and Chef's Showing Chef on the Bears
Speaker 2: Radio Network.
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Speaker 1: Don't miss this.
Speaker 5: Exclusive opportunity with Chicago Bears VIP. Jeff and Tom here
Speaker 5: on Bears Weekly. Richard hight Tower the Bears, a special
Speaker 5: teams coordinator, quite familiar with the man he's gonna be
Speaker 5: looking at it on the opposite side of the field,
Speaker 5: Sean McVay. Because back in Washington, back in the twenty
Speaker 5: ten to twenty thirteen Mike Shanahan was the head coach.
Speaker 5: Tom Kyle Shannon, You've heard this before. Kyle Shanahan was
Speaker 5: the OC. Matt Lafleur was the quarterback coach. You had
Speaker 5: Bobby Turner, who's outstanding running back coach on the LEA.
Speaker 6: He was on there.
Speaker 5: Richard high Tower was assistant special teams coach. You had
Speaker 5: a bunch of names. Sean McVay was on that staff
Speaker 5: as well, and as a bu bunch of really outstanding
Speaker 5: coaches that have been in this league for a long time.
Speaker 5: So without further ado, let's listen in to high Tower.
Speaker 5: I'm McVeigh.
Speaker 14: I have a ton of experience working with Sean and
Speaker 14: familiarity with him.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 14: I know they're gonna be ready to go. You know
Speaker 14: they're gonna be coached up shared the office with them,
Speaker 14: so we spend a lot of you know, late nights
Speaker 14: grinding together. So I know how the guy's wired, and
Speaker 14: he's uh, and he's definitely a really good football coach.
Speaker 8: Uh.
Speaker 14: They're coming off a good, god, a really big win.
Speaker 14: You know, they were down ten points in the fourth
Speaker 14: quarter and they end up winning that game in regulation,
Speaker 14: and special teams had really a lot to do with that. So, uh,
Speaker 14: it's been a big challenge for us and we're looking
Speaker 14: forward to it. So with that, we can open it
Speaker 14: up to questions.
Speaker 1: It looks like you guys have six on here. It's
Speaker 1: so frustrating for you.
Speaker 3: And what's your teaching point with all of those?
Speaker 14: Especially you know, Yeah, So my my teaching point and
Speaker 14: one of our keys to victory every year or every game,
Speaker 14: is to play penalty free. So you're right, we have
Speaker 14: six penalties this year and that's too many. I think
Speaker 14: we maybe had six all of last year. So like
Speaker 14: the first two years we were here, we were top
Speaker 14: five and least penalties committed. So it is frustrating for
Speaker 14: me because year one we finished number one. Year two
Speaker 14: I think we finished number five. So we just have
Speaker 14: to eliminate them, like they come in bunches and you
Speaker 14: get bad ones. Then we have to have games where
Speaker 14: we don't have any because that affects field position. It
Speaker 14: hasn't killed us yet, but we're still harping on it,
Speaker 14: like we don't want to be a team that commits penalties.
Speaker 14: I want to be a disciplined team. I want to
Speaker 14: be a sound football team. I want to be a
Speaker 14: team that plays relentless.
Speaker 5: Right because field position time or cashia possession and you
Speaker 5: know interesting, Rams executed a fake punt last week, took
Speaker 5: advantage of a missfield goal, had a big punt return
Speaker 5: from a guy touching the ball for the first time
Speaker 5: in his NFL life, off the practice squad, and they
Speaker 5: won the game on our rookie kicker, as our friend
Speaker 5: be Long called it a Cardi party, John Cardi of
Speaker 5: Stanford for the win. So yes, big special teams game
Speaker 5: and special teams definitely coming into focus. We talked a lot,
Speaker 5: or he talked a lot about the kickoff return. He says, yeah,
Speaker 5: he thinks there's gonna be more returns and less touchbacks
Speaker 5: as the season moves on.
Speaker 6: Tom can't hear you can't hear you can't hear you, Tom?
Speaker 5: All right, Well we'll try and figure that out in
Speaker 5: a second. Well, Tom works on that. Let's move to
Speaker 5: Plan B and take another break here on ESPN one
Speaker 5: thousand and the Bears Radio Network.
Speaker 3: Well, welcome back to Bears Weekly. Become the Bears Radio Network.
Speaker 3: Here's your host, the voice of the Bears, Chef Joy.
Speaker 5: Bears Weekly brought to you by IGS Energy and by CDW.
Speaker 6: People to get it and athletical.
Speaker 5: Physical therapy visit to request an in clinic or virtual
Speaker 5: appointment and start feeling better tomorrow. Jeff in Tom with
Speaker 5: you and our interview now with JB. Long, the voice
Speaker 5: of the La Rams post Aaron Donald era.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's interesting.
Speaker 15: You know, they've had the human cheat code for a
Speaker 15: decade and Aaron Donald and now that that's been taken
Speaker 15: out from underneath them, especially defensively, I think they're finding
Speaker 15: their way. There's reason to be optimistic, but I think
Speaker 15: a lot like the Bears, you know, say, for a
Speaker 15: few precious moments. The Rams have been trailing for the
Speaker 15: entirety of September, and oftentimes by double digits two touchdowns
Speaker 15: in each of the three games, so they could easily
Speaker 15: be zero to three, and I think we'd be singing
Speaker 15: a different tune if not for that late comeback against
Speaker 15: the forty nine ers. I think the best thing they
Speaker 15: have going for them is still Matthew Stafford, who is
Speaker 15: extending his prime with the best of them. I think
Speaker 15: he saved some of his best football for a last
Speaker 15: I think in the fourth year of his partnership with McVeigh,
Speaker 15: his decision making has absolutely found the right balance between
Speaker 15: surgical and aggressive, but also mistake minimization, which for all
Speaker 15: those years that you saw him in Detroit was probably.
Speaker 4: Not his strength.
Speaker 15: The rams new identity, unlike the kind of the outside
Speaker 15: zone Todd Gurley look that the Bears back in twenty
Speaker 15: eighteen on that frigid Sunday night put an end to effectively,
Speaker 15: is now more downhill, duo based, come right at you
Speaker 15: with Kyrin Williams, who's a nice weapon both through the
Speaker 15: passing game and even in the shotgun run game, which
Speaker 15: has not been something that the Rams have implemented until recently.
Speaker 15: Offensive line has been a huge issue, injury depletion there
Speaker 15: at wide receiver. Those are some of the obstacles they're
Speaker 15: still trying to overcome. And I'll finish on this long
Speaker 15: winded answer by saying, after having the worst kicking game
Speaker 15: in the league last year and one of the most
Speaker 15: historically bad and franchise history, I think there's a glimmer
Speaker 15: of hope. A week after Joshuacarty, their rookie kicker out
Speaker 15: of Stanford, booted the game winner. They've had a couple
Speaker 15: of punts down inside the ten the last couple of weeks.
Speaker 15: They faked a punt successfully and converted so all sorts
Speaker 15: of a thirty eight yard return to set up the
Speaker 15: game winning field goal. So it's been a long time
Speaker 15: since I felt this confident in the third phase of
Speaker 15: a football game for the Rams.
Speaker 7: A couple of years ago, Sean mcvayh talked about the
Speaker 7: possibility of retiring or getting out of coaching. I don't
Speaker 7: know if that was just offseason talk or if it
Speaker 7: was true. If you didn't have a guy like Matthew
Speaker 7: Stafford on board, would he have retired or was there
Speaker 7: anybody that was any influence in him coming back to
Speaker 7: be the head coach of the Rams.
Speaker 15: Yeah, I do think there is a personal element to it,
Speaker 15: right Like that would have been what just two years
Speaker 15: after forming this partnership with Matthew Stafford, and one of
Speaker 15: those was a Super Bowl, So that would have been
Speaker 15: a bit awkward to say, hey, Matthew, come to LA
Speaker 15: and let's do this thing, only to then walk away
Speaker 15: from it. Likewise, with Cooper Cup and Aaron Donald, like
Speaker 15: real individuals that he has a fondest and affinity for,
Speaker 15: I think it would have been tough for him to
Speaker 15: walk away. Still at the time, as the youngest head
Speaker 15: coach in the National Football League. That being said, like,
Speaker 15: I'm always erful to remind folks and Tom and Jeff
Speaker 15: you know this, the average lifespan of an NFL head
Speaker 15: coach is no more than what two or three years.
Speaker 15: Like for him to have made it into year five
Speaker 15: six and even have the thought process of like, Wow,
Speaker 15: this is really wearing me down. Do I need to
Speaker 15: go reinvent myself? Am I doing this right? Do I
Speaker 15: still have as much juice as I did when I
Speaker 15: was thirty one years old? I think those were all
Speaker 15: really introspective, helpful conversations for him to have with himself
Speaker 15: and with those he trusts. Coming out the other side,
Speaker 15: I do feel like Sean realizes that it would have
Speaker 15: been ridiculous in hindsight to pass up this one and
Speaker 15: thirty two opportunity that he has in this life, and
Speaker 15: that even though he probably could be making a whole
Speaker 15: bunch of bucks, you know, doing the TV broadcasting thing,
Speaker 15: that's for another day, and this is really what gets
Speaker 15: him out of bed in the morning. And I think
Speaker 15: his decision to come back now has a longer runway
Speaker 15: than a year to year agreement, if that makes sense.
Speaker 15: I don't think he's going to have those temptations or
Speaker 15: those second thoughts for a while.
Speaker 6: Now, Gabe long Out.
Speaker 5: Yes, you're on Bear's Week on a ESPN Radio and
Speaker 5: the Bears Radio Network with Tom Thayer Jeff Joniak. So
Speaker 5: let me dip into that just a minute, because you spend,
Speaker 5: as I do, a lot of time with the head coach.
Speaker 5: I'm assuming you do the pregame interview with him.
Speaker 6: My impression from.
Speaker 5: A distance, JB would be he'd be a note free interview.
Speaker 5: Is everything that you hear about it from the outside
Speaker 5: in exactly the way it is from the inside out.
Speaker 15: Yeah, I think that's a great question, a great way
Speaker 15: of putting in the Jeff. He does wear himself on
Speaker 15: his sleeve. He doesn't hold much back. He is who
Speaker 15: he is in a very authentic, unapologetic way, which is
Speaker 15: not to say he's a perfect person. None of us are.
Speaker 15: And I think with each year that I've got to
Speaker 15: know him, you know, he's let me in and he's
Speaker 15: also been pretty transparent about realizing where his own shortcomings lie.
Speaker 15: I love the note taking, note caring mention there because
Speaker 15: the only thing I think I've ever seen him hold
Speaker 15: in his hands would be his play sheet and the
Speaker 15: Lombardi Trophy. Other than that, he's ten fingers free all
Speaker 15: the time. And I think that is a great revelation
Speaker 15: or insight into just how confident he is with what's
Speaker 15: between his ears. But it's not just football. He is
Speaker 15: a football savant, there's no doubt about it. But you've
Speaker 15: been around long enough to know there's lots of those
Speaker 15: people in our walk of life. There's lots of people
Speaker 15: who can identify a coverage and design a play, and
Speaker 15: he's on the short list of great ones. But that
Speaker 15: is not to me. What's ever differentiated him. I think
Speaker 15: it's his energy. I think it's his focus. I think
Speaker 15: it's his care factor. I think it's his interpersonal skills.
Speaker 15: Think about what it must have taken to walk in
Speaker 15: at thirty years of age and look Aaron Donald in
Speaker 15: the eye and say, I'm the key to unlocking the
Speaker 15: thing that you want to get. I'm the key to
Speaker 15: unlocking the best years that you have left. That's asking
Speaker 15: a lot for someone who had never been a head
Speaker 15: coach at any level. But he's got those communication skills,
Speaker 15: He's got that unique ability. We know people in all
Speaker 15: walks of life who can walk into a room and
Speaker 15: make you feel seen and special. That's Sean McVay. And
Speaker 15: I think that plays in a football team meeting room.
Speaker 15: I think that plays in a courtroom. I think that
Speaker 15: plays in a library. Heaven forbid he ever get into politics.
Speaker 15: I think it would work there. He's just one of
Speaker 15: those determined, gifted people that I think rises to the
Speaker 15: top and whatever profession he chooses.
Speaker 5: Jab long and the last visit by mister McVeigh, Bears
Speaker 5: beat him fifteen to six in twenty eighteen at Soldier
Speaker 5: Field Jared Goff four interception, sack three times, Todd Gurley
Speaker 5: twenty eight yards and eleven Russias.
Speaker 6: The Bears hope to do the same and slam the
Speaker 6: door on the Rams. That's going to do it for us.
Speaker 5: Special thanks to jab and Romadonze for Tom Theare I'm
Speaker 5: Jeff Jonny Act. Thanks to Dan Brially, Jordan tread Up
Speaker 5: and Sean Graeny and coming up next, Bleck and Abdalla.
Speaker 5: You've been listening to Bears Weekly on the new radio
Speaker 5: home of the Bears ESPN Chicago.
Speaker 6: Good night, everybody.
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