Speaker 1: Right justin middle of the field forty five to fifteen.
Speaker 1: Bring Russ in front of all leaving lions in his way.
Speaker 1: I am Jeff Joniya Whitz.
Speaker 2: Is not Donny go r Wolves like playing for coach Bogdom.
Speaker 3: I don't want to answer any questions like that. Sixty
Speaker 3: one yards?
Speaker 1: What's Sunday stroll for? Justin Fields?
Speaker 4: Yea Bears et Cetera with the voices of the Chicago
Speaker 4: Bears Jeff Joniac post trade deadline, the Bears get stronger
Speaker 4: on the defensive line. They also keep cornerback Jalen Johnson.
Speaker 4: How will this impact the Bears moving forward and into
Speaker 4: Sunday's matchup down in New Orleans against the Saints? Hi
Speaker 4: Everybody Jeff Joniac and Super Bowl winning Bears guard Tom
Speaker 4: Thayer in episode thirty. The Bears et Cetera podcast brought
Speaker 4: you in part today by Bette Rivers. Take a chance
Speaker 4: download the Bette Rivers app.
Speaker 1: Today.
Speaker 4: Coming up, we're going to replay the entire twelve minute
Speaker 4: news conference from Wednesday with gentle manager Ryan Poles. Active Day,
Speaker 4: active storyline, but the biggest is that Montes Sweat is
Speaker 4: the Chicago Bear six ' six.
Speaker 1: And we can talk about the combine all you want.
Speaker 4: He's four years deep in his league, but when he
Speaker 4: ran a four to forty at six six, two hundred
Speaker 4: and seventy pounds, caught everybody's attention. Great athlete. He's had
Speaker 4: a really good year. Second the quarterback in his career
Speaker 4: expects to do the same here.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but you know one thing about the combine.
Speaker 5: You can see these guys and they go out and
Speaker 5: they run an impressive forty, or they jump high, or
Speaker 5: they bench a two twenty five a bunch of times.
Speaker 5: But like you said, it's how they put that talent
Speaker 5: in motion. And I think to me, that's been the
Speaker 5: most impressive thing about Montest Sweat since he's come aboard
Speaker 5: into the NFL, is that. Yeah, he caught everybody's attention immediately,
Speaker 5: he was on everybody's radar. He played, had the speed
Speaker 5: that he plays a very unique position. And then can
Speaker 5: you put all that together, Because we've seen guys that
Speaker 5: have special skills that weren't the football players that they
Speaker 5: had hoped to be. But Montes Sweb has been able
Speaker 5: to scratch the surface of ultimately where he can go.
Speaker 4: And Bears to give up a high second round pick
Speaker 4: as it stands right now anyway, We'll see how the
Speaker 4: season winds up, but that will be an impact to
Speaker 4: the story as well. But the Bears are trying to
Speaker 4: sign him. We'll see if he's interested in signing right now.
Speaker 4: He it would be under Bears control regardless because they
Speaker 4: could easily franchise tag him. But Ryan Poet says they
Speaker 4: hope to get something done on the near termy home.
Speaker 4: More about that in what Ryan had to say. And
Speaker 4: that's what you'd like to do. You give up that
Speaker 4: kind of draft choice capital, Tom you want to sign
Speaker 4: him long term.
Speaker 3: Of course you do.
Speaker 5: You want a guy come in here that you made
Speaker 5: a trade mid season of a portion an area of
Speaker 5: the game that you need a lot of help, and
Speaker 5: he comes in here and performs at a high level.
Speaker 5: He's a good guy inside the locker room. He can
Speaker 5: help young guys maybe achieve what ultimately they want to
Speaker 5: achieve by getting some tutoring on the field, and you
Speaker 5: work well with the organization, the linebackers and the Yeah,
Speaker 5: you definitely want to be able to have this guy
Speaker 5: impress you, and then you want to get him signed
Speaker 5: to a long term deal.
Speaker 4: Bears weren't sure he'd be available for a minute. He
Speaker 4: wasn't than he was, and other teams were involved, so
Speaker 4: they took the swing at it. We talk about the
Speaker 4: pass rush all the time, but they got to be
Speaker 4: edgsetters well in the run game. And I you know,
Speaker 4: going back and watching every snap of that game against
Speaker 4: Washington the Bears won, and just some other clips, he
Speaker 4: is a good run defender. Tim, what is your professional
Speaker 4: opinion of his run defense?
Speaker 3: You know what the thing about it.
Speaker 5: He has length, he has speed, and he has athleticism,
Speaker 5: everything that you need to be a good defensive end
Speaker 5: that plays every portion of the game first, second, and
Speaker 5: third down. And I think that's what impressed me most
Speaker 5: about Montese Sweat is that we all became noticed of
Speaker 5: him because of the forty he ran. But I think
Speaker 5: when you look at his game over the course of
Speaker 5: years and his development is his willingness to play the run.
Speaker 5: Because you know, Jeff, when you look at some of
Speaker 5: these defensive ends that you become familiar with over your
Speaker 5: last thirty years in the league, you have guys that
Speaker 5: want to run on the field on third down and
Speaker 5: they want to rush the passer. But then you have
Speaker 5: these guys that are willing to stay on the field
Speaker 5: in first and second down and be contributors in the
Speaker 5: running game. And that's what I see about Montes and
Speaker 5: whether he's you know, being blocked by a tight end
Speaker 5: or an offensive tackle, he's able to use his traits
Speaker 5: and his skills and his length equally as effectively against
Speaker 5: all pieces.
Speaker 1: Jalen Johnson remains with the Bears.
Speaker 4: He took the podium on Wednesday as well, gave a
Speaker 4: very detailed explanation of where he's at. Your first impuls is, well,
Speaker 4: you know, he couldn't get a trade done. The asking
Speaker 4: price not quite what the Bears were looking for, and
Speaker 4: Ryan Pols will talk about that here in a minute,
Speaker 4: but he basically asked for a late first, early second
Speaker 4: and he was not going to budge from that, but
Speaker 4: he granted the wish the Jalen side had said if
Speaker 4: they didn't get a contract done after meeting on Sunday
Speaker 4: in La, you know, he asked for a trade, so
Speaker 4: he said, you know, go take a look.
Speaker 1: So they took a look.
Speaker 4: They're still communicating though it doesn't mean they're not going
Speaker 4: to sign him, but he is still here. But you wonder,
Speaker 4: you know, is he going to have the same desire
Speaker 4: to be great as a Bear without the safety net
Speaker 4: and the security of a long term contract. We'll hear
Speaker 4: from Jalen Johnson on that here in a few minutes
Speaker 4: as well. I was convinced he'll be fine, Tom, he
Speaker 4: will be fine. So he feels he's the best cornerback
Speaker 4: in the league. He feels he's playing the best ball
Speaker 4: of his career, and so he continues to make that clear.
Speaker 4: And now he's got to show it the rest of
Speaker 4: this season.
Speaker 5: Yeah, you're right, he's got to show with the rest
Speaker 5: of the season and him going up to the podium
Speaker 5: and saying that he feels that he's one of or
Speaker 5: not the best cornerback in the league. Then you're talking
Speaker 5: about what are the teams that are trading for you,
Speaker 5: What do they think? What do they think your value
Speaker 5: is in terms of getting a long term deal done
Speaker 5: with Jalen if you went and.
Speaker 3: Traded for him.
Speaker 5: Listen, I want every guy to have a high opinion
Speaker 5: of themselves, but I also want them to go out
Speaker 5: and prove it. And that's where the kind of where
Speaker 5: Jalen is right now. If he thinks that he is
Speaker 5: this type of playmaking cornerback that can really go out
Speaker 5: there and play at a blocking down a number one
Speaker 5: receiver on any team in the league. And if you
Speaker 5: continue to show it, you're either going to be rewarded
Speaker 5: here or somewhere else. And he understands about the franchise
Speaker 5: tag as well. So I hope Jalen comes out here
Speaker 5: and continues to make the types of plays that cornerbacks
Speaker 5: need to make in order to be considered one of
Speaker 5: the tops in the league.
Speaker 4: Well, when sweat gets down the field, you presumably will
Speaker 4: get a bigger impact up front. Guys will get slotted differently,
Speaker 4: the rotation gets a little more experience and a.
Speaker 1: Lot of production. It will help the dB.
Speaker 4: So that'll be an interesting connection with Jalen Johnson. For
Speaker 4: all your journeys ahead, go with a partner who's been
Speaker 4: on your team from the beginning, the one members and
Speaker 4: communities have trusted for over eighty five years. Blue Cross
Speaker 4: and Blue Shield of Illinois, always standing by you, with you,
Speaker 4: for you through it all. Also the news of the
Speaker 4: daytime the removal of running back coach David Walker dismissed
Speaker 4: for repeated violations that involved the HR department and workplace conduct.
Speaker 4: So the new running backs coach now will be Omar Young,
Speaker 4: who's been here under Eberflus, working with wide receivers and
Speaker 4: also other aspects of the Bears passing offense. So the
Speaker 4: running game certainly is something he's been around and that'll
Speaker 4: be the transition. But you know, as a second coach
Speaker 4: in six weeks, better than to just say, let's just
Speaker 4: ignore that and move on. You got to make these decisions.
Speaker 4: They're not easy decisions at this point in the season.
Speaker 1: What's your thought.
Speaker 5: I think it's some of the most difficult decisions you'll
Speaker 5: ever have to make in an assistant coach's life because Jeff,
Speaker 5: like I always say, how long you been around the game,
Speaker 5: And you see how many hours that a lot of
Speaker 5: these assistant coaches put in to ultimately getting the job
Speaker 5: job that pays for all the dues that they put
Speaker 5: in in life and in time in the moving that
Speaker 5: they've had to do throughout their career, and then they
Speaker 5: finally get the opportunity to get a high profile job
Speaker 5: in the NFL market, it seems like you'd want to
Speaker 5: do everything you possibly could to present yourself in the
Speaker 5: proper way in order to hold on to that job
Speaker 5: as long as possible. These guys are paid very handsomely
Speaker 5: when they do achieve this type of success, and you know,
Speaker 5: that's what I think. Matt Eberflus has a really high
Speaker 5: expectation of every one of these guys, from character to coaching.
Speaker 4: Has to that's the only way it's going to work
Speaker 4: for sure. Injury report today. They did not practice on Wednesday,
Speaker 4: but there was an injury report. Eddie Jackson would be
Speaker 4: clear to go the entire day, Brisker, Edmunds, Terrell Smith,
Speaker 4: Nay Davis all out, justin fields out limited for Brexton Jones,
Speaker 4: that twenty one day window still open for his return
Speaker 4: from his neck injury. I'd like to see him out there,
Speaker 4: but I don't want to see a less than one
Speaker 4: hundred percent Braxton Jones at this point.
Speaker 5: You yeah, now with the neck issue, and you're talking
Speaker 5: about a position that your neck comes into play almost
Speaker 5: every single play, and sometimes it can have an extremely
Speaker 5: high impact to it if you're pulling or if you're
Speaker 5: on the mover, you're.
Speaker 3: Going to the second level.
Speaker 5: So Braxton Jones is a super young man in his
Speaker 5: career with a super bright future ahead of him. So
Speaker 5: coming back from this issue, you got to make sure
Speaker 5: that you're one hundred percent confident rather than being uncertain
Speaker 5: about your ability.
Speaker 4: Busy heart Seltzer the official heart Seltzer of the Chicago Bears.
Speaker 4: As indicated Ryan Poe's met the media on Wednesday, we'll
Speaker 4: give you the whole thing right here on Bears et cetera.
Speaker 6: We expect him to come here and help our entire
Speaker 6: team get better. We see him as a long, fast, explosive,
Speaker 6: relentless defensive end that can help us both in the
Speaker 6: run in the past game, and really I see him
Speaker 6: as a multiplier.
Speaker 7: He's gonna allow everyone to play better.
Speaker 6: Our entire defensive front, our corners are safeties and again,
Speaker 6: hopefully we talk about the ball all the time, creating
Speaker 6: turnovers and stops so we can be better In terms
Speaker 6: of our process, really was a situation where you know,
Speaker 6: you try to forecast forward, you look at the draft potential.
Speaker 6: Our guys have been doing a really good job being
Speaker 6: the information in as well as free agency, and we
Speaker 6: felt like this was a really good opportunity to get
Speaker 6: ahead of that and get a top pass rusher in
Speaker 6: the building. And again that's short term, but also for
Speaker 6: long term, we're currently working on getting a contract done now.
Speaker 8: Too.
Speaker 7: I got a lot of questions about Jalen.
Speaker 6: First, Jayalen I have a really good relationship, a lot
Speaker 6: of transparency.
Speaker 7: We sit down and we talk, We go through different things.
Speaker 6: And heard a lot about not wanting Jalen here long term,
Speaker 6: and that couldn't be further from the truth. He knows
Speaker 6: that we want him here and we've talked about that
Speaker 6: our process there.
Speaker 7: I'll just kind of pull back on that whole deal.
Speaker 6: Anytime we do an extension, I bring players in to
Speaker 6: sit down and have a conversation to really go over
Speaker 6: what an extension looks like, what does it feel like.
Speaker 6: Because the biggest thing is you can take things personal
Speaker 6: when you're negotiating through an agent. So there's the club
Speaker 6: side starts one side, the agent starts the other, and
Speaker 6: you try to find that sweet spot in the middle
Speaker 6: to get the deal done.
Speaker 7: And in that sense, you can take it personal.
Speaker 6: And the big thing, I want our guys and the
Speaker 6: guys here to be able to come in my office
Speaker 6: and talk about if they feel disrespected anyway, and we
Speaker 6: can talk through it to go because it's a tough situation.
Speaker 7: So I want them to know that my phone's on
Speaker 7: my door's open. We talk through that.
Speaker 6: So we've been able to do that with Jalen and
Speaker 6: go through that process.
Speaker 7: Really with that one, we've.
Speaker 6: Exchanged a couple of times and it was one of
Speaker 6: those situations. A lot of times it happens when you
Speaker 6: exchange emails back and forth with deals. Tone can be misunderstood,
Speaker 6: emotions can be misunderstood.
Speaker 7: We all know that.
Speaker 6: I'm sure we've all texted and it's like, no, I
Speaker 6: didn't mean it to be that way. So on Sunday
Speaker 6: we met with his side. I had really good meetings
Speaker 6: in La I thought we made progress. I talked at
Speaker 6: text of my group. I'm like, we'll be able to
Speaker 6: get this deal done in a matter of days. We
Speaker 6: come back from the trip and his team wants to
Speaker 6: explore a trade situation. So I'm fine with that. But
Speaker 6: I brought Jalen in, we sat down, we talked about it.
Speaker 6: I granted permission to do that. Here's the thing I'm
Speaker 6: not I don't want to lose Jalen Johnson. If I
Speaker 6: were to lose Jalen Johnson, I would like to have
Speaker 6: a high percentage of hitting on another Jalen Johnson, which
Speaker 6: to me is a late first, and it's an early second,
Speaker 6: so really simple there.
Speaker 7: That didn't happen.
Speaker 6: So we are still open to getting a contract done
Speaker 6: and I'm going to follow Jalen's lead on how he
Speaker 6: wants to go about doing that.
Speaker 7: But we're still open.
Speaker 6: And again, Jalen and I have talked as recently as
Speaker 6: today and.
Speaker 7: That's what I got there. So those are two topics
Speaker 7: open up for questions.
Speaker 9: How would you characterize the state of extension talks with
Speaker 9: Montes and where you're at a that.
Speaker 6: Yeah, so he just signed up, got the physical done,
Speaker 6: so you know, we just kick that off. It's hard
Speaker 6: to put a timeline on it, but I'm hoping it
Speaker 6: won't take too long.
Speaker 10: When it came down to Montese versus Chase Young, we
Speaker 10: know now that both were on the market, how'd.
Speaker 7: You come to the decision to, you know, shout.
Speaker 10: Out as a two for Montes versus you know, Chase
Speaker 10: Young going for for three.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I'll be honest.
Speaker 6: I really didn't think Tes was available for a while,
Speaker 6: so that door was kind of closed and it was
Speaker 6: gonna be kind of quiet, and then it popped back
Speaker 6: up in the last couple of hours.
Speaker 11: Ryan Ran, we talked to him Matt earlier today, you
Speaker 11: had your second assistant coach leave in six weeks?
Speaker 7: Yep? Does he have a culture problem? Did bears have
Speaker 7: a culture problem? And if no, why why not?
Speaker 10: Because these things don't happen you know it's happening twice
Speaker 10: in six days.
Speaker 6: Yeah, Well I can be really clear with that one.
Speaker 6: We have a expectations here and this comes from me, Kevin,
Speaker 6: George and Matt. If you don't meet those expectations or
Speaker 6: how you move around this building, how you treat people,
Speaker 6: how you talk to people, how you act, you don't
Speaker 6: belong here. So the alternative is you do nothing and
Speaker 6: you just kind of brush around the rug and you're
Speaker 6: cool with that, which we're not, or you act accordingly
Speaker 6: to make sure that your culture is strong. So unfortunately,
Speaker 6: just I feel like every time I talk, it's like
Speaker 6: the easy way the quiet way. The hard way is
Speaker 6: a loud way, and we have to deal with this.
Speaker 6: But that's how we're going to do business here.
Speaker 12: So right, how certain are you that you can get
Speaker 12: a deal done with Sweat without using the franchise tag
Speaker 12: because when you spend a second obviously it's a long
Speaker 12: term thing. Is that put you in a little bit
Speaker 12: of a tough situation leverage wise, trying to get knowing
Speaker 12: that you need to have this guy here long term.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I feel really confident that we can get a
Speaker 7: deal done.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 11: What is the benefit being able to negotiate with him now,
Speaker 11: essentially paying the second round pick to do that, as
Speaker 11: opposed to waiting till March and getting involved in that situation.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think it's capitalizing right now because you start
Speaker 6: to lose opportunities. It's really hard to see, you know.
Speaker 6: It's like we talked about it, like if you look
Speaker 6: at the phrasing and stack now, it's going to look
Speaker 6: very different by the time you get to that point
Speaker 6: of the year because there's so many different opportunities that
Speaker 6: can pop up in terms of extensions, tax different things
Speaker 6: like that. So we decided with that type of player,
Speaker 6: we want to capitalize on that now.
Speaker 11: And you've got a sense that if you guys weren't
Speaker 11: the ones to trade from yesterday, somebody else.
Speaker 7: Yes.
Speaker 8: Are you surprised that the pass rush up until this point,
Speaker 8: given how many draft resources free agent resources that you've utilized,
Speaker 8: that hasn't hand out the way that you might have
Speaker 8: been hopeful for.
Speaker 6: Yeah, you're always hopeful with the guys that you're bringing in,
Speaker 6: but sometimes you just need, you know, someone that can
Speaker 6: come in and create some disruption where you have to
Speaker 6: slide the offensive line a certain way, you have to
Speaker 6: double team certain people, and then that starts again. We're
Speaker 6: talking about multipliers where it can open up different situations
Speaker 6: for different guys to get home.
Speaker 7: So I'm hoping that this improves that.
Speaker 8: We're aggressive again this year, same situation, second round. Pick
Speaker 8: what gives you confidence that this time this move of
Speaker 8: the trade deadline is.
Speaker 7: Going to work out. Yeah, it's one of those things. Again.
Speaker 6: I try to take a lot of pride in it,
Speaker 6: but you know, you look at things that you do.
Speaker 6: If they fail or you make mistakes, can you look
Speaker 6: back at why and address those? And then I think
Speaker 6: the key is like sometimes you become a little bit
Speaker 6: shy to make aggressive moves as you move forward, but
Speaker 6: that's just not how we're wired. So it took a
Speaker 6: lot of those things from that situation and kind of
Speaker 6: went through that process and said, Okay, here's where we
Speaker 6: may have messed up this and then for this one
Speaker 6: not not making the same mistake and learn from that.
Speaker 9: It was obviously a significant move on your part to
Speaker 9: open the door for Galing in his camp to go
Speaker 9: seek a trade.
Speaker 3: What was in that for you?
Speaker 9: Philosophical philosophically, what were you?
Speaker 7: Can you say that one more time?
Speaker 3: I'm sorry.
Speaker 9: Obviously a significant measure by you to open the doors
Speaker 9: for jail And in his camp to explore a trade
Speaker 9: possibility yesterday from from your vantage point philosophically, what was
Speaker 9: advantageous to you to allowing them to do that?
Speaker 3: So you didn't have to grant that if you didn't want.
Speaker 6: I think again, it's a respect that I have for
Speaker 6: Jalen too. It's like, if that's in your heart, then
Speaker 6: you want to go check that out. Go check that
Speaker 6: out and see what comes back. If if everything lines
Speaker 6: up perfectly well, if you want to go somewhere else,
Speaker 6: then that can happen. If that brought the pick where
Speaker 6: I felt like we could get another Jalen Johnson, then
Speaker 6: we can do that too. So it's really just to
Speaker 6: have clarity on the situation. But it had to work
Speaker 6: out perfectly for both sides to.
Speaker 9: It's such a financial divide between what he is looking
Speaker 9: for and what you're willing to do.
Speaker 6: That's the thing we never got to that point. That's
Speaker 6: what we meant in terms of let's close the gap
Speaker 6: and figure out where to go next. Because when you negotiate, you,
Speaker 6: just like anything else that you guys have done it,
Speaker 6: you go back and forth a couple of steps.
Speaker 7: So there was only a few steps. No one was final.
Speaker 7: Does that makes sense?
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean I guess obviously there's still.
Speaker 7: I don't know what the gap is.
Speaker 9: Does that frustrate you not having clarity?
Speaker 6: I guess he was a surprise because we were working
Speaker 6: to close the gap.
Speaker 8: So there had not been an offer extended.
Speaker 7: They were offers, but there was no last and final
Speaker 7: from any side.
Speaker 12: Right between the losses and the staff issues.
Speaker 7: Why are you confident still that Matt is the right
Speaker 7: coach for this game? Yeah? And I get the question.
Speaker 6: What I see on every every day where I see
Speaker 6: him address the team, and I see his approach through adversity.
Speaker 7: It is stable man.
Speaker 6: And I know in the outside world that doesn't look
Speaker 6: like that, and I know it looks like we're far away,
Speaker 6: but this dude comes in every day and just keeps
Speaker 6: chipping away. He has high integrity. The people that he
Speaker 6: brings in here, He's done the work to make sure
Speaker 6: that they're the people they're supposed to be. Again, we
Speaker 6: hold that standard. If it doesn't follow that and people
Speaker 6: aren't acting that way, they're not here. But the way
Speaker 6: that he holds holds everything down here is incredible for
Speaker 6: how loud it is, how tough it is. I mean,
Speaker 6: this team, you could watch them.
Speaker 7: They fight.
Speaker 6: I know this past weekend wasn't great, but you can't
Speaker 6: watch that team and be like, oh, they're gonna fold.
Speaker 6: Most teams fold, and they're not folding. It's been hard.
Speaker 6: It's been really hard, especially from where we started last
Speaker 6: year trying to build this and do it the right way.
Speaker 6: What I see from him on a daily basis and
Speaker 6: how he gets his team ready and on a weekly basis,
Speaker 6: to me, I see a grown man that has leadership
Speaker 6: skills to get this thing out of the hole and
Speaker 6: into where it needs to be.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 12: You said before the season that this team can be
Speaker 12: measured on winning. Why hasn't this team lived up to
Speaker 12: that standard.
Speaker 6: Yeah, we got to EXCU better, we got to XQ better,
Speaker 6: we got to continue to put guys in the right
Speaker 6: place positions. We've got to continue to add good players
Speaker 6: to help us get over the hump. We've got to
Speaker 6: add playmakers to like when you have some of these
Speaker 6: mistakes that we've had, when you watch just NFL football
Speaker 6: in general, you have guys that can just I call
Speaker 6: them a racers, erase some of those mistakes, those turnovers,
Speaker 6: make plays, and we just got to get to a
Speaker 6: place that we can do that and also close the
Speaker 6: gap where we can play clean football. When we've played
Speaker 6: clean football this year, we want games when it gets slopped.
Speaker 6: We haven't, so we just got to continue to clean
Speaker 6: it up and fix the execution.
Speaker 12: Just to clarify the gal situation, that's a little confused.
Speaker 12: His camp has a number, the Bears have a number.
Speaker 7: Why is there no mental works? How does it work?
Speaker 7: How you go back and forth right and you try
Speaker 7: to find a sweet spot.
Speaker 6: So you have to conclude that and say, hey, this
Speaker 6: is my final, this is your final, and then you
Speaker 6: know what the gap is.
Speaker 7: But we haven't gotten there yet.
Speaker 2: Is this some kind as well, some kind of baby
Speaker 2: endorsement of what your quarterback situation. You're taking the control
Speaker 2: out of your hands, somewhat, you're adding to your defense,
Speaker 2: You're proving your rostery in your eyes. Is this maybe
Speaker 2: say you're kind of comfored with how your quarterback situationalized.
Speaker 6: I would say, in general philosophy's just continue to add
Speaker 6: really good football players to this roster so that we
Speaker 6: can win football games.
Speaker 4: So he hit some of the things we discussed Tom.
Speaker 4: Anything else stick out about Ryan Poles his news conference
Speaker 4: on Wednesday that resonates with you, and I know they
Speaker 4: asked him about coach Eberflution and why he still believes
Speaker 4: in him, and he gave a real passionate answer for that,
Speaker 4: and the grind and the old process of dealing with
Speaker 4: adversity which they've faced a ton here out of the gate,
Speaker 4: beginning with that opening loss to the Packers in Week one.
Speaker 4: Where they're at right now, two and two in the
Speaker 4: last four Yes, new additions, subtractions because of injury, coaching changes,
Speaker 4: you name it. It's happened. They've had some tough losses,
Speaker 4: some blowout wins. I mean it's only week nine, but
Speaker 4: a lot has gone on.
Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, I think he always have to consider
Speaker 5: when Ryan talks about what this roster looked like and
Speaker 5: what the building looked like when he came aboard, and
Speaker 5: how much change there has been since then. And you
Speaker 5: do see the signs of development, even though Matt Iberflus
Speaker 5: had to take over midstride to become the defensive coordinator,
Speaker 5: and the defense has been making improvements, and hopefully a
Speaker 5: guy like Montes sweat that Ryan Poles obviously went out
Speaker 5: and studied and had an attraction to in terms of
Speaker 5: what he could do for this football team. Can make
Speaker 5: the defensive backs better. If you got the interior the line,
Speaker 5: who I think has improven significantly along with the rookies,
Speaker 5: they can help the outside rushers like the outside rushers
Speaker 5: can help the interior guys. But I think when you
Speaker 5: think of Ryan Poles, it's hard not to think about
Speaker 5: where this building is right now. With Ryan Poles, with
Speaker 5: Kevin Warren and with Matt Iberflus, I think they have
Speaker 5: a positive working relationship that you would like to see
Speaker 5: take major strides through the remainder of the season.
Speaker 4: All right, let's listen to a little Montes. His arrival
Speaker 4: at Chicago. First first stop was the podium and answering questions.
Speaker 4: So a guy doesn't even know he's going to live
Speaker 4: for the time being, and that's the part of it,
Speaker 4: you know, there is a other side of it. Anybody
Speaker 4: who has a job, and they get transferred and you
Speaker 4: got to start right away. But in a high pressure
Speaker 4: business of football, with all eyes are on, you expect
Speaker 4: them to be on the field Sunday afternoon down in
Speaker 4: New Orleans and to play football and to play winning football.
Speaker 4: But you got to get your life set up very quickly,
Speaker 4: find out where you're going to live and all that.
Speaker 4: You moved once in your career, but you were a
Speaker 4: single guy. You had no attachments other than your family
Speaker 4: and Joli yet, but you weren't living with them. And
Speaker 4: you can get by with board shorts and flip flops
Speaker 4: and do your thing in Miami. You know, you just
Speaker 4: picked up some friends and let's go. Let's go play football.
Speaker 3: You know, That's what I did, Jeff.
Speaker 5: I went down there and I had my equipment, and
Speaker 5: I had an overnight bag filled with shorts and flip
Speaker 5: flops and T shirts. And luckily enough, I had a
Speaker 5: friend down there that had offered me a place to
Speaker 5: live and.
Speaker 3: A minivan.
Speaker 5: And that's what That's how I survived over the next
Speaker 5: eleven weeks. And I enjoyed it. But he again, I
Speaker 5: was I was on my own and only accountable for myself.
Speaker 5: When he talked about wardrobe and living and in the
Speaker 5: car here and all that kind of stuff. And then
Speaker 5: you you think, well, so what happens if he does
Speaker 5: sign a long term contract midway through the end of
Speaker 5: the season, and now you're talking about bringing your whole
Speaker 5: life up here, not just for a period.
Speaker 1: Of time, right, all right, here's Montes sweat.
Speaker 13: I'm just going, Uh, I know I'm doing media right
Speaker 13: now afterwards. I mean, I ain't been in my locker yet.
Speaker 7: Do you expect to play Sunday?
Speaker 9: Will be able to fin get out there right away?
Speaker 13: I believe so.
Speaker 3: Anywhere.
Speaker 13: I don't know that yet. Specifically, Justin Feels was swirling
Speaker 13: about about the trend. Man, I was actually uh, I
Speaker 13: walked through and uh, I don't know. Well, I was
Speaker 13: on my way. I was on my way to walk through,
Speaker 13: and the rumors was squirling about. So I had my
Speaker 13: phone close to me. My Hager gave me a call
Speaker 13: there was.
Speaker 8: What are your questions like when you get that call?
Speaker 13: I mean it was a lot, there's a lot of
Speaker 13: there's a lot of emotions. I mean, I was in
Speaker 13: Washington for maybe for four or five years. I developed
Speaker 13: some strong relationships there that I mean would last after that,
Speaker 13: and I mean, you gotta pick up shop and find
Speaker 13: a new home.
Speaker 7: So it's it's.
Speaker 13: A lot of emotions to come with that, but I mean,
Speaker 13: I'm I'm ready for the challenge. I'm ready to meet
Speaker 13: my new team, hit the ground row.
Speaker 4: We also talked about Jalen Johnson time and I just
Speaker 4: want to run one clip just how he feels about himself,
Speaker 4: as we alluded to it at the top of the show.
Speaker 1: Here, he feels he's the best.
Speaker 14: For one, I played my best year that I played
Speaker 14: at the Bears. For one two, I feel like my
Speaker 14: impact is greater than has been. I mean, I feel
Speaker 14: like they're arguably I like I'm the best corner of
Speaker 14: the game right now. So I mean, just going off
Speaker 14: that and continue to play at a high level, that's
Speaker 14: not going to change. And I feel like for me
Speaker 14: that only increases my value. And it just happens that
Speaker 14: you strike the iron wilds hot.
Speaker 4: And of course now continue to show it. The New
Speaker 4: Orleans Saints. This is what this podcast is about. But
Speaker 4: so much happened here in the last couple of days
Speaker 4: that we had a shift gears, but the focus now
Speaker 4: becomes the New Orleans Saints. For the rest of the week,
Speaker 4: and Jalen Johnson will be facing some really good receivers
Speaker 4: and a quarterback and Derek Carr that he's known for
Speaker 4: a while and has faced before. But that team is
Speaker 4: an interesting one. I can't figure them out yet. The
Speaker 4: defense is very good.
Speaker 1: They're going to be.
Speaker 4: Better playing in the Dome. You know, once upon a
Speaker 4: time with the Saints, for great they were the Dome
Speaker 4: patrol right. They were sacking quarterbacks and playing vicious football.
Speaker 4: And they have those type of players edge rushers the
Speaker 4: secondary that I value a linebacker tomorrow. Davis has done
Speaker 4: a great job and has been a long time vet there.
Speaker 4: But on the opposite side of the ball, they have
Speaker 4: run out thirty two offensive players tom the most in
Speaker 4: the league so far in the first eight weeks of
Speaker 4: the season, and they have played a full They haven't
Speaker 4: had their buy yet, so they've played eight games. Thirty
Speaker 4: two offensive players have already run through. They run a
Speaker 4: lot of different personnel groups and they're not going to
Speaker 4: be easy to maintain in terms of their excellence. They
Speaker 4: have outstanding receivers. Michael Thomas, as we know, had the
Speaker 4: injury woes the past couple of years, but the last
Speaker 4: time the Bears played him, he was considered arguably the
Speaker 4: top receiver in football, or at least one of the
Speaker 4: top three. And Chris o'lave and the speed of Shaheed
Speaker 4: there is a lot to deal with. And Alvin Kamara included.
Speaker 5: Yeah, and you know, don't bring up Taysom Hill because
Speaker 5: you have a guy that is such a jack of
Speaker 5: all trades that you really don't know what they're going
Speaker 5: to do when he's in the game. He can play quarterback,
Speaker 5: he can play tight end, he can play full back,
Speaker 5: he can play wide receiver. And then you mentioned all
Speaker 5: those other players that they got world class speed. They
Speaker 5: have one of the top receivers that's been in the
Speaker 5: game all although he's been injured the last couple of years.
Speaker 5: They have a running back that is top tops in
Speaker 5: the game. So, you know, I think even Tyson Bagen
Speaker 5: said it at the podium that they have to play
Speaker 5: perfect football on offense because the defense moves.
Speaker 3: So perfectly together.
Speaker 5: They have an older group of guys that have been
Speaker 5: around in this system for a while, and I think
Speaker 5: when you look at the offensive side of the ball,
Speaker 5: they can do a lot of different things. So listening
Speaker 5: to Jalen Johnson at the podium today. The first thing
Speaker 5: I would do is go and introduce myself to Montese
Speaker 5: Sweat and tell them how important it is to have
Speaker 5: him on the field today.
Speaker 1: Yeah, no question, you know.
Speaker 4: Also, Bajen talked about as you alluded to, the defense
Speaker 4: has been together a while. Dennis Allen's the head coach,
Speaker 4: and he is aggressive. He can be really aggressive as
Speaker 4: a play caller. So it'll be interesting to see how
Speaker 4: these guys are deployed. But I've been impressed with watching
Speaker 4: right defensive end Carl Granderson Tom he's an outstanding pass
Speaker 4: rush undrafted free agent back in twenty seventeen. He got
Speaker 4: himself a big contract as an undrafted player, and he's
Speaker 4: probably been their most impactful defensive player, taking nothing away
Speaker 4: from Cam Jordan, but he's on the other side of thirty.
Speaker 4: He's been there a while, slowing down just a smidge,
Speaker 4: not the same exact player, but still very productive. And then,
Speaker 4: as I mentioned, the middle linebacker and the green dot
Speaker 4: linebacker to Mario Davis, and then you got Marshawn Lattimore.
Speaker 4: Paulson Nadibo is another corner. He shined last week. Marcus
Speaker 4: May is under the weather a little bit at safety
Speaker 4: and Tyron.
Speaker 1: Matth Yeah, is there so honey Badger.
Speaker 4: Yeah, the honey Badger has been around a while, but
Speaker 4: he's still he's still on the scene. So there's a
Speaker 4: lot on defense the Bears are gonna have to root out.
Speaker 4: What is your biggest concern about facing that defense with
Speaker 4: Tyson bajor right now?
Speaker 5: Crowd noise and it's hard to hide. I've been in
Speaker 5: that stadium as an offensive lineman where you can't hear
Speaker 5: the calls being made, whether the center is directly under
Speaker 5: whether the quarterback is directly under center, or you have
Speaker 5: to make adjustments at the line of scrimmage when the
Speaker 5: lineback or when the offensive lineman or the quarterback is
Speaker 5: pointing out the linebacker of responsibility, you almost have to
Speaker 5: look and see who he's pointing out because you can't
Speaker 5: hear him call him out. But when you think of
Speaker 5: the big picture of the game, there's gonna be three
Speaker 5: free agents that are going to have a huge part
Speaker 5: of the outcome of this game. When you look at Rashid,
Speaker 5: you look at Granderson, and you look at Tyson Bagent.
Speaker 5: Now you're going to have three free agents that didn't
Speaker 5: get drafted, but they can do enormous things. And so
Speaker 5: to me, every time I played in New Orleans, it's
Speaker 5: always been crowd noises my biggest concern.
Speaker 3: However, I will tell you this.
Speaker 5: If the Bears go in there and they run the
Speaker 5: ball well, they run it efficiently, they run it at
Speaker 5: four yards of pop, they have thirty five carries of
Speaker 5: effect to football, they can drown the crowd out of
Speaker 5: the game. So I think if there's any one key
Speaker 5: to this game, it's running the ball effectively to bore
Speaker 5: the crowd out of it.
Speaker 4: Hey, and I do tempo too. That takes a crowd
Speaker 4: out of it when you're getting on your gashing team.
Speaker 4: So hopefully that can happen as well. I think he'd
Speaker 4: be good. I mean, they dabbled in it last week,
Speaker 4: but obviously they were working from behind. We're brought to
Speaker 4: you by a PNC Official Bank of the Bears and
Speaker 4: Miller Lite, the official beer of the Chicago Bears, tastes
Speaker 4: like Miller Time Chicago. Tom can't go past this day
Speaker 4: without remembering Walter Payton once again, your teammate, your friend,
Speaker 4: A powerful man. Twenty four years ago on November one,
Speaker 4: passed away. Next day I have a daughter Caitlin. You're
Speaker 4: like an uncle to her and my other daughter Kelly.
Speaker 4: So I never forget this day. And I saw a
Speaker 4: Jim Brown quote from NFL Films earlier today. He said,
Speaker 4: give me the heart of Walter Payton, because no one
Speaker 4: had a bigger one. A guy who doesn't run out
Speaker 4: of bounds to avoid contact is my kind of guy.
Speaker 4: And certainly he played with the attitude and ability that
Speaker 4: Jim Brown played with. And it was Jim Brown whose
Speaker 4: record was broken by Walter Payton and the rushing record,
Speaker 4: But a big hole in the Chicago Bears family without
Speaker 4: Walder here.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it is, it is and it always will be
Speaker 5: because Walter Peyton is fondly remembered by every single person
Speaker 5: that's ever had a chance to meet him. And he's
Speaker 5: so fondly remembered by every person that's ever got to
Speaker 5: watch him dedicate himself to football.
Speaker 3: He did incredible things on the field.
Speaker 5: He was just so talented and self motivated.
Speaker 3: He was not a guy that had to.
Speaker 5: Go out and hire a personal trainer, because he trained
Speaker 5: himself harder than anybody else could train him. He was
Speaker 5: a model citizen in the locker room on and off
Speaker 5: the field. He made people feel comfortable every time he
Speaker 5: came across them. And Walter was, you know, special beyond compare.
Speaker 5: And you see a reflection of it when we're fortunate
Speaker 5: to see Jared and his daughter Britney and his wife
Speaker 5: Connie for that matter, how great of people they are,
Speaker 5: because you know, they were all super.
Speaker 3: Influenced by Walter the father.
Speaker 5: And so when you want to talk about every walk
Speaker 5: of life and being a great person that's fondly remembered,
Speaker 5: it's Walter Peyton.
Speaker 3: Yep.
Speaker 1: Great family, great, great, great family. Hey, after you guys,
Speaker 1: careers are over to you.
Speaker 4: Guys, just ever pick up the phone and give each
Speaker 4: other a call or get out together.
Speaker 5: At a of tons of times, I was super fortunate
Speaker 5: to be friends and my mom had a great friendship
Speaker 5: with Walter. And I always talk about this photo album
Speaker 5: that I have here because there was about four or
Speaker 5: five times that Walter showed up at my house down
Speaker 5: here and Joe Yet and he just showed up on
Speaker 5: his own because he knew that my family got together
Speaker 5: every Sunday. In one time, Walter came and drove to
Speaker 5: a McDonald's and went up to the counter and said, hey,
Speaker 5: I know Anthair works here, can you tell me where
Speaker 5: she lives? And they go, oh my god, it's Walter Peyton.
Speaker 5: So they brought him to the phone. They called my
Speaker 5: mom on the phone. He got directions how to.
Speaker 3: Get here and showed up.
Speaker 5: And it's almost like a scene out of the Rocky
Speaker 5: movie because Walter would sit in the backyard. He would
Speaker 5: be here on his motorcycle in all the neighborhood kids
Speaker 5: would come over here and he would hold a couple
Speaker 5: at a time.
Speaker 3: They would sit on his motorcycle.
Speaker 5: They would put on his helmet, and I was super,
Speaker 5: super fortunate to have a friendship with him that extended
Speaker 5: well beyond our playing years.
Speaker 1: That awesome story. Awesome, awesome. Well, when I the Bulls,
Speaker 1: he was always showing up.
Speaker 4: You know, he kind of zipped down town faster than
Speaker 4: most people would get there. He found away, but he
Speaker 4: was always sitting there rooting MJ and the boys on.
Speaker 4: So it was always good to say hello to him.
Speaker 4: Certainly a treasure that we all miss, that's for sure.
Speaker 4: All right, Tom, that's gonna wrap up our show for
Speaker 4: this week. Good New Chicago. You had the airlines getting
Speaker 4: brand new planes with all the bells and whistles like
Speaker 4: Bluetooth connectivity screens at every seat in the room for
Speaker 4: everyone's rollerir Bag United, Proud to fly the Chicago Bears
Speaker 4: and you too. For Tom There, I'm Jeff Joniak. Thanks
Speaker 4: for listening, everybody. Our Next Bears et cetera podcast drops
Speaker 4: next Tuesday, after the trip to New Orleans.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening.
Speaker 4: Please subscribe now the Chicago Bears official app, Apple, Spotify.
Speaker 1: YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. Bear down, everybody,