Speaker 1: Right, justin middle of a field for fifteen bring Russ
Speaker 1: in front of.
Speaker 2: A leading Lions in his way.
Speaker 3: I am Jeff jonah Ack Whitz.
Speaker 2: Is not Donig.
Speaker 4: What was it like playing for Coche? Good do?
Speaker 3: I don't want to answer any questions like that. Sixty
Speaker 3: one yards?
Speaker 4: What's Sunday stroll for?
Speaker 3: Justin field?
Speaker 4: Yes, Bears et cetera brought to you by Miller Lte
Speaker 4: with the voices of the Bears, Jeff Joniac and Tom Thayer.
Speaker 1: We got a game this week, Big Tom Sayer, Jeff Joniack,
Speaker 1: and welcome into Bears et cetera preseason style Saturday afternoon
Speaker 1: and noone start against the visiting Tennessee Titans.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: I'm excited about it, Tom, I'm excited about real football.
Speaker 3: Oh me too.
Speaker 2: I mean, there are so many elements of the game
Speaker 2: that we don't get to pay attention to in an
Speaker 2: organize and control practice atmosphere. When you have a game,
Speaker 2: all doors are open. If you feel you have a
Speaker 2: vulnerability left in your game and the mental part of it,
Speaker 2: the physical part of it. If you're a player trying
Speaker 2: to gain confidence, here's either an answer to a question
Speaker 2: or part of the solution. Or something you have to
Speaker 2: work on. Then that's the same thing with the coaches.
Speaker 2: You don't have a scripted practice down. You don't know
Speaker 2: what defense they're going to face on the offensive side
Speaker 2: of the ball, and vice versa. So I think it's
Speaker 2: a really important part of the preseason are these games
Speaker 2: they play.
Speaker 1: You know, I saw tweet earlier from Kurt Warner, the
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame quarterback whose career, obviously if you follow
Speaker 1: the story, was a miracle in many ways, wound up
Speaker 1: being a Super Bowl MVP and a Hall of Famer,
Speaker 1: advising or reminding those players who aren't getting a lot
Speaker 1: of snaps in practice right now, your time is coming
Speaker 1: on game day.
Speaker 3: You're gonna play.
Speaker 1: You may have not been getting a lot of snaps
Speaker 1: and reps in practice, but you're gonna play in these
Speaker 1: early preseason games.
Speaker 2: I'm telling you, you know, And sometimes you won't. And
Speaker 2: that's when you have to have a good convicted attitude
Speaker 2: that if I go back to practice the next day
Speaker 2: and I don't play in a preseason game, I have
Speaker 2: to give that same effort with the same confidence that
Speaker 2: I did up to that point. Remember, Jeff, we talk
Speaker 2: about it all the time. I didn't play until the
Speaker 2: second half of the last preseason game my rookie year,
Speaker 2: and I used to walk out of those games and
Speaker 2: tears for not playing. So I'm that same person that
Speaker 2: Kurt Is, But we had a different road to getting
Speaker 2: to where we wanted to.
Speaker 1: It's hard to imagine giving your experience and how long
Speaker 1: you played in this league.
Speaker 3: Remember Bears, etc.
Speaker 1: Is brought to you by Miller Lite Tastes like Miller
Speaker 1: Time Chicago. Also coming up in today's podcast. An interview
Speaker 1: I did last week when NFL Network was here at
Speaker 1: Hallis Hall and visit with Scott Pioli, the former executive
Speaker 1: in the NFL with the New England Patriots and Kansas
Speaker 1: City Chiefs in Atlanta. Falcons on conversation about his career
Speaker 1: and his relationship with general manager Ryan Poll. Some good
Speaker 1: insight there into the Bears general manager. All right, so
Speaker 1: a lot going on. We had the family Fest at
Speaker 1: Soldier Field. How'd you think it all went? It was
Speaker 1: a good twenty thousand plus fans battling a few rain drops.
Speaker 1: Early Tony Medlin got all over me because I didn't
Speaker 1: bring a hat. My hair was and so he was
Speaker 1: worried about me. Yeah, you know, I really worried about me.
Speaker 1: He is, He's concerned.
Speaker 2: You know that it's the same concern he asked for
Speaker 2: you that he does for his players and the coaching
Speaker 2: staff and everybody. To have the right shoes on, the
Speaker 2: right equipment, you know, the same thing put a hat
Speaker 2: on if it's raining. But you know, when you look
Speaker 2: at the Family Fest, I have a certain appreciation for
Speaker 2: the fans that come out here. You know, they invest
Speaker 2: a whole Saturday and coming out to watch a Bears practice.
Speaker 2: But I think it's really important for the Bears as
Speaker 2: a team. You don't want questions coming up next Saturday
Speaker 2: at noon about where's my locker room? How do I
Speaker 2: get to the locker room, which is the best closest
Speaker 2: path to the field, what do I You know, Tony
Speaker 2: doesn't have time for these, The coaches don't have time
Speaker 2: for it. So you get those little things out of
Speaker 2: the way by having Family Fest. You know the route
Speaker 2: to get the Soldier Field, you know where you park,
Speaker 2: you know how you leave the stadium. So those little
Speaker 2: things that you don't want to spend any game day
Speaker 2: thinking about it. The Family Fest accomplishes a lot.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 1: One of the takeaways from my perspective was about and
Speaker 1: we talked about it on the sidelines. We were able
Speaker 1: to stand there and watch up close. But you know,
Speaker 1: Dj Moore, the suddenness of that player making a catch,
Speaker 1: planning his foot and he's history, he's in the end zone.
Speaker 1: Chase Claypool's got some sudden news to him, Darnell Mooney's
Speaker 1: got some suddenness to him. And then Roseean Johnson likes contact.
Speaker 1: It appears the big running back with the pads on,
Speaker 1: he likes to deliver a shot.
Speaker 3: So I'm excited about that.
Speaker 2: You know, first of all the wide receivers, there's a
Speaker 2: group of guys that are very sudden. Then they have
Speaker 2: a group of guys that are very big and talented EQ.
Speaker 2: Saint Brown, Chase Claypool, just to mention a couple of them.
Speaker 2: So it gives a variety of options when you have
Speaker 2: a two or three man game to one side of
Speaker 2: the offensive formation for the quarterback and for Luke Getzi.
Speaker 2: So I like what you see out of all those
Speaker 2: guys really puts a lot of you know, anticipation thinking
Speaker 2: on the defensive backs because they know how quickly these
Speaker 2: wide receivers can go in and out of their routes,
Speaker 2: and then when you look at Roshan Johnson, I'm really
Speaker 2: excited to see this guy in a full contact drill.
Speaker 2: He's got running back in He's got the innate ability
Speaker 2: to predict where the hole is going to open up.
Speaker 2: And I've seen some things in practice out of them
Speaker 2: that I want to confirm and verify in my mind
Speaker 2: before I go to the mic with them. However, everything
Speaker 2: that I've seen out of Rochon, I really like, I'm.
Speaker 1: You been teasing for a while about this. There's something
Speaker 1: brewing on rochan What do you keeping to yourself?
Speaker 3: Here is one thing that you always want to look at.
Speaker 2: To a running back that is so talented at the
Speaker 2: college level, and he can run away from defensive backs,
Speaker 2: he can see the hole and he can burst, but
Speaker 2: very seldom are they challenged with an extreme responsibility of
Speaker 2: protecting their quarterback. There's not a lot of blitzing on
Speaker 2: the inside where the top running backs are responsible for.
Speaker 2: And then when they are responsible, do they improve at
Speaker 2: that task. Rochean Johnson, I gotta say, is one of
Speaker 2: the best pass blocking running backs I've ever seen come
Speaker 2: into the league as a rookie and it's fundamentally sound,
Speaker 2: it's sustaining, it's contact with feet. You know, when you
Speaker 2: have a guy like Walter Payton, he would explode into
Speaker 2: a blitzer and he would just blow him up before
Speaker 2: he could take another step. That's not always the way
Speaker 2: the job is done. Sometimes you have to anticipate the
Speaker 2: distance that's going to close by a linebacker and you
Speaker 2: got to be in a right fundamental, fundamental position. You
Speaker 2: got to be able to have some explosion into his
Speaker 2: body and then you have to shift your feet, just
Speaker 2: like an offensive lineman doesn't his pass protection. And from
Speaker 2: what I've seen out of Roshan Johnson, it's not a
Speaker 2: common occurrence. I'm not sitting here bragging about one of
Speaker 2: these guys year and a year out. And when I
Speaker 2: saw Rochan do it through some individual drills out in
Speaker 2: the practice field, it is as impressive as I've ever seen.
Speaker 1: Refreshed my memory. I want to say that Neil Anderson
Speaker 1: was pretty good at it was.
Speaker 2: He Neil Anderson was great at it all so, but
Speaker 2: he's following the immediate example of the guy in front
Speaker 2: of him. And that's the way Walter Payton went about
Speaker 2: his business in office of running Backs coach Johnny Roll,
Speaker 2: and that's the way he taught it. You go up
Speaker 2: there and you meet the linebacker in the hole. Nowadays,
Speaker 2: sometimes you don't have it because of the play action.
Speaker 2: Fake gives you a little hesitancy before you commit to
Speaker 2: your block. And so what I've seen out a Roshan
Speaker 2: not only as a runner, his blocking is as impressive
Speaker 2: as that score.
Speaker 1: Huge savings on an impressive lineup, but items a jewel
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Speaker 1: dot com. Jeff Joniac, Tom There. This is episode five
Speaker 1: of There's et cetera, Big Time. I gotta say, you
Speaker 1: came in a little, a little lame today. Bad shoulder?
Speaker 3: What's up? I know?
Speaker 2: I just my shoulder sore sometimes, you know, it's like
Speaker 2: one of those injuries they always make. They can feel
Speaker 2: it when it's gonna rain or that. Sometimes it's sore.
Speaker 2: And I so, my right shoulder hurts and I know
Speaker 2: exactly why it hurts. And when it started hurting. In
Speaker 2: nineteen eighty seven, I took a rep at left guard
Speaker 2: because Mark Bortz was kind of hurt, hurting a little bit,
Speaker 2: and so I was doing a one on one against
Speaker 2: Dan Hampton and he took an inside rip on me,
Speaker 2: which is to my right shoulder, and it tweaked my
Speaker 2: shoulder so much. And that one rep that I've remembered
Speaker 2: at the rest of my life and every time my rights, Yeah,
Speaker 2: I swear to God every time my right shoulder starts hurting.
Speaker 2: I told Hamp that this year when we are doing
Speaker 2: the show over the Marquee, I go, you know, Hamp,
Speaker 2: my right shoulder hurts today, and it's all because you.
Speaker 2: I've never had a problem with it, but that one move.
Speaker 2: You know, you go against the Hall of Famer and
Speaker 2: sometimes you get a little ding.
Speaker 1: All right, that's internal fire there, internal you know, you
Speaker 1: catch a friendly fire. How about anything that's ever happened
Speaker 1: that you're still feeling out from a opponent?
Speaker 2: Uh No, not really, not like that.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 2: There is one time that I was playing against Pierce
Speaker 2: Holt and the San Francisco forty nine ers out in
Speaker 2: the San Francisco field, and when I went to plant
Speaker 2: my foot and kind of stab at him, the grass
Speaker 2: gave way to my right foot and my hip kind
Speaker 2: of like popped out of place and then popped in place.
Speaker 2: And I remember saying, God, if you know we had
Speaker 2: an off week or something at the end of the season,
Speaker 2: I go, I don't you know, if it was a
Speaker 2: week away, I don't know if I'd be able to play.
Speaker 2: That's one thing I do remember, But that was because
Speaker 2: of crappy field conditions, all.
Speaker 1: In a day's worktime, all in a career's work There's
Speaker 1: plenty of guys out here feeling the pain as well,
Speaker 1: and they're playing right now because once camp starts, you're
Speaker 1: never healthy the rest of the year, one hundred percent anyway.
Speaker 3: Your body never feels as good. Now, well, how do
Speaker 3: you overcome that?
Speaker 2: You know, I think you're healthy, but you have body soortus.
Speaker 2: That's just a part of it. And they have one
Speaker 2: of the best training staff's training rooms in the NFL,
Speaker 2: where if you have something they have to bring to
Speaker 2: the attention of one of the trainers, they're going to
Speaker 2: be able to help you out. And so that's just
Speaker 2: part of the game. And when Matt talked at the
Speaker 2: podium last year about developing callousness within this team, that's
Speaker 2: part of the callous is that you have to develop.
Speaker 2: You're not always going to feel great. You're not always
Speaker 2: going to feel one hundred percent. So when you do,
Speaker 2: you got to go out there and give your best effort, effort,
Speaker 2: and you know what, we still have the same expectations
Speaker 2: for you. We're not going to let you miss blocks
Speaker 2: or tackles or plays because you got an Awi.
Speaker 1: Panc Bank, a proud sponsor as well of Bears, et cetera,
Speaker 1: brought to you by PNC official Bank of the Bears.
Speaker 1: As I alluded to it at the top of the show,
Speaker 1: Scott Pioli and I sent down the former NFL executive
Speaker 1: to talk all things football and all things Ryan Poles.
Speaker 1: A comprehensive look from his perspective on the Chicago Bears
Speaker 1: in the NFL in general. Kind of enough to join us.
Speaker 1: Scott Pioli one of the premier executives in NFL history.
Speaker 1: And I say that because for those who don't know,
Speaker 1: you were named executive at the decade in the two
Speaker 1: thousands to twenty ten.
Speaker 3: That's significant, right there.
Speaker 1: A lot of Super Bowls, a lot of touchstones, and
Speaker 1: now spreading the knowledge on NFL ago. Yeah, but you
Speaker 1: know what still spreading the knowledge on NFL Network, Serius
Speaker 1: XM and all things football because you love this game.
Speaker 4: I love this game. Thank you for so much, so
Speaker 4: much for the kind words. Yeah, I don't like this game.
Speaker 3: I love this game.
Speaker 4: I love the history of the game. I love the
Speaker 4: history of the people that allows I mean, look at us,
Speaker 4: we're sitting here in a room talking about and everyone's
Speaker 4: doing across the country, and it's and it's because of
Speaker 4: the people before us. You know, I love and respect
Speaker 4: this game on a level that you know, even when
Speaker 4: you end up working in it, whether you're a coach
Speaker 4: or a GM or scout, all of us were fans
Speaker 4: of this game as boys. And you know, it's interesting.
Speaker 4: I told the story. I love this franchise, I love
Speaker 4: this organization, I love the city. Well, part of it
Speaker 4: goes back to again, I am a complete sap for
Speaker 4: the history of the game. But you know, throughout my
Speaker 4: entire football life, meaning when when I was a player
Speaker 4: in Pop Warner in high school or junior high, high school,
Speaker 4: and college, I wore number fifty one my entire life,
Speaker 4: and it was because of Dick Buckets. He was, you know,
Speaker 4: watching him on NFL films when I was you know,
Speaker 4: when they'll give you go oh, my gosh, and and
Speaker 4: what gave me goosebumps, and like, I'm not a I'm
Speaker 4: not a fanboy in the sense where you know, there
Speaker 4: was never a point in my life where I met
Speaker 4: celebrities or athletes and was kind of taken back. It's
Speaker 4: only happened twice in my life, and the first time
Speaker 4: was when I met Jim Brown when I worked with
Speaker 4: the Cleveland Browns, and a year later we were actually
Speaker 4: playing the Chicago Bears. And I don't know if you remember,
Speaker 4: but in the old Cleveland Municipal Stadium, all the radio
Speaker 4: was done up on the roof right and that's where
Speaker 4: we watched the game from too, and I knew Dick
Speaker 4: Buckets did the radio, and I was making.
Speaker 3: Sure that I was around. I was like, I got
Speaker 3: to meet Dick Buckets.
Speaker 4: And but the history of this organization and the McCaskey family,
Speaker 4: the house famidly, this entire there's so much history here,
Speaker 4: and again, if you love and respect the game, it's
Speaker 4: not just about the now. It's about understanding how we
Speaker 4: got to where we were and the endurance that families
Speaker 4: that are at the heart of this game it's you know, I.
Speaker 3: Just love it.
Speaker 4: And again I could say City, Gallimore, I mean, Gail Sayer.
Speaker 4: I know those are big names, but they're you know,
Speaker 4: Doug buffoone. There were when I turned on TV as
Speaker 4: a kid and saw the Bears. I mean, I understand
Speaker 4: what you know.
Speaker 1: You knew there was a butt kicking gonna go on.
Speaker 1: You may not win, but somebody was gonna leave the game. Yeah, absolutely,
Speaker 1: well you'll be I wish you were around when this
Speaker 1: happened because you would have got a huge kick out
Speaker 1: of it. The late Gail Sayers and I sat down
Speaker 1: and went through his six touchdown game with the old
Speaker 1: tape in a studio. Yes, broke down every run. Now,
Speaker 1: he he he didn't have complete memory, but I'll tell
Speaker 1: you what. He lit up when he said, look how
Speaker 1: I ran because it literally looked like he made cuts
Speaker 1: in mid air. It did, and it felt and looked
Speaker 1: like when you watched it on tape. And I was
Speaker 1: I had the clicker, so I was in charge. That
Speaker 1: was fascinating. And then but comic was yeah, canas combat.
Speaker 1: But but Gus agreed to do a long interview in
Speaker 1: a hotel room in the city and we sat there
Speaker 1: for almost five hours, going through every step of his life.
Speaker 1: And these are rare things that not every organization has. Right,
Speaker 1: you don't have that history starting in nineteen twenty, but
Speaker 1: you embrace every second of it.
Speaker 3: I too.
Speaker 1: You know, we practiced against the Patriots years ago when
Speaker 1: John Fox was head coach, and I took the chance,
Speaker 1: if I may say, of Santa Lolo to coach Belichick
Speaker 1: as we're walking off the practice field, and you know,
Speaker 1: and he's always dialed in, so I have to respect
Speaker 1: that as a coach. I just introduced myself. I go,
Speaker 1: I love the history of the game. I try to
Speaker 1: collect books on the NFL. Stopped in his tracks and
Speaker 1: he starts telling me about the convergence of West Coast
Speaker 1: offense after World War Two at the Great Lakes Nabel and.
Speaker 4: Where his dad was coaching, yeah, and playing.
Speaker 1: So I love connecting those dots. It's I think you
Speaker 1: when you the passion of the game never goes away
Speaker 1: if it's instilled in you, and it was at a
Speaker 1: young age by my dad and clearly was you.
Speaker 4: And that's one of the We could talk about this
Speaker 4: all day, but that's one of the keys to a
Speaker 4: relationship with Bill Belichick. And Bill and I when we met.
Speaker 4: One of the things we talked about, just very naturally
Speaker 4: was the history of the game, because he had asked
Speaker 4: me questions, and I knew. I grew up in New
Speaker 4: York and he and I knew every Giant from the
Speaker 4: late sixties to the early seventies, but then even the
Speaker 4: ones before my lifetime. So it's it's again having the
Speaker 4: context of the history and and and the respect for
Speaker 4: this game because that we enjoy so much, is just
Speaker 4: always remembering where we came from. It was funny, I was, I'll,
Speaker 4: I know, we've got questions to get through. But I
Speaker 4: mentioned to someone yesterday how the last time I was
Speaker 4: at Bears camp was in Plattville in the Cheese League
Speaker 4: when I was with the Cleveland Browns YEA, and I
Speaker 4: was there ninety four w It was those practices were
Speaker 4: out of control, out of control. They were out of control,
Speaker 4: because remember we're supposed to have that one last big
Speaker 4: practice canceledmag it was canceled. Each team had to have
Speaker 4: inner squad scrimmage. But I mean, people, I mentioned the
Speaker 4: Cheese League, and like all the guys looked at me,
Speaker 4: like the Cheese League. Yeah, there were eight NFL teams
Speaker 4: that chose to go to Wisconsin or Minnesota right on
Speaker 4: the board. I think they were in man Cato, I
Speaker 4: think maybe, But I mean the Jacksonville Jaguars bought their
Speaker 4: their training campus.
Speaker 1: Saints took the Saints up there. That was my first
Speaker 1: year covering NFL was the eighty five Bears as a young,
Speaker 1: pimply faced kid who was scared the death of Steve
Speaker 1: McMichael and Dan Ampton to go up to interview him.
Speaker 1: But the present day Bears hope to have that same brow,
Speaker 1: the same growl, you know, get that defense taking the
Speaker 1: ball away.
Speaker 3: Lots to talk about.
Speaker 1: But everything goes back the arrow points to QB one
Speaker 1: wearing that number one. And you know, we touched on
Speaker 1: this in just some casual conversation and I get I've
Speaker 1: got become kind of opinionated about the whole, you know,
Speaker 1: just because Jalen Hurts and Josh Allen made the jump
Speaker 1: from year one to year two and then year two
Speaker 1: in the takeoff year three and by the way, they
Speaker 1: happen to get Stefan Diggs, they happen to get AJ
Speaker 1: Brown and the Bears get CJ.
Speaker 3: Moore. It's amazing.
Speaker 1: Now it's almost every fan, every media person think it's
Speaker 1: an automatic.
Speaker 3: Every story is different.
Speaker 4: Explain why I'm glad we talked a little bit about this.
Speaker 4: I'm so glad we're visiting this now because I think
Speaker 4: it's so unfair right now to justin fields when you
Speaker 4: hear those kinds of things and when you make comparisons,
Speaker 4: Because when you make comparisons on certain small data points
Speaker 4: and don't look at those data points in context, there's
Speaker 4: a lot of mistakes to be made, and there's a
Speaker 4: lot of expectations that can be created that are unfair
Speaker 4: and just very unfair. And to me, I've always believed
Speaker 4: that player development, particularly at the quarterback position, is circumstantial.
Speaker 4: And I say circumstantial in the senses of what is
Speaker 4: the rest of the roster, like, what are the teachers
Speaker 4: around the people who is raising this, what are the
Speaker 4: circumstances that they come into, who are the people that
Speaker 4: they're around, what is the talent like that they're around.
Speaker 4: I mean, Jalen Hurts, he has a lot of talent
Speaker 4: around him. And oh, by the way, he's had consistently
Speaker 4: one of the best offensive lines in the National Football League.
Speaker 4: The Bears are not there yet. Are the Bears. Are
Speaker 4: the Bears getting better? Have they improved their receiving room? Absolutely?
Speaker 4: Have they improved the tight end room by bringing in
Speaker 4: Tunyan who can also compliment Coleman. Absolutely. We don't know
Speaker 4: what their running game is, although the rookie from Texas
Speaker 4: is one of those guys I have too. But is
Speaker 4: there offensive line better?
Speaker 3: Heck yeah.
Speaker 4: But again I think everyone needs to tap the brakes
Speaker 4: because if the expectations for justin fields or the comparison
Speaker 4: is these things that were spectacular, there were so many
Speaker 4: other factors that impacted. You know, I go back, Hey,
Speaker 4: I was there when we drafted Brady Right. I saw
Speaker 4: him sit the bench. I saw what he came into,
Speaker 4: and I know we won a Super Bowl that year
Speaker 4: and his first year as a starter. However, everyone talks
Speaker 4: about Tommy, Tommy, Tommy, and Tommy had a He had
Speaker 4: a above average, he had a good season, he had
Speaker 4: some good games. But what led that team to a
Speaker 4: championship was our defense and our special teams. We were
Speaker 4: an opportunistic team. We put our offense in situations and
Speaker 4: so circumstances where they could do the things that were
Speaker 4: in Tommy's wheelhouse and in Charlie Weiss's wheelhouse and Dick Raybund,
Speaker 4: who is a quarterback coach, and those things came together.
Speaker 4: What Tommy didn't do is he didn't lose the game.
Speaker 4: He didn't screw things up. But really, you know, the
Speaker 4: other thing that we had was we had a twelve
Speaker 4: hundred yard rusher in Antoine Smith that year. So there's
Speaker 4: all these things that lead to the development of a
Speaker 4: quarterback that are not only teammates but again circumstantial.
Speaker 1: But I also don't want people to just say, hey,
Speaker 1: but the game's different now. You know, you don't need
Speaker 1: to run the football to win. I still believe you do,
Speaker 1: especially in the playoffs. You need to have a great defense,
Speaker 1: you need to take the ball, you know, all those
Speaker 1: things to set your guy up.
Speaker 4: I want to jump in there because you're saying something brilliant, Chip, Yeah,
Speaker 4: it's in order to pass the ball, you need to
Speaker 4: be able to run the ball. Yeah. At some point
Speaker 4: in time, they're personnel wise, they're going to find ways
Speaker 4: to lock things down and if you can't run the
Speaker 4: ball in the National Football League, you're gonna have problems eventually.
Speaker 1: Growth of Ryan Pulse also end this equation. When you're
Speaker 1: thirty six. I think he was when he got the job, inevitably,
Speaker 1: and you've been in the shoe many times in that
Speaker 1: chair which he makes. I sat in his chair in
Speaker 1: the draft room the other day because I had to
Speaker 1: do something for him for some Chicago school kids, and
Speaker 1: he goes go sit in the hot seat and I
Speaker 1: sat next to George McCaskey, shaman of the board.
Speaker 3: I felt blushed.
Speaker 1: I can't be sitting in this seat, but the seat
Speaker 1: is always hot. But growth will come. Everything's not gonna
Speaker 1: happen for him right away either. There will be decisions
Speaker 1: that don't always work out. They're going to backfire, and
Speaker 1: you just hope to in the bigger picture, build the
Speaker 1: foundation and then the structure, and then the roof on
Speaker 1: the house, and you decorate the crap out of it,
Speaker 1: and then you become a Super Bowl contender.
Speaker 4: Right takes time, absolutely, And here's the other thing is
Speaker 4: is Poles has built in humility. He makes decisions with confidence,
Speaker 4: but he combines his confidence with a degree of humility.
Speaker 4: And quite honestly, he overthinks. If he hears this, he's
Speaker 4: probably going to hate me saying that. But I can
Speaker 4: relate that because I'm an overthinker also, But there's something
Speaker 4: about the overthinker. It means you have some humility, that
Speaker 4: you don't have this hubris, that you want to get
Speaker 4: it right, and you want to get it right for
Speaker 4: the right reasons, and that you're willing to make a
Speaker 4: decision if it goes wrong, you look at the process
Speaker 4: and figure out how you're going to get it right
Speaker 4: the next time. You know, it's funny you mentioned polls,
Speaker 4: So polls. I was thirty five when I got into
Speaker 4: that role at the New England Patriots as well, and
Speaker 4: there's you know, Poles and I have talked about this.
Speaker 4: You get in that position even though I didn't have
Speaker 4: that title. I was the vice president of player of personnel,
Speaker 4: and I was making those decisions and setting the draft
Speaker 4: board and free agency, all the stuff the Poles has,
Speaker 4: and heck yeah, you're going to make mistakes.
Speaker 2: Heck yeah.
Speaker 4: And that thing is you know, I was, I was.
Speaker 4: I was complimenting him on the things that I saw
Speaker 4: that were good, right, and the things that he had
Speaker 4: done well. And he very quickly and not in a
Speaker 4: disingenuous way at all, he let me know. Yeah, but
Speaker 4: here's where I screwed this up. And this is what
Speaker 4: I did. You know, I felt awful about this one
Speaker 4: player where he did. And I had to look at
Speaker 4: mister mcat at George and say, you know, and just
Speaker 4: feel that guilt.
Speaker 3: It's not fantasy football. It's a billion dollars. You know,
Speaker 3: I get it.
Speaker 4: And I said, listen, you're gonna make those mistakes. It's
Speaker 4: going to happen. And one of the coolest things that
Speaker 4: helped set me free mentally and emotion that I mentioned
Speaker 4: the Poles yesterday was there was a point in time
Speaker 4: where I made a movie. It was a free agent move.
Speaker 4: It costs Robert money, and a bunch of them were
Speaker 4: working out really, really well. This one didn't work out well.
Speaker 4: And I'll never forget Robert had this moment where he
Speaker 4: can needle you with the.
Speaker 3: Best of them. Time about Robert Cracraft, I'm.
Speaker 4: Sorry, and he could needle you with the best of them,
Speaker 4: but he also could read me well enough at that
Speaker 4: time where he said, hey, listen, let it go. That's
Speaker 4: the cost of doing business. And I said to Poles,
Speaker 4: I said, you know, there's gonna be some times in
Speaker 4: some places where you're gonna make decisions. Man, you ain't
Speaker 4: gonna get him right. There's gonna be some times where hey,
Speaker 4: that was the cost of doing business because it seemed
Speaker 4: right at the time. Just get most of them right.
Speaker 4: And and you know, we he and I can bond
Speaker 4: over the fact that we were you know, we were
Speaker 4: kids in this industry. He started thirty five, I started
Speaker 4: thirty five. In terms of that.
Speaker 1: Role, and what a resource for him to have. You oh,
Speaker 1: as you know, he brought him into this game. Now
Speaker 1: you did. You brought him into this game. And that's
Speaker 1: a nice, nice resource staff.
Speaker 4: I appreciate that. But I'll tell you this, even when
Speaker 4: Ryan was young, when I hired him in two thousand
Speaker 4: and nine and I was the general manager and we
Speaker 4: had won all those champions, I had all these pelts, right,
Speaker 4: that dude came in and helped me in ways that
Speaker 4: I can't even fully articulate in terms of balance he had.
Speaker 4: You know, I used to kiddingly call him the union leader,
Speaker 4: right because he was. He was one of the youngest
Speaker 4: guys in house on the scouting staff. And I don't
Speaker 4: believe in sycophans. I never wanted to be surrounded by
Speaker 4: sicka fans. Poles knew that understood that, and he had
Speaker 4: the strength to come in to me. And again, this
Speaker 4: guy that I had just hired, that I knew him
Speaker 4: when he was at BC and he would say, hey, Scott,
Speaker 4: you know, can we close the door? And he would
Speaker 4: bring things to me that he felt I was I
Speaker 4: don't know if not that it was either wrong about
Speaker 4: or that he felt needed to be discussed. And so
Speaker 4: he was a blessing in my life, trust me. And
Speaker 4: I'm not saying that just because.
Speaker 3: But it takes. He was a blessing, real fortitude.
Speaker 4: Yeah, But the thing was he could do it in
Speaker 4: such a way in it Here's the thing with Poles.
Speaker 4: You quickly learn his heart and when you understand his art,
Speaker 4: you understand his intentions. He was not in there telling
Speaker 4: me things to be manipulative. He was not telling me
Speaker 4: things to be, you know, intentionally disruptive. And I think
Speaker 4: he knew that I trusted him, so he could say
Speaker 4: things to me, and he did say things. And as leaders,
Speaker 4: you I want people like that. You need people like
Speaker 4: that around and too many people fail on the side
Speaker 4: of surrounding himself with SICCA fans and people wanting to
Speaker 4: be on the right side, I grew closer to polls
Speaker 4: because he told me truth.
Speaker 3: So is darn all right a perfect Ryan Poles pick?
Speaker 4: I don't know if it's perfect time i'll tell, but
Speaker 4: i'll tell you what.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying the type of player that we're looking
Speaker 1: at potentially here.
Speaker 4: So you know, it's interesting because I evaluate a lot
Speaker 4: of these guys to do some college consulting work with programs,
Speaker 4: and so I saw a lot of sec tape. I
Speaker 4: saw this, you know, I saw quite a bit of him.
Speaker 4: I saw the Alabama game that everyone likes to talk about,
Speaker 4: and is that matchup? And you know, public perception, he
Speaker 4: wasn't one of the guys, right, he wasn't. And Poles
Speaker 4: and I talked about that and he said, you know,
Speaker 4: people have this perception, say, but I just think that
Speaker 4: he's got this maturity level. And here's what I say.
Speaker 4: I don't know how this career is going to work out.
Speaker 4: I don't know how the season's going to work out.
Speaker 4: But you've been here enough to see you saw what
Speaker 4: he looked like last season on tape from a body
Speaker 4: tape type and a body makeup standpoint. This is a
Speaker 4: guy who intentionally hired an offensive lineman as his agent,
Speaker 4: who's going to speak truth to him. He came back
Speaker 4: and now the story's out there everyone how he trained
Speaker 4: and prepared by running the wide receiver, you know, conditioning test.
Speaker 4: But you've seen his body, yes, And I don't know
Speaker 4: what the numbers. I think it's ten twelve pounds that
Speaker 4: he lost sixteen, but sixteen pounds sixteen, But the days
Speaker 4: he he has reproportioned his body in such a short time.
Speaker 4: Here's what here's what I do know. This kid cares.
Speaker 4: This kid cares about being successful. He cares about being good.
Speaker 4: He's got the tools, he's got the skills, he's got
Speaker 4: the ability. I saw yessay in practice. You know they're
Speaker 4: they're not even they're in shells, they're not even in pads,
Speaker 4: and he wants to screw someone into the ground. He
Speaker 4: can't wait for the pads to get on. He's got
Speaker 4: everything that you need. And sometimes you don't know what rate.
Speaker 4: Guys are going to mature right now in a short time.
Speaker 4: I've seen a guy who just finished the season at
Speaker 4: Tennessee and is moving right now towards a pretty quick
Speaker 4: maturity level.
Speaker 1: All right, we got to watch practice, but wrap us
Speaker 1: up with a short answer on this question. The impact
Speaker 1: of a Edmunds who experienced so much success at a
Speaker 1: young age and took things over at nineteen. Now he's
Speaker 1: making all the cause here. And then just the Super
Speaker 1: Bowl experience of a guy who fought hard to get
Speaker 1: where he is, an undrafted free agent and a local
Speaker 1: guy in TJ.
Speaker 3: Edwards. What will that do for the Bears?
Speaker 4: Edmunds and Edwards, they're taking the team over. They've taken
Speaker 4: that defense. You could see they have an energy. Sometimes
Speaker 4: you can sit there and do scouting. You know, all
Speaker 4: the data points again and all the analytics, all that stuff,
Speaker 4: but when you see dudes doing stuff and leading people,
Speaker 4: you know, that's things I tell people. One of the
Speaker 4: most underrated things about our championship teams in New England.
Speaker 4: We had good players, we had better leaders.
Speaker 3: We had a.
Speaker 4: Locker room led football team. And there's an energy with
Speaker 4: some of the guys that you just mentioned that are
Speaker 4: you know, it's it. You could see this thing shifting.
Speaker 4: But again, let's not expect the Super Bowl this year.
Speaker 4: Let's not expect necessarily even the division championship. Do you
Speaker 4: want it? Heck yeah, But there's some good competition. The
Speaker 4: Bears are getting better, the Lions are getting better. The
Speaker 4: Vikings are pretty good. This is not a rollover a division,
Speaker 4: so just be patient, let the process play out.
Speaker 3: We could talk forever. We got work to do. That
Speaker 3: is Scott Peely, thank you so much.
Speaker 4: You're welcome.
Speaker 3: Thank you so a nice conversation.
Speaker 1: We got a lot of insight into what Ryan Poles
Speaker 1: really is behind closed doors and working elbow to elbow
Speaker 1: with somebody shoulder to shoulder with which he did coming
Speaker 1: into the league with Scott PIOLDI brought him to Kansas
Speaker 1: City in two thousand and nine and eighty takeaways from you.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know.
Speaker 2: The thing that I always liked about Ryan Poles and
Speaker 2: his development into the GM position is the fact that
Speaker 2: after his career was over, he didn't take time off.
Speaker 2: He stayed in the football business, kept his mind and
Speaker 2: his eyes on the business and the development of all
Speaker 2: all the stages of the inner office. And I think
Speaker 2: that's why Ryan has raised up the flag pole and
Speaker 2: he's a GM in the NFL right now. And you
Speaker 2: hear Scott poly say positive things about him in his
Speaker 2: upbringing into this business. This is why Ryan is as
Speaker 2: successful as he is.
Speaker 1: How about the other aspect of what everybody's talking about
Speaker 1: in the Justin fields comparisons other quarterbacks trying to you know,
Speaker 1: we brought it up on this show by Josh Allen
Speaker 1: his third year and his new receiver, and now with
Speaker 1: Stefan Diggs, and then you go to what's going on
Speaker 1: with Jalen Hurts and he gets aj Brown and now
Speaker 1: DJ mooores here. He said, it's a bit unfair because
Speaker 1: it's circumstantial. There's other factors. I thought it was a
Speaker 1: good point he made.
Speaker 2: It is a good point because talent is a big
Speaker 2: part of the support of the quarterback and the support
Speaker 2: of the team. However, the improvements that you want to
Speaker 2: see Justin go through con factor on every single stage
Speaker 2: of the offense. His running ability, He's throwing ability in
Speaker 2: the way the offense runs itself in the running game.
Speaker 2: So hey, it's always be fun to pay pay attention
Speaker 2: to Justin because he has explosive athleticism, he has an
Speaker 2: unbelievable arm. Now you've got to be able to put
Speaker 2: consistency in the system that's borne by Luke Getzi into
Speaker 2: the eyes in the in the way Justin sees.
Speaker 3: It bears et cetera.
Speaker 1: Also sponsored by the United Airlines Official airlines of the
Speaker 1: Chicago Bears. All right, Charles Pena Tillman was in practice
Speaker 1: this week. Got a chance to talk to him. Then
Speaker 1: he was also at family fest. Enjoyed talking to him
Speaker 1: there as well. You had a long conversation with him.
Speaker 1: What it stuck out about peanuts perspective of what's going on.
Speaker 2: Charles and I were sitting there talking about hand play
Speaker 2: from offensive line standpoint of view, how you got to
Speaker 2: be able to keep your hands in the framework of
Speaker 2: the body of a defensive lineman when you're in past
Speaker 2: protection or just trying to control him. He was saying
Speaker 2: that as a defensive back, his hand fighting was very
Speaker 2: similar to that as an offensive lineman. When he stood
Speaker 2: in the stance above a defense, above a wide receiver,
Speaker 2: he kept his hands up, where you see a lot
Speaker 2: of defensive backs keep their hands back in their side.
Speaker 2: He was saying that he thinks that the time that
Speaker 2: you take to raise your hands gives an opportunity for
Speaker 2: a wide receiver to get into his route. So with
Speaker 2: Charles's length, he's able to keep his hands up and
Speaker 2: become an immediate hand fighter as soon as the movement
Speaker 2: of the wide receiver. They don't pay attention to the cadence.
Speaker 2: They don't pay attention to the snap of the ball.
Speaker 2: They pay attention to the movement of the defensive back.
Speaker 2: So I found that really interesting, and so ever since
Speaker 2: Charles and I were talking about that, I started paying
Speaker 2: attention to the specific hand placement of defensive backs, whether
Speaker 2: it's on the Bears or in the first preseason game
Speaker 2: or the preseason games coming up.
Speaker 3: Now, that's why I like corners with length.
Speaker 1: If you can get it, you know, get him in here,
Speaker 1: if they can play, if they marry it with their feet,
Speaker 1: because even if they get beat, they can rally that
Speaker 1: length matters. They can get their hand in the bucket
Speaker 1: in the basket and knock that ball away if they
Speaker 1: happen to lose a step on a guy.
Speaker 3: Charles was great.
Speaker 2: You know, that's the one thing I love about the
Speaker 2: opportunity that we have to be in this job for
Speaker 2: so long because we have a chance to broadcast the
Speaker 2: entire career of a lot of these guys, and then
Speaker 2: you have the ability to have conversations with them after
Speaker 2: the fact. So we're not talking to you about what
Speaker 2: you're going to do this weekend. We're talking about what
Speaker 2: you did ten years ago, five years ago, whatever. It's
Speaker 2: the same thing as that family Fest talking to Patrick Manley.
Speaker 2: You know, he's the same guy that you can put
Speaker 2: some questions about snapping and everything. And then this morning
Speaker 2: on the phone, I talked to Gary Fencik and he
Speaker 2: was at the family Fest. So there's so many great
Speaker 2: questions that come up between these guys. But going back
Speaker 2: to the Charles Tilman conversation, I got a great education
Speaker 2: by just the conversation with him, and I think it's
Speaker 2: really beneficial going forward.
Speaker 1: Yeah, a lot of guys were giving him a fist
Speaker 1: bump on the sideline. Just being around somebody like that
Speaker 1: that has a reputation and can give you some insight,
Speaker 1: any little advantage to help in your development, then that's
Speaker 1: also critical.
Speaker 2: That same day, Charles Tillman all so caught his first
Speaker 2: offensive pass of his career. So he's standing off to
Speaker 2: the he's standing off to the sideline, and it's good
Speaker 2: discipline by Justin. Because Justin took the snap, he looked around,
Speaker 2: there was nowhere to throw the ball, so Charles threw
Speaker 2: a right to him, standing us sideland Charles made a
Speaker 2: perfect catch back. And I said, it's kind of funny
Speaker 2: as talking to Charles that family festor going. You know,
Speaker 2: I saw you catch your first offensive pass in your career,
Speaker 2: and after all these years to get a thrown to
Speaker 2: you by Justin. You know, it's it's pretty fun.
Speaker 1: I had plenty of interceptions and pick sixes in his career,
Speaker 1: that's for sure. Game Day snacky calls for good foods.
Speaker 1: Chunky guacamalodi made with has avocados, tomatoes, onion, cilantro on
Speaker 1: a squeeze of lime juice. It's the perfect snack to
Speaker 1: watch while the Bears win. Score some today at your
Speaker 1: local grocery store. Game Day is guak Day. Jeff and
Speaker 1: Tim here on Bears.
Speaker 3: Et cetera. Got a busy week ahead. Can't believe it's
Speaker 3: a game week. It's just it's now.
Speaker 1: It's a rhythm. Now you get into a rhythm of games.
Speaker 1: And then next week we're off to Indianapolis for the
Speaker 1: two practices with the Colts. And I don't even want
Speaker 1: to preview that yet, but I'm super excited.
Speaker 2: You know, you sit here. We sit here all day
Speaker 2: at training camp, we watched practice all day. We get
Speaker 2: a chance to watch some tape, and then at night
Speaker 2: they got the preseason games. That's our Thursday night and
Speaker 2: it's part of the addiction, you know it is. And
Speaker 2: even though you're not at practice and I know there's
Speaker 2: games on TV, I can't not not watch it.
Speaker 3: Listen.
Speaker 1: Okay, six point three million viewers of the Hall of
Speaker 1: Fame game. Not one starter played in the game, Yeah,
Speaker 1: six point three.
Speaker 2: I think it's the appreciation for football action. Not only
Speaker 2: do they want to see the new Hall of Famers
Speaker 2: that are being brought into the to the Hall of Fame,
Speaker 2: but I think there's a lot of excitement around the league.
Speaker 1: And you know time the NFL has no peer in
Speaker 1: this regard. No, I mean, people love this game. They
Speaker 1: just can't get enough of it.
Speaker 3: You know. It's like poly was saying, you know, we
Speaker 3: have an addiction to this game. You just love love
Speaker 3: the game.
Speaker 1: All right, any other things that you'd like to discuss,
Speaker 1: because I'll do one and then you can throw one
Speaker 1: at me.
Speaker 3: Darnell Wright.
Speaker 1: Comes out there with a very serious demeanor.
Speaker 3: Yep, and he's going to be a bad man out there.
Speaker 1: Yes, he is going to be exactly what everyone thinks
Speaker 1: he's going to be, and that is going to be
Speaker 1: a nasty right tackle. Some of the technical things that
Speaker 1: madd Eberflush talked about after that family Fest practice was Yep,
Speaker 1: he's staying square, he's using his hands. He's got patient hands,
Speaker 1: sets quickly. A lot of good things there for both
Speaker 1: the run and pass game. Well, what are your observations
Speaker 1: about him? And then some other thoughts.
Speaker 2: You know, he's a very powerful man, so if they
Speaker 2: need an impact zone on their offensive running game that
Speaker 2: they can go by it even when the opponent knows
Speaker 2: that he's got that type of explosiveness. He's got very
Speaker 2: low drive and leverage against the running game. He can
Speaker 2: really get underneath players even though they happen to be
Speaker 2: shorter than him. He's got very clever feet where he
Speaker 2: can adjust and readjust from an outside move to an
Speaker 2: aggressive inside mood a move. He always keeps his head up,
Speaker 2: in his body square. He's got a really wide frame,
Speaker 2: but he can still be very active with his hands
Speaker 2: on inside. I'm so excited to watch the overall development
Speaker 2: of Darnell. And remember that picture I showed you of
Speaker 2: me and Mark Boorts walking out to practice a couple
Speaker 2: and you looked at the expressions.
Speaker 3: On our face. You're quite serious.
Speaker 2: Same thing with him. When I think of the expressions
Speaker 2: you used to walk out with the morning practice and
Speaker 2: just know what you were getting ready to go through.
Speaker 2: When I look at these guys and I like to
Speaker 2: get to the practice early to watch their approach to
Speaker 2: coming in the practice field. So you can tell a
Speaker 2: lot about these guys. Do they hit the practice field
Speaker 2: with a little hop in their step or are they
Speaker 2: dragging their cleats where they're not even coming out of
Speaker 2: the grass. And so Darnell is always giving me a
Speaker 2: really positive feeling.
Speaker 1: You know, another thing about being out there earlier, just
Speaker 1: showing up at Soldier Field long before the activity started,
Speaker 1: just the assistant coaches, scouts, whether you just your storytelling.
Speaker 1: So we learned that John Hook ran a four five
Speaker 1: forty back in the day. Yeah John Way to go.
Speaker 1: Yeah nice. You know he's NFL days.
Speaker 2: He's an athlete, he's my age, he's my era. So
Speaker 2: I'm glad he's back.
Speaker 1: Aboard of the Bears the United Airlines official airlines of
Speaker 1: the Chicago Bears, and Miller Lite, the official beer of
Speaker 1: the Chicago Bears, tastes like Miller Time Chicago. I got
Speaker 1: one final thought to wrap us up. Yeah, Marcedes Lewis,
Speaker 1: he's just different. His body's different. He's eighteen years deep
Speaker 1: in this league and he looks fantastic.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 1: Can't wait to see him at practice and what he's
Speaker 1: gonna leave in the locker room for these guys. And
Speaker 1: the same with Jenikin got Away when he shows up
Speaker 1: for practice here on Tuesday, here at Halis Home.
Speaker 2: I love guys that love football, and there's no way
Speaker 2: that you're going to play eighteen nineteen years in the
Speaker 2: NFL if you don't love the sport. And I think
Speaker 2: that's some of the reflection that some of these young
Speaker 2: KI guys need out of an older, experienced guy like
Speaker 2: Marcedes Lewis is. The game is important to him. He's
Speaker 2: got all the desire in the world to be on
Speaker 2: a football team, and here he is now wearing Chicago
Speaker 2: Bear blue and orange.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, everybody, please subscribe now in the Chicago
Speaker 1: Bears official app, Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get
Speaker 1: your podcasts. Hope you're enjoying Bears, etc. For Tom there,
Speaker 1: I'm Jeff Joniac. Thanks for listening. We'll talk to you
Speaker 1: on Wednesday.