Speaker 1: Right justin middle of the field forty five to fifteen,
Speaker 1: bring Russ in front of them, leaving Lions in this way.
Speaker 2: I am Jeff joniyacklitz Is on Dot go up. What
Speaker 2: was like playing for Coachy Boddom.
Speaker 3: I don't want to answer any questions like that. Sixty
Speaker 3: one yards?
Speaker 2: What's Sunday stroll for?
Speaker 3: Justin field?
Speaker 1: Bears, et cetera. With the voices of the Chicago Bears Jeff.
Speaker 2: Jonyac Hey, maybe they wanted for fifty one.
Speaker 1: The late Dick budkis from above watching the Bears take
Speaker 1: out the Washington Commanders forty to twenty. Welcome into our Bears,
Speaker 1: et cetera. Podcasts wrapping things up after the first victory
Speaker 1: of the season, snapping a fourteen game losing streak. We're
Speaker 1: brought to you by Miller Lite, the official beer the
Speaker 1: Chicago Bears tastes like Miller Time Chicago with Tom Thayer,
Speaker 1: the Super Bowl winning beart guard. I'm Jeff Joniac. First
Speaker 1: of all, think about New England on the road, the
Speaker 1: last win and this one. The Bears came out swinging, Tommy,
Speaker 1: they came out fast and finished drunk.
Speaker 3: Yeah they did, you know. I'm proud of the guys
Speaker 3: because they showed a lot of resiliency. They never listened
Speaker 3: to the outside noise that can really be a factor
Speaker 3: in this modern day world of social media and opinions.
Speaker 3: And these guys obviously went and prepared mentally as well
Speaker 3: as they could in a short week, because you really
Speaker 3: don't get a chance to prepare physically. But these guys
Speaker 3: came out of the box fast. They had a great
Speaker 3: first drive. Justin was perfect. Dj Moore was making some
Speaker 3: big catches, The running game was actively involved, the offensive
Speaker 3: line was protecting Justin. So when I saw the early
Speaker 3: parts of this game, you knew the Bears were prepared
Speaker 3: and you just hope that they could sustain that effort.
Speaker 1: There's a tremendous start by offense coordinator Lukeetzi dialing up
Speaker 1: some big throws deep up by Justin Fields first to
Speaker 1: Darnell Mooney to start things off. It didn't connect, but
Speaker 1: he certainly connected repeatedly with DJ Moore. A record setting
Speaker 1: day career high two hundred thirty yards cards on eight
Speaker 1: receptions for DJ Moore and two touchdowns.
Speaker 2: Four on the day.
Speaker 1: Back to back weeks with four touchdown passes and right
Speaker 1: now Justin Fields leads the NFL in touchdown.
Speaker 3: Passes, right. You know, it's amazing because I think everybody
Speaker 3: got an indicator. And Luke said it two weeks ago
Speaker 3: that Justin was starting to get it and that he
Speaker 3: was becoming more familiar with the playbook, he was getting
Speaker 3: a better understanding of timing. We always knew Justin was
Speaker 3: an accurate passer, and he's got long ball accuracy in
Speaker 3: him as well, and I think you'll see him capitalize
Speaker 3: it more as the year goes on. But it is
Speaker 3: everybody taking their part doing their job here. And when
Speaker 3: you look at the offensive line and Justin and Luke Getzi,
Speaker 3: and then you look at the contributions of the defense,
Speaker 3: it was a total team effort.
Speaker 1: At the end of the night, I got to talk
Speaker 1: about the offensive line to make those plays happen. And
Speaker 1: then we'll dive into DJ and how unbelievable of an
Speaker 1: athlete he is at the receiver position. You didn't know
Speaker 1: what was going to happened when things started going injury wise. Okay,
Speaker 1: so you started with Larry Borum at left tackle for
Speaker 1: Braxton Jones. You started Cody white Hair at left guard,
Speaker 1: Lucas Patrick at center, right guard is Nate Davis.
Speaker 2: Right tackle Darnell Wright. You knew that Tevin.
Speaker 1: Jenkins was coming back and going to rotate in with
Speaker 1: not the center position, with Cody moveing to center, but
Speaker 1: with Cody, so he comes in on what the third
Speaker 1: or second series of the game, third series of the game,
Speaker 1: and then Lucas Patrick suffer's a concussion.
Speaker 3: And listen, I wasn't a big fan of Tevin Jenkins
Speaker 3: playing tonight. I thought he had needed a little bit
Speaker 3: of physical wrap up time after his injury to make
Speaker 3: sure that everything was set and ready to go. But
Speaker 3: you didn't have that luxury. You had a hiccup, an
Speaker 3: injury with Lucas Patrick having a protocol for the concussion,
Speaker 3: and then Cody did a great job of moving over
Speaker 3: and commanding the center position, and then Tevin was in
Speaker 3: for the rest of the night. Outside of two series
Speaker 3: that to Charie Carter came in second half in Hevin
Speaker 3: played well. So I think when we talk about what
Speaker 3: the offensive line could possibly look like throughout the offseason,
Speaker 3: maybe we're gonna get a chance to see what it
Speaker 3: could possibly look look like early in this season.
Speaker 1: And I did speak to Tevin after the game for
Speaker 1: Marquee and their postgame show, and he goes, yeah, he goes,
Speaker 1: I was a little surprised at how this all turned out. Obviously,
Speaker 1: you don't know what you're gonna need with your dress.
Speaker 1: You got to play, but he did. He weathered it
Speaker 1: and he was happy about it and happy to get
Speaker 1: a win. Number one. Also, the pocket was clean.
Speaker 3: Yeah pocket.
Speaker 1: So for these big plays, the DJ Moore, he had
Speaker 1: most of the big.
Speaker 2: Plays in the game.
Speaker 1: And they always list the top ten biggest plays of
Speaker 1: the game and he had, I believe five of them himself.
Speaker 1: And of course that's justin making it happen. But the
Speaker 1: fifty eight yard or in the first quarter, a fifty
Speaker 1: six yard touchdown on the throw left pushed out of
Speaker 1: bounds the Washington thirty for thirty nine yards in the
Speaker 1: first quarter. He also had a thirty two yard connection
Speaker 1: and a twenty yard touchdown. The suddenness that we speak
Speaker 1: of when he makes a catch and then gets out
Speaker 1: of a tackle or just snatches the ball out of
Speaker 1: the approaching defender.
Speaker 2: Like at the end of the game.
Speaker 1: That was a gutsy throw by Justin Fields, and he
Speaker 1: took it to the house and that ended the night.
Speaker 3: But so, yeah, you got to say all those complimentary
Speaker 3: things about DJ Moore because he has an incredible hand
Speaker 3: eye coordination. He can catch it in a small space
Speaker 3: and he can catch it with a distraction in his vision.
Speaker 3: But to me, it's about Justin making those throws, because
Speaker 3: we've been begging Justin to make those kind of small
Speaker 3: window opportunity throws and then put the onus on the
Speaker 3: receiver to go up and make a big catch for him.
Speaker 3: So Justin was able to give Dj those opportunities and
Speaker 3: he was only fingertips away from the big throws that
Speaker 3: he gave to Darnell Mooney. And so now if we
Speaker 3: see Arnel Mooney starting to capitalize on some big throws
Speaker 3: along with DJ Moore, the continuance of the tight end position,
Speaker 3: you don't know where this offense could go in the
Speaker 3: passing direction.
Speaker 2: A Bears jumped to a twenty seven to three lead.
Speaker 1: Then coming out of the locker room at halftime, Washington
Speaker 1: came in strong. They had a seventy five yard drive
Speaker 1: to start the third quarter. They put up eleven points
Speaker 1: in that third quarter with a two point conversion on
Speaker 1: a touchdown, but the Bears finished with thirteen points in
Speaker 1: the fourth quarter to get that forty to twenty lead,
Speaker 1: but it was close to being a seven point game.
Speaker 1: Joey Slide missed a field goal and there was plenty
Speaker 1: of time in it. That would have maybe been an
Speaker 1: interesting scenario, and that would have been a gut check
Speaker 1: for the Bears because they had a big lead and
Speaker 1: Washington hung in there, chipped away. Running the ball was
Speaker 1: out of the question. They were one dimensional. They did
Speaker 1: tossed it fifty something times.
Speaker 3: Listen Eric b Enemy, the former offensive coach for the
Speaker 3: Kansas City Chief who is now the offensive coordinatoror at
Speaker 3: Washington Redskins. He went to the old Kansas City plan,
Speaker 3: where we're going to exclusive throw the ball and if
Speaker 3: we get a run it's going to be because of
Speaker 3: a scramble of a quarterback. But the Washington did well.
Speaker 3: But then when the Bears needed to come up and
Speaker 3: make some plays, when they had to get some sacks
Speaker 3: in really an important time in the game, they were
Speaker 3: able to do that. And I like some of the
Speaker 3: creativeness that they showed at the line of scrimmage gave
Speaker 3: opportunities for guys to be set free. Stroman as a
Speaker 3: guy that was able to come up and get a sack.
Speaker 3: So all the little things that they did to improve
Speaker 3: themselves this week will carry on until the upcoming weeks.
Speaker 1: All Right, there were a bunch of other injuries to
Speaker 1: the running game, so Khalil Herbert left the game, Travis
Speaker 1: Homer left the game. Roshawn Johnson left the game with
Speaker 1: a concussion. So left their guy a blasting game who
Speaker 1: we very much respect at the full back position. He
Speaker 1: didn't get a lot of He doesn't get a lot
Speaker 1: of snaps throughout the course of the season, coming into
Speaker 1: the game, just three rushing attempts in his career and
Speaker 1: they had to use him. Hey, lasting game on the day,
Speaker 1: had eight carries in twenty six yards and along of six.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but you know, before he had to become the
Speaker 3: ball carrier for the Bears, he was really doing a
Speaker 3: nice job blocking and leading Khalil Herbert through some wellied,
Speaker 3: well designed holes up through the center of the defense
Speaker 3: that got him up to the second level. But when
Speaker 3: he was called on an emergency scenario, he came through
Speaker 3: for the Bears, and I think that shows one of
Speaker 3: the commitments of carry blasting game. He's not only learning
Speaker 3: the fullback position, he understands the halfback responsibility as well.
Speaker 3: So if they do get into that emergency situation, the
Speaker 3: Bears don't have to change their playbook much because Cary
Speaker 3: blasting game can do a little bit of everything.
Speaker 1: We're brought to you by a PNC Bank, Official Bank
Speaker 1: of the Chicago Bears. So I mentioned, and we're going
Speaker 1: to get to the defense in a moment here. They
Speaker 1: did have five sacks. They put pressure on a very
Speaker 1: tough quarterback, you know I mentioned, and you agree. I
Speaker 1: think that he reminds you of Baker Mayfield a little bit.
Speaker 1: He's gutsy, he kind of gets he's not that tough,
Speaker 1: so he kind of gets swallowing up in the pocket,
Speaker 1: but he hangs tough.
Speaker 3: He does. And you know, like we saw Baker a
Speaker 3: couple of weeks ago in Tampa Bay and he really
Speaker 3: showed a solid knowledge of his offense by getting rid
Speaker 3: of the ball as he was falling to the ground.
Speaker 3: And Sam Howell has that same type of fight in him.
Speaker 3: If you want to get him to the ground, you
Speaker 3: have to get him to the ground. It's not something
Speaker 3: like he's going to trip, stumble and fall. And you
Speaker 3: saw there's multiple times where more than one guy had
Speaker 3: to hit him to bring him to the ground. However,
Speaker 3: the relentless pursuit of the Bears defensive line did a
Speaker 3: nice job of keeping him contained. All right.
Speaker 1: Balance was Keith thirty two runs called by Luke Gatzi,
Speaker 1: thirty two pass plays, nine rushing first downs, nine passing
Speaker 1: first downs.
Speaker 2: How about that for a game plan?
Speaker 3: Well, it came to work out that way. I don't
Speaker 3: think he go with the intentions of saying, okay, check
Speaker 3: one one run, one pass. No, it's kind of the
Speaker 3: way the game worked itself out. But you know the
Speaker 3: nice thing about Luke is he never neglected either portion
Speaker 3: of the game. Even when they had a big lead,
Speaker 3: they still through the ball. And then when they were
Speaker 3: trying to keep the lead and kind of challenge the
Speaker 3: defense for time of possession, he was keeping it. Even
Speaker 3: then you lose all the running backs and you have
Speaker 3: to insert Carrie blasting game. So many changes on the
Speaker 3: offensive line. So I'm glad he didn't neglect anything because
Speaker 3: there was personnel changes. All right.
Speaker 1: Let's talk defense, because you can look at it and say, okay,
Speaker 1: they gave up a lot of yards. The Bears had
Speaker 1: four in their fifty one yards. They had three eighty eight.
Speaker 1: They had actually more, as it turned out, offensive plays
Speaker 1: than the Bears. The Commanders with sixty six. They had
Speaker 1: time of possession pretty much even thirty seven completions on
Speaker 1: the day for their quarterback Sam Howell, but the turnovers
Speaker 1: a couple of big ones. Greg Stroman junior, a former
Speaker 1: Washington draft pick, local guy from Virginia Tech. Nice swipe,
Speaker 1: then he was sent on a blitz, had a sack,
Speaker 1: and then I'll tell you this, Trull Smith's going to
Speaker 1: be a player.
Speaker 3: Also.
Speaker 1: We think Taderik Stevenson is going to be a player
Speaker 1: for a long time.
Speaker 2: Physicality.
Speaker 1: Terrell Smith is no slouch either, and he had to
Speaker 1: leave the game briefly as well. But these are two
Speaker 1: rookies starting at corner, and the receivers were quiet, especially
Speaker 1: Terry McLaurin.
Speaker 2: We kept waiting for him to go off.
Speaker 3: It never happened, no, And you know I was in there, going, boy,
Speaker 3: they're gonna set up Terike Stevenson. They're gonna try a
Speaker 3: double move. When they did try a double move, the
Speaker 3: receiver ran right into Tarik Stevens Stevenson and it wasn't
Speaker 3: a penalty. So they did a nice job. I think
Speaker 3: they complimented the pass rush well, and you know, you
Speaker 3: got to kind of see that evolution of young defensive
Speaker 3: backs because you know, we were introduced to it last
Speaker 3: year when a lot of defensive backs had to play
Speaker 3: and they all played well. I think they're in a
Speaker 3: position where a lot of these young guys are getting
Speaker 3: experience that's gonna pay dividends down the line.
Speaker 2: Brisker did play.
Speaker 1: We didn't know for sure that was gonna happen, but
Speaker 1: they did this, you know, without Jalen Johnson. They did
Speaker 1: it with Kyler Gordon still mending from his broken hand.
Speaker 1: Eddie Jackson did not play. So this is a this
Speaker 1: is a mix of different varieties and experience level. And
Speaker 1: Matt Matt Eberflu said before the game, Yeah, it is
Speaker 1: a challenge. It is a challenge to make it all
Speaker 1: fit together like a puzzle. But it managed to work
Speaker 1: just well enough to stop Washington.
Speaker 3: Matta complimented him equally as well after the game. Because
Speaker 3: every single coach had to make some type of adjustment.
Speaker 3: Luke and calling the plays because of the running back position.
Speaker 3: Chris Morgan changes on the offensive line and understood how
Speaker 3: he was going to rotate these guys. You have to
Speaker 3: look at the receiver position after a couple of them
Speaker 3: went down. Same thing on defense, changes all over the play.
Speaker 3: So Matt's coaching staff was really well prepared for the
Speaker 3: changes that they had to make at a moment's notice.
Speaker 2: We touched on the two rookie corners.
Speaker 1: Let's talk on Javon Dexter because he had three pressures
Speaker 1: in the game. I think he had a run stop
Speaker 1: as well. His birthday last night, so that was big
Speaker 1: for him to and you know, I interviewed him as well,
Speaker 1: and man, he's big.
Speaker 2: He's a big dude.
Speaker 1: And you know that's a topic now how much development
Speaker 1: can he make every single game? And that's gonna be
Speaker 1: something to watch here along with Zach Pickens.
Speaker 3: Well, we talked about during the broadcast. One thing that
Speaker 3: impressed me is I was sitting on the Bears bench
Speaker 3: pregame and watching him go through warm ups with the
Speaker 3: defensive line coach and the assistant defensive line coach, and
Speaker 3: they were kind of calling out assignments during the course
Speaker 3: of his warm up and he was adjusting to every
Speaker 3: single one of them. Is how does he use his frame,
Speaker 3: how does he use his length? How does he fill
Speaker 3: the void? Or fill the gap according to his responsibility.
Speaker 3: So you know, listen, Javon Dexter, his assets, his tempo, everything,
Speaker 3: he should be going through the roof for the rest
Speaker 3: of the season.
Speaker 1: We talk about situation of football and we said, hey,
Speaker 1: third down's got to get better. Well, it did get
Speaker 1: better on the offensive side of the ball. Defensive side
Speaker 1: of the ball. Again, they were throwing every down, so
Speaker 1: they had you know, fifty conversion six of twelve, but
Speaker 1: it wasn't a game changer. I talked about that being
Speaker 1: an impact on where the Bears start field position, for example,
Speaker 1: if you're not getting guys off the field. The Bears
Speaker 1: averaged their own thirty seven yard line. So that's that's
Speaker 1: a major upgrade because they were near the bottom of
Speaker 1: the barrel in the league in terms of starting field
Speaker 1: position where they got the ball, they didn't turn the
Speaker 1: ball over. And then fourth quarter you were watching it
Speaker 1: closely because no matter what the lead was, and we're
Speaker 1: starting to get nervous. As we touched on earlier here,
Speaker 1: they finished the job, and it was justin and DJ
Speaker 1: Moore finishing the job. It wasn't it was the offense
Speaker 1: finishing the win.
Speaker 3: Well, you know when Jason McKee entered and interviewed Matt
Speaker 3: Iberflus coming out of the locker room. You know, you
Speaker 3: kind of listen to his voice and you say, Okay,
Speaker 3: is the apprehensive Is he nervous? I think he was
Speaker 3: excited for the opportunity to get out and start the
Speaker 3: second half. But you always have concerns because of what
Speaker 3: happened last week. But I think Matt did a nice
Speaker 3: job of keeping as de defense actively involved in the game,
Speaker 3: and then the offense did a nice job of complimenting
Speaker 3: the defense. And I think I remember the punter for
Speaker 3: the Bears the first time he punted in the game,
Speaker 3: and you said, you said, this is his first punt
Speaker 3: and it's kind of odd because it might have been
Speaker 3: in the third quarter. And uh, you know, so when
Speaker 3: you think of field position and the and their role
Speaker 3: and how important it is to give the Bear a
Speaker 3: little bit of uh, you know, backside freedom, it was.
Speaker 3: It was great to see them capitalize on their their
Speaker 3: field position in their play.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Washington punted twice and the Bears punted three times
Speaker 1: on the day that said Bear scored on the first
Speaker 1: five possessions. That means that they were in the red zone.
Speaker 1: Five consecutive drives. They only managed to score three touchdowns
Speaker 1: out of the five, but I'll take that as they
Speaker 1: continue to grow their offense.
Speaker 3: How about this three games in counting with no kickoff returns.
Speaker 1: It's a source sub ject because I wrote it down
Speaker 1: on the plane time.
Speaker 2: I wrote it down playing in the game.
Speaker 1: Fourteen combined kickoffs, fourteen touchbacks, and with all kidding aside,
Speaker 1: this is consecutive weeks, and okay, you're trying to figure
Speaker 1: out what Veylas Jones is, right, He's not even He's
Speaker 1: just standing there and I know it's strategy and everybody's
Speaker 1: doing it. Everybody's doing it, and forget about that fair
Speaker 1: catch rule. They're just kicking it. They're not coming out,
Speaker 1: they're not putting their guy back in the end zone
Speaker 1: to take it out. They want the field position. As
Speaker 1: I referred to you before the week he got underway
Speaker 1: with this Thursday night matchup. There were eighty two returns
Speaker 1: for an average of twenty three point seven yards. So
Speaker 1: if you're going to get the ball out to twenty five,
Speaker 1: is that two yards that you're giving up by returning
Speaker 1: those eighty two kicks worth the potential of a game
Speaker 1: breaking play or a fifty yard return. Your special teams
Speaker 1: unit are getting win sprints. They're not getting what I mean.
Speaker 1: Do you tell me as a guy who was on
Speaker 1: kickoff and punt his whole career.
Speaker 3: Well, I was on kickoff return in our reach turns
Speaker 3: always had a little bit more freedom, Whereas if you
Speaker 3: have a bona fide Devin Hester type guy, you're going
Speaker 3: to give him a little bit more freedom to back
Speaker 3: up in the end zone. So maybe it's time to
Speaker 3: take Veayalis Jones and give him five running back plays
Speaker 3: a game if you're not going to play him at
Speaker 3: wide receiver because the competition is stiff. I want to
Speaker 3: see Vayalis put the ball in his hands because he
Speaker 3: is still a physical runner. So maybe you do get
Speaker 3: him in a multi back set, or you put him
Speaker 3: back there and give him some carries in a one
Speaker 3: back formation. So maybe that's the way that you try
Speaker 3: to get him some touches.
Speaker 1: Good new Chicago United Airlines is getting brand new planes
Speaker 1: with other bells and whistles like Bluetooth connectivity screens at
Speaker 1: every seat in room for everyone's ruler bag. United proud
Speaker 1: to fly the Chicago Bears and you too, all right,
Speaker 1: a couple of the notes before we get into Dick
Speaker 1: budgets and wrap this up. First forty point games since
Speaker 1: the forty one to seventeen win at Jacksonville December twenty seventh,
Speaker 1: twenty twenty justin fields the last two first halves against
Speaker 1: Denver and at Washington. Consider that one whole game. Will
Speaker 1: you twenty eight to thirty seven, four to twenty seventy
Speaker 1: six percent completion percentage in six touchdowns that's just in
Speaker 1: the first.
Speaker 3: Halfs Yeah, impressive. And again, you know how I felt
Speaker 3: about him throwing that hail Mary pass in the last
Speaker 3: play of the first half last week. I don't think
Speaker 3: they should have done it. They should have thrown an
Speaker 3: easy completion or taken a knee, and then he would
Speaker 3: have been up twenty four out of twenty four in
Speaker 3: that game because he came out in the second half
Speaker 3: and completed his first five.
Speaker 2: Or six, all right.
Speaker 1: And then the other aspect I wanted to bring up
Speaker 1: statistically is where did it go here? In his first
Speaker 1: twenty plays to kit the ball, rolling eight of twelve,
Speaker 1: one hundred and forty five yards, a touchdown, a sack,
Speaker 1: and seven first downs. Bring it up because they always
Speaker 1: have a first fifteen. So if you if you're starting
Speaker 1: strong with your first fifteen to twenty and you're getting
Speaker 1: a couple of scores on the board, what does that
Speaker 1: do for the rest of the game plan and the defense?
Speaker 1: And they're playing on a lead, which they have really
Speaker 1: done during that fourteen game losing streak.
Speaker 3: Well, in that first fifteen they do a lot of
Speaker 3: exploratory stuff. You run a certain set, you run a
Speaker 3: certain route, you run a certain type of play because
Speaker 3: you want to get an indicator of how the defense
Speaker 3: is going to handle that, and that helps you call
Speaker 3: plays later in the game. So I think it's super
Speaker 3: beneficial when you talk about seven first downs and all
Speaker 3: the types of the yardages that they can get. I
Speaker 3: think they can learn more about what's valuable to them
Speaker 3: as the game moves on. And maybe that's why Justin
Speaker 3: is starting to have a strong second quarter into the
Speaker 3: third quarter and beyond.
Speaker 1: Take a chance download the Bette Rivers app today and
Speaker 1: visy Heart Seltzer, the official Heart Seltzer or the Chicago
Speaker 1: Bears all right fifty one. We both had plenty of
Speaker 1: interactions with Dick Butkus. He died of the age of
Speaker 1: eighty overnight and new spread throughout the day into the stadium.
Speaker 1: We're walking to do our television show, Bears Game Day
Speaker 1: Live on Fox, and you hear Bears fans just find
Speaker 1: out from their phones and you.
Speaker 2: Could hear him yelling to each other in the stadium.
Speaker 2: It was eerie. You know.
Speaker 1: It's way different than what the other remarkable game was
Speaker 1: when we were doing the preseason game when Andrew Luck
Speaker 1: retired and with all this murmuring going on and booing,
Speaker 1: and you know he wasn't coming back, he was leaving
Speaker 1: the Colts. But this is a passing of a legend.
Speaker 1: But to hear it rumor Mill kicking up through the stands,
Speaker 1: I heard it. I don't know if you heard it.
Speaker 1: It was eerie. But I just interviewed him three weeks ago.
Speaker 1: We talked about it at length in the broadcast and oddly,
Speaker 1: and I was talking with Tremaine Edmonds after the game
Speaker 1: because he also spent a good hour talking to Dick
Speaker 1: Buckets on the same day that I interviewed him. They
Speaker 1: were interviewing each other and they said, hey, can we
Speaker 1: just kill the camera and they just talked and it
Speaker 1: was amazing, and Edmunds got a huge, huge kick out
Speaker 1: of it, and he really explored Dick buckis the man
Speaker 1: what he did to get ready to play? How you say,
Speaker 1: played so viciously? So but I remember, and I told
Speaker 1: Tremaine this. I said, hey, man, can you believe this?
Speaker 1: He goes, man, you know it gave me goosebumps, and
Speaker 1: I said, you know, the last thing I asked, how
Speaker 1: do you want to be remembered? And three weeks later
Speaker 1: he passes away. And he wanted to be remembered as
Speaker 1: the guy who loved the game more than anybody, and
Speaker 1: hard to imagine anybody loving the game more. And he
Speaker 1: played with such a verve and vigor and viciousness uniquely
Speaker 1: Chicago tough. You know, born in this city, raised in
Speaker 1: this city, played in this city, played at u of I,
Speaker 1: and carried the beacon along with Gail Sayers in those
Speaker 1: sixties when they were great players, hall of famers. But
Speaker 1: this team didn't stack up a lot of wins. And
Speaker 1: he threw his body around like nobody else.
Speaker 3: But you know, the one thing that amazes me about
Speaker 3: Dick Buckets as a young man and as an older
Speaker 3: gentleman that he came on to be is he's super
Speaker 3: antagonistic as a player, he will go up and tell
Speaker 3: the center about how much he's going to beat him up.
Speaker 3: Throughout the day, he throws running backs around like they're
Speaker 3: wet wet T shirts. He physically hits tight ends across
Speaker 3: the middle. People remember playing against him and for years
Speaker 3: to come. But then a couple of years ago, Dick
Speaker 3: Buckets enters the Twitter world and he becomes as antagonistic
Speaker 3: on the Twitter world as he did as a football
Speaker 3: player as a young man. And I really got a
Speaker 3: kick out of that, because you know me, I'm the
Speaker 3: most anti social media person there is in the world.
Speaker 3: But it seemed to me when they were playing, when
Speaker 3: we were playing the Bears are playing the Green Bay Packers,
Speaker 3: or he had a chance to take shots at a
Speaker 3: couple guys at this point in his life. I really
Speaker 3: found it funny and I enjoyed it. But getting to
Speaker 3: be dressing in the locker room in Chicago Bear uniform
Speaker 3: as a young kid as a player in watching Dick
Speaker 3: Buckets walk into the room, it didn't silence the room.
Speaker 3: It created that murmur, where hey, Buckets is in the room,
Speaker 3: and look at this guy. I mean, he had that
Speaker 3: look about himself always, like you know, he could wrap
Speaker 3: his hands up like you see that picture of him
Speaker 3: with those folded hands and his knuckles wrapped in white tape.
Speaker 3: And how archaic of a paddy that was. And you know,
Speaker 3: when you're when you become as you know, just as
Speaker 3: great as a player as he was in one of
Speaker 3: the most physically tough eras in the NFL. And you
Speaker 3: only have to say one name, and you know exactly
Speaker 3: who you're talking about. Are they say, hey, who's some
Speaker 3: of the best middle linebackers in the history of the league.
Speaker 3: His name comes right to the top of your you know, to.
Speaker 2: That just breathes football.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but Gus, And I'm telling you, the thing I
Speaker 3: always got a kick out of was when Rocky named
Speaker 3: his dog Buckus and I and I asked him about
Speaker 3: the whole story. It's just super funny that Sylvester Sloan
Speaker 3: did it out of respect. He never told Buckets until
Speaker 3: Bucket saw the movie.
Speaker 1: You know, it really bugged him that people thought he
Speaker 1: was absent altely, like he was a dirty player.
Speaker 2: He says, I was not a dirty player.
Speaker 1: I played within the rules that were set back then,
Speaker 1: and people feared me absolutely. But he goes, you know,
Speaker 1: I played hard. I played hard and physical, and I'm
Speaker 1: a nice guy. I'm not this older that's you know, unapproachable.
Speaker 1: And yes he was gruff. He was gruff, but my gosh,
Speaker 1: he was hilarious and an actor, you know, part comedian
Speaker 1: when you get right down to it.
Speaker 2: And philanthropic.
Speaker 1: I mean he had a lot of connections to a
Speaker 1: lot of different things and living out there. But how
Speaker 1: about a sixty year marriage and Helen his wife, of
Speaker 1: condolences to him, to her and their family.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but you know, George Hallis would not you let
Speaker 3: you play dirty. He's not the founder of the National
Speaker 3: Football League and he's going to come in and allow
Speaker 3: his players to go out and purposely hurt other players
Speaker 3: on other teams, because that's totally against everything they stand for.
Speaker 3: And it's the same kind of passion that Mike Ditka
Speaker 3: had for the game. He was not going to let
Speaker 3: any of the guys he coached go out and purposely
Speaker 3: hurt people. George Hallis wouldn't either, and Dick Bucket wouldn't
Speaker 3: do it on purpose. However, he played the game so
Speaker 3: physical that maybe you got up a little wobbly at times.
Speaker 1: Well, I tell you what, I'm glad I had the opportunity.
Speaker 1: I talked to him more than once. I did a
Speaker 1: four hour interview with him in a downtown Chicago hotel
Speaker 1: years ago, from birth to where he was. Then I
Speaker 1: remember he was sitting there and I thought, oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: he is he okay with us doing this in depth?
Speaker 2: He loved it.
Speaker 1: We talked for four hours about football and life and
Speaker 1: it was amazing. And then, you know, just last week.
Speaker 1: So I'm honored to have done it. Hate that he
Speaker 1: has gone, but he was, you know, here for alumni
Speaker 1: weekend and a lot of people got to see him
Speaker 1: one last time.
Speaker 3: Listen, that dude will never be forgotten. No, that's the
Speaker 3: thing about Dick Buckets is it's sad as passing eighty
Speaker 3: years old. He's been blessed because he's loved football so
Speaker 3: much and he's always been able to stay up part
Speaker 3: of the game of football and be a major influence.
Speaker 1: People forget, you know, if you're not aware of this,
Speaker 1: he was in the booth, he was Tommy when Tommy
Speaker 1: was playing in the eighty five Super Bowl.
Speaker 2: That was your broadcast crew.
Speaker 1: That's Wwayne Larirvie hub Arcish and Dick Buckis right, Jim Hart,
Speaker 1: Jim Hart and Dick.
Speaker 2: And Hubb was a part of the pregame in post game.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and he would come and sit in the locker room,
Speaker 3: That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 2: You know, during the Super Bowl year.
Speaker 3: The whole time he was a broadcaster, it wasn't uncommon
Speaker 3: for the guys to come and sit in the locker room,
Speaker 3: and maybe he would sit down next to a player
Speaker 3: and have a conversation. He would spend time in Dick's office.
Speaker 3: But it's just seeing Dick Buckets walking your freaking locker room.
Speaker 3: It's hard to put into words how you wanted to
Speaker 3: impress him. Man. You wanted Dick Buckets to think that
Speaker 3: you were a good football player. And if you had
Speaker 3: that type of cachet, that type of check mark, man,
Speaker 3: it meant a lot to you throughout your career.
Speaker 1: He told a funny story, and we're gonna wrap this up,
Speaker 1: but the center for the Detroit Lions, ed Flanagan. He
Speaker 1: got on his nerves late in a game. The game
Speaker 1: was over and Buck's kept on hitting him and and
Speaker 1: kicking the ball away and they just wanted to end
Speaker 1: the game and just just to rattle his cage or
Speaker 1: he goes into the end zone, he catches a touchdown,
Speaker 1: and he just flashes the ball on the face of
Speaker 1: the defender and the guy, you know, bangs it out.
Speaker 1: Like you say, he's an antagony. You got a lot
Speaker 1: of you too.
Speaker 3: You know, Buckets. Buckets had five interceptions of his rookie year.
Speaker 3: And when you think of that, that's something that's a
Speaker 3: career or a year for a cornerback, not less, not
Speaker 3: necessarily a middle linebacker. So obviously the dude was a
Speaker 3: good athlete and could catch balls out of the air
Speaker 3: from short distances.
Speaker 2: I did ask him about that. How did he get
Speaker 2: so many?
Speaker 1: He goes, you know, I was reading the eyes of
Speaker 1: the quarterback and I would just slide to where his
Speaker 1: eyes were taking me right, and I had great instincts
Speaker 1: to swipe the football. So you know, and and and
Speaker 1: you know, many people thought he was going to be.
Speaker 2: A great center. He was going to be a great center.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I think in college he played center for a
Speaker 3: good portion of time.
Speaker 1: Richard Marvin gis some of his nicknames.
Speaker 3: I wonder if anybody called him Marvin just to get under.
Speaker 1: I'm sure they did. I'm sure they did. But at
Speaker 1: six three two forty five. He was also carrying around
Speaker 1: names like I'm sure these are from players or whatever,
Speaker 1: the Animal, the Enforcer, the Maestro of Mayhem, or the
Speaker 1: Robot of destruction.
Speaker 2: But a career that spanned.
Speaker 1: One hundred and nineteen games, twenty two interceptions, and he
Speaker 1: played every snap with the Chicago Bears when they were
Speaker 1: fourteen game seasons. His last season was nineteen seventy three,
Speaker 1: a Hall of Famer and a great loss to NFL.
Speaker 1: NFL Films captured him forever. All right, Tom, All right, Now,
Speaker 1: when you spend over twenty nine ninety nine at Steinhoffel's
Speaker 1: just scoring one hundred dollars Bears Pro Shop gift card,
Speaker 1: visit any one of their four Chicago land locations in
Speaker 1: Vernon Hills, Crystal Lake, Downers Groven, Hardwood Heights, or shop
Speaker 1: online at Steinhoffel's dot com. What's this mean win in
Speaker 1: the end is they now have ten days off before
Speaker 1: greeting Minnesota to stop another streak, an eight game losing
Speaker 1: streak in the NFC North.
Speaker 3: It's just a it's a great win to be able
Speaker 3: to enjoy this little time you have off and it
Speaker 3: kind of reinvigorates this guys, these guys when they get
Speaker 3: back to work that they're going to be excited about
Speaker 3: studying the tape of the game and then prepare for
Speaker 3: another divisional opponent and try to, you know, realistically, try
Speaker 3: to get back in this division race. And it's not
Speaker 3: out of touch. It's not out of hand. If you
Speaker 3: play as well as you can offensively, as that have
Speaker 3: you done the last couple of weeks, it's not impossible.
Speaker 1: Five games in now your goal is get back to
Speaker 1: five hundred, and that's set a new foundation. But that
Speaker 1: you know, that'll be eight weeks into the season before
Speaker 1: you can even have a shot at getting back to
Speaker 1: five hundred.
Speaker 3: There's been one team in the history of the league
Speaker 3: owned for San Diego Chargers in nineteen ninety two to
Speaker 3: still make the playoffs. So it's been done before. It's
Speaker 3: not impossible.
Speaker 1: It One more thing before we wrap up the podcast,
Speaker 1: Bears general manager Ryan Poles put a bow on the
Speaker 1: Chase Claypool matter finding a trade partner in Miami, sending
Speaker 1: the veteran receiver and a seventh round pick in twenty
Speaker 1: twenty five to the Dolphins for a sixth round pick
Speaker 1: in twenty five. So prior to kick off, in Washington. Poles,
Speaker 1: in our weekly interview on ESPN one thousand and the
Speaker 1: various Bears media platforms, express disappointment that Claypool didn't work
Speaker 1: out here since acquiring him from Pittsburgh last season, the
Speaker 1: hope for production really never was materialized. Eighteen catches, one
Speaker 1: hundred and ninety one yards in one touchdown in ten
Speaker 1: games with the Bears. I asked Poles what the root
Speaker 1: of the problem was, and he just said, you know,
Speaker 1: it's a scenario where a player heading into his free
Speaker 1: agent year wanting to get his career get going in
Speaker 1: the right path. The motions got involved when the production
Speaker 1: was not there, and the involvement with his teammates that
Speaker 1: struggled to blend in and stay resilient in the face
Speaker 1: of a losing streak all kind of boiled up. And
Speaker 1: so the best move was a move onto Miami and
Speaker 1: the Bears will now move forward and maybe some more
Speaker 1: uportunities for young Tyler Scott, the rookie out of Cincinnati
Speaker 1: moving forward for Bear's Super Bowl guard Tom Thayer, my
Speaker 1: broadcast partner, I'm Jeff Joniak, Thanks for listening to everyone.
Speaker 1: Back with your next Tuesday, getting ready with the Vikings
Speaker 1: and recapping the winner of the Commanders with head coach
Speaker 1: Matt Eberflus. Thanks to listening, everybody, please subscribe now in
Speaker 1: the Chicago Bears official app, Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever
Speaker 1: you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2: Bear down, everybody,