WEBVTT - All Access: Lynch on defense's attitude 0:00:00.840 --> 0:00:04.400 The following is a presentation of the Chicago Bears Network 0:00:04.519 --> 0:00:08.920 and Chicago Bears dot Com. Download the Chicago Bears Official 0:00:09.000 --> 0:00:12.000 mobile app for up to the minute Bears content every 0:00:12.119 --> 0:00:17.200 day and now welcome to Bears All Access, your all 0:00:17.239 --> 0:00:21.680 access pass into Chicago Bears football. Bears All Access is 0:00:21.720 --> 0:00:25.800 brought to you by IGS Energy and sponsored by Miller, Litte, 0:00:26.079 --> 0:00:30.680 CDW and Forward. Hey everybody, Jeff joniak with you with 0:00:30.760 --> 0:00:33.360 my broadcast partner from news Radio seven eighty one to 0:00:33.479 --> 0:00:36.879 five point FMWBBM, the eighty five Bear, Tom Fair in 0:00:36.920 --> 0:00:40.120 the Score studio, and former Bears quarterback Jim Miller joining 0:00:40.159 --> 0:00:43.000 us as always Welcome into the program. Bears All Access 0:00:43.120 --> 0:00:45.839 presented by IGS Energy. Fellows, how we all do on? What? 0:00:46.200 --> 0:00:48.760 Where is your heads at right now? Where we got 0:00:48.800 --> 0:00:50.159 a couple of weeks to go? I don't you know, 0:00:50.240 --> 0:00:52.080 Jim may feel the same way I do. The last 0:00:52.159 --> 0:00:55.200 month before training camp always started as a player. It 0:00:55.280 --> 0:00:58.280 was the worst mood of my month, and I didn't 0:00:58.280 --> 0:01:00.680 want to talk to people. I didn't want to see anybody. 0:01:00.720 --> 0:01:02.440 Just wanted to sit in a room by myself and 0:01:02.520 --> 0:01:05.800 wait for that to begin. Now it's different because just 0:01:05.840 --> 0:01:07.800 they take a little bit better care of you. But 0:01:07.880 --> 0:01:09.759 I don't know how Jim, as a player, you live 0:01:09.840 --> 0:01:13.440 that last month before training camp, because that's that's the 0:01:13.680 --> 0:01:16.040 real stuff, that's when it really starts. Yeah, I don't 0:01:16.040 --> 0:01:18.600 I don't want to get what I want to say, dark, 0:01:18.800 --> 0:01:21.280 But I like being in a prison. It was a 0:01:21.360 --> 0:01:24.839 prison sentence, like top saying, because you're doing the countdown 0:01:24.880 --> 0:01:28.200 of the days until your freedom is finally there. You 0:01:28.280 --> 0:01:31.440 this unleash yourself on a football field. But I felt 0:01:31.440 --> 0:01:33.360 the same way. It was always on my mind. I 0:01:33.480 --> 0:01:36.240 was always anxious. You're always questioning yourself, have I done 0:01:36.319 --> 0:01:38.920 enough to prepare and knowing that I did, knowing that 0:01:39.040 --> 0:01:42.560 I did, but you always have those questions and hey, 0:01:42.720 --> 0:01:45.280 and you know, finally it's there and it's upon you. 0:01:45.400 --> 0:01:47.840 But you know, it was constantly twenty four to seven 0:01:47.880 --> 0:01:49.840 that you were thinking about it. Things you wanted to do, 0:01:49.920 --> 0:01:52.000 things you wanted to accomplish, and if you did enough 0:01:52.480 --> 0:01:55.720 to really raise your level of play every offseason. Honestly, 0:01:55.840 --> 0:01:58.560 the average person would say, now, wait a minute, this 0:01:58.640 --> 0:02:01.080 is a game that you know, you're playing a kid's 0:02:01.120 --> 0:02:03.520 game at a man's level, and you're getting paid very 0:02:03.600 --> 0:02:05.680 nicely for it. You should be excited to get, but 0:02:05.840 --> 0:02:08.839 no one really knows the inner workings of the day 0:02:08.840 --> 0:02:11.799 to day grind, especially when you guys played in time. 0:02:11.880 --> 0:02:14.320 But it it was, it was difficult. It's your living, 0:02:14.360 --> 0:02:18.919 it's your life, it's your livelihood, it's your financial stabiling. 0:02:18.960 --> 0:02:22.440 What your your opportunity to gain some ground on your 0:02:22.480 --> 0:02:25.200 finances as you get older, because it's not gonna get 0:02:25.520 --> 0:02:29.760 You're not gonna solve your finance situation. When you played 0:02:29.800 --> 0:02:31.720 football back in our era, you had to play as 0:02:31.720 --> 0:02:34.239 long as you can to earn the opportunities you earn, 0:02:34.320 --> 0:02:37.080 So you know, just the everyday competitiveness of it and 0:02:37.120 --> 0:02:39.800 that thought that is in your mind. It's just how 0:02:39.840 --> 0:02:43.160 mentally stressed were both of you. Seriously, if you had 0:02:43.160 --> 0:02:47.280 a bad day at practice in training camp with a 0:02:47.320 --> 0:02:50.080 guy breathing down your well, I'll talk from from my 0:02:50.160 --> 0:02:52.600 personal It's not like you know, I wasn't a first 0:02:52.680 --> 0:02:55.080 round pick. I was a sixth rounder out of Michigan State. 0:02:55.160 --> 0:02:56.920 You know, I believe in myself a new eye talent. 0:02:56.960 --> 0:02:59.680 But literally my rookie year, I broke my hand, broke 0:02:59.720 --> 0:03:02.680 my hand in my livelihood and they said year done. 0:03:02.880 --> 0:03:07.440 I got in one preseason game. How happened. Jason Gilden 0:03:07.560 --> 0:03:09.360 came in, we were doing third down. I got thrown 0:03:09.400 --> 0:03:12.320 in with the first team in Latrobe. Pao was playing 0:03:12.400 --> 0:03:14.600 extremely well. I was I think they were thinking of 0:03:14.800 --> 0:03:17.079 making me the two because I thought at that point 0:03:17.120 --> 0:03:19.600 I was beating out Mike tom Sack me personally, and 0:03:19.639 --> 0:03:21.240 I think that's why they were throwing me in with 0:03:21.320 --> 0:03:23.560 the ones. More because I had come off of really 0:03:23.760 --> 0:03:27.560 two good scrimmages against Washington and Buffalo played well, and 0:03:27.600 --> 0:03:30.000 then we were doing a blitz period and Jason Gilden 0:03:30.040 --> 0:03:32.040 came in and we were I was throwing a pass 0:03:32.080 --> 0:03:34.200 and Gilden swatted at my hand. I broke my thumb 0:03:34.200 --> 0:03:37.360 and tore the ligaments in my thumb, and that shelved 0:03:37.360 --> 0:03:38.760 me for that year. I'm like, man, are they going 0:03:38.840 --> 0:03:41.560 to keep me? Is what's going to happen? So I 0:03:41.640 --> 0:03:44.160 felt I was on the bubble to begin with because 0:03:45.120 --> 0:03:47.480 Andy Kelly, he was a big Arena league star at 0:03:47.480 --> 0:03:49.480 that point, he was the fourth quarterback, He had played 0:03:49.520 --> 0:03:51.440 a lot, he was older than me at that point, 0:03:51.480 --> 0:03:53.160 so I knew there wasn't a given and he was 0:03:53.200 --> 0:03:56.000 having a good camp too, and uh, you know, so 0:03:56.040 --> 0:03:57.800 I didn't even know coming out of that training camp. 0:03:57.800 --> 0:03:59.800 And then the next year they draft Cordell Stewart. I'm 0:03:59.800 --> 0:04:01.520 played into the World League and I break my wrist, 0:04:02.000 --> 0:04:04.840 my livelihood, so I thought that year I was gonna 0:04:04.840 --> 0:04:06.600 get cut. I came back and had the camp of 0:04:06.680 --> 0:04:10.200 my life and they kept four quarterbacks. And that was 0:04:10.360 --> 0:04:13.080 back when you know, very rare. Did that happen that 0:04:13.120 --> 0:04:15.280 they keep four quarterbacks? And they did that year too. 0:04:15.400 --> 0:04:18.640 It's but two years I came, I made the team 0:04:18.680 --> 0:04:21.000 with injuries. Believe it or not. You gotta drink more milk. 0:04:22.680 --> 0:04:26.240 See now you know you sixth round picked Tom. Yeah, 0:04:26.240 --> 0:04:28.640 and but he's a quarterback. Now that that that that's 0:04:28.640 --> 0:04:31.360 like being a fourth rounder because everybody wants to find 0:04:31.520 --> 0:04:34.160 the quarterback. And Dick Duron used to tell me all 0:04:34.200 --> 0:04:35.960 the time, if Jim could have stayed out, the kid 0:04:36.000 --> 0:04:39.240 had been a Pro Bowl quarterback. But did you ever 0:04:39.440 --> 0:04:43.080 hear or read and don't tell me you didn't read. 0:04:43.279 --> 0:04:46.880 Did you ever hear the term? Well, he's never gonna 0:04:46.920 --> 0:04:49.640 make it, or God forbid, he's a bust forget about it. 0:04:49.839 --> 0:04:53.000 For me, personally, I knew I could play, you know, 0:04:53.040 --> 0:04:55.080 I knew when I stacked up in that first camp 0:04:55.120 --> 0:04:57.360 gave me a lot of conference confidence where I said 0:04:57.400 --> 0:05:01.480 I belong here. I knew that, But sometimes in the NFL, 0:05:01.520 --> 0:05:05.080 it's things are happenstance. You get labeled, you know early, 0:05:05.279 --> 0:05:07.120 you know, I had injuries early in my career. Is 0:05:07.160 --> 0:05:09.320 the injury prone. I had, you know, to two separated 0:05:09.360 --> 0:05:12.719 shoulders in college, you know, so you know, so you 0:05:12.760 --> 0:05:16.120 had got to overcome all those things and then you know, 0:05:16.160 --> 0:05:18.479 work yourself and kind of shed those labels. And I 0:05:18.520 --> 0:05:20.320 had been bounced around the league. And when I arrived 0:05:20.360 --> 0:05:23.880 to Chicago, I knew from my standpoint, I was mentally 0:05:24.000 --> 0:05:27.600 and physically ready. I was, you know, even though they 0:05:27.600 --> 0:05:30.240 had drafted Kate mcdown and Shane Matthews was there. I 0:05:30.320 --> 0:05:32.479 was ready and I knew I could I could do well. 0:05:32.520 --> 0:05:35.600 But you know, unfortunately for me, that injury bug returned. 0:05:35.880 --> 0:05:39.440 You know, torn achilles, tenants, shoulder injuries, you know, you 0:05:39.680 --> 0:05:42.160 name it, you kind of go through. But you know, mentally, 0:05:42.200 --> 0:05:44.359 at that point, I knew I could play, and I 0:05:44.400 --> 0:05:48.360 knew I belonged to start in the NFL. I knew 0:05:48.400 --> 0:05:51.039 that personally, and I knew I could do it. Tom, 0:05:51.320 --> 0:05:53.719 you were a warrior out there to say the least, 0:05:53.880 --> 0:05:56.719 were you ever in a position in a game or 0:05:56.760 --> 0:05:59.719 a practice when you thought there is not a chance 0:06:00.120 --> 0:06:02.919 I can play through this pain I'm in at the 0:06:03.000 --> 0:06:05.080 moment and still was able to do it because you 0:06:05.120 --> 0:06:07.680 didn't miss anything. No, but you know, it's funny that 0:06:07.680 --> 0:06:10.159 we were playing the Pittsburgh Steelers once and the second play, 0:06:10.600 --> 0:06:13.440 the second to last play of the first half, we 0:06:13.440 --> 0:06:15.719 were running a screen and I went to stop my 0:06:15.839 --> 0:06:18.000 guy and then release him and go out on the screen. 0:06:18.040 --> 0:06:20.839 And when I stopped and planted my foot, I snapped 0:06:20.839 --> 0:06:24.279 my plan or fashion, and it hurts so bad I 0:06:24.279 --> 0:06:26.200 couldn't believe. So I made it through the next play, 0:06:26.240 --> 0:06:28.320 and then I ran into the locker room and took 0:06:28.320 --> 0:06:30.880 all my foot off, my shoe off and everything, and 0:06:30.880 --> 0:06:33.960 then I got my foot injected. Right now, I think 0:06:33.960 --> 0:06:36.360 you've told me this story on Team Plane one time, 0:06:36.400 --> 0:06:40.000 that the needle was the whole experience is brutal because 0:06:40.040 --> 0:06:42.839 they shot all around your foot on top of it, 0:06:42.880 --> 0:06:45.279 and you don't want to get into that story. But anyways, 0:06:45.720 --> 0:06:49.480 that was one of the challenges because the instance of discomfort, 0:06:50.040 --> 0:06:51.679 it hurts you. And he said, okay, I got twelve 0:06:51.680 --> 0:06:54.479 minutes at halftime. Let's get this taken care of, and 0:06:54.560 --> 0:06:58.039 now the next six or seven weeks were awful. But 0:06:58.279 --> 0:07:00.560 you know, aside from and is going to put you 0:07:00.560 --> 0:07:02.440 in a position where you're talking about yourself. And I 0:07:02.480 --> 0:07:05.560 know you don't like this, but you're you're you're physically gifted. 0:07:05.560 --> 0:07:07.880 You worked your tail off in the weight room. You 0:07:07.880 --> 0:07:11.040 made yourself strong and ready to play snap after snap 0:07:11.040 --> 0:07:14.520 after snap for a long period of time. But there's 0:07:14.560 --> 0:07:20.160 a mental component. Were you mentally stronger than you were 0:07:20.480 --> 0:07:23.800 physically strong? Yes, but that came from my mom and dad. 0:07:23.840 --> 0:07:26.200 It did, and it is you know, give it Where 0:07:26.240 --> 0:07:27.840 do you give credit? Where credit to due? You know, 0:07:27.880 --> 0:07:29.880 my dad worked outdoors every day. It was life for 0:07:29.880 --> 0:07:32.520 forty three years. My mom's eighty six and she still 0:07:32.560 --> 0:07:36.160 goes to work every day. So you do develop it, 0:07:36.360 --> 0:07:38.840 but you're also given the good genes and in the 0:07:38.920 --> 0:07:43.320 good you know, upbringing to challenge yourself like that. We're 0:07:43.320 --> 0:07:46.280 gonna take a break. The interesting aspect of asking two 0:07:46.320 --> 0:07:49.280 former NFL players who played long careers is that you're 0:07:49.280 --> 0:07:51.160 getting ready for training camp here in a couple of 0:07:51.200 --> 0:07:53.760 weeks and all these same topics who will be discussed 0:07:53.960 --> 0:07:56.200 with the current ninety man edition of the twenty eighteen 0:07:56.280 --> 0:07:59.480 Chicago Bears. You're finding out who's physically who's mentally strong 0:07:59.480 --> 0:08:02.320 and ready to You're listening to Bears All Access on 0:08:02.520 --> 0:08:09.440 Chicago Sports Radio six seventy to score and welcome back 0:08:09.480 --> 0:08:11.960 to Bears All Access everybody. This is brought to you 0:08:12.000 --> 0:08:14.720 by IGS Energy, a proud partner of the Chicago Bears, 0:08:14.720 --> 0:08:18.080 providing electricity, natural gas, and home warranty products to over 0:08:18.120 --> 0:08:20.800 one million customers across the country. Learn more about IGS 0:08:20.920 --> 0:08:23.320 Energy at IGS dot com. Jeff, Jony Act, Tom there, 0:08:23.400 --> 0:08:26.080 Jim Miller with you on another edition of Bears All Access. 0:08:26.120 --> 0:08:28.240 Counting it down really the training camp. I don't know 0:08:28.240 --> 0:08:29.880 if you guys had a chance to check out Chicago 0:08:29.920 --> 0:08:31.920 Bears dot com. It's been all over Twitter and all 0:08:31.960 --> 0:08:35.720 the different platforms. The Bears put out information and features. 0:08:35.960 --> 0:08:38.960 The Meet the Rookie series. It kicked off last week 0:08:39.040 --> 0:08:45.000 and it features Roquan Smith, the linebacker, Anthony Miller, James Daniels, 0:08:45.360 --> 0:08:49.880 and Joel Eway. But James, I just messed it up. 0:08:49.880 --> 0:08:52.520 But anyway, James is an honor yet, is he? Yeah? 0:08:52.520 --> 0:08:56.600 Oh yeah, I just saw it, yeah, because I saw 0:08:56.640 --> 0:08:58.880 the first three. Yeah, So and Jim. I don't know 0:08:58.880 --> 0:09:02.240 if you've had time to to see those, but they're 0:09:02.240 --> 0:09:05.079 really revealing about the roots of what they're all about, 0:09:05.120 --> 0:09:07.400 where they came from and the coaching they got no 0:09:07.480 --> 0:09:09.640 different than the two of you. How you guys were 0:09:09.720 --> 0:09:11.720 raised from the great school level all the way through 0:09:11.800 --> 0:09:14.720 high school, college and into the NFL. But I love 0:09:14.720 --> 0:09:17.719 the journeys, man. They tell a story and all their 0:09:17.800 --> 0:09:20.400 different people who touched their lives in the way of 0:09:20.400 --> 0:09:24.600 football or their parents. It's really interesting to see the 0:09:24.679 --> 0:09:27.200 journey of where and these guys appear to me to 0:09:27.240 --> 0:09:29.600 be very mental. Well you know, it's funny is we're 0:09:29.640 --> 0:09:32.240 all slapped with a little bit of reality early in 0:09:32.240 --> 0:09:34.760 our sports life in some way, shape or form. Because 0:09:34.840 --> 0:09:37.720 the two linebackers of the Bear drafted were first interested 0:09:37.760 --> 0:09:41.120 in basketball and then something introduced some of the sport 0:09:41.160 --> 0:09:45.679 of football and that's where mentally physically in with the enthusiasm. 0:09:45.760 --> 0:09:48.440 That's when they really flourished into what they became, which 0:09:48.480 --> 0:09:50.880 is really interesting. And then when you watch Anthony Miller, 0:09:51.559 --> 0:09:54.960 this guy about those routes he's running. But right this 0:09:54.960 --> 0:09:58.120 this guy is straight up self made. There is there 0:09:58.280 --> 0:10:01.560 is there is no boutique of about him and this guy. 0:10:01.840 --> 0:10:05.160 I can't wait to see what becomes of his career 0:10:05.280 --> 0:10:08.480 because what he's invested in and Jim's talked about trusting 0:10:08.640 --> 0:10:11.320 himself as a quarterback when he knew he could play. 0:10:11.559 --> 0:10:14.680 This is Anthony is always I'm all in on myself 0:10:14.720 --> 0:10:17.199 and I'd tell you and that piece was really interesting 0:10:17.240 --> 0:10:20.640 to see. To give even more of a presence of it, well, 0:10:20.679 --> 0:10:23.520 I think you do see teams paying attention more to 0:10:24.080 --> 0:10:26.880 you know, the just the character of a young because 0:10:26.960 --> 0:10:29.560 I do think the Bears drafted all character guys, you know, 0:10:29.640 --> 0:10:33.000 from Roquan even to Iggy who you're referring to. If 0:10:33.040 --> 0:10:35.640 you read that guy's background, he's got an interesting background. 0:10:35.679 --> 0:10:37.640 I thought it was interesting. His coach and if you 0:10:37.679 --> 0:10:40.480 go to Chicago Bears dot com and read the Rookie series, 0:10:40.640 --> 0:10:44.600 Mike Sandford, who was his coach in college, just said, Hey, 0:10:44.640 --> 0:10:48.080 this guy is a number one character guy off the field. 0:10:48.080 --> 0:10:51.199 Just he goes, I want my kids around him all day. 0:10:51.320 --> 0:10:54.080 So these are solid citizens number one, because I think 0:10:54.120 --> 0:10:57.480 sometimes we get caught up in not realizing that there's 0:10:57.480 --> 0:11:00.280 a human being underneath that helmet. Granted you see the 0:11:00.280 --> 0:11:02.679 player in the game with the with the helmet on. 0:11:02.800 --> 0:11:04.599 But there is a human element side of this and 0:11:04.920 --> 0:11:06.880 what these these players not only are going to be 0:11:06.920 --> 0:11:09.240 as football players, but as citizens in general, because we 0:11:09.280 --> 0:11:12.440 should all care about that at the end of the day. 0:11:12.440 --> 0:11:14.320 And I think they drafted a lot of solid character 0:11:14.400 --> 0:11:17.680 guys who won't care about football tremendously because they're they're 0:11:18.120 --> 0:11:20.920 they are driven by the sport that they love to 0:11:21.000 --> 0:11:23.880 be successful. But even if they weren't played football, they'd 0:11:23.880 --> 0:11:27.360 be successful as well. Joel Ea booney way is the 0:11:27.440 --> 0:11:29.880 proper pronunciation, and that's a part of the piece as well. 0:11:29.920 --> 0:11:32.400 But whenever I hear student of the game from a 0:11:32.440 --> 0:11:35.040 coach at any level, my ears perk up. I'm a 0:11:35.320 --> 0:11:37.560 I'm all about that, because that's kind of the plan. 0:11:37.880 --> 0:11:41.640 Ryan Pace wants smart football players, right if you don't, 0:11:41.720 --> 0:11:43.920 I mean, we've seen many in You have to be 0:11:43.960 --> 0:11:45.960 smart in order to play the sport at this level 0:11:46.000 --> 0:11:49.000 because you see the complexity of what the coaches requirements. 0:11:49.000 --> 0:11:51.840 But there are guys that are not, then they don't play. 0:11:52.000 --> 0:11:54.040 But hold on, now, so the guys that don't have 0:11:54.120 --> 0:11:57.400 the FBI the football intelligence that Scout's always attached and 0:11:57.480 --> 0:12:00.240 Jim you you talked to head coaches more than Tom 0:12:00.240 --> 0:12:02.720 and I do you talk to them all. There are 0:12:02.760 --> 0:12:04.960 not many things you can do with a guy that 0:12:05.120 --> 0:12:09.160 doesn't have football intelligence. Unless they're athletically gifted, they get 0:12:09.160 --> 0:12:12.280 a chance, and they're usually in many cases well if 0:12:12.280 --> 0:12:15.160 they're not football smart, they are first round picks with 0:12:15.240 --> 0:12:17.560 a lot of talent that they never realized that. All. Right, 0:12:17.640 --> 0:12:20.839 say you take a guy like JJ Watt, so jj 0:12:21.000 --> 0:12:23.040 Watt and say he didn't know a lot about scheme 0:12:23.160 --> 0:12:27.040 defensive football, but he uses explosiveness to be so disruptive 0:12:27.120 --> 0:12:30.800 that that's what he did. If you take a guy 0:12:30.800 --> 0:12:33.599 on offense and you think he's just going to freelance, no, 0:12:33.920 --> 0:12:36.240 your whole offense is going to be disrupted. So there 0:12:36.320 --> 0:12:40.760 may be certain superior skilled positions that you could take 0:12:40.800 --> 0:12:42.560 and put a guy out. If you put Reggi White 0:12:42.559 --> 0:12:44.679 anywhere on the defensive line and didn't even tell him 0:12:44.720 --> 0:12:46.800 the defense, just tell him to do what he wanted 0:12:46.840 --> 0:12:48.559 to do at the snap of the ball, that was junior. 0:12:48.600 --> 0:12:51.120 Say he did what he had lived his whole career, 0:12:51.160 --> 0:12:53.840 but he was Hall of Fame caliber, right, I mean 0:12:54.160 --> 0:12:57.360 guys like that, you know there are there's a difference 0:12:57.400 --> 0:13:00.680 between instincts and football intelligence. Would you agree, Fellows? Yeah, 0:13:00.720 --> 0:13:02.400 I'll agree with that. Why I remember when I was 0:13:02.400 --> 0:13:05.160 in Pittsburgh, we played San Diego and I remember Ron 0:13:05.280 --> 0:13:08.200 Erhart was our offensive coording. He said, guys, junior sale, 0:13:08.240 --> 0:13:11.400 this guy guesses a lot. He'll attack the wrong gap, 0:13:11.520 --> 0:13:13.600 you know, because he would he would look at our formation. 0:13:13.640 --> 0:13:17.320 He just kind of you know, using FBI and guess 0:13:17.360 --> 0:13:20.920 wrong sometimes and we gashed him for big plays. But 0:13:20.960 --> 0:13:22.959 he was a tremendous player and when he was right, 0:13:23.160 --> 0:13:25.520 of course he was right and could could stuff the play. 0:13:25.559 --> 0:13:27.880 But early in his career he was out there like 0:13:27.920 --> 0:13:30.080 any other rookie with a chicken with a head cut 0:13:30.160 --> 0:13:32.720 off in his younger years and a lot of times 0:13:32.720 --> 0:13:36.040 just relying on his athleticism and he could recover and 0:13:36.120 --> 0:13:38.680 still make plays and things like that. What you you know, 0:13:39.080 --> 0:13:41.640 much like the discussions we've had about Brian Urlacher, who 0:13:41.679 --> 0:13:45.080 was another Hall of Fame player, you know, and good 0:13:45.080 --> 0:13:46.760 for Brian going in this year, but you know, I 0:13:46.800 --> 0:13:48.960 bring up that that training camp story all the time 0:13:48.960 --> 0:13:51.680 where he guessed wrong, attacked the lead and was a 0:13:51.679 --> 0:13:54.040 good play fake, but yet had the ability to recover. 0:13:54.160 --> 0:13:58.360 But later in Brian's career because he did have football 0:13:58.440 --> 0:14:00.880 intelligence and instinctive and all those things that he was 0:14:00.920 --> 0:14:03.600 dealing with the knee injury, Brian was still out there 0:14:03.880 --> 0:14:07.920 play and making plays because his football awareness, his knowledge 0:14:07.920 --> 0:14:11.000 of the game had had grown to a level that 0:14:11.080 --> 0:14:13.920 he may have been slower in terms of the athletic ability, 0:14:13.960 --> 0:14:16.200 but was still able to make plays just due to 0:14:16.240 --> 0:14:18.440 his intelligence and knowledge of the game and love of 0:14:18.480 --> 0:14:20.920 the game, like so many players are able to do 0:14:20.960 --> 0:14:23.320 over the NFL quickly. You know, look at a guy 0:14:23.360 --> 0:14:25.600 in this generation that plays on instincts. You know he 0:14:25.640 --> 0:14:27.920 doesn't look the part, but he plays the part. When 0:14:27.920 --> 0:14:31.200 you played offensive line and you knew a guy across 0:14:31.240 --> 0:14:33.040 from your guest a lot, did it make it more 0:14:33.080 --> 0:14:35.800 difficult for you to defend or to block him and 0:14:36.360 --> 0:14:40.120 execute your game plans or not. Yeah, a guy that 0:14:40.240 --> 0:14:43.400 really guessed and you didn't couldn't predict what direction he 0:14:43.440 --> 0:14:44.800 was going to go, And all you had to do 0:14:44.840 --> 0:14:47.360 is you had to trust your fundamentals because that's the 0:14:47.400 --> 0:14:51.120 one thing with footwork, and coach Stanfeld he always built in, Look, 0:14:51.200 --> 0:14:53.520 this guy's going to go one of three ways. Your 0:14:53.560 --> 0:14:56.200 footwork if you stay fundal and a mentally sound is 0:14:56.200 --> 0:14:58.760 always going to be your savior, and that's you know, 0:14:58.920 --> 0:15:01.840 that's something y'all. Anybody that goes out there, no matter 0:15:01.880 --> 0:15:04.440 what position they have they play, they have to go 0:15:04.480 --> 0:15:07.040 out there and rely on what they've been taught all 0:15:07.080 --> 0:15:10.080 week and all their life. Meet the Rookies, by the way. 0:15:10.760 --> 0:15:13.200 It can be found on Chicago bears dot com, the 0:15:13.240 --> 0:15:15.800 Free Chicago Bears Official app, brought to you by Verizon 0:15:15.880 --> 0:15:19.360 and Bears social media channels including Facebook Watch. So a 0:15:19.360 --> 0:15:23.000 couple of things. James Daniel, he's twenty, so it was 0:15:23.000 --> 0:15:25.920 brought up in the piece that is a seemingly okay, 0:15:25.920 --> 0:15:28.720 the twenty year old James Daniel. He dismisses that because 0:15:28.720 --> 0:15:30.400 he says, hey, I'll be going up against thirty five 0:15:30.480 --> 0:15:33.160 year old guys as well. He says, it doesn't matter. 0:15:33.280 --> 0:15:37.040 Does the age matter? No, you know, when I first 0:15:37.040 --> 0:15:39.359 got out of college, I went right into the USFL 0:15:39.680 --> 0:15:42.320 and I was like twenty years old or something, and 0:15:42.360 --> 0:15:44.400 I think one of the first guys I played against 0:15:44.440 --> 0:15:47.040 was a defensive lineman they named Koy Bacon. And I 0:15:47.040 --> 0:15:51.120 think it was forty when I was twenty. Koy Bacon. Yes, 0:15:51.360 --> 0:15:53.360 it's so kidding me. No, man. Listen, I could throw 0:15:53.400 --> 0:15:55.480 out a lot of USFL names that I played against 0:15:55.480 --> 0:15:59.840 that were vintage, But again, I had so much confidence 0:15:59.840 --> 0:16:03.280 in myself that it didn't matter the experience of the guys. 0:16:03.640 --> 0:16:05.760 Here's the question for both of you. So you go 0:16:05.840 --> 0:16:08.240 up against a forty year old man or a thirty 0:16:08.240 --> 0:16:10.240 five year old man when you're twenty twenty one, do 0:16:10.320 --> 0:16:14.720 you feel their strength or do they feel your strength 0:16:14.720 --> 0:16:17.480 as a young man who was dedicated to the weight room, 0:16:17.560 --> 0:16:19.280 Because they always say when you get to the league, 0:16:20.000 --> 0:16:23.960 you feel that the maturity of them physically, not just mentally. 0:16:25.160 --> 0:16:28.240 I mean no, no, strength with strength. Strength was always 0:16:28.280 --> 0:16:31.160 my confidence from college through pros. But you always had 0:16:31.200 --> 0:16:33.720 to be aware of guys that had great experience and 0:16:33.800 --> 0:16:37.280 instincts Keith Millard when he won defensive MVP of the 0:16:37.360 --> 0:16:41.600 League with the Minnesota Vikings, he had such superior quickness 0:16:41.080 --> 0:16:44.600 and strength and such great inatability to understand the snap 0:16:44.640 --> 0:16:47.760 count that sometimes he was untouchable. You know. So there 0:16:47.800 --> 0:16:51.200 are guys that you know played with played with greatness 0:16:51.320 --> 0:16:55.040 that yeah, you're scared the entire week of preparing for him, 0:16:55.120 --> 0:16:57.360 and then the whole time you were playing against him. 0:16:57.720 --> 0:17:00.320 Jim did anybody ever force you to drop your when 0:17:00.320 --> 0:17:02.320 you went back to throw because you were worried about 0:17:02.320 --> 0:17:06.000 them coming to get you. Um No, I was broken 0:17:06.040 --> 0:17:08.360 in pretty good early with Greg Woyd and Kevin Green 0:17:08.680 --> 0:17:12.119 on the other side. I mean, I mean literally that 0:17:12.200 --> 0:17:14.080 if they would come in and punch me in the gut, 0:17:14.119 --> 0:17:15.600 you know you're not a supposed to hit the quarterback. 0:17:15.600 --> 0:17:17.439 They just wore a test to me to see how 0:17:17.480 --> 0:17:19.600 tough I was. But so I didn't have to deal 0:17:19.640 --> 0:17:22.000 with the strength part of it, but the mental part 0:17:22.000 --> 0:17:24.399 of it I did. Because one we had a lot 0:17:24.400 --> 0:17:27.399 of veteran players obviously Rod Woodson's a pro bowler. Had 0:17:27.440 --> 0:17:29.800 to go against him and Carnel Lake and the great 0:17:29.880 --> 0:17:32.280 defensive players that we had, which tested me early, and 0:17:32.320 --> 0:17:34.600 we'd scrimmage like I remember, we went and scrimmage to 0:17:34.640 --> 0:17:37.840 Washington Redskins and Darryl Green. They threw me in with 0:17:37.880 --> 0:17:40.919 the first team against the Washington Redskins first team defense. 0:17:40.920 --> 0:17:43.919 And I remember, you know veterans who were savvy as 0:17:44.000 --> 0:17:46.159 Darryl Green. I mean, the guy played forever, what was 0:17:46.200 --> 0:17:49.240 it seventeen years the guy played or twenty years. He 0:17:49.760 --> 0:17:51.439 could mess with you. You know. It looked like it 0:17:51.480 --> 0:17:53.120 was going to be pressed at the snap of the ball, 0:17:53.240 --> 0:17:56.399 he'd do a press bail. He'd manipually and try to 0:17:56.400 --> 0:17:58.960 get in your head from a veteran standpoint, and just 0:17:59.040 --> 0:18:01.800 things that you had to to learn and overcome as 0:18:01.800 --> 0:18:04.600 a rookie. So you know that those were great experiences 0:18:04.640 --> 0:18:07.800 for me growing up. But you know that the physical 0:18:07.800 --> 0:18:10.320 aspect of it never really was there where you know, 0:18:10.400 --> 0:18:12.040 you know you're gonna get hit. You know, you just 0:18:12.200 --> 0:18:13.760 you absorb it and you take it. And you got 0:18:13.760 --> 0:18:15.280 to be able to look down the barrel of a 0:18:15.320 --> 0:18:18.200 gun sometimes you know it's coming, and so you just, 0:18:18.320 --> 0:18:19.560 you know, you got to learn to take And I 0:18:19.560 --> 0:18:22.920 think it, you know, it shows your toughness to other 0:18:22.960 --> 0:18:25.520 players in your locker room that you know on your 0:18:25.560 --> 0:18:28.040 team that you're willing to take the punishment just like 0:18:28.080 --> 0:18:30.840 they do. And uh, but you know, in terms of 0:18:31.160 --> 0:18:34.800 experience and younger players going against old and and uh, 0:18:34.840 --> 0:18:36.880 you'll you'll know this name when I say it, Tom 0:18:37.280 --> 0:18:43.000 Carlton Hasslerig. You remember, yeah, of course, Carlton. Yeah, the 0:18:43.160 --> 0:18:45.879 year before, no, the two years before I got to 0:18:45.920 --> 0:18:49.960 the Bear or to the Steelers. He basically this guy 0:18:50.040 --> 0:18:53.560 won like a Championship in wrestling. The guy was basically 0:18:53.560 --> 0:18:56.000 a back up his rookie year. His second year, he's 0:18:56.040 --> 0:18:58.720 inserted as a starter, goes to a Pro Bowl. Wow, 0:18:58.840 --> 0:19:02.240 Pro Bowl, and that would have been my third year. 0:19:02.280 --> 0:19:04.560 So I arrived, get drafted. He got hurt the same 0:19:04.640 --> 0:19:07.560 day I got hurt breaking my thumb that I mentioned earlier. 0:19:07.840 --> 0:19:10.240 And Carlton had a lot of off the field issues, 0:19:10.320 --> 0:19:13.280 drug problems, all those type of things in the day 0:19:13.320 --> 0:19:16.160