Speaker 1: Right, what justin middle to field forty five to fifteen
Speaker 1: bring Russ in front of a leading Lions in this way?
Speaker 1: I am Jeff Joniadicklitz is not donig up her.
Speaker 2: What was like playing for coach Bigdom?
Speaker 3: I don't want to answer any questions like that. Sixty
Speaker 3: one yards?
Speaker 1: What's Sunday stroll for? Justin Field? Bears et Cetera With
Speaker 1: the voices of the Chicago Bears Jeff Joniac, It's that
Speaker 1: time again. It's Bears Packers trying to be dramatic time
Speaker 1: trying to set the scene here on the Bears et
Speaker 1: Cetera Podcast, Episode forty eight. The season began with the
Speaker 1: Packers with the Bears in week one. The Bears are
Speaker 1: a different team as we enter Week eighteen, nothing else
Speaker 1: to play for but their own ride and their own
Speaker 1: big finish as a platform to twenty twenty four, which
Speaker 1: promises to be extremely intriguing. Packers. Well, they're trying to
Speaker 1: secure a playoff spot with a win, and they could
Speaker 1: have a six or seven seed in the playoffs. We'll
Speaker 1: get to all of it in this episode. Thank you
Speaker 1: for joining us. We appreciate your time. As always, we
Speaker 1: also have special guest Mike tom Zach, Tom's teammate from
Speaker 1: the eighty five Bears, now an assistant football coach on
Speaker 1: a volunteer level at Youngstown State, something he's done for
Speaker 1: the last eight years or so. I think you'll find
Speaker 1: the conversation riveting and entertaining, and we're gonna hear it.
Speaker 3: You learned a lot of stuff you never knew, didn't you?
Speaker 1: One percent? Yes? And I every time I think I've
Speaker 1: heard every eighty five Bear story. That's why Tom, as
Speaker 1: we digress for just a smidge, No documentary that has
Speaker 1: ever been done or will be done, could ever capture
Speaker 1: every single strain and thread of that eighty five Bear team.
Speaker 1: You can't.
Speaker 4: You can't because first of all, you can't do a
Speaker 4: documentary long enough. And then, you know, it just happenstance
Speaker 4: that you and I got on different subject matters and
Speaker 4: different avenues of interest that affected both myself and Mike
Speaker 4: because we are incoming Bear rookies together. You know, it
Speaker 4: kind of kicked off of friendship that has lasted this
Speaker 4: long and beyond. I'm friends with this entire family, was
Speaker 4: close to his dad and everything. But the behind the
Speaker 4: scenes stories that you don't get a chance to hear.
Speaker 3: Until you actually sit down and talk about them.
Speaker 4: I think people will really get a kick out of
Speaker 4: some of the chance meetings and some of the things
Speaker 4: that happened throughout our careers together unreal.
Speaker 1: We're also going to hear the entire news conference from
Speaker 1: Wednesday from Bear's quarterback Justin Fields. Thought it was his
Speaker 1: best one of the year. I think he's in a
Speaker 1: really good place mentally. He's in a good space, and
Speaker 1: he feels he feels good about the progress that he's
Speaker 1: made individually, the team made as a whole, and he
Speaker 1: puts everything about the team, everything about what is right now.
Speaker 1: He's not really engaging on anything beyond that.
Speaker 4: That kind of frustrates me about the press conference is
Speaker 4: because they ask him so much about his future, which
Speaker 4: is irrelevant. In Wednesday of Packer week, it's about the
Speaker 4: Bears Packers game.
Speaker 3: What have you done to improve.
Speaker 4: From the first time you played the Packers Week one?
Speaker 4: What are you doing right now that makes you feel
Speaker 4: more confident going into lambeau Field. Who on your team
Speaker 4: have you developed a working relationship with that can help
Speaker 4: you beat the Green Bay Packers Sunday? And that's all
Speaker 4: those questions that go on and asked because everybody wants
Speaker 4: to get the same answer to the same question of
Speaker 4: that everybody asks and so to me, SIS be a
Speaker 4: little angst and angry. It's packer week, but I think
Speaker 4: it's a little bit unfair about the questions that they
Speaker 4: continue to ask just every time he goes to the podium,
Speaker 4: whether it's postgame or midweek.
Speaker 1: Good new Chicago United Airlines is getting brand new planes
Speaker 1: with all the bells and whistles like Bluetooth connectivity screens,
Speaker 1: hit every seat in room for everyone's rollerbag. United Proud
Speaker 1: to fly the Chicago Bears and you too. Let's get
Speaker 1: the status at hallis some movement on the roster. Colin
Speaker 1: Johnson the big receiver, big number eighty and now the
Speaker 1: active roster. They wave linebacker DeMarcus Gates, long snapper Matt
Speaker 1: Overton an emergency addition on the practice squad. With Patrick
Speaker 1: Scales dealing with a foot injury. They're trying to see
Speaker 1: how he makes it through the week. Also, Tyreek Stevenson
Speaker 1: Tom named NFC Defensive Player of the Week. Four pass breakups,
Speaker 1: two interceptions. We've talked a lot about him. He's been
Speaker 1: one of the most targeted corners in the NFL in
Speaker 1: neon lights. I'm a rookie, you know, have at it
Speaker 1: with Jalen Johnson on the other side, but he has
Speaker 1: got better the entire season matured, and he has never
Speaker 1: gone into tank tom never, not one time.
Speaker 3: You know, outside of quarterback, cornerback.
Speaker 4: Is the position that you have to have the thickest
Speaker 4: skin because if you think of a quarterback throwing in
Speaker 4: interceptions his approach to the sideline, there's a million things
Speaker 4: going through his head.
Speaker 3: You are cornerback and you give up a.
Speaker 4: Touchdown, there's a million things going through your head, and
Speaker 4: then there's a lot said about you after the game.
Speaker 4: I admire Justin Fields and I admire Tyreek Stevenson because
Speaker 4: of two of the thickest skin positions on an NFL team.
Speaker 4: Both of them have put that on display.
Speaker 1: And the NFC Offensive player of the Week is who
Speaker 1: the Bears will be facing. Jordan Love. Five games with
Speaker 1: three or more touchdowns and a one hundred plus quarterback rating,
Speaker 1: time for most in the league. In the win over Minnesota,
Speaker 1: we touched on it in the Monday Podcast. Three touchdowns passing,
Speaker 1: one rushing, and two hundred and fifty six yards of
Speaker 1: passing and a one to twenty five quarterback rating. He
Speaker 1: is elevating, he is, He's elevating at quarterback. It'll be
Speaker 1: a heck of a matchup.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, Jordan Love will probably tell you he's
Speaker 4: the most fortunate player in the NFL to have the
Speaker 4: opportunity to be drafted in the first round and sit
Speaker 4: behind a quarterback like Aaron Rodgers for that long before
Speaker 4: he was put in as the starting quarterback. Because you
Speaker 4: can see his mannerisms, the way he looks at the offense,
Speaker 4: the things that he has seen repetitiously in the meetings
Speaker 4: that has spoke to him by the coaches, and he
Speaker 4: watched Aaron Rodgers do the way he handles himself in
Speaker 4: preparation through the regular season, through training camp. So Jordan
Speaker 4: Love throughout the course of the season has put a
Speaker 4: lot of those types of improvements on display, and deservingly
Speaker 4: so he wins the award.
Speaker 1: And the Bears have two pro bowlders, Tom announced last
Speaker 1: night and they were done so so kind of interestingly
Speaker 1: by the Bears Ryan Poles, the general manager, and Matt
Speaker 1: eberfluss in on it. So they called in cornerback Jalen
Speaker 1: Johnson and defensive end Montest Sweat on their off day
Speaker 1: on Tuesday, said they had some things for them to
Speaker 1: look at on plays from the game on Sunday, and
Speaker 1: so while they were both hesitant, they did arrive and
Speaker 1: there were GoPros in the office when they showed up
Speaker 1: and were told that they were Pro Bowlers. And the
Speaker 1: reactions you can check out on the Bear's website and
Speaker 1: the Bears social channels simply outstate. Jalen was with his
Speaker 1: whole family, he was going nuts, and Montest Sweat thrilled.
Speaker 1: So two Pro Bowlers from the Bears, and there was
Speaker 1: a late push by the fan voting and a number
Speaker 1: of Bears players made it into the top ten. Now,
Speaker 1: I know it's not a game. We can debate what
Speaker 1: this is all about, you know, on another podcast maybe,
Speaker 1: but it's a bunch of events now as opposed to
Speaker 1: just just the game. So it's not like it used
Speaker 1: to be. But the recognition is such that players do
Speaker 1: do appreciate it.
Speaker 4: I believe I'm all for Montese sled, I'm all for
Speaker 4: Jalen Johnson.
Speaker 3: I think TJ.
Speaker 4: Edwards rees, you know, he deserves the Pro Ball as well.
Speaker 4: I think justin Fields should get consideration.
Speaker 1: Let's listen in to Justin Fields at the podium and
Speaker 1: have us all on Wednesday feel like you were showing
Speaker 1: the world.
Speaker 2: Kind of what you're capable for.
Speaker 5: I mean, it just felt good to go out there
Speaker 5: and get a double with my teammates. You know, I
Speaker 5: think everybody played well offense, defense, special team. So you know,
Speaker 5: it's always good, a good feeling when you get a home.
Speaker 6: Is there satisfaction though, when when you play a good game,
Speaker 6: man you get the win.
Speaker 5: Man, I'm just doing my job at the end of
Speaker 5: the day, I'm doing what I'm supposed to do. You know,
Speaker 5: in my eyes, I could have played better, didn't play
Speaker 5: good enough. But like I said, good team win. Everybody
Speaker 5: played well on all three phase of the football and
Speaker 5: good team win.
Speaker 7: So how much better have you got and this team
Speaker 7: gotten since the first game against Green Bays start year?
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, I think we've improved tremendously in all phases.
Speaker 5: And I think that's players and coaches. So we've grown
Speaker 5: a lot as a team. Our chemistry is going with
Speaker 5: each other. So excited to go out there Sunday at
Speaker 5: three forty five and well up.
Speaker 8: So that's a long time ago.
Speaker 3: But does that factor end?
Speaker 7: Is there any kind of motivation or incentive to be like, hey,
Speaker 7: we want to show the Packers what we are? What
Speaker 7: to that beating you guys to start the season.
Speaker 8: Does the factor and that they beat us earlier in
Speaker 8: this season?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean we want to win every game. It
Speaker 5: doesn't matter when they beat us. We're not thinking of that.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 5: You know, our mindset is just go out there and
Speaker 5: playball like how we've been playing, and you know, win
Speaker 5: the game. So every game we want to win, no
Speaker 5: matter against just the your field part whatever you know
Speaker 5: team or the green bad Packers. So every game we
Speaker 5: step on the field, we want to win the game.
Speaker 9: So early this year, you pointed to the Lions of
Speaker 9: last season, the turnaround that they had and kind of
Speaker 9: setting the foundation. Obviously, the parallels are starting to become
Speaker 9: more clear now with the success you guys have had
Speaker 9: as elated.
Speaker 3: Do you think back to that could all? Do you
Speaker 3: look to that as an example still?
Speaker 5: I mean I was just kind of given an example,
Speaker 5: but now we're not basing our team based off of
Speaker 5: their team last year. I was just just simply comparing,
Speaker 5: you know, our season this year versus theirs last year.
Speaker 9: But yeah, they did finish last year with a week
Speaker 9: a team winning lambo. What would it mean to to
Speaker 9: cap the season off with the victory there? And rival
Speaker 9: You're not the significance for you guys.
Speaker 5: Within you know, I think it means a lot to uh,
Speaker 5: you know, the team, the fans of the city. I think
Speaker 5: it'd be great. You know, we know that Green Bays
Speaker 5: playing for a lot at stake. They're playing for a
Speaker 5: playoff spot right now. So I just think with you know,
Speaker 5: kind of all that on the table, I think, you know,
Speaker 5: it would be great, a great feeling that you know,
Speaker 5: in the season off with the winning lambo up there.
Speaker 5: But you know, we're just going to take a day
Speaker 5: by day wry about you know, the rest of the
Speaker 5: day and tomorrow and you know, of course leading up
Speaker 5: a Sunday, get ready to play boss because.
Speaker 3: What's at stake for them?
Speaker 10: You're going to walk into a pretty big game environment
Speaker 10: on Sunday.
Speaker 3: What's the value for a.
Speaker 10: Team like you guys and just gaining experience in those
Speaker 10: big game, big stage moments.
Speaker 8: I don't see it being that much different.
Speaker 5: I see it, you know, because everybody always the rivalry
Speaker 5: or whatever I think it's going to be, you know,
Speaker 5: the same environment, so I don't see it being too
Speaker 5: much different. But I mean, like I said, it's gonna
Speaker 5: be fun. It's gonna be a fun environment to walk into.
Speaker 5: You know, their home field. I know their friends gonna
Speaker 5: be loud because it's not much to do in green bags,
Speaker 5: I watch football.
Speaker 8: But it's gonna be.
Speaker 5: A great environment to us for us to play in
Speaker 5: and you know, hopefully have a great game and get
Speaker 5: the double on Sunday.
Speaker 1: So where where do.
Speaker 7: Where is Having DJ as a teammate helped you grow
Speaker 7: as a quarterback the most this year.
Speaker 5: You know, I'll just talk about, you know, how smart
Speaker 5: he is, how he understands leverages, coverages, has tempo you know,
Speaker 5: in and out of his routes, and of course he's
Speaker 5: just a great play player and playmaker. So you know,
Speaker 5: it's it's it's great having him on the team. He
Speaker 5: makes my job easier. Like I always say, you know,
Speaker 5: he's pretty much always open unless they double team him.
Speaker 5: But I mean it's been great. You know, anytime you
Speaker 5: can get the ball in his hands, you know you're
Speaker 5: most likely going to get an explosive play. He's hard
Speaker 5: to tackle, he's like a running back after he gets
Speaker 5: the ball in his hands. So, like I've said, throughout
Speaker 5: this whole year, he's made my job easier and been
Speaker 5: a great asset to the team.
Speaker 3: I've been a catch of his this year. That eat
Speaker 3: in game that you.
Speaker 5: Were even astonished by, I think the I think the
Speaker 5: last game was one of his best catches that I've seen,
Speaker 5: the shoulder. I think it was a third down or
Speaker 5: something like that. Yeah, that was a that was a
Speaker 5: pretty cool catch. But I've seen him make, you know,
Speaker 5: playing catches and practice that were wild. So you probably
Speaker 5: haven't even seen him. But I can't really think of
Speaker 5: any others that comes to the top of my head,
Speaker 5: you know, from game. But I think that one last
Speaker 5: week is pretty cool.
Speaker 2: That we talked you.
Speaker 6: Earlier about compartmentalizing whatever your future might be and just
Speaker 6: worrying about the next game.
Speaker 3: What happens next week? When there's no next game to
Speaker 3: worry about?
Speaker 6: Do you do you know whether you'll have any more
Speaker 6: clarity about your future and how do you deal with
Speaker 6: it when maybe there's not the focus you need so
Speaker 6: intensely every day where you might let your mind.
Speaker 5: Wander next we I don't even know if we're gonna
Speaker 5: get next week, brother, So I'm just worried about the
Speaker 5: rest of the day and you know, the rest of
Speaker 5: the night. So got these meetings I'm about to head
Speaker 5: to and you know, like I said, we got a
Speaker 5: game on Sunday.
Speaker 8: I'm not focused on you know what happens after that.
Speaker 1: So justin what have you appreciated most about the brotherhood
Speaker 1: in your locker room?
Speaker 5: Uh, you know, just how tight knit we are. You
Speaker 5: know how much we've grown over the season. You know,
Speaker 5: like I said, it feels like almost a college locker
Speaker 5: room where you pretty much live within the ten minute
Speaker 5: radius of all the guys. You're always hanging out and
Speaker 5: stuff like that. So the chemistry we have, the closest
Speaker 5: we have within our group is amazing to see. And
Speaker 5: it's it's it's it's rare in any NFL. So you know,
Speaker 5: I'm definitely grateful for you know, all of the relationships
Speaker 5: and connections I've made with you know, all of my
Speaker 5: teammates this year. So it's it's it's just been awesome.
Speaker 10: So a little bit the way your defense is playing
Speaker 10: right now comparatively to where it was, what's your level
Speaker 10: of appreciation for that side of the ball and what
Speaker 10: they've done to kind of fuel s.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean shoot, like I always say every the game,
Speaker 5: it makes my job easier when they give a short
Speaker 5: fields and take the ball away and really on offense,
Speaker 5: if you're having a slow, slow day, you can really
Speaker 5: just worry about field position, like I think Cleveland was
Speaker 5: a great example kind of the first half. You know,
Speaker 5: it was kind of a defensive battle at first, and
Speaker 5: field position was really important. You know when you have
Speaker 5: a when you get a team backed up or we're
Speaker 5: backed up, you know that's advantaged then. So you know,
Speaker 5: when you have a defense is playing really well, you
Speaker 5: know you don't have to four stuff downfield. You can
Speaker 5: take what the defense gives you and really just know
Speaker 5: that your defense is going to have your back. So,
Speaker 5: I mean, the way with the way that they've been playing,
Speaker 5: you know, I offense is our job as an offense
Speaker 5: has been way easier. Like I said, should we put
Speaker 5: up twenty eight points in the games pretty much over
Speaker 5: so you know, defense has been playing a great and
Speaker 5: looking forward to them playing lights out one more time
Speaker 5: this year, so it's gonna be fun.
Speaker 4: Most NFL quarterbacks get support from their teammates.
Speaker 3: But when your teammates talk about you, they really really
Speaker 3: gush about you.
Speaker 7: What does it mean to you to have that really
Speaker 7: strong support from the guys around you.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean, I just I think that just shows
Speaker 5: on how much we love each other, not only as players,
Speaker 5: but you know as people as uh, you know, people
Speaker 5: outside of the building building.
Speaker 11: Uh.
Speaker 5: You know, we've been a lot of We've been around
Speaker 5: a lot of guys you know, in the past on
Speaker 5: different teams and stuff like that, and you can kind
Speaker 5: of tell when people really love the game and really
Speaker 5: are passionate about the game of football. And you know,
Speaker 5: I would say all the guys in the locker room
Speaker 5: are so when you just see their work ethic, how
Speaker 5: much they care about the game, how much they care
Speaker 5: about you know, the team and winning the team success.
Speaker 5: You know, that just all brings us closer together and
Speaker 5: you know, focusing on accomplishing one one goal as a team.
Speaker 5: So I just think that's you know, goes back to
Speaker 5: what we talked about at the beginning of this year
Speaker 5: with you know, Coach Flus just getting us all together,
Speaker 5: getting us all close, having those breaking off in the
Speaker 5: groups and really getting closer to each other. Talking about
Speaker 5: you know, personal life from growing up and stuff like that.
Speaker 5: So when you know a guy's story, you know where
Speaker 5: he's came from, you get to connect on a deeper
Speaker 5: personal level which you know has which causes you to
Speaker 5: have that connection closer. So you just know a guy
Speaker 5: for who he is. Away from the game, that's when
Speaker 5: you really get to connect with the teammates and really
Speaker 5: start to grow as a team.
Speaker 1: So all right, you listened to it, Tom, and I
Speaker 1: did as well. I thought he was real strong up there, so.
Speaker 4: Do I I really admire justin from what he's gone
Speaker 4: through all season.
Speaker 3: And not only I.
Speaker 4: Like the fact that when he talks about how close
Speaker 4: the locker room room, as he referred to as a
Speaker 4: as a ten minute radius, and that means, you know,
Speaker 4: just to analogize that the closest group of people in
Speaker 4: your football life for the guys inside that locker room,
Speaker 4: and a lot of times with the modern day world
Speaker 4: of cell phones, a lot of your closest people in
Speaker 4: your support are only a phone call or text message
Speaker 4: or an email away. When you have that closeness that
Speaker 4: Matt Eberflus and Ryan Poles and the organization has developed
Speaker 4: inside that locker room. I think it tells you a
Speaker 4: lot about the direction this organization is going.
Speaker 1: Well, it's time to tackle some game day deals. Then
Speaker 1: go with a grocer who's been part of Chicago since
Speaker 1: eighteen ninety nine, Juelasco, the official grocery store of the
Speaker 1: Chicago Bears. All right, in terms of what he's looking at.
Speaker 1: As we're going to start with the Bears offense against
Speaker 1: the Packers defense, you obviously got to talk about Rashan
Speaker 1: Gary on one end, Preston Smith the outside linebacker around
Speaker 1: the other, and of course Kenny Clark on the interior, Mattiebraflus, circle,
Speaker 1: JayR Alexander. They've got some young players added to that mix. Overall,
Speaker 1: the numbers don't compute, though the defense has struggled for
Speaker 1: Green Bay. What's attackable in your opinion.
Speaker 4: You know, you always have to start with the Bears
Speaker 4: running game, and if you can block Kenny Clark and
Speaker 4: kind of keep Preston Smith and the other guy you know,
Speaker 4: pushed to the exterior of the offense with contained concerns
Speaker 4: for justin fields and you can open up some of
Speaker 4: those point of attack runs with both Khalil Herbert and
Speaker 4: Roshawn Johnson, then I think that's the best exposure of
Speaker 4: success that you can have right through center field of
Speaker 4: that defense. But when you are going to incorporate pass protection,
Speaker 4: I don't think you're gonna be wise to just sit
Speaker 4: in the pocket with Justin fields because of the support
Speaker 4: of the crowd, noise, the deficiencies that creates for the
Speaker 4: offensive line getting off the ball all together and on time.
Speaker 4: Sometimes that takes a toll on your organized pass protection.
Speaker 4: So Justin's gonna have to be dynamic and his athleticism
Speaker 4: and his escapability. But still, if you want to have
Speaker 4: an identity that's figured out even late in the season
Speaker 4: and it is your run game, your run game is
Speaker 4: going to have to be as supportive as it has
Speaker 4: been the last two weeks.
Speaker 1: And certainly we cannot forget the first series in Week one.
Speaker 1: The inability to convert on third and fourth down kind
Speaker 1: of became a perpetual issue over the course of the
Speaker 1: season at times, and that is a cleanup area for sure.
Speaker 1: The Bears got significantly better in many phases, and that
Speaker 1: is one that continues to need to be addressed right well.
Speaker 4: In short yardagin the two plays they ran the first
Speaker 4: game of the season. They gave so much pre identification
Speaker 4: where they were going to run the ball, and then
Speaker 4: you see the defense of the Green Bay Packers condensed
Speaker 4: down and they get inside the exposed lanes of quarterback
Speaker 4: snakes or a snake by Cole Kamet, and then all
Speaker 4: of a sudden, now the defense is in your lane
Speaker 4: that you're trying to create, and it's difficult to move
Speaker 4: guys on those instances. So you have to have a
Speaker 4: variety of plays for short yardage and goal line. And
Speaker 4: if you are going to you a quarterback sneak, it
Speaker 4: has to be instantaneously and it's not with a with
Speaker 4: a controlled snap count that gives the defense more time
Speaker 4: to be organized in the lanes of control. So we'll
Speaker 4: see about what subtle changes that they make the shortyards
Speaker 4: and goal line at the eighteenth week of the season
Speaker 4: as opposed to the first week of the season.
Speaker 1: I'll ask you about that too. And when you get
Speaker 1: to the line of scrimmage, are you a proponent then
Speaker 1: of what you're saying is you get to the line
Speaker 1: if you if it's third and one, fourth and one,
Speaker 1: you get to the line of scrimmage goal.
Speaker 4: Yes, you break the huddle first boom, you go, and
Speaker 4: everybody's got to be ready for it. They know they're
Speaker 4: not going to be in their stance for an extended
Speaker 4: period of time. And as soon as Justin gets to
Speaker 4: the line of scrimmage, first sound go. And it's going
Speaker 4: to be difficult because you know what the crowd is
Speaker 4: going to contribute on third and fourth and one. They're
Speaker 4: going to be insane. So it's not going to be simple.
Speaker 4: It's going to take discipline in order to pull that off.
Speaker 1: All right, we're gonna step away from the game plan talk.
Speaker 1: We'll talk about the other side of the ball, of
Speaker 1: the defense, Jordan Love and Aaron Jones and the Fellas.
Speaker 1: But first, our conversation with former Chicago Bear nineteen eighty
Speaker 1: five undrafted out of Ohio State, Tom's old rookie teammate
Speaker 1: and longtime friend, Mike tom Zach. He looks like a
Speaker 1: little Tom Cruise right now. He's got the shades. He
Speaker 1: looks good. He has an aged Why is Tom not
Speaker 1: looking like this? He looks more. Tom looks more like
Speaker 1: a senior citizen professor. And you look cool. You got
Speaker 1: the black, you got the black leather jacket going, You
Speaker 1: got the shades. Tom he looks good.
Speaker 2: It's our choice, right, Jeff.
Speaker 12: It's our choice in life to either look good or
Speaker 12: either that or work hard at it.
Speaker 4: Listen, That's why I hung around when Mike when we
Speaker 4: are both young Chicago Bears, because it was right when
Speaker 4: top Gun came out and Mike used to wear those
Speaker 4: Aviator sunglasses, and you know, he used to track a
Speaker 4: lot of attention because of it.
Speaker 3: I used to like the attention that Mike attracted.
Speaker 12: I was just trying to drive membership down to my parents'
Speaker 12: health club down in Mokena and Jolliett.
Speaker 1: Those of you out there are that are newer to
Speaker 1: the Bears and don't remember all the eighty five Bears.
Speaker 1: Big Mike is Chicago born and bred, Calumet City, Thornton
Speaker 1: Fractional North High School, Ohio State, then Bears, then several
Speaker 1: other stops in the National Football League. And are you
Speaker 1: still doing the volunteer assistant coaching at Youngstown State?
Speaker 12: I am, Jeff, and I'm having a lot of fun
Speaker 12: doing It'll be my eighth year coming up here in
Speaker 12: the spring, and have a lot of fun with it,
Speaker 12: getting a chance to inspire young men and that are
Speaker 12: serving the community well and serving the university.
Speaker 2: Well, so it's been fun.
Speaker 12: Jim Trustle has been to con and do it for
Speaker 12: many years, and he retired a year ago in January.
Speaker 12: You know, YU is a good place for me right now,
Speaker 12: and I've enjoyed every minute of it.
Speaker 1: Are you working with quarterbacks or all players or are
Speaker 1: you just there to lend.
Speaker 2: Support kind of combination?
Speaker 12: You know, for some reason in some way I kind
Speaker 12: of migrate towards the quarterback room, right oh yeah, and
Speaker 12: kind of getting the here of the offensive coordinator like
Speaker 12: every fan wants to do SAT Chicago.
Speaker 2: But no, it's been great.
Speaker 12: I've been advising Doug Phillips, our head coach going on
Speaker 12: his fifth year, and the Missouri Valley Conference. Guys, I
Speaker 12: don't know if you know it, but this weekend, South
Speaker 12: Dakota State versus Montana for the national championship on Saturday,
Speaker 12: and it'll be one competitive battle for sure.
Speaker 4: Hey, Mike, I'm not gonna dwell on it, but I'm
Speaker 4: gonna ask you one question about the college uniform because
Speaker 4: our good buddy and teammate Jay Hilgenberg sent out a
Speaker 4: tweet yesterday about his dissatisfaction with the uniform of the
Speaker 4: college player today, and the fact that most of these
Speaker 4: guys look like they're wearing shorts instead of a football uniform.
Speaker 4: Is it something as a coach that you just have
Speaker 4: to go along with to satisfy the kids or are
Speaker 4: you okay with it?
Speaker 2: I'm not okay with it. Our head coach isn't okay.
Speaker 2: You know what.
Speaker 12: Happens a lot of times, Tom, whether it be high school,
Speaker 12: college or the pros. Either you coach it or you
Speaker 12: allow it. And if you allow it, the locker room
Speaker 12: will take over. As you well know throughout your high school,
Speaker 12: college and professional career. And Jeff, you probably feel the
Speaker 12: same way a lot of things you do in life,
Speaker 12: let alone out of household or running a business. You
Speaker 12: know you got to coach them up consistently. Here's one
Speaker 12: thing I've learned about the college game. Assume they know nothing.
Speaker 12: They want to be told and taught, and you got
Speaker 12: to do it repetitiously because the rosters are turning over
Speaker 12: ever so quickly now in college football.
Speaker 2: So again, either to coach it or you allow it.
Speaker 4: I tell you some of the most educated points made
Speaker 4: that we've heard on this podcast. Now we've been doing
Speaker 4: almost fifty times, which is good to hear, super encouraging, Mike.
Speaker 4: But listen, you know, when Jeff introduced you as a
Speaker 4: former Chicago Bear, Ohio State tf North, the whole deal,
Speaker 4: you're also a former Green.
Speaker 3: Bay Packer when we get ready for this rivalry.
Speaker 4: We've always been Chicago Bears, and that's where our roots
Speaker 4: in the entire growth of our career is bred. Outside
Speaker 4: me playing one year for the Dolphins, you know, you
Speaker 4: had a chance to play it on a couple teams
Speaker 4: in the NFL. How do you look at the Bear
Speaker 4: pack Bear Packer rivalry at this point in your life
Speaker 4: as opposed to when we were both in our twenties
Speaker 4: and thirties.
Speaker 2: Well, that's changed.
Speaker 12: Obviously, the numbers stayed the same, but the names changed
Speaker 12: in the back of the jerseys on both teams. And
Speaker 12: it's been three plus decades since I played for the
Speaker 12: Green Bay Packers, and you know what a treat that
Speaker 12: was for me. You know, I was probably one of
Speaker 12: the first quarterbacks in Chicago Bear history that crossed that
Speaker 12: state line and went north to Green Bay, and I
Speaker 12: was grateful for it. I truly was Indian fante and
Speaker 12: ron Wolf and the ownership group welcomed me up there,
Speaker 12: and I tell you what. The first couple of weeks
Speaker 12: I was in Green Bay, Tom and Jeff I got interrogated.
Speaker 12: I got interrogated by Lindiante, by the offensive coordinator, by
Speaker 12: defensive quarter and Ron Wolf. What the hell are the
Speaker 12: Bears doing down there? Why are they winning so many
Speaker 12: division championships? And that was the mantra for them to
Speaker 12: try to capture. And sure enough, it didn't take him
Speaker 12: too long. Once bar and Mike Coman Holgern got there.
Speaker 12: You know, things changed rather quickly on the side of
Speaker 12: the Green Bay Packers, and it was a tree for me.
Speaker 12: You know, everyone says Ohio State Michigan is the greatest
Speaker 12: rivalry in college sports, but arguably there are many others, right,
Speaker 12: there are many other college games that are equally important.
Speaker 12: But Green Bay Chicago, guys, how many years now, one
Speaker 12: hundred and five maybe I don't know, number four, one
Speaker 12: oh four, yeah, oh my gosh. And how many of
Speaker 12: those you guys have probably kept the you know, two
Speaker 12: dozen or two decades of those right?
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, for me, it's coming up on well twenty
Speaker 1: seven years. But you know, I graduated from Iowa State
Speaker 1: in eighty December of eighty four, told to go cover
Speaker 1: Bears training camp. And I have cassette tapes at home
Speaker 1: in boxes. I mean and now and I look back.
Speaker 1: We're all the same age. Like you know, I'm sixty one.
Speaker 1: I believe you are as well. Tommy's sixty and it
Speaker 1: just I was. It was an intimidating bunch in a
Speaker 1: good way.
Speaker 12: But you know what, I really I realized the rivalry
Speaker 12: was real. There was a guy named Ron Holstrom, Tom remembers,
Speaker 12: and he played at Iowa and it was our first
Speaker 12: spring workout and there were three stalls in the in
Speaker 12: the bathroom, three three poopers, if you will, and I'm
Speaker 12: in the far one against the wall. I didn't realize this,
Speaker 12: but there was no toilet paper. Long story short. A
Speaker 12: guy gets in the stall one and I say, hey,
Speaker 12: my man, can you help me out?
Speaker 2: He goes, who is that? And I said Tom Zech.
Speaker 2: He goes fu Ron holds. He left me hanging. You know.
Speaker 12: That's when he said, hey, you came from the Bears.
Speaker 12: You came from the Bears, So it was real. But again,
Speaker 12: your loyalties are with the colors you wear. And I
Speaker 12: had a good time competing against the Bears for two years.
Speaker 12: I was in Green Bay, and I always remember those
Speaker 12: games as being special on both sides of the sideline.
Speaker 4: Mike, when do you look at quarterback like justin fields
Speaker 4: when you think about, you know, what he did in
Speaker 4: Ohio State and what he's doing in the NFL. What
Speaker 4: is the most attractive part of his game to you?
Speaker 4: As a former Ohio State now a college coach and
Speaker 4: a professional quarterback.
Speaker 12: You know, Tom, this is something you guys have never
Speaker 12: seen before from the broadcast booth. He has thrown off schedule.
Speaker 12: He has made more plays off schedule than he's made
Speaker 12: on schedule. And I think you guys know what I mean.
Speaker 12: You know, plays call for a play action pass, he
Speaker 12: hits that fifth step and throws the ball. You know
Speaker 12: that might happen forty to thirty percent of the time,
Speaker 12: but the other sixty to seventy percent of the time
Speaker 12: it's off schedule. He's reacting, becoming an athlete, extending to play,
Speaker 12: widening the field still electric, so uncharacteristic because most defenses
Speaker 12: want a guy in the pocket, right They want to
Speaker 12: keep him.
Speaker 2: In the pockets.
Speaker 12: So well, you know, as a former Buckey, I wish
Speaker 12: him a long career because I've been holding that belt
Speaker 12: for a long time now, and I hope it's a
Speaker 12: healthy one because he's been banged up, you know, in
Speaker 12: the early part of his career, and he's missed you know,
Speaker 12: a number of games. You guys will know better than I,
Speaker 12: and I just wish him good help and hopefully everything
Speaker 12: works out in Chicago for him. And I wish I
Speaker 12: was a lot more like him. I wish I had
Speaker 12: some of that talent.
Speaker 1: There's a new wrinkle every week. I mean, you just
Speaker 1: really know as a broadcaster, and I mentioned this last
Speaker 1: year and Tom Tom's heard me say this. I had
Speaker 1: a hard time catching up to Justin when he started
Speaker 1: the running aspect of his season because he has options.
Speaker 1: He might throw it, he might stop and pop it
Speaker 1: looks like he's rushing around the end. He'll throw back
Speaker 1: the middle of the field, and so I never knew
Speaker 1: what was coming. So I had to kind of slow
Speaker 1: myself down a little bit. I've caught up to him
Speaker 1: now in the second year, but it's almost like a
Speaker 1: defensive player trying to catch up to a starting quarterback,
Speaker 1: you know when they're a rookie.
Speaker 12: Yeah, you've had to adapt in a broadcast booth and
Speaker 12: you slowed your broadcast down because you don't know the outcome. Tom,
Speaker 12: you would agree he's an outlier very rarely do you see.
Speaker 12: You might have saw Russell Wilson early in his career, right,
Speaker 12: that might have Randall Cunningham take it back, you know,
Speaker 12: three decades Michael Vick. But he is so different than everyone,
Speaker 12: and I enjoy watching the highlights. I don't see a
Speaker 12: lot of games, but I enjoy watching the highlights when
Speaker 12: he performs.
Speaker 4: You know, Mike, But as a coach, if you say
Speaker 4: he throws off schedule fifty maybe up to fifty five
Speaker 4: percent of the time, and you're coaching your receivers, you're
Speaker 4: coaching your offensive line, and you're not you know, you're
Speaker 4: you're coaching those guys.
Speaker 3: How do you coach them?
Speaker 4: If you talk about a quarterback that doesn't throw on
Speaker 4: schedule into the design of the specific play.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, that's a good point, Tom. It's a challenge.
Speaker 2: It's a challenge.
Speaker 12: I think everyone in that hallis fall has had to
Speaker 12: adapt on the offensive side of the ball. They've had
Speaker 12: to tell the offensive line sustain your blocks. You know,
Speaker 12: I know you don't have eyes in the back of
Speaker 12: your head, but you know, slow your pace down. You know,
Speaker 12: best thing you do is just play man to man
Speaker 12: defense with you know the opposition, and just hope that
Speaker 12: you're doing the right thing.
Speaker 2: But you know they've been they.
Speaker 12: Have been clicking, right, they've been clicking the last couple
Speaker 12: of weeks, three weeks, you know, with their offense. And
Speaker 12: I think they're okay with all schedule stuff because he
Speaker 12: gets you out of trouble and he gets you in
Speaker 12: a position where either we're going to go forward on
Speaker 12: fourth down or you're gonna go.
Speaker 2: Ahead and punt the ball away and play defense.
Speaker 1: Have you had the opportunity to watch Jordan Love since
Speaker 1: Week eleven? Sixteen touchdowns, one interception?
Speaker 2: Wow?
Speaker 12: Well, yeah, I tell you that's another dude that is
Speaker 12: really playing out of his skin.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 12: You know, who would have thought that I'd like to
Speaker 12: have those numbers. Sixteen touchdowns, one interception. I mean, that's
Speaker 12: that's kind of an outlier for the last.
Speaker 2: Eleven weeks, right. But you know, one thing you look
Speaker 2: at Jeff, you know.
Speaker 12: His durability, He's remained healthy, He's had other complimentary players
Speaker 12: on his side of the ball. There's a great confidence
Speaker 12: right now the way they're playing so It's going to
Speaker 12: be a competitive battle, and I think both these organizations
Speaker 12: want to go out on the high note. So it'll
Speaker 12: be a sixteen minute game for sure, and a lot
Speaker 12: of blood left in the field.
Speaker 4: Hey, Mike, So the quarterback position, you look at farvar
Speaker 4: to Rogers, Rogers the love do you think that the
Speaker 4: template of success for the quarterback position is to draft
Speaker 4: a quarterback and have a good fortune of him sitting
Speaker 4: behind the quality of the quarterback for a couple of years.
Speaker 12: These quarterbacks nowadays, Tom, don't want to sit. You know,
Speaker 12: it's pretty obvious that they're going to play the younger
Speaker 12: guy if they can. Green Bay was a luxury, a
Speaker 12: great luxury, and the way they transition, you know there was,
Speaker 12: you know, kind of a plug and play. The stuff
Speaker 12: they're doing in Cleveland right now with their organization, with
Speaker 12: all the injuries they've had, and I look at the
Speaker 12: same scenario in Green Bay. You know, they had opportunities to,
Speaker 12: you know, do something. They believed in their quarterbacks.
Speaker 2: Tom.
Speaker 12: That's one thing that organization has done. They've been loyal
Speaker 12: and they trust the process of getting these quarterbacks to
Speaker 12: play at a high level.
Speaker 1: That Active on X otherwise known as Twitter, and I've
Speaker 1: noticed these, uh, these sayings that you've put out there,
Speaker 1: these uh, these thoughts, and I jot and I read
Speaker 1: them every day because I I'm interested in them, and
Speaker 1: a lot of it does speak to me. So here's
Speaker 1: one I think it was Today's Instead of crafting extensive
Speaker 1: lists of resolutions, we may want to choose a single
Speaker 1: word to guide our year. Stick toitiveness with exclamations, and
Speaker 1: then you punctuate each one of your phrases every day
Speaker 1: with onward, so onward and upward. And you know, I
Speaker 1: just I just learned yesterday that only one percent of
Speaker 1: the population in this world followed through or are held
Speaker 1: accountable for their resolutions that they put out there. So
Speaker 1: I like to stick to itives. Go what what has
Speaker 1: motivated you to do this?
Speaker 3: Is this?
Speaker 1: Is this something that you've always are? Are these your
Speaker 1: original thoughts? And now you know why you put it
Speaker 1: out there?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a great question, Jeff, real good question.
Speaker 12: And you know, we can draw a different inspiration at
Speaker 12: different times in our life, whether it be a tragedy,
Speaker 12: whether it be you want to inspire other people. And
Speaker 12: think the older you get in life, the more you
Speaker 12: realize it's not about you. It's about serving others to
Speaker 12: whatever capacity, and being around these college student athletes. You know,
Speaker 12: they're so mobile, they're media savvy, they're putting out stuff.
Speaker 12: And when I started doing that, a lot of players
Speaker 12: would come up to me and say, hey, Coach, I
Speaker 12: appreciate that today talk to me. It really meant a
Speaker 12: lot to me. And if you touch one person, it
Speaker 12: could start a ripple effect. Right, It's like throwing a
Speaker 12: rock in a lake. You know, you see the ripple
Speaker 12: effect and everything. So you know, I draw inspiration from
Speaker 12: from people that I've read about. I draw internally inspiration
Speaker 12: to share, you know, and text messages, and you know,
Speaker 12: there's a message out there that we're not We.
Speaker 2: Haven't arrived yet. We haven't arrived.
Speaker 12: And that's why I always say on because in football
Speaker 12: and in life, it's the next play, it's the next series,
Speaker 12: it's the next day, it's the next opportunity. And that's
Speaker 12: the way I correlate my life. After three three downs,
Speaker 12: you don't get a first down. You got to punt
Speaker 12: the football or go for it on fourth down. So
Speaker 12: it's always onward and upward.
Speaker 1: I have one more, tom, let me read one uh,
Speaker 1: and this is this is true for all of us.
Speaker 1: I hope you're living the life you want, and if not,
Speaker 1: I hope you have the courage to turn around and
Speaker 1: start again. And that could be used in any any
Speaker 1: any walk of life, any business, any personal situation. And
Speaker 1: that one's big on me and Tom this one too. Uh,
Speaker 1: don't exercise to be thin, exercise to be strong. It's Tom,
Speaker 1: he's been. My daughter is a competitive weightlifter now and
Speaker 1: she's all over me. Dad. You gotta start lifting weights.
Speaker 1: Stop worrying about eating pasta and start lifting weights.
Speaker 12: Hey, sometimes it takes a message, the same message from
Speaker 12: a different voice that will Yeah, you know, touch your heart.
Speaker 12: And you know Tom and I, you know, we grew
Speaker 12: up working out a lot, my parents being in the
Speaker 12: health club, my brother being in the health club industry.
Speaker 12: A lot to be said for that. But the older
Speaker 12: we get Jeff in our sixties. Pliability, stick to itiveness, discipline.
Speaker 12: Those are three strong words that you can use through
Speaker 12: every day of your life. But how often can you
Speaker 12: use those?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 12: It's building, building, building, building, and a discipline kind of
Speaker 12: just as your foundation.
Speaker 4: But you know I talked to I talk about him
Speaker 4: multiple times weekly in my life, and I think Clyde
Speaker 4: Emerck had as much of an influence on Mike Tomzack's
Speaker 4: life as he did on my life.
Speaker 3: And I remember Clyde to the.
Speaker 4: Before he passed away talking about Mike Tomzak doing sixty
Speaker 4: one dips and just the displays of strength that as
Speaker 4: a quarterback Mike put on.
Speaker 3: And I think, when you have a guy like Clyde.
Speaker 4: Emrick that can be such a positive influence in your life.
Speaker 4: I think when I listen to to the message that
Speaker 4: Mike puts out there, almost listening to a Clyde Emrick
Speaker 4: type uh message deliver, you know, and all the things
Speaker 4: that he said to us repeatedly throughout our life, and
Speaker 4: how important he was in our future life.
Speaker 2: Great point. Jeez, what a mentor.
Speaker 12: I miss Clyde daily and he was an inspiration now
Speaker 12: only to a lot of former players or people in life,
Speaker 12: but the Bears organization.
Speaker 2: What do you do?
Speaker 12: Six decades? I believe, yeah, I think six decades and
Speaker 12: just a huge impact. And you know he was. He
Speaker 12: was the kind of master link to that chain for
Speaker 12: a number of years. And hopefully somebody is picking up
Speaker 12: the picking up what he left off on and carrying
Speaker 12: the torch for him. But you know it's a great point, Tom,
Speaker 12: wonderful point about Clyde. And you know one thing Tom, Tom,
Speaker 12: good lift, but.
Speaker 2: Good lift hips hips.
Speaker 4: You know, I always say when if your bio starts,
Speaker 4: the first man in the world too, whatever it says
Speaker 4: after that, if it's a positive, it's going to inspire
Speaker 4: a lot of people. And Clyde was that way, the
Speaker 4: first man in the world to lift four hundred pounds
Speaker 4: overhead under a two hundred pound body weight, and what
Speaker 4: everything yet you had to do in order to accomplish that.
Speaker 3: People don't see that.
Speaker 4: They only read the sentence, and it kind of interest
Speaker 4: you in what he was able to accomplish. And I
Speaker 4: think that's what every way program across the country, high school,
Speaker 4: pro college, whatever it is, that's the influence they try
Speaker 4: to have.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, Mike st a lot in college football.
Speaker 12: You know, one of the most valued assistants in any
Speaker 12: college program is a strength and performance coach.
Speaker 1: Without a doubt, Mike, you had a long career. Did
Speaker 1: you think you were going to Oh?
Speaker 12: I was a lot like Tom in some regards. You know,
Speaker 12: going to work every day thinking that you might be cut,
Speaker 12: having a poor performance on Sunday, you know, four interceptions
Speaker 12: against San Francisco acquiring a nickname Lotto picked four.
Speaker 2: Oh god, you know some of those meetings, you know.
Speaker 2: But I learned this a long time ago.
Speaker 12: My dad always said this, it's never as bad as
Speaker 12: you think it is, and it's never as good as
Speaker 12: you think it was. And he said that early in
Speaker 12: life to a lot of players that he coached. When
Speaker 12: I was in fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth grade, and then
Speaker 12: when I got into high school, it kind of was
Speaker 12: that mantra. You know, so don't get too excitable, stay humble,
Speaker 12: keep on working at your craft. And that's one thing
Speaker 12: that I did. I worked at my craft. I trusted
Speaker 12: my confidence, and I firmly believed that I was a
Speaker 12: leader of men. The ten greatest people I met in
Speaker 12: the huddle were the guys that were in that huddle
Speaker 12: every play, every series. And my job was to motivate
Speaker 12: and go out there and let my skill take over.
Speaker 2: And I didn't do it.
Speaker 12: You know, My biggest growth year, Jeff and Tom was
Speaker 12: my rookie year with the Bears, when Jim McMahon and
Speaker 12: Ed Hughes sat me down and said, hey, this game
Speaker 12: is simple. Just watch the safeties the two dudes that
Speaker 12: are underneath the goalpost. One's are free, ones are strong.
Speaker 12: See how they rotate. They're all on a string. And
Speaker 12: once that, once I absorbed all that, the game slowed
Speaker 12: down tremendously for me, and I knew I could play
Speaker 12: this game at a high level. And at the end
Speaker 12: of my career, I can always look back and say
Speaker 12: I was the winningest quarterback in Chicago Bear history, being
Speaker 12: a free agent out of calum At City, Illinois.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a very proud, proud statement.
Speaker 12: I don't like to be boastful, but a lot of
Speaker 12: players helped me along the way when to get that,
Speaker 12: you know, title, Jeff and I was shocked when my
Speaker 12: son shared that with me six months ago. I was
Speaker 12: shocked that I was the winning his quarterback.
Speaker 2: I truly was.
Speaker 1: He Mike was the last remaining member of the eighty
Speaker 1: five team to be on an active roster in the end.
Speaker 3: That's what I was going to say.
Speaker 4: For going from free agent to the longest tenured member
Speaker 4: of the eighty five Super Bowl team, that's one hell
Speaker 4: of an accomplishment. When you think about some of the
Speaker 4: young guys, like that was my first year with the Bears.
Speaker 4: You think of some of the other the rookies on
Speaker 4: the team at that time, and Mike, Mike dow last
Speaker 4: us all. You know, that's that's you know, there's a
Speaker 4: lot of jerseys hanging on the wall.
Speaker 1: Now, you made it to you made it to two thousand, right,
Speaker 1: you made it too, But I think you were with
Speaker 1: the Lions.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I made a two thousand.
Speaker 12: Brooke my leg the third preseason game, got a pay
Speaker 12: got a paycheck for sixteen weeks. Got a phone call
Speaker 12: from Matt Millen, the new uh general manager of Detroit Lions,
Speaker 12: Steve Mariucci's protege, and Matt told me your services are
Speaker 12: no longer needed, even though you have one year left
Speaker 12: on your contract. We're gonna let you go and bring
Speaker 12: Jim Harbaugh in. And I said, Matt, I'm a fighter,
Speaker 12: I'm a competitor. Bring us, bring me in, let me
Speaker 12: compete with him. He goes, no, we've already decided. And
Speaker 12: I said, Matt, with all due respect, I hope you
Speaker 12: never won a game. And I hung up the phone,
Speaker 12: and they went, oh in sixteen oh my, yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 12: I love it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, oh yeah.
Speaker 12: Tom knows and Jeff, you've been around enough of these players.
Speaker 2: It never ends well.
Speaker 12: No, you know, I don't care in Chicago, Yeah, it
Speaker 12: kept you know, in Green Bay now you know, Cleveland, Cleveland,
Speaker 12: bo Pittsburgh. You know, it never ends well because when
Speaker 12: somebody terminates your contract, you got to find a job.
Speaker 12: I mean, you know he'll get And I always talk
Speaker 12: all the time. It have been better for them to
Speaker 12: cut us as free agents our rookie year so we
Speaker 12: could start our real life.
Speaker 1: Right wow. But that's uh, that's stick to itiveness to
Speaker 1: a t yeah by you right there. Wow, that is
Speaker 1: a fantastic story. See these podcasts. We're new to this
Speaker 1: this year. Right this is episode forty eight of the
Speaker 1: Bears et cetera podcast, And we sure do appreciate you listening.
Speaker 1: We appreciate our guests. And we've just out of happenstance.
Speaker 1: I thought comes into Tom's mind and we start and
Speaker 1: I threw your name out there. Hey, can you get
Speaker 1: a hold of Big Mic We be eve been getting
Speaker 1: a lot of quarterbacks and the stories are unbelievable. We
Speaker 1: Dan Fouts thought he'd never even make it out of
Speaker 1: his third year, you know, but yeah, you know, the
Speaker 1: coaching saved his career. They were ready to right you
Speaker 1: get the right mix. You were six years in Pittsburgh, right,
Speaker 1: who are your seven seven? Okay, who are your offense?
Speaker 2: Well, we've had three of them.
Speaker 12: We had Ron Earhart, we had Chen Gaily, Yeah, Ray Sherman,
Speaker 12: and then Mike Malarkey. So in the seven years there
Speaker 12: was a lot of turnover and offensive coordinators and different philosophy,
Speaker 12: but a lot like justin fields.
Speaker 2: Is going through.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So how does that impact you?
Speaker 12: Know, it's funny because the way Joe Flacco has been playing,
Speaker 12: I think a lot of that stuff is overrated. As
Speaker 12: far as the offensive coordinator. You know, you have a
Speaker 12: great skill, go out there and perform. You need to
Speaker 12: have a great supporter in your left ear to tell you,
Speaker 12: I'm gonna put you in the right play, You're going
Speaker 12: to succeed, You're gonna do fantastic, You're gonna lead these
Speaker 12: guys down the field. And you have to have that repeatedly.
Speaker 12: And I had some coaches in my career that were
Speaker 12: that way, and it gave me the great belie to
Speaker 12: go out there that everything is going to work out well.
Speaker 2: And sometimes it did, but most of the time it did.
Speaker 12: So you need somebody that you could trust and It
Speaker 12: takes a while developed, trust guys, you know, it really does,
Speaker 12: especially when you're at the quarterback position. I've had a
Speaker 12: number of quarterback coaches and offensive coordinators that if things
Speaker 12: went bad in the field for me, they would turn
Speaker 12: the other cheek, right, you know, they would like run
Speaker 12: up a tree.
Speaker 2: And it's like, okay, you son of a bitch.
Speaker 12: You know, I had your back for many, many, many
Speaker 12: weeks and many years, and now you're gonna run up
Speaker 12: a tree. But by and large, nothing to be this
Speaker 12: grunt all about. I enjoyed everything, every every training camp,
Speaker 12: every snap, every practical joke, every opportunity to get to
Speaker 12: know my teammates better.
Speaker 2: And it's been a great ride.
Speaker 12: And I'm just fortunate enough to be able to talk
Speaker 12: to you guys still and still be alive, you know,
Speaker 12: be quite honest with you. A lot of our teammates
Speaker 12: in eighty five and throughout that run in Chicago and
Speaker 12: no longer with this, and some are struggling today and
Speaker 12: it's just great to hear you guys voice very familiar voices.
Speaker 4: Last real funny story, Mike and I were the Bears
Speaker 4: are playing the Steelers, and Mike and I were walking
Speaker 4: through the lower part of the Steelers Stadium because they
Speaker 4: had an alumni weekend. And Aston Kircher, I think that's
Speaker 4: how you today his name, the guy from the seventies show.
Speaker 4: He was walking in and Mike wanted to go up
Speaker 4: and say hi to him.
Speaker 3: Before Mike got to him, he saw Mike and he
Speaker 3: goes Mike. Tom's at from the Super Bowl shovel. Oh
Speaker 3: my gosh.
Speaker 4: So you know, I mean, you think of just the
Speaker 4: route in the course and the people that get to
Speaker 4: know you throughout the course of time. It's just, you know,
Speaker 4: an awesome story book life.
Speaker 12: It really is Tom and and you know Aston Coocher,
Speaker 12: a huge bear spend I stood on the sideline with
Speaker 12: him and uh you know his current wife, Uh saw
Speaker 12: on the bear sideline.
Speaker 2: Actually, yeah, I remember that.
Speaker 1: I have a picture with him in the background. I
Speaker 1: was too shocked. I was too I was too afraid
Speaker 1: to say. Got to get a pick with you, right.
Speaker 2: And you gotta make choices in life, Jeff. And sometimes
Speaker 2: those are still you know, you can go to the
Speaker 2: edge of the cliff and sometimes you gotta a jumper
Speaker 2: or take a leap of faith.
Speaker 12: But you know, Tom a good friend of ours. Here
Speaker 12: in Youngstown. Boom Boom Mancini. Yeah, well, here's a guy
Speaker 12: we met, you know, in the mid eighties, you know,
Speaker 12: through Tom Drees and everything, and Boom Boom's been you know,
Speaker 12: familiar face, you know, to be associated with an occasion
Speaker 12: here in Youngstown.
Speaker 2: And you know, he's a.
Speaker 12: Guy that absolutely loves the Chicago Bears. I mean, he
Speaker 12: tells me stories and his hands go as quick as
Speaker 12: his mouth goes, and he's just a fun, fun.
Speaker 3: Dude to be here.
Speaker 2: Roddy really is.
Speaker 3: Jeff.
Speaker 4: I know, I know that you have to go, but
Speaker 4: next time we're on the podcast, remind me I have
Speaker 4: a funny story about Boom Boom Mancini, and we have
Speaker 4: to get him to be on the pocket.
Speaker 1: We'll get him on the podcast for sure. All Right,
Speaker 1: real quick, we do have to go, and you're busy
Speaker 1: to Mike, but we appreciate this for those, again, the
Speaker 1: younger crowd. We got a younger audience these days as well.
Speaker 1: You played in the Super Bowl kick off return correct
Speaker 1: punt punting, Oh punt team? All right, break it down
Speaker 1: for me, what the hell happened?
Speaker 12: Well, you know, the last thing you want to do,
Speaker 12: as any player that you get to at a certain
Speaker 12: level of life and professionally playing the Super Bowl and
Speaker 12: have a d NP.
Speaker 2: Nice to your name did not play.
Speaker 12: And here we are, four minutes and forty three seconds
Speaker 12: left in the game, and Steve Fuller's hand the football offer,
Speaker 12: you know, to Calvin Thomas or Thomas Sanders, and I'm
Speaker 12: looking to my left and looking to my right, and
Speaker 12: I'm thinking, damn, I'm the only player hadn't played yet.
Speaker 12: So I'm mentioning closer to the field and Steve Kay's
Speaker 12: are standing next to me.
Speaker 2: I said, hey, case, I'm going in. He goes where
Speaker 2: I said, you wait and see special teams.
Speaker 12: As soon as fourth down came, Jeff I sprinted across
Speaker 12: the field like I stole something. Told Sean Gale, who
Speaker 12: happened to be the gunner on that side of the field.
Speaker 12: I said, hey, coach Kaes wants to see it as
Speaker 12: a former teammate. Sean said, all right, man.
Speaker 1: Oh my god.
Speaker 12: Willie Claiborne all told defensive back lines up across me.
Speaker 12: He goes, what's up, And as Susie said what's up,
Speaker 12: the ball was snapped and I'm running down the field
Speaker 12: and he shoulders older with me. So I grab his
Speaker 12: face mask, unfortunately, and throw him down. I figured, you know,
Speaker 12: the former wrestler, the body goes where the head goes.
Speaker 2: And here comes irving front of.
Speaker 12: My way and I kind of sashet him, push him
Speaker 12: out of bounds or whatever. And watching the replay and
Speaker 12: the big screen, I'm all the way to the sideline,
Speaker 12: the bare sideline, Dick. It hits me right in the chest,
Speaker 12: that nice little shiver, and he goes, what are you doing?
Speaker 12: I said, coach, I don't have time to tell you.
Speaker 12: I got twenty family members. They're all from Chicago Land.
Speaker 12: This is a dream of mine to play in the
Speaker 12: Super Bowl for my favorite team. An he questions, He goes, yeah,
Speaker 12: you're in the next series.
Speaker 2: I would.
Speaker 12: I would have never kept the game ball because I
Speaker 12: knelt down the last play and in the locker room,
Speaker 12: my bag and I came back out and celebrate with
Speaker 12: Tom and Jay and everyone, and so you had to
Speaker 12: do it.
Speaker 1: So you took the game ball.
Speaker 12: Oh, it was the last one to head it on
Speaker 12: a kneel down. Yeah, where is that game ball right now?
Speaker 12: It's sitting on my mantle.
Speaker 1: That is a fan task store. Yeah, yes, it's it's
Speaker 1: I'm surprised. I mean, how did you not get you know,
Speaker 1: reamed for it is the question.
Speaker 4: Well, he got called for face mask. I know he
Speaker 4: did throw the pedal.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, you guys really were forty six to ten.
Speaker 2: I know, six to ten.
Speaker 1: But you know how coaches are here, You know how
Speaker 1: coaches are.
Speaker 12: Coaches want to coach right, Coaches want to coach and correct.
Speaker 12: And I looked at it as a positive thing because
Speaker 12: you know, I was Dicka's favorite quarterback and every year
Speaker 12: I call him on his birthday and said, this is
Speaker 12: your favorite quarterback and he says, you're right, You're my
Speaker 12: favorite quarterback. Because I would say I saved his ass
Speaker 12: when he had a heart attack on that Wednesday.
Speaker 2: I'll tell you a funny story real quick. I go
Speaker 2: up to Hallas Hall. We had a terrible game against
Speaker 2: New England. But back and forth the.
Speaker 12: Oyo McMahon, Tom Zach, McMahon, Tom Zach, then all the
Speaker 12: horror ball blah blah blah. I didn't shower after the game.
Speaker 12: I'm ready to quit football. I'm ready to quit football.
Speaker 12: In nineteen eighty seven, I'm tired of Dick all this stuff,
Speaker 12: and I'm driving up to Hallas Hall Monday morning and
Speaker 12: a WBBM breaks in and says, we've got a developing story.
Speaker 12: Mike Dicka had a heart attack. I said, yes, yes,
Speaker 12: there is a holy spirit. He's been listening to me
Speaker 12: the straightness' rear end out.
Speaker 2: And that was on a Monday. Wednesday.
Speaker 12: I went to see him at Lake Forest Hospital only
Speaker 12: say kid, you're my favorite. I'm never gonna yell at
Speaker 12: you again, never gonna yell at you again. We went
Speaker 12: out and to play the Redskins. Remember at toms On
Speaker 12: that Sunday. Yeah, probably one of the better game. Our
Speaker 12: team offensively, had a great game and never had any
Speaker 12: more issues with Dicka.
Speaker 1: Gosh, great stuff. You also quarterback the Alays. You also
Speaker 1: quarterback the Fog Bowl. You won her first ten starts
Speaker 1: at quarterback. That set an NFL record until Big Ben
Speaker 1: broke it. You had the highest scoring game in the
Speaker 1: history of three Rivers Stadium, your quarterback the Steelers against Tennessee.
Speaker 1: So much great stuff, a great long career, a very
Speaker 1: productive life, and your love of the game still pouring through.
Speaker 1: We appreciate you being Mike.
Speaker 2: Yeah, appreciate you guys.
Speaker 1: Bear down, bear down, all right, all right, Tom people probably, well,
Speaker 1: everybody who loves the Bears and eighty five Bears know
Speaker 1: a lot of the history of you and Mike. But
Speaker 1: you guys had TNTs back in the day. Tell us
Speaker 1: about that for people don't know what them you guys.
Speaker 1: You guys were restaurant tour bar owners. And it was
Speaker 1: a popular place, wasn't it.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was.
Speaker 4: It was a successful restaurant in Joliet T and T
Speaker 4: stood for Thayre and Tom Zach. The telephone numbered ended
Speaker 4: in eighteen fifty seven.
Speaker 3: His number was eighteen. Mine was fifty seven.
Speaker 4: And it was a restaurant that was predominantly run by
Speaker 4: my brother and my mom.
Speaker 3: My mom and my brother, however you want to put it.
Speaker 4: And it was a great place at the time, and
Speaker 4: we put a lot of time.
Speaker 3: And effort into it. We are down here weekly.
Speaker 4: We came and we did a cable TV show out
Speaker 4: of here every Tuesday during the regular season. We would
Speaker 4: come and sit behind the counter and sign autographs for
Speaker 4: hours at a time.
Speaker 3: So it's something that we took a lot of pride
Speaker 3: in and uh.
Speaker 4: The really the theme of the restaurant lasted into just
Speaker 4: about five to eight weeks ago when we ended up
Speaker 4: selling the final version that ended up being Fair Brothers,
Speaker 4: Deli and Grill. But Mike and I he because he
Speaker 4: was from the Frankfurt area, which is about eleven miles
Speaker 4: away from Joliet, and he went to high school in
Speaker 4: the area. I went to the high school in the area,
Speaker 4: and we took a lot of pride in it and
Speaker 4: it was a fun place that.
Speaker 3: Was supported by the community.
Speaker 5: Uh.
Speaker 4: The location was built across the street from my high
Speaker 4: school football field, and uh, you know it was it
Speaker 4: was a mainstay in the area, and I thought it
Speaker 4: was really important if we were ever going to get
Speaker 4: involved in something, to do something that could help the
Speaker 4: support of our hometowns.
Speaker 3: And that's exactly what it did.
Speaker 11: Who came up with the idea I did because the
Speaker 11: restaurant that we put it in used to be a
Speaker 11: restaurant called Sirloin or Pub and my mom was a
Speaker 11: waitress there her whole life as we were growing.
Speaker 4: Up, and it was a place with a big fireplace
Speaker 4: in the middle, high vaulted ceilings, fun And then we
Speaker 4: went in there and we renovated it. The same guy
Speaker 4: owned it that owned it when my mom worked there,
Speaker 4: and we we leased the restaurant for a period of time,
Speaker 4: did the renovations. It had a big parking lot, it
Speaker 4: was on a busy street corner in Joliet, and I
Speaker 4: think it's kind of you know, Difka had a restaurant
Speaker 4: and with the popularity of the team, and we were
Speaker 4: both local guys and so we kind of, you know,
Speaker 4: met with a group of people. And my dad was
Speaker 4: a super handy guy that helped in the renovations and everything.
Speaker 4: And my mom was in the restaurant business her whole life.
Speaker 4: And my brother was an on the spot type of guy,
Speaker 4: and so, you know, the restaurant business is a difficult
Speaker 4: is a difficult business, and all due respect to all
Speaker 4: successful restaurant owners in the country, it was a great
Speaker 4: learning experience and it was a lot of fun for
Speaker 4: me and my family.
Speaker 1: The fun conversation with Mike, and he seems like he's
Speaker 1: in a great place. He's got a lot of knowledge,
Speaker 1: and he's given back, he's given back to football. And
Speaker 1: he's certainly the son of a coach, a prominent coach
Speaker 1: at that and in a prominent career in the National
Speaker 1: Football League. He's done a lot, he does. He looks great,
Speaker 1: So it's always always good to see some of the
Speaker 1: guys from the eighty five team. That's where I got
Speaker 1: my start covering sports in this town was training camp
Speaker 1: and platvill And so you guys were mythical figures already.
Speaker 1: Then you know more you want this Ron.
Speaker 4: Mike's dad, Ron Tomsack, as you mentioned, was a successful
Speaker 4: high school coach, and he also owned a health club,
Speaker 4: a fitness club. His brother, younger brother, Steve, owns a
Speaker 4: health club fitness club here in the area in his
Speaker 4: whole town. And his son plays for Mike tom Zach
Speaker 4: at Youngstown State as a receiver.
Speaker 3: And then Mike's.
Speaker 4: Brother, his other brother, Ron Tomzak, is a college football official.
Speaker 1: And the nephew is a very good kicker. Yes, take
Speaker 1: a chance download the Bent Rivers app today and we're
Speaker 1: brought to you by PNC Official Bank of the Bears.
Speaker 1: All right, back into the Bears. Let's look now at
Speaker 1: the Bears defense and what they're going to expect from
Speaker 1: a young, very talented group of receivers that has a
Speaker 1: hot quarterback.
Speaker 4: Well, you know, I think Bears defensively, they're bringing in
Speaker 4: an entirely different focused defense that they had Week one.
Speaker 4: I think they're taking an entirely different team from first level,
Speaker 4: second level to third level. I think they have more
Speaker 4: players on the defensive line that come in there at
Speaker 4: a fresh rotation, and I think that can take a
Speaker 4: toll on their offensive line if they're had to make
Speaker 4: changes throughout the season here. So when you're looking at
Speaker 4: a Bears defense that is going to be in tune
Speaker 4: with the snap count of Jordan Love, I think they
Speaker 4: can get a better get off on the ball. I
Speaker 4: think they can put the offensive line in a more
Speaker 4: backpedal type position that can make the decision process by
Speaker 4: Jordan Love even more sped up. And I don't know
Speaker 4: what the status of Watson is, their big receiver that
Speaker 4: they brought aboard, if he's going to be healthy or not,
Speaker 4: but he has big playability. Reid has big playability. The
Speaker 4: tight end position has been able to help him. They
Speaker 4: still have Aaron Jones and AJ Dillon. However, I think
Speaker 4: that the defense or the offense of the Green Bay
Speaker 4: Packers is facing an entirely different defense than they faced
Speaker 4: Week one.
Speaker 1: Do you know that the Bears right now are holding
Speaker 1: opponents rushing game better than the eighty five Bears defense?
Speaker 4: They run the ball a lot less nowadays than they
Speaker 4: did in eighty five. I mean, there's all these reasons,
Speaker 4: and sometimes it's.
Speaker 3: Hard to compare.
Speaker 4: However, the Bears defense has improved at such a.
Speaker 3: Dramatic rate that it doesn't.
Speaker 4: Surprise me that they're turning teams into teams that have
Speaker 4: to throw the ball more than they have the luxury
Speaker 4: of running the ball. And when you see it against
Speaker 4: some of the opponents that they faced as of recent
Speaker 4: especially the Detroit Lions, who has the one two punch
Speaker 4: of their running game, the Bears have done a great
Speaker 4: job against it. And I think this is probably the
Speaker 4: most formidable front seven that they're going to face since
Speaker 4: Aaron Jones has been a part of the Packers.
Speaker 1: I got hurt in the opener, ran off to the hamstring. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and that's always been problematic, all right, Tom, You know
Speaker 1: there's many a game you can't just focus on one.
Speaker 1: I'm focusing on making sure you protect the ball and
Speaker 1: taking the ball away, but I'm also in my mind
Speaker 1: formulating a plan here. You better have a quick start.
Speaker 1: If you have a fizzled start, that place gets a
Speaker 1: little crazy. And yeah, Packers' feet off of that, I
Speaker 1: don't care if it's Far, if it's Rogers or now
Speaker 1: Love got to get a quick start, got a quick
Speaker 1: start because in their minds, gosh, we did it. Did
Speaker 1: this happen last year against Detroit? We got knocked out
Speaker 1: of the playoffs. Now it's a different team. That team
Speaker 1: was expected to do great things. This one was not.
Speaker 1: So they've kind of arrived ahead of schedule a little
Speaker 1: bit and have a chance here to win their ninth
Speaker 1: game and go to the playoffs as a late six
Speaker 1: or seven seed. So I just hope the Bears really
Speaker 1: start fast, like be on it, you know, be crisp,
Speaker 1: be clean, and don't make yourself dig a hole that
Speaker 1: you're going to now try to figure out how to
Speaker 1: get out of. Late in the game.
Speaker 4: Well, you know, they better take a look at last
Speaker 4: week's game plan because the Atlanta Falcons missed two field
Speaker 4: goals to open up the game. And if you want
Speaker 4: to talk about starting fast, Okay, if you hold them
Speaker 4: to three, I think that's a win by the Bears defense,
Speaker 4: But you can't give them the opportunity to get in
Speaker 4: the red zone and convert it into a touchdown. Then
Speaker 4: all of a sudden, you have the crowd involved in
Speaker 4: the game and you're fighting an uphill battle of the
Speaker 4: aggressiveness of the defense. And I'll tell you this one
Speaker 4: of the asterisk points of this game. When Trent and
Speaker 4: Gil has to punt, he better be good because I
Speaker 4: don't think the punting game for the Bears over the
Speaker 4: last few weeks has been the best part of their
Speaker 4: special teams. So when you're in position where you can
Speaker 4: have a punt that makes a Green Bay start possession
Speaker 4: inside the ten yard line, or can kick the ball
Speaker 4: out of bounds to have a long field.
Speaker 3: You have to do that.
Speaker 4: And it's not all about offense and defense. It's about
Speaker 4: the contributions of the special teams. And I know the Bears.
Speaker 4: When the Bears do punt, they can't allow their punt
Speaker 4: returner to have significant first down contributions.
Speaker 3: To the start of the drive.
Speaker 4: So yeah, it's going to take the Bears offense, you know,
Speaker 4: starting starting fast, And Okay, it's like this, so the
Speaker 4: Bears have taken the ball if they win the coin toss,
Speaker 4: and last week when Atlanta won the coin toss, they
Speaker 4: took the ball first. When you look at Bears starting fast,
Speaker 4: do you want the Bears to keep the ball if
Speaker 4: they get if they win the coin toss, or do
Speaker 4: you want to give the ball to Jordan Love and
Speaker 4: put your defense on the field first, Because.
Speaker 3: I think I think I want a significant decision.
Speaker 1: I think I want to take the ball for this one.
Speaker 1: You do, Okay, I'm coming in with some swagger. I've
Speaker 1: won seven of twelve. I got a jazzed up group
Speaker 1: of guys that have played hard all season long. They're
Speaker 1: hearing every single day about oh gosh, can you knock
Speaker 1: the Packers out of the playoffs? And the messaging is,
Speaker 1: whether you agree or disagree, is we're worrying about just
Speaker 1: what we're doing. We want to win for us and
Speaker 1: build a platform to the future, even though this is
Speaker 1: going to be a different roster in twenty twenty four.
Speaker 1: So I'd say, you know, is it risky? Sure, it's risky.
Speaker 1: It could be a first down blitz that knocks the ball,
Speaker 1: scoop and score. And then I'm gonna be very upset
Speaker 1: with myself.
Speaker 3: For saying that question about that same thing though.
Speaker 4: So the balls take the Bears take the ball first,
Speaker 4: So does Luke Getsy think, Okay, I know what Green
Speaker 4: Bay's thinking. This is all I want to do or
Speaker 4: does Luke Getsy say hey, I know what our offense does, well,
Speaker 4: this is what I want want to do. Sometimes, Jeff,
Speaker 4: when you get caught in these scenarios where you get
Speaker 4: an ex coach that's familiar with the products, sometimes you
Speaker 4: start thinking too much. But I think Luke has done
Speaker 4: a really nice job of designing first possession drives. Yes,
Speaker 4: and so that piques my interest too. If you say, Okay, Luke,
Speaker 4: what do you want to do? We can take the
Speaker 4: ball first. Do you feel that you're confident about your
Speaker 4: first scripted plays, that you know a combination of what
Speaker 4: the Bears are, you know their strong points are right
Speaker 4: now in how to take advantage of them.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I need I need wins on my first first
Speaker 1: possession here. I need win winning plays. I need that
Speaker 1: confidence to go in there. Because you're going in with confidence.
Speaker 1: Don't let it get muted right out of the gates.
Speaker 4: The first game of the year, you got Alan Williams
Speaker 4: calling defenses. Now you got Matt Eberflus. The first game
Speaker 4: of the year, you had Luke Getsy calling offensive plays,
Speaker 4: and now you've got Luke Gatzi calling plays in the
Speaker 4: eighteenth game of the year. That's almost an entire lifetime. Yeah,
Speaker 4: for an offensive coordinator for the length of one season.
Speaker 1: Tom, it's a I mean it's a different team I have.
Speaker 1: It's a different team. This is a different This is
Speaker 1: not the Week one Bears. Nope, Nope, not by a
Speaker 1: long shot. Busy Heart Seltzer, the official Heart Seltzer of
Speaker 1: the Chicago Bears. All right, Tom, we're going to wrap
Speaker 1: up here. Great show, by the way, it's been a
Speaker 1: lot of fun. Can't believe we've done forty eight of
Speaker 1: these and we've got.
Speaker 4: One more question for it on the profession, on the
Speaker 4: professional side of it. So your your flip chart that
Speaker 4: you make when you do a broadcast, second to none.
Speaker 3: I got more information than you can possibly use. Do
Speaker 3: you make a new flip chart since it's week eighteen.
Speaker 1: Or always a fresh one?
Speaker 3: Okay?
Speaker 4: So I was reading my flip chart this morning that
Speaker 4: I made week one, and it's interesting to see within
Speaker 4: that period of time, who wasn't there, who is there,
Speaker 4: who's not playing, who's now earned the starting.
Speaker 1: What have you learned? What have you learned? Because I
Speaker 1: I haven't done my board yet.
Speaker 4: Well, you know, Watson was injured the first game of
Speaker 4: the year, and now there's speculation that he will be
Speaker 4: back on the field come Sunday.
Speaker 1: There a lot of Bachtiari is not there.
Speaker 4: Yeah, the offensive line as a whole, you know, there
Speaker 4: was a lot of injuries and stuff and just you know,
Speaker 4: just something when you talk about there's a whole life
Speaker 4: in between week one and week eighteen. It's funny when
Speaker 4: you can read the charts that you made week one.
Speaker 1: Just wait till training camp when we get started again.
Speaker 1: Things look so weird, that's for sure, all right. So
Speaker 1: we talked to Mike tom Zeck. As you heard earlier
Speaker 1: in the Bears et cetera podcast here and there, I
Speaker 1: told you about his his Twitter x comments every day.
Speaker 1: Here's a couple more because they are really good. They're
Speaker 1: really good, and I've been I've been reading them for weeks.
Speaker 1: Give me a critical attitude toward my own faults and
Speaker 1: a tolerant one towards the faults of others. And he
Speaker 1: always punctuates with onward that that's a good one for
Speaker 1: both of us.
Speaker 3: You're right, you're right, because.
Speaker 1: Sometimes you and I are not tolerant even of each other. Sometimes,
Speaker 1: right we can get under each other's skin. Come on,
Speaker 1: but this one, this one. This is Chris. This one,
Speaker 1: Chris is crystallized Tom Thayer. This is all about Tom Thayer. Ready,
Speaker 1: it's not bad, but maybe it's not the exact. But
Speaker 1: speak the truth, even if your voice shakes, because sometimes
Speaker 1: you get angry, but you speak the truth. Onward, Tom, Onward, Onward.
Speaker 1: Bears fans listen.
Speaker 4: I admire Mike and I'm glad to see that he's
Speaker 4: giving us some of his knowledge.
Speaker 1: No, it's impressive, it really is. And the and the
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what's even more is the volunteer. We
Speaker 1: didn't get into that, but the volunteer aspect for eight
Speaker 1: years as opposed to getting a paid position in college.
Speaker 1: That's quite the that's quite the love of the game
Speaker 1: and giving back, Yes it is.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a lot.
Speaker 4: It's I think it's the admiration for the kids that
Speaker 4: he's working with as well.
Speaker 1: Yep, Bears fans, you can be there for live NFL
Speaker 1: action all season long. As the official ticket marketplace for
Speaker 1: the Bears in the NFL, Ticketmaster as a wye selection
Speaker 1: of tickets available for every game. Find tickets today at
Speaker 1: ticketmaster dot com. Slash Bears. We are going to find
Speaker 1: out a lot more in one game, which happens to
Speaker 1: be the finale from Your Chicago Bears on Sunday starting
Speaker 1: at three twenty five. You can hear it on ESPN
Speaker 1: one thousand and the Bears Radio Network, Myself, Tom Thayer,
Speaker 1: and Jason McKee as we wrap up yet another season together.
Speaker 1: I think I'm right. I think we're going to learn
Speaker 1: a lot one way or another about the Chicago Bears
Speaker 1: in this game.
Speaker 3: Where I.
Speaker 4: Mean, I'm already so angst that when I get on
Speaker 4: that bus after the game, I want to be I
Speaker 4: want to have.
Speaker 3: A smile on my face. It looks like I have
Speaker 3: a hanger in my mouth.
Speaker 4: I mean, that's how much I want to be smiling
Speaker 4: because I know how I'm going to be if it's
Speaker 4: the other way around.
Speaker 1: Well, you know, a couple of years back, when Jaquem
Speaker 1: Grant returned to punt for a touchdown and there's a
Speaker 1: there's a go pro in our booth, it's not always there.
Speaker 1: The Bears decide when to do that or not. And
Speaker 1: I'm losing my mind and the Bears are losing the game,
Speaker 1: and Tom's just watching and he's not even moving a muscle,
Speaker 1: and Mike Golick in the booth next to us is laughing.
Speaker 1: He's seeing me go crazy, and he's pumping his fist
Speaker 1: like way to go. Tom's inconsolable. That's how he is
Speaker 1: at a Bears Packers game. And you know what, I
Speaker 1: wouldn't want it in any other way. I just love
Speaker 1: the raw motion and the feeling because hey, nobody's invested
Speaker 1: more than you guys in the Bears, Packers and the fans.
Speaker 1: Of course, all right, we'll have it for you and
Speaker 1: our next Bears, Etc. Podcast on Tuesday of next week.
Speaker 1: We'll recap the season and look forward to the future.
Speaker 1: It's going to be a wild, wild future for the
Speaker 1: Chicago Bears. Thanks for listening, everybody, please subscribe now the
Speaker 1: Chicago Bears official app, Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you
Speaker 1: get your podcast. Tom take us home, will you?
Speaker 3: Goll Bears?
Speaker 1: That's it, Thanks for listening.