Speaker 1: Right, justin middle to field forty five fifteen. Bring Russ
Speaker 1: in front of a leading Lions in this way, I
Speaker 1: am Jeff Jonian. Wlitz is not dog.
Speaker 2: What was like playing for coach boddom Ah. I don't
Speaker 2: want to answer any questions like that.
Speaker 1: Sixty one yards? What's Sunday stroll for? Justin Field?
Speaker 3: Ye?
Speaker 4: Bears et Cetera with the voices of the Chicago Bears Jeff.
Speaker 1: Joniac Welcome back this week too.
Speaker 4: Bears et Cetera, Episode number thirty eight with Super Bowl
Speaker 4: winning Bears guard Tom Thayer.
Speaker 1: I'm Jeff Jonia. Coming up on the show.
Speaker 4: We got an extended conversation with former Bears quarterback and
Speaker 4: the franchise record holder in season passing, yardage and touchdowns
Speaker 4: in a single season.
Speaker 1: Eric Kramer, a good friend of ours.
Speaker 4: He's written a book called The Ultimate Comeback, Surviving a
Speaker 4: suicide attempt, Conquering Depression, Living with a Purpose. It's a
Speaker 4: riveting conversation, not an easy conversation. As long as we've
Speaker 4: known Eric, Tom, he has been an easy going guy
Speaker 4: and he's not afraid to give his thoughts on all
Speaker 4: things football, life and whatever. The pursuit of happiness. It
Speaker 4: seems like he's found his wheelhouse right now. He's doing
Speaker 4: a lot of good. This book is therapeutic for him
Speaker 4: for his personal struggles, not only with his own life,
Speaker 4: with his son losing his life.
Speaker 1: He's been through a ton.
Speaker 4: But the fact is there's some good stuff in here
Speaker 4: that you're going to take with you, no question about it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Listen.
Speaker 3: I have a tremendous amount of respect for Eric Kramer,
Speaker 3: the football player that I knew when he played for
Speaker 3: the Bears in his perseverance to become an NFL player.
Speaker 3: But now after having a conversation about some of the
Speaker 3: struggles that he faced, I have more respect for him.
Speaker 3: I can't wait to read his book, and I think
Speaker 3: it should be recommended reading for a lot of people
Speaker 3: because to not only possibly help themselves, but maybe it'll
Speaker 3: help that person help other people.
Speaker 4: For all your journeys ahead, go with a partner who's
Speaker 4: been on your team from the beginning, the one members
Speaker 4: and communities have trusted for over eighty five years, and
Speaker 4: Blue Shield of Illinois always standing by you, with you
Speaker 4: through it all. Jeff and Tom here the Bears around
Speaker 4: the bye week. So one of the interesting things that
Speaker 4: Matt Eberflu said at the podium on Tuesday after the
Speaker 4: Bears win in Minnesota, was that all the players had
Speaker 4: to meet with the physical training department, all that sports
Speaker 4: science before they left.
Speaker 1: You had to do it.
Speaker 4: So they want them to stay healthy during this time away.
Speaker 4: It is one week, but things can unravel in a hurry.
Speaker 4: You can gain weight, you can get out of shape
Speaker 4: in a moment's notice. I thought that was a pretty
Speaker 4: cool thing. But players are smart these days. They know
Speaker 4: what they have to do. But do you see benefits
Speaker 4: in that?
Speaker 3: Listen, there's a guy that I refer to a lot
Speaker 3: about health when I have a question, that's always Clyde
Speaker 3: Emeric and Clyde Emrick always used to have a saying,
Speaker 3: it takes you two days to get out of shape,
Speaker 3: in two weeks to get in shape. So when you
Speaker 3: think about a period of time that you have off,
Speaker 3: and there's a lot of these guys that they don't,
Speaker 3: you know, get on a treadmill, get on a stationary bike,
Speaker 3: do something to keep on their feet a little bit.
Speaker 3: I'm not asking to go out and run miles and
Speaker 3: that type of stuff. However, you can't let the sport
Speaker 3: get away from you. In that period of time, and
Speaker 3: unfortunately sometimes it can mentally and physically.
Speaker 4: So the Bears have hit the by a week here
Speaker 4: after twelve games. We were going to do this exercise
Speaker 4: of you know, who's looked good offense, defense, special teams,
Speaker 4: and kind of do a player of the year type
Speaker 4: of things. So far, even though there's five games left
Speaker 4: and the team has rally to win for their last eight,
Speaker 4: they are four and eight. It's not the record they
Speaker 4: certainly wanted, nor what maybe some people expected, even inside
Speaker 4: and outside of the building, but that's the status that's
Speaker 4: where there are. They've overcome a bunch of injuries, nothing
Speaker 4: really seasoned ending across the board, but the offensive line
Speaker 4: has been a real you know, musical chairs even within games,
Speaker 4: and that has been something that I really impressed. I
Speaker 4: saw Chris Morgan the in the cafeteria this week before
Speaker 4: the bye week kicked in, and I said, man, I mean,
Speaker 4: you've wonders here trying to get these guys to all
Speaker 4: play together. When you want to have the same five
Speaker 4: start every snap and play every snap, it just doesn't
Speaker 4: happen anymore in the NFL. He goes, we got a
Speaker 4: lot more work to do, I mean, and that's always
Speaker 4: the case with offensive line. But are you impressed with
Speaker 4: what that unit has done despite some bumps along the
Speaker 4: way and managed to cobble what has become a pretty
Speaker 4: impressive line at key areas up front?
Speaker 5: Oh?
Speaker 1: I am.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: I'm impressed with Chris Morgan with being able to move
Speaker 3: guys and shuffle guys in and out of the lineup
Speaker 3: in different positions and still have a solid, performing offensive
Speaker 3: line that started out pretty slowly.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: To me, I think I'm one of the guys that
Speaker 3: needed to impress me the most throughout the season was
Speaker 3: going to be Tevin Jenkins, even though they just have
Speaker 3: newly drafted Darnell What Darnell right? Because Tevin He's played
Speaker 3: a couple different positions.
Speaker 5: He had the.
Speaker 3: Injury issue at the end of training camp, but Tevin
Speaker 3: had to come in and play like a high profile
Speaker 3: offensive lineman no matter where they were going to finally
Speaker 3: settle on what position he's going to play. Now it
Speaker 3: looks like he could have a career at offensive guard
Speaker 3: and he could be one of the better offensive guards
Speaker 3: in the division and have a really bright feature ahead
Speaker 3: of him. I'm not dismissing Nate Davis It's just that
Speaker 3: Nate Davis was an established veteran at the position, so
Speaker 3: you knew a little bit more about him. So Tevin
Speaker 3: has continued to impress me, and I hope he's the
Speaker 3: type of guy that can stay in that role for
Speaker 3: the next ten years.
Speaker 4: Darnell Right, we touched on in our last podcast, talked
Speaker 4: about we don't talk about him enough this season. You
Speaker 4: can look at the fact that, Okay, he's had some penalties,
Speaker 4: which rookies do, giving up according to the stats, sink
Speaker 4: seven and a half sacks this season. But we see
Speaker 4: a lot of bright spots with Darnell Wright against some
Speaker 4: really impressive defensive edge rushers that the Bears have had
Speaker 4: a face, not the least of which is Daniel Hunter twice,
Speaker 4: Carl Granderson from New Orleans, Cam Jordan had a deal
Speaker 4: with the folks up in Detroit, and Aiden Hudginson. He
Speaker 4: will see him again coming out of the bye week.
Speaker 4: Really good pass rushers over Max Crosby over the course
Speaker 4: of the season, I think, and we can't discount the
Speaker 4: run blocking as well, because he's super physical and big
Speaker 4: and nasty. He's a finisher. I think it's been a
Speaker 4: really good season for Darnell right.
Speaker 3: Well, you know the best thing about Darnell right there
Speaker 3: are no limitations to the future of his game. You
Speaker 3: can't sit there and say, Okay, we can only run
Speaker 3: behind him if he has a double team opportunity, or
Speaker 3: if he's got a one on one matchup against the
Speaker 3: difficult pass rusher, we have to have a guy lined.
Speaker 5: Up next to him.
Speaker 3: No, if you run to run an outside sleep and
Speaker 3: feature him as the pulling tackle, you can do that.
Speaker 3: If you want to run a lateral screen that he
Speaker 3: has to get twelve to fifteen yards into position.
Speaker 5: To make the block, you can do that.
Speaker 3: If you want to put him one on one in
Speaker 3: a difficult environment like Detroit to face a premier pass
Speaker 3: rushers like Hutchinson, you can do that. So it's about
Speaker 3: building upon everything that he offers you and you're not
Speaker 3: limiting your offense because he has a deficiency, which he
Speaker 3: really doesn't.
Speaker 4: Bears fans, you can be there for live NFL action
Speaker 4: all season long. Is the official ticket marketplace with the
Speaker 4: Bears in the NFL. Ticketmaster has a wide selection of
Speaker 4: tickets available for every game. Find tickets today at ticketmaster
Speaker 4: dot com. Slash Bears, Who would be your offensive player
Speaker 4: of the year so far through twelve.
Speaker 3: You know, DJ Moore guy, you know, it's hard to
Speaker 3: ignore him. I think he's done a lot for the
Speaker 3: quarterback position. He's done a lot from the offense. He's
Speaker 3: had nationally televised games that were as as impressive as
Speaker 3: anybody else in the league. He's a super difficult tackle.
Speaker 3: He's another guy that you can throw them the ball
Speaker 3: downfield and he can make difficult catches. You can throw
Speaker 3: them the ball at the line of scrimmage, and he
Speaker 3: can break tackles. I think he's a super positive influence
Speaker 3: in the locker room, which is sometimes as equally as
Speaker 3: important as the way you perform on the field.
Speaker 4: He's an outstanding teammate, first and foremost. Everything they said
Speaker 4: about him is true. He's absolutely been the star player
Speaker 4: and certainly deserving of all the accolades he's going to get.
Speaker 4: He's going to have a great He's already over a
Speaker 4: thousand yards. He has a chance to put up some
Speaker 4: really significant numbers here offensively in Bear's history for a
Speaker 4: single season.
Speaker 1: This was a note from Chase Daniel. He's doing a
Speaker 1: lot of quarterback analysis.
Speaker 4: I got to touch on Justin because his last seventeen games,
Speaker 4: of which you know the offensive line has had a
Speaker 4: lot of changes. DJ Moore was only available. This is
Speaker 4: dating back to last season, of course, or just twelve
Speaker 4: of those games. In that stretch, he's thrown and rushed
Speaker 4: for almost four thousand yards, eight rushing touchdowns, twenty five
Speaker 4: passing touchdowns, twelve interceptions, so combined thirty three touchdowns. So
Speaker 4: you put it in that context, he's put together some
Speaker 4: impressive numbers. Obviously the wins haven't been there collectively as
Speaker 4: a team. But how do you analyze that? Because we
Speaker 4: know his threat of run is one of his biggest superpowers,
Speaker 4: but we also know his deep ball also is a
Speaker 4: super power. Or if given the time and if you
Speaker 4: can see the field to make the play, what is
Speaker 4: your overall analysis of this?
Speaker 3: So to me, a quarterback position, no matter if you
Speaker 3: have the dynamic athleticism of Justin or you have the
Speaker 3: arm talent of Patrick Mahomes and some of the other
Speaker 3: guys around league. Josh Allen, it's more to me evaluating
Speaker 3: when you call a play and you get to your
Speaker 3: final drop step, what.
Speaker 4: Do you do?
Speaker 3: Are you locating the target according to the play called
Speaker 3: in the huddle and the coverage you're seeing, or are
Speaker 3: you pulling the ball down and trying to buy extra
Speaker 3: time to create that big play.
Speaker 5: So I still think Justin is a young, developing quarterback.
Speaker 3: So to me, it's always going to be what do
Speaker 3: you do when you call a pass that has a
Speaker 3: certain drop to it, and what do you do in
Speaker 3: the timing of the ball of the pass, And so
Speaker 3: you know that that will be the way I kind
Speaker 3: of see the development of Justin. But it's hard to
Speaker 3: deny that he has all the traits that any offensive
Speaker 3: court Nator would love to have in their quarterback.
Speaker 4: Miller Lite, the official beer of the Chicago Bears, tastes
Speaker 4: like Miller Time Chicago coming up in moments. Eric Kramer,
Speaker 4: the author of a new book, The Ultimate Comeback. Defensively,
Speaker 4: who's your player of the Year.
Speaker 5: It's hard to deny what TJ. Edwards has been.
Speaker 3: He's done so the Bears have played twelve games, He's
Speaker 3: been in number one or number two in tackles and
Speaker 3: ten out of those twelve games. When you look at
Speaker 3: the numbers and what he's been able to put together,
Speaker 3: TJ is But you know, when you look at where
Speaker 3: Tremaine Edmonds is. I think the linebacker position as a
Speaker 3: whole is really developing into one.
Speaker 5: Of the strengths of this whole team overall.
Speaker 4: Right, I can't go anywhere else either. I mean, I'm
Speaker 4: going to give I'm going to give Jalen Johnson. He's
Speaker 4: having his best year as a Bear. He is limiting
Speaker 4: the amount of catch rate as high as any in
Speaker 4: the league. Now, starting to take the ball away, getting
Speaker 4: near the ball, and just got to keep making those
Speaker 4: interceptions and I know those are haunting him as well.
Speaker 4: How about special teams got to go Kai, right, I.
Speaker 3: Mean, of course, I mean the guy is money and
Speaker 3: he kicks in some difficult situations. Again, we talked about
Speaker 3: it the other day that as the weather deteriorates in
Speaker 3: this last half of the season, I still think that
Speaker 3: with the premier field conditions they now have at Soldier Field,
Speaker 3: I think he's going to have an opportunity to.
Speaker 5: Have an incredible successful season.
Speaker 4: Steinhoffels is an employee owned furniture and mattress store If
Speaker 4: is it any of their for Chicago land locations in
Speaker 4: Vernon Hills, Crystal Lake, Downers Grove, and Harwood Heights, or
Speaker 4: shop online at Steinhoffels dot Com when we come back
Speaker 4: after the buy five games left all outdoors, three at Soldier.
Speaker 1: Field, two on the road.
Speaker 4: One you're going to have to go over to Cleveland
Speaker 4: to take on Miles Garrett and that number one rank
Speaker 4: defense in the NFL, and then finish off against Green Bay,
Speaker 4: which I think will be an emotional game on mid
Speaker 4: January at Lambeau in cold temperatures. I'm sure who knows
Speaker 4: you might have some weather for that one. You never
Speaker 4: know what's going to happen. Right there's five games to go.
Speaker 4: If you shorten it all up and give these guys
Speaker 4: some sort of carrot that beyond your own professionalism of
Speaker 4: showing up and giving full effort every single day for
Speaker 4: the rest of the season and playing those games and
Speaker 4: don't have your car running and the golf clubs in
Speaker 4: the back ready to go, you could make some magic.
Speaker 4: It could happen. There's nothing saying it can't. How do
Speaker 4: you look at this, because I'm choosing that approach for
Speaker 4: the final five games after you've split the last eight
Speaker 4: and weathered some serious storms injury wise, the loss of
Speaker 4: your starting quarterback and just the inability to finish games
Speaker 4: for the most part, until you did it against Minnesota
Speaker 4: by way of a thirty yard field goal by Cairo Santos.
Speaker 3: Well, we're in the midst of an El Nino winter,
Speaker 3: so there's no guarantee the outside environment is going to
Speaker 3: be as hostile as we've seen it in the past.
Speaker 5: So maybe we'll get a stretch of some nice weather.
Speaker 3: But when you look at how young some of the
Speaker 3: key components of this team are, you don't have a
Speaker 3: chance to finish on a with your arrow pointed down.
Speaker 3: And it's like Coach Stanfeld, my offensive line coach, says, look,
Speaker 3: as long as your arrows pointed up, you're going to
Speaker 3: get coached. If your arrow starts pointing down, you got
Speaker 3: to look to be replaced. So I think that should
Speaker 3: be incredible incentive for all of these young guys on
Speaker 3: this football team, because there's not a player in my
Speaker 3: mind right now that I said, oh my god, this
Speaker 3: guy needs to be replaced immediately. So I think that
Speaker 3: needs to be the attitude that's inside that locker room
Speaker 3: about finish this finishing the season on a high note.
Speaker 4: Yep, Maddy Bruflus giving everybody painted footballs with the word
Speaker 4: finish on it because that was their go all week.
Speaker 4: They finally made that goal a reality against Minnesota and
Speaker 4: it should be a theme for the rest of the season.
Speaker 4: Take a chance download the Bette Rivers app today, as promised,
Speaker 4: our lengthy interview with former Bears quarterback Eric Kramer The
Speaker 4: Ultimate Comeback, his book It's Riveting Eric Kramer, our guest
Speaker 4: here on Bears. He's got a book out called The
Speaker 4: Ultimate Comeback, Surviving a suicide Attempt, Conquering Depression, Living with
Speaker 4: a Purpose. There's so much there and without having read
Speaker 4: the book just yet, but talking to people who have
Speaker 4: scanned it, it could be the precursor to a movie.
Speaker 4: Your life has been an unbelievable roller coaster ride, thank God,
Speaker 4: and for us who love you, it is way up
Speaker 4: on the high tracks right now. So I don't even
Speaker 4: know where to begin, but let's begin the fact that
Speaker 4: you were a football player, come out of California looking
Speaker 4: for an opportunity, and you had to go the long way.
Speaker 1: You got to you had to go the hard way, didn't.
Speaker 2: You more than once? But yeah, yeah, and so but
Speaker 2: you know, like like it's often mentioned, you know, through
Speaker 2: adversity you can't really achieve and become who is a person?
Speaker 2: You want to become as you look backwards, you have
Speaker 2: to go through adversity. Like the people that are born
Speaker 2: into perfectness, which there isn't any but the people that
Speaker 2: are born in the front of the line and don't
Speaker 2: encounter adversity early will encounter it later and then won't
Speaker 2: know how to handle it purple like people like me,
Speaker 2: who's every guy in the world encounters it all the time,
Speaker 2: and so it becomes part of life, really, and which
Speaker 2: is fine because that kind of helps tone who you are,
Speaker 2: not only in what you do, but as a person.
Speaker 4: Pierce College, I never even heard of it JC then
Speaker 4: the NC State because they looked good in basketball. You just, hey,
Speaker 4: I'm gonna throw my head into that ring. Then as
Speaker 4: a senior, the ACC player of the year a hail
Speaker 4: married to beat South Carolina and you're now ranked fifteenth
Speaker 4: in the nation and you go undrafted.
Speaker 1: Did you think you were gonna get drafted?
Speaker 4: The Saints signed you, then you wound up with the
Speaker 4: Falcons and then off to the CFL before you even
Speaker 4: got to the NFL.
Speaker 2: Right, So no, I did not think I would get drafted.
Speaker 2: It was funny though, that because the draft back then
Speaker 2: wasn't what it is today. It was not on the ESPN,
Speaker 2: and so I basically and it was all done, I
Speaker 2: believe in one day. I remember late that day or
Speaker 2: whenever it ended, and so they had twelve rounds. Back then,
Speaker 2: I got a call from Ray Perkins saying, we're thinking
Speaker 2: a draft and you or the quarterback that just played
Speaker 2: for him at Alabama, Mike Schulett, And so they took
Speaker 2: Mike and and so you know, I ended up getting
Speaker 2: a free agent try out with New Orleans, which the
Speaker 2: day I got there, I knew I was going to
Speaker 2: get cut because back then there were no such thing
Speaker 2: as a practice squad, and they had two guys, so
Speaker 2: By Bavier and Dave Wilson. So any event, Uh yeah.
Speaker 2: So I was back in school and probably you know,
Speaker 2: I was gonna graduate, and I was helping out with
Speaker 2: the football team, and I get a couple of calls
Speaker 2: to go playing a strike, and so I did, and
Speaker 2: end up going to Atlanta. Played in three games, didn't
Speaker 2: play all that well in the first couple, played well
Speaker 2: in the second one, with third one, I mean, and
Speaker 2: they ended up keeping me. And then you're right, the
Speaker 2: next year I got cut, ended up going to Calgary
Speaker 2: because back then that was the only team when I
Speaker 2: see a team. One guy. The head coach there, Larry Carherrett,
Speaker 2: was the brother of bil KERR Herrick, Northern Saints personnel director.
Speaker 2: So anyway, yeah, I went up there and played in
Speaker 2: their last six games. I remember getting there on like
Speaker 2: a I don't know Wednesday or something. Met with Larry
Speaker 2: and he hands me a playbook and he says, all right,
Speaker 2: if you have any questions, come back tomorrow. So I
Speaker 2: go back to the hotel with a you know, six
Speaker 2: inch playbook. I was very average to below average up there.
Speaker 2: The end of that first year along with the second year,
Speaker 2: was only contract I had prior to that season. In
Speaker 2: nineteen what would have been nineteen eighty eight nineteen eighty nine,
Speaker 2: we have an inner squad scrimmage and that same head
Speaker 2: coach decided to make it a live on the quarterback scrimmage.
Speaker 2: So up there in Canada and the CFL, you get
Speaker 2: to have X amount of American players, which I want
Speaker 2: to say is six or seven. But if you have,
Speaker 2: it could be an American guy that has a parent
Speaker 2: who was born in Canada. So we had our left
Speaker 2: tackle had never played left never played offensive line before
Speaker 2: in his life he would. I don't remember his name.
Speaker 2: He was a tight end that played at Oklahoma State.
Speaker 2: I want to say, the third play or fourth play,
Speaker 2: I'm dropping back and I throw a pass and Stu Lair,
Speaker 2: who's Canadian, great guy. There's no way Stu would have
Speaker 2: tackled me. No way, because the ball is gone as
Speaker 2: he's going by this guy, this left tackle, he clips
Speaker 2: him from behind, had a paulting stew into my left knee,
Speaker 2: torn PCL. Done for the year. Yeah, it took me
Speaker 2: basically calling all the NFL teams, Detroit is the only
Speaker 2: one gave me a callback.
Speaker 3: When you look at your life and you think about
Speaker 3: going to New Orleans and thinking, Okay, I'm not going
Speaker 3: to make this team. When you look at all the
Speaker 3: events that have taken place in your life, both good
Speaker 3: and bad, do you see a lot of things in
Speaker 3: your life in hindsight now that maybe you avoided or
Speaker 3: you didn't consider reality even you know, something like the
Speaker 3: trying out for a quarterback in New Orleans. Do you
Speaker 3: have hindsight that you see a lot of the events
Speaker 3: that have taken place.
Speaker 2: Yeah, in a good way, you know, kind of like
Speaker 2: a lot of people will look back on their lives
Speaker 2: and say, you know what, despite this, despite that, I
Speaker 2: wouldn't change the thing. Well that guy's met. Yeah, I
Speaker 2: think a lot of that goes into helping you. It helps.
Speaker 2: It helped me to spur me on to study and
Speaker 2: be prepared. And I wasn't born. I didn't fall out
Speaker 2: of the bed being Barry Standers. I fell out of
Speaker 2: the bed being me as you look at me physically.
Speaker 2: That's just I'm not a guy that you're gonna choose
Speaker 2: to go, Oh, yeah, that's the guy we're gonna lead
Speaker 2: our team. And so he kind of takes a little
Speaker 2: you know, battle through adversity, which is what pretty much
Speaker 2: life is, battle through a football season to get better,
Speaker 2: which is what life is. Yeah, I think in hindsight
Speaker 2: now I'm very grateful for the path that I end
Speaker 2: up going down.
Speaker 3: Okay, question about depression then, because I think it's super
Speaker 3: helpful the story that you're telling, because it's a story
Speaker 3: that needs to be told to so many people out there.
Speaker 3: When you face a thing like depression, do you avoid
Speaker 3: early signs of depression and think I'll get over these
Speaker 3: or do you kind of think I have signs of it,
Speaker 3: but I'm ignoring them.
Speaker 2: There's no way to ignore it. So it's kind of
Speaker 2: like it envelops you, kind of like maybe quicksand wood
Speaker 2: or sort of cloud would there's nothing to fight against,
Speaker 2: kind of enveloped your spirit and your thoughts and your
Speaker 2: perspective all at the same time. And I remember in
Speaker 2: the first time it happened ever, was in nineteen ninety
Speaker 2: four when I was in Chicago, and I went from Wow,
Speaker 2: somebody wants me to play for them to getting injured.
Speaker 2: I think I came back and played one game after
Speaker 2: that and then wasn't And so now that train just
Speaker 2: left and I'm still on the platform. I remember not
Speaker 2: wanting to get out of bed in the morning and couldn't,
Speaker 2: but yet had to. I didn't want to make eye
Speaker 2: contact with people because that would invite a conversation. There's
Speaker 2: just no light wherever you are. It travels wherever you
Speaker 2: travel in a case like that. That was the first
Speaker 2: time I but I had ever anyone had even suggested
Speaker 2: to me. There's these things called anti depression medication. I
Speaker 2: can't remember what it was, but I tried it. Like
Speaker 2: antidepressant medication doesn't work like an aspen it works thirty
Speaker 2: forty five days from the time you start taking it,
Speaker 2: and so it takes a while, and when it does,
Speaker 2: it's great because now it's kind of like an elevator
Speaker 2: that goes below the below ground, right, So depression is
Speaker 2: your below ground. Anti depression medication and therapy gets you
Speaker 2: up to where you're back on ground level. What I
Speaker 2: noticed over time is that it kind of caps you off,
Speaker 2: like say you're building your normal building, there's thirty floors
Speaker 2: on it. Anti depression medication taps you out at about
Speaker 2: the fifth floor, and so it's not to me something
Speaker 2: that you want to live on for the rest of
Speaker 2: your life. Therapy a close knit group of a couple, two, three,
Speaker 2: four friends that might have a little perspective, maybe a
Speaker 2: little bit older than you, and are good, you know,
Speaker 2: kind of what would you say, empathetic and curious listeners.
Speaker 2: And you know, just that to me is the mode
Speaker 2: for once you have it, that's what you do with it.
Speaker 4: All right, let me fill in the blanks for our listeners.
Speaker 4: Eric Kramer, our guests, the former Bears quarterback who started
Speaker 4: with the Detroit Lions as well. We left off at
Speaker 4: the Calgary Stampeders, but in Detroit in ninety one, a
Speaker 4: spot starter through ninety three, the last playoff win for
Speaker 4: the Detroit Lions on the arm of Eric Kramer and
Speaker 4: the feet of Barry Sanders and the protection of A.
Speaker 1: Lomas Brown and all those guys. Unbelievable story.
Speaker 4: They're that team twelve and four and you beat the
Speaker 4: Dallas Cowboys before losing in the NFC title game to Washington.
Speaker 4: Rodney Pete, the man you mentioned earlier, was the starter.
Speaker 4: He went down in week nine. You beat out Andrey
Speaker 4: Ware for the backup job. That's also the season Mike Utley,
Speaker 4: as we all remember, the thumbs up, paralyzed from the
Speaker 4: chest down in a spinal injury against the Rams. Your
Speaker 4: nickname in Detroit was brass. We got to keep it
Speaker 4: clean on here, but brass. You can add the next.
Speaker 1: Word to that. But he called it an audible Tommy
Speaker 1: on his.
Speaker 4: First series as Allions quarterback after replacing Pete, and he
Speaker 4: was Cosmo because of the character Cosmo Kramer from Seinfeld
Speaker 4: and then the Bear signed you in ninety four.
Speaker 1: You mentioned the ninety four so you have five starts.
Speaker 4: In Dave Wantstat's second year as head coach, they also
Speaker 4: had Steve Walsher on the roster added from the Saints
Speaker 4: that year. Andy Heck was your left tackle, Marv Cook
Speaker 4: came aboard, Jim Harbaugh left for the Colts, Denton McMichael
Speaker 4: moved on depression hit in ninety four, you couldn't get
Speaker 4: out of bed.
Speaker 1: You're a Chicago Bear. And then in ninety five you
Speaker 1: tear it up.
Speaker 4: First full season as a starter, sixteen games, thirty eight
Speaker 4: hundred thirty eight yards, twenty nine touchdowns, both remain Bears records,
Speaker 4: believe it or not. At the quarterback position, then, how
Speaker 4: the hell did you do it?
Speaker 2: Kind of like what I was talking about before, is it?
Speaker 5: You know?
Speaker 2: I came from an offense in Detroit. When I first
Speaker 2: got there, it was Miles Davis was the offensive coordinator,
Speaker 2: and we'd run on the run and shoot. By the
Speaker 2: time I left, we had we would play with a
Speaker 2: tight end most times and occasionally trying of think, yeah,
Speaker 2: a tight end occasionally, but not a full back. The
Speaker 2: pass protections were vastly different, and I think it just
Speaker 2: took some time to figure out because there's a lot
Speaker 2: to think about. I think one of the things that
Speaker 2: helped I went back and there was a guy named
Speaker 2: Kevin Wildenhouse, who was a family a Marriaga family therapist
Speaker 2: in Detroit. I had in touch with him. We eventually
Speaker 2: started working on ways I could. This is in nineteen
Speaker 2: ninety when I wouldn't even I was practice. I was
Speaker 2: on into reserve, and back then, if you go on
Speaker 2: into reserve, you're there for the year. I'm talking about practice.
Speaker 2: I was having a hard time slowing my brain down
Speaker 2: to do what I was wanting to do. So we
Speaker 2: started working together and he got me through a way
Speaker 2: of like mindfulness training, which would be like you know,
Speaker 2: breathing and like where you're painting, he is painting a
Speaker 2: work picture of where I'm at, you know, like a
Speaker 2: calm setting, and then you can start to see things
Speaker 2: in a slow down fashion before they ever happened. And
Speaker 2: that's what I went back to. And this is back
Speaker 2: in the cassette days. So if I didn't fly Kevin out,
Speaker 2: he would, you know, make these cassettes and talk into
Speaker 2: them in the night before the game in my hotel room.
Speaker 2: I'd be to that. You know. I always worked out
Speaker 2: a lot and watched film a lot, but this had
Speaker 2: a way of kind of I guess you would call
Speaker 2: it like the glove that all the fingers now fit
Speaker 2: into that pulled it all together.
Speaker 4: Did the Bears did the coaching staff? Did they know
Speaker 4: you were suffering from depression?
Speaker 2: No, I would, I would guess not because it wasn't
Speaker 2: something that I would. You know, there was no team psychologists,
Speaker 2: so to speak, right back then, and that's not something
Speaker 2: I would have felt at that time comfortable going in
Speaker 2: really to anybody on earth and other than I'm trying
Speaker 2: to think. Yeah, so I was married at the time,
Speaker 2: and Marshawn knew I was depressed, but that was it.
Speaker 4: Did you ever have a game in that ninety five season,
Speaker 4: for example, you didn't think you were going to make
Speaker 4: it to the ballpark?
Speaker 2: No, No, in the ninety five season, I wasn't depressed
Speaker 2: at all. I did during the season. Also, it was
Speaker 2: every day there for a while. I didn't want to
Speaker 2: go okay, okay, out of bed meant getting somewhere, and
Speaker 2: I don't want to go wherever it was. And so
Speaker 2: whether that was practice, game, whatever, it was that feeling
Speaker 2: that I had come to the Bears for the first time,
Speaker 2: and prior to the season, they said, you know, we
Speaker 2: want you to be the guy. So when I came
Speaker 2: out of Pierce College. That was I only went there
Speaker 2: because it was the junior college down the street, and
Speaker 2: we ended up being ranked No. More in the country
Speaker 2: at that time. Ron Turner was the quarterback coach at Pitt,
Speaker 2: so he recruited me then. But they had a guy
Speaker 2: named coming back named John and Jimmy who had started
Speaker 2: and played as a junior, well, he still had one
Speaker 2: more to year go. And so here we are ten
Speaker 2: years later, and you know, Ron's part of the staff
Speaker 2: that's getting me to Chicago, and I with anybody, I
Speaker 2: don't think I would have felt comfortable sitting down in
Speaker 2: a chair other than you know, a therapist or at
Speaker 2: that time, my wife. But you can't hide it from
Speaker 2: the people you live with, right So, but outside the door,
Speaker 2: it just wasn't something I was very comfortable with at all.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 2: It wasn't like today where it's sort of like mental health.
Speaker 2: The word mental and health kind of never did go
Speaker 2: together back then. And I mean I knew it was
Speaker 2: what was going on, but it didn't mean I had
Speaker 2: the perspective of knowing what to do to get rid
Speaker 2: of it.
Speaker 3: Eric, when you talk about you don't get drafted, you
Speaker 3: go to junior college, you go to the Canadian League,
Speaker 3: you go to the strike season, on all these seas,
Speaker 3: What was your ignition switch for Eric Kramer to make
Speaker 3: Eric Kramer believe that he could play and succeed as
Speaker 3: a quarterback in the highest level of the sport that's offered.
Speaker 2: Well, I think going back as a kid dad, despite
Speaker 2: all signs from anyone else, despite what everyone what else
Speaker 2: didn't think, he believed in me. And I'm not saying
Speaker 2: he did that in the best positive way. So I
Speaker 2: just you know, I did have success, it just wasn't sustained.
Speaker 2: I felt like, if you work hard enough and I
Speaker 2: love doing it, I loved working hard anyway, that eventually
Speaker 2: something's gonna click. And honestly, in when I was after
Speaker 2: NC State and after getting cut by New Orleans, that
Speaker 2: was it for me. There was no USFL or World
Speaker 2: League or NFL Europe or anything like that, and so yeah,
Speaker 2: I was done. And it was only because of the
Speaker 2: strike that I continued. And then but eventually that ended,
Speaker 2: and so it was only the CFL that was available.
Speaker 2: And then what happened. The only thing that happen and
Speaker 2: there was that, you know, as one last ditch effort.
Speaker 2: I called all the NFL teams and that was it.
Speaker 2: So had no one called me back, there's nothing else
Speaker 2: to do. So I thought I was in to go
Speaker 2: coach high school.
Speaker 4: Well with Eric Kramer here on Bears, et cetera. He's
Speaker 4: written a book, The Ultimate Comeback, Surviving a Suicide Attempt,
Speaker 4: Conquering Depression, Living with a Purpose. All right, so there's
Speaker 4: a lot there. Clearly you held it in for a
Speaker 4: long time and now you've laid out your life in
Speaker 4: two hundred and thirty three pages for the public to consume,
Speaker 4: and the overreaching message about those who are dealing with
Speaker 4: gripping depression. But along the way, all these tragedies and
Speaker 4: an attempt on your own life, how do you put
Speaker 4: it on to context? And how therapeutic and or difficult
Speaker 4: was it to allow to be put out there in
Speaker 4: print after you did it and then looked at it
Speaker 4: with the help of an off there as well, William Croyle.
Speaker 2: Interestingly Bill Keynest, who when I was with the Lions,
Speaker 2: he was their media relationshiprect great guy and Bill just
Speaker 2: retired last year. So I kept in contact with Bill
Speaker 2: over the years, kind of kept him informed of what
Speaker 2: was going on. He contacted a friend of his name,
Speaker 2: Dan Wetzel, who writes for the Yahoo Sports Daniel Wussell
Speaker 2: writes a nice article where actually, at the time a
Speaker 2: friend of mine, Ana, who is now my girlfriend, we
Speaker 2: went to high school together. He contacted her somehow saying, hey,
Speaker 2: would Eric be interested in collaborating on our butt together.
Speaker 2: You know, I've never heard of William Croyle and he
Speaker 2: goes by Bill and so we started talking a little bit.
Speaker 2: And what he'd done is he took that article and
Speaker 2: researched me backward. Then I said, you know, I said, hey,
Speaker 2: is there a book you've written that I think Bill's
Speaker 2: written maybe eleven or twelve books or something, And he says, well,
Speaker 2: here he wrote one on It's called Angel the Rubble
Speaker 2: and it's a it's about the last survivor of the
Speaker 2: nine to eleven attacks. So I mean it didn't take
Speaker 2: long to figure out he knew what he was doing. Anyway. Yeah,
Speaker 2: we started collaborating on this and over the course of
Speaker 2: maybe a couple of years. Yeah, now you see what
Speaker 2: you get. And I think it's a very well spelled
Speaker 2: out book on It's got a little something in there
Speaker 2: for everybody. As I mentioned, my parents, both of them
Speaker 2: I had kind of difficult relationships with through most of
Speaker 2: life for different reasons. But I also came to later
Speaker 2: in life except them not only for who they are,
Speaker 2: but because everybody's childhood plays some significant role in who
Speaker 2: they become later. Not either not that you Well, my
Speaker 2: dad had a childhood nobody would want, and my mom
Speaker 2: came from from a little different background in any event,
Speaker 2: So there's some of that in there. There's the relationships
Speaker 2: that I have and had with my kids, and there's
Speaker 2: some football sprinkled in there too. And as you mentioned,
Speaker 2: depression and how to you know, not only deal with
Speaker 2: it and get through it, but give it. Gives perspective
Speaker 2: to people who have it, because typically those who have
Speaker 2: it battle with it by themselves, and people that watch
Speaker 2: it happen to others don't have their perspective. And so
Speaker 2: I think it's both for the people that have it
Speaker 2: and the people that are near someone who has it,
Speaker 2: which is a vast majority of the population. And at
Speaker 2: whatever age it comes, someone's going to get it and
Speaker 2: someone close to them is going to have it. Anyway,
Speaker 2: that's not the whole book, is not that. Uh, there's
Speaker 2: there's some you know lightheartedness to it as well. That
Speaker 2: book there's a lot in there in those whatever you
Speaker 2: mentioned two hundred and thirty few pages, there's a lot
Speaker 2: in there. And I've gotten calls from friends of mine
Speaker 2: who I've known for a long long time, literally yesterday morning.
Speaker 1: And they're festing up a little bit.
Speaker 2: Not festing up, but people that have said, you know, Eric,
Speaker 2: you and I have kind of counseled each other through
Speaker 2: the years. I had no idea this also was going on.
Speaker 2: I mean that in a good way. And so yeah,
Speaker 2: I just think it's a powerful book in not too
Speaker 2: many pages, and that's my hope that it'd be impactful.
Speaker 3: Eric, until we get a chance to have enough time
Speaker 3: to sit down and read the whole book. Is there
Speaker 3: one chapter that you would say, look, this is a
Speaker 3: must chapter that if you only have a little bit
Speaker 3: of time, read this chapter and then when you get
Speaker 3: time read the book.
Speaker 2: That's a good question, and I wish I had one
Speaker 2: right at the top of my head. There was a
Speaker 2: woman who wrote it that's a friend of Bill Croyle's,
Speaker 2: and she was like the master. She was like the
Speaker 2: Ciskel and Ebert of book reviewers, even though she's not
Speaker 2: paid for as one. She's done a lot of reading
Speaker 2: in her life. She mentioned several chapters, but I think
Speaker 2: chapter thirteen in particular, and I don't even know what
Speaker 2: it's about, but I just know that it was impactful
Speaker 2: to her in a way that you know, she mentioned
Speaker 2: that nobody's really the good part to her was that
Speaker 2: nobody is singled out in terms of I have no
Speaker 2: vendetta against anybody I have. I think for her, she
Speaker 2: knows nothing about football, not zero, and yet it was
Speaker 2: impactful to her in ways that you know, we're just
Speaker 2: sort of more about life. And I wish I could
Speaker 2: answer your question Tom more specifically with like, here's the chapter,
Speaker 2: but I can't.
Speaker 3: Well, I mean, as soon as I opened the index,
Speaker 3: I would read the list of chapters, and if there
Speaker 3: was a title of a chapter that kind of captures
Speaker 3: my attention in a few words, you know, maybe that
Speaker 3: would happen. But I was just thinking, you know, if
Speaker 3: there was a must you know, a go to chapter.
Speaker 1: You know why Eric, he's got a short attention span.
Speaker 2: So I'll just say this, so I I when my
Speaker 2: suicide attempt happened on August eighteen, twenty fifteen, I had
Speaker 2: taken some time leading up to that day of kind
Speaker 2: of choreographing or planning this out. One of the things
Speaker 2: I did was I wrote seven or eight letters to
Speaker 2: people in my life, one of which was my son Dylan,
Speaker 2: who at the time was about to be a junior
Speaker 2: in high school. The first chapter that letter is not
Speaker 2: in full, but in parts laid out. The last chapter
Speaker 2: is also a letter I wrote to Dylan years later.
Speaker 2: So this book, in my opinion, is a long letter
Speaker 2: to Dylan, meaning that when Griffin passed away at age eighteen,
Speaker 2: Dylan was thirteen in eighth grade. I remember the chair
Speaker 2: he was sitting in when I told him it was
Speaker 2: like watching a glass vase crept, you know, explode into
Speaker 2: a thousand pieces. And over time he's lost now both
Speaker 2: sets of grandparents he has. His dad on purpose tried
Speaker 2: to leave this earth and eventually didn't go to school
Speaker 2: right away out of high school, he didn't go to college.
Speaker 2: Eventually he did so his dream was to play baseball,
Speaker 2: and that's what got him going to college here. Just
Speaker 2: recently he graduated from college, but his baseball world came
Speaker 2: to a halt, and his girlfriend, who he'd been with
Speaker 2: since he was a junior in high school broke up
Speaker 2: with him. So he's had a tough road man, and
Speaker 2: so I felt like this was a way to honor
Speaker 2: not only Griffin, but Dylan too, And that's why I
Speaker 2: did this. At the end of the day, I think
Speaker 2: helps not only people, but Dylan in particular. You know,
Speaker 2: I think as he gets older, he's twenty five now,
Speaker 2: this is something he can go back and refer to
Speaker 2: as he gets older in life. If you if you
Speaker 2: boil it down to one reason, that's why. That's the
Speaker 2: reason I wrote this.
Speaker 4: Eric final final moments here as such difficult conversation. But
Speaker 4: I don't know how you do it with a smile
Speaker 4: on your face, which we are blessed to see. Is
Speaker 4: it also heighten your awareness then of others that are
Speaker 4: dealing with stuff that you come privy to or you
Speaker 4: even wonder about because you know your own son, Dylan
Speaker 4: here at our guardrails, so to speak.
Speaker 2: For sure. And so there's a you know, it wasn't
Speaker 2: that long ago, maybe two weeks ago at the most,
Speaker 2: where I was in Chicago, someone had asked me to
Speaker 2: come speak at their company. It's called Lack Talents. Is
Speaker 2: it's a nation's largest dairy company and the guy who
Speaker 2: asked me to come, I've I've been on his bared
Speaker 2: podcast called Just Another Year, and Nick asked me to
Speaker 2: come out there. And so, in addition to the hundred
Speaker 2: people or so in the room, I was talking to
Speaker 2: everybody that worked for Lactouse across the country. They ordered
Speaker 2: I guess a lot more books after that, and one
Speaker 2: woman in particular who came up to me afterwards, she said,
Speaker 2: you know, my mother passed away a few years ago
Speaker 2: and my sister committed suicide about ten months later. And
Speaker 2: I said, yeah, I said, what people like your sister
Speaker 2: and me at the time, you lose perspective on what
Speaker 2: this is going to do to other people, because for you,
Speaker 2: those that commit suicide, it is over those around you.
Speaker 2: That is day one for them to deal with what
Speaker 2: just happened. Yes, I do have a good sense for
Speaker 2: this is a growing issue. It's not like it's never
Speaker 2: been there before, but it's a growing awareness right now.
Speaker 2: And so that's in addition, there's a program that I've
Speaker 2: helped put together. It's not off the ground just yet,
Speaker 2: but it's called Mental Health Touchdown and it's going to
Speaker 2: start out as a couple of after after school programs,
Speaker 2: one for one for fourth and fifth graders, one for
Speaker 2: sixth graders. So in the area I live, which is
Speaker 2: Thousand Oaks, it's where the rams practice and so on.
Speaker 2: Uh two middle school campuses there are a boys and
Speaker 2: girls club on each and in the elementary part they're
Speaker 2: tied into the county as well. And there's a woman there,
Speaker 2: the woman I've gotten to know over the years, name's
Speaker 2: Katherine Kashmir, and she deals with her nonprofit as bright Brite,
Speaker 2: and I never remember what it stands for, but she
Speaker 2: and her the people that work in her nonprofit worked
Speaker 2: within the school systems within Venturer County and actually go
Speaker 2: into schools and work with kids on acting out different
Speaker 2: scenarios that typically right now, their funding comes from the
Speaker 2: county venture County typically around drug awareness and drug prevention,
Speaker 2: alcohola prevention. I partnered up with her. And then there's
Speaker 2: another gentleman named Tim Thane who back when Griffin was
Speaker 2: about I say, about thirteen years old, he was kind
Speaker 2: of in between his eighth grade, which is last year
Speaker 2: of middle school and ninth grade's first year of high school.
Speaker 2: We had Griffin go and I actually flew him there
Speaker 2: to a place called Second Nature was out in Utah.
Speaker 2: It's one of these therapeutic wilderness camps for kids. And
Speaker 2: so he was out there not long enough and when
Speaker 2: he came home, Tim Say at that time was the
Speaker 2: founder of and ran a company called Homeward Bound. Homeward
Speaker 2: Bound was the transition home from where you just came from.
Speaker 2: And so anyway, so that's it was a three day
Speaker 2: in home workshop centered around this thing called solution talk,
Speaker 2: meaning so, Jeff, if you're my son and there's you know,
Speaker 2: ninety nine things that I feel you should be doing
Speaker 2: but aren't, I'm going to focus on the one thing
Speaker 2: you are doing and make that the star. Because the
Speaker 2: relationship that you and I have is founded on what's good,
Speaker 2: not what's not good. And so we're going to build
Speaker 2: it up from there. And so and at the end
Speaker 2: of those three days, Tim said, Okay, now, want you
Speaker 2: to call around to your friends, neighbors, family, you know,
Speaker 2: doesn't have to be all of them, but enough, And
Speaker 2: so he did that and when they all showed up,
Speaker 2: sat in the living room, Tim gets up, introduces himself
Speaker 2: and then kind of what he's tried to help mold here.
Speaker 2: And then Griffin at that time got up and said, hey,
Speaker 2: this is what this experience has been like for me,
Speaker 2: and I would like to keep this going. And can
Speaker 2: you you, you know, the group from time to time
Speaker 2: check in on me in terms of like again, he's
Speaker 2: thirteen at the time, so you know, take me to
Speaker 2: lunch or just a phone call, come over whatever. So
Speaker 2: that's the idea of the home team, and this program
Speaker 2: is going to get kids and families, kids, especially learning
Speaker 2: and acting out. First of all, how to identify some
Speaker 2: of the characteristics that you find as an individual you
Speaker 2: want to aspire you want to have in your arsenal too,
Speaker 2: you want to aspire to be that you get enough
Speaker 2: of those scenarios acted out, and then now you start
Speaker 2: to deal with okay, how do you approach somebody like
Speaker 2: that to say, hey, I've noticed that when people talk
Speaker 2: to you, you listen in a way that is attractive
Speaker 2: to me or whatever. And you start to build this
Speaker 2: little home team that could be a coach, a parent,
Speaker 2: a student, a friend of yours that might be a
Speaker 2: couple years older. They can kind of serve this little
Speaker 2: mentorship role. And now you start to at a young age,
Speaker 2: which will include your parents, start to develop this home team.
Speaker 2: So now, well, this kind of carries you up through
Speaker 2: high school eventually, and you're going to have now once
Speaker 2: you get to high school, you're going to have spent
Speaker 2: the better part of your life cultivating Over time that
Speaker 2: home team, hopefully you'll be on someone else's you earn
Speaker 2: your way on there too. And so that's the idea
Speaker 2: is that before it ever gets started, you kind of
Speaker 2: take this proactive approach to.
Speaker 1: Cutting it off at the past, have people.
Speaker 2: To talk to where you know, typically this happens in
Speaker 2: an isolated incident or an isolated fashion. You somehow become isolated,
Speaker 2: either do it to yourself or somebody else does it
Speaker 2: to you. And like we've talked about in the early going,
Speaker 2: challenges are coming like it or not, and so good
Speaker 2: things are going to happen, some not so good things
Speaker 2: are going to happen. And so the more you can
Speaker 2: mold this little home team around you, and your challenges
Speaker 2: are going to change over time. The people on your
Speaker 2: home team are going to change over time, and you're
Speaker 2: going to become aware of yourself, your own needs. And
Speaker 2: just as the nature of life unfolds, that's what happens.
Speaker 2: It kind of evolves, and so that's that's what's going
Speaker 2: to happen on that level.
Speaker 4: Well as a football player, grit and perseverance and part
Speaker 4: of the part of the way you make it and
Speaker 4: you need that in life too, and you got all
Speaker 4: of that and then some. And the crazy thing about
Speaker 4: it me covering the team back then, I always remembered
Speaker 4: you just as a smart, witty, funny, easy going dude
Speaker 4: with not a care in the world. And it couldn't
Speaker 4: be further from the truth. But hey, man, glad you're
Speaker 4: here and you're doing great work, and hope things continue
Speaker 4: to head in the right direction for you and your family.
Speaker 4: Check it out, The Ultimate Comeback. You can find the
Speaker 4: book great on Amazon and paperback or an e book
Speaker 4: and where else could you find it?
Speaker 1: Or you have any other thoughts on it?
Speaker 2: Before we go, Yeah, that's pretty much it. Amazon is
Speaker 2: a way to go, and yeah, hopefully you'll find it there.
Speaker 2: But I really just want to thank you and Tom
Speaker 2: for taking the time today and exploring this with me
Speaker 2: talking a little Bears football. And as I said, I
Speaker 2: think that the light at that tunnel, there's light in
Speaker 2: that tunnel, it's just not there. The train hasn't hit
Speaker 2: it just yet. But I don't think it's far away.
Speaker 2: And I appreciate your time talking about this book and
Speaker 2: some of the some of my story that I think
Speaker 2: is going to be helpful to some folks.
Speaker 4: Yep, therapeutic in many ways. Thank you for sharing big time.
Speaker 5: Final thought, I can't wait to read it.
Speaker 3: I know it's a problem, maybe a difficult book to
Speaker 3: read because how much respect and love that we have
Speaker 3: for you, Eric, But I think it's going to introduce
Speaker 3: us to a portion of your life that we should
Speaker 3: have known that we didn't know. But I appreciate where
Speaker 3: you're going.
Speaker 2: Well, thank you guys, both. That means a lot. And
Speaker 2: like I said, I think this book is going to
Speaker 2: help some folks and and that's really why I did it.
Speaker 4: Appreciate it brother, all right, tom as promised right. I
Speaker 4: mean we could have talked to him for several hours
Speaker 4: just about mental health, just about his journey. But what
Speaker 4: a strong human being that he is to somehow survive
Speaker 4: all of that.
Speaker 3: Well, you know, you know, you can listen to a
Speaker 3: podcast multiple times and if someone out there listened to
Speaker 3: Eric Kramer and they feel that they know someone that
Speaker 3: could listen to it and benefit from it, or in
Speaker 3: any way, shape or form. I think it's a podcast
Speaker 3: that you would like to pass along as well, because
Speaker 3: you know, it's hard not to deny that you get
Speaker 3: emotional listen to Eric because the way that we've known
Speaker 3: him throughout his life and his career.
Speaker 5: When you think about a.
Speaker 3: Man that attempted suicide that's been able to survive and
Speaker 3: be stronger after the attempt than the difficulty he was
Speaker 3: going through before it, I think that it's an inspirational
Speaker 3: story that could could help young kids to adults out
Speaker 3: there equally as much.
Speaker 4: That's everything that's happened after that incident in twenty eighteen.
Speaker 4: He remembers the date certainly, or excuse me, twenty fifteen.
Speaker 4: You're never going to forget that. But as a player
Speaker 4: ten seasons, eighty three NFL games, ninety two touchdowns and
Speaker 4: over fifteen thousand yards, and he had a great year
Speaker 4: with the Bears in nineteen ninety five through for three
Speaker 4: thousand plus again in nineteen ninety seven, something we didn't
Speaker 4: get to ask him about.
Speaker 1: We laughed about it afterwards.
Speaker 4: He was a youth football player with Adam Carolla, the
Speaker 4: comedian and one of the funniest guys around back in California.
Speaker 4: But did you know he was in an episode of
Speaker 4: Married with Children? I did not notice. Yes, did you
Speaker 4: see the episode of Al Bundy sells his soul in
Speaker 4: order to lead the Bears to the Super Bowl? I
Speaker 4: don't think I saw that episode, and now I want
Speaker 4: to find it.
Speaker 3: I mean, one of the topics they talk about most
Speaker 3: of mar sure a little is Al Bundy. I think
Speaker 3: it was scoring five touchdowns in a high school game.
Speaker 3: So you get you attract those guys like Kramer.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh, good new Chicago.
Speaker 4: United Airlines is getting brand new planes with all the
Speaker 4: bells and whistles, like Bluetooth connectivity screens at every seat
Speaker 4: in a room for everyone's rollerbag. United proud to fly
Speaker 4: the Chicago Bears and you too, Tom. Enjoy the rest
Speaker 4: of your time. We'll talk to you next week as
Speaker 4: we get to preview a second go around with the
Speaker 4: Detroit Lions, the leaders of the NFC North. I hope
Speaker 4: you'll join us.
Speaker 1: Then. This has been another.
Speaker 4: Bears, Etc. Podcast. Wherever you get your podcasts, be sure
Speaker 4: to check us out. We'll talk to you next week.
Speaker 1: Bear down, everybody,