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Speaker 2: Theyer, and a pleasant good to day. Everybody. Welcome in
Speaker 2: another edition of Bears Weekly. A lot of love out
Speaker 2: there for the twenty twenty three Bears locally and nationally
Speaker 2: as they enter week three of the OTA season. A
Speaker 2: practice up at hallisaw here today and a lot of
Speaker 2: the attention centered around, of course, the offensive editions and
Speaker 2: the play of quarterback Justin Field. We'll discuss here todight
Speaker 2: on ESPN Chicago and the Chicago Bears Radio Network.
Speaker 3: Thanks for joining us, everybody.
Speaker 2: We've got our producers Jordan tread Up and Dan Burrilly
Speaker 2: helping us out tonight. Kendra Smith and Justin Potton's in
Speaker 2: the ESPN one thousand studios. Our executive producer of the
Speaker 2: Bears Radio Network is Eric Ostrowski and coming up at
Speaker 2: the bottom of the hour will be joined by NFL
Speaker 2: Network's very own and he is always entertaining a big
Speaker 2: Bears fan perspective from the lifelong Bears fan Adam Rank
Speaker 2: from NFL Network And as usual, my partners Tom Fhahir
Speaker 2: and Jim Aller joining us tonight.
Speaker 3: Fellas, how we doing. First of all, big.
Speaker 4: Jim doing great, my friend. Good to be with you tonight.
Speaker 4: So let's have a good one, Jeff, Tom always a
Speaker 4: lot to talk about, rob Elie.
Speaker 3: All right, we'll get Tom on board in a moment.
Speaker 2: But I mentioned Justin Fields out of the gate last
Speaker 2: week's show, which was on Thursday. Short turnaround. Not much
Speaker 2: as transpire the last few days. But I'm gonna go
Speaker 2: back to Justin Fields Jim, because I read Sports Illustrated
Speaker 2: dot com today. One of the hot takes today was
Speaker 2: Justin Fields will account for forty touchdowns this year. He
Speaker 2: scored twenty five total last year, seventeen through the air,
Speaker 2: eight on the ground in fifteen games. The Bears are
Speaker 2: better at various spots offensively. So the idea is that yes,
Speaker 2: that number, What would that mean in terms of wins
Speaker 2: and losses? If he could get to a number.
Speaker 4: Like that, well, I mean to me, you're when you're
Speaker 4: throwing forty touchso that those are MVP type numbers, right,
Speaker 4: Go look at when Lamar Jackson won the MVP for Baltimore, right,
Speaker 4: he had thirty six touchdown passes and then obviously his
Speaker 4: rushing touchdowns as well. So I think you're talking MVP
Speaker 4: and MVP type of season when you're doing stuff a
Speaker 4: lot or minimum Offensive Player of the Year type of numbers,
Speaker 4: when you're putting up those type of figures, you know,
Speaker 4: at the quarterback position, I think is he capable of that?
Speaker 4: Of course he is, you know, but a lot of
Speaker 4: things got to come into place, and you know, I
Speaker 4: think there are easy goals for him. Won the fifty
Speaker 4: five sacks we all know have to come down. Those
Speaker 4: are not all on the offensive line. So if he
Speaker 4: can cut that number in half with the sack totals
Speaker 4: and then of course his you know, for me, I
Speaker 4: think a realistic number if he's thrown for a little
Speaker 4: over three thousand yards, you know, like thirty three hundred yards,
Speaker 4: thirty four hundred yards averaging like two hundred yards a game,
Speaker 4: I think that's realistic for him to be able to
Speaker 4: accomplish that, and then of course his turnovers, you know,
Speaker 4: those got to come down, you know, whether it's you
Speaker 4: know that he had sixteen fumbles last year, so minimum
Speaker 4: can you can you cut that number like it to
Speaker 4: be cut more than half. And I think those are
Speaker 4: all realistic goals for Justin Fields to be able to
Speaker 4: you know, to achieve in twenty twenty three. And if
Speaker 4: he does all of them, the Bears will win more games. Period,
Speaker 4: They'll win more games.
Speaker 2: I want to talk about something else I saw on
Speaker 2: Pro Football focused about Justin and just quarterbacks around the league,
Speaker 2: the checkdown rates. He had a five point three percent
Speaker 2: check down rate in twenty twenty two. Obviously, we know
Speaker 2: he was sacked at a high rate and a throwaway
Speaker 2: rate of five percent. Okay, we could look at those
Speaker 2: numbers and compare them, but the third lowest checkdown rate
Speaker 2: on third down. All the running quarterbacks like Jalen Hurts,
Speaker 2: Lamar Jackson didn't have any zero out of eighty one
Speaker 2: throws on checkdowns. But those checkdowns, though, can lead to
Speaker 2: maybe shorter line the gain on a fourth down, a
Speaker 2: better field position, or a tackle that breaks for a
Speaker 2: first down and That's why I want to get into
Speaker 2: a little bit about using the running backs more in
Speaker 2: the passing game than was the case last year. Do
Speaker 2: you think that will be on the plate this year.
Speaker 4: I hope it is. And I think you know, most
Speaker 4: quarterbacks when you do, especially in like when you're in
Speaker 4: a two minute mode, you know nowhere your checkedouts because
Speaker 4: you want to start off like a two minute drive
Speaker 4: with a positive play. So to me, like nine out
Speaker 4: of ten of my when we did two minute drives,
Speaker 4: most likely I was hitting the check down to get
Speaker 4: a positive play, just to generate momentum, you know, as
Speaker 4: the drive goes along. But yeah, stuff like you're saying,
Speaker 4: if you know you have an elusive back like the
Speaker 4: Bears do, I don't care who you pick. Khalil Herbert.
Speaker 4: You know him in space, He's an elusive guy. He's
Speaker 4: hard to tackle. And when you've got match up again
Speaker 4: its linebackers, you've got to be thinking those situations going
Speaker 4: into a game. So you know, like I mentioned that
Speaker 4: game against Green Bay where he got picked off by
Speaker 4: Jay R Alexander. That's a first down, first and tent
Speaker 4: throw that he made when it's just should have Ben Hay,
Speaker 4: He's not there, let me go to the checkdoun And
Speaker 4: it's just that, you know, simple of a decision where
Speaker 4: it keeps the drive alive, doesn't demoralize your team and
Speaker 4: destroy momentum for your team late in the game. And
Speaker 4: I think you'll start as a quarterback. The further you
Speaker 4: get along your career, you're thinking of situations like that.
Speaker 4: So you're, like you said, you're playing ahead of schedule,
Speaker 4: so to speak. All right, not there, just taking the
Speaker 4: checkdown and we'll live with second and say second and five,
Speaker 4: you know, and knowing it's a positive play at the end.
Speaker 4: And I think Justin will get there. I definitely think
Speaker 4: he's aware of it. Just when I listened to him
Speaker 4: in his postgame interviews. He sees the entire field and
Speaker 4: this guy did this, and I saw this guy do that,
Speaker 4: and you know, and I should have did this. And
Speaker 4: so he is self correcting himself. And I already witnessed
Speaker 4: him self correcting himself last year. So it'll be better,
Speaker 4: it'll be faster, and he'll be thinking those situations moving forward,
Speaker 4: I believe.
Speaker 2: And then Adams set up some deep balls and deep
Speaker 2: balls you know last year according to Pro Football Focus. Again,
Speaker 2: I think seven hundred deep passing yards. DJ Moore led
Speaker 2: Carolina in deep passing yards. He was eighth in the
Speaker 2: league last year, and we've talked about him last week
Speaker 2: being a first down to touchdown type of guy. Do
Speaker 2: you think that's a great pairing now because they're speed
Speaker 2: here involved and that should open things up if the
Speaker 2: running game remains the same and getting some deep ball accuracy.
Speaker 4: Yeah, because I think he's gaining trust in him. They're
Speaker 4: working their prore and you know, working to get their
Speaker 4: rapport and I think you know, Dj Moore is a
Speaker 4: guy that say, if it is double coverage, like the
Speaker 4: trust I had in Marty Booker, I was going to
Speaker 4: throw it up there and give Marty a chance.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I had to be accurate where I had to place
Speaker 4: the ball, but I knew what Marty could and could
Speaker 4: not do, which was he was great in manipulating his
Speaker 4: body and you know, arcing his body in certain ways
Speaker 4: where he's going to make an athletic play and come
Speaker 4: down with the ball. How many times have we seen
Speaker 4: it with Aaron Rodgers and DeVante Adams where you have
Speaker 4: that type of rapport in trust where all of a sudden,
Speaker 4: those guys are getting like one hundred and eighty targets
Speaker 4: in a season. I mean that is a lot of targets.
Speaker 4: And I would think DJ Moore is a guy who
Speaker 4: can command, you know, minimum, he should get over one
Speaker 4: hundred and twenty five in terms of his targets, and
Speaker 4: he'll probably have over one hundred receptions when it's all
Speaker 4: said and done. But that type of trust, you're going
Speaker 4: to give those guys more opportunities just because you trust
Speaker 4: them in double coverage in certain situations that they're going
Speaker 4: to come down with the ball.
Speaker 2: And next gen stats, this one, I guess shouldn't surprise me.
Speaker 2: I know the Dolphins are out about speed with Tyreek Kill,
Speaker 2: but because of justin last year, plays of twenty plus
Speaker 2: yards won, the offensive ball carrier reached twenty plus miles
Speaker 2: per hour, Tyreek kal ten justin fields nine the only
Speaker 2: players at more than six touches reaching twenty plus mile
Speaker 2: per hour. So the Bears and the Dolphins were the
Speaker 2: only two teams in the NFL with that number. Do
Speaker 2: you expect that to remain the same or will it
Speaker 2: increase with the increase in team speed For the Bears
Speaker 2: that they brought in on the offensive sound, well, I.
Speaker 4: Think it's going to increase just with the team speed
Speaker 4: they brought in. And certainly, you know, you just want
Speaker 4: to be careful with Justin because he even admitted that,
Speaker 4: you know, again self corrector imagine how many times he
Speaker 4: was cramping up right the one game he said, well,
Speaker 4: I just I dehydrate so fast. Now I'm getting ivs
Speaker 4: every game, So he'll have to monitor that. And again,
Speaker 4: you don't want to wear him down as he rolls along,
Speaker 4: So you're probably going to modify the amount of carries,
Speaker 4: you know, and just based week to week on how
Speaker 4: his body's feeling and all those type of things where
Speaker 4: maybe one week he's incorporated more than another week. That's
Speaker 4: what the Bills do quite a bit with Josh Allen.
Speaker 4: I think you're going to monitor at with Justin Field
Speaker 4: throughout the entire year because you certainly don't want him
Speaker 4: breaking down. You know, another issue that he hurdle he
Speaker 4: needs to get over is getting banged up right the
Speaker 4: dings and the where he's missing time here and there
Speaker 4: due to just some Nixon bruises that come along with
Speaker 4: the territory.
Speaker 2: All right, when we come back, well here from Khalil
Speaker 2: Herbert from last week's Ota sessions talk about how he
Speaker 2: views his off season and getting better. We'll also here
Speaker 2: from Kyler Gordon to Knight and Dave Borganzi on the
Speaker 2: Bears new linebackers. We'll talk edge rushers and try to
Speaker 2: bring Tom Thayer and have some technical difficulties here at
Speaker 2: the moment. We'll get it straightened out and be back
Speaker 2: with you here on Bears Weekly with John, Jim Miller,
Speaker 2: and Tom.
Speaker 3: There.
Speaker 2: I'm Jeff Joniak here on ESPN one thousand and the
Speaker 2: Bears Radio Network.
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Speaker 2: Jeff Jonniyak, Jim Miller, and Tom Payer now on the
Speaker 2: phone line. Got some gremlins tonight, Big Tom. We're working
Speaker 2: through it, but we got you.
Speaker 5: You know, Jeff, I'm the worst person to have technical
Speaker 5: errors with because I'm the most difficult person to try
Speaker 5: to get him figured out. So I'll contribute in any
Speaker 5: way I can.
Speaker 2: I know, and that's that's called teamwork. Jim Miller, Right, Yeah,
Speaker 2: we've all been through it. We've all been through it.
Speaker 4: Tom's a good teammate man. You know, he wasn't gonna
Speaker 4: miss out on this game. You know that he doesn't
Speaker 4: miss games.
Speaker 2: Oh no, he does not not miss games. So we
Speaker 2: touched on Justin in that first segment. And we've talked
Speaker 2: about this a lot, but I want to talk about
Speaker 2: the running backs. And this goes back to what you
Speaker 2: keep talking about too, you know, getting the ball to them.
Speaker 2: You talk about that David Montgomery played first game of
Speaker 2: the season, get the ball to him and you know,
Speaker 2: get things running. You know, last season, just getting the
Speaker 2: ball to the backs. I envision it better. Montgomery was
Speaker 2: targeted forty times, thirty four catches through under sixteen yards.
Speaker 2: Khali Herbert just twelve targets, nine catches fifty seven yards.
Speaker 3: Can this change here in twenty twenty three, Timmy.
Speaker 5: It's got to change it, But it's got to kind
Speaker 5: of change with a mindset from Justin fields, because I
Speaker 5: believe Justin has such high belief in his running skills
Speaker 5: that he's almost disappointed when he has to check it
Speaker 5: down because he can turn a possible checkdown route into
Speaker 5: however many yards it's going to get to every time
Speaker 5: he gets into the second level of the defense, that
Speaker 5: could turn into a touchdown. So but in all fairness
Speaker 5: to Justin's safety, Beer talking about the first sack of
Speaker 5: the year that Justin took last year should have been
Speaker 5: a simple out route to Dave Montgomery. Instead, he took
Speaker 5: an awkward hit that resulted in the stack. And you
Speaker 5: know the analytics of job a drive resulting in a
Speaker 5: score when there's a sack involved. So I look at it,
Speaker 5: you know, selfishly for Justin's safety, but I also think
Speaker 5: that they have a slew of good receivers that are
Speaker 5: gonna are going to be fighting for time in training camp.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, it's gonna be fun to spread that ball around.
Speaker 2: Don't forget the tight end position either, Khalil Herbert. Last
Speaker 2: year we forget or maybe we don't. Jim he led
Speaker 2: the NFL five point seven yards of carry at the
Speaker 2: running back position, just the running back position in twenty
Speaker 2: twenty two is second season.
Speaker 3: That's good stuff right there.
Speaker 4: Yeah. I don't think it's you know, with the adjustments
Speaker 4: on their offensive line, you know, I do think their
Speaker 4: goal is why can't they lead the league in rushing? Again,
Speaker 4: I think they're better upfront with drafting Darnell Right, moving
Speaker 4: Cody White here back to center, so minimum that should
Speaker 4: be their goal. Again, I don't see any drop off
Speaker 4: that they'll run the ball any worse, But I do
Speaker 4: think there are opportunities in the past game with those
Speaker 4: guys out of the backfield, you know, with Herbert, who
Speaker 4: I think is more than capable of doing it. I
Speaker 4: think Rashawn Johnson, who they drafted, even though he's a
Speaker 4: bigger back, I do think Foreman and him still have
Speaker 4: the ability to do that. And a lot of times
Speaker 4: when we're talking checkdowns, it doesn't just mean it's the back,
Speaker 4: you know. It could mean, you know, like when you've
Speaker 4: got a level principal or x shallow cross principle, you
Speaker 4: know you can have your third receiver is ultimately going
Speaker 4: to be your checkdown. That maybe is just you know,
Speaker 4: crossing the field and sits down at the opposite hash
Speaker 4: mark where that could be your third checkdown. So there
Speaker 4: are going to be numerous outlets where he can get
Speaker 4: to a checkdown that Again, I think guys are capable
Speaker 4: of doing it can make a guy miss and break
Speaker 4: a tackle and get a big positive play, and it's
Speaker 4: all just by you know, throwing not even what is
Speaker 4: essentially a five yard pass. I mean, let's face it,
Speaker 4: some of those bubble screens are thrown behind a line
Speaker 4: of scrimmage and can end up being a plus ten gainer,
Speaker 4: plus fifteen gainer. We've seen plays like that go to
Speaker 4: the house on just a short pass play.
Speaker 2: All right, So, if I'm not mistaken, in your two
Speaker 2: thousand and one season and the time you spent with
Speaker 2: the Bears beyond that, the shallow cross was big, right, Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 2: it certainly was.
Speaker 3: I remember that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we did. We do a lot of X shallow
Speaker 4: cross because it's a good quarters coverage beater. Like we
Speaker 4: must have ran the play, like I think we went
Speaker 4: up to Green Bay and ran the xhall clock cross.
Speaker 4: It must. We must called it eight to ten times
Speaker 4: in that game, and Marty Booker or Des White would
Speaker 4: get it and they'd split. It was perfect because the
Speaker 4: linebackers are basically vacated because they're taking the second level
Speaker 4: players and then that X shallow comes wide open and
Speaker 4: your outside receiver has already driven off that quarters coverage
Speaker 4: so there becames comes like a little lane where you
Speaker 4: just it's a five yard pass, but yet Marty Booker
Speaker 4: would I think minimum, we got like twelve yards after
Speaker 4: the catch on every single one of those. And so
Speaker 4: there are just level principles where you're just attacking different
Speaker 4: levels of the defense and they're very effective and it
Speaker 4: makes them cover quite a bit of quite a bit
Speaker 4: of area space that they've got to be prepared for.
Speaker 5: You know, one thing we can't ignore either is, you know,
Speaker 5: we really aren't gonna get the pass protection revealed to
Speaker 5: us until the first week of the regular season because
Speaker 5: they're not going to play enough time to gather during
Speaker 5: the preseason. You're not going to see it really live
Speaker 5: and practice, and you're gonna, you know, see a lot
Speaker 5: of different combinations of those groups. And I think when
Speaker 5: you talk about the efficiency the effectiveness of where you
Speaker 5: want to throw the ball, a lot of it is
Speaker 5: the quarterback is confident in his time of protection. I
Speaker 5: think that's going to be huge and helping the quarterback too.
Speaker 2: Also, the Khalil Herbert, our guy that was at the
Speaker 2: podium last week for the OTA availability for the media,
Speaker 2: I touched down a couple of things about what he's
Speaker 2: working on. One of them is just pass protection and
Speaker 2: he builds from there.
Speaker 6: You got to be all the every down back, So
Speaker 6: that's a big that's a big part of it. And
Speaker 6: it's something I worked on throughout this offseason. And you know,
Speaker 6: I don't I don't know what in compared to the
Speaker 6: other guys, but it's something that I've been working on
Speaker 6: a fix. So punching, punching bags, boxing. I did boxing
Speaker 6: this offseason just to work on my punch time and
Speaker 6: different things like that. You know, everybody's different, but that's
Speaker 6: what I try to working on and help me. I'm
Speaker 6: just approaching it a comp you know, every day, got
Speaker 6: to compete, got to compete, and I come up with
Speaker 6: the mindset. You know, obviously I want to be the starter.
Speaker 6: So just coming with the mindset of leading and doing
Speaker 6: what I gotta do, and you know, doing what I
Speaker 6: do every day that I've been doing, and you know,
Speaker 6: I feel like things will work out.
Speaker 5: So, you know, I think this most of one of
Speaker 5: the most important elements. If you do want to consider
Speaker 5: yourself have the league consider you a three down back,
Speaker 5: it's because of your ability to protect against linebackers, blitzers,
Speaker 5: from the outside or even from the third level, and
Speaker 5: so I do think that's one of the hindrances of
Speaker 5: Khalil being that next level back if he can come
Speaker 5: in there and stand up against his pass protection responsibilities
Speaker 5: not only on third down, but first and second down.
Speaker 5: When you get a team that likes to attack a lot,
Speaker 5: and I think that will be you know, you know,
Speaker 5: heavily involved in the total evaluation of Khalil.
Speaker 2: Hey, Jim, guys coming out of college, you know, very
Speaker 2: few are ready for past protection. You'll you'll get some
Speaker 2: scouting reports on guys that are and they've had plenty
Speaker 2: of experience at it, but typically it takes a year
Speaker 2: or two to get your your feet under you to
Speaker 2: really understand what you have to do and deal with
Speaker 2: those bigger bodies coming at you in the league. I
Speaker 2: also want to talk about this aspect of things with
Speaker 2: Khalil because he was asked last week, you know, uh,
Speaker 2: do you have anything to prove? And he goes, I mean,
Speaker 2: he kind of chuckled. He said, I don't have anything
Speaker 2: to prove. I believe in myself and I want to
Speaker 2: be the starting back and I know there's a lot
Speaker 2: of competition here and I do think they're gonna spread
Speaker 2: spread the wealth around, and you know, guys are gonna
Speaker 2: emerge at different aspects of games like he did last year.
Speaker 2: You go to the hot hand and they got Roshawn Johnson,
Speaker 2: and boy is he impressive. He looks impressive. He he
Speaker 2: is totally driven to be something special. And Dante Foreman
Speaker 2: from last year terrific end of season, stayed healthy and
Speaker 2: I had a great, great, great season there in Carolina.
Speaker 2: So and there's other guys too, there's other guys fighting
Speaker 2: for time.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Well, I think for Khalil, I do I think he
Speaker 4: can be in every down back. I don't think the
Speaker 4: Bears want to use him in that capacity because, like
Speaker 4: you mentioned, you got the big guys who are I
Speaker 4: always call him the meat tender risers. And then you've
Speaker 4: got the burst of speed by Khalil Herbert. Because one
Speaker 4: thing that I've noticed about him as a runner, one
Speaker 4: he's extremely patient. He's got great vision, but he's got
Speaker 4: that second gear that just that little bit more burst
Speaker 4: of juice than say David Montgomery, where I thought at
Speaker 4: the second level, he's got another gear where he can
Speaker 4: take it, you know, just for more consistent explosive runs
Speaker 4: at the end of the day. But like you said's
Speaker 4: if he's a hot hand in the game, that's typically
Speaker 4: what you're going to go with, you know, and if
Speaker 4: he's feeling it in one game and you know, offensive
Speaker 4: cordator Luke Getzi just says, hey, man, let's just stick
Speaker 4: with Herbert. He's got a great drive going here. There's
Speaker 4: no sense in pulling them out. And normally that can
Speaker 4: lead to it just a great game where he gets
Speaker 4: more opportunities. Maybe that particular week could be Week seven,
Speaker 4: could be Week ten, could be Week five, team whichever
Speaker 4: it is, and you'll stick with the hot guy.
Speaker 5: You know. One thing about pass protection now, at the
Speaker 5: running back, Let's be realistic about it. It's not the
Speaker 5: requirements of an offensive line what they need to, you know,
Speaker 5: protect a quarterback for three or three plus seconds. A
Speaker 5: running back has to come up and you know stop,
Speaker 5: you know, have a stalemate against a blitzing linebacker, be
Speaker 5: able to rush at defensive back to the outside and
Speaker 5: widen the pocket. So you know, in terms of Khalil,
Speaker 5: he can do everything that's required of him. It's just
Speaker 5: about making sure that you have the courage to stand
Speaker 5: in there. And create that stalemate against sometimes, you know,
Speaker 5: a bigger bodied linebacker.
Speaker 2: At times, I like you threw boxing in there. You know,
Speaker 2: Jason McKee did that as a player as well. He
Speaker 2: felt helped. They're not the same footwork, obviously in the
Speaker 2: two sports brad Bigs outline that this week in the
Speaker 2: Tribune and a nice story about Khalil by any means necessary,
Speaker 2: you know, work on whatever to get your your hands
Speaker 2: and feet married up at any position in the league.
Speaker 2: And and listen, I don't know, I know you just
Speaker 2: lifted weights, Tom, I don't know what else you did.
Speaker 2: I don't know did you Did you run at all
Speaker 2: in the off season? Did you try all these things?
Speaker 3: Wait? Did you try wait?
Speaker 2: Wait, wait wait, I know you loved the weight room,
Speaker 2: But did you try other things as you got older
Speaker 2: in your career to fine tune or just try something different?
Speaker 3: It was it all about the weight room.
Speaker 5: It was all about Clyde Emeric because what Clyde Emerck
Speaker 5: was able to teach you inside the weight room and
Speaker 5: the inner the competitiveness in a friendly way amongst everybody
Speaker 5: on the team, and the way we encouraged each other
Speaker 5: to be strong. But he also had a variety of
Speaker 5: running tools that we got we did out in the field,
Speaker 5: and a lot of them they don't use today, But
Speaker 5: I think the way Clyde incorporated them, you were more
Speaker 5: realistic of the requirements of the positions in the way
Speaker 5: it helped you. So, like what so we had a
Speaker 5: thing called woes and goes wend the goal line in
Speaker 5: the three point stance, whatever your stance was, and then
Speaker 5: you sprinted that next twenty yards. You got back in
Speaker 5: a stance, so you're up and down, you're out of
Speaker 5: your stance, you're pushing off with your calves. You're doing
Speaker 5: things that you do every single day in football in
Speaker 5: terms of breaking the huddle, getting a line of scrimmage,
Speaker 5: getting in your stance, and using your stance as a weapon.
Speaker 5: And then we had these ropes that we used to
Speaker 5: run through, and we used to have a variety of
Speaker 5: different ways that whoever was leading that day or who
Speaker 5: was ever leading that session could do a lot of
Speaker 5: different a lot of versatility. And you were picking your
Speaker 5: feet up high off the ground and you know, creating
Speaker 5: balance and creating strength and creating organized conditioning that was
Speaker 5: going to help you in the sport. So those are
Speaker 5: just a couple of things that if you go back
Speaker 5: and you get the generations that were raised by Clyde
Speaker 5: over at Hallis Hall, you can see how a beneficial
Speaker 5: all those things that we did throughout our career.
Speaker 2: And here, Jim I thought Woes and Ghost was ahato
Speaker 2: of my autobiography coming out after my career. I didn't
Speaker 2: know that, did you? Did you incorporate new things? Did
Speaker 2: you seek out quarterback coaches beyond the ones that you
Speaker 2: are employed by to try to enhance your game as
Speaker 2: you got older in the career.
Speaker 4: No, I never did that. I did a lot of
Speaker 4: the stuff on my own, like for strengthening my shoulder
Speaker 4: and stuff and things like that. But one thing I
Speaker 4: did incorporate is similar to what Tom did you know,
Speaker 4: for any player of the Bears, I would keep every
Speaker 4: script through, say the OTAs. Why would I do that,
Speaker 4: because then you'd go home and I'd say, all right,
Speaker 4: I'm going to go back through this practice and I'm
Speaker 4: gonna now I'm going to simulate every single play myself.
Speaker 4: So you're getting an actual physical rep. Like you said,
Speaker 4: you had call out the play, you act like you're
Speaker 4: breaking the huddle. You go up to the line of scrimmage,
Speaker 4: you run out all the mechanics of that play in
Speaker 4: full speed. And yeah, it could be with the high
Speaker 4: school kids or wherever I'm at, I tell what to
Speaker 4: do or whatever, but you're simulating that play and it
Speaker 4: simulates football because that's how you're going to get into
Speaker 4: football shape, right, is playing football. And so I would
Speaker 4: I would go through every single one of those scripts,
Speaker 4: and you know, whatever the OTAs are. Maybe you get
Speaker 4: in the thirty forty to fifty plays in a script
Speaker 4: and just go out there and basically get another practice.
Speaker 4: But yet you're gearing yourself and conditioning yourself for football,
Speaker 4: but yet still challenging yourself for all the mental aspects
Speaker 4: of reading coverages and where to throw the ball and
Speaker 4: going through your reads and your mechanics and your footwork
Speaker 4: and all those type of things. And to me, that
Speaker 4: was just one simple thing that I started to implement
Speaker 4: in my preparation for training camp leading up towards the
Speaker 4: end of my career.
Speaker 2: Time for a break coming up next down the other
Speaker 2: side will be joined by Adam Rank from NFL Network
Speaker 2: with Tom Behren Jim Miller.
Speaker 3: This is Bears Weekly on the Bears Radio Network.
Speaker 1: Is Bear's weekly with a voice of the Bears for
Speaker 1: twenty three years just on the Bears Radio Network.
Speaker 2: Hey you want VP access to every Bears home game,
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Speaker 3: Moving the Chains.
Speaker 2: Former Bears quarterback Jim Miller and my Super Bowl Guard
Speaker 2: broadcast partner Tom Thayer A fellas Tremaine Edmunds a guy
Speaker 2: we're gonna be talking a lot about t J Edwards
Speaker 2: as well at the linebacker position. Last week, dipped into
Speaker 2: a conversation with the media with linebackers coach Dave Borgonzi.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean, look at linebackers, you're involved in the
Speaker 7: run in the past, so you know, whether we're blitzing
Speaker 7: or we're in coverage or we're playing against the run.
Speaker 7: I think it all kind of works hand in hand.
Speaker 7: But there's definitely, you know, ways we can use him.
Speaker 7: He's a unique you know, Tremain's he's big, he's athletic,
Speaker 7: he's physical, and he's really smart. So you know, it's
Speaker 7: it's gonna be fun to use him in different ways.
Speaker 7: His sizes that allow you to do anything differently in
Speaker 7: the middle of the field. No, not really. I mean
Speaker 7: we're gonna We're gonna do what we do. And uh,
Speaker 7: they've had a pretty big linebacker here before. I heard
Speaker 7: who were number fifty four and he's sixty four and change,
Speaker 7: and so yeah, I mean, look, when you play a
Speaker 7: lot of his own defense and you're six four and
Speaker 7: a half, you could take up a lot of space
Speaker 7: and fill up windows and zone coverages. So it definitely
Speaker 7: helps the coverage part of it because he is such
Speaker 7: a big person.
Speaker 2: Would you describe how those edwards also just they've jumped
Speaker 2: out and hey, this is our defense now.
Speaker 7: I mean yeah, So, like both of those guys have
Speaker 7: played a lot of football. TJ came out in twenty seventeen,
Speaker 7: Turmain came out in twenty eighteen, and so they've seen
Speaker 7: a lot. This is a different system, but there's a
Speaker 7: lot of similarities to where they were at before. So
Speaker 7: I think there was a lot of carryover. And I
Speaker 7: think they were able to come in and understand it
Speaker 7: right away and play fast, and they're both really smart
Speaker 7: and they both take their job really serious. So I
Speaker 7: think it's it's been really good at the linebacker room,
Speaker 7: but also just for the defense to see how those
Speaker 7: guys approach it. Evins is really young for his age,
Speaker 7: so he sourn. He just turned twenty five. He came
Speaker 7: to the league when he was nineteen, so you know
Speaker 7: this is gonna be his sixth season. So he just
Speaker 7: turned twenty five in May. I believe he was May.
Speaker 7: He just turned twenty five. I think it was May. Anyways. Yeah,
Speaker 7: so he's young, and he's played a lot of football,
Speaker 7: and he's he's been really durable. I think he's only
Speaker 7: missed seven games in five years, so he still you know,
Speaker 7: has a lot of good football in front of him.
Speaker 2: And you throw at Jack Sambourne in there too, and
Speaker 2: the competition from the young guys Jim.
Speaker 3: Just the presence of Edmunds over the middle.
Speaker 2: What does that mean to a quarterback, especially those eyes
Speaker 2: on the shorter side when you see that big, angular
Speaker 2: body with long arms in the middle of the field.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and he's been a green dot guy since he
Speaker 4: arrived in the NFL. I remember when he arrived in
Speaker 4: Buffalo and even Sean McDermott said he picked up everything
Speaker 4: very quickly. You know, this guy was their green dot.
Speaker 4: He called all their plays reacts quickly. He's played a
Speaker 4: lot of football, Like you said, he's matured quite a
Speaker 4: bit as well, and he was already a mature kid
Speaker 4: then when he came to the league, which is hard
Speaker 4: to believe, it was as young as what he was.
Speaker 4: And so I think both him and Edwards have that experience.
Speaker 4: They'll pick up this defense quickly. They are fast, reactive
Speaker 4: players that I think fit in nicely with the Bear
Speaker 4: scheme and what they want to do defensively, and I
Speaker 4: think they'll be They'll be counted on, you know, that
Speaker 4: is a strong part of the defense, I think is
Speaker 4: the secondary and the linebacker group, and I think we're
Speaker 4: still waiting to see where the pass rush will be,
Speaker 4: but they'll be counted on to be good, really good players.
Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, Jim, you said it is you know,
Speaker 5: what is their a relationship and how is it going
Speaker 5: to develop with the defensive line, because if you think
Speaker 5: of the defensive lines and the teams that they just
Speaker 5: came from, and how deep and experience, how good of
Speaker 5: productive defensive lines they were, if the Bears can kind
Speaker 5: of formulate a plan to get a rotation of fresh
Speaker 5: bodies guys that have different types of traits during the
Speaker 5: reps that they get to play. That's going to be
Speaker 5: the best thing that linebackers can have is that quality
Speaker 5: defensive line in front of them, that the offensive line
Speaker 5: is more concerned about the initial line of scrimmage than
Speaker 5: they are the linebackers and can give those guys a
Speaker 5: little bit more freedom. So I think throughout training camp,
Speaker 5: you know a lot of the individual drills that they do,
Speaker 5: and the teamwork drills they do, and the mechanic works
Speaker 5: they work they do. It's going to be interesting to
Speaker 5: pay attention because the linebackers, as great as their careers
Speaker 5: have been up into this point, they'll be as good
Speaker 5: as their defensive line plays.
Speaker 2: Also, quick check of the day's news and a trip
Speaker 2: around the league coming up in our next segment with
Speaker 2: jimmar and Tom Thayer. This is Jeff Joniyak and this
Speaker 2: is Bears Weekly on AM one thousand and the Bears
Speaker 2: Radio Network.
Speaker 1: This is Bear's Weekly with a voice of the Bears
Speaker 1: for twenty three years, Jeff Jony the Bears Radio Network.
Speaker 2: This segment of Bears Weekly is brought to you buys
Speaker 2: cv W people to get it. A couple of minutes
Speaker 2: to go, So our quick whip around, I'll start with
Speaker 2: Tom Thayer news on Leonard Floyd, the ex Beair now
Speaker 2: at Buffalo bill one year deal.
Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, he's had nice acts for more in
Speaker 5: each of the last three years. They need an opposite
Speaker 5: book end of von Miller, depending upon how he'll return
Speaker 5: from the injury. I think it's a good sign for
Speaker 5: Buffalo and.
Speaker 3: A sixty eight million dollar extension for ed Oliver. Jim Miller.
Speaker 4: Yeah, talked to their defensive line coach and said, hey,
Speaker 4: if he just learns to be more reactive from the
Speaker 4: neck up, you know, and just think about more situational play.
Speaker 4: This is an explosive guy who can get upfield. And
Speaker 4: again he's always had a good defensive line rotation around him,
Speaker 4: but you know, not up there with the guys like
Speaker 4: Doron Payne. You know, we'll get the the ninety million
Speaker 4: dollar deals, but certainly at Oliver was rewarded handsomely.
Speaker 3: Jim quickly.
Speaker 2: I think this was the NFL Next Gen stats turnovers
Speaker 2: forced by pressure by players Number one since twenty seventeen
Speaker 2: is Miles Garrett with twenty four, but Yunikin Gockway second
Speaker 2: with nineteen.
Speaker 3: Should the Bears be.
Speaker 4: Interested, Absolutely, they should be talking to him. He sounds
Speaker 4: like he wants to play for a contender. Don't know
Speaker 4: if the Bears would be on his radar screen, but hey,
Speaker 4: it never hurts to play a phone call because he's
Speaker 4: a good football.
Speaker 2: Player and dirt has been dug for the new stadium
Speaker 2: in Buffalo.
Speaker 3: Tommy Today, you know.
Speaker 5: That's a landmark move by a historic franchise. I don't
Speaker 5: know how they're gonna take it. Better be it better
Speaker 5: be a grand palace.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it looks like it will be. That's gonna do it, Fellas.
Speaker 2: We'll talk to you next week.
Speaker 4: Thanks, Jimmy, sounds good, my friend.
Speaker 3: That's Tom Fahyer. I'm Jeff Jonnyeck.
Speaker 2: Thanks to Adam Rank from NFL Network, Eric Ostrowski, our
Speaker 2: executive producer of the Bears Radio Network, Hendra Smith, and
Speaker 2: Justin Potten juring the ESPN one thousand studios for Dan Brilliant.
Speaker 3: Jordan Treadup as well. We'll talk to you next week.
Speaker 3: Stay tuned. Jeff Miller, Taller, Rocky Next, have a good night, everybody.
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to the Chicago Bears Network presentation
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