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Speaker 2: Here are your.
Speaker 3: Hosts, Jeff Chiliac aka the Mayor of Bearsville and is
Speaker 3: sidekick Tom the Surfmaster Thayer.
Speaker 4: Well.
Speaker 5: A week after holding a sixteen year.
Speaker 6: Veteran quarterback Matthew Stafford and the NI Rams down, the
Speaker 6: Bears will need to do the same against say, fourteen
Speaker 6: year veteran a quarterback and their former teammate Andy Dalton
Speaker 6: and the Carolina Panthers. Everybody, It's the Voice of the
Speaker 6: Bears Jeff Jonahek with Tom Thayer loaded with interviews tonight
Speaker 6: on Bears Weekly. Coming up, We've got Bears quarterback Caleb
Speaker 6: Williams and our sit down for Sunday morning at ten
Speaker 6: thirty and our TV partner Fox thirty two Chicago and
Speaker 6: Bears Game Day Live plus The Versatile Offensive Live and
Speaker 6: Matt Pryor joins Tom and I. And then we visit
Speaker 6: with seven time Pro Bowl linebacker that Alt Luke Keikley
Speaker 6: a member of the Panthers radio broadcast crew. Our weekly
Speaker 6: divert to the Bears coordinators today at the podium, and
Speaker 6: we've got Kevin z Pak in our ESPN studios thanks
Speaker 6: to Dan Brilliant, Jordan tread Up from the Bears, and
Speaker 6: our executive producer the Bears Radio Network is Eric Ostrosi.
Speaker 7: Good evening, Tom Thayer, Big Jeff. You know, it's kind
Speaker 7: of an interesting battle this week. You know, you do
Speaker 7: have Andy Dalton has got a lot of experience at
Speaker 7: the quarterback position, along with a lot of.
Speaker 5: Success last week.
Speaker 7: There's a lot of injuries on the Los Angeles Rams
Speaker 7: offense that the Bears defense were able to take advantage
Speaker 7: of in kind.
Speaker 5: Of overpower at the most important times.
Speaker 7: Now you're going to face a team that's got a
Speaker 7: lot of injuries on the defensive side of the ball.
Speaker 7: So the offense has to take another major step forward
Speaker 7: in their improvements like they showed last week to get
Speaker 7: the Rams. They need to show equal improvement against the
Speaker 7: Carolina Panthers.
Speaker 6: Yep, and they've been improving every week. Caleb Williams his
Speaker 6: numbers improving every week. The Bear's injury report something new
Speaker 6: every week, so Tevin Jenkins, of course, after eleven leaving
Speaker 6: the game last week, limited today with those sore ribs,
Speaker 6: so he did not practice on Wednesday. Back on the
Speaker 6: field today a new edition time, Davon Dexter with a
Speaker 6: sore hip, DeAndre Carter's still nursing some ribs, Monteste Sweat
Speaker 6: ankle all limited, Andterrell Smith, Zach Picking still not practicing
Speaker 6: overall thoughts, you know, you.
Speaker 7: Know, that's part of the makeup now of the NFL.
Speaker 7: If there is anything that presents itself as any type
Speaker 7: of injury or set back, they're going to keep you
Speaker 7: out of practice and let you be as fresh as
Speaker 7: you possibly can on Sunday. So conversely, you look at
Speaker 7: the Carolina Panthers injury report and it's I don't know,
Speaker 7: I didn't count the amount of people on there, but
Speaker 7: it's significantly more than the Bears. But then again, the
Speaker 7: Bears development of their depth throughout this entire ota in preseason.
Speaker 7: Every one of these guys that will get a chance
Speaker 7: to get a couple extra reps, they should be chopping
Speaker 7: at the bit for their opportunity.
Speaker 6: Let's tag end to the coordinators to start with Shane
Speaker 6: Waldren on his view of the Bears off that came
Speaker 6: to life with some balance in the passing game. The
Speaker 6: short passing game of Caleb Williams was on the money,
Speaker 6: and then the running game also cranked up. DeAndre Swift
Speaker 6: had himself a day.
Speaker 8: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I think the combination of playing efficient in the run
Speaker 4: game that our guys were really started to feel the
Speaker 4: run game staying in phase, running backs, O line, so
Speaker 4: we're getting positive plays in those. And then also the
Speaker 4: element of shot call doesn't always mean shot taken. If
Speaker 4: you know defense makes a good call on a play.
Speaker 4: Cale did a really nice job of, you know, taking
Speaker 4: a checkdown to Swift and then all of a sudden
Speaker 4: it goes now from a first and tent to another
Speaker 4: first and ten on a checkdown. We know, you know,
Speaker 4: explosives will happen within the context of the game, but
Speaker 4: playing efficient football, you know, that's what's going to lead
Speaker 4: us to playing good, complimentary football, and that was that
Speaker 4: drive was a really primary example of that. I think
Speaker 4: for him, Cale's done a nice job of seeing what
Speaker 4: the defense presents and taking what the play gives them right.
Speaker 4: You know, the week earlier had a chance to get
Speaker 4: rolling down the sideline explosive play action, another one on
Speaker 4: the deep cross because it was the look that was
Speaker 4: was theretion allowed it. And so I think moving forward,
Speaker 4: it's about not pressing to find big plays, not pressing
Speaker 4: to find explosives, letting them occur within the context of
Speaker 4: what the defense is showing each individual snap. You know,
Speaker 4: I think defenses do a nice job, you know, mixing
Speaker 4: and matching coverage contours in front structures, you know, more
Speaker 4: than ever in the league. And so that balance of
Speaker 4: getting the ball out when it is a deep to
Speaker 4: short defensive structure and maybe we had a shot called,
Speaker 4: you know, just like referencing that drive, it keeps us
Speaker 4: on pace and then when those shots are there, you know,
Speaker 4: just keep doing a good job of being on you know,
Speaker 4: being in rhythm starts with protection, starts with everything that
Speaker 4: goes into that, not just the quarterback, you know, receivers,
Speaker 4: running backs, tight ends, all connected into those plays and
Speaker 4: being efficient which will lead to shots down the field.
Speaker 3: What do you think Calobs made their greatest stride the
Speaker 3: last couple of weeks.
Speaker 4: I think going back to that point this this past week,
Speaker 4: you know, there was multiple chances here, especially on some
Speaker 4: of the second and longer situations where you know, took
Speaker 4: a nice completion of roam on a shallow cross where
Speaker 4: Rome's able to take a five yard complete and turn
Speaker 4: it into a ten yard game right there, Another one
Speaker 4: to swift, another one to keenan. So we had different
Speaker 4: chances there where, along with a couple of checkdowns on
Speaker 4: some play actions where he did a really good job
Speaker 4: of staying clean against uh, you know, whatever defensive front
Speaker 4: structure was oc current on those plays, getting the ball
Speaker 4: out of his hand and letting those guys go to
Speaker 4: work right there. And so then it'll be the you know,
Speaker 4: the next step is you know that balance of that
Speaker 4: versus you know, when's the time to go down the
Speaker 4: field with some of the throws, And.
Speaker 5: Certainly we're looking for that.
Speaker 6: But I like what Caleb said on Monday, and we
Speaker 6: talked about Tuesday, Tuesday, No, Wednesday, wednes Wednesday, Wednesday.
Speaker 5: I gotta get my days right.
Speaker 6: But you and I talked about on our podcast on
Speaker 6: Tuesday about the idea of just you know, if things
Speaker 6: are cooking, let's get to the line of scrimmage and
Speaker 6: gooshit and go let's just keep ryan, whether it's the
Speaker 6: run of the pass, keep it, keep the rhythm and
Speaker 6: that's what Caleb wants.
Speaker 5: You know, Caleb wantson.
Speaker 7: But I think when you look at DeAndre Swift, up
Speaker 7: until last week, he was averaging two point six yards
Speaker 7: per touch. Last week he had seven point two yards
Speaker 7: per touch. And now that makes a point of an
Speaker 7: ephesis for the defensive coordinator of have awareness of what
Speaker 7: DeAndre Swift is able to do, and then it kind
Speaker 7: of opens opportunities for every other member of the Bears
Speaker 7: team that can touch the football. So if you do
Speaker 7: have what kalb is seeing correctly and then you have
Speaker 7: a player that has some explosive plays, I think you
Speaker 7: can create more explosive opportunities and then be willing to
Speaker 7: take that check down that he's talking about. That was
Speaker 7: an important checkdown that DeAndre Swith is able to get
Speaker 7: out of bounds, stop the clock and get a first down.
Speaker 6: What they have to do is absolutely eliminate the negative place.
Speaker 6: And you know, whether it be a first down penalty,
Speaker 6: a first down sack, a negative run, anything, any type
Speaker 6: of negative play that's going to star a drive out.
Speaker 6: You just this is a culmination, obviously of a lot
Speaker 6: of hard work, and you don't want to ruin your
Speaker 6: work that you put in the course of the week
Speaker 6: with just a negative place.
Speaker 8: You know, negative plays will happen.
Speaker 7: I just don't want things like false start or for
Speaker 7: lineup penalties, because they had one last week where they
Speaker 7: called the penalty and Darnell Wright for being the end
Speaker 7: man on the line of scrimmage, and that's not Darnell, right,
Speaker 7: that's a receiver's obligation to be lined up correctly. And
Speaker 7: then they have a couple of false starts. One thing
Speaker 7: you do as an offensive player is you become you
Speaker 7: repeat the snapcount coming out of the huddle, and you
Speaker 7: repeat it to yourself as many times as you need it,
Speaker 7: so then you don't become susceptible to jumping, especially when
Speaker 7: you're at home. And one of the things that kind
Speaker 7: of has my radar up this week is Carolina adjusts
Speaker 7: their fronts at the line of scrimmage.
Speaker 8: So be.
Speaker 7: Camp exactly, and if you get caught up in listening
Speaker 7: to their calls instead of just paying attention to the caleb,
Speaker 7: then you become susceptible to those kind of jumps. And
Speaker 7: then you've had a couple of changes on the interior
Speaker 7: of the offensive line, and they're the closest point to
Speaker 7: that command center.
Speaker 6: The good news is the Bears have offensively twelve first
Speaker 6: downs by penalties by the opposition. That's tied for first
Speaker 6: in the NFL with two other teams. All right, let's
Speaker 6: slitch it over now to Eric Washington, the Bears defensive coordinator.
Speaker 6: Always comes out strong. Tom at the podium. He's like
Speaker 6: a CEO. The state of the team, State of the
Speaker 6: Carolina Panthers from the big Man, and it also includes
Speaker 6: running back to Ba Hubbard, the player the Bears got
Speaker 6: a tackle on Sunday.
Speaker 9: The star of this offense, in my opinion, is the
Speaker 9: offensive line and the running back that the production, especially
Speaker 9: with the outside zone concepts, those things are fantastic. They
Speaker 9: do a great job of blocking movement concepts up front
Speaker 9: protecting the quarterback. This is an experienced single caller, Andy Dalton.
Speaker 9: He's played in a lot of big games, been in
Speaker 9: a lot of situations that will lend itself toward him
Speaker 9: being able to be efficient as far as directing this offense.
Speaker 9: And obviously we had a chance to compete against the
Speaker 9: head coach, which is a signal caller as a play caller.
Speaker 8: Excuse me.
Speaker 9: Last year when we played Tampa Bay be a great
Speaker 9: challenge for us.
Speaker 8: We're looking forward to it.
Speaker 9: We've had a couple of really good days of preparation
Speaker 9: going into this afternoon, and we're looking forward to the challenge.
Speaker 9: The interior part of the defensive line has the most
Speaker 9: direct path to the quarterback, so we have to we
Speaker 9: have to be force full, demonstrative and efficient in terms
Speaker 9: of setting the table for our edge rushers and pushing
Speaker 9: the pocket back into the face of the quarterback. If
Speaker 9: we can get that pocket pushed back, get the quarterback
Speaker 9: disrupted a little bit, that we have a chance to
Speaker 9: really activate our entire rush. He's a downhill player, tremendous
Speaker 9: contact balance, and so you see this young man breaking tackles,
Speaker 9: you see a lot of yards after contact. So it
Speaker 9: puts a lot of it puts a lot of it
Speaker 9: puts the onus on us to be very good with
Speaker 9: our tackling, our gap control. The other thing about this
Speaker 9: young man is that he will find the void in
Speaker 9: the run defense. And it could be as a cutback runner,
Speaker 9: it could be at the point of attack. If there's
Speaker 9: a void, he's going to find it. He's getting downhill
Speaker 9: right now, and as a as a result, they're big
Speaker 9: plays and he.
Speaker 6: Does get a lot of yards after contact. Cuba Hubbard
Speaker 6: is the individual we're talking about here. In that final
Speaker 6: statement by Eric Washington, there's a word that's popping up.
Speaker 6: Flush is talking about do you understand coverage contours or
Speaker 6: contours of coverage? Heard it from Shane Walden this week,
Speaker 6: heard it from Eric Washington, just now heard it from
Speaker 6: Flus this week as well.
Speaker 8: Well.
Speaker 7: Is the contour coverage, the shape of coverage, whether you're
Speaker 7: going Manda Man and how that travels downfield or else
Speaker 7: you're in, you know, whatever number you want to put
Speaker 7: to the coverage, and how that contours towards.
Speaker 5: The back of the field.
Speaker 7: And I think that has a lot to do with it,
Speaker 7: just talking about the concept of what the coverage is
Speaker 7: and do they show it enough for a quarterback to
Speaker 7: see it. And if you've got a guy like Andy Dalton,
Speaker 7: he can sniff out any contour of coverage. If you
Speaker 7: got a guy like Caleb or Bryce Young, there's some
Speaker 7: of them there seeing it for the first time in
Speaker 7: an NFL level. And so you know, coverage, however much
Speaker 7: pressure you believe, you can put it on the passer.
Speaker 7: That's how they're gonna design their their coverage abilities.
Speaker 5: All right. Coming up next Caleb Williams.
Speaker 6: Our interview with him as we get ready to meet
Speaker 6: the Carolina Panthers at Sojier Field with Tom Fahre. I'm
Speaker 6: Jeff Joniac here on ESPN one thousand of the Bears
Speaker 6: Radio Network.
Speaker 3: Welcome back to Bears Weekly on the Bears Radio Network.
Speaker 3: Here's your host, the Voice of the Bears, Jeff Jack.
Speaker 6: Talk to you by IGS Energy with Tom Fair. Jeff Joniac, So, Tom,
Speaker 6: I know every now and again we're on the road,
Speaker 6: especially if you see a fifty seven jersey and if
Speaker 6: it's not Allen Cruise, you're hoping it's Tom Fair or
Speaker 6: Jack Samborn. Right, Yeah, But you know, I think it's
Speaker 6: cool when you see your own uniform being worn by
Speaker 6: somebody else. But I know there are kids out there
Speaker 6: that are wearing those Caleb Williams jerseys.
Speaker 5: And I know of one.
Speaker 6: The kid just won't take it off, goes, wakes up
Speaker 6: with it, you know, go sleep it agead so, And
Speaker 6: that's an entree into our interview that I sat down
Speaker 6: for our Bears player profile. You'll see it on Fox
Speaker 6: thirty two Chicago on Bears Game Day Live at ten
Speaker 6: thirty Sunday morning. Be sure you join Luke can Ellis,
Speaker 6: Tom and myself. Here's that entrade to that very question
Speaker 6: about that jersey and Caleb Williams.
Speaker 10: Yeah, it's it's pretty cool for me. You know, I've
Speaker 10: been marking my whole life to be in this position,
Speaker 10: you know, and loving and things like that, and to
Speaker 10: have people and kids and things like that. You know,
Speaker 10: getting my stuff by my jerseys or whatever case may be,
Speaker 10: and wearing them and you know, feeling proud and happy
Speaker 10: to be wearing them. You know, I kind of kind
Speaker 10: of makes you feel feel good inside.
Speaker 5: Yeah, because you're not that fire removed from being a kid.
Speaker 7: No, I'm not.
Speaker 10: I'm only twenty two.
Speaker 6: Think about this. This whole thing kind of started at four.
Speaker 6: But you know, you went to your dad at Tennessee,
Speaker 6: I want to be a quarterback.
Speaker 2: That's twelve years ago.
Speaker 5: That's not that bad, not long at all.
Speaker 10: It feels like it was yesterday that I lost that
Speaker 10: game and decided I want to be a quarterback. Feels
Speaker 10: like yesterday that those five am workouts in the morning
Speaker 10: before school and things like that. So yeah, it's pretty
Speaker 10: crazy to say it's been twelve years of being in
Speaker 10: a position and working and getting after.
Speaker 6: It as a twenty two year old quarterback. Forget about
Speaker 6: what you put in. It's like, Okay, you're a rookie
Speaker 6: in the NFL and these days now they're throwing in
Speaker 6: the deep end of the pool and expect you to swim.
Speaker 6: Just to feel that way sometimes in the beginning.
Speaker 10: In the beginning, I would say, it felt like that
Speaker 10: I was just out there trying to make sure that I,
Speaker 10: you know, was showing the guys that you know, I'm
Speaker 10: here to work, I'm here to learn, I'm here to
Speaker 10: be a great teammate.
Speaker 9: I'm here to win games.
Speaker 10: And that was about it. But having to learn all
Speaker 10: the plays and all the motions and plays and protections
Speaker 10: and still learning right now in the process. But you know,
Speaker 10: it's uh, it's been. It felt like that in the
Speaker 10: beginning for sure.
Speaker 6: To the component in the real world, a twenty two
Speaker 6: year old short of a startup business and a brilliant
Speaker 6: individual is not going to be the CEO.
Speaker 5: Of a company out of the gate.
Speaker 10: Yep.
Speaker 5: But you're the CEO. How do you wear that?
Speaker 6: It seems so comfortable for you to do that in
Speaker 6: all aspects.
Speaker 8: Of your life.
Speaker 10: Yeah, I would say, I would say that comes from
Speaker 10: probably first my parents, and then understanding the goals and
Speaker 10: dreams that I've set out for myself, and also understanding
Speaker 10: the example that I feel that I need to set,
Speaker 10: not only from you know, myself, but you know, the
Speaker 10: people around me, and not just talking about my teammates,
Speaker 10: but friends and families and you know, kids that look
Speaker 10: up to me, or kids that that I may have
Speaker 10: trained with when I was younger and you know they
Speaker 10: were training with me and things like that. So I
Speaker 10: think the example that I feel I need a set,
Speaker 10: and also understanding my dreams and aspirations. And then, like
Speaker 10: I said, my parents.
Speaker 6: You clearly are a conversationalist. You like conversation. You've done
Speaker 6: so many interviews in your life already.
Speaker 5: Do you enjoy this? Do you enjoy this kind of thing?
Speaker 10: Yeah? It's uh. You get to you get to build
Speaker 10: new relationships with you know, the people that you're going
Speaker 10: to see for a while. You know after after games.
Speaker 10: I haven't learned everybody's name yet, but after games and
Speaker 10: stuff like that, you know it's gonna be the same
Speaker 10: people after games and for post games stuff like that.
Speaker 10: So you know, being able to build those relationships. I've
Speaker 10: learned at a young age from my dad in the
Speaker 10: business in line that he was in the relationships or everything,
Speaker 10: and so uh, you know, just you know, building new
Speaker 10: relationships it helps helps a lot.
Speaker 6: With that being said, I know you know, we know
Speaker 6: all about to look at Rogers and Brady and Matthew
Speaker 6: Stafford and Kobe and MJ. Have you set out business
Speaker 6: leaders people who run companies over the course of time
Speaker 6: you read books about business outside of sport.
Speaker 10: I have. I've reached out to different people. I've had
Speaker 10: meetings with different people, you know, throughout throughout my time.
Speaker 10: I don't think any of names that people would recognize
Speaker 10: like a Kobe, but.
Speaker 8: Definitely have.
Speaker 10: It's a part of your life in a way because
Speaker 10: you you start your note and you understand that you know,
Speaker 10: regardless of how good you are, regardless of how long
Speaker 10: you play, that you know those relationships and things like
Speaker 10: that that you build can help propel you for when
Speaker 10: football is over. And so understanding that and making sure
Speaker 10: that you know those relationships are set for me. Those
Speaker 10: those bonds and relationships and you know, business ideas and
Speaker 10: things like that can can come to fruition. Fruition and
Speaker 10: so you know, I think, uh, I think, I think
Speaker 10: I've done pretty well with building relationships with all different
Speaker 10: types of people and companies and things like that. So
Speaker 10: definitely have.
Speaker 6: So I got a kick out a call in your
Speaker 6: first NFL touchdown pass, and I got a kick out
Speaker 6: of the fact that it was Roman dudes day.
Speaker 8: They caught it.
Speaker 6: So you two guys are linked for perpetuity. But just
Speaker 6: seeing the youthful exuberance, it just reminded me, Okay, playing
Speaker 6: in the park.
Speaker 5: As a kid and you're just excited having fun with it.
Speaker 5: Reflect on that moment.
Speaker 10: Yeah, So it's it was it felt really good to
Speaker 10: be honest, Roman I And it's funny. I was kind
Speaker 10: of hoping it would be Rome to be our first touchdown.
Speaker 10: We had a celebration and everything that we did that
Speaker 10: was that was planned out, and then I was kind
Speaker 10: of hoping it wasn't so I could get the first
Speaker 10: touchdown ball. But I told him, you know, if it's us,
Speaker 10: which I of course wanted to be, you know, he
Speaker 10: can he can have that ball. But it felt I mean,
Speaker 10: it was it was like the expression I let out
Speaker 10: was like a finally it happened. So now it's uh,
Speaker 10: you know, now it's time to go. Now, it's time
Speaker 10: to let it fly and get things going.
Speaker 6: All right, So a lot more on Sunday, but that's
Speaker 6: just a snippet of where he's at. And he impresses
Speaker 6: me every time he does an interview, takes takes his
Speaker 6: opportunity to explain how he feels and how he's leading
Speaker 6: this football team, and the best is yet to come.
Speaker 6: Protecting the football obviously, last week was huge, Tom. They've
Speaker 6: been in four to one score games, so it's been
Speaker 6: right there each and every one, and in order to
Speaker 6: win one score games, it's gonna take some some clutch
Speaker 6: play by the quarterback eventually. And there was a stat
Speaker 6: and I don't have it updated, but last last year
Speaker 6: it was a stat about one score games because the
Speaker 6: Bears had been in several that they didn't finish, or
Speaker 6: the year before that they didn't finish, and it was
Speaker 6: like sixty nine percent of the excuse me, twenty of
Speaker 6: twenty one teams that had won one score games, seventy
Speaker 6: percent of the time went to the playoffs. So you
Speaker 6: win one score games in the Seague, you're going to playoffs.
Speaker 6: But anyway, I digress, Well, you.
Speaker 7: Know what I'm sixty three years old, and I would
Speaker 7: wear a Caleb Williams jersey. I've never worn another jersey
Speaker 7: before in my life other than my own. But I
Speaker 7: admire him so much. Every time I listened to him
Speaker 7: speak at a podium or at a conference, he you know,
Speaker 7: increases my admiration for his maturity.
Speaker 8: And you know, when you.
Speaker 7: Talk about guys like Kobe and Michael Jordan and these
Speaker 7: guys that have had shoes in their own logo, he's
Speaker 7: on that trajectory and he's the type of guy that
Speaker 7: you don't know where he's going to be in ten years,
Speaker 7: but I hope he's able to achieve all the success
Speaker 7: he envisions for himself from this point moving forward, because
Speaker 7: then that means their success for the Bears, and it's
Speaker 7: fun for everybody.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I appreciate his investigative nature also meeting with people.
Speaker 6: And I know, you know, we both know Tim Grover,
Speaker 6: who's who's spoken to the met him out for a
Speaker 6: bunch of a breakfast just.
Speaker 5: Just to get hey, what what about this guy?
Speaker 6: Mj What what made him such a such a leader
Speaker 6: and such a clutch performer. So you do appreciate that
Speaker 6: about about some of these guys that go beyond just
Speaker 6: their own coaches and their own circle to just continue
Speaker 6: to learn what it's going to take to be great
Speaker 6: and to be different.
Speaker 7: Gosha, You'd be naive not to take advantage of your
Speaker 7: opportunities in life when you have a chance to meet popular,
Speaker 7: successful people outside the sport you play, because all they
Speaker 7: can do is educate you.
Speaker 5: Yeah, okay, let's take a break.
Speaker 6: Let's take a break right there, though, we got to
Speaker 6: hit a break anyway.
Speaker 5: That's Tom there, I'm Jeff Joni. Coming up next.
Speaker 6: Our conversation with Matt pryor the Bear offensive linement, mister versatility,
Speaker 6: I guess we can call him here on a SPN
Speaker 6: one thousand of the Bears Radio Network.
Speaker 9: This is DESPN Chicago, w NVP WTBC HD two Chicago,
Speaker 9: a Good Karma Brands Radio Stations.
Speaker 3: Bears weekly with the Voice of the Bears for twenty
Speaker 3: four years. Chef Shone che on the Bears Radio Network.
Speaker 6: Thousands of Bears Radio Network getting ready for Cary Alant
Speaker 6: of Panthers and our special guest this week is Big
Speaker 6: Matt Prior. I say big because I'm in my little
Speaker 6: booth up and have us all Tom knows it. Tom's
Speaker 6: on zoom, but talk about filling up a doorway.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I mean all all six to seven of you, right,
Speaker 5: all six to seven of you.
Speaker 6: I don't know what you're weighing these days, but I'm
Speaker 6: five seven and a half on a good day.
Speaker 5: Yeah, you'd have fun with me blocking me.
Speaker 8: Right, Yeah? Hell a nice little game.
Speaker 6: Yeah, So tell me how it's going here. I hear
Speaker 6: great things about you. I just finished up talking with
Speaker 6: coach Flues. I go, I haven't met Matt Priory. Are
Speaker 6: you gonna love him? He's a He's a wonderful young man,
Speaker 6: so obviously you have connections with him.
Speaker 5: Ian Cunningham from Philadelphia.
Speaker 8: Yeah.
Speaker 5: Does it feel a little bit like home now?
Speaker 8: Oh yeah, yeah, hundred percent. I knew off the rip
Speaker 8: when I got here, you know, came down for a visit,
Speaker 8: and then, uh, you know obviously the sign you know,
Speaker 8: it's been nothing of love. So you know it's Gray City,
Speaker 8: great organization and a great team. You know. I feel
Speaker 8: like I've been a couple of only a part of
Speaker 8: a couple of teams where it's kind of that college feel.
Speaker 8: Everybody's kind of close knit, everybody hangs out. It's not
Speaker 8: like just you know, you hang out with your own
Speaker 8: position group, so you know it's a great feeling, uh,
Speaker 8: I say, the Niners and then Philly obviously us where
Speaker 8: I felt the most you know type of bond. Obviously
Speaker 8: with the Line and d Lin and and Indy was
Speaker 8: like that too, But I think here and uh probably
Speaker 8: the last year with the nine was probably a lot.
Speaker 5: You know, winning helps.
Speaker 7: Hey, Matt, you know you you've gone from the Southwest
Speaker 7: to the West coast, to the East coast to the Midwest,
Speaker 7: always going to be a West coast guy or you
Speaker 7: kind of have you transformed into any of those areas
Speaker 7: and do you like them better?
Speaker 8: I'm actually in the South man, uh So home home
Speaker 8: is Texas. I went to Tacu for those who don't know,
Speaker 8: you know obviously what I love the West Coast, but
Speaker 8: you know, those prices ain't ain't helping out there. But yeah,
Speaker 8: relocated to the South. Love love being out in Texas,
Speaker 8: love having you know, the open land and everything. Uh.
Speaker 8: Getting a couple of acres, so you know, I can't
Speaker 8: can't complain about that. Obviously you got the heat. But
Speaker 8: I'm kind of up north by Oklahoma, so when them
Speaker 8: storms rode by we gotta you know, brace for that, so.
Speaker 7: You know we have some football things in common. So
Speaker 7: I came in and I was a backup waiting for
Speaker 7: my opportunity. I was a backup center and I was
Speaker 7: a backup guard, and all of a sudden, the guard
Speaker 7: got hurt. I went in for the next eight years.
Speaker 7: And so your approach as a player, you know, when
Speaker 7: you're waiting in the wings or you're starting, Uh, you
Speaker 7: know that you're starting on that day, do you have
Speaker 7: the same mental approach or is it different for you?
Speaker 7: Because I was super impatient when I knew I wasn't starting,
Speaker 7: but then I kind of had some relief and a
Speaker 7: little bit of anxiety when I was starting.
Speaker 8: You know, obviously everybody's goal is to play when they
Speaker 8: get to the league, and you know, your opportunity to
Speaker 8: do that is real, either a city a short or slim,
Speaker 8: just because you don't know with longevity and I they're
Speaker 8: the league's fulled with, you know, really good players, so
Speaker 8: you never know when that opportunity is going to show up.
Speaker 8: But you know, being out there, being able to start again,
Speaker 8: it's a great feeling, you know, just being on the
Speaker 8: field and and you know, using my talents to help,
Speaker 8: you know, win win games for the team in the city.
Speaker 8: But yeah, I do think I feel like there's more
Speaker 8: anxiety not play for me, mainly because I'm I, you know,
Speaker 8: play across the whole line, uh and not knowing who's
Speaker 8: going to get hurt is kind of so when I'm
Speaker 8: just at one position, I kind of feel a little
Speaker 8: more relaxed opposed to Oh okay, now I gotta wait
Speaker 8: for it's a left tackle going down as a left
Speaker 8: hard you know. Uh so uh yeah, I mean there
Speaker 8: there's there's game stress just because you know, it's a
Speaker 8: it's a it's a tough game. Uh. You know, you
Speaker 8: can't you can't no matter who your opponent is, you
Speaker 8: can't expect anything less than their best. Uh and you
Speaker 8: know any anything can happen. Uh, you know, it's You're
Speaker 8: never gonna have a perfect game. So uh, there's always
Speaker 8: that stress factor, an anxiety of you know, knowing, okay,
Speaker 8: what what rep is going to be? The rep where
Speaker 8: you kind of mess up on or whatnot. So it's
Speaker 8: really that mental aspect of being able to to move
Speaker 8: past that. But you know, as the game goes on,
Speaker 8: you kind of just go into autopilot.
Speaker 6: Well you've been that with your whole career because the
Speaker 6: TCU also, yeah, they're moving all over the place.
Speaker 8: Yeah. Well, initially I came in at the tackle. Yeah,
Speaker 8: and then my second year, we're short on guard, we're
Speaker 8: short on guards, and uh, my online coach comes up
Speaker 8: to me said, hey, we're going to need you to
Speaker 8: play guards. So I was like whatever, So that's kind
Speaker 8: of how that happened. And then towards my senior year
Speaker 8: when coaching changed, uh, they allowed me to go back
Speaker 8: out the tackle. So when I got drafted, I kind
Speaker 8: of had a feeling like, Okay, I'm just gonna play
Speaker 8: wherever I'm needed. You stout Stout would have a.
Speaker 5: Snap Jeff Staalin, Yeah in Philly. Yeah, oh boy, So
Speaker 5: were you good?
Speaker 8: Any?
Speaker 5: Good at it?
Speaker 8: I'm left handed, so a lot of quarterbacks don't like that. Man.
Speaker 7: So back in my ear, whether you're right handed or
Speaker 7: left handed, no matter what if you played the right
Speaker 7: hand or left, right side or left side, you were
Speaker 7: in the stance that you were most comfortable in. Yeah,
Speaker 7: so you could play left guard and be in a
Speaker 7: right handed stance. And so I didn't know you were
Speaker 7: left handed, but I saw you switch and you converted
Speaker 7: to a left handed stance immediately right side.
Speaker 5: Left guard tackle.
Speaker 7: Do you have a preference or are you so uniquely
Speaker 7: talented wherever you need to play it's your best opportunity
Speaker 7: at that time.
Speaker 8: I played right majority of my career, so obviously there's
Speaker 8: a comfort aspect into that. But with cross training and
Speaker 8: whatnot throughout my career, I've kind of gotten a little
Speaker 8: more comfortable with being able to switch sides. I've never
Speaker 8: thought about going in a right handed stint so on
Speaker 8: the left side.
Speaker 7: I.
Speaker 8: Don't know how that would work. Going on a pass
Speaker 8: that against a three tag, that might be a little complicated.
Speaker 6: Matt Pryor our guest here on ESPN one thousand of
Speaker 6: the Bears Radio Network getting ready the Carolina Panthers. I
Speaker 6: noticed from the combine because people always tell me that,
Speaker 6: you know, longer armed guys have a hard time at
Speaker 6: the weight bench. You know during that but you put
Speaker 6: up twenty three reps. That's it pretty significant? Are you
Speaker 6: are you good in the weight room or you know
Speaker 6: is that length of arms? That's how long are those arms?
Speaker 6: Do you know what they are listed at? Let's see
Speaker 6: thirty five and a half half? I have thirty five
Speaker 6: and a half and eleven and a half hands.
Speaker 5: Big time. He's a maaller, is what you are.
Speaker 8: I felt like that twenty three could have been more.
Speaker 8: I kind of got caught up and counted in my
Speaker 8: head and kind of threw off my pace, so I
Speaker 8: kind of messed my focus up. I think it would
Speaker 8: have been around twenty nine if I locked in a
Speaker 8: little more. But yeah, weight room. I try to say consistently.
Speaker 8: You know, it's kind of hard with the long days
Speaker 8: intend season, but it's important to try to stay consistent.
Speaker 5: We a hooper, No, never a hoop.
Speaker 8: I'll tell you this.
Speaker 6: Holy smokes, Matt Prior again. Let me remind you. I'm
Speaker 6: five to seven and a half and I just wished
Speaker 6: I had just three more inches.
Speaker 5: Maybe I could have played right.
Speaker 8: I'll tell you this. Okay, I want to try out
Speaker 8: eighth grade. Went to try out, did all the drills
Speaker 8: and whatnot, and we started to run the suicides and
Speaker 8: that's where they lost me. So we never ran about
Speaker 8: two or three suicides. I asked the coach, he can
Speaker 8: I get some water? And I walked home.
Speaker 5: Yeah that's funny.
Speaker 8: Yeah, it's a different kind of cardio. Yeah, yeah, but nah, No,
Speaker 8: I played a little rugby in high school just to
Speaker 8: keep up with conditioning and the off season. But outside
Speaker 8: of that.
Speaker 7: So Matt Hall of Fame game, hard Knocks and the
Speaker 7: European trip. Is this the first time for all of
Speaker 7: those or have you had experiences with any of those.
Speaker 8: All in one season? Yeah, but when I was in
Speaker 8: Indy with flutes, we did hard knocks for the season.
Speaker 8: I believe I travel to London my rookie year in
Speaker 8: Philly and we played Jaguar, So yeah, it's not my
Speaker 8: first trip out there, but it is the first time
Speaker 8: going a little early. We normally travel on a Thursday
Speaker 8: post a Monday, so it would be nice to you know,
Speaker 8: get out there a little early and you know, let
Speaker 8: the body adjust to the time difference and you know traveling.
Speaker 8: How was uh?
Speaker 5: You know that the huddle bend.
Speaker 7: You know, Caleb, you have a rookie quarterback and you
Speaker 7: have a lot of new moving parts. You're going from
Speaker 7: right side to the left side, from guard to tackle.
Speaker 7: Is the How is the communication inside the huddle? Whether
Speaker 7: you're on the road at a place like Houston or
Speaker 7: at home like last week, is the communication developing in
Speaker 7: in the huddle, you know, because of again it's a
Speaker 7: new offense and everything for you.
Speaker 8: Yeah. No, Caleb does a great job. I will say.
Speaker 8: You know, obviously during the week you got your you know,
Speaker 8: your little Nickson there, but when it comes to the
Speaker 8: game time, he's real on on making sure the play
Speaker 8: calls are correct and uh, you know, getting out there
Speaker 8: and just playing with confidence. He even for a rookie,
Speaker 8: you know, he does a great job. So you know,
Speaker 8: it's great having him out there. It's great seeing him develop,
Speaker 8: you know, and hopefully we can continue to just you know,
Speaker 8: thrive off of last week's victory and continue to improve.
Speaker 7: Have you ever got a call from the WWE, Because
Speaker 7: you know, when you Jeff sits there and talks about
Speaker 7: your size and how big of a man you are,
Speaker 7: what a good athlete you are, and how versatile you are.
Speaker 7: I'm just saying, man, a guy like you, Steve.
Speaker 5: McMichael went in and had a great career.
Speaker 8: I wouldn't be against it, But I haven't gotten any
Speaker 8: call I went to I remember running to uh Hogan
Speaker 8: and Rick Flair. They were doing the Q and A
Speaker 8: down in Jersey. Me and my buddy went down there
Speaker 8: and we got to go backstage, and first thing I
Speaker 8: see when I get that back backstage is Rick Flair
Speaker 8: down in a three point stance. So man, it was
Speaker 8: a great experience. But now, man, no calls in wrestling.
Speaker 8: I did grow up Washington a little bit, but uh,
Speaker 8: you know that that it would be interesting to you.
Speaker 7: Know, I met both of those guys and you had
Speaker 7: to dwarf f him. They had to look at you going,
Speaker 7: oh my god, I hope he doesn't get into this.
Speaker 11: Man.
Speaker 8: My buddy took a picture with Hogan and he wasn't
Speaker 8: even focused on taking the picture. He was just staring
Speaker 8: me down.
Speaker 6: So you didn't start really playing football till your high
Speaker 6: school year and at one point three ninety Yeah, man,
Speaker 6: how did you get down?
Speaker 8: Obviously didn't play anything. I tried. My mom tried to
Speaker 8: sign me up for Pop Warner, but in California or
Speaker 8: the area I was in, it was real strict on
Speaker 8: the weight. And obviously now it's changed. If you're bigger,
Speaker 8: you kind of play with the age group above you
Speaker 8: or whatnot. So once that happened, I kind of didn't
Speaker 8: do much. And then I got to high school and uh,
Speaker 8: that's where you know, the weight just kind of started
Speaker 8: to drop.
Speaker 6: So yeah, and I understand boxing your big you know,
Speaker 6: and you're a bouncer, and I mean, I don't want
Speaker 6: to mess with.
Speaker 8: You at the club many man, that was job.
Speaker 5: You'd be the perfect bouncer, but you may be too nice.
Speaker 8: No, no, no, you kind of gotta change the whole
Speaker 8: demeanor in that situation. They put me in the worst
Speaker 8: area too.
Speaker 6: So well, we hope to catch up with you with again.
Speaker 6: Time doesn't permit. But Fluis is right, you're a good conversation,
Speaker 6: so appreciate you. Good luck moving forward here and bring
Speaker 6: some of that Super Bowl karma to the Bears here, right,
Speaker 6: That had to be a good experience. You know what
Speaker 6: it like now on the inside out what it takes, right, Yeah.
Speaker 8: Yeah, and I think we got it. We got what
Speaker 8: it takes. We just got to keep continuing to start
Speaker 8: forward and you know, put it on the put it
Speaker 8: on the field.
Speaker 6: All right, One more segment to go, we'll preview the
Speaker 6: Bears and Panthers with Tom. I'm Jeff here at ESPN
Speaker 6: one thousand of the Bears Radio Network.
Speaker 3: Well, welcome back to Bears Weekly on the Bears Radio Network.
Speaker 2: Here's your host, the voice of the Bears, Jeff, show.
Speaker 6: You this Bears quefully is brought to you by Athletical
Speaker 6: Physical Therapy. Visit Athletical dot com to request it in
Speaker 6: clinic or virtual appointment that start feeling the better tomorrow,
Speaker 6: and by CDW people who get it. Jeff and Tom,
Speaker 6: as we look at the Bears and Panthers now from
Speaker 6: a Panthers perspective. Tom and I had a chance to
Speaker 6: visit with Luke Keickley, the former Carolina Panther linebacker who
Speaker 6: had a lot of great things to say. We had
Speaker 6: him on our Bears et cetera podcast if you want
Speaker 6: to check that out on wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 6: So we had a good time with Luke just thirty
Speaker 6: three years old. And you reminded me Tom, you were
Speaker 6: talking Ireed at thirty three as well.
Speaker 7: Yeah, but for those of you who don't know who
Speaker 7: Lukeekley are, Luke Keekley is, go out and search him,
Speaker 7: because you're more likely to look at him walking down
Speaker 7: Wall Street in a three piece suit carrying a briefcase
Speaker 7: going to some financial job. But he's one of the
Speaker 7: best linebackers in NFL history. That looks nothing like the part.
Speaker 7: And I was really excited that we had a chance
Speaker 7: to talk to him.
Speaker 5: And here we go at that sit down with.
Speaker 7: Luke, did you ever feel undersize? And number two, did
Speaker 7: you ever beat Notre Dame when you're at Boston College
Speaker 7: because that's where I went to school.
Speaker 11: Yeah, of course you already know the answer to your
Speaker 11: second question.
Speaker 8: That's way asked.
Speaker 2: Well, I thought.
Speaker 11: Answer, We never beat him. We played my freshman year,
Speaker 11: we played him at Notre Dame, took him down to
Speaker 11: the wire, couldn't get it. Second year we played him
Speaker 11: at home. They beat the Brakes Office Dame Chris and
Speaker 11: that offense was really good. And then my third year
Speaker 11: we played back at in South Bend and it just
Speaker 11: we played tough the first the first half or so,
Speaker 11: and they kind of got away from a in the
Speaker 11: second half. We saw had a chance to win at
Speaker 11: the end, but I think they ran the clock out
Speaker 11: on us. So that was where that was one team
Speaker 11: that I always wanted to beat being from Cincinnati, because
Speaker 11: in Cincinnati.
Speaker 5: You're a Bearcats fan, you're a Notre Dame fan.
Speaker 11: Or you're a Hive State fan. And you know, I
Speaker 11: didn't really get recruited by Notre Dame Ohio State, so
Speaker 11: I always wanted to beat them. But back to your
Speaker 11: first question, feeling undersized Trent Williams my rookie year, I
Speaker 11: was like, I've never seen anybody that big, that fast,
Speaker 11: that explosive, that could bend length.
Speaker 5: I mean, he's been I don't know how long he's been.
Speaker 11: In the league, fourteen years, fifty fourteen, fifteen years. He
Speaker 11: is gigantic, and I was like, this is a little
Speaker 11: bit different than playing college football.
Speaker 5: Ryan Pole's Boston College grad as well. Oh yeah, there
Speaker 5: you go.
Speaker 6: So you started there in O nine, he left in
Speaker 6: Oh wait, he undrafted with the Bears. Did you guy,
Speaker 6: did you on your visit? Did you happen to visit
Speaker 6: with the offensive lineman? Did you have any interaction with
Speaker 6: Ryan Poles?
Speaker 11: I think I think I met him briefly. When you're
Speaker 11: young like that and you go to a college and
Speaker 11: you're you're just trying to stay above the water, and
Speaker 11: my approach is probably the wrong approach was I was like,
Speaker 11: just be quiet, stay in your lane, be very nice
Speaker 11: to everybody. And I got a little bit overwhelmed on
Speaker 11: this visit. So I'm sure I'm I met him. He's
Speaker 11: done a fantastic job in uh in Chicago, But all
Speaker 11: my buddies talked about poles, Poles, Poles, poles, poles when
Speaker 11: I was at BC, especially the older guys.
Speaker 7: Got to get your feeling, your professional opinion on the
Speaker 7: change at quarterback in Carolina because the Bears were in
Speaker 7: a unique position and they had a.
Speaker 8: Lot to do with that that pick.
Speaker 7: So what are your feelings about what the Panthers the
Speaker 7: changes they made.
Speaker 11: And you look at you look at our team, and
Speaker 11: you look what Bryce has been through the last two years,
Speaker 11: multiple coaches, different people calling offensive plays. Offensive line last
Speaker 11: year isn't very good. We didn't have a ton of
Speaker 11: skill last year on the offensive side of the ball.
Speaker 11: It's fast forward to this year. I think the best
Speaker 11: thing for him is to exactly to do exactly is
Speaker 11: what happened with you bring Andy in after Week two,
Speaker 11: tough start to the year with Bryce, and then Andy
Speaker 11: comes in and plays and has done a really good job.
Speaker 11: He's energized the offense. And I think for Bryce, this
Speaker 11: is just a really good opportunity to just take a breath,
Speaker 11: man like, take a breath, get used to what we're doing.
Speaker 11: And I think you put these young guys in at
Speaker 11: quarterback sometimes it's got to be a good situation. If
Speaker 11: it's not a good situation, just give him a little
Speaker 11: time to breathe look at what New England's doing with
Speaker 11: Drake May. I mean, you'd love to put him in
Speaker 11: the game, but until they get enough pieces around him,
Speaker 11: I don't think they feel comfortable doing it. So I
Speaker 11: think Bryce has a bright future in front of him.
Speaker 11: But Andy's done a great job the last two weeks
Speaker 11: of running the offense, getting a ball out, giving ourselves
Speaker 11: a chance to win, throwing good balls.
Speaker 8: He's he's a winner.
Speaker 11: You guys obviously had him in Chicago and he's done
Speaker 11: a fantastic job for us. He's started three games obviously
Speaker 11: too this year, one last year, and he's played fantastic well.
Speaker 7: Scheme success by Andy Dalton give a little bit more
Speaker 7: leeway to the coaching staff and kind of allow you
Speaker 7: guys to prove you have the right guy in place.
Speaker 7: It's just about experience in the system.
Speaker 11: Well, absolutely, and it allows you to evaluate the rest
Speaker 11: of the pieces on the offensive side of the ball.
Speaker 11: You know, if you know you can evaluate the offensive line,
Speaker 11: the running backs, the receivers, the ball's coming out, guys
Speaker 11: are getting opportunities to go after balls now, and I
Speaker 11: think it's and it gives us an opportunity to evaluate
Speaker 11: what we have in the coaching staff. You know, the
Speaker 11: first couple of weeks it's saying, oh, you know, how
Speaker 11: are we doing? And then these last two weeks now
Speaker 11: you get to see the Dave Canalis offense and what
Speaker 11: we're capable of. And I think there was a lot
Speaker 11: of positive momentum when we brought him in, and in
Speaker 11: the off season there's a lot of chatter of hey,
Speaker 11: we really like Dave Canalis. He's a good dude, he's
Speaker 11: got great energy, he's smart, he knows what he's doing.
Speaker 11: And then now these last two weeks on the offensive
Speaker 11: side of the ball, and say, hey, he's exactly what
Speaker 11: we need and what we want. And so I think
Speaker 11: for our team this has been a really good move,
Speaker 11: not only for the offense, but to evaluate and you know,
Speaker 11: Dave Canos has been fantastic and.
Speaker 6: Jero Vero, is he pulling his hair out right now?
Speaker 6: Because you're no fault of his own. He loses an
Speaker 6: outstanding defensive lineman and Derek Brown now linebackers. Shack Thompson
Speaker 6: out for the year with an Achilles. Looks like Josie
Speaker 6: Jewel is going to be out. Can they weather that
Speaker 6: storm defensively.
Speaker 11: To be It's gonna be a battle, right you know,
Speaker 11: Derek Brown out, Josie Jewel out, Chack Thompson out, Jordan
Speaker 11: Fuller is starting safety out. So four huge pieces, two
Speaker 11: big free agents we brought in, and two guys that
Speaker 11: have been in our team for a long time that
Speaker 11: we're relying on are out. So yeah, I'm sure, I'm
Speaker 11: sure Jerro is like Dagon, I got to figure this out.
Speaker 11: But now you get a look at some of the
Speaker 11: young guys. We drafted a guy Trevin Wallace this year
Speaker 11: out of Kentucky that the staff really like. I know,
Speaker 11: Dan Morgan really liked him as well. So now you
Speaker 11: get a chance to see what you have in these guys.
Speaker 11: And Azirero is a fantastic coach, and you know, I'm
Speaker 11: sure he'd love to have these guys healthy, but that's
Speaker 11: not the case in the NFL. You got to deal
Speaker 11: with what you have and he'll he'll get him going.
Speaker 11: And it's good that you know he's got a full
Speaker 11: week to figure it out versus last week when you know,
Speaker 11: Shaq and Josie going to go down. Now, your game
Speaker 11: plan changes a little bit, so it's hard to make
Speaker 11: those adjustments mid game. But this week he's got a
Speaker 11: full week to understand, all right, this is our planet, linebacker,
Speaker 11: this is what we're going to do. So I think
Speaker 11: he's a fantastic coach. I'm sure he's like, Man, this
Speaker 11: isn't I wish I had my guys, but that's not
Speaker 11: how gooes.
Speaker 6: Louke Keigley, former Panthers linebacker and part of the radio network, Tom,
Speaker 6: you see really good opportunities against this Carolina defense for
Speaker 6: the Bears to exploit. They do play a lot of
Speaker 6: his own, so there's going to be opportunities to find
Speaker 6: some open receivers.
Speaker 7: Really do Jeff, you know, But you know, as we're
Speaker 7: listening to that interview, I was thinking a lot about
Speaker 7: the eighty five Bears because at the beginning of the
Speaker 7: season they had some challenges where the opponent was playing
Speaker 7: really well against the Bears, and then the defense started
Speaker 7: to develop the reputation that they earned throughout the rest
Speaker 7: of the season, and then the offense continue the process
Speaker 7: of getting better and getting more profitable and you know,
Speaker 7: sustaining success. And I think that's kind of where the
Speaker 7: Bears are at when you look at this opponent. So
Speaker 7: that there's injuries on the defensive side of the ball
Speaker 7: for Carolina, So the offense has to continue that improvement
Speaker 7: process with a young quarterback, but the defenses has to
Speaker 7: continue the domination that it started last year and it
Speaker 7: has an opportunity to continue. And it seems like this
Speaker 7: is a major step going forward and about you know,
Speaker 7: developing that reputation you're a good team and then going
Speaker 7: to London and beating what you consider a home team,
Speaker 7: but you got to be the better team.
Speaker 5: Andy Dalton sixty points in two games.
Speaker 6: Bryce Young, a quarterbacks sixty one total points in his
Speaker 6: last seven starts.
Speaker 5: So something to keep an eye on.
Speaker 6: This is Bears Weekly here on ESPN and the Bears
Speaker 6: Radio Network.
Speaker 7: End.
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Speaker 2: Here's your host, the Voice of the Bears, Chef Joe.
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Speaker 6: with Chicago Bears VAP Jeff and Tim at our final moments,
Speaker 6: gotta check in with Coach Hi Tower. The Bear Special
Speaker 6: Teams coordinator Tom uh deserve it show the blind NFC
Speaker 6: Special Teams Player.
Speaker 5: Of the Week.
Speaker 12: He doesn't care anything about stats. All he cares about
Speaker 12: is helping his team and being there for the team.
Speaker 8: So I was really excited to.
Speaker 12: See Uh him be a weapon UH in such a
Speaker 12: huge way to help the football team right there, and
Speaker 12: the punt team UH in general is really doing a
Speaker 12: really nice job for him, allowing him to be comfortable.
Speaker 12: All those guys on that unit, you know, starting with
Speaker 12: Scott obviously, UH daily doing a great job along with
Speaker 12: Hardy Sandborn aiming Uh Noah Soule uh Khalil Herbert and
Speaker 12: then obviously Hicks and then the gunners. You know, Tory
Speaker 12: would not uh want me to sender congratulations to him
Speaker 12: without mentioning guys like Josh Blackwell uh and Jalen Jones
Speaker 12: and all the guys that are out there doing a
Speaker 12: lot uh to help him.
Speaker 9: Get that award.
Speaker 12: So I just want to say thanks to all those
Speaker 12: guys as well, because they're busting their tail and Coach
Speaker 12: Polk's doing a great job with those gunners outside.
Speaker 6: YEP and the gunners, and he mentioned Blackwell, Blackwell just
Speaker 6: super fast guys really becoming a necessity. Can't lose that guy.
Speaker 6: He's outstanding on them, so is Jalen Jones. And so yeah,
Speaker 6: Tory Taylor, keep it going. And Tom what I later
Speaker 6: on today at the podium he talked about Taylor was
Speaker 6: not happy with his performance against the Colts, and so
Speaker 6: he worked extremely hard over the course of the week
Speaker 6: prior to the kickoff against the Rams to get better
Speaker 6: and so that he don't.
Speaker 5: Want to let anybody down.
Speaker 7: But earlier in the week, we had a chance to
Speaker 7: talk to Tremaine Edmonds and we talked about what incentive
Speaker 7: the great punting is for a good defense because they
Speaker 7: know if they back up the opponent into an area
Speaker 7: where they can really attack and then create great field
Speaker 7: position for the offense. It's like a triple whammy. A
Speaker 7: great punt, you put out a great defense, they stop
Speaker 7: their offense, they punt, they create great field possession for
Speaker 7: your offense. And I think it's kind of some of
Speaker 7: the unknown and the untalked about elements of why your
Speaker 7: team is successful.
Speaker 5: All right, Tom, you're ready for this. Now tell me kickoffs.
Speaker 6: So the Panthers will kick you the ball good and
Speaker 6: they will return the ball. So they lead the NFL
Speaker 6: in kick return yards at three sixty eight.
Speaker 5: So the Bears got to be ready for that.
Speaker 6: And they've given up the fourth most kick return yards
Speaker 6: at two thirty seven. So it's in play and that'll
Speaker 6: make you happy.
Speaker 5: It should be.
Speaker 9: Right.
Speaker 5: What did I tell you last week?
Speaker 8: I give you, give you.
Speaker 7: Give the Bears the offense the ball at the thirty
Speaker 7: yard line. I'm okay with it.
Speaker 5: All right, Well, let's let's hope.
Speaker 6: Let's hope we get some nice returns and we'll get
Speaker 6: you off the ledge. I want the kick return to
Speaker 6: stay in the National Football League that's gonna wrap us up.
Speaker 6: We'll talk to you at noon on Sunday from Soldier Field.
Speaker 6: Thanks to all our producers including Kevin z Pak and
Speaker 6: all our guests including Caleb Williams and also Big Matt Pryor.
Speaker 6: Thanks Dan Brilliant Jordan Trade up as well. For Tom Fayir,
Speaker 6: I'm Jeff Joniyak. Thanks for listening everybody on your new
Speaker 6: radio home with the Chicago Bears ESPN Chicago National League
Speaker 6: Baseball Playoffs coming up next.
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