Speaker 1: Welcome in to Bears Weekly, powered by IGS Energy by
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Speaker 2: Energy, and Mener Liked.
Speaker 1: Here are your hosts, Jeff Chiliact aka the Mayor of
Speaker 1: Bearsville and his sidekick, Tom the Surfmaster Thayers.
Speaker 3: While we roar into week twelve, the Bears hosted Surprising
Speaker 3: eight and two vikings at Soldier Field Sunday at noon.
Speaker 3: Good to have you alongside with Bears Super Bowl winning
Speaker 3: guard Tom Thayer.
Speaker 4: I'm Jeff Joniac.
Speaker 2: Coming up.
Speaker 3: We visit with second year cornerback Tarrell Smith in the
Speaker 3: ESPN studio spind of the Dows Tonight.
Speaker 4: We thank Hendra Smith.
Speaker 3: Thanks to our producers Dan Brilliant, Jordan Treidap from the Bears,
Speaker 3: and the executive producer of the Bears Radio Network is
Speaker 3: Eric Ostrowski.
Speaker 4: Tom Good Evening.
Speaker 3: I'm trying to get a feel for exactly who these
Speaker 3: Vikings are and I can't quite figure them out. I
Speaker 3: know they're very talented. Defensively, Sam Darnold's having a big
Speaker 3: comeback Player of the Year type of moment at quarterback,
Speaker 3: or maybe it's put it in the category of comeback
Speaker 3: career moment for Sam Darnald has bounced around a lot,
Speaker 3: and they've got Aaron Jones and they've got Justin Jefferson,
Speaker 3: and boy, they've ripped off some nice wins.
Speaker 5: But you know what's great about that, jeff and I'm
Speaker 5: glad that you bring all that up.
Speaker 2: But look at the reverse side of it.
Speaker 5: Minnesota Vikings are trying to do the same thing with
Speaker 5: the new lead on offense Chicago Bears. There's not the analytics,
Speaker 5: there's not the tendencies. You don't understand how the offensive
Speaker 5: coordinator thinks you see the offense being able to play
Speaker 5: a better brand of football. What we know about the
Speaker 5: Minnesota Vikings is they're willing to take chances at the
Speaker 5: defensive line of scrimmage. They're gonna show you more bodies
Speaker 5: than you think you're capable of blocking, but they're only
Speaker 5: going to bring a certain number of those because they
Speaker 5: still have to have coverage responsibilities. And then on offense,
Speaker 5: Stam Darnald started his career really failing to live up
Speaker 5: to where he was drafted in the hype surrounding him
Speaker 5: coming out of college. He's had a rehisas surgeons at
Speaker 5: the beginning of this season. But you don't know how
Speaker 5: long it'll last. That's what's the great thing about this
Speaker 5: upcoming game. There's so much of the unknown that's gonna
Speaker 5: that's gonna go into this game that it's gonna be
Speaker 5: a great game on the Lake front to watch on
Speaker 5: Sunday afternoon.
Speaker 3: Here's my theme this week, Tom, have some fun and
Speaker 3: make a run. Yes, what do you got to lose?
Speaker 3: You got seven games?
Speaker 2: Man? I love it. I do you know?
Speaker 5: Let it run? Is that Caleb running for first downs?
Speaker 5: Is that the running game? Running for first downs? Is
Speaker 5: that the Bears as a team making a run down
Speaker 5: the home stretch here. There's so many different ways that
Speaker 5: you can look at it. And after, you know, after
Speaker 5: thinking about this game for a week and what the
Speaker 5: Bears did on offense last week, I think I think
Speaker 5: there's you know, some concern up there in Minnesota just
Speaker 5: because they don't have analytical proof on what the Bears
Speaker 5: are gonna come out and try.
Speaker 2: To do, attempt to do and can do.
Speaker 3: Tom, in your opinion, what did cale legs getting seventy
Speaker 3: yards last week? And pick them up all those first
Speaker 3: downs on third down maybe due to what Brian Floores
Speaker 3: wants to do against him in terms of pressure.
Speaker 5: Well, the thing about it is, now I'm thinking of
Speaker 5: Brian Flores.
Speaker 2: Do I have to keep a spy at.
Speaker 5: Home instead of being able to have an exotic line
Speaker 5: of scrimmage with multiple bodies on the line of scrimmage?
Speaker 5: Do I have to keep one at the second level
Speaker 5: at all times in case Caleb decides to run with
Speaker 5: the ball, And then that kind of helps the offense
Speaker 5: because there's a limited.
Speaker 2: Amount of blockable bodies up with the line of.
Speaker 5: Scrimmage, so you know, and then you have to be
Speaker 5: concerned about the assets that they can Jeff Joni X
Speaker 5: word deploy at the offensive line of scrimmage because when
Speaker 5: you're talking about the amount of quality receivers they have
Speaker 5: receivers out of the backfield, listen, you better fulfill those
Speaker 5: concerns as well. And if you get a guy that
Speaker 5: is thirty six years old and Harrison Smith and you
Speaker 5: think that he can match up on one of these
Speaker 5: receivers all game or have individual responsibilities against a tight
Speaker 5: end like Cole Comet or Jerald Everett, you're kind of
Speaker 5: fooling yourself.
Speaker 3: So in the two games that they gave up the
Speaker 3: most rushing yards this season, that happened to be Week
Speaker 3: seven against Detroit they got beat thirty.
Speaker 2: One to twenty nine.
Speaker 3: They gave up one hundred and forty four yards. That's
Speaker 3: a pocket throwing quarterback, obviously in Jared Goff. Then against
Speaker 3: the Rams the following week, they lost that game as well.
Speaker 3: I lost by ten, And that's Matthew Stafford, a pocket
Speaker 3: throwing quarterback. They ran for one oh seven and thirty
Speaker 3: two carries, didn't get a lot of yards per carry,
Speaker 3: but they managed to hit that one hundred mark. They
Speaker 3: did again against San Francisco, but San Francisco won that game.
Speaker 4: I'm looking.
Speaker 3: They played the Giants, Frisco, Houston Packers, Jets, Lions, Rams, Colts,
Speaker 3: but Anthony Richardson didn't play in that game. If I'm
Speaker 3: not mistaken, then Jack, So they haven't played a quarterback
Speaker 3: like Caleb correct.
Speaker 5: You know when you go back and you watch the
Speaker 5: Jets game and you look at Aaron Rodgers uses instant
Speaker 5: against this Minnesota Vikings, it's not necessarily he was. He
Speaker 5: had greatness thrust upon him in that game. But he
Speaker 5: knew the avoidable, he knew how to extend protection, he
Speaker 5: knew how to step up in front of the rush,
Speaker 5: and so there's kind of interesting aspects that you have
Speaker 5: to look at depending upon the quality and the athleticism
Speaker 5: of the quarterback that they're playing against. But as you mentioned,
Speaker 5: Caleb is super creative with his feet. If he understands
Speaker 5: the same instincts that he did last week against Green
Speaker 5: Bay and he knows exactly when to eject the pocket
Speaker 5: all of a sudden, that makes me suspicious as a
Speaker 5: defensive coordinator if I have to start laying off the
Speaker 5: line of scrimmage.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's an interesting chess match and it's Thursday, so
Speaker 3: that means it's coordinator Thursday time. Thomas Brown at the
Speaker 3: podium today. Didn't want a lot of flowers about what
Speaker 3: was accomplished in that game offensively in light of the loss.
Speaker 3: Here he is Thomas Brown, second time of the podium
Speaker 3: this year as Bears offensive coordinator.
Speaker 6: Boys, in this game, we played the game to win
Speaker 6: and we came up short. But I want to start
Speaker 6: first by saying how much I appreciate the response from
Speaker 6: our coaches and our players, because last week on Wednesday
Speaker 6: really challenged the entire group, all the coaches included myself,
Speaker 6: all the players, to do more, to give more, to
Speaker 6: be accountable, to practice harder, so we have an opportunity
Speaker 6: to go play well. And those guys did everything we
Speaker 6: asked them to do, and so it's obviously frustrated when
Speaker 6: it comes to, you know, not being able to get
Speaker 6: the result we wanted. But I'm excited and encourage and
Speaker 6: continue to do really good jobs and to lead the
Speaker 6: group and build upon that. And we have a great
Speaker 6: challenge this week that I'm excited about as a top
Speaker 6: tier defense that plays aggressive.
Speaker 7: So we continue to.
Speaker 6: Keep talking about the principles that lead towards us playing well,
Speaker 6: starting first with how we prepare, the mentality behind it.
Speaker 6: And you know, football is a violent game and the
Speaker 6: rewards those to play the game viol only, so taking
Speaker 6: it from a preparation standpoint throughout the week so hopefully
Speaker 6: show them the right way on game there.
Speaker 7: It's hard to find weaknesses in this defense to.
Speaker 6: Do a really good job they I don't know Brian
Speaker 6: Floyes all that well, but I've met him a couple
Speaker 6: of times. I think one of the biggest compliments you
Speaker 6: can get as the coaches, your unit takes on your personality,
Speaker 6: and so they are aggressive, they are attacking, they are opportunistic,
Speaker 6: and so it's gonna be important for us to go
Speaker 6: into the game. To me, always first and foremost like
Speaker 6: play with no fear, Like we're not gonna coach scared,
Speaker 6: They're gonna play scared. And so to me, that starts
Speaker 6: first with preparation, because fear and the faith on leagues
Speaker 6: just in the future.
Speaker 7: So why fear what hasn't even happened yet.
Speaker 6: So I think about our guys being able to have
Speaker 6: confidence in the game plan to build that based on
Speaker 6: preparation throughout the week. Then on game they later up
Speaker 6: man like, we don't fear failure or fear mistakes. You
Speaker 6: learn from those opportunities and they continue to keep swinging.
Speaker 8: Thomas Caleb said the other day with what felt different
Speaker 8: with you?
Speaker 9: And he said, we felt like we were more in control.
Speaker 9: You've been on the headset now the entire season, but
Speaker 9: to be in that spot where you're calling plays.
Speaker 7: Can did you feel that same?
Speaker 2: And like what would control look like for you?
Speaker 7: Yeah? Man, I feel good. I think it all starts
Speaker 7: with how you prepare.
Speaker 6: To me, when you get the game day, either done
Speaker 6: enough to give yourself a chance to play well all
Speaker 6: you didn't, so I kind of had good piece of
Speaker 6: mind just based on what we did throughout the week,
Speaker 6: the game plan put together, and again my goal is
Speaker 6: always to put us in the best spots for our
Speaker 6: guys to make plays based on tennessees, based on how
Speaker 6: we set the game up, based on formation, motion variations.
Speaker 7: So definitely believe in you know.
Speaker 6: Marying and running the past, marrying formations and motions. From
Speaker 6: a defensive standpoint, they're basing a lot of their calls
Speaker 6: off of obviously your previous tendencies, which I had none
Speaker 6: before this game here obviously, but also off of just
Speaker 6: your alignments like two by two, three point one formation
Speaker 6: into the boundary, similar motions. So trying to do a
Speaker 6: really good job of you know, put a seat of
Speaker 6: down in the in the minds of the defenders before
Speaker 6: the ball stamps to give us an advantage of able
Speaker 6: to go play more aggressive. But the sequence was about
Speaker 6: obviously attacking the defense, getting our guys involved early in
Speaker 6: the game, so we got to spread the wealth around,
Speaker 6: but obviously make this's got to defend every blade of
Speaker 6: grass when it comes to the vertical passing game, to keepers,
Speaker 6: to screens, to the run game as well, and also
Speaker 6: ball out plays.
Speaker 1: Really you didn't simplify the offense, but how did you
Speaker 1: want to make sure you clearly communicated on Sunday first
Speaker 1: time he's hearing your voice and you guys are making
Speaker 1: that transition together.
Speaker 7: I think it's a working in progress throughout the week.
Speaker 6: I think just making sure that I'm communicating clear and
Speaker 6: concise to him and also asking the voice feedback. Just
Speaker 6: as far as do you want some reminders in the
Speaker 6: headset about this particular play. Do you want to reminder
Speaker 6: by the motion standpoint, that's my job again to take
Speaker 6: alleviate stress.
Speaker 7: Off of him.
Speaker 6: I think, as you did design of offense and call
Speaker 6: the game, I want to try to find ways to
Speaker 6: alleviate stress off the two more secual positions, which is
Speaker 6: the line and the quarterback. So we can do that
Speaker 6: through the use of shifting motions. We can do it
Speaker 6: obviously to the run game, we can do it through
Speaker 6: the use of screens, but also how many ways can
Speaker 6: we design unsackable place that's you know, always to go
Speaker 6: ball a lot of mentality, but a guy's playing space
Speaker 6: he can be decisive, because decisive is effective well.
Speaker 10: With regard to With regard to Adam's question, are there
Speaker 10: wrinkles that you can add incrementally each week? That are
Speaker 10: you know what you want to do uh each week
Speaker 10: or can you only basically run Shane's offense?
Speaker 6: Yeah, I definitely understand the question. The wrinkles I want
Speaker 6: to add is what it is best for our team.
Speaker 6: So it's regardless of what I may want to do
Speaker 6: because it's not about me. And I think about again
Speaker 6: where we are right now, what our guys have time
Speaker 6: on task with, and we will continue to kind of
Speaker 6: put in place as far as what we've done throughout
Speaker 6: the entire season with being able to kind of merit
Speaker 6: some stuff up, dress it up differently, give a defense
Speaker 6: the different presentation they get the stuff we've been doing
Speaker 6: time on task with.
Speaker 10: So do you know things that like next year you
Speaker 10: would do totally differently than what you know that you
Speaker 10: can't do now that you want to do in the
Speaker 10: back of your mind or the things like that.
Speaker 2: That's that's much different.
Speaker 6: And not which I had the luxury of thinking about
Speaker 6: next year, you know, But I definite understand you know
Speaker 6: what you're what you're asking me, But honestly, I know
Speaker 6: it sounded like coach speak, but I am where my
Speaker 6: feet are, and today we have a great opportunity to
Speaker 6: go have some situational working third down. He's got done
Speaker 6: with workings in two minutes. And in the all season,
Speaker 6: what I kind of do my brainstorm and thinking about
Speaker 6: what I want to do. I think about what I
Speaker 6: have to do. Now, that's what's the most important thing.
Speaker 3: All right, So love everything he has to say. He
Speaker 3: says every He says all the right stuff. Tom does
Speaker 3: he not.
Speaker 5: He does, but he's not prepared. He doesn't know these
Speaker 5: questions beforehand. He's answering off the top of his head,
Speaker 5: and he sounds super intelligent and really sustinct to the
Speaker 5: point of what they're asking him. The only question I
Speaker 5: didn't like is about next year. Listen, man, keep that
Speaker 5: that's not even your in your windshield. And then the
Speaker 5: thing about he said about tendencies. They don't know his tendencies,
Speaker 5: so analytically, they can't prepare in that portion of you know,
Speaker 5: investigative football right now because they're just getting to know
Speaker 5: Thomas Brown and how he calls football game, and you
Speaker 5: know he's not gonna change and make wholesale changes in
Speaker 5: this offense. He's gonna do exactly what they've been practicing.
Speaker 3: He's got a lot of weapons to choose from, a
Speaker 3: lot of things to implement, and he speaks his mind
Speaker 3: right to the point.
Speaker 2: Love it.
Speaker 3: That's Thomas Brown, That's Tom Thayer. I'm Jeff Joniac and
Speaker 3: this is Bears Weekly. Coming up next our interview with
Speaker 3: Terrell Smith, the Bears second year cornerback. It's all here
Speaker 3: on ESPN one thousand of the Bears Radio Network.
Speaker 1: Well, welcome back to Bears Weekly on the Bears Radio Network.
Speaker 1: Here's your host, the Voice of the Bears, Jeff Jack.
Speaker 3: This segment of Bears Weekly is brought to you by
Speaker 3: IGS Energy. Welcome back to Bears Weekly on ESPN one
Speaker 3: thousand of the Bears Radio Network with Super Bowl winning
Speaker 3: Bears guard towm theairre.
Speaker 4: I'm Jeff Joniack.
Speaker 3: We're brought to you by IGS Energy, and our special
Speaker 3: guest this week is the man they call Smitty or
Speaker 3: tea time. As I found out from the University of
Speaker 3: Minnesuotarel Smith. How you doing man, Thanks for taking the time.
Speaker 11: Good, how are you appreciation Let's go through.
Speaker 4: Those right away.
Speaker 2: Tea time?
Speaker 4: How'd that start?
Speaker 12: So that started back in high school with my track
Speaker 12: coach started calling me that probably like my sophomore year
Speaker 12: in high school, and then it just stuck.
Speaker 3: Yeah, tea time because when it's time to go, you're flying.
Speaker 3: You won the hundred meter right in the state. What'd
Speaker 3: you run it in?
Speaker 11: Ten thirty two?
Speaker 4: Not shabby, min man? What's your forty time?
Speaker 11: Four for one?
Speaker 4: All right? That works for me.
Speaker 3: And then Smitty is from head coach Matt Eberflus. Is
Speaker 3: that taking rooty in this building?
Speaker 11: Oh?
Speaker 12: Yeah, that caught him real quick. Yeah, like first first
Speaker 12: day or two.
Speaker 11: Yeah, that was it.
Speaker 4: It's a no brainer. Really, you like it?
Speaker 11: Right?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 11: It's cool.
Speaker 5: Every single person that I've ever grown up with in
Speaker 5: my life that their last name is Smith, they immediately
Speaker 5: became Smitty, So something.
Speaker 2: Kind of you're born with Hey Trell.
Speaker 5: So my brother in law played eleven years for the
Speaker 5: Atlanta Falcons and he lived in Gwyette County. Oh and
Speaker 5: I remember this big water tower above the city and
Speaker 5: it says Gwinnett is great?
Speaker 13: Why how did you make it from Gwinnett to Minnesota?
Speaker 12: You know, Coach Fleck, I just had a really good
Speaker 12: relationship with coach Fleck, and like just the whole recruiting
Speaker 12: process with him was just really good. And that really
Speaker 12: that was like the main question that like during the
Speaker 12: whole draft process too, everyone was asking me, like why
Speaker 12: did I go all the way to Minnesota?
Speaker 11: But I enjoyed my time there.
Speaker 12: I really liked coach Fleck, and so that's why I
Speaker 12: went out there.
Speaker 2: It's a great program, you know.
Speaker 5: So Jeff and I have been broadcasting for the Bears
Speaker 5: for a long time, and we've actually broadcasted games within
Speaker 5: your college stadium and some of the coldest weather that
Speaker 5: we ever been There was an outdoor game there in Minnesota.
Speaker 5: Do you think that the time you spent in the
Speaker 5: cold weather in Minnesota has benefited you playing in Chicago
Speaker 5: and some of the conditions you have to play in Oh.
Speaker 12: Most definitely, yeah, because I think it's coded erit in
Speaker 12: here and then playing outdoors, like I think the coldest
Speaker 12: game I played there was like negative two, like my
Speaker 12: senior night.
Speaker 11: So yeah, most definitely.
Speaker 13: How did Fleck treat the cold weather?
Speaker 2: Did he make you.
Speaker 5: Guys practice outdoors all year round or did you have
Speaker 5: an indoor facility that if conditions were cold enough, you
Speaker 5: guys would go inside.
Speaker 12: So we had an indoor, but like we will practice outside,
Speaker 12: probably like twice out the week, so like two of
Speaker 12: the like three practices would be outside and then like
Speaker 12: the probably like the Wednesday practice or something would be
Speaker 12: like an indoor.
Speaker 11: But other than that we were outside.
Speaker 3: Hey, Tom, we know what game that was. It was
Speaker 3: the coldest I've ever been, so metrodome roof collapse because
Speaker 3: of the snow.
Speaker 11: Yeah, I heard about that.
Speaker 4: So we had to go. It was a night game.
Speaker 3: We had to do our TV show outside the stadium,
Speaker 3: and I've never been colder. I shivered so much I
Speaker 3: could barely speak for the live show was at ten
Speaker 3: thirty at night.
Speaker 11: Yeah.
Speaker 4: So we get to the game.
Speaker 3: And I'm like, Tom, I don't know, this is gonna
Speaker 3: be hard game to call. And the game almost got
Speaker 3: canceled because the field was so iced over. It was
Speaker 3: so hard the players thought it was going to be
Speaker 3: danger But that was the game. Two things happened. Corey
Speaker 3: Wooten Bears defensive ends sacked Brett Farb that was the
Speaker 3: last play he played in the National Football League. And
Speaker 3: Devin Hester broke the punt return record in that game.
Speaker 3: I don't know if you remember any of that or
Speaker 3: here it heard about it from the from the University
Speaker 3: of Minnesota, But I mean lots of respect for playing outside.
Speaker 3: And I've often put on old YouTube videos of the
Speaker 3: Vikings playing in the old met I don't know, did
Speaker 3: you ever play in the met time?
Speaker 5: Oh?
Speaker 13: No, no, no, no, the super old one?
Speaker 4: Yeah, the Bloomington Yeah? How did how do you guys
Speaker 4: play in that cold one?
Speaker 12: I feel like for me, once it gets like ten degrees,
Speaker 12: everything else under that it kind of feels the same
Speaker 12: in my opinions, just.
Speaker 11: Cold to me.
Speaker 5: I think cornerback is the most is the second most
Speaker 5: difficult position in professional sports to play outside of quarterback.
Speaker 5: And when you think of that, the trial and airrors
Speaker 5: that you went through in college. When your college career
Speaker 5: came to to an end, did you know that you
Speaker 5: had the qualifications to make it as a cornerback in
Speaker 5: the NFL.
Speaker 12: I feel like I did, especially like my senior year.
Speaker 12: I would say my confidence I was like everything was
Speaker 12: just through the roof and I.
Speaker 11: Was just playing really well. So I always knew that
Speaker 11: I could play in the league.
Speaker 12: But my senior year at Minnesota was whenning, like everything
Speaker 12: like really clicked for me.
Speaker 5: So when you came to OTAs and then it transfers
Speaker 5: to full pad practice, were you going up against receivers
Speaker 5: in the NFL going wow, man, these guys are so
Speaker 5: much better in college or because you played in the
Speaker 5: Big Ten and you saw some of the best receivers
Speaker 5: in professional football.
Speaker 13: Was it a shock to you or did you say, oh, man,
Speaker 13: I can do this.
Speaker 11: I wasn't really a shock.
Speaker 12: It was more so of me like having the confidence
Speaker 12: and going out there like knowing that I could do it.
Speaker 12: I would say just the biggest change for me was
Speaker 12: just the speed of the game. But then once all
Speaker 12: that slowed down, it was just regular football.
Speaker 3: Trrell Smith our guest here on Bears Weekly and yes
Speaker 3: being one thousand of the Bears Radio network, Jeff in
Speaker 3: Tom breaking things down getting ready to play the Minnesota
Speaker 3: Vikings that Soldier field.
Speaker 4: Did you have a team growing up?
Speaker 11: I was a big Tom Brady fan.
Speaker 3: So Patriots, all right, see that comes out of left field, Gnette,
Speaker 3: But what what?
Speaker 2: Why?
Speaker 12: That was the first football game I've ever seen, like
Speaker 12: when I was like, I think it was like five.
Speaker 12: They were like the first team I've seen on TV,
Speaker 12: So I was like, I'm gonna roof for them.
Speaker 4: Were you ever in an NFL game before you became
Speaker 4: an NFL player?
Speaker 12: Yeah, we went out to uh when I was actually
Speaker 12: in college. They all took us out to a Bikings game.
Speaker 4: Does it ever get old? That energy rush never gets old?
Speaker 4: Do you thrive off of that?
Speaker 7: Oh?
Speaker 12: Yeah, most definitely, especially playing defense, like third down, like
Speaker 12: the crowd being loud and everything. I'll say like, it
Speaker 12: never gets old. You like you always like feed off
Speaker 12: the energy of the fans and everything. So it's just
Speaker 12: like a great feeling all the time.
Speaker 5: All right, Trell, you're on the field. Tom Brady's over
Speaker 5: there in a nice suit and tie. Do you go
Speaker 5: over and say hi to them? If you had a sharpie?
Speaker 5: Would you ask him to sign anything? Or did you
Speaker 5: kind of walk around with the little swaggers? Now I'm
Speaker 5: a member of the NFL.
Speaker 11: Yeah, I seen him. I've seen him over there. There
Speaker 11: are warm ups.
Speaker 12: I wanted to go over there and say what's up,
Speaker 12: but he was he was talking, so I just kept
Speaker 12: warming up and just let him be.
Speaker 13: You know what's kind of cool trail.
Speaker 5: So I was sitting on the sideline with Peena Tillman,
Speaker 5: and so Peanut, as we are in a conversation, he
Speaker 5: saw Tom Brady and as excited as you were as
Speaker 5: a young kid and a fan of Brady, Pinu goes, hey,
Speaker 5: I want to go out and introduce myself to Tom Brady.
Speaker 5: So I so, you know what I thought was kind
Speaker 5: of cool, because if you're thirty five or twenty five,
Speaker 5: it's still exciting to see a guy that you think
Speaker 5: about that played the sport at a high level and
Speaker 5: had some great accomplishments.
Speaker 11: Yeah, yeah, most definitely for sure.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Peanut introduced himself to Randy Moss in his rookie
Speaker 3: year and shut him down. I'll never forget that. Oh
Speaker 3: yeah against the Vikings, that sold your field.
Speaker 13: All right.
Speaker 3: So that being said, when you take the field this week,
Speaker 3: you got a guy like Justin Jefferson running around out
Speaker 3: there along with Jordan Adis are running around. These are
Speaker 3: like a Batman and Robin duo. That's as good as
Speaker 3: any in the league. How do you mentally get ready
Speaker 3: for those two guys?
Speaker 11: Just just sharpen our tools and practice.
Speaker 12: Just make sure going into the game we know all
Speaker 12: of our alignments and assignments. Make sure our feet are
Speaker 12: nice and clean during the game, have a good hands,
Speaker 12: and just play football from there.
Speaker 3: We both love John Holk. I feel he's an outstanding
Speaker 3: defensive back coach. He gets guys to play as hard
Speaker 3: as anybody.
Speaker 2: In the league.
Speaker 3: What do you hear ringing in your head every time
Speaker 3: you go to work or you're on the field that
Speaker 3: you know it's coming from John Holk and it's coming
Speaker 3: back to you in your head like all good coaches, right,
Speaker 3: What is it?
Speaker 4: Uh?
Speaker 12: Just him screaming finished to the ball, just playing with
Speaker 12: tremendous effort. Just just play play a game at one
Speaker 12: hundred miles per hour.
Speaker 2: Hey roll.
Speaker 5: So it's kind of a weird schedule how you face
Speaker 5: all your division teams towards the end of the season.
Speaker 5: So as you get into Green Bay and you get
Speaker 5: into Minnesota and Detroit and the rest of them down
Speaker 5: the road, do you feel it in the locker room
Speaker 5: a little bit more, a little bit, a little bit
Speaker 5: more seriousness of the games when you're playing division games?
Speaker 7: Yeah?
Speaker 12: Just yeah, I think so like division games, it's just
Speaker 12: I guess it's just the bigger feeling like it means more.
Speaker 11: I guess. So I would say most definitely.
Speaker 3: And it's physical, which you that's your game too. You know,
Speaker 3: can't have a tough defense without corners who like to tackle. Sure,
Speaker 3: so you Kyle right right, Tyree. Well, we appreciate it
Speaker 3: and know your time is limited. Good to get to
Speaker 3: know you a little bit and good luck the rest.
Speaker 4: Of the season. Thanks for your time. Appreciate you all
Speaker 4: right for Tom and Jeff.
Speaker 3: That's Terrell Smith, Will Beckham Moore previewing the Bears and
Speaker 3: Vikings for Week twelve here on ESPN one thousand of
Speaker 3: the Bears Radio Networks.
Speaker 1: Bears Weekly with the Voice of the Bears for twenty
Speaker 1: four years.
Speaker 2: Chef Joney Chef.
Speaker 11: On the Bears Radio Network, or.
Speaker 4: Gently used coat laying around.
Speaker 3: We'll head to your local Jew until February tenth and
Speaker 3: donate one of your new or gently used coach to
Speaker 3: the thirty sixth annual Chicago Bears Coat Drive help keep
Speaker 3: Chicagoans warm this winter. Jeff in Tom with you here
Speaker 3: on Bears Weekly time. Just listening to Terrell Smith, and
Speaker 3: we're getting to know some of these guys we haven't
Speaker 3: met or talked to really too often in their time
Speaker 3: here with the Bears. But all the guys in the secondary,
Speaker 3: every almost every single one of them has a unique
Speaker 3: personality and a confidence that you could just feel it
Speaker 3: when you're talking to him, you see it when they're playing.
Speaker 4: It's why I love this secondary. I love everybody in it.
Speaker 2: But it's a position of confidence.
Speaker 5: And if you don't have a special skill set and
Speaker 5: the athleticism to live up to what you required your
Speaker 5: job requirements are, you can't play the position. But again,
Speaker 5: you have to have a position with the athleticism that's
Speaker 5: complimented by confidence. And Charrell Smith, he's a fifth round
Speaker 5: draft choice. He's not a high profile guy coming into
Speaker 5: the league, so he has to prove to the coaches
Speaker 5: that he belongs and I think every step of the
Speaker 5: way he's done that throughout the early stages of his career.
Speaker 3: And just listening to Coach Washington today, the Bears defensive coordinator'
Speaker 3: hit from him in our next segment as well, there's
Speaker 3: still going to be a rotation, so to speak, with
Speaker 3: Terrell Smith and Tyreek Stevenson at that corner position.
Speaker 2: Good.
Speaker 5: You know, you keep fresh athletes on the field, you
Speaker 5: keep hungry athletes on the field, because every single rep
Speaker 5: that you have of being on the football field.
Speaker 2: You have to have production.
Speaker 5: You have to show that you know what you're doing
Speaker 5: mentally and you're capable of doing it physically.
Speaker 3: So Justin Jefferson the Bears missed him last year, right
Speaker 3: he was injured. So he's tenth in receptions this year,
Speaker 3: second in yards tied for ninth and touchdowns with five,
Speaker 3: first in yards per catch at fifteen to five, and
Speaker 3: second with the second longest reception in the NFL ninety
Speaker 3: seven yards against the forty nine ers. He does a
Speaker 3: lot of great things. Seventeen twenty plus yard coat catches,
Speaker 3: number one in the NFL and since his rival, far
Speaker 3: and away number one in that category, in fact, the
Speaker 3: most ever in the first five years of an NFL career.
Speaker 4: At that position.
Speaker 3: And you know, obviously it's an aero show right now
Speaker 3: in the NFL for the most part, has been for
Speaker 3: a bit. But we even, I mean we look at
Speaker 3: all these other wide receivers and you hear people talk
Speaker 3: about them, is Justin Jefferson arguably the best.
Speaker 5: He's one of the best because Justin Jefferson is making
Speaker 5: the quarterback. When you look at the development of some
Speaker 5: wide receivers throughout their career, it's the quarterback that's making
Speaker 5: the wide receiver. And when you look at Justin Jefferson,
Speaker 5: his route running, his ability to get open the crossing
Speaker 5: routes that they run. He is taking Sam Donald and
Speaker 5: in at the beginning stages of this season. Now in
Speaker 5: the mid season, he's making Sam Darnald a quarterback that
Speaker 5: he was never able to be in his early years
Speaker 5: in the NFL. So Justin Jefferson is doing from the
Speaker 5: quart back what the quarterback usually does for the receivers.
Speaker 4: All right, Well, Darnold is playing some good football.
Speaker 3: He does have some turnover worthy plays to keep an
Speaker 3: eye on, and that's something the Bears are going to
Speaker 3: focus on. Now from a pass rush perspective, can they
Speaker 3: get the heat on him. They got a solid offensive line.
Speaker 3: The right tackle Brian O'Neil very good. It is a
Speaker 3: lowed just one sack this season. They lost their left tackle.
Speaker 3: But Cam Robinson comes over from Jacksonville. He faced him
Speaker 3: in London. Big guy likes to steer guys around the edge,
Speaker 3: make him go the long way to get to the quarterback.
Speaker 3: That's his strength. But the pass rush, sixteen different Bears
Speaker 3: have at least a half a sack. Let's listen in
Speaker 3: to Travis Smith today, the Bears defensive line coach, on
Speaker 3: all things pass rush, including Montese sweats, working through some.
Speaker 4: I guess bumps and bruises.
Speaker 9: There's we got no excuses, players and coaches. We're out there.
Speaker 9: It's our job to execute. It's our job to play
Speaker 9: the run and affect the passer, whetherver down it is
Speaker 9: and so. And like we said, in our position, whether
Speaker 9: you're if you're in the front o line in D line,
Speaker 9: there's very after the first week, there's very rarely you're
Speaker 9: gonna be one hundred percent. There's always gonna be something,
Speaker 9: But never can that be a situation that that takes
Speaker 9: away from what our expectations are or what we do.
Speaker 12: How do you see Montes handle a stretch when he
Speaker 12: has sat?
Speaker 9: And the thing about Montes when you're around you talk
Speaker 9: to him, yeah, is whether it's his production or someone else,
Speaker 9: he wants to see the team and the group succeed.
Speaker 9: It's not just about him individually. Obviously everyone wants the
Speaker 9: numbers right there. But what we all when you talk
Speaker 9: about frustration, you're looking forward to.
Speaker 11: Our number one goal is to win? Uh?
Speaker 9: When when when the game? When our run numbers when
Speaker 9: our pass rush affect the quarterback, and I think that's
Speaker 9: where whether it's his stats, or it's Dex's stats, or
Speaker 9: it's Chris Williams stats, that's what we're Our goal is
Speaker 9: right now is however it comes up. Is the more
Speaker 9: plays we play and the more opportunities run on the field,
Speaker 9: the more opportunities we are all going to have to eat.
Speaker 11: And that's what our goal is.
Speaker 8: Do you see him individually press him a little bit
Speaker 8: which was seen natural?
Speaker 9: I don't think I haven't noticed in pressing. I think
Speaker 9: a lot of just the whole group right now. As
Speaker 9: you talk about or he said reset, I think it's
Speaker 9: more just the basics details, fundamentals, intensity, rush angles, hand uses,
Speaker 9: ability to fin never stop our feet. I think that's
Speaker 9: more when you look at that, that's more than just
Speaker 9: the details, increasing the execution, the discipline, the intensity about
Speaker 9: what we're doing. Is there some legitimacy?
Speaker 14: Is there some legitimacy to Montez has to make an
Speaker 14: adjustment this year to all the different things teams are
Speaker 14: throwing at him.
Speaker 11: He's kind of elevated his stature.
Speaker 9: I don't think it's so much that he has to
Speaker 9: adjustment we got to have awareness obviously of where people,
Speaker 9: what they're doing, how they're protecting five man, six man,
Speaker 9: seven man, chips, all that sort of thing. But two,
Speaker 9: it's as as he plays and he affects the game,
Speaker 9: which is that's why he's here, That's what he does,
Speaker 9: that's what our defense completely change. He's showed up here
Speaker 9: is in the New Orleans week on. I think it's
Speaker 9: too it's about well, when he's getting that attention, if
Speaker 9: we're not affecting them or somewhere else we need to
Speaker 9: be better, is where it shows up. And the more
Speaker 9: attention he gets or someone else gets, well, I mean
Speaker 9: someone else has got to come alive. Someone else has
Speaker 9: got to be the one that's got to take the
Speaker 9: ownership about finishing.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's coach Smith, and he did say, you know,
Speaker 3: he leads this team in pressure so that everybody keeps
Speaker 3: their own statistics.
Speaker 4: Coaches keep theirs as well.
Speaker 3: So he's still affecting change and that defense and how
Speaker 3: it's impacting the passers.
Speaker 5: Everything Travis Smith said after the first sentence, I could
Speaker 5: not listen to all I wanted to hear. It says
Speaker 5: we have to affect the run to rush the passer.
Speaker 5: And that's the key ingredient for the Bears success on
Speaker 5: the defensive line is making sure that they're stopping the run.
Speaker 5: Ever since they lost Andrew Billings, they're searching for that
Speaker 5: that matchup of internal personnel to make sure that they
Speaker 5: can become you know, they can hold against the offensive line,
Speaker 5: to stop the offensive line so those linebackers can continue
Speaker 5: to run free. And so that's the key ingredient here
Speaker 5: is if you want to talk about rushing the passer,
Speaker 5: you got to stop the run first. So Travis, that's
Speaker 5: the way he started it, and that's the way that
Speaker 5: thing could have finished. And that's what it would have
Speaker 5: meant the most of anything, he said Tom.
Speaker 3: In three of their five road games, they've hit pretty
Speaker 3: good runh numbers. They're committed to the run. They've got
Speaker 3: three point ninety seven a carry, but it's enough to
Speaker 3: get the job done. They've hit one hundred as a
Speaker 3: team five six seven times so far in this ten
Speaker 3: game season, five rushing touchdowns and thirty one big runs
Speaker 3: of ten yards or more.
Speaker 4: So they're getting it. They're getting it done.
Speaker 3: Aaron Jones is here now, and he concerns me as
Speaker 3: a pass receiver to in this game.
Speaker 5: Oh, I agree, one hundred percent. I have all the
Speaker 5: respect from the world for Aaron Jones. He's a good
Speaker 5: multi dimensional back pass and run. But the thing about
Speaker 5: it is if the Bear can what did they remember
Speaker 5: last week before the game, we are asking for a
Speaker 5: quarter yard more per attempt on the running game. If
Speaker 5: they can continue what they did last week per rush attempt,
Speaker 5: the Bears can go toe to toe with these guys offensively,
Speaker 5: and so the key ingredient. As much as we want
Speaker 5: to talk about what Minnesota has done running the ball,
Speaker 5: if the Bears continue to run the ball like they
Speaker 5: did last week and maybe even improved against some teams,
Speaker 5: it's gonna help the competitiveness of the Bears offense.
Speaker 3: Bears average five to two six to carry. Last week,
Speaker 3: Let's big second best of the season. They had six
Speaker 3: point one against Washington when they ran for two to
Speaker 3: h two their season high, and five two four in
Speaker 3: London against Jacksonville when they ran for twenty nine and
Speaker 3: one f two. So, uh, that's you asked for a
Speaker 3: tom you got a lot more than that.
Speaker 2: I know I did, and I was surprised and I
Speaker 2: was impressed. At the end of the game, but now
Speaker 2: let's see your repeat performance.
Speaker 4: All right, we come back.
Speaker 3: We'll hear from coach Washington as the Bears get ready
Speaker 3: for the eight and two Minnesota Vikings here on Bears
Speaker 3: Weekly on ESPN one thousand of the Bears Radio Network.
Speaker 1: Well, welcome back to Bears Weekly on the Bears Radio Network.
Speaker 1: Here's your host, the voice of the Bears, Jeff Jonian.
Speaker 4: This segment of Bears Weekly is brought to you by CDW.
Speaker 4: Be able to get it. Jeff and Tom with.
Speaker 3: You as the Bears you're ready for a Minnesota Vikings arrival.
Speaker 4: The Vikings, I believe.
Speaker 3: Of one five in a row here in Chicago, So
Speaker 3: put a stop to this. Eric Washington, the Bears defensive coordinator,
Speaker 3: at the podium today with a preview of what to
Speaker 3: expect from the Vikings.
Speaker 8: Excellent trio of performers that will compliment this offense, Darnold
Speaker 8: Jones and obviously Jefferson. These guys do a really good
Speaker 8: job of making this system go. There's explosive There are
Speaker 8: explosive plays throughout this offense, and especially from the quarterback
Speaker 8: position to mister Jefferson, they do a really good job
Speaker 8: of running the football to set up their play action game.
Speaker 8: So we're gonna have to make sure we're on top
Speaker 8: of our keys, that we find a way to make
Speaker 8: this offense one dimensional. We cannot afford to let this
Speaker 8: offense have efficiency with their rushing attack to set up
Speaker 8: play action and to execute in that round, and then
Speaker 8: also being manageable third down situations. Sam Bradford, I've got
Speaker 8: experience with him going back to his time at the
Speaker 8: New York Jets when I was in that particular division.
Speaker 8: You know, big strong guy can force and push the
Speaker 8: football down the field. He has enough movement within the
Speaker 8: pocket to extend plays if you're not on top of
Speaker 8: what you need to do from a rush standpoint. Our
Speaker 8: pass rush needs to be extremely impactful this week, and
Speaker 8: the guys know that to make sure that when this
Speaker 8: quarterback holds the ball that we're in position to take
Speaker 8: advantage and get some hits on him.
Speaker 5: And with Monteze, I realized that his presence allows other
Speaker 5: people to do some good things.
Speaker 7: But are you waiting for that.
Speaker 8: To sh we we that's a that's a weekly aspiration
Speaker 8: and goal. Everything that we like to do starts with
Speaker 8: our four man rush, first through third down and including
Speaker 8: two minutes and whatever we like, whatever we desire to
Speaker 8: do in terms of sending an extra player should compliment that.
Speaker 8: But uh, we we have to have the production with
Speaker 8: our four male rush.
Speaker 10: Is Montes and I know at this time of year
Speaker 10: nobody's percent, but is he playing through some stuff that's
Speaker 10: making it challenging him for him to be as impactful
Speaker 10: as as both he and you would would prefer.
Speaker 8: Montes Is is getting himself ready to compete. And you know,
Speaker 8: no one at this time of the year feels great.
Speaker 8: And that's not something and I don't I don't intend
Speaker 8: to speak for him, but that's not something that I
Speaker 8: see him dwelling on or focusing on when I watch
Speaker 8: him practice, when I watch him engage. Our entire process
Speaker 8: to get to Sunday, We've got to go out and
Speaker 8: find a way to be at our best when our
Speaker 8: best is required.
Speaker 5: Sam Darnold's actually a lot better against the Blitz than
Speaker 5: when the defense sort of sits back.
Speaker 6: I know, you guys know blitz lot, but how do
Speaker 6: you take that information and use that interview?
Speaker 7: It's good to know.
Speaker 8: I don't know that it will impact our planning, but
Speaker 8: certainly as soon as you send an extra person there
Speaker 8: are some coverage things that are pretty certain that you
Speaker 8: have to be in from a blitz standpoint, you're going
Speaker 8: to be in man coverage. You may be in some
Speaker 8: type of fire hole coverage where you're three hundred and
Speaker 8: three deep, and so now that efficiency may be involved
Speaker 8: with the fact that he can really anticipate the coverage
Speaker 8: structure and the coverage premise of the defense.
Speaker 3: By the way, Darnald is the number one rated blitz
Speaker 3: quarterback this year right now, one hundred and fifty quarterback rating,
Speaker 3: believe it or not, he's done a nice job with that.
Speaker 4: So handle that.
Speaker 2: It's a breakdown of his distribution.
Speaker 5: How often does it go to the running backs and
Speaker 5: how often does it go to the tight end. And
Speaker 5: then justin Jefferson, it'd be interesting to see how he
Speaker 5: distributes the ball and what is the coaching process to
Speaker 5: Sam Darnold. What are they telling him about the immediacy
Speaker 5: of decisions as long as he sees a blitzer coming,
Speaker 5: whether it's right, left, or center, And what is his
Speaker 5: thinking process through all that.
Speaker 4: Well, he's got so many, so many options now TJ.
Speaker 3: Hockinson's bat and that correct has really changed how they're
Speaker 3: using the tight end the tight end numbers have exploded,
Speaker 3: and it's only been a couple of weeks, but he
Speaker 3: makes a big difference.
Speaker 5: Yeah, you know, you look at the tight end play
Speaker 5: around the league. I think if you if there is
Speaker 5: a tight end that's an asset to the offense anywhere
Speaker 5: around the league, it's a It can be the best
Speaker 5: friend of the quarterback, the distance of the route, the
Speaker 5: inability to match coverages with some of these good athletes
Speaker 5: that are playing tight end, and so you see it
Speaker 5: all around the league and it shouldn't surprise you if
Speaker 5: when Hockinson came back and came back to work.
Speaker 3: So here's your distribution, Tommy Jefferson and Addison eighty six
Speaker 3: and forty one targets, Jones thirty three, the running back
Speaker 3: Jalen Naylor, the nickel inside twenty six, twenty two and
Speaker 3: twenty two for the other two tight ends Johnny Munt
Speaker 3: and Josh Oliver, who's banged up, don't know if he's
Speaker 3: gonna play. And Hockinson just arrived on the scene, but
Speaker 3: he's caught thirteen of his sixteen targets already. And then
Speaker 3: the rest receivers, the backs outside of Aaron Jones, Ty
Speaker 3: Chandler with six, cam Akers with five, and CJ.
Speaker 4: Hamm with two.
Speaker 5: Well, one thing you know as a defense is you're
Speaker 5: preparing to play against your opponent. If you're formulating this
Speaker 5: plan of having these certain amount of blitzes, you know
Speaker 5: where their hot red is gonna be. So you have
Speaker 5: to understand who has responsibility against the hot red depending
Speaker 5: upon what area of the field you're blitzing. So that's
Speaker 5: part of the chess game of defense against offense.
Speaker 4: All right, let's talk about their defense.
Speaker 3: We haven't really talked about that in great detail. They
Speaker 3: got some really good pass rushers and Jonathan Grenard Pat
Speaker 3: Jones thought that is one of the weaknesses. And now
Speaker 3: he's got seven sacks. And then Van Ginkel is scary.
Speaker 3: He's playing really really well and he's he's one of
Speaker 3: these Wisconsin guys.
Speaker 4: Played with TJ. Edwards. They tore it up in Wisconsin together.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 5: You know the one thing about Minnesota defensively speaking, you
Speaker 5: have to make yards on first down because of any
Speaker 5: of their downs, first down is probably their most vanilla
Speaker 5: of downs. And then they get into second, third down,
Speaker 5: depending upon the down and distance, and that's where you
Speaker 5: see a little bit more exotic of a line of scrimmage.
Speaker 2: So if the.
Speaker 5: Bears can have that success and stay in control of
Speaker 5: the chains by second and manageable, third and manageable, you're
Speaker 5: gonna see a Bears offense that is going to be
Speaker 5: able to use their assets to attack whatever line of
Speaker 5: scrimmage they see. So to me, it's more how successful
Speaker 5: can the Bears be on first down to make sure
Speaker 5: that they have opportunities to succeed on second and third down?
Speaker 3: Is giving up the third fewest yards on first down
Speaker 3: and a first down average of four to six to.
Speaker 4: Eight, way way below the league average. Okay, but they're
Speaker 4: doing a good job.
Speaker 5: If this is a Bears team and they're averaging five
Speaker 5: yards on first down, that means you're so you said
Speaker 5: they give up four point six eight yards.
Speaker 2: Per play right on average? Yes, on average?
Speaker 5: Okay, so I'm gonna round up because that's the ways.
Speaker 4: But that's fourth best in the league right defensively.
Speaker 5: But what I what I'm saying, I'm talking I'm thinking
Speaker 5: about the Bears offense. If you can average around that
Speaker 5: five yard mark on first down right there, you're in
Speaker 5: second and five, So that just gives you so much
Speaker 5: more that you can choose from on second and third down.
Speaker 2: If you can have a profit on first down.
Speaker 5: Alls I'm saying is you can't go into first down,
Speaker 5: Jeff and end up second and eight second nine, because
Speaker 5: then Minnesota has the opportunity to be a little bit
Speaker 5: more exotic and aggressive at the line of scrimmage. If
Speaker 5: you can have success on first down that's nearly five yards,
Speaker 5: it gives you.
Speaker 2: A lot more control than Minnesota.
Speaker 3: At the same time, they're number one in the league
Speaker 3: in average arge to go on second down at eight
Speaker 3: point seven.
Speaker 4: So the MAT's not making sense right.
Speaker 2: But I'm a Bears fan, so I look at You've
Speaker 2: can look at.
Speaker 5: All these analytics, and I'm thinking out the way, how
Speaker 5: do you put.
Speaker 2: The Bears in the best position to succeed.
Speaker 5: Give me, give me a profit on first down, and
Speaker 5: then I'm going to be in control of the series.
Speaker 3: You know that word profit last week and I had
Speaker 3: it in my notes, never got to it during the game,
Speaker 3: But that word has been used by coaches and take
Speaker 3: your profits, take your profits and run to the bank
Speaker 3: with your profits, you know what I'm saying. That's a
Speaker 3: great word to use for this offense right now, for
Speaker 3: the Bears just take your profits.
Speaker 5: Right, and you know that's a kind of the way
Speaker 5: you have to go about you know, specific down in
Speaker 5: distances is get what you can get out of it, all.
Speaker 3: Right, Richard Hi Tower Bear Special Teams Core or to
Speaker 3: the podium today as well. We'll hear him in our
Speaker 3: final segment coming up next on Bears Weekly on ESPN
Speaker 3: one thousand of the Bears Radio Network.
Speaker 1: Well, welcome back to Bears Weekly on the Bears Radio Network.
Speaker 1: Here's your host, the Voice of the Bears, Jeff Jolian.
Speaker 4: This a Bears Weekly. He brought to you by Anthletical
Speaker 4: Physical Therapy.
Speaker 3: Visit Athletical dot com to a question in clinic or
Speaker 3: a virtual appointment and start feeling better tomorrow. Tom injury
Speaker 3: report looks some pretty solid looks like Tevin Jenkins could
Speaker 3: be back this week at left guard, and that's good.
Speaker 5: You know, you bring experience back to the position, especially
Speaker 5: since Ryan Bates has a has an injury issue and
Speaker 5: Jake Kern I think come in, came in and did
Speaker 5: a respectable job. But you know it's always better to
Speaker 5: have a guy who's experienced at that position.
Speaker 3: And then Elijah Hicks working through an ankle so I
Speaker 3: don't know what his status from. Yeah, he's been good though.
Speaker 7: Yeah.
Speaker 5: I feel bad about that because he's a guy that
Speaker 5: we did an interview last week and I you know,
Speaker 5: he's answered the bell and he's playing a good brand
Speaker 5: of football and I want to see him.
Speaker 2: I want to see him there again.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we'll see what happens when the injury report comes
Speaker 3: out tomorrow.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 3: Special teams coordinator Richard Hitower obviously a lot of questions
Speaker 3: about that black field goal and different scenarios regarding it.
Speaker 3: He handles that today at the podium.
Speaker 14: On every play, in every situation that you look at,
Speaker 14: every team's vulnerable on something because it's about who has
Speaker 14: the chalk last, So every team's vulnerable, and anything we see,
Speaker 14: we always correct it, and just like any other play
Speaker 14: on the football.
Speaker 7: Field, so we correct everything.
Speaker 14: And we didn't get the desired result on that play,
Speaker 14: and that's disappointing. So I'm hurting for our guys and
Speaker 14: I'm hurting for our fans. But we're going to turn
Speaker 14: the page and we're looking forward to coming out and
Speaker 14: fighting versus Minnesota. What I told our guys is an
Speaker 14: adversity you have, and it strikes in life, you got
Speaker 14: to get up off the mat. You bleed a little
Speaker 14: bit and sometimes you bleed a lot, but you got
Speaker 14: to get up and fight.
Speaker 3: And that's what they will do as they get ready
Speaker 3: to take on a really good special teams unit. For
Speaker 3: the Minnesota Vikings, punter's got a big leg kicker, is
Speaker 3: you know, a replacement kicker, So they had injury issues there.
Speaker 3: So Parker Romo doesn't have a lot of experience. He
Speaker 3: was on the Bears practice squad briefly in twenty three,
Speaker 3: so I don't know what his familiarity is with Soldier Field,
Speaker 3: but he's gonna find out quickly, that's for sure.
Speaker 2: But you know, I think that, you know a good thing.
Speaker 5: The conditions aren't going to be like they were today
Speaker 5: because that would be a factor in the football game.
Speaker 5: I think Sunday they're going to be a little bit
Speaker 5: more pleasant. So bring them on.
Speaker 3: Let's go and once again the last home game in
Speaker 3: a while. It'll be three road games then for the Bears,
Speaker 3: Vikings are going through that. Now they'll get this is
Speaker 3: their third road game, then they'll have three home games.
Speaker 3: The way the division has worked out, teams are doing
Speaker 3: the three thing, and it is rare. That doesn't happen
Speaker 3: every year, So you just gotta work. You gotta work
Speaker 3: through it.
Speaker 5: I you know, even as disappointed as and the results
Speaker 5: last week, I still like the division games at the
Speaker 5: end of the season.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's going to do it for us. For cornerback
Speaker 3: Terrell Smith, appreciate him. Thanks to our producers and you
Speaker 3: for listening. For top there, I'm Jeff Joniak. We'll talk
Speaker 3: to you twelve oh too. The kickoff Bears vikings at
Speaker 3: Soldier Field on Sunday. This has been Bears Weekly on
Speaker 3: the radio home of the Chicago Bears ESPN Chicago. Good Night,
Speaker 3: everybody Black and abdava Our next