Speaker 1: Right justin middle of the field forty five fifteen, bring
Speaker 1: us in front of all leading.
Speaker 2: Lions in his way.
Speaker 1: I am Jeff Joniack whitz.
Speaker 3: Is on Donny go Ho. What was like playing for
Speaker 3: coache Good done.
Speaker 4: I don't want to answer any questions like that. Sixty
Speaker 4: one yards?
Speaker 1: What's Sunday stroll for justin Field? Bears et Cetera with
Speaker 1: the voices of the Chicago Bears Jeff Joniac A lot
Speaker 1: of developments after a road win in Washington for the
Speaker 1: now one in four Bears getting ready to host the
Speaker 1: one in four Minnesota Vikings at Soldier Fields Sunday at noon.
Speaker 1: Hello everybody, Jeff Joningac along with Super Bowl winning Bears
Speaker 1: guard Tom Thayer. Welcome into episode twenty four The Bears
Speaker 1: et Cetera podcast, going to be with you every Tuesday
Speaker 1: and Thursday of the regular season, and today's guests include
Speaker 1: the play by play duo Paul Allen and Pete Burst
Speaker 1: to the Minnesota Vikings Radio Network, No Doubt, some lively conversation,
Speaker 1: Tommy getting ready for another NFC North battle with those
Speaker 1: two guys.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, we hate you.
Speaker 5: Have a lot invested in our teams and our organizations
Speaker 5: where we come from, how much we love our teams,
Speaker 5: the investment in time that Pete and I have with
Speaker 5: each of the teams, and you and Paul have in
Speaker 5: the business. So it's a lot of fun because it
Speaker 5: rarely happens that all four guys get a chance to
Speaker 5: get together and kind of speak freely about the experiences
Speaker 5: they've had so far.
Speaker 1: All right, we'll take a look at that, but first
Speaker 1: to take a very long injury report today Tommy on Wednesday,
Speaker 1: No Kalo, Herbert, Travis, Homer, Lucas Patrick Roshawn Johnson or
Speaker 1: e Q Saint Brown. Three of those guys with hamstrings,
Speaker 1: two concussions in an ankle, Kyler Gordon, Eddie Jackson, Cole Comet,
Speaker 1: Jalen Johnson, Terrell Smith Limited, and they have a variety
Speaker 1: of different ailments coming back from We're going to talk
Speaker 1: mostly about Kyler Gordon and then Doug Kramer full goal
Speaker 1: as he recovers from a thumb injury. But it's Kyler Gordon.
Speaker 1: Kyler Gordon, according to Matt Ebraflush will hear some of
Speaker 1: his comments, Let's play him right now.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean it's a couple of things you got
Speaker 6: to evaluate. First of all, it's the conditioning level. We'll
Speaker 6: see where he is there, and we got to look
Speaker 6: at his movement. You know, his movement should be good,
Speaker 6: but really just with his conditioning, you know, and then
Speaker 6: how the use of the hand. You know, how he's
Speaker 6: going to use that hand. How does he feel good
Speaker 6: in terms of his position? You know, at that position,
Speaker 6: you have to take on blocks. You have to take
Speaker 6: on stock blocks, you have to take on fan blocks.
Speaker 6: You got to be able to fold in there and
Speaker 6: make plays in the in the run game, uh, you know,
Speaker 6: in certain gaps inside. So you know, how does he
Speaker 6: feel that way? And then really just executing his coverages,
Speaker 6: you know, and I think that he's always done well
Speaker 6: with that. He's always been quick, He's always been instinctive.
Speaker 6: We anticipate seeing that as well. But just really how
Speaker 6: he's going to use that hand in its job.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 5: You know, one thing about being a defensive back, you
Speaker 5: have to be able to disengage from offensive linemen that
Speaker 5: are coming out to the edge to block you. You
Speaker 5: have to be able to engage and disengage against receivers
Speaker 5: when they're trying to block you. You have to be
Speaker 5: able to use your hands when you are going to
Speaker 5: approach the line of scrimmage and tackle a running back,
Speaker 5: or you're going to approach a wide receiver a end
Speaker 5: and try to make a tackle.
Speaker 4: To me, he talked about his conditioning, but when you.
Speaker 5: Go through the process of having a hand injury, your
Speaker 5: conditioning is the one thing that you can take care of.
Speaker 5: So to me, I expect Kyler Gordon to be an
Speaker 5: equally as good condition when he got hurt up until
Speaker 5: you know, coming back Sunday.
Speaker 1: And he was having a great start to camp. In
Speaker 1: that first game of the season against Green Bay, I
Speaker 1: was very excited about him at the nickel spot. He
Speaker 1: was going to focus on the nickel and I assume
Speaker 1: that will remain the case.
Speaker 5: Tommy, Yeah, you know, but the Bears and John Hope
Speaker 5: and all the defensive backs coach, they have to evaluate
Speaker 5: some of the impressions left on from the guys that
Speaker 5: have had an opportunity to play. Is that going to
Speaker 5: increase the versatility of the defense, the versatility of the
Speaker 5: defensive backfield. Is it going to allow you to attack
Speaker 5: more from different angles if guys got certain experiences against
Speaker 5: the teams that they've been able to play so far.
Speaker 5: So I think It's kind of exciting for the Bears
Speaker 5: when you have a chance to develop depth and then
Speaker 5: you get good players to come back.
Speaker 1: All right. One of those good players right now is
Speaker 1: Terrelle Smith. Played some really physical football. Here's Matt eberflu
Speaker 1: sound the impressive play of the young man at a
Speaker 1: University of Minnesota.
Speaker 6: Yeah, we love where he is right now. He's really growing,
Speaker 6: really improving, you know. We like where his tackling is,
Speaker 6: his coverage ability, his competes, his takeaways, all those things
Speaker 6: are really good and he's just got to continue to improve.
Speaker 6: He's going to play for us, you know how much,
Speaker 6: and all that will work through the week on that,
Speaker 6: but we certainly like where he is just in terms
Speaker 6: of his overall skill. I think John Hope is doing
Speaker 6: an excellent job with those young corners, you know. And
Speaker 6: we're excited to get Gordon back in there, you know,
Speaker 6: and Jalen as well. So it's nice to have guys
Speaker 6: in there. And we'll see where all those guys are
Speaker 6: this week, the guys that are coming back. But excited
Speaker 6: to see those guys back for sure.
Speaker 1: And I know we talked a ton and I did
Speaker 1: specifically about Tyreek Stevenson throughout training camp. But Terrell Smith
Speaker 1: has really made an impression. I love his physicality too.
Speaker 4: Yeah, me too.
Speaker 5: You know, I think sometimes when you're introduced to the
Speaker 5: game of NFL football after you play college football, it
Speaker 5: kind of takes you a little time to say, Okay,
Speaker 5: I do belong here. And I know if I continue
Speaker 5: to study, if I can, you know, get in better shape,
Speaker 5: get a better understanding of opponents, offenses, and the routes
Speaker 5: that are going to be run against me, I can
Speaker 5: improve as rapidly as I did through my college career
Speaker 5: into my NFL career. And I think those are some
Speaker 5: of the growing opportunities, the growing pains that every young
Speaker 5: player has got to find their way to and through.
Speaker 1: Good news Chicago United Airlines getting brand new planes with
Speaker 1: all the bells and whistles, like Bluetooth connectivity screens at
Speaker 1: every seed in room for everyone's rollerbag, int nighted Proud
Speaker 1: to fly the Chicago Bears and you too, Jeff and
Speaker 1: Tamma the Bears, et cetera. Podcast, So big news coming
Speaker 1: out with I didn't I mean, this guy's never missed
Speaker 1: a game. He didn't want to come off the field.
Speaker 1: The other day when Minnesota played Kansas City, but Justin
Speaker 1: Jefferson goes to ir Tommy with a hamstring. Here's Maddie
Speaker 1: briffluesound adjustments a defense has to make without facing Justin Jefferson.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean, you certainly adjust your your scheme, you know,
Speaker 6: to a great player like that, you know, and it's uh,
Speaker 6: you know, it's always there's a handful of guys in
Speaker 6: the league that you would do that for. So it
Speaker 6: allows you to play more basic, more more more solid
Speaker 6: on both sides as opposed to, uh, you know, tilting
Speaker 6: your coverage one way or the other. So that's the
Speaker 6: that's the basic way of saying it without giving too
Speaker 6: much away. But I do believe that, you know, it
Speaker 6: certainly allows you to play your your base way that
Speaker 6: you normally play against a normal guy, normal people, rather
Speaker 6: than playing against a guy that's elite in the top
Speaker 6: three two or three guys in the league.
Speaker 4: Which he is.
Speaker 1: So he's the elite tom that that takes a huge
Speaker 1: weapon off the field. How would you then approach this
Speaker 1: team Because Kirk Cousins is the second leading passer in
Speaker 1: the NFL in terms of passing yards and he just
Speaker 1: lost his big gun.
Speaker 5: I know, but you know what Jeff scares me about
Speaker 5: that is if I was playing against the team and
Speaker 5: they lost a premier defensive lineman. It's not like you
Speaker 5: can just have, you know, have a siar relief and say, Okay,
Speaker 5: everything's gonna be okay and we're gonna be able to
Speaker 5: control this game. Because Justin Jefferson isn't there. There's other
Speaker 5: guys that are going to stand up. There's other ways
Speaker 5: that the offensive coordinator is gonna see the field, and
Speaker 5: he's gonna change the way that he attacks it, the
Speaker 5: opportunities he gives Kirk Cousins, how they'll use the tight end,
Speaker 5: how they'll use the other receiver.
Speaker 4: So it's almost like you have to have a little.
Speaker 5: Bit of emphasis of more seriousness when you don't have
Speaker 5: a superstar, because gosh dang, when Justin Jefferson's there, you
Speaker 5: know that he's gonna get twelve to eighteen.
Speaker 4: You know, targets a game.
Speaker 1: Right, and he's been averaging six first down receiving a game.
Speaker 1: His catch rate is very high. He gets a ton
Speaker 1: of yards after the catch. He puts you on your
Speaker 1: heels a little bit. So, yeah, you're losing a lot,
Speaker 1: but you know, I'm thinking the Hockinson's gonna get of evolvement,
Speaker 1: and I know these receivers they're pretty good, but they're
Speaker 1: better with him. They're better with that guy than alone.
Speaker 1: And maybe maybe one emerges. I don't know, but hopefully
Speaker 1: it's not against the Bears.
Speaker 5: Justin Jefferson was great before Jordan Addison got there.
Speaker 4: How do you know Jordan Addison doesn't.
Speaker 5: Take advantage of an opportunity where he gets targeted six
Speaker 5: to eight more times a game and all of a
Speaker 5: sudden he shows his explosiveness, you know, and then you
Speaker 5: know what, they have a quandary when Justin Jefferson comes back, going, oh,
Speaker 5: but you know, this Addison kid's pretty good too. So
Speaker 5: I'm just saying, you know, jeff you have to be
Speaker 5: on high alert when a superstar is missing because the
Speaker 5: analytics are all screwed up and you can't just go
Speaker 5: by all they're going to do this on this down
Speaker 5: because Justin's on the field.
Speaker 1: You know, we had to come up with ideas to
Speaker 1: preview this game for the TV show for Bears Game
Speaker 1: Day Live and some other things that we do. And
Speaker 1: you know, one area that I think we should touch
Speaker 1: in this show as we preview. The matchup is pressure.
Speaker 1: How pressure will affect Justin Fields when it's gonna be
Speaker 1: coming at him potentially with four, with five, with six,
Speaker 1: with seven, they're gonna bring pressure with that coordinator, Brian Flores.
Speaker 1: But opposite to this is what kind of pressure will
Speaker 1: they dial up against Kirk Cousins Because right now, and
Speaker 1: this is an NFL jenstats, I just saw this before
Speaker 1: we started the show, Kirk Cousins leads the NFL and
Speaker 1: TD passes in rhythm through the first five weeks of
Speaker 1: the season. Whatever their analytics define a rhythm, He's got
Speaker 1: ten and that's defined as dropbacks with the time to
Speaker 1: throw between two and a half and four seconds. I
Speaker 1: don't know who he's got four seconds to throw in
Speaker 1: this league anymore, but two and a half seconds, you
Speaker 1: know that's about right. But he's throwing one hundred and
Speaker 1: nineteen touchdowns in rhythm since twenty sixteen, the only quarterback
Speaker 1: in the league over one hundred. Just for comparison sakes
Speaker 1: this year, Fields is number four in that list with
Speaker 1: six in rhythm. My definition of rhythm is either if
Speaker 1: you're taking it, I'm under center, you set you throw
Speaker 1: on your backstep, whether it's three, five or seven in
Speaker 1: the shotgun, you step up a little bit, you have
Speaker 1: time in the clean pocket that Justin had, and you
Speaker 1: let it rip. Yes, kirk Cousins is a rhythm quarterback.
Speaker 1: So what aspects of the Bears defense do you feel
Speaker 1: can disrupt that rhythm? Starting Sunday afternoon a soldier field.
Speaker 5: Kirk Cousins is a rhythm thrower because he doesn't have
Speaker 5: escapability or the athleticism that some of these other quarterbacks
Speaker 5: are blessed with. So if you can keep him in
Speaker 5: the pocket, don't give him him any escape route. If
Speaker 5: you can condense the area of his throwing rhythm and
Speaker 5: then either put your hands up and try to take
Speaker 5: up some throwing lanes or interfere with his throwing foundation,
Speaker 5: that's the best way that you screw up Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 5: And when you don't have that rhythm of Justin Jefferson,
Speaker 5: knowing how quickly he wins the route in every time
Speaker 5: you break the huddle, sometimes your vision is going to
Speaker 5: have to take that half the second three seconds longer,
Speaker 5: which in the life of a play is eternity.
Speaker 4: So you know you got to.
Speaker 5: Close that two to four seconds down to one point
Speaker 5: three eight to two seconds maximum, and that's why it's
Speaker 5: going to be important to use the creativity the Bears
Speaker 5: did on defense by bringing the extra blitzer, be willing
Speaker 5: to bring the linebackers from the line of scrimmage, and
Speaker 5: the defensive linemen have to continue to win their rushes,
Speaker 5: and I think that's a key ingredient when you're playing
Speaker 5: against a guy like Kirk Cousins.
Speaker 1: That's top there. I'm Jeff Joniyak. Let's now segue into
Speaker 1: our conversation with the voices of the Minnesota Vikings Paul
Speaker 1: Allen and Pete Persich. We've never done this before. We
Speaker 1: always have the analysts on Paul and occasionally the play
Speaker 1: by play guys, so I thought this could be interesting.
Speaker 1: We're going to have the two half of the NFC
Speaker 1: North broadcast crew together on this podcast to chop it
Speaker 1: up in preview Bears Vikings Sunday at Soldier Field. Paul
Speaker 1: has been in the booth what since twenty.
Speaker 3: Oh two yep bo two two thousand and two.
Speaker 1: And Pete was the Vikings quality control coach, then assistant
Speaker 1: d line coach, then assistant linebacker coach through two thousand
Speaker 1: and five. He couldn't hang on to one position. You
Speaker 1: just kept moving him around. Maybe you were moving up
Speaker 1: the decordinator, but then you come up, you go to
Speaker 1: the booth in two thousand and sevens you guys have
Speaker 1: been together for seventeen years.
Speaker 2: It's been crazy. It's been a long time. Twenty it's
Speaker 2: twenty eighth season with the with the franchise. So don't like,
Speaker 2: I don't like to bring that up because somebody might
Speaker 2: just say, yeah, you've been here for too long.
Speaker 1: Well, Tom and I are twenty seven. But Tom's got
Speaker 1: you know, he's got nine years of the Bears on top.
Speaker 1: So Tom's approaching forty years.
Speaker 5: But you know what's crazy about Pete is because we
Speaker 5: just saw Ron rivera Ron rivera kind of climbed the
Speaker 5: same ladder you did, Pete. But when that why in
Speaker 5: the road came, he stayed into the coaching and you
Speaker 5: see where he's at now where yeah, you know, you
Speaker 5: stayed in the radio part of it, where Ron was
Speaker 5: in the radio part initially.
Speaker 2: Yeah. And what's interesting with Ron is is when I
Speaker 2: first got into co coaching after I was done playing,
Speaker 2: I spent two it was two thousand and one. I
Speaker 2: went to the Combine and Tom Alvadadi was my position coach.
Speaker 2: But Tom introduced me to Ron, and then Ron actually
Speaker 2: spent you know, he spent a ton of time with
Speaker 2: me and was great. And one thing you learn about
Speaker 2: the NFL and coaching is the hardest job to get
Speaker 2: is your second job.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 2: So I was with the Vikings for four years. I
Speaker 2: interviewed with the Patriots before my fourth years, after my
Speaker 2: third year of coaching, and then about a year after
Speaker 2: I was out. Just it was just it was just
Speaker 2: before I took the job, I believe with the radio,
Speaker 2: but they were but Ron had called me because he
Speaker 2: was interviewing with the Dallas Cowboys and he said, Hey,
Speaker 2: if I get the job, do you want to come
Speaker 2: down here? You know, so getting that second job is
Speaker 2: a tough one. I made the decision that I wanted
Speaker 2: to stay in Minnesota, and so the only way to
Speaker 2: be involved in football would be to do the radio.
Speaker 2: You know, they had you had to talk Childress and
Speaker 2: they're letting me do that because obviously he came in
Speaker 2: two thousand and six and fired everybody. And you know,
Speaker 2: I owe it to Bob Hagen, who was an im
Speaker 2: media relations guy who said you know what, he's going
Speaker 2: the radio route, so he's not trying to get back
Speaker 2: into coaching. Don't worry about it. And they brought me
Speaker 2: out and I've been there ever since.
Speaker 1: Well, we're lucky to have both of these guys as
Speaker 1: our analysts, ex players who are passionate about the sport,
Speaker 1: aren't we?
Speaker 4: Oh, no doubt?
Speaker 7: And and I had the privilege in O two of
Speaker 7: starting with a former Vikings tied end Joe Censer. And
Speaker 7: you know, it's like, you know, I don't know if
Speaker 7: it's old school or expectations or whatever, but like you know,
Speaker 7: when Mike Tye was the coach, I had known Mike
Speaker 7: through horse racing back to the nineties, so my first
Speaker 7: job in play by play at any level, Tye was
Speaker 7: the head coach. So you know, it's like I immediately
Speaker 7: got in in a way where the trust is going
Speaker 7: to be challenged. Is they want to make sure they
Speaker 7: can trust you if you're watching practice. So as you
Speaker 7: guys know, man, it's very very important in this game.
Speaker 7: But like with Joe, it's when Childress came in. Well,
Speaker 7: then all of a sudden, nobody's watching practice. Former players,
Speaker 7: announcer guy, none of it. Well, I couldn't care less,
Speaker 7: quite honestly, But like with Joe, he just didn't feel
Speaker 7: like he could do the job or was enjoying the
Speaker 7: job the way he was two, three, four and five.
Speaker 7: So he left and then incomes Pete. And it was
Speaker 7: Adrian Peterson's first year. It was his Rookie of the
Speaker 7: Year season, and I just never will forget how excited
Speaker 7: Pete was in that nice, low level One of my
Speaker 7: favorite calling angles in all of the NFL is at
Speaker 7: Soldier Field and you're about five both down to the right,
Speaker 7: so you know that low video game angle. Man, you
Speaker 7: guys are just so blessed with that. But Pete was
Speaker 7: so excited to call his first game in his hometown Chicago.
Speaker 7: I mean, he went so out of body in an
Speaker 7: unbelievably exciting game where we'll never forget Devin Hester putting
Speaker 7: in a double move on Dwight Smith.
Speaker 2: I'm still mad at him.
Speaker 7: I'm just how do you get beat on the double move?
Speaker 2: And I mean, yeah, the guy, I mean that was
Speaker 2: when he first started putting him a wide receiver.
Speaker 7: Long well walked off and it was exciting because we
Speaker 7: never wanted Soldier Field, but I was excited for the
Speaker 7: analysts because he got to come home and get a w.
Speaker 5: Hey, Paul, I just want to ask you one thing
Speaker 5: about your building. You have the new building you guys
Speaker 5: are playing in. To me, it's one of the nicest
Speaker 5: stadiums that I've been in the NFL throughout my career.
Speaker 5: But when you think of the old atmosphere at what
Speaker 5: Dicka one time referred to as the roller Dome, is
Speaker 5: there a difference in the atmosphere from the old stadium
Speaker 5: to what this new one has been able to develop?
Speaker 7: Awesome question, and the answer is yes. Now, when we
Speaker 7: have the Minneapolis Miracle game, that's about as loud as
Speaker 7: I've was the loudest I've ever heard US Bank Stadium,
Speaker 7: uh nine, NFC Title game at Super Dome is the
Speaker 7: loudest I've ever heard any concert game stadium in our lives.
Speaker 7: And but with the Metrodome, you know it it was
Speaker 7: so intimate and and you know, I mean it's it's
Speaker 7: anti it was antiquated. So Metrodome was more intimate than
Speaker 7: the US Bank Stadium. And I'm not being Homer announcer here, guys.
Speaker 7: I mean you guys have seen all of the stadiums
Speaker 7: like we have we got to that Miami thing last
Speaker 7: year with that awful cornerge awful that X sucks, you know,
Speaker 7: and you guys.
Speaker 3: Were just there. Well, how about Meryl, Reese.
Speaker 7: And Quick a few years ago after the pandemic. They
Speaker 7: just refused to go. That's how bad that booth is.
Speaker 7: But I I honestly believe because of the amenities, the lighting,
Speaker 7: the booth locations and just everything, it's the best stadium
Speaker 7: in the National Football League.
Speaker 1: I would agree. I would agree everybody asked me about that.
Speaker 1: I also love Seattle. Just a different vibe there. It
Speaker 1: gets loud there and it's just you w yeah.
Speaker 2: Booth right, and Jeff and Jeff. If I can piggyback
Speaker 2: on what Paul was saying when when when Tom was
Speaker 2: asking about the Metrodome, there was something to be said
Speaker 2: about having a place where people the other teams did
Speaker 2: not like to go.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 2: The turf wasn't really great. It had a because of
Speaker 2: the painting for football or for baseball, and then the
Speaker 2: football it had this powder on it that made it
Speaker 2: like somewhat slippery. You know. The vis you had to
Speaker 2: walk down up all those stairs to get out long
Speaker 2: walk field. If you're if you're a visitor. So the
Speaker 2: opposing teams did not like coming to the Metrodome, and
Speaker 2: that's just the beginning, because then it was loud, and
Speaker 2: then it was everything else on top of it. So
Speaker 2: I think everybody enjoys going in and out and being
Speaker 2: in US Bank Stadium, so it you know, maybe that's
Speaker 2: been a trend across the NFL, where you know, when
Speaker 2: I remember playing a candlestick and walking out to the
Speaker 2: field and there's water running off the field down the
Speaker 2: stairs into the locker room like it was a river.
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, I'm sure Tom has a million
Speaker 2: stories about how bad, especially Philadelphia, how bad stadiums used
Speaker 2: to be, and how that used to be an advantage
Speaker 2: to the home team, whereas nowadays they're all, you know,
Speaker 2: pretty much all the stadiums are really, for the most part, fantastic.
Speaker 2: We know, you know, Homer Away doesn't matter. It's a
Speaker 2: weird place.
Speaker 1: We had a TV show a Sunday night game before
Speaker 1: I think Colin Kaepernick's first NFL start against the Bears,
Speaker 1: and we're there, like, you know, ten, well, it's late
Speaker 1: at night, we're doing our show, and all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: there's a family of raccoons walking right behind us. They
Speaker 1: made the TV show unbelievable, unbelievable. But yeah, Tom's got
Speaker 1: a theory. You know, once we get a new stadium
Speaker 1: done with Kevin Warren, wherever it may be, Tom's got
Speaker 1: plans make make the opposition feel uncomfortable. Right, Tom, what's
Speaker 1: the first thing you say?
Speaker 5: I say, make the most inconvenient walk from the locker
Speaker 5: room to the stadium that the stadium surface. You possibly
Speaker 5: can make the locker room itself super cramped, because when
Speaker 5: you think of old Candlestick Park, you think of old
Speaker 5: Cleveland Stadium, you think of some of those old archaic
Speaker 5: buildings that we had to go in as a full
Speaker 5: you know, a full game day roster, plus all the
Speaker 5: trainers and all the other support staff. It's just a
Speaker 5: miserable three hours that you have to spend in there
Speaker 5: and can't wait to get out of there.
Speaker 2: Tom. I'm saying, Tom, there's nothing like rolling into a
Speaker 2: stadium and sitting down at your locker and then having
Speaker 2: to share it with like one or two other people
Speaker 2: right when you're in the visual locker room. It's the
Speaker 2: worst of Jeff.
Speaker 7: You said, the next Bear Stadium, wherever it's going to
Speaker 7: be and we both know Kevin Warren Bear's president incredibly well.
Speaker 3: I got a lot of respect for Kevin. But but nevertheless,
Speaker 3: how's it.
Speaker 7: I mean, it better be in Arlington Heights because being
Speaker 7: a thirty year racetrack.
Speaker 3: Guy for Arlington Park to be eradicated and then there
Speaker 3: not be a stadium there.
Speaker 1: Come on, man, hey, you know, it's a process, that's
Speaker 1: all I know, don't I know. There's a lot of
Speaker 1: discussions with Chicago once again and some other metropolitan area
Speaker 1: cities here, so we'll see, we'll see what's going to happen.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I think it's everybody's doing their due diligence here,
Speaker 1: and every fan wants to know. We're on the Bears
Speaker 1: et cetera, a podcast and we're brought to you by
Speaker 1: a PNC official Bank of the Bears, with Paul Allen
Speaker 1: and our good friend and the guy who just won't
Speaker 1: go to dinner with me in suburban Hinsdale, Pete bur
Speaker 1: Stitch along with Tom Fair. I mean, I don't know
Speaker 1: why you won't.
Speaker 7: Go my analyst right here, I don't know that's why
Speaker 7: A bad number or whatever you are, the word you
Speaker 7: there was a time of your life. You were the
Speaker 7: worst at returning text messages to the Vikings Radio network
Speaker 7: in the history of anybody.
Speaker 3: We texted.
Speaker 1: Who is that me?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 2: That was you.
Speaker 5: Yeah, hey, listen, it's not only it's not only the
Speaker 5: fellow broadcasters around the league. So a couple of weeks ago,
Speaker 5: we're playing in Tampa Bay and it's like three hundred
Speaker 5: degrees out and so I go on, I go on
Speaker 5: the super early bus and I sweat profusely.
Speaker 4: So two hours before Jeff is.
Speaker 5: Leaving his room, I text him a message and I go, hey, Jeff,
Speaker 5: if you get a chance, could you grab one of
Speaker 5: the towels out of your room so I have something
Speaker 5: during the TV show.
Speaker 4: Never heard back, never got back.
Speaker 5: To me, didn't bring the towel, And he goes, oh,
Speaker 5: I didn't want to answer my phone. So listen, it's no,
Speaker 5: it's disrespect to everybody, not only you.
Speaker 3: Wow.
Speaker 1: I knew it would flare into this. Oh yeah, there's yeah.
Speaker 2: I thought we were special times.
Speaker 4: I thought we were.
Speaker 5: Now listen, I don't want to get into the Kansas
Speaker 5: City game where he forgot his sunglasses on the bus
Speaker 5: and then he left his cell phone in the toilet.
Speaker 4: I don't want to get into that'll be for a whole.
Speaker 1: You know, we are as close to each other as
Speaker 1: announcers as you possibly could be. Our crews they become
Speaker 1: family and you know, as you can tell, we're airing
Speaker 1: some laundry here and whatnot. But no, I've known Tom,
Speaker 1: you know, for a very long time, but the twenty
Speaker 1: seven years most impactfully, and we are like brothers. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: I'm the little brother who gets pounded on what's your
Speaker 1: relationship like outside of the booth.
Speaker 7: My part will be quick is I just love Pete
Speaker 7: and honestly, to have somebody else in the booth as
Speaker 7: long as I call Vikings games, I really don't ever
Speaker 7: want to have anybody else in the booth. I just
Speaker 7: I think we compliment each other beautifully with the way
Speaker 7: God gifted me to do it and his even keel demeanor.
Speaker 7: Yet he jumps up there, you know, because he genuinely
Speaker 7: cares and he gets the game better than me.
Speaker 3: So I love working with Pete Man.
Speaker 2: The funniest part is my first game in two thousand
Speaker 2: and seven, my first preseason game, I got zero in
Speaker 2: the way of anyone saying, well, this is kind of
Speaker 2: what you do and this is when you talk, and
Speaker 2: this is when you don't everything that I owe, everything
Speaker 2: that I am as a as a broadcaster, I owe
Speaker 2: to Paul because Paul, you know, love isn't given somebody
Speaker 2: what they want. It's given them what they need. And
Speaker 2: Paul has always been there to say, hey, you need
Speaker 2: to do this. Hey, you know, even during a broadcast,
Speaker 2: to pull me aside and say hey, you know, and
Speaker 2: and he's you know, he's given me the he's a
Speaker 2: stickler on pronunciations, on names and things, and so I've
Speaker 2: made that my mission, my goal to make sure that
Speaker 2: that's you know, that's what I do. But he's always
Speaker 2: there to pull me aside and say, hey, when this happens,
Speaker 2: try this or this or this, and it's all, you know.
Speaker 2: So he's given me, he's learned, he's he's he's learned
Speaker 2: everything the hard way. And because of that and his generosity,
Speaker 2: I don't have to learn things the hard way. And
Speaker 2: it's it's been an absolute I mean, Paul, we've been through.
Speaker 2: We've been through like just like you and you know,
Speaker 2: Jeff and Tom, we've been through a lot as far
Speaker 2: as this team goes, and uh, you know, the surviving
Speaker 2: it together and being where we are now. I mean,
Speaker 2: I couldn't I couldn't be happier. So and I don't
Speaker 2: think Paul enough publicly, and I want to thank him
Speaker 2: right now. It's just he's been fantastic as a mentor
Speaker 2: and everything else.
Speaker 4: Well, look, I.
Speaker 5: Got to ask you a question about the modern day
Speaker 5: vikings because this is why I've been wanting to ask
Speaker 5: you guys. Yeah, I get up and I kind of
Speaker 5: start the same routine. I get up, get my dogs out,
Speaker 5: I walk them early in the morning, and I turned
Speaker 5: the sports TV show on and I just listen.
Speaker 4: And every single day it seems like.
Speaker 5: There's talk about Kirk Cousins one way or the other,
Speaker 5: whether the good or the bad, the trading or the
Speaker 5: not trading. Is that starting to kind of, you know,
Speaker 5: not upset or you know, kind of take over the
Speaker 5: narrative of the team, or is it something that's not
Speaker 5: talked about as much as I'm hearing it talked about.
Speaker 7: Well, I mean it's it's a lot a lot of
Speaker 7: the origin of that Tom and I get asked a
Speaker 7: lot about it when I do interviews outside of the
Speaker 7: market or even just like in my life here it's
Speaker 7: functioning clickability for a lot of secondary type websites. So
Speaker 7: I'm like, when Tom Pellisero or Adam Schefter or somebody
Speaker 7: puts something out there that I will know is legitimate,
Speaker 7: well then I'll start thinking more about it. Because to
Speaker 7: who much is given, much is expected. And when Kirk
Speaker 7: took that took that three year guaranteed piece into the
Speaker 7: twenty eighteen first time in the history of the NFL.
Speaker 7: Minnesota is a very habit state. I'm from Washington, d C.
Speaker 7: I've lived all over the world. Piet's from Chicago, but
Speaker 7: I've lived here since ninety eight so I've learned it's
Speaker 7: a habit state. And you know, they it's Kirk's worst
Speaker 7: season with us was twenty eighteen, so there are a
Speaker 7: lot of people who just never forgot the cash and
Speaker 7: then the pick sixes. So that's from a fans standpoint,
Speaker 7: I think they're a little too hard on him. But
Speaker 7: now I don't really take it seriously until I either
Speaker 7: get steamed from the inside that it may be happening
Speaker 7: or a big dog sit out there on Twitter. You know,
Speaker 7: for Kirk too, he is what he is right, He's
Speaker 7: a pocket passer, he's unbelievably accurate, good arm strength doesn't move,
Speaker 7: you know, he's there easier to pressure him in that respect.
Speaker 7: So I think a lot of a lot of the
Speaker 7: criticism and things that people come up with, they just
Speaker 7: dwell like, they fixate on those things that he can't do.
Speaker 7: And I'm sure you guys see that in the same
Speaker 7: thing in Chicago is that everybody wants to talk about
Speaker 7: what the quarterback can't do, but what they forget are
Speaker 7: all the things that he can do. And oh, by
Speaker 7: the way, go ahead and bring somebody else in here
Speaker 7: and see how bad it can be, you know what
Speaker 7: I mean, It just bothers it. That's the part I
Speaker 7: think that bothers me is is just you can't make
Speaker 7: them into something they're not. So you have to find
Speaker 7: a way to live and learn and win with where
Speaker 7: you know who they are and what they're about.
Speaker 1: You know, one of the big things with Justin Jefferson
Speaker 1: being sidelined right now, and as a broadcaster, I'm always
Speaker 1: bummed when the stars the superstars aren't to play because
Speaker 1: you only get so many opportunities in our career to
Speaker 1: call the superstars. So he's not going to be there.
Speaker 1: But you know, fifty I looked it up fifty nine
Speaker 1: of kirks one hundred and twelve completions of twenty five
Speaker 1: plus since twenty twenty when he became a board of
Speaker 1: gone to Jefferson. So that connection is something that we
Speaker 1: see brewing right now, at least in the last couple of
Speaker 1: weeks with Dj Moore and Justin Fields. How rare is
Speaker 1: that to embrace and miss when it's not there?
Speaker 7: Well, whomever was the first person, jeff In, you know,
Speaker 7: before the pandemic in twenty twenty, we're we're at the
Speaker 7: combine in what February of twenty twenty, and then you know,
Speaker 7: a month later everything changes. But being at that combine,
Speaker 7: whomever the first person was to say this wide receiver
Speaker 7: draft is the best is going to be the best
Speaker 7: in the history of the NFL.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 7: I mean we're old schoolers, so I'm like, all right, cool,
Speaker 7: talk to me. After twenty five games. Well, they were right,
Speaker 7: it was you guys got Darnell Mooney out of it.
Speaker 7: And you know, I can tell that there's an adjustment
Speaker 7: with Darnell game and Justin still growing, and now DJ's
Speaker 7: there and and comets. He was a problem before and
Speaker 7: now he's more of a problem. So Jefferson came out
Speaker 7: of that draft, and and you know, Pete and I
Speaker 7: knew nearing the end of the twenty twenty season and
Speaker 7: then twenty one two and this year he seemingly cracks
Speaker 7: a Randy Moss record, either Fankings related or NFL related
Speaker 7: every two weeks. And it's like when you're when you're
Speaker 7: passing Randy Moss and Lance Alworth and Michael Thomas when
Speaker 7: he was hot, you just know you're onto something. So
Speaker 7: he and Kirk very comfortable together. But but this is
Speaker 7: a pass first team where the tight end gets a
Speaker 7: ton of gets a ton of opportunity. This USC rookie
Speaker 7: Jordan Addison has three touchdowns. Osborne will sneak up on
Speaker 7: you if you're not paying an attention. And you know,
Speaker 7: Kirk Swivel is very apparent. He is a pocket guy,
Speaker 7: but he's not a one read guy. And Kirk, it's
Speaker 7: an equal opportunity quarterback, but he knows where the metaphorical
Speaker 7: bread is buttered and is with number eighteen.
Speaker 5: You know, you think of the Vikings going forward, the
Speaker 5: contract status of Kirk Cousin, the contract status with Justin
Speaker 5: Jefferson wants you know you got rid of Dalvin Cook,
Speaker 5: who was supremely respected in one of the top running
Speaker 5: backs in our division.
Speaker 4: How is this team gonna fix the gap?
Speaker 5: You know, I mean the contract to Justin Jefferson or
Speaker 5: the quarterback future. Is the future quarterback on your roster
Speaker 5: or is it you know, thinking outside outside the room.
Speaker 7: Yeah, that that's an awesome question. I mean I handled
Speaker 7: that a lot with my KFA and radio show. I'd
Speaker 7: be curious to get Pete's thoughts on that, because I'm
Speaker 7: quite quite honestly into the season, I was surprised that
Speaker 7: a quarterback of Kirk's caliber is going to be most
Speaker 7: likely no, he will be a free agent after this year,
Speaker 7: to which my initial response is, I mean, seriously, if
Speaker 7: you think finding a quarterback as good as Kirk Cousins
Speaker 7: is easy, okay, May God be with you and best
Speaker 7: of luck to you. And maybe they obviously have something
Speaker 7: up their sleeves that a I'm not asking about, or
Speaker 7: be we don't see.
Speaker 2: And again, when you pay somebody, you're not you know, yeah,
Speaker 2: what you've done in the past, you say you get
Speaker 2: paid for what you've done. It's like, no, you're getting
Speaker 2: paid for what you can do and what you've done
Speaker 2: in the past should be an indicator of what you
Speaker 2: can do, which is why we're paying you so much.
Speaker 2: But he's not getting any younger. So the question is
Speaker 2: is how much can he command at his age with
Speaker 2: what he's done now. If that's palatable and the Vikings
Speaker 2: can keep them there, I'm sure justin Jefferson would be very,
Speaker 2: very happy about that. But if it becomes an issue
Speaker 2: where you know his expectations are up here, you know,
Speaker 2: the Vikings are saying no, I don't think in three
Speaker 2: years you're going to be, you know, making that amount.
Speaker 2: And that's a tough decision that they have to make,
Speaker 2: and you know that's the thing. It's it's the business.
Speaker 2: I'll say this though, I have the utmost amount of
Speaker 2: confidence in Kevin O'Connell to find and develop a quarterback,
Speaker 2: no matter who that is. That I mean, really, that's
Speaker 2: it's the most difficult position in all pro sports. It's
Speaker 2: the most important position in football. You have a guy
Speaker 2: that played it, that's coached it, and you know, I
Speaker 2: trust what he does and what he says, and I
Speaker 2: think that you have the right guy in place to
Speaker 2: handle this transition if it comes sooner than later.
Speaker 1: Take a chance download the Bette Rivers app. Today here
Speaker 1: in the Bears et Cetara Podcast, we've got time for
Speaker 1: two more questions. I'll start with one in time you
Speaker 1: can wrap it up. Brian Flores loves the pressure, so
Speaker 1: it's today. Matty briefly said, Yep, you guys bring it
Speaker 1: sixty one percent of the time. What should Justin Fields
Speaker 1: and company expect the offensive line expect from Brian Flores
Speaker 1: with this NFC North matchup Sunday.
Speaker 7: Pete is much more equipped answer that question than me.
Speaker 7: I'm just gonna get this out of the way. There
Speaker 7: now have been in my twenty twenty two calling Vikings football.
Speaker 7: There now have been two things this year that I
Speaker 7: don't think. I mean, here is the early week stages
Speaker 7: of the game calling depth chart.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so we still got a lot of work.
Speaker 4: To do with it.
Speaker 7: There are two things that have been put on that
Speaker 7: game calling depth chart this year that I've never put
Speaker 7: on in my life. When we were in Carolina and
Speaker 7: A Bryce Young's yards per attempt was four point two
Speaker 7: with seventy one throw So I'm like, wow, I've never
Speaker 7: put that down before. And really, with all due respect
Speaker 7: because he's still maturing and he played fifteen last year
Speaker 7: in five this year, seventy five sacks and twenty games.
Speaker 7: I mean, I've never ever put anything like that on
Speaker 7: the game calling depth chart. So that's all I have
Speaker 7: to offer on that commentary, Peter.
Speaker 2: It's our coloss, right, it's kind of what the defense does.
Speaker 2: And I think if there's something for Flores, you take
Speaker 2: a look at what went on in the offseason with
Speaker 2: free agency with everything else, there weren't there weren't a
Speaker 2: lot of moves made on defense. So you had a
Speaker 2: thirty first ranked defense a year ago that with the
Speaker 2: same guys, maybe a couple undirafted free agents, but for
Speaker 2: the most part, the same guys playing much better there.
Speaker 2: It's their philosophy. We going into Week five, there were
Speaker 2: only three players in the NFL that it blitzed thirty
Speaker 2: or more times, and all three of them were on
Speaker 2: the Vikings team. Now, you're gonna show blitz all the time,
Speaker 2: but are they gonna blitz all the time? No, they're
Speaker 2: gonna drop. They're gonna send five sometimes sometimes they'll send six,
Speaker 2: sometimes four and sometimes three. And it's that cat and mouse.
Speaker 2: It's that cat and mouse in that chess game that
Speaker 2: you play with putting guys on the line of scrimmage
Speaker 2: and then dropping some off or sending them so the
Speaker 2: quarterback doesn't know exactly what he's going to get. He's
Speaker 2: going to take the safe bet quick throw to the
Speaker 2: outside and then you just have to rally and tackle.
Speaker 2: I think with fields, if you can get to him early,
Speaker 2: then his eyes don't go down the field, they go
Speaker 2: to the rush, and I think that's that's really what
Speaker 2: you have to do. I think we have the athletes
Speaker 2: now that can do a better job of chasing him down.
Speaker 2: If he does decide to run, he's gonna get his
Speaker 2: yards one way or the other. The thing is is
Speaker 2: if he gets it dropping back, pulling it down and
Speaker 2: then scrambling. I think the Vikings can live with that,
Speaker 2: right Well, you can't live live with is letting Dj
Speaker 2: Moore catch a hitch and then breaking it for fifty
Speaker 2: You can't, you know, you can't live with with fade
Speaker 2: routes and the big explosive passes. So I think for
Speaker 2: the Vikings defense and for Flores, they're going to want
Speaker 2: They're going to say, Okay, that's that. That's our game
Speaker 2: plan going into this, And you know, I don't know
Speaker 2: what the what the what the status if your running
Speaker 2: back room is But you know that running, you know,
Speaker 2: the running, the ability to run the football is going
Speaker 2: to be important for you guys. And we'll see if
Speaker 2: that's going to be handicapped or not. Because if it's on,
Speaker 2: the more it's on fields and him throwing, the more
Speaker 2: we're gonna blitz. Let's just put it that way, you.
Speaker 5: Know, guys, I was looking at one of the stats
Speaker 5: that the Vikings are minus nine and turnovers in a
Speaker 5: couple of weeks ago, Kevin O'Connell said, look, if who
Speaker 5: ever turns the ball over there, I'm gonna look to
Speaker 5: replace him. Does he carry that kind of cachet into
Speaker 5: the locker room because I know throughout the difficate era
Speaker 5: he gave us a lot of you know, threats and
Speaker 5: they and he was willing to make a change at
Speaker 5: the drop of the hat. So is that message clear
Speaker 5: to the players about how serious he is about it?
Speaker 3: Well?
Speaker 7: Absolutely, I mean cam Akers is here and nobody knew
Speaker 7: he'd be here a couple of weeks ago. Madison still
Speaker 7: getting a fair amount of carries. But you know, you
Speaker 7: you you, yes, he is serious. Yes, he is very
Speaker 7: well respected. I get the opportunity weekly to do a
Speaker 7: sit down, one on one interview with him, tape it
Speaker 7: every Tuesday called Ex's and O's. Pete's also there to
Speaker 7: take it in because he does a film study with
Speaker 7: O'Connell right after. And man, we've been from Mike Tye
Speaker 7: to Brad Child, trus Leslie Fraser, Mike Zimmer.
Speaker 3: Now this with Kevin.
Speaker 7: I mean, he's won one of our absolute favorites. We
Speaker 7: adore him. He cares, he wears the losses and is
Speaker 7: upset for the fans on his sleeves. So and he's
Speaker 7: an e lead offensive mind, and he's also an elea leader.
Speaker 4: So you don't you know.
Speaker 7: What what the team did last year going eleven to
Speaker 7: zero in those one score games. It's so disrespectful to
Speaker 7: coaches and players to say that they got lucky repeatedly
Speaker 7: and all the work they put into it, with the execution, Hey,
Speaker 7: I'm a horse racing guy, mam. Every photo finish we
Speaker 7: got last year, our nose is getting down second this year.
Speaker 7: And again we're not homerrific announcers here.
Speaker 4: We Kansas.
Speaker 7: They should have beaten Kansas City, quite honestly, they should
Speaker 7: have beaten Philadelphia. They should have beaten the Chargers, and
Speaker 7: they should have beaten Tampa Bay and they didn't. That
Speaker 7: minus nine and Pete giggle when you brought it up
Speaker 7: because he just knows it's working on my last and
Speaker 7: I get nappothletic, and I'm getting loud with some of
Speaker 7: them because I'm just getting pissed off seeing I understand
Speaker 7: seasons or snowflakes. No two are the same. However, what
Speaker 7: we've seen in twenty twenty, I've never seen in my life.
Speaker 7: Losing eight bumbles through five games. And where they are
Speaker 7: on the field down at the goal line against Philly,
Speaker 7: at the two against Tampa. We're rolling down the field
Speaker 7: against the LA Chargers like the twenty seven Yankees man
Speaker 7: Hockinson on the run, middle of the field at the
Speaker 7: twenty eight drops it. Madison had a screen last week
Speaker 7: against the Chiefs that was set up so beautifully it
Speaker 7: would have been a first down or get to the house, just.
Speaker 3: Quiet, look look like a friend.
Speaker 7: Adrian Peterson, with all due respect, trying to get the
Speaker 7: bran of it.
Speaker 3: It just is so frustrating.
Speaker 2: Man, Hey, hey, Tom, Here's the other thing too, is
Speaker 2: is you say you know you fumble the ball we're
Speaker 2: going to replace you. Keep in mind, we've had six
Speaker 2: different people players fumble the football. There are five offensive
Speaker 2: linemen on the field, so you only have six other
Speaker 2: people that touch the football. Yeah, well all six of
Speaker 2: them would have been replaced. We wouldn't have a quarterback,
Speaker 2: we wouldn't have a running back, we wouldn't have either
Speaker 2: of our tight ends, and we wouldn't have Justin and
Speaker 2: we wouldn't have Powell. I mean, we wouldn't have anybody.
Speaker 2: So it's almost mind boggling. And part of me thinks
Speaker 2: it's guys now all of a sudden, trying to do
Speaker 2: too much. It's gone to a level that, like I said,
Speaker 2: Pa and I are just like incredulous to it. So
Speaker 2: if we come out of the back, if we come
Speaker 2: out of the gate and we start moving the chains,
Speaker 2: don't panic, Tom, Yeah, don't panic, you know, Jeff, don't
Speaker 2: plan it well, don't panic. Don't panic until that ball
Speaker 2: crosses the goal line, because we've been known to get
Speaker 2: rid of it all at every point down the way
Speaker 2: along the way.
Speaker 7: But Jeff and Tom just just to put a fifteen
Speaker 7: second wrap on this. It's the other side of the
Speaker 7: ball too that we've never seen, at least in my
Speaker 7: life where Chargers game right in the hands of second
Speaker 7: year corner of Caleb Evans, and of course you off
Speaker 7: into the awaiting arms of Josh Palmer, so he scores.
Speaker 3: Of course he scores a touchdown.
Speaker 7: Just last game, rookie corner Makay Blackman had one, couldn't
Speaker 7: bring it in. They got third and eighteen Man and
Speaker 7: we're gonna beat Mahomes and he chucks one over the
Speaker 7: center of the field to a wide receiver named Justin Watson.
Speaker 7: Our safety can find him right there, but he missed
Speaker 7: time just jump and it went through his hands. So
Speaker 7: I mean we're seeing that too on defense.
Speaker 1: Well from our perspective, we certainly hope the ball continues
Speaker 1: to bounce away from your good hands and into ours.
Speaker 1: That thing up again, Yeah, yeah you will, Yeah you will.
Speaker 1: So I heard one say apoplectic. I heard the other
Speaker 1: one say, what was it? Incredulous? So we got a
Speaker 1: lot of big words from the big guys from Minnesota,
Speaker 1: And hopefully after all these you remember the day's time
Speaker 1: when we'd run into Pa underneath Soldier Field before the game.
Speaker 1: We say, can't take it easy, And I said today
Speaker 1: I know that you guys are from the big city.
Speaker 1: This is what he would do to me in his
Speaker 1: early days. He would just be giving me the business.
Speaker 4: But I love it.
Speaker 7: No, it was prophetic because I was teasing you before
Speaker 7: you have leaving Pete and I on Red with these
Speaker 7: text message, Hey, hey, before we go. I do want
Speaker 7: to say this because I play from the heart. Your
Speaker 7: quarterbacks coach Andrew Jinoco is one of my all time
Speaker 7: favorite people in football. I love that man. We pray
Speaker 7: on the field before every game when we get the opportunity.
Speaker 7: We did that here with the Vikings. And I had
Speaker 7: a chance to meet Matti Eberflus last March here in
Speaker 7: Minnesota at a church function called a Rise with the
Speaker 7: guys and man, we chatted a lot, and I know
Speaker 7: things ain't great right now, but that man has a
Speaker 7: heart of gold. He is an elite football mind and
Speaker 7: I really really pull for Matt to do well.
Speaker 1: A lot of people do. All right, we got a run.
Speaker 1: We'll see you on Sunday. Bring it and as you
Speaker 1: always do. You guys are outstanding, some of the best.
Speaker 3: Aswayne Larabie and Dan Miller. Mote.
Speaker 1: Hey you got you gotta try me, You gotta try me.
Speaker 4: Hey, this is gonna end.
Speaker 2: We can this, this is this is the coffee pot.
Speaker 2: We just need the coffee pot out of your booth.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, can we get Can we.
Speaker 1: Get there as much as you want? Donuts? Donuts are
Speaker 1: there too.
Speaker 2: That's all I'm worried about.
Speaker 1: Love you guys, Love you guys. To Paul Allen Pete Bursts.
Speaker 1: You'll see you Sunday.
Speaker 4: Thank you.
Speaker 1: All right, Well that was a lot of fun, Big Tom.
Speaker 1: That was fun with those two guys.
Speaker 5: Well, I'm glad I still have my college thesaurus around
Speaker 5: because I did have to go up and look at a
Speaker 5: couple of words that they used. And we'll talk with listen, man,
Speaker 5: we're talking football. We're talking to a couple of c
Speaker 5: students here, So you can any word that's over eight
Speaker 5: or nine letters, I'm gonna have to look.
Speaker 1: Oh god, they're fun. But you know, that's what we
Speaker 1: love about the division. We certainly we're very close to
Speaker 1: Wayne Larvy up in Green Bay and Dan up in
Speaker 1: Detroit and Lomas Brown. Just fun. Guys get to see
Speaker 1: him twice a year, and that that adds up over
Speaker 1: the course of our NFL careers. So it's good to
Speaker 1: hang out with those guys.
Speaker 5: That was a great idea by you, and I wish
Speaker 5: we could do it more because I think with all
Speaker 5: four of not being specific to the game, you know,
Speaker 5: not being moments before kickoff, and having a chance to
Speaker 5: talk a little bit about of experience because each year
Speaker 5: we get to talk to Loemus from up in Detroit,
Speaker 5: and I love that dude, and he's a fun guy
Speaker 5: to talk to, and he's so gracious and happy and
Speaker 5: he's got such a great.
Speaker 4: Disposition that you know.
Speaker 5: And I was messaging Pete and I said, maybe this
Speaker 5: is an invention of a new podcast where you know,
Speaker 5: to every team in the NFL, but most certainly your
Speaker 5: guys in your division.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's it's fun in the division, and it's a
Speaker 1: scheduling thing. You know, you got to get everybody's got
Speaker 1: everybody's got other things going on, so it's hard to
Speaker 1: put together for all your journeys ahead, go with a
Speaker 1: partner who's been on your team from the beginning of
Speaker 1: the one members and communities have trusted for over eighty
Speaker 1: five years. Blue Cross and Blue Shield if Illinois always
Speaker 1: standing by you, with you, for you through it all.
Speaker 1: DJ Moore NFC Player the Week offensively. Now, I was
Speaker 1: shocked by this one. I would have lost this bet
Speaker 1: the last Bears receiver to be player of the week.
Speaker 1: I know, it's just it's an out of reward. It
Speaker 1: should reflect the entire offense and the way that offensive
Speaker 1: line protected justin fields and fields with the on target throws.
Speaker 1: But the last you know who the last one was.
Speaker 1: If you already seen this, you're not on Twitter, so
Speaker 1: you wouldn't have seen it. Take a guess the last
Speaker 1: Bears receiver to be offensive Player of the Week in
Speaker 1: the NFC.
Speaker 4: Brandon Marshall.
Speaker 1: See that's what I would have thought. No, and nope,
Speaker 1: it's not Brandon Marshall. Then I went to plan B
Speaker 1: al Seon Jeffrey al Seon Jeffrey had a two hundred
Speaker 1: yard game in his career. The last one was nineteen
Speaker 1: ninety nine and it was Marcus Robinson.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Marcus Robinson.
Speaker 5: You know he ran a lot of street routes, so
Speaker 5: I used to call it nine routes back in the
Speaker 5: day where he was so big, so talented. You could
Speaker 5: use the sideline and then use his size, throw it
Speaker 5: up and put it in a position where only he
Speaker 5: could catch it. And if a tips off off of
Speaker 5: his fingertips, or he misses it, it harmlessly falls out
Speaker 5: of bound.
Speaker 1: So but in the course of then double checking that,
Speaker 1: I noticed something unique and I'm glad it happened. And
Speaker 1: I don't know if you remember the game. I know
Speaker 1: I'm bringing this stuff at you cold here. But nineteen
Speaker 1: ninety season of which you were a part of on
Speaker 1: the offensive line, you guys are gray beards. At that time,
Speaker 1: I saw the ages of everybody. You were twenty nine.
Speaker 1: The entire offensive line of the Bears was named the
Speaker 1: NFC Offensive Player of the Week. Do you remember what
Speaker 1: game that was in nineteen ninety? Because I went to look,
Speaker 1: there was nothing extraordinary like that. I didn't see any
Speaker 1: statistical craziness.
Speaker 4: Do you know Arizona? Out in Arizona?
Speaker 1: Why what happened?
Speaker 5: It was really funny because that morning Jay woke up
Speaker 5: with the flu. No, when Jay gets the flu, his
Speaker 5: all in. They actually he came on the early ride
Speaker 5: to the stadium with me. He was thrown up in
Speaker 5: a plastic bag. He got there and they tried to
Speaker 5: get him ready to play the game. And whenever Jay
Speaker 5: gets the flu, man over the edge. And so he
Speaker 5: came on the early transportation with me to the stadium,
Speaker 5: and he was thrown up in a plastic bag. We
Speaker 5: got to the stadium, he tried to recover and he
Speaker 5: couldn't recover, and so they shipped him out the back
Speaker 5: door in an ambulance.
Speaker 4: And took him to a hospital.
Speaker 5: And so Jerry Fonteau ended up starting the game and
Speaker 5: we went out there and we crushed him.
Speaker 4: We had like two hundred and fifty yards rushing.
Speaker 5: And then we flew back home and Jay had to pay.
Speaker 4: For a flight and fly back on his own later
Speaker 4: that night.
Speaker 5: And so we got home and as we are gathering
Speaker 5: the next day, Dick said, hey, remember Wally Pip and.
Speaker 1: Is of course, of course everybody knows Wally Pip. So
Speaker 1: he got Wally Pip by Jerry.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I got Wally Pip by Jerry fonte And yes,
Speaker 5: we are the NFC offensive player of the week.
Speaker 1: See heart Seltzer, the official Heart Seltzer of the Chicago Bears.
Speaker 1: All right, got a couple other random thoughts, Tommy, the
Speaker 1: team right now is third in the NFL and explosive plays.
Speaker 1: So they made a huge jump here. I went back
Speaker 1: looked at the statistics one week ago they were twenty
Speaker 1: first in offensive points scored. Now there's seventh third downyards.
Speaker 1: They've gone from twenty second to fifth. They got one
Speaker 1: hundred and eighty yards on third down on Thursday. Dj
Speaker 1: Moore at one hundred and forty of those. He's now
Speaker 1: the NFL's number one receiver on third down and he's
Speaker 1: averaging twenty one point three yards to catch on third down.
Speaker 1: That's the big play football. But you know, you think
Speaker 1: about all this holy kW Justin on twenty plus yard
Speaker 1: throws number one in the NFL and completions of twenty
Speaker 1: plus yards. It can it fix that quickly? Is my point?
Speaker 1: Can this be sustained?
Speaker 5: Well, I mean it's got to everything's got to work together.
Speaker 5: You have to have the proper protection for Justin where
Speaker 5: he's not hassled. He'd he doesn't have interrupted vision and
Speaker 5: he's always had long ball accuracy and if you give
Speaker 5: him that opportunity, he can be successful. And then you
Speaker 5: get the combination of Luke Getzi calling the right play
Speaker 5: at the right time. I don't know why it's not sustainable,
Speaker 5: but that's going to be interesting to see this week.
Speaker 5: And it's a good thing you're playing at home because
Speaker 5: you're going to have a lot of things at your
Speaker 5: advantage the game. You're coming off of the ability to
Speaker 5: use a verbal snapcount, and it's up to the protection
Speaker 5: of the offensive line.
Speaker 1: I mentally, a defense goes in facing a team that
Speaker 1: knowingly they passed the ball seventy percent of the time,
Speaker 1: they run it less than thirty percent of the time.
Speaker 1: So they're not, as Paul Allen indicated, they're not committed
Speaker 1: to running the football. So are they already one dimensional
Speaker 1: when you walk in the building.
Speaker 5: No, because the Bears have been giving up some yards
Speaker 5: to the run. So I think you're going to have
Speaker 5: to investigate the opportunity if you're the Minnesota Vikings, and
Speaker 5: because you don't have Justin Jefferson, and you can use
Speaker 5: multiple tight end sets to see if if you can
Speaker 5: gain some susceptibility to success at running the ball. But
Speaker 5: I don't think they'll like nor throwing the ball as
Speaker 5: much as they have. But maybe they'll get down to
Speaker 5: fifty five forty percentage rate rather than throwing it so
Speaker 5: often to Justin Jefferson.
Speaker 1: All Right, I got thoughts on Cairo Santos. We rarely
Speaker 1: talk about him, and that's a good thing because it
Speaker 1: was a time not that long ago when we were
Speaker 1: obsessing about who is going to be the Bears kicker.
Speaker 1: But he's done a great job as a Bear. I
Speaker 1: think you'd agree. This season, all twenty five of his
Speaker 1: kickoffs have reached the end zone. So we haven't spoken
Speaker 1: till We don't know what he's done in the offseason.
Speaker 1: But they used Trent and Gill a lot last year
Speaker 1: kicking off the football. That's one thing right there. He's
Speaker 1: number ten now among active kickers and field goals made
Speaker 1: in the NFL, and since joining the Bears tied for
Speaker 1: the highest field goal average as a kicker at number five,
Speaker 1: and as a team, the Bears are tied with Vegas
Speaker 1: at number one during his time as a Bear. Is
Speaker 1: this an underrated weapon that we're not given enough love.
Speaker 4: To well early portion of the season.
Speaker 5: Is I wish I had the schedule memorized and I
Speaker 5: could know exactly where and when the Bears play outdoor
Speaker 5: in difficult weather conditions, because sometimes that's what haunts Cairos
Speaker 5: the most. And you know, I guess that's what I
Speaker 5: that's kind.
Speaker 4: Of my way and see about him.
Speaker 1: Okay, brock Purty in San Francisco, first quarterback in the
Speaker 1: Super Bowl Era to start five to zero in both
Speaker 1: his first and second season. Some are saying he's now
Speaker 1: on the MVP watch list. This is some kind of story.
Speaker 1: I gotta tell you.
Speaker 5: Well, I mean, listen, it's an extremely versatile offense and
Speaker 5: you have to have the right quarterback to run the offense.
Speaker 5: It's not because it's not because of the head coach
Speaker 5: that Perty's playing great. Perty's playing great because he's got
Speaker 5: a lot of weapons and changes and unbalanced play calling,
Speaker 5: and he's he's really making great decisions.
Speaker 1: And now I'll leave you with this as we wrap
Speaker 1: things up. Right now. When you spend over twenty nine
Speaker 1: to ninety nine at Steinhoffels, that's two nine hundred ninety
Speaker 1: nine dollars. You score a one hundred dollars Bears Pro
Speaker 1: Shop gift card. Is it any one of their four
Speaker 1: Chicagoland locations in Vernon Hills, Crystal Lake, Downers Grove, and
Speaker 1: Harwood Heights, or shop online at Steinhoffels dot com. You're
Speaker 1: gonna love this one. Bill Snyder, the former head coach
Speaker 1: at Kansas State, was there a long time, turned that
Speaker 1: program around. We all know who he was. This is
Speaker 1: a quote I picked up. He said, the weight room
Speaker 1: is the heartbeat of your team. It creates its mindset,
Speaker 1: and you are not consistently going to beat anyone without
Speaker 1: gaining advantage in that area of the program. That would
Speaker 1: have made Clyde Emerick very happy and proud. Is that
Speaker 1: the truest statement of football you've heard in a while.
Speaker 5: There's never been a more truer statement ever made. And
Speaker 5: I'm glad a guy with his experience and his lineage
Speaker 5: in made it. I could wear a metal around my
Speaker 5: neck with his face on it because of it. And
Speaker 5: to me, when all these people want to look at
Speaker 5: excuses why a lot of injuries are happening in the NFL,
Speaker 5: it's not because of field conditions or the surface they're
Speaker 5: playing on. It's because a lot of these players don't
Speaker 5: attempt to get as strong as they can possibly humanly
Speaker 5: be to protect all elements of their body.
Speaker 4: And so Bill Snyder, thank you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that was a statement to end on for sure,
Speaker 1: Big Tim, good luck on your preparation for the Bears
Speaker 1: and Vikings. It's fun to be back in the division
Speaker 1: and I know you'll be there bright and early on Sunday.
Speaker 4: Buddy, good luck. What the heck, do you give me
Speaker 4: good luck for?
Speaker 2: Hey?
Speaker 1: You know what? We all need a little good luck,
Speaker 1: look to prepare.
Speaker 5: I got it right, I got it right here as
Speaker 5: I point to my heart, Nagi, that's right.
Speaker 4: And I got my high of strong T shirt on.
Speaker 1: Yes, yes, indeed behind them.
Speaker 2: Aw.
Speaker 4: We don't forget about the Hawaiian fires.
Speaker 1: Right, we got We got so much in this world
Speaker 1: to worry about right now, big time, so much. But
Speaker 1: you're right, let's not forget what happened.
Speaker 4: Never.
Speaker 1: Never. That's a long way from finding a conclusion and
Speaker 1: getting on the right track. I'm sure. All right, Tom,
Speaker 1: We'll talk to you soon. Thanks for listening to everybody.
Speaker 1: Our Next Bears Etc. Podcasts drops Tuesday for our Week
Speaker 1: six recap. Thanks for listening, everybody. Please subscribe now in
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Speaker 1: you get your podcasts. Spared out, everybody,