Latest / 2nd City Gridiron / Making Monsters: Bears v Vikings Preview

Transcript

Making Monsters: Bears v Vikings Preview · 2nd City Gridiron

0:05
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, welcome back to another episode of Making Monsters, I'm Taylor Doll, join now.
0:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Tyler Fornes, you know I've had him on my show several times covering the Vikings for A to Z sports in that Vikings first in school.
0:20
[SPEAKER_00]: Vikings took care of business against the Packers.
0:22
[SPEAKER_00]: We can all appreciate that.
0:24
[SPEAKER_00]: When the Packers lose, we're all happy.
0:25
[SPEAKER_00]: That's one thing.
0:26
[SPEAKER_00]: We can agree on Tyler, but thanks for hopping on and chatting some Vikings bears with me.
0:30
[SPEAKER_01]: I pleasure.
0:30
[SPEAKER_01]: This is one of the more interesting matchups of the week because it's a very diverse
0:37
[SPEAKER_01]: blend of styles.
0:38
[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, yeah, a lot of interesting notes to get into with this.
0:42
[SPEAKER_00]: I want to start with probably one of the bigger conversations this week, which is Kyler Murray.
0:47
[SPEAKER_00]: He was in concussion, concussion protocol limited yesterday though.
0:50
[SPEAKER_00]: So there is a chance that he can play this weekend on Sunday.
0:54
[SPEAKER_00]: So try to little bit about that.
0:55
[SPEAKER_00]: The expectations if it will be Kyler if it is not Kyler are you expecting Carson wins to go on Sunday.
1:01
[SPEAKER_01]: If it's not Kyler, it's Carson wins and there's no doubt about it.
1:05
[SPEAKER_01]: on Monday when they were talking to Kevin O'Connell about the quarterback injury, nobody said a word about McCarthy, and that tells you everything you need to know about where he sits.
1:14
[SPEAKER_01]: And so enough about quarterback three, Murray is the interesting one because to my knowledge, he does not have a single diagnosed concussion in his entire football career.
1:24
[SPEAKER_01]: He had the fencing pose, which in itself is very worry some looking.
1:30
[SPEAKER_01]: But what's really curious is he was talking with teammates after they got into the locker room on Sunday.
1:37
[SPEAKER_01]: He was in meetings on Monday morning and the fact that he's already on the field in the limited participation on Wednesday tells me he's at least stage three of the concoctial protocol out of five, which means by the deadline of Friday, which the Vikings have kind of sat on their own because you can't wait until Saturday to make decisions about the concoctial
2:00
[SPEAKER_01]: It does sound like he might be able to play and I don't think that's posturing historically speaking, the Vikings have been careful with concussions, but almost everybody they've been careful with has a diagnosed concussion on their record.
2:10
[SPEAKER_01]: They had Christian Deroson 2022, he got a concussion against the bills, came back the next week.
2:17
[SPEAKER_01]: clonkel re aggravated it and then he sat out a couple of games and then came back and he was just fine.
2:23
[SPEAKER_01]: But the fact that Murray does not have a diagnosed concussion in his career to my knowledge, I think that makes things a little bit more different because
2:33
[SPEAKER_01]: If he's never had one, and this one, let's just say for hypothetical situations, it's on the minor scale.
2:40
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, if he's coming out of it normal, you don't have anything else to base that on, you don't have, hey, how did you feel the last time you had one?
2:47
[SPEAKER_01]: This is all new territory.
2:48
[SPEAKER_01]: So if he really does genuinely feel good and passes all these levels, I do see a world where he plays.
2:55
[SPEAKER_01]: Is that the smart move?
2:56
[SPEAKER_01]: No, I just sent him no matter what because make sure it's a hundred percent and then another week get it to a hundred percent And then make sure he's good for the rest of the week is what happens if you reactivates and then it's out for the next three games That's the worry that you have to have this isn't a left guard where hey if you get your backup in there It'll be okay.
3:16
[SPEAKER_01]: This is your quarterback.
3:17
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so a lot of questions there But there is a real world-ray place and that I think is very curious considering it's a concussion
3:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's interesting point I didn't think about it in the sense of what you were just saying of him to your knowledge not having one so sometimes also that maybe a little scarier because he may feel like he's okay.
3:37
[SPEAKER_00]: He's never had any of the, you know, he doesn't know what a question feels like.
3:40
[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes, you know, you get a little headache or there's different symptoms and for him.
3:43
[SPEAKER_00]: He's like, well, I'm fine.
3:44
[SPEAKER_00]: I can play and in reality, maybe that is still some lingering symptoms.
3:49
[SPEAKER_00]: And so it will be interesting to see what they do.
3:51
[SPEAKER_00]: I kind of agree in the sense of.
3:53
[SPEAKER_00]: If it was the bears quarterback, even Caleb, I'd probably be like, I don't know if I want to risk that in a week like this and potentially have that linger or get worse or who knows what can happen.
4:03
[SPEAKER_00]: We've seen some scary stuff, too, as one of those examples of you seen some really scary moments from him when those concussions.
4:08
[SPEAKER_00]: kind of start to pile up.
4:10
[SPEAKER_00]: So hypothetically, each of those quarterbacks let's start with Kyler.
4:13
[SPEAKER_00]: If Kyler is playing, well, let's just compare the two of Kyler's playing and Carson's playing, how much different does this offense look or do they kind of run the same type of thing?
4:22
[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, Kyler moves a lot more.
4:23
[SPEAKER_00]: But
4:25
[SPEAKER_01]: Here's the top part Taylor.
4:26
[SPEAKER_01]: I can't give you an answer to that because we still don't know what this Kyler Murray often is going to look like with O'Connell.
4:31
[SPEAKER_01]: We got little glimpses of it.
4:33
[SPEAKER_01]: The first play was a pistol set which they almost never ran beforehand.
4:39
[SPEAKER_01]: And pistol, you know, it gives Kyler Murray the ability to work closer to center not be a traditional shotgun and he can still see a little better because he is 510 as much as it's not an issue.
4:49
[SPEAKER_01]: It will always be an issue.
4:51
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just
4:53
[SPEAKER_01]: And then the second place, five wide pack packers bring a pressure, but they also blow the protection.
5:00
[SPEAKER_01]: He doesn't make a bad decision throwing that interception.
5:03
[SPEAKER_01]: The actual decision to throw the slot paid is fine.
5:05
[SPEAKER_01]: He threw a chalupa.
5:07
[SPEAKER_01]: That was a problem.
5:08
[SPEAKER_01]: It was the throw that was bad because it was a panic throw.
5:11
[SPEAKER_01]: It was like, hey, I got this guy coming at me.
5:13
[SPEAKER_01]: But he's back to the eddrasher because it was a five man protection again, six guys.
5:18
[SPEAKER_01]: You always set that outside guy free
5:23
[SPEAKER_01]: But the linebacker coming in against the guard was not expected, which is why he then skyd it because if he just throws more of a flatball, there's like an extra half second to where the jannings is downfield and kisha next and can't bail out.
5:39
[SPEAKER_01]: and be able to get under that football.
5:41
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's just a 50 50 ball, which you can talk about.
5:43
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm saying it for a little bit, yeah.
5:45
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, you can talk about what she liked that or not, but that's your hot in that situation, which five wide man coverage across the board.
5:53
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, that's a fine hot.
5:55
[SPEAKER_01]: Just throw a better ball.
5:56
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
5:58
[SPEAKER_01]: They did some other things.
5:59
[SPEAKER_01]: They got to try to get Murray on the move.
6:01
[SPEAKER_01]: It didn't work as well because the packers had a guy right there preventing the passing lane.
6:06
[SPEAKER_01]: Had a nicer down conversion to Justin Jefferson where he just rifled it in on a little like spacing concept.
6:12
[SPEAKER_01]: But we didn't get enough of a sense
6:15
[SPEAKER_01]: to where we knew exactly what was going to be, what this offense looks like, how much they're going to utilize some of this quarterback run dynamic, how much they're going to get Murray on the move, how these passing concepts are going to work out, or they're going to really try to attack vertically down the field like they were Sam Donald who has that psycho gene, just like O'Connell does, or are they going to do a lot more of the air ready stuff, so Murray can just spread the ball around and work in those shorter to intermediate ranges instead of the intermediate to
6:45
[SPEAKER_01]: We just have no idea.
6:46
[SPEAKER_01]: The run game looks interesting.
6:48
[SPEAKER_01]: They still need to put the finishing touches on it, but the initial kind of watch through.
6:55
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, they're really trying to
6:58
[SPEAKER_01]: diversify the run game motion matters again in Minnesota hooray on that 20 hour on Jordan Mason had Jordan Addison's motioning and the linebackers actually coming with them they're actually believing that the motion means something and that Mason goes to the opposite side 20 hour game.
7:15
[SPEAKER_01]: It's great.
7:16
[SPEAKER_01]: But
7:17
[SPEAKER_01]: If whens is in, I think it's just going to be a lot of the similar stuff we saw last year.
7:21
[SPEAKER_01]: It's going to be a lot of RPO centric stuff.
7:24
[SPEAKER_01]: One or two read progressions, not a ton of full field stuff because whens just has not been graded that a lot of outlets and he's got the type of backup energy where
7:36
[SPEAKER_01]: He could have like a 350 yard three touchdown game or it could be a hundred yards of touchdown three picks.
7:43
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a high variance with him, but within that high variance, there's a lot of good because he has a lot of arms talent.
7:49
[SPEAKER_01]: So very intriguing if he ends up playing plus with a full week of practice, that matters for a backup.
7:56
[SPEAKER_01]: No matter how much you want to be like, oh, he just came in and played well.
7:59
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, but if you give him a full week of practice with a game plan, it helps all that much more.
8:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, and the experience of somebody like a Carson wins.
8:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I was talking about it a little bit on my on the actual lock-down podcast on Tuesday and I was it reminded me a little bit because obviously you guys are familiar with this guy.
8:15
[SPEAKER_00]: The bears back up in case Keanam when he came in and the preseason and I know it's preseason.
8:20
[SPEAKER_00]: It's still one of those moments where you're like,
8:22
[SPEAKER_00]: that's a veteran quarterback.
8:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Like he looks so comfortable.
8:25
[SPEAKER_00]: There's not that those legs don't start getting, you know, kind of panicky.
8:29
[SPEAKER_00]: You're not escaping the pocket too soon.
8:31
[SPEAKER_00]: There's just a lump of comfortability and you saw that with Carson went when he had to come in this last week.
8:37
[SPEAKER_00]: So you mentioned the run game that will be interesting.
8:39
[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously Jordan Mason got injured in that game too.
8:43
[SPEAKER_00]: So now it does look like it's Aaron Jones.
8:44
[SPEAKER_00]: I know they added a DJ Dallas who I'm familiar with.
8:47
[SPEAKER_00]: He's been here in Jacksonville So we got I got to cover him off their camp.
8:50
[SPEAKER_00]: I kind of see some of the stuff he did, but chat a little bit about that Is there a concern with Jordan Mason being injured for this period of time?
8:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Anytime you lose a guy that's a key part of your offense.
9:01
[SPEAKER_01]: It's going to be a problem to some extent Jones.
9:05
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't see him necessarily getting a ton more works
9:08
[SPEAKER_01]: than he was before.
9:10
[SPEAKER_01]: I think he outrushed Mason 15 to 12.
9:13
[SPEAKER_01]: I think he made it up to 20.
9:15
[SPEAKER_01]: And then DJ Dallas is going to step in and probably be the running back too because they don't trust them on Clayborn yet.
9:20
[SPEAKER_01]: They haven't shown that they trust him.
9:23
[SPEAKER_01]: Nor has Clayborn shown that he's deserving of being trusted at this point.
9:27
[SPEAKER_01]: He was a six-round pick.
9:28
[SPEAKER_01]: They did trade a 20, 27, 6-to-move up to go get him, which he runs in the four threes.
9:35
[SPEAKER_01]: That's valuable.
9:36
[SPEAKER_01]: I've always viewed this, this is Frank Smith trying to get Devon 8-chan junior.
9:41
[SPEAKER_01]: Like that's the kind of player is except B-chane is much more physical and able to break tackles and has better contact balance.
9:49
[SPEAKER_01]: But the idea is guy go fast.
9:52
[SPEAKER_01]: If you can develop a little bit more of his game, I think that could be a
9:58
[SPEAKER_01]: six-year-old pick and running backs you can get guys later and they can be good but a lot of those guys are like seniors and fifth year guys.
10:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Clayborn is, he just has time to develop and Dallas has familiarity with Nolan T.C.
10:11
[SPEAKER_01]: the general manager that's why he was brought in, had that great block.
10:15
[SPEAKER_01]: that exploded miles price on a 60-yard return.
10:19
[SPEAKER_01]: And he's already said he knows about 90% of the playbook.
10:22
[SPEAKER_01]: He can come in as a veteran.
10:24
[SPEAKER_01]: Look, it's wide-zone mid-zone and counter.
10:27
[SPEAKER_01]: You can do those things in any organization.
10:30
[SPEAKER_01]: They're just going to tell you, hey,
10:32
[SPEAKER_01]: This is the whole we want you to hit on this plate.
10:34
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, done.
10:35
[SPEAKER_01]: I can do that.
10:36
[SPEAKER_01]: And zone, it's just about reading everything and understanding maybe a little nuances here and there.
10:42
[SPEAKER_01]: But Taylor, if you're from wide zone in Chicago or Minnesota, you can run it in Dallas or Arizona, it doesn't matter.
10:48
[SPEAKER_01]: It's all the same kind of stuff.
10:49
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think he's gonna get a decent amount of touches and he seems to have already earned respect in the locker and which is a great sign as well.
10:57
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, not everybody can find a Kyle Menungai in the seventh or after that, but so let's talk about the past catchers.
11:04
[SPEAKER_00]: That's going to be a big thing.
11:05
[SPEAKER_00]: Justin Jefferson did just in Jefferson things in week one.
11:09
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, the interesting part was Jordan Addison.
11:11
[SPEAKER_00]: You didn't see really much of Jordan Addison.
11:13
[SPEAKER_00]: It's week one.
11:13
[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of weird things.
11:14
[SPEAKER_00]: kind of happen.
11:15
[SPEAKER_00]: You didn't also see close and level and then Chicago will get a pass either.
11:18
[SPEAKER_00]: So there's a lot of kind of offences figuring out, but when you have a lot of weapons and kind of places to go, I guess mouth to feed, sometimes you're going to see that.
11:27
[SPEAKER_00]: But what would you expect this weekend with that when it comes to that balance with a Jeff or Santa Jordan Addison throw Hawkinson in there and some of those other receivers you guys have?
11:37
[SPEAKER_01]: Just like you're probably feeling the same way with Colson Lovelin having zero receptions last week.
11:41
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not worried about the target share really at all.
11:46
[SPEAKER_01]: Addison only had a few targets, and one of them was Thronewide.
11:51
[SPEAKER_01]: The other one was Thronewide, but he almost brought it in.
11:54
[SPEAKER_01]: Sometimes that just happens and with a guy like Wenz who came in a little cold,
11:59
[SPEAKER_01]: you had it, but overall the big thing is they were just happy to get the win and they were happy to beat the rival Green Bay Packers and Addison is going to have dry spells a little bit just because hey, your first read is almost always just a 10%.
12:14
[SPEAKER_01]: And then sometimes your second read is an addison, they might be the side end, and he's going to have games where he just has a dud, but then just like in 2024 against the bears, he had like what eight receptions for 160 yards or something, you'll have those games too, so I don't look at it as we need to force feed anybody we need to make sure that he's getting his, I think as long as there's still a part of the offense, but if it just doesn't come their way.
12:41
[SPEAKER_01]: these guys don't have egos like a lot of wide receivers do you look in the history of wide receivers guys think Antonio Brown guys like uh Terrell Owens even Julio Jones was a little bit but his was more like hey I'm still I'm way out performing my contract give me another raise and he was right
12:59
[SPEAKER_01]: he's not going to be vocal about wanting the ball.
13:03
[SPEAKER_01]: He's going to go to his coach to be like, I want the ball and I'm doing everything on film to get the ball.
13:10
[SPEAKER_01]: Can we make me a priority?
13:12
[SPEAKER_01]: That's kind of how Jefferson is too.
13:14
[SPEAKER_01]: He's never public.
13:15
[SPEAKER_01]: He's always private.
13:16
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think that's a really big part of the culture that the Vikings have built within the context of the four walls.
13:22
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think he's going to get his.
13:24
[SPEAKER_01]: I actually think he's going to be a big factor in the game plan
13:28
[SPEAKER_01]: if you put Jalen Johnson on Justin Jefferson, which completely fair, Addison's going to have a lot more land to Rome, and I think he's going to have more opportunities to break free.
13:41
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think that could be good for the Vikings offense as a whole.
13:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, the bears played a lot of man in week one.
13:47
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll see if that continues because it burned up a few times, especially not so much with Ted, but jail and coker was just I mean absolutely dominating the bears defense.
13:55
[SPEAKER_00]: So if there's any adjustments, we'll see that side of it.
13:57
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's flip over to the Vikings defensive side of the ball, which let's 82% of the time last week, like far.
14:05
[SPEAKER_00]: ahead in a way, which that's Brian Flores.
14:07
[SPEAKER_00]: We know the B and Brian Flores stands for Blitz.
14:10
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what it feels like at this point in time.
14:12
[SPEAKER_00]: You've known that for years and years.
14:14
[SPEAKER_00]: That's just kind of what he does.
14:15
[SPEAKER_00]: But that's a lot.
14:16
[SPEAKER_00]: A to 2% of the time when you're sending some somebody.
14:20
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's including guys you already have some past pressures up front.
14:23
[SPEAKER_00]: You've seen Dallas Turner kind of really settle into his own and you're seeing some good things out of him too.
14:28
[SPEAKER_00]: So talk a little bit about that defense and what you expect from them when it comes to especially a different type of quarterback, Achille Williams compared to a Jordan Love, you do have to gain playing against that a little bit different.
14:37
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's where things get really interesting, right?
14:40
[SPEAKER_01]: And I did pull up some stats, trying to figure out, okay, what does this look like?
14:46
[SPEAKER_01]: Add soldier field facing Caleb Williams, Brian Flores is puts some 44.4% and 40.9% of the time.
14:50
[SPEAKER_01]: A US Bank Stadium, 60 and 77.8% of the time.
14:58
[SPEAKER_01]: I think some of that has to do with the playing surface and maybe not having faith, but just not trying to put the back end defenders in as many negative spots because so much of what they do is communication on the back end and maneuvering and showing one look and then going to another and with the playing surface, it's just a lot harder to do some of those things in with the change of direction.
15:20
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think you're going to see a little bit less of the overall blitzing, but
15:25
[SPEAKER_01]: Look, if Darnell Wright does not play because on Wednesday he did not practice with that knee, that's a big deal because now both of your offensive tackles are major weak spots.
15:35
[SPEAKER_01]: And where are the Vikings best?
15:38
[SPEAKER_01]: Dallas Turner and bank ankle.
15:40
[SPEAKER_01]: I like I predicted Turner's break out all summer because it's everything with him's been incremental growing.
15:48
[SPEAKER_01]: He first year he did not have an NFL body for an address.
15:51
[SPEAKER_01]: There's 247 pounds who's lean and he was still learning but you could tell the movement skills were off the charts.
15:57
[SPEAKER_01]: Then the next year, Bolks up to about 255, he looks like a physically imposing player.
16:03
[SPEAKER_01]: It just, the body composition just looks a lot different.
16:06
[SPEAKER_01]: It looks stronger and it played that way in the field.
16:10
[SPEAKER_01]: But he still wasn't quite to the level that he needed to be.
16:13
[SPEAKER_01]: Well,
16:14
[SPEAKER_01]: where his quick pressures were his biggest flaw as a second year player.
16:19
[SPEAKER_01]: He had 10 pressures per next year and sets and seven of them were within 2.5 seconds.
16:23
[SPEAKER_01]: He was eating Zach Bacobuwell and Jordan Morgan for lunch, spinning him out and eating him all over again.
16:30
[SPEAKER_01]: It was wild.
16:32
[SPEAKER_01]: Seven hits on Jordan love by the way.
16:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
16:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, he was like, I mean, he didn't know what he was doing.
16:36
[SPEAKER_00]: That's one thing with Jordan too.
16:38
[SPEAKER_00]: There's been moments where Jordan under pressure completely falls apart if he's getting pressure consistently and then you see some other times where you're like, okay, like he can be decent and trying to figure some stuff out, but I mean, you guys were just you erect his day.
16:52
[SPEAKER_00]: That's for sure.
16:53
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
16:54
[SPEAKER_01]: And the top part and where this whole Blitz conversation comes into play, so much of what Ben Johnson's success was against Brian Flores was having that smooth, quick operator like Jared Goff.
17:05
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's that Caleb's game, which is fine because his game is
17:09
[SPEAKER_01]: very effective and it's working, they made the division around the playoff last year, Caleb Williams, they had the bears winning the division in year two, like those are all great things, but when you're facing Flora's, being able to be a quick operator and decision maker within like a second and a half, like golf was what's the reason why he had so much success.
17:31
[SPEAKER_01]: It Williams is able to turn that corner this year and you didn't have to show it against the
17:38
[SPEAKER_01]: But if he can show that he can like, hey, I'm reading things pre-snap and even though they're showing me six different looks, I know it's going to be this.
17:45
[SPEAKER_01]: And then I can fire to, uh, Roman Dunes, they're on a little glance, right?
17:49
[SPEAKER_01]: Or I can hit Luther Burden on a quick out.
17:52
[SPEAKER_01]: He has the arm talent to be able to hit all the same things that Jordan loved it.
17:56
[SPEAKER_01]: But can he process all of that quick enough against Flores?
18:01
[SPEAKER_01]: Where, love was able to.
18:03
[SPEAKER_01]: And he's got a little bit more experience than Flores, so I think that does help.
18:07
[SPEAKER_01]: if he can do it, that's the way to beat him, because he's going to take the risk that, hey, I'm going to send six.
18:13
[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to get pressure you in a second and a half.
18:16
[SPEAKER_01]: Can you hit the 25 yard explosive?
18:19
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think you can, and I don't think you can do it regularly.
18:22
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the bad he's making every single time.
18:24
[SPEAKER_01]: And most of the time it works, but when you get completions on those blitzes, they go for 25 to 80 yards.
18:31
[SPEAKER_01]: And that he's willing to take that risk because he knows he's going to win more often than not.
18:35
[SPEAKER_01]: And when he loses, he can trust his guys to hold down the fort.
18:39
[SPEAKER_01]: So if Caleb ends up, I don't think you want to see turning more into Jared Goff because I don't think that's the right way to frame it.
18:48
[SPEAKER_01]: But if he can be that quick processor in a closer sense to Jared Goff,
18:53
[SPEAKER_01]: Then I think this becomes a whole different ball game with how the bears' offense is able to counteract the Viking's defense.
18:59
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think that can be the key to potential bears' victory.
19:03
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's interesting to me because I feel like even last week against the Panthers there was a lot run game obviously they rushed for almost 300 yards that's one of the biggest things and then Johnson's been very vocal his offense starts there and that's something that I think will continue we're going to run the heck out of all this weekend, but I also think that one of the things they took a lot of the kind of easy buttons this in this game and rather than trying to take
19:26
[SPEAKER_00]: all of these deep shots, which you obviously had a couple.
19:29
[SPEAKER_00]: You had the one against Rome on the sideline, and there were some good ones.
19:32
[SPEAKER_00]: But it was a lot of like eight yards, eight yards here, seven yards here, a lot of under 10 yards just to kind of move the chains and do it slowly.
19:40
[SPEAKER_00]: And part of me makes it, like, part of me wonders if that was almost like a preview for what they think they have to do against Brian Flores.
19:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, let's just, if you want the ball out quick,
19:51
[SPEAKER_00]: completely short ones and just move the chains and wear down the defense and get them to the point.
19:56
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what happened with the Panthers.
19:57
[SPEAKER_00]: The second half, the Panthers defense, we're just absolutely exhausted, and the bears' offense just could score on every single drive.
20:02
[SPEAKER_00]: And so I'm wondering if it's that, or I'm wondering if he's gonna flip it this week and be like, kill a blood at loose and just let it rip and let it go.
20:09
[SPEAKER_00]: So it'll be interesting in that.
20:11
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm never gonna pretend I can predict what Ben Johnson's gonna do because every time I feel like you start to figure something out or what he's gonna do a certain, I guess, start to pound it.
20:20
[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't.
20:20
[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't want to talk about that run game though.
20:21
[SPEAKER_00]: The bears run game.
20:22
[SPEAKER_00]: I just mentioned almost 300 yards against the Panthers to your point.
20:25
[SPEAKER_00]: The linebackers were terrible.
20:26
[SPEAKER_00]: The run defense.
20:27
[SPEAKER_00]: They were, I mean, we could have ran both Mnungai and Swift.
20:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Could have done whatever they wanted against some of those linebackers and not run defense in general.
20:35
[SPEAKER_00]: But what about that side of the Vikings defense?
20:38
[SPEAKER_00]: We know the blitz.
20:39
[SPEAKER_00]: We know the past rush that they have with Turner and Van Ginkl and even some of those pieces in the back end.
20:44
[SPEAKER_00]: But what about the run defense?
20:46
[SPEAKER_01]: Run defense is good, but it can be beaten, and the number one way to beat them is to catch them in a blitz and run the opposite way.
20:54
[SPEAKER_01]: That sounds very simple and context, but when I felt it's not.
20:59
[SPEAKER_01]: There was a couple plays where the packers were able to catch them, and
21:03
[SPEAKER_01]: that they were rushing on like blitzing on Jordan loves right and they ran it to the left and it created an explosive run like 15 yards not anything like super crazy but those add up if you get a couple of those in a drive all the sudden you go from your 30 to the opponent's 40 and it's like okay now we're cooking with gas and now hey maybe we take that reaction deep shot to the end zone because we're within that range now so if you can catch them on some of those you can create explosives in that
21:34
[SPEAKER_01]: Or all, I do think the Vikings run defense is good because they do a great job of gap control.
21:41
[SPEAKER_01]: Both with the linebackers and with the defensive lineman, we've had director EG is a turning into a very good player.
21:48
[SPEAKER_01]: He's going to be more of your nose tackle, even though he's not a traditional nose in that sense.
21:52
[SPEAKER_01]: But for us, isn't like using traditional noses most often anyways, because he wants a little bit at pass rush use.
21:59
[SPEAKER_01]: Jaylen Redmond is probably the best defense of him and nobody's heard of.
22:02
[SPEAKER_01]: I know you have.
22:03
[SPEAKER_01]: We've talked about them a couple times together.
22:06
[SPEAKER_01]: Redman's incredible and he's I think it's this is the year he finally gets that national recognition which he also deserves yeah, and then you have Caleb Banks who's struggling with pad level He's going to struggle with pad level probably all year he's still not quite in 100% football shape because he basically spent a year and a half rehabbing foot injuries and they made a mistake of not doing surgery the first time when he suffered his first one where he re aggravated and then they had surgery
22:35
[SPEAKER_01]: and then he popped a different bone in this foot where I talked to an orthopedic surgeon and like the two injuries to me from an outside perspective have nothing to do with each other.
22:45
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's a good sign, but not really being able to do a lot of that on field style cardio that's set him back and he's 6658-327.
22:56
[SPEAKER_01]: Taylor, that's my size.
22:58
[SPEAKER_01]: We don't move like that.
23:00
[SPEAKER_01]: Once he figures out how to control his pad level a little bit and how to observe some those doubles will be fine, but he's probably not going to do much this here, and that's okay.
23:08
[SPEAKER_01]: They took a huge shot on a unicorn in the draft that was a weak class.
23:12
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm fine with that.
23:13
[SPEAKER_01]: But Dommie Gorges is okay.
23:16
[SPEAKER_01]: Tier and Inger Dawkins looks really good.
23:17
[SPEAKER_01]: He finally looks like closer like 285 to 90 when he came in and he gets 273.
23:22
[SPEAKER_01]: and he took like the long arms, the linear explosiveness, and he's paired it with some more grown man and a fell strength, and that resonated against the packers.
23:33
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think they'll be fine in
23:36
[SPEAKER_01]: holding up against the point of attack and then the linebackers are great at both filling gaps and allowing other players to take guesses and take risks.
23:47
[SPEAKER_01]: Like Cashmol, allow Eric Wilson and Ivan Page Jr to just freeball.
23:51
[SPEAKER_01]: Hey, I'm going to shoot this gap because I think I can get there.
23:53
[SPEAKER_01]: And then if they don't, Cashmon can make up for their mistake.
23:57
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's one of the things that makes the back end so special because they can be that aggressive while having a safety net.
24:05
[SPEAKER_01]: And without cashmen in there, that safety net don't exist.
24:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
24:09
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's where you saw the Vikings Falcons game last year where they put up like 250 rush yards.
24:13
[SPEAKER_01]: No, Blake Cashman.
24:15
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, I've been past takes a guess.
24:16
[SPEAKER_01]: Erick Wilson can't backfill.
24:18
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think they're beatable.
24:21
[SPEAKER_01]: but you're gonna have to catch them a couple times and you're gonna have to really block well, both which I think the bears can do.
24:31
[SPEAKER_01]: So, I can see this being a situation where the bears get like 120 yards, but I don't think they're coming close to that two-fifteen month mark that you mentioned against the Panthers.
24:41
[SPEAKER_01]: great rushing attack divers.
24:43
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it's really fun watching Ben Johnson operate in that sense.
24:47
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
24:48
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's see his little diabolical how he draws some up some of his own encounter packages.
24:52
[SPEAKER_00]: But it's wild sometimes.
24:54
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
24:55
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll go back and I'll rewatch it on my
24:58
[SPEAKER_01]: I think the defense is good, so it's going to be fun.
25:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I agree.
25:05
[SPEAKER_00]: And there's a little bit of a storyline.
25:07
[SPEAKER_00]: I know a lot of people thought Dylan Theneman was going to the Vikings.
25:10
[SPEAKER_00]: That was kind of that mindset going into the draft where
25:13
[SPEAKER_00]: It was just make it past the Vikings and you can get Dylan Thineman, that was like the bear's mindset.
25:17
[SPEAKER_00]: And when it happened, I think a lot of people were surprised.
25:19
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm sure that's a little bit of an extra storyline.
25:22
[SPEAKER_00]: I wanted to ask you one more before I let you go Tyler, when it comes to just past captures in Chicago right now.
25:27
[SPEAKER_00]: We just mentioned Colston Loveland and how he didn't get a reception last week or an absent, whatever you and I aren't worried about those two things whatsoever.
25:35
[SPEAKER_00]: But if you were to guess this weekend, this offense is there are one that you are the most concerned about when it comes to the bear's offense.
25:46
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not worried about anyone's singular thing.
25:49
[SPEAKER_01]: And I don't mean that as an insult.
25:52
[SPEAKER_01]: Nobody in singularity scares me.
25:55
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not scared of lovelin' as a whole, not scared of burden.
25:59
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not scared of a dunes.
26:01
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not scared of swiffin' the non-guy.
26:03
[SPEAKER_01]: But I am scared about them as a totality.
26:05
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm scared about how Ben Johnson came manipulate people on the back end and create explosive opportunities down the field and create openings for Caleb Williams
26:16
[SPEAKER_01]: that hit them for big plays and create opportunities.
26:20
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what I'm worried about.
26:22
[SPEAKER_01]: I think all of those players are good to very good, but there is no Justin Jefferson.
26:27
[SPEAKER_01]: You don't need a Justin Jefferson to be great on offense.
26:30
[SPEAKER_01]: You need a quarterback who can hit those plays and you need a play caller who can design it.
26:36
[SPEAKER_01]: And the bears have both.
26:37
[SPEAKER_01]: So as long as they're able to do those two things, the Vikings need to be worried about everybody and anybody.
26:43
[SPEAKER_01]: But am I worried that Roman Dunes is gonna go for one 163 touchdowns?
26:47
[SPEAKER_01]: No.
26:48
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I don't have that worry But that's also maybe a better thing for the bears that they don't have anybody who's like that mega alpha Like you can get to there.
26:57
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, yeah, I don't have to force the two of Dunes.
26:59
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't have to force it to love Lynn
27:01
[SPEAKER_01]: I can just be a distributor of the football and take advantage of opportunities that come to me instead of forcing them and that in itself can be an advantage.
27:08
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm more scared of just about the totality of the unit than anyone specific part and honestly, I think that's good for Caleb Williams as a whole because he doesn't have to think about I need to get the ball of this guy or this guy, my ex guy.
27:24
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think that it's interesting.
27:25
[SPEAKER_00]: It's almost at this point.
27:26
[SPEAKER_00]: I could see some of these guys becoming
27:29
[SPEAKER_00]: like a aloof or for example, maybe being one of these super stars in the league down the road after a couple years, but it does feel like it's almost in between what the Vikings and Packers have in the sense of we don't quite feel like we have the Justin Jefferson right now, but it does feel like in totality, our past catches are better than like the
27:48
[SPEAKER_00]: the packers have lived in this world of like let's get a bunch of receivers that are like decent and try and roll with that and the bears have that in my opinion but better and so that's what's going to be interesting and I feel like really quickly we're talking about a world where in the NFC North Matlı floor maybe the worst the quarterback in the NFC North are you are you there I mean sorry worst coach no you're not there I'm not you think
28:14
[SPEAKER_01]: I, so it's really tough.
28:16
[SPEAKER_01]: I think Dan Campbell has his own flaws, then Kevin McConnell has his own flaws.
28:22
[SPEAKER_01]: I think Matt LaFlor has his own flaws, but they've all seen a lot of success.
28:27
[SPEAKER_01]: And I don't want to frame it as worse.
28:30
[SPEAKER_01]: But before I really rank Ben Johnson ahead of all these guys considering the success they've had, I want to see just a little bit more.
28:36
[SPEAKER_01]: I think your one was great.
28:38
[SPEAKER_01]: But I do think without a tracker, you need to prove it's on a flash in the pan.
28:42
[SPEAKER_01]: So I don't want to rank any of these guys really above or below anybody else.
28:47
[SPEAKER_01]: But I'm not taking, I don't know if I take anybody over Matt LaFluer overall.
28:55
[SPEAKER_01]: I love Matt with floor even though like I don't I don't even think the Taking the points off the board is a bad decision.
29:03
[SPEAKER_01]: I think the
29:05
[SPEAKER_01]: the play-call flaw of him not having a touch push, that was the bad call.
29:11
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
29:12
[SPEAKER_02]: Just have somebody push Jordan love.
29:13
[SPEAKER_01]: This is a 20-26.
29:14
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
29:14
[SPEAKER_01]: What are we doing?
29:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
29:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, do you stay around the lake now where you're like, other, you like, just especially bigger quarterback, so Jordan loves not huge, but there's some quarterback sometimes where I'm like, I don't understand why you wouldn't use that.
29:26
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just interesting with me with Matt LaFlor because I feel like we live in this world now.
29:30
[SPEAKER_00]: First of all, they've lost six straight games, and that's not something you see in Green Bay or that at least in my lifetime.
29:36
[SPEAKER_00]: That's not something that I've seen other than when and Rogers broke his clavicle.
29:41
[SPEAKER_01]: And then it's welcome, by the way.
29:43
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
29:43
[SPEAKER_01]: Sorry, that sounded mean.
29:46
[SPEAKER_00]: No, it's okay, but yeah, and so it's interesting to me.
29:48
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like it's and I've seen the Milwaukee radio start to crash out over there over Matt LaFlor now and so I just feel like the moment you need to win if there wasn't the seven seed like since Jordan love took over they wouldn't have had even made the postseason so I feel like they've just had
30:05
[SPEAKER_00]: They kind of he took over this roster in this team that was like so well built and now it's starting to feel like it's crumbling a little bit and if that's metal floor, maybe it's not me, you know, there's general managers and all of these other things I have to go into that and Mike a Parsons cool, but nobody not many people have market Mike a Parsons so to me that's almost just like an extra you shouldn't have to have him to win.
30:27
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think Micah Parsons is the solution to the problem of their poor track record when it comes to drafting over the past five years.
30:36
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, normally.
30:36
[SPEAKER_00]: But just trade for somebody then.
30:38
[SPEAKER_01]: The Packers never did that.
30:40
[SPEAKER_01]: They never made a huge splash.
30:43
[SPEAKER_01]: But their development on the defense of line has been very poor.
30:46
[SPEAKER_01]: Their development of linebackers has been really good.
30:49
[SPEAKER_01]: Like in the corner back they're terrible.
30:52
[SPEAKER_01]: The offensive line is brutal.
30:54
[SPEAKER_01]: Their ability to identify and then develop said talent has not been good over the past five, six years.
31:02
[SPEAKER_01]: And to me, that's a bigger problem than Matt LaFluer, because I think LaFluer is doing a good job of maximizing.
31:08
[SPEAKER_01]: I can't believe I'm talking good about a pack or a book.
31:10
[SPEAKER_00]: I know.
31:10
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't believe he was a Tyler.
31:11
[SPEAKER_01]: I love LaFluer.
31:12
[SPEAKER_00]: All right.
31:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, thank you so much.
31:15
[SPEAKER_00]: I appreciate your time as always, and I hope you have a good weekend.
31:18
[SPEAKER_01]: Thanks, Taylor.
31:18
[SPEAKER_01]: You as well.
31:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you.
31:21
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, let's take a quick break.
31:23
[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to give some a shout out to my booky real quick and then we'll talk to Brian Orange, Warren Chuck, and get that bear side of the bear's Vikings game coming up next.
31:33
[SPEAKER_00]: And I fell as back in one of the exciting week one, that was wild.
31:37
[SPEAKER_00]: If you know me, you know that betting the spread is just a little boring for me.
31:41
[SPEAKER_00]: I like a little bit something extra.
31:42
[SPEAKER_00]: I like some razzled dazzle on my bets to make that weekend, to make my weekend and those games.
31:47
[SPEAKER_00]: Just a little bit more exciting and that is why I go to my bookie.
31:51
[SPEAKER_00]: If you are new to the game that you can use promo code, second city, that's two indie city and get a risk-free bet up to $500.
31:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Yep, up to $500.
32:01
[SPEAKER_00]: I know my friend group has all hit huge on the SGP payouts on my bookie by mixing in those player props and I feel like there's plenty of matchups just this week and play your matchups that you can list and go through that you can build around on that props builder and just make it a little bit more fun this weekend.
32:19
[SPEAKER_00]: you know, football season is already flying by.
32:21
[SPEAKER_00]: And so if you wait any longer, then you're not going to make any money.
32:26
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's what we're here for at my bookie.
32:28
[SPEAKER_00]: So sign up today using promo code second city.
32:30
[SPEAKER_00]: That's to indies city and make this week.
32:33
[SPEAKER_00]: And just a little bit more my bookie, but on anything any time anywhere must be 21 and up 18 and up and select jurisdictions.
32:49
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, let's continue on, talk some bears of Vikings, but the good side of the ball.
32:54
[SPEAKER_00]: We just talked about the Vikings, now let's talk about the bears.
32:57
[SPEAKER_00]: The ones we're most excited about Brian Orange.
32:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Joining me now, you know, I'm host of bears over beers.
33:03
[SPEAKER_00]: I really have to think about that one every time I say it.
33:05
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like a city girl.
33:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Brian, thanks for hopping on and chatting with me.
33:08
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, stoked to be here.
33:09
[SPEAKER_02]: Always always a pleasure to join you Taylor and talk about some monsters and it's it's been a good good couple years to do this sort of thing.
33:18
[SPEAKER_02]: So I'm excited to get into it with you and you have big week up ahead, you know, not a not a slouch opponent for sure.
33:24
[SPEAKER_00]: definitely not in the division team and one that last year, the very disappointing start with them to kick off the season last year, but I do want to start with the monster of the week.
33:35
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to continue with these this year.
33:37
[SPEAKER_00]: Normally, I would last year, I would do episodes on each of them.
33:40
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'll do episodes periodically of different players.
33:43
[SPEAKER_00]: I've done a Skylar Thomas so far this off season, and we'll kick off with some other ones as we go.
33:48
[SPEAKER_00]: But monster of the week, if you were to name one player from that bear's Panthers game, who would you say?
33:54
[SPEAKER_02]: Got to be Darnell right for me.
33:56
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, you know, so much, so much was rightfully said and celebrated about our offense, you know, whether we Caleb moving the ball with his arm or his legs, and then obviously our running game dominating the way that they did, especially Swift and Monungai.
34:12
[SPEAKER_02]: But, you know, I don't think that happens without Darnell right.
34:16
[SPEAKER_02]: I believe it was our own Jacob and Fonte.
34:18
[SPEAKER_02]: He mentioned, according to PFN, he was the top rated right tack on the entire league.
34:24
[SPEAKER_02]: and also his past blocking score through PFM was the best of any offensive linemen in the league last week.
34:33
[SPEAKER_02]: I was really excited to see how we handled that front for, especially Derek Brown.
34:38
[SPEAKER_02]: And man, it was a thing of beauty on.
34:39
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm one of Swift's runs.
34:41
[SPEAKER_02]: He and Jonah Jackson, double-teaming Brown, and making him look average.
34:45
[SPEAKER_02]: And, you know, again, our offense does not move
34:48
[SPEAKER_02]: without Donald Wright, Ben Johnson was adamant about that all off season, you know, or a right hand to team or whatever he said.
34:55
[SPEAKER_02]: And so, Donald Wright, man, he's our monster.
34:58
[SPEAKER_02]: Obviously, he's on the injury report now.
35:00
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm not too concerned, you know, I think they air in the side of caution.
35:03
[SPEAKER_02]: Obviously, if we were to miss him, that would really stink.
35:06
[SPEAKER_02]: But yeah, he's my monster for week one for sure.
35:10
[SPEAKER_00]: I love that.
35:11
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel like Darnell Wright has just been this, from the beginning, rookie season, we were just like, man, this kid can be really good and he's continued to develop throughout that time.
35:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously gets paid and rightfully so there's all these puns rightfully and run right and all these things that we can use with his name, which is fun.
35:26
[SPEAKER_00]: But I love that great choice for our first monster, the week, which will be Darnell Wright.
35:30
[SPEAKER_00]: And I hope he does play because let's start right there.
35:32
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, when you talk about that Brian Flora's defense and what we 82% Blitzrate, I was just talking to Tyler Fornes for the Vikings.
35:39
[SPEAKER_00]: And an interesting note that he said was the times that Brian Flora's has played at soldier field, the two times it's been like 42% and 43% or something like that Blitzrate.
35:52
[SPEAKER_00]: But then at home, when we're playing at Vikings,
35:56
[SPEAKER_00]: like 70%.
35:57
[SPEAKER_00]: So he doesn't like to blitz as much as soldier field.
36:00
[SPEAKER_00]: And Tyler said maybe some of that is playing field and stuff like that.
36:03
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a little bit different obviously to play on that on the real grass.
36:07
[SPEAKER_00]: And so that part is going to be interesting to see what he does.
36:10
[SPEAKER_00]: But you want those tackles.
36:12
[SPEAKER_00]: You're already kind of figuring the left tackle with Braxton Braxton went out last week too.
36:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Came back in and ended up finishing.
36:18
[SPEAKER_00]: But don't know, Darnell, when you're going a potential of no Darnell, when you're going against a Dallas Turner and an Andrew Vincinkle is definitely not how you want to go into that game, but chat a little bit about that in general, let's say Darnell's playing.
36:30
[SPEAKER_00]: How are you expecting them to go up against that defensive line.
36:33
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, so another thing that Ben has talked about with that is how it leaves him as a play color, some flexibility.
36:40
[SPEAKER_02]: It gives him some flexibility in that he doesn't have to, you know, a lot too many resources to that side, you know, he can leave him on an island.
36:49
[SPEAKER_02]: He can trust that he and Joan are going to, you're going to figure things out over there.
36:53
[SPEAKER_02]: And
36:54
[SPEAKER_02]: Um, so I expect that to continue.
36:57
[SPEAKER_02]: Um, and, and, and, you know, regarding floors and his, his, uh, his tendencies, if you will, when it comes to pressure rates at home or way, I feel like, and it was so fun seeing Ben Johnson's reaction that question this week regarding.
37:11
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, how do you prevent from thinking that he knows what you're thinking?
37:14
[SPEAKER_02]: And then they're thinking, it's like, I think they're both doing that.
37:17
[SPEAKER_02]: And I think that's more of the reason why Flora does that, you know, you take out the home field advantage that amps everybody's nerves up when when the defense is rocking and rolling, I think it's just more of the gamesmanship.
37:30
[SPEAKER_02]: I wouldn't be surprised if he came out with a 70% blitz rate against us this week.
37:35
[SPEAKER_02]: But with that said, I feel like we're going to slide some protections to the left hand side.
37:39
[SPEAKER_02]: Dallas Turner's a guy that obviously came in the league first round pick.
37:44
[SPEAKER_02]: He's been slow to come on though, and he started to last year a little more, and then obviously we won.
37:48
[SPEAKER_02]: He looked extremely dominant and explosive.
37:51
[SPEAKER_02]: So I would expect some help.
37:53
[SPEAKER_02]: Braxton's way.
37:54
[SPEAKER_02]: And Darnell is going to be on that side.
37:56
[SPEAKER_02]: And if he can hold down that right side.
37:59
[SPEAKER_02]: One thing we'd like to do against them is run the ball.
38:01
[SPEAKER_02]: I think we'll continue to do that for sure.
38:04
[SPEAKER_02]: This week against the Flores defense.
38:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you think the game plan will be a little similar in the sense of obviously it was run first?
38:11
[SPEAKER_00]: That's what Ben Johnson's going to do all the time.
38:13
[SPEAKER_00]: That's kind of his offense is start there.
38:15
[SPEAKER_00]: So I would expect that, but when it comes to, it felt like a lot of short, intermediate, midfield.
38:22
[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of kind of more dinking dunk moments, but take the quick pass.
38:26
[SPEAKER_00]: And you saw a lot of that against the Panthers.
38:28
[SPEAKER_00]: Do you think they do that again because of this potential to be blitz so much getting the ball out a little quick?
38:34
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I do, I would expect for the tight ends to be more involved this week, but, you know, it's hard to say, you know, they're creating their 26 identity and I expected, you know, for some of those guys to be more involved.
38:48
[SPEAKER_02]: Now, I did think it was telling that birding got a couple quick shots real quick early in the game.
38:55
[SPEAKER_02]: and I expect, you know, similar things to happen this week.
38:58
[SPEAKER_02]: I hope Caleb doesn't have as many design runs, you know, cuby sneak type deals.
39:04
[SPEAKER_02]: It was hard to see him get, you know, hit the way he did it a couple times there.
39:08
[SPEAKER_02]: Obviously he's a heck of an athlete and he's he's powerful, but
39:11
[SPEAKER_02]: you know, I hope they they mitigate that in a little bit in some ways as far as not put him in danger as much, but yeah, I think quick hits, I think Run game is going to lean on the Run game.
39:23
[SPEAKER_02]: I saw a statistic that Ben Johnson, I think was Ben Soljack, who was saying that that he Ben Johnson gets his guys to the line to snap the ball quicker against Flores than
39:38
[SPEAKER_02]: So I expect a lot of quick characters to continue, so be it in the past game or run game, I think, you know, we want to dictate the pace of the game on offense and bends strategy for doing that is getting that ball snap quickly and getting the hands or the ball out of cable tans right away.
39:53
[SPEAKER_02]: So for sure.
39:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I I feel like we could definitely see a lot of that.
39:57
[SPEAKER_00]: I know even during the Panthers game there was a few moments that clock was ticking down to like three two one.
40:01
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm like snap the ball the ball out and I don't see us seeing a lot of those moments this weekend.
40:07
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's talk about the defense because that's going to be a big conversation too.
40:11
[SPEAKER_00]: They looked really bad in some moments there was some good.
40:14
[SPEAKER_00]: things.
40:14
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't want to say everything in totality was bad, but there was some bad moments when it comes to TJ Edwards missing tackles and obviously the past rush.
40:22
[SPEAKER_00]: Still what you really weren't seeing much of that a couple moments where some guys were getting there.
40:27
[SPEAKER_00]: I think two sacks on Bryce Young who can move around too.
40:30
[SPEAKER_00]: And so
40:31
[SPEAKER_00]: the expectation of is Kyler or Carson Wins.
40:34
[SPEAKER_00]: That's going to be part of this conversation of how they approach it.
40:37
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sure Kyler was limited yesterday and I guess so the assumption is he's in there's five I guess parts of this protocol the concussion protocol and they're assuming when I just talked to Kyler he's around three of these limited so there's that potential he plays.
40:53
[SPEAKER_00]: I would think they'd be crazy to throw them him out there after the way he just got hit and
40:59
[SPEAKER_00]: But still, that's two different style defenses you might have to approach there.
41:02
[SPEAKER_00]: But what would you say is the biggest kind of X factor this weekend when it comes to that next?
41:07
[SPEAKER_00]: What has to be done for them to be able to slow down this defense?
41:11
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, this offense at all.
41:12
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I mean, if you give Carson Wentz time, he's going to pick you apart.
41:17
[SPEAKER_02]: And if that means that he gets the ball to Justin Jefferson, that's what he needs to do.
41:22
[SPEAKER_02]: And obviously, they put up points in big fashion, 39 points is nothing to frown at as far as their offensive output, especially when considering they did run the ball a lot, but they weren't very effective.
41:37
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, it definitely keeps the defense honest.
41:40
[SPEAKER_02]: But they had more rushes than they had passes in week one and I think both combined it was roughly a 3.5 yard average between Mason and Jones and Mason's going to be out this week.
41:51
[SPEAKER_02]: So my biggest focus is this week are going to be the ex-factor is Demon Clayborn in my opinion.
41:58
[SPEAKER_02]: The Rookie at a Wake Forest who's a speed demon and you know, there's no tape on him really right now.
42:04
[SPEAKER_02]: So how he's used is going to be really interesting to me.
42:09
[SPEAKER_02]: throughout the game, something I'm going to be monitoring is TJ Hawkinson.
42:14
[SPEAKER_02]: He has played well against us even as a lion.
42:18
[SPEAKER_02]: We've got some inexperienced back there with Thineman and and you know, whomever else is going to be holding down the four hopefully Xavier Woods's back,
42:27
[SPEAKER_02]: The Panthers didn't have it a tight end like that.
42:30
[SPEAKER_02]: And they still had some opportunities.
42:32
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, one TD called back by Waller.
42:35
[SPEAKER_02]: And the other backup look like he could have been open on the one red zone throw that theme was in coverage.
42:43
[SPEAKER_02]: So if the enemy can
42:45
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, handle his business there, then I'm excited, but, you know, Hawk is a piece of veteran and so is Wence.
42:53
[SPEAKER_02]: And so I'm a little bit nervous to see how that works because, you know, Thineman hasn't been tested in that regard yet.
43:01
[SPEAKER_02]: So those two X factors with Clayborn, the running back, you know, I'm assuming he's going to get some good playing time.
43:06
[SPEAKER_02]: and then how they handle the tight end.
43:08
[SPEAKER_02]: Obviously, Jefferson is all world.
43:10
[SPEAKER_02]: So you've got to focus on him.
43:12
[SPEAKER_02]: But with all the attention on him, if those other guys can get open, that's going to be a problem.
43:17
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, the bears played a lot of man in week one.
43:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Would you expect that to happen in week two also?
43:23
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I don't know.
43:24
[SPEAKER_02]: I was at the beginning of the season, I would have said, yeah.
43:27
[SPEAKER_02]: But the way that Jalen Johnson looked after week one in week one, you know, he was getting toasted by Ted McMillan
43:34
[SPEAKER_02]: and Coker went when he was in coverage and he just didn't look like himself and I saw him and camped this summer and he looked phenomenal and even then you know the joint practice he was he was mirroring, chasin and he's looked good all summer so I don't know what that was and if we can get that version of him I would love to see him and I know he typically doesn't do this I'd love to see him travel with Jefferson and then kind of bracket him over the top.
43:56
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't know that we're going to do that.
43:57
[SPEAKER_02]: He's so elite.
43:59
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm curious to know to see how then a sound attacks him, but I'm kind of thinking some zone, you know, just to kind of bracket him in and make Wednesdays pick you apart.
44:09
[SPEAKER_02]: But that's the thing about Wednesdays, you know, if you don't get pressure on him, he'll pick apart that zone.
44:13
[SPEAKER_02]: So it's tough to see.
44:15
[SPEAKER_02]: We just have to have those our guys step up and I really, we need a big, big week from Jalen because he did not show up last week.
44:22
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, like what about the other corner when it comes to obviously Tyreek Stevenson who's had just a lot of up and down moments throughout and we saw him get pretty much benched at one point last year for, you know, in a Sean right who is getting a bunch of picks and all of that and then Malik Mahamed gets a pick and his first game and the NFL so do you see maybe a little bit more Malik Mahamed mixed in there.
44:43
[SPEAKER_02]: I would love to.
44:44
[SPEAKER_02]: Malik was one of the very few defenders that actually stood out to me.
44:48
[SPEAKER_02]: In fact, it was just he and Theneman that for my eyes made more than one note where they play all game.
44:55
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, they both got their hands in the ball, had some nice runfits and just stops after the catch, but yeah, I'd love to see more him and I would love to see him replace Stevenson, honestly.
45:07
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, we just, we need woods back so that Cam Lewis can go down to the slot or we need
45:13
[SPEAKER_02]: that Millie can go outside.
45:15
[SPEAKER_02]: But he just, he absolutely deserved deserves to be on the field more.
45:20
[SPEAKER_02]: Based on that performance last week, I think you talk about guys being gamers, right?
45:25
[SPEAKER_02]: And he did look solid over summer, but not this solid.
45:29
[SPEAKER_02]: He stepped up and he was all around the football.
45:32
[SPEAKER_02]: He covered McMillan really well a couple times.
45:36
[SPEAKER_02]: And then he had that interception, which was my Panthers buddy, I was watching, because I'm in North Carolina.
45:41
[SPEAKER_02]: So I had some Panthers friends over.
45:42
[SPEAKER_02]: And he was like, brushing it off, no big deal, end of the half.
45:45
[SPEAKER_02]: And I was like, it ends a drive.
45:48
[SPEAKER_02]: That's definitely a big deal.
45:49
[SPEAKER_02]: They were trying to get some points in the board before half.
45:51
[SPEAKER_02]: And he ended that drive.
45:52
[SPEAKER_02]: So I thought that was a big time play in a big moment for us.
45:56
[SPEAKER_02]: And I'd love to see him on the field more.
45:58
[SPEAKER_02]: Because they got three stud receivers over there.
46:02
[SPEAKER_02]: They have Jefferson.
46:02
[SPEAKER_02]: They have Addison.
46:03
[SPEAKER_02]: And they have Joanne Jennings.
46:05
[SPEAKER_02]: So theoretically, we could man up against those guys.
46:12
[SPEAKER_02]: Addison, jailens on Jefferson, and we can put Tyreek on Joann, you know, similar type of styles and body types and skill sets.
46:20
[SPEAKER_02]: I would love to see that.
46:22
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't know that we will, but yeah, it'll be interesting to see, because if we do line up in man, then you have the problem I was mentioning earlier with Hawkinson on a theaterman or something, and you know, and you know, you didn't even talk about how most Vikings fans wanted theaterman.
46:39
[SPEAKER_02]: And now we have him.
46:40
[SPEAKER_02]: So, you know, how crappy would it be for them if he balls out this game, but how, you know, vindicating would it be if if they make to my attempt, right?
46:51
[SPEAKER_02]: So, it's going to be interesting to see, but I do think that Hawkinson's going to play a big role this week.
46:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I did too.
46:57
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that, I mean, to your point, Thineman was one of the guys to me that in several moments that I was like, okay, this kid's a rookie and then game one, you're already seeing him make some plays and some good tackles.
47:07
[SPEAKER_00]: And the one thing with Thineman is he's played everywhere in college when you talk about, obviously, free, strong, he played nickel, he played in the box, he played all over the place.
47:15
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think he can do that, but week two, saying, hey, your second game in the NFL, we want you to, like, Hawkinson's your assignment.
47:23
[SPEAKER_00]: That is a tough excitement.
47:24
[SPEAKER_00]: That's a tough assignment for a safety that's been an elite for a long time.
47:27
[SPEAKER_02]: Right.
47:28
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
47:29
[SPEAKER_00]: It'll be the the run game also I think you mentioned that when it came to they ran the ball a lot but didn't get a whole lot of the Arditch out of that and then now Jordan Mason's hurt.
47:38
[SPEAKER_00]: So they've Aaron Jones who it almost feels like they don't it I mean he's getting a little older and you could tell that they were like okay you know what we'll use you but we're not going to give you we're going to almost split I think it was almost a 50 50 split between
47:52
[SPEAKER_00]: DJ Dallas, and so we'll see how that looks, but that I think could help in a sense because this run defense looked a little better in week one than it had in previous years.
48:01
[SPEAKER_00]: They still tube us still got some, had some moments on them, but for the most part, there were games last year where it was just devastating against the run.
48:08
[SPEAKER_00]: So if you don't have Jordan Mason and you just have to worry about Aaron Jones and DJ Dallas, I feel like you could handle that if you could stop the run for Carson or Kyler to throw and make some mistakes and that's what you're probably hoping for defensively.
48:21
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
48:22
[SPEAKER_02]: Absolutely.
48:23
[SPEAKER_02]: And you know, there's it seemed like they took the approach more of opposite event Johnson where he runs the ball to hit those home runs.
48:30
[SPEAKER_02]: Like he's not just running for play action.
48:33
[SPEAKER_02]: He's he's wanting to get those and he got it in week one, you know, both Swift Eminem guy hit some, you know, huge plays.
48:39
[SPEAKER_02]: Um,
48:40
[SPEAKER_02]: But it was more like jabs, you know, and that keeps the defense honest and when you have a rookie back there who's got to stay disciplined because he's been pounding in the box all game and then all of a sudden Hawkins and who sells it well because he's been over that and oh yeah, once was with the Vikings last year too, so they have that chemistry, you know, I feel like they're going to run the ball and even if it's not that effective, you know, we as fans can't.
49:02
[SPEAKER_02]: kind of rest on our laurels or think that we've won because it's not about just stopping the run.
49:06
[SPEAKER_02]: It's about how does that set up the past and that's where the rookie experience or lack thereof of a phenomenon and even Mohammed is going to be tested this week because it's got to be one of their strategies for sure.
49:18
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, we know one of the worst plays we saw from week one was Devon Bush trying to blitz.
49:23
[SPEAKER_00]: That was not pretty, but that is part of what Dennis Allen's going to do.
49:28
[SPEAKER_00]: So they have to find a way to get that blitz working at least a little bit this weekend because that is such a big part and a big factor.
49:34
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's unfortunate, Kyler's not here because I do think Kyler just changes the game.
49:38
[SPEAKER_00]: The escape and general of what it could look like.
49:41
[SPEAKER_00]: So I feel like got to figure out some way to get to the quarterback.
49:45
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
49:46
[SPEAKER_02]: No, you're right.
49:47
[SPEAKER_02]: And you know, Sweat did that one time.
49:50
[SPEAKER_02]: He seemed like he was playing okay.
49:52
[SPEAKER_02]: He needs to have a better game though.
49:54
[SPEAKER_02]: And I was really expecting more from Austin Booker.
49:56
[SPEAKER_02]: He disappointed me a lot.
49:58
[SPEAKER_02]: And the thing too about this week is both the Panthers and the Vikings have strong offensive lines.
50:03
[SPEAKER_02]: I would even give the edge to the Vikings if I'm being honest.
50:06
[SPEAKER_02]: So, you know, their their task is going to be a little bit more challenging, I think, in that regard.
50:12
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, but it's going to be at home, hopefully that helps, so we definitely need some past rush and you would like for it to come without having to add some pressure.
50:20
[SPEAKER_02]: But if you do, then you got to get home because like you said earlier, Bryce Young, he had some escape ability and I was actually really impressed with his ability to maneuver inside the end outside the pocket, keep his eyes down field and deliver strikes.
50:33
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, I don't remember seeing that from him that much.
50:35
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, some at Alabama, but not as a pro as much and he impressed me.
50:41
[SPEAKER_02]: last week.
50:41
[SPEAKER_02]: So, and when he's not the athlete that he once was, he's not what Calder Murray is or even JJ McCarthy.
50:48
[SPEAKER_02]: But he's his underrated athlete in his own right, and he's definitely experienced as far as moving out of the pocket, escaping some pressure, keeping his eyes down field.
50:57
[SPEAKER_02]: And all you got to do is throw it up to Jefferson Jefferson.
50:59
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, like, you know, he knows that.
51:02
[SPEAKER_02]: And the guy's last week last year, you know, be it McCarthy or
51:07
[SPEAKER_02]: Mullins, whoever they have back there, some reason they didn't get that part, but once it's smart enough to you.
51:12
[SPEAKER_02]: You will.
51:12
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
51:13
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, Brian, before I let you go, how are you feeling?
51:15
[SPEAKER_00]: What are your vibes for this weekend?
51:18
[SPEAKER_00]: Did the bears win anything?
51:19
[SPEAKER_02]: No, I feel great.
51:21
[SPEAKER_02]: I feel, I mean, it's different.
51:24
[SPEAKER_02]: Ryan and I were talking about on Bears Overbears last night.
51:26
[SPEAKER_02]: It's just a different vibe as a bears fan now, because of Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams.
51:31
[SPEAKER_02]: And so,
51:34
[SPEAKER_02]: I just, you know, being that year one, especially the first game ever together, was against the Vikings at home and we lost, very, you know, disappointing public embarrassing loss.
51:45
[SPEAKER_02]: Where JJ was the player of the week that week, right?
51:50
[SPEAKER_02]: I think they're going to have some pride on the line here.
51:53
[SPEAKER_02]: It's going to be massive because I expect the lines to lose tonight with all their offence of line out pretty much against a really strong my opinion Super Bowl favorite Buffalo Bill Squad.
52:05
[SPEAKER_02]: the Vikings just beat the packers.
52:07
[SPEAKER_02]: So this is not opportunity for us to officially take the lead in the division race and I think we take advantage of it.
52:14
[SPEAKER_02]: But I am nervous and I think you never know with division games.
52:20
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm going to call a 31-24 ball game, but yeah, it should be a good one for sure.
52:28
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you never know, especially early seizing games no matter what.
52:31
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, week one was wild in general.
52:33
[SPEAKER_00]: I did even like the Broncos, the Broncos who had one of the best defenses in the league last year missed 28 tackles, not like what is happening, but that's the quirky stuff that happens until things start to settle out settles down.
52:44
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's what I'm kind of hoping Brian in the sense of seven of 11 defensive starters are new this year.
52:51
[SPEAKER_00]: when it comes to guys, they've had to add whether it's, you know, Dylan Theneman and Woods.
52:54
[SPEAKER_00]: And if it would have been Kobe, that still would have been new.
52:57
[SPEAKER_00]: And then if you're adding Malik Mohammed in there, you're talking about Kintavia Street, Booker wasn't starting in week one last year because he was injured.
53:04
[SPEAKER_00]: So there's a lot of newness that sometimes it takes a little bit to just...
53:08
[SPEAKER_00]: breathe, you know, you're you're a little hyped up and those, you're missing those tackles and making some mistakes and overeating some things and then now's the chance to be like, okay, you have some film, you played some reps, let's get going and I Dylan Thena Minnan has press conference was talking about that a little bit in the sense of like.
53:24
[SPEAKER_00]: it's wild it, you know, the way it hits you because you go through all of camp and it's this blur almost of you go from playing college football to next thing, you know, it's like combine prote, draft, mini camp, OTA, and then you're playing a game and then you're playing a game and then you're not on your own.
53:40
[SPEAKER_00]: There it is.
53:41
[SPEAKER_00]: And so hopefully now some of those nerves settle down for everybody.
53:44
[SPEAKER_00]: I'll offensively, they looked great.
53:45
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, maybe that first drive, you get a hold and Luther fun bulls outside of fat, they look comfortable, but
53:51
[SPEAKER_00]: We got it.
53:52
[SPEAKER_00]: But all right Brian, I would really appreciate your time.
53:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for hopping on.
53:55
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sure we'll chat throughout the season a little bit more too.
53:57
[SPEAKER_02]: Absolutely.
53:58
[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you Taylor very much.
53:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks for your time.