Latest / Football Junkies podcast / Stack or Shed Ep.14 Bears edition

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Stack or Shed Ep.14 Bears edition · Football Junkies podcast

• 0:00
  Hey everybody, this is your GM, your bad girl,
• 0:01
  Dominic's your GM, who currently is not on the
• 0:03
  team right now, but don't you worry about it.
• 0:04
  Kale, here to bring you episode 14 of the Stack
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  and Shed series. Now, in this series, we're covering
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  all 32 teams, so everybody gets a chance to be
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  talked about, all right? Now, in this series,
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  we're covering a few different topics, and they
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  include what went wrong, what do they need, stack
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  or shed, their draft picks, one move I would
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  do in their cap space. Right now, in this episode,
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  we're talking about the Bears. So buckle up,
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  it's going to be controversial. All right, let's
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  get into it. So what went wrong in the Bears
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  season? And I will venture to say it was an inconsistent
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  defense that relied solely on splash plays. With
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  the hiring of Ben Johnson, I knew there was going
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  to be a philosophical change with this team.
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  And that philosophical change was going from
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  a defensive -driven team to now an offensive
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  -driven team. Whenever there's a change of this
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  magnitude, that means there's also going to be
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  a change on how they build the roster. And that's
• 1:01
  what we're seeing in this offseason. From releasing
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  Tremaine Edmonds to letting Kevin Byard hit free
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  agency, as well as Jaquan Brisker. we're seeing
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  that the Bears are serious about building up
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  this offense and trying to keep the defense as
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  cheap as possible. Now, we can't say this is
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  the right move or the wrong move yet because
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  it's still too early in Ben Johnson's tenure
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  with the Bears. But looking at this defense last
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  year, it relied solely on interceptions. If they
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  weren't getting a pick, if they weren't forcing
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  a fumble, if they weren't doing anything that
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  is quote -unquote splashy, this defense is not
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  doing anything. And we have the stats to back
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  it up. They had the 29th ranked defense and they
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  allowed 24 .4 points per game, 361 .8 yards per
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  game, 6 yards per play, and 47 touchdowns. They
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  were 22nd in pass defense and they allowed 227
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  .2 passing yards per game, 6 .8 passing yards
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  per play, and 32 passing touchdowns. They were
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  27th in run defense and they allowed 15 rushing
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  touchdowns, 134 .5 rushing touchdowns, rushing
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  yards per game, and five rushing yards per play.
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  But here's some stats that show how much this
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  Bears defense relied on interceptions. So in
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  the 13 games that they had an interception, they
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  allowed 4 ,469 yards, 4 .7 yards per play, while
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  generating 27 sacks, 23 interceptions, nine forced
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  fumbles, and eight fumble recoveries. In the
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  four games the Bears defense didn't have an interception,
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  they allowed 1 ,681 yards, 5 .4. yards per play
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  while generating eight sacks, three forced fumbles,
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  and two fumble recoveries. Now if we break this
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  down even more, here's the Bears defensive stats
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  per game with an interception. They allow 343
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  .8 yards per game. 4 .7 yards per play while
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  generating two sacks a game while generating
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  1 .7 interceptions per game. But when we look
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  at the Bears defensive stats per game without
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  an interception, this is what we have. They allowed
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  420 .3 yards per game, 5 .4 yards per play while
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  generating two sacks per game. Although certain
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  players had a really good season, as a collective,
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  they underperformed. Because as we saw in the
• 3:16
  regular season going into the playoffs, when
• 3:19
  this defense didn't get an interception, guess
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  what happened? They wasn't stopping the run,
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  they wasn't stopping explosive plays, they wasn't
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  converting on third down, and they definitely
• 3:29
  wasn't creating constant pressure on quarterbacks.
• 3:31
  Now with that being said, what do the Bears need?
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  And that is a fundamentally sound defense. Now
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  this can be accomplished in a few different ways.
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  For starters, the coaches can emphasize a more
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  balanced approach. So instead of you emphasizing
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  turnovers, you can emphasize just playing better
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  ball as a whole. The pass rushers being more
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  consistent. The linebackers being more consistent.
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  The secondary being more consistent. Now, the
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  result is that the defense is going to play so
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  well that it's going to put added pressure on
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  offensive coordinators to find the weak spots
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  in this defense. Another approach is bringing
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  more dynamic playmakers for that side of the
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  ball. Sure, you have Kyler Gordon. Sure, you
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  have Grady Jarrett and Montez Sweat and Jalen
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  Johnson. But I think you need a little bit more.
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  Now, this can be accomplished via free agency
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  or in the draft. Now, with that being said, the
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  question we all need to ask ourselves is stat.
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  or shed and I will eventually say stack and the
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  reason why I say that is because what you have
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  right now is a great foundation in Ben Johnson
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  and Caleb Williams and some pieces on that defense
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  as long as you continue to build the right way
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  you're going to be fine. But if you stir away
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  from the current path that you're on right now,
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  I guarantee you, you're going to fall right back
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  into the same cycle of dysfunction that this
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  Bears team has been in for the last 20 -some
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  years. Now, in no way am I saying this Bears
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  team is going to make it to the Super Bowl this
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  upcoming season, but I do believe they are a
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  playoff team. I will give them that. Looking
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  at their draft picks, they have their first,
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  two seconds, a third, a fourth, and two sevens.
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  Now, I want to see what the Bears are going to
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  do in the first round because they have the 25th
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  pick. Now, I'm not saying it's a bad pick, but
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  you are in a spot where at that point, one of
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  two things are going to happen. Either the board
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  is going to be devoid of the talent that you
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  really want, or there's going to be so many teams
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  that are going to trade down that's going to
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  leave you in a messy spot. Because what we're
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  seeing in this draft class is that there's an
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  inflation of value at positions that the league
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  has not valued in the past. Now, I want to see
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  what side of the ball the Bears are going to
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  address first, because I feel like the offense
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  is in a really good spot, and any needs that
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  are on that side of the ball, I feel like you
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  can address that in the second and third round.
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  Now, the one move that I would do is draft a
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  defense. a player. Now I'm leaning towards an
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  interior defensive lineman or maybe a pass rusher
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  or maybe a linebacker. I don't really want to
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  do anything with the secondary yet. I would rather
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  wait to do that maybe in the second, third, or
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  maybe fourth round because I feel like there's
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  some hidden gems there. But my question is this,
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  and I want to answer from the Bears fans on our
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  YouTube page at Football Junkies Pod. Should
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  the Bears emphasize the front seven? the linebacker
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  core, or the secondary. Because I'm leaning towards
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  addressing the interior defensive line or edge
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  rusher. Because what we see in the league right
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  now is that you either have a guy at interior
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  defensive line or edge rusher, or you have a
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  collective sort of like what the Seahawks have.
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  Now, if you want to take the approach that the
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  Eagles have, hey, go at it. But I think if you're
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  the Bears, if you just build out this defensive
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  line, I think it's really going to help out.
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  Because you already have Grady Jarrett. You have
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  Javon Dexter. You have Montez Sweat. Looking
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  at their cap situation, they have a million dollars.
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  Now the question is this, what are they gonna
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  do to create some cap space so that they can
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  sign all their draft picks and maybe be players
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  in the second and third wave of free agency?
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  My guess is that they're currently trying to
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  restructure some deals right now to create some
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  more cap space. Maybe they're gonna try to give
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  some extensions. I don't know. Hopefully they
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  figure it out because you can't have a million
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  dollars going into the draft. You just cannot
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  do that. You have to find a way to create some
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  cap space. Even if it's just, five to six million
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  that's perfectly fine but only time will tell
• 7:07
  but i'm in this episode here if you guys like
• 7:09
  what you were listening please please please
• 7:10
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• 7:51
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• 7:53
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• 8:42
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• 8:45
  I love you guys. I appreciate you guys so much.
• 8:46
  Thank you guys so much for listening to the best
• 8:48
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• 8:50
  week -to -week, day -to -day basis. And as always,
• 8:53
  this is your GM Kale signing out. Peace and love.
• 8:55
  Later, guys.