Latest / 2nd City Gridiron / Bears Banter Ep. 247: Adam Amin joins before he calls Bears- Panthers!

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Bears Banter Ep. 247: Adam Amin joins before he calls Bears- Panthers! · 2nd City Gridiron

0:09
[SPEAKER_01]: That's right, bear that bears fans this time for another edition of Chicago Bears podcast Bears banter power by second city gridiron.
0:27
[SPEAKER_01]: Bill Zimmerman with you, and we are back, we had to give you a big hand for this one because that's right.
0:37
[SPEAKER_01]: The NFL is back, the Chicago Bears are back.
0:40
[SPEAKER_01]: We have meaningful football this weekend as the Chicago Bears take on the Carolina Panthers, calling that game for Fox.
0:50
[SPEAKER_01]: It's going to be Adam Amine, and he's going to be by here in just a little bit to talk about the game, talk about the bears, broadcasting, plenty of things to get into with Adam.
1:01
[SPEAKER_01]: So we are looking forward to that.
1:04
[SPEAKER_01]: But before we do, we need to talk.
1:08
[SPEAKER_01]: about this Chicago Bears team.
1:10
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, of course, if you missed it, you can go to the previous Bears banter and get our mega preview podcast with Aaron, loving that we do every year.
1:21
[SPEAKER_01]: That was, you know, well over 90 minutes, I think an hour and 40 minutes, 100 minutes of Bears content for you, Aaron breaking down every position group Ben Johnson, Dennis Allen, the schedule.
1:34
[SPEAKER_01]: We did it all the 50
1:35
[SPEAKER_01]: three-man roster that the practice squad that we talked about everything.
1:40
[SPEAKER_01]: So if you want your bearers preview content, make sure you check out that podcast.
1:46
[SPEAKER_01]: But you know we're going to start getting into the more of the week to week and and how this team is performing.
1:52
[SPEAKER_01]: And I want to start this season off on the right note and and I did this on a column at Wendy City Gridine and it's going to be similar here as we
2:06
[SPEAKER_01]: got a couple commenters.
2:08
[SPEAKER_01]: I had a couple, you know, tweets come at me and say, Bill Zimmerman's two damn negative.
2:15
[SPEAKER_01]: Another negative article, negative this negative that.
2:17
[SPEAKER_01]: And let's take a minute on that first year before we dive into some positive conversation.
2:22
[SPEAKER_01]: Because, look, here's my thing.
2:25
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, I've been negative.
2:26
[SPEAKER_01]: Why have I been negative?
2:27
[SPEAKER_01]: Because this bears team has been rudderless and a disaster for years.
2:32
[SPEAKER_01]: What's I excited about Caleb Williams?
2:34
[SPEAKER_01]: Gemin here is rookie season and everything.
2:35
[SPEAKER_01]: Of course.
2:36
[SPEAKER_01]: But of course, Maddie or Fluss D railed that.
2:38
[SPEAKER_01]: So you've got to be negative.
2:40
[SPEAKER_01]: Like I don't think.
2:42
[SPEAKER_01]: Bears fans want positivity when the 2024 season is spiraling out of control and Matt Eberflus is sitting there like a deer and headlights just staring at the media with absolutely no answers the same thing with Matt Nagy when things were falling apart around him.
2:57
[SPEAKER_01]: The problem is that things fall apart a lot around the Chicago Bears so obviously
3:02
[SPEAKER_01]: then Johnson arrives, Caleb starts to, you know, break out 2025 is a one of the most fun seasons in Chicago Bears history in 105 years.
3:14
[SPEAKER_01]: One of the most fun seasons in Chicago Bears have ever had and there was plenty of positivity to talk about.
3:20
[SPEAKER_01]: So we enter the off season and we say, all right, all they have to do is get a couple of additions to the defense and they are going to be cooking.
3:29
[SPEAKER_01]: They are opening up a super bowl competitive window in 2026 and the Chicago Bears did.
3:37
[SPEAKER_01]: nothing to that defense.
3:38
[SPEAKER_01]: They didn't tip for tap that, you know, out goes Kevin Bired in comes Kobe Bryant, out goes Juan Brisker in goes Dylan Thineman, out goes Tremaine Edmonds in goes Devon Bush, out goes Andrew Billings in comes Neville Gallmore.
3:52
[SPEAKER_01]: They didn't do
3:54
[SPEAKER_01]: any additions, just tit for tat and I sat there and said, what in the hell are we doing here Chicago Bears?
4:02
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's make a move here.
4:04
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's actually improve the defense.
4:06
[SPEAKER_01]: They chose not to do that.
4:08
[SPEAKER_01]: That was frustrating for a number of reasons and what was the reasons for that.
4:11
[SPEAKER_01]: And again, we have spent plenty of podcasts and plenty of minutes talking about that over the last, you know, four, five months.
4:18
[SPEAKER_01]: We don't need to talk about that here because the roster is what the roster is.
4:24
[SPEAKER_01]: and there is going to be plenty of time to talk about this Chicago Bears defense because it's going to get in the way of the victories this year.
4:35
[SPEAKER_01]: There's just no doubt about it in my mind.
4:37
[SPEAKER_01]: But we don't need to talk about that.
4:40
[SPEAKER_01]: today.
4:41
[SPEAKER_01]: We don't need to dive into Xavier Woods.
4:44
[SPEAKER_01]: We don't need to dive into, you know, and any of the potential guys who are starting, not starting in some of the decisions.
4:52
[SPEAKER_01]: If there's questions about that in the, in the mail bag, we'll get to some questions there, but right now, before we talk to Adam Amine, let's talk about what has happened.
5:05
[SPEAKER_01]: with the Chicago Bears and where they are now because yes yes I've been negative about the Bears not making the moves to become a true Super Bowl contender but obviously I am beyond thrilled beyond positive about what's going on here and why is that because the Bears have the coach
5:21
[SPEAKER_01]: and they have the quarterback and when we look at this Chicago Bears team and we look at everything that they have done now with Ben Johnson and with Caleb Williams and how people looked at those two particular individuals, the experts, the writers, the analysts, heading into the
5:44
[SPEAKER_01]: Pretty much they all said the same thing.
5:45
[SPEAKER_01]: Ben Johnson is a top 10 head coach already.
5:48
[SPEAKER_01]: He's arguably top five already, and I agree with that.
5:51
[SPEAKER_01]: He is one of the elite offensive minds.
5:54
[SPEAKER_01]: He's right there with Sean McVay, Kyle Shanahan.
5:57
[SPEAKER_01]: He's in that group.
6:00
[SPEAKER_01]: Caleb Williams, and I thought maybe I was being too generous ranking Caleb and my quarterback rankings 11th or 12th, whatever it was at the end of the season.
6:11
[SPEAKER_01]: has it turns out I was probably being a little too critical because the experts come with all their quarterback rankings and the panelists and the voting and everything going on there and Caleb Williams, you could say is a consensus top 10 quarterback in the league.
6:25
[SPEAKER_01]: So what does that mean?
6:26
[SPEAKER_01]: That means the Chicago Bears have a top 10 quarterback and a top 10 coach in the NFL.
6:31
[SPEAKER_01]: And I bring that up for this very reason.
6:34
[SPEAKER_01]: What teams have a top 10 coach?
6:39
[SPEAKER_01]: and a top 10 quarterback where you would say that is a top 10 coach, right?
6:43
[SPEAKER_01]: That is a top 10 quarterback.
6:44
[SPEAKER_01]: You have the Kansas City Chiefs, Andy Reed, Patrick Mohm's.
6:48
[SPEAKER_01]: You have the LA Rams with Sean McVay and Matthew Stafford.
6:53
[SPEAKER_01]: You have a selected group of teams that have that.
6:59
[SPEAKER_01]: There's not a lot, especially with John Harbaugh and Mike Tomlin, you know, no longer there.
7:04
[SPEAKER_01]: Obviously, the Steelers had not had a top 10 quarterback in a while, but certainly the Ravens did with Lamar Jackson, you know,
7:11
[SPEAKER_01]: Josh Allen is obviously great, but he's got a brand new coach there, Lamar Jackson obviously great.
7:17
[SPEAKER_01]: He's got a brand new coach so you can't make those coaches top 10 coaches.
7:20
[SPEAKER_01]: So you got the couple I mentioned, you've got you know, Dak Prescott's the top 10 quarterback.
7:25
[SPEAKER_01]: He doesn't have a top 10 coach.
7:27
[SPEAKER_01]: right?
7:27
[SPEAKER_01]: You've got Justin Herbert.
7:29
[SPEAKER_01]: I think he is a top 10 quarterback.
7:32
[SPEAKER_01]: He does have a top 10 coach in Jim Harball.
7:37
[SPEAKER_01]: So what we're doing here is we're looking at, you know, Joe Burrell for example, Zach Taylor.
7:42
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think anyone would put Zach Taylor is one of the top 10 coaches in the league.
7:46
[SPEAKER_01]: So when you're breaking down,
7:49
[SPEAKER_01]: what franchises have a top 10 coach and a top 10 quarterback combination.
7:55
[SPEAKER_01]: You're looking at just a handful, you're looking at the Chicago Bears, you're looking at the Rams, you're looking at the Chiefs, you're looking at the Chargers, the
8:05
[SPEAKER_01]: That's about it, you know, you want to make a case, like, you make a case that the packers are there with Jordan loving that.
8:11
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, Floriae, you can probably make a case.
8:13
[SPEAKER_01]: There are other cases to be had, but there's not a lot.
8:18
[SPEAKER_01]: Drake may and my gravell, that's probably a top 10 combo on both sides.
8:23
[SPEAKER_01]: So you've got four, maybe five, six, if you're being generous.
8:27
[SPEAKER_01]: So I bring that up for this very example.
8:30
[SPEAKER_01]: And we can even, if you want to talk about the Lamar Jackson John Harbaugh combination, we can do that as well.
8:36
[SPEAKER_01]: Josh Allen with Sean McDermott.
8:37
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know, Sean McDermott and maybe it was a top 10 coach.
8:40
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know.
8:41
[SPEAKER_01]: I think a lot of people were down on Sean McDermott.
8:44
[SPEAKER_01]: But we look at that for this very reason.
8:48
[SPEAKER_01]: These teams are what?
8:50
[SPEAKER_01]: They are perennially in the playoffs.
8:54
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, they're when insuperables, right?
8:56
[SPEAKER_01]: We're gonna get into that.
8:57
[SPEAKER_01]: But they are perennially in the playoffs.
9:00
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, even if you say love and love, and they've been getting bounce in the first round pretty much every year, but they're in the playoffs.
9:08
[SPEAKER_01]: Jim Harbaugh and Justin Herbert have only been together two years.
9:11
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, they got bounced in the first round both years, but they were in,
9:15
[SPEAKER_01]: the playoffs.
9:16
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, the chiefs missed last year, but I believe they made the playoffs 7 consecutive years, 5 Super Bowl appearances, 3 Super Bowl championships.
9:25
[SPEAKER_01]: I would say you could say the chiefs are there every year.
9:28
[SPEAKER_01]: The ravens, same thing, maybe under a chief, maybe didn't quite get to that Super Bowl and where people thought they should be.
9:36
[SPEAKER_01]: in the playoffs every year.
9:38
[SPEAKER_01]: Stafford and McVay have won a Super Bowl and I think only missed the playoffs once together and that was when Stafford missed half the season.
9:45
[SPEAKER_01]: They're in the playoffs every year.
9:48
[SPEAKER_01]: Drable and May first year together they go to the Super Bowl in the playoffs every year.
9:54
[SPEAKER_01]: Caleb Williams and Ben Johnson.
9:55
[SPEAKER_01]: They've only been together one year, but what were they in the playoffs?
10:00
[SPEAKER_01]: When you have the coach and you have the quarterback and the Chicago Bears do, you are in the playoffs almost every season.
10:10
[SPEAKER_01]: That's how important those two positions are.
10:13
[SPEAKER_01]: Those two people are, I should say, and coaches in a position.
10:16
[SPEAKER_01]: Those two people are at the NFL level.
10:20
[SPEAKER_01]: And the Chicago Bears have that.
10:23
[SPEAKER_01]: So what does that mean?
10:24
[SPEAKER_01]: As long as Caleb Williams, he doesn't regress him.
10:26
[SPEAKER_01]: Why would he regress with Ben Johnson and long as Ben Johnson continues to cook?
10:31
[SPEAKER_01]: The Chicago Bears will be in the playoffs almost every year.
10:37
[SPEAKER_01]: That's how this works when you have those two people figured out in your franchise.
10:41
[SPEAKER_01]: Now.
10:42
[SPEAKER_01]: Does that mean the bears are ultimately super world contenders?
10:45
[SPEAKER_01]: No, it doesn't.
10:46
[SPEAKER_01]: And this is what I have said.
10:48
[SPEAKER_01]: I have said the Chicago Bears are now in a position where they are going to have a place at the table every year, thanks to Ben Johnson and thanks to Caleb Williams.
10:56
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, they have to hone the roster and make the roster elite that's going to take multiple people to do it.
11:04
[SPEAKER_01]: It's going to take Caleb Williams to get the most out of his offensive skill position players.
11:08
[SPEAKER_01]: it's going to take Ben Johnson.
11:10
[SPEAKER_01]: Obviously, he's the head coach.
11:12
[SPEAKER_01]: He needs to make sure everyone on the team is developing.
11:15
[SPEAKER_01]: It's going to take Dennis Allen to make sure he is squeezing every drop of talent out of that defense.
11:21
[SPEAKER_01]: It's going to take Ryan Paul's
11:24
[SPEAKER_01]: finding key players, not just big splashes, but day three draft picks that contribute, that do good things on this roster.
11:32
[SPEAKER_01]: They don't have to necessarily turn into Max Crosby, but they have to turn in the guys who can contribute for four years before they move on to another team.
11:41
[SPEAKER_01]: It's going to take the whole franchise.
11:43
[SPEAKER_01]: It's going to take George McCaskey spending more money than he wants to spend.
11:48
[SPEAKER_01]: It's going to take the whole franchise.
11:50
[SPEAKER_01]: to turn the Chicago Bears into a perennial, super bold contender.
11:55
[SPEAKER_01]: But because they have been Johnson and Caleb Williams, they are already a perennial playoff contender.
12:01
[SPEAKER_01]: And that is something the Chicago Bears have not had.
12:04
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, they've made the playoffs multiple times.
12:07
[SPEAKER_01]: But,
12:09
[SPEAKER_01]: 2018, 2020.
12:10
[SPEAKER_01]: That 2020 team was a terrible playoff team.
12:13
[SPEAKER_01]: 2018 was exciting, but 2019 derail.
12:16
[SPEAKER_01]: Why?
12:16
[SPEAKER_01]: They didn't have the quarterback.
12:18
[SPEAKER_01]: Lovey Smith.
12:19
[SPEAKER_01]: Lovey Smith was a good coach, but I don't think anyone considers lovey Smith a great coach.
12:23
[SPEAKER_01]: But again, you look at that team.
12:25
[SPEAKER_01]: What was the problem?
12:26
[SPEAKER_01]: they didn't have the quarterback.
12:28
[SPEAKER_01]: That's why things just completely vanished after they made the Super Bowl and lost Indie in the inapolis because Rex Grossman, because Kyle Orton, they weren't good enough to be a perennial Super Bowl contender or even a perennial playoff contender.
12:45
[SPEAKER_01]: You don't need to go back to the 80s, things are different than
12:48
[SPEAKER_01]: teams ran the football more and everything.
12:50
[SPEAKER_01]: Bears kind of had the quarterback figured out what Jim McMahon, but obviously got hurt and that was the problem.
12:56
[SPEAKER_01]: So a healthy Caleb Williams and Ben Johnson, this team is only going to get better, only going to get stronger and that is what is exciting for the future.
13:07
[SPEAKER_01]: And not just for the future, for the present.
13:10
[SPEAKER_01]: How can you not be excited about the offense this year?
13:13
[SPEAKER_01]: Ben Johnson says he wants to be the highest scoring team in NFL history.
13:16
[SPEAKER_01]: Is he going to get there?
13:17
[SPEAKER_01]: Probably not.
13:18
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a goal.
13:20
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a bold goal.
13:22
[SPEAKER_01]: And no one's sitting there saying they have no chance at it.
13:25
[SPEAKER_01]: That's how much the league, both leagues and Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams.
13:29
[SPEAKER_01]: No one's had to say, what the hell are they talking about?
13:32
[SPEAKER_01]: Now one person did that I go.
13:34
[SPEAKER_01]: Ben's going, Ben's swinging for the fences.
13:36
[SPEAKER_01]: They didn't say, what is Ben Johnson talking about?
13:38
[SPEAKER_01]: Because they know if Luther burden and Colson love and break out, like everyone is expecting them to do.
13:45
[SPEAKER_01]: If Rome finds his role in the offense, like people expect him to do, if Hulk Gometts doing his thing, DeAndre Swift continues to build upon what was a remarkable 2025 season.
13:56
[SPEAKER_01]: This Chicago Bears team, this offense is going to be something special.
14:02
[SPEAKER_01]: And yeah, there might be some 38 to 34 losses this year.
14:06
[SPEAKER_01]: That might happen because this defense is going to struggle from time to time, but even with defensive
14:13
[SPEAKER_01]: bears are going to win their fair share of football games because they have the coach and they have the quarterback.
14:20
[SPEAKER_01]: And we have been screaming about getting the coach and getting the quarterback four years and all goes with alignment and trying to get everything figured out.
14:29
[SPEAKER_01]: Now,
14:30
[SPEAKER_01]: The bears do it right did the owner pick the president the the owner and president picked the GM to the GM pick the coach and did the coach pick the quarterback now That did not happen When they got to quarterback they got the coach the GM who I'm still on the fence about is certainly here and the president's here ownership is here this is
14:47
[SPEAKER_01]: what the bears are going with.
14:49
[SPEAKER_01]: They're going with Warren, polls, Johnson, Williams.
14:52
[SPEAKER_01]: That's their team.
14:54
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the team McCaskey has in front of them.
14:56
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what they're going to do moving forward.
14:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Is it a perfect team now?
14:59
[SPEAKER_01]: It's that a perfect team.
15:00
[SPEAKER_01]: But it's certainly exciting.
15:02
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's the best they've had in a very, very long time, if ever.
15:09
[SPEAKER_01]: that group right there.
15:11
[SPEAKER_01]: So the Chicago Bears, this offense is gonna be fun.
15:14
[SPEAKER_01]: I am excited to see what this offense is going to be this here.
15:19
[SPEAKER_01]: And I don't know what it's gonna be.
15:21
[SPEAKER_01]: I expect, expect, not hope, not think, expect that this is a top five offense in the NFL.
15:30
[SPEAKER_01]: If they finish eighth or ninth offense, I'm going to say what happened, what went wrong.
15:35
[SPEAKER_01]: That's how high my expectations are for this offense.
15:39
[SPEAKER_01]: A best offense in the NFL, I asked what went wrong.
15:43
[SPEAKER_01]: I think at a minimum, this is the top five offense, and it has a chance to be a top three offense, and it could absolutely be the best offense in the NFL if Caleb Williams takes a step forward.
15:56
[SPEAKER_01]: Caleb Williams is going to have the greatest passing season in Chicago Bears history.
16:02
[SPEAKER_01]: I have no doubt in my mind that is where that is going to be.
16:07
[SPEAKER_01]: He's going to throw for over 4,000 yards.
16:09
[SPEAKER_01]: He's going to have over 30 touchdowns.
16:10
[SPEAKER_01]: It might be 30 passing and running combined, but I think he's going to be comfortably over 30 touchdowns.
16:16
[SPEAKER_01]: I think he's going to throw for over 30.
16:18
[SPEAKER_01]: He's going to hold the single season passing record for yards.
16:21
[SPEAKER_01]: And he's going to hold it for touchdowns after this season.
16:25
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, is it a low bar?
16:26
[SPEAKER_01]: Of course, it's a low bar.
16:28
[SPEAKER_01]: I think I said nine times in Chicago Bears history has a quarterback thrown for over 3,000 yards of 20 touchdowns.
16:35
[SPEAKER_01]: Basically, considered standard for a quarterback, this year of football, but it's only happened nine times in 105 years of Chicago Bears football.
16:45
[SPEAKER_01]: Caleb Williams has already done a twice.
16:48
[SPEAKER_01]: and now he's going to do it for the third time be the 10th guy to do it three out of ten already going to be him.
16:54
[SPEAKER_01]: He's going to continue to do it.
16:55
[SPEAKER_01]: He's going to have it in 12 years.
16:57
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, when they've done a 12 times it's going to be him five.
17:00
[SPEAKER_01]: He's going to have it, you know, by the time he's finished here.
17:04
[SPEAKER_01]: He's going to have more than half be one of the times that that's happened in Barris history.
17:08
[SPEAKER_01]: He is going to rewrite the record books and it's going to start in last year.
17:13
[SPEAKER_01]: It's going to continue this year.
17:14
[SPEAKER_01]: It's going to be a fun, filled season in Chicago.
17:19
[SPEAKER_01]: The Barris offense is going to be last year I think it probably was the greatest offense that we've ever seen the Chicago Barris have and it's only going to get better.
17:30
[SPEAKER_01]: The next year in that system, everyone's comfortable, no one is getting installments consistently in OTAs.
17:38
[SPEAKER_01]: They're getting, you know, how to improve, how to hone things.
17:42
[SPEAKER_01]: This is going to be something we have never seen.
17:45
[SPEAKER_01]: Bear said, we are going to know how to react.
17:48
[SPEAKER_01]: when we're seeing this team consistently score the amount of points are going to score.
17:51
[SPEAKER_01]: Because we've never seen it.
17:53
[SPEAKER_01]: We've never seen an offense that's going to do what the Chicago players are going to do when the Bears offense has been good.
17:58
[SPEAKER_01]: We think that they're the greatest show on turf.
18:01
[SPEAKER_01]: Now it's actually going to be elite.
18:03
[SPEAKER_01]: We don't know what we're going to do with this as fans.
18:05
[SPEAKER_01]: We have no idea how this is going to go.
18:07
[SPEAKER_01]: But I do know how it's going to go.
18:09
[SPEAKER_01]: It's going to be fun.
18:10
[SPEAKER_01]: It's going to be frustrating when they lose 34 to 31, but it's going to be a hell of a ride when they win 38 to 17 because that's going to happen to.
18:19
[SPEAKER_01]: They're going to win their fair share games.
18:21
[SPEAKER_01]: I think they're going to make the playoffs and the Chicago Bears.
18:26
[SPEAKER_01]: This offense, the bears are an offensive football team.
18:29
[SPEAKER_01]: This is not defense and running backs in three yards and a cloud of dust.
18:33
[SPEAKER_01]: This is a modern NFL team.
18:36
[SPEAKER_01]: Chicago Bears are leading the way with arguably the best offense in the NFL.
18:40
[SPEAKER_01]: We're gonna see it starting this Sunday.
18:43
[SPEAKER_01]: Against the Carolina Panthers, be excited, Bears fans, because,
18:49
[SPEAKER_00]: boy, Ben Johnson is here and so is Caleb Williams.
18:52
[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to talk about those two and plenty else with Adam Amine.
18:56
[SPEAKER_01]: He joins me next.
18:57
[SPEAKER_01]: This is Bill Zimmerman, Bears Banner.
18:59
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll be right back.
19:02
[SPEAKER_01]: Welcome back into the podcast.
19:04
[SPEAKER_01]: Always excited to talk to this guy because he is one of the best in the business.
19:09
[SPEAKER_01]: I say underrated and when I say that, I mean that 100% complementary because this guy is as good as anyone in the business.
19:17
[SPEAKER_01]: We know him well in Chicago doing plenty of things, including bears preseason games.
19:22
[SPEAKER_01]: But of course, he is part of the NFL on Fox, calling games on Sundays and it just so happens.
19:28
[SPEAKER_01]: He's calling the bears game against the Panthers this Sunday with Drew Grease.
19:33
[SPEAKER_01]: He is Adam Amine and he joins me now Adam Bill Zimmerman.
19:36
[SPEAKER_01]: How you doing?
19:37
[SPEAKER_00]: Good to talk to you again, Bill.
19:38
[SPEAKER_00]: It's always a pleasure, man.
19:39
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I'm really looking forward to this.
19:41
[SPEAKER_01]: And before we dive into the bears specifically, I want to do a little broadcasting with you because you had a really interesting season last year.
19:49
[SPEAKER_01]: And I don't want to get into any of the specifics with Mark Sanchez, but for you as a broadcaster,
19:55
[SPEAKER_01]: when you have a partner you've been working with with Mark Sanchez and then he gets relieved of his duties, suddenly you're working with Brady Quinn for a couple of weeks and then suddenly you're working with Drew Breeze.
20:06
[SPEAKER_01]: How is that as a broadcast?
20:08
[SPEAKER_01]: When you basically have three partners over the span of a month, I mean this is something I know you wear a lot of different hats but that's got to be something, I don't know if it's jarring but that's got to be a challenge for a broadcaster to try to build up instant chemistry with a new color guy.
20:22
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's, you know, part of the deal of doing this job in general.
20:25
[SPEAKER_00]: I've been fortunate to work with a lot of talented people over the years, and, you know, between Mark Sanchez, a Brady Quinn jumped in on our crew.
20:34
[SPEAKER_00]: I didn't get to work with him, but I've known Brady for a long time.
20:37
[SPEAKER_00]: I worked with Greg Olson last year, I worked with Kurt Warner last year.
20:49
[SPEAKER_00]: in 2026 and we'll very much looking forward to that.
20:52
[SPEAKER_00]: But it was that that's part of the challenge of doing this job in general.
20:55
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I've worked with probably 170 people over the course of the last 15 years.
21:01
[SPEAKER_00]: I used to cover a lot more in terms of, you know, range of sports at ESPN.
21:06
[SPEAKER_00]: So I was always working it felt like with somebody new.
21:10
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, it's something that I have to be ready for at any point in my job, you know, it's going to be the same thing on basketball with Chicago Bulls this year.
21:20
[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to have a rotation of people, a few of whom I haven't worked with on games before.
21:25
[SPEAKER_00]: So that'll be a new experience, but that's part of the deal.
21:27
[SPEAKER_00]: You try to learn people's tendencies.
21:29
[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously it helps if you already know them, having known Drew, having known some of the guys that are
21:34
[SPEAKER_00]: potentially rotating in on the bulls having, you know, the opportunity to work with several people.
21:39
[SPEAKER_00]: You understand where to give space, how to give space, when to take over, when to give guidance, how to give guidance.
21:46
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I think that's that's part of it too after doing this as long as I have.
21:51
[SPEAKER_00]: 15 years at this point I've got a lot of good experience and I can pass on whatever was them.
21:55
[SPEAKER_00]: I've accrued over that period of time, especially with people that are maybe a little more new to this.
22:00
[SPEAKER_00]: So, that's part of the challenge anyway, that's what I was taught growing up, it's what I've gotten used to.
22:05
[SPEAKER_00]: I was very fortunate for a few years.
22:08
[SPEAKER_00]: where I was pretty much just working with the same people for all the sports that I was covering.
22:13
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a little bit different right now, but that's part of the gig, man.
22:17
[SPEAKER_00]: It's work with a lot of directors and producers and reporters and analysts and hopefully if you get a good person, if you get a decent human being to work with, that makes it a lot easier because they're thinking
22:29
[SPEAKER_00]: the same thing that you are.
22:30
[SPEAKER_00]: They want to have a good rapport.
22:31
[SPEAKER_00]: They want to have a good relationship with you.
22:33
[SPEAKER_00]: They want to have good chemistry and fill in the gaps seamlessly when you're on the air together.
22:38
[SPEAKER_00]: If you have a good partner who wants to do that, that makes it a million times easier and I've been very, very, very, very fortunate that I've had a lot of people that want that.
22:48
[SPEAKER_00]: They want to show rapport.
22:49
[SPEAKER_00]: They want to have chemistry with you.
22:51
[SPEAKER_00]: They want to get to know you a little bit too.
22:53
[SPEAKER_00]: So that always makes it a lot easier.
22:55
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and you did bring up the Chicago Bulls so I do want to ask you about that because I was actually talking to a couple, you know, bulls, you know, media type people and when it was announced that they were going to do a rotation I was like that is exactly the right decision because I mean, look, Stacy King and it is just a tragic, tragic loss for the Chicago sports community, I mean, you know, nice role player of the Chicago Bulls but the
23:19
[SPEAKER_01]: person that he was the personality that he was.
23:22
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, the amount of times he just go viral, just having fun on the air talking about this Chicago bullseem.
23:28
[SPEAKER_01]: There was just like, it was going to be in my mind, unfair pressure.
23:34
[SPEAKER_01]: If you just immediately replace Stacey King with this is the person doing 82 Chicago bulls games.
23:39
[SPEAKER_01]: I thought the rotation was the right way to go and kind of figure things out from there.
23:43
[SPEAKER_01]: Because it's truly an impossible task.
23:45
[SPEAKER_01]: Because I mean, you're talking about Mount Rushmore of Chicago media personalities.
23:50
[SPEAKER_00]: You can make the argument that Stacy King was on there.
23:52
[SPEAKER_00]: you certainly can make that argument I'm biased so I would make that argument but I think a lot of other people would say the same thing and certainly be able to make a case of nothing else.
24:04
[SPEAKER_00]: I felt that way I think a lot of people who are involved with this process with the bulls and a lot of people have been involved they've been very meticulous they've been very thoughtful as an organization and as a communications and broadcasting department.
24:17
[SPEAKER_00]: They've been very meticulous and thoughtful about how they wanted to go about this.
24:21
[SPEAKER_00]: They took a lot of people's opinions into consideration.
24:23
[SPEAKER_00]: And I do feel that your thought bill was probably the thought of a lot of people.
24:28
[SPEAKER_00]: It was certainly my thought as well.
24:29
[SPEAKER_00]: It would be very difficult for one person to step into that chair and not be shielded from...
24:39
[SPEAKER_00]: Whether it's fair or unfair, criticisms that maybe aren't reflective of that person.
24:47
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I've said this in the last couple of weeks.
24:49
[SPEAKER_00]: I've been very fortunate to have opportunities to, to grieve.
24:53
[SPEAKER_00]: I've had to do it publicly at times, which can be uncomfortable.
24:56
[SPEAKER_00]: But I've been fortunate to have been afforded the opportunity to grieve about my friend and talk about him and write about him and speak it, you know, events about him and things like that.
25:06
[SPEAKER_00]: And I've kind of processed a lot of my feelings about him.
25:10
[SPEAKER_00]: And
25:12
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think fans have had that opportunity truly yet and it's really not going to comment so you start watching games and you have to kind of get used to the idea of somebody else telling you about your team you know it's been your friend it's been your buddy your your companion for the last two decades and that's a difficult thing for anybody to deal with especially if you're a fan who
25:35
[SPEAKER_00]: Really enjoyed what Stacey did and a lot of fans did most fans did.
25:39
[SPEAKER_00]: I feel at least that seems to be the consensus and it's gonna be hard And that's okay.
25:44
[SPEAKER_00]: I keep saying that if you don't want to Get comfortable right away if you're not comfortable right away and you don't necessarily want to tune in for a little while Or you're playing you know watching on mute for a little bit because you you're not used to it Or you're syncing it up with chucking bill on the radio or something like that.
25:59
[SPEAKER_00]: I encourage you to do that I encourage you to feel what you want to feel I encourage you to
26:04
[SPEAKER_00]: to, you know, navigate this, how you want to navigate this, and then I hope at some point you'll flip on the TV, you'll take us off mute, you'll listen, whoever may be in the chair and whatever combination is sitting in the arena that night, I hope you'll tune in at some point and enjoy bulls basketball again on the TV side, but I wholly understand if there's some hesitancy or it takes some time because I think fans deserve to have their own grieving process as well.
26:33
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, absolutely.
26:34
[SPEAKER_01]: And bulls with Caleb Wilson, it should be a lot of fun seeing this team develop this year.
26:40
[SPEAKER_01]: Let me ask you about a couple other of your partners you've had, and you mentioned Drew Briezer earlier, we talked about it earlier.
26:46
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think he's really interesting as an analyst because when he was first hired by NBC, I think people were like, oh my God, it's gonna be great.
26:54
[SPEAKER_01]: That's gonna be exciting, tapping into the brain of Drew Briezer, didn't quite work out, didn't quite half things figured out.
27:03
[SPEAKER_01]: heard him, you know, when I'm watching, you know, as many games as possible on Sunday, and obviously I focus on the bears, but I'm watching everything.
27:09
[SPEAKER_01]: And when I hear you guys, I feel like you guys were really building chemistry, and I felt like you were getting a lot out of Drew.
27:15
[SPEAKER_01]: I felt like there was, there was development there with him as an analyst, and I think, you know, if he can really catch his groove this year, having a full season with you, I think he could really unearth an unlocks of potential as a really real top notch analyst in this league.
27:29
[SPEAKER_00]: That's his hope that's my hope that's our hope as a company, you know, the folks that have gone out of the way to have a relationship and eventually hired Drew, that's what they're hoping for and I felt it as time went on, you know, we did eight games, the second half last year of the season and I felt it pretty much every week, you know, it's an interesting way to watch how.
27:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Now again, now we'll haul a fame quarterback.
27:55
[SPEAKER_00]: kind of see how he's developed a process for how to do this job.
27:59
[SPEAKER_00]: And he was very complimentary to people at NBC.
28:02
[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, he worked with one of the best in the business in Mike Terrico.
28:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, he had the incredible calls in some of the bears, you know, heroic games at the end of the season last year.
28:13
[SPEAKER_00]: They're the playoffs.
28:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Mike's one of the best in the business.
28:16
[SPEAKER_00]: And Drew was very complimentary.
28:18
[SPEAKER_00]: He learned a lot from Mike from Rob Highland.
28:20
[SPEAKER_00]: He was their excellent producer as well.
28:24
[SPEAKER_00]: He was thrown into a tough situation at NBC, you know, it's like, hey, you haven't done a ton of games.
28:31
[SPEAKER_00]: You're a year removed from the NFL.
28:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, do a few college games and then by the way, now 35 to 60 million people are going to watch you on Thanksgiving.
28:39
[SPEAKER_00]: in criticize every word.
28:40
[SPEAKER_00]: You have to say, and then, oh, your next game is going to be one where, you know, 30 to 50 million people watch on a playoff game.
28:46
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, not conducive necessarily to success.
28:49
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that's something we don't do particularly well in this industry is train.
28:55
[SPEAKER_00]: former players and coaches on what the structure of broadcasting is.
29:00
[SPEAKER_00]: You as fans and you as watchers at home aren't looking at this or listening to this maybe as critically as I am and certainly Bill you as you said you watch everything so you're you're probably listening a little bit with more of a critical ear and critical eye than just a fan sitting on their couch and a Sunday or just wants to watch the bears.
29:17
[SPEAKER_00]: That's
29:18
[SPEAKER_00]: totally fine.
29:18
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not your job as a fan to do that, but there is a structure that's inherent to football broadcasting, and obviously it works off of the playclap and more tight scenarios off the gameclack, if it's a two minute warning, four minute drill, four minute offense, whatever.
29:34
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, like the game,
29:36
[SPEAKER_00]: And play clock along with the score itself dictate the structure of how we call games.
29:42
[SPEAKER_00]: And obviously within that structure as you might imagine, well, the analyst is going to talk between plays more often than not.
29:47
[SPEAKER_00]: The play by play guys usually going to talk between the end of the analyst and the start of the play and into the play.
29:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Give you the result of the play.
29:55
[SPEAKER_00]: And either let the analyst take over or set up the next element that we want to show as a broadcast group.
30:01
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a lot of that.
30:05
[SPEAKER_00]: and I think the thing we do very poorly is tell analysts what the structure is.
30:10
[SPEAKER_00]: I tell Adam Wainwright, AJ Persinski before we do the playoffs.
30:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, man, I need a little bit of the first.
30:14
[SPEAKER_00]: I need the ninth inning just to start up the broadcast and close up the game in between as long as we respect every pitch in the playoffs, especially because if that one pitch happens to be the one home run hit in a one-nothing victory for one team, you don't want to be talking over that pitch and then the one big moment that we really have,
30:34
[SPEAKER_00]: properly enjoy within the structure that we want to give.
30:37
[SPEAKER_00]: So, other than that, everything in between, we can work on.
30:40
[SPEAKER_00]: It's very flexible.
30:42
[SPEAKER_00]: It's very valuable.
30:43
[SPEAKER_00]: But there is a structure that we need to operate within for the betterment of the broadcast and for the best use of the tools of our broadcast.
30:51
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that's how we, how I have developed this approach over a long period of time, you asked how do you develop chemistry?
30:58
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, the first thing is,
30:59
[SPEAKER_00]: operate within this structure because that gives us a skeleton and that allows me to know where to set you up, to know when to get out, so you have optimal space to speak.
31:09
[SPEAKER_00]: When the crowds go in nuts, I usually try to back out and lay out and let the crowd and the the noise take over because it's just fun to be a part of those atmospheres and I tell the analyst that like, hey, enjoy that.
31:20
[SPEAKER_00]: That's an element of our broadcast that we want to emphasize and utilize.
31:29
[SPEAKER_00]: X players and coaches that structure they've been coached for most of their lives or have been coaching for most of their lives So they understand what structure means and when you give that to these these these ex-analysts or X players that that are becoming analysts you'll be shocked at how quickly they attune themselves to it They're obviously very intuitive people if you give them a playbook they'll learn the playbook You're giving them a playbook in with which to operate and I don't think we do that well enough
31:57
[SPEAKER_00]: In this industry, I try to do that with the people I work with.
32:00
[SPEAKER_00]: I've done that with Drew.
32:02
[SPEAKER_00]: I hope that's taken a ham on a good path and I look forward to starting up this season with Bears Panthers on Sunday and getting to get back at it with him because he is one of those people.
32:13
[SPEAKER_00]: He's super intuitive, it's incredibly smart and then he's a good dude which makes it easier to build that chemistry and that's what I felt the second half last year.
32:22
[SPEAKER_01]: fascinating answer there with Adam and me and we do a little inside baseball here as we transition again and more specific bears.
32:27
[SPEAKER_01]: I do want to ask you one more broadcasting thing and that's the preseason and I work with Jim Miller at Series XM for many years and I like Jim but for me in these broadcasts I thought Stacy Dales.
32:40
[SPEAKER_01]: Really stood up.
32:41
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean bear fans obviously she has regular hits on radio, she's NFL, network, she's she's around house, Hall of Bunch.
32:48
[SPEAKER_01]: So I mean bear fans all know her, but I thought she was just a star on these broadcasts and you know, I don't know if that's something she wants to pursue in the future or if she wants to continue the role where she's kind of doing everything, but I thought she was absolutely dynamite on those broadcasts.
33:03
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm not shocked and you know going back to when we started doing it as a three person booth last year with Jim and Stacey I'm not I wasn't shocked then that she acclimated herself incredibly well to that position and I wasn't shocked that it felt very easy again and that.
33:18
[SPEAKER_00]: is again a testament to both Jim and Stacy and they support each other and they have conversations with one another on the air the same way when I work with Adam Wayne Wright and AJ Perzinski and a three-man booth for baseball.
33:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Those guys have such a good report that they can have like their own side discussion and I'll get us back on track what it's time to get us back on track and that's how Jim and Stacy were.
33:39
[SPEAKER_00]: That's how they've been you know the six games or five games whatever it's been the last two years that we
33:46
[SPEAKER_00]: Stacy does this from a place of study and curiosity and built-in knowledge over a long period of time covering the NFL.
33:57
[SPEAKER_00]: Since I've been covering the NFL, this is my 15th season covering NFL football, whether I'm ready or TV as a play by playing out.
34:05
[SPEAKER_00]: Since I've been in the business of covering the NFL, Stacy's been there too.
34:09
[SPEAKER_00]: So I've always had a great relationship with her.
34:11
[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously, adopt the daughter of Chicago and my estimation as a former member of the sky when they were an expansion team.
34:20
[SPEAKER_00]: I just felt like as hard as she works, and the extra mile that she goes to get the information that she tries to get, and then tries to learn how to contextualize it, based off of how she's asking questions and how she's operating within her job with like NFL Network and ESPN now.
34:40
[SPEAKER_00]: That she brought all that to the table within again, the structure of the broadcast and I think Jim doesn't get enough credit for that either because he's so educated on the entirety of the league You know, go back to his serious days when he was visiting every training camp in the summer time and you know, go through the rig of morale Of having to go through all these small towns in America to make sure he gets to talk to the, you know, backup quarterback may end up starting somewhere else later that year
35:05
[SPEAKER_00]: I think, you know, those two deserve so much credit for their built-in chemistry.
35:10
[SPEAKER_00]: They allowed me to make sure I could direct them and guide them back on track whenever necessary.
35:15
[SPEAKER_00]: Or if I led them somewhere, they were very,
35:21
[SPEAKER_00]: open to going in those directions.
35:23
[SPEAKER_00]: And we had great discussions off the air that led a lot of chemistry on the air.
35:27
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's not shocking to me that that Stacy is good.
35:30
[SPEAKER_00]: And this role just that she's been good in an analyst role on basketball as a commentator on football and basketball as a reporter on the NFL as a host.
35:39
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not shocking that she took to this role as a swimming league she did.
35:44
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, absolutely, very, very, very talented woman right there.
35:47
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, let's talk about the bears here because, you know, for you as someone who does their pre-season games, I'm curious in your meetings and conversations that you had prepping for those games with Ben Johnson, not sure how much Caleb Williams access you get when he's not necessarily playing in games, but...
36:03
[SPEAKER_01]: what were if any, you know, particular differences from the first year with Ben Johnson and kind of how things felt in August last year versus this year with the team and the coaching staff a little more settled.
36:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Hi expectations already and and he came in with with lofty goals right out of the game.
36:21
[SPEAKER_00]: He spoke them into existence in a lot of ways and the difference is now there's significantly more buy-in.
36:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Not to say that there wasn't last year.
36:28
[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously grew as the season went on
36:31
[SPEAKER_00]: There are a lot of coaches that have had the intensity level of a Ben Johnson and that have spoken, you know, a big game, so to speak, going into a head coaching job and have flamed out miserably because they didn't get the buy-in from the players and that's the most important thing.
36:46
[SPEAKER_00]: Do players believe in what you're doing and as the year went on last year and the results,
36:51
[SPEAKER_00]: started to turn obviously those first couple of games were very tough watches right especially that that second week against Detroit very difficult watch in the blowout fashion week one was heartbreaking in a lot of ways so like you already experience like very difficult ways to lose games and by week three you know you're getting into the Dallas game and
37:12
[SPEAKER_00]: his message was still on point.
37:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Guy's still understood where he was coming from.
37:17
[SPEAKER_00]: And for them to bounce back as significantly as they did, that the only the results are going to get the buy-in.
37:26
[SPEAKER_00]: And the guy's started to see that this process is going to lead to results.
37:30
[SPEAKER_00]: more people buy into it, they buy into it with more, you know, perver and with more vigor.
37:35
[SPEAKER_00]: And when those, those things happen, you get a large room of athletes together that all have like a pretty common belief in something.
37:44
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, that's the ethereal side of it.
37:46
[SPEAKER_00]: That's the educator side, I think, in Ben, you know, coming from a family of educators while working schools and things like that, you know, he was, you know,
37:55
[SPEAKER_00]: I think his dad's retired high school principal is mom was like a middle school teacher.
37:59
[SPEAKER_00]: I think his sister's a vice principal back in North Carolina.
38:02
[SPEAKER_00]: So like he comes from educators.
38:04
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think he understands that process usually leads to results good process.
38:09
[SPEAKER_00]: I should say leads to good results which leads to everybody appreciating it more.
38:13
[SPEAKER_00]: So this year,
38:15
[SPEAKER_00]: you don't have to sell anything to any of these guys.
38:17
[SPEAKER_00]: They're in.
38:18
[SPEAKER_00]: So what's the next step?
38:20
[SPEAKER_00]: And a lot of that just comes from continuity, being able to add things to an offensive playbook because a your players are all familiar with what you want to do.
38:29
[SPEAKER_00]: And b, they
38:31
[SPEAKER_00]: can add wrinkles over time because they're already set with the baseline parameters of the offense.
38:38
[SPEAKER_00]: And now it's like, all right, well, let's add tags.
38:40
[SPEAKER_00]: Now every place got to have a tag to it because we can add that based off of what Caleb reads in protection, he can either add it in the in the huddle or he can read it at the line of scrimmage.
38:49
[SPEAKER_00]: give your kill signal or give your, uh, as, you know, for those who play Madden, you know, your, your hot router, whatever it might be.
38:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Like you give your signals to adjust based off the coverage that he's reading.
39:00
[SPEAKER_00]: And that stuff is a little bit more inherent now in what he's delivering.
39:03
[SPEAKER_00]: I think the same applies to Dennis Allen, although his jobs a little bit tougher this year.
39:08
[SPEAKER_00]: uh... what he and al heris were able to do last year generating all those takeaways guys bought into it can that be replicated it's very difficult it's it's one of the hardest things to replicate in the NFL is urine and you're out takeways not because you're not capable of it or you don't have good hands you don't make good reads on defense but some of the bounces go your way some guys may be just slip up uh... when they're handling football like
39:33
[SPEAKER_00]: it's just hard to recreate based off track record.
39:35
[SPEAKER_00]: Can they do it?
39:36
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, they can.
39:37
[SPEAKER_00]: I just haven't seen enough of it in the NFL covering the league and watching the trends over the years, but I believe that both of those guys, Johnson and Dennis Allen, they have an understanding the process.
39:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Good process leads to good results, which extends to buy in further buy in, and that's a good cycle you want to catch yourself in, so I'm hoping the bears
39:57
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, for their sake, find themselves in a good cycle because it seems like these two code, you know, coordinator slash, you know, coaches, obviously the guys were calling these sides of the ball, Ben and Dennis, it feels like they're in a good space.
40:11
[SPEAKER_00]: Even though there are a lot of injury issues on defense, I certainly have some offensive line concerns on the offense, but I feel like they're in a good space to try to build off of what they did at the end of last year.
40:21
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, absolutely and you brought up the Cowboys game and you know, so I'll I'll go there next because I think it's interesting like when Mad Maggie was here and things were going really well in in 2018 Bears did a lot of fun trick plays early on a Santa sleigh and a key mixes is is in the backfield and Bradley Saul is catching touchdown passes and it was all fun and every time there was a trick play fans would go nuts and then and obviously
40:45
[SPEAKER_01]: players love executing trick plays, but I think it's interesting with Ben and this goes back to Detroit when they were playing the Bears with Jared Goff with the Stumble Bomb and and the things that he does, he does trick plays, but he incorporates them.
40:59
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not just hey, let's do a trick play and have fun.
41:01
[SPEAKER_01]: He incorporates them into the body of the game plan and he just knows when they call those numbers and I bring up the Cowboys game because of the
41:13
[SPEAKER_01]: And you think about that, like, when you click, oh, here's Caleb stopped and throws it Oh, yeah, the burden play was great and all these other plays, but when you think about it, bears are, you know, they're Owen two, they're off to a bad start, like, the season is kind of hanging in the bow.
41:27
[SPEAKER_01]: They go to Owen three, like, like, who knows what happens?
41:30
[SPEAKER_01]: They're like, that's a game they need to win.
41:32
[SPEAKER_01]: If they're going to get their season on track, and they execute a fleece, like, I mean, the pitchback wasn't perfect, but Caleb Corralett gets the ball down the burden and the
41:43
[SPEAKER_01]: That game just felt like the Bears are like, okay, Ben's here, we have an offense.
41:49
[SPEAKER_01]: We know what we're doing and the running game starts getting old.
41:51
[SPEAKER_01]: It felt like that, all the Domino's fell in place for that game and you would think most coaches when you've got that kind of importance of game, we're not messing around with the football.
42:00
[SPEAKER_01]: But Ben still finds ways to do it to try and keep the defense off balance and I just think it's fascinating when you try and get into the brain of Ben Johnson because he is an artist who
42:10
[SPEAKER_00]: I think so, and it's clearly somebody who takes a lot of pride in using all the tools it is disposal in ways that maybe other coaches haven't caught up with yet.
42:21
[SPEAKER_00]: I do think, you know, being with Dan Campbell.
42:24
[SPEAKER_00]: in Detroit, allowing some of the freedom offensively to grow as the aggressiveness of Dan Campbell, probably allowed Ben, who clearly is a high level thinker when it comes to this game.
42:40
[SPEAKER_00]: And as I said, comes from an educator, you know, educating family and things about how to teach things, I think that combination of aggressiveness on fourth down, meaning that you're going to approach every play.
42:53
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, in the first three of that four-place sequence differently because for years it was well first down run second down depends on the yardage picked up on first down and third down is again dependent on what happened on first and second down because we're not having a fourth down.
43:08
[SPEAKER_00]: you see how teams have adjusted over the last several years, whether it's what Philadelphia does with the Tush push, Buffalo for that matter as well, great running teams, what do the bears now look like as they're so, they put so much emphasis on the run game that's something that Ben Johnson always talks about.
43:23
[SPEAKER_00]: And then when you get into the trick play stuff,
43:26
[SPEAKER_00]: building it into the game plan because of what you think a defensive tendency is going to be from your opposition.
43:32
[SPEAKER_00]: That's a different layer of this and that's the type of stuff that I really enjoy watching the evolution of offensive play calling.
43:42
[SPEAKER_00]: I love watching Kyle Shanahan over the course of a week and
43:45
[SPEAKER_00]: how to figure out what he's going to do, same thing with Sean McVay, and Ben is kind of propelled himself into that level of like intrigue based off of what those guys' offenses do the creativity, the formation, the creativity of the Rams and the 49ers.
44:01
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that's going to be a big key this year with how the Titan room is shaping up, especially if you're, you know, carrying only three running backs.
44:09
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you're not going to put as much weight on some of the carries or you're not going to want to get some of these guys hurt.
44:15
[SPEAKER_00]: You're not looking at running that depth.
44:16
[SPEAKER_00]: You're looking at tight end depth.
44:18
[SPEAKER_00]: So in my head, I'm thinking it's a lot more empty personnel, a lot more 13.
44:24
[SPEAKER_00]: You're going to see three tight end sets and how lovelin gets used spaced out as a wide receiver and how to trap defenses in certain personnel so that they either can't
44:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Rush you or they're forced to defend you on the back end differently because they're stuck in this personnel because you can run a little tempo.
44:40
[SPEAKER_00]: You can keep the three tight ends out there.
44:42
[SPEAKER_00]: I will close to Lovelin knows all the Z routes so we can line him up as a Z.
44:47
[SPEAKER_00]: So Luther Burton can stay on the field.
44:49
[SPEAKER_00]: The Roman Dunes can stay on the field as the main receiver.
44:52
[SPEAKER_00]: You have three tight ends out there in a back.
44:54
[SPEAKER_00]: and you can stay with that same personnel, but maybe run stuff that looks more like 12 personnel because lovelin can run the receiver routes.
45:03
[SPEAKER_00]: That's how you utilize your tools and the trick plays.
45:07
[SPEAKER_00]: As he said, they're trying to gain advantages on angles.
45:10
[SPEAKER_00]: Ben talks a lot about angles and that was one of the conversations that we had early in the preseason and he talked Stacy about this and she brought that up on the air as well about how the one game and angles start to dictate how a defense is going to defend you that starts to show some tendencies and then do we have something in our back pocket?
45:29
[SPEAKER_00]: It's no different to me in Ben's head than running a play action pass.
45:33
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, we've run four run the ball four or five times with success with this play over the first couple of drives now I want to use that to get the defense to suck in and use play action to get the safety is looking one way or maybe taking a step towards the box when they don't want to this is how you make those extra
45:52
[SPEAKER_00]: kind of additions and tags, that's what they're going to look like, hopefully for Ben Johnson and the Bears offense as time goes this year because the continuity is, or was such a big part of what they didn't Detroit, I get the feeling that that's what the Bears could do over the course of this year because of that continuity with a lot of the offensive pieces.
46:13
[SPEAKER_01]: 100% all right last one here for four out of a mean he's been very gracious with this time I gotta ask obviously about the game coming up against Carolina Panthers have had a bumpy summer with a lot of injuries that are really kind of impacting how they need to approach games moving forward
46:28
[SPEAKER_01]: But look, Bryce Young seemed like he figured some things out with Dave canal this last year.
46:32
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I don't know if he's the future guy for the next 10 years in Carolina, but certainly much better than the quarterback that was there as a rookie Chicago Bears.
46:41
[SPEAKER_01]: On the other hand, we know the offense is gonna be great.
46:43
[SPEAKER_01]: Defend certainly looks like it could struggle.
46:46
[SPEAKER_01]: Stoppin' people, we're gonna see how what Dennis Allen does there.
46:49
[SPEAKER_01]: This one is, you know, I know your broadcast, I know your Chicago guy, but your broadcasts in the game, you're not gonna make a pick, but how do you see this game play out here on Sunday?
46:58
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I'll be fast in it to see what Brad and Zix often looks like because this is the first time that he's calling plays, can Alice is handed over the play calling duties to Brad, who's dad was a general manager in the NFL, he's been a long time coach and now he's getting his first chance to call plays at the NFL.
47:15
[SPEAKER_00]: And the things that Bryce Young started to do well with Dave Canal is the way they use the middle of the field.
47:21
[SPEAKER_00]: They have a great trio of receivers.
47:23
[SPEAKER_00]: I think this is one of the more underrated receiving trio's and receiver rooms in the NFL.
47:29
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's big.
47:30
[SPEAKER_00]: McMullett, sorry, McMullett is 6-4.
47:33
[SPEAKER_00]: We get his 6-foot-3.
47:35
[SPEAKER_00]: Coker's 6-foot-3.
47:36
[SPEAKER_00]: They're all about 2-15-2-20.
47:39
[SPEAKER_00]: Bryce and Tramaine was a nice secondary edition in the receiver room.
47:43
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, he's another big guy.
47:45
[SPEAKER_00]: They have, they have five tight ends.
47:47
[SPEAKER_00]: I obviously didn't know they're not all going to dress, but like they put a lot of emphasis on their tight end game as well.
47:52
[SPEAKER_00]: So I feel like there are some similarities.
47:54
[SPEAKER_00]: The other similarities.
47:57
[SPEAKER_00]: I need to see the bear's past rush take advantage of these tackles because these are young tackles or young tackling the right side.
48:05
[SPEAKER_00]: It's been row-freeling who's been listed as their starter at Wright Tackle.
48:09
[SPEAKER_00]: He's the first run pick out of Georgia and then Rashid Walker who didn't get another contract in Green Bay, he's your starting left tackled.
48:16
[SPEAKER_00]: They're missing Taylor Moton, they're missing a Kiiquano.
48:19
[SPEAKER_00]: They had a lot of continuity over the offensive line at the start of last year.
48:22
[SPEAKER_00]: They had a ton of injuries in the second half.
48:25
[SPEAKER_00]: So I do feel like they've gotten used to different line combos and braces had to deal with that.
48:30
[SPEAKER_00]: But that's kind of the breakdown of what I see from from Carolina.
48:34
[SPEAKER_00]: They're going to lean on the running game.
48:36
[SPEAKER_00]: Jonathan Brooks.
48:37
[SPEAKER_00]: I was there when he tore his ACL the first time and he got hurt again last year.
48:41
[SPEAKER_00]: This is a really talented kid out of Texas.
48:43
[SPEAKER_00]: He was actually teammates with Rochon Johnson when they were backing up to John Robinson at Texas.
48:48
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, it's an unfortunate circumstance, but they believe he's healthy and Chubahober is still there, even though he's dealing with a hamstring issue.
48:55
[SPEAKER_00]: So there are pieces on this offense that I think are really, really good and they made a big leap last year.
49:02
[SPEAKER_00]: They're linebackers on defense are all brand new.
49:05
[SPEAKER_00]: They'd rebuild their linebacker room.
49:07
[SPEAKER_00]: They were really bad against tight ends last year, which would play into what the bare strengths are.
49:12
[SPEAKER_00]: Except this year, Carolina brought in David Lloyd.
49:14
[SPEAKER_00]: They brought Jalen Phillips into do some past rushing.
49:17
[SPEAKER_00]: They've built the back up on that area as well.
49:20
[SPEAKER_00]: I think they're a little more solidified on defense than they were a year ago.
49:25
[SPEAKER_00]: And a year ago, they went from being
49:27
[SPEAKER_00]: the worst defense historically in Carolina history to be in a league average defense last year with a lot of pieces that you know or with a lot of pieces that were out and left some holes.
49:37
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's kind of the breakdown of Carolina and at the end of the day Derek Brown's the most important defensive player that you have to stop at the Bears can hold off on Derek Brown being a game-recker.
49:48
[SPEAKER_00]: I think one of the three or four best defensive tackles in the game.
49:53
[SPEAKER_00]: I think you can you have a good chance to establish your run game if you don't let Brown
49:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, there he is.
49:59
[SPEAKER_01]: Adam Amine, you can catch him this Sunday.
50:01
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm sure we all will broadcast the Chicago Bears game against the Carolina Panthers with Drew Breeze.
50:07
[SPEAKER_01]: And, of course, all the other stuff he does in Chicago preseason bowls.
50:10
[SPEAKER_01]: You know him well.
50:11
[SPEAKER_01]: Adam, thanks for so much time that was a lot of fun.
50:13
[SPEAKER_01]: I really enjoyed it and we'll talk to you again down the line.
50:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Thanks, Bill.
50:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Appreciate you, bud.
50:17
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, there he is, Adam.
50:20
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I thought that was a fantastic interview.
50:23
[SPEAKER_01]: I know we didn't do straight bears with him, did some broadcasting, did some Stacey King and some bulls.
50:28
[SPEAKER_01]: I love Adam.
50:29
[SPEAKER_01]: I think he does a great job.
50:30
[SPEAKER_01]: And like I said, I called him underrated.
50:32
[SPEAKER_01]: And I truly mean it.
50:33
[SPEAKER_01]: Like I think he's outstanding.
50:36
[SPEAKER_01]: And he's usually like NFL, like he's third, you know, third team, fourth team, wherever he is in luck.
50:42
[SPEAKER_01]: You're behind Brady and the Olson team and stuff.
50:45
[SPEAKER_01]: But he is an excellent broadcaster.
50:47
[SPEAKER_01]: He's really versatile.
50:48
[SPEAKER_01]: He can do a lot of different sports.
50:50
[SPEAKER_01]: That's not easy.
50:51
[SPEAKER_01]: Big, big fan of Adams work.
50:53
[SPEAKER_01]: So I very much appreciate him coming on.
50:57
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, before we get to the mail bag, and of course finish the podcast with a prediction,
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52:57
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, let's dive into the mail bag.
53:00
[SPEAKER_01]: We got a few questions here.
53:01
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to try and get to all of them.
53:03
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's start with Billy Kid.
53:05
[SPEAKER_01]: What is your prediction or the bears O and D finishes this year and how far do they get in the playoffs?
53:10
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, Billy, let's jump in with those and let's start with the offense.
53:15
[SPEAKER_01]: As I said at the start of this podcast, I think this offense is going to be a top three offense in the league.
53:20
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to say they don't be that they're not the top offense in the league just because I'll hedge my bed a little bit and not go all in.
53:28
[SPEAKER_01]: But I think top three offense finished second or third somewhere in there.
53:32
[SPEAKER_01]: Obviously there's some other elite offense and elite play colors.
53:36
[SPEAKER_01]: The ram seemed to be a super team this year.
53:38
[SPEAKER_01]: I know everyone's loving them.
53:39
[SPEAKER_01]: There's plenty of great offenses.
53:41
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll see what Josh Allen does with the, with the new look, you know, Joe Brady offense that, you know, that he's been elevated.
53:49
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll see what happens with Baltimore.
53:51
[SPEAKER_01]: A lot of people are expecting big things from Walmart.
53:53
[SPEAKER_01]: Jackson bouncing back a little bit this year.
53:56
[SPEAKER_01]: Josh McDaniel.
53:57
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm sorry, not Josh McDaniels.
53:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Mike McDaniel as offensive coordinator, which Jim Harbaugh and Justin Herbert.
54:03
[SPEAKER_01]: So plenty of really good offenses that the better is going to be in the mix with.
54:06
[SPEAKER_01]: But Billy, I'll say it's a top three offense.
54:08
[SPEAKER_01]: And unfortunately, for the defense, I'm going to be where I've been all off season.
54:12
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a bottom five defense in the league.
54:15
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it might be bottom three in the league, but certainly bottom five if they do really well, maybe they get, you know, only bottom 10 and they finish 23 or 24th in the league.
54:25
[SPEAKER_01]: I think this defense is just unfortunately a really poor defense injury certainly aren't helping where they just have a bunch of guys who like if they got caught they wouldn't have said they they'd find a roster eventually but like if Can't Lewis gets caught he's not like he's clear in waivers
54:43
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
54:43
[SPEAKER_01]: Xavier Woods was picked up late.
54:45
[SPEAKER_01]: He was just available.
54:46
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, I'm not saying these guys can't play football, but they're replacement level players.
54:51
[SPEAKER_01]: They don't have a lot of players where you sit there and go, that's a high quality guy.
54:56
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a guy that, you know, that people want to pick up even Giovanni Dexter, who was one of their better defenders.
55:00
[SPEAKER_01]: They didn't get a lot back for Giovanni Dexter.
55:02
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, they did okay, but you know, they certainly didn't wrap a second or third round pick and equivalent for Javan.
55:08
[SPEAKER_01]: Dexter, who was the second round pick.
55:10
[SPEAKER_01]: So when you look at the defense, there's just not a lot of reason to think there's enough talent on this defense to really make an impact.
55:18
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's unfortunate because the bears are spending a lot on this defense.
55:21
[SPEAKER_01]: It's the third most expensive defense in the NFL based on 20, 26 salaries, but they're just not getting a lot of bang for their buck with those salaries.
55:31
[SPEAKER_01]: How far do they get in the playoffs?
55:32
[SPEAKER_01]: I think they're looking at probably a similar season.
55:35
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if they're going to win the division with that schedule.
55:38
[SPEAKER_01]: I know you all want to throw the schedule out the window and say it doesn't matter.
55:41
[SPEAKER_01]: It does matter to me.
55:42
[SPEAKER_01]: And I understand that some teams that we think are going to be really good may not be as good.
55:47
[SPEAKER_01]: I expect the Patriots to regress this year, hopefully that game isn't as hard as it might look as the defending AFC champions.
55:54
[SPEAKER_01]: But I also think that plenty of these teams have really good quarterbacks, and when you have really good quarterbacks, the teams probably going to be pretty good.
56:01
[SPEAKER_01]: So I know we can't predict injuries, but I do think the schedules tough.
56:05
[SPEAKER_01]: I think the bears are probably looking at 10 wins.
56:08
[SPEAKER_01]: I think they will make the playoffs, but they might play that first game on the road, but if they do, they could be looking at the North Division champion and they could certainly go in a Detroit Green Bay or Minnesota and win a game there in the playoffs.
56:21
[SPEAKER_01]: So Billy, I'll say they pretty much get in the exact same spot.
56:25
[SPEAKER_01]: They play wildcard weekend.
56:27
[SPEAKER_01]: They win wildcard weekend and they lose in the divisional round and they lose because of the same reason I've been saying
56:35
[SPEAKER_01]: they simply don't have the defense to stop a really good quarterback and if they bump into someone like Matthew Stafford sitting there in the divisional round, they're probably going to struggle beating them again.
56:45
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's just the unfortunate situation that it is with the bears defense.
56:49
[SPEAKER_01]: That's why we really need Ryan Polls in company to really make it effort and rework
56:59
[SPEAKER_01]: We've got one from F, who says, when do you think Trapillo and Gordon play their first games?
57:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Really tough one to predict their F. I'm not entirely certain.
57:12
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm just going to be honest.
57:13
[SPEAKER_01]: It's going to be wild guesses here.
57:16
[SPEAKER_01]: Kyle and Gordon, and I understand Ian Rapproport, put out all these back sooner than later on all this stuff.
57:22
[SPEAKER_01]: I am 99% sure that came from the agent.
57:28
[SPEAKER_01]: you know, little bit of PR work to try and get the Kyler Gordon story a little more back towards Kyler Gordon.
57:37
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know what's interesting.
57:38
[SPEAKER_01]: The way rap before word of things about the idea that sometimes, you know, players can do better away from the team,
57:48
[SPEAKER_01]: they're hoping that him being away from the team will accelerate his return.
57:55
[SPEAKER_01]: These type of things, look, I'm not an expert.
57:58
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not saying that this is factual, but I look at those quotes and I read it as Kyler Gordon's team has taken a shot at the bear's training staff.
58:08
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what I took it as.
58:09
[SPEAKER_01]: We're better off alone than working with the bear's.
58:12
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what I took it as.
58:13
[SPEAKER_01]: Obviously, the bears are really frustrated with Kyler not being on the field.
58:18
[SPEAKER_01]: I think Kyle or Gordon, if he plays this year and I do think he's going to play, but if he plays this year, I think it's like November.
58:25
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think he's back really soon.
58:28
[SPEAKER_01]: I know everyone got really excited that Trepello was on the field and practicing even Ben Johnson goes, I don't think it's going to be really soon.
58:35
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think Trepello is going to be back to week five or week six.
58:38
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it's going to take a while, because it's going to be earlier than we expected.
58:42
[SPEAKER_01]: I thought it was a chance he was going to miss the whole year.
58:44
[SPEAKER_01]: I certainly thought he was going to be out till November, so I'll bump that up to October F. But I think Trepello plays, I'll say Trepello and October, I'll say Gordon in November.
58:55
[SPEAKER_01]: We've got one from CB, give us an honest assessment with pros and cons of the defensive line.
59:02
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
59:05
[SPEAKER_01]: And then I've been pretty honestly assessing the defensive line all summer and spring.
59:10
[SPEAKER_01]: And now you're asking me for pros.
59:12
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm gonna be a bit of a challenge, but we'll do our best.
59:15
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll start with this pro, because he is a pro.
59:17
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's Montez Sweat.
59:20
[SPEAKER_01]: I am a Montez Sweat supporter.
59:22
[SPEAKER_01]: I know a lot of fans have gotten on him.
59:24
[SPEAKER_01]: He's not worth the money, yada, yada, yada.
59:27
[SPEAKER_01]: I think Montez sweat is probably accurately salaryed for his work on the field.
59:34
[SPEAKER_01]: I think getting edges are expensive.
59:36
[SPEAKER_01]: I know the Bears had to give up a second on pick to get him and pay him.
59:40
[SPEAKER_01]: I know that was a lot, but at the same time, edges do not grow on trees.
59:45
[SPEAKER_01]: You really can't just nitpick and get an edge.
59:48
[SPEAKER_01]: Usually I have to spend a first round pick or look at the edges.
59:51
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, the Bears got Robert Quinn off the,
59:55
[SPEAKER_01]: scrap heap and he ended up having a great season.
59:58
[SPEAKER_01]: That kind of stuff rarely happens.
1:00:01
[SPEAKER_01]: They went out and swung big for CleoMap.
1:00:03
[SPEAKER_01]: Leonard Floyd was a first round pick.
1:00:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Like these are the type of things you have to do to get quality edges.
1:00:11
[SPEAKER_01]: Austin Booker, fifth round pick, he's doing okay, but we can't sit here and say, Austin Booker is an impact edge.
1:00:17
[SPEAKER_01]: He might be a good rotational edge this year and that
1:00:23
[SPEAKER_01]: in your free of as a fifth round pick.
1:00:26
[SPEAKER_01]: Dio Dengbo, they swung pretty big paying him 17 million here and he has not worked out at all.
1:00:32
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll see if you're too as a little better than you want to camp you much worse.
1:00:36
[SPEAKER_01]: So when I look at this defensive line, I like Montes wet.
1:00:41
[SPEAKER_01]: Unfortunately,
1:00:43
[SPEAKER_01]: It's the only player I really like on this defensive line.
1:00:46
[SPEAKER_01]: The fact that Contamia Street is starting to me as a disaster, this guy was on a practice squad last year.
1:00:54
[SPEAKER_01]: 31 teams could have had him on their active roster and including the Chicago Bears and they all said, no, leave him there.
1:01:01
[SPEAKER_01]: And now he is starting.
1:01:03
[SPEAKER_01]: I thought he was going to be like the fifth defensive tackle he is starting.
1:01:11
[SPEAKER_01]: The equivalent of a that min salary guy, maybe a little above that bears gave him a huge raise.
1:01:19
[SPEAKER_01]: I personally, I know Billings didn't quite fit with then S. Allen wants to do.
1:01:22
[SPEAKER_01]: I like Andrew Billings more than Neville Gallon, but I'll just say it.
1:01:25
[SPEAKER_01]: I know Gallamore might fit Dennis Allen better.
1:01:27
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't expect a lot from Neville Gallamore.
1:01:29
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't expect a lot from Contavia Street.
1:01:32
[SPEAKER_01]: Grady Jared, I don't expect a lot from either because Grady Jared is not the same guy he was three, four years ago.
1:01:37
[SPEAKER_01]: And when you're what, 32, 33 years old, whatever Grady Jared is, you don't usually win the clock back out of nowhere.
1:01:44
[SPEAKER_01]: So,
1:01:44
[SPEAKER_01]: I think all three of those guys aren't going to do much.
1:01:47
[SPEAKER_01]: I think Schmartner obviously, he's still banged up and when he comes back right now, I just don't expect Schmartner to do much either.
1:01:54
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't like Dio, Dengbo.
1:01:55
[SPEAKER_01]: I think he should be on a good team, the fourth or fifth edge, you know, play inside a little bit.
1:02:01
[SPEAKER_01]: He should be getting 15 snaps of game, not 50, but that's where he is at this point.
1:02:06
[SPEAKER_01]: Austin Booker has shown some promise.
1:02:09
[SPEAKER_01]: I look forward to seeing what Austin Booker can do.
1:02:12
[SPEAKER_01]: Daniel Hardy should not be getting defensive reps.
1:02:15
[SPEAKER_01]: He should only be getting special teams.
1:02:16
[SPEAKER_01]: He's a solid special teams player, but he's probably getting some defensive reps too because the defensive line is so thin.
1:02:22
[SPEAKER_01]: And we'll finish with Jordan Bannonberg, who
1:02:26
[SPEAKER_01]: Lucky, you got to say a lot of pros with Jordan Vanneberg, but again, he's a six-round pick and just how much are they going to be able to get out of him this year?
1:02:34
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm sure he'll make some splash plays.
1:02:35
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm sure that we will see him at the point of attack and get trounced a couple times, too, by offensive lineman, and a big game because he wasn't able to split the double or set his feet or whatever he needed to do.
1:02:50
[SPEAKER_01]: he's going to have problems there as well, but I'm sure with his athleticism, we'll be making some splash plays to put that's okay.
1:02:55
[SPEAKER_01]: He's a rookie.
1:02:56
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll see what he can develop into.
1:02:58
[SPEAKER_01]: But right now, we're looking at a defensive line where I say sweat is a quality starter and good to have Jordan Vanneburg and Austin Booker are two guys that show promise and everything else is crap that should be backing it up or not even on the roster.
1:03:14
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's unfortunate because
1:03:16
[SPEAKER_01]: This defense of line needs to get pressure with four in the playoffs that the better is going to go anywhere, and I don't see it happening.
1:03:23
[SPEAKER_01]: We've got one more here, Caleb van, how close will the offense come to breaking the scoring record?
1:03:30
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, I saw this one earlier, so I actually brought this up.
1:03:34
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you guys know who has the scoring record?
1:03:38
[SPEAKER_01]: The scoring record is the 2013 Denver Broncos.
1:03:42
[SPEAKER_01]: That, of course, is Peyton Manning's huge season when he comes over to Denver and throws 55 touchdown passes that just has a ridiculous season.
1:03:53
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to give you the game by game scores that the offense scored that year.
1:04:01
[SPEAKER_01]: You ready, 49, 41, 37, 52, 51, 35, 33, 45, by week, 28, 27, 31, 35, 51, only 20 against the San Diego Chargers, 37, 34.
1:04:24
[SPEAKER_01]: Then in the playoffs, they go 24, 26 and 8 and get slaughtered by the Seattle Seahawks.
1:04:30
[SPEAKER_01]: But that offense was cooking.
1:04:33
[SPEAKER_01]: That offense scored over 600 points in one season 600.
1:04:41
[SPEAKER_01]: So no, I do not think the bears are going to get the scoring record.
1:04:45
[SPEAKER_01]: I do think they're gonna have a hell of a year.
1:04:47
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, last year they scored what 440 and 50.
1:04:51
[SPEAKER_01]: I think they'll go north of 500.
1:04:52
[SPEAKER_01]: If you go north of 500, you basically are at 30 points.
1:04:58
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, 502 in it is the number you have to get you to get to 29 and a half.
1:05:04
[SPEAKER_01]: Excuse me, so I think if the bears average, 31 points again, which is gonna put them
1:05:15
[SPEAKER_01]: That would be an outstanding season for this offense and still 75 points shy of getting the NFL record.
1:05:26
[SPEAKER_01]: So no, I do not think they're going to get it.
1:05:29
[SPEAKER_01]: I think there's been about 30 or 35 teams in NFL history that have gone north of 500 points.
1:05:34
[SPEAKER_01]: I think the bears can do that and add that to their resume.
1:05:39
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think the bears will score a lot of points.
1:05:44
[SPEAKER_01]: But I do not think they're going to approach Peyton Manning's records with the Denver Broncos.
1:05:50
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's move to prediction time.
1:05:53
[SPEAKER_01]: I think this one, like look, this is going to be, if the bears lose this one, that's going to be a rough for the vibes week one.
1:06:01
[SPEAKER_01]: It's definitely possible that they can lose this one.
1:06:04
[SPEAKER_01]: But,
1:06:06
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think that's going to be the issue.
1:06:08
[SPEAKER_01]: I think the panthers, especially with their injuries, I think they've got too many issues going on for them to really overtake this offense.
1:06:17
[SPEAKER_01]: Their offense, I know Adam, I mean, it's a big fan of their receivers.
1:06:21
[SPEAKER_01]: It doesn't overly scare me, it's decent.
1:06:25
[SPEAKER_01]: Rice Young is decent.
1:06:27
[SPEAKER_01]: He's basically a borderline top 20 quarterback in the NFL.
1:06:32
[SPEAKER_01]: It doesn't necessarily mean he's that good overall, but he certainly better than where he was a couple of years ago.
1:06:38
[SPEAKER_01]: He has definitely improved from there.
1:06:40
[SPEAKER_01]: But when I look at this Panthers team, I see a team that's definitely very beatable, and I think the bears do that.
1:06:46
[SPEAKER_01]: I think the offense is clicking week one right out of the gate.
1:06:51
[SPEAKER_01]: I think Ben Johnson has some fun.
1:06:53
[SPEAKER_01]: I think the established the run was swift, swift will have a big game.
1:06:58
[SPEAKER_01]: I think Caleb will have a big game, whether he's targeting burden, lovelin, roam, tough to figure out exactly how the offensive weapons are going to be utilized.
1:07:10
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, I haven't done my props for the week yet, but I think lovelin over whatever that number is.
1:07:14
[SPEAKER_01]: It's probably going to be one of my prop bets just because I think whether it's 12,
1:07:20
[SPEAKER_01]: 13 11 personnel calls the level is going to be on the field a lot.
1:07:24
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think he's going to end up getting targeted.
1:07:26
[SPEAKER_01]: I think we're going to see big things from calls and love on this year.
1:07:28
[SPEAKER_01]: So I will call this one bears 34.
1:07:33
[SPEAKER_01]: Panthers 24.
1:07:35
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that's a good place to start.
1:07:36
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a comfortable win.
1:07:38
[SPEAKER_01]: Not a blow out by the victory.
1:07:40
[SPEAKER_01]: Never the less the Chicago Bears start the 2026 campaign.
1:07:44
[SPEAKER_01]: One.
1:07:45
[SPEAKER_01]: And oh, that's going to do it for bears banter.
1:07:49
[SPEAKER_01]: We will be back next week with another podcast.
1:07:52
[SPEAKER_01]: Bear it out everybody.