Latest / 2nd City Gridiron / Bears Banter Ep. 211: Bobby Peters breaks down Ben Johnson's Offense!

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Bears Banter Ep. 211: Bobby Peters breaks down Ben Johnson's Offense! · 2nd City Gridiron

0:04
[SPEAKER_01]: That's it!
0:20
[SPEAKER_01]: of the Chicago Bears podcast bears fans are powered by second city gridiron bill Zimmerman with you and we are we are back we are recharge we are on the cost of Chicago Bears football regular season Chicago Bears football not just this preseason crap we are close we are excited and for those of you who don't like the open
0:46
[SPEAKER_01]: shove it up your ears because it is an exciting time.
0:49
[SPEAKER_01]: And maybe if you listen to the podcast feed instead of just the YouTube feed, you'd hear bears bear down underneath it.
0:55
[SPEAKER_01]: It may not sound so obnoxious.
0:56
[SPEAKER_01]: But that's a conversation for another day because we've got a lot to talk about today.
1:02
[SPEAKER_01]: We are going to be joined by Bobby Peters here in just about twenty minutes or so.
1:07
[SPEAKER_01]: Bobby, of course, great guy analyzing offences and concepts play calling.
1:13
[SPEAKER_01]: He does a great job at a local high school coach and in the end or in Illinois.
1:18
[SPEAKER_01]: He's been on a lot of podcasts this off season.
1:20
[SPEAKER_01]: Does a great job talking about Ben Johnson's offense.
1:23
[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to have him on.
1:24
[SPEAKER_01]: talk about what he's seen the first couple preseason games, what he thinks Ben Johnson's ultimate goals are going to be with this offense this year and just kind of talking about what Ben Johnson wants to do play in and play out.
1:36
[SPEAKER_01]: So looking forward to that before we do that, let's dive in here.
1:40
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not going to spend a ton of time on this preseason game, this crushed this thirty-eighths and nothing, just absolutely demolition.
1:48
[SPEAKER_01]: of the Buffalo Bills because again, it's preseason.
1:51
[SPEAKER_01]: We've had a lot of shows talk about it the last couple of days.
1:54
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm just gonna talk about one takeaway I had from the game that I genuinely, really like.
2:00
[SPEAKER_01]: Like I have in look, you love that basically everyone on the team played really well in that they crushed Buffalo.
2:06
[SPEAKER_01]: in the end.
2:07
[SPEAKER_01]: Does that impact?
2:08
[SPEAKER_01]: Does that result impact the regularcy?
2:10
[SPEAKER_01]: No, of course not.
2:11
[SPEAKER_01]: It's just good to see.
2:12
[SPEAKER_01]: But what I did see that can impact the regular season is basically what I will just say that the bears looked like a professional football team.
2:22
[SPEAKER_01]: Forget the results of the plays.
2:25
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm talking about pre-snap.
2:28
[SPEAKER_01]: because pre-snap last year under Shane Waldron and Thomas Brown was not good, the amount of disorganization, the amount of illegal formations, illegal procedures, false starts, getting the play and getting up to the line of scrimmage like delays of game, all this, we saw it so frequently, like, what is going on?
2:52
[SPEAKER_01]: How can this team not being run professionally on the offensive side of the ball?
2:58
[SPEAKER_01]: That has changed drastically with Shane Waldron.
3:02
[SPEAKER_01]: We heard about it all spring about how they didn't get out of the huddle properly.
3:06
[SPEAKER_01]: They went back and did it again.
3:07
[SPEAKER_01]: He drilled this in the guys, attention to detail, knowing exactly where you are supposed to be on each plate.
3:15
[SPEAKER_01]: If you're not picking up concepts, if you're not trying, if you're making too many mistakes, you're not going to be with the first team.
3:21
[SPEAKER_01]: If you're doing it on the second team, you're going to be dropped to the third team.
3:24
[SPEAKER_01]: Like they have
3:25
[SPEAKER_01]: had accountability across the boards and the players respected, understand it, and I really felt you started seeing the results of that in game two against the Buffalo bills.
3:38
[SPEAKER_01]: Because what we saw is we saw a team at the line of scrimmage with plenty of time to spare.
3:43
[SPEAKER_01]: There was time to make adjustments.
3:46
[SPEAKER_01]: Whatever needed to be done calls that need to be made at the line of scrimmage.
3:49
[SPEAKER_01]: They were constantly at the line of scrimmage for the good fifteen seconds to go on the play clock.
3:53
[SPEAKER_01]: That was really good to see.
3:55
[SPEAKER_01]: And then in terms of the execution of the play, pre-snap, we didn't see a lot of stupid mistakes.
4:02
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, the play at the end of a half, where Beijing got, well, it was the second, the last play at a half.
4:07
[SPEAKER_01]: Beijing got sacked and then the bills attempted a field goal that they missed.
4:12
[SPEAKER_01]: That play was kind of a disaster.
4:14
[SPEAKER_01]: The blocking was poor.
4:15
[SPEAKER_01]: Beijing was running for his life.
4:17
[SPEAKER_01]: And there were two decline penalties in
4:20
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, in that play, there was a procedural penalty.
4:23
[SPEAKER_01]: There was an illegal formation penalty and a legal motion penalty.
4:26
[SPEAKER_01]: It was two penalties.
4:28
[SPEAKER_01]: It was just basically a mess.
4:29
[SPEAKER_01]: So that play was not executed well.
4:32
[SPEAKER_01]: Put that play aside pretty much every other play was.
4:36
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm not saying that meant it was perfect that every block was perfect.
4:39
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it was pretty close.
4:41
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not everything.
4:42
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not saying that weren't misdesignments and that things didn't happen in the bulk of, in the body of the play.
4:48
[SPEAKER_01]: But in the pre-snap, we just did not see those illegal formations in fall starts.
4:53
[SPEAKER_01]: Steven Carlson and one fall start.
4:55
[SPEAKER_01]: Other than that though, it was so clean and it gives you hope that the bears, what have we talked about with this team for years is how often they shoot themselves in the foot, that they have themselves a second and seven,
5:11
[SPEAKER_01]: fall start now at second and twelve.
5:14
[SPEAKER_01]: And now you're not getting in those second and man, you know, you get second and decent and you can get into third and manageable and you can keep the chains moving.
5:21
[SPEAKER_01]: But when you shoot yourself in the foot and you go from second and manageable to third and long in the snap of a finger, that's how you end up punting.
5:31
[SPEAKER_01]: The bears cannot afford to do that.
5:33
[SPEAKER_01]: They do it constantly.
5:35
[SPEAKER_01]: And hopefully this is the year where we stop seeing that happen on such a regular basis.
5:42
[SPEAKER_01]: There was hope that this is the kind of stuff that Ben Johnson would smoke out and get rid of with how he was handling spring practices and now we're actually seeing the results on the field.
5:53
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's the type of stuff that can translate to the regular season.
5:56
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the type of stuff I'm excited about.
5:58
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, look, you love to see Luther burden crashing down, blocking hard, you love to see the run scheme looking like the bears were running their fifth, sixth and seventh string running backs.
6:10
[SPEAKER_01]: And yet they had that level of success.
6:14
[SPEAKER_01]: There was no, the Andre Swift.
6:16
[SPEAKER_01]: There was no Kalman.
6:17
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm guy.
6:17
[SPEAKER_01]: There was no Rochon.
6:18
[SPEAKER_01]: Johnson.
6:19
[SPEAKER_01]: There was no Travis Homer.
6:21
[SPEAKER_01]: Any of what is the projected four running backs on the fifty three none of them played.
6:26
[SPEAKER_01]: And the bears still were able to run the ball forty some times in that game for like a hundred and seventy yards.
6:31
[SPEAKER_01]: So while they didn't have five, six yards of carry, they still had a productive run scheme.
6:37
[SPEAKER_01]: The entire passing game looked good.
6:38
[SPEAKER_01]: The defense looked good.
6:40
[SPEAKER_01]: Everything looked good in that game.
6:41
[SPEAKER_01]: So you got to love it.
6:43
[SPEAKER_01]: But again, that doesn't necessarily translate to the regular season.
6:46
[SPEAKER_01]: What does translate is how the bears operate and the bears operation against Buffalo was awesome.
6:54
[SPEAKER_01]: So that was actually what I was meant.
6:56
[SPEAKER_01]: Not that the team could have won forty five.
6:58
[SPEAKER_01]: The nothing if Ben didn't give that bills mercy and take a knee.
7:01
[SPEAKER_01]: That's fun.
7:02
[SPEAKER_01]: You'll love it.
7:03
[SPEAKER_01]: Sure.
7:04
[SPEAKER_01]: But the thing I take away the most from that game is how the bears are operating and how those stupid self-inflicted mistakes.
7:12
[SPEAKER_01]: Hopefully are mostly weeded out and the bears are moving forward and not shooting themselves in the foot and moving backwards.
7:19
[SPEAKER_01]: So the one thing I want to do on today's monologue to kind of tell you where I'm at with this roster and with this team is kind of I've got a fifty three-man roster projection coming out at Wendy City Gridiron later this week.
7:31
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, the bear's final cut down today is this upcoming Tuesday.
7:35
[SPEAKER_01]: So I wanted to kind of go through where I'm at with this roster.
7:39
[SPEAKER_01]: You can check that article out on Wendy City Gridiron a couple of days.
7:42
[SPEAKER_01]: You're going to hear a lot of the same stuff.
7:43
[SPEAKER_01]: from here, but I wanted to share.
7:45
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm going to start with some of the more obvious things and work my way through.
7:49
[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to start on the defensive side.
7:51
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, we'll start with special teams.
7:52
[SPEAKER_01]: First of all, special teams really straightforward.
7:54
[SPEAKER_01]: Jonathan Kim could not push Cairo Santos.
7:57
[SPEAKER_01]: You've got your three specialists there.
7:59
[SPEAKER_01]: It's all pretty straightforward.
8:00
[SPEAKER_01]: I will say I haven't loved what I've seen from Tory Taylor this this preseason.
8:04
[SPEAKER_01]: Look, massive foot.
8:06
[SPEAKER_01]: He's boom in fifty five yard puns regularly, but
8:09
[SPEAKER_01]: The couple opportunities he's had to pin, he has failed to pin.
8:13
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's why Tory Taylor was a fourth-run pick.
8:16
[SPEAKER_01]: Not that he could boom, fifty-five yard punts.
8:18
[SPEAKER_01]: You can find punters that can boom, fifty-five yard punts as a UDFA as free agents.
8:23
[SPEAKER_01]: Tory Taylor's ability was supposed to be not just inside the twining, but get offences inside the ten.
8:30
[SPEAKER_01]: That was his skill, the way he was able to get those footballs to bounce and not roll into the end zone.
8:36
[SPEAKER_01]: We didn't see that as often as we wanted to last year.
8:40
[SPEAKER_01]: We haven't seen it in this preseason.
8:42
[SPEAKER_01]: He really needs to start doing that to justify being a fourth round pick.
8:47
[SPEAKER_01]: And I know we can sit there.
8:48
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, who cares?
8:48
[SPEAKER_01]: It's the fourth round picks.
8:50
[SPEAKER_01]: You can have a lot of quality contributors as fourth round picks.
8:54
[SPEAKER_01]: You can find NFL starters as fourth round picks.
8:57
[SPEAKER_01]: This was not Trenton Gill, seventh round pick.
9:00
[SPEAKER_01]: Why are we arguing about a seventh round pick kind of thing?
9:02
[SPEAKER_01]: This is a fourth round pick.
9:03
[SPEAKER_01]: Tory Taylor needs to live up to it.
9:05
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's going to mean not just inside the twenty.
9:09
[SPEAKER_01]: Most punters can get inside the twenty.
9:11
[SPEAKER_01]: You tell a punter to pin someone at the fifteen.
9:13
[SPEAKER_01]: They're not going to have a hard time doing it.
9:15
[SPEAKER_01]: You tell a punter to pin someone inside the five at like the four yard line.
9:19
[SPEAKER_01]: They're going to end up in the end zone frequently.
9:21
[SPEAKER_01]: So that is a big difference there.
9:23
[SPEAKER_01]: We need to see that more from Tory Taylor.
9:25
[SPEAKER_01]: But again, the special teams pretty straightforward.
9:28
[SPEAKER_01]: In the secondary, the safeties, I don't think this could be any more straightforward.
9:33
[SPEAKER_01]: You got your two starters with buyer and brisker and of course the two backups with Jonathan Owens and Elijah Hicks.
9:39
[SPEAKER_01]: I haven't really seen anything from the other safeties on the roster to make you think that they are going to step up and push any of these guys for a spot on the fifty three.
9:48
[SPEAKER_01]: I think they carry four safeties.
9:49
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that's pretty straightforward.
9:50
[SPEAKER_01]: The corner back situation in the secondary there.
9:53
[SPEAKER_01]: a lot more interesting, and I'm curious how the bears end up utilizing this.
9:59
[SPEAKER_01]: We're still waiting to hear some kind of word on Terrell Smith, but we're assuming Terrell Smith's out for the year that's really unfortunate.
10:06
[SPEAKER_01]: So how is the depth going to look?
10:07
[SPEAKER_01]: We know the starters, especially with Terrell Smith out.
10:10
[SPEAKER_01]: would certainly think Tyreek Stevenson is going to be one of the starters with Kyler Gordon and Jalen Johnson.
10:17
[SPEAKER_01]: But how is it going to work with the backups in that area?
10:23
[SPEAKER_01]: Because there's the bears have a lot of cornerbacks.
10:27
[SPEAKER_01]: on their roster.
10:28
[SPEAKER_01]: And a lot of guys have been looking pretty decent in the preseason, but the basically the way I think this works out with the cornerback situation is I think your, I mean, first of all, Josh Blackwell, that that we don't even need to discuss.
10:42
[SPEAKER_01]: Josh Blackwell is your backup nickel.
10:44
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that is cornerback number four.
10:46
[SPEAKER_01]: I think they're going to keep six.
10:48
[SPEAKER_01]: Terrell Smith's going to go to IR.
10:50
[SPEAKER_01]: I think Zah Fraser is also a guy that you're probably going to see on some sort of list.
10:55
[SPEAKER_01]: They can put him on the failed to report list, which would make a lot of sense.
10:59
[SPEAKER_01]: He's been dealing with some sort of personal issue.
11:01
[SPEAKER_01]: We've not gotten any kind of straight answer as to what's going on with him.
11:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Obviously, you would think it's something pretty darn serious at this point.
11:07
[SPEAKER_01]: He's missed a month of camp.
11:10
[SPEAKER_01]: We don't know what's going on there.
11:12
[SPEAKER_01]: We don't know if this is some sort of injury, you know, some sort of illness, whatever it might be.
11:18
[SPEAKER_01]: Can he go on the non-football injury list?
11:20
[SPEAKER_01]: Can he go on the failed report list?
11:21
[SPEAKER_01]: The problem with the failed report list is you don't get paid.
11:25
[SPEAKER_01]: They you get it don't receive any paycheck if you're on the failed report list.
11:28
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't have the bears want to do that to him if assuming everything is amicable here right now.
11:33
[SPEAKER_01]: So maybe they come up with some sort of
11:35
[SPEAKER_01]: injury and he ends up on the IR as well.
11:38
[SPEAKER_01]: But I assume Zafresh is going not beyond the fifty three here to start.
11:42
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not saying they're going to release him, but they're going to figure out some list they can put him on to put him aside.
11:48
[SPEAKER_01]: And I assume his twenty twenty five season at this point is lost.
11:52
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll see if Zafresh or can do anything in twenty twenty six, which being he's a significantly older rookie anyway, that really is probably not going to work out as a draft pick.
12:01
[SPEAKER_01]: That's unfortunate.
12:02
[SPEAKER_01]: These things happen.
12:04
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not anything to crush Ryan polls about.
12:07
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, crush Ryan polls about plenty.
12:10
[SPEAKER_01]: So there's your four corners.
12:12
[SPEAKER_01]: I do think Nation Wright is going to get a spot.
12:14
[SPEAKER_01]: He's popped a lot.
12:15
[SPEAKER_01]: The bears front office and coaches have talked about him.
12:18
[SPEAKER_01]: I think Nick McCloud is also going to be one of your six cornerbacks.
12:22
[SPEAKER_01]: in on the fifty three, Nick can play inside and outside.
12:25
[SPEAKER_01]: He's got some versatility there.
12:27
[SPEAKER_01]: He's a veteran.
12:28
[SPEAKER_01]: I think they probably end up with McLeod.
12:30
[SPEAKER_01]: One of those things where you see if is there a young guy that can come up and take that spot, you'd much rather have the really young guy, the twenty-two-year-old, but I don't think the bears have that on the roster, especially with the Smith injury and the Fraser situation.
12:44
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think those are your six corners.
12:47
[SPEAKER_01]: I think they end up taking, so that's ten defensive backs.
12:50
[SPEAKER_01]: assuming they're going to have twenty five on deep and twenty five on offense.
12:53
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's move to linebackers another straight forward group.
12:57
[SPEAKER_01]: You're going to have the starters with Edwards and Edmonds.
13:01
[SPEAKER_01]: You're going to have the Sam LB free.
13:05
[SPEAKER_01]: That's going to be no a soul group in Hippolyte.
13:07
[SPEAKER_01]: is going to be on there and so is A-man and I'm not going to try and pronounce his last name.
13:11
[SPEAKER_01]: I fail all the time.
13:12
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm sorry to the A-man fans.
13:14
[SPEAKER_01]: He's a good special teams player.
13:16
[SPEAKER_01]: He's going to be on this roster as a linebacker.
13:18
[SPEAKER_01]: There's your five linebackers.
13:20
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's look at the defensive line.
13:23
[SPEAKER_01]: I think the defensive line is more straightforward than I thought it was going to be when you look at the defensive tackle situation.
13:30
[SPEAKER_01]: You got gritty, Jared.
13:31
[SPEAKER_01]: You got
13:32
[SPEAKER_01]: Andrew Billings, you got Giovanni Dexter, you got Schermar Turner, I think those four pretty straightforward.
13:37
[SPEAKER_01]: I think Chris Williams is going to make the fifty-three as the bear's fifth defensive tackle.
13:43
[SPEAKER_01]: I think Zack, Johnathan Ford can probably go to the practice squad.
13:46
[SPEAKER_01]: He was on the Packers Practice Squad last year.
13:48
[SPEAKER_01]: I think Zack Pickens gets cut and the bear's do not retain him on the practice squad.
13:53
[SPEAKER_01]: I think this is the end of the road for Zack Pickens.
13:56
[SPEAKER_01]: I think they keep five defensive ends as well.
13:59
[SPEAKER_01]: I think you're going to see Montez sweat and obviously Odobingo.
14:02
[SPEAKER_01]: I think those are going to be your starters.
14:06
[SPEAKER_01]: Austin Booker is going to be your third defensive end.
14:10
[SPEAKER_01]: And the question is how much of the success we've seen in the preseason will translate to the regular season.
14:16
[SPEAKER_01]: Little risky.
14:16
[SPEAKER_01]: I still think despite bookers strong performances about where him being your only viable backup, because I think Dominique Robinson is going to make it.
14:26
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, as the fifth defense event, I'm not a hundred percent certain.
14:30
[SPEAKER_01]: Obviously, you got Tano there.
14:32
[SPEAKER_01]: not a big fan of him, but he's got ties to Dennis Allen, Daniel Hardy, probably more of a special team's guy.
14:38
[SPEAKER_01]: One of those two guys going to be the fifth offensive end.
14:41
[SPEAKER_01]: I would assume maybe Hardy ends up on the practice squad in the Dennis Allen familiarity, what ends up with a fifty free spot on the fifty free there.
14:51
[SPEAKER_01]: But again,
14:53
[SPEAKER_01]: could the bears get a veteran there?
14:55
[SPEAKER_01]: We might talk about that a little bit later because that the defensive end spot is not great.
15:01
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's jump over to the offensive side of the ball.
15:03
[SPEAKER_01]: Austin read to the practice squad three quarterbacks on the fifty three man roster.
15:08
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that's pretty straightforward.
15:10
[SPEAKER_01]: As I mentioned about five minutes ago, I think the
15:14
[SPEAKER_01]: Running back room is straightforward.
15:16
[SPEAKER_01]: Ian Wheeler fans.
15:17
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm sorry.
15:18
[SPEAKER_01]: I think he ends up on the practice squad again.
15:21
[SPEAKER_01]: And look, when I saw from Ian Wheeler in this preseason in these two games, he ran well.
15:26
[SPEAKER_01]: But he ran largely against the threes and the force and didn't show me anything dynamic.
15:32
[SPEAKER_01]: He just, he was better than the players.
15:35
[SPEAKER_01]: He went up against.
15:36
[SPEAKER_01]: He didn't show anything dynamic.
15:38
[SPEAKER_01]: Like Luther burden when you saw Luther burden going against the twos in the threes.
15:43
[SPEAKER_01]: It was clear
15:44
[SPEAKER_01]: that he was an essence of man against boys.
15:47
[SPEAKER_01]: He was far more talented than the players he was going up against.
15:51
[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't see that with Ian Wheeler.
15:52
[SPEAKER_01]: I just saw that Ian Wheeler was better than them, where like he said, that those were the threes and the threes.
15:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe Ian Wheeler is the twos.
16:00
[SPEAKER_01]: He's not that gap.
16:01
[SPEAKER_01]: that you see with Luther burn against the players he's up against.
16:04
[SPEAKER_01]: So Ian Wheeler to me is a guy that I don't know if he translates to being a contributor on Sundays, at least right now.
16:12
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe another year recovering from that knee injury gets a little more of that explosiveness back in his legs.
16:18
[SPEAKER_01]: And maybe there's something there in twenty twenty six.
16:20
[SPEAKER_01]: I just think it's probably practice squad for Ian Wheeler and those four running backs, monangai Homer and then of course, Rochon and
16:29
[SPEAKER_01]: Swift are your four running backs.
16:31
[SPEAKER_01]: The one I surprised I could see Rochon just hasn't been able to stay on the field again.
16:35
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not even concussion this time.
16:37
[SPEAKER_01]: He's dealing with like a foot issue.
16:40
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe the bears decide that Rochon isn't a guy for them because he can't stay on the field.
16:44
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe a veteran running back is someone they pick up off the heat during the waiver wire process tight ends.
16:50
[SPEAKER_01]: Even though they're going to run a lot of twelve.
16:52
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think a fourth tight end stepped up
16:55
[SPEAKER_01]: and took that spot on the fifty three so I think three tight ends obviously lovelin and commit and then I think you're going to see Durham's smith and I think that's what you're going to see from the tight end spot and if one of those top two guys gets hurt I think the bear's just shift to more eleven personnel
17:12
[SPEAKER_01]: and put the twelve personnel on the shelf until both their guys can get healthy a couple more position groups to do wide receiver again i think it's pretty straightforward make a lot of people keep arguing and i did early on as well about who's going to be the sixth wide receiver on the fifty three man roster
17:30
[SPEAKER_01]: My suggestion is nobody.
17:33
[SPEAKER_01]: I think they keep five wide receivers.
17:35
[SPEAKER_01]: The top four guys are obvious in Devin Duverne as the returner as the fifth wide receiver.
17:41
[SPEAKER_01]: What you're going to see there.
17:43
[SPEAKER_01]: So let's finish here before we get to Bobby Peters.
17:46
[SPEAKER_01]: with the offensive line.
17:49
[SPEAKER_01]: I think the offensive line is interesting.
17:52
[SPEAKER_01]: We know the four guys that are starting across the front.
17:55
[SPEAKER_01]: As for the other left tackle position, I think it's going to be Braxton Jones.
17:59
[SPEAKER_01]: Braxton Jones has certainly not looked particularly good, but at the same time, the other guys have not looked particularly good either.
18:07
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll get through this as we go through the offensive line.
18:10
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not going to, as we get through the guys in the offensive line because I'm saying, ten offensive linemen are going to be on the initial fifty three.
18:18
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that'll get adjusted within the first week or two.
18:20
[SPEAKER_01]: But I think you're going to see ten offensive linemen on the fifty three.
18:23
[SPEAKER_01]: You're going to see those four starters.
18:25
[SPEAKER_01]: Braxton Jones makes the fifth starter.
18:27
[SPEAKER_01]: The reason Braxton Jones starts is because nobody took the job from him.
18:33
[SPEAKER_01]: I think when you're talking about rookies and young players like Amagaji and Theo Bennett and Asi Trepillo, they need to take that job.
18:42
[SPEAKER_01]: They need to go out there and win and say, I am definitely the best person for this job, and I don't think any three of them did.
18:49
[SPEAKER_01]: I do think all three of them will make the fifty-three man roster, but I think Bracks and Jones kind of buy default.
18:55
[SPEAKER_01]: makes the fifty three man roster.
18:57
[SPEAKER_01]: Karan Amagaji, I'm basically putting as basically the last offensive lineman that makes this roster.
19:05
[SPEAKER_01]: He had a really poor PFF grade against Buffalo.
19:08
[SPEAKER_01]: I thought he played better than that, but at the same time, he is technique and so he has issues.
19:15
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think Amagaji has it.
19:17
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe the bears don't think he is either and it's possible he gets cut.
19:21
[SPEAKER_01]: I think
19:23
[SPEAKER_01]: He is going to stay on the fifty three basically kind of be be fifty second or fifty third guy.
19:29
[SPEAKER_01]: That makes this roster, but I do think they hold on him because he is toolsy and maybe Dan Rochar with more than one training camp.
19:37
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe he can work with him and get something out of him.
19:39
[SPEAKER_01]: I think I'm a godgy though.
19:42
[SPEAKER_01]: If he sees the field this year, there's probably some serious injuries going on.
19:46
[SPEAKER_01]: I think Amagaji other than maybe special teams.
19:49
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think we're going to see much of Amagaji this year.
19:51
[SPEAKER_01]: I do think he can sneak on to the fifty three Aussie Trapillo.
19:56
[SPEAKER_01]: just not quite having it at left tackle.
20:00
[SPEAKER_01]: Like I said, in some articles, I thought he was fine against Miami and preseason game number one, but he was going against three's and four's.
20:09
[SPEAKER_01]: He played in the second half.
20:10
[SPEAKER_01]: We needed to see Trepello play better than that.
20:13
[SPEAKER_01]: We needed to see like Luther burden dominate those type of players, Trepello didn't do that.
20:18
[SPEAKER_01]: He was just a guy who did his job and it was fine.
20:22
[SPEAKER_01]: That's not good enough to step up and take the left tackle job from bracks of Jones.
20:26
[SPEAKER_01]: The bears have been working him a lot at right tackle.
20:29
[SPEAKER_01]: So you got to figure Trapillo settling in as and it could be one of those things where Benedict is the backup left tackle and Trapillo is the backup right tackle.
20:37
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe they don't have a swing tackle this year.
20:39
[SPEAKER_01]: So it'll be interesting because with the open it.
20:42
[SPEAKER_01]: Obviously, the bear's loved what he did and he did.
20:45
[SPEAKER_01]: He played really well this training camp in this preseason, but when he got chances with the ones and was going up against the lead competition, you saw that there was a gap there still.
20:56
[SPEAKER_01]: So Theo Bennett it earns a spot on the fifty three man roster and that's going to be something that's really exciting for him and for the team, but in terms of
21:06
[SPEAKER_01]: actually pushing Braxton Jones.
21:08
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't see it.
21:09
[SPEAKER_01]: I also think they're gonna spend a lot more time working Benedict in his guard because it's just hard to project him as a long-term tackle with his length issues.
21:19
[SPEAKER_01]: He's got very short arms.
21:20
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think maybe start working him more as a guard kind of in the Matt prior role, not obviously, hopefully he doesn't start like Matt prior to most of the season.
21:30
[SPEAKER_01]: But Matt prior role where you can back up left tackle and interior work a more at guard.
21:35
[SPEAKER_01]: And then you can sit there and see in twenty twenty six twenty twenty seven is the open it a legitimate guard that can at least be on the roster as a backup.
21:44
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe even eventually push as a starter when Joe and Jackson and Joe tuning are no longer on this roster to be interesting to see.
21:51
[SPEAKER_01]: what happens with Benedict.
21:52
[SPEAKER_01]: But I think, again, you're going to see with the starting five, you'll see Amagaji, you'll see Trepillo, and you'll see Benedict.
22:00
[SPEAKER_01]: That's three.
22:01
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm going to put two more guys in there.
22:02
[SPEAKER_01]: Ryan Bates has pretty much exclusively been the team's backup center.
22:06
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that'll be the spot there.
22:08
[SPEAKER_01]: You'll see a third center, either Ricky Stromberg or Doug Cramer, probably on the practice squad.
22:14
[SPEAKER_01]: I would assume it's going to be Doug Cramer at this point, but he's been banged up during training camp.
22:18
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll see not that big of a deal either way, but you'll see a third center there.
22:22
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think Luke Newman, I was critical of the pick.
22:25
[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't like what I saw in his collegiate.
22:27
[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't think he had the necessary strength to do what he needed to do at the NFL level.
22:31
[SPEAKER_01]: But I liked what I saw from him in the pre-season.
22:33
[SPEAKER_01]: He doesn't give up pressure, surpass, blocking, doesn't have a lot of strength.
22:37
[SPEAKER_01]: Doesn't really move a guy off the line of scrimmage.
22:39
[SPEAKER_01]: but absolutely worth a spot on the fifty-three man roster.
22:43
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think those are the fifty-three guys that you are going to see get announced as the Chicago Bears Starters or as the Chicago Bears roster next week on Tuesday when the Bears make their final cuts.
22:57
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's what I've seen from this preseason in this training camp.
23:01
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm excited that we are just a couple weeks away from
23:05
[SPEAKER_01]: regular season Chicago Bears football.
23:07
[SPEAKER_01]: It has been too long and it is exciting that it is almost here.
23:12
[SPEAKER_01]: So we're going to bring on Bobby Peters next.
23:14
[SPEAKER_01]: This is Bill Zimmerman Bearsmanter.
23:17
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll be right back.
23:19
[SPEAKER_01]: Welcome back into the podcast.
23:21
[SPEAKER_01]: I am excited for this guest.
23:23
[SPEAKER_01]: He has been pretty much everywhere this entire off season, not just earlier this off season on Second City Gridiron with Jeff and Lester, but you've seen him on some big time podcasts across the league this summer talking about Ben Johnson and his offense.
23:40
[SPEAKER_01]: because he is studied Ben Johnson's offense on with other offensive minds across the league.
23:45
[SPEAKER_01]: He is Bobby Peters.
23:46
[SPEAKER_01]: You can get his content on alert the post.
23:49
[SPEAKER_01]: Make sure you check out his stuff there.
23:51
[SPEAKER_01]: And of course, he is an author.
23:53
[SPEAKER_01]: He is a coach.
23:53
[SPEAKER_01]: He puts together manuals of offenses in the league that you can study and you can examine.
24:00
[SPEAKER_01]: And of course, he's got a couple on Ben Johnson as well, which we will talk about during this interview.
24:05
[SPEAKER_01]: He joins me now.
24:06
[SPEAKER_01]: Bobby builds Zimmerman, how you doing?
24:08
[SPEAKER_01]: pretty good.
24:08
[SPEAKER_01]: They look excited to chat with you.
24:10
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm excited to have you on because look, we have been just desperate for a guy like this to be a member of the Chicago Bears coaching staff.
24:18
[SPEAKER_01]: Of course, Ben Johnson leading this Bears coaching staff.
24:21
[SPEAKER_01]: Just a creative offensive mind.
24:23
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I do think it's funny like John Schoop is one of his mentors and John Schoop is not thought of highly impaired circles with his offensive coordinator efforts, you know, twenty years ago or so.
24:35
[SPEAKER_01]: But we put that aside because
24:37
[SPEAKER_01]: what I do love about Ben Johnson is how he takes seems to take concepts from so many different offenses.
24:42
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to get into about that, but before we get into Ben Johnson's offense, I want to talk about the Buffalo Bill's game because look, thirty eight to nothing could have been forty five to nothing if they didn't let the foot off the gas.
24:53
[SPEAKER_01]: That's all great and I want to ask what you saw, what stood out for you in that game.
24:58
[SPEAKER_01]: But I want to tell you what stood out the most for me.
25:01
[SPEAKER_01]: because what's been so frustrating about this bear's team is how often they shoot themselves in the foot with a procedural penalty, with a false start, delay a game, something in the pre-snap that messes up the play, they go from second and short to second and long and complete past, third and long and other punting.
25:18
[SPEAKER_01]: We've seen them shoot themselves in the foot, but I saw a really clean operation.
25:24
[SPEAKER_01]: getting to the line of scrimmage with plenty of time and time to make adjustments, whatever they needed to do.
25:28
[SPEAKER_01]: Not a lot of procedural penalties.
25:30
[SPEAKER_01]: They had the one play at the end of the half was kind of a mess to procedural penalties.
25:33
[SPEAKER_01]: Bajans get sack, but other than that for the most part, I think there was one fall start and that was it.
25:38
[SPEAKER_01]: They played, they had a crisp operation.
25:42
[SPEAKER_01]: They looked like a professional football team and I know Ben Johnson's been hammering that all spring, but I think you're finally seeing the importance of that and the results of that on the field finally we saw that against Buffalo.
25:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, Bill, I think that's probably the best thing you can take away from the game, right?
25:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, obviously, preseason results.
25:57
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, we've seen over the years, you know, it can be fool's gold, you know, one way and then obviously, you know, you get those O and three O and four teams end up having good regular season.
26:04
[SPEAKER_00]: So taking the, you know, the score, you know, can be very misleading.
26:07
[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, I think what you're hitting the nail on the head with is the pre-snap operation, right?
26:11
[SPEAKER_00]: We're getting the play call in, we're getting the guys to the line of scrimmage quickly so that, you know, if we want to make a check at the line of scrimmage if we want to use a dummy cadence or something, it gives the offense time and we're not scrambling that.
26:20
[SPEAKER_00]: It also too, it clears the play calling process when you're getting that play in earlier.
26:25
[SPEAKER_00]: It's less back and forth when that play clock is winding it out.
26:29
[SPEAKER_00]: It just shows that the bears know what they're doing.
26:31
[SPEAKER_00]: I think that's probably the best thing to take away.
26:33
[SPEAKER_00]: One of my biggest takeaways outside of that was they just seem to be playing fast and playing confident.
26:37
[SPEAKER_00]: Guys know there are assignments.
26:38
[SPEAKER_00]: Guys were in the right spots.
26:40
[SPEAKER_00]: Offensive Wymen was getting offence of Wymen was getting off the ball quickly.
26:43
[SPEAKER_00]: They were working up to the right players on their double team combinations.
26:46
[SPEAKER_00]: It looked like they knew what they were doing.
26:50
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, look, and based on the Shane Waldron offense last year, that was a nice change of pace.
26:56
[SPEAKER_01]: So, let me ask you about this, and that's the buy-in, because I think Ben Johnson's been hammering that, and I'm gonna use Luther Burden as the perfect example.
27:06
[SPEAKER_01]: Obviously, example as well, but some of the blocks he made where you sit there, you know, the no block, no rock concept, and Burden, like look, Ryan Polls admitted it on the broadcast that early in training camp,
27:17
[SPEAKER_01]: was kind of, I don't know if I really want to buy into this aspect of it, but now you're seeing burden.
27:22
[SPEAKER_01]: You don't block like that unless you're having some sort of joy going across and hitting guys like that.
27:31
[SPEAKER_01]: That's not just, well, I guess that's my assignment.
27:33
[SPEAKER_01]: I need to do it.
27:34
[SPEAKER_01]: That was a full buy-in.
27:35
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, his hit on Hamlin was great.
27:37
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, the way he operated in the passing game as well.
27:40
[SPEAKER_01]: Burton was a really exciting guy for me.
27:43
[SPEAKER_01]: And a great example of that I think these players are really buying into Ben Johnson, which means they believe in Ben Johnson, which based on where they were with his previous coaching staff, could be an absolutely huge boost from a confidence standpoint and how they operate moving forward.
27:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think those blocks obviously have made, you know, made their fair share of rounds in the media the last few days, and obviously Greg Olson calling it out in the broadcast, you know, that's lead broadcasting.
28:07
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't get enough of Greg Olson.
28:09
[SPEAKER_00]: He's great.
28:09
[SPEAKER_00]: He's good.
28:10
[SPEAKER_00]: He's always a joy when he's calling games, but you know, I think even even coaches that I've talked to at all levels the last couple of days here.
28:18
[SPEAKER_00]: They, they can, you cannot understate the importance of what we saw from Luther Burton blocking, because like you said, it illustrates extreme levels of buy-in, but then also, too, when teammates see that, when the offense line sees that, when the running back see that, I mean, it's just, it's good, that's what good football teams do and we saw that with Detroit over the last few years, right?
28:36
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it's,
28:36
[SPEAKER_00]: You got everybody's buying and everybody's doing their job on every single play, even if they're not getting the football.
28:41
[SPEAKER_00]: And as a coach, when you see a dude blocking like that, I mean Kyle Shanahan with the Niners for years, you know, with a guy like Joanne Jennings, you know, kind of making his hey doing doing stuff like this in the in the run game, you know, he finds opportunities for for guys like this in the past game, right?
28:53
[SPEAKER_00]: I think there was a play a good example that was that that that it was kind of what what I call a keeper action.
28:59
[SPEAKER_00]: So.
28:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Caleb Williams was fake in a run play one way, coming back the, or I don't think it was Caleb, I think it was Beijing at this point.
29:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Coming back the other way, hit Luther Bird in the flat, quick and you made a guy miss.
29:07
[SPEAKER_00]: That's the type of play you, you drop for a guy who's blocking well, because that play requires the run fake requires that Z receiver to dig out the secondary support on that side of the field.
29:16
[SPEAKER_00]: And if you just if you just sliver knock somebody down by the goal line on the last drive, that that strong safety is going to fit the run quick because I go shoot Luther burdens coming to crack me again.
29:24
[SPEAKER_00]: He's going to dive into the box and now there's no flat defender and he gets his open as he did because of the buy in from the previous drive.
29:29
[SPEAKER_00]: So stuff like that just snowballs and I know everybody like I said Greg Olson mentioned on the broadcast people in the media have been talking about it, but it really can't be understated how important something like that can be for the bear success this year.
29:41
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and I think that's a great lead in the kind of talking about play design and play calling play sequencing and all that, which Ben Johnson, you know, is is a lead at doing that kind of stuff.
29:49
[SPEAKER_01]: And I want to get into that.
29:50
[SPEAKER_01]: But I think that's a great lead in for this is about buying in at all aspects and that opens up other aspects of the offense.
29:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Because I think a lot of times his bear's fans, we just sit there and go, oh, I don't want them to run the ball on second and ten.
30:04
[SPEAKER_01]: It's going to set up, you know, third and long.
30:06
[SPEAKER_01]: these kind of things like the basic stuff that we saw loop gets you do that we saw Shane Waldron even Thomas Brown do what we've seen these offenses do where the play calling it doesn't seem to have a purpose it's just well it's first down we should run it's it's second and you know we should run or like there doesn't it doesn't seem like there's a goal other than let me call some plays and see if we can gain some yards and eventually score with Ben Johnson like you're talking about the that play doesn't work unless
30:35
[SPEAKER_01]: that they go all Luther burdens blocking here, but if, you know, they need that to make that fake work, they need everything to put in together.
30:44
[SPEAKER_01]: So talk a little bit about Ben Johnson and his offensive concepts and what you saw on Detroit, what you've seen carrying over so far, I know it's just preseason or even in practice with some of the videos, what you've seen carrying over here, because I think that's an interesting point of saying,
31:00
[SPEAKER_01]: at Ben Johnson has a goal in mind, and obviously the goal's a touchdown, but what he wants to do, what he wants to set up from previous drives to make future drives work, how everything comes together, and it's not just a series of plays being called with really no rhyme or reason.
31:18
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think on game day, there are two different categories or large picture ideas that play college need to be good at.
31:26
[SPEAKER_00]: It's the art of the play calling and the design of the play calling, right?
31:29
[SPEAKER_00]: So when we talk about the design of it, right, like the science side of it, you know, designing plays that get guys open, right?
31:35
[SPEAKER_00]: That stuff you do during the week, you put stuff together.
31:37
[SPEAKER_00]: You have to be forward thinking with that process and obviously with Ben Johnson, we've all seen the highlights of
31:41
[SPEAKER_00]: not even just the trick plays but guys why to open running down the field you know those run plays you know I know you're talking about run plays on second now but I mean Ben Johnson is one of the most aggressive coaches when it comes to running the ball like on foot downs but the difference is he's running them into good looks right we're seeing you know defensive you know why defensive edges you know defensive tackles that are bumped out as well so you can run certain run plays into those looks and pick up ten yards no problem so
32:05
[SPEAKER_00]: Bear stands don't don't think you're getting away from that quite yet, but it's gonna it's gonna look better So you got the design of the play, right?
32:11
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, it's got to look good on the whiteboard But then also there's the art of the play calling this is something that I think Matt naggy This is kind of what separated Matt naggy from being you know a good OC in Kansas City a good quarterback coach versus calling plays on a Sunday is the art of it is sequencing and building all that stuff together like that example that we just talked about right if the defense isn't gonna believe Luther burdens gonna dig out that safety
32:29
[SPEAKER_00]: that play, you know, that keeper concept that you're calling them the next drive isn't going to work.
32:33
[SPEAKER_00]: So Ben Johnson has shown his, you know, I mean, obviously that was a preseason game, but, you know, you can go back to last few years in Detroit.
32:39
[SPEAKER_00]: He has shown that he can do both of those at a very high level.
32:42
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and I'm glad you brought up Nagi because that was one thing.
32:45
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it drove a lot of especially like some of the Nagi's decisions in the red zone.
32:50
[SPEAKER_01]: There was a lot of times it looked like the the plays made sense that was good spacing, you know, nothing was perfect, but especially early on seem like Nagi's plays.
33:00
[SPEAKER_01]: made a lot of sense and they should work.
33:04
[SPEAKER_01]: But when do you call them?
33:06
[SPEAKER_01]: And what is the right time to do this?
33:08
[SPEAKER_01]: And again, what you can do early in games to set up later in games and catch a defense off-guard, things like that.
33:16
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think that's, you know, you bring that up about the art of play calling.
33:21
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think that's really interesting.
33:22
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think
33:24
[SPEAKER_01]: That's something that is a challenge for even great offensive coordinators is knowing exactly how to set everything up and how to marry everything together.
33:36
[SPEAKER_01]: So if you can kind of go into a little more detail as to what Ben Johnson does from the art of play calling, so to speak, even if you have a couple of examples, things he may have done in Detroit regularly, that makes him so unique and so special on that Sunday afternoon.
33:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think when I think of art, the art of play calling when it comes to to Ben Johnson specifically a couple things come to mind are in the red zone right like you said, you know, Matt naggy, you know, other coaches we've seen have good designer past concepts that you can get guys open in the red zone right, but sometimes you got to be able to just, you know,
34:08
[SPEAKER_00]: You have to just be able to run the football down on the red zone.
34:10
[SPEAKER_00]: And you just have to be able to do it.
34:12
[SPEAKER_00]: And so the so the science design side of it, okay, we're seeing a loaded box.
34:15
[SPEAKER_00]: How do we run away from an unblocked defender in a way that we can still, you know, pick up either a first down on the red zone or we can we can score right.
34:22
[SPEAKER_00]: And so there's the design of it.
34:23
[SPEAKER_00]: But then there's the the willingness and ability to call those plays down there.
34:26
[SPEAKER_00]: And so if you know those fancy past concepts that you've designed during the week or even in the off season.
34:31
[SPEAKER_00]: And there are times, the lines will run the ball three, four straight times when they get into the red zone and they end up scoring on like third or fourth and goal, but it's that consistency in that understanding of, hey, we have an advantage down here.
34:41
[SPEAKER_00]: We like our blocking angles that we can create against their fronts.
34:43
[SPEAKER_00]: We might have a pass concept, we like, but you know what, we know if we get three or four cracks at this, we can score doing it this way.
34:48
[SPEAKER_00]: And kind of having that big picture understanding
34:50
[SPEAKER_00]: of things and then also to like understanding your personal versus the defensive personnel, right?
34:55
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, you know, how many times did we see, you know, like Aaron Donald or somebody of that sort, right, ruin a bear's game plan because, oh, we just, you know, he beat some, he beat the left tackle or he beat the left guard on, you know, on a pass rush and it's like, well, the, the plan just wasn't there, right?
35:08
[SPEAKER_00]: We didn't account for that defender.
35:09
[SPEAKER_00]: So stuff like that, taking personnel into account is something that he's done really well over his tenure in this right, too.
35:15
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and you brought a person out and that was actually the next place I wanted to go.
35:17
[SPEAKER_01]: I wanted to talk about that because we've this dates back to to Mitch Trivisky, you know, can can you build an offense that that brings out a player's strengths and while I think there were other issues with Mitch Trivisky clearly as he left Chicago that, you know, his, his career hasn't paned out.
35:32
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm sure like he hoped or like bear stands thought it might might have worked out for him, but
35:37
[SPEAKER_01]: building an offense for players strengths.
35:39
[SPEAKER_01]: That was one of the things we heard criticisms of Matt Naggi regularly.
35:42
[SPEAKER_01]: Matt Naggi had his his concepts and his offense and he wanted to just it was a square pagan around whole tough because this is his offense and that's the way he wanted to run things.
35:52
[SPEAKER_01]: But you know, Ben has talked about often about making sure his offense is built around his players strengths.
35:59
[SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, if you can kind of go into
36:02
[SPEAKER_01]: How how how how you can do that and and the types of strengths that maybe the players the the bears skills that players have where you can see something that Ben Johnson can do to help you know highlight them more in the offense.
36:15
[SPEAKER_00]: That's that's what I'm going to be looking for in September and even early October here right I mean week one week two and it's not going to finalize because we're not seeing these guys playing a game yet in his system so it's going to take a few weeks.
36:25
[SPEAKER_00]: And Ben Johnson has shown, I mean, if you go back to the Lions' twenty two tape, they're offense for twenty two to twenty three to even twenty four.
36:30
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, week to week, month to month season to season.
36:32
[SPEAKER_00]: He's constantly evolving it, you know, fitting to different things.
36:34
[SPEAKER_00]: He's like, oh, this guy can do this.
36:36
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, let's try to do it with, you know, let's try to feature that this week, you know, three or four times more than we did the week before, you know.
36:41
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think that's something that we're all going to find out together here over the first month or two of the season.
36:45
[SPEAKER_00]: But something I want to touch on to talking about players strengths and putting players in good positions to succeed is something that Ben Johnson was really well, it's like, you know, I mean, it's a buzzword, right?
36:53
[SPEAKER_00]: We hear Mary the run in the past, Mary the run in the past, but he, he does it just as well, if not better than most of the, you know, top coach at the top play calls in the NFL, and that's, you know, we're, we're talking a lot about Matt Nagy here, you know, he hasn't coached the team in a few years, but, you know, you know, we're comparing, you know, the offensive guru types, right?
37:09
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, naggy, there was almost zero correlation between the bears' run game and their play action and their drop-back looks, you know, outside of a few RPOs, that obviously you're gonna, they're gonna kind of look the same when you're doing it, but there was little to no marriage there, and then defenses were, could tee off on certain looks, right, certain down-and-distance looks, certain personel packages, certain formations, formation giveaways, we're huge under Matt and Aggie, so I think that true marriage of run-and-pass, and like we talked about before that willingness, hey,
37:37
[SPEAKER_00]: Our outside zone or our duo has been hit and really well, you know, on the last driver too, we're just going to call it five, six times in a row, you know, and that willingness to kind of marry everything together and seeing the offense as an entire system, not, you know, you're run, you're run plays, you're play action, you're drop that kind of seeing it all together.
37:53
[SPEAKER_00]: It's something he does really well, and I'm really excited to see how it kind of unfolds here.
37:56
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so let's talk about marrying the run and Ben Johnson's run concepts.
38:01
[SPEAKER_01]: What he wants to do in the running game, because I'm not going to say specifically who this person is, because it was told to me off the record.
38:08
[SPEAKER_01]: But I do know there was a television analyst, but he's well known, everyone knows who he is.
38:15
[SPEAKER_01]: And Matt Naggi actually brought him in.
38:19
[SPEAKER_01]: to consult on the run game, because he wanted to improve his run game.
38:23
[SPEAKER_01]: And they're having this conversation.
38:25
[SPEAKER_01]: And the guy says, you're like, do you want to run the football?
38:28
[SPEAKER_01]: Man, he's like, yeah, I want to run the football.
38:30
[SPEAKER_01]: That's why you're here.
38:30
[SPEAKER_01]: He's like, no, do you want to run the football?
38:34
[SPEAKER_01]: He's like, yeah, I want to run the football.
38:36
[SPEAKER_01]: And he says,
38:39
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't believe you.
38:40
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think you want to run the football.
38:42
[SPEAKER_01]: You just want the run game to work, but you don't want to run the football.
38:46
[SPEAKER_01]: Running the football is an attitude.
38:49
[SPEAKER_01]: It's a lot more than just calling a running play.
38:51
[SPEAKER_01]: You need to actually run the football.
38:53
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's certainly something Ben Johnson wants to do.
38:56
[SPEAKER_01]: the, you know, how important blocking is, not just for the five guys up front, but for the all, all ten guys.
39:02
[SPEAKER_01]: So, so kind of talk about Ben Johnson's desire to run the football and what his, what his goals are in the run game, because we are over the, the shanahan running concepts and all these different running concepts, what is Ben Johnson's run game?
39:16
[SPEAKER_00]: So the run game starts with the outside zone or the mid zone concept.
39:21
[SPEAKER_00]: So what that requires is the offensive line.
39:23
[SPEAKER_00]: They're all, you know, whether it be a single block or a double team combination up to the second level, depending on the front, you know, what kind of dictate some of those assignments is you'll get.
39:32
[SPEAKER_00]: The offensive linemen trying to reach the play side shoulder, the play side armpit of the defender across from them.
39:38
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's what that does is it really forces the defense that it forces them to move laterally while still getting vertical on their run fits.
39:43
[SPEAKER_00]: And the big thing too, like we talked about marrying everything together, that's kind of the starting point for his run game because the amount of play action protections and play action past concepts you can get off to that are
39:52
[SPEAKER_00]: are pretty close to endless and and then Johnson understands that and and you can see that marriage together so starting that with that with the run with the run scheme is is kind of where he thinks start and end now obviously that's not the entire gamut of his run scheme and he does a really good job and in my books I outline a lot of my favorite ones is he'll get really creative with different designs of different gaps schemes to
40:11
[SPEAKER_00]: to try to find leverage for the offensive line to try to bring an extra receiver in to block maybe a secondary support to find the right line of scrimmage or something of that sort.
40:18
[SPEAKER_00]: He just does a lot of creative stuff within the gap family of concepts too to really try to create, you know, an explosive in the run game.
40:26
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, well, well, we're talking about Ben Johnson's run concepts.
40:29
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's talk about the goals in the run blocking scheme that Ben Johnson wants to run.
40:35
[SPEAKER_01]: We, you know, we talk about that Detroit lines offensive line and how elite it was as a group and as a unit.
40:41
[SPEAKER_01]: And obviously, we know offensive lines.
40:43
[SPEAKER_01]: They need to be cohesive.
40:45
[SPEAKER_01]: to really function and function well.
40:47
[SPEAKER_01]: So what is it about Ben Johnson's concepts?
40:50
[SPEAKER_01]: What we'll do past blocking as well after this, but just let's focus on the running game concepts in terms of blocking that makes what he does so good in the run game, where he's basically putting offensive linemen in a position to be able to make those blocks they need to make, which didn't necessarily always happen the last couple years in Chicago.
41:09
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I think, you know, we talk about, you know, obviously he has a very creative, creative run game.
41:14
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think what, what does that mean?
41:16
[SPEAKER_00]: And how does that impact the offensive line and the tight ends with their blocking schemes?
41:20
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, what it does is, you know, whether it be a zone runner or a gap run, it allows, it allows these guys to sit on their double teams longer because we're working to a linebacker that might be further behind a play as opposed to pushing to one that's on the front side.
41:31
[SPEAKER_00]: So it allows us to take that combination and work it for an extra second or two while that backers trying to scrape over the top.
41:36
[SPEAKER_00]: And he does that.
41:37
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, based, you know, game plan specific to how they're attacking the specific defense, but also he's creative in how he adjusts the different block and schemes and adds misdirection to it too.
41:45
[SPEAKER_00]: So, so when we talk about creativity and the run game at the end of the day, we need to be doing that.
41:50
[SPEAKER_00]: We need to be creating leverage for the offensive line so that, you know, it's not like off a double team we're trying to, you know,
41:55
[SPEAKER_00]: reach further forward to get to a place I linebacker that's faster than our guard.
41:59
[SPEAKER_00]: He's probably already filled his hole in time as opposed to working to a guard or linebacker is trying to scrape over the top and he kind of meets our guard as he's coming off the combination of walks of the timing looks really well.
42:08
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's something that separates him.
42:11
[SPEAKER_00]: There's probably a handful of offensive coaches that really do that well in the NFL, but Ben Johnson is one of the few that gets there with a lot of different creative gap schemes within his disposal.
42:21
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, because I think the one thing for me as a former high school offensive lineman when when I had an assignment where I knew I was going to have to get out the second level and get a lineback or whatever and I knew I had to you know seal him off if the place coming to my left side I know I had to seal him off from the left and he's already like a gap over a gap and a half over and I have to reach all the way to the left to try and get him like I'm sitting there in my three-point stance going
42:47
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm screwed, right?
42:49
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think we talked about that speed option with the cults last season where everything just blew up.
42:54
[SPEAKER_01]: But I remember looking at that play pre-snap and trying to figure out who the offensive lines assignments are and the way that cults had lined up.
43:01
[SPEAKER_01]: The offensive line was screwed.
43:03
[SPEAKER_01]: Like that play was dead on arrival because you just looked at it and went, this is not going to be the whatever run concept to the left they were going to do was going to fail miserably.
43:13
[SPEAKER_01]: like and I sit there and and I think of that from an offensive lineman's perspective where you kind of just know before the play even starts you're like I'm not this guy's too fast for me I'm not going to be able to get as far to the left as I need to do to seal off that backer and make this playwork and that's a frustrating place to be in and I know for a fact
43:32
[SPEAKER_01]: that there have been offensive Lyman over the last couple of years that have felt that from time to time, where they just felt like the concept was doomed before the play was even snapped because of the bears not running into the right spot, not having the right play called, not having the right blocking scheme called.
43:48
[SPEAKER_01]: So I think that's one thing that Ben Johnson does really well.
43:51
[SPEAKER_01]: And we talked about it with the skilled position players about putting players in a position is succeed, but also about putting offensive linemen in a position to succeed and making sure, like you said, they can scrape, they can get to the second level, they can get the backers that they need to get to because if you're not successfully blocking at the second level, those guys are going to come up and fill the gaps in the running place, not going to go anywhere.
44:11
[SPEAKER_01]: Yep, exactly.
44:13
[SPEAKER_01]: So like when we talk about doing that in the running game, let's talk about that in the passing game because I know obviously there's different concepts that you can have passing the football and how to keep Caleb Williams upright and protected.
44:29
[SPEAKER_01]: What are some of the interesting things you've seen?
44:31
[SPEAKER_01]: I think passing passboxing is a little more straightforward, but what have you seen with Ben Johnson's passboxing concepts in terms of how he's gonna make that pass, pass game go.
44:41
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, with respect to his protections that he uses both drop-back and the play action game, he's very multiple in what he does.
44:48
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that's the way to combat what modern defenses are trying to do to offensive.
44:53
[SPEAKER_00]: Is they're trying to create ways to keep the running-back in protection model and bringing four rushers, which you hear the term creeper or simulated pressure off, and that's kind of the goal of a lot of that stuff for defenses.
45:03
[SPEAKER_00]: And the other thing too, is can we get a free run around the quarterback?
45:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Can we get someone
45:08
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, whether only rush or five or even bringing six if we have to to get a free rush or the quarterback.
45:12
[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, when defensive coordinators know, you know, that your protection, you know, within eighty or ninety percent probability is going to be one of two different things.
45:20
[SPEAKER_00]: They can gain some of the stuff up and they can take chances like that, right?
45:24
[SPEAKER_00]: But if you have a deep variety in the different ways that you can, that you can call different protections like Ben Johnson does.
45:30
[SPEAKER_00]: The probability shrinks drastically and what that does for defense supporters is if they if they aren't positive that they can get or have a good chance of getting somebody free on the quarterback by bringing five or six, you know, if they if there's a good chance, the offense can pick that up.
45:43
[SPEAKER_00]: They're going to get gashed on the back end, right?
45:45
[SPEAKER_00]: You got one on one matchups.
45:46
[SPEAKER_00]: You got guys playing with poor leverage and you'll say someone who misses a tackle.
45:49
[SPEAKER_00]: There's no safety help.
45:50
[SPEAKER_00]: They're gone.
45:50
[SPEAKER_00]: They're taking it to the house.
45:51
[SPEAKER_00]: So
45:52
[SPEAKER_00]: They're a lot less likely to bring those types of pressures if they know that they're not gonna get home with them.
45:56
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's what Ben Johnson does as a play callers.
45:59
[SPEAKER_00]: He has so many different ways, whether being the drop-back game or the play action game to pick these different pressures up and dissuade defenses from even bringing these looks in the first place.
46:07
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's when I study him and all the different stuff.
46:10
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, he has some old school protections to like some old school Sean Peyton's stutter pass protection where they're faking counters.
46:16
[SPEAKER_00]: So you got a guard kicking out the defense event, you know, you're keeping your backside tight ends to kind of seal the backside of it.
46:21
[SPEAKER_00]: different stuff like that, you know, that'll he probably call that maybe ten or twenty times last year, just to kind of mix it in.
46:26
[SPEAKER_00]: And then he's got, that's just one example, right?
46:28
[SPEAKER_00]: He's got a bunch of different ones.
46:29
[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, if you want to get into that, you know, shoot me a message on Twitter and I can ran it.
46:32
[SPEAKER_00]: See, I'm there, but we'd be here for a few hours of I was ranting on all the different stuff he does.
46:36
[SPEAKER_00]: But no, it's, it's, it that and it's core, I think is what makes his past protection plans really successful.
46:44
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, and you talked about play action a couple times during this interview.
46:47
[SPEAKER_01]: So let's talk about play action.
46:49
[SPEAKER_01]: It's importance to the offense and how Ben Johnson utilizes it.
46:53
[SPEAKER_01]: Because we've talked about, and we've seen Caleb Williams getting more under center this year to help amplify that the play action game or what they can do with that.
47:03
[SPEAKER_01]: The importance of trying to just gain that half step on the defense.
47:07
[SPEAKER_01]: All the things the play action can do, which
47:10
[SPEAKER_01]: a lot of bear's fans frustrated that that is not something we've seen the offense utilize much over the last few seasons.
47:16
[SPEAKER_01]: So talk about play action a little bit in terms of how it can be utilized to accentuate an offense and how Ben Johnson particularly utilizes it.
47:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, there's a few things that come to mind and the first thing that popped into my head when you were talking is the dagger concept and dagger concept off play action is one of my favorite concepts.
47:32
[SPEAKER_00]: So what it is is your outside receivers going to run that deep in cut right that sixteen eighteen yard deep in you're going to have somebody inside of him clear it out the safety kind of run in the take taking the top off the defense
47:42
[SPEAKER_00]: And then you're going to have some sort of underneath control on that hook defender to try to draw the defense down whether it be a shallow crossing around from the other side or the running back check releasing or a tight end shipwalking and then kind of getting out into that area, you know, between the hash and the numbers.
47:54
[SPEAKER_00]: And he does that just about as well as anybody in recent history.
47:58
[SPEAKER_00]: And I know this name kind of, you know, could bring some negative thoughts to bear's fans, but Mike Martz, you have great show on turf and even with the bears.
48:05
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, his offense feasted on these deep dig cuts for years.
48:09
[SPEAKER_00]: And he's one of,
48:11
[SPEAKER_00]: one of Ben Johnson's influences and kind of what he wants to do from a past standpoint.
48:16
[SPEAKER_00]: And you know, obviously, you know, Mart's had, you know, some ups and downs with the bears, you know, back in twenty twenty eleven, but his thought process behind a lot of what he wants to do in the dropback past game is stuff that, you know, good coaches nowadays can still take take and learn lessons from in the dagger concept is one of them.
48:32
[SPEAKER_00]: that he had at the time of success with.
48:33
[SPEAKER_00]: And the other one too is, and actually John Groen posted a video on Axe, I believe last night, kind of in his NFC North preview talking about this, you know, drawn it up on the whiteboard is Ben Johnson's use of different ways to get to the high-crossing concept.
48:45
[SPEAKER_00]: So high-crossing concept is on the front side, we're taking one or two receivers and we're running vertical routes to kind of clear out the corner, clear out the safeties, clear out the nickel, whoever we're trying to do with the specific version of it.
48:56
[SPEAKER_00]: And then we're gonna bring a deep crosser coming from the other side of the field as the primary receiver.
49:01
[SPEAKER_00]: Everybody in the league runs some sort of version of this.
49:03
[SPEAKER_00]: It's one of the most common play action routes.
49:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Ben Johnson is adapted to his drop-back game really well too.
49:09
[SPEAKER_00]: But one thing that separates him and his usage of it is his understanding of, okay, who are the danger defenders on this, right?
49:15
[SPEAKER_00]: If the defense is in a Tampa two and the mics running out of there, well, they can take away the high and the low there if they can get an extra defender to kind of help on the crossing route.
49:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, what do we do with our other receiver then?
49:25
[SPEAKER_00]: How do we, how do we readjust our check-down distribution to replace that defender that helped on the main part of the concept in Ben Johnson?
49:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Some of his designs, within this concept and then other concepts as well, he just has a tremendous understanding of the whole picture and how defense are trying to stop him.
49:41
[SPEAKER_00]: And like I said before, week to week, month, a month during the season, he's adjusting these plays to kind of respond to that in real time.
49:48
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and I think, you know, you talk about some of the ways he gets receivers open and gets some some easy throws.
49:55
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think that's something that was really and mind bogglingly missing last season was making sure that those easy outlets were there for Caleb Williams.
50:06
[SPEAKER_01]: And that those weren't always there necessarily on some of those plays where it was just like, oh, well, you should have just been dumping off.
50:11
[SPEAKER_01]: And then when you go back and look at the play, like to who?
50:14
[SPEAKER_01]: Like where was that safety valve?
50:15
[SPEAKER_01]: Where was that outlet?
50:17
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think, you know, we hear analysts on television every talk about all the time that Ben Johnson creates easy plays for the quarterback gets those easy completions builds up the confidence, you know, and that not that every play is he's going to still go intermediate Middle East going to
50:33
[SPEAKER_01]: make some, you know, he's going to have, uh, Caleb Williams trying make some of the more challenging throws as well.
50:38
[SPEAKER_01]: But also having those easy throws, those, you know, you know, obviously the goals first downs I'm not saying it's, it's to generate statistics, but those stat builders getting that completion percentage up.
50:48
[SPEAKER_01]: Getting some confidence up.
50:50
[SPEAKER_01]: What's that?
50:51
[SPEAKER_01]: Efficiency.
50:51
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, efficiency.
50:52
[SPEAKER_01]: So like one, how do you have an offense for a rookie that doesn't have those consistently and to how important is that to the to the Ben Johnson offense in terms of just making sure that those easy completions are worked in and and regularly a part of the offense?
51:08
[SPEAKER_00]: It's absolutely critical.
51:09
[SPEAKER_00]: I think
51:11
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, one time in place, right?
51:13
[SPEAKER_00]: It's the art of play called kind of where we're talking before, right?
51:15
[SPEAKER_00]: You need your mix of those, but at the same time, like you said, there are times you have to push the ball down the field, you have to read out a coverage, right?
51:20
[SPEAKER_00]: But it then Johnson understands time in place for both.
51:23
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think a great example of this is when we're looking at his game plans against Brian Forrest defenses, which, you know, so happens to be the bear's play week one, right?
51:31
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, when we're looking at his game plans there, he did a ton of stuff.
51:33
[SPEAKER_00]: And I outlined a lot of these in my game planning, my twenty three game planning book.
51:37
[SPEAKER_00]: specific concepts for those weeks against those looks, right?
51:41
[SPEAKER_00]: Where, you know, he's gonna mug six or seven guys off the line of scrimmage.
51:45
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, what do you do?
51:45
[SPEAKER_00]: You can't read out those dagger concepts if you're getting those looks on the line of scrimmage because you can't block everybody, right?
51:50
[SPEAKER_00]: If they bring, you know, certain pressure paths, or if they bring six of those guys, you know, you're really putting a ton of stress on your offense of line.
51:56
[SPEAKER_00]: So what does he do?
51:56
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, so we take a two by two formation, right?
51:59
[SPEAKER_00]: So we got two receivers to each side and one of them being a tight end.
52:01
[SPEAKER_00]: He'll take that tight end, he'll fast motion him to the other side and he'll just run a quick bubble screen.
52:05
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, what are we doing?
52:06
[SPEAKER_00]: We're forcing that safety from the other side of the field to be the third defender having to chase that action all the way down.
52:11
[SPEAKER_00]: That's an easy eight, ten yards, right?
52:13
[SPEAKER_00]: The quarterback's just catching for own.
52:14
[SPEAKER_00]: There's no reading.
52:15
[SPEAKER_00]: And just little stuff like that.
52:16
[SPEAKER_00]: He does really well.
52:17
[SPEAKER_00]: And then another concept, too, that I saw a ton against Minnesota last years.
52:20
[SPEAKER_00]: And I'm sure we'll see this year and actually saw a couple times when I was out at Camp a couple weeks, too, is what I call the Z-Coral Concept.
52:26
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's basically a more trustment around this a ton back in the day with actually a lot of success, too, is
52:30
[SPEAKER_00]: If basically like a curl flat read, right?
52:32
[SPEAKER_00]: So you've got a curl where we see we're going to like a ten-year-old stop route, a curl route, and then somebody in the flat.
52:36
[SPEAKER_00]: And then the other routes kind of distribute to occupy the danger defenders, right?
52:40
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's a simple read.
52:42
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a simple high low, but it combats exactly how the Brian Flores defenses want to play.
52:49
[SPEAKER_00]: specifically to specific to that defense and that's something that's a play call we see a bunch that we saw a bunch from him in those matchups over the last two years.
52:56
[SPEAKER_00]: So you know tailoring the game plans to find those easy completions against those those different looks right instead of putting your quarterback in a bad situation forcing him to read something downfield that might take three or four seconds when you've got these pressure looks coming is just something that Ben Johnson does a good job of avoiding when he can.
53:12
[SPEAKER_01]: And last thing I want to ask here before I let you go on offensive concepts is Ben Johnson's use of motion because I think when when you boil everything down and ask someone what's what's the point of motion they're going to sit there and say well if the defender goes with the motion player they're in man and if they stay put they're in zone and that gives that basic read to the quarterback and and while I think
53:33
[SPEAKER_01]: most football fans understand that there's that basic concept of motion.
53:37
[SPEAKER_01]: I think there's other aspects to it as well.
53:39
[SPEAKER_01]: So what can Ben Johnson, what does he do and what does motion do in terms of helping, you utilize an offense and create opportunities and advantages for an offense other than just kind of figuring out some basic defensive information.
53:55
[SPEAKER_00]: So I got two things to touch on to that.
53:58
[SPEAKER_00]: So the first example is one that we just talked about, right?
54:00
[SPEAKER_00]: That fast motion to tighten in across, getting that quick bubble screening in that specific, right?
54:04
[SPEAKER_00]: We're quickly changing the math on the defense.
54:06
[SPEAKER_00]: We're going from a two by two to a three by one, forcing the defense to adjust on the fly there, right?
54:10
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's a great example.
54:11
[SPEAKER_00]: And then the other one, too, is let's build on the dagger, could discussion that we were talking about, right?
54:14
[SPEAKER_00]: So one way defenses can combat this is kind of by cheating that flat defender back inside a little bit if they notice the route stems, right?
54:22
[SPEAKER_00]: So the deflect defender can kind of
54:24
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, jumped down to that hook control and then that allows the hook player to kind of get under that dick window and defensive kind of cheat and take it away, right?
54:29
[SPEAKER_00]: So what has been Johnson do?
54:31
[SPEAKER_00]: So what he does is he'll take a tight end or receiver and fast motion them across the field or from the same side, he'll motion them away and he'll spray them on what's called a rail route outside of the dick route to flush and pull that flat defender out of the way completely.
54:45
[SPEAKER_00]: So now we create a clean high law on that hook defender and that's an adjustment that I saw a ton from them last year and I actually
54:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Included, included a little breakdown of that in my Ben Johnson preview article on my website that I posted probably a month ago.
54:57
[SPEAKER_00]: I kind of go in a little more detail on that.
54:58
[SPEAKER_00]: But that's that's one specific way, right?
55:01
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
55:01
[SPEAKER_00]: We're dealing with this problem.
55:02
[SPEAKER_00]: The defense is cheating a defender further inside.
55:04
[SPEAKER_00]: How do we, how do we remove him from the play?
55:05
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's fast motion.
55:07
[SPEAKER_00]: Let's run him on a rail routes that flat defender has to honor that and we keep the exact same concept intact for the quarterbacks.
55:12
[SPEAKER_00]: We still got that high low common for that dagger concept.
55:14
[SPEAKER_00]: So
55:15
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a lot of different ways in the way he uses it every week, like I said, I've had just an absolute, I mean, if you can't tell with the way I'm talking, I've had an absolute blast studying his offense the last three years.
55:25
[SPEAKER_00]: So when the bear's hired him back in January, you know, being a bear's fan, I was absolutely ecstatic.
55:30
[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, those are two good examples and I can't wait to see how he's going to try to, you know, continue that evolution this year.
55:36
[SPEAKER_01]: And last one for you, and this is probably kind of an impossible question, but being that you coach and, you know, you've installed offences and all this.
55:46
[SPEAKER_01]: I think, you know, especially now that we saw, you know, Caleb Williams, whatever it was, ninety-seven yards, whatever on the first drive right down the offense is the key is what's touched down.
55:55
[SPEAKER_01]: And it was like, all right, Ben Johnson's offense.
55:57
[SPEAKER_01]: It's the, you know, all the install days have done.
55:59
[SPEAKER_01]: The bears are clicking.
56:01
[SPEAKER_01]: Can't wait for the Vikings.
56:02
[SPEAKER_01]: So, while, yes, and I understand you have no idea how the bears are going to play against Minnesota in some of those early games.
56:09
[SPEAKER_01]: But in your mind, what are the odds that this offense can hit the ground running in September or that they're still going to be growing pains?
56:19
[SPEAKER_01]: You're going to be going up against
56:20
[SPEAKER_01]: morally defenses you're going to go against the full defense and not just just a few plays and not just the kind of the skeleton defense where you know teams don't want to give away too much in the preseason like what what are the odds as you think this offense can really click in September or that it still may have growing pains and that this offense really may not start coming together until October maybe even November.
56:42
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think what fair expectations for us can be is the raising of the floor by a significant margin, right?
56:48
[SPEAKER_00]: We've talked about all the different offenses that we've watched over the years as bears fans and just shaken our head with complete disbelief of what we're seeing.
56:55
[SPEAKER_00]: I think a lot of that's going to be eliminated.
56:56
[SPEAKER_00]: I think what we saw one of our takeaways from the Buffalo game in the preseason is
57:01
[SPEAKER_00]: what that floor looks like, right?
57:03
[SPEAKER_00]: We're moving, we're, we're, our, our, our guys are playing fast.
57:06
[SPEAKER_00]: We're not putting guys in bad spots.
57:07
[SPEAKER_00]: We're fundamentally sound, right?
57:09
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, we're still, there's still going to be some growing pains like you said, but I think, especially week one, going up against Brian Flores, like it's going to be a hyper specific game plan coming out of the gate for that defense.
57:17
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, we don't want a positive or negative.
57:20
[SPEAKER_00]: We don't want to take away too much from that because that's not going to be the looks that the bears are going to be seeing for the first two months of the year outside of that one matchup.
57:26
[SPEAKER_00]: But
57:27
[SPEAKER_00]: I think what we can expect is week one, week two, week three, whatever, you know, however many games into this we want to see is that that raising of that floor, you know, the fundamentals are better, the designs are better, right?
57:36
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, is it going to translate the points?
57:38
[SPEAKER_00]: I certainly hope so and I certainly believe so.
57:41
[SPEAKER_00]: But we're just going to have to see, you know, our guys, you know, our offensive line of dropping left and right, right?
57:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Personnel, why is our guy staying healthy?
57:47
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, just all that stuff's going to obviously play a huge factor in their overall success, but I think the raising of the floor
57:56
[SPEAKER_00]: especially early on with those little things that we're not used to seeing.
57:59
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it is a more than fair expectation.
58:01
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think there is certainly a chance within that first month that this thing can catch fire and go, depending how quickly Caleb Williams catches on, the whole thing and how confident he is in what Ben's coaching him.
58:10
[SPEAKER_01]: No, there's a lot of reason for excitement, Bobby, and you just laid out a lot of the reasons right there in the last thirty, thirty, five minutes or so.
58:18
[SPEAKER_01]: So he is Bobby Peters author coach.
58:22
[SPEAKER_01]: And of course, you can get all his content and alert the post.
58:24
[SPEAKER_01]: Make sure you check it out there.
58:26
[SPEAKER_01]: And Bobby, I know, I said author, you've put together some, I know you've put some, gather some manuals of many different coaching staffs over the years, but you do have some Ben Johnson stuff available on Amazon.
58:37
[SPEAKER_01]: Correct.
58:37
[SPEAKER_01]: You have a couple of manuals that Bear's fans could pick up if they'd like.
58:41
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, so the, in twenty two, complete offense of Manu on the Lions is, it's a great starting point, right?
58:47
[SPEAKER_00]: If you want to go concept by concept, okay, what is bent the core of Ben Johnson's offense, right?
58:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Like I said, he evolves his offense every year.
58:53
[SPEAKER_00]: So in twenty three, what I did was I wrote another book on his offense based on a game planning approach.
59:00
[SPEAKER_00]: So what I do is like a week to week, I picked ten to twelve plays from each game that highlight how he adjusted his offense that week and how he's pushing the evolution forward.
59:08
[SPEAKER_00]: I think both books go really well together if you really want to understand the full picture like I said the twenty two places a good place to start if you're if you're just getting you just want to get your feet well with some of the ex and no stuff.
59:17
[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, I know I like I said I mean I probably that's probably both those together are probably close to a little over five hundred pages on him and I thought really I thought really hard about writing another one about him this past off season on the twenty four season because obviously the lions did a ton of really good stuff there, but
59:31
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, obviously, you know, I still have a day job site enough to quite time to get to it.
59:35
[SPEAKER_00]: The other thing too is, I'm really counting on doing another Ben Johnson book at the end of this year for the Bears.
59:40
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I just, you know, I'm really excited.
59:43
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm really excited for the direction everything's headed here.
59:46
[SPEAKER_00]: And obviously growing up a bearish fan, I think I'll put a little, put a little extra juice in the study when it's, when it's my team.
59:51
[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, those are those are the two places to go.
59:53
[SPEAKER_00]: Those two books are, you know, if you want to learn exactly what he's doing, if you want to get into the nuts and bolts of the stuff, those are great places to go.
1:00:00
[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't want to put you on the spot there, but that is great news that we might be looking for another Ben Johnson Bobby Peters man.
1:00:06
[SPEAKER_01]: You will coming out after this season.
1:00:08
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's why you have guys like Bobby Peters on and then you can realize how little you know about football because of how much Bobby knows Bobby.
1:00:15
[SPEAKER_01]: Thanks for so much time.
1:00:16
[SPEAKER_01]: It was a really good interview.
1:00:17
[SPEAKER_01]: And we are all looking forward to watching Ben Johnson's offense in twenty twenty five.
1:00:21
[SPEAKER_01]: Thanks for having me on Bill.
1:00:23
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, there he is, Bobby Peters.
1:00:26
[SPEAKER_01]: That was a great interview.
1:00:27
[SPEAKER_01]: That is a lot of Ben Johnson, the dissect.
1:00:30
[SPEAKER_01]: I think I'm probably actually going to go back and listen to this episode a couple times just to absorb everything Bobby had to say.
1:00:36
[SPEAKER_01]: And look, he puts it all out there about everything we can look for this season, everything that Ben Johnson's going to try and accomplish.
1:00:45
[SPEAKER_01]: what he's going to try and do in terms of play sequencing and setting up his offense to have more success in the second half, how the run games and past games can be married together, they use a play action, they use some motion, all the things that can make an offense click.
1:01:01
[SPEAKER_01]: lot of information there from Bobby Peters.
1:01:03
[SPEAKER_01]: He did a great job.
1:01:05
[SPEAKER_01]: If you want to know Ben Johnson and what he has seen so far and what's going to be coming in September, there you go.
1:01:11
[SPEAKER_01]: So make sure you check out all his stuff at alert the post now.
1:01:17
[SPEAKER_01]: We promised a mailback.
1:01:18
[SPEAKER_01]: We haven't done a mailback in a really
1:01:21
[SPEAKER_01]: really long time.
1:01:22
[SPEAKER_01]: We did our Zach Pearson training camp reviews in July.
1:01:24
[SPEAKER_01]: We didn't do a mail bag for that one.
1:01:27
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm pretty sure we did when we had her powered on in June after many camp, but I mean, we're still talking about two months without a mail bag.
1:01:35
[SPEAKER_01]: So let's dive in.
1:01:37
[SPEAKER_01]: Let's start with Coach Dan, who has this awesome bookers development slash potential convinced polls to avoid exploring veteran options at edge.
1:01:47
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'll be honest, Dan, I'm sure polls and probably Dennis Allen like this defensive end room more than I do.
1:01:54
[SPEAKER_01]: I hate this defensive end room.
1:01:56
[SPEAKER_01]: I really want Austin Booker to be DE for this year.
1:01:59
[SPEAKER_01]: I really don't want him to be the third edge.
1:02:01
[SPEAKER_01]: And again, maybe he's ready to step up and be the third edge.
1:02:06
[SPEAKER_01]: Last year while Austin Booker's rookie season was mostly quiet to me, the more alarming thing when Austin Booker was on the field was not what he did in the past.
1:02:14
[SPEAKER_01]: She was able to get a little pressure here there.
1:02:17
[SPEAKER_01]: He wasn't inept at the past rush.
1:02:20
[SPEAKER_01]: His run defense was awful, just absolutely awful.
1:02:26
[SPEAKER_01]: Basically, when Austin Booker was on the field, if the offense was going to run the football, they ran at Austin Booker.
1:02:32
[SPEAKER_01]: And they ran successfully at Austin Booker because he was the weak spot on the defense.
1:02:38
[SPEAKER_01]: I love, you know, I love seeing him bust heads against Miami and sack in the quarterback multiple times.
1:02:44
[SPEAKER_01]: So, again, pretty good against Buffalo as well.
1:02:47
[SPEAKER_01]: Everyone look good against Buffalo, but awesome booker look good against Buffalo as well.
1:02:51
[SPEAKER_01]: But the problem is where is the on the run game?
1:02:53
[SPEAKER_01]: I highlighted it in an article after the Dolphins game.
1:02:57
[SPEAKER_01]: The rushing touchdown they had.
1:03:00
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm trying, I don't think it was Ali Gordon.
1:03:03
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe it was Jalen Wright.
1:03:04
[SPEAKER_01]: The rushing touchdown they had.
1:03:06
[SPEAKER_01]: That was about a eight, ten yard touchdown.
1:03:09
[SPEAKER_01]: What happened on that play is Jalen Wright, you know, there was the play was designed to go a certain spot to the right and Jalen Wright.
1:03:16
[SPEAKER_01]: There was a little too much traffic there.
1:03:18
[SPEAKER_01]: Jalen Wright cut back to the left and then had found a seam and went straight up for the touchdown.
1:03:23
[SPEAKER_01]: Justin Booker penetrated, you're supposed to set the edge on his side.
1:03:28
[SPEAKER_01]: He penetrated too far in the backfield.
1:03:30
[SPEAKER_01]: And when he tried to crash down the line of scrimmage to make that play, he was too far behind the running back.
1:03:37
[SPEAKER_01]: He kind of dove at his ankles, couldn't make the play touched out.
1:03:41
[SPEAKER_01]: Austin Booker needs to be able to read that play out of the gate.
1:03:43
[SPEAKER_01]: No, it's a run.
1:03:44
[SPEAKER_01]: No, he's got to set the edge of the line of scrimmage and not penetrate.
1:03:47
[SPEAKER_01]: And if he crashes down, and he's two yards further, three yards further back, where he's supposed to be rather than overpenentrating, he makes that tackle.
1:03:56
[SPEAKER_01]: Jalen Wright gains a couple yards and that's it.
1:04:00
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the type of stuff we need Austin Booker to improve on.
1:04:02
[SPEAKER_01]: If he's going to be out there for fifty, sixty percent of the snaps as the team's third edge, he's got to improve and run defense.
1:04:09
[SPEAKER_01]: Now,
1:04:10
[SPEAKER_01]: I didn't watch Austin Booker, a ton against Buffalo.
1:04:13
[SPEAKER_01]: I was trying to watch some other things.
1:04:14
[SPEAKER_01]: So I don't know exactly how well he did against the run against Buffalo.
1:04:19
[SPEAKER_01]: Obviously Buffalo's offense didn't do much.
1:04:21
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm sure if he was involved in run plays that they went pretty well, but we need to see him, Dan, we need to see him stop the run better.
1:04:30
[SPEAKER_01]: If he is not stopping the run better in practice and I can't speak to that, obviously Dennis Allen and those guys are the ones who can speak to that.
1:04:36
[SPEAKER_01]: When he's out there, he's going to be a weak point again.
1:04:39
[SPEAKER_01]: Now if he's improved on that, he can handle the third edge duties because he'll probably provide enough of the past rush to get in the mix there.
1:04:47
[SPEAKER_01]: But if he's not doing it in the run game, he's not going to be able to be out there very much and they're not going to have the kind of depth.
1:04:55
[SPEAKER_01]: Like with Dominique Robinson, I assume he's going to make this roster because there's just no other options at edge.
1:05:00
[SPEAKER_01]: He's had another good training camp and another good preseason, but it never translates to the regular season with this guy.
1:05:07
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, it translates to the regular season this year.
1:05:09
[SPEAKER_01]: I hope so, but at this point in his fourth season, I have no hope that it's actually going to translate to the regular season.
1:05:16
[SPEAKER_01]: I assume he's going to be a ghost on Sundays as he's been the last few years.
1:05:20
[SPEAKER_01]: because this guy is the athletic specimen.
1:05:22
[SPEAKER_01]: Athletic specimens really shine when they're in training camp because they're, you know, they really, they're, they're, you know, natural innate abilities is what really shines in those drills and especially when pads are off in that kind of stuff.
1:05:38
[SPEAKER_01]: But when the pads come on, especially on Sundays when he's going up against ones, he's totally neutralized.
1:05:43
[SPEAKER_01]: So I don't have any faith in Dominique Robinson.
1:05:46
[SPEAKER_01]: I certainly don't have any faith in any people that are behind Dominic Robinson on the Dept chart, so it really becomes Austin Booker bus.
1:05:54
[SPEAKER_01]: So for me, I would much rather see someone like Austin Booker in the mix as a backup with another veteran.
1:06:02
[SPEAKER_01]: Do the bear see it that way, Dan?
1:06:04
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know.
1:06:05
[SPEAKER_01]: I have a feeling that are going to be okay going with this group.
1:06:09
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe they add a low-end edges like their fourth, fifth edge just in the mix at the bottom of the roster.
1:06:15
[SPEAKER_01]: But I don't know if I'm going to see that if we're going to see them go out and get like as a dairy, a Smith, someone who's going to get significant snaps and be able to play significant edge time.
1:06:24
[SPEAKER_01]: I just don't know if we're going to see that.
1:06:26
[SPEAKER_01]: I wouldn't really like to see that.
1:06:28
[SPEAKER_01]: But I don't think we're going to.
1:06:30
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, Billy kid, it seems the third wide receiver position is between the key is in burden.
1:06:35
[SPEAKER_01]: They both made a strong case so far.
1:06:38
[SPEAKER_01]: Who is it going to be, Bill?
1:06:39
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, this is a great problem to have.
1:06:42
[SPEAKER_01]: And we are genuinely at a point here where the bears have too many miles to feed.
1:06:47
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's going to be a good thing for this year.
1:06:50
[SPEAKER_01]: But I think you're also going to see like if you're a fantasy football player,
1:06:54
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if you're going to see someone on this offense get twelve hundred yards and ten touchdowns.
1:06:58
[SPEAKER_01]: I think we may see a lot of guys with five, six hundred yards and four touchdowns five touchdowns and the wealth gets spread around.
1:07:05
[SPEAKER_01]: So while I can't tell you exactly they want Luther burden.
1:07:10
[SPEAKER_01]: over Zikias, right?
1:07:12
[SPEAKER_01]: That that they want.
1:07:13
[SPEAKER_01]: They drafted him.
1:07:14
[SPEAKER_01]: He's young.
1:07:15
[SPEAKER_01]: They like his talent.
1:07:16
[SPEAKER_01]: Burton has looked outstanding.
1:07:18
[SPEAKER_01]: He's buying in with the blocking and in the offensive passing concepts.
1:07:23
[SPEAKER_01]: Burton has been a full buying and that's great to see.
1:07:26
[SPEAKER_01]: But like you said, we've heard about Burton.
1:07:28
[SPEAKER_01]: We've heard about Zikias.
1:07:29
[SPEAKER_01]: The key is that it touched out.
1:07:31
[SPEAKER_01]: like we know they're both involved.
1:07:33
[SPEAKER_01]: We've even heard a little bit more about Rome.
1:07:34
[SPEAKER_01]: I think it's interesting.
1:07:35
[SPEAKER_01]: We haven't heard nearly as much in training camp about DJ more.
1:07:39
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not trying to sit there and say DJ more is going to be wide receiver for that.
1:07:42
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what I'm saying.
1:07:43
[SPEAKER_01]: But what I am saying is
1:07:45
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not like a clear cut DJ Moore is going to be getting a hundred and twenty targets and then everyone else is going to be down around sixty seventy targets.
1:07:53
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if that's the case.
1:07:55
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe that's what it ends up being, but I think we're going to see a very equal distribution.
1:07:59
[SPEAKER_01]: I think Luther burn eventually gets there, but I think we're going to see like if Zacchaeus is really good.
1:08:08
[SPEAKER_01]: If Burton is really good, like you could see, it's not impossible to see something like after the season that DJ Morgan traded.
1:08:16
[SPEAKER_01]: If they think they can do Rome, Burton, and Zacchaeus, one, two, three, and they can move DJ Morris, you know, twenty-five million, whatever it is off the books and use that money elsewhere, they're going to do it because it makes sense too.
1:08:28
[SPEAKER_01]: You don't need to have a high paid wide receiver if the guys who aren't getting the ton of money below him are doing just as much in the offense.
1:08:38
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll say burden, but I also say that Billy with the idea that I am a huge fan of Zacchaeus.
1:08:43
[SPEAKER_01]: I really like the signing the day he signed.
1:08:47
[SPEAKER_01]: I said that's going to be a really good signing for the Chicago Bears.
1:08:51
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'll say burden because they want burden.
1:08:54
[SPEAKER_01]: They're going to move him up in the depth chart.
1:08:57
[SPEAKER_01]: But if all four of these guys are healthy, with Lovelin and Comet, you've got six legitimate targets there.
1:09:03
[SPEAKER_01]: The Caleb's not thrown for six thousand yards.
1:09:05
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe Caleb throws for four thousand yards.
1:09:07
[SPEAKER_01]: But you know, do the equal distribution, four thousand yards for those six guys.
1:09:11
[SPEAKER_01]: Forget the running backs and Durham smithed some of the other guys.
1:09:14
[SPEAKER_01]: If they get nothing, which we know is not going to be the case.
1:09:17
[SPEAKER_01]: If they get nothing,
1:09:19
[SPEAKER_01]: That's six hundred and sixty seven yards per player.
1:09:21
[SPEAKER_01]: So we're going to see a lot of that offense.
1:09:24
[SPEAKER_01]: We're going to see Caleb Williams really distribute that ball around a lot to these different players.
1:09:30
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, Andrew says, based on our limited showing of the ones versus the bills do's, what are you most looking for seeing our ones go against the chiefs ones?
1:09:39
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not too worried about it.
1:09:41
[SPEAKER_01]: I'll say the same things I said to Bobby and at the beginning of this podcast, I want to see clean operation.
1:09:46
[SPEAKER_01]: You're going against the Super Bowl contending team.
1:09:48
[SPEAKER_01]: I know the bills weren't a Super Bowl contending team because it was their twos.
1:09:52
[SPEAKER_01]: Now you're going to see some of the chiefs once.
1:09:54
[SPEAKER_01]: Same thing.
1:09:54
[SPEAKER_01]: Clean operation, not shooting yourselves in the foot.
1:09:57
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't need to see kale.
1:09:58
[SPEAKER_01]: I'd love to see kale Williams march the ball down the field, eighty yards with no challenges and score it touched out.
1:10:04
[SPEAKER_01]: If it's one first down and then they end up punting.
1:10:07
[SPEAKER_01]: Kail Williams comes out and gets a couple first down.
1:10:09
[SPEAKER_01]: They end up punting the offense.
1:10:10
[SPEAKER_01]: Just looks okay, but they don't score any points.
1:10:13
[SPEAKER_01]: That's at the end of the world.
1:10:14
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm okay with that.
1:10:15
[SPEAKER_01]: But is it a clean operation?
1:10:17
[SPEAKER_01]: Are they getting up to the line of scrimmage with plenty of time?
1:10:20
[SPEAKER_01]: Are they not shooting themselves in the foot with illegal formation penalties and false starts and things like that?
1:10:25
[SPEAKER_01]: If they're doing that again against the chiefs,
1:10:28
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm okay with whatever the results are on the field, as long as they look the proper part.
1:10:35
[SPEAKER_01]: That's all I'm looking for in preseason.
1:10:37
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not looking for this team.
1:10:38
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't need to see this team go wild and be up fourteen and nothing.
1:10:43
[SPEAKER_01]: Look, it'd be great if they are, but I don't need to see it.
1:10:46
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't need to see Caleb Williams look elite and throw for a hundred and fifty yards on two drives with two touchdowns.
1:10:51
[SPEAKER_01]: We don't need to see it.
1:10:52
[SPEAKER_01]: It's great if we do see it.
1:10:54
[SPEAKER_01]: But what we want to see is things that translate to the regular season.
1:10:57
[SPEAKER_01]: And that's operation and just the kind of the core concepts of the offense.
1:11:02
[SPEAKER_01]: Evan Lapo, there seems to be a lot of chatter about the Eagles moving Tanner McKee.
1:11:06
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you believe there's a market for Beijing?
1:11:08
[SPEAKER_01]: And if so, what's the realistic return?
1:11:11
[SPEAKER_01]: Bears are not getting Alvin Kamara or Cam Jordan, but what to slot his value at?
1:11:17
[SPEAKER_01]: And I don't slot his value at very much.
1:11:19
[SPEAKER_01]: Tyson Bayjan is a perfectly functional backup quarterback.
1:11:23
[SPEAKER_01]: I think he is a very middle of the pack backup quarterback.
1:11:27
[SPEAKER_01]: I think they're at least half the leagues, too, that are better than Tyson Bayjan.
1:11:32
[SPEAKER_01]: I know Barris fans don't want to hear that.
1:11:34
[SPEAKER_01]: I know when Barris fans thinks I'm crap on all over Tyson Bayjan.
1:11:37
[SPEAKER_01]: I am not.
1:11:38
[SPEAKER_01]: Tyson Bayjan is an outstanding find as a UDFA that he is a
1:11:45
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, basically, run of the mill QB-two.
1:11:48
[SPEAKER_01]: That's not an insult.
1:11:49
[SPEAKER_01]: That is a giant compliment to Tyson Bayjan and Orion Poles that he was able to find this quarterback.
1:11:56
[SPEAKER_01]: The fact that a lot of times Barris fans want to think they can elevate him to this like borderline QB-one status where teams are pounding down the door to try and get him.
1:12:05
[SPEAKER_01]: I just don't see it.
1:12:06
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, Kirk cousins is available.
1:12:09
[SPEAKER_01]: If a team wants to go out and get a quality quarterback, they can get Kirk freaking cousins.
1:12:13
[SPEAKER_01]: You're going to take even the corpse of Kirk cousins over Tyson, Bayesian.
1:12:16
[SPEAKER_01]: So if Bayesian has a market, if a team wants a QB two, because again, these QB two's, you know, you can find them.
1:12:26
[SPEAKER_01]: You can find a guy that can operate an offense like Tyson, Bayesian.
1:12:30
[SPEAKER_01]: It's not that hard to find those guys like I said if I ranked QB to see probably be right around fifty for me right around
1:12:39
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, fifty of overall quarterback, thirty three to sixty four I'm talking about he'd probably be right around fifty right maybe top fifty maybe just outside the top fifty.
1:12:48
[SPEAKER_01]: That's where he is to me.
1:12:49
[SPEAKER_01]: He's he's right in that area and that's okay.
1:12:52
[SPEAKER_01]: But that doesn't mean he's going to have a huge market unless there's an injury and a team is really desperate trying to quarterback in there.
1:13:01
[SPEAKER_01]: That being said, he doesn't have a high price type market in a trade.
1:13:07
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think you're going to be able to see third, fourth, probably even a fifth round pit for Tyson Bayjan.
1:13:13
[SPEAKER_01]: I think because he's a quarterback, you can get more than a seven, but I don't think you should expect to get more than a six.
1:13:19
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe you can get some sort of conditional things tied to it that a six, turn into a five, but you are not going to be able to knock down someone's door and get a day to pick for a Tyson page and Dolmide, seventy nine.
1:13:31
[SPEAKER_01]: How comfortable are you with the running back situation, would you try to sign Brian Robinson when he's cut.
1:13:37
[SPEAKER_01]: same question for the defensive end spot as well.
1:13:40
[SPEAKER_01]: We talked about defensive end.
1:13:41
[SPEAKER_01]: I would like to see them go out and beef up that defensive end room.
1:13:44
[SPEAKER_01]: I just don't know if they're going to do it.
1:13:46
[SPEAKER_01]: The running back room is not good.
1:13:47
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think the running back room is good.
1:13:49
[SPEAKER_01]: I've been pretty consistent with that for this entire off season.
1:13:54
[SPEAKER_01]: I just think the bears may be like, well, this is just what the running back room is going to be.
1:13:58
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll get a decent run game because Ben Johnson's run scheme is really good, but other than that, I just don't know, like, look, could they grab a cut veteran like Robinson?
1:14:10
[SPEAKER_01]: Sure.
1:14:10
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that's a possibility, but
1:14:13
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, again, I think the bears this year, they, you know, Ben Johnson comes in and they're like, all right, where do we need to improve?
1:14:20
[SPEAKER_01]: We need to improve on the offensive line done.
1:14:23
[SPEAKER_01]: They go out and they beef up the offensive line.
1:14:25
[SPEAKER_01]: They go to the draft.
1:14:27
[SPEAKER_01]: They say we need to get, you know, some skill position players.
1:14:29
[SPEAKER_01]: They get level and they get bird.
1:14:31
[SPEAKER_01]: They clearly try to get a running back.
1:14:33
[SPEAKER_01]: It didn't work out.
1:14:35
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if the bears are sitting there going, we are Super Bowl contenders this year.
1:14:38
[SPEAKER_01]: They want to see massive improvement.
1:14:39
[SPEAKER_01]: They want to see playoffs.
1:14:41
[SPEAKER_01]: They want to see a team that's buying in.
1:14:43
[SPEAKER_01]: But I think if they're just like running back room is just not very good this year.
1:14:46
[SPEAKER_01]: It's what it's going to be.
1:14:47
[SPEAKER_01]: Well, sign a veteran next year.
1:14:49
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll draft a running back high.
1:14:52
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll beef up our running back room for twenty twenty six when we think we are going to be true Super Bowl contenders.
1:15:00
[SPEAKER_01]: Right, let's say Ryan Schlandser predict the Bears OL room at the final fifty three and who do you think they try and sneak on the practice squad?
1:15:10
[SPEAKER_01]: So with this one, I think the, you know, I did the ten guys at the start of the, the podcast.
1:15:17
[SPEAKER_01]: Again, I think the, I think they're going to do ten offensive linemen, which means less need for guys on the practice squad, but I think they did ten offensive linemen, the five backups being benedit trapelo Amagaji, baits and Newman.
1:15:30
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think the guy is Bill Murray is the guy they try and sneak on the practice squad.
1:15:34
[SPEAKER_01]: He has been hurt most of training camp.
1:15:37
[SPEAKER_01]: I have a hard time believing a team is going to give him a fifty three spot based on the fact that he just hasn't played.
1:15:42
[SPEAKER_01]: I think Murray goes to the practice squad.
1:15:45
[SPEAKER_01]: I think a center.
1:15:47
[SPEAKER_01]: either Kramer or Stromberg, based on what I've seen, it's probably going to end up being Kramer, Stromberg doesn't look like a guy who's taken it.
1:15:54
[SPEAKER_01]: Even though I loved him coming on a college that injury has clearly kind of derailed his career.
1:15:59
[SPEAKER_01]: It's really unfortunate for him.
1:16:01
[SPEAKER_01]: But I think that's what you're looking at.
1:16:03
[SPEAKER_01]: They don't need a Josh Miles or anyone that on the practice squad because if they've got
1:16:07
[SPEAKER_01]: basically what five tackles on the fifty three.
1:16:11
[SPEAKER_01]: They don't need extra tackles on the practice squad, at least I don't think they do.
1:16:14
[SPEAKER_01]: So they beef up and have a little extra on the interior guys on the practice squad.
1:16:18
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that's what we look at for the fifty three.
1:16:21
[SPEAKER_01]: And then eventually whether it's injuries or things kind of streamline a little bit, they eventually get back down within the first couple weeks to nine offensive linemen.
1:16:30
[SPEAKER_01]: If they think they can slide, you know, if someone gets hurt, they move them to the IR.
1:16:35
[SPEAKER_01]: If someone, you know, they, they try and sneak on a God's ear, benefit it back down to the practice squad, something like that, when they need, you know, some more beef at a different position.
1:16:44
[SPEAKER_01]: Jason Black, glad you're back, Bill, depending on how serious Booker and Dom Ram injury, do you see the bears making a move for clownies, DE three?
1:16:51
[SPEAKER_01]: Don't think Kenneth Walker, Brian Robinson is viable unless you swap one of them for Rochon, but Rochon plays special teams.
1:16:58
[SPEAKER_01]: I, again, I, I, I'd love to see him make a little bit of a splash at defenseman.
1:17:02
[SPEAKER_01]: I just don't think they're going to.
1:17:05
[SPEAKER_01]: And I do think the running back to watch right now is Rochon Johnson.
1:17:10
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, he plays special teams, but they have guys like Travis Homer that can play special teams.
1:17:14
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know about manan guys ability on special teams or if that's something they want to utilize with him.
1:17:19
[SPEAKER_01]: They do they have kept around enough special teams guys with and having Travis Homer there that they don't probably necessarily need Rochon Johnson.
1:17:28
[SPEAKER_01]: Again, Rochon's a Swiss army knife.
1:17:30
[SPEAKER_01]: There's a lot of things.
1:17:31
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, doesn't lot of do a lot of things spectacularly well.
1:17:35
[SPEAKER_01]: But, you know, I did think Rochon might be able to be kind of that Jamal Williams guy, not quite as good as that in Ben Johnson's offense in between the tackles.
1:17:44
[SPEAKER_01]: But it seems like Manangai is taking that role really well with Johnson on the sidelines again.
1:17:49
[SPEAKER_01]: So maybe they bring in a veteran instead of Rochon.
1:17:52
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if it'd be someone like Kenneth Walker, but, you know, maybe a lower middle of the road guy, you know, voice Freeman, you know, something like that will see.
1:18:02
[SPEAKER_01]: I want to see a lint, I don't have to be a huge splash.
1:18:05
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not saying go out and get micoparsons, you know, I'm open to the idea, but I would like to see them add a little bit of veteran beef to this, fifty-three-man roster.
1:18:15
[SPEAKER_01]: I just don't know if we're going to see a lot.
1:18:17
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll have to see.
1:18:18
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm little John, haven't seen Turner or Frazier forever.
1:18:21
[SPEAKER_01]: Do you think they start an IR or get cut or to the practice squad?
1:18:26
[SPEAKER_01]: Turner, I think, makes the fifty three.
1:18:28
[SPEAKER_01]: I know he took, he missed a lot of time, but he is back now.
1:18:30
[SPEAKER_01]: He's starting to practice.
1:18:32
[SPEAKER_01]: I think they just put him on the fifty three and I'm gonna mess with IR.
1:18:35
[SPEAKER_01]: They've got enough depth there.
1:18:37
[SPEAKER_01]: He doesn't have to be their third defensive tackle this year.
1:18:40
[SPEAKER_01]: Doesn't even have to necessarily be their fourth Chris Williams could be their fourth defensive tackle the first couple weeks while Turner gets up to speed.
1:18:46
[SPEAKER_01]: I think he's fine as an active guy on the fifty three.
1:18:50
[SPEAKER_01]: And I talked about phrase here at the beginning of the podcast.
1:18:52
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know exactly what they're going to do, but
1:18:56
[SPEAKER_01]: I just don't see him playing this here.
1:18:58
[SPEAKER_01]: He missed the entire training camp.
1:19:00
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, he's a rookie.
1:19:01
[SPEAKER_01]: He's a fifth round rookie at that.
1:19:03
[SPEAKER_01]: I can't see him playing this here.
1:19:04
[SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, I can't see any other team picking him up and giving him a spot on the fifty three either.
1:19:09
[SPEAKER_01]: So if the bears do cut him, it does seem like he could certainly get to the practice squad at this point.
1:19:14
[SPEAKER_01]: But we don't know exactly what's going on with him.
1:19:16
[SPEAKER_01]: Does he need to miss the entire season?
1:19:19
[SPEAKER_01]: Is there an actual issue with him in the bears?
1:19:22
[SPEAKER_01]: I wouldn't think so.
1:19:22
[SPEAKER_01]: I would assume everything here is amicable.
1:19:25
[SPEAKER_01]: But Zoff Rager is there's no reason to think he's going to be on the fifty three man roster at this point.
1:19:30
[SPEAKER_01]: He's the fifth round rookie who hasn't played.
1:19:31
[SPEAKER_01]: They have no idea where he is with Dennis Allen's defense and these concepts and all he's he's he's not in the mix.
1:19:38
[SPEAKER_01]: So whether he goes to IR, whether he goes to the practice squad, whether he goes on the failure to report list.
1:19:44
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know exactly where his offer is going to be, but I don't think it's going to be on the fifty three man roster.
1:19:50
[SPEAKER_01]: But as long as everything is amicable, I also don't think his offer is going anywhere at least for this year.
1:19:55
[SPEAKER_01]: But like I said, losing this type of year as a rookie.
1:20:00
[SPEAKER_01]: probably his career has sailed because he's already like, twenty five years old, what?
1:20:04
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll be twenty six twenty seven years old, the first couple years in the league.
1:20:07
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a very small window for a corner back to have any level of success.
1:20:12
[SPEAKER_01]: I wouldn't have wanted Frazier just based on his age and his competition levels in college pulls, you know, through a dart anyway.
1:20:21
[SPEAKER_01]: Now he has missed the training camp.
1:20:22
[SPEAKER_01]: So I like to say, I think that that draft pick is just kind of sailed unfortunately.
1:20:26
[SPEAKER_01]: Ah, Lester A will thong junior.
1:20:28
[SPEAKER_01]: What is the most likely position to Chicago Bears are looking for off the wave or wire?
1:20:34
[SPEAKER_01]: Um, I think they're going to like the quarterback Def Lester.
1:20:37
[SPEAKER_01]: I think they've got their safeties and their linebackers set edges certainly a position.
1:20:42
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't think they're going to mess with defensive tackles.
1:20:45
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe it, you know, if there's a really surprised tackle out there and they don't trust Brax and Jones.
1:20:50
[SPEAKER_01]: Maybe they can do something wild at tackle.
1:20:53
[SPEAKER_01]: But I think the offensive line quarterbacks wide receivers are all set.
1:20:58
[SPEAKER_01]: if there's an interesting fourth tight end that they can add, maybe they do something there because beyond Durham's smile, they just didn't see any other tight end step up and really take that role.
1:21:09
[SPEAKER_01]: And it's the running back situation.
1:21:10
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if they'd carry a fifth running back, but do they trust Rochan Johnson be able to stay on the field?
1:21:16
[SPEAKER_01]: And if they don't, who's the guy that they can pick up and be that RB to RB through?
1:21:21
[SPEAKER_01]: Whoever they pick up is probably also gonna have to play special teams as well.
1:21:27
[SPEAKER_01]: That's the way I see things playing out with this fifty three man roster next week.
1:21:34
[SPEAKER_01]: So that's going to do it for bears banter.
1:21:37
[SPEAKER_01]: We are basically at the regular season.
1:21:39
[SPEAKER_01]: So with this podcast, we are kind of kicking off the bears banter season.
1:21:44
[SPEAKER_01]: We will be here regularly and of course weekly throughout the regular season and regularly leading up to the, you will have another one before week one kicks off against the Minnesota Vikings.
1:21:56
[SPEAKER_01]: That's going to do it for bear's banter.
1:21:57
[SPEAKER_01]: We'll talk to you again soon.
1:21:58
[SPEAKER_01]: Bear an eye on everybody.