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Bear & Balanced: Bears Fall Short in Divisional Round · 2nd City Gridiron

0:08
[SPEAKER_02]: Welcome to bear balance.
0:10
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm Jeff Burke, as other side of the screen, Lester A will fall in junior, Lester the Chicago Bears bowed out of the plate, the playoff picture with an overtime loss 20 to 17 against the L.A. Rams, but a damn good game and a damn good season, how'd you take it?
0:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it was a fun game.
0:30
[SPEAKER_00]: It was up and down, right?
0:31
[SPEAKER_00]: A lot of emotions during an entire game and that was the season, right?
0:35
[SPEAKER_00]: That's the season that this bears team Circus on roller coaster ride, you know way more highs than lows.
0:41
[SPEAKER_00]: But those highs were like highs were pretty high, such a special season.
0:47
[SPEAKER_00]: And like we were talking about a little bit earlier, this feels like the start of something big.
0:54
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I think so too.
0:55
[SPEAKER_02]: I think when you when you look at some of the previous history and they see a lot of like, you know, there's a lot of
1:03
[SPEAKER_02]: and have seen fans of other NFC North teams that sure have been churping at bears and bears fans and waiting for their demise and our good friends have been prided to Troy.
1:14
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, openly talking about, oh, I'm so happy that this team that's just nothing but luck is knocked out and they hate the bears.
1:21
[SPEAKER_02]: With the Ben Johnson stuff, they just hate them.
1:24
[SPEAKER_02]: Obviously the Packers fans, they hate the bears, the Vikings fans, no one can hear them, but they were churping too, right?
1:31
[SPEAKER_02]: And so you've got this interesting position where no one believes, no one outside of Chicago in the NFC North believes that this is real.
1:42
[SPEAKER_02]: Like this was, oh, this is a blip, this is a one you're at, you know, average and you're going to go back to crash back down to Earth.
1:48
[SPEAKER_02]: And, you know, maybe you could have seen that in 2018 to 2019, maybe not.
1:52
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, there's a lot of stuff in hindsight that happened there that we know of the demise of that, uh, very different
2:01
[SPEAKER_02]: Right?
2:01
[SPEAKER_02]: You're not having big fangeos, not leaving, right?
2:05
[SPEAKER_02]: This wasn't a defensive lead team.
2:08
[SPEAKER_02]: In fact, the defense was kind of hobbling or along for most of the year.
2:11
[SPEAKER_02]: And with injuries and Dennis Allen trying to figure out, throw on the kitchen sink, and everything he could.
2:19
[SPEAKER_02]: But this was a team that had some fun lucky.
2:25
[SPEAKER_02]: wins if you want to call it lucky wins early on.
2:28
[SPEAKER_02]: And then they started to get good.
2:30
[SPEAKER_02]: They started to play good football down the stretch to the point where they were, I think, probably unlucky in the playoffs and still one one of the games and probably should have won the second one.
2:42
[SPEAKER_02]: We'll get into all of that, but just like overall of this game, you know, did you, when you went back in Washington, we always go back and rewash these games.
2:53
[SPEAKER_02]: When you went back and rewatched this, did it hurt more or less on the second viewing?
2:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I think I talked about one time before, like, uh, I figured what's game was about.
3:02
[SPEAKER_00]: But I, I'm the rewatch, I think it was the Packers game, uh, early in the season, where they came back and won and I got excited again all over again.
3:09
[SPEAKER_00]: I had the same feeling with this, this game that passed a colk met, you know, goosebumps, right?
3:15
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, I knew it was coming, but yet it happened in the, in the moment I'm just like,
3:20
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just such a fun play to see it's such a huge moment that the bear is kind of, you know, met the moment and they kind of did what they had to do.
3:28
[SPEAKER_00]: And again, a fourth down play.
3:30
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, look.
3:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Every week, it's like, oh, that's the best throw of his career.
3:35
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, that's the best of his career.
3:37
[SPEAKER_00]: I saw a tweet earlier this week.
3:39
[SPEAKER_00]: It was, I can't remember who it was.
3:40
[SPEAKER_00]: I, but it was like the top five plays from Caleb Williams, and I lost him.
3:44
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, man, those are great plays.
3:46
[SPEAKER_00]: But I started thinking, well, he forgot about a couple plays in the Packers game, the earlier games.
3:51
[SPEAKER_00]: And like, I remember all these other plays that he did.
3:55
[SPEAKER_00]: a good offseason project for someone and I'm sure once someone on YouTube will do this is go through and clip all the greatest Caleb Highledge because this season was full of them.
4:04
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I think it's going to be fun.
4:05
[SPEAKER_02]: Certainly something that I've thought about.
4:07
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm sure someone will will get up and do that, but like it's also one of those things where you might have a different opinion.
4:12
[SPEAKER_02]: You might have different grades, you might have, you know, here's the context of the play or this is just a pure throw or, you know, whatever.
4:19
[SPEAKER_02]: And then in
4:21
[SPEAKER_02]: Again, the critics were like, oh, yeah, sure he can just he has these these one off throws everyone's for a while, but it's like a lot of the stuff, the the bread and butter of this offense continued to build and look better and better throughout the year.
4:33
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, again, we'll get into some of it that kind of failed.
4:36
[SPEAKER_02]: I think failed Caleb and failed a great defensive effort here, but overall competitive game, and I think it was interesting
4:51
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay.
4:52
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, we know what we got to do next year and not, you know, complaining about the refs or, you know, they weren't hanging their heads.
5:01
[SPEAKER_02]: They were like, we've got the guy at, you know, with the headset on, we've got the guy under center.
5:07
[SPEAKER_02]: And I think that when we came into this year,
5:10
[SPEAKER_02]: that was what we were looking for.
5:12
[SPEAKER_02]: We've been talking about it a long time.
5:13
[SPEAKER_02]: We were convinced of both pieces of that, but every week, more and more people are jumping on that because they see what those two have been able to build together in year one and you let your imagination run free and that's get back to your original point of like,
5:29
[SPEAKER_02]: This ain't no flash in the pan like the, you know, Rich hasn't had a little clip about today.
5:33
[SPEAKER_02]: Love it.
5:34
[SPEAKER_02]: And he was like, this team's going to be back and his, you know, his guys are like, yeah, duh, you know, and I, this reminds me so much of.
5:44
[SPEAKER_02]: My homes first years in starter, they got to the S.H.A.P issue game.
5:47
[SPEAKER_02]: And they took the Patriots, you know, they had them on the ropes, Patriots end up winning, they go win this removal.
5:53
[SPEAKER_02]: And when they lost that, S.H.A.P issue game, I got a lot of cheese fans in my life.
5:58
[SPEAKER_02]: And they were all like, uh, well, never get back, you know, and I was like, guys, you got the guy.
6:02
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you got to read.
6:03
[SPEAKER_02]: You got to read.
6:05
[SPEAKER_02]: He's good.
6:06
[SPEAKER_02]: You've got the guy quarterback.
6:08
[SPEAKER_02]: You're going to be back.
6:09
[SPEAKER_02]: Now, I wouldn't have, you know, all of the dominance that they've had in this, their dynasty, like I wouldn't have predicted that necessarily, but I was like, you guys are going to get one.
6:17
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, don't worry about it.
6:18
[SPEAKER_02]: And I feel that way about the bears right now.
6:21
[SPEAKER_02]: But I need somebody to tell me that.
6:23
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
6:24
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, like, and so it was nice to hear that from Richison.
6:28
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, you guys are good.
6:29
[SPEAKER_02]: You got it.
6:29
[SPEAKER_02]: You got it.
6:30
[SPEAKER_02]: And there's other national.
6:31
[SPEAKER_02]: It's not just him.
6:31
[SPEAKER_02]: There, you know, the other guys have been building into that, uh, in that narrative over the last few weeks.
6:38
[SPEAKER_02]: And so I do feel like as we said at the end of this season, looking back, it's going to be a lot of fun to remember, but to me, it feels like this is the start of something that's going to be really special.
6:50
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I saw a lot of people talking about the the cubs, the year before Joe Man's first year as manager there, they kind of, you know, yeah, they thought they'd be better, but they, you know, they made a plan and no one expected that then you give course the next year they, they wouldn't the world series and it's, it's where this team is right it's, it's is the 84 bears, this is the 05 bears right they're right there, right there, it's, it looks good, but the difference is.
7:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Ben Johnson, Kail Williams.
7:18
[SPEAKER_00]: You got those two spots locked up.
7:20
[SPEAKER_00]: That's why it gives you those those cheese vibes like you said with my homes and read.
7:24
[SPEAKER_02]: Love it.
7:25
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, let's get into this game.
7:26
[SPEAKER_02]: We'll go through the categories and and we'll get through this.
7:29
[SPEAKER_02]: So we start every show in the trenches, trench tribute, where do you want to go for your final trench tribute of the year?
7:35
[SPEAKER_00]: I got a two for and and it's the reason is because I wrote one I wrote one guy's name down and I'm like, well, I can't mention him, but I'm mentioning him.
7:43
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's Joe Thuny.
7:45
[SPEAKER_00]: It's Jordan McFad and that's the left side.
7:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Man, bears fans were up in arms when that that leaked by Brad Bigs broke the story that they're going to start Joe Thuny at left tackle.
7:55
[SPEAKER_00]: He did it, obviously, with the chiefs, you know, last year and you know, he's he was fine, Mary, the better guard than he is a tackle.
8:02
[SPEAKER_00]: But, you know, desperate times and that's what the bears were and they didn't want feel better than they out there.
8:08
[SPEAKER_00]: They didn't trust them as a past blocker against verse.
8:11
[SPEAKER_00]: So they made the move and then Jordan McFadden, right?
8:15
[SPEAKER_00]: A guy that started the year on a practice squad made that back of roster about, you know, a few games in.
8:20
[SPEAKER_00]: If it fans are concerned, but I thought both those guys hold up well, they made a point on the broadcast, they're not running into the left, they're not running into the left.
8:27
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, I think that's kind of normal anyway, the bears like to run behind right and jacks in any way, but yeah, I think Joe Tuney, Jordan McFan, and you can't mention one one with that the other this game, I thought both played pretty good.
8:40
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I didn't even doubt a little bit.
8:41
[SPEAKER_02]: They started running left a little more, but yeah, they're a little right-handed early on in the game.
8:47
[SPEAKER_02]: And then that started to even out.
8:48
[SPEAKER_02]: I will say that, you know, the bear's rushing attack was not particularly good, particularly in the short-weigh order situation.
8:54
[SPEAKER_02]: So, you know, that was definitely a takeaway on us.
8:56
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a good front.
8:57
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a good front.
8:58
[SPEAKER_02]: Rans have a really good front.
8:59
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, there's a little frustrating.
9:01
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, we can get into that.
9:02
[SPEAKER_02]: But yeah, I had the same two names written down.
9:05
[SPEAKER_02]: And that was it.
9:06
[SPEAKER_02]: That was the only two names I wrote down because I thought like this is in your right.
9:09
[SPEAKER_02]: There was a lot of people that were questioning the move beforehand.
9:14
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, I heard a lot of like when you're getting worse or two positions and just like I don't like know that I get that I know I understand the math, but I think like we'll.
9:25
[SPEAKER_02]: you know, to pillows out.
9:27
[SPEAKER_02]: So like, either you're going to put in a guy that you don't feel comfortable with and you don't like the game plan or you're going to move your left guard out to left tackle.
9:36
[SPEAKER_02]: This is a guy that's right.
9:38
[SPEAKER_02]: At this point, I feel like Joe Tune is going to be in a Hall of Fame.
9:40
[SPEAKER_02]: So, you know, you ask him to do what he's done before and even if he's not a Hall of Fame left tackle, he's a Hall of Fame offensive lineman that's making the sacrifice,
9:54
[SPEAKER_02]: And then you bring in your backup guard that you feel most comfortable with to execute your game plan.
10:00
[SPEAKER_02]: These guys know what they're doing.
10:01
[SPEAKER_02]: They've been working with them this is week 19, right?
10:03
[SPEAKER_02]: The game 19, this is they've been working with them all year.
10:06
[SPEAKER_02]: And so, I mean, if you're not trusting this coaching staff yet, then I don't, you know, you're not in the building every day.
10:13
[SPEAKER_02]: Like I mean, just like the number of people that like put in our circle, too, where I don't like this, I don't like it at all.
10:18
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm like, well, they clearly don't like going back to the benefit.
10:25
[SPEAKER_02]: So if that's the case,
10:27
[SPEAKER_02]: And you have a game plan that you want to run here, then you have to make that move and I thought overall.
10:34
[SPEAKER_02]: They play pretty well, like they held up in past protection and McFadden was doing some things in the run game.
10:40
[SPEAKER_02]: That goes to show you that, you know, you keep these guys engaged all year.
10:46
[SPEAKER_02]: You coach him up, you're coaching up, not just the starters, but you're coaching up the backups and the guys cause you never know when the next guy's gonna be up.
10:53
[SPEAKER_02]: And when they have that opportunity, they play well.
10:56
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, for him to have this first start of the, McFadden to have his first start of the year in a divisional playoff game,
11:02
[SPEAKER_02]: play pretty respectfully.
11:04
[SPEAKER_02]: I think is a great testament to him and to the coaching staff.
11:08
[SPEAKER_02]: And both guys absolutely deserve the praise at the top of the show.
11:12
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, Dan Rashar bears all-line coach.
11:14
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, this guy knows what he's doing, obviously.
11:16
[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, this was hindsight.
11:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Again, hindsight tells a lot of things.
11:20
[SPEAKER_00]: This is one worth like, yeah, they made the right move here with, you know, and I thought Tony was good.
11:25
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, he looked
11:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Like you could not tell that he doesn't have tackle technique.
11:29
[SPEAKER_00]: He's just such a pro, right?
11:30
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, yeah, yeah, he is just so good.
11:32
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, yeah, he doesn't have the the prototype a build for left tackle, but you watch him play.
11:37
[SPEAKER_00]: You don't see, or that's a guard trying to play tackle.
11:40
[SPEAKER_00]: You see a tackle, you know, that's that's kind of how we isn't a McFadden, you know, good athlete.
11:44
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think he, he definitely has earned the trust of this coaching staff and he's a guy that I think to Brad Fry bring back next year or two now.
11:51
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, absolutely.
11:52
[SPEAKER_02]: I thought it was funny that they on the broadcast said that verse said, well, anybody that's under 350 pounds, I'm just going to bull russian.
11:59
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
12:00
[SPEAKER_02]: And, uh, and I was like, well, okay, maybe, but, you know, to me, insertantly anchor down in the interior.
12:07
[SPEAKER_02]: And so, to me, Mark.
12:09
[SPEAKER_02]: He's a guard, he's the one that's one thing he knows not to do.
12:12
[SPEAKER_02]: So when he said that I left, I mean, one of those like, I laughed out loud moments.
12:16
[SPEAKER_02]: This is like, well, he's a guard.
12:18
[SPEAKER_02]: He's, he's going to have an anchor.
12:20
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, I would worry about him being able to chase out speed.
12:23
[SPEAKER_02]: Right.
12:23
[SPEAKER_02]: So that would be, anyway, that it is what it is.
12:27
[SPEAKER_02]: Uh, uh, Ryan, we a little bit of Marshall Yanda.
12:29
[SPEAKER_02]: who kicked out Tackle for the Ravens when they needed him, it's rare.
12:34
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, obviously, Kyle Long did it, you know, and you know, we could we could talk about that too, but I'm talking Hall of Fame level player at guard being able to kick out the Tackle, and even within that Hall of Fame guard category, I still think it's tough, right?
12:52
[SPEAKER_02]: But I do think it shows just how good
12:55
[SPEAKER_02]: All right, let's get into social media portion, sweet tweets.
12:58
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm going to kick us off because I think yours rolls in a little bit more.
13:02
[SPEAKER_02]: So we're doing it in mind a little bit more big picture.
13:04
[SPEAKER_02]: So this is from Ashton, Kutcher, which I can't believe that I'm quoting a tweet from
13:13
[SPEAKER_02]: accurate.
13:14
[SPEAKER_02]: And famous bears fan asked him to put her.
13:16
[SPEAKER_02]: He's at a plus k. And I think he was like an original Twitter user.
13:22
[SPEAKER_02]: Like he was like the original like celebrity sponsor of Twitter.
13:26
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't anyway, maybe go away.
13:28
[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't ring a bell.
13:29
[SPEAKER_02]: He was like they just kind of get he was helped get it going.
13:34
[SPEAKER_02]: So we can blame him for part of the Twitter success.
13:38
[SPEAKER_02]: But
13:39
[SPEAKER_02]: This is a long one, but I wanted to read it because I thought it felt important in philosophical, and so his tweet was a win would have been nice, but it was still the greatest nine of my football life.
13:49
[SPEAKER_02]: It's the moment that I will always remember when the real reason football clicked in.
13:54
[SPEAKER_02]: Football isn't just a game played with a ball on the field.
13:57
[SPEAKER_02]: It's not just a 3D chess with men colliding, it's human connection, it's family genetics.
14:08
[SPEAKER_02]: I witnessed my son standing in the same place that I stand, screaming at a black square with colored pixels for an orange and blue team as if somehow his cries could affect the outcome of the game.
14:19
[SPEAKER_02]: Last night was the night that I knew that I had done my real job as a bear's fan.
14:24
[SPEAKER_02]: I passed the game to the next generation.
14:26
[SPEAKER_02]: I shared a forever loyalty.
14:28
[SPEAKER_02]: He is fully on his way to a lifetime
14:36
[SPEAKER_02]: love and passion, love and loss, passion and grit, strategy and might joy and disappointment.
14:43
[SPEAKER_02]: And when the day comes, where my son and I are in an impasse, we can always talk about the bears.
14:49
[SPEAKER_02]: And before we get, we've mentioned this group chat that we're in with some people and a few guys had some pictures of themselves with their kids all wearing bears here or with their wives or with their families.
15:05
[SPEAKER_02]: I got a lot of that, you know, there was a moment where, yeah, obviously, the big, the big past, my full blew up, like I had like 20 texts from people that I hadn't heard from in years.
15:17
[SPEAKER_02]: In some instances.
15:18
[SPEAKER_02]: And so, you know, this game.
15:20
[SPEAKER_02]: does bring you together in a way and it's a shared experience for a lot of people and yes, we we have covered this team on the flows, lowliest lows and we're hoping to cover them on the highest highs.
15:34
[SPEAKER_02]: But I think that overall the experience is something that is supposed to be fun, but it also can be really meaningful and important as you wash these games with loved ones and
15:50
[SPEAKER_02]: you know me yelling at TV or or say it like go for like
15:55
[SPEAKER_02]: It means nothing like no one is impacted by whether or not I watch this game, but you are in it to a point where you think you being there and wearing the same shirts and, you know, not washing your socks for, you know, during winning streak or whatever weird thing you have going on, you know, somehow impacts the overall mojo of your favorite football team and I just think that to all of you that have been around for the ride or just getting on board.
16:24
[SPEAKER_02]: This is what football is all about and we're happy to have you now.
16:28
[SPEAKER_00]: That's a great tweet.
16:28
[SPEAKER_00]: I missed that You know, I don't follow.
16:30
[SPEAKER_00]: I actually like you to say I missed that one there.
16:32
[SPEAKER_00]: So He's from Iowa.
16:34
[SPEAKER_00]: He's from me.
16:35
[SPEAKER_00]: He's an Iowa guy.
16:36
[SPEAKER_02]: He is downtown.
16:37
[SPEAKER_00]: They're very cool.
16:38
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
16:39
[SPEAKER_00]: Nice.
16:39
[SPEAKER_00]: That's in the same vein I don't know if you guys caught the jack silver signboard article for us last week.
16:45
[SPEAKER_00]: This one's for the kids about the the packers and bears game last week
16:49
[SPEAKER_00]: phenomenal article.
16:50
[SPEAKER_00]: He talked about the same kind of same thing.
16:52
[SPEAKER_00]: How he's sharing this with his kids.
16:53
[SPEAKER_00]: His kids now get to know this.
16:55
[SPEAKER_00]: His kids realizing that this is like the kids, his kids first good bearish team.
17:00
[SPEAKER_00]: They have experienced Chicago sky championships.
17:03
[SPEAKER_00]: He's a big sky
17:05
[SPEAKER_00]: you know, but this is their first bears and you know, his kids are are feeling it now and they understand the emotion of it.
17:12
[SPEAKER_00]: It's, it is an emotional game, right?
17:14
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, if you have someone you can share it with and in your circle of loved ones or friends or family, I mean, that makes it that much more special.
17:22
[SPEAKER_02]: Let's see if we can get asked on the show.
17:25
[SPEAKER_02]: Let's see if we can pull the eye of a card on them next time.
17:27
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't, I'm not even I will see to wrap it, you know,
17:33
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, let's still let's head over to yours.
17:35
[SPEAKER_00]: So I got to share this because when I saw it, I literally laughed out loud and when I saw the tweet.
17:40
[SPEAKER_00]: So Cole Tamari, at Cole Tamari, he quoted the Sunday night football NBC clip of the, of the, of the, of the latest, the latest, the latest, the latest, the latest, the latest best pass of the year.
17:55
[SPEAKER_00]: And, and what he said was, you know, Chris Conther has been around the game for nearly 50 years.
18:00
[SPEAKER_00]: If he's saying this, and then what he's saying is, is, count worth in the game was talking about was one of the greatest shows of all time, you know, unbelievable stuff, you know, just Caleb is very, very, you know, complementary towards Caleb's and everything Caleb didn't this game.
18:15
[SPEAKER_00]: So, again, Chris Collins rip it on the game for nearly 50 years.
18:18
[SPEAKER_00]: If he's saying this, you know, it's some crazy shit.
18:20
[SPEAKER_00]: Mike Trico laughing like he's in a,
18:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Tom's laugh at reading this.
18:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Mike Trico, laughing like he's in a Syracuse space and watching the NFL on CBS while smoking a joint in 1987.
18:31
[SPEAKER_00]: The bears really have that guy at QB.
18:34
[SPEAKER_00]: And if you go back and watch the clip and I did, I watched it today.
18:36
[SPEAKER_00]: Trico was gigaling, right?
18:39
[SPEAKER_00]: When the play happened, right?
18:40
[SPEAKER_00]: Like these guys are having fun.
18:41
[SPEAKER_00]: That's, again, that's football, football's fun.
18:44
[SPEAKER_00]: If you're not enjoying the game, then, you know, finding a new hobby.
18:48
[SPEAKER_00]: But,
18:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Collinsworth, Tereko, Rich Eisen, they all know it, right?
18:54
[SPEAKER_00]: The bears have the guy at quarterback.
18:56
[SPEAKER_00]: It's Caleb Williams, paired with Ben Johnson.
18:59
[SPEAKER_00]: This championship window is open.
19:02
[SPEAKER_00]: Any talk of regression is just cope happening from fans, from other fan bases.
19:07
[SPEAKER_00]: This team is here.
19:08
[SPEAKER_00]: This team is going to be here for a long time.
19:11
[SPEAKER_00]: And it scares some fans of Packers and Vikings and Lions because they haven't had this happen
19:19
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, this team is on the upper trajectory.
19:22
[SPEAKER_02]: We talked about it a lot.
19:23
[SPEAKER_02]: They're not, they weren't a team like say the commanders from last year where they really wanted to make a splash with new ownership and they spent, oh, yeah.
19:33
[SPEAKER_02]: Reagency.
19:34
[SPEAKER_02]: That's right.
19:35
[SPEAKER_02]: older veterans and they they pushed a lot of money into last year and they it paid off.
19:40
[SPEAKER_02]: They got all the way to the NSC championship game.
19:43
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, fast forward this year if they're Gumby quarterback out hurt.
19:46
[SPEAKER_02]: He missed.
19:47
[SPEAKER_02]: He missed a bunch of games.
19:48
[SPEAKER_02]: They're offensive coordinator got fired.
19:50
[SPEAKER_02]: Right.
19:50
[SPEAKER_02]: Like they.
19:52
[SPEAKER_00]: This guy was there.
19:53
[SPEAKER_02]: You got the backward hat.
19:55
[SPEAKER_02]: We're in horrible with the with the snapback, which I I find offensive.
19:59
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't like terrible look.
20:03
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it's
20:05
[SPEAKER_02]: What are you going to enable for sure on a little bit of those just wear your hat straight or where at least where I fit it had backwards that's my opinion, but you know, pull the griffy anyway, that's what's one of my very few strong strongly held opinions about hats, but
20:22
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay, um, it is fun.
20:26
[SPEAKER_02]: Uh, this, this, this game is fun.
20:29
[SPEAKER_02]: Um, the bears are built.
20:31
[SPEAKER_02]: This is the start of their window.
20:33
[SPEAKER_02]: It isn't like this one random push to make splash.
20:36
[SPEAKER_02]: It's not, uh, it's not the dying edge of a window where they have to to reload and reset.
20:43
[SPEAKER_02]: This is the, the start of the window here.
20:46
[SPEAKER_02]: And, uh, you know, every starter,
20:50
[SPEAKER_02]: Maybe one of the writers see where it's going to have to be back, but I would say every starter is under contract, right?
20:56
[SPEAKER_02]: Like all these guys can come back.
20:59
[SPEAKER_02]: And so it's it's they're going to be starting from a much higher position and some of the things that
21:05
[SPEAKER_02]: I think the reason why this game did not go in the bear's favor was because they were not really focused on the details that the whole team that only improves over time.
21:15
[SPEAKER_02]: So I think this is on the up.
21:18
[SPEAKER_02]: So let's let's head into the caught up in a numbers game.
21:20
[SPEAKER_02]: Let's let's go with our stat of the week.
21:24
[SPEAKER_02]: I guess I started off last category.
21:25
[SPEAKER_02]: So I'll I'll go here.
21:27
[SPEAKER_02]: I've got a few numbers that I think are interesting.
21:30
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm going to give the one that I think is the most interesting, and that is five.
21:34
[SPEAKER_02]: The bears had five force fumbles in the last two weeks, and they recovered Z-Rode.
21:41
[SPEAKER_02]: Good job.
21:42
[SPEAKER_02]: And I think that for all of the talk about how lucky this team has been with turnover luck and all that kind of stuff, I don't really see it that way because
21:55
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't think turnovers are as lucky as I think like the ball bounces, you're generally going to recover about half of the fumbles.
22:02
[SPEAKER_02]: They recovered zero.
22:03
[SPEAKER_02]: They had no luck on the force fumbles.
22:06
[SPEAKER_02]: I went through the game and I took a tally of the number of times that I thought Matthew Stafford threw a ball that could have been intercepted.
22:14
[SPEAKER_02]: Now, would have been a great play or did the ball need to be tipped slightly different to really have a play on it?
22:19
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes.
22:20
[SPEAKER_02]: But I had five.
22:21
[SPEAKER_02]: I had five balls that I thought.
22:23
[SPEAKER_02]: He probably could, if the bears would have intercepted them, you would have been like, yep, that makes sense.
22:28
[SPEAKER_02]: Right.
22:29
[SPEAKER_02]: So you had five opportunities there and two fumbles from Stafford that were both recovered by the way, Rams.
22:35
[SPEAKER_02]: One just bounced right back into his bread basket.
22:37
[SPEAKER_02]: I was Tanner and the other, you know, Johnny on the spot, their recovered recovered the fumble.
22:43
[SPEAKER_02]: So, you know, anywhere from like two to seven opportunities and the bears got none of them.
22:48
[SPEAKER_02]: And I think that that's just like,
22:50
[SPEAKER_02]: Um, I just think it's an interesting thing, like play off football, things tighten up and all the kind of stuff, but they can, one of those goes the bear's way.
23:00
[SPEAKER_02]: We probably are in a very different mood today, right?
23:03
[SPEAKER_02]: Like there's, there's just so many interesting things that happen in a football game that are magnified, but.
23:08
[SPEAKER_02]: This did not go their way, and they still won the first game, and they lost it over time to the second game.
23:15
[SPEAKER_02]: So it just goes to show you that, yes, they very much enjoyed that huge turnover differential advantage throughout the regular season, but it wasn't all of what fueled their success.
23:28
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, the Rams are a good team, right?
23:29
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, if you're going to beat the Rams, you got to get some luck.
23:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Hopefully to go your way and look at just didn't they didn't get all the breaks.
23:35
[SPEAKER_00]: And like you said that one bounce right back into his in his belly there was just a fortune of bounce for them.
23:41
[SPEAKER_00]: And, you know, this goes back to the packers last week.
23:43
[SPEAKER_00]: There was so many times where the bears, you know, that game shouldn't have been as close as it was.
23:48
[SPEAKER_00]: had some of those turnovers gone in the bear's way.
23:50
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, go back to your difference.
23:52
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, the Rams, I think they were the top team to step their friends.
23:55
[SPEAKER_00]: That's a very, very opportunistic team.
23:59
[SPEAKER_00]: But you don't hear that about the Rams.
24:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, they're a lucky team.
24:02
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I mean, it's because they're well coach, they have a good quarterback play.
24:05
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, they have a good offense that defensive is opportunistic.
24:08
[SPEAKER_00]: you know, that's, you know, the bears have some of the qualities too.
24:11
[SPEAKER_00]: They were number two instead of their friends all right for you.
24:14
[SPEAKER_00]: So they were both up there.
24:16
[SPEAKER_00]: They had that going for them, but that's, like you said, that's coach, right?
24:20
[SPEAKER_00]: That's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's coach Alheris, you know, teaching his DBs to attack the football, right?
24:27
[SPEAKER_00]: That, that's turnovers are sustainable if your coach that way.
24:31
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that's how the bears are coached.
24:36
[SPEAKER_00]: Speaking of sustainable, we hear a lot of talk about how, oh, the eight comebacks for the bearers, you can't keep winning that way, right?
24:42
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, we've heard that eight times, right?
24:45
[SPEAKER_00]: The fans have said, oh, it's not sustainable.
24:47
[SPEAKER_00]: You can't keep doing it.
24:48
[SPEAKER_00]: So, so it's not my number.
24:50
[SPEAKER_00]: My number is actually also five, right?
24:53
[SPEAKER_00]: Five of the bears seven losses this year.
24:56
[SPEAKER_00]: where one score games.
24:58
[SPEAKER_00]: So maybe you can't have eight close wins again this year, but are you gonna have five close losses?
25:04
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, if you're gonna play what if you gotta play what if the all the way around the world, right?
25:09
[SPEAKER_00]: You can't just say, well, they're too lucky when it comes to this.
25:12
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, are they also unlucky then?
25:14
[SPEAKER_00]: What it comes to the close losses?
25:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Five of the seven losses, they have lost those by average of four points again.
25:20
[SPEAKER_00]: They're right there in all those games.
25:21
[SPEAKER_00]: They hit a chance to win just like last night against the Rams.
25:24
[SPEAKER_00]: You're right there and it just didn't come through.
25:27
[SPEAKER_00]: So again, this is a good football team.
25:29
[SPEAKER_00]: They're well coached.
25:30
[SPEAKER_00]: The offense is completely intact coming back.
25:34
[SPEAKER_00]: The defense.
25:34
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if you caught this, but Chris Collins worth mentioning that Dennis Allen was told when he was hired, they were going to get none of his guys this year.
25:42
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, I missed that on the broadcast, but it was brought up in our chat, Aaron Lemming.
25:46
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's a hat tip to Aaron.
25:48
[SPEAKER_00]: He brought this up that he heard this in the broadcast and I'm like, oh, yeah, that's when back in the listen.
25:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
25:53
[SPEAKER_00]: So then it's on this offseason, he'll get a couple dogs, right?
25:58
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe an edge, you know, maybe a big body defense tackle, something's going to happen on defense this off season because last year was more skewed towards getting Caleb that support he needs getting Ben Johnson, the some of the guys he needs for his offense.
26:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Next year next off season coming up here and you know, a free and she starts and in a month and a half, you know, it's going to be a little more defense the draft maybe a little more defense maybe they'll make a trade and go after a.
26:27
[SPEAKER_00]: talented edge rush that's on the market.
26:29
[SPEAKER_00]: There's a couple of them still.
26:30
[SPEAKER_00]: So who knows?
26:32
[SPEAKER_00]: And then this goes along the lines of who wouldn't want to play for Ben Johnson, Chicago Bears.
26:38
[SPEAKER_00]: Right?
26:38
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, that's a huge part of this where a lot of fans don't think about, but look, if I have two offers in the table, money is comparable.
26:46
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to play with Caleb, right?
26:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Because I see, like my homes was back then, I see a guy that can kind of take this team to another level and help you out, help you get those rings.
26:58
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's where the bears are in this franchise right now.
27:02
[SPEAKER_00]: They're right there, like I said, on the cusp.
27:04
[SPEAKER_00]: And the league sees this, players around the league they all see this and why not play for Ben?
27:10
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, if you think about it, there's a lot of things, right?
27:12
[SPEAKER_02]: So if the bears are going to be better, they're going to have more prime time games.
27:16
[SPEAKER_02]: They're going to play more meaningful games when they'll play into the playoffs.
27:22
[SPEAKER_02]: And so you have more national spotlight on you as a player.
27:25
[SPEAKER_02]: So if you're looking to be like, hey, I need to kind of get that big contract.
27:30
[SPEAKER_02]: So I'm going to sign this one-year deal somewhere to re-establish my deal and go back into the fridge to market next year.
27:37
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, where do I want to go?
27:38
[SPEAKER_02]: Do I want to go to Arizona?
27:40
[SPEAKER_02]: And no one ever sees me or do I want to go to Chicago eat Arizona's pay me more money this year, but if I can go to Chicago, then maybe I can reset my value so there's like those types of free agents that you'll see I think be a little bit more interested in Chicago and then you got the legacy guys the guys that are like, you know, I've been playing I've already got my money.
28:00
[SPEAKER_02]: I've been playing for a long time, I really want to I want to ring I want an all pro like I want the like credentials to try to set me up after either they're going for the whole thing more like they just want to win a ring like like these guys play football for a long time they want to be a simple champion right and you see somebody's guys like well I'm going to go to a playoff contender so I think you'll see more of them.
28:21
[SPEAKER_02]: more of those types of guys be interested you go rewind not that long ago.
28:26
[SPEAKER_02]: I can't remember the the player players but the the beat was really hammering Ryan Pulse to be like what you know why didn't you sign so also you know what about defensive in here why aren't weren't you going after these guys and he said they have to want to play here yeah
28:42
[SPEAKER_02]: And I think some people took that the wrong way like, oh, like, so it's like, well, no, he's offering contracts and in some ways he's offering over a market value to try to get them to come here and you're either you're going to kill him on that.
28:58
[SPEAKER_02]: by the way, like if you sign a guy for too much money, you're going to kill him for that.
29:02
[SPEAKER_02]: But they have to want to play here.
29:05
[SPEAKER_02]: And that's I think going to be the difference moving forward is you've now established a different culture that has a higher expectation.
29:12
[SPEAKER_02]: Things are going to be very different now.
29:14
[SPEAKER_02]: Like you're going to have different interest level coming in here.
29:17
[SPEAKER_02]: And that's really exciting.
29:19
[SPEAKER_02]: That's very exciting.
29:21
[SPEAKER_02]: All right, let's get into
29:26
[SPEAKER_02]: 23 of 42 for 257 yards, two touchdowns, three interceptions.
29:30
[SPEAKER_02]: We'll get to that in a second.
29:32
[SPEAKER_02]: No sacks, five carries for 40 yards.
29:36
[SPEAKER_02]: I went through in this game and I tried to put all of his throws in the buckets.
29:41
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm not, it's not scientific, it's not like, you know, don't call me on this in terms of like, well, I think it should have been for like I get it.
29:51
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm just giving you kind of rough estimates here.
29:53
[SPEAKER_02]: This is how I had it broken.
29:54
[SPEAKER_02]: It's objective.
29:55
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, it's very subjective.
29:58
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, good balls that were completed 22.
30:02
[SPEAKER_02]: A bad ball that was completed, so you're why do you see what kind of build you out one?
30:06
[SPEAKER_02]: I have that as that DJ kind of one handed stab.
30:09
[SPEAKER_02]: It was behind him.
30:10
[SPEAKER_02]: Great, the probably should have been in a complete pass.
30:13
[SPEAKER_02]: Call it a highlight.
30:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Highlight catch, right?
30:15
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know what that meant.
30:16
[SPEAKER_00]: What does that mean?
30:19
[SPEAKER_00]: That's that game that's really popular in Florida where you play against the wall.
30:23
[SPEAKER_00]: You kind of catch it with you scoop it in the scoop.
30:27
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm sure there's a Midwestern version, I'm going to play with the scoops where you throw the button.
30:30
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm glad that we talked about it because I did not understand it on the broadcast and it's a very popular game, I think it's a, maybe from the Dominican Republic, maybe Cuba, but it's very popular and Florida's highlight.
30:41
[SPEAKER_00]: Come on, you got to get it with the, well, I have to have Taylor those, it seems to, she knows.
30:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, yes, yes.
30:46
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
30:47
[SPEAKER_02]: We'll see that.
30:47
[SPEAKER_00]: No, I don't know.
30:48
[SPEAKER_02]: Never heard of it.
30:49
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay.
30:49
[SPEAKER_02]: So those are the Hurts 23 completions of his 19 completions here.
30:56
[SPEAKER_02]: I have it down as two throwaways and they weren't like throwaways out of bounds, they're throwaways like back in the end zone, right?
31:02
[SPEAKER_02]: Like kind of, yeah, through a mile, like, you know, kind of, nothing there.
31:06
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
31:07
[SPEAKER_02]: I have four that I think were were good balls that could have been caught, but I'm not going to kind of a drop.
31:13
[SPEAKER_02]: I think they're just like, it happens, right?
31:15
[SPEAKER_02]: And then I've got six that are drops.
31:17
[SPEAKER_02]: Now, you might want to say five and five.
31:18
[SPEAKER_02]: You might want to go a little different.
31:20
[SPEAKER_02]: But that's what I have.
31:21
[SPEAKER_02]: I had six drops.
31:22
[SPEAKER_02]: They love one head.
31:23
[SPEAKER_02]: I think probably his worst game is a pro tough tough tough tough tough tough moment to have that.
31:29
[SPEAKER_02]: But don't, you know, over I got the adunzel touchdown would be touchdown that was dropped brutal ways start a game.
31:36
[SPEAKER_02]: I have six, six drops.
31:39
[SPEAKER_02]: If it's three drops, bears when this game.
31:42
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, I think that's what I mean.
31:44
[SPEAKER_02]: Like these are important moments.
31:46
[SPEAKER_02]: They're never like two yard, like, oh, we dropped the two yard, like who cares.
31:52
[SPEAKER_02]: These are down the field.
31:53
[SPEAKER_02]: These are important moments.
31:54
[SPEAKER_02]: And, you know, Kable's receivers really failed him.
31:58
[SPEAKER_02]: And then I have six balls that I would have said were bad balls.
32:02
[SPEAKER_02]: Um, you know, two of those were ended up being intercepted, I understand the first one.
32:09
[SPEAKER_02]: They missed the call for some blow to the head that that would have bailed them out.
32:13
[SPEAKER_02]: It was a bad ball.
32:13
[SPEAKER_02]: He sailed it.
32:15
[SPEAKER_02]: Safety got it was forked down forever for the first interception.
32:18
[SPEAKER_02]: Second interception.
32:19
[SPEAKER_02]: Maybe there's something that like I don't understand schematically in that like lovelin needed to hold that corner instead.
32:27
[SPEAKER_02]: He kind of came off of them.
32:29
[SPEAKER_02]: The corner dropped drifted back and then picked them off.
32:31
[SPEAKER_02]: Caleb didn't see it.
32:33
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't know exactly who bears the blame there.
32:36
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm sure that the coaches do, but I'm going to put that in the bad ball category.
32:41
[SPEAKER_02]: A couple other that I just think were off the mark bad balls.
32:46
[SPEAKER_02]: Not that anybody was doing the math in your head.
32:50
[SPEAKER_02]: but that adds up to 41.
32:52
[SPEAKER_02]: The 42nd ball, the last ball of the game, I'm just putting it in that last play.
32:58
[SPEAKER_02]: That's its own bucket because it's an interesting interpretation.
33:02
[SPEAKER_02]: This where I want to launch in the conversation was the last throw the game or last throw for Caleb.
33:08
[SPEAKER_02]: I've seen a lot of people try to kill him.
33:10
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, you don't need to be throwing that pass.
33:13
[SPEAKER_02]: That's too risky of a pass, you know, all this.
33:16
[SPEAKER_02]: And then there's a lot of people, a lot more people, including columns worth on the right away on the card.
33:23
[SPEAKER_02]: Right at him, yeah, yeah.
33:24
[SPEAKER_02]: Right at him.
33:25
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, like, that does not happen that often.
33:27
[SPEAKER_02]: But he's why, you know, columns worth for whatever he is.
33:29
[SPEAKER_02]: He knows a lot about football.
33:30
[SPEAKER_02]: Those are more about football than 99.9% of us, right?
33:35
[SPEAKER_02]: He played quite a silver at a pretty high level in the NFL and for him to immediately call it out and be like, I don't know what DJ Moore's doing here.
33:43
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't know what his effort is.
33:44
[SPEAKER_02]: It seems like he didn't even he didn't find the ball.
33:48
[SPEAKER_02]: He never really found it and he's jogging.
33:51
[SPEAKER_02]: And then a lot of people chase Daniel, a lot of people that are breaking this down is like, this is what this route is.
33:58
[SPEAKER_02]: This is, you know, it's at this marker, she needs to cut here flat and where this ball is delivered is right where it's supposed to be and if you look at this thing unfold, there is nothing but space.
34:12
[SPEAKER_02]: It is wide open, it is wide ass open.
34:15
[SPEAKER_02]: Like DJ runs underneath that and I said, oh, Camp Curl came down and intercepted the ball.
34:20
[SPEAKER_02]: Amazing play, diving intersection.
34:23
[SPEAKER_02]: Like if DJ runs that route correctly, DJ is catching that ball and Camp Curl is getting to him to try to push him out of bounds.
34:32
[SPEAKER_02]: Like that's the normal sequence of events of that play.
34:36
[SPEAKER_02]: At worst, DJ is just dropping the ball or whatever.
34:39
[SPEAKER_02]: It's an incomplete pass.
34:40
[SPEAKER_02]: But because of the lack of effort, maybe he's tired.
34:45
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't care.
34:47
[SPEAKER_02]: Like it's absolutely unacceptable that he rounded that route and drifted up field and never found the ball.
34:53
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm putting that as a
34:56
[SPEAKER_02]: You, you tell me where you want to put it, but to me, that's a good ball that ends up being intercepted because your receiver didn't do the little thing right that would go in the WTF bucket.
35:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, it's it's own bucket.
35:08
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a trap with that.
35:09
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I've loved to never put another throw in that bucket, but that's that's where that is.
35:15
[SPEAKER_00]: I guess we'll have the DJ conversation here, right?
35:17
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, this is who he is, right?
35:20
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, he's a good football player, right?
35:24
[SPEAKER_00]: He's the highest paid bear a lot of time.
35:26
[SPEAKER_00]: I believe he still is correct, and he's put up a lot of numbers in the NFL.
35:31
[SPEAKER_00]: had a lot of huge plays for the bears this season, right?
35:35
[SPEAKER_00]: We talked about the highlight catch earlier, right?
35:37
[SPEAKER_00]: That was it was a phenomenal catch, right?
35:39
[SPEAKER_00]: The the packers walk off of phenomenal catch.
35:42
[SPEAKER_00]: Be the catching the back of the ends of them against the Browns, right?
35:45
[SPEAKER_00]: phenomenal catch.
35:47
[SPEAKER_00]: But there's like five or six plays every game, where it just seems like he doesn't have the focus.
35:52
[SPEAKER_00]: And the first thing I thought watching that play back, I would, again, I'm not around running expert.
35:57
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't understand that part at all the time.
35:59
[SPEAKER_00]: I do my best, but to me, it looked like he just wasn't aware of the ball at the time.
36:03
[SPEAKER_00]: It looked like the Rams Defender saw the pass, broke on it like that.
36:10
[SPEAKER_00]: DJ was still thinking about something.
36:12
[SPEAKER_00]: He just didn't have the focus.
36:13
[SPEAKER_00]: And look,
36:15
[SPEAKER_00]: It sucks that it happened in that moment, but this is just kind of how BG's always been.
36:20
[SPEAKER_00]: I like DJ, I think he's a good football player again like I said, but these little lack of focus moments
36:28
[SPEAKER_00]: These may be why he's moved in the off season, right?
36:31
[SPEAKER_00]: It's going to have to be a trade.
36:32
[SPEAKER_00]: They're not going to cut them obviously.
36:34
[SPEAKER_00]: And if they do make a deal, it's going to be for nothing.
36:38
[SPEAKER_00]: And we peanuts may be a force rounder coming back just because it's a big contract of team taking it on.
36:44
[SPEAKER_00]: He's not at the top level of wide receiver ones.
36:48
[SPEAKER_00]: He's a good receiver, but there's some of that goes along with it.
36:54
[SPEAKER_00]: I hear people, oh, he's lazy.
36:55
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think he's lazy, right?
36:57
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think he's stupid.
36:58
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think he's lazy.
37:00
[SPEAKER_00]: There's just certain points in a game where the focus leaves him.
37:04
[SPEAKER_00]: And like you said, maybe he was exhausted.
37:07
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe that's what it was.
37:10
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm gonna get off the damn field, right?
37:13
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, you've got to be, you have to know that if you're lining up that the ball could find you, it has to run at 100% here and over time, like, you know, I mean, this is, you've got a dig deep.
37:24
[SPEAKER_02]: And he, we know that he can, right?
37:26
[SPEAKER_02]: Like you said, the walkoff against the Packers like that.
37:28
[SPEAKER_02]: That was a dig deep moment.
37:30
[SPEAKER_02]: He was completely exhausted.
37:32
[SPEAKER_02]: But he does that.
37:33
[SPEAKER_02]: The game's over.
37:35
[SPEAKER_02]: games over.
37:36
[SPEAKER_02]: You've got the ball at the 20, 20, whatever it is, right?
37:39
[SPEAKER_02]: And you're going to have the ball in Kyle Santos field range.
37:42
[SPEAKER_02]: You are going to run the ball a few times and you're going to kick a field goal.
37:47
[SPEAKER_02]: And I'm going to put my money that Kyle Santos is going to hit that field goal and the bears play in one more week, right?
37:52
[SPEAKER_02]: And so it's it's a very tough way to end this and this is my.
37:57
[SPEAKER_02]: This is my hot take, I think, a little bit, because I think people are kind of all over the place with with what they want to think about Caleb's performance and his stats and all the kind of stuff.
38:09
[SPEAKER_02]: I think the receivers, including DJ, including Rome.
38:13
[SPEAKER_02]: including Loveland.
38:15
[SPEAKER_02]: I think that they let down Caleb and the defense who played a amazing game.
38:22
[SPEAKER_02]: And I think that that's the kind of stuff that has to get cleaned up for this offense to go into the next level.
38:30
[SPEAKER_02]: I just don't see enough evidence that I'm worried at about Caleb at all.
38:36
[SPEAKER_02]: After the finish that he's had to to his year,
38:41
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, change some of these focus drops into positive gains and, you know, the, you know, calves over 300 and, you know, the bears are probably walking away with this one.
38:52
[SPEAKER_02]: And I just, this one hurt, I didn't answer myself.
38:55
[SPEAKER_02]: My, my question rewashing this actually hurt me more, because I was able to sort of come down with numbers and you kind of forget all that happened all
39:06
[SPEAKER_02]: fourth and two you didn't score you gave the ball back like just that all these things that just kept happening for me It hurt more to go back and and rewatch it because I think that a lot of these guys were playing fantastic top-notch playoff football and a couple guys just not paying attention to the details Few you know physical mistakes with drops really cost this team an opportunity to go play for an energy championship
39:32
[SPEAKER_00]: It sucks, but you need everyone rolling in the same direction, right?
39:36
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, that just didn't happen this week.
39:38
[SPEAKER_00]: It's a, you know, you always hear him say it's you got to do you you're one 11 right on a football field and there were some guys that just didn't pull away this this game and.
39:47
[SPEAKER_00]: This emotivate them, right?
39:49
[SPEAKER_00]: This is any something they're going to have to live with in your offseason, and they're going to come back and, you know, if Ben Johnson is the guy we think is, he'll, he, his messages to his, to his players is, look, use this as motivation, right?
40:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Use this hurt, use this pain, you have right now in the locker room, and make that drive you with this entire offseason.
40:08
[SPEAKER_02]: And let's get back in and the in camp and OTAs and kick some ass and these guys are jumping at the bit to do that and I'm sure of it that was not a lot of hanging heads this these guys are ready.
40:18
[SPEAKER_02]: So yeah.
40:19
[SPEAKER_02]: All right, quick break.
40:20
[SPEAKER_02]: Other side of it are final three bears of the seasons stick with us.
40:27
[SPEAKER_02]: All right, let's do three bears.
40:28
[SPEAKER_02]: Hot will approach cold bowl of porridge and just right.
40:31
[SPEAKER_02]: Let's start with that.
40:33
[SPEAKER_00]: Jake one brisker got to be him, you know, 14 tackles tack on for loss a sack a pass break up and those one sequence where he did all this these these these fun things you know that the brisker Ross yeah the brisker drive you know it's like.
40:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Last year, a lot of fans were down on Brisker, right?
40:50
[SPEAKER_00]: Because he had a few nagging injuries that he really clearly was hampering him.
40:54
[SPEAKER_00]: I think you only missed two or three games last year, but it seemed like he was always something happening to the sideline.
41:00
[SPEAKER_00]: He missed a few plays here, so a lot of fans were down on Brisker last year.
41:04
[SPEAKER_00]: He had a nice year this year.
41:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Is it nice enough for looking to want to reassign him, bringing back his in his contract year?
41:11
[SPEAKER_00]: It's hard to say it, but I think he's a key piece.
41:15
[SPEAKER_00]: I think he does a lot of stuff for you.
41:16
[SPEAKER_00]: He's a versatile player.
41:18
[SPEAKER_00]: He can kind of play back end stuff.
41:21
[SPEAKER_00]: He's a, he can blitz for you.
41:23
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think if you're looking at your defense overall,
41:27
[SPEAKER_00]: I think he's a guy that you may want to prioritize to bring back, again, it's an independent money.
41:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Look, the bears are up against the cap this year, but the cap, you know, they're gonna move some guys around, restructure a couple things, cut a couple players.
41:39
[SPEAKER_00]: If you guys come off the books, the cap is not a problem.
41:42
[SPEAKER_00]: They'll have enough money to do what they have to do.
41:45
[SPEAKER_00]: And I just like, I think Bush was a good player.
41:47
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, he's churpy, you know, he's annoying when you're losing but if you're gonna be good, you want a churpy asshole, like risk running back into your secondary.
41:56
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I think the, what's the like ethical hoops where they talk about like the numbers that people put up, you know, they call it ethical ethical hoops and you know, people are maybe bring that over to a little bit to quarterbacks and and all that kind of stuff and I think that the bears have an ethical cap and that they don't have any dead money.
42:16
[SPEAKER_02]: They don't have any, you know, ghostier, whatever, whatever.
42:21
[SPEAKER_02]: That's called void years.
42:22
[SPEAKER_02]: The void years on the contracts that, you know, they got rid of all those.
42:26
[SPEAKER_02]: That was the Ryan Paste thing that he learned from the Saints and those are all gone, right?
42:31
[SPEAKER_02]: And so, you know, I saw some people posting the cap stuff on the bears.
42:36
[SPEAKER_02]: And it's like, they got a lot of players, but they also have a lot of starters on a contract, like that's not a bad thing, and then they have it.
42:45
[SPEAKER_02]: moved any money into the future really.
42:48
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, there's no contracts where you'd be like, oh, well, we're gonna just, we're gonna, we're gonna, it's guaranteed money, so we're gonna just change the contract structure and pay you now and then we'll take that off the books with the void years and all that kind of stuff and then we have boom, we have cap space, right?
43:07
[SPEAKER_02]: That's stuff, every team does that.
43:09
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, it seems to do that to crazy extent sometimes when it's freshly, when they're trying to pry open a window.
43:15
[SPEAKER_02]: and you'd probably open or keep it open, right?
43:17
[SPEAKER_02]: The bears haven't done any of that yet.
43:20
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes, they had an active off season.
43:21
[SPEAKER_02]: They'd signed some people into to come in because they really wanted Ben Johnson's first year to be as good as it could be and give Caleb Williams a support and all that.
43:32
[SPEAKER_02]: They're, their cap is fine, and we'll see what they do.
43:35
[SPEAKER_02]: We'll see if there may be a little bit more push things into the future here, but I don't know if briskers and the plans one way or the other, because I don't know exactly what Dennis Allen thinks or Rampol's thinks or whatever.
43:49
[SPEAKER_02]: But.
43:50
[SPEAKER_02]: uh what a way to go out if that's the case right like you've you've put your resume out there either for the bears or for somewhere else in the league he seems like he wants the continue to be a Chicago bear and if the bears are like yeah I think we can afford everybody to come back and we and this is a thing I mean we could just put the secondary in the hot because this is what we thought I mean really this is what we thought they were going to be
44:16
[SPEAKER_02]: coming in and then just all these injuries and taking them out and everything, but even Brisker played, I think, at a level higher than what we expected him to.
44:26
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, we kind of seen Byrd have his good games.
44:29
[SPEAKER_02]: We've seen, you know, we've seen Jalen Johnson at a peak and definitely haven't seen Jalen Johnson back to that yet.
44:35
[SPEAKER_02]: He's gutting through his injury.
44:37
[SPEAKER_02]: But Brisker, you know, my pick as well and I think it's honestly the only one that we can really go with here.
44:43
[SPEAKER_02]: I like him.
44:44
[SPEAKER_02]: I like a D.B.
44:45
[SPEAKER_02]: that chirps.
44:47
[SPEAKER_02]: It never bothered me when he chirped when the bears were losing.
44:50
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't mind that at all because I just think that's what D.B.s are.
44:56
[SPEAKER_02]: Like I think they, I think it's part of like,
44:58
[SPEAKER_02]: They need food, water, and trash talking like that's what they need to survive.
45:02
[SPEAKER_02]: So that's to me it's never bothered me and I like him as a player and he's definitely ended his rookie contract on a high note.
45:12
[SPEAKER_02]: So hopefully he's able to I'd like him back if not for him, you know, hopefully he gets a contract that he's happy with.
45:20
[SPEAKER_02]: All right, flip it around cold bullet porridge, where do you want to go?
45:23
[SPEAKER_00]: We already talked a little bit about DJ right so I don't want to pile on DJ here.
45:27
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm going to stay at the position though.
45:28
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm going to go Rome.
45:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Yep.
45:31
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, look, the stress fracture clearly is bothering him.
45:34
[SPEAKER_00]: And he had talked today and his exit interview and when he had the press for today, he said that there's still no surgery in the table.
45:39
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's that's not an option.
45:41
[SPEAKER_00]: I guess it's one of the things where the rest will let it recover.
45:45
[SPEAKER_00]: And from talking to Mason, I think it's like a six to eight week thing.
45:49
[SPEAKER_00]: If you have no activity on a stress fracture, six to eight weeks, you should be good to go.
45:54
[SPEAKER_00]: So shut them down, be ready to go.
45:58
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, come on, man.
45:59
[SPEAKER_00]: You got to catch the football.
46:01
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, how many times have we seen this year where he has dropped a sure fire touchdown?
46:05
[SPEAKER_00]: I know at least there's been two more.
46:07
[SPEAKER_00]: There may be others.
46:09
[SPEAKER_00]: The drops have been a problem all year, and he talked about it today too, and when he met the media, he understands that.
46:15
[SPEAKER_00]: And look, yes, the stress fracture, clearly bothers him.
46:19
[SPEAKER_00]: But it's in your foot, my friend.
46:20
[SPEAKER_00]: You got to catch the ball.
46:22
[SPEAKER_00]: If it hits you in the hands,
46:24
[SPEAKER_00]: There's no reason why you shouldn't come down with that.
46:27
[SPEAKER_00]: He was too good in college, he was too good as a rookie.
46:30
[SPEAKER_00]: He regressed, yes, the injuries part of it, but it's not all of it.
46:35
[SPEAKER_00]: You got to make those catches.
46:36
[SPEAKER_02]: And he came out hot in the first part of the year.
46:39
[SPEAKER_02]: He was like, he was going to be great.
46:40
[SPEAKER_02]: And then, you know, the industry obviously really did slow down.
46:44
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I am far from a professional athlete.
46:47
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm pretty sure I had a stress fraction of my foot.
46:50
[SPEAKER_02]: And I think I stepped wrong on a training run.
46:55
[SPEAKER_02]: And that thing took forever to heal.
46:59
[SPEAKER_02]: And, and it hurts, right?
47:01
[SPEAKER_02]: Like it, you kind of get going, but you know, you can't really turn it loose.
47:05
[SPEAKER_02]: And then it hurts after.
47:07
[SPEAKER_02]: Or if you stop and like, oh, god, it's hard to like, it going again, right?
47:11
[SPEAKER_02]: And so I would imagine as a professional athlete who needs his feet, that it was very hard for him to mentally and physically overcome that injury.
47:22
[SPEAKER_02]: And, and I'll say like, I basically took a year where I really dialed back running,
47:26
[SPEAKER_02]: so that I could get over that.
47:28
[SPEAKER_02]: It did take time, right?
47:29
[SPEAKER_02]: And he has, you know, the, I mean, I certainly would too, but like, he has the ability to just sit there and let it heal for the next eight weeks and then get into training, you know, in May, April, whatever it is and ramp up and he'll be more than fine.
47:45
[SPEAKER_02]: So I think that this is going to be something that he's able to put behind him pretty easily and and come and fresh.
47:52
[SPEAKER_02]: A lot of these guys, I think the same way, right?
47:54
[SPEAKER_02]: Like,
47:54
[SPEAKER_02]: a lot of people were kind of down on Jalen.
47:56
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, we got it through a pretty rough injury there at the end and played some pretty respectable football.
48:04
[SPEAKER_02]: People went down on Kyler.
48:05
[SPEAKER_02]: Well, you know, got it through some football, some injury, play some really good football yesterday's game.
48:12
[SPEAKER_02]: So, uh,
48:14
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't know.
48:15
[SPEAKER_02]: I think if as long as they're on the team, some blank slate next year, you come in fresh.
48:20
[SPEAKER_02]: Hopefully, things stay healthy.
48:22
[SPEAKER_02]: Bears were unlucky in some rooms with the injury bug this year.
48:27
[SPEAKER_02]: Lucky and others.
48:29
[SPEAKER_02]: No two years are alike, but you know, you hope that he's able to come back, drop back.
48:34
[SPEAKER_02]: Mine is a
48:37
[SPEAKER_02]: I just had drops and so like we want to make sure that DJ want to make sure we talked about Rome and so I will I guess I will end it with loveland tough tough day to have your worst day as a pro.
48:51
[SPEAKER_02]: But I think that it was noticeable that he wasn't out there at the end.
48:54
[SPEAKER_02]: I think I think he was being evaluated for concussion.
48:57
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't know that I ever heard the.
48:58
[SPEAKER_02]: the full report there, but he got popped and got up and got off the field, but you didn't see him again.
49:07
[SPEAKER_02]: That offense looks different without him.
49:09
[SPEAKER_02]: He's going to be really important next year.
49:11
[SPEAKER_02]: He's got the best hands on the team.
49:12
[SPEAKER_02]: It's cold.
49:15
[SPEAKER_02]: I know Caleb throws a
49:18
[SPEAKER_02]: a ball with plenty of velocity, I know, but, you know, you got to bail him out.
49:25
[SPEAKER_02]: You got to complete the completion.
49:27
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, you're not even bailing him out.
49:28
[SPEAKER_02]: You're just, those are the plays, you know.
49:30
[SPEAKER_02]: And again, if, if I think if leveling has a good game,
49:35
[SPEAKER_02]: Bear's win, like I mean, it's just I think it's that the margin was obviously that thin here and I really think that what I'm going to take away from this more than anything for me was the drops were the difference in this game and so those are the guys that I really came down to that was brutal.
49:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Like I said, it was cold out there, but looks some of those, some of those hit him right in the hands, you know, the same as Romans, like if it's there for you, you got to catch it, it's a concentration thing.
50:06
[SPEAKER_00]: And we haven't seen that much from love them, right?
50:07
[SPEAKER_00]: He's been pretty good this year as a rookie, so like it was out of character for him, but yeah, I mean, again, this, you know, he's gonna, this will motivate him.
50:16
[SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, it wasn't in cushion,
50:18
[SPEAKER_00]: Ben said it was uh that's why he didn't come back in the game.
50:20
[SPEAKER_00]: I had not heard the severity that you know not now that their No more game is will never know the severity.
50:25
[SPEAKER_00]: So hopefully it's uh he he's good to go and he can get ready because he know he wants to get back out there And he wants to get out there and start training get ready for uh for 2026 All right, last category just right where do you want to go with this one?
50:41
[SPEAKER_00]: Mine is gonna go to Yandri Swift
50:43
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, 19 carries seven to six yards.
50:45
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, wasn't the best game of him.
50:47
[SPEAKER_00]: Obviously four point, you know, yards per carry, but the way he ran in this game.
50:53
[SPEAKER_00]: decisive, you know, turning it up field, taking what the defense gave him.
50:57
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, there was no dancing, right?
50:58
[SPEAKER_00]: This is kind of who he has been this entire year.
51:01
[SPEAKER_00]: And whether it's Eric Vietnam, he got through to him, whether he's more mature as a runner, whatever the reason is this version of DeAndre Swift is a pretty damn good football player.
51:11
[SPEAKER_00]: On the year, he had a season high, a career high,
51:21
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's contract year, and then I'll be for the season everyone thought all this will be his last year.
51:25
[SPEAKER_00]: They're going to cut up, there's no more dead money.
51:28
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, I think I think so, it's pretty damn good.
51:30
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think he's a good compliment to Manangai.
51:32
[SPEAKER_00]: I think those two guys are good together.
51:33
[SPEAKER_00]: And why mess with it?
51:36
[SPEAKER_00]: I think if anything, Swift may be one of these guys that gets a restructure, right?
51:41
[SPEAKER_00]: Cause he has no more guaranteed money.
51:43
[SPEAKER_00]: So you know, you can kind of, you know, give him another year or two, push somebody down the road.
51:49
[SPEAKER_00]: And here's the thing, he literally just turned 27 like last week.
51:53
[SPEAKER_00]: So he's still pretty young as far as running backs go.
51:55
[SPEAKER_00]: So you can get a couple more years out of him.
51:57
[SPEAKER_00]: So from where are we?
52:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Where is the fan base on Swift to now?
52:02
[SPEAKER_00]: I think Swift's in a good pretty good place.
52:04
[SPEAKER_00]: I think he should be here of course in the 2026.
52:08
[SPEAKER_02]: And they have just absolutely squeezed the best football out of the Andres Wifth.
52:13
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
52:13
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, you know, for years, he was the durability issues and bouncing everything out like, you know, just no vision.
52:21
[SPEAKER_02]: Just wanted to bounce everything out like a high school back, right?
52:24
[SPEAKER_02]: Like just on the edge, they're using him more effectively in that way.
52:28
[SPEAKER_02]: They know who he is, but he's been.
52:31
[SPEAKER_02]: using power as well.
52:33
[SPEAKER_02]: Like he's a shoulder down.
52:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
52:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
52:35
[SPEAKER_02]: He's not.
52:36
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
52:36
[SPEAKER_02]: And, and, and I will say, if we can we talked about this yet, the, the, the second down run on second and 10 run with five minutes left in the first half.
52:49
[SPEAKER_02]: He's, he's got the first down.
52:52
[SPEAKER_02]: They spotted as a first down.
52:54
[SPEAKER_02]: It is a first down.
52:55
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, I mean, I've watched it eight times.
52:58
[SPEAKER_02]: And I just can't, I can't see what made them review it and move it back yard.
53:05
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, I just can't, like, it's not like, oh, yeah, his knee was that like, none of it.
53:09
[SPEAKER_02]: No, like, he,
53:11
[SPEAKER_02]: He got the first down.
53:13
[SPEAKER_02]: He was spotted correctly.
53:14
[SPEAKER_02]: These guys are usually pretty good at spotting the full, you know, rest tick tick.
53:18
[SPEAKER_02]: Yes, they're very inconsistent.
53:20
[SPEAKER_02]: They impact games.
53:21
[SPEAKER_02]: But like spotting the football they're usually pretty decent out, especially if there's not like those big scrum, right?
53:27
[SPEAKER_02]: it was it was an easy spot for them.
53:29
[SPEAKER_02]: It wasn't a ton of people around.
53:31
[SPEAKER_02]: It was correctly spotted.
53:33
[SPEAKER_02]: It was a first down and then it expedited review brought it back a yard like I need more.
53:39
[SPEAKER_02]: I need more explanation.
53:41
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
53:42
[SPEAKER_02]: for that.
53:42
[SPEAKER_02]: Because it now is third and one instead of first and ten.
53:47
[SPEAKER_02]: Swift gets stuffed on third and one fourth and one banana guy gets stuffed.
53:52
[SPEAKER_02]: It's, it's brand's ball, right?
53:54
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, it was a huge turning point in that game and I all will just pick up the yard.
53:58
[SPEAKER_02]: It's sure, but you did.
54:00
[SPEAKER_02]: You haven't picked up like to me that was the weirdest and it and it because we didn't spend any more time on it right they kept showing the forceful blow to the head That wasn't an exception over and over because Caleb hit his hand like they kept showing it because Caleb hit his hand and they were like they're worried about the hand, but then
54:20
[SPEAKER_02]: the defensive line, I can't, you know, come on this, this guy's coming down on his, Kayla's face mask.
54:26
[SPEAKER_02]: How do you miss that, right?
54:28
[SPEAKER_02]: And so that, that one was very frustrating, but this, this, for me, like, I just, in the moment, I'm like, what do you mean expedited review and we don't get to like look at it and there's like, they just move it back and if it's an expedited review, does Ben get to like challenge the expedited review?
54:42
[SPEAKER_02]: And I say, I don't believe your chip,
54:44
[SPEAKER_02]: And the football, like what is this?
54:45
[SPEAKER_02]: Like I was very confused in the moment and I was, that one, that one I'm not over.
54:50
[SPEAKER_02]: I got mad in the rewatch on that one too because I was like, yes, this is what I remember being pissed about in the moment was that it didn't make any sense.
54:58
[SPEAKER_02]: And I don't know, I watched it.
54:59
[SPEAKER_02]: I watched it 15 times.
55:00
[SPEAKER_00]: It's the first time every time.
55:03
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, you know, speaking of weird calls, there was that late hand to the, literally, literally, you say hands by the Sean Wright where you're like,
55:12
[SPEAKER_00]: What even happened there like you're just in the preseason.
55:15
[SPEAKER_02]: You know, I call it in the play Honestly, it's almost like the ref.
55:18
[SPEAKER_00]: The ref flagged it thinking it would happen because I mean he was up there like something may happen It didn't happen.
55:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, then you know, you can just pull the put the flag back in your eyes They are no flag on the play.
55:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah
55:30
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, that one's suck, that didn't hurt him, that I mean, again, you don't want to make this be about the refs and all that kind of, you know, because the bears had their opportunities.
55:40
[SPEAKER_02]: But that one like there wasn't enough explanation for me, and it turned into this big moment that that because they couldn't convert there.
55:46
[SPEAKER_02]: And they're a feelable range.
55:49
[SPEAKER_02]: I know they wouldn't have been a long feel goal, but like given the fresh that it downs, I feel confident they're at least getting three there.
55:55
[SPEAKER_02]: So it's very frustrating.
55:57
[SPEAKER_02]: I was not happy about that one.
55:59
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, there's points all over the place at this game.
56:01
[SPEAKER_02]: Okay, for me,
56:04
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm going to, I'm going to say color Gordon and I thought he played a really good game and that's what I expect at him and I think that this defense is so much better when he's healthy and he just hasn't been and I get it, you know, hasn't been healthy so like that's the knock on him.
56:21
[SPEAKER_02]: Fresh slate next year.
56:22
[SPEAKER_02]: We'll see, right?
56:23
[SPEAKER_02]: Like brisker was banged up last year and then play played every game this year, right?
56:28
[SPEAKER_02]: Like these things can be really weird and sometimes just bad luck and injury lingers and you know it is what it is.
56:36
[SPEAKER_02]: But if Kyler Gordon's on the field all year next year.
56:39
[SPEAKER_02]: or at least like, I don't know, 13 games or something like that.
56:42
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, this team fence is going to be much better than it was because he is this Swiss army knife that allows you to do all of these different things and he's really good at football.
56:52
[SPEAKER_02]: And so it was great to see him come back with, because you get picked on and gets the packers, because he's not, you know, like, he just wasn't ready, right?
57:01
[SPEAKER_02]: And this game, he's everywhere, he's doing stuff, and you can just pick
57:06
[SPEAKER_02]: Let's just get that back in healthy that goes back to being the strength of the team or the least the strength of the defense and now you're like really feeling good that you have at least an average to above average defense with the offense ascending and that that sounds good to me, signing it for that.
57:23
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm glad we're talking about Kyle a little bit because some fans are really down in Kyle this year.
57:28
[SPEAKER_00]: It's like he's like, oh, he's injury prone, right?
57:31
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it's not like he has a chronic something like he doesn't have like a like a bum knee that he always has to work through you.
57:36
[SPEAKER_00]: These are like weird soft tissue injuries.
57:39
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, maybe he's more susceptible to this kind of stuff.
57:41
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know, but to me, it just seems fluke, right?
57:44
[SPEAKER_00]: And then I'm going to think back to to to Jonah Jackson, right?
57:47
[SPEAKER_00]: The bears picked him up from the Rams Rams fans.
57:50
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, he thinks he's terrible, right?
57:53
[SPEAKER_00]: They moved on from him.
57:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Bears fans, oh, this guy's stung class.
57:56
[SPEAKER_00]: You're worthy.
57:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Why are they trading anything for this guy?
57:58
[SPEAKER_00]: He couldn't even play a season last year.
58:00
[SPEAKER_00]: He kept getting hurt.
58:01
[SPEAKER_00]: He sucks.
58:03
[SPEAKER_00]: Today in Jonah Jackson's press conference, he mentioned this first time he's played a full season in his career.
58:09
[SPEAKER_00]: So again, these aren't chronic injuries.
58:12
[SPEAKER_00]: He's not like an injury prone guy.
58:13
[SPEAKER_00]: This sometimes is his bad luck.
58:15
[SPEAKER_00]: Sometimes things happen.
58:16
[SPEAKER_00]: And then they get over it.
58:17
[SPEAKER_00]: Jonah Jackson, of course, played every game this year.
58:21
[SPEAKER_00]: Next year, Kyle the Gordon could come back.
58:22
[SPEAKER_00]: He could play every game next year.
58:24
[SPEAKER_00]: And like you said, when he's on the field, he's a difference maker.
58:27
[SPEAKER_00]: He had a sack.
58:28
[SPEAKER_00]: He had a couple past breakups.
58:29
[SPEAKER_00]: I believe that he had to get a tackle for loss.
58:31
[SPEAKER_00]: He just he's all over the place because he can play he's your nickel right, but he has.
58:36
[SPEAKER_00]: He could play like a line back where you can fill the run fits when he has to.
58:40
[SPEAKER_00]: When he's in there's a nickel, he can cover tight ends, he can cover, you know, shift these slot receivers because he's physical or he can use quick.
58:47
[SPEAKER_00]: He's just a good football player and we have the bears are definitely better when he's out there, which is why they pay them so much money.
58:53
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, they made them the top paid nickel guy because they realized, man, his skillset is unique.
58:58
[SPEAKER_00]: Whoever is our DC moving forward is going to have fun with this guy.
59:01
[SPEAKER_00]: And Dennis Hound said when he took the job, that's one of the first guys he talked about his versatility.
59:08
[SPEAKER_00]: He had him cross training at safety because he wants him knowing more stuff to do in the back end.
59:12
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think a healthy year from Kyla Gordon, you know, you may see him pushing for that proble next year because he's got he has that kind of skill set.
59:20
[SPEAKER_02]: Be interesting to see if the, you know, the bears Ben Johnson makes any additions or changes to the strength and conditioning program, just to maybe that's not an alignment necessarily with what he wants to see maybe there's a little bit more emphasis on some of these soft tissue injury prevention things, but I would just say like.
59:39
[SPEAKER_02]: you know as you become a pro and as you get yeah he's been in the league long enough they say well you should have known this by now but you learn how to take care of your body and how to strengthen you know some of your weaknesses and all that kind of stuff and that's this why you see guys that maybe get they start to wear down but it's also this like peak in their career where they they figure out how to be a pro and
59:58
[SPEAKER_02]: and they take care of their bodies.
1:00:00
[SPEAKER_02]: And so hopefully that's coming for him.
1:00:02
[SPEAKER_02]: We would love to see 17 healthy starts out of Calagordon and the next regular season and be healthy for the playoffs, right?
1:00:09
[SPEAKER_02]: That's what we're hoping for.
1:00:12
[SPEAKER_02]: That's three bears.
1:00:15
[SPEAKER_02]: That's what we get.
1:00:16
[SPEAKER_02]: To tough loss, tough weight in the season because I think it would have been a lot of fun to go into Seattle and see what this bears team could do in a hostile environment in the for the NFC championship that team looked real good they look like a buzz song against the Niners I think the Niners were broken.
1:00:35
[SPEAKER_02]: which means that the Eagles, sure we're broken, would have been nice to play the Eagles, you know, that's what we kind of were hoping for was that the Eagles could come through and you'd host the Eagles and maybe play that game either against the Rams or the game against the Seahawks with the University Championship game, but
1:00:52
[SPEAKER_02]: It's not how it worked out.
1:00:53
[SPEAKER_02]: They had to play the Rams.
1:00:55
[SPEAKER_02]: I think overall, you have to be pretty impressed with the defensive effort.
1:00:59
[SPEAKER_02]: I think the offensive effort, some guys let them down.
1:01:03
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm personally, maybe we end with this personally.
1:01:08
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm not too worried about Ben Johnson.
1:01:12
[SPEAKER_02]: I find the
1:01:15
[SPEAKER_02]: just a couple weeks ago, if you were like being too cute on those fourth downs and you know, going going off because, you know, you can get them in now.
1:01:23
[SPEAKER_02]: It's your, you're not just the creativity where it's the creativity on the fourth downs plays.
1:01:30
[SPEAKER_02]: And I like, yeah, personally, I would love to have Caleb have the ball in his hand.
1:01:34
[SPEAKER_02]: Let him create give him an option to like scramble for it if he needs to.
1:01:39
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, I'd love to see some of that.
1:01:40
[SPEAKER_02]: I think Ben Johnson,
1:01:42
[SPEAKER_02]: believed in those play calls.
1:01:44
[SPEAKER_02]: Obviously, I was otherwise he wouldn't have set him in.
1:01:47
[SPEAKER_02]: It's certainly a difference in the game.
1:01:48
[SPEAKER_02]: Three out of six on the fourth time conversions.
1:01:51
[SPEAKER_02]: Rams were one for one.
1:01:52
[SPEAKER_02]: I think you know, you get four out of six.
1:01:55
[SPEAKER_02]: Again, I think the bears win that game.
1:01:57
[SPEAKER_02]: I think if the Rams go over one.
1:01:59
[SPEAKER_02]: and you prevent them because they score a touchdown a couple of plays later, you know, the bears win that football game.
1:02:05
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, it's just, it's so close.
1:02:07
[SPEAKER_02]: It was so close.
1:02:09
[SPEAKER_02]: It was quite the, quite the finish, but for me, I still have full faith in confidence at Ben Johnson and moving forward with this football team.
1:02:17
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm glad we're doing some Ben Johnson talk, Daniel, because that's the one thing I saw in social media and some of the talk shows is they're talking about some of the fourth
1:02:27
[SPEAKER_00]: why not just take the points.
1:02:28
[SPEAKER_00]: This is fans.
1:02:29
[SPEAKER_00]: Why not just take the points there.
1:02:31
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, are you the same fan to say, Cairo Sanctose sucks?
1:02:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Because you're the same fan that that was saying for months, Cairo Sanctose sucks.
1:02:38
[SPEAKER_00]: Now you're saying, I'll take the points.
1:02:41
[SPEAKER_00]: Does he soccer as he is the automatic?
1:02:42
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, which is it?
1:02:43
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, and look, early in that game, I understood that because you're playing the freaking Rams, right?
1:02:51
[SPEAKER_00]: The Rams are the number one offense in the NFL.
1:02:56
[SPEAKER_00]: because those fans are complaining about that, they're the same fans would have said, ah, you can't win with three, you can't just keep trading, feel a little for touchdown, it's the same meathead would have said that.
1:03:09
[SPEAKER_00]: So look, I have no problem with Ben Johnson.
1:03:12
[SPEAKER_00]: That's who he is, right?
1:03:14
[SPEAKER_00]: He gets no situation, he's gonna go for it.
1:03:16
[SPEAKER_00]: If your player's execute, like you said, you know, some of those plays, calls, it didn't work, but if he execute, for example, you remember the play
1:03:26
[SPEAKER_00]: Go back and watch that play.
1:03:29
[SPEAKER_00]: Roma Dunzy missed his block.
1:03:31
[SPEAKER_00]: He gets that block on the corner.
1:03:34
[SPEAKER_00]: That's a walk in touch though.
1:03:35
[SPEAKER_02]: So let me ask you this.
1:03:36
[SPEAKER_02]: Let's talk about that.
1:03:37
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay.
1:03:38
[SPEAKER_02]: So I watched that play and Swift does.
1:03:41
[SPEAKER_02]: That's the one play.
1:03:42
[SPEAKER_02]: Swift bounced it outside.
1:03:43
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
1:03:44
[SPEAKER_02]: And Rome's job is to get between the corner and the scrum.
1:03:50
[SPEAKER_02]: And so he does, he gets in between, right?
1:03:53
[SPEAKER_02]: He's five yards deep in the Hienzo.
1:03:56
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, he's in the Hienzo, right?
1:03:58
[SPEAKER_02]: To get his block.
1:03:59
[SPEAKER_02]: And then Swift bounces it outside and the corner goes to the outside.
1:04:04
[SPEAKER_02]: So I think that the criticism on Rome there is that he needed to have hands on him and he needed to like continue his block and just stay there and not lose him.
1:04:13
[SPEAKER_02]: I think in Rome's mind he has his back.
1:04:17
[SPEAKER_02]: He's done his job.
1:04:18
[SPEAKER_02]: He's got his back to the, he's got his back to the offensive line.
1:04:22
[SPEAKER_02]: And in his mind it is a run in the sea gap, beget whatever it is.
1:04:28
[SPEAKER_02]: And the place over, you know, like he's going to hit it up in the hole.
1:04:32
[SPEAKER_02]: It's a place over.
1:04:33
[SPEAKER_02]: Now you can say, well, the place never over until you hit the whistle, blah, blah, blah.
1:04:36
[SPEAKER_02]: But like to me, like he got inside of his guy.
1:04:42
[SPEAKER_02]: And then it's bounced outside, it's like when you say like, well, the left tackle was blocking his the defensive in and then the quarterback went around the outside and he got called for a holding because the guy switched directions right there's a little bit of that to where.
1:04:57
[SPEAKER_02]: I don't know, man, like he did his job and then the corner went on me outside.
1:05:01
[SPEAKER_02]: So I don't know, like to me, when Swift went off script there, a lot of times, he's got to make that guy miss.
1:05:08
[SPEAKER_02]: And he wasn't able to do that.
1:05:09
[SPEAKER_02]: So I'm not trying to like, I know I love Rome.
1:05:12
[SPEAKER_02]: And I'm not trying to put him off.
1:05:14
[SPEAKER_02]: I'm not trying to get him off the hook there.
1:05:16
[SPEAKER_02]: But to me,
1:05:17
[SPEAKER_02]: I interpreted that a little differently as like, yeah, that was his assignment.
1:05:23
[SPEAKER_02]: Get in between.
1:05:24
[SPEAKER_02]: He did play bounce outside as little, you know, bad stuff happened.
1:05:29
[SPEAKER_00]: I just think from a running back standpoint, you see all that green grass and you think you're guys going to you think the stock block from their receivers in a state or a second.
1:05:36
[SPEAKER_00]: You think I got that.
1:05:38
[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, it's like I said, a lot of nuance, a lot of things, look, it's play calling is not an exact science, right?
1:05:45
[SPEAKER_00]: If all the play calls work your genius while the play calls don't work, you suck.
1:05:50
[SPEAKER_00]: are the players executing, you know?
1:05:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Again, it comes down to your 11th, right?
1:05:55
[SPEAKER_00]: If everyone does their job in every single play, the offense always says the advantage, right?
1:05:59
[SPEAKER_00]: No matter if you every X and O's thing you drop, the offense always says the advantage, but that's not how real football works.
1:06:06
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, the players are out there making plays, you know, those guys that defense get paid a lot of money to make plays too, so it happens.
1:06:12
[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, it's, again, I'm with you though.
1:06:15
[SPEAKER_00]: I get the Japan John to criticize them a little bit, but some guys just wanna nitpick, right?
1:06:21
[SPEAKER_00]: I like the cute stuff.
1:06:22
[SPEAKER_00]: I like the power stuff.
1:06:23
[SPEAKER_00]: I like everything is done so far.
1:06:24
[SPEAKER_00]: I really have no complaints of Ben Johnson, you're one.
1:06:28
[SPEAKER_02]: wanted to play as many of the difference here, right?
1:06:30
[SPEAKER_02]: And just as what it is, unfortunately, just didn't work out here.
1:06:35
[SPEAKER_02]: They had their opportunities.
1:06:36
[SPEAKER_02]: They were a real legitimate team.
1:06:38
[SPEAKER_02]: They played this team deep into the game.
1:06:40
[SPEAKER_02]: And they didn't get anything lucky.
1:06:41
[SPEAKER_02]: There was nothing fortunate in this game.
1:06:43
[SPEAKER_02]: To me, that is the huge take home message here.
1:06:47
[SPEAKER_02]: It's like they did not get anything lucky here.
1:06:49
[SPEAKER_02]: And they were still taking them down to the wire.
1:06:52
[SPEAKER_02]: So I think that builds well for the future.
1:06:54
[SPEAKER_02]: You clean some of this stuff up.
1:06:57
[SPEAKER_02]: going to operate at a higher level.
1:06:59
[SPEAKER_02]: These 240R, 260R games are going to be 320, 340.
1:07:05
[SPEAKER_02]: Like that's what we're going to see.
1:07:06
[SPEAKER_02]: We're going to see these points start to roll.
1:07:08
[SPEAKER_02]: That's what happened in Detroit.
1:07:10
[SPEAKER_02]: The first year was like, oh, wow, this is pretty interesting.
1:07:13
[SPEAKER_02]: The second year, like things started rolling.
1:07:15
[SPEAKER_02]: And you see that in shaming hand system, guys, and all that kind of stuff, too.
1:07:18
[SPEAKER_02]: Like, there's a lot of offenses that take off in the second year.
1:07:21
[SPEAKER_02]: The fact that it had as much success as it was.
1:07:24
[SPEAKER_02]: uh, even given the early struggles.
1:07:26
[SPEAKER_02]: I mean, I think they finished 11th and DVOA, which was like, you know, everybody wants to talk about DVOA.
1:07:31
[SPEAKER_02]: If they're often just like 11th, even after the rough start, like, I mean, if you're not excited about this, like, you're won't be excited about anything.
1:07:40
[SPEAKER_02]: So,
1:07:41
[SPEAKER_02]: That's gonna do it.
1:07:42
[SPEAKER_02]: We're gonna stick around a little bit.
1:07:44
[SPEAKER_02]: I think for the YouTube crowd for the podcast, there's thanks for joining this all year.
1:07:47
[SPEAKER_02]: We'll probably take a little bit of a break and come back.
1:07:51
[SPEAKER_02]: Maybe do, you know, small season stuff, some free agency stuff here.
1:07:55
[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to see draft.
1:07:56
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, well, we'll do all the normal stuff, but, you know, we'll probably take off the rest of the playoff schedule and get back into it once the league year starts.
1:08:05
[SPEAKER_02]: And we'll talk to you then until then, right down.