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'85 at 40: Leslie Frazier joins to talk '85 Bears! · 2nd City Gridiron

• 0:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: Welcome in.
• 0:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is 85 at 40.
• 0:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: I am Bill Zimmerman along with Jeff Berkis and we are excited to do this individual.
• 0:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: He was a key member of the 85 defense a member of the secondary.
• 0:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: We always hear about the front seven.
• 0:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: We don't hear about the secondary as much.
• 0:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: We want to talk to him a long time coach in the NFL head coach defense coordinator Vikings Buffalo Tampa Bay.
• 0:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now a member of the Seattle Seahawks staff.
• 0:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: He is Leslie Frazier.
• 0:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: and he joins us now.
• 0:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: Coach Bill Zimmerman, how are you?
• 0:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you, Bill.
• 0:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm doing good and appreciate you guys having me all.
• 0:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, we're looking forward to talking to you about this.
• 0:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: And let me kind of start with what I hinted at in the intro.
• 0:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that is about the 46 defense and the role of the defensive backs, specifically the corner backs because we always hear about the front seven and the blitzing and Wilson and Marshall and the front four and everything they did to create pressure.
• 0:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: But to me, I've always looked back at that defense and goes if you don't have cornerbacks that can really be sticky and kind of a jubing at much pressure, those cornerbacks are going to get beat.
• 1:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: But you guys, you and Mike Richardson did a great job.
• 1:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: So what was the role of the defense of back specifically the corners in that defense to make it so dominant?
• 1:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: Well, I really appreciate you recognize and the importance of our defense because that kind of gets lost in translation at
• 1:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: I know Jeff and you as well, Bill, you guys on the stand important to get people covered up, because we brought a lot of pressure.
• 1:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, we put a lot of pressure on offences and attack.
• 1:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: But it did a great job of attacking people's protection schemes.
• 1:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: But,
• 1:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: The ball would get off at times.
• 1:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: It wasn't like we sack them every single time they had a pass attempt.
• 1:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: So Mike and I, a long way, Gary and Dave Durson, we had to be able to cover in the second area.
• 1:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: And we were fortunate to be able to get our hands on some balls and and help our defense to have the kind of success we have.
• 2:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: But it meant being able to play a lot of man coverage, sometimes from press and also being able to play.
• 2:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: some zero coverage with no one in the post and it's hard for your defense to be successful if you don't have guys on the back end that can hold up at least for a couple of seconds and we were able to do that.
• 2:23
  [SPEAKER_00]: Well coach, it's been four decades and you're a lifetime football guy so you've been around the game and I can't think of anybody better to ask this question because you're still coaching at a high level here.
• 2:32
  [SPEAKER_00]: What, no one's playing 46 defense, you know, on a snap to snap basis in today's game, but what are the remnants of that defense that have carried forward that you can still see in today's game?
• 2:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: Well, actually Jeff, you know, we, we, they're remnants of it in our system here in Seattle, Mike McDonald
• 2:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: who also kind of runs our defense.
• 2:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: He worked in Baltimore prior to coming to Seattle and the blueprint in Baltimore was laid by Rex Ryan who's the son of our famed defensive coordinator, buddy Ryan.
• 3:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: So a lot of remnants of that defense carried over in Baltimore and Mike has brought some of that with him to Seattle as well.
• 3:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: And you see splatters of it from other teams around the league,
• 3:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, three defensive linemen covering the guards and the centers and a couple of edge guys that are lined up on the edge to rush the passer, but you're right.
• 3:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: Nobody really does it on a consistent basis like we did, but there's still some teams that have parts of that defense in their defensive scheme.
• 3:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, you talked about Buddy Ryan, and I think that the two of you have very distinctly different personalities, but obviously an all-time great defense of coordinator had some successes ahead coaches, well, what did you learn from Buddy Ryan or even Mike Dittka and some of the coaches you had during your playing career that you did take from them and institute into your own coaching?
• 4:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: I said, that's a great question, Bill.
• 4:02
  [SPEAKER_02]: You right, my personality and but it's personality far different.
• 4:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: But he influenced me tremendously as a defensive coordinator and as a coach in general.
• 4:12
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so the coach Dick, I learned a lot from both of them.
• 4:16
  [SPEAKER_02]: I think back to when Coach Dick came in.
• 4:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I look at the way he kind of dissected our roster.
• 4:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: We had a lot of big name players when he arrived.
• 4:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I learned early on that it didn't matter what your name was to him or what your accomplishments were before he got there, it was going to be all about your production and whether or not he thought you could help us to win a championship and he changed that roster over quite a bit in the first couple of years and he brought in some guys that were talented enough but really smart as well and it
• 4:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: turn things around to the point where, you know, we ended up winning a world championship.
• 4:55
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so I'm always mindful of that when we're talking about rosters and getting the best 11 on the field, making sure you don't get caught up in the names, but, you know, how will this guy be able to help you win?
• 5:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: And then we're buddy.
• 5:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, there's so much written and say it about but in, you know, obviously he was a genius when it comes to defensive football, but I shared this with coaches at different times and I'll share with players at times as well.
• 5:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: One of the things I took from buddy was the ability to be able to listen to the players.
• 5:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: There were times where a Mike Singertary or their offensive or myself might have an idea or a thought.
• 5:35
  [SPEAKER_02]: And you think because but as who he is and all the success that he had, it was just going to be all about doing it the way buddy wanted it done, but that wasn't necessarily true.
• 5:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: I remember time, you guys may remember this name, Cliff Branch, who was a great wire receiver and I lived for a long, long time with the Raiders.
• 5:55
  [SPEAKER_02]: And we're getting ready to play the Raiders and I'm with talking about the game plan and but it tells me,
• 6:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, I want to match you up with Cliff Branch throughout the day.
• 6:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: I want you to get down there and press them and cover them all over the field.
• 6:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I started watching some tape of Cliff Branch, and I was like, and this dude is pretty good.
• 6:12
  [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, he's fast, he's quick, he's elusive.
• 6:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: I said, I need to be able to change it up a little bit.
• 6:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: I need to be able to mix it up.
• 6:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: I can't just be lining up the same for all the time.
• 6:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so I went to Buddy and I told him that, and I said, I like to be able to mix it up.
• 6:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I want to be the press, but I want to be able to play off a little bit, I want to play inside outside.
• 6:30
  [SPEAKER_02]: And he looked at me and he said, Leslie, just do what you have to do to get him covered.
• 6:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: I crush you.
• 6:35
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm okay with that.
• 6:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: And man, you're talking about a relief, but also it boosted my confidence that he had confidence in me.
• 6:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: And it was the same way if my singer-ter had an idea about our game plan and had a thought based on his film study that he thought might help us.
• 6:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: But it was listen, and he didn't incorporate some of our ideas.
• 6:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so I tried to do that as a coach with our players.
• 7:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I tried to give him
• 7:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: some opportunities to share some of their thoughts because at the end of the day their ones have to go out and execute the plan and if they're not confident in it if they don't feel good about it the plan probably isn't going to work and that's one of things I learned from buddy and it's voted well for me so very appreciative of them both they were great influences on me both as a coach and as a as a person as well
• 7:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: I kind of want to follow up with that coach because it seems you had, you know, great, another great player and my single Terry who also went on to to be a head coach in this league and so many smart players did that really, you know, help you have the confidence to start a coaching career afterwards, but was that relationship with buddy part of what propelled you to that?
• 7:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: I guess in some ways it was, you don't got my first opportunity.
• 7:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: They're in suburbs of Chicago at Trinity College and in deer field But for me it wasn't something I had a desire to do when I was playing I used to look at our coaches Coastic but in and all our coaches and look at the hours they were putting in and Man, this is a thankless job for those guys and because we we get all the headlines and all the credit, but Once I start looking at it and and and realize the impact you could have
• 8:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: As a coach, as I began to reflect on the influence that my coaches had on me, you know, I kind of gravitated towards it.
• 8:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so in a way, they did influence my decision to go into coaching because of impact they had and the impact that I've learned that you can have as a coach, you have to remember that for some of our players.
• 8:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: But they don't have a father figure necessarily.
• 8:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: Some come from homes where that's just not the case.
• 8:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: So to have a chance to help a player succeed on the field, but be able to impact him off the field as well in his daily life.
• 8:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, that's a special, special situation on the special building you have when you see a guy going from his playing career.
• 9:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: and become a positive part of our society as well because of your influence.
• 9:05
  [SPEAKER_02]: So in a way, those guys definitely influence my decision to go in the coaching.
• 9:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and I know Jeff wants to ask you about Trinity College, but before he does, I actually, you were kind of bringing that up.
• 9:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think that's interesting.
• 9:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: I kind of just thought about it about this 85 defense, right?
• 9:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: And, you know, it always gets depicted as like this pack of wild dogs and they're just aggressive and they're just kind of, I don't want to say, say, brainless, but just like it's, it's the aggressive, it's the aggressive.
• 9:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's not so much cerebral, but then you think about it.
• 9:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: And obviously, you were a defensive coordinator, head coach, Ron Rivera, defensive coordinator, head coach.
• 9:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, Gary Fensick certainly felt like he could have been a head coach.
• 9:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: Jeff Fisher, and I didn't have quite the role in 85, but obviously, long time head coach, Mike Singletary, is Jeff mentioned.
• 9:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: A lot of coaches came out of that 46 defense.
• 9:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: You think that is a coincidence, or is it something about that defense and maybe more of a cerebral thought of the 46 and not just so much relentless pressure?
• 10:02
  [SPEAKER_02]: A little bit of everything you just said, along with Buddy Rhine, along with our head coach, Costa Rica, and our personnel department, you know, with Bill Tobin and early on Jim thinks, understand in the importance of not just having talented players, but guys that was smart and had good instincts, had awareness to make up a quality football team.
• 10:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: I almost every good coach and good person they all got been around.
• 10:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: They're looking at more than just how fast a guy can run or how much weight he can lift.
• 10:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: They're looking at the character.
• 10:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: along with how smart is he?
• 10:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, how well can he adapt to situations?
• 10:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so I think that's part of why some of us went on and became coaches and had success in the NFL.
• 10:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: But our staff, our scout and staff, along with our coaches, they understood the importance
• 11:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: looking at more than just a guy's talent and trying to find a player who kind of embodied some of those things that allow you to be successful when the coach doesn't make a perfect call, you know, because sometimes you got to make the coach relate and part of that is having smart players.
• 11:24
  [SPEAKER_00]: Well, Coach, you know, Bill mentioned it that I do have a question about Trinity College because Mike Michael Hoes, Lester, Wiltfong lives near there and he's like, you gotta ask him because you started the program and, you know, talking about an NFL coach that, you know, you're a couple years removed from Super Bowl.
• 11:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: You know, the pinnacle of a player's career and then a couple years later you're starting a program, you know, at the vision two level
• 11:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: you know, how did that go and how did you build a program from scratch and you know, what lessons did you learn and did being a former Chicago Bear help you recruit players like, you know, what was that process like and that time there?
• 12:05
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I mean, that's that's a very good question as well.
• 12:08
  [SPEAKER_02]: And as I mentioned earlier, it wasn't my goal when I was playing in necessarily getting the coaching.
• 12:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: The injury in a Super Bowl had a little bit to do with that.
• 12:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: If you guys recall, you know, when I was injured,
• 12:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, I was going to the last year of my contract and I was looking forward to a big contract and and and an extension and all those things, but that injury set me back a little bit and I end up that next season, you know, being on the physical and able to perform this and and having to sit out that entire season as I was going through rehab.
• 12:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: And when my rehab was done, I wasn't able to pass that physical to get back and play again about a year and a half later.
• 12:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so it was tough, you know, I was just coming off of a season where I had led the team and the interceptions and for the third straight season and was looking forward to, you know, great years ahead.
• 13:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: But that injury kind of made me have to, you know, change things a little bit and so I started trying to figure out what's the next step for me once I didn't pass our team physical.
• 13:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: And the next step was I looked at a lot of things.
• 13:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: I looked at some different businesses in Chicago, you know, thought about, you know, what I wanted to use my college degree and the president of Trinity College at the time.
• 13:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: contacted me about coming over and talking with them about starting a football program from scratch.
• 13:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: And when he first called me, I was like, now I'm gonna try to get my knee right and come back and play again.
• 13:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: But to make a long story short, after about six or seven months of just looking around trying to figure out what was best, I realized that this was a great opportunity at 28 years of age at that time, to start a football program,
• 14:02
  [SPEAKER_02]: be a head coach, and this was after talking with Coast Dick and other people who were in coaching about what I was about to get myself into, and I just felt like it was what God was leading me to.
• 14:16
  [SPEAKER_02]: This is what he was, this is a door that he had opened for me, and it was probably the greatest decision I ever made was,
• 14:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: Accepting that offer from the president of the college of Dr. Kenneth Meyer to be the first hit coach there in the start that football program.
• 14:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: Now I found out just over about a year ago the school has kind of been shuttered and they're doing everything online now, but we had a great experience there and a lot of things I learned in my nine years at Trinity, I've kind of incorporated in the role that I have today as the assistant hit coach here in CF.
• 14:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, you talked about the injury so why don't I go there next because obviously that's that is the one thing about the beautiful result of Super Bowl 20 that that is just the the unfortunate thing was was your injury there and a lot of bear's fans remember it and and just the crushed for you know and I mean you did get to play in a Super Bowl but take me back to to that moment you know it's not on defense it's on special teams like
• 15:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: what were the emotions in the moment did you know how severe the injury was you know did or did you just you know you're young you're in your 20s like I'll be fine and a few months kind of thing what what was the emotion of that happening in the biggest game in your career Well Bill was more what you said a moment ago I was you know I was thinking that when the injury first occurred I said you know I'll probably be out for a few plays and and then I'll be back in that's that was my mindset
• 15:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: And we go in and half time and I see my knees really swollen up it's gotten a lot worse and then I realized I wasn't gonna be able to go back and play the rest of the game and we got a big lead at the half by that time and you know, obviously we ended up running away with the game.
• 16:02
  [SPEAKER_02]: But even then, I just felt like I'd be able to come back and play and have a long career, I had no idea that it would turn out the way it did and the doctors would tell them
• 16:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: After I came out of surgery, that the way surgeons were performed at that on that day, a year from now, it will be so different, but they just weren't where they needed to be from a technology standpoint.
• 16:30
  [SPEAKER_02]: For guys to come back from ACLs on like they are today.
• 16:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: I was just a little bit ahead of my time when it comes to
• 16:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: that injury and medicine catching up to some of the things that guys do today when they are rehabbing.
• 16:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: So, like for example, after my injury, I was in a cast for six weeks where my leg was just straight.
• 16:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: Well, the day they don't even cast guys, I mean, they're mobilized right away.
• 16:55
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's just so different.
• 16:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: But I don't have any regrets.
• 17:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: Things that really worked out well for me.
• 17:02
  [SPEAKER_02]: It was hard at the time when I came back.
• 17:05
  [SPEAKER_02]: To Plastfield for training camp and and wasn't able to pass the team physical that was a hard thing You know you pass physicals all your life and all of a sudden you can't pass a physical because you you don't have the flexing You need I never regained my full range of motion But as I mentioned things that worked out I've been very very blessed and I probably wouldn't have gotten in the coaching if it were not put at end or so things worked out tremendously
• 17:31
  [SPEAKER_00]: I'm kind of curious, you know, a lot of the former bear's players have been able to form connections to guys, current team, you know, past guys and I'm kind of wondering with that injury, if you ever had, you know, someone like Gale Sayers who, you know, suffered a similar fate with his knee when he was playing that really kind of shortened his career, are there other players that, you know, helped you navigate that emotional, you know,
• 18:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, it's fun if you bring up GLCIR's name.
• 18:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: He was one of the people I talked to.
• 18:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: When we started that program at Trinity, I'm gonna go back just for a moment.
• 18:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: One of the things we had to do was fundraising.
• 18:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: We had to do a lot of things that we needed uniforms.
• 18:16
  [SPEAKER_02]: We needed to get fields.
• 18:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: We needed to get weight room.
• 18:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: So Coast Deck, a lot of my former teammates.
• 18:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: GLCIRs included as a great bear player.
• 18:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: they will come over and help me the fundraise for the program and Mike Singeter and I would do a summer camp and work with them on football.
• 18:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: and gale sails would always be one of our guests to come over and share with the young kids about football and his career.
• 18:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so we have conversations about what I went through from a rehab standpoint and then going on to the next phase of your life.
• 18:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: Gail and that was all the guys as well when I was going through my rehab that kind of talked to me and gave me some insight on things that were ahead and so on for ever grateful for some of those conversations with Gail he was obviously a great great player one of my heroes growing up and very thankful for some of those conversations
• 19:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, I want to bring you back on the field about 1985 because there's a couple, you know, when we hear and we hear people talk about the 85 season, you know, the Dallas game gets brought up a lot that the comeback against the Vikings gets brought up a lot obviously the Miami game for for other reasons, but
• 19:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: My father, who was a big football fan, season ticket older, the bear is dating back to regularly field all his life.
• 19:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: There was a play that he talks about, that he says, really set the tone for the season.
• 19:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: Because week one against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, you guys did not have a great first half, especially for the 85 bears defense.
• 19:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think it was 28 to 17 at halftime.
• 19:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: Bucks have the ball to start the second half and have a chance to really put some separation between you guys.
• 20:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: And maybe you guys don't come back and win that one.
• 20:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: But Leslie Fraser picks off Steve Burr takes it to the house, cuts it to four bears come back and win that one.
• 20:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think it was 38 to 28.
• 20:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: Do you ever think about that play in the way that that play kind of turn that game around and kind of set the tone for the season?
• 20:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: My father always felt it did.
• 20:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: Bill, I've never met your father, but man, that is so, so good.
• 20:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: Because those jikka talking about that play at the end of the year, he talked about that he went back to that play and said, that play had as much to do with the success we had going forward as any play that occurred doing that season.
• 20:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I can remember man, we go in and a half time.
• 20:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: They're killing us, you know, they were running a ball in us, throwing a ball
• 20:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I remember sitting in the locker room saying, and we need a big play.
• 20:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: I hope that they will challenge me this second half.
• 20:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: I just hope they throw it my way.
• 21:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: And Richard Dent, prior to the play,
• 21:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: where I intercepted the past.
• 21:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: He tells me, hey, Leslie, if they throw it, I'm gonna get my hands up, so be alert, okay?
• 21:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: Just be alert and Richard, speaking of smart players, Richard Dent was an extremely smart player.
• 21:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: There were times he tell me doing the course of the game.
• 21:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: Hey, on this next play, I'm gonna give this tackle and outside moving, I'm gonna come inside and you watch it work.
• 21:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: So we'll watch them on Monday, and I want you to see if it worked.
• 21:30
  [SPEAKER_02]: Sure enough, almost every time he told me he was gonna do some, it worked.
• 21:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so coming out of that second half and Tampa dominated us the way they did.
• 21:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: I was just hoping that I'd have an opportunity to impact that game.
• 21:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: I said, I hope they throw my way and sure enough they did, Richard, tips to ball, I intercepted it, we score and we were in a runaway with the game and, um,
• 21:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I don't think, like you said, they didn't score again at that entire second half.
• 21:57
  [SPEAKER_02]: So it had a lot to do with us being confident because coming into the season, we were confident.
• 22:03
  [SPEAKER_02]: We thought we had a really good team after that lost against San Francisco and the playoffs and the championship game and I was injured in that game and I really couldn't help our team.
• 22:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: But going to the season, we thought we were going to be that team.
• 22:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: And to start off the way we did it wasn't looking that way.
• 22:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so once we got rolling, we all know the rest is history.
• 22:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: But that play, the Costa could talk about it.
• 22:30
  [SPEAKER_02]: And now to hear it's your dad recognize it as well.
• 22:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: That's pretty cool, you know?
• 22:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: So yeah, it was a big play for us.
• 22:37
  [SPEAKER_00]: Coach, I think I know the answer to this, but I have a personal feeling that the pick six is the greatest play in football.
• 22:43
  [SPEAKER_00]: Do you, I mean, just go, what are the, I mean, Mike playing career was all hand in the dirt.
• 22:48
  [SPEAKER_00]: So like, I've never experienced that myself, but is there, is it like hitting a grand slam?
• 22:53
  [SPEAKER_00]: Like what are the emotions of taking the ball away and housing for six points for your team?
• 22:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: it's a special feeling we we talk about it every place I've ever been on defense we're always talking about scoring at the getting to take away on defense and I mean it it changes games it means it changes momentum it energizes the entire team it's a special especially if it's one rose that kind of turns the tide in your favor whether it's a walk off in aception foot touchdown and wins the game or in the case we're just referring to
• 23:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: one that gets you to momentum and gets to crowd back into the game because it's that type of place.
• 23:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: So, yeah, similar to a slam dunk in basketball, similar to a home run in the world series, yes, it's a big moment, a special moment.
• 23:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: Unfortunately, we have to ask you about the Dolphins game, especially being you were a member of the secondary.
• 23:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: And we had Jim Boe covert on, and we talked to him about the famous Buddy Ryan goes up to Jim Boe and says, hey, I'm going to blitz the hell out of your body.
• 23:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: And he says, you do that.
• 23:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's going to kill you.
• 23:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: And obviously, we know from the documentaries about Dick and wanting Buddy to switch the nickel, and he wouldn't do it.
• 24:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: So take us back to that Monday night football game against the Dolphins, the, you know,
• 24:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: Dan Reno kind of having his way I know there were some tip passes that went for touchdowns some bad luck as well.
• 24:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: But what was the feeling in the secondary having the struggle against Dan Reno that you guys feel you should have gone back to the gone to the nickel.
• 24:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: What was that?
• 24:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: What was that like that evening?
• 24:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: Well, that that is not a great memory.
• 24:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: a little bit flawed, but it was what we did.
• 24:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, we're a Martyr was a special player.
• 24:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: He was one of those guys who could line up on a slot receiver, although he played line backer and could use the cover to those guys.
• 24:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: But not more Mark Dupernos guys.
• 24:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: They were really, really good receivers.
• 24:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: And
• 24:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, maybe it may have been to our benefit to switch to nickel defense, but, you know, as I mentioned earlier, we had had so much success what we had as hard to get away from what you've done and had success in doing.
• 25:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: The confrontation between Coach Dicca and buddy that was hard to witness.
• 25:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, you're in a fight trying to have success and trying to figure things out and then you head coach in the defense of coordinator or at odds at halftime it's it was tough.
• 25:30
  [SPEAKER_02]: It was tough.
• 25:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: But the good news is we learn from that game.
• 25:35
  [SPEAKER_02]: We rebound it from it and we went on and had, you know, tremendous success.
• 25:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: And we didn't get into maybe two or three o'clock in the morning and we've got a call to be down and start to work on on the Super Bowl shuffle.
• 25:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: So it was it was hard, but it worked out for us and then.
• 25:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, you brought up the Super Bowl shuffle, so let me ask you about that because we talked to Gary Fence about it a little bit and he talked about how it was kind of really gold thing.
• 26:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, but like some of the players like Steve McMichael were sitting on what are you guys doing?
• 26:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I know you participated in it, but you were kind of you were part of the chorus.
• 26:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: You didn't have an individual role, so I want to ask you like, how did you decide to get involved in that?
• 26:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I also have to ask you, how does Leslie Frazier not have a solo?
• 26:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, the hardest part was the fact that we lost the night before and now we got to get up and go down there and I know a couple of guys walked in a couple of guys didn't make it and had to be put in late on and I remember thinking to myself, should we really be doing this?
• 26:47
  [SPEAKER_02]: We just had a tough loss and driving down here to do this and
• 26:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: I said, well, I committed to it, so I'm going to do it, and you're right, Gary knows that Willie was the guy who kind of orchestrated it all and got all of us involved.
• 26:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: But I wasn't thinking much about what my role was or what they were asking me to do.
• 27:05
  [SPEAKER_02]: I was thinking more about what they had told us it was for and I was to raise money and really help people that were less fortunate.
• 27:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: That's what was going through my mind.
• 27:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: So whether I had a singing role or a dancing role that Billy didn't register at the time.
• 27:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: So, you know, we went down that we had a great time.
• 27:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: And if you ever see that
• 27:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: the pre-tate of some of the things that went on before to actual performance, we had a great time together just ribbon one another and teasing each other and we had great camaraderie.
• 27:35
  [SPEAKER_02]: with our team mates and that's the one thing that I remember from that experience is the camaraderie, before we did the tape and with singletary with Gary, my grits and all the guys that participated we just had a really good time and it got our minds off of a bad game that we had had the night before.
• 27:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: So as it turned out to be,
• 28:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: I think a platinum record and had a ton of success, so it did a lot of good, but going down there was it was tough to get there, but once we got there was fun, a lot of fun.
• 28:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: All right, last one for you, because I think you are a rare individual who can actually truly answer this, because I know comparing ears and the NFL is impossible.
• 28:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: But when we talk about great defenses, the names that always seem to come up is obviously the steel curtain in the 70s, the 85 bears, the 2000 Ravens, and now people start talking about the Legion of Boom Seahawks, where you are now in Seattle, obviously when they were win in Super Bowl, they're about a decade ago.
• 28:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: This 85 bears defense.
• 28:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: Is it the great, you know, if you, you know, you want to say single season because I know the steel curtain did it in one four super bowls, but is it the greatest single season defense that the league has ever seen.
• 29:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: No, Bill, you know I'm a little biased on that one now.
• 29:03
  [SPEAKER_02]: I just can't, but you get a part of the league, you know, you're part of the league with the 2000 Ravens and the and the sea.
• 29:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: There's no question, the dominance of the 1985 Bears team speaks for itself.
• 29:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: I can't imagine that there was another team, more dominant, and had the impact that we had.
• 29:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: More so than what we had as a defense on that 85 team.
• 29:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: So, to answer your question, I played on the greatest defense that we've played in the National Football League,
• 29:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: who impacted the game and had some serious personalities also that brought people to the game.
• 29:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: It wasn't that we were just a good group on defense.
• 29:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: There were people that became fans of the National Football League.
• 29:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: It caused it for our defense.
• 30:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: So it was a special time.
• 30:03
  [SPEAKER_02]: And there's no greater city when it comes to support than what we experienced during that championship run.
• 30:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, that is a great answer to finish on there.
• 30:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: He is Leslie Frazier, cornered back of the 85 Bears and, of course, a long time NFL coach.
• 30:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: Coach, thank you for that interview.
• 30:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: That was a lot of fun for us.
• 30:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: We really appreciate it.
• 30:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: And best of luck moving forward this season.
• 30:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: You guys have a hell of a squad.
• 30:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you.
• 30:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: Thank you, Bill.
• 30:28
  [SPEAKER_00]: Thanks, dear.
• 30:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's it.
• 30:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: 85 at 40 Bill Zimmerman Jeff Berkerson, of course, Leslie Frazier.
• 30:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: Thanks so much.
• 30:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: We'll talk to you next time, Adios.