Latest / 2nd City Gridiron / Bears Banter Ep. 228: Dan Wiederer joins on moral victories and perspective after Packers loss

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Bears Banter Ep. 228: Dan Wiederer joins on moral victories and perspective after Packers loss · 2nd City Gridiron

• 0:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
• 0:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, that one's done, that one's done, doesn't matter.
• 0:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: And we're going to talk about this.
• 0:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're going to talk about perspective.
• 0:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're going to talk about moral victories.
• 0:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: We got plenty to talk about coming off that Green Bay Packers loss.
• 0:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: But it is another loss to the Green Bay Packers.
• 0:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're going to talk about all of it.
• 0:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're going to talk about it with Dan Weeder of the Athletic.
• 0:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's going to be by here in just about 15, 20 minutes.
• 0:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: it's not the same old bears but in some cases it's the same old bears.
• 1:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: So let's get into this.
• 1:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: Let's start with the moral victory thing.
• 1:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: I am not a moral victory guy.
• 1:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: I am not sitting there applauding the bears for being close and I think
• 1:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're going to get into Green Bay Packers fans, too, because they need to pipe down.
• 1:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: They really do.
• 1:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: Not about given crap about the bears and whatever and rivalry and all that, whatever.
• 1:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I'm talking about that Packers fans trying to tell bears fans how to fan.
• 1:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: That we don't need.
• 1:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: We're going to get into that as well.
• 1:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: But let's start with the moral victory thing, because I am not a believer in moral victories.
• 1:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is not some, you know, one versus, and it doesn't even work anymore because the 16 seeds have won in the NCAA tournament, but these like one versus 16 seeds, you know, where there are a 35 point underdog and they took Duke to the, you know, they were tied with Duke with two minutes to go and they lost by four and they can hold their heads high because it's a moral victory because they went, you know, wall to wall,
• 2:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: with Duke.
• 2:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: This isn't, you know, mystery Alaska, we're a bunch of townies hung in there with the New York Rangers.
• 2:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: Those are moral victories, right?
• 2:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like the bears are a professional football team.
• 2:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: Period.
• 2:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: The packers are a professional football team.
• 2:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: period.
• 2:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: There's no moral victories there.
• 2:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: The bears pay people to play football.
• 2:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: The packers play football.
• 2:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: People to play football.
• 2:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: And the packers people tend to be better than the bears people over the last 35 years.
• 2:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's where we're at, right?
• 2:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's pretty laid out playing in simple.
• 2:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: So there's no moral victories and professional sports.
• 2:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: as far as I'm concerned.
• 2:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: The bears were in first place in the NFC.
• 2:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now they're in seventh place in the NFC and clinging to a wildcard spot.
• 2:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: Is that jumbled up in the NFC?
• 2:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's that competitive.
• 2:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: There is no margin for error and the Chicago bears just need to make sure that they stay focused in win football games.
• 3:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: And they went up to Lambo field.
• 3:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: They went up there expecting the win and they did not win.
• 3:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: That is a loss.
• 3:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: Take the L. It sucks and move forward.
• 3:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: It does not mean that you need to rant and rave and say the season's over and the bears suck and they can never beat the packers.
• 3:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: You need to keep perspective.
• 3:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: And packers fan seem to think that having perspective
• 3:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: is a moral victory.
• 3:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: And those are two very different things.
• 3:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I tried to tweet about that.
• 3:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's not a moral victory.
• 3:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: The bears lost.
• 3:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: It sucks period and of story.
• 3:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: The bears are still having their best season in a long time.
• 3:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: They have the packers coming up at home in a couple weeks.
• 3:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: And if they split with the packers, the odds were they were going to lose in lambo and win
• 3:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: And there's no reason based on how the two teams looked at Lambo to think that the bears can't win in Chicago.
• 4:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: There's no guarantee they will win in Chicago.
• 4:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: But there's no reason to think they will not win in Chicago.
• 4:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think the Packers will be favorite in that game.
• 4:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: They're probably going to be like a field goal favorite, something like that.
• 4:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: But that doesn't mean
• 4:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: have to Chicago Bears can't easily go in there and win football and win that football game.
• 4:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: They've been underdogs in many games this season and and pulled out the win.
• 4:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: So when I look at this game and yes, there are positive and negative to this game.
• 4:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: I still I don't look at the moral victory aspect.
• 4:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: There isn't a moral victory, the bears lost.
• 4:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's the end of the story.
• 4:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: The bears are having a good season.
• 4:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: And the way they played at Lambo, the way they battled back against an excellent football team should be applauded, and you should be excited about that.
• 4:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: But it doesn't mean you should be shrugging your shoulders so it's no big deal.
• 4:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: They lost, give them a moral victory.
• 4:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: No, that's not it.
• 4:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: And Ben Johnson's not gonna take a moral victory either.
• 4:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: But Ben Johnson is gonna appreciate that his team battles and fights and does not give up and plays to the whistle.
• 5:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: There is a distinct difference there.
• 5:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: And now as for Packers fans, I was gonna save this for the end of the monologue, but I'm gonna talk about this now because
• 5:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: Look, Packers fans want to call Bears fans clowns and all, to other crept, that's fine.
• 5:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like, the Bears fans, they get to enjoy a world-class city and the Packers fans don't.
• 5:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: They live in a, a little state that has very little to do and they live.
• 5:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: They don't even live near Milwaukee where there's things to do.
• 5:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I understand there's Packers fans all throughout the state, but in Green Bay,
• 5:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: Look, it's a bizarre thing that they have a football team.
• 5:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: They support that football team.
• 5:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's their entire lives.
• 5:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: You got to appreciate that the Packers fan that lives in Green Bay, their entire world is the Green Bay Packers.
• 5:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: They don't have anything else.
• 5:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like, I think if you go on yelper, whatever, like the second or third best restaurant is Colvers.
• 6:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like, that's where they're at in Green Bay.
• 6:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's a little po-dunk town, and there's not much to do, but they have a professional football team, which bears fans don't let them forget that the reason they have a professional football team is George Hallis.
• 6:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: If you don't know the history lesson, George Hallis bailed out the Packers.
• 6:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: The Packers were broke.
• 6:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: They were going to go under in the early years, the first what 20 years of the National Football League in the 30s, I think it was.
• 6:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: They were going broke and they were going to go under.
• 6:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: And George Hallis said, you know what, having the bears in the Packers, that's a good rivalry, that's good for the league.
• 6:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: George Hallis gave the Packers money so that they could pay their bills and not go bankrupt and go under.
• 6:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: He saved the Packers franchise and the Packers lands can sit there.
• 6:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I was 90 years ago.
• 6:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: You wouldn't have a team.
• 6:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: Doesn't matter if it was 90 years ago or 10 years ago.
• 6:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: He saved your franchise.
• 6:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: It would have folded that would have been the end of the Green Bay Packers.
• 7:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: The NFL would have eventually expanded back to Milwaukee, not Green Bay several decades later.
• 7:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that would have been the end of the Green Bay Packers.
• 7:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: George Alice saved that little franchise and the Packers fans want to think that the bears are some joke of a franchise and they've been horrendous.
• 7:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that's the thing.
• 7:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: Is I think a lot of bears fans do have perspective?
• 7:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: They know how bad the football team's been and is a blip in 2018 and a couple blips with lovey.
• 7:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: But for the most part,
• 7:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: If you're a bears fan in your 40 years or younger, you don't remember any kind of sustained success.
• 7:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm old enough.
• 7:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: I got a few years on that and I was a little kid, but I do remember that 80s bears.
• 7:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I was at the Washington Game in 85.
• 7:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: I was at the Rams Game in 85.
• 7:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: I was at the Niners Game in 88, the Playoff Game.
• 7:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like I was at these games where the bears were a legitimate team.
• 8:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: And if the bears had a quarterback,
• 8:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: shocked me, tell me if you've heard this one before, if the bears had a quarter back, they probably would have won more championships, but Mike, but Jim McMahon died, it's shoulders stopped working, and they had bike Tom's app.
• 8:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's not going to win your championships.
• 8:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's just how it works.
• 8:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: So that's where the Chicago Bears were then, but they haven't had sustained success.
• 8:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: True, I don't consider Lovey Smith's sustained success, because Lovey,
• 8:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: for the most part was an eight nine win coach and had a couple good seasons.
• 8:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, obviously they made it super ball.
• 8:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's a great season.
• 8:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: But sustained success for me is, you know, 11 and 6, 12 and 5, 12 and 5, 13 and 4, 14 and 3 back to 12 and 5, 10 and 7, you know, 12 and 5, where you have 5, 6, 7 consecutive seasons in a row of win and double digit games, that's sustained success, the bills, the ravens, the chiefs, the Eagles.
• 9:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: though the Rams, those are teams with sustained success.
• 9:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: Doesn't mean they're all winning championships, but they got a place at the table.
• 9:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think that's where the Bears are finally headed with Ben Johnson, is sustained success.
• 9:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think fans see that.
• 9:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think because of that, fans have a lot of perspective this year.
• 9:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is the most rational, I think the Bears fan base has ever been in all my years of being on social media.
• 9:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's tough to know.
• 9:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: You have the pulse of the fan base in 1996.
• 9:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: But since social media has existed, I know not every Bears fan is on social media.
• 9:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's just a small percentage of Bears fans.
• 9:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I think it's a pretty good slice.
• 9:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: And it's honestly, it's more extreme.
• 9:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: fandom on social media than not.
• 9:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: So when you see social media and you see mostly rational bears fans who are saying, I'm enjoying this season.
• 9:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is a good season.
• 9:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: I am not, you know, exceed, you know, worried about expectations, super bowl or bust any of that.
• 10:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to enjoy that and see where they're at because I understand as a fan, they are ahead of schedule.
• 10:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think that's where bears fans are.
• 10:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: Bears fans have a rational approach to this season, and Packers fans are sitting there saying, oh, they're taking moral victories, the Bears fans are a joke, you know what?
• 10:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: Just bug her off, okay?
• 10:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: Go, go enjoy the Mars cheese castle, have some fun there, and be on your way, all right?
• 10:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like, just because Bears fans have perspective and Packers fans out, I saw a Packer fan saying that Bears fans are a joke.
• 10:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: because they're not upset enough that they'd lost to the Packers.
• 10:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: Meanwhile, as Packer fans, we want Matt LaFlor fired after victories.
• 10:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: You're actually admitting stupidity there, not fandom, stupidity.
• 10:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's what you're announcing as a pacifier.
• 10:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: Packers fans are dumb and they're spoiled.
• 11:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not saying all packers fans are dumb.
• 11:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm sure there are some smart packers fans.
• 11:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: I haven't met many of them, but I'm sure they do exist.
• 11:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: I am sure they are more prevalent than unicorns, small percentage higher, but at the same time,
• 11:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: saying that bear's faith aren't screaming at Caleb Williams and calling him a jackass because he threw an interception or calling for Ben Johnson's head because you may not have liked his third down call in the second quarter.
• 11:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's irrational fandom.
• 11:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's what the Packers think is normal, because again, it's their whole world.
• 11:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: They got nothing else in Wisconsin.
• 11:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: So there's fans and Packers fans are two different breeds.
• 11:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: We love our teams just as much as the other one.
• 11:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: But we, as Chicagoans, have more things in our lives than Packers fans.
• 11:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's the way it is.
• 11:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm sorry, Packers fans, if you're listening to this, if you get a snippet of it, you're probably pissed off, but you also know it's true.
• 12:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: because if you say, yes, you should be asking for Matt LaFloris had because they beat up crappy team by three instead of two touchdowns, you're irrational and you do not have intelligence and you do not have perspective on your football team.
• 12:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: like I can sit here and argue with Packers fans that when you have two of the arguably top 10 to 12 quarterbacks in league history for a 35 year stretch, you should win more than two Super Bowls.
• 12:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not saying you can't enjoy the far Super Bowling, you can't enjoy the Rogers Super Bowl, but you should have perspective and know that, you know what?
• 12:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: We should have had probably four, five Super Bowls over that 35 year stretch, you should.
• 12:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: Played it simple.
• 12:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: You should have one more, but Brett Farve couldn't beat the Cowboys.
• 12:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: Then he couldn't beat John L.A. Then he started fading.
• 12:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: Aaron Rogers couldn't beat the Niners.
• 13:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: Had issues in the playoffs.
• 13:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: Aaron Rogers, the most mind-boggling guy who can be insanely clutch and make the most, and the Jared Cook throw against the Cowboys.
• 13:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's one of the best throws I've ever seen a quarterback make.
• 13:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then he can choke away a game and not score any points against the 49ers in the playoffs.
• 13:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: Maddening.
• 13:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: And as a Packers fan, you should have perspective.
• 13:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, we're win all the time and you don't win and therefore you suck and we're great.
• 13:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: No one's arguing that the Bears haven't been bad for decades.
• 13:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: We have perspective like you should be able to look at your team and you sit there and say we you should be screaming for Matt LaFloris head when he doesn't win enough and then say it's okay that you're not winning Super Bowl.
• 13:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's like bottom line here the Chicago Bears this is their first year of a rebuild and for Packers fans you traded for Mike a Parsons.
• 13:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: and you sat there and hammered bears fans in 2018 and said the Khalil MacTrade was offered not because they didn't, the bears didn't win anything despite their great 2018 season.
• 14:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: And if you want to have that stance then fine then you better understand that the packers goal this year is to win the Super Bowl.
• 14:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: You
• 14:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: traded two first round picks for Micah Parsons, you should win the Super Bowl.
• 14:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: And if you make the playoffs and you lose to the Rams, you didn't have a successful season.
• 14:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: The Bears goals and the Packers goals were very different at the start of this season.
• 14:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that's why Bear's fans can have perspective.
• 14:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: And Packers fans can scream and yell about how Matt LaFlor should be fired.
• 14:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm mad at Jordan Love for this interception.
• 14:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm going to rant and rave and scream and talk about all.
• 14:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: Despite my team win in football games, I'm going to focus on the negatives.
• 14:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: But then when they lose, I'm going to say it was a successful season.
• 14:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: You can't tell me my team wasn't a success.
• 14:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: You got a winning record.
• 15:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: doesn't mean it was successful, because the bars of success are different right now for both franchises.
• 15:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: And yes, the bear's bar is lower, because the bear's franchise has been a joke for years.
• 15:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: For years, one blip and 2018, that's it for George McCaskey's reign, that is it.
• 15:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: So when we look at this, we look at this coming from two different areas.
• 15:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: So Green Bay Packers fans, having the
• 15:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: Shut up, stay in your little state, stay above the border.
• 15:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't want to see in Gernie.
• 15:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't want to see you anywhere near there.
• 15:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: Don't go dip in down to walk, even stay away.
• 15:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: Certainly don't cut to Chicago.
• 15:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: We don't need to see you there.
• 15:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: Enjoy your cheese.
• 15:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: Have some curds.
• 15:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: Enjoy your colvers.
• 15:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, have the butter burger.
• 15:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's a nice little restaurant.
• 15:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: You got plenty to do up there.
• 15:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, go take the Lambo tour again.
• 15:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm sure you've done it 17,000 times.
• 15:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: Anyways, let's talk about the game here, because the game was frustrating.
• 16:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: It should be frustrating because you just felt that the bears just weren't clicking.
• 16:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: And then when they finally started clicking, it was a little too late.
• 16:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, that first half, I saw a lot of bears fans criticizing Ben Johnson's game plan.
• 16:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: They did like what was going on there to me.
• 16:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: I am a guy that I like to see the full game play out because I don't think there's a coach in the league that finds more success in the second half consistently.
• 16:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: then Ben Johnson has found this year.
• 16:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I don't think, you know, I think, oh, it's the bear's magic, they're lucky.
• 16:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's not luck.
• 16:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's Ben Johnson.
• 16:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: Ben Johnson puts his players in a position to succeed because he's taken the data points from the first half in the third quarter and he keeps building on that.
• 16:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is how the packers are gonna respond to this.
• 16:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is what the packers are gonna do here.
• 16:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: He takes that information, he process it and says, well, then this should work.
• 16:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: and he runs the plays and the plays work.
• 17:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: And does he need the team execute?
• 17:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: Absolutely.
• 17:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: He needs the team to execute.
• 17:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: But the bottom line here is sometimes the bears are going to have a slow start because they need to figure things out because they aren't as far ahead as their record is right now.
• 17:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: They are ahead of schedule.
• 17:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: So yes, sometimes there's going to be a slow start.
• 17:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: and the passing game was awful in the first half.
• 17:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: Was it bed's fault, was it Caleb's fault, was it the receivers fault, was it everybody's fault?
• 17:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, yes it was, but seeing that passing game come together in the second half and seeing the throws that Caleb Williams makes, that's something to build on.
• 17:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: And we need to see this passing game come together.
• 17:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: If we want the bears to make noise this year,
• 17:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: That passing game has to come together.
• 17:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know what it's going to come together.
• 17:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like San Francisco is about the time that needs to come together.
• 17:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: They can beat the Packers at home if the offensive passing games a little clunky.
• 18:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: They can beat Cleveland at home if the passing game is the little clunky.
• 18:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know San Francisco, that's a bad defense like it.
• 18:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's going to have to click before the playoffs.
• 18:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: And if it does,
• 18:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: we can sit here and talk about the bears getting hot at the right time.
• 18:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: And if it doesn't, that's okay.
• 18:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: We weren't expecting the bears to be where they're at now.
• 18:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: Anyway, hopefully it clicks early in 2026, like right out of the gate, a week one, week two, week three, that passing game really comes together.
• 18:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's been the hope.
• 18:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I said this back in August that I did not think this was all gonna be hum and by September.
• 18:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: I didn't know how long it was going to take.
• 18:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if it's going to take a half season.
• 18:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: The full season, the run game and the past game.
• 18:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now the run game has rounded into form.
• 18:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: we are seeing all the all 22 guys, all the analysts, they love the running scheme, they love how Ben Johnson is mixing different concepts together.
• 19:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: I love how I see how Ben Johnson is putting offensive linemen in positions to succeed on the second level.
• 19:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: As an offensive linemen, I hated the second level.
• 19:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: I was pretty slow.
• 19:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: I was more of the big bruising type that didn't have the quickest feet in the world.
• 19:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: But if I got my body on a guy, then they weren't going anywhere.
• 19:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: That was basically my strength that is an offensive lineman.
• 19:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I wanted a guy lined up in my gap in the direction where I wanted to take him and I wanted to pulverize him.
• 19:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's what I wanted.
• 19:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: When I lined up, if I knew I needed to take my guy to the right and he was lined up on my right shoulder, I was thrilled.
• 19:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: When I line up, and I see that I know my target is going to be at the second level, it's going to be a linebacker, and I know like I have to get to his left, you know, his right, I have to get to my left and kind of corner him off from like an off tackle run.
• 19:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I know he's already got a half step over there.
• 20:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm like, oh crap.
• 20:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: like now I feel like I'm going to lose this rep before the rep has even started.
• 20:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think offensive linemen think that way a lot.
• 20:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's not like they give up.
• 20:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's not like if I'm sitting there going, I got to do a reach block on a linebacker that I think I'm going to lose.
• 20:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I understand that the odds are stacked against me.
• 20:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I understand that when I've got a guideline up exactly where I want to take them then I'm going to be able to win that rep and win it easily.
• 20:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: So it's not
• 20:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: Am I going to win this rep?
• 20:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's how much am I going to win this rep by?
• 20:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: Can I pan kick him?
• 20:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: Can I just blow him out of the area completely and how big of a whole am I going to be able to create for the running back?
• 20:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like that's the level of confidence you have.
• 20:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: For years, we have seen the Chicago Bears Run scheme that constantly put offensive linemen in a position to make difficult blocks.
• 20:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: And sometimes it can't be avoided because a defense coordinator does a great job of lining up his pieces where
• 20:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: but it felt like every play, every play, it was a difficult block that an offensive lineman had to make and in a lot of these schemes.
• 21:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's not the case with Ben Johnson, like you're seeing the offense move in a way and flow together where the offensive lineman are able to chip and get out to the second level and make the blocks they need to make and wall people off and do what they need to do without putting them in a difficult position.
• 21:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm seeing that with the running game and you just kind of see it with the passing game that it's not just clicking just yet and it just like who is the biggest issue is it that everyone needs to be on the same page is it is a Caleb's accuracy is it that receivers don't know exactly where they're supposed to be I think with Luther Burton people were screaming for Luther burden
• 21:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: to get more snaps and yeah, he's a very talented player.
• 21:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: He needed to be out in the field more, but at the same time, like I had heard from someone months ago at Luther was on the field as much as he should be on the field.
• 22:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I really thought that was interesting.
• 22:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now, they didn't go in the details why, but the easy jump there was to speculate that, you know, it was a full grasp of the playbook that he probably didn't have at that point.
• 22:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: And
• 22:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now you're seeing Luther out on the field for more snaps.
• 22:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: And when you're watching the all 22 or you're watching people who break down all 22 film, you're seeing Luther's making a few mistakes here and there.
• 22:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that's an easy thing to connect and say, yeah, Luther wasn't where he needed to be with the full playbook.
• 22:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: He may still not be there with the full playbook.
• 22:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: So
• 22:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: The bears have a lot of moving parts in this passing game in terms of where everyone needs to be for everything they click.
• 22:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: And it's just not there yet.
• 22:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: And Caleb Williams is his fault.
• 22:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: And the receivers aren't fault.
• 22:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: And there are multiple people to blame here.
• 22:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: And hopefully it comes together in the next few weeks.
• 22:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: Everyone seems to think they're close, even the analysts.
• 22:59
  [SPEAKER_00]: They're
• 23:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, we need to just see it get over that line.
• 23:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: It doesn't need to be perfect.
• 23:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, that's it.
• 23:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: We need the passing game to get all the way there.
• 23:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's got to take another step forward.
• 23:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: If we want to see the Chicago Bears really make a push, not just to make the playoffs, but to win a game or two in the playoffs.
• 23:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's got to be really interesting.
• 23:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: And it's going to come down to what the Chicago Bears do here over the last few games of the season.
• 23:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's a tough position to be in right now in the NFC.
• 23:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like we're looking at teams, possibly winning nine game.
• 23:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I'm gonna embarrass this, the NFC South, which may have a nine and eight winner at this point.
• 23:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: Tampa just can't figure things out.
• 23:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: Caroline is just hanging in there.
• 23:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: They play each other twice.
• 23:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: So we'll see who wins at the vision with the head to heads.
• 23:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: But the AFC, the bottom of the AFC is far more doable than it is in the NFC.
• 24:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: because honestly, it is not crazy at all to say the Chicago Bears can win 11 games and miss the playoffs.
• 24:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: You go 11 and six and miss the playoffs, that is absolutely brutal.
• 24:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: But that's where the Chicago Bears are right now.
• 24:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: They're sitting at 9 and 4, they beat Cleveland and beat Creme Bay and move to 11 and 4, then if they lose to San Francisco, they're 11 and 5, and if they lose that last week of the year
• 24:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: They had lost the San Francisco in that case if San Francisco finishes 11 and 6 and they're at 9 and 4 right now.
• 24:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: shouldn't be too difficult for them to finish with eleven wins if they beat the bears which they did in that scenario that's a tenth win they just need to win one more game that gets them to eleven that means the forty-nineers jumped the bears and if they lost it to try that means to try who's currently at eight and five they just need to win two more games they would get up to eleven games then at that point and they would have the tiebreaker with the bears and at that point the bears are toast eleven and six the bears
• 25:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: Man, y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y
• 25:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: I believe if they beat Detroit, odds are they will end up with the tiebreaker against the right, the way everything else plays out unless the bears get swept by the packers, but like there's a lot of ins and outs on this, the bears need to stay focused.
• 25:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: they need to win games to get in the playoffs.
• 25:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: If they get to 12, they're automatically in.
• 25:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think that sounds obvious, but I think if you told people in October, the Bears were going to live in games, you're like, great, they're a playoff team.
• 26:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: We'll not necessarily.
• 26:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: So they can't get ahead of themselves, beat Cleveland this week, and they really do need to beat Green Bay next week.
• 26:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: And if Green here's the thing, and this is where everything is so close, Green Bay plays Denver this week, in Denver.
• 26:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: if they lose that game and the bears beat Cleveland, the bears are back in first place by a half game.
• 26:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: Then they play Green Bay.
• 26:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: They could be up a game and a half on the Packers.
• 26:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: and then the Packers have the Ravens and Minnesota to finish the season.
• 26:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: So the Bears could be at 11 and 4 and in first place in the NFC North and still in danger of missing the playoffs completely because that there are, and I've been talking about this on this podcast for weeks.
• 26:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: There are eight quality teams in the NFC and only seven of them are gonna make the playoffs.
• 26:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: I know that doesn't include Carolina, it doesn't include Dallas, and Philadelphia certainly fallen apart that Monday night game was ugly.
• 27:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: But.
• 27:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: Bottom line is there's there's going to be one team sitting home in the NFC that honestly is deserving of going to the playoffs so let's talk about the Packers game let's talk about the big picture Let's talk Ben Johnson let's talk Ryan polls.
• 27:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: Let's talk about it all with Dan Weeder of the athletic he joins me next.
• 27:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is Bill Zimmerman bears banter will be right back
• 27:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: Welcome back into the podcast excited to talk to this gentleman.
• 27:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: Usually when I have a man, he's either doing some expose about how the front office is failed or problems with the coaching staff or quarterback, but things are a lot more positive right now.
• 27:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: Despite coming off a loss, he is Dan Weeder of the athletic and, of course, to take the North podcast, then he joins me now.
• 27:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: Dan Bill Zimmerman, how you doing?
• 27:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: Bill, it is wonderful to be with you under these circumstances.
• 27:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: I know, as you mentioned, it's been different over the years.
• 27:57
  [SPEAKER_02]: And what a breath of fresh air, the season has been in a lot of different regards.
• 28:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: So yeah, I think everybody's pretty excited for the change in storyline.
• 28:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: It really has, and talking to various media members throughout the season.
• 28:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: I've been doing this podcast five, six years.
• 28:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: So we're really kind of just after 2018, and every media member guy does the same feeling.
• 28:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's so, but it's so nice to be actually on the positive side of the coin, which so often we're needing to criticize this team.
• 28:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: But let's start with the Packers game, and let's dive into that one first, and then do some bigger picture stuff.
• 28:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: And let me start with what's really kind of been bubbling up on social media here and on, you know, Chicago media and that's moral victory about where the bears are versus the Packers.
• 28:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: And the way I look at it is you can separate two things.
• 28:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: you can sit there and as a fan be upset the bear's loss to the packers yet again despite being competitive in the game but still be able to pull back and look at what this team has built this year and be very excited for not just moving forward 20, 26 and beyond but for the rest of this season as well.
• 29:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, like I don't believe in moral victories, but I do believe in perspective.
• 29:05
  [SPEAKER_02]: And maybe there's some overlap between those two things as we're sort of unpacking this loss from Sunday at Lambo Field, but this is a very different kind of loss than the bears of experience so many times against the Green Bay Packers.
• 29:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: Look like the way I described it coming out of Lambo Field on Sunday is there have been a lot of times where you've walked out of that building, the bears have been embarrassed, and then they've been pointed at and laughed at.
• 29:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: And that wasn't this, right?
• 29:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: Like this was a competitive game that came down to the final play.
• 29:30
  [SPEAKER_02]: It was evidence, more evidence of the bears having the resilience to battle inside of in-game adversity and find solutions and find answers and put themselves in position to win at the end.
• 29:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: They've obviously done a lot of winning at the end the season.
• 29:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: They didn't have the magical final play that they wanted on Sunday.
• 29:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: But the direction was different in that visiting locker.
• 29:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: It was still very heavy.
• 29:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: But I think it was more so a player
• 29:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: They had a golden opportunity that was within reach and it just slipped past and the other part of this bill I think is when you look at those NFC standings and you realize that that slip up drops you from the top seed in the NFC all the way down to number seven on this reality check moment.
• 30:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: right of like this is how thin the margin for errors and these are the consequences and the costs of not playing your best football.
• 30:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: The Bears obviously have to apply that going forward in these final four regular season games.
• 30:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: But I think they can feel really good about their ability to compete in every single game they have left on the schedule.
• 30:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: I completely agree with that.
• 30:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: And let me ask you, when you looked at this game, what, and it, like you said, if you want to talk about it more about how they, they battle, and they came back, or maybe there's a specific player or aspect of the team, what's one of your biggest positive takeaways from this game?
• 30:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: And what's one of your more concerning takeaways from this game?
• 30:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: The biggest positive takeaway for me is easily the way that the offense found itself in the second half because you walked into half-time thinking man They are they're a mess right now 23 passing yards.
• 30:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: They were one for seven on third down Couldn't get anything going.
• 31:02
  [SPEAKER_02]: I thought probably one of the biggest sequences in the game was getting the CJ Gardner Johnson interception and the return into plus territory and doing nothing with it
• 31:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: And now you go to halftime down 14 to 3.
• 31:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: And yet, in the second half, the offense came to life.
• 31:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: You had three consecutive scoring drives.
• 31:17
  [SPEAKER_02]: You score 18 points on those three possessions.
• 31:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: The final drive of the game, you're inside the red zone.
• 31:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: You're knocking on the door of a potential game winning touchdown.
• 31:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so to find yourself within a game isn't something we're always used to with bears offenses that are struggling.
• 31:30
  [SPEAKER_02]: And that's a testament to the resolve of the group.
• 31:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's a testament of Ben Johnson to stick to his game plan.
• 31:35
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's a testament to continue doing what you believe is your strengths.
• 31:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: and finding ways to expose the defense.
• 31:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: So that was certainly the most positive.
• 31:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: I think probably if I'm having the initial reaction to the most negative, it's just the big plays they allowed on defense.
• 31:50
  [SPEAKER_02]: You just got to reduce that by about 50%.
• 31:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: There's obviously the three touchdown passes from Jordan Love and then probably the killer is that third and short run stop that they missed.
• 32:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: Josh Jacobs gets loose despite being sort of hemmed in by three Bears Defenders who all had a chance
• 32:05
  [SPEAKER_02]: to kind of stop them there and force green bay into a field goal that changes the entire dynamics of that last possession.
• 32:12
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so you just, you just kind of find a way, right?
• 32:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I think that's probably been made very, very clear inside the building over the last 48 hours as the bearers have gotten themselves back onto this steady ground and see these are the types of things that make the difference between 10 and 3 and 9 and 4.
• 32:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and, and I think one of those differences, big differences from last season that this season is the improved offensive line play obviously for new offensive line and the run game is really humming Caleb Williams is getting ample protection most of the time and look and I know Barris fans are excited and they're going to go out and vote and pro bull voting doesn't mean everything, but you're seeing Darnell right and and and and Dolman and
• 32:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: tuning, all the way, they are up there.
• 32:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: And when you look at their statistics as well, all of them are up towards the top in terms of the offensive line.
• 33:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: So obviously, the talent is there and the talent is far improved.
• 33:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: But then the other thing I think is, it's not just Ben Johnson, but I think it's Dan Rochar as well.
• 33:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think a lot of us questioned, and I'm just gonna say a question, Chris Morgan, and some of the things that they were doing previously.
• 33:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: The way they put offensive linemen in positions to succeed, where they have achievable blocks and the entire cohesive scheme of the run game, I love what I'm seeing in terms of everything that not just the talent of the offensive line has, but what the what the coaches are doing to make them play even better.
• 33:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm going to give you a little tangential soap box rant before the end of the answer, but we'll start with the idea that this coaching staff seems to have a very united vision and it's a clear vision for what they want that the run game to look like for what they want their offensive line to look like and they've been able to
• 33:55
  [SPEAKER_02]: to really hit the bullseye with getting that vision to come to life.
• 34:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: I reflect back on the combine.
• 34:02
  [SPEAKER_02]: Last February, I guess it would have trickled into early March, but Ben Johnson making it clear that he felt like they could get this offensive line.
• 34:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: completely revitalized in one off season.
• 34:12
  [SPEAKER_02]: And at the time, you're kind of, you know, your eyebrows are raised, you're like, wow, okay, they, they think they can aggressively address a number of positions in this off season to their credit.
• 34:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: They went out and got really aggressive in doing so.
• 34:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I think probably the most underrated factor within that interior offensive line is the snap counts.
• 34:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: These guys don't miss time and that's such a huge deal for a bear's offense that over the years you've seen it you've seen the the charts every year of how different the offensive line is looks from week to week to week and here it's really just been left tackle that's been the only place where there's been some of a revolving door otherwise you're just getting.
• 34:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: Reliability.
• 34:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: You're getting durability.
• 34:47
  [SPEAKER_02]: You're getting availability from these guys in a way that allows the softens to come to life in the way it has.
• 34:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: When you mentioned Dan Rochard, I think he and Ben are a great match because they both believe in real straightforward honesty.
• 34:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: And that's not only to their players, it's to us.
• 35:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: And I think there's something valuable to being able to speak out loud where you see weakness and shortcomings.
• 35:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: And my rant is that I've
• 35:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: that in a cutthroat physical violently like the NFL is, that coaches feel so hesitant to publicly criticize players.
• 35:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: You're like, if your guys can't take public criticism, then how are they going to win a Super Bowl when they're playing?
• 35:26
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, four games in January and February to win the sports biggest prize, you have to have a level of mental toughness there, and I think this group believes in the mental toughness of their guys, and they're not afraid to call out mistakes again, both inside the building and then just express them publicly in a way that that gives that little extra push of this is what we need to do to become a championship level team, and so I've been very appreciative of the coaching staff's ability to communicate that.
• 35:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, no.
• 35:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: I agree with that.
• 35:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: And you talk about Ben Johnson saying he was going to flip the offensive line as someone that was creating content and looking at free agents and everything.
• 36:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like, all right, everyone's circle drew dome and that was in a surprise.
• 36:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: But you looked at the guards and there was, you know, Aaron banks and will fries and these guys that they really are like, these guys are going to get overpaid and banks hasn't been great for green bay.
• 36:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: You really had like, I didn't understand where they were going to go.
• 36:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: They go out and they make two trades.
• 36:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: And it really did some creative things and where I have been highly critical of Ryan Polls over the last couple of years on this podcast and in my writing.
• 36:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: But like I started talking about it last week, Dan.
• 36:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: I mean, with the way the offensive line is flip the hiring of Ben Johnson, and again, it doesn't mean everything Ryan Pace won this award as well, and it was fired a couple years later.
• 36:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: But Ryan Polls, he could be a line for executive of the year.
• 36:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: We got a little something in store later this month at the athletic kind of going through what they've done in the calendar year of 2025 to put themselves in the position that they're in right now and there's a lot that goes into it obviously it starts last January with the hiring of Ben Johnson and then Ben coming in and being very clear with his vision but it takes sort of that that lockstep with your general manager to go
• 37:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: get that stuff done and do it in a way that it positions your team to succeed.
• 37:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: Now, you and I have had the discussion for years of, you know, tasting successes, one thing sustaining it as another.
• 37:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so when you look at it through that lens, you're trying to figure out, are there things that are going to...
• 37:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: sort of potentially activate the trap doors for this team to not be able to sustain some things.
• 37:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so that's going to be something that's going to be interesting to look at.
• 37:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: When we get through the finish line of this regular season and start to explore 2026, because I think you do need it to kind of identify what is firmly in place and what's just kind of in place and what's sort of like going to put you on the verge of falling off.
• 37:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: But to your point, nobody saw that this type of turnaround happening in this fashion.
• 37:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: And at a local Chicago watering hole, but yeah, it's been impressive the way that they have built this team to win and win now and now again the key is is making sure you do it in a way that you can can make it last which has been a big problem in Chicago for 37 40 years.
• 38:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, so certainly has there has not been really sustained because I don't even know if you can call love he sustained success because it was like, you know, you're pop at those big seasons and then kind of You know, regress back to eight, eight, nine and seven.
• 38:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: So yeah, you know, consistent playoff contender.
• 38:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's really been the mid 80s, which is is really well for these franchises.
• 38:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: But the one thing, if they're going to have sustained success, Dan, they need to find a consistent passing game.
• 38:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: The consistent running game has gotten there now, they're running the ball consistently, that the Eagles game was a Monet, you know, still look good against the Packers, but like you said, the first half passing game was atrocious, just 20 yards passing, and they do find moments, and they do find explosive plays.
• 38:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: But you know, we keep hearing it, it's close and either Caleb Williams is an accurate here, maybe the receiver runs the wrong route or doesn't break at the right moment, all these different things it just seems like the, you know, maybe Caleb things to run the receiver is going to keep running and he sits in his is is route, they keep seeing to be just off a page or two consistently.
• 39:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: Are you seeing where you think this this passing A might be close or do you think there's a lot of different pieces that still need to get solved here for this to really come together and be a consistent weapon for Ben Johnson?
• 39:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: Well, it's interesting.
• 39:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: I had a conversation last week with passing him coordinator, Press Taylor, where he is of the belief that they're close, but he also was very forthright and saying, we can't keep saying, we're close.
• 39:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: Eventually you have to be not close anymore, right?
• 39:32
  [SPEAKER_02]: Like, and be there.
• 39:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: You have to have a ride.
• 39:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: You can't just be close.
• 39:35
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so there is a lot that goes into this.
• 39:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's from the play caller to the quarterback, to the route runners, the offensive line.
• 39:40
  [SPEAKER_02]: All those things have to be in harmony.
• 39:43
  [SPEAKER_02]: I struggle to look past quarterback inconsistency in this league and just go, oh, well, they'll figure it out because we know so many times not only in Chicago, but all across the league, you don't figure it out and it becomes the thing that keeps you from reaching the heights that you think you can get to.
• 39:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so I think there is, um,
• 40:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: healthy pressure on Caleb Williams to understand that his next leap is going to be the leap that changes the trajectory of where this bear's team ultimately can land.
• 40:09
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so he's got to be very very locked in to what his responsibilities are and in living this past again.
• 40:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: I think you've heard from Ben Johnson in recent weeks that if the the first primary read is open,
• 40:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: spit them all out to them.
• 40:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: Get it there.
• 40:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: Let's get to the next play.
• 40:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: We'll find a way to get your big plays to start humming.
• 40:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: Obviously within that green bay game, you see some of the off-script brilliance that Caleb has.
• 40:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: That passed down the bear's sideline to Cole Comet for 26 yards was the the sort of spark that the bear's needed and it's a top 10 throw in the league this year.
• 40:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, on the move and to put that ball where it was, it's a huge deal.
• 40:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: Now you've just got to start to do the basic stuff more consistently and more successfully.
• 40:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: Pressed Taylor had given me an example from the Eagles game where the Bears converted a 3rd and 7 against it all out blitz with a slant to allow me to use the keys and you say to yourself, great, nine yards move the chains, huge, huge play in the the context of that football game.
• 41:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: The coaching points inside the building were if the route is a little crisper, if the throw is a little bit better, this gets out of the gates for a touchdown that breaks this game open and then you have this example in Green Bay where Jordan love does just that and hits Christian Watson against it all outlets with a slamp.
• 41:16
  [SPEAKER_02]: with a ball that puts them in position to just hit the moving walkway.
• 41:20
  [SPEAKER_02]: CJ Gardner Johnson's got no chance from behind chasing Christian Watson down.
• 41:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: And all of a sudden you've got this huge touchdown that gives Green Bay such a huge thing of momentum.
• 41:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: And that's it.
• 41:28
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's, you know, that's the difference between a nine-yard gain and a fist pump and the entire stadium erupting because you just scored a 41-yard touchdown.
• 41:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, absolutely, and let's get over the defensive side of the ball, like you said, some concerns with some of the big plays.
• 41:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: And look, I'm not pointing the finger and saying that if this had been different, they would have won the game, but they did get hurt in the slot a lot.
• 41:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: Jordan loved really picked on him in the slot.
• 41:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: And Kyler Gordon, of course, gets hurt pregame.
• 41:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think he's only played.
• 41:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think it's three games this year.
• 41:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: And now he's going to be out a, would appear to be multiple games again.
• 42:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: They just paid him and he's never missed this much time, but he has consistently missed two, three, four games a season over his first few games in the league.
• 42:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: Is this something Ben Johnson seemed to be frustrated talking about Kyler Gordon's availability?
• 42:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: Is this something that maybe the bears are having second thoughts about paying this guy and this is the kind of unfortunate season he has just not been able to be on the field?
• 42:25
  [SPEAKER_02]: I feel like Ben's frustration is kind of in bubbling up here over the last month as he's tried to figure out what exactly that haven't in Kyler Gordon is her about it.
• 42:33
  [SPEAKER_02]: But he hasn't seen it with his own eyes.
• 42:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: You mentioned the number of different injuries that have popped up since the start of the season.
• 42:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: And Kyler has played 117 stamps this year.
• 42:42
  [SPEAKER_02]: This is in the year after that they guaranteed him.
• 42:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: I think it was $31.25 million on the extension that he got.
• 42:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: That's not a return on investment bill and it's a problem.
• 42:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: And you could hear from Dan on Monday sort of being
• 42:55
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, just a little bit frustrated that he doesn't have enough experience with Kyler on the field to know what's there.
• 43:02
  [SPEAKER_02]: And that's that's maddening for a coach as you're trying to put together your your puzzle, both short term and long term problematic for me as Kyler hasn't gotten hurt inside of a game this season that he gets hurt on a walk through day in week one the day before they play the Vikings and Monday football.
• 43:16
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's in a practice and week eight.
• 43:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: It's in warmups this past weekend and you're going, what's going on here?
• 43:22
  [SPEAKER_02]: You know, like, these aren't
• 43:23
  [SPEAKER_02]: settings where you watch him, you know, his leg bends funny in live game action or he takes a huge hit or whatever it may be.
• 43:31
  [SPEAKER_02]: You're like, how are these soft tissue injuries recurring inside of these forums where they shouldn't really be recurring?
• 43:39
  [SPEAKER_02]: You got to take an honest look at that when the season's over.
• 43:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: I would imagine that right now, I mean we're looking at it's December 9th, you can't really count on him being part of your plans the rest of this season.
• 43:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: There's certainly no way he's playing this week.
• 43:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: You wouldn't think that he'd be available in the next two or three.
• 43:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I wouldn't be shocked that they shut him down and then had to re-evaluate exactly what's happening and what you can count on long-term.
• 43:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: But that's a huge problem in my opinion when you have this player that you thought was going to be a huge chess piece for you.
• 44:04
  [SPEAKER_02]: And then here we are in week 15 and he's played 117 snaps.
• 44:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and it opens up the door to a lot of questions about the secondary.
• 44:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think like I know we should be focusing on this season because there's there's plenty to talk about, but I love trying to figure out what they're going to do with this secondary because, you know, CJ Gardner Johnson has been excellent.
• 44:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: Nation, right has been excellent.
• 44:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, Jalen Johnson's missed a lot of time.
• 44:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: He makes a lot of money.
• 44:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like we talked about Kyler Gordon, Brisker and Byrd are both free agents.
• 44:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: They have a lot of moving parts here, and they have basically, you know,
• 44:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: too many puzzle pieces to fit in the puzzle, they can't pay everybody and keep everybody they can't pay back up, stand 11 million dollars a year.
• 44:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: What do you think, what do you think the solution is right now on this secondary in terms of who are the most important pieces to keep around for 2026?
• 44:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: So you bring up an interesting point in the circles back to what we were talking about about the sustainable success piece of things because you have to make sure that as you can Can you building going forward that there aren't contracts that are going to weigh you down and if Tyler Gordon truly is unreliable and not durable That's going to be a contract that that that hurts you right like because it's not going to allow you to get again the return on investment for what you paid him and then it's going to prevent you from going out and spending On other guys that could help your football team reach the next level.
• 45:18
  [SPEAKER_02]: That's an example.
• 45:19
  [SPEAKER_02]: I'm curious, and I'll come back to the secondary in about five seconds here, but the DJ more contract is one that you've got to look very closely at, because I think everyone's like, oh, you just got a train of at the end of this year.
• 45:29
  [SPEAKER_02]: Okay, well, who's trading for that contract?
• 45:30
  [SPEAKER_02]: And how are you going to sweeten that deal if you are intent on moving on from DJ after this year?
• 45:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: That's another storyline to keep it eyes on.
• 45:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: The secondary is interesting though, because I feel like in guys like Kevin Byrd in a Sean Wright, you've got guys
• 45:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: that fit.
• 45:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: You've got guys that have earned the right to come back.
• 45:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: Now you've got to find a price that makes sense.
• 45:51
  [SPEAKER_02]: I feel like Nishon Wright is at his best, you know, alongside Al Harris.
• 45:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: Can you keep Al Harris, right?
• 45:57
  [SPEAKER_02]: Like, you know, is he a guy that gets some defensive coordinator consideration?
• 46:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: this offseason elsewhere and so there's a lot that goes into putting your puzzle together and that group is there's so much talent and there's so many possibilities but now you have to make the right decisions when you're deciding who stays, who goes, who gets what?
• 46:15
  [SPEAKER_02]: That's not easy and so that's going to be a huge thing for both Ben and Ryan to really get their brains wrapped around when in the three days after they play their final game this year.
• 46:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
• 46:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: And you talk about some of those big contracts.
• 46:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think this is the off season where we can, you know, I know fans like to all let Ryan polls cook.
• 46:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: They like to have fun with the memes and everything.
• 46:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I think this is the off season where we're really going to see if Ryan polls can cook because the bears don't have a lot of cap space.
• 46:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now they can open up a lot of cap space with, you know, bonus is a move of stuff around.
• 46:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not saying like they're going to have to cut people and get rid of everyone.
• 46:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: But it does offer, you know,
• 46:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: Montez Sweat.
• 46:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's had a, you know, a comeback season compared to last year.
• 46:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: He makes a lot of money.
• 46:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: DJ more makes a lot of money.
• 46:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: Jalen Johnson makes a lot of money.
• 46:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: Tremaine Edmunds makes a lot of money and they could get out of the Edmunds deal.
• 47:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: But Edmunds has been very good when he's been on the field this year.
• 47:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: So they have.
• 47:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: a situation this year where I feel like in the past Ryan Polls if the if the draft picks didn't work out he could just pay a guy and put a veteran in there because he had plenty of cap space because he tore up Ryan Polls's entire roster and started to new but but this year not now that polls is kind of pushed the team up against the cap what she should do that's that's that's not a criticism.
• 47:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: right now the decisions are really going to have to be made because Odenbo not getting much of a return there.
• 47:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: Greatie Jared not getting much of a return there.
• 47:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: And you can't just dump these guys.
• 47:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: They still have guaranteed money coming in in 2026.
• 47:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's going, the bears are going to have to walk a tight rope here in this off season and try and figure out who stays and who goes.
• 47:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: The thing, but once I didn't even thought about it in a few weeks because he's been on IR and then you think, oh man, they've got it, that's going to be something that weighs them down a little bit as well.
• 47:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: Don't forget also that on the Thursday night of draft weekend, they're not going to be picking until late in the nine o'clock hour, you know, where you used to the draft start and if the bears are on stage, you know, and this is going to be a different experience with them picking in, you know, conceivably in the 20s, right, like by the time we get there.
• 48:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so, so like you're not going to have that draft capital at the top of
• 48:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: of days one and days two that are going to allow you to really make some bigger splashes, that's going to be a factor in this whole thing as well.
• 48:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, and now looking ahead here, the Cleveland Browns this week.
• 48:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: Obviously, this is a game they need to have.
• 48:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's a very winnable game.
• 48:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's at home, it's a touchdown plus points bread.
• 48:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: But at the same time, I will sit here and say, I think some bears fans just circle it and say, win, and of course, obviously it's when they should win.
• 48:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: But between miles, Garrett, between a icy defense, Shidorah Sanders looks pretty good in the last couple of weeks, at least much better than what they've had at quarterback.
• 48:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, Harold Fannon's a good piece.
• 48:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: This Brown's team, I feel is better than their record.
• 48:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: Again, they're not what the bears are.
• 48:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: They're two different, uh, two very different places.
• 48:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: But this is not a walk over for Chicago either, at least not in my house.
• 48:59
  [SPEAKER_02]: Well, look, they can be scary defensively.
• 49:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: And obviously, I'll start with with Miles Garrett.
• 49:03
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so you, you have to come ready to have a plan for him.
• 49:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: And then whatever plan you have for him you're going to have to figure out how to compensate for what you're leaving, you know, an unplanned for, essentially, I do have faith in the Bears coaching staff more that I've had in a long time that they on both sides of the ball can put together a sensible and winning game plan to go attack this football game.
• 49:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: four sacks and two takeaways in this game right like that should be a realistic target in order to get this this game and you're in your column but they cannot lose this game they absolutely cannot lose this game it becomes panic central if they drop
• 49:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: this game fall to nine and five and then have to bring the packers back on a short week to soldier field for a prime time game.
• 49:54
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so you've got to be locked in.
• 49:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: And again, I think this team all year has been one of their gifts has been the ability to lock in.
• 50:00
  [SPEAKER_02]: You would trust in the coaching staff.
• 50:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: You would trust in the veteran leaders to get that tone set as soon as they get back in the building and back on the practice field.
• 50:07
  [SPEAKER_02]: And then again, just understand what this game plan is and then go attack it.
• 50:11
  [SPEAKER_02]: If you do that successfully, you're walking on a soldier field with a sigh of relief on Sunday and you're saying, okay, now we get our second swing at Green Bay and if we can manage to split with them, we're probably back on top of the NFC when that game ends.
• 50:24
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so that's a really nice thing to be chasing.
• 50:27
  [SPEAKER_02]: But again, it takes daily focus on every last little detail to get that done.
• 50:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, absolutely and let me just finish with this one because I think this is interesting and you know in terms of the success level of this season because like you talked about the bears were the one seed they lose one game they dropped to the seven seed and the Detroit lions are you know a half game back in essence because they've got the typebreaker currently on them you know behind them in the eight spot in the NFC so
• 50:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's very cluster together.
• 50:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: The bears could actually very easily go 11 and 6 and miss the playoffs, which would be a really tough pill to swallow.
• 51:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: But if they happen to beat Cleveland and Green Bay and then lose to San Francisco and Detroit and Detroit finishes 11 and 6, the bears are out of the playoffs.
• 51:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like, that's just something that's going to happen.
• 51:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: So,
• 51:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: Is it play to be a successful season?
• 51:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: Is it already a successful season or have expectations changed where they need to make sure that they're a playoff team?
• 51:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that's why they need to be the one seed or when the division, do they need to be a playoff team?
• 51:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: And Dan Weater is eyes.
• 51:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: What is now success for the 2025 Chicago Bears?
• 51:34
  [SPEAKER_02]: Well, I will write successful season and pencil right now.
• 51:38
  [SPEAKER_02]: But obviously there's four games left to play, and they've got to comport themselves very well in those four games for me to change that to a Sharpie.
• 51:45
  [SPEAKER_02]: I love the fact that this team has earned the opportunity to play.
• 51:49
  [SPEAKER_02]: He's very meaningful December and early January games.
• 51:52
  [SPEAKER_02]: I think it's a great experience regardless of how the season ends for this group.
• 51:56
  [SPEAKER_02]: To feel that pressure and to understand what those stakes are.
• 51:58
  [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, look like we had conversations last week in the locker room with a guy like Jalen Johnson who, you know, when the bear's went to the playoffs is rookie season.
• 52:05
  [SPEAKER_02]: He wasn't in that playoff game.
• 52:06
  [SPEAKER_02]: So this is the first time he's been, you know, chasing the goal of playing in a playoff game.
• 52:10
  [SPEAKER_02]: DJ Moore has never been on a winning team before.
• 52:13
  [SPEAKER_02]: in his career.
• 52:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so like this is new for some of these guys.
• 52:16
  [SPEAKER_02]: And so to get this experience to understand what this is all about in the next year up is huge.
• 52:21
  [SPEAKER_02]: So, you know, like if they lose two or three more games in the fashion that they lost some days at Lambo Field, I think you can say, okay, you know,
• 52:30
  [SPEAKER_02]: just didn't go their way down the stretch of a season that was that was pretty impressive with the way they turn things around.
• 52:36
  [SPEAKER_02]: But you do have to play a competitive and winning brand of football in these last four games.
• 52:41
  [SPEAKER_02]: Then you just kind of see what fate has in store for you.
• 52:44
  [SPEAKER_02]: They've made a ton of growth.
• 52:46
  [SPEAKER_02]: The quarterback has made progress.
• 52:48
  [SPEAKER_02]: The head coaches clearly set a culture and a standard this season.
• 52:53
  [SPEAKER_02]: So I think there's a lot here that you just you wrap your arms around this.
• 52:57
  [SPEAKER_02]: Say this is really really meaningful toward the long term growth of this franchise.
• 53:01
  [SPEAKER_02]: And now you just want to put those finishing touches on it.
• 53:03
  [SPEAKER_02]: And it's not going to be easy because as you mentioned,
• 53:05
  [SPEAKER_02]: These last four games are challenging in their own way and they're against really good teams and you've got to find a way to do what you can to get yourself into the playoffs.
• 53:14
  [SPEAKER_02]: And if not, then you just kind of step back and you figure out how you evaluate the whole thing.
• 53:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, absolutely.
• 53:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: There he is, Dan Weeder of the Athletic and of course, the Take the North Pod, make sure you check him out at the athletic and of course, Take the North Pod wherever you get your podcasts.
• 53:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: Dan, thank you for that interview.
• 53:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: Enjoy doing it in positive circumstances this time and hopefully that'll continue moving forward.
• 53:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, it's been fun.
• 53:37
  [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, like, it is really, really cool to walk into a stadium on Sunday in December and know that the game means something.
• 53:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, absolutely it's a great change of pace and we have Ben Johnson to thank for it.
• 53:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yes, sir All right there.
• 53:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: He is Dan Weeder of the athletic excellent chat there with Dan always a measured good approach and some positivity from Dan I know a lot of a lot of bear spans over the years for sick of his negativity one fortunately He was covered in a bad football team
• 54:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: negativity is going to come with the space but a lot more positives still measured still wants to see some things improve in certain areas but you certainly have to like dance perspective on the team who's been covering this team for a long time and been covering a lot of long, long seasons before we get to the mailbag.
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• 56:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: Make sure you put in rula.com slash gridiron.
• 56:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: to get our special DL that's r-u-l-a dot com slash grid iron.
• 56:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: And hopefully you can take control of your mental health and get everything headed in the right direction.
• 56:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: Let's get going with the mailbag and we'll give you a quick prediction as well.
• 56:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like we always do, let's jump in here and
• 57:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: Our first question is from questions and comments.
• 57:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: Mark C, who says, I'm more encouraged by the bears after the law's degree in Bay on the road than I was encouraged by the fluky tightwins over the Raiders Commander Saints, Bengals, Giants, Vikings, and Steelers.
• 57:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think there is a lot of truth to that, Mark C, and that's why I said perspective on this now.
• 57:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: We'd much rather have the bears chalking up victories.
• 57:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: They're not going to win every game.
• 57:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: Nobody in the history of the league other than the 72 dolphins has won every game.
• 57:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's just not going to happen.
• 57:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: So bottom line here is the bears are figuring things out.
• 57:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: The bears team this week is better than the bears team that beat the commanders.
• 57:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: that's they're just a better football team now they could have steadily improved throughout the year they're starting to get healthier other than this Kyler Gordon thing which is just he just can't get on the field this year it is frustrating with that aspect but I'm with you the bears you know what was that problem for you for months
• 58:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: Bears are fluke.
• 58:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: They're not any good.
• 58:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: They're just beating bad teams.
• 58:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well now they beat the Eagles.
• 58:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: They had a chance to beat the packers on basically the last play in the game came up short frustrating for sure.
• 58:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: But bad teams don't beat good teams or play good teams down to the wire.
• 58:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: Good teams do that with good teams.
• 58:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: The bears are now, no one is talking about that the bears suck anymore.
• 58:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, that is gone.
• 58:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: That is gone.
• 58:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now the question is how good are the bears?
• 58:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: Are they good enough to make a super war now?
• 58:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: Again, there's a national media.
• 58:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: There's a lot of doubts still.
• 58:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: If they are a super ball contender, and that's fine, the only one they have that puts them in that boat is the Eagles.
• 58:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: But go beat the Packers at home.
• 58:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: You know, beat the 49ers or, you know, lose to the 49ers by a field goal and people are going to start to say, look, the bears, they probably aren't going to the Super Bowl, but
• 59:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: They can beat anybody in the league and they're proving that.
• 59:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: They're feisty and they're going to be dangerous in the playoffs.
• 59:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: No one's calling of a fluke anymore.
• 59:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: That narrative is died.
• 59:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now it's just a question of just how good are they?
• 59:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: Steve Ferrell.
• 59:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: Since I'm the only person from Illinois, between my wife and kids, they begged me to go to the Mars cheese castle when we went on a family trip.
• 59:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: The fam got to try their first ever fresh cheese curds.
• 59:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: by the way, when the Skyler Gordon changed the habits that keep getting himself injured.
• 59:38
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, Steven, first of all, yes, I made a wise crack comment.
• 59:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: I like making a wise crack comment about the Mars cheese castle because I think it's hilarious.
• 59:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: You get into Wisconsin.
• 59:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: And you know, the joke on Wisconsin is it's nothing but cheese up there.
• 59:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: And within like the first 10 miles, you get the giant Mars cheese castle on 94, whatever that is, up in Wisconsin.
• 59:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: But to answer your question about Skyler Gordon,
• 1:00:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: like is it enough and I don't know.
• 1:00:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know enough.
• 1:00:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think, you know, direct your questions to bear bones with Mason West and let him answer that he's far more of an expert.
• 1:00:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not an expert in soft tissue injuries and what's going on here.
• 1:00:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: So I'm not going to pretend to know what Kyle or Gordon's training habits are.
• 1:00:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not going to pretend to know if they're good training habits if he's got bad habits.
• 1:00:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: I also wonder, is it fair to question this
• 1:00:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: because there's a lot of this, a lot of soft tissue, you know, Austin Booker, missed.
• 1:00:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: Um, you know, we had a problem with that.
• 1:00:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: Grady Jarrett's been banged up.
• 1:00:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: Tremaine Edmonds, having issues.
• 1:00:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: TJ Edwards, Noah Suhl, Jalen Johnson,
• 1:00:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: or Gordon, like, you know, we're seeing a lot of problematic injuries throughout the course of the entire season, all it's a lot of soft tissue stuff.
• 1:00:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now again, it's football, it's a war of attrition.
• 1:01:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: I get all that.
• 1:01:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not saying the bear should be, you know, injury free.
• 1:01:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's just not going to be possible.
• 1:01:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: But at the same time, is it fair to wonder if the bears as a whole need to train their roster differently?
• 1:01:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: Do they need to change the approaches as to how they're doing things?
• 1:01:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think it's fair to question it.
• 1:01:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: And if Mason Wester, other people like Bill Zimmerman is of more on, he doesn't know what he's talking about.
• 1:01:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: that is correct.
• 1:01:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't, but I can observe a lot of soft tissue injuries and wonder if there's something going on with the bear straining techniques that need to be tweaked.
• 1:01:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: Charlie Branchard.
• 1:01:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: saw radio host claim that these were the same old bears since they lost against the packers on Sunday.
• 1:01:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: Do you agree with that sentiment?
• 1:01:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: I believe Charlie's referring to Mark Brody of the score and I love the score.
• 1:01:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: And there are plenty of score hosts that have been on this show over there's Mark has not.
• 1:02:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know Mark.
• 1:02:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not going to sit there and make opinions or determinations about Mark because I don't know them.
• 1:02:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I do not agree with that statement.
• 1:02:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think that is a really
• 1:02:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: I hate to call it a lazy take, but I think it's a lazy take.
• 1:02:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think if that's what you got out of this game, then you're just not watching the same football team I'm watching.
• 1:02:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: You're not watching most importantly, you're not watching the same coach that I'm watching.
• 1:02:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: Because that's where the same old bears are.
• 1:02:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: The same old bears are from a lack of leadership.
• 1:02:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: Right?
• 1:02:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: Like bottom line here might get to beat the snot out of the green Bay Packers.
• 1:02:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now the Packers weren't good in the 80s.
• 1:02:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's certainly health.
• 1:02:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: But Dickah hated that team from his playing days.
• 1:02:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: He wanted to beat the crap out of him.
• 1:02:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: Forest Greg was the coach that was a dirty, dirty coach.
• 1:02:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: The Packers had the attitude if you can't beat him, hurt him.
• 1:02:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that's how the Packers played against the Bears in the 80s.
• 1:02:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: It was a lot of cheap crap and Dick wanted to beat the piss out of him.
• 1:03:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's why he took out the fridge and his pulverite, you know, of all the touchdowns that then William Perry scored two of them were against the Packers for a reason because Mike Dickah aided the Green Bay Packers.
• 1:03:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: So, Dickah beat the Packers.
• 1:03:19
  [SPEAKER_01]: wants that didn't have a particularly good, you know, a career didn't really beat the Packers.
• 1:03:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: Same with Geron.
• 1:03:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: Lovey Smith comes in says, I'm gonna beat the Packers.
• 1:03:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: Bears were pretty good on their lovey.
• 1:03:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: They beat the Packers.
• 1:03:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: Tress them and couldn't.
• 1:03:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: Naggi couldn't.
• 1:03:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: Fox couldn't.
• 1:03:33
  [SPEAKER_01]: Eva Flue's truly couldn't.
• 1:03:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: Eva Flue's the only coach in various history that never beat the Green Bay Packers because Thomas Brown beat the Green Bay Packers.
• 1:03:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: So bottom line here, Ben Johnson, I guess, is the other coach who's never beat the Green Bay Packers.
• 1:03:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's oh and one.
• 1:03:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: bottom line here is this is not the same old bears.
• 1:03:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is a you it's palpable.
• 1:03:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: The change of this franchise is making this year is palpable.
• 1:03:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is not 2018 and I know we had our hopes up in 2018 because we said naggy and pace we're going to be the guys and then we found out Ryan pace could not sustain a roster and Matt naggy could not handle adversity and they didn't
• 1:04:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: And we don't know 100% if Caleb Williams is to quarterback.
• 1:04:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: We can certainly believe it, and it's trending that way right now, but we don't know that's for certain, but I don't know how you can watch how Ben Johnson operates, what he's done to flip this team's attitude, what he's done for how this team prepares, attention to detail, the offensive scheme, the play calling,
• 1:04:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: What bringing in Dennis Allen, bringing in this coaching staff, everything he's done and call this the same old bears.
• 1:04:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: Same old bears because they lost to the Packers.
• 1:04:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: Well, guess what?
• 1:04:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: The bears who sucked, the same old bears still beat the Packers every once in a while.
• 1:04:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it was only like one out of five times, but they did it.
• 1:04:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: Does that mean that those weren't the same old bears?
• 1:05:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: No.
• 1:05:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: Same old bears mean it's an as backwards organization that doesn't know what they're doing.
• 1:05:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: The packers are a good organization so the bears get the snock kicked out of them.
• 1:05:10
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's not what happened.
• 1:05:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's not the same old bears.
• 1:05:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: This is the changing of a guard in Chicago and if Mark Grote or any other radio hosts don't see that, that's on them.
• 1:05:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: That is a take, Charlie.
• 1:05:23
  [SPEAKER_01]: That should be ignored.
• 1:05:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: Here's a response to that from Camp Cook, Packer fan here.
• 1:05:30
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's just rage bait.
• 1:05:32
  [SPEAKER_01]: I saw a bear's team that is going to be a problem in the very near future in the division.
• 1:05:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: There you go, Camp Cook, intelligent Packers fan.
• 1:05:41
  [SPEAKER_01]: See, I told you they existed.
• 1:05:43
  [SPEAKER_01]: Not quite as rare as a unicorn, but not too much above that.
• 1:05:48
  [SPEAKER_01]: Camp Cook, that is a good response.
• 1:05:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that's what it is, and look,
• 1:05:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: Chicago is certainly a big brother to green bay in terms of cities and towns, right?
• 1:05:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: But if we're fair, right now, over the last 35 years, Packers, Bears, Packers are the big brother to the Chicago Bears, right?
• 1:06:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's just what it is.
• 1:06:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: I hate to call ourselves the little brother as a franchise, not as a city, as a franchise.
• 1:06:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's where they've been the last 35 years.
• 1:06:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: And to me, this is, and if you've had siblings, brother sisters doesn't matter, and you played sports with them, and you always had the upper hand and one-on-one basketball, and you beat them, and you beat them, and you beat them, and you beat them, and it was, you know, you're playing a 15, you know, once and two, make a take at whatever it is.
• 1:06:35
  [SPEAKER_01]: And you're winning 15, 5, 15, 6, maybe 15, 10, they had a fluke game.
• 1:06:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: and you won 18 to 16.
• 1:06:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: They even had the lead at 13 to 12.
• 1:06:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: And you were starting to sweat and you pulled it out.
• 1:06:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: You had to win by two, you won 18 to 16.
• 1:06:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: You couldn't even finish it off at 15 and to get to 18 to 16.
• 1:07:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: And you won.
• 1:07:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: And you said, you still can't beat me.
• 1:07:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: And you got all cocky and you puffed out, you just and you ran inside.
• 1:07:07
  [SPEAKER_01]: And he said, I want to rematch.
• 1:07:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: You said, I'm not right now.
• 1:07:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: I got homework to do whatever didn't matter.
• 1:07:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: You just wanted to get the hell out of there because you went, oh, oh, little brothers coming for me.
• 1:07:18
  [SPEAKER_01]: My father never lost to my brother or I in any individual sport.
• 1:07:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: I remember I lost to an basketball by a bucket.
• 1:07:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: He never played me a game.
• 1:07:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: My brother was a junior Olympian swimmer.
• 1:07:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: He was five years old.
• 1:07:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: My dad just touched him in a 25-yard sprint.
• 1:07:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: never swam against my brother again.
• 1:07:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: My, he played my brother in tennis, seven, six in a tiebreaker in a set.
• 1:07:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: Never put my dad did not want to lose to his sons.
• 1:07:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: I respected man, but he would play us in any sport and the instant we got close, let's play a new sport.
• 1:07:56
  [SPEAKER_01]: That's tough, man.
• 1:07:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: You don't want to lose that upper hand.
• 1:07:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: And the packer spans.
• 1:08:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: They know.
• 1:08:02
  [SPEAKER_01]: They may not lose the upper hand.
• 1:08:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: But it's going to be really hard to hold on to it.
• 1:08:06
  [SPEAKER_01]: And I think eventually they will, in fact, lose that upper hand.
• 1:08:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: All right, bears, dubs.
• 1:08:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if you saw it, but I'm the last third down in the game.
• 1:08:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: I've pretty sure Theo got subbed in for Ozzy on that run play that got stuffed.
• 1:08:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: Why do you think they did that?
• 1:08:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: I thought Ozzy held his own all game.
• 1:08:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: He has showed enough to be the left tackle next season.
• 1:08:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: All right.
• 1:08:28
  [SPEAKER_01]: I did not see that.
• 1:08:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'd have to go back and look.
• 1:08:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now, Theo was the third tackle and he was coming out when the bears went big and went six offensive linemen.
• 1:08:39
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if Theo came in and you thought he was getting subdued.
• 1:08:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: He was getting subdued for Ozzy and he wasn't.
• 1:08:47
  [SPEAKER_01]: If he did get subdued for Ozzy,
• 1:08:50
  [SPEAKER_01]: The only thing I would say is, Theo's a better run blocker than Ozzy.
• 1:08:55
  [SPEAKER_01]: So again, I'm not sure exactly where that was, but let me jump ahead to the next question.
• 1:09:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: Has he showed enough to be the left tackle next season?
• 1:09:03
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's showing enough, and we got four games left.
• 1:09:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: So there's plenty of data points still to get put in place here.
• 1:09:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's showing enough to be in the mix.
• 1:09:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that's important.
• 1:09:13
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think the bears need to be in a position where Aussies their guy, whether it's left tackle, right tackle, Darnel, Switz, which is whatever they decide to do, I'm gonna have to trust that.
• 1:09:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: But they need to have Aussie be the left tackle this season.
• 1:09:25
  [SPEAKER_01]: Or I'm sorry, moving forward because they just don't have the money to spend on another left tackle and they're going to have some holes, especially on the defensive side of the ball, they need to draft some defensive players up early in this draft in the first and second day.
• 1:09:40
  [SPEAKER_01]: So if they're having to spend on a left tackle, that's going to put them behind the app all on defensively as well.
• 1:09:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: So when I look at this.
• 1:09:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think he is showing enough right now he needs to continue that and he needs to keep improving and hopefully yes, he can be the team.
• 1:09:53
  [SPEAKER_01]: He doesn't have to be amazing below average left tackle next season is okay.
• 1:09:58
  [SPEAKER_01]: He just can't be a turn style.
• 1:10:00
  [SPEAKER_01]: So if that happens then yes, I think
• 1:10:08
  [SPEAKER_01]: Because if you can, the other, no one else is going anywhere, right?
• 1:10:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: So if Trapillo stabilizes that left tackle, the bears are going to have an essence, the same offensive line for two consecutive years.
• 1:10:21
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that's not something we've seen on it.
• 1:10:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: They have not had a lot of stability.
• 1:10:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: They have had a lot of guys changing positions.
• 1:10:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: They have not had the same guys in those positions.
• 1:10:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: And if they can do that, the
• 1:10:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: bears offensive line can build up chemistry like the Eagles did like some of these really good offensive lines did because they had the same group of guys maybe everyone's at all they'd lose a guard and replace them with a guard but the other four guys were the same in consistency that goes such a long way you need to be able to know exactly what that guy next to you is doing you need to just have that
• 1:10:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: that chemistry, that connection, that kinship to know exactly when to chip, when to let go of the chip, when he's got his guy, when he's going to need that extra split second of you holding the block.
• 1:11:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: You can feel that over time, but it doesn't happen overnight.
• 1:11:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: And that's why this mayor's offense of wine looks a hell of a lot different now than it did in September because they are getting that way.
• 1:11:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: And if they can keep this offensive line consistent next year as well, it's going to do wonders.
• 1:11:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: for the Chicago Bears.
• 1:11:18
  [SPEAKER_00]: So let's wrap this up with the male bag, Cleveland Browns.
• 1:11:25
  [SPEAKER_00]: Gotta win.
• 1:11:27
  [SPEAKER_01]: They lose this one, plain and simple.
• 1:11:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: Bears, fans, whatever, ridicule comes, whatever criticism comes is what it is.
• 1:11:36
  [SPEAKER_01]: The bears need to win this game.
• 1:11:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: They are a far better team than the Cleveland Browns, but the Cleveland Browns are not.
• 1:11:42
  [SPEAKER_01]: an easy team to beat.
• 1:11:44
  [SPEAKER_01]: They are scrappy.
• 1:11:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: They have a really good defense.
• 1:11:46
  [SPEAKER_01]: Miles Garrett is a defensive terrorist.
• 1:11:49
  [SPEAKER_01]: He is going to be in the backfield.
• 1:11:51
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't care if it's Darnell, right?
• 1:11:52
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't care if it's Ozzie Trepello.
• 1:11:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: He is going to win plenty of reps. Bears have to figure out how to neutralize him.
• 1:11:59
  [SPEAKER_01]: He is averaging like two and a half sacks per game since mid October.
• 1:12:04
  [SPEAKER_01]: It's obscene what he's
• 1:12:09
  [SPEAKER_01]: Shoulder has improved that offense.
• 1:12:12
  [SPEAKER_01]: He's made it more functional and a little more dangerous.
• 1:12:15
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't think Shoulder is amazing.
• 1:12:17
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think Dennis Allen is certainly going to be able to confuse him with some looks.
• 1:12:20
  [SPEAKER_01]: Bears are going to get a couple turnovers off of him.
• 1:12:22
  [SPEAKER_01]: I do believe that.
• 1:12:24
  [SPEAKER_01]: I do believe the bears are going to win this game.
• 1:12:26
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I don't think the bears are going to cover the 7 point points bread.
• 1:12:29
  [SPEAKER_01]: Now again, does that mean they can't win 27 the 10?
• 1:12:31
  [SPEAKER_01]: Oh, they can absolutely win 27 the 10.
• 1:12:34
  [SPEAKER_01]: But I think this is like a, it's going to be cold.
• 1:12:37
  [SPEAKER_01]: I think this one, it's kind of a bear's 20 Cleveland 16, something like that where Cleveland covers bears win.
• 1:12:45
  [SPEAKER_01]: I'm not saying that bear's going to have to come from behind and win should, you know, it's not going to be comfortable because it's going to be within a touchdown, but I do think the bear's hold on and win this one.
• 1:12:54
  [SPEAKER_01]: I don't think Shadour's going to be ready for a Dennis Allen scheme.
• 1:12:57
  [SPEAKER_01]: Hopefully, the bear's inch closer to getting a little healthier this week.
• 1:13:01
  [SPEAKER_01]: We will see hopefully roll the dunes days back.
• 1:13:05
  [SPEAKER_01]: and that will certainly help the bear's passing in, because he was definitely missed because obviously he is Kayla's favorite target.
• 1:13:11
  [SPEAKER_01]: We'll talk about it next week.
• 1:13:14
  [SPEAKER_01]: Fairdown everybody.
• 1:13:16
  [SPEAKER_01]: Talk to you soon.
• 1:13:18
  [UNKNOWN]: Adios.