Latest / 2nd City Gridiron / Bear Bones: Chicago Bears 2026 Offseason Primer

Transcript

Bear Bones: Chicago Bears 2026 Offseason Primer · 2nd City Gridiron

0:40
[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome the pair of bones.
0:46
[SPEAKER_00]: With your hold.
1:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Dr. Mason West.
1:09
[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome into this episode of Bear Bones.
1:12
[SPEAKER_00]: As always, I am Dr. Mason West.
1:15
[SPEAKER_00]: Hopefully today we get a little bit of a tharsis.
1:19
[SPEAKER_00]: The goal of today's show, you know, really not gonna talk about specifically the last game.
1:26
[SPEAKER_00]: We're not gonna talk about, you know, the playoffs.
1:29
[SPEAKER_00]: What we're gonna do is, you know, a slight reflection on last year and really how that blends into these off season.
1:36
[SPEAKER_00]: The intention here is, you know, a brief look ahead, the state of the roster, right, the state of the financials, the best that I can do, because the NFL's salary cap and all that is a whole other beast that, you know, swear people that I deal with, but, you know, essentially, what are we looking at, you know, as we're starting to roll into the postseason mode offseason mode.
2:02
[SPEAKER_00]: The thing that is really cool about today and this week is there's all this head coaching news that's flying around and the bears really, there's nothing, you know, they're not part of this.
2:13
[SPEAKER_00]: It's fantastic.
2:15
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
2:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Last year there was the what's going to happen with the bed Johnson situation the one year anniversary was you know a couple days ago for that.
2:24
[SPEAKER_00]: There was also I mean go back two years in the conversation of to the bears keep your flu should leave you know move on from him now to the weight obviously they ended up sticking with manny refluist.
2:34
[SPEAKER_00]: It just is a constant thing in Chicago Bayer's world, the conversations around the coach in the negative way or in a but for trying to find a new one way.
2:46
[SPEAKER_00]: It's nice to have an off season where you're not having any of that conversation.
2:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, what probably would be good to bring up before we move on to some of the, we're gonna dive into some of the press conference quotes.
2:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, and by the way, I was like, Danny's on here today, he's got some families have to deal with, so you get soul mates in today.
3:04
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, before we dive into some of the press conference stuff, there are some coaching changes to talk about, right?
3:11
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, there's no head coach discussion, but, you know, already a couple of things going on.
3:15
[SPEAKER_00]: So first, the thing that came out earlier this week, Eric began me is no longer the bearers running back coach.
3:23
[SPEAKER_00]: He is now the offensive coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs, you know, Kansas City Chiefs to elect your Bo Glue for him, Matt
3:33
[SPEAKER_00]: That's a whole thing in terms of what's going out with Maggie there, but essentially he is no longer the officer coordinator of the chiefs and he's looking was looking at some head coach opportunities, but our reality probably looking for an offensive coordinator position at this point elsewhere.
3:47
[SPEAKER_00]: So you need to start looking at running back coaches and there's a couple of interesting ones out there that do stale would be one most recently.
3:56
[SPEAKER_00]: runnybacks coach for the browns before that was with the Panthers.
4:02
[SPEAKER_00]: He chose to go to Carolina as a part of that unit just as a part of his close to his family as a mother, I believe in particular.
4:10
[SPEAKER_00]: That's why he and I going down there specifically also with an assistant head coach title.
4:14
[SPEAKER_00]: But before that, he was with the lines and so Ben Johnson knows him.
4:19
[SPEAKER_00]: If we're looking for a running backs coach that is fiery right kind of that hard nose, what you saw to be enemy and a lot of those training camp videos, do steely would be a good good example of that.
4:32
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, that brings into question, I don't think he got along the best with DeAndre Swift when they were with the Lions, but
4:40
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, that doesn't mean that they can't now.
4:43
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, there's that.
4:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Another one might be Scotty Montgomery.
4:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Previously, he was a running backs coach and it says in head coach for the Detroit Lions, that's a connection that, you know, to Ben Johnson.
4:56
[SPEAKER_00]: So there's a couple of examples of those.
4:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, so that is happening, uh, Boston College office coordinator will lying is such a important program with the bears as his landing spot.
5:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Before Boston College, uh, lawling worked for teams like New England Patriots, Houston Texans and Alabama, he's got a background in Titans.
5:15
[SPEAKER_00]: So one might imagine even though that position technically is a currently open that he would end up as a the Titans coach for the bears.
5:23
[SPEAKER_00]: Uh, he was actually jobs a teammate back at UNC.
5:26
[SPEAKER_00]: a couple of their pieces of news, nothing official yet in terms of changes, but with potential changes on the horizon.
5:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Packers interviewed defensive backs coach out Harris yesterday for their defensive coordinator job.
5:36
[SPEAKER_00]: The Washington commanders have also looked at out Harris, Dan Quinn, is seeking a DC and the two worked together previously in Dallas.
5:44
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, you're looking at potentially, maybe a new defensive backs coach that would be an absolute shame because obviously, Halle Harris did a pretty exceptional job.
5:55
[SPEAKER_00]: we saw in a Sean Wright, who he had as a now Harris head connections with, have a great year in terms of turnovers.
6:04
[SPEAKER_00]: The thing that would suck with that, too, is
6:08
[SPEAKER_00]: We wouldn't really get to see Al Harris fully working with the guys like Tyler Gordon with guys like Jalen Johnson just because they were hurt so much of a year now obviously they came back at the end of the year, but I would love to see those guys, you know, really get to work with Al for a whole off season training camp and then throughout the entire year.
6:28
[SPEAKER_00]: You'll be using to see what would happen there, though.
6:30
[SPEAKER_00]: It seems like guys like maybe like a tyreek steven's in might have been a little in the dog house, whether that was a data's Alan or an out harris thing.
6:37
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll tie up into what the, you know, roster might look like and how important tyric steven's in is going forward here.
6:43
[SPEAKER_00]: And then just clearly also greatly shipped with Kevin Byrd.
6:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Again, we'll also dive into a little Kevin Byrd conversation here, but.
6:53
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, that whole secondary was great.
6:55
[SPEAKER_00]: So if you lose out Harris, that would be a bummer.
6:57
[SPEAKER_00]: But I mean, he's a guy that deserves also a defensive coordinator shop.
7:01
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm just hoping we get one more year with them.
7:03
[SPEAKER_00]: Last one of these equals have requested to interview various offensive coordinator, Dick Lindoyle, for their offensive coordinator position.
7:10
[SPEAKER_00]: Doyle was hired last off season as the NFL's youngest offensive coordinator.
7:13
[SPEAKER_00]: And he previously coached under Champagne in New Orleans and Denver.
7:18
[SPEAKER_00]: I would think that this is more of a
7:21
[SPEAKER_00]: information gathering that seems you know it's a year to early for Doyle like I mentioned he was the youngest office coordinator left this last year he didn't call plays you know anything of that nature so if the Eagles were to do this right I mean Serriani doesn't call plays for them
7:38
[SPEAKER_00]: whoever they're bringing in would do so.
7:40
[SPEAKER_00]: And we have seen this, the Jets, higher Tanner angstrom, who basically did the idea there as the Sean McVejo, he had a cup of coffee with Ben Johnson and got the offensive coordinator job at the Jets, which so has not been great so far.
7:54
[SPEAKER_00]: But yeah, I think this is more information gathering than anything.
7:59
[SPEAKER_00]: The Eagles probably just kind of wanted a little bit of a knowledge of what went on in that bears.
8:07
[SPEAKER_00]: Coaches rooms, the locker room, and all that jazz, trying to take a little bit of that magic.
8:13
[SPEAKER_00]: I would think that the Eagles are gonna go for some a little more tenured for that position, but it's a men keep an eye on, for sure.
8:21
[SPEAKER_00]: Okay, couple of quotes to talk about here.
8:25
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, Brian Polz said that Ozich Uppila and Noah's soul have both had surgery.
8:30
[SPEAKER_00]: Polz didn't have an exact timeline for Chippila, really unfortunate because he was coming along said Polz.
8:36
[SPEAKER_00]: He did have some timelines where he thought that guys like Schermar Turner were going to be available.
8:40
[SPEAKER_00]: So when you specifically say like, yeah, Schermar Turner should be available for some or offseason work, but then he doesn't have a timeline for Ozich Uppila.
8:49
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not a good time.
8:52
[SPEAKER_00]: So you're going into, and we'll dive a little more specific than this later, but you're going into 2020, 6, needing an answer at left tackle, even if it's temporary answer.
9:03
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's just something to keep in mind.
9:05
[SPEAKER_00]: Various coach Ben Johnson said on the 2025 season, it wasn't good enough.
9:09
[SPEAKER_00]: There is no building off of this.
9:11
[SPEAKER_00]: It's back to the bottom.
9:13
[SPEAKER_00]: I appreciate that mentality, because I think far too often, it doesn't matter what level you're talking about.
9:18
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, you could go as low as, you know,
9:21
[SPEAKER_00]: junior high middle school football, high school programs college, and definitely in the NFL, where when you have players that are coming back for another year, this conversation of what's built on what we have, but especially college in the NFL, and we're going to talk to them this, but there's so much turnover that happens on that roster.
9:40
[SPEAKER_00]: And
9:41
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, yes, there's going to be guys there who were here last year and understood what the training camps were like in terms of intensity and understood what the culture it was for the team.
9:51
[SPEAKER_00]: You're going to have a lot of guys that also now have to learn that.
9:54
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's not just, all right, we're bringing the whole band back together, even if you're keeping a lot of your key pieces.
10:01
[SPEAKER_00]: Ben Johnson also said on the various offense, we haven't even scratched the surface of what we're fully capable yet.
10:07
[SPEAKER_00]: But he did also say that they have to be better specific catching the football and that that'll be a plant emphasis starting in the spring.
10:14
[SPEAKER_00]: He was really proud of the physicality they played with from the trenches from wider receivers to DBs and the boys they showed late in games.
10:21
[SPEAKER_00]: All of that is true, right, you know, you're, I think most people can would agree that really this offense in particular is nowhere near its final form, while it was great with explosives, you know, led the league consistently in explosives and those big chunk plays as Ben said they hunt explosives.
10:42
[SPEAKER_00]: The consistency was not there.
10:44
[SPEAKER_00]: You saw that down to down.
10:45
[SPEAKER_00]: You saw that in there, kill Williams is CPOE, completion of percentage over expected.
10:52
[SPEAKER_00]: Thought, stat there, you also saw it in terms of success rate.
10:57
[SPEAKER_00]: The various did not have a great success rate and that shows that in consistency.
11:01
[SPEAKER_00]: So imagine if you have a team that can still hunt for explosives, but you can raise that success rate five to 10% even.
11:10
[SPEAKER_00]: That's gonna drastically change the ceiling for this offense.
11:15
[SPEAKER_00]: I already mentioned the catching, that was a problem.
11:18
[SPEAKER_00]: You saw that, I mean, yes, it was an element's game in terms of that game against the Rams.
11:24
[SPEAKER_00]: It was a bit disheartening that it seemed like the elements affected the bears, past catchers, more than it did the Rams past catchers.
11:32
[SPEAKER_00]: You'd think that that was something that was a point of emphasis and also just something that you'd be better at having played.
11:40
[SPEAKER_00]: like played in rainstorms, they played in cold, they played in snow, hot, I mean, like any weather that you can think of, the various played in yet, drops for a problem, specifically in that game, and then all year, right?
11:53
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, the stats have been flowing around all season, regarding Caleb Williams, I mean, yards, he lost to drops this past year.
12:03
[SPEAKER_00]: So more time in the jug machine,
12:11
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, the last point going back to that was the physicality in the place.
12:16
[SPEAKER_00]: There's something special when your wide receivers are willing to stick their nose in there and dig out a safety or even chip on a, on an end.
12:26
[SPEAKER_00]: You see guys like Pupin and Kua so you can other Rams do that all the time, but you don't see.
12:31
[SPEAKER_00]: entire teams blocked the way that I feel that the bears were able to.
12:34
[SPEAKER_00]: A big difference in that Rams game and the positive from the DBs was a willingness to tackle, right?
12:43
[SPEAKER_00]: Collegord is a fantastic and very physical, tackler, jacquan brisker.
12:49
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, he had the game of his career for being honest.
12:52
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, he hit a whole series that he wiped out by himself, basically between his coverage and his tackling ability.
12:58
[SPEAKER_00]: And then even Jalen Johnson, who had times
13:01
[SPEAKER_00]: has been a reluctant tackler.
13:05
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it was more consistent this year, even with the injury.
13:07
[SPEAKER_00]: So that was something that was great and that you hoped it could continue.
13:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Ben Johnson was asked about the interception.
13:16
[SPEAKER_00]: This is probably the only thing specifically from the game that we're gonna talk about.
13:20
[SPEAKER_00]: Just the fact that he said that he didn't look at the tape yet.
13:23
[SPEAKER_00]: They were doing all the exit interviews and that he said that if there is a miscommunication on the play, that's on him.
13:28
[SPEAKER_00]: It just goes back to the accountability thought process.
13:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Previously, previous coaches were not as accountable.
13:36
[SPEAKER_00]: I want the reasons that they're not here anymore.
13:38
[SPEAKER_00]: No longer the head coach of the Chicago Bears, but consistently Ben Johnson has been the guy that, yes, he's willing to call out certain players and certain groups that need to be called out.
13:48
[SPEAKER_00]: But at the same time, he's going to own his.
13:53
[SPEAKER_00]: The last thing regarding
13:57
[SPEAKER_00]: the kind of the coaches and all that jazz, but you know, going higher up, the Falcons did request to interview, being cunning him.
14:06
[SPEAKER_00]: This is a weird place to be because the NFL has said that essentially because of the wording and the nature of the Falcons' job, but the bears would not get draft compensation because it's not considered a promotion.
14:21
[SPEAKER_00]: Even if like, you pull back the curtain and you look at exactly
14:26
[SPEAKER_00]: what the job is.
14:27
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, it's the GM job.
14:30
[SPEAKER_00]: But the way that it's set up, the Falcons create this weird situation.
14:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, I don't think the bears clearly aren't going to block this.
14:36
[SPEAKER_00]: It just would look terrible to block and cutting him, you know, going to the Falcons.
14:43
[SPEAKER_00]: What I do think has to be done is that a conversation to be had of like, hey,
14:48
[SPEAKER_00]: Falcons from the Bears, you need to have a competition with the office in Highlight, how this is a promotion, like you're hiring, EN to be your general manager and football decision maker, even if Matt Ryan is there.
15:02
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, because I get used to think that's not a George McCaskey vibe, that's not a Ryan Polls vibe.
15:09
[SPEAKER_00]: even men Johnson, he did talk about the coaches being requested, the slip being submitted, and he said that he was pumped about it.
15:17
[SPEAKER_00]: He is that he is seeing a bunch of future, right?
15:20
[SPEAKER_00]: Position coaches, coordinators, head coaches on this coaching staff.
15:24
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think when you're a good teacher, when you're someone who cares about the people that work under you and with you, you want them to, you know, take these next steps.
15:35
[SPEAKER_00]: So,
15:36
[SPEAKER_00]: It selfishly is a bear's fan.
15:39
[SPEAKER_00]: I still hope they figure out a way to get those picks, right?
15:42
[SPEAKER_00]: For example, the bears had traded away a fourth round pick to get Joe Tune, which was a fantastic trait.
15:47
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, do that a thousand times out of a thousand, but you still want to recoup some of those losses, because I believe they only have six picks.
15:53
[SPEAKER_00]: And so, you know, Ryan Paul is pretty good about moving around in the draft to gain more capital, more bites at the apple, but you know, having some extra third rounders will be real nice.
16:07
[SPEAKER_00]: Quick break here, and then we're going to go to the next part of our show.
16:20
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, looking ahead.
16:23
[SPEAKER_00]: First things first.
16:25
[SPEAKER_00]: players that are free agents.
16:27
[SPEAKER_00]: So I'm going to run through the entire list because some of these names are very important to consider here.
16:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Even if it's further down the roster, because if we're being honest, that's the worst of the biggest changes, right?
16:36
[SPEAKER_00]: Yes, big players will move and whether it's through a trade, through cuts through ending up contract.
16:43
[SPEAKER_00]: the biggest churning happens at the end of the roster and those players as we saw this year are very important, right?
16:49
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean how deep did the players have to go with and defense the back, how deep did the players have to go for their linemen, for their receivers, for all of that matters.
17:00
[SPEAKER_00]: So in no particular order, this is just the order that's on spot track.
17:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Kevin Buyer, Joe Trion, Ryan Bates, Andrew Billings, Chris Williams, Jerome Smith, Jonathan Owens, Kase Keenham, Jekyllne Brisker, Travis Homer, Olameda Zikias, Nick McLeod, Jalen Jones, Scott Daley, Balon Sapper, Devon Juberney, Nashon Wright, Noah Suhl, Daniel Hardy, Jordan McFad, and Demarco Jackson, Brexit Jones, Dominic Robinson, Elijah Hicks, the Ovenative.
17:29
[SPEAKER_00]: So how do names?
17:31
[SPEAKER_00]: So the ones that stand out the most,
17:37
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's sorry if we jump around on this a little bit, but this is all kind of just like a block for the most part in terms of what the stop process is going to be.
17:46
[SPEAKER_00]: So it's more of a holistic roster conversation.
17:49
[SPEAKER_00]: But so for safety, I mean, you're Kevin Byrd, Jekwan Brisker, so you're two starting safety's.
17:55
[SPEAKER_00]: Kurt would need it and he deals and then you can go further down the roster right and you're going to have Jalen Jolens and you're going to also have Jonathan Owens.
18:03
[SPEAKER_00]: So Elijah Higgs is really the only guy you have there.
18:09
[SPEAKER_00]: Ken Byrd was pretty up front.
18:10
[SPEAKER_00]: He wants to be back.
18:12
[SPEAKER_00]: Brian polls is pretty up front.
18:13
[SPEAKER_00]: He wants Kevin to be back.
18:15
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't think there's much to discuss there.
18:17
[SPEAKER_00]: there that they're going to be, I think having to get's brought back.
18:20
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh sorry, another thing to do is not listed here.
18:22
[SPEAKER_00]: This pops in my head is also CJ Gardner Johnson.
18:25
[SPEAKER_00]: He's also not going to be a free agent.
18:28
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know why he's on this list.
18:32
[SPEAKER_00]: I love risker to be back.
18:33
[SPEAKER_00]: I really would, but I think he probably is going to be too expensive.
18:39
[SPEAKER_00]: He showed he can be healthy this year.
18:41
[SPEAKER_00]: That's one of the biggest things for him and concern for him.
18:44
[SPEAKER_00]: He's a good, strong safety.
18:46
[SPEAKER_00]: He just isn't necessarily maybe a great, strong safety.
18:50
[SPEAKER_00]: Cause, you know, he doesn't create, he doesn't create a ton of turnovers.
18:54
[SPEAKER_00]: And that's really where you get paid on, is either, if you're at defensive back or corner back, shutting down part of the field or taking the ball away.
19:02
[SPEAKER_00]: But,
19:03
[SPEAKER_00]: But willing, his line of cystic is nose in there.
19:05
[SPEAKER_00]: I already mentioned that one drive that he just basically took the entire Ramscribe away.
19:09
[SPEAKER_00]: I would love to somehow get him back.
19:14
[SPEAKER_00]: CJ Garner Johnson is more likely, but he played very well this year, just in another situation where he may have priced himself into a better deal unless he loves being here in Lovsha cargo, maybe you can get him back.
19:32
[SPEAKER_00]: probably a better deal elsewhere.
19:33
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, he was, you know, left over from the Eva-Fluice era.
19:37
[SPEAKER_00]: So a lot of times, I mean, you're going to see a ton of turn over.
19:41
[SPEAKER_00]: Even if a player is a good player, if you're a dense Allen, if you're the position coaches, you want your guys.
19:48
[SPEAKER_00]: So, you know, some of these people who, even if they might be good and, you know, what they, what they do, you're going to get changed there.
19:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, just another small one that people may not be thinking of is the Ryan Bates and he really was actually your backup center.
20:02
[SPEAKER_00]: So what does that look like or are you trying to bring him back on a small deal of people, everyone knows Ryan pulls loves Ryan Bates.
20:10
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, in terms of the number of times he was trying to get him.
20:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, other guys Chris Williams, even though he came in the
20:19
[SPEAKER_00]: He had Iberfu's era, but he was brought in by Ryan Polls, a late trade to try to show up that defensive line, Andrew Billings has been here for a while, but his impact was not as felt as much this year as it was in other years.
20:34
[SPEAKER_00]: I assume case keynum is going to get brought back because he was such a good resource for Caleb and he's not going to be expensive.
20:42
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, he's a 30, almost 38 year old quarterback who isn't really going to be your
20:50
[SPEAKER_00]: The Durham Smythe was a very usable tight-ends.
20:57
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, do you want to tease 30?
20:59
[SPEAKER_00]: He'll hold me still 30 before the season officially kicks off, but do you want, is that a guy you want to spend money on bringing back?
21:05
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, he was one of the first signings for the bears.
21:09
[SPEAKER_00]: So actually, I want to be surprised if you did, unless you want to try and infuse that with youth, but again, you don't have a ton of draft picks.
21:21
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think that's the case because we'll end up diving into this later.
21:24
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe one of the DJ more question and also due to Rome's health.
21:30
[SPEAKER_00]: I think Rome will be fine going into next year.
21:32
[SPEAKER_00]: But I think this actually likes, you know, the key is he knows multiple positions.
21:39
[SPEAKER_00]: And he's a very useful player when he can catch the ball.
21:42
[SPEAKER_00]: So I wouldn't be surprised if also just for money wise because we'll talk about this in a little bit.
21:47
[SPEAKER_00]: But money wise you're not swimming in cash.
21:53
[SPEAKER_00]: We're not gonna talk about every single player here, by the way, but then the next kind of elephant in the room is Nishon, right?
22:01
[SPEAKER_00]: He, I would assume he priced himself out of Chicago.
22:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Just in terms of how he played.
22:07
[SPEAKER_00]: And also that's the thing too, and this is where the tire is to use in conversation comes up.
22:13
[SPEAKER_00]: You're hoping Jalen Johnson with a full summer rehab is back closer to his former self, because he was definitely not that this year.
22:20
[SPEAKER_00]: Nishan, while he was a turnover machine, also on a down-to-down basis was not a very good cornerback.
22:29
[SPEAKER_00]: You look, to take a look, take the Lions game.
22:31
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, he was just got to be used by Omunra.
22:33
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, and that a lot of cornerbacks do.
22:35
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's not even anything that's where he gets him, but is that a guy that you have to pay, you know, a 27-year-old,
22:41
[SPEAKER_00]: get the corner who was on practice quads all over and things of that nature.
22:46
[SPEAKER_00]: So I assume he's will be gone.
22:49
[SPEAKER_00]: I'd love to see Marco Jackson brought back just some names that stand out to me because and also Dominique Robinson.
22:56
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know that Alan's pounding the table for Dominique Robinson, but he did make enough splash plays this last year.
23:03
[SPEAKER_00]: The question just ends up becoming
23:06
[SPEAKER_00]: and depending on some other moves that you make, whether that's in the draft, or potentially even in the trade market.
23:13
[SPEAKER_00]: Back to Jamark with Jackson.
23:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Guys, your TJ Edwards is gonna be on the older side.
23:20
[SPEAKER_00]: He's in his 30s, coming off a major ankle fracture in surgery.
23:27
[SPEAKER_00]: So,
23:29
[SPEAKER_00]: I just think also, and he did really well this year when he played.
23:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, not like a top 10 linebacker or something, but you didn't know what is him in a bad way.
23:37
[SPEAKER_00]: And then, one of the last ones I want to touch on in terms of some of these reagents is that combo of Brax and Jones and the Abetted it.
23:47
[SPEAKER_00]: So right now, Aussie's heard Braxton and Theo are both three agents.
23:53
[SPEAKER_00]: So what are you doing going in next year?
23:55
[SPEAKER_00]: If the roster is how it sits, you're either keeping Tunia left hack or you're starting crying on a gochie, who was hurt all year.
24:04
[SPEAKER_00]: And then, and when he played last year was not very good.
24:09
[SPEAKER_00]: So that just begs the question, I would love to see one of those guys brought back.
24:17
[SPEAKER_00]: gets a deal that he gets a truly compete for a start somewhere with my guess even though he didn't play really all this year.
24:23
[SPEAKER_00]: But I think there's enough good tape of him out there that a team will take a chance on that and you do that at Lough Tackle.
24:31
[SPEAKER_00]: So I think he would benefit.
24:32
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, sorry, I was wrong.
24:33
[SPEAKER_00]: Elijah Hicks is a free agent.
24:34
[SPEAKER_00]: Whoops.
24:35
[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, you're a percentage of his bare.
24:37
[SPEAKER_00]: The open it is probably the one you're more likely to be able to bring back.
24:42
[SPEAKER_00]: partially just because of his status and status matters for a lot of these teams, you know, where you a first round pick, we fit the ground pick, we get on direct for agent.
24:50
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, teams remember that.
24:53
[SPEAKER_00]: And honestly, a lot of teams just really dust off some of their old scouting things from draft time too, which it's kind of crazy.
24:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Anyway, so it feels probably the one you're more likely to be able to bring back as an on-draft free agent who did struggle in past protection at times this year.
25:07
[SPEAKER_00]: He's probably brought that.
25:09
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, now the question after that becomes, well, what is your answer at left tackle?
25:19
[SPEAKER_00]: The, there's not a lot of great options for me honest.
25:23
[SPEAKER_00]: One, I think you do, it's about resource allocation, and you spend a second round pick on a new tripello, a bad team, right?
25:31
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll just grit and grit their teeth and bear and say, well, we spent this money or the draft pick or money, depending on the situation.
25:37
[SPEAKER_00]: And so we have to make this work.
25:40
[SPEAKER_00]: but at the same time, Aussie was making strides, but you cannot guarantee, he will not be ready to start the season, and you can't guarantee that he's gonna come back as it'll sell.
25:50
[SPEAKER_00]: So you need to have some answers.
25:53
[SPEAKER_00]: If your answer is not feel-bended it, or if you're not comfortable with that, if your answer is not a Braxon Jones, or if you can't bring him back.
25:59
[SPEAKER_00]: You could look into a signing a guy like Cam Robinson, right?
26:03
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, he blasted played for the Browns, cost 12 mill.
26:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Probably would be around the same thing, if not a little less.
26:11
[SPEAKER_00]: Yosh Niamin is an example old packer, but now is on the Panthers.
26:14
[SPEAKER_00]: He's a guy that could give you reps at both sides.
26:19
[SPEAKER_00]: It was only four mill.
26:21
[SPEAKER_00]: Kelvin Beachham left tackle.
26:23
[SPEAKER_00]: He's older 36, but with the cardinals without good four mil Josh Jones, mainly a right tack, but can give you a little left tackle snaps 28 year old with goes with Seattle four mil there.
26:35
[SPEAKER_00]: So there are individuals that you could go out and get as a stop gap and just go into camp
26:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Theo, bend it, and you have technically crossed on the roster.
26:56
[SPEAKER_00]: And you say, alright, best man wins.
26:59
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, I'm not super comfortable with that.
27:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Don't love it.
27:02
[SPEAKER_00]: But that's the situation you're in when, honestly, the money is not super flush with cash, not flush with draft capital, and you do have some other needs.
27:13
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, a couple other things talk right here.
27:17
[SPEAKER_00]: Another elephant in the room.
27:18
[SPEAKER_00]: DJ Moore.
27:20
[SPEAKER_00]: DJ Moore was not in the law for whom the media was allowed and for interviews at the end of the game.
27:26
[SPEAKER_00]: He was not so in that spoke during Walker Cleanout and Ben Johnson was non-committal on his comments in their press conference regarding DJ Moore as was, you know, riot polls.
27:42
[SPEAKER_00]: This has been kind of said all year.
27:44
[SPEAKER_00]: I would expect DG Moore is traded away and you're probably only getting like a fit-round pick for him.
27:52
[SPEAKER_00]: That's not to say he's not a capable and good receiver.
27:55
[SPEAKER_00]: He, it's the problem just is, even though he improved, right?
27:59
[SPEAKER_00]: He improved with his routeening a bit.
28:01
[SPEAKER_00]: His effort was definitely better.
28:03
[SPEAKER_00]: He was more, more willing blockers the year went on.
28:06
[SPEAKER_00]: All of these things are true.
28:07
[SPEAKER_00]: And he made some huge catches for the bears, right?
28:09
[SPEAKER_00]: The game winning touched on with the packers.
28:11
[SPEAKER_00]: Multiple catches in that Rams game, along with, you know, they're here that one amazing one-handed catch against the Rams.
28:19
[SPEAKER_00]: But there is something to be said where he has a very limited route tree.
28:24
[SPEAKER_00]: that there are games that he was just a ghost, even if when Rome wasn't even available, and he wasn't necessarily racking in the targets.
28:34
[SPEAKER_00]: And you do have to have a conversation about that final play, right?
28:39
[SPEAKER_00]: Now you can say, you know, multiple things he made you want.
28:43
[SPEAKER_00]: That was not the throw you had to throw if you're killed.
28:46
[SPEAKER_00]: It was second down and eight, and this is really the only thing on the Rams game that I'm going to specifically dive into.
28:51
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, the second and eight lived to find another down, um, they do you had someone open down on the flat and you got to kind of know who you're, you know, KYP.
29:06
[SPEAKER_00]: No air personnel.
29:08
[SPEAKER_00]: And you can also say DJ that you need to be able to read the coverage better.
29:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Even if your route was technically supposed to be, you know, higher up the field.
29:18
[SPEAKER_00]: You have to see what's happening and flatten that route out.
29:21
[SPEAKER_00]: You need to run it a hundred percent because even if D.J.
29:24
[SPEAKER_00]: doesn't catch that, just be in the zip code so that you, because that ball was bottled by Cam Perl, punch it out.
29:31
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't see you can say a thing, say the same thing they got with the bird.
29:33
[SPEAKER_00]: We were just starting to just stood there and watched as the ball was bottling, but either grass.
29:39
[SPEAKER_00]: So, and really, really, really, at the end of the day, you can't, you just can't be paying D.J.
29:48
[SPEAKER_00]: So if you look at the top cap hits for 2026, the number one cap at against your roster right now, it was DJ Moore at a 28.5 million dollar cap hit.
30:00
[SPEAKER_00]: That's 9.37, nearly 10% of your cap going to a receiver that most games was your widers he retudes sometimes widers he retreat.
30:12
[SPEAKER_00]: You just can't do that.
30:13
[SPEAKER_00]: That can't be the case, especially when they're aren't getting, there are other holes to fill.
30:18
[SPEAKER_00]: You need to add, you need to work at edge, you have to figure out what you're doing at safety.
30:21
[SPEAKER_00]: What's your, what corner back to situation?
30:25
[SPEAKER_00]: You do need, it's probably, you're going to create a hole and you're going to have to group me get a Ryder Sieber, your defense of interior needs work.
30:33
[SPEAKER_00]: So linebacker is a question mark, what you're going to do there.
30:36
[SPEAKER_00]: So,
30:38
[SPEAKER_00]: Long story short, I expect DJ Moore to be traded, not anything to say about his, him as a talented player just in terms of what he's being paid and ultimately his role on this roster, and that has run out.
30:55
[SPEAKER_00]: What we're talking about cap hits, like I said, DJ Moore, biggest cap hit.
31:01
[SPEAKER_00]: In the next in order, you have Montes, sweat at 25 mill,
31:06
[SPEAKER_00]: Jalen Johnson at 25 mil, Joe Tuney at 21.5, Dio Dingo at 20.5, Joe and Ajax at 19.5, Brady Jared at 19.
31:16
[SPEAKER_00]: Couple of those names that stand out, Montes wet, Dio Dingo, Brady Jared.
31:20
[SPEAKER_00]: So Montes wet is a bit separated from this.
31:23
[SPEAKER_00]: He did play well, the second half of the season, and particularly in the playoffs.
31:28
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, all of the counting stats may not be there in terms of the sacks, but his pressures were better and he impacted games.
31:37
[SPEAKER_00]: I'd like more out of him as an actual for edge one, but you're getting what you're getting.
31:42
[SPEAKER_00]: The two though, that are the fake issue, are Dio and Dingo and Grager.
31:47
[SPEAKER_00]: Now, Gradient, again, played a bit better in the back half of the year when he got healthier.
31:51
[SPEAKER_00]: But 19 mil is a lot to be paying that guy for not having
31:57
[SPEAKER_00]: more impact on the game.
32:00
[SPEAKER_00]: He does a lot of the leader.
32:01
[SPEAKER_00]: He does a lot of his voice in the locker room.
32:03
[SPEAKER_00]: And you know, again, there was a couple of plays.
32:05
[SPEAKER_00]: Again, he'd have batted ball on the ram game.
32:07
[SPEAKER_00]: I recall.
32:08
[SPEAKER_00]: But that's problem.
32:10
[SPEAKER_00]: The big guest problem is diodangbo.
32:13
[SPEAKER_00]: You're paying him 20.5 million.
32:14
[SPEAKER_00]: That's for what I believe one sack against a backup left tackle in week one.
32:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Even before he got hurt, he was not playing well.
32:22
[SPEAKER_00]: But there's nothing you can do about it.
32:24
[SPEAKER_00]: If you end up
32:27
[SPEAKER_00]: At diodes, the structure of diodes contract rates of three year contract, and you really don't have a potential out.
32:37
[SPEAKER_00]: And sales are a point, make sure I have it until 2027.
32:42
[SPEAKER_00]: Because again, because of that 20.5 million dollar cap, now in 2027, you could cut him and it would only be 4.5 against the cap.
32:51
[SPEAKER_00]: But until then, you got to live with it.
32:55
[SPEAKER_00]: a couple other contracts to have a conversation about because in the reason I'm bringing all this up is when you look at the bears' cap space, currently as it sits, they're $4 million over the cap.
33:08
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just a reminder that the bear is paid for this roster, right?
33:11
[SPEAKER_00]: The current one they have.
33:12
[SPEAKER_00]: I mentioned already a bunch of those names.
33:14
[SPEAKER_00]: You're two starting guards.
33:15
[SPEAKER_00]: You're paying a pretty paying two in the top 10 for your team.
33:19
[SPEAKER_00]: Your starting center is a free eight.
33:21
[SPEAKER_00]: Was it free age and signing that you're paying pretty highly?
33:23
[SPEAKER_00]: You're snickle and caught going.
33:26
[SPEAKER_00]: You're paying highly.
33:26
[SPEAKER_00]: I already mentioned Dale Johnson's name.
33:28
[SPEAKER_00]: You could just list all this stuff.
33:30
[SPEAKER_00]: You paid for this team.
33:33
[SPEAKER_00]: It isn't like,
33:36
[SPEAKER_00]: a good example with a Patriots.
33:37
[SPEAKER_00]: The Patriots are in the ANC Championship game, and they have $31 million of Cap space.
33:43
[SPEAKER_00]: So they're going to be able to take a minimum AFC championship level team, if not maybe a Super Bowl team, depending on how it goes on against the Broncos.
33:54
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, the Broncos are in the example.
33:55
[SPEAKER_00]: They have $27 million.
33:56
[SPEAKER_00]: So these are teams that are going to have wiggle room to say, hey, you're two holes we have, three holes we have, how and where do we fill these holes?
34:04
[SPEAKER_00]: we have the money to do so.
34:06
[SPEAKER_00]: So the bears have to be creative in terms of creating more space.
34:12
[SPEAKER_00]: So the bears, when you really, an apical further than that, if the bears are at anything 13-mill over the cap when accounting for signing draft class,
34:21
[SPEAKER_00]: and filling to 51 man roster.
34:23
[SPEAKER_00]: So you add in another $10 million for some wiggle room.
34:26
[SPEAKER_00]: And by a lot of these current numbers, I got from Jonathan Wood.
34:29
[SPEAKER_00]: You should follow him on Twitter, it's a fan.
34:31
[SPEAKER_00]: He does a great job.
34:32
[SPEAKER_00]: He had a whole thing on this, so go check him out.
34:36
[SPEAKER_00]: So they were really going to need to clear about $23 million to be good.
34:40
[SPEAKER_00]: So if you trade DJ more, you can save $16.5 million against the cap.
34:49
[SPEAKER_00]: cutting Edmonds.
34:51
[SPEAKER_00]: If you cut Edmonds, you say $15 million.
34:56
[SPEAKER_00]: He was having a very good season, arguably, if not maybe even kind of great in terms of the turnovers.
35:04
[SPEAKER_00]: The problem is you're paying him a lot of money to not feel him as much as you like to feel someone that you're paying that much money.
35:17
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think you saw that, especially in the playoffs where he didn't, there wasn't enough plays.
35:25
[SPEAKER_00]: He was taken out of the run game to easily.
35:28
[SPEAKER_00]: He doesn't have the instincts that you'd like out of him.
35:30
[SPEAKER_00]: And again, he's making, I mean, $17 million.
35:33
[SPEAKER_00]: He's $5.73 against the cap.
35:36
[SPEAKER_00]: That's just too much for your linebacker that is not a top five linebacker.
35:45
[SPEAKER_00]: Apparently, so I said he's 17, Fred Warner is at 21.
35:51
[SPEAKER_00]: Rokon Smith is not too far behind in both both those categories.
35:56
[SPEAKER_00]: He's at 20.
35:56
[SPEAKER_00]: Tramaine Evans is the third highest pay linebacker in the league.
36:01
[SPEAKER_00]: He just doesn't play that way.
36:03
[SPEAKER_00]: So the quite the issue though is if you cut Edmunds and you have Edwards with his injury, you put the middle of your defense in a bit of a quandary.
36:15
[SPEAKER_00]: So you have to be smart about how you handle that, because you're probably going to have to, again, can you bring back to Marco Jackson?
36:24
[SPEAKER_00]: Is there another linebacker that you can pay and not be paying $17 million to ours, too?
36:29
[SPEAKER_00]: And is there someone in the draft?
36:31
[SPEAKER_00]: Unfortunately, as things have gone, HIPAA light has not,
36:36
[SPEAKER_00]: but anything, the one he has been active pretty much every single week and then the one week that he was active he got heard immediately.
36:43
[SPEAKER_00]: And so you cannot count on him to give you anything.
36:45
[SPEAKER_00]: So that there's a bit of a question mark there, but again, cutting Edmund's does save you $15 million.
36:52
[SPEAKER_00]: So with the trade of DJ, cutting of Edmund's that gives him about $8 million over minimum level signing for agency.
36:58
[SPEAKER_00]: anything else would come from researchers.
37:00
[SPEAKER_00]: So researcher candidates would be Jonah Jackson, Jude Dalman, Crowley Gordon.
37:05
[SPEAKER_00]: If you researcher those, you can open up 26 million, bringing them about $34 million an actual cat space.
37:12
[SPEAKER_00]: Not accounting for an additional 10 million for in-season moves, signing drive class and filling them with 51.
37:18
[SPEAKER_00]: I'm pretty sure all of these moves and Jonathan Jaywood said the same thing.
37:21
[SPEAKER_00]: He's bad.
37:22
[SPEAKER_00]: He thinks all those moves would happen and if you want to be like really aggressive and free agency, you need more than that so that we more restructures.
37:29
[SPEAKER_00]: So for example, like if you research Montes, sorry, restructure Montes sweat, that free up another 15.8 million and you could also do tuning that'd be another $1.9 million.
37:41
[SPEAKER_00]: The bears have only used one restructure and zero contracts have dummy years attached to it.
37:45
[SPEAKER_00]: So when you talk about the cap being fake in the NFL, there's a bit of a reality to that, but you have to be both creative and you have to have an owner that's willing to pay some money.
37:57
[SPEAKER_00]: So so far,
38:00
[SPEAKER_00]: In history, the bear's ownership has not been necessarily one willing to pay a lot of money in terms of guarantees and some of these other things are that is I would describe them as football poor right there money is the bears it's not.
38:16
[SPEAKER_00]: The Broncos ownership that owns Walmart and can throw that money around it's not Jerry Jones and his oil line so when you have you know that issue.
38:25
[SPEAKER_00]: It's harder to do that.
38:27
[SPEAKER_00]: And the other thing again is.
38:29
[SPEAKER_00]: Great, heavy and need.
38:30
[SPEAKER_00]: The bears really haven't had players that make a lot of sense to be like, hey, we're going to put on them all these four-week years.
38:36
[SPEAKER_00]: But you're hitting that time period, especially with some other decisions to make that.
38:41
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, you need to, I don't even mention, I mentioned how you see them, but I didn't mention that.
38:44
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, you need to make a decision on him soon in terms of, are you extending him or not?
38:49
[SPEAKER_00]: And then you're going to have killable laments.
38:51
[SPEAKER_00]: That's the looming in the background.
38:54
[SPEAKER_00]: So anyway, with simple researchers alone, the bear's can clear close to $88 million and that doesn't count for max researchers' cuts or trades.
39:02
[SPEAKER_00]: So they could get to $60 million to spend while still leaving room to sign draft picks, fill the 51 minimum players, and then have $10 million of a number for in-season moves fairly easily.
39:14
[SPEAKER_00]: They'll be fine.
39:17
[SPEAKER_00]: So that's just kind of like the money run down.
39:19
[SPEAKER_00]: But I wanted to talk about, again, go check out J Wood, Jonathan Wood did a whole write up on this.
39:25
[SPEAKER_00]: I think, and he's a much smarter man than I when it comes to the cap and management of that.
39:29
[SPEAKER_00]: But for those who are worried about the cap, don't be necessarily worried about it.
39:33
[SPEAKER_00]: They can create a lot of space and still maintain the integrity of the roster.
39:40
[SPEAKER_00]: Uh, a couple of things to highlight for the 2020 NFL season, the Chicago Bears face the toughest strength of schedule based on their 2025 appointment records.
39:48
[SPEAKER_00]: So they were around.
39:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Uh, 0.550 in terms of that win loss record there.
39:55
[SPEAKER_00]: The biggest reason for this is because of the fantasy north.
40:00
[SPEAKER_00]: Right.
40:00
[SPEAKER_00]: I mean, the packers have a third hardest strength of schedule.
40:02
[SPEAKER_00]: If I can take the 11th hardest and the lines of the 27th the lines of the 27th also because they're the fourth place teams that really
40:09
[SPEAKER_00]: But when those four teams, the barriers, the packers, the Vikings, the Lions just have to beat up on each other, that's hard for everyone involved in that.
40:23
[SPEAKER_00]: One person I didn't bring up in terms of a cut is Cole Comet.
40:28
[SPEAKER_00]: Stop it.
40:29
[SPEAKER_00]: Stop, stop trying to cut colk them at it.
40:31
[SPEAKER_00]: It's been happening last couple of years.
40:33
[SPEAKER_00]: It happened when the bear is drafted colson lovelins.
40:36
[SPEAKER_00]: I think you saw how important colk it is.
40:42
[SPEAKER_00]: Just in terms of what he brings to the field, first of all, his run blocking is very good.
40:46
[SPEAKER_00]: His versatility in that is very good.
40:51
[SPEAKER_00]: The fact that, I mean, there's not a lot of tight ends that can, there is, he was one on one block in chair adverse this path this past week, there's not a lot of guys that can do that and still go out and run routes, it's not like, is that close love and level of running routes, it's not.
41:13
[SPEAKER_00]: It's, it's pretty dang good.
41:16
[SPEAKER_00]: And I think the other layer to it, too, is he's actually tied for seventh in terms of what you're paying tied in wise.
41:22
[SPEAKER_00]: He's at 12.5 million tied with Jake Ferguson.
41:24
[SPEAKER_00]: And we look where he's sandwiched between.
41:26
[SPEAKER_00]: And so he's just below Mark Andrews.
41:28
[SPEAKER_00]: He and he's and David and Joe Koo.
41:30
[SPEAKER_00]: He's just above guys like John New Smith, Donald Michelle's Evan
41:39
[SPEAKER_00]: Even right now, I mean, like he's had a really kind of a funky year.
41:42
[SPEAKER_00]: Dallas got her to attend because Cole Comet does stuff.
41:46
[SPEAKER_00]: It Dallas doesn't interrupt in the blocking game in the run game.
41:49
[SPEAKER_00]: And the amount of 12 and 13 personnel that bears ran, that was important.
41:54
[SPEAKER_00]: Now I know someone else's point and say, well, to run block, can't we just can you draft someone, can you find someone cheaper that can just run block?
42:02
[SPEAKER_00]: But again, it's the combination of what he can do as a capacitor, as a run blocker.
42:09
[SPEAKER_00]: Also just what he is on this team, I mean, he's one of the longest tenured bears on this team at this point and just in terms of that leadership, his durability, you know, he, he rarely misses time, if he missed that one, he missed this year was his first one, if I call it correctly, but it's long story story, it stopped trying to cut cool comment there might, there's going to be a time down the road, but.
42:36
[SPEAKER_00]: When you're in a trans, when you're going to be transitioning a bit where, again, I expect DJ more to be gone.
42:41
[SPEAKER_00]: So now, you're going to have Rome Luther Burton.
42:45
[SPEAKER_00]: You're going to have Colson, Lovelin at the time of your main three past catchers.
42:49
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe you bring all of it as a key as back and draft a day three guy.
42:54
[SPEAKER_00]: You're probably the coal is important there.
43:02
[SPEAKER_00]: All right, there's pretty much all I have to talk about here.
43:04
[SPEAKER_00]: I just want to give a rundown on some of the, some of the quotes from the week, a rundown on the cap for the conversation situation and a thought process on just some of the impending for agents.
43:14
[SPEAKER_00]: I did not want to dive into too much of potential for agent signings or draft talk.
43:21
[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to have tons of time for draft talk.
43:24
[SPEAKER_00]: Bear bones is going to take a little break at this point just kind of reset after a long year, a good year for being honest.
43:34
[SPEAKER_00]: But a couple weeks, two, three weeks, we will be back.
43:37
[SPEAKER_00]: We're going to be doing our mock drafts.
43:38
[SPEAKER_00]: And we're going to try to get as many of those done
43:41
[SPEAKER_00]: between now and when the draft happens, you can also look forward.
43:45
[SPEAKER_00]: The plan is to try to do an in-person draft party for the first day of that draft.
43:52
[SPEAKER_00]: There are a bar in Chicago hopefully, and we'd love to have as many people there as possible, potentially some giveaways, talk with y'all, have a good time.
44:01
[SPEAKER_00]: So go ahead and if you've made it this far in the show, if you could leave a comment,
44:06
[SPEAKER_00]: What do you want to come out to a draft show?
44:08
[SPEAKER_00]: Would you be there?
44:09
[SPEAKER_00]: Because that'll also give an idea of, you know, how hard we were on push to make this happen.
44:13
[SPEAKER_00]: So yeah, comment on below.
44:14
[SPEAKER_00]: Go to YouTube if you're listening to the podcast once you're done driving, any end up at your location you're heading to.
44:20
[SPEAKER_00]: Go to YouTube and leave, hey, yeah, I'd love to come to a draft show.
44:24
[SPEAKER_00]: Something of that nature, just get an idea.
44:26
[SPEAKER_00]: But thank you everyone for,
44:29
[SPEAKER_00]: a great 2025-2526 Chicago pair of season.
44:33
[SPEAKER_00]: This sounds corny as heck, but y'all are what make it happen, you know, everyone who's watching at home listening at home.
44:39
[SPEAKER_00]: I can't thank y'all enough for
44:42
[SPEAKER_00]: being willing to sit there and listen to me spout off about the bears and my patients appreciate it because it means I don't have to talk to them so much about it.
44:50
[SPEAKER_00]: I get to talk to you guys about it.
44:53
[SPEAKER_00]: You really make this this doable and I really for the bottom of my heart, I appreciate it.
44:59
[SPEAKER_00]: So thank you for this journey and you know what I'm excited for next year.
45:03
[SPEAKER_00]: It's going to this is one of the first even like 2018 was great but 2019 had a weird
45:10
[SPEAKER_00]: Buzz feeling to it.
45:11
[SPEAKER_00]: It was more, I feel like we're asking us straws in hoping that you're going to take a step.
45:16
[SPEAKER_00]: This year, it's just a different feeling.
45:18
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not like an if they'll take a step, but when they take that step.
45:25
[SPEAKER_00]: And I and dive we dive super heavy into this.
45:27
[SPEAKER_00]: We'll do so as the as the off season continues, but people who are worried about regression, you shouldn't be because you have your quarterback.
45:35
[SPEAKER_00]: You have your head coach, your head coach and your GM or in lockstep in terms of how they're trying to build this roster.
45:42
[SPEAKER_00]: You have a dynamic pass catcher and a matchup nightmare in close and lovelins.
45:48
[SPEAKER_00]: You have a, you know, some hope with Roma Dune's A, just, you know, hopefully it was just really the injury that slowed him down and can get back to, you know, the guy that was, that was starting to really head towards a thousand yards, the beginning of the year.
46:01
[SPEAKER_00]: And you're going to have another whole off season where dense Allen hopefully gets to really pick his guys to really shape this defense and that you don't have to depend on turn over luck.
46:13
[SPEAKER_00]: in order to make stops that you're truly setting the tone kind of like you did in that ram scheme.
46:20
[SPEAKER_00]: But again, thank you, everyone.
46:21
[SPEAKER_00]: Fair enough.