June 23, 2025 • 34 mins
Jeff Joniak, Tom Thayer and Jim Miller visit with offensive lineman Kiran Amegadjie to discuss his goals and how he plans to make an impact on the team in 2025.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome in to Bears Weekly, powered by IGS Energy, a
Chicago Bears Network production. Bears Weekly is brought to you
by Advocate Healthcare, Athletico Physical Therapy, CD Kellaghy, Connie's.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Pizza, IGS Energy, and Meta Lived. Here are your hosts,
Jeff chiliact aka the Mayor of Bearsville and his sidekick,
Tom the Surfmaster.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Thayer training camp starts in just over a month, and
to tell you the truth, we can't wait. This is
Bears Weekly at ESPN one thousand on the Chicago Bears
Radio Network with Super Bowl winning Bears guard Tom Thayer.
We're joined by the former Bears quarterback Jim Miller from
sirius XM NFL Radio.
Speaker 4 (00:41):
I'm Jeff Joniac. Coming off of the program.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
We visit with second year offensive lineman Karanamagaji, Dan Berrilli,
Jordan tread Up and Katie Fox are producers and the
executive producer of the Bears Radio Network, Eric Ostrowski. Fellas
they tell you not to peak too soon, right, That's
always the thing.
Speaker 4 (00:57):
I'm peaking. I'm jacked so much.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
We don't know about what it would look like, but
so much that we hope it is what we think
it might look like. And I know it's a long
way to go, and it's a long, preseason long training camp,
but do you share in my genuine organic excitement about
the twenty twenty five Bears?
Speaker 4 (01:17):
You know?
Speaker 5 (01:18):
For me, I think if you make a checklist of
what you want to see out of training camp, it
goes from coaching staff to players to assistant coaches. And
I don't think that we've been in this excited to
go through that checklist throughout the process of training camp. Now,
once the schedule is out, you kind of get a
feel of how they're going to go about their business,
(01:38):
the days that you have to prioritize your effort when
you look at the full pads, and then some of
the meaningful practices behind the mental side of it.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
When you look at shells or helmet.
Speaker 5 (01:49):
So there's a big checklist here of people, coaches and
different scenarios that you want to see unfold with hope.
Speaker 6 (01:57):
Yeah, there's a lot on that list.
Speaker 7 (01:59):
Is I'm just said, But I think when you're trying
to reach your final destination or reach your goal, there's
a lot of things that have to happen, a lot
of things have to be in place, and all those
check marks have to be fulfilled, you know, So whether
it's coaches, it's the players execution, you know, and for
the fans to fans for Like you said, Jeff, everybody
(02:21):
has this vision of what it can be and what
they believe it will be. But in order to make
that happen, a lot of things have to come together
and everybody as a whole has to be doing the
work involved to reach that goal.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
Yeah, you got to be healthy, right.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
I just saw a big study done by I think
it's the doctor that's on with you guys on serious.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
XM, David Chow.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Yeah, he did a whole analysis of everybody's injuries last season.
It just came out here earlier today. And of course
Baltimore with they over the years have had a lot
of injury issues that may have hurt them in the
run game or whatever the position may be. They were
the healthiest team by far in the NFL last season
and they're a complete football team and he feels they
will be a super Bowl contender and they should be
(03:03):
with Lamar Jackson and that defense. Just the opposite you
got San Francisco just riddled with injuries. Carolina had a
lot of injuries. So he's if these teams X, Y,
and Z stay healthy, they should be a better team.
Speaker 4 (03:17):
And that would go for the Bears as well.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Obviously, the offensive line experienced a lot of injuries last season. Tom,
they got to stay healthy this year. We need as
much continuity up front as possible.
Speaker 5 (03:26):
But if there was a perfect plan in place of
how to keep a team healthy, every single team would
be doing that.
Speaker 6 (03:33):
Now.
Speaker 5 (03:33):
Because you had a healthy year, do you think that's
the template of success and that's the way you're going
to go about business until further notice? Or if you
had a lot of injuries, are you going to kind
of change the process and the tempo that you practice
at to maybe try to save some guys. You got
to look at the guys that have been injured. Have
they been injured before? There's a couple guys on my
(03:56):
checklists that gets seem to get injured each and every
year from other teams around the league in it no
matter what you do, something happens to them. And then
you have to start looking at the bodies. Okay, do
I have a guy that's weighing in at two sixty,
But really, if he was a normal walking human being,
on the streets that he would be two twenty five,
(04:17):
and then he's got his body wound so tightly that
you can't have the fatigue and the physicality of the
game and everything that you need in order to be
that guy that's relied upon for sixty to seventy five
reps a game. Can they take it? So there's a
lot of different factors that come into play when you
(04:37):
look at some of these guys, some of their injuries,
and the teams, the way they go about business.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Jim Can I ask you a question real quick, Jimmy,
because you always embrace. You go to Latrobe, you watch
the Steelers practice, and those are those are very physical practices.
They're tackling to the ground. You know, they can only
up be in so many days of pads. That's the
league rule, of the Union rule.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
You know.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Is there any criticism that though, as you get to
at the end of a seventeen game season, because if
you guys, remember they had physical practices by the end
of the season, I always recall the conversation, well, maybe
they overdid it early in the season and it wore
them down. They didn't have enough legs to finish a season.
I don't know if you guys buy into that. Jimmy,
what do you think about especially with the Pittsburgh thing.
Speaker 6 (05:16):
I think there's a balance.
Speaker 7 (05:17):
I think Pittsburgh uses it as a competitive advantage. I
do they are much more physical than teams other teams
that start the season.
Speaker 6 (05:26):
But there's a balance. There's always a balance in it.
Speaker 7 (05:29):
You know.
Speaker 6 (05:29):
A coach has got to know.
Speaker 7 (05:31):
Hey, got a lot of guys are banged up right now,
we got some bumps and bruises. Let's back off a
little bit. But to Tom's point, there are things you
can do as a team that can collectively help or
hurt the team. Say you're doing an exercise in the
weight room where maybe you get a lot of hamstring issues.
You know, so the team has to look at how
(05:51):
they're working out players, and then the player has to
look at himself and say, hey, I need to do
this to keep myself on the field. I'll give you
a case in point and give the example to a
tongue of Iola two years ago said all right, I'm
going to run less with the ball and took jiu
jitsu and did all these things to defend himself. Last year,
Pat and I do the training companies, he got leaner,
(06:13):
he lost weight. Oh, I'm going to run with the
ball more. That's a bad idea for to think that. Okay,
he ran literally eleven times, he fumbled seven of them.
Number one and two. He missed the season because of concussions.
He's got to know what he can and cannot do
to protect himself as a player and not put himself
(06:34):
in harm's way. And then, like Tom said, certainly there's
going to be ebbs and flows to the season. Injuries
are going to happen, and the ball has to bounce
your ways, so to speak, in certain things.
Speaker 6 (06:45):
But you need to do.
Speaker 7 (06:47):
Not only collectively as a team, but individually as a
player everything you can to be available on Sunday for
your team to win.
Speaker 5 (06:55):
So when I went to the USFL, we had no
preseason games, we had eighteen regular season game games, and
I was playing for George Allen. The same conversation infiltrated
our locker room. Because we never hit, we rarely had contact,
but we were on the practice field for a minimum
of three hours. And so now the conversation at the
(07:17):
end of the year, when we made it to the
USFL championship game, we made it to the playoffs, and
it was about fatigue, too much time on our feet.
Yeah we're not physical, but we're tired from standing out
there so long. So if you win the Super Bowl, man,
you're doing everything right.
Speaker 4 (07:34):
And this is the way to do everything. This is
the blueprint of success.
Speaker 5 (07:38):
If you get beaten the Super Bowl or you don't
make the playoffs because you're a little tired at the
end of the year, that's the wrong way to do it. Listen,
football is a sport that demands allowed a lot out
of every person, from coaches to players. There is no perfect,
perfect formula of success. It's about if you're lucky enough
(07:58):
to have a season that you're rosters healthy, or you're
unfortunate where you have a season where you have a
lot of injuries. That's the great game of football.
Speaker 6 (08:08):
Yeah, and it's all delegated.
Speaker 7 (08:10):
Now. You only have like fifteen practices in pads during
the year, so you better get your physicality, your foundation,
that base. Like what Mike Tomlin does for the Steelers,
he sets the tone early for them. Football players play
football on Sunday. That's what they're paid to do in
order to get better at playing football. It's played in pads.
(08:31):
It's played in pads, okay, and so you better delegate
those fifteen practices that you do get. If your team's
not physical enough, you better utilize them early. If you're
too physical and guys are banged up, then you back
off of it. But you need to utilize them when necessary.
It is football at the end of the day.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
Coming up, we visit with second year offensive lineman Kuran
I'm a Gaji. That's next on Bears Weekly on ESPN
one thousand of the Bears Radio Network.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
You were tuned into a Bears Week with Jeff Joniac
on the Bears Radio Network. Well, welcome back to Bears
Weekly on the Bears Radio Network. Here's your host, the
voice of the Bears, Chef Jonact.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
This segment of Bears Weekly has brought to you by
Athletical Physical Therapy. Visit Athletico dot com, the request at
in clinic or virtual deppointment at start feeling better tomorrow. Jeff,
Tom and Jim here on Bears Weekly on your Thursday night. So,
coming out of the break, I mentioned the running back
groom and let's dive in. So DeAndre Swift average fifty
six point four yards per game last season and just
three seven nine to carry with six touchdowns. Roshan missed
(09:39):
three games, just fifty five carries. He had six rushing
touchdowns under three yards per average. Obviously, the running game
wasn't what the Bears had hoped it was.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
DeAndre got close to one thousand yards rushing.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
He's had twenty nine rushing touchdowns in his career, scoring
at least five every seasons.
Speaker 4 (09:54):
And so let's just begin with those two.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
When he can think about the one to two punch
that Detroit had Tommy up there in Detroit with Ben Johnson,
I hate to keep alluding to it, but we're going
to use it as reference. What can they expect out
of this running scheme? What we know at this early
age without seeing training camp with Dan Rochhar on the
running game.
Speaker 5 (10:12):
Well, you know, I always think of running backs as
a three down running back. What can they do on first, second,
third down? But Ben Johnson said something really early in
his time here with the Bears. He said, he's got
to find a running back that's willing to get the
dirty yards. And I think that you can't overemphasize that
because there's a lot more dirty yards to be had
in the NFL. Than there are those fifty and sixty
(10:32):
yard explosive plays. So if you're willing to take your
body size, your structure, lower your shoulder pads, hit into
the line of scrimmage with a two yard running start,
you'll probably get an extra two and a half yards
after contact. And so I'm not looking for unrealistic stats
out of this running back group. I need four yards
to carry out of the offensive running game. So when
(10:54):
you look at these guys, they all have what it's
going to take, but it's going to be about their
evaluation of what's required of them on the down and
distance that they're specifically in the huddle for. And that's
what you're going to an indicator of who is going
to be at the top of the list and how
you filter it down.
Speaker 7 (11:11):
I don't want him dancing. I don't want to wasting time.
Like Tom said, get what you can get, go north
and south. Some guys try to manufacture and do too much,
follow and trust the blocks in front of you.
Speaker 6 (11:22):
It should be improved with.
Speaker 7 (11:24):
The offensive line that the Bears have put together this offseason,
and those guys got to get yardage. It's going to
help other areas of your offense.
Speaker 4 (11:32):
For play action outstanding in the screen game.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
I think you'll hit the rails and it rip uffs
some big runs in this offense as well. His first
three seasons complimentary back, I think he had four starts
in the first couple of years. Now in his last
thirty two games where he was more of the ball
carry number one ball carrier, four hundred and eighty two carries,
eleven touchdowns plus eighty one catches. Remember he was the
thirty fifth pick in the twenty draft DeAndre Swift.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
Now let's talk about Roshan.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
I love how he was a battering ram Tommy in
twenty twenty three, six feet two twenty five. I'm sure
he's even worked on his body even more here in
the last couple of years and every his third year.
Five hundred and sixty one total yards as a complimentary
back in that twenty three season, and he led the
Bear running backs in offensive snaps with three hundred and
ninety five, adding another one hundred and fifty two special
team snaps overall, and impressive two point fifty four after
(12:18):
the catch in his rookie season.
Speaker 4 (12:19):
That's seven and a half yards per catch per route.
Speaker 5 (12:22):
You know one thing about rochan Johnson is the most
difficult thing for a running back is to learn how
to block, and he doesn't really need to be taught
that because he's probably one of the best blockers the
Bears have on the roster right now. But we'll see
from some of the young guys they brought aboard. And
one thing about that I always like about Rochan Johnson.
You talked about DeAndre swifty and great in the screen game,
(12:43):
Rochean Johnson is more of a quarterback protector on the
interior of the line of scrimmage, and he's really got
good outlet instincts, so he can catch the ball in
between the tackles and then get something out of that.
And so Rochan is a different type of a back
than you're going to get out of DeAndre Swift. But
he does some of the more difficult things really well.
(13:05):
And he kind of started to develop a relationship with
Caleb Williams of understanding he could be a late outlet
option in this offense. And I think that's going to
be interesting for a coach the enemy to take a
look at what Rochan offers this offense that may be
different than DeAndre and.
Speaker 4 (13:21):
The rest of the guys yeah, I agree.
Speaker 7 (13:23):
DeAndre does do more in space, but I think Rochan
is a little bit more specific specifically, go line. I
don't want the ball handed to Doug Kramer. Give it
to Roshan Johnson, all right, he's the bigger back who
can pound it in there. Short guardage situations. Give it
to Rochan. I don't care. I don't think Tom cares.
If everybody in the stadium knows that Roshan's getting the ball,
(13:46):
if everybody does their job, he should be able to
get one yard. Okay, slow middle screens like what Tom said,
those plays are ideal for Rochan. It's still a passing play.
It's a screen, but you can muscle it up in
the offensive line and get Donald field and Roachan is.
Speaker 6 (14:02):
Very good in that area picking up blitzes. Rochean.
Speaker 7 (14:06):
He can be a bowling ball with a nickelback coming
off the edge. Cut Rochan on him. Hey man, that
guy will stonewall anybody coming off the edge. There are
things that he can do well and how he needs
to be utilized and like and I like his juice
when he's in a game, he kind of I don't
want to say it's his attitude, but with his energy
(14:26):
with his physicality, it raises the level of play everybody.
In my opinion, it inspires guys. I like that about Roachon.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Oh yeah, they were a couple couple of games where
he put guys on their back and he is fiery
and very much that way. Ian Wheeler in college obviously
was the hammer and never really the nail. In college,
he ran with attitude and violence, and we saw what
he could bring to the table in the preseason last
year with speed as well. Tom I know he suffered
(14:55):
the ACL injury. It tore him up big time, but
he's back. We interviewed him, we'll hear from him in
a couple of weeks on this show. But he's got
a great attitude, another pickback and just untap potential.
Speaker 4 (15:08):
What do you think about Ian?
Speaker 5 (15:09):
One thing I like about Ian has got innate ability
to see and visualize how the hole is going to
open up. And he's the type of guy that he
can make interior moves inside the line of scrimmage to
make a linebacker miss or get that important extra two
to four yards after contact. I like Ian Wheeler. I
like the you know, his excitement, that his ability to
(15:30):
go out there and compete and I don't think there's
you can't you put him in a running back room
and you make the running back room more competitive. You
don't ever put him in a room in a position
room and think, oh, my position room didn't get any better.
I think if you increase the competition, it means a
lot for every one of those guys. But I still
like what I've seen out of Ian Wheeler in training
camp last year.
Speaker 7 (15:52):
This guy's a jitterbug. He obviously has a ton of speed.
You know, you can utilize him in certain situations sprint draws,
space plays, wide receiver screens when you split him out
motion them out of the backfield.
Speaker 6 (16:03):
I think those are the.
Speaker 7 (16:04):
Best assets of Ian Wheeler because his speed is second
to none, where he kind of just destroys angles of defenders,
and so he's a different rink. He's a different wrinkle
that they can use out of the backfield.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
And so is Kyle Manungai can't wait to watch him
in preseason. Here, seventh round pick out of Rutgers five
nine to two oh nine, led the Big Ten and
rushing in twenty three. Second behind I I was Caleb
Johnson in twenty twenty four and led the conference in
rushing attempts with two fifty six, also was on punt block,
he was on kick coverage.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
He was on punt coverage. And this quote I found
in a story. I don't know who.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
Wrote it, but I had copied the quote. Be competitive
around the guys around me in the room. That's what
I like to show them. There's no chill chill way,
no cool chill way.
Speaker 4 (16:48):
To go about it.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
You just got to be on the edge of your
seat at all times and to show them, not that
I've done everything that I want to do, but if
you want to get to where you want to get to,
that's the type of urgency and the type of mentality.
Speaker 4 (17:00):
Have to take to do things.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
And I think Tom that underscore is the competitive aspect
that you just said about, you know, Wheeler. I think
we're going to see it firsthand from Kyle Manungai, who
also is a stellar pass protector at least he was
in the Big ten.
Speaker 5 (17:13):
Well, Manungue, how long does it take you to make
to tell yourself that you belong? I can remember in
going up against the eighty five defense in nine on
seven in practice, in the first couple plays, Jeff I
thought there's no way I can do this. I can't
even catch these guys. Singletary is five steps laterally before
I can even get to the thing, and then all
(17:35):
of a sudden the process starts slowing down. Then all
of a sudden, you do one thing well and you
kind of make yourself believe I can do this, And
then you got to make sure that that infiltrates your mind.
And Manunguy, once he sits out there and he sees TJ.
Edwards across from him, he sees Tremaine Edmunds across from
He's got to make sure that he doesn't get intimidated
(17:56):
that he doesn't know if he can block these guys,
because you're going to have those guys facing you every
team across the NFL board. But as soon as you
feel that you belong, then you're starting to make that
most important first step to allow him to believe everything
he's done he can compete.
Speaker 7 (18:12):
Jim.
Speaker 4 (18:13):
He's a Jersey kid. Man, He's a Jersey kid. He
comes in building up, built for that.
Speaker 7 (18:17):
Yeah, well, manung guy should believe. Because the running back
who got drafted ahead of him, it's Isaiah Pachecko, also
from Rutgers.
Speaker 6 (18:24):
He was a seventh rounder.
Speaker 7 (18:26):
That's seventh rounder Isaiah pacheckll He unseated Clyde Edwards Lair,
who's the first rounder. Pachecko runs angry. Yeah, you know
when I look at who the Bears drafted and there's
seventh rounder out of Rutgers, he's an angry dude and
he plays angry and everything that he does, he's got
a shot.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
Don Bosco prep a powerhouse over there in New Jersey.
Excellent vision and patients running the ball.
Speaker 4 (18:48):
All right, we come back.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
We dig in Bears by the Numbers and it's all
about Caleb Williams and what to look forward to as
it somewhat compares to what happened in Detroit. Jared Goff,
It's Bears Weekly on the SPN one thousand of the
Bears Radio Net.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
You were listening to Bears Weekly. I'm a Bears Radio Network. Well,
welcome back to Bears Weekly. Com a Bears Radio Network.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Here's your host, the voice of the Bears, Jeff Jody.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
This segment of Bears Weekly has brought to you by
Igs Energy. Jeff, Tom and Jim with you as we
dig into the Bears by the Numbers. Here, so much
to look forward to for Caleb Williams, it was a
baptism by fire for him as well. Last year the
week to week uncertainty and while they did have the
unthinkable skid, they did start four and two.
Speaker 4 (19:34):
And things were looking promising.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
But I want to dig into the finale, the twenty
four to twenty two win over Green Bay a stat
line of twenty one of twenty nine only one hundred
and forty eight yards passing, one touchdown, no interceptions, and
one sack. All right, Tom, in this offense, that yardage
is going to elevate with the simple fact that we
have talked about several times and Bears etc. Bears weekly,
(19:57):
We're gonna have yard after the catch, big plays.
Speaker 4 (19:59):
Really that that's what Ben Johnson. And now open up
the middle of the field.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
It'll open up the deep passing game as well, that
kind of production.
Speaker 5 (20:07):
You know one thing about the quarterbacks job, it's never
a one man job. It's how are you being complimented
by the segments that you're playing with. Is there consistency
on the offensive line and is that group in front
of you from the start of padded practices until you
get into the regular season, how do you start developing
that relationship with Luther Burden and how it does his
(20:28):
development compliment Dj Moore and Roma Doonse. Then how does
Colston Lovelin come in here and compliment the tight end
room When you have multiple tight ends that can play
at a high NFL level.
Speaker 4 (20:40):
And that's the one thing about Caleb.
Speaker 5 (20:41):
You put them in the most difficult working atmosphere that
last game of the year against Green Bay and he's
able to have some control at the line of scrimmage.
That is one of the biggest obstacles that he overcame
last year. And he's going to understand how to maneuver
that crowd noise in those difficult working atmospheres. And then
when you get I'm at home and he has more
(21:02):
volume control of his offense, and you've got play action,
you got under center, and you got all these things
that can help a young quarterback develop. I expect his
numbers and the positive direction to go up tremendously.
Speaker 6 (21:16):
Yeah, I do too.
Speaker 7 (21:18):
I think Ben is going to give him a checklist
at the line of scrimmage for every play that he
needs to understand. If he goes through his checklist and
follows that, you know, follows the instruction of what the
coach is looking for. I'll I think he'll have great success.
He can't worry about anybody else. He has to trust
what his old line is doing. Trust that everybody else
(21:40):
is understands their job, and if they don't, that's his
job to tell them what to do what their job is.
He's got to have the inner working knowledge of everything.
But if he does that, he'll know that checklist inside
and out and what he's able to do, what he's
not able to do to get the Bears in the
best play to take advanceage of what they're being presented.
(22:02):
I really think Ben Johnson is very disciplined and he
is very thorough of what he is going to ask
him to do.
Speaker 4 (22:08):
All right, So let's take under center.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
Jared Goff led the NFL in passing from under center,
with three hundred and twenty five attempts, completing seventy six
percent of his passes twenty three hundred and forty four yards,
far and away number one in the NFL, seventeen touchdowns,
just four picks and sacks seven times one twenty three point.
Speaker 4 (22:26):
Eight quarterback rating.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
Only nine quarterbacks in the league threw for over one
thousand yards for under center, but six of them made
the playoffs. Caleb only had eighty nine passing attempts from
under a non shotgun throw six hundred and fifty five yards,
three touchdowns, two interceptions, eight sacks. So with the desire
to have more of a play action passing game and
working from under center, I would be very excited if
(22:51):
I were Caleb.
Speaker 5 (22:51):
Williams, I would too, because there's a lot more deception
that you can use from under center than in a shotgun.
When you go a shotgun with that many pass attempts,
you're giving kind of a little bit of an indicator
to the defense, and then that defensive coordinator knows how
to match up personnel against what he's seeing out of
the offensive formation. So the first thing, Caleb gets comfortable
(23:12):
and under center play action, and now you're creating deception
and maybe some hesitation in the front of that defense
to put the receivers in a more positive position when
Caleb wants to throw the ball.
Speaker 4 (23:24):
So that's what I'm excited to see.
Speaker 7 (23:27):
Yeah, I think it just creates more conflict of interest,
like Tom is referring to, for a defense, if you're
running outside zone, outside zone, outside zone, then you come
with a boot leg. You cannot do that from shotgun. Yeah,
you can run outside zone, but there's no play action
fake off of that. Same with inside zone and other
(23:47):
run plays, dual plays, gap plays that you call. You
can create a lot of conflict of interest for those
defensive players and it just opens up so much more
of your offense that you'll be able to do that,
You'll be able to marry up off of your traditional
run game from underneath center.
Speaker 6 (24:05):
It all works hand in hand.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
Those stats, by the way, from Stats Inc. All right, Tommy,
tight end attempts, you're big on this. We talked about
it the other day. We're trying to forecast how many
kicks for cole Comet and Colston level at the tight
end position. Last season, the Bears were twenty ninth in
total tight end attempts, just twelve percent of the throws.
Jared Goff was at ninety nine tight end attempts, so
it's only thirty more at eighteen point four percent. So
(24:29):
they did throw the ball to the backs and to
the wide receivers. And obviously I'm on ross Saint Brown
had a lot of targets, so I know.
Speaker 4 (24:36):
You want that number way up.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
I think by virtue of this offense, it will automatically
go way up.
Speaker 5 (24:40):
Well, I think it will just because you look at
the talent that they have in the tight end room,
but you also look at I'm going to keep referring
to play action because play action you have the ability
to have your tight end being able to help the
tackle and then get out on the media and be
one of the first or second options in that pass route.
So it's not that you can't ask these guys to
(25:01):
have double duty on a passing play. You encourage double duty.
You give a more secure block to the offensive tackle,
and then you still get him out in a route
and you get get the ball into the hands of
one of these tight ends at four to seven yards
and expect another three out of them. You talk about
a first down. So I just I want more. I
(25:22):
want more tight end.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
And Jimmy one point one percent interception percentage for the
year as a rookie, I thought that was fantastic.
Speaker 4 (25:29):
Here's another you only had six picks. But here's another one.
Speaker 3 (25:31):
Forty eight passes were considered passes defense or eight point
five percent.
Speaker 4 (25:37):
And that was in five hundred and sixty two throws.
Speaker 3 (25:40):
Anthony Richardson for example, and we know how much difficulty
he had. He only threw two hundred and sixty four passes.
He had won more passes defense than Caleb did in
half of them out of throws at eighteen point six percent,
with forty nine on two hundred and sixty four throws.
Speaker 7 (25:55):
Anthony Richardson, he can't identify coverage, you know, and I
think teams they can script where you throw the ball.
So Anthony Richardson was is a very inaccurate quarterback. So
when you're an inaccurate quarterback, what did the defensive coordinators
want you to do? They want you to throw the
ball down the field because that makes you a more
(26:18):
inaccurate passer, and they already know he's inaccurate.
Speaker 4 (26:21):
All right, one more segment to go.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
We get Tom Stotts in segment number five here on
Bears Weekly and asked Ben one thousand of the Bears
Radio Network.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
You were tuned into Bears Weekly with Jeff Jony Act
on the Bears Radio Network. Fish is Bears Weekly with
the voice of the Bears for twenty four years, Cheffon
Act chef on the Bears Radio Network.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
This segment of Bears Weekly brought to you by I've
let to goo physical therapy, visit at Letico dot comra
requestion in clinic or virtual appointment at Start feeling better tomorrow,
Jeff Joning Act Tom there, Jim Miller our wrap up segment.
Tom gets those Tom Stotts going. Jim, you can't stop him.
You just can't stop him.
Speaker 4 (26:58):
You hope to contain them as his good friends. Chris Berman,
what always say? Tom?
Speaker 3 (27:03):
You have the floor, buddy? What are your What are
Tom's thoughts today? If it start in the secondary, You're
big on this. You keep talking about YOUA Kwon brisk
You keep talking about Tyrek Stevenson.
Speaker 5 (27:12):
Yeah, because they they both have two different obstacles to overcome,
and you can't minimize the importance and the overall success
of a defense when you look at you Kwon Brisker.
Here's a guy that's recovering from a health issue, and
he's badly needed in the secondary because he has the
ability to be a great player. And I think if
(27:34):
you have consistency in the defensive backfield, you give a
lot more opportunity in understanding what your defensive coordinator can
do to a football team. And then I look at
Tyreek Stevenson. I think the conversation of the Hail Mary
and Washington is over, but it's still not a non
topic of discussion around the football landscape. And Tyreek Stevenson,
(27:57):
to me, he's got really I think he's got great ability.
I think he's the most physical defensive back the Bears have,
but he plays one of the most fragile positions that
you can have on a football team. So to me,
as we talk about consistency in the offensive line, let's
talk about consistency in the defensive.
Speaker 4 (28:15):
Backfield in two of those guys.
Speaker 5 (28:17):
Is the play of Tyreek Stevenson and the on the
field opportunity for Jakwan Brisker.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
Now at Jim the top four safeties the Bear on
their final year of their contract, so it's going to
be an internal competitive thing going on to try and
get that next deal either with the team or somebody else.
In addition to so that's another important year for your
go on Brisker, for sure.
Speaker 7 (28:38):
Yeah, I think for for I think for every player.
You're right, not only the contract your players, but this
is a new coach, all.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
Right, we got joint practices against Buffalo and Miami. How
important will that be for Caleb Williams, Tommy and his growth.
By the way, last preseason forty two preseason snaps. I'm
wondering also from both of you as a question, b
how many snap should he get in the preseason. But Tom,
those two practices are vital, aren't they right, Well.
Speaker 5 (29:04):
That's my point of emphasis, and the most important practices
in training camp for Caleb is going to be the
joint practices against the preseason opponents because you don't know
how many game snaps are going to get and you're
able to script different scenarios that you want to see Caleb.
But also the talent that he's going to be playing
against is not as predictable as the thousand reps that
(29:27):
you get against the talent that you see every day
in OTAs in training camp. So I think it's a
super important practices. I hope the conditions aren't rainy like
they were last year against Cincinnati. I hope they're dry,
perfect conditions because you're bringing two teams and you have
that working atmosphere that kind of is more of a
challenge to every one of these guys. And I'm just
(29:50):
singling out Caleb because it's a little bit different when
you're scripting seven on sevens and TeamWorks against an opponent
and they are trying to to show things of their
own development of their team. So I just think they're
two important practices that we need to focus on this
training camp.
Speaker 7 (30:08):
Yeah, that'll be a great opportunity for a team who
has earned it. So Buffalo has been to the playoffs
six out of whatever the last seven years. This will
be an opportunity to get the good work in all
the areas that Tom's talking about. The starters should get
all the reps during the week, I mean, because that's
where they get to gel play together against some of
(30:29):
the top, top, top competition in the NFL. Then come
the game time on Saturday, that's fine, all the backups
can get the work then, But that's how you really
get all the scripted work that Tom's talking about and
all the good situations against an opponent who is worthy
and definitely will be a good test for the Bears
(30:50):
to see where they're at.
Speaker 3 (30:51):
Ah Jim, you make a great point, as memory serves,
because this is the first time the Bears have practiced
against two teams. Usually starters don't play in the preseason game.
Speaker 5 (31:01):
Lo Jim said, I would rather have all my starters
take all the reps in the joint practices.
Speaker 4 (31:06):
Oh yeah, let.
Speaker 5 (31:07):
The backups play in the game, because then you kind
of get a two tier Austin evalue, honest evaluation of
a practice that means a lot to a game, that
means a lot to some of the guys that are
fighting for opportunities.
Speaker 4 (31:22):
And you can.
Speaker 7 (31:23):
Script those starters, like like Tom said, in any situation,
you want those starters in key situations. You may not
see during that game. You may not get a two
minute drive, you may not see that, you may not
get a goal line period. Well guess what, boys, you're
going against the playoff team and goal line period. We
need to see it.
Speaker 4 (31:41):
Hey, I don't know if this is the first gym.
Speaker 3 (31:43):
You would know better than Tom and I because you
scan the globe in the NFL every day on serious XM.
Speaker 4 (31:48):
But I did.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
All thirty two teams will be practicing against somebody else
in this preseason the NFL. Actually, I announced it yesterday,
all the different I think that's fantastic.
Speaker 6 (31:59):
I think it is too.
Speaker 7 (32:00):
I think you get great work and it's actually more
productive than the preseason games and better yet, I do
believe this Tom and Jeff. I think that should be
monetized by the NFL. They should have Tom Thayer and
Jeff Joniac actually broadcasting that joint scrimmage and they should
televise it. Honestly, it's another way it could be in
a revenue stream for teams. They could advertise it. Granted,
(32:23):
you're still going to go to commercial breaks, but that
practice should just roll and you guys are going through
every period, whether it's one on one's goal line, period
four or two minute drill, four minute drive, and you're
just breaking it down for all the fans that are
out there, and I think fans would be interested. It'd
be more to me, it would be more interesting doing
a joint practice and even a preseason game in what
(32:46):
they are the areas of focus that teams are like.
Speaker 3 (32:49):
Honestly, we did that against the Rams in Western Illinois.
Speaker 4 (32:54):
We did that. We did that, We did that very thing.
Speaker 5 (32:56):
Let me give you one more USFL example. That's why
I think there should be no preason games. We practice
against the Oakland Invaders in the morning, packed up the
bus and we drove to the Denver Gold practice facility
and practice against them in the afternoon. Come on, similar
to what twa days were, but we had two practices,
two scrimmages in one day against two different teams.
Speaker 4 (33:18):
So it's been done before. That's hilarious and we're gonna
end right there. Tom.
Speaker 3 (33:23):
We got to save one of your Tom's thoughts for
next week. We got to run. Thank you very much, fellas.
That's going to do it for us. The executive producer
of the Bears Radio Network is Eric Ostrowski. Thanks to
Dan b Really, Jordan Treadab, and Katie Fox for Tom There,
Jim Meta, I'm Jeff Joniac. This has been Bears Weekly
on the radio home of the Chicago Bears, ESPM Chicago.
Have a good night, everybody. Game six of the NBA
(33:45):
Finals is coming up next.
Speaker 1 (33:47):
Thank you for listening to the Chicago Bears Network presentation.
The Bears Weekly hosted by the Mayra Bearsville, Jeff Juliac
and Surfmaster Tom Thayer podcasts who were available on the
Chicago Bears selfishal Ab brought to you by Verizon and
Apple Podcasts. Bears Weekly has been brought to you by
Miller Life.
Welcome in to Bears Weekly, powered by IGS Energy, a
Chicago Bears Network production. Bears Weekly is brought to you
by Advocate Healthcare, Athletico Physical Therapy, CD Kellaghy, Connie's.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Pizza, IGS Energy, and Meta Lived. Here are your hosts,
Jeff chiliact aka the Mayor of Bearsville and his sidekick,
Tom the Surfmaster.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Thayer training camp starts in just over a month, and
to tell you the truth, we can't wait. This is
Bears Weekly at ESPN one thousand on the Chicago Bears
Radio Network with Super Bowl winning Bears guard Tom Thayer.
We're joined by the former Bears quarterback Jim Miller from
sirius XM NFL Radio.
Speaker 4 (00:41):
I'm Jeff Joniac. Coming off of the program.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
We visit with second year offensive lineman Karanamagaji, Dan Berrilli,
Jordan tread Up and Katie Fox are producers and the
executive producer of the Bears Radio Network, Eric Ostrowski. Fellas
they tell you not to peak too soon, right, That's
always the thing.
Speaker 4 (00:57):
I'm peaking. I'm jacked so much.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
We don't know about what it would look like, but
so much that we hope it is what we think
it might look like. And I know it's a long
way to go, and it's a long, preseason long training camp,
but do you share in my genuine organic excitement about
the twenty twenty five Bears?
Speaker 4 (01:17):
You know?
Speaker 5 (01:18):
For me, I think if you make a checklist of
what you want to see out of training camp, it
goes from coaching staff to players to assistant coaches. And
I don't think that we've been in this excited to
go through that checklist throughout the process of training camp. Now,
once the schedule is out, you kind of get a
feel of how they're going to go about their business,
(01:38):
the days that you have to prioritize your effort when
you look at the full pads, and then some of
the meaningful practices behind the mental side of it.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
When you look at shells or helmet.
Speaker 5 (01:49):
So there's a big checklist here of people, coaches and
different scenarios that you want to see unfold with hope.
Speaker 6 (01:57):
Yeah, there's a lot on that list.
Speaker 7 (01:59):
Is I'm just said, But I think when you're trying
to reach your final destination or reach your goal, there's
a lot of things that have to happen, a lot
of things have to be in place, and all those
check marks have to be fulfilled, you know, So whether
it's coaches, it's the players execution, you know, and for
the fans to fans for Like you said, Jeff, everybody
(02:21):
has this vision of what it can be and what
they believe it will be. But in order to make
that happen, a lot of things have to come together
and everybody as a whole has to be doing the
work involved to reach that goal.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
Yeah, you got to be healthy, right.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
I just saw a big study done by I think
it's the doctor that's on with you guys on serious.
Speaker 4 (02:40):
XM, David Chow.
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Yeah, he did a whole analysis of everybody's injuries last season.
It just came out here earlier today. And of course
Baltimore with they over the years have had a lot
of injury issues that may have hurt them in the
run game or whatever the position may be. They were
the healthiest team by far in the NFL last season
and they're a complete football team and he feels they
will be a super Bowl contender and they should be
(03:03):
with Lamar Jackson and that defense. Just the opposite you
got San Francisco just riddled with injuries. Carolina had a
lot of injuries. So he's if these teams X, Y,
and Z stay healthy, they should be a better team.
Speaker 4 (03:17):
And that would go for the Bears as well.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
Obviously, the offensive line experienced a lot of injuries last season. Tom,
they got to stay healthy this year. We need as
much continuity up front as possible.
Speaker 5 (03:26):
But if there was a perfect plan in place of
how to keep a team healthy, every single team would
be doing that.
Speaker 6 (03:33):
Now.
Speaker 5 (03:33):
Because you had a healthy year, do you think that's
the template of success and that's the way you're going
to go about business until further notice? Or if you
had a lot of injuries, are you going to kind
of change the process and the tempo that you practice
at to maybe try to save some guys. You got
to look at the guys that have been injured. Have
they been injured before? There's a couple guys on my
(03:56):
checklists that gets seem to get injured each and every
year from other teams around the league in it no
matter what you do, something happens to them. And then
you have to start looking at the bodies. Okay, do
I have a guy that's weighing in at two sixty,
But really, if he was a normal walking human being,
on the streets that he would be two twenty five,
(04:17):
and then he's got his body wound so tightly that
you can't have the fatigue and the physicality of the
game and everything that you need in order to be
that guy that's relied upon for sixty to seventy five
reps a game. Can they take it? So there's a
lot of different factors that come into play when you
(04:37):
look at some of these guys, some of their injuries,
and the teams, the way they go about business.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Jim Can I ask you a question real quick, Jimmy,
because you always embrace. You go to Latrobe, you watch
the Steelers practice, and those are those are very physical practices.
They're tackling to the ground. You know, they can only
up be in so many days of pads. That's the
league rule, of the Union rule.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
You know.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
Is there any criticism that though, as you get to
at the end of a seventeen game season, because if
you guys, remember they had physical practices by the end
of the season, I always recall the conversation, well, maybe
they overdid it early in the season and it wore
them down. They didn't have enough legs to finish a season.
I don't know if you guys buy into that. Jimmy,
what do you think about especially with the Pittsburgh thing.
Speaker 6 (05:16):
I think there's a balance.
Speaker 7 (05:17):
I think Pittsburgh uses it as a competitive advantage. I
do they are much more physical than teams other teams
that start the season.
Speaker 6 (05:26):
But there's a balance. There's always a balance in it.
Speaker 7 (05:29):
You know.
Speaker 6 (05:29):
A coach has got to know.
Speaker 7 (05:31):
Hey, got a lot of guys are banged up right now,
we got some bumps and bruises. Let's back off a
little bit. But to Tom's point, there are things you
can do as a team that can collectively help or
hurt the team. Say you're doing an exercise in the
weight room where maybe you get a lot of hamstring issues.
You know, so the team has to look at how
(05:51):
they're working out players, and then the player has to
look at himself and say, hey, I need to do
this to keep myself on the field. I'll give you
a case in point and give the example to a
tongue of Iola two years ago said all right, I'm
going to run less with the ball and took jiu
jitsu and did all these things to defend himself. Last year,
Pat and I do the training companies, he got leaner,
(06:13):
he lost weight. Oh, I'm going to run with the
ball more. That's a bad idea for to think that. Okay,
he ran literally eleven times, he fumbled seven of them.
Number one and two. He missed the season because of concussions.
He's got to know what he can and cannot do
to protect himself as a player and not put himself
(06:34):
in harm's way. And then, like Tom said, certainly there's
going to be ebbs and flows to the season. Injuries
are going to happen, and the ball has to bounce
your ways, so to speak, in certain things.
Speaker 6 (06:45):
But you need to do.
Speaker 7 (06:47):
Not only collectively as a team, but individually as a
player everything you can to be available on Sunday for
your team to win.
Speaker 5 (06:55):
So when I went to the USFL, we had no
preseason games, we had eighteen regular season game games, and
I was playing for George Allen. The same conversation infiltrated
our locker room. Because we never hit, we rarely had contact,
but we were on the practice field for a minimum
of three hours. And so now the conversation at the
(07:17):
end of the year, when we made it to the
USFL championship game, we made it to the playoffs, and
it was about fatigue, too much time on our feet.
Yeah we're not physical, but we're tired from standing out
there so long. So if you win the Super Bowl, man,
you're doing everything right.
Speaker 4 (07:34):
And this is the way to do everything. This is
the blueprint of success.
Speaker 5 (07:38):
If you get beaten the Super Bowl or you don't
make the playoffs because you're a little tired at the
end of the year, that's the wrong way to do it. Listen,
football is a sport that demands allowed a lot out
of every person, from coaches to players. There is no perfect,
perfect formula of success. It's about if you're lucky enough
(07:58):
to have a season that you're rosters healthy, or you're
unfortunate where you have a season where you have a
lot of injuries. That's the great game of football.
Speaker 6 (08:08):
Yeah, and it's all delegated.
Speaker 7 (08:10):
Now. You only have like fifteen practices in pads during
the year, so you better get your physicality, your foundation,
that base. Like what Mike Tomlin does for the Steelers,
he sets the tone early for them. Football players play
football on Sunday. That's what they're paid to do in
order to get better at playing football. It's played in pads.
(08:31):
It's played in pads, okay, and so you better delegate
those fifteen practices that you do get. If your team's
not physical enough, you better utilize them early. If you're
too physical and guys are banged up, then you back
off of it. But you need to utilize them when necessary.
It is football at the end of the day.
Speaker 3 (08:50):
Coming up, we visit with second year offensive lineman Kuran
I'm a Gaji. That's next on Bears Weekly on ESPN
one thousand of the Bears Radio Network.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
You were tuned into a Bears Week with Jeff Joniac
on the Bears Radio Network. Well, welcome back to Bears
Weekly on the Bears Radio Network. Here's your host, the
voice of the Bears, Chef Jonact.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
This segment of Bears Weekly has brought to you by
Athletical Physical Therapy. Visit Athletico dot com, the request at
in clinic or virtual deppointment at start feeling better tomorrow. Jeff,
Tom and Jim here on Bears Weekly on your Thursday night. So,
coming out of the break, I mentioned the running back
groom and let's dive in. So DeAndre Swift average fifty
six point four yards per game last season and just
three seven nine to carry with six touchdowns. Roshan missed
(09:39):
three games, just fifty five carries. He had six rushing
touchdowns under three yards per average. Obviously, the running game
wasn't what the Bears had hoped it was.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
DeAndre got close to one thousand yards rushing.
Speaker 3 (09:50):
He's had twenty nine rushing touchdowns in his career, scoring
at least five every seasons.
Speaker 4 (09:54):
And so let's just begin with those two.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
When he can think about the one to two punch
that Detroit had Tommy up there in Detroit with Ben Johnson,
I hate to keep alluding to it, but we're going
to use it as reference. What can they expect out
of this running scheme? What we know at this early
age without seeing training camp with Dan Rochhar on the
running game.
Speaker 5 (10:12):
Well, you know, I always think of running backs as
a three down running back. What can they do on first, second,
third down? But Ben Johnson said something really early in
his time here with the Bears. He said, he's got
to find a running back that's willing to get the
dirty yards. And I think that you can't overemphasize that
because there's a lot more dirty yards to be had
in the NFL. Than there are those fifty and sixty
(10:32):
yard explosive plays. So if you're willing to take your
body size, your structure, lower your shoulder pads, hit into
the line of scrimmage with a two yard running start,
you'll probably get an extra two and a half yards
after contact. And so I'm not looking for unrealistic stats
out of this running back group. I need four yards
to carry out of the offensive running game. So when
(10:54):
you look at these guys, they all have what it's
going to take, but it's going to be about their
evaluation of what's required of them on the down and
distance that they're specifically in the huddle for. And that's
what you're going to an indicator of who is going
to be at the top of the list and how
you filter it down.
Speaker 7 (11:11):
I don't want him dancing. I don't want to wasting time.
Like Tom said, get what you can get, go north
and south. Some guys try to manufacture and do too much,
follow and trust the blocks in front of you.
Speaker 6 (11:22):
It should be improved with.
Speaker 7 (11:24):
The offensive line that the Bears have put together this offseason,
and those guys got to get yardage. It's going to
help other areas of your offense.
Speaker 4 (11:32):
For play action outstanding in the screen game.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
I think you'll hit the rails and it rip uffs
some big runs in this offense as well. His first
three seasons complimentary back, I think he had four starts
in the first couple of years. Now in his last
thirty two games where he was more of the ball
carry number one ball carrier, four hundred and eighty two carries,
eleven touchdowns plus eighty one catches. Remember he was the
thirty fifth pick in the twenty draft DeAndre Swift.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
Now let's talk about Roshan.
Speaker 3 (11:55):
I love how he was a battering ram Tommy in
twenty twenty three, six feet two twenty five. I'm sure
he's even worked on his body even more here in
the last couple of years and every his third year.
Five hundred and sixty one total yards as a complimentary
back in that twenty three season, and he led the
Bear running backs in offensive snaps with three hundred and
ninety five, adding another one hundred and fifty two special
team snaps overall, and impressive two point fifty four after
(12:18):
the catch in his rookie season.
Speaker 4 (12:19):
That's seven and a half yards per catch per route.
Speaker 5 (12:22):
You know one thing about rochan Johnson is the most
difficult thing for a running back is to learn how
to block, and he doesn't really need to be taught
that because he's probably one of the best blockers the
Bears have on the roster right now. But we'll see
from some of the young guys they brought aboard. And
one thing about that I always like about Rochan Johnson.
You talked about DeAndre swifty and great in the screen game,
(12:43):
Rochean Johnson is more of a quarterback protector on the
interior of the line of scrimmage, and he's really got
good outlet instincts, so he can catch the ball in
between the tackles and then get something out of that.
And so Rochan is a different type of a back
than you're going to get out of DeAndre Swift. But
he does some of the more difficult things really well.
(13:05):
And he kind of started to develop a relationship with
Caleb Williams of understanding he could be a late outlet
option in this offense. And I think that's going to
be interesting for a coach the enemy to take a
look at what Rochan offers this offense that may be
different than DeAndre and.
Speaker 4 (13:21):
The rest of the guys yeah, I agree.
Speaker 7 (13:23):
DeAndre does do more in space, but I think Rochan
is a little bit more specific specifically, go line. I
don't want the ball handed to Doug Kramer. Give it
to Roshan Johnson, all right, he's the bigger back who
can pound it in there. Short guardage situations. Give it
to Rochan. I don't care. I don't think Tom cares.
If everybody in the stadium knows that Roshan's getting the ball,
(13:46):
if everybody does their job, he should be able to
get one yard. Okay, slow middle screens like what Tom said,
those plays are ideal for Rochan. It's still a passing play.
It's a screen, but you can muscle it up in
the offensive line and get Donald field and Roachan is.
Speaker 6 (14:02):
Very good in that area picking up blitzes. Rochean.
Speaker 7 (14:06):
He can be a bowling ball with a nickelback coming
off the edge. Cut Rochan on him. Hey man, that
guy will stonewall anybody coming off the edge. There are
things that he can do well and how he needs
to be utilized and like and I like his juice
when he's in a game, he kind of I don't
want to say it's his attitude, but with his energy
(14:26):
with his physicality, it raises the level of play everybody.
In my opinion, it inspires guys. I like that about Roachon.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Oh yeah, they were a couple couple of games where
he put guys on their back and he is fiery
and very much that way. Ian Wheeler in college obviously
was the hammer and never really the nail. In college,
he ran with attitude and violence, and we saw what
he could bring to the table in the preseason last
year with speed as well. Tom I know he suffered
(14:55):
the ACL injury. It tore him up big time, but
he's back. We interviewed him, we'll hear from him in
a couple of weeks on this show. But he's got
a great attitude, another pickback and just untap potential.
Speaker 4 (15:08):
What do you think about Ian?
Speaker 5 (15:09):
One thing I like about Ian has got innate ability
to see and visualize how the hole is going to
open up. And he's the type of guy that he
can make interior moves inside the line of scrimmage to
make a linebacker miss or get that important extra two
to four yards after contact. I like Ian Wheeler. I
like the you know, his excitement, that his ability to
(15:30):
go out there and compete and I don't think there's
you can't you put him in a running back room
and you make the running back room more competitive. You
don't ever put him in a room in a position
room and think, oh, my position room didn't get any better.
I think if you increase the competition, it means a
lot for every one of those guys. But I still
like what I've seen out of Ian Wheeler in training
camp last year.
Speaker 7 (15:52):
This guy's a jitterbug. He obviously has a ton of speed.
You know, you can utilize him in certain situations sprint draws,
space plays, wide receiver screens when you split him out
motion them out of the backfield.
Speaker 6 (16:03):
I think those are the.
Speaker 7 (16:04):
Best assets of Ian Wheeler because his speed is second
to none, where he kind of just destroys angles of defenders,
and so he's a different rink. He's a different wrinkle
that they can use out of the backfield.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
And so is Kyle Manungai can't wait to watch him
in preseason. Here, seventh round pick out of Rutgers five
nine to two oh nine, led the Big Ten and
rushing in twenty three. Second behind I I was Caleb
Johnson in twenty twenty four and led the conference in
rushing attempts with two fifty six, also was on punt block,
he was on kick coverage.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
He was on punt coverage. And this quote I found
in a story. I don't know who.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
Wrote it, but I had copied the quote. Be competitive
around the guys around me in the room. That's what
I like to show them. There's no chill chill way,
no cool chill way.
Speaker 4 (16:48):
To go about it.
Speaker 3 (16:49):
You just got to be on the edge of your
seat at all times and to show them, not that
I've done everything that I want to do, but if
you want to get to where you want to get to,
that's the type of urgency and the type of mentality.
Speaker 4 (17:00):
Have to take to do things.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
And I think Tom that underscore is the competitive aspect
that you just said about, you know, Wheeler. I think
we're going to see it firsthand from Kyle Manungai, who
also is a stellar pass protector at least he was
in the Big ten.
Speaker 5 (17:13):
Well, Manungue, how long does it take you to make
to tell yourself that you belong? I can remember in
going up against the eighty five defense in nine on
seven in practice, in the first couple plays, Jeff I
thought there's no way I can do this. I can't
even catch these guys. Singletary is five steps laterally before
I can even get to the thing, and then all
(17:35):
of a sudden the process starts slowing down. Then all
of a sudden, you do one thing well and you
kind of make yourself believe I can do this, And
then you got to make sure that that infiltrates your mind.
And Manunguy, once he sits out there and he sees TJ.
Edwards across from him, he sees Tremaine Edmunds across from
He's got to make sure that he doesn't get intimidated
(17:56):
that he doesn't know if he can block these guys,
because you're going to have those guys facing you every
team across the NFL board. But as soon as you
feel that you belong, then you're starting to make that
most important first step to allow him to believe everything
he's done he can compete.
Speaker 7 (18:12):
Jim.
Speaker 4 (18:13):
He's a Jersey kid. Man, He's a Jersey kid. He
comes in building up, built for that.
Speaker 7 (18:17):
Yeah, well, manung guy should believe. Because the running back
who got drafted ahead of him, it's Isaiah Pachecko, also
from Rutgers.
Speaker 6 (18:24):
He was a seventh rounder.
Speaker 7 (18:26):
That's seventh rounder Isaiah pacheckll He unseated Clyde Edwards Lair,
who's the first rounder. Pachecko runs angry. Yeah, you know
when I look at who the Bears drafted and there's
seventh rounder out of Rutgers, he's an angry dude and
he plays angry and everything that he does, he's got
a shot.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
Don Bosco prep a powerhouse over there in New Jersey.
Excellent vision and patients running the ball.
Speaker 4 (18:48):
All right, we come back.
Speaker 3 (18:48):
We dig in Bears by the Numbers and it's all
about Caleb Williams and what to look forward to as
it somewhat compares to what happened in Detroit. Jared Goff,
It's Bears Weekly on the SPN one thousand of the
Bears Radio Net.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
You were listening to Bears Weekly. I'm a Bears Radio Network. Well,
welcome back to Bears Weekly. Com a Bears Radio Network.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
Here's your host, the voice of the Bears, Jeff Jody.
Speaker 3 (19:14):
This segment of Bears Weekly has brought to you by
Igs Energy. Jeff, Tom and Jim with you as we
dig into the Bears by the Numbers. Here, so much
to look forward to for Caleb Williams, it was a
baptism by fire for him as well. Last year the
week to week uncertainty and while they did have the
unthinkable skid, they did start four and two.
Speaker 4 (19:34):
And things were looking promising.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
But I want to dig into the finale, the twenty
four to twenty two win over Green Bay a stat
line of twenty one of twenty nine only one hundred
and forty eight yards passing, one touchdown, no interceptions, and
one sack. All right, Tom, in this offense, that yardage
is going to elevate with the simple fact that we
have talked about several times and Bears etc. Bears weekly,
(19:57):
We're gonna have yard after the catch, big plays.
Speaker 4 (19:59):
Really that that's what Ben Johnson. And now open up
the middle of the field.
Speaker 3 (20:03):
It'll open up the deep passing game as well, that
kind of production.
Speaker 5 (20:07):
You know one thing about the quarterbacks job, it's never
a one man job. It's how are you being complimented
by the segments that you're playing with. Is there consistency
on the offensive line and is that group in front
of you from the start of padded practices until you
get into the regular season, how do you start developing
that relationship with Luther Burden and how it does his
(20:28):
development compliment Dj Moore and Roma Doonse. Then how does
Colston Lovelin come in here and compliment the tight end
room When you have multiple tight ends that can play
at a high NFL level.
Speaker 4 (20:40):
And that's the one thing about Caleb.
Speaker 5 (20:41):
You put them in the most difficult working atmosphere that
last game of the year against Green Bay and he's
able to have some control at the line of scrimmage.
That is one of the biggest obstacles that he overcame
last year. And he's going to understand how to maneuver
that crowd noise in those difficult working atmospheres. And then
when you get I'm at home and he has more
(21:02):
volume control of his offense, and you've got play action,
you got under center, and you got all these things
that can help a young quarterback develop. I expect his
numbers and the positive direction to go up tremendously.
Speaker 6 (21:16):
Yeah, I do too.
Speaker 7 (21:18):
I think Ben is going to give him a checklist
at the line of scrimmage for every play that he
needs to understand. If he goes through his checklist and
follows that, you know, follows the instruction of what the
coach is looking for. I'll I think he'll have great success.
He can't worry about anybody else. He has to trust
what his old line is doing. Trust that everybody else
(21:40):
is understands their job, and if they don't, that's his
job to tell them what to do what their job is.
He's got to have the inner working knowledge of everything.
But if he does that, he'll know that checklist inside
and out and what he's able to do, what he's
not able to do to get the Bears in the
best play to take advanceage of what they're being presented.
(22:02):
I really think Ben Johnson is very disciplined and he
is very thorough of what he is going to ask
him to do.
Speaker 4 (22:08):
All right, So let's take under center.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
Jared Goff led the NFL in passing from under center,
with three hundred and twenty five attempts, completing seventy six
percent of his passes twenty three hundred and forty four yards,
far and away number one in the NFL, seventeen touchdowns,
just four picks and sacks seven times one twenty three point.
Speaker 4 (22:26):
Eight quarterback rating.
Speaker 3 (22:28):
Only nine quarterbacks in the league threw for over one
thousand yards for under center, but six of them made
the playoffs. Caleb only had eighty nine passing attempts from
under a non shotgun throw six hundred and fifty five yards,
three touchdowns, two interceptions, eight sacks. So with the desire
to have more of a play action passing game and
working from under center, I would be very excited if
(22:51):
I were Caleb.
Speaker 5 (22:51):
Williams, I would too, because there's a lot more deception
that you can use from under center than in a shotgun.
When you go a shotgun with that many pass attempts,
you're giving kind of a little bit of an indicator
to the defense, and then that defensive coordinator knows how
to match up personnel against what he's seeing out of
the offensive formation. So the first thing, Caleb gets comfortable
(23:12):
and under center play action, and now you're creating deception
and maybe some hesitation in the front of that defense
to put the receivers in a more positive position when
Caleb wants to throw the ball.
Speaker 4 (23:24):
So that's what I'm excited to see.
Speaker 7 (23:27):
Yeah, I think it just creates more conflict of interest,
like Tom is referring to, for a defense, if you're
running outside zone, outside zone, outside zone, then you come
with a boot leg. You cannot do that from shotgun. Yeah,
you can run outside zone, but there's no play action
fake off of that. Same with inside zone and other
(23:47):
run plays, dual plays, gap plays that you call. You
can create a lot of conflict of interest for those
defensive players and it just opens up so much more
of your offense that you'll be able to do that,
You'll be able to marry up off of your traditional
run game from underneath center.
Speaker 6 (24:05):
It all works hand in hand.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
Those stats, by the way, from Stats Inc. All right, Tommy,
tight end attempts, you're big on this. We talked about
it the other day. We're trying to forecast how many
kicks for cole Comet and Colston level at the tight
end position. Last season, the Bears were twenty ninth in
total tight end attempts, just twelve percent of the throws.
Jared Goff was at ninety nine tight end attempts, so
it's only thirty more at eighteen point four percent. So
(24:29):
they did throw the ball to the backs and to
the wide receivers. And obviously I'm on ross Saint Brown
had a lot of targets, so I know.
Speaker 4 (24:36):
You want that number way up.
Speaker 3 (24:37):
I think by virtue of this offense, it will automatically
go way up.
Speaker 5 (24:40):
Well, I think it will just because you look at
the talent that they have in the tight end room,
but you also look at I'm going to keep referring
to play action because play action you have the ability
to have your tight end being able to help the
tackle and then get out on the media and be
one of the first or second options in that pass route.
So it's not that you can't ask these guys to
(25:01):
have double duty on a passing play. You encourage double duty.
You give a more secure block to the offensive tackle,
and then you still get him out in a route
and you get get the ball into the hands of
one of these tight ends at four to seven yards
and expect another three out of them. You talk about
a first down. So I just I want more. I
(25:22):
want more tight end.
Speaker 3 (25:23):
And Jimmy one point one percent interception percentage for the
year as a rookie, I thought that was fantastic.
Speaker 4 (25:29):
Here's another you only had six picks. But here's another one.
Speaker 3 (25:31):
Forty eight passes were considered passes defense or eight point
five percent.
Speaker 4 (25:37):
And that was in five hundred and sixty two throws.
Speaker 3 (25:40):
Anthony Richardson for example, and we know how much difficulty
he had. He only threw two hundred and sixty four passes.
He had won more passes defense than Caleb did in
half of them out of throws at eighteen point six percent,
with forty nine on two hundred and sixty four throws.
Speaker 7 (25:55):
Anthony Richardson, he can't identify coverage, you know, and I
think teams they can script where you throw the ball.
So Anthony Richardson was is a very inaccurate quarterback. So
when you're an inaccurate quarterback, what did the defensive coordinators
want you to do? They want you to throw the
ball down the field because that makes you a more
(26:18):
inaccurate passer, and they already know he's inaccurate.
Speaker 4 (26:21):
All right, one more segment to go.
Speaker 3 (26:22):
We get Tom Stotts in segment number five here on
Bears Weekly and asked Ben one thousand of the Bears
Radio Network.
Speaker 1 (26:27):
You were tuned into Bears Weekly with Jeff Jony Act
on the Bears Radio Network. Fish is Bears Weekly with
the voice of the Bears for twenty four years, Cheffon
Act chef on the Bears Radio Network.
Speaker 3 (26:44):
This segment of Bears Weekly brought to you by I've
let to goo physical therapy, visit at Letico dot comra
requestion in clinic or virtual appointment at Start feeling better tomorrow,
Jeff Joning Act Tom there, Jim Miller our wrap up segment.
Tom gets those Tom Stotts going. Jim, you can't stop him.
You just can't stop him.
Speaker 4 (26:58):
You hope to contain them as his good friends. Chris Berman,
what always say? Tom?
Speaker 3 (27:03):
You have the floor, buddy? What are your What are
Tom's thoughts today? If it start in the secondary, You're
big on this. You keep talking about YOUA Kwon brisk
You keep talking about Tyrek Stevenson.
Speaker 5 (27:12):
Yeah, because they they both have two different obstacles to overcome,
and you can't minimize the importance and the overall success
of a defense when you look at you Kwon Brisker.
Here's a guy that's recovering from a health issue, and
he's badly needed in the secondary because he has the
ability to be a great player. And I think if
(27:34):
you have consistency in the defensive backfield, you give a
lot more opportunity in understanding what your defensive coordinator can
do to a football team. And then I look at
Tyreek Stevenson. I think the conversation of the Hail Mary
and Washington is over, but it's still not a non
topic of discussion around the football landscape. And Tyreek Stevenson,
(27:57):
to me, he's got really I think he's got great ability.
I think he's the most physical defensive back the Bears have,
but he plays one of the most fragile positions that
you can have on a football team. So to me,
as we talk about consistency in the offensive line, let's
talk about consistency in the defensive.
Speaker 4 (28:15):
Backfield in two of those guys.
Speaker 5 (28:17):
Is the play of Tyreek Stevenson and the on the
field opportunity for Jakwan Brisker.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
Now at Jim the top four safeties the Bear on
their final year of their contract, so it's going to
be an internal competitive thing going on to try and
get that next deal either with the team or somebody else.
In addition to so that's another important year for your
go on Brisker, for sure.
Speaker 7 (28:38):
Yeah, I think for for I think for every player.
You're right, not only the contract your players, but this
is a new coach, all.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
Right, we got joint practices against Buffalo and Miami. How
important will that be for Caleb Williams, Tommy and his growth.
By the way, last preseason forty two preseason snaps. I'm
wondering also from both of you as a question, b
how many snap should he get in the preseason. But Tom,
those two practices are vital, aren't they right, Well.
Speaker 5 (29:04):
That's my point of emphasis, and the most important practices
in training camp for Caleb is going to be the
joint practices against the preseason opponents because you don't know
how many game snaps are going to get and you're
able to script different scenarios that you want to see Caleb.
But also the talent that he's going to be playing
against is not as predictable as the thousand reps that
(29:27):
you get against the talent that you see every day
in OTAs in training camp. So I think it's a
super important practices. I hope the conditions aren't rainy like
they were last year against Cincinnati. I hope they're dry,
perfect conditions because you're bringing two teams and you have
that working atmosphere that kind of is more of a
challenge to every one of these guys. And I'm just
(29:50):
singling out Caleb because it's a little bit different when
you're scripting seven on sevens and TeamWorks against an opponent
and they are trying to to show things of their
own development of their team. So I just think they're
two important practices that we need to focus on this
training camp.
Speaker 7 (30:08):
Yeah, that'll be a great opportunity for a team who
has earned it. So Buffalo has been to the playoffs
six out of whatever the last seven years. This will
be an opportunity to get the good work in all
the areas that Tom's talking about. The starters should get
all the reps during the week, I mean, because that's
where they get to gel play together against some of
(30:29):
the top, top, top competition in the NFL. Then come
the game time on Saturday, that's fine, all the backups
can get the work then, But that's how you really
get all the scripted work that Tom's talking about and
all the good situations against an opponent who is worthy
and definitely will be a good test for the Bears
(30:50):
to see where they're at.
Speaker 3 (30:51):
Ah Jim, you make a great point, as memory serves,
because this is the first time the Bears have practiced
against two teams. Usually starters don't play in the preseason game.
Speaker 5 (31:01):
Lo Jim said, I would rather have all my starters
take all the reps in the joint practices.
Speaker 4 (31:06):
Oh yeah, let.
Speaker 5 (31:07):
The backups play in the game, because then you kind
of get a two tier Austin evalue, honest evaluation of
a practice that means a lot to a game, that
means a lot to some of the guys that are
fighting for opportunities.
Speaker 4 (31:22):
And you can.
Speaker 7 (31:23):
Script those starters, like like Tom said, in any situation,
you want those starters in key situations. You may not
see during that game. You may not get a two
minute drive, you may not see that, you may not
get a goal line period. Well guess what, boys, you're
going against the playoff team and goal line period. We
need to see it.
Speaker 4 (31:41):
Hey, I don't know if this is the first gym.
Speaker 3 (31:43):
You would know better than Tom and I because you
scan the globe in the NFL every day on serious XM.
Speaker 4 (31:48):
But I did.
Speaker 3 (31:49):
All thirty two teams will be practicing against somebody else
in this preseason the NFL. Actually, I announced it yesterday,
all the different I think that's fantastic.
Speaker 6 (31:59):
I think it is too.
Speaker 7 (32:00):
I think you get great work and it's actually more
productive than the preseason games and better yet, I do
believe this Tom and Jeff. I think that should be
monetized by the NFL. They should have Tom Thayer and
Jeff Joniac actually broadcasting that joint scrimmage and they should
televise it. Honestly, it's another way it could be in
a revenue stream for teams. They could advertise it. Granted,
(32:23):
you're still going to go to commercial breaks, but that
practice should just roll and you guys are going through
every period, whether it's one on one's goal line, period
four or two minute drill, four minute drive, and you're
just breaking it down for all the fans that are
out there, and I think fans would be interested. It'd
be more to me, it would be more interesting doing
a joint practice and even a preseason game in what
(32:46):
they are the areas of focus that teams are like.
Speaker 3 (32:49):
Honestly, we did that against the Rams in Western Illinois.
Speaker 4 (32:54):
We did that. We did that, We did that very thing.
Speaker 5 (32:56):
Let me give you one more USFL example. That's why
I think there should be no preason games. We practice
against the Oakland Invaders in the morning, packed up the
bus and we drove to the Denver Gold practice facility
and practice against them in the afternoon. Come on, similar
to what twa days were, but we had two practices,
two scrimmages in one day against two different teams.
Speaker 4 (33:18):
So it's been done before. That's hilarious and we're gonna
end right there. Tom.
Speaker 3 (33:23):
We got to save one of your Tom's thoughts for
next week. We got to run. Thank you very much, fellas.
That's going to do it for us. The executive producer
of the Bears Radio Network is Eric Ostrowski. Thanks to
Dan b Really, Jordan Treadab, and Katie Fox for Tom There,
Jim Meta, I'm Jeff Joniac. This has been Bears Weekly
on the radio home of the Chicago Bears, ESPM Chicago.
Have a good night, everybody. Game six of the NBA
(33:45):
Finals is coming up next.
Speaker 1 (33:47):
Thank you for listening to the Chicago Bears Network presentation.
The Bears Weekly hosted by the Mayra Bearsville, Jeff Juliac
and Surfmaster Tom Thayer podcasts who were available on the
Chicago Bears selfishal Ab brought to you by Verizon and
Apple Podcasts. Bears Weekly has been brought to you by
Miller Life.
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