July 25, 2025 • 51 mins
Hall of Fame defensive lineman Dan Hampton stops by Bears, etc. to share stories and memories from the unforgettable training camp days in Platteville, Wisconsin.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Gout open that DJ Moore nisode Touchdown Touchdown Pairs.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I am Jeff Jonia.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
Blitz is not Don Gour.
Speaker 4 (00:11):
What was like playing for Coache Good.
Speaker 5 (00:14):
I don't want to answer any questions like that pressure
coming is a big trouble.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Dotty goes Montest Sweat.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Bears, et Cetera brought to you by Miller Light with
the voices of the Bears, Jeff Joniac and Tom Thayer.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
With the opening of training camp, memories of Platteville, Wisconsin
in the days of building a champion, we walked down
memory lane with one of the greats in NFL history,
the Animal Hall of Famer Dan Hampton. Is part of
episode one fifty four the Bears et Cetera Podcast, and
we are brought to you by Miller Light with Super
Bowl winning Bears guard Tom Payer. I'm Jeff Joniac. First
Bears training camp under Ben Johnson, first week storylines, Tom.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
It's very simple for me.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
It's it's you know how I like to It's the literation, Buddy, intensity,
It's about the insistence of the details. Nothing too small,
every snap matters. It's intolerance. It's just not going to
be accepted and everybody's embracing it the players as much
as anybody, and it's important that they do in the
(01:18):
first place. But we're enjoying the scene so far after.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
A couple of days.
Speaker 5 (01:21):
Yeah, but Jeff, if you don't invest in the mental
side of it, whether you're on offense and defense and
make sure that they don't have some of those occurrences
that come up where everybody's not on the same page.
And Ben has taken that group out and putting the
next group in since they all come with a new
clean slate, that every one of these guys need equal
(01:43):
reps to make sure their investment is paying off.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
All Right, we'll get an injury update and see what's
going on. So far, so good, you know, Coachton Lovelin
on the way back Karanamagaji with the ones that left
tackle during eleven on eleven on day two of PRAC,
this Braxton Jones is not participating in the team practice part,
but the battle underway with Asie Trpilo had the honors
(02:09):
on day one swapped from day one, and that battle
at the backup quarterback position. Case Keenum was QB two
day one. Tyson bagent QB two on day two, So
this will be going on until things start to materialize
from a coaching point of view, and who moves ahead,
And there's many other positions. We can go down the
list from third linebacker Noah Suele's doing outstanding. We hear
(02:33):
the defensive back no Jalen Johnson, Luther Burden of the
second still doing with a soft tissue, so he has
not been able to participate really since rookie minicamp.
Speaker 5 (02:41):
Well, you know, if you were a sculptor, the block
in front of you would still be whole, because it hasn't.
We haven't put pads on yet, So you can talk
about that investment in the mental aspects of football and
how well you know your assignments. So you can go
out there and you can look the part, but you're
not going to prove the part until pads come on
(03:01):
on Monday, because that's when football really starts. And I
think we'll learn a little bit more about Ben Johnson,
maybe his patience or his impatience, learn a little bit
of but more about the requirements from Dennis Allen of
the guys that are on the first unit or guys
that are fighting for their opportunity. And so I know,
I sit here as of today and excited that things
(03:23):
are underway. And I love everything I hear out of Ben.
But the anticipation of Monday for me is unlike any
other time in football, because that's when you're gonna hear football,
not necessarily from the voices of the coaches. You're gonna
hear football from the crack of the pads.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Ze Frasier, the rookie cornerback, personal matter, he was excused.
And defensive tackle Shamart Turner, the rookie turn an ankle.
They're still checking on the severity of that. Hopefully it's
nothing that's going to be long term, because every rep matters.
For these rookies to get into the rotation. Is a
second round pick a lot expected of Shamar Turner.
Speaker 5 (03:59):
Yeah, you know, if he does have a little bit
of a tweak, and then let him get that tweak
out of the way before he gets into full pads.
Don't come out there and limp around in no pads
and then make yourself sixty seventy percent when pads come on,
because I really don't think that will do a that
will do a proper service to Turner.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
All right, So let's listen into head coach Ben Johnson.
He is every other day at the podium as they
go through training cap and he gave us a summary
on some of the things he's seeing and some of
the things he's witnessing.
Speaker 6 (04:31):
Yesterday, good Start, guys were excited. Effort was there, in
tenste was there. It was fun to watch him fly around.
I know some people enjoyed me throwing the first team
out of practice.
Speaker 7 (04:45):
Not the case.
Speaker 6 (04:46):
We're on a time crunch, as you guys all know.
We got ninety minutes there that first day. We're up
the one hundred and five here today. So I just
need to keep things moving on along there or else
other guys weren't going.
Speaker 7 (04:56):
To be able to get their reps.
Speaker 6 (04:57):
So point is, though, we got to be on our
p's and our ques and in every minute, every rep is.
Speaker 7 (05:04):
Really valuable as well. So with that, I'll go ahead
and open it.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
Up like when it was perceived out there.
Speaker 7 (05:11):
No, I'm good, I'm good, like it is what it is.
Speaker 6 (05:14):
You know, our guys we got to end up executing
getting in and out of the huddle a certain way
and it wasn't that way, and so it'll be better today.
Speaker 7 (05:26):
Yeah, yeah, Caleber is that everybody. It's everybody, it's every
We're we're learning, we're growing.
Speaker 6 (05:32):
You know, there were some things from the springtime expected
to carry over that that was probably one we just
don't have any tolerance for anymore.
Speaker 7 (05:39):
We got we got too far to go.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
Do you find that they're very receptive in those moments too, Yeah?
Speaker 7 (05:43):
Yeah, everyone they know it's not good enough. So it's
just keep the train moving.
Speaker 8 (05:48):
With Luthor, we're not here every day during the off
season program. How much work did he get in in
May and June and how much catching up is going
to be.
Speaker 6 (06:00):
Involve everything that that our training staff is telling us
we can do physically with them. We're utilizing I know
coach Randallel has been all over them in meetings, keeping
them involved. He's being he's being quizzed NonStop. Our quarterbacks
are taking them to the side, whether it's it's walkthroughs
on their own. So he's utilizing that time as much
(06:22):
as he can. But there's really no substitute for full
speed reps, and so the sooner we get him out there,
the quicker he can carve a role for himself.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
Days weeks.
Speaker 7 (06:32):
Yeah, I'm hopeful it's just a few days.
Speaker 6 (06:34):
You know we're saying day to day right now, those
sometimes those soft tissues you can't predict. Everyone's a little
bit different. Some guys take longer than others. So uh,
like I said, just it was hopeful and we'll keep
on trucking on along.
Speaker 4 (06:48):
And what as you learned about your running backs?
Speaker 7 (06:50):
Shoot?
Speaker 6 (06:51):
Uh, we'll find out more once we get the pads on.
But extremely coachable. Improvements on the tracks every single day.
Just we're very detailed with where we want them to go.
They're all about it. Coach Bmy's doing a phenomenal job.
He's very demanding. He's one of the more demanding coaches
(07:11):
I've been around. I think they're receptive to that type
of coaching. I think Swift has done a great job
come back this from the summer. He's in great shape.
He had some plays yesterday that weren't ideal. We might
have had a guy unblocked in the hole, and yet
he's able to extend it and make something happen beyond
so highly motivated group. I know the perception out there
(07:35):
is that maybe it's not the most talented room in
the world. They like to hear that noise, Sonna, We're
gonna be just fine, coach.
Speaker 9 (07:43):
We know it's not a linear process improving. But with
where the team was when they left for the summer too.
Where you saw man yesterday first day of training camp.
Speaker 8 (07:53):
Was it a step back?
Speaker 4 (07:54):
Was it?
Speaker 8 (07:54):
They're right where they should be?
Speaker 6 (07:56):
No, I told them, I told them after the practice
said I was pretty pleased.
Speaker 7 (08:01):
We challenged the staff the night.
Speaker 6 (08:03):
Before that we really got to pick up where we
left off, and for the most part we saw that defensively,
we were stopping the ball on most of the plays. Offensively,
were finishing down the field and blocking for our buddies
getting connected. And I thought our pre snap procedure for
the most part was was solid. It's not where it
needs to be. It's going to continue to get better.
But no, I was pleased with the first day with Jalen.
Speaker 4 (08:26):
Is he in the building.
Speaker 7 (08:27):
Rehabbing or is he is here rehabbing? That's correct, Ben, you.
Speaker 10 (08:31):
Told us when you got here that you were going
to run the Bears offense, not the Detroit Lions offense
from last year the year before. But in terms of
like run pass split, are there principles you believe in
that you want to be around as a certain number.
Speaker 6 (08:43):
No, no that there are not. Every game is its
own entity, and that's what I learned. I mean, I
saw it for a number of years when I was
in Miami. The New England Patriots were really the top
of the league for so long, and each week you
just didn't know offense and defense. They just continued to
and they had their opponents guessing. You didn't know what
Belichick was going to pull out front wise or coverage
(09:05):
wise on defense. You didn't know what McDaniels was going
to do on all He might throw at fifty times,
he might run it fifty times, and standing from afar
seeing how dominant that was. I think that's a really
good tactic to have. That's something that I would like
to do here as well. You know, it's we got
to the elements play play a role. Our talent plays
a role, who we're going against plays a role. It
(09:27):
all plays a piece into the puzzle. And that's what's
fun about each game week.
Speaker 4 (09:31):
And from what you expressed on Tuesday, it sounded like
the running game the vision and the design and that
is going to be fluid here.
Speaker 5 (09:37):
What's the process for you of figuring out what you
want to be in that that the game.
Speaker 6 (09:42):
Yeah, we will talk about as a staff, and that's
where we got a leen. I. We got a great
veterano line coach and Dan Roschar that he's been around,
he knows what.
Speaker 7 (09:50):
Good football looks like.
Speaker 6 (09:52):
He'll be able to hone in on what he feels
like our unit up front can handle. The volume is
a big deal. How much how much is too much?
And so that's that fine line. We got to make
sure we're attacking the defense and keeping them guessing. But
at the same time, we got to do things that
that we're good at. So over the course of camp,
(10:12):
over the next few weeks, it's really going to come
together for us Titans.
Speaker 9 (10:17):
Are you looking at some of that Patriots taping brought
up Bill Belichick and how dominant they were with that
twelve personnel and try trying to implement some of that here.
Speaker 6 (10:25):
Yeah, Yeah, I think you go back to what they
were able to do this day and age you each week.
You don't know if you're going to get base defense
or nickel defense to twelve personnel, And that's kind of
fun of the fun of the game too. Call in
the game is what is the defense going to be
in and how can you go after them and attack them.
I think twelve gives you a lot of options, particularly
(10:45):
when you have athletic tight ends that can still block.
You can line up in eleven personnel sets and spread
them out, or you can get condensed on down and
play play big boy ball. And so that's why I
think it's a challenge to stay and age. If you
got the guys defend and.
Speaker 10 (11:01):
With DeAndre Swift, you coached him for what seems different
to you about where you have now versus three years ago.
Speaker 6 (11:11):
He has always been quiet, He's always been highly motivated
on the inside. So there's a lot of things about
him that are the same as what they've been. He's
not happy with how last year went for him, production wise,
team wise, everything. Why he's he's really motivated, he's really
excited to help lead and spur this team forward. So
(11:35):
I don't think I see a whole lot of differences
from from where he's been, but I see a very
hungry individual.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Tom what stood out about what he had to say
early on day two before they went out to practice, you.
Speaker 5 (11:46):
Know, just making the point of emphasis that he wasn't,
you know, kicking.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
The first unit off the field.
Speaker 5 (11:52):
He was just making sure everybody had equal accountability and
equal reps in order to have a more clear cut
evaluate the fact that everybody is still working on a
clean slate. I thought it was interesting how he stated
what the outside thoughts are about the running back position,
(12:14):
because I do think this is a good running back position,
and I think they can really make this offense better.
I think we're going to see the best out of
a guy like DeAndre Swift and Roshan Johnson and Manung
Gui and the other guys. We're going to see how
they can contribute into this offense. So you know, he
clearly thinks how to develop a football team, and we
(12:34):
hear it every time he's at the podium.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
You know, I talked to DeAndre Swift as well, and
it was a player that Ben Johnson coached in Detroit,
so he knows him and said he showed up in
great shape. He's really not happy at all how things
went last season, not only from a team perspective, but
an individual perspective, and he called the group highly motivated
and swift. He says, man, this guy is just so
smart about getting players in a position where they're going
(12:59):
to seed in a matchup, and that's the part that
we can't wait to see, and we won't see until
the games and the delineation. Much like we knew when
Bill Belichick's defense would show up, we wouldn't know what
they were going to do, other than they always found
the number one player, the number one weapon, and try
to erase simm and let everything else fall into place.
(13:20):
Ben Johnson thinks about the same way. From an offensive perspective,
it appears.
Speaker 5 (13:24):
Yeah, but you know one thing about specifically the running
back position. You know, it's not going to be about
the big plays. It's going to be about the little requirements.
Are you willing to stay stand in there and take
on a linebacker blitzing when you have him as your
pass blocking responsibility? You break the huddle, you go to
the line of scrimmage, it's third and the ugly two.
(13:44):
Are you willing to do what it takes in order
to get that two and a half yard and get
the ball beyond the first down marker?
Speaker 3 (13:50):
Those are the.
Speaker 5 (13:51):
Things that are really going to be you know, have
a lot in the deciding factor of where these running
backs are going to.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
Fall into play.
Speaker 5 (13:59):
Because Ben mentioned it from the first day he got here,
and yeah, all these running backs are capable of juking
a linebacker in the hole and going for twenty, catching
a screen out, reading the blocks in front of you,
and turning it into sixty. But what about the dirty work?
Are you willing, capable and able to do the dirty work?
And that will be a deciding factor.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
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Few in Bear's history have played with so much pride
(14:43):
about wearing that uniform. Then your old teammate Dan Hampton
kind enough to take some time to visit about his career,
how he sees the Bears, and all the usual verbiage
that comes from a guy who could speak as well
as anybody about a lot of things and get you
fired up. Is Hampton our sit down with the legendary
figure for the Chicago Bears. He is Daniel Oliver Hampton yep,
(15:07):
d H the Pro Football Hall of Famer, inducted and
elected in two thousand and two.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
Dan, Welcome to the program. And it seems like yesterday.
Speaker 4 (15:15):
How many classes have I seen, you know, since two
well twenty three now, and you know we got I
got to see of course, Richard go in at eleven,
and then Jimbo Covert. Was it two years ago? I
think it was two years ago that Jumbo went in.
(15:35):
And it really is kind of a you know, a
fitting fitting time of year to be talking about it, because,
like I said, the if Tom remembers, we I think
it was in nineteen eighty eight Dick was inducted. We
were we were in Plattfeld training. Came Tom, you remember.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
This when it was our inner squad game.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
Yeah. Anyway, we stopped the game and we were setting
down and they broadcast like a live feed of Dick
as speech and we're, you know, it's ninety eight degrees
is out there and we're practicing and he's back in
Canton getting inducted. So I know, it's been a bizarre,
(16:21):
you know, set of circumstances. But the one thing is,
as you brought it up, Jeff, the indection of Mongo,
which was, you know, kind of in a bizarre way,
that was just a year ago. But the sequence of
all these different events over the last twenty plus years,
(16:41):
it really has been it's been pretty.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Well, pretty wild.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
It's kept that Super Bowl victory in the spotlight for
decades and decades. And I know the fortieth anniversary, Tommy
is coming up here on Alumni weekend before the Bears
host of Minnesota Viking on Monday Night Football, So again
we will get to re embrace what you guys accomplished
in the most punishing way taking care of business over
(17:09):
the course of the nineteen eighty five season on both
sides of the ball.
Speaker 5 (17:12):
Timmy, you know, half I think a lot about the
eighty five team because growing up in Chicago, it was
legendary to me before I ever showed up. And I
hear a lot about the speech that you gave on
the plane coming back from San Francisco after the loss
of the NFC championship came out there.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
Can you fill us in a little bit.
Speaker 5 (17:29):
Who weren't on that plane about what your message was
and how you feel it resonated to that group.
Speaker 4 (17:34):
And again and see this is kind of interesting that,
you know, you came in that year you were playing
in the USFL. You came in, so you didn't have
any prolog you were didn't you come in in the
eighty five season. Yes, okay, so did the Fridge, So
did Kevin Butler. I mean, it was a lot of
(17:57):
the key members of that team they had kind of
just kind of walked in and said, wow, this is
pretty cool. We go to a super Bowl and we
went it. You know, they didn't have any you know
of the saga that we had went through through all
those years prior, especially like Walter. You know, those were
(18:18):
dark days at the end of the seventies. The Bears
were we're not very good. And even when I got
to Chicago in seventy nine we made the playoffs. Then
we didn't for two three four years, and those were
the you know, the years that it was kind of
like making break. And of course by the time we
had gotten to that, to that point where you bring
(18:40):
up coming back from the championship game after getting their
ass kicked, you know, there's a point in life where
you just kind of just say, I don't I will
not accept this. And I used the phrase all the
time and you probably remember it, remember it refused to lose.
It was at that point I was just, you know,
(19:03):
Mago and I were browsing about the fact that, you know,
we had a pretty damn good year and yet we
get to the precipice where we could kick the door
open and we don't. And I just know this. Look
back a couple of years ago, the Bears had a
good team and everybody thought, oh, here we go, we're
going back to the super Bowl. They lose in the
(19:24):
playoffs and then the whole team kind of rolls up.
So I didn't want that to happen. And I went
to every player and kind of grabbed him and looked
them in the eye, and I said, make up your mind.
Make up your mind, because this is we You know,
it's easy to make your mind up in September, but
you got to make it up in January because that's
(19:46):
when the work has to be done the next six
to seven months of preparation. And I wanted everybody to
realize that that it's easy to go this is our year. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
we're going to do this, and that in September. No,
got to do it way in advance and started laying
the groundwork, and you know, I got to tell you everybody,
(20:07):
did we we? Uh, we worked in a feverish manner
to where we not only and tell me you remember
this through the eighty seven and Jody see that was
part of the deal. And everybody goes, why are you
so hard on the team today? Because there was a
(20:28):
point when and this is what every you know, everybody,
you know, you like Scottie Scheffler, everybody right now, you
know who's the greatest? Everybody points at that point in
the middle eighties, who was the greatest? Everybody pointed at
the Bears. And it wasn't my happ instance. It was
because a lot of special people had a lot of
(20:51):
commitment and they did a lot of hard work. And
you know that was that was where it all kind
of you know the rubicon after that game, you know,
a lot of teams that get closed and then they
bowed up and blow away. I didn't want that to happen.
(21:11):
Walter didn't singletary. We didn't want that to happen. And
you know, so far, so good. It worked out the
way we wanted it to.
Speaker 5 (21:19):
You know, I was such a fan of the Bears
because I grew up in this area, and I was
such a huge fan of you and McMichael, and I
was intimidated by you guys in the same sense.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
So I was playing with the guy in the USFL.
Speaker 5 (21:30):
That forewarned me, hey man, when you go look at
Hampton and McMichael at practice. There they are rolling up
their sleeves. They're getting ready. You better be ready when
you go there. So I didn't go in there naively
thinking that this was going to be an easy journey,
but I would always I probably I was thinking back,
what questions have I not asked Dan Hampton over the
(21:51):
time I got to know them, And I never heard
a story of that. The first time you met Ditka
and the first time you met Mango. Can you do
you remember both of those instances in an answer.
Speaker 4 (22:04):
Back way, Dick. You know, he was hired like two
weeks after the season, and the media covered it so
much that by the time we actually got to, you know,
shake hands, it was like already knewing, you know. It
was like, uh, you know, I was very well acquainted
(22:25):
with not only who he was, but how he operated.
And I got to tell you from the from the
first For the first day, I loved Dick because he
refused to lose. He had a burning desire. And you
know what I know, was he the was he the
(22:46):
the most innovative offensive coordinator you ever know? Was he
a brilliant strategists when it came to calling put no,
But what his he had a superior ability to motivate people,
to organize a team attitude where you know, it was
(23:08):
us against the world, that type of mentality. But the
other part of it was he was an amazing talent evaluator.
Now you came in and u supplanting the right guard
that had been there as a starter for a year
or two, and the reason you came in is they
wanted to get better at that position, evidently, and so
(23:29):
that's what happened. So, you know, Dick always had an
eye for not only talent, but how to motivate that talent.
And you know that's all any player could ever ask.
You know, not everybody is going to be as brilliant
as what Ben Johnson evidently is. I mean, this guy's
(23:54):
you know, his offenses at school one hundred and seventy
five touchdowns over the last three years never been done
before in the NFL. That wasn't who Dicker was, but
Dica was so insturmble in our great success. Now the
story about Mongo. I so in nineteen seventy eight playing
(24:15):
at Arkansas. It was the year after a guy named
Brad shar who had won the Outland Trophy as a
defensive tackle for Texas. He had won it, and then
the next year I was the player of the year
and blah blah blah, but I didn't win the Outland Trophy.
And so, you know, you always have this will this guy,
did you know, was recognized to be a better player
(24:36):
than I. Whatever about Well, the next year, Mongo, he
was the player of the year in the Southwest Conference.
So I was very you know, aware of these guys. Now,
Brad Sheer was a member of the Bears, but he
was constantly injured and he knew team intimately, and you
(24:57):
know we had some you know, some conversations about Steve
before the Bears asked me to go pick up Steve.
Now I went to pick him up at the airport
and I had like a speaking engagement. I told him,
I said, look, you know I've got to go do this.
Uh this event. It was in more So, Illinois, quite
a way. So all the way down there, we kind
(25:19):
of you know, talked a little bit, got anyway, I
did my vant blah blah blah. When it was over,
I went back to the table and he had about
ten people around, all these shock classes, and they were
already had plans to go to some club. So it
didn't take long for Steve to acclimate himself to Chicago.
(25:39):
It was it was a partnership in a lot of
different ways. Where we we you know, we were very
similar in our style of play, which is violent. You know,
we we we we just we wanted, damn it. We
wanted to be something, you know, we wanted to be special.
(26:01):
And we knew that it's like everything in life. I mean,
nobody's gonna give it to you. You gotta go out there
and make it that happen. And he and I and
even you know, Mike Hartenstein and Richard Dann through that
early part of the eighties we had grown up, you know,
hearing about the Steel Curtain and me and Joe Green
(26:23):
and the Purple People leaders and Elephanton and all this.
We wanted to be like that. We wanted everybody to
talk about us like that in a big picture way.
It was kind of like you know, clockwork. We had
a plan, we had goals, we wanted to accomplish certain things,
and by the time you showed up in eighty five,
we were kind of wheel down the road to you know,
(26:47):
kind of being you know, the guys we wanted to.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Be NFL defensive MVP in nineteen eighty two before all
the fun really got rolling.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
And then a six.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
Time All prole four pro bowlders, fifty seven sacks in
twelve seasons. But I think people might forget that you
were as versatile as any defensive lineman could possibly be.
And in that eighty five season, if I'm correct, you
played half the season inside half the season outside.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
Is that correct? And that was that a.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
Challenge for you? Did you care or it was just
for the good of the team? And what where did
you think your best position was? Inside or outside?
Speaker 4 (27:26):
You have to you know, the backstory through all this
is all the knee operations that I had to go through.
And you know, by eighty I think it was eighty three,
there was a new technique arthroscopic procedure that when they
would go in and remove the torn cartleage, which over
(27:52):
the course of time, I had sixteen operations like this,
but they would remove the cartleage that were you know, unstable,
but then they would grind around on the bone and
make the bone bleed, and then that bone would create
a certain pseudo callous that would be almost like you know,
(28:16):
pseudo cartilage. And anyway, this was the guy that pioneered
this whole othoscopic technique was Lanny Johnson in Lansing, Michigan,
and Walter had him work in these a number of
times as well. But the problem was that it wasn't
(28:38):
like you get the cartilage out and then you go
in the weight room and start lifting again. You had
to be on crutches or they wanted you to be
on the crutches for eight weeks and stay off of
it and have it and I'm await buried just like
you know this kid JJ McCarthy up in Minnesota last year.
You know, he had to put it. He had his
(29:00):
late bent went a little suitor to where you allow
the joint to recover without any weight bearing you know instances,
so all of the and so you know, I wouldn't
be able to start, uh you know, kind of even
weightlifting until May or June, and then I wouldn't run
(29:22):
until training camp started. And this is all by the time,
you know, Tom showed up not being able to prepare
in the off season the way I used to. It
became a challenge. Now your question was about end and tackle. Well,
after a number of these, uh, you know, knee operations,
it's just the toll it takes on you. You're not as quick,
(29:43):
not as not as flexible, not as fluid, not as nifty,
not as you know, as as dynamic. So by you know,
the middle late eighties, I knew that I needed to
be in where power was more of an advantage, and
I didn't have as quick, you know, a take off
(30:07):
as I did five years earlier. YadA, YadA. But to
make the defense better, they felt like making me a
defensive end again, and you know, supplanting Hartenstein and putting
Fridge in so it'd be Fridge and Mango inside and
me and the outside. It would create the best of
all worlds. Quite honestly, I mean they didn't ask, They
(30:30):
just bea and said you're going to do this, and fine,
but you know, so much of the time I played
inside on the nose in the forty six so I
still got a lot of that, but the point being
is it was for the common good, for the good
of the team all that. I played outside again for
three or four years until you know, Fridge had gotten
so heavy he was pretty ineffective inside, so I moved
(30:53):
back inside. And that's when Trace Armstrong came and he
was playing left hand, so there was a right and
the reason for all of that. The point about me
and being able to do that flexible, you know it.
There is some some you know, differences, but the whole
thing is still it's about reading blocks, you know, having
(31:15):
leverage and technique and YadA YadA YadA, and getting after people.
So you know, I didn't think it was that big
a deal, but I'm just glad I was able to
occur the way it did because you know, and I
think you guys have heard this, but real quick, I'll
tell you the story real quick, because it's really interesting.
(31:38):
Don Pearson was the writer that was supposed to essentially
make a case for certain players to get into the
Hall of Fame. And I retired in ninety and ninety five.
I was up and it didn't happen ninety six, and
then by ninety eight or ninety nine, I had already
(31:58):
kind of fallen back to the pool of guys that
didn't make it, and I had kind of thought, well,
let's the way the cookie crumbles. And then one day
I got a phone call from a guy named John
Turney and he said he was a cruncher and I
said why, He said, I'm a number cruncher. I've just
(32:22):
kind I had to call you. And I said why.
He said, well, because every year I do breakdowns on
all the players in fact, you know, not Jim Kelly,
the quarterback who went in the Hall of Fame in
two When I did, he said, I compared Jim Kelly's
numbers over a season his career each season to Terry
(32:42):
Bradshaw and Roger Sawback and blah blah blah, yeahaada. And
I said, okay, so what he goes, Are you aware
of the fact that the twelve years that you played
for the Bears, your defense was number one in every
category essentially and everything? And I said no, I didn't
(33:03):
know that. He goes, yeah, And I and this is
back when there was fact machines, a fact machine, And
I said, cause you faxed me this can a guy facts?
I said that to Don Pearson and I essentially said,
you know, John Turney said, you know, this has never
(33:24):
happened before me and Joe Green, Marlin Olsen, Randy Whye
blah blah blah. You know, he said, in other words,
what the hell are you doing? Why why haven't you,
you know, first, why haven't you done your homework? And
number two, now that I'm getting done your homework, why
(33:45):
don't you you know, present it. So essentially, and I
heard this from some of the guys in the in
the you know, Hall of Fame that that year I
was stealing the pool and they passed this uh paper
blah blah blah. So anyway, the point, the long the
long term point is no matter where I played, I
(34:08):
just wanted to be a part of trying to make
it special and I didn't care what position, where where
I had to be. But the I kind of have
to say mission accomplished. You know, you always want to be,
you know, the best, the number one blah blah blah.
And for that to happen over the twelve years, that's
(34:29):
that is pretty pretty incredible.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
Yeah, I was number number one and fewest points, number
one in total yards, number one in rushing yards, number
one in rushing touchdowns and the most sex. Yeah, from
seventy nine Bears mango.
Speaker 4 (34:44):
I mean that's all we talked about. You know, when
I first got to the Bears, I didn't really you know,
in college, you know, they don't throw the ball ten
twelve times a game, so past rush was kind of
like not as important. I didn't we realize how important.
And of course today sacks, you know, you know certain
players get twelve sacks and oh now they're going to
(35:06):
make thirty million dollars a year. And you know it's
but way back when, and again I guess maybe we're
part of that, that dynamic making it so you know,
it's such a prominent statistic. We uh, you know, we
set the NFL record in eighty four, and then it
(35:27):
was seventy two. Steel has never been beaten. And then
the next year we had sixty six or sixty eight
or something. So we had a pretty good run.
Speaker 5 (35:37):
Hey hap you specifically though, so Vince Tolbyn comes in
after Buddy Ryan leaves and you guys statistically have a
better season than an eighty five. But if Dan Hampton
doesn't meet a young Buddy Ryan, do you become the
player did? Because the discipline that he put on you guys,
no matter where your stardom was at the time. And
I remember walking out there and seeing you guys doing
(35:59):
updowns every practice, going to God, I'm so glad I'm
not a defensive player. But you think of the discipline
that Buddy Ryan gave you, specifically as a Hall of Famer.
Do you accomplish that if you have a less uh
you know, hard nosed military background coach like Buddy.
Speaker 4 (36:18):
And they don't the defensive line coach. He was real
quick story. So I'm a rookie. This is about no,
I don't know October and our defense events. They were
they were older and they wouldn't practice, and so I've
had to practice every down, every play blah blah blah.
(36:40):
And now we're driving a sled around and everybody else
in on the practice field they're like, you know, talking,
The offensive line is down there pointing in dummies. We're
driving a slip back and forth, back and forth. And
I started yelling down there, hey, buddy, nik do son
a bitches nothing blah blah blah, And then you know,
(37:04):
we keep driving a sled. Anyway, about twenty minutes later,
they blow the whistle down there. We're in team drills
and you know, I do the you know, like eight
or ten plays in the team drill, and I come
out and I'm drinking some water and Buddy comes up
behind him and he goes, big roop. He goes, you
need to shut the hell up. I said, where's that?
He said, the hardest job in football is rushing the
(37:28):
passer in the fourth quarter when you got to lead.
It's up to you to win the game for us.
The offense gets us a lean and we have to
do our part and rush the passer and stop them
and not allow them to come back and win. You understand,
And I said, yes, sir. He said, never, don't be
(37:48):
yelling ever again. And he walked away, and he basically
nobody had ever explained it. Nobody had ever told me that.
But he's so true. It was so true. How how
important is it for the defensive line to close the
game out, And that's why he wanted us to be
extraordinarily you know, you know, conditioned to be able to
(38:13):
do that in the fourth court. And obviously, do you
remember the game in Cincinnati where I think we played
eighty plays and it was one hundred degrees on the field,
and I remember saying to myself, my god, I'm not
a shape, but I was. I mean, people were pukeing
right and left and all that, but I mean I
(38:33):
had to rush the passer like sixty times that day.
And you know it's you're never in as good a
shape as you want. But you know that was who
Buddy was. You wanted to make sure that we all
understood there's a method to his madness about how he
wants to go about achieving certain things. And let me
just tell you this. So at the very end of
(38:54):
you know, with Buddy, I went down to see him
and I said, somebody, I said, you were a part
of a lot of great He was the defensive line
coach on the sixty nine Jets, who named it Goods
to the credit, but it was the defensive line they
flustered Johnny Unanis into a horrible game and that's why
(39:15):
the Jets won. But then he went to clin Minnesota.
It was the defensive line coach for the Purple People leaders,
you know, the Allen Page Loss and Carl Eller. He
was an eventsio and then when he came to Shadow,
who became the coordinator, had the number one defense. Here
three guys off that defensive line in the Hall of Fame.
Then when he went to Philadelphia, he had the number
(39:36):
one defense. They became you remember Tom, they were They
were brutal, the Philadelphia Eagles with Jerome Brown and Reggie
White and all those guys. They were badasses. And then
he got fired and he took the job in Houston.
One year. One year, look it up. It was the
number one defense in football. And I told Buddy, I said,
(39:59):
this is it's unbelievable. You have had the number one
d I said, what was your best coaching job? And
he couldn't you know what. He had two bouts of
cancer and two bouts of chemo, and you know, he
was really struggling. But essentially I made out. He said, hey,
he goes Korea. That was my best job. I said, Korea,
what are you talking about. He said, I was an
(40:20):
eighteen year old sergeant and our sergeant got killed and
they put a point in me to basically be the
leader of the troop leader. And he said, I had
him kids in career for six months and I got
them all home safe. He said, that was my best
coaching job, and that that is who Buddy was he
(40:41):
was the greatest.
Speaker 2 (40:42):
I never heard that story. Wow.
Speaker 1 (40:44):
This podcast is brought to you by Miller Lite, the
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(41:06):
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Speaker 2 (41:25):
What's your outlook as we wrap this up?
Speaker 4 (41:29):
Boy, I'll tell you what, it's hard not to get
as optimistic as everybody else. Defense. There's a certain level
of violence that you can win even if you know
how them was talented players, but I mean, you know,
small people. After a while, it takes a toll on
(41:50):
offense the same effect, but in a schematic sense. I
think it is amazing how how much Ben Johnson has
already impacted this franchise. And let's go back. You know,
the Bears had a list of twenty people, and I
mocked him. I said, do you know you didn't get
and make a list of the twenty people when you
(42:12):
married your wife. You didn't have twenty girls and go
down the list, you identified who you want and you
go get them. And they didn't really do that. But
guess what. Ben Johnson actually did that to them. He
came to them and said, look, I'm your man, I'm
the guy that you need. And you know why because
for so many years a lot of decisions were made
(42:33):
by the Bears, the coaches that Joe Manner, and I'd say,
what the hell are you? I haven't said that once,
not once. Everything they're doing I, you know, heartily concur
and agree with. Now all that being said, there has
to be you know, you know you can apply you know,
(42:55):
the cure, the medicine, but they got to take it.
The offensive line has got to come to get the
quarterback has got to understand how important fundamentals were and
this kid, he was off the charts without fundamentals. Okay,
that was his calling card, you know, the you know,
(43:15):
the extracurricular you know, making plays extend after the play
breaks down, all that. But how much better can he
and the offense be with him being fundamentally sound and
with motion and with you know, all the nuances of
a very sophisticated offense. And I'll just throw this out
(43:38):
there real quick. I remember my rookie year. It was
Bill Walsh's rookie year in San Francisco, and I remember
hearing people talk about Bill Walsh was kind of like
a maniac about all the little things, you know, about
the checkdowns and and the snap count and things that
(44:00):
normally people wouldn't really care or think about that much.
All those Guess what how it blossomed over the next
decade and they won for super Bowls. So I'm hoping,
I'm hoping the same thing is occurring with Ben Johnson.
Now the defense, you know, Dennis Allen, he's got the
pelts on the wall. I think what he had a
(44:20):
top nine defense, you know the last four years. So
you know it's gonna be good. It's gonna be better
than last year. Will it be the number one defense?
Maybe nine? Who cares? But the point being is our
offense has been so so so bad that you know
(44:40):
it's modern football. Is My buddy at a Redvance always says,
the rules tell you it's about offense and throwing the
ball and scoring points. And we haven't been you know,
kind of playing you know, playing the card game in
the proper way. Ben Johnson will get us not only
(45:01):
in a position to play the game a proper way,
but he has been so dominant. I got to tell you,
you know, if he was able to do that with
Jared Goff sit back, he's got a special talent. Let's
see what happens.
Speaker 2 (45:17):
Thanks, Dan, appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (45:19):
Talk about a few things. That interview is fun, no question.
The guy can turn a phrase like nobody else. I
love listening to him as passion still for the Chicago Bears.
Speaker 2 (45:29):
You feel it, certainly.
Speaker 1 (45:30):
He does it on radio for WGN Radio, and every
time he talks with us, there's something about the team
that gives him a thought, a passionate view because he
wants this team to win just like everybody else.
Speaker 5 (45:43):
Well, it tells you a lot about him and his
Hall of Fame career. He came here in seventy nine,
and he saw some of the more difficult times of
the Bears, but then he saw that accelerator where the
elevator started going up to the Super Bowl team that
it became after getting beaten the nineteen eighty four NFC
Chanmampionship Game. And I knew a lot about Dan Hampton
(46:04):
before I ever got here, because I was a fan
of the Bears, and I had some teammates in the
USFL that forewarned me about animal, about the football player,
about that type of guy. And when I came to
the Bears, I was kind of I was in awe
of hamp and Steve McMichael, and I was an offensive lineman,
(46:25):
and I shouldn't be in awe of them, but I was.
Speaker 3 (46:28):
I admired him.
Speaker 5 (46:29):
I admired their dedication to being a professional football player,
their dedication to be in a Bear, and the dedication
to wanting to work to be great. And that's what
I really admire about that group of guys.
Speaker 1 (46:42):
We brought to you by PNC Official Bank of the Bears.
This I didn't know, and we didn't have time to
get into it with him. But did you know about
his childhood falling.
Speaker 2 (46:50):
Out of a tree.
Speaker 1 (46:52):
Yes, So the doctors advised him to give up sports,
so he started playing instruments.
Speaker 2 (46:58):
Get a load of this.
Speaker 1 (47:00):
He immersed himself. He played six different instruments yep, bass, guitar, our,
bass guitar, classical guitar, drums, saxophone, piano, organ, and played
the bass for a rock band, saxophone in the marching band. Obviously,
he played music afterwards with some of his old teammates
(47:22):
as well, including McMichael. But I had no recollection that
he knew he was that musically gifted.
Speaker 5 (47:30):
Do you know, Jeff, that he was in the high
school band and at halftime of his high school football games,
he didn't go into the locker room. He played saxophone
in the marching.
Speaker 3 (47:39):
Band and.
Speaker 5 (47:42):
Then went back and played the second half. And that's
some of the star qualities that I admire about him,
because he, you know, I mean, he took pride in that,
and I think it probably gave the rest of the
band members pride in the fact that here's a guy
that turned into a defensive college defensive Player of the
(48:03):
Year is also playing saxophone at halftime. I really admire
that about him, and I wish I could.
Speaker 3 (48:09):
Have done that.
Speaker 1 (48:10):
When you talk about his era of players and he
was named to the nineteen eighties All Decade Team, there
are only four defensive linemen on that team. Reggie White,
Randy White, Howie Long, and Dan Hampton. Each of those
guys you had a block in your career. Ye, this
(48:33):
is a question. You're going to have to give it
some thought. How would you rank him in difficulty of
dealing with as a blocker?
Speaker 3 (48:41):
All four?
Speaker 1 (48:41):
Because you have practice every day against hamp You played
Reggie White, you played Randy White, you played Howie Long,
Each of.
Speaker 2 (48:49):
Them a little bit different in their style.
Speaker 5 (48:51):
Each of them. You know, it's Reggie White number one.
He's the most powerful, gifted, strong, play anywhere defensive lineman
probably in the history of the NFL. Ben hamp because
he gave you an quality where he was an All
Pro on the outside, all Pro on the inside. But
it was his stance. He used his length as an asset,
(49:12):
So if you were a short armed offensive lineman, you
were never going to be able to get your hands
to Hampton because of his stance. In the length of
his arm, he would always create separation by the time
you were getting out of your stance and then without
you know, there's a lot of similarities between Randy White
and Howie Long. They both were extremely dedicated, they were
(49:34):
great players. There's a lot of similarities in their style
and their stance and their ability and their commitment. So Niddy,
Reggie Hamp and then Randy and Howie would be kind
of on the same tier.
Speaker 2 (49:47):
Kind of. It's kind of interesting. And I didn't prep
you for that, So that's no, you didn't need to flashbacks, right,
you get, I mean flash.
Speaker 5 (49:54):
Played against I played against Reggie and college in the
USFL and the NFL. I saw and felt what type
of guy he was, and so it's it's no. I
don't feel like I'm slighting the rest of those guys either,
because they would probably be in agreement with me. H.
Speaker 1 (50:10):
When Hamp had all his he had a lot of
certain knee surgeries. I mean he mentioned sixteen, probably some
broken bones in there as well. But when he didn't
play his twenty seven games he didn't play in his career,
the Bears were ten and seventeen in those games when
he played one hundred and fifty seven one three and fifty.
Speaker 5 (50:28):
Four Hey, we started season four and oh one year
hamp got hurt and I don't and we won one
game the rest of the year. So his impact not
only in the practice locker room, on the game day
locker room, and also on the game day field, you
know it was significant.
Speaker 1 (50:47):
Hey, Bears fan Steinhoffels is a proud partner of the
Chicago Bears and now open in Orland Park. Steinhoffels is
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All right, that's gonna wrap us up for our podcast.
Now we're in two todays, Tom, it's two per week.
(51:08):
We're in two a days, and we're only too happy
to do it. Lots to bring to you every week,
and I know Tom's excited about it, excited about what's ahead,
and so sticking with us every week for the rest
of the season through February, we hope as well. Thanks
you to our guest Hall of Famer Dan Hampton for
Tom there, I'm Jeff Joniac.
Speaker 2 (51:27):
Thanks for listening.
Speaker 3 (51:27):
Everybody.
Speaker 1 (51:28):
Please subscribe now to the Chicago Bears official app, Apple, Spotify, YouTube,
or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (51:33):
Bear down, everybody,
Gout open that DJ Moore nisode Touchdown Touchdown Pairs.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
I am Jeff Jonia.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
Blitz is not Don Gour.
Speaker 4 (00:11):
What was like playing for Coache Good.
Speaker 5 (00:14):
I don't want to answer any questions like that pressure
coming is a big trouble.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Dotty goes Montest Sweat.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Bears, et Cetera brought to you by Miller Light with
the voices of the Bears, Jeff Joniac and Tom Thayer.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
With the opening of training camp, memories of Platteville, Wisconsin
in the days of building a champion, we walked down
memory lane with one of the greats in NFL history,
the Animal Hall of Famer Dan Hampton. Is part of
episode one fifty four the Bears et Cetera Podcast, and
we are brought to you by Miller Light with Super
Bowl winning Bears guard Tom Payer. I'm Jeff Joniac. First
Bears training camp under Ben Johnson, first week storylines, Tom.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
It's very simple for me.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
It's it's you know how I like to It's the literation, Buddy, intensity,
It's about the insistence of the details. Nothing too small,
every snap matters. It's intolerance. It's just not going to
be accepted and everybody's embracing it the players as much
as anybody, and it's important that they do in the
(01:18):
first place. But we're enjoying the scene so far after.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
A couple of days.
Speaker 5 (01:21):
Yeah, but Jeff, if you don't invest in the mental
side of it, whether you're on offense and defense and
make sure that they don't have some of those occurrences
that come up where everybody's not on the same page.
And Ben has taken that group out and putting the
next group in since they all come with a new
clean slate, that every one of these guys need equal
(01:43):
reps to make sure their investment is paying off.
Speaker 1 (01:47):
All Right, we'll get an injury update and see what's
going on. So far, so good, you know, Coachton Lovelin
on the way back Karanamagaji with the ones that left
tackle during eleven on eleven on day two of PRAC,
this Braxton Jones is not participating in the team practice part,
but the battle underway with Asie Trpilo had the honors
(02:09):
on day one swapped from day one, and that battle
at the backup quarterback position. Case Keenum was QB two
day one. Tyson bagent QB two on day two, So
this will be going on until things start to materialize
from a coaching point of view, and who moves ahead,
And there's many other positions. We can go down the
list from third linebacker Noah Suele's doing outstanding. We hear
(02:33):
the defensive back no Jalen Johnson, Luther Burden of the
second still doing with a soft tissue, so he has
not been able to participate really since rookie minicamp.
Speaker 5 (02:41):
Well, you know, if you were a sculptor, the block
in front of you would still be whole, because it hasn't.
We haven't put pads on yet, So you can talk
about that investment in the mental aspects of football and
how well you know your assignments. So you can go
out there and you can look the part, but you're
not going to prove the part until pads come on
(03:01):
on Monday, because that's when football really starts. And I
think we'll learn a little bit more about Ben Johnson,
maybe his patience or his impatience, learn a little bit
of but more about the requirements from Dennis Allen of
the guys that are on the first unit or guys
that are fighting for their opportunity. And so I know,
I sit here as of today and excited that things
(03:23):
are underway. And I love everything I hear out of Ben.
But the anticipation of Monday for me is unlike any
other time in football, because that's when you're gonna hear football,
not necessarily from the voices of the coaches. You're gonna
hear football from the crack of the pads.
Speaker 1 (03:41):
Ze Frasier, the rookie cornerback, personal matter, he was excused.
And defensive tackle Shamart Turner, the rookie turn an ankle.
They're still checking on the severity of that. Hopefully it's
nothing that's going to be long term, because every rep matters.
For these rookies to get into the rotation. Is a
second round pick a lot expected of Shamar Turner.
Speaker 5 (03:59):
Yeah, you know, if he does have a little bit
of a tweak, and then let him get that tweak
out of the way before he gets into full pads.
Don't come out there and limp around in no pads
and then make yourself sixty seventy percent when pads come on,
because I really don't think that will do a that
will do a proper service to Turner.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
All right, So let's listen into head coach Ben Johnson.
He is every other day at the podium as they
go through training cap and he gave us a summary
on some of the things he's seeing and some of
the things he's witnessing.
Speaker 6 (04:31):
Yesterday, good Start, guys were excited. Effort was there, in
tenste was there. It was fun to watch him fly around.
I know some people enjoyed me throwing the first team
out of practice.
Speaker 7 (04:45):
Not the case.
Speaker 6 (04:46):
We're on a time crunch, as you guys all know.
We got ninety minutes there that first day. We're up
the one hundred and five here today. So I just
need to keep things moving on along there or else
other guys weren't going.
Speaker 7 (04:56):
To be able to get their reps.
Speaker 6 (04:57):
So point is, though, we got to be on our
p's and our ques and in every minute, every rep is.
Speaker 7 (05:04):
Really valuable as well. So with that, I'll go ahead
and open it.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
Up like when it was perceived out there.
Speaker 7 (05:11):
No, I'm good, I'm good, like it is what it is.
Speaker 6 (05:14):
You know, our guys we got to end up executing
getting in and out of the huddle a certain way
and it wasn't that way, and so it'll be better today.
Speaker 7 (05:26):
Yeah, yeah, Caleber is that everybody. It's everybody, it's every
We're we're learning, we're growing.
Speaker 6 (05:32):
You know, there were some things from the springtime expected
to carry over that that was probably one we just
don't have any tolerance for anymore.
Speaker 7 (05:39):
We got we got too far to go.
Speaker 4 (05:40):
Do you find that they're very receptive in those moments too, Yeah?
Speaker 7 (05:43):
Yeah, everyone they know it's not good enough. So it's
just keep the train moving.
Speaker 8 (05:48):
With Luthor, we're not here every day during the off
season program. How much work did he get in in
May and June and how much catching up is going
to be.
Speaker 6 (06:00):
Involve everything that that our training staff is telling us
we can do physically with them. We're utilizing I know
coach Randallel has been all over them in meetings, keeping
them involved. He's being he's being quizzed NonStop. Our quarterbacks
are taking them to the side, whether it's it's walkthroughs
on their own. So he's utilizing that time as much
(06:22):
as he can. But there's really no substitute for full
speed reps, and so the sooner we get him out there,
the quicker he can carve a role for himself.
Speaker 4 (06:31):
Days weeks.
Speaker 7 (06:32):
Yeah, I'm hopeful it's just a few days.
Speaker 6 (06:34):
You know we're saying day to day right now, those
sometimes those soft tissues you can't predict. Everyone's a little
bit different. Some guys take longer than others. So uh,
like I said, just it was hopeful and we'll keep
on trucking on along.
Speaker 4 (06:48):
And what as you learned about your running backs?
Speaker 7 (06:50):
Shoot?
Speaker 6 (06:51):
Uh, we'll find out more once we get the pads on.
But extremely coachable. Improvements on the tracks every single day.
Just we're very detailed with where we want them to go.
They're all about it. Coach Bmy's doing a phenomenal job.
He's very demanding. He's one of the more demanding coaches
(07:11):
I've been around. I think they're receptive to that type
of coaching. I think Swift has done a great job
come back this from the summer. He's in great shape.
He had some plays yesterday that weren't ideal. We might
have had a guy unblocked in the hole, and yet
he's able to extend it and make something happen beyond
so highly motivated group. I know the perception out there
(07:35):
is that maybe it's not the most talented room in
the world. They like to hear that noise, Sonna, We're
gonna be just fine, coach.
Speaker 9 (07:43):
We know it's not a linear process improving. But with
where the team was when they left for the summer too.
Where you saw man yesterday first day of training camp.
Speaker 8 (07:53):
Was it a step back?
Speaker 4 (07:54):
Was it?
Speaker 8 (07:54):
They're right where they should be?
Speaker 6 (07:56):
No, I told them, I told them after the practice
said I was pretty pleased.
Speaker 7 (08:01):
We challenged the staff the night.
Speaker 6 (08:03):
Before that we really got to pick up where we
left off, and for the most part we saw that defensively,
we were stopping the ball on most of the plays. Offensively,
were finishing down the field and blocking for our buddies
getting connected. And I thought our pre snap procedure for
the most part was was solid. It's not where it
needs to be. It's going to continue to get better.
But no, I was pleased with the first day with Jalen.
Speaker 4 (08:26):
Is he in the building.
Speaker 7 (08:27):
Rehabbing or is he is here rehabbing? That's correct, Ben, you.
Speaker 10 (08:31):
Told us when you got here that you were going
to run the Bears offense, not the Detroit Lions offense
from last year the year before. But in terms of
like run pass split, are there principles you believe in
that you want to be around as a certain number.
Speaker 6 (08:43):
No, no that there are not. Every game is its
own entity, and that's what I learned. I mean, I
saw it for a number of years when I was
in Miami. The New England Patriots were really the top
of the league for so long, and each week you
just didn't know offense and defense. They just continued to
and they had their opponents guessing. You didn't know what
Belichick was going to pull out front wise or coverage
(09:05):
wise on defense. You didn't know what McDaniels was going
to do on all He might throw at fifty times,
he might run it fifty times, and standing from afar
seeing how dominant that was. I think that's a really
good tactic to have. That's something that I would like
to do here as well. You know, it's we got
to the elements play play a role. Our talent plays
a role, who we're going against plays a role. It
(09:27):
all plays a piece into the puzzle. And that's what's
fun about each game week.
Speaker 4 (09:31):
And from what you expressed on Tuesday, it sounded like
the running game the vision and the design and that
is going to be fluid here.
Speaker 5 (09:37):
What's the process for you of figuring out what you
want to be in that that the game.
Speaker 6 (09:42):
Yeah, we will talk about as a staff, and that's
where we got a leen. I. We got a great
veterano line coach and Dan Roschar that he's been around,
he knows what.
Speaker 7 (09:50):
Good football looks like.
Speaker 6 (09:52):
He'll be able to hone in on what he feels
like our unit up front can handle. The volume is
a big deal. How much how much is too much?
And so that's that fine line. We got to make
sure we're attacking the defense and keeping them guessing. But
at the same time, we got to do things that
that we're good at. So over the course of camp,
(10:12):
over the next few weeks, it's really going to come
together for us Titans.
Speaker 9 (10:17):
Are you looking at some of that Patriots taping brought
up Bill Belichick and how dominant they were with that
twelve personnel and try trying to implement some of that here.
Speaker 6 (10:25):
Yeah, Yeah, I think you go back to what they
were able to do this day and age you each week.
You don't know if you're going to get base defense
or nickel defense to twelve personnel, And that's kind of
fun of the fun of the game too. Call in
the game is what is the defense going to be
in and how can you go after them and attack them.
I think twelve gives you a lot of options, particularly
(10:45):
when you have athletic tight ends that can still block.
You can line up in eleven personnel sets and spread
them out, or you can get condensed on down and
play play big boy ball. And so that's why I
think it's a challenge to stay and age. If you
got the guys defend and.
Speaker 10 (11:01):
With DeAndre Swift, you coached him for what seems different
to you about where you have now versus three years ago.
Speaker 6 (11:11):
He has always been quiet, He's always been highly motivated
on the inside. So there's a lot of things about
him that are the same as what they've been. He's
not happy with how last year went for him, production wise,
team wise, everything. Why he's he's really motivated, he's really
excited to help lead and spur this team forward. So
(11:35):
I don't think I see a whole lot of differences
from from where he's been, but I see a very
hungry individual.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
Tom what stood out about what he had to say
early on day two before they went out to practice, you.
Speaker 5 (11:46):
Know, just making the point of emphasis that he wasn't,
you know, kicking.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
The first unit off the field.
Speaker 5 (11:52):
He was just making sure everybody had equal accountability and
equal reps in order to have a more clear cut
evaluate the fact that everybody is still working on a
clean slate. I thought it was interesting how he stated
what the outside thoughts are about the running back position,
(12:14):
because I do think this is a good running back position,
and I think they can really make this offense better.
I think we're going to see the best out of
a guy like DeAndre Swift and Roshan Johnson and Manung
Gui and the other guys. We're going to see how
they can contribute into this offense. So you know, he
clearly thinks how to develop a football team, and we
(12:34):
hear it every time he's at the podium.
Speaker 1 (12:36):
You know, I talked to DeAndre Swift as well, and
it was a player that Ben Johnson coached in Detroit,
so he knows him and said he showed up in
great shape. He's really not happy at all how things
went last season, not only from a team perspective, but
an individual perspective, and he called the group highly motivated
and swift. He says, man, this guy is just so
smart about getting players in a position where they're going
(12:59):
to seed in a matchup, and that's the part that
we can't wait to see, and we won't see until
the games and the delineation. Much like we knew when
Bill Belichick's defense would show up, we wouldn't know what
they were going to do, other than they always found
the number one player, the number one weapon, and try
to erase simm and let everything else fall into place.
(13:20):
Ben Johnson thinks about the same way. From an offensive perspective,
it appears.
Speaker 5 (13:24):
Yeah, but you know one thing about specifically the running
back position. You know, it's not going to be about
the big plays. It's going to be about the little requirements.
Are you willing to stay stand in there and take
on a linebacker blitzing when you have him as your
pass blocking responsibility? You break the huddle, you go to
the line of scrimmage, it's third and the ugly two.
(13:44):
Are you willing to do what it takes in order
to get that two and a half yard and get
the ball beyond the first down marker?
Speaker 3 (13:50):
Those are the.
Speaker 5 (13:51):
Things that are really going to be you know, have
a lot in the deciding factor of where these running
backs are going to.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
Fall into play.
Speaker 5 (13:59):
Because Ben mentioned it from the first day he got here,
and yeah, all these running backs are capable of juking
a linebacker in the hole and going for twenty, catching
a screen out, reading the blocks in front of you,
and turning it into sixty. But what about the dirty work?
Are you willing, capable and able to do the dirty work?
And that will be a deciding factor.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
Calling all small businesses, Your business can be featured at
a Bear's home game. Apply with the Small Business All
prosprogram at Chicago Bears dot com. Brought to you by
PNC and good news. Chicago United Airlines is getting brand
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United proud to fly the Chicago Bears and you too.
Few in Bear's history have played with so much pride
(14:43):
about wearing that uniform. Then your old teammate Dan Hampton
kind enough to take some time to visit about his career,
how he sees the Bears, and all the usual verbiage
that comes from a guy who could speak as well
as anybody about a lot of things and get you
fired up. Is Hampton our sit down with the legendary
figure for the Chicago Bears. He is Daniel Oliver Hampton yep,
(15:07):
d H the Pro Football Hall of Famer, inducted and
elected in two thousand and two.
Speaker 2 (15:12):
Dan, Welcome to the program. And it seems like yesterday.
Speaker 4 (15:15):
How many classes have I seen, you know, since two
well twenty three now, and you know we got I
got to see of course, Richard go in at eleven,
and then Jimbo Covert. Was it two years ago? I
think it was two years ago that Jumbo went in.
(15:35):
And it really is kind of a you know, a
fitting fitting time of year to be talking about it, because,
like I said, the if Tom remembers, we I think
it was in nineteen eighty eight Dick was inducted. We
were we were in Plattfeld training. Came Tom, you remember.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
This when it was our inner squad game.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
Yeah. Anyway, we stopped the game and we were setting
down and they broadcast like a live feed of Dick
as speech and we're, you know, it's ninety eight degrees
is out there and we're practicing and he's back in
Canton getting inducted. So I know, it's been a bizarre,
(16:21):
you know, set of circumstances. But the one thing is,
as you brought it up, Jeff, the indection of Mongo,
which was, you know, kind of in a bizarre way,
that was just a year ago. But the sequence of
all these different events over the last twenty plus years,
(16:41):
it really has been it's been pretty.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
Well, pretty wild.
Speaker 1 (16:46):
It's kept that Super Bowl victory in the spotlight for
decades and decades. And I know the fortieth anniversary, Tommy
is coming up here on Alumni weekend before the Bears
host of Minnesota Viking on Monday Night Football, So again
we will get to re embrace what you guys accomplished
in the most punishing way taking care of business over
(17:09):
the course of the nineteen eighty five season on both
sides of the ball.
Speaker 5 (17:12):
Timmy, you know, half I think a lot about the
eighty five team because growing up in Chicago, it was
legendary to me before I ever showed up. And I
hear a lot about the speech that you gave on
the plane coming back from San Francisco after the loss
of the NFC championship came out there.
Speaker 3 (17:28):
Can you fill us in a little bit.
Speaker 5 (17:29):
Who weren't on that plane about what your message was
and how you feel it resonated to that group.
Speaker 4 (17:34):
And again and see this is kind of interesting that,
you know, you came in that year you were playing
in the USFL. You came in, so you didn't have
any prolog you were didn't you come in in the
eighty five season. Yes, okay, so did the Fridge, So
did Kevin Butler. I mean, it was a lot of
(17:57):
the key members of that team they had kind of
just kind of walked in and said, wow, this is
pretty cool. We go to a super Bowl and we
went it. You know, they didn't have any you know
of the saga that we had went through through all
those years prior, especially like Walter. You know, those were
(18:18):
dark days at the end of the seventies. The Bears
were we're not very good. And even when I got
to Chicago in seventy nine we made the playoffs. Then
we didn't for two three four years, and those were
the you know, the years that it was kind of
like making break. And of course by the time we
had gotten to that, to that point where you bring
(18:40):
up coming back from the championship game after getting their
ass kicked, you know, there's a point in life where
you just kind of just say, I don't I will
not accept this. And I used the phrase all the
time and you probably remember it, remember it refused to lose.
It was at that point I was just, you know,
(19:03):
Mago and I were browsing about the fact that, you know,
we had a pretty damn good year and yet we
get to the precipice where we could kick the door
open and we don't. And I just know this. Look
back a couple of years ago, the Bears had a
good team and everybody thought, oh, here we go, we're
going back to the super Bowl. They lose in the
(19:24):
playoffs and then the whole team kind of rolls up.
So I didn't want that to happen. And I went
to every player and kind of grabbed him and looked
them in the eye, and I said, make up your mind.
Make up your mind, because this is we You know,
it's easy to make your mind up in September, but
you got to make it up in January because that's
(19:46):
when the work has to be done the next six
to seven months of preparation. And I wanted everybody to
realize that that it's easy to go this is our year. Yeah, yeah, yeah,
we're going to do this, and that in September. No,
got to do it way in advance and started laying
the groundwork, and you know, I got to tell you everybody,
(20:07):
did we we? Uh, we worked in a feverish manner
to where we not only and tell me you remember
this through the eighty seven and Jody see that was
part of the deal. And everybody goes, why are you
so hard on the team today? Because there was a
(20:28):
point when and this is what every you know, everybody,
you know, you like Scottie Scheffler, everybody right now, you
know who's the greatest? Everybody points at that point in
the middle eighties, who was the greatest? Everybody pointed at
the Bears. And it wasn't my happ instance. It was
because a lot of special people had a lot of
(20:51):
commitment and they did a lot of hard work. And
you know that was that was where it all kind
of you know the rubicon after that game, you know,
a lot of teams that get closed and then they
bowed up and blow away. I didn't want that to happen.
(21:11):
Walter didn't singletary. We didn't want that to happen. And
you know, so far, so good. It worked out the
way we wanted it to.
Speaker 5 (21:19):
You know, I was such a fan of the Bears
because I grew up in this area, and I was
such a huge fan of you and McMichael, and I
was intimidated by you guys in the same sense.
Speaker 3 (21:28):
So I was playing with the guy in the USFL.
Speaker 5 (21:30):
That forewarned me, hey man, when you go look at
Hampton and McMichael at practice. There they are rolling up
their sleeves. They're getting ready. You better be ready when
you go there. So I didn't go in there naively
thinking that this was going to be an easy journey,
but I would always I probably I was thinking back,
what questions have I not asked Dan Hampton over the
(21:51):
time I got to know them, And I never heard
a story of that. The first time you met Ditka
and the first time you met Mango. Can you do
you remember both of those instances in an answer.
Speaker 4 (22:04):
Back way, Dick. You know, he was hired like two
weeks after the season, and the media covered it so
much that by the time we actually got to, you know,
shake hands, it was like already knewing, you know. It
was like, uh, you know, I was very well acquainted
(22:25):
with not only who he was, but how he operated.
And I got to tell you from the from the
first For the first day, I loved Dick because he
refused to lose. He had a burning desire. And you
know what I know, was he the was he the
(22:46):
the most innovative offensive coordinator you ever know? Was he
a brilliant strategists when it came to calling put no,
But what his he had a superior ability to motivate people,
to organize a team attitude where you know, it was
(23:08):
us against the world, that type of mentality. But the
other part of it was he was an amazing talent evaluator.
Now you came in and u supplanting the right guard
that had been there as a starter for a year
or two, and the reason you came in is they
wanted to get better at that position, evidently, and so
(23:29):
that's what happened. So, you know, Dick always had an
eye for not only talent, but how to motivate that talent.
And you know that's all any player could ever ask.
You know, not everybody is going to be as brilliant
as what Ben Johnson evidently is. I mean, this guy's
(23:54):
you know, his offenses at school one hundred and seventy
five touchdowns over the last three years never been done
before in the NFL. That wasn't who Dicker was, but
Dica was so insturmble in our great success. Now the
story about Mongo. I so in nineteen seventy eight playing
(24:15):
at Arkansas. It was the year after a guy named
Brad shar who had won the Outland Trophy as a
defensive tackle for Texas. He had won it, and then
the next year I was the player of the year
and blah blah blah, but I didn't win the Outland Trophy.
And so, you know, you always have this will this guy,
did you know, was recognized to be a better player
(24:36):
than I. Whatever about Well, the next year, Mongo, he
was the player of the year in the Southwest Conference.
So I was very you know, aware of these guys. Now,
Brad Sheer was a member of the Bears, but he
was constantly injured and he knew team intimately, and you
(24:57):
know we had some you know, some conversations about Steve
before the Bears asked me to go pick up Steve.
Now I went to pick him up at the airport
and I had like a speaking engagement. I told him,
I said, look, you know I've got to go do this.
Uh this event. It was in more So, Illinois, quite
a way. So all the way down there, we kind
(25:19):
of you know, talked a little bit, got anyway, I
did my vant blah blah blah. When it was over,
I went back to the table and he had about
ten people around, all these shock classes, and they were
already had plans to go to some club. So it
didn't take long for Steve to acclimate himself to Chicago.
(25:39):
It was it was a partnership in a lot of
different ways. Where we we you know, we were very
similar in our style of play, which is violent. You know,
we we we we just we wanted, damn it. We
wanted to be something, you know, we wanted to be special.
(26:01):
And we knew that it's like everything in life. I mean,
nobody's gonna give it to you. You gotta go out there
and make it that happen. And he and I and
even you know, Mike Hartenstein and Richard Dann through that
early part of the eighties we had grown up, you know,
hearing about the Steel Curtain and me and Joe Green
(26:23):
and the Purple People leaders and Elephanton and all this.
We wanted to be like that. We wanted everybody to
talk about us like that in a big picture way.
It was kind of like you know, clockwork. We had
a plan, we had goals, we wanted to accomplish certain things,
and by the time you showed up in eighty five,
we were kind of wheel down the road to you know,
(26:47):
kind of being you know, the guys we wanted to.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Be NFL defensive MVP in nineteen eighty two before all
the fun really got rolling.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
And then a six.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
Time All prole four pro bowlders, fifty seven sacks in
twelve seasons. But I think people might forget that you
were as versatile as any defensive lineman could possibly be.
And in that eighty five season, if I'm correct, you
played half the season inside half the season outside.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
Is that correct? And that was that a.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
Challenge for you? Did you care or it was just
for the good of the team? And what where did
you think your best position was? Inside or outside?
Speaker 4 (27:26):
You have to you know, the backstory through all this
is all the knee operations that I had to go through.
And you know, by eighty I think it was eighty three,
there was a new technique arthroscopic procedure that when they
would go in and remove the torn cartleage, which over
(27:52):
the course of time, I had sixteen operations like this,
but they would remove the cartleage that were you know, unstable,
but then they would grind around on the bone and
make the bone bleed, and then that bone would create
a certain pseudo callous that would be almost like you know,
(28:16):
pseudo cartilage. And anyway, this was the guy that pioneered
this whole othoscopic technique was Lanny Johnson in Lansing, Michigan,
and Walter had him work in these a number of
times as well. But the problem was that it wasn't
(28:38):
like you get the cartilage out and then you go
in the weight room and start lifting again. You had
to be on crutches or they wanted you to be
on the crutches for eight weeks and stay off of
it and have it and I'm await buried just like
you know this kid JJ McCarthy up in Minnesota last year.
You know, he had to put it. He had his
(29:00):
late bent went a little suitor to where you allow
the joint to recover without any weight bearing you know instances,
so all of the and so you know, I wouldn't
be able to start, uh you know, kind of even
weightlifting until May or June, and then I wouldn't run
(29:22):
until training camp started. And this is all by the time,
you know, Tom showed up not being able to prepare
in the off season the way I used to. It
became a challenge. Now your question was about end and tackle. Well,
after a number of these, uh, you know, knee operations,
it's just the toll it takes on you. You're not as quick,
(29:43):
not as not as flexible, not as fluid, not as nifty,
not as you know, as as dynamic. So by you know,
the middle late eighties, I knew that I needed to
be in where power was more of an advantage, and
I didn't have as quick, you know, a take off
(30:07):
as I did five years earlier. YadA, YadA. But to
make the defense better, they felt like making me a
defensive end again, and you know, supplanting Hartenstein and putting
Fridge in so it'd be Fridge and Mango inside and
me and the outside. It would create the best of
all worlds. Quite honestly, I mean they didn't ask, They
(30:30):
just bea and said you're going to do this, and fine,
but you know, so much of the time I played
inside on the nose in the forty six so I
still got a lot of that, but the point being
is it was for the common good, for the good
of the team all that. I played outside again for
three or four years until you know, Fridge had gotten
so heavy he was pretty ineffective inside, so I moved
(30:53):
back inside. And that's when Trace Armstrong came and he
was playing left hand, so there was a right and
the reason for all of that. The point about me
and being able to do that flexible, you know it.
There is some some you know, differences, but the whole
thing is still it's about reading blocks, you know, having
(31:15):
leverage and technique and YadA YadA YadA, and getting after people.
So you know, I didn't think it was that big
a deal, but I'm just glad I was able to
occur the way it did because you know, and I
think you guys have heard this, but real quick, I'll
tell you the story real quick, because it's really interesting.
(31:38):
Don Pearson was the writer that was supposed to essentially
make a case for certain players to get into the
Hall of Fame. And I retired in ninety and ninety five.
I was up and it didn't happen ninety six, and
then by ninety eight or ninety nine, I had already
(31:58):
kind of fallen back to the pool of guys that
didn't make it, and I had kind of thought, well,
let's the way the cookie crumbles. And then one day
I got a phone call from a guy named John
Turney and he said he was a cruncher and I
said why, He said, I'm a number cruncher. I've just
(32:22):
kind I had to call you. And I said why.
He said, well, because every year I do breakdowns on
all the players in fact, you know, not Jim Kelly,
the quarterback who went in the Hall of Fame in
two When I did, he said, I compared Jim Kelly's
numbers over a season his career each season to Terry
(32:42):
Bradshaw and Roger Sawback and blah blah blah, yeahaada. And
I said, okay, so what he goes, Are you aware
of the fact that the twelve years that you played
for the Bears, your defense was number one in every
category essentially and everything? And I said no, I didn't
(33:03):
know that. He goes, yeah, And I and this is
back when there was fact machines, a fact machine, And
I said, cause you faxed me this can a guy facts?
I said that to Don Pearson and I essentially said,
you know, John Turney said, you know, this has never
(33:24):
happened before me and Joe Green, Marlin Olsen, Randy Whye
blah blah blah. You know, he said, in other words,
what the hell are you doing? Why why haven't you,
you know, first, why haven't you done your homework? And
number two, now that I'm getting done your homework, why
(33:45):
don't you you know, present it. So essentially, and I
heard this from some of the guys in the in
the you know, Hall of Fame that that year I
was stealing the pool and they passed this uh paper
blah blah blah. So anyway, the point, the long the
long term point is no matter where I played, I
(34:08):
just wanted to be a part of trying to make
it special and I didn't care what position, where where
I had to be. But the I kind of have
to say mission accomplished. You know, you always want to be,
you know, the best, the number one blah blah blah.
And for that to happen over the twelve years, that's
(34:29):
that is pretty pretty incredible.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
Yeah, I was number number one and fewest points, number
one in total yards, number one in rushing yards, number
one in rushing touchdowns and the most sex. Yeah, from
seventy nine Bears mango.
Speaker 4 (34:44):
I mean that's all we talked about. You know, when
I first got to the Bears, I didn't really you know,
in college, you know, they don't throw the ball ten
twelve times a game, so past rush was kind of
like not as important. I didn't we realize how important.
And of course today sacks, you know, you know certain
players get twelve sacks and oh now they're going to
(35:06):
make thirty million dollars a year. And you know it's
but way back when, and again I guess maybe we're
part of that, that dynamic making it so you know,
it's such a prominent statistic. We uh, you know, we
set the NFL record in eighty four, and then it
(35:27):
was seventy two. Steel has never been beaten. And then
the next year we had sixty six or sixty eight
or something. So we had a pretty good run.
Speaker 5 (35:37):
Hey hap you specifically though, so Vince Tolbyn comes in
after Buddy Ryan leaves and you guys statistically have a
better season than an eighty five. But if Dan Hampton
doesn't meet a young Buddy Ryan, do you become the
player did? Because the discipline that he put on you guys,
no matter where your stardom was at the time. And
I remember walking out there and seeing you guys doing
(35:59):
updowns every practice, going to God, I'm so glad I'm
not a defensive player. But you think of the discipline
that Buddy Ryan gave you, specifically as a Hall of Famer.
Do you accomplish that if you have a less uh
you know, hard nosed military background coach like Buddy.
Speaker 4 (36:18):
And they don't the defensive line coach. He was real
quick story. So I'm a rookie. This is about no,
I don't know October and our defense events. They were
they were older and they wouldn't practice, and so I've
had to practice every down, every play blah blah blah.
(36:40):
And now we're driving a sled around and everybody else
in on the practice field they're like, you know, talking,
The offensive line is down there pointing in dummies. We're
driving a slip back and forth, back and forth. And
I started yelling down there, hey, buddy, nik do son
a bitches nothing blah blah blah, And then you know,
(37:04):
we keep driving a sled. Anyway, about twenty minutes later,
they blow the whistle down there. We're in team drills
and you know, I do the you know, like eight
or ten plays in the team drill, and I come
out and I'm drinking some water and Buddy comes up
behind him and he goes, big roop. He goes, you
need to shut the hell up. I said, where's that?
He said, the hardest job in football is rushing the
(37:28):
passer in the fourth quarter when you got to lead.
It's up to you to win the game for us.
The offense gets us a lean and we have to
do our part and rush the passer and stop them
and not allow them to come back and win. You understand,
And I said, yes, sir. He said, never, don't be
(37:48):
yelling ever again. And he walked away, and he basically
nobody had ever explained it. Nobody had ever told me that.
But he's so true. It was so true. How how
important is it for the defensive line to close the
game out, And that's why he wanted us to be
extraordinarily you know, you know, conditioned to be able to
(38:13):
do that in the fourth court. And obviously, do you
remember the game in Cincinnati where I think we played
eighty plays and it was one hundred degrees on the field,
and I remember saying to myself, my god, I'm not
a shape, but I was. I mean, people were pukeing
right and left and all that, but I mean I
(38:33):
had to rush the passer like sixty times that day.
And you know it's you're never in as good a
shape as you want. But you know that was who
Buddy was. You wanted to make sure that we all
understood there's a method to his madness about how he
wants to go about achieving certain things. And let me
just tell you this. So at the very end of
(38:54):
you know, with Buddy, I went down to see him
and I said, somebody, I said, you were a part
of a lot of great He was the defensive line
coach on the sixty nine Jets, who named it Goods
to the credit, but it was the defensive line they
flustered Johnny Unanis into a horrible game and that's why
(39:15):
the Jets won. But then he went to clin Minnesota.
It was the defensive line coach for the Purple People leaders,
you know, the Allen Page Loss and Carl Eller. He
was an eventsio and then when he came to Shadow,
who became the coordinator, had the number one defense. Here
three guys off that defensive line in the Hall of Fame.
Then when he went to Philadelphia, he had the number
(39:36):
one defense. They became you remember Tom, they were They
were brutal, the Philadelphia Eagles with Jerome Brown and Reggie
White and all those guys. They were badasses. And then
he got fired and he took the job in Houston.
One year. One year, look it up. It was the
number one defense in football. And I told Buddy, I said,
(39:59):
this is it's unbelievable. You have had the number one
d I said, what was your best coaching job? And
he couldn't you know what. He had two bouts of
cancer and two bouts of chemo, and you know, he
was really struggling. But essentially I made out. He said, hey,
he goes Korea. That was my best job. I said, Korea,
what are you talking about. He said, I was an
(40:20):
eighteen year old sergeant and our sergeant got killed and
they put a point in me to basically be the
leader of the troop leader. And he said, I had
him kids in career for six months and I got
them all home safe. He said, that was my best
coaching job, and that that is who Buddy was he
(40:41):
was the greatest.
Speaker 2 (40:42):
I never heard that story. Wow.
Speaker 1 (40:44):
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Speaker 2 (41:25):
What's your outlook as we wrap this up?
Speaker 4 (41:29):
Boy, I'll tell you what, it's hard not to get
as optimistic as everybody else. Defense. There's a certain level
of violence that you can win even if you know
how them was talented players, but I mean, you know,
small people. After a while, it takes a toll on
(41:50):
offense the same effect, but in a schematic sense. I
think it is amazing how how much Ben Johnson has
already impacted this franchise. And let's go back. You know,
the Bears had a list of twenty people, and I
mocked him. I said, do you know you didn't get
and make a list of the twenty people when you
(42:12):
married your wife. You didn't have twenty girls and go
down the list, you identified who you want and you
go get them. And they didn't really do that. But
guess what. Ben Johnson actually did that to them. He
came to them and said, look, I'm your man, I'm
the guy that you need. And you know why because
for so many years a lot of decisions were made
(42:33):
by the Bears, the coaches that Joe Manner, and I'd say,
what the hell are you? I haven't said that once,
not once. Everything they're doing I, you know, heartily concur
and agree with. Now all that being said, there has
to be you know, you know you can apply you know,
(42:55):
the cure, the medicine, but they got to take it.
The offensive line has got to come to get the
quarterback has got to understand how important fundamentals were and
this kid, he was off the charts without fundamentals. Okay,
that was his calling card, you know, the you know,
(43:15):
the extracurricular you know, making plays extend after the play
breaks down, all that. But how much better can he
and the offense be with him being fundamentally sound and
with motion and with you know, all the nuances of
a very sophisticated offense. And I'll just throw this out
(43:38):
there real quick. I remember my rookie year. It was
Bill Walsh's rookie year in San Francisco, and I remember
hearing people talk about Bill Walsh was kind of like
a maniac about all the little things, you know, about
the checkdowns and and the snap count and things that
(44:00):
normally people wouldn't really care or think about that much.
All those Guess what how it blossomed over the next
decade and they won for super Bowls. So I'm hoping,
I'm hoping the same thing is occurring with Ben Johnson.
Now the defense, you know, Dennis Allen, he's got the
pelts on the wall. I think what he had a
(44:20):
top nine defense, you know the last four years. So
you know it's gonna be good. It's gonna be better
than last year. Will it be the number one defense?
Maybe nine? Who cares? But the point being is our
offense has been so so so bad that you know
(44:40):
it's modern football. Is My buddy at a Redvance always says,
the rules tell you it's about offense and throwing the
ball and scoring points. And we haven't been you know,
kind of playing you know, playing the card game in
the proper way. Ben Johnson will get us not only
(45:01):
in a position to play the game a proper way,
but he has been so dominant. I got to tell you,
you know, if he was able to do that with
Jared Goff sit back, he's got a special talent. Let's
see what happens.
Speaker 2 (45:17):
Thanks, Dan, appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (45:19):
Talk about a few things. That interview is fun, no question.
The guy can turn a phrase like nobody else. I
love listening to him as passion still for the Chicago Bears.
Speaker 2 (45:29):
You feel it, certainly.
Speaker 1 (45:30):
He does it on radio for WGN Radio, and every
time he talks with us, there's something about the team
that gives him a thought, a passionate view because he
wants this team to win just like everybody else.
Speaker 5 (45:43):
Well, it tells you a lot about him and his
Hall of Fame career. He came here in seventy nine,
and he saw some of the more difficult times of
the Bears, but then he saw that accelerator where the
elevator started going up to the Super Bowl team that
it became after getting beaten the nineteen eighty four NFC
Chanmampionship Game. And I knew a lot about Dan Hampton
(46:04):
before I ever got here, because I was a fan
of the Bears, and I had some teammates in the
USFL that forewarned me about animal, about the football player,
about that type of guy. And when I came to
the Bears, I was kind of I was in awe
of hamp and Steve McMichael, and I was an offensive lineman,
(46:25):
and I shouldn't be in awe of them, but I was.
Speaker 3 (46:28):
I admired him.
Speaker 5 (46:29):
I admired their dedication to being a professional football player,
their dedication to be in a Bear, and the dedication
to wanting to work to be great. And that's what
I really admire about that group of guys.
Speaker 1 (46:42):
We brought to you by PNC Official Bank of the Bears.
This I didn't know, and we didn't have time to
get into it with him. But did you know about
his childhood falling.
Speaker 2 (46:50):
Out of a tree.
Speaker 1 (46:52):
Yes, So the doctors advised him to give up sports,
so he started playing instruments.
Speaker 2 (46:58):
Get a load of this.
Speaker 1 (47:00):
He immersed himself. He played six different instruments yep, bass, guitar, our,
bass guitar, classical guitar, drums, saxophone, piano, organ, and played
the bass for a rock band, saxophone in the marching band. Obviously,
he played music afterwards with some of his old teammates
(47:22):
as well, including McMichael. But I had no recollection that
he knew he was that musically gifted.
Speaker 5 (47:30):
Do you know, Jeff, that he was in the high
school band and at halftime of his high school football games,
he didn't go into the locker room. He played saxophone
in the marching.
Speaker 3 (47:39):
Band and.
Speaker 5 (47:42):
Then went back and played the second half. And that's
some of the star qualities that I admire about him,
because he, you know, I mean, he took pride in that,
and I think it probably gave the rest of the
band members pride in the fact that here's a guy
that turned into a defensive college defensive Player of the
(48:03):
Year is also playing saxophone at halftime. I really admire
that about him, and I wish I could.
Speaker 3 (48:09):
Have done that.
Speaker 1 (48:10):
When you talk about his era of players and he
was named to the nineteen eighties All Decade Team, there
are only four defensive linemen on that team. Reggie White,
Randy White, Howie Long, and Dan Hampton. Each of those
guys you had a block in your career. Ye, this
(48:33):
is a question. You're going to have to give it
some thought. How would you rank him in difficulty of
dealing with as a blocker?
Speaker 3 (48:41):
All four?
Speaker 1 (48:41):
Because you have practice every day against hamp You played
Reggie White, you played Randy White, you played Howie Long,
Each of.
Speaker 2 (48:49):
Them a little bit different in their style.
Speaker 5 (48:51):
Each of them. You know, it's Reggie White number one.
He's the most powerful, gifted, strong, play anywhere defensive lineman
probably in the history of the NFL. Ben hamp because
he gave you an quality where he was an All
Pro on the outside, all Pro on the inside. But
it was his stance. He used his length as an asset,
(49:12):
So if you were a short armed offensive lineman, you
were never going to be able to get your hands
to Hampton because of his stance. In the length of
his arm, he would always create separation by the time
you were getting out of your stance and then without
you know, there's a lot of similarities between Randy White
and Howie Long. They both were extremely dedicated, they were
(49:34):
great players. There's a lot of similarities in their style
and their stance and their ability and their commitment. So Niddy,
Reggie Hamp and then Randy and Howie would be kind
of on the same tier.
Speaker 2 (49:47):
Kind of. It's kind of interesting. And I didn't prep
you for that, So that's no, you didn't need to flashbacks, right,
you get, I mean flash.
Speaker 5 (49:54):
Played against I played against Reggie and college in the
USFL and the NFL. I saw and felt what type
of guy he was, and so it's it's no. I
don't feel like I'm slighting the rest of those guys either,
because they would probably be in agreement with me. H.
Speaker 1 (50:10):
When Hamp had all his he had a lot of
certain knee surgeries. I mean he mentioned sixteen, probably some
broken bones in there as well. But when he didn't
play his twenty seven games he didn't play in his career,
the Bears were ten and seventeen in those games when
he played one hundred and fifty seven one three and fifty.
Speaker 5 (50:28):
Four Hey, we started season four and oh one year
hamp got hurt and I don't and we won one
game the rest of the year. So his impact not
only in the practice locker room, on the game day
locker room, and also on the game day field, you
know it was significant.
Speaker 1 (50:47):
Hey, Bears fan Steinhoffels is a proud partner of the
Chicago Bears and now open in Orland Park. Steinhoffels is
Chicago dance furniture and mattress leader with the largest selection
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All right, that's gonna wrap us up for our podcast.
Now we're in two todays, Tom, it's two per week.
(51:08):
We're in two a days, and we're only too happy
to do it. Lots to bring to you every week,
and I know Tom's excited about it, excited about what's ahead,
and so sticking with us every week for the rest
of the season through February, we hope as well. Thanks
you to our guest Hall of Famer Dan Hampton for
Tom there, I'm Jeff Joniac.
Speaker 2 (51:27):
Thanks for listening.
Speaker 3 (51:27):
Everybody.
Speaker 1 (51:28):
Please subscribe now to the Chicago Bears official app, Apple, Spotify, YouTube,
or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 2 (51:33):
Bear down, everybody,
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