What Ryan Poles wants to see during training camp | Bears, etc. Podcast

General manager Ryan Poles joins Jeff Joniak and Tom Thayer on Bears, etc. to discuss his training camp expectations and what will factor into players making the final roster.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Gout open that DJ Moore end zone touchdown, touchdown Bears.
I am Jeff Jonaha Blitz is not don.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
Go what was like playing for Coach Good?

Speaker 1 (00:14):
I don't want to answer any questions like that pressure
coming is a big trouble. Dottie goes Mottest 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):
We are often running on the eve of the most
anticipated training camp in many years. I think we can
all say that the Bears are back and ready to
turn the page out of the past and focus on
the present and future. We discussed today on episode one
of the Bears et Cetera podcast, and we're brought to
you by Middle Light with Super Bowl winning Bears guard
Tom Theayre. I'm Jeff Jonaghak. In this week's podcast, we

(00:52):
visit with Bears GM Ryan Poles, and we hear from
Bear's head coach Ben Johnson from the opening news conference
to kick off training camp and quarterback Caleb Williams. First
practice of the Ben Johnson Training Camp ERA opens Wednesday,
and Tom it'll be greeted by excessive heat warning they're
practicing early in the morning, and thank goodness for that.

Speaker 4 (01:12):
Yeah, and luckily enough, the first couple of days are
not in PAD, so I won't be to that extreme.
But let me ask you a question, what are you
most excited about? Give me one thing.

Speaker 1 (01:21):
Just seeing it on a list. I don't want to do.
Just seeing it all come together. How Ben orchestrates this
thing and this coaching staff. Just he talked about that
daily progress. I know that's a cliche in football and
in sport period, but just daily progress, see how this
team comes together. And I'll tell you this is a
big one for me, is the leaders emerging. Because we

(01:43):
talked about what leadership look like. I got to see
some alfas and who they are. We can kind of
we kind of can predict that's got to come naturally,
and it's going to take some time. Ben even said
that today.

Speaker 4 (01:54):
You know, for me is listening to the initial kickoff
interview of Caleb Williams last year. I was really impressed
by his poise and the different things that he said
at the podium and then to kick off this season
and what he's gone through in the offseason, what he
anticipates the beginning of the season to be like, I'm
excited to see the quarterback position for the Chicago Bears

(02:17):
go to that that starting season. He talks about the
seventeen game experience to go to a whole other level quickly,
and so I'm not looking at this to be a
slow process. I'm looking for Caleb Williams to be the
Caleb Williams that we all imagined he could be when
they took him number one in the draft a couple
of years ago.

Speaker 1 (02:38):
All Right, let's see an update on what the news
of the day is. Jalen Johnson is on that NFI
list Non Football injury list, so he will not start practices,
and Ryan Poles indicated in his news conference with the
Chicago media it's a leg injury. Won't get in specifics,
but it could be a few weeks. How does that
work in terms of his adaptation to a very prominent

(03:00):
role in Dennis Allen's defense.

Speaker 4 (03:03):
Well, I think it's the next man up mentality, you know,
even Ben Johnson said, everybody's here with a clean slate.
And whether it's a rookie they brought in that has
pretty unique dimensions for the corner corner back position or
a guy like Terrell Smith that may get an opportunity
to play aside at the cornerback position. Maybe he's a
little bit more comfortable with than the left side behind

(03:26):
Tari Stevenson. So you know, especially this early in the season,
it's about that next man up attitude and that mentality
that every one of these players have to have. So
when Jalen's ready, he'll get back in there. But until
he's ready, there's gonna be eleven guys on defense. They're
not going to play with ten.

Speaker 1 (03:45):
Trey Flowers, a veteran added to the mix today ninety
five career games. A former fifth ront pick of the
Seahawks in twenty eighteen, he's been in many places, last
with the Indianapolis Colts last season. Overall good tackling player
with twenty two pass defenses four interceptions in his career.
They also edit a pass rusher Tommy somebody familiar to

(04:06):
both Ryan Poles and Dennis Allen, and that's ton of
passing out. He is a veteran resume, indeed eight seasons
with Kansas City starting in twenty seventeen, of the Saints
from twenty one to twenty four. Former second round pick
sixteen and a half career sacks. He's been on a
world championship team in twenty nineteen with the Chiefs. That's
just a little more edge to the mix. And somebody

(04:28):
that Dennis Allen knows. So those are two editions Alex
Cook and Jeremy Robinson where we're let go tough duty
on the first day open you get ready for camp.
In boy, it puts it in perspective. It doesn't know
how hard it is to make a roster.

Speaker 4 (04:42):
I mean, you know the thing about it is, that's
why it's really hard developing friendships and relationships during the offseason,
especially when we used to live in the facility and
all work out together. We didn't go in sixty different
directions and kind of work out on our own. So yeah,
you develop a little bit of an acknowledgment of the
competition in the weight room. But it's tough getting those

(05:05):
friendships together because you know, you could have a friendship
that you developed over the course of three or four
months and all of a sudden, the night before camp,
they're on their way out and somebody else is on
their way in. So that's one of the unique things
about developing friendships and relationships and Pro Sports.

Speaker 1 (05:22):
Juda Walker and Ian Wheeler off NFI list, so they're
ready to go. It sounds like Colston Lovelin is ready
to go, Braxton Jones is ready to go. I'm interted
to see where Luther Burden Jr. Or Luther Burden the
Third is at because he missed some time with a
soft tissue of some sort in the offseason program. So

(05:44):
there are a bunch of guys that have got to
stay healthy for the entirety of camp. I'll be looking
at guys like Kyler Gordon, Jakwon Brisker. I'm montest sweat that,
you know, get a full camp under him and create
that bond on both sides of the ball and get
everybody pulling on the same rope as soon as possible.

(06:04):
And as that goes down, we're watching a really challenging
battle with left tackle between three and that's rare also
having three guys battling for that rep every day at
training camp.

Speaker 4 (06:17):
Which sure is when there's no determined number one. You
got the recovery from an injury, you have a guy
that had played in the IVY League and has the
template that looks to be and could be really successful.
And then you have another guy who's just a mountain
of a man, and if he can convert his right
tackle feet into playing left tackle, then you know they

(06:39):
could really pay huge dividends for the Bears. But when
you talk about Colston Lovelin, Braxton Jones, and Luther Burden,
you think of the roles that these three guys could
play on this football team and how much that they
could contribute. And they don't have a lot of access
to the offense to you know, going out there and

(07:01):
figuring out the timing of their routes as a receiver
or they're blocking as a tight end, or their movement
after injury. So those three guys alone, when Ryan talked
about them up at the podium, it really kind of
it creates a little bit of angst for them because
they could play such a big role this year on

(07:22):
this team.

Speaker 1 (07:23):
Calling all small Businesses. Your business can be featured at
a Bears home game. Apply for the Small Business All
Pros program at Chicago Bears dot com. Brought to you
by PNC. So our special guest for this particular episode.
Now we're going twice a week time, so we'll get
a lot of football, a lot of x's and o's
a lot of eyes on practice pads or no pads.

(07:43):
That's going to be your big job, Tommy, to tell
us what's going on and trust what we see out there, right,
it's going to be and we're gonna be watching the
coaches and how they coach and what they're saying and huh.
It's also listening as well as watching. But Ryan Poles
to kick off and he was kind enough to join
us for ten minutes here up at Hallis Hall to

(08:04):
kind of set the tone for this twenty twenty and
five seasons. So let's listen into our conversation with the
Bears general manager. All Right, Ryan, good to see you.
Thank you so much for being here, and an honor
to have time here with us to break it down
on the podcast here. First of all, Ben at the podium,
I go, tom he said a lot of things that

(08:25):
you believe in, and he goes, sure, did? I mean,
how excited is it just to have him up there
and ready to go?

Speaker 5 (08:31):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (08:31):
I mean it's funny when you go through a hiring process,
you have all of these different criterias and things, characteristics,
skill sets that you're looking for, and when you actually
get started with that person and you see those things
just flashing at you. It gives you a lot of
comfort in knowing that you have the right person in
charge and he's getting this team right. And I love

(08:53):
the mentality that he has.

Speaker 1 (08:55):
Yeah, you've said many times, building this thing the right way?
Is that hard way? You said it over and over
and over again. Do you feel right now the franchise
is closer to the life at the end of the
tunnel than at any time in your four years?

Speaker 5 (09:08):
I do. I do.

Speaker 6 (09:10):
We've brought in the right type of people that have
the right skill set to get this team over the hump.
And it's not just the players. The staff has been
incredible too. Than that, partnership between the players and the
coaches has been amazing in a very short amount of time.
There's belief, there's trust, and I'm excited to see that
throughout training camp.

Speaker 4 (09:30):
You know, the reconstruction of the interior of the offensive line,
was it a formula that you and Ben kind of
put together, or through your experience as an ex offensive lineman,
is that went went into it as well?

Speaker 6 (09:43):
Yeah, I think it's a it's a combination not just
experience playing the position, but also experiencing different combinations of
guys in acquiring different guys. From my time in Kansas City,
from his time in Detroit and in Miami, we know
what good line lines look like and how they operate,

(10:03):
and I think it's very it's a very specific thing
about that position. It takes a certain character to plug
into that line to make it all gel together. And
that was key is getting the right type of talent
on that offensive line. So when you have you know,
Jonah and and and Tony and Dolman avaliable, I think

(10:23):
that's the big thing is they have to be a
valuable for you. You know what it looks like, but the
avaliability is the key, and then can you execute to
get them in the building. And these guys was a
right combination to be available for us this year. Ben
and I saw it very similar in terms of the
characteristics of each position and what they need to bring
on top of the leadership and experience that they bring

(10:44):
as well.

Speaker 5 (10:45):
So it worked out really nicely.

Speaker 6 (10:47):
And it's good to work side by side with someone
that shares a vision. And we also challenge each other
for you know, things that you don't see exactly aligned
and you work through that and and It's been really
amazing partnership so far.

Speaker 4 (11:03):
You know, hard to put on paper, but do you
have an idea of how you're going to intermix the
reps at left tackle?

Speaker 6 (11:08):
Not this moment, I know, you know, Ben and Dan
Roshar kind of have a plan for that, and I
trust that plan. They're going to give those guys an
opportunity to showcase their ability and see who not only
stands out in terms of the skill set and and
execution of it, but also who works well with you know,
Joe and the guys and that you know inside of

(11:29):
the left to guard who works well together there too.
So we'll do that, and then the one thing we've
talked about is just also while working through that, really
emphasizing versatility. You know, we've we've been through it way
more than we should here in terms of shuffling our
line around, but we know historically across the league you're
gonna have to do a little bit of that, right,

(11:49):
So the versatility is going to be key. So while
we're going through that competition, we're also gonna be very
aware of the versatility and having guys play different positions
so that we always stay strong up front.

Speaker 1 (11:59):
Overall, Psyche. The building I think is not something that small.
You know, football operations on one side, but it's a
big building and there's a lot going on and everybody's
pulling on the same rope. But what Ben Arrival has
done for the Psyche and the changes you have made
in personnel, do you feel it?

Speaker 5 (12:17):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (12:17):
Yeah, you feel in the building the excitement, the intensity
I believe has gone up. Ben and his crew just
bring a different level of energy. I love Da Dennis
Allen just he's got a swagger confidence to him, aggressiveness
that I like, and I think that amplifies the whole building.

(12:41):
So what Ben won't tell you. Ben lifts in the morning,
like really hard. He throws around like real weight, like
full cleans everything. So you hear him in the weight
room in the morning too, so he gets after it.
So it starts the day out that way. I'll peek
out there and see what kind of way he's throwing around.

Speaker 1 (12:55):
It's you feel you need to step up your game
in there.

Speaker 5 (12:58):
I do. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (13:00):
Congratulations on your new contract. What's it mean to you
to have that stability for not only yourself but the
bigger picture the building and the players, locker room, everything.

Speaker 5 (13:13):
Yeah, I've talked about it before.

Speaker 6 (13:15):
It's just the alignment stability at the top of our
leadership feels really good.

Speaker 1 (13:20):
Right now.

Speaker 6 (13:21):
You have some strong leadership, You have great vision in
terms of where we are going as an organization. You
want guys that really want to move this organization in
a place that's never been before. And we're not only
doing that by talking, but there's strategy and there's also

(13:41):
the relationship piece to make sure that we're all working together.
So I feel really good about this, and it always
feels good to have, you know, the support and the
belief in your vision throughout the entire building.

Speaker 4 (13:55):
You know, when you talk about Dennis Allen, you bring
in Grady, You bringing Dio your draft the defensive lineman.
Did you kind of have a feel what he was
looking for from the from a defensive lineman. I've always
been a fan of Grady and I like to see
what these other guys will contribute.

Speaker 6 (14:07):
Yeah, it's it's an attacking defense. Anytime you put on
the you know Saints tape, you saw that there was
a style in which those guys played, and and that's
what we wanted to get. Those guys that could bring
that type of get off explosiveness, disruption on the front
of the line to.

Speaker 5 (14:25):
Really get knocked back.

Speaker 6 (14:26):
We talk about really impeding that that two feet behind
the center position and becoming disruptive not only the past game,
but also bubbling the run game. And then overall speed.
That's the that's the thing that we were also looking into,
is just overall team speed front to back, trying to
continue to improve that part.

Speaker 4 (14:46):
You know, I've always been intrigued by the versatility ability
of Dexter Senior. And have you ever thought about maybe
feeding him out an outside rep at a one on
one or maybe an outside rep on first and ten
and just your your thoughts, not as Ryan Poles the
gm H, but as a football observer.

Speaker 6 (15:05):
Yeah, that's you know, not to go backwards, but just
coming from Casey, I seen a guy like Chris Jones,
you know, do the same thing, kind of line up
all over the place and make it really hard for
for an offense. But as you know, listen, I trust
Dennis and how they're going to use the guys. They're
gonna do everything they can to be productive and disruptive

(15:27):
and and Dexter is a guy that I know they're
excited to work with.

Speaker 1 (15:30):
I'm kind of circling him as one of the guys
ready to take that giant step, not a little step,
giant step. He looks massive too. He looks like he's
really added a bunch. All right, let's talk Caleb expectations
outlined by Ben Johnson. Some lofty goals, uh, you know,
and and kind of just taking him to a new
place and what does that look like for you within

(15:51):
a year experience under his belt of course, and being
asked to do more under center and all that.

Speaker 6 (15:55):
Yeah, that's a beautiful thing for me. And again that
trust level that I haven't been I let go of that.
I let I let Ben and Caleb really lean into
their relationship, set their goals. One thing I know is
Ben is extremely thoughtful and everything that he does, so
it's not just lofty goals, but the how to get
to that is going to be a part of it

(16:15):
as well. And part of that is the accountability that's pushing.
But that's given him the tools to understand what he
did wrong in the moment and then how is he
going to prove day in and day out. I love
seeing their relationship. The care factor there is is amazing.
Caleb wants to be great. Ben wants Caleb to be great,

(16:38):
and we should see growth. You know, historically you see
a pretty good jump for second year quarterbacks and I
expect to see that out of Caleb.

Speaker 1 (16:46):
Left tackle. Yes, all eye is on it. But are
there anyonere missing in terms of big battles that maybe
are under the radar.

Speaker 6 (16:55):
Not off the top of my head, I think, you know,
the left tackle positions probably the big one. Like you mentioned,
excited to see those guys compete.

Speaker 5 (17:04):
They're all going to get better from that. Competition.

Speaker 6 (17:08):
At the back end of the roster is always excited
to see their in training camp. Guys are fighting to
you know, even be backups and to have you know,
rotational roles. It'll be good to see some of these
young guys press the older guys. Special teams is the
other space, you know. I'm excited to see someone step up,
you know, opposite of Black as a gunner, punt returner.

(17:29):
So there's a there's a lot of different spots. I'm
excited to see guys pop up and help us.

Speaker 4 (17:34):
Just going back to the draft, real quickly, Ben was
in place, Dennis was in place, then all of a sudden,
you spend months investigating the talent.

Speaker 5 (17:41):
In the draft.

Speaker 4 (17:42):
Did they help you in the draft because you knew
what these guys were looking for, you knew a little
bit about their coaching styles.

Speaker 5 (17:48):
Yeah, we're really intentional.

Speaker 6 (17:49):
We sat down with with Ben Dennis, the coaches, and
we want position by position of what we're looking for.
What's the prototype there. But also, and you could hear
it in Ben's press conference, there's also this adaptability that
it has in terms of not living in this cookie
cutter world. Whatever we're good at, that's that's what we're
gonna do. So let's get talent first. If it's ideal

(18:12):
and it's talent and exactly what we want in terms
of prototype, beautiful, But if it's talent and it might
be slightly outside of the exact scheme and the things
we want to do, we'll be really good at that
and we'll adapt to what we have. So that adaptability
has been incredible. But yeah, being intentional with understanding the
prototypes what we want to do, we always want to
fit the players into that space when we can, and

(18:35):
then when it gets outside of that, we'll have a conversation,
can we use this player to help us to win
and can that player, you know, succeed in what we're
trying to do. So that relationship, that communication has been
really really good.

Speaker 1 (18:47):
Thank you so much.

Speaker 5 (18:48):
Let's have some fun, Thank you, Let's go.

Speaker 1 (18:51):
Anything else stick out from the interview that it gets
you even more excited about what's in place and where
this is all headed.

Speaker 4 (18:57):
Exactly what's in place, Jeff, that they've had Ben Johnson
and Dennis Allen in place for such a long period
of time. It kind of put Ryan into a comfort zone,
into the point when he was out investigating free agents,
or he was investigating specific positions, or he was looking
at the draft, he kind of had an indication exactly
what he was looking for. And I think if you

(19:19):
you always talk about tearing this house down to the
studs and then rebuilding it, well, if you go to
the store and you know exactly what you're looking for,
it's a lot it's helpful in rebuilding that house. So
what Ryan's done in the last couple of years and
what he's done in the last couple months, I'm super
excited for Ryan and I want to see him succeed

(19:42):
as much as anybody in the building.

Speaker 1 (19:44):
It's like you going shop and you know exactly what
kind of wardrobe you want. Every year. Tom gets a
new wardrobe every year. I'm not a checkdown. He's got here,
He's got the three piece suits. Now this is a
new thing I hear. And he's going bow tie this
year on the team bus. That's what I'm here. I'm
a guy about wearing stretches and try not to sweat.
You probably haven't even unpacked your suitcase or the bag

(20:04):
you'll take on road trips from last year. It'll be
the same, same you better you will updated a little bit,
will you? Can you help us out updated with the
new gear. Come on, Tom, let's go blue blue pants.
We got alumni shirt and ready to go. We got
a new page turned in Chicago Bear's history. We gotta
we gotta look good, feel good, because they say, Tom,
if you look good, you play good. I always I

(20:25):
always play good. All right, other things to get into now,
let's uh, let's listen to Ben Johnson, because uh, Tom
and I were here at Hallis and Ben was wrapping
up at the podium. I look at Tom. He was
sitting on a couch here in the Bears television studio
the PNC Center, and uh, I looked at him and
he had this smirk on his face because I said, man,

(20:48):
he said a lot of things you believe in with football. Uh,
let's listen to the entire news conference and we'll tell
Tom to tell us why they're on the same page.
This is Ben Johnson, the Bears first year head coach.

Speaker 7 (21:00):
You know, competition I think exists at all levels of
our roster. That's going to bring out the best and
all of our guys. Hard to say, of course, there's
certain battles that we've already highlighted that that might take
precedence over the course of camp, but I think everything's
open and really excited to see where that leads. In
terms of objectives here, we're looking to not only master

(21:24):
our fundamentals over the over the next couple of weeks,
but also execute the playbook and really bring it to life.
We'll work heavily on situational football as well. But there's
really been one thing just that's been on my mind
over the course this summer, and I give Ryan some
credit for this.

Speaker 8 (21:41):
He brought it up in the springtime.

Speaker 7 (21:44):
Has anyone seen that Netflix documentary Thunderbirds?

Speaker 8 (21:49):
No one?

Speaker 5 (21:49):
Okay?

Speaker 8 (21:50):
Good spoiler alert okay, spoiler alert, all right.

Speaker 7 (21:54):
So it's the Thunderbird pilots, and what they do is
they come together and four new pilots and they've never
worked together, and through the course of their training, it's
all about earning trust because it's a dangerous job and
they're doing some very dangerous acrobatics throughout the air and
at one point they say, I can't take my ie,

(22:15):
don't look straight ahead.

Speaker 8 (22:16):
I got to look at the lead pilot.

Speaker 7 (22:18):
The whole time and for thirty or forty minutes NonStop,
and we're just a few feet away and shoot. Over
the course of years, there have been some tragedies that
have happened with how dangerous that is. But as I
think about our team and where we're going into training camp,
it's really there are a lot of parallels there because
as a first time head coach, first year head coach,

(22:39):
a lot of new staff members on the coaching staff,
a lot of new faces in the locker room, we
don't know each other particularly well, and we've tried to
bridge that gap over the course of the spring, but
really the next six weeks is about us come together
because it takes time to build that trust. It's hard
to earn and it's really easy to lose that trust.

(23:02):
And so really those next six weeks are huge, and
what we're looking for, it's dependability, it's consistency, it's production
on a day in and day out basis, not only
from the players, but from the coaching staff as well
as we get to know each other. So that's really
a big part of where we're at and what we're

(23:22):
looking to do right now. There's a lot of excitement
around the program, and I think rightfully so there's a
lot of talent on the roster looking forward to see
what leaders come out of the locker room and really
lead the charge here for us going into the fall.
The focus for us is going to be on continuous improvement,
all right. Really for the next six weeks, that's all
we care about is getting a little bit better every

(23:43):
single day, day by day, brick by brick, and that
starts today, So I'll go ahead and open it up from.

Speaker 8 (23:49):
There over these next six weeks.

Speaker 9 (23:50):
What are the signs you're looking for to identify legitimate progress?
A lot of times there can be things that pop
up that don't necessarily translate, But what do you want
to see that tells you you're.

Speaker 7 (24:00):
Yeah, I don't think it's it's not linear. Okay, So
it's there's gonna be bumps, there's gonna be ups, there's
gonna be downs. It's easy to have a bad day
or two and go ahead and get all panicky. That's
not gonna be us. It's gonna be a little bit
more of of that. But uh, there's certain bench marks

(24:21):
along the way. The first couple of weeks, it's gonna
be a big installation. So the guys are gonna be thinking,
mistakes are gonna be made. I think a lot of
come out of these joint practices that we have against
Miami and Buffalo will be a good robber or see
where we're at as a team, and then Kansas City,
you know, the preseason games, all these all these teams
will be really good for us to kind of gauge where.

Speaker 8 (24:41):
We're at as well. But it'll be I.

Speaker 7 (24:44):
Don't know if there's a certain timeline on it. It's
be a feel as we go through camp.

Speaker 10 (24:49):
Some benchmark goals for Caleb throughout not only camp but preseason.

Speaker 7 (24:55):
Yeah, we have not put you have to complete sixty
this day, sixty five today. We haven't done that. We
certainly have goals that we strive for. You know, I
won't even it's not a secret. I told him I
would love for him on the season to complete seventy
percent of his balls. So you would like to think

(25:15):
over the course of practice that we're completing seventy percent
or more.

Speaker 8 (25:19):
That's hard to just magically arise in a game.

Speaker 7 (25:22):
So that's it's a lofty goal, but it's one that
we're going to strive for, and so because of that,
we're we're going to use that as our benchmark and
kind of work from there.

Speaker 11 (25:31):
And as you step into a new role in head coach,
what stuff that.

Speaker 7 (25:34):
You emphasize in your own development of this offseason. Yeah,
I think the one thing that I've been thinking about
a lot is.

Speaker 8 (25:45):
Leaning on the people around me.

Speaker 7 (25:46):
Okay, so I've got a very experienced coaching staff by
design from Dennis Allen or Richard Smith or Richard high Time,
We've got a number of guys that have done this
at a high level for a long time, and so
I'm going to be going to them for advice quite
a bit when certain things arise along those same lines.

(26:08):
Game management is another area where first time doing it
really calling the shots. I've been well versed in it
over the years, but it's be the first time actually
pulling the trigger. So we have people in the building
that that are going to help out in that regard
as well. So it's gonna be leaning heavily on the
people around me and trusting them.

Speaker 12 (26:25):
How much of the.

Speaker 10 (26:25):
Team's identity can be developed or you can put things
in place to kind of bring that along, and how
much of it has to really happen organically.

Speaker 8 (26:35):
I think yeah, it's a mix of both. We know
what we want to be about.

Speaker 7 (26:39):
Offensively, we we talk about being explosive, being detailed. Defense,
we want to we do want to press on the outside,
we want to challenge, we want to stop the run
with Shelley. There's a number of things that we talk
about on offense and on defense and as a team,
we want to be physical, we want to be poised.

(27:01):
All right, there are things that we want it, but
it all comes together of the course of camp. And
so that's why this time is so important because those
guys are really the ones driving that ship.

Speaker 1 (27:11):
To know that.

Speaker 3 (27:11):
Ryan said that Braxton is going to start like he'll
be on a ramp up period to get up to speed.

Speaker 13 (27:16):
But when you look at the benchmarks you're going.

Speaker 3 (27:18):
To set to evaluate that left tackle position, does he
naturally have a leg up just because he's been the
starter for three years or do you view all three of.

Speaker 14 (27:25):
Them as.

Speaker 7 (27:28):
Yeah, I would like to think his experience will help him,
but we're coming in with blank slates right now, and
so they're just because the guy's played and another guy
hasn't in this league. We're going to let the competition
play out and we'll see where it goes.

Speaker 11 (27:41):
What do you expect out of Colston in his recovery
from this injury? And how long does it take for
a rookie who's never been at this level, who's never
played with Caleb before, to just kind of feel comfortable in.

Speaker 7 (27:52):
What you guys, Everyone's different, Everyone's completely different. I can
tell you from the moment he's gotten into the building,
I'm just blown away by how he approaches everything. I mean,
I don't think there's a guy I saw in the
building more this summer than him, you know, And it's
really a credit for who he wants to be as
he continues to get He's attacking the rehab hard.

Speaker 5 (28:15):
Uh.

Speaker 8 (28:15):
He wants to be a factor here.

Speaker 10 (28:16):
This fall challenging isn't to juggle a three man competition
above tackle like two seems pretty basic. You split the reps,
Braxton needs some time, but there's three more challenging.

Speaker 5 (28:30):
If you're if you're.

Speaker 7 (28:31):
Yeah, that's that's why everything's gonna matter. Every play matters.
It all is going to matter as we go through
this thing. And so I can't tell you I've I've
been through a three man race before. And so each
each play is gonna be evaluated and they got.

Speaker 8 (28:46):
To take full advantage of each opportunity that they get.

Speaker 15 (28:49):
We should expect to see darn All right in this
make said left tackle like at some point.

Speaker 7 (28:53):
Well, our plan is to keep Darnell at the right
side right now, Okay, all right.

Speaker 12 (28:56):
So he's not part of the competition.

Speaker 7 (28:58):
Then for for for the left side, I'd say Kuran
is still part of that.

Speaker 14 (29:03):
Then how to know how much or how you can
gauge how much a quarterbacks cup you can fill? And
like how much have you filled Caleb's cup? I've talked
to play callers in the league, like Koc talks about with.

Speaker 3 (29:18):
Sam last year, filling his cup each week at a
different level.

Speaker 14 (29:21):
Yeah, for you, where does that go.

Speaker 7 (29:25):
It goes back to getting to know each other. You know,
in the springtime, we saturated everybody, quarterback, everybody on offense,
got a lot of information. We're just trying to introduce
a lot of elements of the system. When you look
back at it, there's probably some things that you wouldn't
run against DA's defense that we just wanted to get

(29:46):
introduced going into camp. It's going to be a lot
here early on these first two weeks, we're still going
to do a lot. And it's not so much to
attack the defense or anything like that. It's we got
to find out who we are. And I'm going beyond
just the quarterback here. It's I don't know if we're
going to be a wide zone team up front. I

(30:07):
don't know if we're gonna be a gap team yet.
It's there's a lot of things that got to play out,
and we won't know until we get the pads on.
But yeah, it's something you're certainly conscious of, is what's
the right amount not only over the course of can't
but more importantly once we get into the season, and
and that's something as a staff that we're gonna have
to hone into.

Speaker 16 (30:26):
I point there an ideal point where you'd like to
have that left tackle will settle down. And if Braxton's
rap up takes a little bit longer than that, does
he just come in kind of playing ketch up? Or
does he get a fair shot from an even.

Speaker 7 (30:40):
Yeah, everyone's gonna have a fair shot at this, and
I mean, yeah, yeah, We're gonna work him back in
and we'll see where he's at. And as part of
the evaluation, you know, is to see how ready he
is by week one. So by week one we'll know
exactly who our starting five are gonna be. And Uh,
if that takes three weeks to figure out, great, If
that takes six weeks to figure out, no problem.

Speaker 10 (31:01):
You may changes to play more guys in the in
the preseason games more aggressively than it's been done in
the past to try to figure.

Speaker 8 (31:07):
All this out. I don't know what's been done in
the past.

Speaker 1 (31:10):
Uh.

Speaker 7 (31:11):
Like I said, I'm gonna take a lot of weight
into these joint practices. That's our initial plan, and we'll
see how much we play guys over the course of
the preseason games.

Speaker 17 (31:21):
You try to build You're trying to build trust with
Caleb obviously, and he's coming off that has got detailed.
Do you have to massage that in a different way
or have more patience in that, or do you feel
like the foundation is there to start trusting each other quickly.

Speaker 8 (31:33):
Yeah, I think we're we're ready to go.

Speaker 7 (31:36):
The Governor's off here, We're He and I have been
talking all spring, all summer. Uh, you know, constant phone calls,
constant conversations, and so, uh, I think we're in a
great place. And he wants to get coached hard, and
and uh, we're gonna push him as hard as we
can and do what's right for the team.

Speaker 9 (31:52):
And there was a lot of problem when you arrived
about sort of resetting Caleb's foundation and solidifying that. What
for you are the specifics of a quarterbacks foundation, the
things that have to be in place before you progress.

Speaker 8 (32:06):
Now you're getting deep.

Speaker 7 (32:07):
It's one of the big points of emphasis we had
in the springtime, and it's going to carry over to camp.
Was our pre snap procedure, and so that's calling the plays,
it's the motions as the shifts. That's the cadence. We
can continue to carry that. We use that as a weapon,
and that's not going to change. That's that's certainly an
advantage for us on offense. Beyond that, though, there were

(32:29):
some footwork things that we wanted to clean up. Trusting
the time in your feet, being able to anticipate throws.

Speaker 8 (32:37):
It's a lot.

Speaker 7 (32:38):
Of stuff that goes into that position, and rather than
throwing the whole gauntlet at him, we're just building it
from the ground up. He took some homework with him
over the course of the summer, and he's come back.
Even though we haven't done anything full speed over the
last few days, we've noticed some improvements along the way.
So really excited to see where this thing goes over

(32:58):
the next few weeks.

Speaker 11 (32:59):
You talked about it situational coaching and about you know,
having to make decisions you haven't had to make before
once these games starts timeouts, those sorts of things. Uh,
how do you get good at that without having done
it before? I know, the Bears you can put you
through some scenarios. That's right, But is that tell me?
What was that like?

Speaker 7 (33:18):
It's how you get good at anything. I think it's repetition,
over and over and over again. You watch tape, you
put yourself in that mindset. If I was here now
in this situation, what would I do. That's why those
the situations we practice over the course of camp are
gonna be huge for not only me, but for also
the rest of the staff and the players to figure
out how my mind works so that they can play

(33:39):
off of that.

Speaker 8 (33:39):
Accordingly, I just hope we can.

Speaker 7 (33:43):
We can in six weeks get enough reps to feel
good going into week one.

Speaker 8 (33:47):
That's the challenge. This is a race now, like everything's
a race.

Speaker 7 (33:49):
We got to get our fundamentals down, we got to
get our execution down, like this is going to be
a challenge, certainly for the first year with new systems
on both sides of the ball. That's the fun part
of it too, though, you know, that's challenge that we want,
and uh, it's going to be some hard work in
that sense.

Speaker 11 (34:04):
Is the preseason game important for you and your staff,
whether your starters are there or not, just because you
may have some of those.

Speaker 8 (34:10):
Stitch Absolutely, Yeah, there's no question about it.

Speaker 1 (34:13):
So many things that I like. But you know, let's
let's talk about what he's expecting out of Caleb tom
and that he is going to push him hard because
that's what Caleb wants and that's just how he's gonna
he's gonna do this thing, and they got to build
that trust. But the pre snap procedure, the play cadence,
it's a weapon motion footwork, cleanup, trust your feet, the

(34:34):
blank slates for everyone to compete, especially at left tackle
with that three man race. What he's going to be
looking for right out of the gate. So many things
that we can get into, but what stuck out for you.

Speaker 4 (34:47):
Betty doesn't have an unrealistic completion percentage in his head
for Caleb, but something that he has to improve on
in this in the six weeks before the regular season
gets here. And I think Ben knows this often so
well that he can understand the development of such an
important position like the quarterback position. And then how is
Caleb going through his footwork, how is he seeing the

(35:08):
field out of shotgun or in play action. And it's
this the continuous role and the importance and the development
of the quarterback position and how it makes the rest
of your team that much better and that much more
threatening on offense. But then it's going to take the
offensive line and every other role position on this offense

(35:30):
to make sure that they're doing their job correctly so
Caleb can do his job correctly.

Speaker 1 (35:35):
And things that stick out for me personally, because I'm
big on the every snap matters thing. He said it
every snap matters at practice too, Every snap matters, reemphasizing
that he wants a physical, poised team. I know that
word violence is going to come up several times as well,
because that's the kind of defense Dennis Allen wants. That's

(35:56):
the three phases. They want to be violent, says, everybody's
in shape, ready to go. Wanted to hear that too,
and emphasizing that they don't know each other very well yet.
You know all that offseason work, you think that's enough. No,
it's it's not enough, just yet to get to know
each other in a way. And he said this trust

(36:17):
is hard to earn and easy to lose. Now, and
I'm sure you've experienced that in your professional life, right,
you know, one hundred percent.

Speaker 4 (36:29):
It's such an important phrase because you know, making sure
that you develop the trust does not just happen in
an instant and hampens over a period of time. Where
you show your work dedication, you show the way you
act in the locker room, you show how you re
rebound from a mistake, and you know, just the way

(36:50):
how you compliment and include all the other guys on
your football team, offense and defense when you're a leader,
but most certainly on offense. So there's a lot of
different ways that Caleb can prove and earn the trust
from Ben. But even in Caleb's press conference, he said, yeah,
sometimes we go up in his office and we talk
about things other than football. And that's the reality of

(37:13):
sports life. Every single conversation isn't about oh, you know,
these guys ran a four man front. These guys are
on a three man front. Sometimes it is sitting back
and hey, how's your kids doing, how's the family going,
how's the move into you know, your new house going.
All those types of little things that you know is
the human side of that trust than that development of

(37:35):
a relationship.

Speaker 1 (37:36):
This podcast is brought to you by middle Light, the
official beer partner of your Chicago Bears tastes Like middle
Time Chicago, go to Middlelight dot com slash Bears Pod
to find delivery options near you. Celebrate responsibly. Middle Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin,
ninety six calories and three point two carbs per twelve ounces,
and Bears fans. Steinhoffels is a proud partner of the

(37:56):
Chicago Bears and now opening Orland Park. Steinhoffels is Chicago
Dands front. You're a mattress leader with the largest selection
to fit every style and budget and as one hundred
percent employee owned shop in storing online at Steinhoeffels dot com. Uh,
Caleb Williams. Certainly, as you let off this whole thing,
that's going to be the individual and the person we're

(38:16):
going to be watching the most. It's always going to
be that quarterback. But his development critical, his progress critical,
His understanding of the offense, his knowledge how to speak it,
how to run it, how to see it, so so
extremely important, and it's going to take that full time
before Week one against Minnesota to get that all conquered
and ready to go. So let's listen it in to

(38:38):
Caleb's press conference at HALLISAU and where he's looking at things,
what he did in the time off here over the
last six weeks.

Speaker 2 (38:45):
I've had some up and downs and games myself and
team wise, and so you know, I think I think
all of you know, all of last year was was
great for us and great for me to be able
to manage, you know, these these next six weeks.

Speaker 12 (38:56):
About six weeks, you know, I think it's gonna be
fun too.

Speaker 2 (39:00):
That's the that's the fun part about it is having
these up and downs and figuring out a way to
manage those and and and deal with them and you know,
come back the next day or next play or you know,
next drive, next situation that we have and you know,
go out there and execute and uh, you know, be
that guy that and and and teammate that you know
they depend on and believe in.

Speaker 12 (39:16):
For those moments. What are you most pumped up about
this camp for?

Speaker 11 (39:19):
Really?

Speaker 12 (39:20):
Just to get out there with the guys. You know,
pads come on.

Speaker 2 (39:23):
It's been a while, you know, so pads come on
and and and you know, you get to get out
there and enjoy have fun. And then other than that,
I mean, it's gonna be the hotel, the hotel lobbies
and playing you know, playing cards and Uno and all
these different things that you know, in the moment when
you're in this for six weeks's long days, challenging days,

(39:43):
but when you look back on it, those are the
moments that you you know that that that really mean
the most to you, your teammates and uh, something that
you know at the end of.

Speaker 12 (39:51):
The season that you know, you kind of reminisce.

Speaker 9 (39:53):
On how do you feel about the infrastructure that took
place for you right now with the coaching staff and
the roster.

Speaker 12 (39:59):
Yeah, it's been great.

Speaker 2 (40:01):
You know, everybody's you know, everybody's excited, myself included about
you know, the infrastructure and you know how everything's been
set up. I know, the dB coaches and and things
like that are great. D Line all everybody you know
on the other side of the ball you don't get
to speak to and don't really talk too much. I
try my best to get to him. But you know,
I feel great about that side, and obviously, you know

(40:21):
my side of the ball, I feel feel awesome. We
got I mean, we went and got Colston and you know,
Cow and Ozzy and you know, I can keep going
Luther and all these different guys you know, in the draft,
and obviously we had a couple of free agents which
are which are big. We had a couple of you know,
big guys come up front. You know, a legendary guard
and and Joe and obviously we all know his you

(40:43):
know his stats and all you know what he's been
able to do for his career. And then other than that,
I mean, we got Drew and Jonah and you know,
we brought in a bunch of guys wide receivers and
you know, brought some guys back, brought some you know,
brought some new guys. So, uh, infrastructure wise, coaches, I
think we're all excited, but excitement does nothing. You know,
you got to go out there and put in the
work to you know, actually enjoy you know what we have.

Speaker 12 (41:06):
That was very directed.

Speaker 8 (41:08):
That was very directed saying that this is a race
ready for for the lar season.

Speaker 9 (41:11):
What do you make of that characterization of the urgency
of these next six weeks of trying to get ready
for for prime time stage.

Speaker 5 (41:17):
If we want.

Speaker 2 (41:17):
Yeah, as we know, we're not looking too far ahead,
but as we know we have, uh we have the
Vikings first game Monday night, a PM. So obviously you
know you don't look too far ahead, but you do
understand that that time you're on a time limit, and
so the race is here, and so we have to
you know, we can't we can't pout about the long days.

Speaker 12 (41:35):
I mean, when you know, when those times do come.

Speaker 2 (41:37):
About, h we got to correct it and we got
to move on and we got to you know, find
a way to get past that, you know, the powering
or the anger or the you know, the complaining and
and understand where we're at and what we need, I mean,
where we need to be.

Speaker 12 (41:48):
Last, I'm finding occess for yourself this season.

Speaker 2 (41:52):
Obviously, I have self goals and that's you know, being
the first four thousand yard passer Inmbears's history.

Speaker 12 (41:58):
That's a you know, a goal of mine.

Speaker 2 (41:59):
Seventy and completion that helps the team keeps on the field,
put us in better positions. And then other than that,
just trying to go down and you know, score the
most post points that we can with these drafts that
we have. So you know, that's that's kind of my
self goal and obviously other you know, other than that,
you gotta go win. Uh, that's success for me, that's
success for the team.

Speaker 12 (42:18):
And you know that's all. That's all we wish for
and all I wish.

Speaker 13 (42:21):
For the last time we talked to you, expect to
the infrastructure on this team and just everything the team
is put around you on offense, how do you view
your role or your responsibility in making the best.

Speaker 5 (42:32):
Of that investment.

Speaker 2 (42:33):
Yeah, be consistent, That's that's first and foremost, be consistent,
be disciplined to my rules. And and then other than that,
lead encourage, And part of that is leading by example,
and the other half is, you know, when things are
you know, messing up or you know, like I said,
we're you know, people are complaining, I'm complaining, Like fixing that,
fixing that mindset, because that's a big part of our
success is our mindset. So being able to fix the

(42:57):
fix those things and then sorry it was we were
just out that being able to fix.

Speaker 12 (43:01):
Those things and progress.

Speaker 2 (43:04):
You know, that's that's that's key for for what we
have and what we got, like I said, the race
and and and being able to be ready for first
game and then grow from there.

Speaker 17 (43:12):
With a level of trust with Ben and just kind
of building that relationship.

Speaker 14 (43:16):
Where do you think you guys are at right now?

Speaker 12 (43:17):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (43:18):
Obviously, Uh, we've only been together a couple of months
and and you know we try and you know, over
over the summer, I would call him and you know,
check up on him, check up on his family, you know,
just just kind of talk because that's important to be
able to build this bonding relationship. And then other than that,
when we're here, I pop upstairs. Whenever I have some
free time or whenever he texted me pop up there
for you know, an hour or so, thirty minutes. And

(43:39):
you know, a lot of times we're not talking about
anything football related, which is you know, which is important
to building a relationship of us. And you know, it's
a really important relationship. And so it's been growing. It's
been awesome. You know, we're having fun. You know, he
gets on me, and you know, it's greatly appreciated that
he does, you know, being tough on me and realizing

(44:00):
and understanding that you know, nobody's above anybody, all of
us are one, and you know that's that's how we're
gonna march, you know, March this season.

Speaker 11 (44:08):
What do you talk about if it's not football stuff.

Speaker 2 (44:11):
Family, you know, if it's a you know, a car
we like, if it's you know, it's just you know,
things we like, hobbies, anything like that. And obviously we
do talk about football. Let's not you know, let's not
you know, make that a thing, but we do talk.
Uh but yeah, no, we talk about anything and and
anything and everything to be able to you know, realize

(44:33):
who we are, how we are, how we operate, what
we like you know, things.

Speaker 15 (44:36):
Like that on the field with because we've talked to
you guys so much about accountability and you guys wanting
accountability and you want a coach to be hard on you.
Is there been any part of it that's been jarring
to you though, in terms of on the field, like
because it's so different that maybe it's going to take
time to get used to that or is it all good?

Speaker 2 (44:54):
No, I've been used to two tough coaching throughout my years.
I've had different type of personalities throughout my years of coaching,
but the you know, I would say majority of my career.

Speaker 12 (45:03):
Of playing football has been tough coaching.

Speaker 2 (45:06):
And you know, it's greatly appreciated because that's what you
need to be able to, you know, at this level,
especially to be able to go out there and execute
and and and and play at your best, is you know,
somebody up on you, you know, coaching you hard and
pushing you. And that could be teammates and that could
be coaches. And you know, we're working on the you know,
leading by example, We're working on the teammates aspect.

Speaker 12 (45:25):
Of it, because that's you know, that's uh, that's how.

Speaker 5 (45:27):
You go win.

Speaker 2 (45:27):
That's elite teams is when it is when the players
are leading. But you know, in the beginning, coach has
sected set the example of how he wants things run
in the standard and then you know, from there we
take it and you know, we lead.

Speaker 10 (45:37):
Caleb. We know band made some tweaks to your game,
footwork things.

Speaker 12 (45:42):
How comfortable are you right now?

Speaker 10 (45:43):
Does it feel natural to you with some of the
tweaks that he's made as you're heading into campus, that's
still something you're working on.

Speaker 2 (45:49):
Yeah, I mean, it's a it's a constant thing regardless
if you know, we're here for the next fifteen years together.
I'm it'll be something that I work in in season,
out of season, anything like that.

Speaker 12 (45:58):
So I feel comfortable with it.

Speaker 2 (46:00):
We're gonna keep working at it to be a smooth
you know, and and and being rhythm of you know,
the plays, the concepts, play actions under center, making everything
you know, uh kind of line up and look the
same but be different. So you know, like I said,
I feel comfortable. I'm excited and then uh yeah, getting
things rolling.

Speaker 14 (46:17):
Then Ben talked about the offensive line, like the left
tackle position battle.

Speaker 3 (46:21):
We know obviously they flipped the interior and you said,
like all sacks are not on the offensive. Large us
on yourself to get that number to go down from
sixty eight to whatever. What responsibility do you have in
making that happen.

Speaker 12 (46:33):
Yeah, part of it is.

Speaker 2 (46:36):
You know, my full work and that lining up with
the play and you know that that helps accelerate the
clock for me.

Speaker 1 (46:41):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (46:41):
The other part is being decisive and you know, making
a decision. And then the other part is also taking
what the defense gives me, you know, not trying to
find that big play every time and be the young
cat and you know want to go and you know,
get that.

Speaker 12 (46:53):
Big play, you know, big scramble play or anything like that.

Speaker 2 (46:55):
Sometimes it's just the check down over the ball the flat,
you know, the second read that you know may not
be you know, something more than five yards.

Speaker 14 (47:04):
Be mentioned to us that he gave some homework this summer.
Can you share with us, you know some of what
that was or what it had.

Speaker 12 (47:11):
To do with and yeah, yeah, uh. Part of the
homework is some of it was full work. You know,
some of it was.

Speaker 2 (47:20):
Not necessarily homework, but just you know, helping guideline the
off season and you know, would you know, could get
through the playbook you know, you know, thirty minutes forty
minutes hour each day. You know, it's twenty four hours
a day. If you can't give up an hour thirty
minutes of your day to go over the playbook, you know,
you probably.

Speaker 12 (47:35):
Shouldn't be in this position. So it's just small things
like that.

Speaker 2 (47:39):
But you know, homework wise, it was mainly the foot
work and then some left kind of short throws that
you know in OTAs I was missing and so worked
on those every single day that I threw. And then
you know, worked and worked on my foot footwork every
single day that I you know, was out there also, Calum.

Speaker 14 (47:56):
Said, Ben said that he puts a lot of emphasis
on preaseing, apure motions, cans, all of those things. That's
the biggest weapon for you guys. What have you done
already in the off season and what do you continue
to work on. What are those conversations like with him
to be able to use that pretap procedure as a weapon.

Speaker 12 (48:10):
Yeah, the preest Nott procedures.

Speaker 2 (48:12):
I mean it goes from how fast I can get
the call to get it to them as as fluid
and you as smooth as possible, and then being able
to get up to the ball and get going. And
you know, if we have checks and alerts, it's not
always having to you know, maybe run through the whole cadence.
It's like, I we see it, I know what's about
to happen. You know, get to the next play. Let's
get it going, because that's one of our best friends
is being able to get up to the you know,

(48:32):
get up to the line, you know, make whatever we
need to make, and then get rolling and put the
defense on the hills.

Speaker 6 (48:37):
Did anything stand out that you did on your own
sofseason that maybe helps you get ready for today and
going forward.

Speaker 2 (48:43):
Yeah, I think I think being able to listen to
in the in the Ota times, I would listen to
the play calls and and and voice recording him and
things like that and listen to them.

Speaker 12 (48:55):
So that was a that was a big part of it.

Speaker 2 (48:57):
And then also just speaking it, you know, in the car,
going over my cadence in the car while I'm driving,
things like that.

Speaker 12 (49:03):
Small things like that, just you know, the small things.

Speaker 2 (49:05):
Getting really comfortable with the small things, you know, it
helps you know, everything be a little bit more fluid.

Speaker 1 (49:11):
You know. He mentioned that seventeen games last season and
It's been rare for a Bears quarterback to have back
to back seventeen game seasons or sixteen game seasons. It
really has been I know it's happened, but it doesn't
happen often. That's a great starting point because he knock
on Wood injury free a year ago, battled through what
was a really difficult season for everybody and managed to

(49:33):
start seventeen games. And I like to focus on the positive.
He protected the football and he's going to have to
continue to protect the football and help his team put
him in the best position to win. And some of
the things that he needs to adjust on he mentioned Tom,
I think you know what they are, and it's good
that he talked it into the atmosphere. Now talk it

(49:54):
into existence, right.

Speaker 4 (49:56):
You know one thing I love, Mollas is because you
brought it up as I was sitting down there Ben
Johnson's press conference, and Ben mentioned that he needs to
use the snapcount as a weapon, which I've said that,
you know, until I'm bluing the face, because that is
the offensive lineman's greatest weapon is the snapcount. But when
Caleb was at the podium, he was talking about practicing

(50:17):
his cadence while he's in his car. I love that
because the deception of the cadence by quality quarterbacks that
really know how to understand the rhythm of a cadence
that can be so destructive to a defense. Gosh, Jeff,
when you brought it up, I loved hearing it, And
then when it was reiterated by Caleb, it made me

(50:40):
even more excited because listen, I don't I just he
can't understate at what a weapon the snapcount is. And
Caleb in his car, I can just hear him going
through the cadences and then he's going to be on
the field at some point, going God, I remember doing
this in the front seat of my car as I'm
driving down two ninety four something, and it's awesome.

Speaker 1 (51:01):
It's just awesome. That's another one of those repetition things
you speak of all the time. Must be repped, you know,
a thousand times. He's going to say a thousand times
in the car. Repetition breed success.

Speaker 5 (51:12):
Right.

Speaker 4 (51:13):
You know one thing about Caleb is you know they
we've been talking a lot about over the last four
months about the importance that the play action can play
in the role of a quarterback and for an offensive line.
So we're getting ready to start the second half of
the Super Bowl, and it's the first or second play
of the Super Bowl, and so McMahon comes in the
huddle and he goes, all right, you guys, you got

(51:34):
to come off the ball here. You got to show
me a good play action fake and this is going
to be a great play. And so he calls a
play in the huddle, goes through the play action a
sixty yard bomb to Willie Galt. So this is something
that through the experience of Ben Johnson and Caleb that
this is going to be predictable to him, just like
it was predictable to McMahon in the second half of

(51:56):
the Super Bowl. It's going to be predictable Caleb, and
it's gonna be such a weapon and so usable that
I can't wait to see when Caleb starts re enacting
examples that I've seen in my football life.

Speaker 1 (52:10):
I also mentioned and you know this is important too,
making different things look the same and really put a
defense out of its heels. Think they're seeing one thing,
have them trust their eyes right into a mistake, and
you make them pay for the mistake. I'm open to
you know, the geniusness of this head coach and his staff,
how that comes out and how players acknowledge it. For example,

(52:36):
I can't wait till one day this season to ask
Caleb do you have you felt his geniusness, his knowledge
of offense, his ability to create mismatches, his constructive of
the offense, the concepts used because our friend up in Detroit,

(52:56):
Lomas Brown, said, Hey, he's a savant. He's an offense
of savant. And you know if a player can recognize
that and that can't get you more excited? I mean,
how could you not be so excited to play for
and can't wait for the next call to burn a
defense in that udel every week?

Speaker 4 (53:16):
Well, I mean it's something that we're learning every time
we see Ben go to the podium. Yeah, we didn't
know him very well when he was in Detroit, but
we're getting to know him a little bit better when
he's become the head coach of the Chicago Bears. And
he's never disappointed me at the podium. He's never said
anything unrealistic, and he answers every question with an understanding
and a knowledge that sometimes it takes years for a

(53:38):
guy to get that kind of football sense. About him,
and he has it, and now we're going to have
an opportunity starting tomorrow to see it being put on
display each and every day.

Speaker 1 (53:50):
Good news, Chicago United Airlines is getting brand new plans
with all the bells and whistles like Bluetooth connectivity screens
at every seat in the room for everyone's ruler bag.
United Proud to fly to Chicago Bears and you too,
and we're brought to you by PNC Official Bank of
the Bears. What are some early things you know I
mentioned and you know I actually this didn't come out

(54:10):
of Ben's moth as one of my notes. Are they stronger, faster,
and better at key positions? If you listen to what
Ben Jonson had to say about Colston Lovelin and his
commitment here coming into the building every you know he
said as much as anybody did during this six week
break period is important. How he is just dialed in

(54:34):
and ready to go. I know there are other players
in that same category, but that's just one example. But
are they stronger, faster, better at keep?

Speaker 12 (54:41):
What?

Speaker 1 (54:42):
What key position you see do you need to see
the bigger, stronger part. That's a great question.

Speaker 4 (54:48):
In terror or the defensive line. I need to see
them have that inate ability to get off the ball
quickly no matter what cadence they're facing. And then they
have to have a certain sense of destruction to the
opponent's offensive blocking scheme and the motion of the backfield
because they are getting off the ball so quickly, and
then on the obvious on the obvious second and long,

(55:12):
third and long that they are getting pressure on the
quarterback if it doesn't result in a sack, doesn't result
in disruptive pressure to the timing and the motion of
the play.

Speaker 1 (55:22):
I need to see that.

Speaker 4 (55:24):
I need to see the return of Jakwan Brisker and
take that position and add that physicalness to it on
an everyday basis along with Kevin Byard and you know
Kyler Gordon when he's involved in the defensive scheming with
the four or five and six defensive backs. And then
when you look at the offensive line, you know the

(55:46):
Bears I think average four point two yards per play
last year and it wasn't very high up on the
list of success. I need to see them average that
four yard a little over four yards per rushing attempt.
And add more, they are throwing the ball and it's
got to be because there's a physical style of play
up at the line of scrimmage, and like Ben Johnson

(56:07):
said today, he doesn't know if they're an outside z
own team, if they're an inside gap scheam, and that's
all going to be decided, But there's got to be
enough of an influence at practice where you get to
recognize what you are. And I need to see the
lines of scrimmage become more physical and faster, and I
need to see the return of Jakwan Brisker because I

(56:28):
believe that he has the ability to be one of
the best safeties in the NFL.

Speaker 1 (56:33):
You know, it's going to be really important those two
scrimmages against Miami and Buffalo. It sounds like this is
clearly going to be all thirty two teams are doing it,
and there's a big chunk now doing the one day
with two teams, and that's where your starters are really
going to get evaluated. They're going to where they're at,

(56:53):
a good guideline of where they're at, and maybe some
position battles one or lost during those two two days
of practice. Honestly, I know it's only two days of practice,
one each.

Speaker 4 (57:04):
Hey listen, if you're a fan and you're blessed with
tickets to those days of practice, be there and be
there early, get a good seat, because you're going to
see some really good competitive football from the AFC. And
I think it's going to be interesting to see the
results of those practices. They're going to be fun to watch,

(57:25):
you know, on tape after and then you're going to
have the game to watch as well. But those practices,
they are the modern day NFL of preparedness.

Speaker 1 (57:35):
You know this. Over the weekend, I had an opportunity
to be with Brian Urlacker, Alex Brown, and Rex Grossman
on a cruise on Lake Michigan with some Bears fans,
and the first thing out of the out of my
mouth was asking them about you know what they missed
the most. It's always about the locker room. And they

(57:55):
just went into great detail how much fun they had practicing.
Now I don't know how much fun and you had
practicing against that defense of the Super Bowl era team,
But if they have that kind of fun these guys,
that creates a winning culture. Also, and talking to Dan Hampton,
we'll hear from him later this week on our podcast,

(58:17):
episode number one fifty four. Just listening him talking about
all the stories and just taking the coaching to the
practice field and on the Sundays and just letting loose.
That's when you know you've got something special. And I
hope these guys get to know each other in a
way that they just love going out there, no matter
what the conditions, no matter what the scenario, and just

(58:40):
have fun playing ball.

Speaker 4 (58:42):
You know, one thing you got to talk about as
the next player. It's not necessarily the moments at practice
that are the fun part of it, but it's the
locker room before practice, it's the locker room after practice.
It's driving away at the end of training camp when
you still have you know, your body parts all attached

(59:02):
and you still have control of your job.

Speaker 1 (59:05):
You know, that's the rewarding part of it. But it's just.

Speaker 4 (59:08):
Those those team building instances in the day that is
the greatest part about playing sports.

Speaker 1 (59:16):
Our aches pains are injuries keeping you on the sidelines.
Athletico's movement experts are here to help you turn your
setbacks into comebacks and create a personalized game plan for
your recovery with no prescription or referral needed. Athletical physical
therapy is where your comeback story begins. Athletico proud to
be the official physical therapy partner of the Chicago Bears.
All right, it's a jam back podcast right there with

(59:38):
all the big guys participating, from general manager Ryan Poles
to the head coach Ben Johnson and quarterback Caleb Williams.
We're gonna have a lot of sound over the course
the next six weeks. From practice, we'll have some one
on one interviews. Of course, we've got Bears Weekly every
Thursday night as well on a ESPN Chicago, so you're
going to get a real deep flavor of what we're seeing,
what we're hearing, and what the play and coaches are saying.

(01:00:01):
So stick right here for the podcast, the Bears et
cetera podcasts, and we'll get you up to data. Any
final thoughts before we get ready, No man ready to roll.

Speaker 4 (01:00:08):
The most difficult night in a player's life to sleep
is tonight, because you know what's starting tomorrow is gonna be.

Speaker 1 (01:00:16):
All right thanks to Ryan Poles, the Bears general manager.
Fort time there, I'm Jeff Joniac. Thanks for listen. Everybody.
Please subscribe now to the Chicago Bears official app, Apple, Spotify, YouTube,
or wherever you get your podcasts bear down everybody