Bears vs. Giants: Is this a must-win for Chicago?

The Chicago Bears are back home at Soldier Field on Sunday when they host the New York Giants. Shaw Local's Michal Dwojak and Joe Aguilar give the latest news from Halas Hall and preview what could be a must-win for the Bears.


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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, and welcome to the latest episode of the Shaw
Local Bears Insider podcast. I am Michael Duojak, Chicago Bears
speed reporter here with the Northwest Heralds Joe Aguilars. We're
joining you on Friday morning as we look forward to
the Bears Week ten matchup against the New York Giants.
That Soldier field, Joe. We are in officially entering the

(00:23):
second half of the season five and three Bears heading
against the two and seven New York Giants. It's supposed
to be a gross game. It's supposed to be. I
saw the forecast and it was supposed to be mid thirties,
gusts up to thirty miles an hour and maybe lake
effects now and I was like, awesome. We follow as
officially over winters here and I guess listen, people are

(00:47):
always anti Arlington Heights because the bear weather. Where you're
gonna get your bear weather, it seems like on Sunday.

Speaker 2 (00:53):
Yeah, it's a little too early for bear weather. We're
still in November, early November. But that's all right, hopefully
too bad. But you know, we talk about matchups to
watch and who could potentially have.

Speaker 1 (01:07):
A good game or a bad game.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
The weather does matter, especially in Chicago here, so hopefully
it's not too bad and we're not getting the swirling
wins and you know, seeing a field goal goal twenty
yards wide and a guy returning it, but that might
be kind of fun to watch. But we'll see what
happens on Sunday.

Speaker 1 (01:24):
All right, Thank you everyone who's joining us on the
live stream. I see we've got the guys chatting it up,
so it's good to see you guys. Happy, happy Friday morning.
Make sure you guys give us a like the best
way to support us. And if you're listening to us
on the podcast, just so a reminder to also subscribe
to our podcast wherever you listen to them, and if
you want to be part of the conversation, make sure
you join us on our live stream. Always love to

(01:44):
hear from you guys, and always love to talk to
you folks. All right, before we preview Sunday's game, we
haven't had a chance to talk since the trade deadline passed.
Ryan Poles talked a little bit for five or ten
minutes and hit on some things. The Bears loan move
of the trade deadline. They traded they got a body
on the defensive end spot. They traded for defensive end

(02:07):
Joe Tyron Shoyinka. They traded twenty twenty six sixth round
pick and exchange for Tryinca and a seventh round pick.
So basically, you know, with the news that we got
on Monday that Dio dang Bo's out for the rest
of the season, with the touring ACL Bears got a
body in there, and they just you know, they just

(02:29):
got someone in there, Joe. They didn't take a big
swing at it, and we'll talk more about that approach.
But were you surprised that the Bears just kind of
settled for you know, getting you know, not settled, but
only made the move to get Shayenka or did you
expect something more, especially with the news now that Dio's
out for the rest of the season.

Speaker 2 (02:48):
Yeah, well, I look, this is just a gut feeling
or a hunch that Ryan Poles really was trying to
make a big move. I just don't when you saw
the price of what some of the other guys went for,
the guys that were dealt uh on the on the
trading deadline day, boy, there were some big asking price.
I didn't see Sauce Gardner being moved, but then you

(03:08):
saw what it costs to get him two first round picks.

Speaker 1 (03:11):
Yeah, so you.

Speaker 2 (03:13):
Know, I don't know what Cincinnati was asking for Trey hendrickson,
whether he was gonna end up here. It was a
long shot anyway. But you know there are other teams
trying to get him, even Max Crosby. So the asking
price for those guys probably was so outrageous. Uh, And
even Ryan Poles, who loves to pull the trigger, price that, Yeah,
that's too much for where we are right now in
this part of the rebuild. I guess you can call

(03:34):
it started still started the rebuild for the Bears. It
just just didn't make sense. And then, but you figure
they had to add a body and maybe some guy
with some NFL experience like try On Trouinka if I'm
getting that right the pronunciation. A guy like that fits
the Bill, guy who has had some production in the league,
just not with Cleveland this year, and they needed a

(03:56):
guy who could maybe get to the passer a little.
But he kind of fits the type, kind of a
long armed guy. He looks like an athlete, and maybe
they can get something out of him now that they're
expecting four or five sacks from here to the rest
of the regular season. But they got a body in there,
and as I mentioned the other day, you know, in
a way, they made a couple of moves trade quote

(04:17):
unquote moves in getting Austin Booker back. Hopefully he can
show you more of what he did a little bit
on Sunday, and then getting C. J. Gardner Johnson was
in a way like a trade pickup. So I think
they did what they can. And you're always, you know,
as a fan, you want to see the big splash
move for your team. But I was cool, and I
think you had said it multiple times, you know, I

(04:38):
know you did that. You didn't even really expect anything
big from the Bears. That's kind of what we got.

Speaker 1 (04:43):
Yeah, I mean Joe, you know, he's a former first
round pick from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in twenty twenty one.
He has a lot of potential. He's got great length,
he's got great speed. It just hasn't clicked for him.
He had four sacks each in his first two seasons,
had five sacks and then the two sacks in twenty
twenty four before the Buccaneers decided to not pick up

(05:04):
his fifth year option. He went to Cleveland this year
after signing with them in the offseason and just didn't
get too many looks. You know. Ryan Pouls talked about
it on Tuesday. On Wednesday sorry, and he said, like
they like the trades, they relied a lot about what
he did in Tampa Bay as opposed to what he
didn't do in Cleveland. He just didn't get too many
opportunities with the Browns. And you know, I don't hate that.

(05:27):
I mean, you needed someone. You need a body there
because at this point your defensive ends are Montest Sweat,
Austin Booker, Daniel Hardy, and that's it unless I'm forgetting
someone like Dominique Robinson is still dealing with an ankle injury.
You lost, you know, some of your guys, so you
needed a body in there. So I thought it was

(05:47):
a good bet. I mean, you just take a bet
on a guy. You got a seventh you got a
seventh round pick back you you lose a sixth round pick,
And it just felt like a good bet for me.
Maybe the Bears are able to unlock some production out
of It'll be interesting to see, but this really just
felt like a move that moved that they needed to
make and they got a body in there, which which

(06:08):
was good. And we'll see how much of an impact too.
He's hoping to play on Sunday. We'll see how much
he does play on Sunday, but he's he's gonna need
to make an impact with with the lack of depth
that they have at the defensive vents spot. Other stuff
that Ryan Poles talked about on Wednesday, he was asked about,
you know, their approach towards the trade deadline, and like
you mentioned Joe, obviously, we saw a lot of first

(06:29):
rounders get traded. Uh, you know, Saws, Godner, Gardner got traded.
Williams also got traded from from the Jets to to
the Cowboys for our first in the second. You saw
other moves as well, and you know, Ryan was asked
about this, and I thought it was interesting because he
he very clearly like value. He said that they value

(06:50):
in building this thing through the draft, so it wasn't
really worth it to them to trade their top draft
picks for what was out there. And and he said
like he he reached around, like he turned every stone.
So I'm sure you know he did call to Raiders
about Max Crossby. I'm sure he did call, you know
about Miles Garrett and Trey Hendrickson and those types of guys,

(07:11):
but it seems like the price was too big. And
I also thought it was really interesting, you know, he
was asked about Ben Johnson's influence, and for lack of
a better way, like he said that Ben Johnson and
Dennis Allen both had to kind of help him like
look at the bigger picture and instead of having the
tunnel vision of being like, all right, we're five and three,

(07:32):
we have a chance, let's mortgage the future, it sounded
like Ben Johnson and Dennis Allen both had to be
like whoa, Like yes, you know, let's look at the
big picture here, like we need to build this thing.
Like I think both Ben and Dennis are kind of
like I think they like the guys that they have
and are you know, are working with what they have.
But I'm also sure that they're kind of like all right,
like let's bring our own guys in here, right, Like

(07:54):
any coaching staff is going to be like that. So
it was very interesting to hear you know, Ryan talk
about that where he was just pretty much like yeah,
like I you know, relied on them to kind of
help me with the bigger picture here, and it sounded
like they kind of needed to be like, hey, like,
let's not mortgage the future here. I like what we're
doing so far, but we got to continue to build

(08:14):
this thing through your draft as opposed to going all
in on twenty twenty five one hundred percent.

Speaker 2 (08:20):
And when we saw in the draft too, that draft
was more I think run by by Ben Johnson. I mean,
those picks were Ben Johnson type picks. But I'm glad. Look,
any organization, right, you've got to be secure enough in
your position to understand that you know you, you seek
help where you need it, and you listen to others
and you just don't say, you know, look, I'm in charge.

(08:44):
I'm making all decisions. I'll listen to you, but I'm
making decisions. To me, that's a good sign of good
of a good leader. And I've been critical of Ryan
Polls and who hasn't with some of the draft picks
and some of the trades he's made. But that's a
good sign to me that he's listening. Not that Ben
Johnson and Dennis Allen. It aren't people of getting it
wrong either, but at least years I hate to use

(09:04):
was the word they kept saying at hallis Hall continuity
in the building, which was not good sometimes considering how
they've done on the field in recent years for several years.
But I thought that's a good sign that he's listening,
uh to Ben Jonson and Dennis Allen.

Speaker 1 (09:25):
Sorry, I forgot how I was muted. It was good
to It was good to see that they were that
they had an impact, right, and it's good to see
that the partnership is working the way it is. I agree,
like you said, it didn't work in the past. And
that's whether that's Ryan, whether that's Maddie refluce, his influence
and that sort of stuff, I don't know obviously, but

(09:46):
it's good to hear that this is a you know,
a co op effort as opposed to Ryan being like, okay,
like I'm gonna do it my way, let's go all in,
as opposed to because listen, you paid Ben Johnson a
ton of money to be here head coach, like, and
he's a great play caller, but it's kind of clear
that he also can develop guys, and his coaching staff

(10:06):
can develop guys, and you know, sees a lot of
trades and guys so that will definitely be an interesting
thing to watch for, you know, when we get into
the offseason. But that's the trades that the Bears decided
to make, and we'll see now as they head into
the second half of the season. Joe, they play the
Giants on Sunday. I titled this game or this podcast

(10:27):
I should say, is this a must win for Chicago?
And I think it's an interesting question because, you know,
can you have a must win game in Week ten?
Like your season isn't over if you lose this game.
But if you look at what you got coming up here,
the Vikings look much better than they did a couple
of weeks ago. You got that coming up, then you

(10:48):
got the Eagle, then you got the Steelers, the Eagles,
the Packers, then you got the Browns, the Packers, the
forty nine Ers and the Lions. And the regular season,
the Bears are going to have the third his strength
of schedule heading into the final stretch here. If you
want to make the playoffs, show this to me feels
like a game that you have to win, Like you

(11:09):
cannot lose this game if you want to, you know,
be in the playoffs and contend, you're.

Speaker 2 (11:18):
Breaking up there a little bit. I think I heard
your question though, and what you were saying. Yeah, I
do think it's a must win because look what Look,
look how you're gonna be feeling whether they lose by
a field goal at the end of the game, where
they lose by twenty and they just lay an egg
here against the Giants, regardless, you're gonna it's gonna be
more looking. Oh my, we thought we were trending forward,

(11:40):
we thought we were getting better, and then we lay
an egg here at home against a team that's what
lost three in a row of the Giants, and it's
two and seven, So we don't want to be talking
about this come Monday. A bad loss, a loss period.
So that's why it's a must game, right. So I mean,
as you mentioned that who's ahead here in the second

(12:02):
half of the season, there's not too many games where
you say, yep, that's a w, that's a double. You know,
it's like this game the Browns. I think you're gonna
beat the Packers at least once, and that's you know,
I think he got a good shot to beat the Vikings.
But we'll see here. Can they build off last week
and defensively, can they get a little better and not

(12:23):
have another one of these games where you know, teams
are just passing at will, and you know, we don't
want to see Jackson Dart go Joe Flacco on the
Bears and throw for four to seventy, you know, or
run for one hundred and seventy, because he's got that
ability Jackson Dart to run. So yeah, I do think
it's a must win, especially at home. Look, you're at

(12:46):
home against an inferior team. We can agree on that,
and a team that's without some you know, we talk
about the Bears injuries and Jalen Johnson in particular. I
mean they're without Milik Neighbors, you know, and Cam Scannabay,
who's the a great star to his professional career. So
I would say, I know, kind of like you said,
it's week ten, counting the bye week, it is a

(13:07):
must win for the Bears.

Speaker 1 (13:09):
Yeah, I think I think it is. Anna Robert brings
up a good point. Good to hear from me, Robert
for the win column, but also the confidence and belief
ready for the difficult teams coming up. I would agree
with that, May and I think there's something to that
where you got to win these types of games to
grow as a as a team, right, Like, you need
to build that confidence, and I think they're starting to do.
I think they've gone through, you know, these types of

(13:32):
games where they winning these late game situations and that
does a lot of confidence. But you also need to
take that step. And Ben Johnson was talking about this
earlier this week, about that killer instinct where you got
to put teams away. You got to like not let
it get to Caleb throwing a fifty yard touchdown to
Colston Lovelin, to Josh Blackwell blocking a field goal as

(13:53):
time expires, to you know, Jaye and Daniels fumbling the
ball and then moving the ball down the field for Jake.
We need to hit it with game winning field goal.
I think, you know, those are really important moments that
you can show that you can win those types of situations.
But you also have to figure out a way to
avoid those situations, right Like you can't have what happened
to the Minnesota Vikings in Week one, where you had
a eleven point lead heading into the fourth quarter and

(14:15):
you squander that, Like, you got to learn how to
put teams away. And I think this will be a
really good opportunity for them to do that, because they
did that against the Cowboys, they did that for the
most part against the Saints. I think it could have
they could have done a better job against the Saints,
and that could have been a much bigger deficit. But
I agree this this game has a lot of value

(14:35):
for this team, not only in the wins and columns,
but also just what you know, what this does for
the team Psyche. I mean, I was in the locker
room on Thursday yesterday, and that was a loud like
locker room, Like that felt like a locker room that
I hadn't seen yet this season. Like they're feeling it,
they're feeling good, they're joking around with each other. That

(14:56):
doesn't mean that they're not taking this matchup seriously. That
just they are feeling that confidence and that matters. Like
you need to go into a matchup like this feeling
like you're the better team, feeling the confidence that you're
playing at home and you have advantages and that kind
of stuff. So I think a game like this goes
a long way in setting up your future heading into
the second half here, because if you lose this game,

(15:18):
I can't imagine what that does like that doesn't seek
your season. You're not gonna end the season like stuff
happens in the NFL. You can beat the Eagles on
Black Friday and no one would be surprised because that's
just life in the NFL. But let's be real here, like,
you need to really win this game if you want
to have any hopes of you know, contending in the playoffs, because,

(15:40):
to be quite honest, like you're looking at the way
the NFC West is, they've got three teams that are
loaded right now. That NFC North is all loaded as well.
Everyone's at five hundred or above. There really isn't time
for you to make a mistake at this point.

Speaker 2 (15:53):
Yeah again, and just think about if Monday we're having
overreaction angry Monday. We don't want to because that one
A you're thinking of the future this team going for
at least for this season, it won't be.

Speaker 1 (16:05):
Positive, all right, Joe, let's get in to that.

Speaker 2 (16:08):
Yeah, I'm sorry it was the old Mike Dick Kline.
I don't think we're capable of playing another game. You know,
it might it might be like, oh, look who's coming
up after we had a bad loss to the Giants, Right, all.

Speaker 1 (16:21):
Right, Joe, let's get into our matchups here, our previous stuff.
Bears are taking on the Giants on Sunday at Soldier Field.
What's the big matchup that you'll be looking for on Sunday.

Speaker 2 (16:31):
Well, I'm gonna go with the Bears defensive front against
this Giants offense and a quarterback who's you know, got
a little something. He's got some mojo going on there.
Jackson Dark the twenty fifth pick overall in the draft
this year. This Bears off. This Bears defensive front, as

(16:52):
we say, it hasn't generated enough pressure on the quarterback
all season. Now TJ. Edwards got the hand and the hams.
If he's out, that's not good. But I want to
see what they can do. I want to see Montes sweat.
I think you had mentioned last week maybe he was,
like you thought it, maybe gets his multi game sack.

(17:13):
Last week. It didn't happen, but he was another productive game.
Can it continue? Maybe this week is the two set game.
Can we see a little more of Austin Booker. I
don't want to go home, you know, all book around.
You appreciate the item on Nostin Booker in the Notebook
Today by the way, Michael, good job as.

Speaker 1 (17:29):
Always for you.

Speaker 2 (17:32):
But can he make a play again? But the guy,
this kid scares me a little bit, Jackson dark because
his ability to scramble. He might be the best runner,
you know, a scataboo out. He's good and he can
get on a roll. And I want to see this
defense get off the field. You know, don't don't let
this kid march fifty seventy yards. Keep him off the

(17:56):
field early. Set a tone early with the defense. I
don't know if we've seen that yet this year, but
to me, the defensive front against this Giants offensive line,
which is actually not bad. You look at the record
two and seven, but you know, uh, they got Andrew
Thomas back, the left tackle. He had that wins Frank injury,
that the foot bill at tough injury. But you know
he's he's a good pro. He's a good left tackle.

(18:17):
And they have not allowed a ton of pressure. I'm
not expecting the Bears to get five or six acts.
That would be nice, but just contain this quarterback and
don't give him any momentum even though it's on your field.
I if I see in a scenario where the Bears
lose it's because this kid gets on a roll. He

(18:37):
makes some big runs on third down, third long, and
he scrambles for the first down. That's the stuff, and
then it puts more pressure on the offense and you
don't want to do that, So keep him off the field,
and if you can generate some pressure, that would be nice.
That's what I'm gonna be looking at.

Speaker 1 (18:57):
Yeah, it'll be really interesting to see what Dennize Allen
does here because for most of the season he's had
to adjust what he's wanted to do as a defensive
play college just with what he has as as a
pass rush and what he has in the secondary. Obviously
with the injuries and you know, it's been tough because
I feel like, you know, for how much they've given,
you know, how much you know, yards and points they've

(19:19):
given up. I feel like you have to really give
Dennis Allen some credit because listen, he's had to adjust,
like it's not the defense that he wants to run
one hundred percent, Like he's dealing with a bunch of injuries,
and I think it could it could be much worse.
So I'm really interested to see what he does here.
Now that you know Austin Booker is your starter off
opposite of Montest sweat at this point, so you really

(19:41):
are gonna need to get him going. And I'm really
interested to see what he does because I liked what
he saw. You know, we we've talked about Austin Booker
a lot on this podcast. Obviously, we like what we
saw in the on the preseason. I like what he
saw in the time that he you know, played on Sunday.
I'm just curious to know what does snap counts look
like because he's still coming back, like he's got to

(20:01):
get he missed like a good chunk of time with
that knee injury, right and so, and the Bears didn't
activate him, you know, right away when they could have
off of injured reserve, like they activated him literally on
the last day in the twenty one day window. So
I am curious to see what the snap counts look
like and whether they you know, is it fifty to

(20:22):
fifty with Austin and Joe at the opposite side of Monteste?
What is Montes was gonna have to play more? Like
they talked about his stamina on how much it's improved.
I think that's gonna be a big factor in this too,
because you need to consistently pressure Jackson Dart because if
Jackson Dart is comfortable in the pocket, I know he
doesn't have Elak neighbors, but he's got other guys that
he can throw to. And he says he can scramble too.

(20:44):
I know that, And we'll get into the weather conditions
I'm sure later on. But he can still hurt you
with short passes and the legs. So I agree, Joe.
I think that you're going to really need a pression
Jackson Dart and you're gonna have to create some turnovers.
So I'm interested to see what the pressure looks like
and what this defensive uh you know, pass rush is

(21:05):
going to be able to do against the Giants offensive line.
My make matchup's going to be the run game. If
it's not if it's not broken, like don't don't, don't
change it. You you ran for a record total against
the league worst Bengals last week. The Giants are the
second worst run defense. It's going to be terrible conditions

(21:25):
on Sunday, predictably. Don't make it too crazy. Run the ball.
You have DeAndre Swift expected to come back. Just run
those two guys and you know you're gonna. I didn't
get into the injury report, but Roshawn Johnson has been
back at practice too, in limited fashions, and you got you.
I liked what we saw from Britton Brown. I don't
think we spent too much time talking about Britain and

(21:47):
his great performance on on Sunday. So you've got predictably
everything goes well today, we'll see on Friday afternoon. But
you've got a loaded running back room. Your offensive line
is feeling it. Run the ball. That's pretty much it. Like.
I don't think you need to, you know, reinvent the
wheel here or anything like that. This run defense is
terrible for the Giants. You've got guys that you can

(22:09):
just throw in there and just keep going after them,
and I think Ben Johnson will do that. I think
he'll adjust some things. He'll come up with some schemes
to create up some from some lanes. But I think
Benn has showed you that if it's working, he's not
going to go away from it. And I think that
was something you know he didn't He critiqued himself early
on for not sticking with the run and not coming

(22:31):
up with good plays for the running attack. But I
think since the bye week you've seen that really transform.
So yeah, for me, I mean, that's just an easy
matchup for me. Just just run the ball. There's no
real need for you not to run the ball. Don't
go away from it, and that probably opens up for
some big plays for Caleb here and there. But I
would just do a traditional old Bears Bears game here

(22:51):
and just you know, have Swift run at fifteen times,
have an young guy run at fifteen or sixteen times,
and that's all you really need at this point. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (23:00):
I thought about that one too. And that front line
for the Giants is interesting that Brian Burns is but
leading the league in sacks with eleven.

Speaker 1 (23:08):
They're super townmember.

Speaker 2 (23:09):
The Bears try to get him, or there was discussions
anyway when they were you know, considering dealing the number
one pick, which they did and they got DJ Moore,
but they had asked about Burns and the Carolina didn't
want to get rid of him, and then they finally
did trade him. He's really good. This is not a
fluke with a loving sacks. He's been a real good
pro since Carolina drafted him. And then you got you know,

(23:33):
the third overall pick here in Abdul Carter, who has
half a sack. He's played every game, he's not starting.
Let's keep him quiet. And then I know he's not
having a great year. But Dexter Lawrence is another really
good football players. So he look at this roster. It's
like they're two and seven something like this. This team stinks.
I you know, then they're a weird team too. I

(23:54):
can't figure them out. I mean, they lose to the Saints,
they beat Philly, They're they're capable. You know again, would
the world be shocked if they beat the Bears Sunday? No, because,
like you said before, it's the NFL. Things happen, but
they have that ability. But the running game for sure,
getting back to your point, one hundred percent, run the

(24:15):
ball and we'll see how bad the weather is. We
got the swirling winds and it's a little rainy or
maybe snow, it's slushy. Yeah, keep the ball on the ground.
And you know that's why I think, h we haven't
talked about who like our MVP of the game is
gonna be yet, but I think they're gonna try to,

(24:36):
you know, and we'll see it. They're gonna stick and
running the ball Mononga. It depends on WE really don't
know unless you know more, Michael, But how much DeAndre
Swift's is gonna play? Apparently how much will he plays?
They gonna carry the ball twenty times? I don't I
don't know about that. And then Loveland too, I think
I think they're gonna try to feed that a little
more and get playoff the momentum they had coming off

(24:58):
the wind on Sunday.

Speaker 1 (25:00):
Yeah, Joe tis in our most valuable Bear. Make sure
you guys are getting that in in there. Some other predictions,
Rick shouting out Joe saying he's surprised you didn't go
with the kicking game and the bad weather teams into play,
Robert going in matchup Rome's dad against Ben Johnson's play calling.
I you know, I thought that was interesting. I didn't

(25:22):
spend too much time on it, and Rome addressed it.
For those who don't know. Room's dad was obviously critical
on Twitter about, you know, Roome's not getting enough pass
blocks and anything like that, or not getting enough looks,
I should say, And you know, I thought the Bear
social media team actually did a pretty good job.

Speaker 2 (25:40):
The other day.

Speaker 1 (25:41):
They tweeted out an extended video of all of Rome's
run blocking, which we talked about on Monday, and then
Rome talked about it on Thursday. He said, love my dad,
but he's my dad, Like, he'll have his opinions. I
have my own opinions, like and I feel like he
handled it the right way. So that was a good
way of handling. Like I don't know, our parents are

(26:02):
our best are our best fans. Obviously, sometimes not to
the best ability. Obviously, Joe, you and I have covered
high school sports. We've seen plenty of I'm sure loving parents,
but parents who maybe don't show their best light in
the middle of competition and that sort of stuff. But
it was good to see that Rome handled the situation

(26:23):
really well. You know, he he was like, love my dad.
He's great, he's my best fan and best friend. But
his opinions are his opinions, and my opinions are my opinions.

Speaker 2 (26:32):
No, the room handled that like an absolute pro And
you know, I guess you give the parents credit because
they raised such a nice young man and Rome had
the opportunity to say something stupid, I mean accidentally that is,
and he did it, So you give the parents credit
for that too. But Yeah, dads will be dad's right,
moms will be moms. And whether it's whether it's pick

(26:54):
we ball or it's high school, I'm sure it happens
in the college level two or balls. Sometimes the parents
just can't help themselves. Dang social media.

Speaker 1 (27:05):
Michael. All right, Joe, let's get into our surprise predictions here.
What is one surprise prediction you have for Sunday's game.

Speaker 2 (27:13):
Well, I'm kind of stealing this from you and I
think one of our our listeners in the past we sere.
You know, we saw how many trick plays after trick
play last week and they all worked. Basically, I'm gonna
go with an offensive lineman catching a pass. I think
you predicted maybe last week or two weeks ago, maybe
Ozzie Tripillo. I'm gonna go with Darnell Wright, who's been

(27:35):
playing better, He's been getting the praise he deserves. I'm
gonna go with Darnell Wright getting a target and he
better catch it. But I'm gonna go with Darnell right,
I think you know'll go from four or five trick
plays in one game to none the next. They're something
up Ben Johnson's sleeve. That bag hasn't been completely empty.
I think we'll get a target to Darnell right.

Speaker 1 (27:58):
What the heck? I've been listening to Ben Jonson Joe.
I thought, you know, as you know, he was asked
about Darnell right this week and I'll have a feature
on Darnell on Saturday, so make sure you check that out.
But he he was asked about Darnell and he called
him a unicorn, and he said, you know, he just
has this great athletic ability and like he can do
a lot of things for us. And as soon as

(28:19):
I heard that, I was like Tonay Sewell, like I
are we gonna run the Penny Sewell play like I
as soon as I heard that, I was like, what
do you have coming up there? Like I don't I
like I've since the beginning, ever since Ben Johnson has
been hired, has said that Ben doesn't say stuff on accident.
He's very deliberate about the stuff that he talks about

(28:40):
and the thing he says and puts out to the press.
And as soon as I heard that, I was like, Okay,
I I am interested now and I am curious to
see what do you mean he's a unicorn and what
does that mean for Sunday. So I like that prediction.
I like that a lot. I think that's a good
surprise prediction. I definitely think that, especially in a game
like this. Ben Jonson loves momentum, and if he has momentum,

(29:04):
he's not afraid to put it down his opponent's throat sometimes.
And I can see a trick play like that where
they get Darnell involved a little bit in the passing game.
So I like that play a lot. My surprise prediction
is going to be that, you know, I don't know
whether I think Cairo Santos actually has a good game

(29:25):
in these tricky conditions, and I think and I think
he and what I mean by that, I think he'll
be dependable from forty plus. I don't know if I
can go fifty plus, just based on the conditions and
that sort of stuff, and just as you know, general
like strength, but I think he'll be consistent for you
for forty plus and some I think I think that

(29:46):
at early on in the game, the win's going to
get a little bit into theur you know, I think
there are going to be some inconsistencies offensively early in
the week in the game, so I think they're gonna
have to rely on Cairo a couple times there, and
I think he makes it because they're something to the
familiarity of playing in soldier field in those types of conditions,
and the and the Giants kickers they're already dealing with

(30:08):
they don't know if their starting kicker is going to
be able to be playing because of a net injury,
they might have to rely on the backup. I heard
some thought about, you know, do do do the Giants act,
you know, sign Jake Moody off the Bears practice squads
so he can play in Sunday's game. And I was
kind of like, h has that ever happened? Like I
was kind of curious about that, And I mean, why
wouldn't you, like, why wouldn't you get the guy who's

(30:30):
used to playing there?

Speaker 2 (30:31):
Right?

Speaker 1 (30:31):
So I thought that was interesting. But I actually think
that Kiro will have an impact, a good impact in
Sunday's game because of his familiarity with how bad the
wins can get a soldier field.

Speaker 2 (30:43):
That's a good one. And this is this leads to this.
I heard on sports talk radio, I think yesterday earlier
in the week someone said it'll brought up the question
is this a prove it game for Cairo Santos. Now
I don't and someone said, wow, you can't cut a
kick or if he misses, you know, color field goals
and the wins are swirling at forty miles p hour.

(31:05):
It is interesting though, because this is the reason why
you have Cairo, right, the experience of kicking in soldier
field with the swirling wins, and you got to make
those It's important. I mean, forget about making the fifty
five sixty yard or we're not going to see that
from Cairo, but you gotta make the ones from forty
in and can you navigate this win and show your experience? Now,

(31:26):
if he has a bad game, all sudden it's saying, well,
this is the reason why we have him on the team.
And if he can't come through in these conditions, you know,
maybe maybe we got to look at Cake Moody. I
don't know so, but boy that would be Uh. This
is where the Cairo Santis can say, see, this is
why you have me on the team. And everyone's knocking
me because I can't hit it from sixty yards, but

(31:47):
I can make the ones from thirty to thirty five
forty in these tough conditions, So it might come down
to that, I mean, and then yeah, he can't be
here on Look, he had the great game against the
Raiders where I thought that offense we saw it, you know,
fail when they had the ball in Raiders territory and
Cyrus and Cairo kept bailing him out with them. You know,

(32:08):
they were like all those fields and they were like
in the forties distance wise. So it's a big game
for him. And look, I we're reporters, but you know
it's no secret. I'm a Bears fan, lifetime Chicago guy.
I want to see him do well because he wears
a Bear's jersey.

Speaker 1 (32:25):
Yeah, it'll be interesting. And you know, Triple R says,
you know, Cairo's seed has to be hot with Moody's
right with Moody right there. And I don't know if
that's true, because you know, it was interesting because you know,
Richard hide Toower, we talked to him on Thursday and
he said that essentially, you know, to the two missus
the Santos had on Sunday weren't really on Santos. The

(32:47):
first block, which you know was in negated because of
the Bengals penalty. He said, the snap, the hold, the kick.
All ofvid was bad, Like the whole process was bad,
and that's why he missed there. And part of that
is obviously on Santo was with the kick, but like
if he doesn't have the snap right and the hold right,
like how is he supposed to make the kick right?
So I thought it was interesting that he brought that
part up and then the block and then the block kick.

(33:11):
Richard high Tower said that the sea gap which is
between the tackle and the tight end, no penetration there
at all, and that's how they were able to block it.
So essentially, you know, and Richard high Tower, you know,
to his credit, has been Kiro Santos his big defender ever,
you know, ever since the two have been together here.
But he did say that he essentially was kind of like, well,

(33:35):
not really on Kiro, like that they were two different
blocks that you know, we're not really his fault. And listen,
I agree with the leg strength. I don't need to
get into the whole Chiro every week. I feel like
we get into the Cairo Santos thing when they are
much bigger fish to fry in this team, the Cairo
Santos and the kicker situation. But it is interesting to

(33:56):
hear him say that. Rick Chiming with his surprise, kiro
misses it and Joe loses his mind Monday morning, Robert Chiming,
a surprise would be if we limit them to their
own half and kick returns. I think that would be
a big surprise and a big a big return or
a big improvement for the special teams unit. All right, Joe,

(34:18):
let's get into our most valuable Bears. Last week, you
went with Caleb Williams. You used your second quarterback pick.
I went with real Ma with doonsday, you can't measure
blocking on fantasy points, unfortunately, so cayleb wins and you've
tied this up four to four by a huge lead
has just gotten away. So you we are tied here

(34:39):
at four to four. You you've two quarterback picks, so
you got one left for the regular season. I still
have two left, and I have the first pick this week.
As tempted as I would be to go with Caleb Williams,
I'm going with the running attack, and I guess my
biggest question is which running back do I go with?
And I'm really interested to see man. Talking to DeAndre

(35:03):
Swift on Wednesday, he was kind of surly. He wasn't
actually mad at Ben Johnson or anything like that, but
he was kind of like, I could have played, and
it seemed like it was a situation where Ben Johnson
and the coaching staff and the training staff was like
kind of, you know, limiting Swift from himself and you know,
kind of being like all right, like we'll be fine
without you. We need you for the second half of

(35:23):
the season, We'll be fine without you. Rest up, get
that growing injury back, so you could be a one
hundred percent moving forward. So and I think Kyle's a
little bit injured with that ankle injury that he kind
of had against the Bengals. I'll go with DeAndre Swift.
They're gonna run the ball. I think he's gonna have
some big explosive plays. I think they'll get I think

(35:45):
they'll get him involved in the screen game as well.
So I'm gonna go with DeAndre Swift as my most
valuable bear good one.

Speaker 2 (35:53):
I was actually thinking the same thing as you were,
and like, well, who do you go with? Because how
much will DeAndre Swift play? I just can't fathom him
getting twenty carries a game.

Speaker 1 (36:02):
Maybe he does, Maybe he is healthy.

Speaker 2 (36:05):
But I wish the Bears would have had that approach
with some other guys in there in the season. They've
had so many dang soft tissue issues with players. It's
getting kind of aggravating. Not getting it it is aggravating.
But I was thinking either Manung, Guy Swift or but
I'm gonna go with Coaston Loveland. I just think that
was such a positive sign Sunday against the Bengals, the

(36:28):
connection with Caleb and Loveland, and if it is a
little last year with the weather, I mean, you're not
asking Loveland to run, you know, thirty yards down the
middle of the feel like he did on the last
play from you know, the last play for the Bears,
the game runner against the Bengals. So I think you'll
see some just shorter passes. And every time this kid's
caught a pass in a game, it's like, boy, there

(36:50):
you see it. So I think that was really needed
for the this offense going forward, this this connection here
and seeing what a weapon he can be. I didn't
realize the stat about him, like first one hundred plus
yards two touchdowns in the games Dick cut.

Speaker 1 (37:07):
Smoke. I mean, Greg didn't do that.

Speaker 2 (37:13):
I know they probably would have had Mike Mart's not
wanted to get rid of him right and.

Speaker 1 (37:19):
Position as opposed to training in a way.

Speaker 2 (37:22):
Yeah, yeah, So I'm gonna go with Loveland though I
and I think they got it. Rome's not gonna have
back to back zero catch games. I think they'll try to,
even if it's early, get him a dang reception, even
if it's a screen, and get off the schneid with that. Uh,
you don't want that. But and Rome is too good
of a football player you need to get the ball
and has his hands. But I'm gonna go with Loveland. Uh,

(37:44):
just and I hope I'm not let down like, oh,
he had two catches for eleven yards on Sunday. I
think he can get them the ball. You need to
get him the ball because we can see, we see
the things he can do. And even that we talked
about a little bit on Monday, the first touchdown pass
to Loveland, the timing of that play and getting the big,

(38:06):
big tight end involved on the five yard touchdown pass.
You look at it again, it's truly an impressive throw
by Caleb, you know, and you can see what Loveland
can do for you. Not aling inside the red zone,
but closer when you're when you're inside the ten. But
get him involved. And so I'm gonna go with Colston Loveland.
I'm not that I'm expecting one hundred and eighteen yards
whatever it was you had again against the Bengals, but

(38:28):
I think he'll love a big game.

Speaker 1 (38:31):
CJ agreeing with you, He's going with a double dip.
He's going with Comet and Loveland to have a day
as his most valuable bear. Robert chiming in, he's going
with Rome to be his most valuable bear. So it'll
be interesting to see. I realize, sorry guys, didn't give
you guys the injury report at the start of the podcast.
We'll do it before we get to the predictions. Injury
report was big this week. We had a lot of

(38:52):
different guys. It just seems like Wednesday is going to
be that day where I feel like guys are just
gonna rest and I think they're going to be you know,
if they don't need a practice on Wednesday, they're not
going to practice on Wednesday. As we head into the
second half of the season, you saw DJ Moore Roma Doonesday,
Kevin byered All did in practice on Wednesday, they'll all

(39:12):
returned on Thursday. The latest report on Thursday, Josh Blackwell
didn't practice with a concussion. Dominique Robinson is out with
ankle injury. Jude Tuney didn't practice because of the rest.
That's just he's not gonna practice on Thursdays. You you
don't need to worry about Joe Tony. Joe Tony is
more than fine. He is, you know, he's so like

(39:33):
we haven't talked about Joe Toney at all this year,
and that just tells you what kind of Hall of
Famer he is because he's never showed up at all
as a problem for this team. Uh, the biggest concern
is TJ Edwards right like he's got a hand in
a hamstring. I would assume the hamstring is the bigger
problem there. So it'll be interesting to see whether he
can get back out there on Friday today as they

(39:56):
kind of get in their final preps here. He left
the game on Sunday. He came back into the game
him against the Bengals, but you'll need him to get
back in there, Joe, because I think you've seen you know,
it hasn't been perfect by any means, but TJ just
plays a big factor in that defense, especially when you
have him there with you know, TJ.

Speaker 2 (40:14):
Tremaine and Noah. Yeah, that's the one. I'm concerned about it.
We'll find out today Rex. If he doesn't practice today,
he's not gonna play Sunday. That's the one that darn.
It's aggravating because see just when you got him back
and you're seeing even though they you know, they've given up.
Give a lot of points to the Bengals. He's a
good football player. He's not a Pro Bowl player, but

(40:34):
he's in that that next level below. He's a little limited,
limited athletically, but he's a sheer tackler. He knows where
to be and I trust TJ. Edwards and they need
more guys on that defense that you can trust, so
they'd be another guy down. I'm not optimistic he's gonna play.
I hope I'm wrong. Uh, but that's that's a big
one to me. That's the big takeaway. And get back
to Adangbo. You know, we we barely mentioned him, which

(40:58):
is disappointing this season because the lack of production and
this is just a wasted year. I mean that was
an absolute dud. No production. Then he gets hurt. Now
he's going to miss the rest of the year. So
so that that was tough to hear that because you figure,
Walf he's got to get better. He can't be much worse.
He'll get better, right, And well now we're not gonna

(41:19):
get that opportunity to see that if he can. So
but TJ Edwards tough loss. But I don't want to
see this dart kid darting punt intended all over the
field comes Sunday.

Speaker 1 (41:32):
They're encouraging news. Luther Burden and Cole Kammed were both
full participants on Thursday after they've been dealing with their concussions.
You obviously want both of those guys back out there.
And DeAndre Swift and Kyle man and were both full participants.
They were both limited on Wednesday, but full participants. So
barring barring a you know, setback on Friday, you're gonna

(41:52):
have your full steam of guys out there, all right,
Joe Sunday afternoon and Soldier Field. Uh, it's a Fox broadcast.
After a couple CBS AFC matchups, Bears are taking on
the two and seven Giants. A lot of history between
these two teams, obviously from the founding of the of
the NFL. What happens on Sunday afternoon. Joe Bears win.

(42:18):
They have to win. Bears win.

Speaker 2 (42:20):
I'll say I think the offense, which has been trending
in the right direction, I think they score thirty one.
The Giants are gonna score. Everyone stores on the Bears.
I'm gonna say I'll go thirty one to twenty one.

Speaker 1 (42:38):
That sounds right. I like that. I think, like we
hit on the top of the podcast, this feels like
a must win. You gotta win this game if you
have any hopes of making the playoffs. You just can't.
You can't lose these type of games. Like I think
the Baltimore game was a lost opportunity that's gonna happen
in the NFL and and if they lose this, this
is just gonna be a lost opportunity for their playoff

(42:59):
hos because we've hit on a nauseum. But like it
gets hard now next week you're going to the Minnesota
You're going to that, you know, to US Bank Stadium
where it's super loud. It's a hostile environment. You're going
against Brian Flores. JJ McCarthy seems to have figured some
stuff out with you know, Kevin O'Connell. It doesn't get
easy from now. So this is a game you need

(43:19):
to win, and I think the Bears live up to
the moment. I think they just run the ball. I
just think that they run the ball up and down
the field. They're able to get easy penetration against that
Giants defensive line. I'm gonna go. I think the Bears
put up some more points here. I'm gonna go with
a thirty four to seventeen win by the Bears. I

(43:40):
think that's bigger than this. I think that's bigger than
the spread. I feel like this is a game that
they put away. I think that Ben Johnson is challenging
them to put away this game against the team you're
supposed to so I'm expecting that. So naturally, it'll come
down to a game winning field go by Kyro Santos
at the end, because you know, it doesn't go as
we expect it, as we saw against the Bengals, no.

Speaker 2 (44:02):
One never does nineteen yard or to win the game.
Bears win Dune that un that un that.

Speaker 1 (44:07):
Un a nineteen yard field goal that somehow flips almost
all the way through because of the thirty mile per
hour wins. But yeah, we've got Bears winners. Rick chiming
in he's got thirty five to sixteen Bears, Robert going,
I'm unsettled with the positivity going into this game. It's unnatural.

(44:27):
And then Robert flipping head. Guys, I feel like you're
cursing us here. I'm just giving you the predictions, Robert,
this is what they pay me to do. I just
tell you what I think is going to happen on Sunday,
whether the Bears actually do it or not, that's I
can't be held responsible for that. All right, that's everything
we've got for this episode of the podcast. Thank you
so much. Thanks to everyone who joined us on the
live stream Grit to Get. It's great to get all

(44:49):
your guys as a conversation, predictions, all that kind of stuff.
Make sure you guys give us a like there. Always
appreciate you guys joining us. If you're listening to us
to the live stream, thanks so much, or if you're
listening to us on thank you so much for listening
on the podcast. Make sure you subscribe and give us
a nice little review. That's the best way to support us,
help us grow our brand. Make sure you're following Joe
Aguilar at Joe Augular sixty four this weekend. He has

(45:12):
gotten more high school football playoffs. We are in week
two and make sure you're following me this weekend. I'll
be at Soldier Field on Sunday as the Bears take
on the Giants and what should be a good game
to be inside of a press box instead of down
on the sidelines. So for Joe and I, thanks so
much for joining us this Friday morning. Hope you guys

(45:32):
have a good weekend and we will talk to you
folks on Monday morning.