September 26, 2025 • 51 mins
The Chicago Bears travel out west to play the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday. Shaw Local's Michal Dwojak and Joe Aguilar give the latest news from Halas Hall and preview Sunday's game.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello, and welcome to the latest episode of the Shaw
Local Bears Insider podcast. I am Chicago Bears reporter Michael Dwojack.
Here what the Northwest heralds Joe Aguilar as we get
you ready for Week four of the NFL. The Bears
are traveling to Las Vegas to take on the Raiders.
Should be a big match up here for the Bears, especially,
(00:22):
you know, with that early Week five by kind of
get a good chance to kind of do a little
progress report for the Bears. But they've got a big
match up here. I know a lot of people are
traveling to the game. I know a lot of Chicago
people are going to the game. It was probably the
biggest you know, when the schedule came out in May,
people were quickly trying to figure out when they're going
(00:42):
to Vegas and worked out perfectly here for the end
of September, Joe. So, you know, there are a lot
of West Coast transplants and there are a lot of
people traveling, so I would expect it to be you know,
I keep getting these emails that it's going to be
a fifty to fifty crowd, so maybe it's going to
be a pretty neutral site for the Bears on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Yeah, I think, you know, as soon as Bears fans
found out they were playing playing in Vegas, especially this
early in the season, I think it was like, well,
if we can do it, let's go. I know people
personally who were of that mindset. So it's a great
trip to go to Vegas anytime, right, but especially if
you get to see the Bears play in that beautiful
new stadium. So it should be a lot of fun
(01:23):
and I would expect to hear a lot of cheers
when the Bears do something well, hopefully they do a
lot of things well Sunday.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Yeah, it should be really interesting. It's an interesting matchup,
you know, especially with what we've seen the first three
games of the season. Just with what the Bears were
at that oh and two start and then what they
did against the Cowboys. It's a very interesting matchup and
I feel like we'll learn a lot about this Bears team.
But before we get started into our preview, if you're
joining us on YouTube, thanks so much for joining us
on the live stream.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Make sure you guys get all your you know, questions
in there. We'll do our obviously, our matchups. So if
you got any big matchups, your most valuable Bear, put
all that in the channel. We'll make sure to talk
about it or you know, answer any questions in there.
If you're joining us on the live stream, make sure
you give us a like that's the best way to
support us and kind of help our little live stream
and podcasts here grow. And if you're listening on the podcast,
(02:13):
make sure you're checking in with us. At Bears Insider
Adam dwo Jack ninety four at Joe Aguilar sixty four,
we'll always post when we're going to be doing the
live stream. It's usually Friday morning and Monday morning, but
sometimes they change it to make sure you guys are
checking that out, so if you want to be part
of the conversation. But Joe, it's a three twenty five game,
(02:33):
it's on CBS. You get that late afternoon window for
the Bears again for a second straight week. I don't
think we've had we haven't had a home noon game yet,
so we've only had one noon game so far.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
I know you're a big noon a neon guy, but.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
It should be an interesting matchup here. So Joe, with
a chance to get to two and two here, what
is your big Actually, sorry, I'm having a brain fart here.
Let's talk about the injury report. Not the injury report
is not great. Uh, You've got five did not practices
in the first two days of practice.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
TJ.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Edwards and Kyler Gordon are still nursing their hamstring injuries.
We haven't seen them, so I doubt, you know, we're
recording this on on Friday morning, I doubt that they'll
be playing after not practicing for a couple of weeks.
Grady Jarrett did not practice with his knee injury for
two straight days, but we saw that last week, so
maybe he'll get back to the practice field on Friday
and then he'll just try to gut it out. It
(03:28):
seems like he's just it seems like he's going to
be nursing that knee injury here for a little bit.
And obviously the two big ones that we saw from
from Sunday, Colston Lovelin and Darnell Right. Colston Lovelin and
Darnell Right both have not practiced this week. Colston obviously
hurt his hip early in that game on Sunday and
didn't come back, and he hasn't practiced all week Darnell
(03:49):
with that elbow injury. He suffered that in the in
the second quarter, and then he came back into the game,
but then he hasn't practiced the rest of the week.
So I wonder what that's like, if that's kind of
like a Greedy Jarrett situation where you know, let's rest
the thing and then we'll try to get Darnell right
back out there on Friday. But it's not good injury
(04:09):
news show, especially you know, heading into the buy this early.
Maybe you're kind of grateful that you have that week
five five. They can get guys you know, healthy, but
you're missing a good chunk of starters on both sides
of the ball at this point.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Yeah, and you're not adding guys back. I mean, we
haven't really seen since the season started. Like we had
Jalen Johnson back for a half and that was it.
Caler Gordon, I don't know, Michael, you know better than me.
I don't know when we're gonna get this guy back.
And they really need him. And then TJ two you
(04:43):
need him, and he tried to come back, you know,
in the second game, he didn't didn't do very well,
so you need him back. And then really to me,
the most unsettling thing this week with the injuries is
that Darnell writ injury. And we talked just the other
day about him not having a great start so far
with the holding penalties, and he just looksn't he hasn't.
(05:05):
It don't look like he's worse than last year. I mean,
he wasn't bad last year. I don't want to go
and get into that again, but they need him. I mean,
it was nice that Braxton Jones played so well against
against the Cowboys, but we got Max Crosby this week.
We the Bears have Max Crosby this week, and you
know that's one of the best defensive players in the league.
(05:28):
He's fun, uh and he can be a wrecking machine.
So that's a concern. But the Darnel right thing, I
guess it's gonna be THEO Bennett. I mean, the you know,
Ozzie Trapillo hasn't been active the last what two weeks now,
and from what I read from guys like yourself that
(05:48):
that THEO has been getting the reps there in practice
this week. If Darnel Wright can't go over over Ozzie,
so he's gonna be THEO. Bennettt and I don't know
that's not I know you're not facing the Bears, aren't
facing a you know, a Super Bowl contender here, but
that's a little unsettling. I don't I don't want to
(06:08):
use the word disturbing, but just unsettling for the Bears,
especially coming off the game they had with Caleb get
the protection he had. You don't want to now have
a starting old lineman out.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
It's not great. I mean, that's just I agree, it's
totally it's not great.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
I mean you.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Mentioned with Kyler and TJ. Ben said week to week
we haven't gotten an updates on them. I think they're
just it feels like one of those things where it's
kind of like, okay, why rush. I'm sure the mindset,
you know, we've learned this early from Ben Johnson. He's
going to be a coach. He's not going to tell
us too much about it, like he will tell us.
You know, you'll see at the at the injury report
(06:45):
a little bit later. So I don't know how much
we'll learn. But those two guys have been weak to
week and I think those I think the mindset probably
is get those hamstrings healed. We don't want this to
be a whole season problem. We've got the week five
by maybe they can get back into week six, get
it back into practice before they play the Commanders.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
They'll have that extra long week because they play.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
On Monday night against the Commanders, so maybe they can
take advantage of that. But yeah, with with Colsta, that
kind of stinks, right, Like we'll see what happens there.
Like he he was targeted on the first play against
the Cowboys, Caleb overthrew him, and then you saw on
that thirty one yard pass to him that how much
of a weapon he can be.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
And you finally saw all right, like we.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Can get this guy going and we can we can
have him be a playmaker. And then unfortunately got that
hip injury.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
So I you know, we'll see what you know.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Earlier in the week, Ben said that they're not considering
like a serious injury. So maybe he comes back to practice,
maybe not. Maybe it's just a one week thing, or
I guess it'll be a two week thing, and then
he comes back against the Commanders and he'll be fine,
but you're losing.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
A playmaker there, and I agree.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
I wrote about this for Today's papers and yesterday online.
The offensive line hit its groove, and I know, like
there's a context of it's the Cowboys, right like, it's
the context of that they were bringing four guys to
pressure you weren't having to do too much, but still
not allowing a sack for two years and that that
that's a big feat for that group. And I think
we've seen that group goe over the past two games,
(08:13):
right like, they've gotten progressively better the pre snap penalties.
I think that's another thing. There were no pre stap penalties.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
In that game.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
That's been huge for them the first few games of
the season. And I think they're starting to get, you know,
comfortable with each other. So losing Darnell right there, Yes,
I know he's committed four penalties this so far into
the season, but he's still like respectfully like theo Bennett,
it hasn't had any NFL experience other than like when
(08:39):
he was putting in a garbage time and left tackle
against Detroit and then obviously when he filled in for
for Darnell on Sunday, and then Ozzy's been inactive for
the last few weeks. So I don't you know, if
it's if if I'm you know, Pete Carroll, like I'm
putting Max Crosby at whoever they're right tackle, and I'm
going after Caleb because like whoever is going to be
(08:59):
at that position, even if it's Darnell, like he's not
one hundred percent healthy, Like, you've got to you've got
to match a problem there, and you're probably gonna have
to put cole Comet there to chip them.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Yeah, and I know you wrote I think it's in
today's paper. I was reading it about Drew Dolman yesterday.
I practice saying, you know, downplaying the whole we didn't
allow any sacks doesn't mean you played a great game necessarily,
And he's right, right, I mean you it's nice to
build on, but it's not like you know, when you're
a good football team or not, like saying, hey, we
(09:30):
didn't allow a sack today. He's just like, well, that's
we don't expect to allow any sacked. You you should get,
You get should get to the point where this is
the norm.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
And there are still things to work on. No one
ever plays a perfect game, but you know they they
still need work here. I do think they could. You'd
like to see them build off that Dallas game. And
now you're facing again Max Crosby, and that's concerning. I
just don't want to see the Bears really at any unit, offense, defense,
(10:00):
any level. Uh, you don't have a letdown, because I'm
afraid of that. Like we're so we were as Bears
fans said, you're so excited about what happened against Dallas,
and we've good a million times about it was Dallas. Yeah,
but you don't want to have everyone was encouraged. The
Bear's got a lot of flowers this week, and they
deserved it. But I just don't want the ceiling now
(10:22):
come down because and then here we go again, and
then it's like, this is a team you can beat,
even though it's in Vegas, this is a team you
could beat. I think they're favoring the game. So let's
just not have a letdown, especially that offensive line trying
to build off that. And and let's see what what
goes on Sunday.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
Yeah, So I am curious show you know you mentioned earlier,
you know we saw THEO Bennett working in there. I
am curious, you know, from what we see in practice,
like we only see the warm ups, like we're only
there for like the warm ups and then maybe we'll
see like one individual drill that sort of stuff, and
I think, you know, based on that, maybe you can
draw the comparison that THEO would kind of go in
(11:03):
there by I wonder whether THEO was put in the
right tackle because Ozzie was inactive right and maybe that
maybe that does kind of come into the factor of
the Bears feel more confident that THEO can be the
swing tackle and Ozzie can't. But I am curious, you know,
if what your what your thought process is, like, you know,
a couple of weeks ago, I think it was maybe
last Friday, I feel like Ben was pretty complimentary to Ozzie,
(11:27):
saying that he's looked the best he has and that
he's really shown a lot of growth at the right side.
I am curious to see, you know, maybe do you go,
I mean, you drafted this guy as your second round pick, right, like,
do you shouldn't this be a spot where you put
in your second round pick that you drafted this year?
Or do you go with like, you know, like I
think the omned it's been a really really cool story
(11:49):
and I think he's done a really good job and
has impressed a lot during the practices. But isn't this
the spot where you would put in your second round
draft pick from this year for the guy who played
right tackle in college?
Speaker 2 (12:01):
You would think, and again this is I don't want
to say, this is.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
I'm I'm not trying to get you going on your
Ryan Poles rant. I'm not trying to get.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
But you know, I mean, look, you trade you know,
you traded back, and then you draft this guy, and
the second round picks matter and they don't have to
contribute necessarily weeks one, in weeks two or weeks three
even like we don't like, but at some point we
got to know, like what's going on here with this pick?
(12:35):
Why has he been active? And if he is a
right tackle and you can't make him a left tackle
at least not this year, then like you said, okay,
now you're right tackle potentially is outcomes Sunday. He should
be the obvious choice. And if you're not the obvious choice,
I will point the finger again at Ryan Poles because
it's a bad draft pick then and maybe it turns
(12:57):
on that to be good in a year. For me, again,
it takes time, I understand, Yeah, but this isn't looking good.
This is not looking good. When he can't even get
on the field, and now you're you're gonna you know,
get uh you know, the guy who's gonna earn the
job when there's an opportunity like that, Like the next
man up is not you. It's a guy who was undrafted,
(13:20):
you know, a second year player on a Canada. I mean,
that's it's not a good look for the organization. And again,
I never put it on the player unless it's like
a work ethic and the guy who's just been you know,
that's different.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
That's definitely not been the case here. I can tell you,
like just from hearing from him and like everyone else,
like Ozzie's putting into work like whatever situation he's been in.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
So so if it's not on him, then who's it on.
It's on the guy who drafted him. And maybe he
would have gone, you know, he would have been gone
by the end of the second round. The bear is
what I'm missing him. But if you like him that
much and you believe in him, the bottom line is
Ryan Poles does not have a good reputation with really
drafting any position, but especially the offensive line see karinamic
(14:04):
gaji Is. He's still on the team Michael.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
He's injured, he's on injured reserve, shocking.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Either he's bad or he's or he's hurt. And there's
too many guys as Ryan Poulse is drafted. But I'm again,
I I do tend to be impatient. I would never
make a good GM. I'd get fired, you know, like
an year because I'm too impatient. But at some point,
we got to see what's going on with this guy
(14:30):
with Ozzie and is can he play? But you know, again,
and if there's a team to put him in against,
you know, I wouldn't put it up put him in
against like the Ravens or someone like that, or you know,
someone who's really good. But maybe this is the team,
even though they do have as I mentioned again, they
do have Max Crosby, but maybe you gotta gotta see
what you got here in Ozzie.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Yeah, that's kind of where where I'm kind of conflicted
in in this, in this you know, hypothetical situation if
Darnell can't play, because you know, obviously we're not in
the rooms, we're not we're not watching practice. Like I
think Ben has done a good job. I think, well,
the other thing is like Ben doesn't go out of
his way to compliment someone if they're they don't deserve
the compliment. We've learned that, right. So I think the
fact that he did compliment Ozzie last week and said
(15:13):
that he could be an important part of this team,
whether that's later on in the season or like he
didn't know that Darnell's gonna get hurt, so that could
potentially be this week. But it is an interesting thing
because like, do you do to Ozzie what you did
to Kuran last year? You put him in a road
situation for his first start going against me, Like Max
(15:34):
Crosby will be lining up opposite of the right tackle
regardless of who's there.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
He can move around the line of scrimmage.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
He's very versatile, and he keeps going. He doesn't get tired,
which is like I think that you know, everyone keeps saying,
you know, I know you obviously talk up your opponent
the the week you're about to play them, But I
do think that Max Crosby is kind of like an
unheralded defensive end in this league because I feel like
you hear about, you know, mikeah Parsons, you hear about
Miles Garrett, you hear about all the all the big
guys that then people talk about Max Crosby. But I
(16:02):
feel like, you know, when you watch Max Crosby play man,
he he.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
Gets after it. He's so physical, he's so tough, and
he keeps going.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
So if I'm Pete Carroll, I'm going to put him
opposite of the right tackle, whoever that is. And is
that a spot that you want to put your rookie
second round draft pick and just ruin ruin his confidence?
Like I feel like that that that plays a factor
into it too, right, But it's it's a weird thing
because you eventually need to you need to eventually go
out there and you need to play, and you need
(16:30):
to eventually show that you can play in the NFL.
And I understand that, like these guys are paid well,
they're playing a game, but at the end of the
DA also there's the mental aspect to this man, and
if you're getting destroyed by one of the best pass
rushers in the league on the road, like that could
really stunt your development. And I don't know if the
Bears are ready to do that Dozzy yet.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Yeah, and then with with Colston Lovelin potentially being out
here too. Now you lose a tight end who block,
and so maybe the the other tight end smythe is
it the guy they got the Dolphins in the offseason,
Maybe he's got to play more. So that's just not good.
But I just want to see the offense show that
(17:14):
last week's performance against Dallas wasn't a fluke and they're
capable of dropping thirty every week.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
All right, let's get into that matchup, Joe. We started
like to do our matchups, our most surprising prediction and
our most valuable parent on top of our prediction. So, Joe,
what is the what is the key matchup you'll.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
Be watching on Sunday afternoon?
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Well, it's either either one of the lines, right, So,
but I'll go the Bears d line against the against
the guy who I really wanted to see in Chicago,
like a lot of people in the draft, ash and Genty,
who has not gotten off to a good start with
the Raiders. He's I think he's rushed for less than
one hundred and fifty yards in three games, something something
(17:55):
in that area. Not good. But that's a bad offensive line,
and so maybe he was have been a perfect Bear
because he had no offensive line to run either, So
he had earned the perfect pick here, averaging two point
nine of carry. And but you know, he's explosive, he's fun,
and you know, maybe this is his breakout game? Is
it against this Bears defense, which can has shown in
(18:16):
three weeks, even in the win against Dallas, that hasn't
been able to stop the run. So can the Bears
keep him quiet? Ashton Genty? That is so I'm curious
what they're gonna do. The Bears defense, we know is
really it was a strong effort after early looked like
they might be into trouble against Dallas, but they seem
to write the ship. That long drive the Bears had
(18:37):
it in that third quarter to start the second half
was good and keeping them off the field. But I'm
really curious to see what the Bears defense can do
against Ashton Genty. Not that I want to see Geno
Smith throw the ball forty times necessarily because he's still
a good quarterback. I don't think he's, you know, one
(18:58):
of the top ten quarterbacks the game. He's proven, certainly
with that rebirthy he had in Seattle, that he can
still play and he can be effective. And then of
course he got the tight end brock Bowers. So that's
an interesting matchup too. But can the Bears shut down
the run game and keep ashing Genty quiet?
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Yeah, I'm also looking at that. That was one of
my ones. You know, through three weeks he you know,
genty hasn't had a start strong start to the season.
He's averaging forty eight rushing yards per game three point
one yards per carry.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
He did have a.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
Season high six three three yards off of seventeen carries
in that blowout lost to the Commanders. But it's an
interesting matchup because the Bears have not done well against
the run so far this season. I mean, the Bears
have allowed the sixth most most amount of rushing yards
you know, one thirty nine point three and the per game,
and then they've allowed the six most total rushing yards
(19:52):
four hundred and eighteen. So if there was a get
right game that was going to happen for gent, I mean,
this would be it, right. Like the Bears deeep defense
has not been good. It hasn't. It wasn't good all
of last season. A gal worse without Andrew Billings than
you know o their big defensive guys up the middle.
So that's a big matchup for me, because like you
(20:12):
haven't the Bears haven't stopped that yet. They haven't stopped
the run. You know, if it wasn't for a big
you know, uh fumble for you know, force fumble and
recovery by Stevenson, Dallas was gonna probably score on that
first run on their first drive because they were running
the ball really well. So this is a big spot
for this Bears defense because if the Raiders are able
(20:32):
to get genty going, it could get pretty ugly. Because
he's shown you what he can do in college. I
know that college isn't what the pros is, but if
you're going maybe against the softer run defense like the
Bears have shown to have in the first three weeks,
he could be a really tough weapon to stop. And
then that obviously opens the passing game for Geno Smith
because you have to focus more on the run.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Yeah, that that is a concern because he has the
big play ability to So look, I I still wish
you were in a Bears uniform, but you know again,
I I'm happy with the Colston lovelym pick. We just
got to see more and it's really a shame about
him getting with that hip injury because it didn't sound
like it was a serious injury, and maybe they're just
(21:17):
being safe and you know, they've they've played three games
essentially without using him anyway, and maybe then again you
get the bye week. But anyway, that's certainly a matchup
to watch along with. As we were mentioning about the
Bears offensive line against the Raiders front, and they've got
seven sacks I think it is through for their first
(21:37):
three games, so a little better than the Bears. And
they got some good production from the kid who's playing
at defensive tackle. It was like a seventh round pick
last year. He's got he's got three sacks. So that's
an interesting matchup too.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Yeah, that was gonna be my matchup. I'm looking at
how do you stop Max Crossby? That's my biggest thing.
I mean, you're not gonna stop him. He's gonna get
to Caleb. He's gonna get quarterbacks. It's how do you
limit him? That's gonna be the biggest thing, because you
saw what Caleb can do with uh with the.
Speaker 3 (22:07):
Perfect pocket right like or a near perfect pocket.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
He can throw the ball across the field. He can
you know, he can make plays longer with his legs sometimes,
but when he stays in the pocket, he's so effective
and he's like, you know, it's not perfect, like he
still needs to get rid of some of those arrant throws,
but you started to see what he could potentially look
like in Ben Ben Ben Johnson's offense with him. So,
(22:32):
but if Max Crosby is getting after him and you
can't stop him, that's gonna disrupt everything. That's gonna kill Drives,
It's gonna, you know, really take away you know, Caleb's confidence.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
So I think you need to.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
Come up with a good play and I know he's
probably gonna line up against the right tackles. So do
you put co Comet in there? Do you put Kyle
Manungai in there? A little bit more to you know,
run block? Do you put Roshaw Johnson back in there.
I think he's shown you that he's a good run block.
Obviously he's a great special teamer. You're not gonna become
very clear that you're not going to use him as
a as a running back, but you might as well
(23:03):
use him as a run blocker. But you got to
scheme things up pretty well, and maybe that is you know,
do you get the short passes going, do you throw?
Do you throw? Do you you know, set up more
runs opposite of where Max Crosby set up, Like you
gotta you gotta eliminate him from this game, and you
can't let him dictate this game because if he dictates
this game, then it's gonna be a long afternoon. And
(23:24):
I don't think you're gonna see the offensive performance that
you've been wanting to see for a second consecutive week
from Caleb. So that that's really my biggest matchup. How
do you limit Max Crosby Because if you don't limit him,
he's just going to dictate how the game goes, and
it's gonna be a long afternoon for that offensive line,
regardless of where he is.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
And I think it's a big test for Caleb too.
I mean, any good quarterback knows where that one guy is,
that one guy that can disrupt things, can cause a turnover,
can cause a negative play. So this is a good
test for Caleb because Dallas. The Micah Parsons era is
over in Dallas, so he didn't have to deal with
(24:03):
that last last week against another disruptor, and we saw
the Bears themselves, So you know, when you get a turnover.
It just takes one. It could really change the momentum
of a football game. So we can't have that. Can't
have the sacks and just know where he's at and
if you have to throw one into the third row,
do it. You just don't take the negative place. He's
(24:26):
been better at that this year progressively for really, from
game to game, and let's see more of that act.
We just don't want to see this offense take a
step back after what they did against Dallas.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
Robert is chiming in from across the pond. Get to
hear for me, Robert worried about the run game on
both sides of the ball could be a breakout game
for genty here. Yeah, we were talking a little bit
about that earlier, Robert, But you know, Joe mentioned that
about for Gente. But I agree, you know, both sides
of the running attack, Like you need to get your
own running attack going as well, and that'll really open
things up. You know, it's been interesting because when you
(25:00):
look at the tape, the blocks seem good, right, and
the blocks seem like they're working. And I wouldn't say
that DeAndre Swift and it's not only on him, but
I wouldn't say that the running backs are going the
wrong way per se.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
It just isn't clicking for some reason. I don't know
whether like it's the timing off.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
And you know, Ben Johnson and the players talked about
on Monday, how you know, as an offensive unit together,
they watched the runs and they were talking about how
this is the offensive lineman's role, this is the running
backs role, this.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
Is what the run back blocker is supposed to do.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
Right, So it's very and DeAndre Swift said this earlier
this week that they're close, like it's a small thing
that they need to fix in order to get the
run game going. So I don't know, maybe you're encouraged
by that, but maybe it is encouraging to hear that
they know what they need to be doing and maybe
it's that little thing that they need to fix. But
it needs to be higher there. And they average three
(25:52):
yards a run against the Cowboys and you just can't,
you know, you just can't do that if you want
to succeed in this NFL.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Well, I gotta tell you, I was surprised to see
the Bears are fifteenth in their rushing game.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
Yeah, the rushing gars numbers aren't terrible like they're mixed.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Fifteenth cause I'm thinking it's just watching the games, it
looks like, well they must be twenty sixth, twenty seventh.
The know, one of the five worst teams in the
league running the football, they're not, yea. So it's maybe
more of an indictment on the entire league because there
are other teams that are struggling to run the football,
and you know, it's been a passing league for for
(26:31):
many years now. But still, I mean, if if there
are things we know in Chicago as Bears fans, we
know what good defense looks like. And I don't want
to go all nostalgic and everything, but we know what
good running games look like. We know what good running
backs look like from watching the greats, so we know
(26:52):
this isn't it. I mean, you know, even guys like
Jordan Howard were more productive, you know, I mean not
even talking about the you know, the top five great
running backs of all time, and Jordan Howard's on allis.
But you know, you had a couple of good years
there for a while, you know, so, but this just
(27:12):
looks bad. But then you look at the rest of
the league, like there are a lot of teams that
are struggling running the football. So but the Bear's got
to be better at that. We've talked about it. You know,
three games, they're zero for three with the production and
the running Ita.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
Yeah, I would agree, And you know, Robert brings up
a good point. You know, we now know that Caleb
can do with that pressure with no runing, Crosby and
company will have a field day. Yeah, totally, I would agree.
And then it would have been nice to nap U Scataboo.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
I agree.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
I really wanted the massive Rapscataboo obviously when they didn't
get the U, you know, when they didn't get Henderson
and and those guys, you know, early in the second round,
I was like, all right, like.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
Maybe they'll get Scataboo.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
But you know, you can't talk I don't know, like
you can't talk about the past at this point.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
You can't.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
I mean, we could, but that'll be another like our podcast, Joe,
what is your big surprise for Sunday afternoon?
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Big surprise for Sunday afternoon. It's a good question, Michael.
I think I think the Bears defense will continue to
get takeaways. I think they I don't know I'm saying that.
I think they're gonna get some pressure on that Raiders
(28:26):
offensive line, which isn't good. Again, if they have a
big game, it's not like, you know, here they come,
here come the Mighty Bears, and they're gonna get six
sacks Saturday. But I think they'll find a way to
get some pressure, and I think they're gonna build off
that game. Again, we're not gonna get the same kinds
of games that we got from Tremaine Edmunds and Tyreek
(28:49):
Stevenson every every Sunday. If we do. I mean, you know,
those guys are going to the Pro Bowl, and I
don't know if that's gonna happen. But I think the
Bears defense has another opportunit unity to not dominate, but
certainly make an impact, get some turnovers. And I think, again,
I still believe in Denna sal And even you know,
(29:11):
though you know he authored the fifty two point fiasco
against Detroit, he it's his defense that's on him. So
but I do think they can especially you're playing a
quarterback in Geno Smith who's good, but he's not better
than Dak Prescott. So I think the Bears defense is
(29:33):
gonna I don't want to say have a game quote unquote,
but I think they'll be able to get some turnovers
and get a little more pressure. I'm not as confident
in that, but I think they'll get some turnovers come.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
So yeah, I like that pic. I like that a
lot because, especially with Geno Smith at quarterback, you saw
what he did against Monday Night Football. He's prone to
make mistakes. Like the joke is like one week you
get good Geno Smith, the other week you get bad
Geno Smith. And I think the trend right now is.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
That you're gonna get bad Gino Smith, and.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
He's prone to make mistakes. Gino Smith is what he
is at this point in this league, however long he had.
This Obviously his rejuvenation in Seattle Pee Carroll, he's reunited
with Pee Carroll in Las Vegas.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
Gino Smith can make you plays, he can do stuff.
But then you also saw what Gino Smith.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
Could do last year against the when he was with Seattle,
when they came to Chicago late in the year. You know,
it was a sixty three game, Like you're not gonna
get you know, you're not gonna get a fantastic performance sometimes,
So I think that's that'll be a big thing, and
the turnovers will be big if you can pick him
off a couple of times, if you can force a
fumble here and there. You saw what that does for
your for your offense. So I like that pick I
(30:45):
like what what that could do. And I think that
will really help the Bears offense if they can, you know,
create some turnovers.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
So I like that.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
My surprise prediction is going to be that the Bears
offense keeps clicking. And I think the fact that you know,
Deklin Doyle was asked about this, like do you not
you know, since it's gonna be like a fifty to
fifty crowd for the most part on Sunday, do you
not have to go to a silent count because you
(31:16):
know you're not gonna have as much crowd noise. And
he talked about like you probably still like still a
road game, Like you don't know what you're gonna get,
Like you could get a lot of noise, So like
they're not gonna not practice a silent counter or whatever.
But I do wonder whether that plays a role in
communication for Caleb. But maybe the communication isn't as tough
as it was in Detroit, Like, I don't think it's
(31:37):
gonna be as tough as Detroit at all. Like I
couldn't hear myself thinking Detroit. I don't think we're gonna eat.
I don't think we're gonna see that in Las Vegas.
So I think that the communication is gonna look good
and I think that they continue to, you know, continue
to grow as an offense. I think they're gonna continue
to you know, Caleb's gonna pass the ball around. He
might have to scramble more than he did against the Cowboys.
That's just gonna be inevitable. Maybe you get the run
(31:58):
game going more. But I think the offense looks like
it did, if not a little bit better than the
Dallas Because I think that this will be a pretty
favorable road environment for this team at this point.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
Yeah, I like that. I sure hope it does. And again, look,
I'm sure every football team from high school to college
to pros talks about not giving up any sacks. And
again that's not just on the old line, but it's
on the quarterback too. And let's just just avoid the
negative plays. That was such a refreshing game against Dallas
(32:31):
because again that no pre snaf penalties, horay, finally, and
no sacks allowed, horay. And that's all you have to do.
You don't have to play your a game like against
Detroit in order to beat this Raiders team. And I
know it's any given Sunday, and you know, you know
the Browns beat the Packers how it happens, so you
(32:53):
don't have to play. So look, I don't like to
win twenty to seventeen, but if that yeah, to win
twenty to seventeen, then they win twenty to seventeen. I
want to see the offense continue to flourish, though, and
I probably wouldn't be happy with twenty points. No one
would be after scoring thirty one whatever it was against Dallas.
So let's keep it going. I think there's a good
opportunity for them. There's certainly a confident group right now.
(33:16):
Just don't take the negative place and and particularly don't
get sacked and throw it away, because you're gonna get
chances against this Raiders team in this defense. I think.
Speaker 1 (33:26):
Other surprise predictions Robert saying that Montage gets Montese wife
gets three sacks. Wow, Robert, that that would be a surprise.
I would be surprised by that. But I like where
you're thinking Rick chiming and joining us. My surprise is
one hundred yards rushing for Swift. I could see that
if you're trying to, especially can't kind of stay away
from Max Crosby. You're trying to it's almost there. It's
(33:50):
like for some like you like watch it and you're like, man,
that should be clicking, right, Like it looks good, but
it's not clicking for some reason. So I like that
prediction to Rick. I think they you would see you
can see that big performance before we get the most
valuable bear, Joe. I'm gonna do this one specifically for you.
I think you see Shamar Turner on on on Sunday.
(34:10):
He's he's been, He's he you know, obviously looked. He
looked a little bit, you know in the second. You know,
it's his first game playing against the Cowboys. He's been
trying to work himself back up after missing all of
training camp with that ankle injury. He started to kind
of get after the offensive line of the Cowboys as
a game, kind of progressing that second wave. And I
think if Grady Jared doesn't an hundred percent, I think
(34:33):
you can see him be a little bit more impactful
this week. And I think you're gonna hear Shamar Turner's name.
Whether that's creating more of a pressure, I'm not gonna
be here to like say that he's gonna get his
first career sack. Maybe he does, but I do think
he's gonna have more of an impact than you saw
in his debut last week. And I think that he's
He's not a finished product by any means, but I
(34:53):
think he's starting to click.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
Well. That'd be a tremendous surprise and a great story
if he can do something positive. Because I'd seen on
social media that all the snaps he played against Dallas.
I know it was late is basically with Dallas playing
catch up, but he looked very Zach Pickens ish. I mean,
(35:18):
I didn't see him move anybody. I didn't see like, Wow, again,
I've never coached D line. I'm probably big enough now
I could play D line. I never played D line.
But he's boy. This second round pick and one of
the listeners mentioned before Camp SCA. But look, that's not
(35:41):
second guessing. Bears fans wanted so many teams wanted many
after he flashed in college last year. That's we could
use him a lot more than Shamark Turner may so
I would that would be wonderful if Shamar Turner announced
his presence as a Chicago Bear Sunday in Vegas.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
One more surprise prediction. DJ gets rolling. CJ's saying this.
DJ gets rolling with the week with two touchdowns, all right, Joe,
most valuable Bear.
Speaker 2 (36:10):
You.
Speaker 1 (36:10):
I didn't even look up the score because I know
I didn't win. Caleb Williams, you had him, you used
your first quarterback pick.
Speaker 3 (36:18):
He obviously had a season day.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
Colston Loveland had one catch and he got injured, so
obviously Colston wasn't gonna win that one, unfortunately. So I
am winning two one in the season so far, and
I have the first pick this week, and I am
not going to burn my I am not burning my
second quarterback pick. I reused one earlier this year. I'm
(36:40):
going to go with I don't think I went with
him yet this year. I'm going with Rome, or maybe
I did go I can't remember if I did, but
I'm going I'm going with I'm going with Rome. He's
coming back home. He's coming back to Las Vegas where
he grew up obviously before he went on to Washington,
and I think it's a homecoming game for him.
Speaker 3 (37:02):
I think he's going to He's going to be a.
Speaker 1 (37:04):
Big target for Caleb. You saw, you've seen already through
three weeks how much of a target he can be.
And I think that those two continue their rapport, especially
I think they could potentially have a late touchdown that'd
be really big.
Speaker 3 (37:15):
So Rome is going to be my most valuable bear.
Speaker 2 (37:19):
That's a good one. I was gonna go with Rome myself,
and I'll go a different direction. I sure hope he
can just continue to build off he's what he's done,
and you know, I think it's clear that combination Caleb
in Rome is developing and I think the best is
yet to come. I just want to see that continue.
(37:39):
And he doesn't have to catch eight passes every week,
but I think he should be an obvious target once
they're get in the red zone and even outside, you know,
when they're really within striking distance to the end zone
that Caleb should be looking for and has been so
good pick I'm excited to see what he can just
continue to do throughout the season. Rome, Uh, I dodn't say,
(38:01):
so I will go. I'm saying like that. If it's
gonna make do something, I just don't know where it's
gonna come from. Whether it's gonna be Tremaine Tyree, Monteste Sweat.
I can go a lot of directions. I would sure
love a three sack game for Montese Sweat. Who wouldn't,
But I'm gonna go.
Speaker 1 (38:19):
With Montest I.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
I don't know why I'll go with Monteste Sweat. And
even though he he got that fourth quarter sack when
you know the game was pretty much decided by then
against Dallas. Sometimes you know, even even pro athletes need confidence,
and maybe you know he's he's off the schneid here
with with the first sack, and I think he gets
(38:41):
a couple, and I think maybe he silences some people
who are still skeptical, including including myself. Uh, you know
a lot of Bears about can he can keep it up?
And can he play like the guy he did the
first several games when the Bears got him two years ago.
So I'm gonna go with Monteste Sweat fingers crossed, and
(39:02):
we'll see see if he If you notice a month
Sunday in Vegas.
Speaker 1 (39:07):
He's definitely someone that you need to see more of.
Right and you obviously saw that first sack against the
Cowboys late in the fourth quarter, which was good to see.
Maybe that kind of propels him moving forward. But yeah,
if you listen, if you're gonna win this game, you
need to get Montest what going. You've been able you
were able to win last week kind of with having
him make some sort of an impact. So yeah, I
(39:28):
think that that'll be a good pick. Robert chiming in,
he agrees he's going with Rome. Beginning to be a
safe bed Rick is also going with Rome. Homecoming game
makes sense. Sure he goes off, all right, Joe Bears
and Raiders three twenty five Central Time on CBS. What
(39:49):
happens Sunday afternoon?
Speaker 2 (39:52):
I think they keep scoring, and I think because to me,
you know, if they have to win twenty seventeen whatever,
I know, a W is a W, but you you
don't want to see this offense look normal again. You
want to see it continue to progress. This is a
good team to do it against. They're not gonna drop
(40:12):
fifty two. They're not the Detroit Lions against the Bears yet.
But I think they're gonna score and I think they're
gonna score thirty five I'll say they win thirty five
to two twenty four, all right.
Speaker 1 (40:27):
That'd be pretty I mean, I'm sure a lot of
Bears fans would be happy with that. Looking at the line, right,
I think it's still this game is still pick them.
The Raiders are still one point five or minus one
and a half point favorite. That's basically a pick them, especially,
you know, if you go with the home stuff. And
that's kind of how I feel in this game. I
(40:48):
can see either way. I could see. I can see
this game going either both ways.
Speaker 3 (40:53):
I can see this team putting.
Speaker 1 (40:54):
Up a good performance against the Raiders team that I
don't think is perfect or great or anything like that,
especially the early in the season. But I can also see,
you know, their playmakers make plays. I can see Max
Crosby impacting this game. I can see Ashton Genty finding
his own I can see Geno Smith getting things going.
So I think that it is a pick up game.
(41:15):
I do think that the Bears win this game. This
is a really important game, you know, for how important
a Week four game could be. You know, Robert is saying,
you know, chimes in and says, this big one could
be a crossroads for our season. Listen, you go into
the Buy two and two, you're feeling much better than
you go into the Buy one and three. Going to
Washington in week six on the road on Monday Night football,
(41:35):
where you got to deal with the whole well for
the whole week, you're going to be hearing about the
Hail Mary.
Speaker 3 (41:41):
That's just what the whole game is going to be.
Speaker 1 (41:42):
That's what the whole week leading up to that game
is going to be, is just talking about the Hail
Mary and losing that game. So do you want to
head into that matchup at two and two or do
you want to head into that matchup one and three.
Speaker 3 (41:53):
I think that this team.
Speaker 1 (41:56):
I think this team has said all the same stuff.
We'll see if they practice the rightstuf. I think this
ends up being a twenty one to seventeen Bears win.
It's a low scoring game, you know, twenty one seventeen,
you know it's not sixty three. But I think the
Bears make enough plays to win on the road and
head into the Buy with the two and two record.
I think they build that momentum and I like what
(42:17):
I'm seeing from them so far, and I think they
know what's ahead of them. I don't think they're you know,
looking past the Raiders, but I think they know that
they need to kind of come back from that zero
to two start and kind of redeem themselves heading into
the buy.
Speaker 2 (42:30):
Yeah, you don't want to be sitting on this law
if they lose, especially if they lay an egg and
they just look bad. You don't want to be sitting
on that for two weeks. But then again, even if
they win, like you're saying when you say twenty one
to seventeen, even if they win by that margin, let's
not lose sight of the fact that, again, this season
is all about the offense. Do we have the franchise
(42:52):
quarterback and do we have the right coach? That's got
to be trending up. And I'm not saying you're gonna
score thirty one every game after that, You're gonna be
scoring higher and higher and higher, But twenty one would
not be satisfying. I know, wins the most important thing,
but are they a playoff team this year? The Bears
probably not, unless all of a sudden boom, Is this
(43:13):
really the acceleration the maturation of this football team as
a whole really just starts to kick in the high gear?
I don't know if we're there yet. I don't know
that's gonna happen. But it's still about the offense and
Caleb developing, the receivers developing, the O line developing outside
of Joe Toney who has nothing to prove, So we
(43:36):
still need to see a lot of that. But if
they win a stinker, let's say they're gonna do all.
You know, hey, you know we're learning how to win.
It's good, we got momentum. I don't know. I think
it'll be kind of a Matt feeling by Bears fan
if they win a stinker, But so again, I want
them to win as a Bears fan, but I want
(43:58):
to see this offense continue to get better. And this
is a team you can do it. You're not playing
the Philadelphia Eagles. You know, you're not playing a raven.
You're not playing a juggernaut here. If you want to
start establishing yourself as a football team, you got to
start winning these games. And it would be nice to
get your first road win, you know, and again, because
(44:20):
you're gonna be sitting at it now for two weeks,
and you'd rather be feeling good for two weeks and
knowing we were even we got better. We got better
this week than we were even against Dallas when they
played well on both sides of the football.
Speaker 1 (44:36):
Rick chiming in, he's got a Bears win thirty four
to twenty four. CJ. Chiming In twenty one to fourteen
Bears last minute touchdown from Kleb. Yeah, I agree. I
think you know, this is a you know, Rick chimed
in and said, we have to win this game. Two
weeks subdooming gloom will not be good before the Washington game.
Speaker 3 (44:56):
I agree, And that's kind.
Speaker 1 (44:57):
Of why I'm like, if it is a twenty one
to seventeen game, right, like, you work on some stuff,
but two and two is better than one.
Speaker 3 (45:03):
And three heading into that game. So I agree. I
agree with you, Joe. Obviously you want to win the
game and you want the offense to look good.
Speaker 1 (45:09):
But I think a lot of Bears fans need to
have the mindset this year that there's gonna be some
clunkers this year. This is not, like he said, it's
not a playoff team. But at this point maybe they
can turn things around and you know, can kind of
build that confidence. But the way they have played through
three weeks of the season. You know, you're you're not
looking toward the playoffs right now, you're just trying to
build confidence and you're trying to build momentum and Ben
(45:31):
Jonson's system, so winning on you know, it was interesting.
We talked about this on Monday. Kevin Bayer talked about
you need to learn how to win, right like, you
need to learn how to win and how to react
after you win. And that was a big focal point
for him Sunday after the game, where it's like, we
want a game, but we can't be going crazy about
it because we won a game, because like we got
(45:51):
to get back to it.
Speaker 3 (45:52):
And I think that's been.
Speaker 1 (45:54):
That's an important step of becoming a winning team, right
which is so so obvious. You need to learn how
to win to win, right Like, that's such a very
obvious statement, but that is an important part where you
need to learn how to win on the road and
you know, make plays that maybe don't look perfect. You
need to learn how to stop this guy or whatever.
So I think for a team that's learning and growing
(46:15):
this year, this will be a very important step in
their development and can you know, obviously have a major
impact on how the rest of the season goes.
Speaker 2 (46:24):
Yeah, you know, we've heard that cliche in every sport,
learning how to win right and pick the sport. We've
heard it from teams, from players. Sure there's truth to that,
So like, what does that mean to me? It means
like if like it's just not let's just say hypothetically,
it's just not working early against the Raiders for whatever reason.
You know, you've made some pre snap penalties, you drop
(46:49):
the ball, you know you made a bad throw, you
know you're just kind of met all of a sudden,
like dang man, it's a third quarter, and we can't
worry about dropping forty on. Somebody got to win the
football game. Okay, So now let's just try to clean
up that little thing. Let's be smart about everything. And
that's where coaching will come into play too here because
(47:09):
we saw too many games. I don't want to keep
revisiting last year, but we will at times or years
past here. But where they got a shot and then
they shoot themselves with the foot to the very end.
So stop doing that. So if you're if it's just
not on, if you don't have your best fastball today,
you don't have your best stuff. As they say in baseball,
how do you how do you get through that and
(47:30):
and get a dou W because because that does matter
next year when hopefully they're better. A lot of these
guys who will be going because it's turnover is inevitable
in every sport, So for certain guys, it's really important
for the quarterback, for the receiver, for some of those
old linemen, for some of those guys the secondary. So
learning moments like that and not trying to do too much.
(47:53):
I think that's hard, especially because probably as an athlete
like you want to you know, you're very confident, and
but someday it's just not going to be there. So
that's when it's like, Okay, look we're gonna have to
win this one ugly because we're just we don't have
our a game today. And then you figure it out.
And that's part of the I think anyway, one way
of looking at the learning to win aspect of it.
Speaker 1 (48:16):
For sure. All right, guys, get it in your final
comments before we say goodbye, we got to hit the road.
I gotta go listen to Ben talk up in hallus Hall.
So if you got any final questions, hit us up
CJ asking the question will there be a pod during
the bye week. We will do a podcast on Monday
recapping the Raiders game. I'll join you guys from Las
(48:37):
Vegas at ten am, so make sure you guys get
that in your in your planning book. And then we'll
probably not do a podcast on Friday.
Speaker 3 (48:44):
Just with the bye we go.
Speaker 1 (48:45):
The Bears do practice on Tuesday and Wednesday, which is
very highly unusual and that was not part of my planning,
but it was, you know. So we'll be off on Friday.
We'll talk on on Monday. Rick chiming any word on
Ozzy maybe playing, We're turing a little bit earlier, No,
I know, Rick, you kind of chimed in a little
bit later. We'll see we have we'll learn more from
(49:07):
Ben Johnson today. I don't know how much we'll give us. Uh,
you know, he likes to play koy with this type
of stuff. So I don't know if we'll tell you
whether Ozzy's going to be starting or not, but it'll
be interesting to watch if you If Darnell is ruled
out today, I think there's a I would put it
at a seventy to thirty chance that theo starts compared
(49:29):
to Ozzy.
Speaker 3 (49:30):
At this point, and I don't know.
Speaker 1 (49:32):
We haven't. We don't watch practices, like we don't know
who's getting the first team reps. We only see them
doing individual drills, and Deal was doing the first team
individual drills next to Jonah Jackson. Whether that changes when
we're gone and they're like, all right, the media has
gone out, let's get Ozzie in there. I don't know
how much you think about that type of stuff, but
at this point Friday morning, I put it at a
(49:52):
seventy thirty shot that theo starts if Darnell can't play,
but obviously that can quickly change on on Sunday. All right, guys,
that's everything that we've got for this week. Thanks so
much for joining us. Just a quick reminder, if you're
joining us on YouTube, thanks so much. Thanks to all
the guys for giving their comments and questions. If you
like what you guys here, make sure you hit the
(50:13):
like button. That's the best way to support us, help
our podcast grow. And if you're listening on the podcast,
going to make the live stream, want to be part
of the conversation, make sure you listen to our check
out our social medias. We'd like to do this every
Friday morning and Monday morning. Sometimes that changes, but make
sure you guys are joining us so you guys can
get into questions like Rick, Robert and CJ did this morning.
(50:35):
Make sure you're following Joe at Joe Aguilar sixty four.
He's got your Friday night coverage and they'll have your
Bears three and out on Sunday afternoon. And make sure
you're following me from Las Vegas. I'll have your full
coverage from Las Vegas. We'll have everything broken down and
take a look at what things kind of are looking.
Speaker 3 (50:51):
At as we head into that week.
Speaker 1 (50:53):
Five by so for Joe and I, thanks so much
for joining us, and we will talk to you guys
on Monday mornings.
Hello, and welcome to the latest episode of the Shaw
Local Bears Insider podcast. I am Chicago Bears reporter Michael Dwojack.
Here what the Northwest heralds Joe Aguilar as we get
you ready for Week four of the NFL. The Bears
are traveling to Las Vegas to take on the Raiders.
Should be a big match up here for the Bears, especially,
(00:22):
you know, with that early Week five by kind of
get a good chance to kind of do a little
progress report for the Bears. But they've got a big
match up here. I know a lot of people are
traveling to the game. I know a lot of Chicago
people are going to the game. It was probably the
biggest you know, when the schedule came out in May,
people were quickly trying to figure out when they're going
(00:42):
to Vegas and worked out perfectly here for the end
of September, Joe. So, you know, there are a lot
of West Coast transplants and there are a lot of
people traveling, so I would expect it to be you know,
I keep getting these emails that it's going to be
a fifty to fifty crowd, so maybe it's going to
be a pretty neutral site for the Bears on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Yeah, I think, you know, as soon as Bears fans
found out they were playing playing in Vegas, especially this
early in the season, I think it was like, well,
if we can do it, let's go. I know people
personally who were of that mindset. So it's a great
trip to go to Vegas anytime, right, but especially if
you get to see the Bears play in that beautiful
new stadium. So it should be a lot of fun
(01:23):
and I would expect to hear a lot of cheers
when the Bears do something well, hopefully they do a
lot of things well Sunday.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
Yeah, it should be really interesting. It's an interesting matchup,
you know, especially with what we've seen the first three
games of the season. Just with what the Bears were
at that oh and two start and then what they
did against the Cowboys. It's a very interesting matchup and
I feel like we'll learn a lot about this Bears team.
But before we get started into our preview, if you're
joining us on YouTube, thanks so much for joining us
on the live stream.
Speaker 3 (01:50):
Appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (01:50):
Make sure you guys get all your you know, questions
in there. We'll do our obviously, our matchups. So if
you got any big matchups, your most valuable Bear, put
all that in the channel. We'll make sure to talk
about it or you know, answer any questions in there.
If you're joining us on the live stream, make sure
you give us a like that's the best way to
support us and kind of help our little live stream
and podcasts here grow. And if you're listening on the podcast,
(02:13):
make sure you're checking in with us. At Bears Insider
Adam dwo Jack ninety four at Joe Aguilar sixty four,
we'll always post when we're going to be doing the
live stream. It's usually Friday morning and Monday morning, but
sometimes they change it to make sure you guys are
checking that out, so if you want to be part
of the conversation. But Joe, it's a three twenty five game,
(02:33):
it's on CBS. You get that late afternoon window for
the Bears again for a second straight week. I don't
think we've had we haven't had a home noon game yet,
so we've only had one noon game so far.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
I know you're a big noon a neon guy, but.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
It should be an interesting matchup here. So Joe, with
a chance to get to two and two here, what
is your big Actually, sorry, I'm having a brain fart here.
Let's talk about the injury report. Not the injury report
is not great. Uh, You've got five did not practices
in the first two days of practice.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
TJ.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
Edwards and Kyler Gordon are still nursing their hamstring injuries.
We haven't seen them, so I doubt, you know, we're
recording this on on Friday morning, I doubt that they'll
be playing after not practicing for a couple of weeks.
Grady Jarrett did not practice with his knee injury for
two straight days, but we saw that last week, so
maybe he'll get back to the practice field on Friday
and then he'll just try to gut it out. It
(03:28):
seems like he's just it seems like he's going to
be nursing that knee injury here for a little bit.
And obviously the two big ones that we saw from
from Sunday, Colston Lovelin and Darnell Right. Colston Lovelin and
Darnell Right both have not practiced this week. Colston obviously
hurt his hip early in that game on Sunday and
didn't come back, and he hasn't practiced all week Darnell
(03:49):
with that elbow injury. He suffered that in the in
the second quarter, and then he came back into the game,
but then he hasn't practiced the rest of the week.
So I wonder what that's like, if that's kind of
like a Greedy Jarrett situation where you know, let's rest
the thing and then we'll try to get Darnell right
back out there on Friday. But it's not good injury
(04:09):
news show, especially you know, heading into the buy this early.
Maybe you're kind of grateful that you have that week
five five. They can get guys you know, healthy, but
you're missing a good chunk of starters on both sides
of the ball at this point.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Yeah, and you're not adding guys back. I mean, we
haven't really seen since the season started. Like we had
Jalen Johnson back for a half and that was it.
Caler Gordon, I don't know, Michael, you know better than me.
I don't know when we're gonna get this guy back.
And they really need him. And then TJ two you
(04:43):
need him, and he tried to come back, you know,
in the second game, he didn't didn't do very well,
so you need him back. And then really to me,
the most unsettling thing this week with the injuries is
that Darnell writ injury. And we talked just the other
day about him not having a great start so far
with the holding penalties, and he just looksn't he hasn't.
(05:05):
It don't look like he's worse than last year. I mean,
he wasn't bad last year. I don't want to go
and get into that again, but they need him. I mean,
it was nice that Braxton Jones played so well against
against the Cowboys, but we got Max Crosby this week.
We the Bears have Max Crosby this week, and you
know that's one of the best defensive players in the league.
(05:28):
He's fun, uh and he can be a wrecking machine.
So that's a concern. But the Darnel right thing, I
guess it's gonna be THEO Bennett. I mean, the you know,
Ozzie Trapillo hasn't been active the last what two weeks now,
and from what I read from guys like yourself that
(05:48):
that THEO has been getting the reps there in practice
this week. If Darnel Wright can't go over over Ozzie,
so he's gonna be THEO. Bennettt and I don't know
that's not I know you're not facing the Bears, aren't
facing a you know, a Super Bowl contender here, but
that's a little unsettling. I don't I don't want to
(06:08):
use the word disturbing, but just unsettling for the Bears,
especially coming off the game they had with Caleb get
the protection he had. You don't want to now have
a starting old lineman out.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
It's not great. I mean, that's just I agree, it's
totally it's not great.
Speaker 3 (06:24):
I mean you.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Mentioned with Kyler and TJ. Ben said week to week
we haven't gotten an updates on them. I think they're
just it feels like one of those things where it's
kind of like, okay, why rush. I'm sure the mindset,
you know, we've learned this early from Ben Johnson. He's
going to be a coach. He's not going to tell
us too much about it, like he will tell us.
You know, you'll see at the at the injury report
(06:45):
a little bit later. So I don't know how much
we'll learn. But those two guys have been weak to
week and I think those I think the mindset probably
is get those hamstrings healed. We don't want this to
be a whole season problem. We've got the week five
by maybe they can get back into week six, get
it back into practice before they play the Commanders.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
They'll have that extra long week because they play.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
On Monday night against the Commanders, so maybe they can
take advantage of that. But yeah, with with Colsta, that
kind of stinks, right, Like we'll see what happens there.
Like he he was targeted on the first play against
the Cowboys, Caleb overthrew him, and then you saw on
that thirty one yard pass to him that how much
of a weapon he can be.
Speaker 3 (07:23):
And you finally saw all right, like we.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Can get this guy going and we can we can
have him be a playmaker. And then unfortunately got that
hip injury.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
So I you know, we'll see what you know.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
Earlier in the week, Ben said that they're not considering
like a serious injury. So maybe he comes back to practice,
maybe not. Maybe it's just a one week thing, or
I guess it'll be a two week thing, and then
he comes back against the Commanders and he'll be fine,
but you're losing.
Speaker 3 (07:48):
A playmaker there, and I agree.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
I wrote about this for Today's papers and yesterday online.
The offensive line hit its groove, and I know, like
there's a context of it's the Cowboys, right like, it's
the context of that they were bringing four guys to
pressure you weren't having to do too much, but still
not allowing a sack for two years and that that
that's a big feat for that group. And I think
we've seen that group goe over the past two games,
(08:13):
right like, they've gotten progressively better the pre snap penalties.
I think that's another thing. There were no pre stap penalties.
Speaker 3 (08:18):
In that game.
Speaker 1 (08:19):
That's been huge for them the first few games of
the season. And I think they're starting to get, you know,
comfortable with each other. So losing Darnell right there, Yes,
I know he's committed four penalties this so far into
the season, but he's still like respectfully like theo Bennett,
it hasn't had any NFL experience other than like when
(08:39):
he was putting in a garbage time and left tackle
against Detroit and then obviously when he filled in for
for Darnell on Sunday, and then Ozzy's been inactive for
the last few weeks. So I don't you know, if
it's if if I'm you know, Pete Carroll, like I'm
putting Max Crosby at whoever they're right tackle, and I'm
going after Caleb because like whoever is going to be
(08:59):
at that position, even if it's Darnell, like he's not
one hundred percent healthy, Like, you've got to you've got
to match a problem there, and you're probably gonna have
to put cole Comet there to chip them.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Yeah, and I know you wrote I think it's in
today's paper. I was reading it about Drew Dolman yesterday.
I practice saying, you know, downplaying the whole we didn't
allow any sacks doesn't mean you played a great game necessarily,
And he's right, right, I mean you it's nice to
build on, but it's not like you know, when you're
a good football team or not, like saying, hey, we
(09:30):
didn't allow a sack today. He's just like, well, that's
we don't expect to allow any sacked. You you should get,
You get should get to the point where this is
the norm.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
And there are still things to work on. No one
ever plays a perfect game, but you know they they
still need work here. I do think they could. You'd
like to see them build off that Dallas game. And
now you're facing again Max Crosby, and that's concerning. I
just don't want to see the Bears really at any unit, offense, defense,
(10:00):
any level. Uh, you don't have a letdown, because I'm
afraid of that. Like we're so we were as Bears
fans said, you're so excited about what happened against Dallas,
and we've good a million times about it was Dallas. Yeah,
but you don't want to have everyone was encouraged. The
Bear's got a lot of flowers this week, and they
deserved it. But I just don't want the ceiling now
(10:22):
come down because and then here we go again, and
then it's like, this is a team you can beat,
even though it's in Vegas, this is a team you
could beat. I think they're favoring the game. So let's
just not have a letdown, especially that offensive line trying
to build off that. And and let's see what what
goes on Sunday.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
Yeah, So I am curious show you know you mentioned earlier,
you know we saw THEO Bennett working in there. I
am curious, you know, from what we see in practice,
like we only see the warm ups, like we're only
there for like the warm ups and then maybe we'll
see like one individual drill that sort of stuff, and
I think, you know, based on that, maybe you can
draw the comparison that THEO would kind of go in
(11:03):
there by I wonder whether THEO was put in the
right tackle because Ozzie was inactive right and maybe that
maybe that does kind of come into the factor of
the Bears feel more confident that THEO can be the
swing tackle and Ozzie can't. But I am curious, you know,
if what your what your thought process is, like, you know,
a couple of weeks ago, I think it was maybe
last Friday, I feel like Ben was pretty complimentary to Ozzie,
(11:27):
saying that he's looked the best he has and that
he's really shown a lot of growth at the right side.
I am curious to see, you know, maybe do you go,
I mean, you drafted this guy as your second round pick, right, like,
do you shouldn't this be a spot where you put
in your second round pick that you drafted this year?
Or do you go with like, you know, like I
think the omned it's been a really really cool story
(11:49):
and I think he's done a really good job and
has impressed a lot during the practices. But isn't this
the spot where you would put in your second round
draft pick from this year for the guy who played
right tackle in college?
Speaker 2 (12:01):
You would think, and again this is I don't want
to say, this is.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
I'm I'm not trying to get you going on your
Ryan Poles rant. I'm not trying to get.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
But you know, I mean, look, you trade you know,
you traded back, and then you draft this guy, and
the second round picks matter and they don't have to
contribute necessarily weeks one, in weeks two or weeks three
even like we don't like, but at some point we
got to know, like what's going on here with this pick?
(12:35):
Why has he been active? And if he is a
right tackle and you can't make him a left tackle
at least not this year, then like you said, okay,
now you're right tackle potentially is outcomes Sunday. He should
be the obvious choice. And if you're not the obvious choice,
I will point the finger again at Ryan Poles because
it's a bad draft pick then and maybe it turns
(12:57):
on that to be good in a year. For me, again,
it takes time, I understand, Yeah, but this isn't looking good.
This is not looking good. When he can't even get
on the field, and now you're you're gonna you know,
get uh you know, the guy who's gonna earn the
job when there's an opportunity like that, Like the next
man up is not you. It's a guy who was undrafted,
(13:20):
you know, a second year player on a Canada. I mean,
that's it's not a good look for the organization. And again,
I never put it on the player unless it's like
a work ethic and the guy who's just been you know,
that's different.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
That's definitely not been the case here. I can tell you,
like just from hearing from him and like everyone else,
like Ozzie's putting into work like whatever situation he's been in.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
So so if it's not on him, then who's it on.
It's on the guy who drafted him. And maybe he
would have gone, you know, he would have been gone
by the end of the second round. The bear is
what I'm missing him. But if you like him that
much and you believe in him, the bottom line is
Ryan Poles does not have a good reputation with really
drafting any position, but especially the offensive line see karinamic
(14:04):
gaji Is. He's still on the team Michael.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
He's injured, he's on injured reserve, shocking.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
Either he's bad or he's or he's hurt. And there's
too many guys as Ryan Poulse is drafted. But I'm again,
I I do tend to be impatient. I would never
make a good GM. I'd get fired, you know, like
an year because I'm too impatient. But at some point,
we got to see what's going on with this guy
(14:30):
with Ozzie and is can he play? But you know, again,
and if there's a team to put him in against,
you know, I wouldn't put it up put him in
against like the Ravens or someone like that, or you know,
someone who's really good. But maybe this is the team,
even though they do have as I mentioned again, they
do have Max Crosby, but maybe you gotta gotta see
what you got here in Ozzie.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Yeah, that's kind of where where I'm kind of conflicted
in in this, in this you know, hypothetical situation if
Darnell can't play, because you know, obviously we're not in
the rooms, we're not we're not watching practice. Like I
think Ben has done a good job. I think, well,
the other thing is like Ben doesn't go out of
his way to compliment someone if they're they don't deserve
the compliment. We've learned that, right. So I think the
fact that he did compliment Ozzie last week and said
(15:13):
that he could be an important part of this team,
whether that's later on in the season or like he
didn't know that Darnell's gonna get hurt, so that could
potentially be this week. But it is an interesting thing
because like, do you do to Ozzie what you did
to Kuran last year? You put him in a road
situation for his first start going against me, Like Max
(15:34):
Crosby will be lining up opposite of the right tackle
regardless of who's there.
Speaker 3 (15:39):
He can move around the line of scrimmage.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
He's very versatile, and he keeps going. He doesn't get tired,
which is like I think that you know, everyone keeps saying,
you know, I know you obviously talk up your opponent
the the week you're about to play them, But I
do think that Max Crosby is kind of like an
unheralded defensive end in this league because I feel like
you hear about, you know, mikeah Parsons, you hear about
Miles Garrett, you hear about all the all the big
guys that then people talk about Max Crosby. But I
(16:02):
feel like, you know, when you watch Max Crosby play man,
he he.
Speaker 3 (16:06):
Gets after it. He's so physical, he's so tough, and
he keeps going.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
So if I'm Pete Carroll, I'm going to put him
opposite of the right tackle, whoever that is. And is
that a spot that you want to put your rookie
second round draft pick and just ruin ruin his confidence?
Like I feel like that that that plays a factor
into it too, right, But it's it's a weird thing
because you eventually need to you need to eventually go
out there and you need to play, and you need
(16:30):
to eventually show that you can play in the NFL.
And I understand that, like these guys are paid well,
they're playing a game, but at the end of the
DA also there's the mental aspect to this man, and
if you're getting destroyed by one of the best pass
rushers in the league on the road, like that could
really stunt your development. And I don't know if the
Bears are ready to do that Dozzy yet.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Yeah, and then with with Colston Lovelin potentially being out
here too. Now you lose a tight end who block,
and so maybe the the other tight end smythe is
it the guy they got the Dolphins in the offseason,
Maybe he's got to play more. So that's just not good.
But I just want to see the offense show that
(17:14):
last week's performance against Dallas wasn't a fluke and they're
capable of dropping thirty every week.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
All right, let's get into that matchup, Joe. We started
like to do our matchups, our most surprising prediction and
our most valuable parent on top of our prediction. So, Joe,
what is the what is the key matchup you'll.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
Be watching on Sunday afternoon?
Speaker 2 (17:34):
Well, it's either either one of the lines, right, So,
but I'll go the Bears d line against the against
the guy who I really wanted to see in Chicago,
like a lot of people in the draft, ash and Genty,
who has not gotten off to a good start with
the Raiders. He's I think he's rushed for less than
one hundred and fifty yards in three games, something something
(17:55):
in that area. Not good. But that's a bad offensive line,
and so maybe he was have been a perfect Bear
because he had no offensive line to run either, So
he had earned the perfect pick here, averaging two point
nine of carry. And but you know, he's explosive, he's fun,
and you know, maybe this is his breakout game? Is
it against this Bears defense, which can has shown in
(18:16):
three weeks, even in the win against Dallas, that hasn't
been able to stop the run. So can the Bears
keep him quiet? Ashton Genty? That is so I'm curious
what they're gonna do. The Bears defense, we know is
really it was a strong effort after early looked like
they might be into trouble against Dallas, but they seem
to write the ship. That long drive the Bears had
(18:37):
it in that third quarter to start the second half
was good and keeping them off the field. But I'm
really curious to see what the Bears defense can do
against Ashton Genty. Not that I want to see Geno
Smith throw the ball forty times necessarily because he's still
a good quarterback. I don't think he's, you know, one
(18:58):
of the top ten quarterbacks the game. He's proven, certainly
with that rebirthy he had in Seattle, that he can
still play and he can be effective. And then of
course he got the tight end brock Bowers. So that's
an interesting matchup too. But can the Bears shut down
the run game and keep ashing Genty quiet?
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Yeah, I'm also looking at that. That was one of
my ones. You know, through three weeks he you know,
genty hasn't had a start strong start to the season.
He's averaging forty eight rushing yards per game three point
one yards per carry.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
He did have a.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
Season high six three three yards off of seventeen carries
in that blowout lost to the Commanders. But it's an
interesting matchup because the Bears have not done well against
the run so far this season. I mean, the Bears
have allowed the sixth most most amount of rushing yards
you know, one thirty nine point three and the per game,
and then they've allowed the six most total rushing yards
(19:52):
four hundred and eighteen. So if there was a get
right game that was going to happen for gent, I mean,
this would be it, right. Like the Bears deeep defense
has not been good. It hasn't. It wasn't good all
of last season. A gal worse without Andrew Billings than
you know o their big defensive guys up the middle.
So that's a big matchup for me, because like you
(20:12):
haven't the Bears haven't stopped that yet. They haven't stopped
the run. You know, if it wasn't for a big
you know, uh fumble for you know, force fumble and
recovery by Stevenson, Dallas was gonna probably score on that
first run on their first drive because they were running
the ball really well. So this is a big spot
for this Bears defense because if the Raiders are able
(20:32):
to get genty going, it could get pretty ugly. Because
he's shown you what he can do in college. I
know that college isn't what the pros is, but if
you're going maybe against the softer run defense like the
Bears have shown to have in the first three weeks,
he could be a really tough weapon to stop. And
then that obviously opens the passing game for Geno Smith
because you have to focus more on the run.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Yeah, that that is a concern because he has the
big play ability to So look, I I still wish
you were in a Bears uniform, but you know again,
I I'm happy with the Colston lovelym pick. We just
got to see more and it's really a shame about
him getting with that hip injury because it didn't sound
like it was a serious injury, and maybe they're just
(21:17):
being safe and you know, they've they've played three games
essentially without using him anyway, and maybe then again you
get the bye week. But anyway, that's certainly a matchup
to watch along with. As we were mentioning about the
Bears offensive line against the Raiders front, and they've got
seven sacks I think it is through for their first
(21:37):
three games, so a little better than the Bears. And
they got some good production from the kid who's playing
at defensive tackle. It was like a seventh round pick
last year. He's got he's got three sacks. So that's
an interesting matchup too.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Yeah, that was gonna be my matchup. I'm looking at
how do you stop Max Crossby? That's my biggest thing.
I mean, you're not gonna stop him. He's gonna get
to Caleb. He's gonna get quarterbacks. It's how do you
limit him? That's gonna be the biggest thing, because you
saw what Caleb can do with uh with the.
Speaker 3 (22:07):
Perfect pocket right like or a near perfect pocket.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
He can throw the ball across the field. He can
you know, he can make plays longer with his legs sometimes,
but when he stays in the pocket, he's so effective
and he's like, you know, it's not perfect, like he
still needs to get rid of some of those arrant throws,
but you started to see what he could potentially look
like in Ben Ben Ben Johnson's offense with him. So,
(22:32):
but if Max Crosby is getting after him and you
can't stop him, that's gonna disrupt everything. That's gonna kill Drives,
It's gonna, you know, really take away you know, Caleb's confidence.
Speaker 3 (22:42):
So I think you need to.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
Come up with a good play and I know he's
probably gonna line up against the right tackles. So do
you put co Comet in there? Do you put Kyle
Manungai in there? A little bit more to you know,
run block? Do you put Roshaw Johnson back in there.
I think he's shown you that he's a good run block.
Obviously he's a great special teamer. You're not gonna become
very clear that you're not going to use him as
a as a running back, but you might as well
(23:03):
use him as a run blocker. But you got to
scheme things up pretty well, and maybe that is you know,
do you get the short passes going, do you throw?
Do you throw? Do you you know, set up more
runs opposite of where Max Crosby set up, Like you
gotta you gotta eliminate him from this game, and you
can't let him dictate this game because if he dictates
this game, then it's gonna be a long afternoon. And
(23:24):
I don't think you're gonna see the offensive performance that
you've been wanting to see for a second consecutive week
from Caleb. So that that's really my biggest matchup. How
do you limit Max Crosby Because if you don't limit him,
he's just going to dictate how the game goes, and
it's gonna be a long afternoon for that offensive line,
regardless of where he is.
Speaker 2 (23:43):
And I think it's a big test for Caleb too.
I mean, any good quarterback knows where that one guy is,
that one guy that can disrupt things, can cause a turnover,
can cause a negative play. So this is a good
test for Caleb because Dallas. The Micah Parsons era is
over in Dallas, so he didn't have to deal with
(24:03):
that last last week against another disruptor, and we saw
the Bears themselves, So you know, when you get a turnover.
It just takes one. It could really change the momentum
of a football game. So we can't have that. Can't
have the sacks and just know where he's at and
if you have to throw one into the third row,
do it. You just don't take the negative place. He's
(24:26):
been better at that this year progressively for really, from
game to game, and let's see more of that act.
We just don't want to see this offense take a
step back after what they did against Dallas.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
Robert is chiming in from across the pond. Get to
hear for me, Robert worried about the run game on
both sides of the ball could be a breakout game
for genty here. Yeah, we were talking a little bit
about that earlier, Robert, But you know, Joe mentioned that
about for Gente. But I agree, you know, both sides
of the running attack, Like you need to get your
own running attack going as well, and that'll really open
things up. You know, it's been interesting because when you
(25:00):
look at the tape, the blocks seem good, right, and
the blocks seem like they're working. And I wouldn't say
that DeAndre Swift and it's not only on him, but
I wouldn't say that the running backs are going the
wrong way per se.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
It just isn't clicking for some reason. I don't know
whether like it's the timing off.
Speaker 1 (25:16):
And you know, Ben Johnson and the players talked about
on Monday, how you know, as an offensive unit together,
they watched the runs and they were talking about how
this is the offensive lineman's role, this is the running
backs role, this.
Speaker 3 (25:28):
Is what the run back blocker is supposed to do.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
Right, So it's very and DeAndre Swift said this earlier
this week that they're close, like it's a small thing
that they need to fix in order to get the
run game going. So I don't know, maybe you're encouraged
by that, but maybe it is encouraging to hear that
they know what they need to be doing and maybe
it's that little thing that they need to fix. But
it needs to be higher there. And they average three
(25:52):
yards a run against the Cowboys and you just can't,
you know, you just can't do that if you want
to succeed in this NFL.
Speaker 2 (26:00):
Well, I gotta tell you, I was surprised to see
the Bears are fifteenth in their rushing game.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
Yeah, the rushing gars numbers aren't terrible like they're mixed.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Fifteenth cause I'm thinking it's just watching the games, it
looks like, well they must be twenty sixth, twenty seventh.
The know, one of the five worst teams in the
league running the football, they're not, yea. So it's maybe
more of an indictment on the entire league because there
are other teams that are struggling to run the football,
and you know, it's been a passing league for for
(26:31):
many years now. But still, I mean, if if there
are things we know in Chicago as Bears fans, we
know what good defense looks like. And I don't want
to go all nostalgic and everything, but we know what
good running games look like. We know what good running
backs look like from watching the greats, so we know
(26:52):
this isn't it. I mean, you know, even guys like
Jordan Howard were more productive, you know, I mean not
even talking about the you know, the top five great
running backs of all time, and Jordan Howard's on allis.
But you know, you had a couple of good years
there for a while, you know, so, but this just
(27:12):
looks bad. But then you look at the rest of
the league, like there are a lot of teams that
are struggling running the football. So but the Bear's got
to be better at that. We've talked about it. You know,
three games, they're zero for three with the production and
the running Ita.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
Yeah, I would agree, And you know, Robert brings up
a good point. You know, we now know that Caleb
can do with that pressure with no runing, Crosby and
company will have a field day. Yeah, totally, I would agree.
And then it would have been nice to nap U Scataboo.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
I agree.
Speaker 1 (27:37):
I really wanted the massive Rapscataboo obviously when they didn't
get the U, you know, when they didn't get Henderson
and and those guys, you know, early in the second round,
I was like, all right, like.
Speaker 3 (27:47):
Maybe they'll get Scataboo.
Speaker 1 (27:48):
But you know, you can't talk I don't know, like
you can't talk about the past at this point.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
You can't.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
I mean, we could, but that'll be another like our podcast, Joe,
what is your big surprise for Sunday afternoon?
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Big surprise for Sunday afternoon. It's a good question, Michael.
I think I think the Bears defense will continue to
get takeaways. I think they I don't know I'm saying that.
I think they're gonna get some pressure on that Raiders
(28:26):
offensive line, which isn't good. Again, if they have a
big game, it's not like, you know, here they come,
here come the Mighty Bears, and they're gonna get six
sacks Saturday. But I think they'll find a way to
get some pressure, and I think they're gonna build off
that game. Again, we're not gonna get the same kinds
of games that we got from Tremaine Edmunds and Tyreek
(28:49):
Stevenson every every Sunday. If we do. I mean, you know,
those guys are going to the Pro Bowl, and I
don't know if that's gonna happen. But I think the
Bears defense has another opportunit unity to not dominate, but
certainly make an impact, get some turnovers. And I think, again,
I still believe in Denna sal And even you know,
(29:11):
though you know he authored the fifty two point fiasco
against Detroit, he it's his defense that's on him. So
but I do think they can especially you're playing a
quarterback in Geno Smith who's good, but he's not better
than Dak Prescott. So I think the Bears defense is
(29:33):
gonna I don't want to say have a game quote unquote,
but I think they'll be able to get some turnovers
and get a little more pressure. I'm not as confident
in that, but I think they'll get some turnovers come.
Speaker 1 (29:45):
So yeah, I like that pic. I like that a
lot because, especially with Geno Smith at quarterback, you saw
what he did against Monday Night Football. He's prone to
make mistakes. Like the joke is like one week you
get good Geno Smith, the other week you get bad
Geno Smith. And I think the trend right now is.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
That you're gonna get bad Gino Smith, and.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
He's prone to make mistakes. Gino Smith is what he
is at this point in this league, however long he had.
This Obviously his rejuvenation in Seattle Pee Carroll, he's reunited
with Pee Carroll in Las Vegas.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
Gino Smith can make you plays, he can do stuff.
But then you also saw what Gino Smith.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
Could do last year against the when he was with Seattle,
when they came to Chicago late in the year. You know,
it was a sixty three game, Like you're not gonna
get you know, you're not gonna get a fantastic performance sometimes,
So I think that's that'll be a big thing, and
the turnovers will be big if you can pick him
off a couple of times, if you can force a
fumble here and there. You saw what that does for
your for your offense. So I like that pick I
(30:45):
like what what that could do. And I think that
will really help the Bears offense if they can, you know,
create some turnovers.
Speaker 3 (30:52):
So I like that.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
My surprise prediction is going to be that the Bears
offense keeps clicking. And I think the fact that you know,
Deklin Doyle was asked about this, like do you not
you know, since it's gonna be like a fifty to
fifty crowd for the most part on Sunday, do you
not have to go to a silent count because you
(31:16):
know you're not gonna have as much crowd noise. And
he talked about like you probably still like still a
road game, Like you don't know what you're gonna get,
Like you could get a lot of noise, So like
they're not gonna not practice a silent counter or whatever.
But I do wonder whether that plays a role in
communication for Caleb. But maybe the communication isn't as tough
as it was in Detroit, Like, I don't think it's
(31:37):
gonna be as tough as Detroit at all. Like I
couldn't hear myself thinking Detroit. I don't think we're gonna eat.
I don't think we're gonna see that in Las Vegas.
So I think that the communication is gonna look good
and I think that they continue to, you know, continue
to grow as an offense. I think they're gonna continue
to you know, Caleb's gonna pass the ball around. He
might have to scramble more than he did against the Cowboys.
That's just gonna be inevitable. Maybe you get the run
(31:58):
game going more. But I think the offense looks like
it did, if not a little bit better than the
Dallas Because I think that this will be a pretty
favorable road environment for this team at this point.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
Yeah, I like that. I sure hope it does. And again, look,
I'm sure every football team from high school to college
to pros talks about not giving up any sacks. And
again that's not just on the old line, but it's
on the quarterback too. And let's just just avoid the
negative plays. That was such a refreshing game against Dallas
(32:31):
because again that no pre snaf penalties, horay, finally, and
no sacks allowed, horay. And that's all you have to do.
You don't have to play your a game like against
Detroit in order to beat this Raiders team. And I
know it's any given Sunday, and you know, you know
the Browns beat the Packers how it happens, so you
(32:53):
don't have to play. So look, I don't like to
win twenty to seventeen, but if that yeah, to win
twenty to seventeen, then they win twenty to seventeen. I
want to see the offense continue to flourish, though, and
I probably wouldn't be happy with twenty points. No one
would be after scoring thirty one whatever it was against Dallas.
So let's keep it going. I think there's a good
opportunity for them. There's certainly a confident group right now.
(33:16):
Just don't take the negative place and and particularly don't
get sacked and throw it away, because you're gonna get
chances against this Raiders team in this defense. I think.
Speaker 1 (33:26):
Other surprise predictions Robert saying that Montage gets Montese wife
gets three sacks. Wow, Robert, that that would be a surprise.
I would be surprised by that. But I like where
you're thinking Rick chiming and joining us. My surprise is
one hundred yards rushing for Swift. I could see that
if you're trying to, especially can't kind of stay away
from Max Crosby. You're trying to it's almost there. It's
(33:50):
like for some like you like watch it and you're like, man,
that should be clicking, right, Like it looks good, but
it's not clicking for some reason. So I like that
prediction to Rick. I think they you would see you
can see that big performance before we get the most
valuable bear, Joe. I'm gonna do this one specifically for you.
I think you see Shamar Turner on on on Sunday.
(34:10):
He's he's been, He's he you know, obviously looked. He
looked a little bit, you know in the second. You know,
it's his first game playing against the Cowboys. He's been
trying to work himself back up after missing all of
training camp with that ankle injury. He started to kind
of get after the offensive line of the Cowboys as
a game, kind of progressing that second wave. And I
think if Grady Jared doesn't an hundred percent, I think
(34:33):
you can see him be a little bit more impactful
this week. And I think you're gonna hear Shamar Turner's name.
Whether that's creating more of a pressure, I'm not gonna
be here to like say that he's gonna get his
first career sack. Maybe he does, but I do think
he's gonna have more of an impact than you saw
in his debut last week. And I think that he's
He's not a finished product by any means, but I
(34:53):
think he's starting to click.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
Well. That'd be a tremendous surprise and a great story
if he can do something positive. Because I'd seen on
social media that all the snaps he played against Dallas.
I know it was late is basically with Dallas playing
catch up, but he looked very Zach Pickens ish. I mean,
(35:18):
I didn't see him move anybody. I didn't see like, Wow, again,
I've never coached D line. I'm probably big enough now
I could play D line. I never played D line.
But he's boy. This second round pick and one of
the listeners mentioned before Camp SCA. But look, that's not
(35:41):
second guessing. Bears fans wanted so many teams wanted many
after he flashed in college last year. That's we could
use him a lot more than Shamark Turner may so
I would that would be wonderful if Shamar Turner announced
his presence as a Chicago Bear Sunday in Vegas.
Speaker 1 (36:01):
One more surprise prediction. DJ gets rolling. CJ's saying this.
DJ gets rolling with the week with two touchdowns, all right, Joe,
most valuable Bear.
Speaker 2 (36:10):
You.
Speaker 1 (36:10):
I didn't even look up the score because I know
I didn't win. Caleb Williams, you had him, you used
your first quarterback pick.
Speaker 3 (36:18):
He obviously had a season day.
Speaker 1 (36:20):
Colston Loveland had one catch and he got injured, so
obviously Colston wasn't gonna win that one, unfortunately. So I
am winning two one in the season so far, and
I have the first pick this week, and I am
not going to burn my I am not burning my
second quarterback pick. I reused one earlier this year. I'm
(36:40):
going to go with I don't think I went with
him yet this year. I'm going with Rome, or maybe
I did go I can't remember if I did, but
I'm going I'm going with I'm going with Rome. He's
coming back home. He's coming back to Las Vegas where
he grew up obviously before he went on to Washington,
and I think it's a homecoming game for him.
Speaker 3 (37:02):
I think he's going to He's going to be a.
Speaker 1 (37:04):
Big target for Caleb. You saw, you've seen already through
three weeks how much of a target he can be.
And I think that those two continue their rapport, especially
I think they could potentially have a late touchdown that'd
be really big.
Speaker 3 (37:15):
So Rome is going to be my most valuable bear.
Speaker 2 (37:19):
That's a good one. I was gonna go with Rome myself,
and I'll go a different direction. I sure hope he
can just continue to build off he's what he's done,
and you know, I think it's clear that combination Caleb
in Rome is developing and I think the best is
yet to come. I just want to see that continue.
(37:39):
And he doesn't have to catch eight passes every week,
but I think he should be an obvious target once
they're get in the red zone and even outside, you know,
when they're really within striking distance to the end zone
that Caleb should be looking for and has been so
good pick I'm excited to see what he can just
continue to do throughout the season. Rome, Uh, I dodn't say,
(38:01):
so I will go. I'm saying like that. If it's
gonna make do something, I just don't know where it's
gonna come from. Whether it's gonna be Tremaine Tyree, Monteste Sweat.
I can go a lot of directions. I would sure
love a three sack game for Montese Sweat. Who wouldn't,
But I'm gonna go.
Speaker 1 (38:19):
With Montest I.
Speaker 2 (38:21):
I don't know why I'll go with Monteste Sweat. And
even though he he got that fourth quarter sack when
you know the game was pretty much decided by then
against Dallas. Sometimes you know, even even pro athletes need confidence,
and maybe you know he's he's off the schneid here
with with the first sack, and I think he gets
(38:41):
a couple, and I think maybe he silences some people
who are still skeptical, including including myself. Uh, you know
a lot of Bears about can he can keep it up?
And can he play like the guy he did the
first several games when the Bears got him two years ago.
So I'm gonna go with Monteste Sweat fingers crossed, and
(39:02):
we'll see see if he If you notice a month
Sunday in Vegas.
Speaker 1 (39:07):
He's definitely someone that you need to see more of.
Right and you obviously saw that first sack against the
Cowboys late in the fourth quarter, which was good to see.
Maybe that kind of propels him moving forward. But yeah,
if you listen, if you're gonna win this game, you
need to get Montest what going. You've been able you
were able to win last week kind of with having
him make some sort of an impact. So yeah, I
(39:28):
think that that'll be a good pick. Robert chiming in,
he agrees he's going with Rome. Beginning to be a
safe bed Rick is also going with Rome. Homecoming game
makes sense. Sure he goes off, all right, Joe Bears
and Raiders three twenty five Central Time on CBS. What
(39:49):
happens Sunday afternoon?
Speaker 2 (39:52):
I think they keep scoring, and I think because to me,
you know, if they have to win twenty seventeen whatever,
I know, a W is a W, but you you
don't want to see this offense look normal again. You
want to see it continue to progress. This is a
good team to do it against. They're not gonna drop
(40:12):
fifty two. They're not the Detroit Lions against the Bears yet.
But I think they're gonna score and I think they're
gonna score thirty five I'll say they win thirty five
to two twenty four, all right.
Speaker 1 (40:27):
That'd be pretty I mean, I'm sure a lot of
Bears fans would be happy with that. Looking at the line, right,
I think it's still this game is still pick them.
The Raiders are still one point five or minus one
and a half point favorite. That's basically a pick them, especially,
you know, if you go with the home stuff. And
that's kind of how I feel in this game. I
(40:48):
can see either way. I could see. I can see
this game going either both ways.
Speaker 3 (40:53):
I can see this team putting.
Speaker 1 (40:54):
Up a good performance against the Raiders team that I
don't think is perfect or great or anything like that,
especially the early in the season. But I can also see,
you know, their playmakers make plays. I can see Max
Crosby impacting this game. I can see Ashton Genty finding
his own I can see Geno Smith getting things going.
So I think that it is a pick up game.
(41:15):
I do think that the Bears win this game. This
is a really important game, you know, for how important
a Week four game could be. You know, Robert is saying,
you know, chimes in and says, this big one could
be a crossroads for our season. Listen, you go into
the Buy two and two, you're feeling much better than
you go into the Buy one and three. Going to
Washington in week six on the road on Monday Night football,
(41:35):
where you got to deal with the whole well for
the whole week, you're going to be hearing about the
Hail Mary.
Speaker 3 (41:41):
That's just what the whole game is going to be.
Speaker 1 (41:42):
That's what the whole week leading up to that game
is going to be, is just talking about the Hail
Mary and losing that game. So do you want to
head into that matchup at two and two or do
you want to head into that matchup one and three.
Speaker 3 (41:53):
I think that this team.
Speaker 1 (41:56):
I think this team has said all the same stuff.
We'll see if they practice the rightstuf. I think this
ends up being a twenty one to seventeen Bears win.
It's a low scoring game, you know, twenty one seventeen,
you know it's not sixty three. But I think the
Bears make enough plays to win on the road and
head into the Buy with the two and two record.
I think they build that momentum and I like what
(42:17):
I'm seeing from them so far, and I think they
know what's ahead of them. I don't think they're you know,
looking past the Raiders, but I think they know that
they need to kind of come back from that zero
to two start and kind of redeem themselves heading into
the buy.
Speaker 2 (42:30):
Yeah, you don't want to be sitting on this law
if they lose, especially if they lay an egg and
they just look bad. You don't want to be sitting
on that for two weeks. But then again, even if
they win, like you're saying when you say twenty one
to seventeen, even if they win by that margin, let's
not lose sight of the fact that, again, this season
is all about the offense. Do we have the franchise
(42:52):
quarterback and do we have the right coach? That's got
to be trending up. And I'm not saying you're gonna
score thirty one every game after that, You're gonna be
scoring higher and higher and higher, But twenty one would
not be satisfying. I know, wins the most important thing,
but are they a playoff team this year? The Bears
probably not, unless all of a sudden boom, Is this
(43:13):
really the acceleration the maturation of this football team as
a whole really just starts to kick in the high gear?
I don't know if we're there yet. I don't know
that's gonna happen. But it's still about the offense and
Caleb developing, the receivers developing, the O line developing outside
of Joe Toney who has nothing to prove, So we
(43:36):
still need to see a lot of that. But if
they win a stinker, let's say they're gonna do all.
You know, hey, you know we're learning how to win.
It's good, we got momentum. I don't know. I think
it'll be kind of a Matt feeling by Bears fan
if they win a stinker, But so again, I want
them to win as a Bears fan, but I want
(43:58):
to see this offense continue to get better. And this
is a team you can do it. You're not playing
the Philadelphia Eagles. You know, you're not playing a raven.
You're not playing a juggernaut here. If you want to
start establishing yourself as a football team, you got to
start winning these games. And it would be nice to
get your first road win, you know, and again, because
(44:20):
you're gonna be sitting at it now for two weeks,
and you'd rather be feeling good for two weeks and
knowing we were even we got better. We got better
this week than we were even against Dallas when they
played well on both sides of the football.
Speaker 1 (44:36):
Rick chiming in, he's got a Bears win thirty four
to twenty four. CJ. Chiming In twenty one to fourteen
Bears last minute touchdown from Kleb. Yeah, I agree. I
think you know, this is a you know, Rick chimed
in and said, we have to win this game. Two
weeks subdooming gloom will not be good before the Washington game.
Speaker 3 (44:56):
I agree, And that's kind.
Speaker 1 (44:57):
Of why I'm like, if it is a twenty one
to seventeen game, right, like, you work on some stuff,
but two and two is better than one.
Speaker 3 (45:03):
And three heading into that game. So I agree. I
agree with you, Joe. Obviously you want to win the
game and you want the offense to look good.
Speaker 1 (45:09):
But I think a lot of Bears fans need to
have the mindset this year that there's gonna be some
clunkers this year. This is not, like he said, it's
not a playoff team. But at this point maybe they
can turn things around and you know, can kind of
build that confidence. But the way they have played through
three weeks of the season. You know, you're you're not
looking toward the playoffs right now, you're just trying to
build confidence and you're trying to build momentum and Ben
(45:31):
Jonson's system, so winning on you know, it was interesting.
We talked about this on Monday. Kevin Bayer talked about
you need to learn how to win, right like, you
need to learn how to win and how to react
after you win. And that was a big focal point
for him Sunday after the game, where it's like, we
want a game, but we can't be going crazy about
it because we won a game, because like we got
(45:51):
to get back to it.
Speaker 3 (45:52):
And I think that's been.
Speaker 1 (45:54):
That's an important step of becoming a winning team, right
which is so so obvious. You need to learn how
to win to win, right Like, that's such a very
obvious statement, but that is an important part where you
need to learn how to win on the road and
you know, make plays that maybe don't look perfect. You
need to learn how to stop this guy or whatever.
So I think for a team that's learning and growing
(46:15):
this year, this will be a very important step in
their development and can you know, obviously have a major
impact on how the rest of the season goes.
Speaker 2 (46:24):
Yeah, you know, we've heard that cliche in every sport,
learning how to win right and pick the sport. We've
heard it from teams, from players. Sure there's truth to that,
So like, what does that mean to me? It means
like if like it's just not let's just say hypothetically,
it's just not working early against the Raiders for whatever reason.
You know, you've made some pre snap penalties, you drop
(46:49):
the ball, you know you made a bad throw, you
know you're just kind of met all of a sudden,
like dang man, it's a third quarter, and we can't
worry about dropping forty on. Somebody got to win the
football game. Okay, So now let's just try to clean
up that little thing. Let's be smart about everything. And
that's where coaching will come into play too here because
(47:09):
we saw too many games. I don't want to keep
revisiting last year, but we will at times or years
past here. But where they got a shot and then
they shoot themselves with the foot to the very end.
So stop doing that. So if you're if it's just
not on, if you don't have your best fastball today,
you don't have your best stuff. As they say in baseball,
how do you how do you get through that and
(47:30):
and get a dou W because because that does matter
next year when hopefully they're better. A lot of these
guys who will be going because it's turnover is inevitable
in every sport, So for certain guys, it's really important
for the quarterback, for the receiver, for some of those
old linemen, for some of those guys the secondary. So
learning moments like that and not trying to do too much.
(47:53):
I think that's hard, especially because probably as an athlete
like you want to you know, you're very confident, and
but someday it's just not going to be there. So
that's when it's like, Okay, look we're gonna have to
win this one ugly because we're just we don't have
our a game today. And then you figure it out.
And that's part of the I think anyway, one way
of looking at the learning to win aspect of it.
Speaker 1 (48:16):
For sure. All right, guys, get it in your final
comments before we say goodbye, we got to hit the road.
I gotta go listen to Ben talk up in hallus Hall.
So if you got any final questions, hit us up
CJ asking the question will there be a pod during
the bye week. We will do a podcast on Monday
recapping the Raiders game. I'll join you guys from Las
(48:37):
Vegas at ten am, so make sure you guys get
that in your in your planning book. And then we'll
probably not do a podcast on Friday.
Speaker 3 (48:44):
Just with the bye we go.
Speaker 1 (48:45):
The Bears do practice on Tuesday and Wednesday, which is
very highly unusual and that was not part of my planning,
but it was, you know. So we'll be off on Friday.
We'll talk on on Monday. Rick chiming any word on
Ozzy maybe playing, We're turing a little bit earlier, No,
I know, Rick, you kind of chimed in a little
bit later. We'll see we have we'll learn more from
(49:07):
Ben Johnson today. I don't know how much we'll give us. Uh,
you know, he likes to play koy with this type
of stuff. So I don't know if we'll tell you
whether Ozzy's going to be starting or not, but it'll
be interesting to watch if you If Darnell is ruled
out today, I think there's a I would put it
at a seventy to thirty chance that theo starts compared
(49:29):
to Ozzy.
Speaker 3 (49:30):
At this point, and I don't know.
Speaker 1 (49:32):
We haven't. We don't watch practices, like we don't know
who's getting the first team reps. We only see them
doing individual drills, and Deal was doing the first team
individual drills next to Jonah Jackson. Whether that changes when
we're gone and they're like, all right, the media has
gone out, let's get Ozzie in there. I don't know
how much you think about that type of stuff, but
at this point Friday morning, I put it at a
(49:52):
seventy thirty shot that theo starts if Darnell can't play,
but obviously that can quickly change on on Sunday. All right, guys,
that's everything that we've got for this week. Thanks so
much for joining us. Just a quick reminder, if you're
joining us on YouTube, thanks so much. Thanks to all
the guys for giving their comments and questions. If you
like what you guys here, make sure you hit the
(50:13):
like button. That's the best way to support us, help
our podcast grow. And if you're listening on the podcast,
going to make the live stream, want to be part
of the conversation, make sure you listen to our check
out our social medias. We'd like to do this every
Friday morning and Monday morning. Sometimes that changes, but make
sure you guys are joining us so you guys can
get into questions like Rick, Robert and CJ did this morning.
(50:35):
Make sure you're following Joe at Joe Aguilar sixty four.
He's got your Friday night coverage and they'll have your
Bears three and out on Sunday afternoon. And make sure
you're following me from Las Vegas. I'll have your full
coverage from Las Vegas. We'll have everything broken down and
take a look at what things kind of are looking.
Speaker 3 (50:51):
At as we head into that week.
Speaker 1 (50:53):
Five by so for Joe and I, thanks so much
for joining us, and we will talk to you guys
on Monday mornings.
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