October 15, 2025 • 53 mins
The Chicago Bears came back Monday night to beat the Washington Commanders on a last-second field goal. Shaw Local's Michal Dwojak and Joe Aguilar break down the win and talk about what it means for the rest of the season.
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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 Shaw Local Bears Insider podcast.
I Am Chicago Bears be reported Michael Duojack here with
Joe Aguilar as we talk to you folks on Tuesday afternoon.
A different time for us obviously with the Monday night
football game, travel and all that sort of stuff, but
Joe and I are able to talk to you folks
(00:22):
here this Tuesday afternoon as we recap a crazy game
on Monday Night football between the Bears and the Commanders.
Bears getting revenge after last year's Hail Mary game. Maybe
we'll finally put the Haill Mary game to bed. But
the Bears walk off with Jake Moody hitting a last
(00:43):
second field goal to get the Bears twenty five to
twenty four win over the Commanders over in Maryland. It's
a game that the Bears never win, which I feel
like was really telling about. You know, we'll get into
all the details and all this sort of stuff about
what happened, will worked, what didn't, but Joe, for this
team to somehow win that game, I feel like that
(01:06):
just tells you about you know, five games in whatever
you want to call it, but it really feels like
this is just different under Ben Johnson than obviously what
we saw last year.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Yeah, and these were the games they lost last year,
not only the failed Merry game, which hopefully we'll only
have single digit times. We'll talk about that again the
rest of the year. It'll come up again, surely. But
it's nice to see them winning close games. It's nice
to see them winning games at the end when coaching matters,
When they're executing at the end of a half, whether
(01:39):
it's the first half or the second half, it's different.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Are they there yet? No?
Speaker 2 (01:46):
You know, I heard the guys on ESPN talk this morning.
Are they pretenders? Are they contenders? You know? It's like,
I'm not going there. I'm not saying they're playoff contenders.
We still have a lot of foot gay games left
to be played this season, but it's certainly trending in
the right direction, and three wins with a good chance
(02:06):
to make it four in a row is where we're
at right now. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
I mean it goes back to what we talked about.
I feel like I keep like restating this fact, but
sometimes you just have to win ugly in the NFL,
right Like good teams win ugly. Good teams lose like
that's just how it kind of goes in the NFL.
And you found a way to win a game, right, Like,
that's the best way to put it. You were not
perfect by any means, and we'll get into obviously the
(02:30):
imperfect parts and the good parts and all that sort
of stuff, but found a way to win a football game,
and that's really all that matters. And that's something that
this team just didn't do last year, even with the talent,
even when they were in good positions to win, they
always found a way to lose games. And now they've
won back to back games on their last possession, and
I think that really, you know, doesn't mean they're going
(02:52):
to win the super Bowl and make the playoffs, win
the division. No, that doesn't mean any of that, but
I think it shows you the progress that they're kind
of taking here. If you're joining us on the live stream,
thank you so much for joining us, especially since I
know we're doing this last minute. Robert is in the
chat joining us from England. Great to hear from you, Robert.
So glad we won this way, we're allowed to talk
(03:13):
about the bad officiating. I'm sure Joe and I will
talk about that as the game kind of moves on,
But thanks so much for joining us on the live stream.
If you like what you're hearing, make sure you like us.
That's the best way to support us, best way to
kind of spread the word about the live stream. And
if you're listening on the podcast, make sure you check
us out on if you want to join the conversation.
(03:34):
We always get some good conversations with the folks here
in our comments, or if you just want to listen
live or watch our bet you know our bookcases. Joe's
got a better bookcase situation than I do, but I'm
building toward it. But if you want to watch us
talk and want to be part of the live stream,
obviously make sure you're following us there as well. All right, Joe,
let's get to let's just get into it. Obviously, every
(03:55):
game day or every recamp, we like to do three winners,
three losers. We'll eat talk about who we think we're
winners and losers. And you know, I feel like this
is a perfect game for this because I feel like
we're not going to struggle with either category, where even
though the Bears won in the last second fashion, I
feel like there's a lot to talk about so I
will start off with the positive. Joe, who what's your
(04:17):
number one winner after yesterday's win. There are a couple
obvious ones I'll go.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
I'll just pick the running game, and DeAndre Swift in particular,
he was the MVP. I don't did ither was have
him last week as our MVP for this game. I
think you did have him. I thought they'd be able
to run the ball better.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
I was hoping. I was hesitant about it, and look
at them. My hesitation paid off.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
That was a good call, and I said they I
thought they would have an improved running game because the
week off, and we'll see if they're coached up, if
they're capable of being coached up, if the coaching staff
knows what it's doing. Ding ding ding ding ding. I
mean right off the bat, and I'm thinking, how long
can this last? Where they're getting four or five, six,
seven yards of pop? And it continued through four quarters.
(04:59):
It was consistent every single quarter they ran the football game.
We knew DeAndre Swift was better than what he's seen
and or what we've seen and the numbers that he
had going into that game, but that was that was
his game. He's got games like that in him. He
does every year, and he was special last night. But
the commitment to the run game and the success, you mean,
you know you can commit to it, but if you're averaging,
(05:21):
you know, two point one to carry after ten carries,
you got to start throwing football a little bit to
move the change. But they moved the football last night.
Caleb didn't have to be great, and he wasn't great,
but they got the win. I'd like to see him
score more points. But the running game, let's go. And
we we've said, you know, once they start running the
football consistently, we'll see a better passing game.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Well it didn't.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
They really didn't compliment each other last night as I
thought it might. But they ran the football effectively, and
DeAndre Swift had himself a game. Not to even mention
the fifty five yard touchdown catch that really got that
fourth quarter comeback going.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Yeah, I mean Deandres have had a season nine hundred
and eight rushing yards, he had sixty seven receiving guards
and yeah, I agree, he really he is the reason.
It's not just him, but he is a major reason
why offensively you won this game. I mean that fifty
five yard touchdown reception where Caleb. Caleb admitted after the
game that that play call went horribly like he it
(06:17):
wasn't at all what he wanted it to be. He
had to adjust midplay, he said, but he was still
able to get that ball over to DeAndre Swift. He
shimmied in the sideline. From my vantage point, I thought
he was going to go outside or out of bounce,
but he stayed in bounced, and obviously that really turned
the game. There was a twenty six to twenty four
game at that point. Obviously we know everything else that
(06:38):
kind of happened after that, But yeah, I agree DeAndre Swift,
it just kind of felt like he was. Man. Feel,
it feels like he's been scratching right, like he's been
so close with a lot of these games. He's been,
you know, swallowed up a lot in the first four
games of the season, so you felt like he was
due and man that he kind of give you a
big performance like he showed you. I think I talked
(07:00):
about this when I chose him to be my most
valuable Bear, but he showed you. What he can do
is a pass catching threat, like if you get the
ball to him, and like at least a little bit
of open space and some decent blocking, he's gonna get
you ten, fifteen, twenty yards. Obviously he got your fifty
five yards on that play, So yeah, I agree, Joe.
This felt like a big game for him and it
was good to see the other guys get, you know,
(07:22):
running Roshawn Johnson got his first carry of the season
for six yards, A kylem young guy, got some good looks.
He had nineteen yards. He looked good running the bomb.
Kind of surprised at that number at nineteen was a
key has got a couple who got one attempt for
four and then Caleb obviously with his scrambles, finished with
minus too. But yeah, I agree. I think DeAndre Swift
is a major reason why you're able to win that game.
(07:45):
And it's good to see him kind of step up
here after a slow start and I will I'll think
you sorry, go ahead, thought I thought you were gonna
go to your number one.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
I know you're good one hundred percent and we'll see
more games like that. I'm not saying you see it's
Sunday again too. But he's got it in him and
he was due Bears fans, due the team was due
to have a game like that running the football.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
I'll piggyback. I'll kind of piggyback off of your first
one with my first winner.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
The offensive line was a big was a big winner.
They they are like they are the reason why I
think DeAndre obviously, you know, he meets some nice cuts.
He made some really good runs, but he had lanes
and this, like Monday night, was the first time where
you can finally say okay, like he actually has lanes
to run through, Like I thought. Darnell Wright had one
of his best performances, you know, of his career, let
(08:40):
alone this season, like after that four like after that
four games start, which is insane because he had a
cast or whatever you want to call it on his
right elbow, So you kind of figure after coming back
from an injury, you'd be like, well, you know, how's
he gonna look. Is he gonna be limited in that
kind of stuff? Like he put together a great performance.
I think you're seeing Drew dahl And and Jonah Jackson
(09:01):
building some chemistry, and Theo Bennett in his first start
at left tackle. He looked really good. I mean he
looked really dominating down the field when he was blocking
on runs. Obviously, Joe Tone, he plays a big part
of that. It's funny, I feel like Joe Toney obviously.
I feel like when you're an All Pro, you just
kind of get lost in the shuffle because it's kind
of like you're expected to, you know, be an All Pro.
(09:23):
But I saw I saw an NFL Next Gen stance
had that he did or which which whichever one of
those places. He didn't allow a pressure or a sack
in the game, and you just kind of expect that
from Joe Tune at this point. But yeah, I think
everyone on the offensive line did a great job. I
think Drew domind sure, maybe there were a couple of
high snaps. The ball was really wet. It was not
good conditions to play football in in suburban Maryland yesterday.
(09:47):
But uh, the offensive line, that's exactly what you want. Now.
Are you gonna get that every single week? I don't know,
but it's really encouraging to see that that that they
were able to finally click. And that's the major reason
why you know that offensive you know, running attack finally
was able to kind of get something going this year. Yeah,
one hundred percent.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
And Joe Tooney, you hear his name at the beginning
of the game when the announced the starters, and then
you don't hear it the rest of the game, and
that's good for the if you're an offensive lineman. I mean,
he's just being steady and doing his job. But we're
not saying, you know, false start. I don't even know
what number he is, sixty five. I don't even know
what number Joe Tony is, but we don't We're not
hearing him fall starting or a holding penalty.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
He's just consistent.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
But I agree one hundred percent on Darnell right, looked
really good for a guy going into the weekend.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
I didn't know if he was gonna play.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
There was talking about Ozzie Turpillo getting to start there
and then Bennett it was I think probably a better
run blocker than he is a pass blocker. Sure, yeah,
good last night, and you're right, there were some lanes
there and they deserve I didn't mention him in my
little three and out thing, but absolutely, one hundred percent
they played a really good football game yesterday.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Yeah, you have to be really encouraged by that grouping. Obviously,
we'll see how it goes, but if that grouping is
able to kind of keep things moving in that direction.
I think you have to be really encouraged about what
this run attack can do, and then hopefully you can
kind of get the nung guy. If you want to
get Johnson involved, obviously, maybe you can get them going
a little bit more. All right, Joe, who is your
(11:14):
second winner? Well, you know how I love the kicker.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
I gotta go with Jake Moody. I mean, you know,
the game winner itself.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
I know it wasn't, you.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Know, a sixty yarder like some of these kids kick
it today, But it was still, like you said, Michael,
it was in ideal conditions last night, and I don't know,
you know, I think the ball was spotted at the
eighteen or the drive stalled if I'm looking at the
play by play sheet correctly, and ended up being a
thirty eight yarders. I don't know if they moved the
football back a little more of the kick before where
he had blocked, you know, a little aligned drive.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
I don't know if that's been his kind of knock
as a kicker in the league.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
But I don't know if they moved it back just
to be a little safe. They had plenty of distance.
You're inside forty yards that wasn't gonna be an issue.
But that aside that nuance aside, I mean the in cold,
I mean, it was nice if they had him stashed
on the practice squad, right because if you're scrambling, I
don't know when Cairo's situation with the with the thigh
was like evident where he might not be able to go,
(12:11):
because if that happened, you know where you thought he
was ready to go. And then it's the weekend, Well
you got here scrambling for a kicker and searching the
waiver wire and you're just kind of it's probably too
late to bring someone in at that point. But they
had him, and big redemption for him because you know, look,
he might get cut this week again if Kiro's ready
to go, that's just the life of an NFL kicker.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
And you know.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
He's he's auditioning for other teams around the league too.
If that's the case, so good for him. But he
certainly was clutching that offense again much like the Raiders game,
like you're you're in position there, you're driving, let's get
six points here, and it stalls for whatever reason, whether
it was execution or you know, pre stamp penalties, whatever,
(12:51):
But he delivered. All those kicks were forty plus yards
until the last one. And I mean, I'd give the
kid a lot of credit because they were probably a
lot of people thinking this guy stinks the Niners cut
him and heirs here is you know, showtime, Monday Night football,
and he delivered and no kick bigger than the last one.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
It was definitely a really cool moment. I mean, just
I don't know if you guys saw the video on
social media. It was kind of the lead of my story,
just you know, guys picking him up, like, you know,
hoisting him and this sort of stuff. And I mean
it was funny because we were talking to him and
you know, DeAndre Swift, like DeAndre Swift said, I like
introduced myself to him, like on the sideline, Like he
doesn't know a majority of these guys, Like he's been
(13:32):
around obviously the locker room for the past three weeks,
but he's on the practice squad. He's maybe not around
as much as Avid Cairo is. Obviously, you don't the
special teams guys don't really spend a lot of time
with the you know, everyone else. They're usually I'm off
on the side field, you know, working on some stuff
and all those different three things. But what a cool
moment for Jake Moody. Obviously, you know the forty nine
(13:54):
ers cut him after what or wave them after one week?
The Bear sign him a couple of days later to
their practice squad. You know, you're kind of like, you know,
he he did say that he got a chance to
you know, he knew that he was going to be
kicking the day before or he knew he I guess
they didn't want to say specifically when they knew, but
he did say that he knew heading into Monday that
(14:15):
he was going to be the guy, and he stepped
in big, like he said. I think it was a
forty seven yarder for his first one, the forty eight
yarder for a second one. He made a third field goal,
and he admitted he said on that four try, he
he hit it too low. Like He'll have to look
at the tape, but he said, I hit it too low,
like I think the cop I think when I was
rewatching it, both Joe Buck and Troy Aklin were just like,
it doesn't seem like any big pressure froup the middle.
(14:36):
It just seemed like he hit it low. But what
a moment for Jake Moody just to be able to,
you know, have that moment to come in to win it.
You know it what sure, it's a chip shop, but
you know, it very easily could have gone south really
quickly with the you know, Tory Taylor did a good
job of catching that snap. I don't know if you
guys saw, but he did a good job of settling
it and getting it down. So really for Jake Moody,
(15:00):
the whole you know, that whole kicking crew a really
good performance, especially given the fact that you know Cairo
wasn't out there and it's you're just dealing with a
new kicker.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Yeah, and you know what, I'm glad you mentioned Tory
Taylor on the hold there because ask Jane Daniels how
slippery the ball was in that fourth quarter. So kudos
to Tory Taylor, especially with the pressure on there, right.
So it's you you make it, you win, you you
miss it, you lose the game. So that that was
a pretty clutch on all guys. And even credit to
Jake Moody for crediting Tory Taylor and Scott Daly the
(15:33):
launch snapper.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Yeah, at Roberts timing and he's got a rob Tory
Taylor as his winner. Team's coming off with the big
punts this season, he was he has been looking a
little bit better, which is which is great to see.
All right. I'm I can go into different directions, but
I really think for my second winner, and I used
this one again last week, but I feel like it's important.
The coaching. I think the coaching is just if you
(15:57):
just like comparing it from last year, it's just night
and day. It is just a professional team. Guys know
what is expected, Guys know what to do in certain situations,
like the Bears get gifted this opportunity, right, Jaden Daniel
somehow fumbles the ball and the Bears take over at
I think it was like what the Bear's forty or
something like that, and they've got a little over two minutes.
(16:19):
And Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams are after the game
both said there on the same wave length score score
a field Goresko to score a touchdown, but do whatever
you do, run the clock out and make sure that
the Commanders don't get the ball back, because you know
that them even without last year's Hail Mary, you know
that the Commanders have the ability to run a really
quick two minute one minute offense, So I thought it
(16:40):
was really smart. You know, DeAndre Swift gets a couple first,
you know, it gets uh gets five yards I think
on two carries, so that gets you to the two
minute warning. Then Caleb completes a nice pass to Coast
and Loveland, which I thought was a really good play design,
just an easy five yard pass and the situa situational
awareness of having the Andre run a couple of times
(17:01):
and the Commanders burn a couple of touchdowns or touchdowns timeouts,
and then when Caleb is being pressured for a sack,
he knows not to run out of bounds, like he
slides in bounds, forcing the Commanders to call their final timeout.
That is just you didn't see that last year. You
didn't see it in Detroit, you didn't see it in
Green Bay. You didn't see it in any of those situations.
(17:23):
And I think that just says a lot about this
coaching staff where whether it was training camp, whether it's
been you know, ahead of this game, whether it's just
on the sidelines on Monday, you are making it very
clear to your players we are doing this. There's no
if ens and butts, we're not doing this in case
this or whatever. This is what we're trying to do.
And you know, I you know, I saw some people
(17:44):
maybe being like, we'll go for the touchdown instead of
the field goal, like what if something happens? And I
think you can have that argument. Sure you obviously want
to score no matter what. But I didn't think that
that the logic was flawed by any means. I liked
the game plan. I thought it was good. Sure, could
you take a shot maybe into the end zone, Yeah,
but then you risk something happening with her it's an
(18:04):
interception or a fund like obviously like Jane and Daniel's
just fumbled. So yeah, the coaching for me is my
second winner, and I think it's a huge winner because
I don't think you win that football game if those
players aren't coach well and Ben Johnson doesn't have a
very concise plan about what they want to do here
in the last two plus minutes. One hundred percent.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
And I'll go right to my third positive takeaway kind
of piggybacks and compliments. What you're saying here about just
the end of the half execution. We've seen it really
every game. I mean and look, I'm on social media
the whole time during the game. I know you are too,
and you know, checking Twitter and reading and watching and
(18:47):
the years for how many years now has it been people?
Speaker 1 (18:51):
What are they doing with the clock? What kind of
play call? Is that?
Speaker 2 (18:54):
Why we call it a screen? I'm third and eighteen.
I haven't seen any of that. Again, players ultimately have
to execute, but they're showing poise at the end of halves.
My gosh, I'm giddy. I mean, I can't remember the
last time we've seen this consistently. Now, were they good
clock management? Making clutch throws? They're not making every throw
(19:15):
Caleb's I get it. No one does, not even the
best guys in the league at the position, but they
And I think that's you know that they say, you know,
losing is contagious. Winning his contagious. You need to see
a result, You need to see positive things coming, and
you know, like you know, look these past Bears teams,
not even just the Ebra Flus teams going back before that.
(19:37):
You get to the fourth quarter. Now you're used to losing,
and so you're expecting almost bad things to happen.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Well, now, I think.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
And it's it's early it's five games, but we're seeing
like a team that's like we're fine, we're down, you know,
eight points, nine points whatever.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
In the fourth quarter. We got time.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
Caleb showed some of that last year and then the
coaches messed it up.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
But they need to start stringing these games like this together.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
I don't want to look. I can't take twenty five
to twenty four games or the rest of the season.
I mean, you think my hair is gray now, they'll
go way to come January of twenty twenty six. I mean,
it's got to stop. But hopefully they have a little
easier game Sunday. We'll get to that later in a week.
But I just like the execution. We're seeing the clock management,
and you're right, one more thing on your point about
(20:23):
at the end there, you know you maybe take a
we'll take one shot at the end zone. At least
the Bears are not saying we're at the thirty yard line,
but like we've seen past regimes, we're at the thirty.
We're in field goal position. Let's not try to win
it with a fifty five yarder. Let's try to get
a little closer. And once they got inside the twenty five,
there Okay, now you're looking at you know, at the twenty.
Now you're looking at maybe now it's a thirty eight,
(20:44):
thirty nine, maybe a forty yard er a little more
makeable even in those conditions last night. But I think
they wanted to get it a little closer because they
understood that and that seems simple, but we've seen it
in the past. It's not always as easy a decision,
apparently for the coaching staff as you think it might be.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Yeah, for sure, And even Caleb kind of reiterated your
point of like, you know, obviously you want to win
by thirty points every single time, like that's the goal, right,
But he did say that these guys just it doesn't
seem like they get flustered. And I was kind of
interesting because when the Commander scored that touchdown to make
it a twenty four to sixteen game, it really felt
(21:20):
like things were kind of unraveling. Like the Jenden Daniels,
it seemed like he was picking on the secondary. It
seemed like he finally figured out, Okay, like I'm gonna
pick on this matchup and I'm gonna work on this.
But you know, I talked to Tory Taylor after the game,
Caleb talked about this. Those guys just seem calm and collected.
They don't. They don't seem nervous, which is kind of
interesting because I don't know whether it's last year's experience.
(21:42):
I don't know whether it's Ben Johnson and having confidence
in him and the coaching staff, But it just doesn't
seem like this group gets worried about the moment. And
that doesn't mean that they're gonna win every single game.
That doesn't mean that they're gonna come back every single
time they're down. But it doesn't seem like this group
is nervous at all when it comes to these type
of situations. Very clear that Caleb has the clutch geen
(22:03):
Like is he going to be perfect all the time?
Speaker 2 (22:06):
No?
Speaker 1 (22:06):
Like is he going to come back all the time. No,
But it's very clear that he has that gene to
make plays when he really needs to in certain moments.
And you know, sure five games into the season, you know,
against the Raiders and the Commanders, you can say that,
you can say where is that clutch gene against the
Vikings or obviously against the Lions. Sure that argument can
be made, but I think you're seeing more and more
that when he's getting an opportunity, he just seems calm,
(22:29):
cool and collected and really knows what how you know
what to do?
Speaker 2 (22:33):
In Ben Johnson's offense, yep, I mean, and again, I
think their best football's ahead of him. I know it's
easy to say that, but I don't look at this
team thinking like, well, I don't think they can play
any better. This isn't like the Cubs. First half of
the season were like, the Cubs can't play any better
than that, and they did it. Yeah, after July. I
think there's still good football ahead with the Spars football team.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
All Right, I'm gonna finish things up with our winners here.
I'd be remissive. We didn't talk about the defense obviously.
I know, obviously they gave up twenty four points. There
were some moments where it seemed dicey. I mean, when
they gave up that what was at third and thirteen
before the fumble, You're kind of like, oh, this might
be the straw that broke the Campbell's back. But listen,
they keep finding ways to make, you know, turnovers. Jakwan
(23:20):
Brisker with that first interception, you just read that play perfectly.
That seems again to be a Again that's you know
Ben Jonson in his post game you know talk with
the guys when he's like repped up and ever, like
he made sure to emphasized like the theory that takeaways
are like accidents like is not true. Like you need
to study tape and you need to be aware of that.
And that again goes back to coaching, where these guys
(23:42):
know where the ball is going to be, and no
tells about quarterbacks and what is going to happen where
the quarterback is likely going to be looking. And you
saw that on that interception. It was great to see
Montes Sweat make an impact obviously back against the Commanders.
He forced that fumble and then TJ. Edwards got the
recover the fumble, and then Nashad Wright was just at
(24:03):
the right place at the right time, right like he
was reading the RPO and he saw the ball in
the ground and just jumped on it. That again, sometimes
sometimes you need dumb luck, right Like that's just a
game of football. But I think it's really impressive because
for how good you know, they've been able to create turnovers.
It's not like they were pressuring Jade and Daniels. I mean,
(24:25):
they were getting pressure on him, but they only got
two sacks on him, and I think it was two
quarterback kids. And again, stopping Jade and Daniels is not
the same as like stopping like JJ McCarthy or or
you know, some other person that I'm not really thinking
of right now, Like you see the moves that he's
making over there, and then just it's insane, like I
don't know how he's getting out of that. But you
(24:46):
have to give the defense a lot of credit where
they continue to create turnovers. It was their third straight
multi turnover game, fourth out of five games, and you
have to be really impressed with what this defense has
been able to do. And quite honestly, it's the only
reason why this team was in the game in the
first place because of those three turnovers.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
Yeah, truth be told here, Michael. I. I don't like the
phrase right place at the right time. I've never liked it.
I don't like I don't like when guys write it.
It's okay if you're a player and you say you're
being modest, Hey, I was just in the right place
the right time. I just hate it because it tells
me you're just like a guy off the street all
of a sudden, you know something nice when as an athlete,
(25:25):
you put yourself in the position, being in the right place,
being heads up, being aware, being prepared.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
For potential moments like that.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
And yeah, sometimes it's lucky you guys gotta you know
they got to fumble a snab. You didn't force that
fumble on the on the on the Daniels handoff at
the end, or that led to the game winning field goal.
But just putting yourself in the right position, the free
the cliche and sports of high school kids the said
all the time, do your one eleven right, do your part,
make sure you're in the right place. And sometimes you're
(25:53):
gonna get a bone. I mean, but but that's that's
on the athlete. And then when when the bone is
sitting right on your face, you gotta be able to
pounce and you gotta be able to catch it and
grab it and secure it because not everyone can do
that all the time.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
How many times we see that at any level.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
So kudos to the player, kudo to na Shon right,
because he didn't have he didn't have a good game.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
I mean, he's nayshon right.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
We know we got there what and boy they missed
Jalen Johnson, But that's another story. But kudos today na
Seon right for being there securing the football and we
know what, you know, the rest is history there.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Yeah, for sure, there's defense, obviously, there's there's fixes, and
we're gonna get to some fixes now. But it's really
impressive to kind of see them continue to kind of
do this. And you know, it goes back to studying,
like we talked about, just being in the right you know,
whether it is right place or right time or whatever,
just being able to you know, know what your job
is and to be there and execute it at the
(26:44):
right time. All right, Joe, Uh, it was far from
a perfect game on Monday. There's plenty of things to
talk about. So what's your start. Let's start things off
with the losers here. Now, what's your first loser from
yesterday's wine? The obvious? What he again? The penaliesh my gut.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
I thought we were asked that after the Raiders game
that was ugly last night and some of the you know,
I don't want to sound like the parent at the
basketball game that complains about every freaking call that drives
me nuts, but man, the officiating. I mean the call
that wiped out the touchdown from Caleb to a Doneza
there when the illegal formation on THEO come on, they
(27:23):
roughing the passer on Jakwan Brisker. I that's just a
football play. I don't think he was trying to wipe
on his ankle or take on his knees. There were
some really bad calls I thought last night, But the
bottom line is it was nine penalties for what eighty
four yards? I think it was that's way too many.
Even Ben Johnson his post game, which those are going
(27:45):
viral now after every Bears win saying, hey, Matgine, how
good we're gonna be, how good it's gonna look?
Speaker 1 (27:50):
When get that cleaned up? Well, they got to get
it cleaned up.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
And you know the funny thing, Michael, it's not just
one guy like that guy that's his third fall start
of the game and they're spreading it around. But that's
got to get cleaned up because the few offenses in
this game are good enough to overcome that.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
And defense too.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
I think it was like four plays they mentioned on
the telecash last night. Four plays were the defensive penalty
kept the commander's offense on the field.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
I mean, that's a lot.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
So you take away that stuff, you take away some
of those BS calls. I'm sorry, it might be a
different game. Everyone's thinking the Commander should have won the game.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
They blew it.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
I'm sure that's the narrative out there in DC today.
They're saying it on the ESPN. Bears got lucky, you
know what it. Bears had a lot of bad calls
go against them last night.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
Yeah, it was. It was interesting. It's a it's a
new officiating crew. They're they're getting together. The umpire I
forget what his name was, but he's now a referee.
Is his first year being a referee, and it kind
of keep it kind of seemed to me that as
a new crew, maybe they're being very ticky tacky about
their calls. It seems like I think you could I
think by the letter of the log, you could make
(28:59):
it argument that THEO Benedett was off the line of scrimmage.
But I think you see that play all the time,
and that really felt like a play that was that
didn't really feel like a moment where you make that call,
especially you know, not that it matters whether romadouns they
made an amazing touchdown catch or not. But that was
definitely a moment where I was kind of like that
just I mean, sure, I can see what you're saying.
(29:23):
Maybe it was like a centimeter off, like I think
it's supposed to be like the rear of Drew Dolman,
but that felt like a TICKI tag call. Robert is
bringing up a couple of them, and I agree. The
offensive PI on Coaston Lovelin I thought was a little
bit soft as well. Yeah, the face mask on nash
On right, I didn't get a chance to see it
(29:44):
live when I was rewatching and I saw it. I
mean like Day shouted right after the game said he
didn't even touch his face mask, and I you know,
based on the review, maybe he like glazed it. But
it just seemed I don't know. Some of those penalties
were just not great. The you know, the Brisker one
at the time, I said, and I think I tweeted
out Man that, like I feel like you can't call that.
(30:06):
I get it, like I think brisker And it's easy
for me up in the press box to say this,
not as the guy who's going like what thirty miles
an hour toward a quarterback and trying to make a
split second decision. Like it's very easy for me to
say this from here, but maybe he could have made
that tackle, you know, at the middle of Jade and
Daniel's body. So I get it. It's like, it's the rule.
(30:27):
You're not supposed to go for the legs and go
below the waist. He had an opportunity, Like, he had
an opportunity to avoid the lower part of his body.
When you watch the replay, he doesn't really get tripped
up too much. He had a very clear shot, So
I think that's probably why I at the time I
didn't really like it. After looking at it, I'm kind
of like, Okay, I can see why this was called.
(30:48):
But yeah, like I don't like playing the game of
like the refs are in it for the Bears. They're
trying to you know, mess with the Bears or anything
like that. But yeah, it was definitely it was definitely
not a good it was. It's definitely going to be
one that I think the NFL officiating offices are going
to talk to that crew about and going to be
looking at some of these plays and are going to
be like, well, sure, this is the rule, but I
(31:10):
think you're maybe taking a little bit too literally.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
Yeah, and other than the well, the benefit play really
wasn't a presnat penalty because the play continued. But so
even if you take let's say, take two of those
calls away that they weren't called, it's still seven penalties, right, Yeah,
that's still too many. It's still too many.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
They know it.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
But they just got to get that cleaned up because
they're they're they're as an offensive unit, they're just not
there yet where they can overcome this all the time.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
It's really tough.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
So they, I'll say it, Ben Johnson has said it
a million times, I'm sure already to as players, you know,
you got to get that cleaned up. And now let's
see the Bears play. Like if we see the Bears
play their best game yet, No, I mean they they
got a good.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
Game maybe the Cowboys, if you want to say that.
I think they were pretty clean in there.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
Yeah, got the turnovers, they weren't great to you know,
they were still giving up too many long running plays.
But that was pretty good. That was pretty good. But
I still think I think they've got at least a
couple more better football games in them this season. When
it happens, I don't know, but it's it's coming. But
we all want to see it. Like I want to
see the first round picks would be more involved. I
(32:23):
just have to be patient. I just have to be patient.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
I think it's coming, and to me it was also
a surprise. You know, you you come out of the buy.
You can't play like that, and even like you know,
I agree, like and I think Robert makes a good
point there there are penalties, and you made the same point,
show that they created. They have penalties like they were
they weren't all the refs just making them up and
trying to put them on the Bears.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
Like.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Maybe one or two of them. You could argue them
and they you just can't do that. And sure the
fall starts aren't there anymore, but like the penalties are there,
and that's kind of gonna that kind of piggybacks into
my first one. The inefficiencies are just not good up
to this point. The Bears finished the game three to
ten on third down. They were zero for one on
(33:11):
their first on their loan fourth down conversion, and you
just need to you need to convert that. That is
just how you settle for field goals instead of going
for touchdowns. That's how you are just you know not
And I don't know what the solution is because some
of the plays, you know, Z the key is when
you know it's either Caleb misses someone or the or
(33:34):
the roudrunner isn't running the route, and it's just confusing
to know what the problem is in that instance. So
that needs to be fixed. The third down inefficiencies are
not good. You can't win. I know they won this game,
but you're not going to consistently win in the NFL
if you're going three for ten on third down. You
need to convert on third downs and they're just not
(33:54):
doing it at this point. And the red zone two,
I forget what the red zone situation was, but they
also are. Yeah, there were one for three in the
red zone while the Commanders were one for one. That's
got to be higher. I know that's thirty three percent,
But you get when you get into the red zone,
you got to score touchdowns. You got to leave the
field goals for like forty yards or like fifty yards
(34:16):
or something like that. But when you're getting into the
red zone, you got to get six points. And there
it just felt too often that this team would get
really good drives, they'd move down the field and then
a bad third down play just happens. And you know
the third down play at the end of the third
quarter where I think they still had time on the
play clock, but for some reason they decided to go
(34:37):
with the play. It's a high snap, Caleb is just
forced to kind of, you know, go down, and then
you start off the fourth quarter with the block field.
Will Like it's just moments like that where you're just
kind of like, man, this, this is this has to
be cleaned up because you're lucky. You won this game
on Monday, and you know, I don't want to say, look,
but like you you need to execute on those plays
(34:57):
in order to you know, win consistently, and you're not
going to keep doing it if you're just you know,
playing at that kind of percentages. Yeah, I thought, I'm led.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
Your referenced that sequence there were Caleb look like he
took his eyes off the ball a little bit. I
know it was a little to his left, maybe a
little high. He's got to catch that. And then they
get the block field going. I thought, oh, here we
go at the beginning of the end here and it
certainly looked like that for the next several minutes.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
But you can't have it.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
And I expect touchdowns when you get down there, and look, hey,
you got the weapons.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
You know, you got.
Speaker 2 (35:28):
Two big, strong, burly tight ends. Right, you got you burden,
you got DJ and Hope he's okay. By the way, No,
he stayed in DC overnight, you know. And you got
a Rome. And again, they should have had that one
touchdown the Benettitt play, you know, the illegal formation that
wiped out. That would have had a nice six points
(35:48):
Caleb to Rome. But you need you need to score
there because you're not going to keep winning twenty five
to twenty four every week.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
It's nice, you'll take it.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
It wins a win, but you got to get six
when you get inside the twenty.
Speaker 1 (36:04):
All right, Joe, what is your second loser from the weekend?
Speaker 2 (36:08):
You know, we got to talk about Caleb a little
more here. I you know, I had him in the
three things that didn't Work part of my story last night.
I had him as one of the things that didn't work.
I mean I probably could have left him off. I
don't think he was awful and just thought it'd be better.
I thought maybe the the guy, you know, wanting to
prove he's better than he still deserves to be the
(36:29):
top pick in the twenty twenty four draft. I thought
that would motivate him a little bit. I thought we
see a little better, especially coming off the BI week,
a little sharper. He's still off target on some throws,
a couple.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
Of these things.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
Like I was, I like, I want to see this kid.
He I think you've talked to him with the other
reporters up closed. He seems like a very likable young man,
very sharp, made.
Speaker 1 (36:54):
For the moment, you know, fourth quarter.
Speaker 2 (36:56):
But I'm so tired of the media, national media in particular,
pick it up on him. They're still talking again, still
giving Drake May all the love and jayde and Daniels
all the love, and hey, you know what, these guys
have played great, no question about it.
Speaker 1 (37:07):
But this is I really want to see this kid succeed.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
It's the last thing when he like that, there's an
opportunity to show the world again that you know, you're
the man. There's a reason why you're the number one
pick in the draft last year. Not the not the
Commanders quarterback, not the Patriots quarterback, not Michael Pennix, not
bow Nicks, and it didn't happen last night. So I
know it was a crappy night on the field there,
windy and rainy, and you know Jayde and Daniels didn't
(37:34):
have a particular great game.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
He in the three touchdowns.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
Tell you what thing about one thing about Caleb and
I'm making this more of a positive than a negative.
He didn't turn the ball over unlike the other quarterback.
He didn't throw the interception in the red zone. He
didn't bobble a handoff when you're you know, a few
yards of probably ice in the game there with a
field goal down the stretch. So Caleb and that was
a positive last year with him, so you know, not
(37:58):
throwing the ball over and this year, out of the
numbers in front of me, you know, tds to interceptions,
but you know he didn't throw a touchdown pass last
way of the one to swift that that little screen
that one to fifty five. But no, no, no turnovers,
you know, no interceptions, no fumble. So in that regard,
you know, teasy to overlooked that sometimes, but but that
(38:19):
was probably the difference of the game, right Bear's quarter
you know, all over the Commanders quarterback did so, I
just want to see a little more on a Caleb.
Speaker 1 (38:28):
Yeah, I agree with you, or it kind of feels
weird saying that he's he's not a loser, I think.
I mean, he threw for two hundred and fifty two
yards like he looked. He managed the ball well. He
obviously managed the the you know, game winning drive well.
I but I do think that you can say. And
I know people were so mad at Troy Aikman for
giving him such a hard time and all that kind
(38:48):
of stuff and everyone the whole Troy Aikman Caleb Williams thing,
But listen, Caleb was not good mid range, Like he
was struggling to complete passes that were open, and I know,
you know, some of them were you know, you know
the first time. I don't know whether there was the
miscommunication with Dj Moore on the first third down that
they faced where they had to settle for a field goal.
(39:08):
It was the keyst A couple of times, I feel
like there was some miscommunication. He was off with some throws,
some deep throws as well. Those those are just like
the layups for me that I feel like he needs
to get better at. And I think he does a
great job of improvising. I think he can hit the
long shot. I like that he was able to, you know,
make that Pastor Romadoon day that they get called for
(39:30):
a touchdown. The Luther Burdon throw where he was able
to get a lot of yak was really nice too
write and being able to you know, create something out
of nothing to get that DeAndre Swift touchdown. But it
just feels like there are too many layups that they're
missing right now. And I don't know whether it's just timing,
whether it's footwork. I'm not a quarterback guru by any means,
but you need to fix up those layups because if
(39:53):
you can just get the five yards here or there
prolonged drives, that's just going to make your life so
much easier. Know, that's something that Ben Johnson's talked to
him about. Caleb knows that I'm not telling him something
he doesn't know, but the but the mid range game
needs to be improved a lot, because you're just gonna
make your life so much easier, especially against better teams
like none that the Commanders are bad teams, but like
(40:14):
when you're playing the Ravens, when you're playing the Eagles,
when you're playing the Packers or the Vikings or the Lions,
like you need to hit on those short throws to
continue like moving the ball down the field and not
set up third and long.
Speaker 2 (40:27):
Yeah, and even the throw to wasn't a short throws.
It was a deep pass to Rome. I think that
was the first half where at no point Rome was
ever open and he was in double coverage. He was
offered by two guys the entire time, the whole time,
and that they were lucky that fell incomplete. I mean
it would have been a long punt essentially if that
had been picked off.
Speaker 1 (40:46):
But like that's like it's just not there.
Speaker 2 (40:49):
So I don't know, it's easy in it pick, it's easy.
Speaker 1 (40:52):
You know. Overall, he had a he had a good.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
Game, decent game, right, and again.
Speaker 1 (40:59):
We're looking for improvement, right, Like if you want to
have to be the number one overall pick, you want
him to be that guy, he has to hit those plays.
Speaker 2 (41:06):
Yeah, I mean in Washington too, I mean, look, they're
supposed to like maybe now you know, when the NFC is,
you know they're they're good football team. It's not like
you're playing a bad football team. So you have to
take that thing into consideration too.
Speaker 1 (41:19):
All Right, My second loser kind of goes off of
Robert kind of chimed in about this one looly for me,
a special team kick returns, returning and defending this will lose.
Those games have not improved. That was actually kind of
interesting because I was kind of imp I think I
can't remember the exact tim you know, but I think
Jake Moody got the kickoffs into the end zone a
couple of times, but when he did it, the coverage
(41:43):
was just not good and it seemed like guys were
just sticking on the Commanders. They weren't breaking tackles, they
weren't getting around. And Ben Johnson heading into this game
talked about how, you know, physical this group is, how
the Commanders are in special teams, and how they're versatile
and they're able to kind of commit and you and
you saw that like they were able to get a
lot of deep returns. They were kind of able to
(42:05):
always at least pick up fifteen yards, if not twenty yards.
I know there are a couple of penalties on the
couple returns, but I agree, Robert, I think that's going
to hurt you in the big moment that could let
a team, you know, start a drive at the forty
instead of the twenty five, And that needs to be
cleaned up because I feel like, for the most part,
special teams hasn't really been that big of you know,
(42:28):
I don't feel like we've talked about it because it
hasn't been really that big of a thing. But yesterday
I felt like it was coming up a lot where
the commanders were just kind of dominating on kickoff and
returns and the one punt returns I think that they had. Yeah,
you know, you're right.
Speaker 2 (42:42):
I don't know if we've mentioned the kickoff team at
all in all our podcasts we've been doing since the spring,
but yeah, there have been just off memory, not without
looking at the NFL stats, some long returns, and we
know what happened at the the end of the with
the Minnesota game, that that whole fiasco. So yeah, I
(43:04):
think that's gotta kind of improve. I don't notice Travis
Homer help if we get in. He's a special teams guy. Yeah,
I don't know, but you know, we talked so much
about the offense and the defense and the kicking game
as far as you know, whether it's Cairo or last
night Jake Moody. But yeah, they got to do a
(43:25):
better job of covering kickoffs because that guy, especially with
today's kickers, that can bloom at sixty. You know, you
get to the forty opposing team's forty, You're like you're
in field goal range.
Speaker 1 (43:36):
It's silly. So that's got to be cleaned up. Good point, right,
all right, Joe, who's your final loser from yesterday's game?
Speaker 2 (43:44):
The pass rush, it was better. They got some pressure,
but still not good enough. Still not good enough. I'll
give Dennis Allen credit, Like at the end there when
they had to get pressure on Jayden Daniels, they seem
due and Monte Sweat didn't have a sack.
Speaker 1 (43:57):
He had the force fumble, you had a tip pass.
Speaker 2 (43:59):
I thought that was huge in the fourth quarter, and
and one of those rushes he almost got to Jane.
Speaker 1 (44:06):
They's a tough kid to bring down Jane Daniels.
Speaker 2 (44:08):
I mean everyone knows that, so but it just got
to be better. I'm I don't expect the eighty five
Bears with Hampton and Dan to McMichael, I don't expect that,
but I need to see more pressure.
Speaker 1 (44:18):
They tried to get Jikwan there.
Speaker 2 (44:20):
A couple of times I think I thought we'd see
more out of Kyler Gordon, but you know, kids gotta
be a little rusty.
Speaker 1 (44:26):
He hasn't played since last year, so I don't know.
Speaker 2 (44:31):
To me, if they I don't want to go, I said,
I wouldn't go there.
Speaker 1 (44:34):
I'm going here.
Speaker 2 (44:35):
If they're gonna be a playoff team, gasp. If they're
gonna be a playoff team, that defense has to show more.
And I know that was a good quarterback. He deserves
all the accolades Jaye Daniels, But you know they were
without Terry McLaurin last night, who I think is a
fantastic wide receiver. Deebo Is still can tell he's out
(44:56):
one hundred percent Deebo Samuel. So the pass rush just
it was better. It's just not good enough by any
means yet.
Speaker 1 (45:05):
Yeah, and I agree with the context obviously of you know,
Jayden Daniels is the best. If not, you know, him
and Lamar Jackson are the top two in my book
in the baiting pressure. They just they just have something
in them where they're just able to make a step
to just to kind of, you know, get away from
from the pressure, and I acknowledge that, but yeah, you
got to figure out something. And you know, Dennis aale
was trying different things. I saw, you know, there is
(45:27):
a stretch there. We saw Schamar Turner on on the
on the defensive end position. He was both you know,
on the you know, coming off the you know, off
the ground and or just you know, uh, you know,
not off of it. And you know he You're trying
to look for solutions. And you know, you noticed obviously
that the defense is playing a lot more zone than
(45:48):
man cabrit coverage at this point. And obviously we know
that Dennis Aalem loves to play man coverage, so that's
been an interesting adjustment for for this defense. But yeah,
I mean, you gotta you gotta see some sort of pressure.
It gets better obviously. You know when you play Spencer Ratler,
uh this week, you know, I don't know if he
can run as well as Jade and Daniels. I don't
(46:08):
think you're gonna see a quarterback who runs as well
Jayde and Daniels for the rest of the year. Maybe
maybe Jalen hurts, but you know, off the top of
my head that I can think of. Obviously, other than
Lamar Jackson when you play him here in a couple
of weeks. But yeah, I think I think you need
to figure things out. You just you just gotta you
gotta land it, and maybe they would land it. Maybe
this was a good performance in the context of this
(46:30):
is Jane Daniels. But I agree, you want to see
a couple more sacks. But it was good to see
Javon dexteror have a sack and a half. So at
least you got something from the middle of the pressure there.
All right, wrap things up with my last one. Joey
touched on this and we don't we don't need to
get into it too much, but I'd like the Titans
to get involved a little bit more. You've talked about this.
(46:53):
Coleston Loveland had three targets. Cole Comb I had two targets,
and you know, I know they were used for some
protection a little, but I don't know. You got playmakers there.
And I know, I know every week is different. Every week.
You know you're focusing on different deficiencies on the defense.
But I just feel like five games into the season.
I'm not an offensive guru, but I feel like you
(47:14):
got to get the tight ends more involved, and that's
just something I'm looking for you. I don't feel like
the Bears are doing it enough right now. I don't
know whether that's, you know, play calling. I don't know
whether that's just guys not getting open or Caleb not
seeing them. But your tight ends. You have two play
making tight ends, and I don't think you're taking advantage
of them at all right now. Well, yeah, you know
where I stand. I mean Colston Lovelin.
Speaker 2 (47:36):
I think he had a season high two catches last
night for the tenth pick in the draft.
Speaker 1 (47:41):
I mean, come on, and you.
Speaker 2 (47:42):
Know when he gets the ball, he's like Luther Burton,
Luthor Berden Maan another nice catchdown field, a couple zigg
and a zag Deacon the guy get the ball and
this guy's hands for crying out loud, and they did,
and what it was like, it's a little almost like
a lateral forward pass and he gettin some yards.
Speaker 1 (47:58):
But I need to see more for him and and Loveland.
Speaker 2 (48:02):
I mean, I gotta believe you know, we have months
to talk about this down the road. But this might
be cold comets last year here. Maybe they're just kind
of a slow move in to the position. The understudy.
But boy, that's a beautiful weapon you got there in
Colston Loveland. And for the life of me, I don't
know what it is. I just need I want to
(48:24):
see more and more of that kid and Luther Burdon.
I'm probably gonna be saying that every week until what happens.
Speaker 1 (48:30):
Yeah, I mean, you got playmakers there, and you know,
for Luther, it's obviously tough because you.
Speaker 2 (48:35):
Know, you got d J.
Speaker 1 (48:35):
Moore, you got you know, Roe mcdoonsday, you got o
Z Hugh, you throw it Touris left. Well, that's a
whole we can we can. We've talked about this a
lot obviously, I think I understand your point to that,
but yeah, I mean maybe that's maybe that's the thing
(48:56):
where you get these mismatches and you get opportunities like that.
But yeah, I agree. If you if you got playmakers
like Luther Burdon colest To Lovel and you got to
use them, and you used Burdon a little bit yesterday.
I think that was probably the second best most productive
game other than the Cowboys game. But yeah, maybe that
will change this week against against the Saints. But I
(49:16):
just thought that you you have good tight ends. I
think Cole Komen has shown you. I know he had
a bad game obviously the last you know, against the Raiders,
but I think he's shown you that he can be
a dependable guy if you use them. Robert chiming in
before we say goodbye, he's got question what it was, uh,
in your opinion, improved the running game on both sides
of the ball. Is it THEO that much of an
(49:37):
upgrade as a TJ being back for me, Joe, I
feel like for the for the offensive side of the ball,
everyone's just doing their job. And that's something that Ben
Johnson has been harping on ever since he came here. Like, yes,
I think the I think the offensive linemen were better.
I think that they were doing a good job of
setting the edge. But your wide receivers were blocking for
(49:58):
you too. Dj Moore was blocked for you all the
like when you look at the tape, all these wide
receivers are blocking as well. The tight ends are blocking
as well. And that's been Ben Johnson's big thing. You know,
no block, no rock, And I think you're seeing right
now that that's what that could look like when everyone
is doing their job. Would you agree or do you
think it's something else offensively, No.
Speaker 2 (50:20):
I agree, And I just think that the whole continuity
issue too, Kevin. Those guys have another game under their belt,
another game under their belt. I know they've had this,
the injuries, issues with the with the tackles on either
side of the ball. But you know, the more they
play together as a unit, I think it'll get better.
But I mean it's just gonna take some time just
(50:40):
them to start trusting those linemen where you don't have
to leave a tight end in all the time. But
I trust in this coaching staff. I was happy again
that they look like a better football team running the football.
And I wasn't sold on the seventh round pick, the
running back for Washington, like he's like the next big
thing here.
Speaker 1 (51:01):
I you know, he's a.
Speaker 2 (51:02):
Good player, he's shifty, he kind of you know, kind
of there he's Manungui too or manunguy won and manunguy
is man and guy too out of whatever the case.
But yeah, I think that it wasn't like you're running
against you know, you're trying to feel or trying to
stop Bijon Robinson.
Speaker 1 (51:16):
Or Saquan or something like that.
Speaker 2 (51:17):
So but it was better and I think again coming
out of the buy, I probably didn't even should have
mentioned that more what I wrote the last night for
this morning. That was a real positive for me, just
that they looked like a better football team. Even though
they lost, they still look like a better football team
than two weeks ago to me.
Speaker 1 (51:37):
Yeah, and I think having TJ obviously and Kyler Gordon
are just important. That those are guys who know how
to do it. Obviously, you know, tough injury for noahsu
and obviously we're hoping to best. Yeah, I know he
left the game with the concussion after some friendly fire
there from Jonathan Ford, but you know it'll be it'll
be interesting to see whether that continues once you get
healthier and guys get some rhythm backed with each other.
(52:01):
All right, That is everything that we've got, folks for
This week's episode was a good one. Thanks so much
for joining us. I thank you to Robert and everyone
else who joined us on the live stream. Make sure
you like us and make sure they subscribe. That's the
best way to support us. Help us grow our live
stream here and if you're joining on the podcast, want
to be part of the conversation, make sure you check
(52:22):
out our social medias. We like to talk every Friday
morning and Monday morning, but like days like today when
we had a Monday night game, we have to be
a little bit shifty here. So thanks so much for
joining us on the live stream, and if you missed us,
thanks so much for joining us on the podcast. Bears
will be getting ready for the Saints. We're finally going
to have a noon game here. We've got a stretch
(52:43):
of nuon games here, which I am very excited about
noon against the Saints at Soldier Field. Well obviously preview
there for you folks on Friday morning, so make sure
you join us. Then make sure you're checking out all
of Joe's work at Joe Aguilar sixty four. He's got
the Northwest Herald area covered for you, and make sure
you're checking in with me for Bears coverage at m
dwell Jag ninety four. I'll have the latest from Ben Johnson,
(53:05):
who's set to speak here in seven minutes, and we'll
also I think he'll get he'll have an update on
DJ Moore. Like Joe alluded to a little bit earlier,
DJ Moore stayed in the Maryland area as a precautionary
medical reason we'll get some more clarity about that. I
know that he got tinged up a couple times during
(53:26):
the game and went into the medical tent, so hopefully
we can get some more clarity from there. But thanks
so much for joining us this afternoon, guys, and we
will talk to you folks on Friday morning as we
preview Bears versus Saints. Until then, we'll talk to you
guys down the road.
Hello, and welcome to the Shaw Local Bears Insider podcast.
I Am Chicago Bears be reported Michael Duojack here with
Joe Aguilar as we talk to you folks on Tuesday afternoon.
A different time for us obviously with the Monday night
football game, travel and all that sort of stuff, but
Joe and I are able to talk to you folks
(00:22):
here this Tuesday afternoon as we recap a crazy game
on Monday Night football between the Bears and the Commanders.
Bears getting revenge after last year's Hail Mary game. Maybe
we'll finally put the Haill Mary game to bed. But
the Bears walk off with Jake Moody hitting a last
(00:43):
second field goal to get the Bears twenty five to
twenty four win over the Commanders over in Maryland. It's
a game that the Bears never win, which I feel
like was really telling about. You know, we'll get into
all the details and all this sort of stuff about
what happened, will worked, what didn't, but Joe, for this
team to somehow win that game, I feel like that
(01:06):
just tells you about you know, five games in whatever
you want to call it, but it really feels like
this is just different under Ben Johnson than obviously what
we saw last year.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Yeah, and these were the games they lost last year,
not only the failed Merry game, which hopefully we'll only
have single digit times. We'll talk about that again the
rest of the year. It'll come up again, surely. But
it's nice to see them winning close games. It's nice
to see them winning games at the end when coaching matters,
When they're executing at the end of a half, whether
(01:39):
it's the first half or the second half, it's different.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Are they there yet? No?
Speaker 2 (01:46):
You know, I heard the guys on ESPN talk this morning.
Are they pretenders? Are they contenders? You know? It's like,
I'm not going there. I'm not saying they're playoff contenders.
We still have a lot of foot gay games left
to be played this season, but it's certainly trending in
the right direction, and three wins with a good chance
(02:06):
to make it four in a row is where we're
at right now. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
I mean it goes back to what we talked about.
I feel like I keep like restating this fact, but
sometimes you just have to win ugly in the NFL,
right Like good teams win ugly. Good teams lose like
that's just how it kind of goes in the NFL.
And you found a way to win a game, right, Like,
that's the best way to put it. You were not
perfect by any means, and we'll get into obviously the
(02:30):
imperfect parts and the good parts and all that sort
of stuff, but found a way to win a football game,
and that's really all that matters. And that's something that
this team just didn't do last year, even with the talent,
even when they were in good positions to win, they
always found a way to lose games. And now they've
won back to back games on their last possession, and
I think that really, you know, doesn't mean they're going
(02:52):
to win the super Bowl and make the playoffs, win
the division. No, that doesn't mean any of that, but
I think it shows you the progress that they're kind
of taking here. If you're joining us on the live stream,
thank you so much for joining us, especially since I
know we're doing this last minute. Robert is in the
chat joining us from England. Great to hear from you, Robert.
So glad we won this way, we're allowed to talk
(03:13):
about the bad officiating. I'm sure Joe and I will
talk about that as the game kind of moves on,
But thanks so much for joining us on the live stream.
If you like what you're hearing, make sure you like us.
That's the best way to support us, best way to
kind of spread the word about the live stream. And
if you're listening on the podcast, make sure you check
us out on if you want to join the conversation.
(03:34):
We always get some good conversations with the folks here
in our comments, or if you just want to listen
live or watch our bet you know our bookcases. Joe's
got a better bookcase situation than I do, but I'm
building toward it. But if you want to watch us
talk and want to be part of the live stream,
obviously make sure you're following us there as well. All right, Joe,
let's get to let's just get into it. Obviously, every
(03:55):
game day or every recamp, we like to do three winners,
three losers. We'll eat talk about who we think we're
winners and losers. And you know, I feel like this
is a perfect game for this because I feel like
we're not going to struggle with either category, where even
though the Bears won in the last second fashion, I
feel like there's a lot to talk about so I
will start off with the positive. Joe, who what's your
(04:17):
number one winner after yesterday's win. There are a couple
obvious ones I'll go.
Speaker 2 (04:22):
I'll just pick the running game, and DeAndre Swift in particular,
he was the MVP. I don't did ither was have
him last week as our MVP for this game. I
think you did have him. I thought they'd be able
to run the ball better.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
I was hoping. I was hesitant about it, and look
at them. My hesitation paid off.
Speaker 2 (04:38):
That was a good call, and I said they I
thought they would have an improved running game because the
week off, and we'll see if they're coached up, if
they're capable of being coached up, if the coaching staff
knows what it's doing. Ding ding ding ding ding. I
mean right off the bat, and I'm thinking, how long
can this last? Where they're getting four or five, six,
seven yards of pop? And it continued through four quarters.
(04:59):
It was consistent every single quarter they ran the football game.
We knew DeAndre Swift was better than what he's seen
and or what we've seen and the numbers that he
had going into that game, but that was that was
his game. He's got games like that in him. He
does every year, and he was special last night. But
the commitment to the run game and the success, you mean,
you know you can commit to it, but if you're averaging,
(05:21):
you know, two point one to carry after ten carries,
you got to start throwing football a little bit to
move the change. But they moved the football last night.
Caleb didn't have to be great, and he wasn't great,
but they got the win. I'd like to see him
score more points. But the running game, let's go. And
we we've said, you know, once they start running the
football consistently, we'll see a better passing game.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Well it didn't.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
They really didn't compliment each other last night as I
thought it might. But they ran the football effectively, and
DeAndre Swift had himself a game. Not to even mention
the fifty five yard touchdown catch that really got that
fourth quarter comeback going.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Yeah, I mean Deandres have had a season nine hundred
and eight rushing yards, he had sixty seven receiving guards
and yeah, I agree, he really he is the reason.
It's not just him, but he is a major reason
why offensively you won this game. I mean that fifty
five yard touchdown reception where Caleb. Caleb admitted after the
game that that play call went horribly like he it
(06:17):
wasn't at all what he wanted it to be. He
had to adjust midplay, he said, but he was still
able to get that ball over to DeAndre Swift. He
shimmied in the sideline. From my vantage point, I thought
he was going to go outside or out of bounce,
but he stayed in bounced, and obviously that really turned
the game. There was a twenty six to twenty four
game at that point. Obviously we know everything else that
(06:38):
kind of happened after that, But yeah, I agree DeAndre Swift,
it just kind of felt like he was. Man. Feel,
it feels like he's been scratching right, like he's been
so close with a lot of these games. He's been,
you know, swallowed up a lot in the first four
games of the season, so you felt like he was
due and man that he kind of give you a
big performance like he showed you. I think I talked
(07:00):
about this when I chose him to be my most
valuable Bear, but he showed you. What he can do
is a pass catching threat, like if you get the
ball to him, and like at least a little bit
of open space and some decent blocking, he's gonna get
you ten, fifteen, twenty yards. Obviously he got your fifty
five yards on that play, So yeah, I agree, Joe.
This felt like a big game for him and it
was good to see the other guys get, you know,
(07:22):
running Roshawn Johnson got his first carry of the season
for six yards, A kylem young guy, got some good looks.
He had nineteen yards. He looked good running the bomb.
Kind of surprised at that number at nineteen was a
key has got a couple who got one attempt for
four and then Caleb obviously with his scrambles, finished with
minus too. But yeah, I agree. I think DeAndre Swift
is a major reason why you're able to win that game.
(07:45):
And it's good to see him kind of step up
here after a slow start and I will I'll think
you sorry, go ahead, thought I thought you were gonna
go to your number one.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
I know you're good one hundred percent and we'll see
more games like that. I'm not saying you see it's
Sunday again too. But he's got it in him and
he was due Bears fans, due the team was due
to have a game like that running the football.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
I'll piggyback. I'll kind of piggyback off of your first
one with my first winner.
Speaker 2 (08:16):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
The offensive line was a big was a big winner.
They they are like they are the reason why I
think DeAndre obviously, you know, he meets some nice cuts.
He made some really good runs, but he had lanes
and this, like Monday night, was the first time where
you can finally say okay, like he actually has lanes
to run through, Like I thought. Darnell Wright had one
of his best performances, you know, of his career, let
(08:40):
alone this season, like after that four like after that
four games start, which is insane because he had a
cast or whatever you want to call it on his
right elbow, So you kind of figure after coming back
from an injury, you'd be like, well, you know, how's
he gonna look. Is he gonna be limited in that
kind of stuff? Like he put together a great performance.
I think you're seeing Drew dahl And and Jonah Jackson
(09:01):
building some chemistry, and Theo Bennett in his first start
at left tackle. He looked really good. I mean he
looked really dominating down the field when he was blocking
on runs. Obviously, Joe Tone, he plays a big part
of that. It's funny, I feel like Joe Toney obviously.
I feel like when you're an All Pro, you just
kind of get lost in the shuffle because it's kind
of like you're expected to, you know, be an All Pro.
(09:23):
But I saw I saw an NFL Next Gen stance
had that he did or which which whichever one of
those places. He didn't allow a pressure or a sack
in the game, and you just kind of expect that
from Joe Tune at this point. But yeah, I think
everyone on the offensive line did a great job. I
think Drew domind sure, maybe there were a couple of
high snaps. The ball was really wet. It was not
good conditions to play football in in suburban Maryland yesterday.
(09:47):
But uh, the offensive line, that's exactly what you want. Now.
Are you gonna get that every single week? I don't know,
but it's really encouraging to see that that that they
were able to finally click. And that's the major reason
why you know that offensive you know, running attack finally
was able to kind of get something going this year. Yeah,
one hundred percent.
Speaker 2 (10:05):
And Joe Tooney, you hear his name at the beginning
of the game when the announced the starters, and then
you don't hear it the rest of the game, and
that's good for the if you're an offensive lineman. I mean,
he's just being steady and doing his job. But we're
not saying, you know, false start. I don't even know
what number he is, sixty five. I don't even know
what number Joe Tony is, but we don't We're not
hearing him fall starting or a holding penalty.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
He's just consistent.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
But I agree one hundred percent on Darnell right, looked
really good for a guy going into the weekend.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
I didn't know if he was gonna play.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
There was talking about Ozzie Turpillo getting to start there
and then Bennett it was I think probably a better
run blocker than he is a pass blocker. Sure, yeah,
good last night, and you're right, there were some lanes
there and they deserve I didn't mention him in my
little three and out thing, but absolutely, one hundred percent
they played a really good football game yesterday.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Yeah, you have to be really encouraged by that grouping. Obviously,
we'll see how it goes, but if that grouping is
able to kind of keep things moving in that direction.
I think you have to be really encouraged about what
this run attack can do, and then hopefully you can
kind of get the nung guy. If you want to
get Johnson involved, obviously, maybe you can get them going
a little bit more. All right, Joe, who is your
(11:14):
second winner? Well, you know how I love the kicker.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
I gotta go with Jake Moody. I mean, you know,
the game winner itself.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
I know it wasn't, you.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Know, a sixty yarder like some of these kids kick
it today, But it was still, like you said, Michael,
it was in ideal conditions last night, and I don't know,
you know, I think the ball was spotted at the
eighteen or the drive stalled if I'm looking at the
play by play sheet correctly, and ended up being a
thirty eight yarders. I don't know if they moved the
football back a little more of the kick before where
he had blocked, you know, a little aligned drive.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
I don't know if that's been his kind of knock
as a kicker in the league.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
But I don't know if they moved it back just
to be a little safe. They had plenty of distance.
You're inside forty yards that wasn't gonna be an issue.
But that aside that nuance aside, I mean the in cold,
I mean, it was nice if they had him stashed
on the practice squad, right because if you're scrambling, I
don't know when Cairo's situation with the with the thigh
was like evident where he might not be able to go,
(12:11):
because if that happened, you know where you thought he
was ready to go. And then it's the weekend, Well
you got here scrambling for a kicker and searching the
waiver wire and you're just kind of it's probably too
late to bring someone in at that point. But they
had him, and big redemption for him because you know, look,
he might get cut this week again if Kiro's ready
to go, that's just the life of an NFL kicker.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
And you know.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
He's he's auditioning for other teams around the league too.
If that's the case, so good for him. But he
certainly was clutching that offense again much like the Raiders game,
like you're you're in position there, you're driving, let's get
six points here, and it stalls for whatever reason, whether
it was execution or you know, pre stamp penalties, whatever,
(12:51):
But he delivered. All those kicks were forty plus yards
until the last one. And I mean, I'd give the
kid a lot of credit because they were probably a
lot of people thinking this guy stinks the Niners cut
him and heirs here is you know, showtime, Monday Night football,
and he delivered and no kick bigger than the last one.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
It was definitely a really cool moment. I mean, just
I don't know if you guys saw the video on
social media. It was kind of the lead of my story,
just you know, guys picking him up, like, you know,
hoisting him and this sort of stuff. And I mean
it was funny because we were talking to him and
you know, DeAndre Swift, like DeAndre Swift said, I like
introduced myself to him, like on the sideline, Like he
doesn't know a majority of these guys, Like he's been
(13:32):
around obviously the locker room for the past three weeks,
but he's on the practice squad. He's maybe not around
as much as Avid Cairo is. Obviously, you don't the
special teams guys don't really spend a lot of time
with the you know, everyone else. They're usually I'm off
on the side field, you know, working on some stuff
and all those different three things. But what a cool
moment for Jake Moody. Obviously, you know the forty nine
(13:54):
ers cut him after what or wave them after one week?
The Bear sign him a couple of days later to
their practice squad. You know, you're kind of like, you know,
he he did say that he got a chance to
you know, he knew that he was going to be
kicking the day before or he knew he I guess
they didn't want to say specifically when they knew, but
he did say that he knew heading into Monday that
(14:15):
he was going to be the guy, and he stepped
in big, like he said. I think it was a
forty seven yarder for his first one, the forty eight
yarder for a second one. He made a third field goal,
and he admitted he said on that four try, he
he hit it too low. Like He'll have to look
at the tape, but he said, I hit it too low,
like I think the cop I think when I was
rewatching it, both Joe Buck and Troy Aklin were just like,
it doesn't seem like any big pressure froup the middle.
(14:36):
It just seemed like he hit it low. But what
a moment for Jake Moody just to be able to,
you know, have that moment to come in to win it.
You know it what sure, it's a chip shop, but
you know, it very easily could have gone south really
quickly with the you know, Tory Taylor did a good
job of catching that snap. I don't know if you
guys saw, but he did a good job of settling
it and getting it down. So really for Jake Moody,
(15:00):
the whole you know, that whole kicking crew a really
good performance, especially given the fact that you know Cairo
wasn't out there and it's you're just dealing with a
new kicker.
Speaker 2 (15:10):
Yeah, and you know what, I'm glad you mentioned Tory
Taylor on the hold there because ask Jane Daniels how
slippery the ball was in that fourth quarter. So kudos
to Tory Taylor, especially with the pressure on there, right.
So it's you you make it, you win, you you
miss it, you lose the game. So that that was
a pretty clutch on all guys. And even credit to
Jake Moody for crediting Tory Taylor and Scott Daly the
(15:33):
launch snapper.
Speaker 1 (15:34):
Yeah, at Roberts timing and he's got a rob Tory
Taylor as his winner. Team's coming off with the big
punts this season, he was he has been looking a
little bit better, which is which is great to see.
All right. I'm I can go into different directions, but
I really think for my second winner, and I used
this one again last week, but I feel like it's important.
The coaching. I think the coaching is just if you
(15:57):
just like comparing it from last year, it's just night
and day. It is just a professional team. Guys know
what is expected, Guys know what to do in certain situations,
like the Bears get gifted this opportunity, right, Jaden Daniel
somehow fumbles the ball and the Bears take over at
I think it was like what the Bear's forty or
something like that, and they've got a little over two minutes.
(16:19):
And Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams are after the game
both said there on the same wave length score score
a field Goresko to score a touchdown, but do whatever
you do, run the clock out and make sure that
the Commanders don't get the ball back, because you know
that them even without last year's Hail Mary, you know
that the Commanders have the ability to run a really
quick two minute one minute offense, So I thought it
(16:40):
was really smart. You know, DeAndre Swift gets a couple first,
you know, it gets uh gets five yards I think
on two carries, so that gets you to the two
minute warning. Then Caleb completes a nice pass to Coast
and Loveland, which I thought was a really good play design,
just an easy five yard pass and the situa situational
awareness of having the Andre run a couple of times
(17:01):
and the Commanders burn a couple of touchdowns or touchdowns timeouts,
and then when Caleb is being pressured for a sack,
he knows not to run out of bounds, like he
slides in bounds, forcing the Commanders to call their final timeout.
That is just you didn't see that last year. You
didn't see it in Detroit, you didn't see it in
Green Bay. You didn't see it in any of those situations.
(17:23):
And I think that just says a lot about this
coaching staff where whether it was training camp, whether it's
been you know, ahead of this game, whether it's just
on the sidelines on Monday, you are making it very
clear to your players we are doing this. There's no
if ens and butts, we're not doing this in case
this or whatever. This is what we're trying to do.
And you know, I you know, I saw some people
(17:44):
maybe being like, we'll go for the touchdown instead of
the field goal, like what if something happens? And I
think you can have that argument. Sure you obviously want
to score no matter what. But I didn't think that
that the logic was flawed by any means. I liked
the game plan. I thought it was good. Sure, could
you take a shot maybe into the end zone, Yeah,
but then you risk something happening with her it's an
(18:04):
interception or a fund like obviously like Jane and Daniel's
just fumbled. So yeah, the coaching for me is my
second winner, and I think it's a huge winner because
I don't think you win that football game if those
players aren't coach well and Ben Johnson doesn't have a
very concise plan about what they want to do here
in the last two plus minutes. One hundred percent.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
And I'll go right to my third positive takeaway kind
of piggybacks and compliments. What you're saying here about just
the end of the half execution. We've seen it really
every game. I mean and look, I'm on social media
the whole time during the game. I know you are too,
and you know, checking Twitter and reading and watching and
(18:47):
the years for how many years now has it been people?
Speaker 1 (18:51):
What are they doing with the clock? What kind of
play call? Is that?
Speaker 2 (18:54):
Why we call it a screen? I'm third and eighteen.
I haven't seen any of that. Again, players ultimately have
to execute, but they're showing poise at the end of halves.
My gosh, I'm giddy. I mean, I can't remember the
last time we've seen this consistently. Now, were they good
clock management? Making clutch throws? They're not making every throw
(19:15):
Caleb's I get it. No one does, not even the
best guys in the league at the position, but they
And I think that's you know that they say, you know,
losing is contagious. Winning his contagious. You need to see
a result, You need to see positive things coming, and
you know, like you know, look these past Bears teams,
not even just the Ebra Flus teams going back before that.
(19:37):
You get to the fourth quarter. Now you're used to losing,
and so you're expecting almost bad things to happen.
Speaker 1 (19:43):
Well, now, I think.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
And it's it's early it's five games, but we're seeing
like a team that's like we're fine, we're down, you know,
eight points, nine points whatever.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
In the fourth quarter. We got time.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
Caleb showed some of that last year and then the
coaches messed it up.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
But they need to start stringing these games like this together.
Speaker 2 (20:01):
I don't want to look. I can't take twenty five
to twenty four games or the rest of the season.
I mean, you think my hair is gray now, they'll
go way to come January of twenty twenty six. I mean,
it's got to stop. But hopefully they have a little
easier game Sunday. We'll get to that later in a week.
But I just like the execution. We're seeing the clock management,
and you're right, one more thing on your point about
(20:23):
at the end there, you know you maybe take a
we'll take one shot at the end zone. At least
the Bears are not saying we're at the thirty yard line,
but like we've seen past regimes, we're at the thirty.
We're in field goal position. Let's not try to win
it with a fifty five yarder. Let's try to get
a little closer. And once they got inside the twenty five,
there Okay, now you're looking at you know, at the twenty.
Now you're looking at maybe now it's a thirty eight,
(20:44):
thirty nine, maybe a forty yard er a little more
makeable even in those conditions last night. But I think
they wanted to get it a little closer because they
understood that and that seems simple, but we've seen it
in the past. It's not always as easy a decision,
apparently for the coaching staff as you think it might be.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
Yeah, for sure, And even Caleb kind of reiterated your
point of like, you know, obviously you want to win
by thirty points every single time, like that's the goal, right,
But he did say that these guys just it doesn't
seem like they get flustered. And I was kind of
interesting because when the Commander scored that touchdown to make
it a twenty four to sixteen game, it really felt
(21:20):
like things were kind of unraveling. Like the Jenden Daniels,
it seemed like he was picking on the secondary. It
seemed like he finally figured out, Okay, like I'm gonna
pick on this matchup and I'm gonna work on this.
But you know, I talked to Tory Taylor after the game,
Caleb talked about this. Those guys just seem calm and collected.
They don't. They don't seem nervous, which is kind of
interesting because I don't know whether it's last year's experience.
(21:42):
I don't know whether it's Ben Johnson and having confidence
in him and the coaching staff, But it just doesn't
seem like this group gets worried about the moment. And
that doesn't mean that they're gonna win every single game.
That doesn't mean that they're gonna come back every single
time they're down. But it doesn't seem like this group
is nervous at all when it comes to these type
of situations. Very clear that Caleb has the clutch geen
(22:03):
Like is he going to be perfect all the time?
Speaker 2 (22:06):
No?
Speaker 1 (22:06):
Like is he going to come back all the time. No,
But it's very clear that he has that gene to
make plays when he really needs to in certain moments.
And you know, sure five games into the season, you know,
against the Raiders and the Commanders, you can say that,
you can say where is that clutch gene against the
Vikings or obviously against the Lions. Sure that argument can
be made, but I think you're seeing more and more
that when he's getting an opportunity, he just seems calm,
(22:29):
cool and collected and really knows what how you know
what to do?
Speaker 2 (22:33):
In Ben Johnson's offense, yep, I mean, and again, I
think their best football's ahead of him. I know it's
easy to say that, but I don't look at this
team thinking like, well, I don't think they can play
any better. This isn't like the Cubs. First half of
the season were like, the Cubs can't play any better
than that, and they did it. Yeah, after July. I
think there's still good football ahead with the Spars football team.
Speaker 1 (22:57):
All Right, I'm gonna finish things up with our winners here.
I'd be remissive. We didn't talk about the defense obviously.
I know, obviously they gave up twenty four points. There
were some moments where it seemed dicey. I mean, when
they gave up that what was at third and thirteen
before the fumble, You're kind of like, oh, this might
be the straw that broke the Campbell's back. But listen,
they keep finding ways to make, you know, turnovers. Jakwan
(23:20):
Brisker with that first interception, you just read that play perfectly.
That seems again to be a Again that's you know
Ben Jonson in his post game you know talk with
the guys when he's like repped up and ever, like
he made sure to emphasized like the theory that takeaways
are like accidents like is not true. Like you need
to study tape and you need to be aware of that.
And that again goes back to coaching, where these guys
(23:42):
know where the ball is going to be, and no
tells about quarterbacks and what is going to happen where
the quarterback is likely going to be looking. And you
saw that on that interception. It was great to see
Montes Sweat make an impact obviously back against the Commanders.
He forced that fumble and then TJ. Edwards got the
recover the fumble, and then Nashad Wright was just at
(24:03):
the right place at the right time, right like he
was reading the RPO and he saw the ball in
the ground and just jumped on it. That again, sometimes
sometimes you need dumb luck, right Like that's just a
game of football. But I think it's really impressive because
for how good you know, they've been able to create turnovers.
It's not like they were pressuring Jade and Daniels. I mean,
(24:25):
they were getting pressure on him, but they only got
two sacks on him, and I think it was two
quarterback kids. And again, stopping Jade and Daniels is not
the same as like stopping like JJ McCarthy or or
you know, some other person that I'm not really thinking
of right now, Like you see the moves that he's
making over there, and then just it's insane, like I
don't know how he's getting out of that. But you
(24:46):
have to give the defense a lot of credit where
they continue to create turnovers. It was their third straight
multi turnover game, fourth out of five games, and you
have to be really impressed with what this defense has
been able to do. And quite honestly, it's the only
reason why this team was in the game in the
first place because of those three turnovers.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
Yeah, truth be told here, Michael. I. I don't like the
phrase right place at the right time. I've never liked it.
I don't like I don't like when guys write it.
It's okay if you're a player and you say you're
being modest, Hey, I was just in the right place
the right time. I just hate it because it tells
me you're just like a guy off the street all
of a sudden, you know something nice when as an athlete,
(25:25):
you put yourself in the position, being in the right place,
being heads up, being aware, being prepared.
Speaker 1 (25:31):
For potential moments like that.
Speaker 2 (25:32):
And yeah, sometimes it's lucky you guys gotta you know
they got to fumble a snab. You didn't force that
fumble on the on the on the Daniels handoff at
the end, or that led to the game winning field goal.
But just putting yourself in the right position, the free
the cliche and sports of high school kids the said
all the time, do your one eleven right, do your part,
make sure you're in the right place. And sometimes you're
(25:53):
gonna get a bone. I mean, but but that's that's
on the athlete. And then when when the bone is
sitting right on your face, you gotta be able to
pounce and you gotta be able to catch it and
grab it and secure it because not everyone can do
that all the time.
Speaker 1 (26:06):
How many times we see that at any level.
Speaker 2 (26:08):
So kudos to the player, kudo to na Shon right,
because he didn't have he didn't have a good game.
Speaker 1 (26:11):
I mean, he's nayshon right.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
We know we got there what and boy they missed
Jalen Johnson, But that's another story. But kudos today na
Seon right for being there securing the football and we
know what, you know, the rest is history there.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Yeah, for sure, there's defense, obviously, there's there's fixes, and
we're gonna get to some fixes now. But it's really
impressive to kind of see them continue to kind of
do this. And you know, it goes back to studying,
like we talked about, just being in the right you know,
whether it is right place or right time or whatever,
just being able to you know, know what your job
is and to be there and execute it at the
(26:44):
right time. All right, Joe, Uh, it was far from
a perfect game on Monday. There's plenty of things to
talk about. So what's your start. Let's start things off
with the losers here. Now, what's your first loser from
yesterday's wine? The obvious? What he again? The penaliesh my gut.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
I thought we were asked that after the Raiders game
that was ugly last night and some of the you know,
I don't want to sound like the parent at the
basketball game that complains about every freaking call that drives
me nuts, but man, the officiating. I mean the call
that wiped out the touchdown from Caleb to a Doneza
there when the illegal formation on THEO come on, they
(27:23):
roughing the passer on Jakwan Brisker. I that's just a
football play. I don't think he was trying to wipe
on his ankle or take on his knees. There were
some really bad calls I thought last night, But the
bottom line is it was nine penalties for what eighty
four yards? I think it was that's way too many.
Even Ben Johnson his post game, which those are going
(27:45):
viral now after every Bears win saying, hey, Matgine, how
good we're gonna be, how good it's gonna look?
Speaker 1 (27:50):
When get that cleaned up? Well, they got to get
it cleaned up.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
And you know the funny thing, Michael, it's not just
one guy like that guy that's his third fall start
of the game and they're spreading it around. But that's
got to get cleaned up because the few offenses in
this game are good enough to overcome that.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
And defense too.
Speaker 2 (28:08):
I think it was like four plays they mentioned on
the telecash last night. Four plays were the defensive penalty
kept the commander's offense on the field.
Speaker 1 (28:17):
I mean, that's a lot.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
So you take away that stuff, you take away some
of those BS calls. I'm sorry, it might be a
different game. Everyone's thinking the Commander should have won the game.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
They blew it.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
I'm sure that's the narrative out there in DC today.
They're saying it on the ESPN. Bears got lucky, you
know what it. Bears had a lot of bad calls
go against them last night.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
Yeah, it was. It was interesting. It's a it's a
new officiating crew. They're they're getting together. The umpire I
forget what his name was, but he's now a referee.
Is his first year being a referee, and it kind
of keep it kind of seemed to me that as
a new crew, maybe they're being very ticky tacky about
their calls. It seems like I think you could I
think by the letter of the log, you could make
(28:59):
it argument that THEO Benedett was off the line of scrimmage.
But I think you see that play all the time,
and that really felt like a play that was that
didn't really feel like a moment where you make that call,
especially you know, not that it matters whether romadouns they
made an amazing touchdown catch or not. But that was
definitely a moment where I was kind of like that
just I mean, sure, I can see what you're saying.
(29:23):
Maybe it was like a centimeter off, like I think
it's supposed to be like the rear of Drew Dolman,
but that felt like a TICKI tag call. Robert is
bringing up a couple of them, and I agree. The
offensive PI on Coaston Lovelin I thought was a little
bit soft as well. Yeah, the face mask on nash
On right, I didn't get a chance to see it
(29:44):
live when I was rewatching and I saw it. I
mean like Day shouted right after the game said he
didn't even touch his face mask, and I you know,
based on the review, maybe he like glazed it. But
it just seemed I don't know. Some of those penalties
were just not great. The you know, the Brisker one
at the time, I said, and I think I tweeted
out Man that, like I feel like you can't call that.
(30:06):
I get it, like I think brisker And it's easy
for me up in the press box to say this,
not as the guy who's going like what thirty miles
an hour toward a quarterback and trying to make a
split second decision. Like it's very easy for me to
say this from here, but maybe he could have made
that tackle, you know, at the middle of Jade and
Daniel's body. So I get it. It's like, it's the rule.
(30:27):
You're not supposed to go for the legs and go
below the waist. He had an opportunity, Like, he had
an opportunity to avoid the lower part of his body.
When you watch the replay, he doesn't really get tripped
up too much. He had a very clear shot, So
I think that's probably why I at the time I
didn't really like it. After looking at it, I'm kind
of like, Okay, I can see why this was called.
(30:48):
But yeah, like I don't like playing the game of
like the refs are in it for the Bears. They're
trying to you know, mess with the Bears or anything
like that. But yeah, it was definitely it was definitely
not a good it was. It's definitely going to be
one that I think the NFL officiating offices are going
to talk to that crew about and going to be
looking at some of these plays and are going to
be like, well, sure, this is the rule, but I
(31:10):
think you're maybe taking a little bit too literally.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
Yeah, and other than the well, the benefit play really
wasn't a presnat penalty because the play continued. But so
even if you take let's say, take two of those
calls away that they weren't called, it's still seven penalties, right, Yeah,
that's still too many. It's still too many.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
They know it.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
But they just got to get that cleaned up because
they're they're they're as an offensive unit, they're just not
there yet where they can overcome this all the time.
Speaker 1 (31:40):
It's really tough.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
So they, I'll say it, Ben Johnson has said it
a million times, I'm sure already to as players, you know,
you got to get that cleaned up. And now let's
see the Bears play. Like if we see the Bears
play their best game yet, No, I mean they they
got a good.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
Game maybe the Cowboys, if you want to say that.
I think they were pretty clean in there.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
Yeah, got the turnovers, they weren't great to you know,
they were still giving up too many long running plays.
But that was pretty good. That was pretty good. But
I still think I think they've got at least a
couple more better football games in them this season. When
it happens, I don't know, but it's it's coming. But
we all want to see it. Like I want to
see the first round picks would be more involved. I
(32:23):
just have to be patient. I just have to be patient.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
I think it's coming, and to me it was also
a surprise. You know, you you come out of the buy.
You can't play like that, and even like you know,
I agree, like and I think Robert makes a good
point there there are penalties, and you made the same point,
show that they created. They have penalties like they were
they weren't all the refs just making them up and
trying to put them on the Bears.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
Like.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
Maybe one or two of them. You could argue them
and they you just can't do that. And sure the
fall starts aren't there anymore, but like the penalties are there,
and that's kind of gonna that kind of piggybacks into
my first one. The inefficiencies are just not good up
to this point. The Bears finished the game three to
ten on third down. They were zero for one on
(33:11):
their first on their loan fourth down conversion, and you
just need to you need to convert that. That is
just how you settle for field goals instead of going
for touchdowns. That's how you are just you know not
And I don't know what the solution is because some
of the plays, you know, Z the key is when
you know it's either Caleb misses someone or the or
(33:34):
the roudrunner isn't running the route, and it's just confusing
to know what the problem is in that instance. So
that needs to be fixed. The third down inefficiencies are
not good. You can't win. I know they won this game,
but you're not going to consistently win in the NFL
if you're going three for ten on third down. You
need to convert on third downs and they're just not
(33:54):
doing it at this point. And the red zone two,
I forget what the red zone situation was, but they
also are. Yeah, there were one for three in the
red zone while the Commanders were one for one. That's
got to be higher. I know that's thirty three percent,
But you get when you get into the red zone,
you got to score touchdowns. You got to leave the
field goals for like forty yards or like fifty yards
(34:16):
or something like that. But when you're getting into the
red zone, you got to get six points. And there
it just felt too often that this team would get
really good drives, they'd move down the field and then
a bad third down play just happens. And you know
the third down play at the end of the third
quarter where I think they still had time on the
play clock, but for some reason they decided to go
(34:37):
with the play. It's a high snap, Caleb is just
forced to kind of, you know, go down, and then
you start off the fourth quarter with the block field.
Will Like it's just moments like that where you're just
kind of like, man, this, this is this has to
be cleaned up because you're lucky. You won this game
on Monday, and you know, I don't want to say, look,
but like you you need to execute on those plays
(34:57):
in order to you know, win consistently, and you're not
going to keep doing it if you're just you know,
playing at that kind of percentages. Yeah, I thought, I'm led.
Speaker 2 (35:06):
Your referenced that sequence there were Caleb look like he
took his eyes off the ball a little bit. I
know it was a little to his left, maybe a
little high. He's got to catch that. And then they
get the block field going. I thought, oh, here we
go at the beginning of the end here and it
certainly looked like that for the next several minutes.
Speaker 1 (35:24):
But you can't have it.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
And I expect touchdowns when you get down there, and look, hey,
you got the weapons.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
You know, you got.
Speaker 2 (35:28):
Two big, strong, burly tight ends. Right, you got you burden,
you got DJ and Hope he's okay. By the way, No,
he stayed in DC overnight, you know. And you got
a Rome. And again, they should have had that one
touchdown the Benettitt play, you know, the illegal formation that
wiped out. That would have had a nice six points
(35:48):
Caleb to Rome. But you need you need to score
there because you're not going to keep winning twenty five
to twenty four every week.
Speaker 1 (35:57):
It's nice, you'll take it.
Speaker 2 (35:58):
It wins a win, but you got to get six
when you get inside the twenty.
Speaker 1 (36:04):
All right, Joe, what is your second loser from the weekend?
Speaker 2 (36:08):
You know, we got to talk about Caleb a little
more here. I you know, I had him in the
three things that didn't Work part of my story last night.
I had him as one of the things that didn't work.
I mean I probably could have left him off. I
don't think he was awful and just thought it'd be better.
I thought maybe the the guy, you know, wanting to
prove he's better than he still deserves to be the
(36:29):
top pick in the twenty twenty four draft. I thought
that would motivate him a little bit. I thought we
see a little better, especially coming off the BI week,
a little sharper. He's still off target on some throws,
a couple.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
Of these things.
Speaker 2 (36:41):
Like I was, I like, I want to see this kid.
He I think you've talked to him with the other
reporters up closed. He seems like a very likable young man,
very sharp, made.
Speaker 1 (36:54):
For the moment, you know, fourth quarter.
Speaker 2 (36:56):
But I'm so tired of the media, national media in particular,
pick it up on him. They're still talking again, still
giving Drake May all the love and jayde and Daniels
all the love, and hey, you know what, these guys
have played great, no question about it.
Speaker 1 (37:07):
But this is I really want to see this kid succeed.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
It's the last thing when he like that, there's an
opportunity to show the world again that you know, you're
the man. There's a reason why you're the number one
pick in the draft last year. Not the not the
Commanders quarterback, not the Patriots quarterback, not Michael Pennix, not
bow Nicks, and it didn't happen last night. So I
know it was a crappy night on the field there,
windy and rainy, and you know Jayde and Daniels didn't
(37:34):
have a particular great game.
Speaker 1 (37:36):
He in the three touchdowns.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
Tell you what thing about one thing about Caleb and
I'm making this more of a positive than a negative.
He didn't turn the ball over unlike the other quarterback.
He didn't throw the interception in the red zone. He
didn't bobble a handoff when you're you know, a few
yards of probably ice in the game there with a
field goal down the stretch. So Caleb and that was
a positive last year with him, so you know, not
(37:58):
throwing the ball over and this year, out of the
numbers in front of me, you know, tds to interceptions,
but you know he didn't throw a touchdown pass last
way of the one to swift that that little screen
that one to fifty five. But no, no, no turnovers,
you know, no interceptions, no fumble. So in that regard,
you know, teasy to overlooked that sometimes, but but that
(38:19):
was probably the difference of the game, right Bear's quarter
you know, all over the Commanders quarterback did so, I
just want to see a little more on a Caleb.
Speaker 1 (38:28):
Yeah, I agree with you, or it kind of feels
weird saying that he's he's not a loser, I think.
I mean, he threw for two hundred and fifty two
yards like he looked. He managed the ball well. He
obviously managed the the you know, game winning drive well.
I but I do think that you can say. And
I know people were so mad at Troy Aikman for
giving him such a hard time and all that kind
(38:48):
of stuff and everyone the whole Troy Aikman Caleb Williams thing,
But listen, Caleb was not good mid range, Like he
was struggling to complete passes that were open, and I know,
you know, some of them were you know, you know
the first time. I don't know whether there was the
miscommunication with Dj Moore on the first third down that
they faced where they had to settle for a field goal.
(39:08):
It was the keyst A couple of times, I feel
like there was some miscommunication. He was off with some throws,
some deep throws as well. Those those are just like
the layups for me that I feel like he needs
to get better at. And I think he does a
great job of improvising. I think he can hit the
long shot. I like that he was able to, you know,
make that Pastor Romadoon day that they get called for
(39:30):
a touchdown. The Luther Burdon throw where he was able
to get a lot of yak was really nice too
write and being able to you know, create something out
of nothing to get that DeAndre Swift touchdown. But it
just feels like there are too many layups that they're
missing right now. And I don't know whether it's just timing,
whether it's footwork. I'm not a quarterback guru by any means,
but you need to fix up those layups because if
(39:53):
you can just get the five yards here or there
prolonged drives, that's just going to make your life so
much easier. Know, that's something that Ben Johnson's talked to
him about. Caleb knows that I'm not telling him something
he doesn't know, but the but the mid range game
needs to be improved a lot, because you're just gonna
make your life so much easier, especially against better teams
like none that the Commanders are bad teams, but like
(40:14):
when you're playing the Ravens, when you're playing the Eagles,
when you're playing the Packers or the Vikings or the Lions,
like you need to hit on those short throws to
continue like moving the ball down the field and not
set up third and long.
Speaker 2 (40:27):
Yeah, and even the throw to wasn't a short throws.
It was a deep pass to Rome. I think that
was the first half where at no point Rome was
ever open and he was in double coverage. He was
offered by two guys the entire time, the whole time,
and that they were lucky that fell incomplete. I mean
it would have been a long punt essentially if that
had been picked off.
Speaker 1 (40:46):
But like that's like it's just not there.
Speaker 2 (40:49):
So I don't know, it's easy in it pick, it's easy.
Speaker 1 (40:52):
You know. Overall, he had a he had a good.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
Game, decent game, right, and again.
Speaker 1 (40:59):
We're looking for improvement, right, Like if you want to
have to be the number one overall pick, you want
him to be that guy, he has to hit those plays.
Speaker 2 (41:06):
Yeah, I mean in Washington too, I mean, look, they're
supposed to like maybe now you know, when the NFC is,
you know they're they're good football team. It's not like
you're playing a bad football team. So you have to
take that thing into consideration too.
Speaker 1 (41:19):
All Right, My second loser kind of goes off of
Robert kind of chimed in about this one looly for me,
a special team kick returns, returning and defending this will lose.
Those games have not improved. That was actually kind of
interesting because I was kind of imp I think I
can't remember the exact tim you know, but I think
Jake Moody got the kickoffs into the end zone a
couple of times, but when he did it, the coverage
(41:43):
was just not good and it seemed like guys were
just sticking on the Commanders. They weren't breaking tackles, they
weren't getting around. And Ben Johnson heading into this game
talked about how, you know, physical this group is, how
the Commanders are in special teams, and how they're versatile
and they're able to kind of commit and you and
you saw that like they were able to get a
lot of deep returns. They were kind of able to
(42:05):
always at least pick up fifteen yards, if not twenty yards.
I know there are a couple of penalties on the
couple returns, but I agree, Robert, I think that's going
to hurt you in the big moment that could let
a team, you know, start a drive at the forty
instead of the twenty five, And that needs to be
cleaned up because I feel like, for the most part,
special teams hasn't really been that big of you know,
(42:28):
I don't feel like we've talked about it because it
hasn't been really that big of a thing. But yesterday
I felt like it was coming up a lot where
the commanders were just kind of dominating on kickoff and
returns and the one punt returns I think that they had. Yeah,
you know, you're right.
Speaker 2 (42:42):
I don't know if we've mentioned the kickoff team at
all in all our podcasts we've been doing since the spring,
but yeah, there have been just off memory, not without
looking at the NFL stats, some long returns, and we
know what happened at the the end of the with
the Minnesota game, that that whole fiasco. So yeah, I
(43:04):
think that's gotta kind of improve. I don't notice Travis
Homer help if we get in. He's a special teams guy. Yeah,
I don't know, but you know, we talked so much
about the offense and the defense and the kicking game
as far as you know, whether it's Cairo or last
night Jake Moody. But yeah, they got to do a
(43:25):
better job of covering kickoffs because that guy, especially with
today's kickers, that can bloom at sixty. You know, you
get to the forty opposing team's forty, You're like you're
in field goal range.
Speaker 1 (43:36):
It's silly. So that's got to be cleaned up. Good point, right,
all right, Joe, who's your final loser from yesterday's game?
Speaker 2 (43:44):
The pass rush, it was better. They got some pressure,
but still not good enough. Still not good enough. I'll
give Dennis Allen credit, Like at the end there when
they had to get pressure on Jayden Daniels, they seem
due and Monte Sweat didn't have a sack.
Speaker 1 (43:57):
He had the force fumble, you had a tip pass.
Speaker 2 (43:59):
I thought that was huge in the fourth quarter, and
and one of those rushes he almost got to Jane.
Speaker 1 (44:06):
They's a tough kid to bring down Jane Daniels.
Speaker 2 (44:08):
I mean everyone knows that, so but it just got
to be better. I'm I don't expect the eighty five
Bears with Hampton and Dan to McMichael, I don't expect that,
but I need to see more pressure.
Speaker 1 (44:18):
They tried to get Jikwan there.
Speaker 2 (44:20):
A couple of times I think I thought we'd see
more out of Kyler Gordon, but you know, kids gotta
be a little rusty.
Speaker 1 (44:26):
He hasn't played since last year, so I don't know.
Speaker 2 (44:31):
To me, if they I don't want to go, I said,
I wouldn't go there.
Speaker 1 (44:34):
I'm going here.
Speaker 2 (44:35):
If they're gonna be a playoff team, gasp. If they're
gonna be a playoff team, that defense has to show more.
And I know that was a good quarterback. He deserves
all the accolades Jaye Daniels, But you know they were
without Terry McLaurin last night, who I think is a
fantastic wide receiver. Deebo Is still can tell he's out
(44:56):
one hundred percent Deebo Samuel. So the pass rush just
it was better. It's just not good enough by any
means yet.
Speaker 1 (45:05):
Yeah, and I agree with the context obviously of you know,
Jayden Daniels is the best. If not, you know, him
and Lamar Jackson are the top two in my book
in the baiting pressure. They just they just have something
in them where they're just able to make a step
to just to kind of, you know, get away from
from the pressure, and I acknowledge that, but yeah, you
got to figure out something. And you know, Dennis aale
was trying different things. I saw, you know, there is
(45:27):
a stretch there. We saw Schamar Turner on on the
on the defensive end position. He was both you know,
on the you know, coming off the you know, off
the ground and or just you know, uh, you know,
not off of it. And you know he You're trying
to look for solutions. And you know, you noticed obviously
that the defense is playing a lot more zone than
(45:48):
man cabrit coverage at this point. And obviously we know
that Dennis Aalem loves to play man coverage, so that's
been an interesting adjustment for for this defense. But yeah,
I mean, you gotta you gotta see some sort of pressure.
It gets better obviously. You know when you play Spencer Ratler,
uh this week, you know, I don't know if he
can run as well as Jade and Daniels. I don't
(46:08):
think you're gonna see a quarterback who runs as well
Jayde and Daniels for the rest of the year. Maybe
maybe Jalen hurts, but you know, off the top of
my head that I can think of. Obviously, other than
Lamar Jackson when you play him here in a couple
of weeks. But yeah, I think I think you need
to figure things out. You just you just gotta you
gotta land it, and maybe they would land it. Maybe
this was a good performance in the context of this
(46:30):
is Jane Daniels. But I agree, you want to see
a couple more sacks. But it was good to see
Javon dexteror have a sack and a half. So at
least you got something from the middle of the pressure there.
All right, wrap things up with my last one. Joey
touched on this and we don't we don't need to
get into it too much, but I'd like the Titans
to get involved a little bit more. You've talked about this.
(46:53):
Coleston Loveland had three targets. Cole Comb I had two targets,
and you know, I know they were used for some
protection a little, but I don't know. You got playmakers there.
And I know, I know every week is different. Every week.
You know you're focusing on different deficiencies on the defense.
But I just feel like five games into the season.
I'm not an offensive guru, but I feel like you
(47:14):
got to get the tight ends more involved, and that's
just something I'm looking for you. I don't feel like
the Bears are doing it enough right now. I don't
know whether that's, you know, play calling. I don't know
whether that's just guys not getting open or Caleb not
seeing them. But your tight ends. You have two play
making tight ends, and I don't think you're taking advantage
of them at all right now. Well, yeah, you know
where I stand. I mean Colston Lovelin.
Speaker 2 (47:36):
I think he had a season high two catches last
night for the tenth pick in the draft.
Speaker 1 (47:41):
I mean, come on, and you.
Speaker 2 (47:42):
Know when he gets the ball, he's like Luther Burton,
Luthor Berden Maan another nice catchdown field, a couple zigg
and a zag Deacon the guy get the ball and
this guy's hands for crying out loud, and they did,
and what it was like, it's a little almost like
a lateral forward pass and he gettin some yards.
Speaker 1 (47:58):
But I need to see more for him and and Loveland.
Speaker 2 (48:02):
I mean, I gotta believe you know, we have months
to talk about this down the road. But this might
be cold comets last year here. Maybe they're just kind
of a slow move in to the position. The understudy.
But boy, that's a beautiful weapon you got there in
Colston Loveland. And for the life of me, I don't
know what it is. I just need I want to
(48:24):
see more and more of that kid and Luther Burdon.
I'm probably gonna be saying that every week until what happens.
Speaker 1 (48:30):
Yeah, I mean, you got playmakers there, and you know,
for Luther, it's obviously tough because you.
Speaker 2 (48:35):
Know, you got d J.
Speaker 1 (48:35):
Moore, you got you know, Roe mcdoonsday, you got o
Z Hugh, you throw it Touris left. Well, that's a
whole we can we can. We've talked about this a
lot obviously, I think I understand your point to that,
but yeah, I mean maybe that's maybe that's the thing
(48:56):
where you get these mismatches and you get opportunities like that.
But yeah, I agree. If you if you got playmakers
like Luther Burdon colest To Lovel and you got to
use them, and you used Burdon a little bit yesterday.
I think that was probably the second best most productive
game other than the Cowboys game. But yeah, maybe that
will change this week against against the Saints. But I
(49:16):
just thought that you you have good tight ends. I
think Cole Komen has shown you. I know he had
a bad game obviously the last you know, against the Raiders,
but I think he's shown you that he can be
a dependable guy if you use them. Robert chiming in
before we say goodbye, he's got question what it was, uh,
in your opinion, improved the running game on both sides
of the ball. Is it THEO that much of an
(49:37):
upgrade as a TJ being back for me, Joe, I
feel like for the for the offensive side of the ball,
everyone's just doing their job. And that's something that Ben
Johnson has been harping on ever since he came here. Like, yes,
I think the I think the offensive linemen were better.
I think that they were doing a good job of
setting the edge. But your wide receivers were blocking for
(49:58):
you too. Dj Moore was blocked for you all the
like when you look at the tape, all these wide
receivers are blocking as well. The tight ends are blocking
as well. And that's been Ben Johnson's big thing. You know,
no block, no rock, And I think you're seeing right
now that that's what that could look like when everyone
is doing their job. Would you agree or do you
think it's something else offensively, No.
Speaker 2 (50:20):
I agree, And I just think that the whole continuity
issue too, Kevin. Those guys have another game under their belt,
another game under their belt. I know they've had this,
the injuries, issues with the with the tackles on either
side of the ball. But you know, the more they
play together as a unit, I think it'll get better.
But I mean it's just gonna take some time just
(50:40):
them to start trusting those linemen where you don't have
to leave a tight end in all the time. But
I trust in this coaching staff. I was happy again
that they look like a better football team running the football.
And I wasn't sold on the seventh round pick, the
running back for Washington, like he's like the next big
thing here.
Speaker 1 (51:01):
I you know, he's a.
Speaker 2 (51:02):
Good player, he's shifty, he kind of you know, kind
of there he's Manungui too or manunguy won and manunguy
is man and guy too out of whatever the case.
But yeah, I think that it wasn't like you're running
against you know, you're trying to feel or trying to
stop Bijon Robinson.
Speaker 1 (51:16):
Or Saquan or something like that.
Speaker 2 (51:17):
So but it was better and I think again coming
out of the buy, I probably didn't even should have
mentioned that more what I wrote the last night for
this morning. That was a real positive for me, just
that they looked like a better football team. Even though
they lost, they still look like a better football team
than two weeks ago to me.
Speaker 1 (51:37):
Yeah, and I think having TJ obviously and Kyler Gordon
are just important. That those are guys who know how
to do it. Obviously, you know, tough injury for noahsu
and obviously we're hoping to best. Yeah, I know he
left the game with the concussion after some friendly fire
there from Jonathan Ford, but you know it'll be it'll
be interesting to see whether that continues once you get
healthier and guys get some rhythm backed with each other.
(52:01):
All right, That is everything that we've got, folks for
This week's episode was a good one. Thanks so much
for joining us. I thank you to Robert and everyone
else who joined us on the live stream. Make sure
you like us and make sure they subscribe. That's the
best way to support us. Help us grow our live
stream here and if you're joining on the podcast, want
to be part of the conversation, make sure you check
(52:22):
out our social medias. We like to talk every Friday
morning and Monday morning, but like days like today when
we had a Monday night game, we have to be
a little bit shifty here. So thanks so much for
joining us on the live stream, and if you missed us,
thanks so much for joining us on the podcast. Bears
will be getting ready for the Saints. We're finally going
to have a noon game here. We've got a stretch
(52:43):
of nuon games here, which I am very excited about
noon against the Saints at Soldier Field. Well obviously preview
there for you folks on Friday morning, so make sure
you join us. Then make sure you're checking out all
of Joe's work at Joe Aguilar sixty four. He's got
the Northwest Herald area covered for you, and make sure
you're checking in with me for Bears coverage at m
dwell Jag ninety four. I'll have the latest from Ben Johnson,
(53:05):
who's set to speak here in seven minutes, and we'll
also I think he'll get he'll have an update on
DJ Moore. Like Joe alluded to a little bit earlier,
DJ Moore stayed in the Maryland area as a precautionary
medical reason we'll get some more clarity about that. I
know that he got tinged up a couple times during
(53:26):
the game and went into the medical tent, so hopefully
we can get some more clarity from there. But thanks
so much for joining us this afternoon, guys, and we
will talk to you folks on Friday morning as we
preview Bears versus Saints. Until then, we'll talk to you
guys down the road.
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