January 21, 2025 • 39 mins
The Chicago Bears hired Ben Johnson as head coach on Monday. After interviews with at least 17 head coaching candidates, the Bears moved quickly to zero in on Johnson. Shaw Local's Sean Hammond and Michal Dwojak react to the decision.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
What's up, friends, Welcome back to the Shaw Local Bears
Insider podcast. We are back. I'm Sean Hammond, Shaw Local
Bears beat reporter. He's Michael Dwojack, joining me as he
always does, Shaw Local's very.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Own Michael, we got big news. Of course, Ben Johnson
is coming to Chicago. The Bears have reportedly hired Ben Johnson.
They're as of Tuesday morning, the team has not confirmed it,
but it sounds like they're hashing out the details of
the contract probably as we speak. Michael, this obviously they
(00:33):
swung big. This is the big splashy hire. This is
the guy you wanted all along. I think this is
where a lot of Bears fans felt like this was going.
But Michael, what are your thoughts here as we got
the news yesterday on Monday.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Well, I think my first thoughts are that you know
that our listeners are going to think they were liars,
because I think the last time we talked to them
we said like, buckle up, this is going to take
a while.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
Yeah, but I don't think you and I expected the
Lions to lose this week into the Commanders like a
lot of people did, and that just really changed the
landscape of what this coaching search is going to look like.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Right as soon as Ben Johnson and Aaron g Lin
became available, you know, everyone was ready to go. Everyone
was moving. And I think that's the biggest thing where
I think the Bears, you know, for how much you know,
slack we give them throughout the year, obviously have a
disappointment about how they run things about press conferences, side conferences,
all that kind of stuff. I do think you need
(01:26):
to give the Bears credit for how swiftly they acted
right like as soon as they like, as soon as
the Lions lost on Saturday night, they got their interview
scheduled Freddie George and obviously you know the Rooney rule
and you know, the all that type of stuff like
we don't really need to get into it, but it
does feel weird and it's not great and that kind
of stuff, and that's a different issue. But they were
(01:47):
ready to get their second internal external interview.
Speaker 5 (01:51):
Going and they were prepared. They got that done and
they were ready to move.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
And I think that's a lot of credit to you know,
whether that's Ryan Poles, whether that's the Kevin Warren effect,
whether that's you know, George McCaskey obviously being willing to,
you know, pay a lot of money because you would
imagine that Ben Johnson is getting a hefty payday. This
was a really good cohesive plan by the Bears that
they executed perfectly, and I think they deserve credit for
(02:16):
that because in the past we could have seen them bundle,
We could have seen them say, well, maybe we should
go for the more experienced guy.
Speaker 5 (02:22):
I don't know if I want to risk it.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
This, this whole group kind of came together, came prepared
with an action, and they got done very quickly.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
The way this came together so quickly on Monday tells
you that after that first round of interviews, the Bears
were very clear that Ben Johnson was their guy. Ryan
Poles very clear. Kevin Warren, I'm sure, was very clear.
He was saying all along that it would be obvious.
Kevin Warren was saying that, and it appears that that
is the case, that Ben Johnson was the obvious choice
(02:53):
for them. And you know, kudos to them for moving quickly,
because there's been all these rumors about the Raiders and
Tom Brady and and Ben Johnson. You know, did they
fire their GM so that they could get Ben Johnson's guy,
whoever that would be to help him run that organization.
You know, was Tom Brady, you know, gonna be giving
(03:16):
a little uh getting those extra conversations with his duties
on Fox, you know before the game over the weekend.
You know how much was his influence going to play
a factor in all this? The Bears did not let
Ben Johnson go anywhere near Las Vegas. They did not
let him go anywhere near Jacksonville. They said, this is
our guy. We don't need to do a second round
(03:38):
of interviews because the second round would have started this
week the only second interview they needed, and in fact,
they didn't even really actually, I mean the second interview
with Ben Johnson is is flying him into the building
and saying we want you. And so you got to
give the Bears kudos for acting quickly and like and
like having some conviction, you know, will we'll find out
(04:01):
three four years down the line if this was a
good move or not, But at this point in time,
you have to give them credit for, you know, following
those convictions.
Speaker 5 (04:12):
And the Bears made.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
The obvious move here right like they they the last
two years have made the obvious move and there's I know,
there's a lot of conversation about, you know, critiquing Ryan
Polls and whether he should have, you know, met with
Jaden Daniels obviously with the commander is doing so well,
and you know all of that stuff, and that's obviously
a different conversation. But for the past two off seasons,
it's been pretty clear what the Bears need to do.
(04:34):
They need a draft Kayleb Williams with the number one
overall draft pick, and this off season they needed to
hire Ben Jhonson, like the top candidates. And so, you know,
whether this works out, I'm not I don't. I can't
guarantee you that it's going to work out perfectly that
the Bears are going to win a bunch of Super Bowls.
Maybe it doesn't end up working, but it seems like
the process that the Bears underwent worked right. Like obviously
(04:55):
they got a lot of flak for all the candidates,
and maybe they always knew they wanted to get Ben
Jonson and then they're just like, well, we have to
wait until he's available and when the Lions lose, so
let's just talk to a bunch of people and figure
out what is going So wrong with our team and
what they're noticing about us.
Speaker 5 (05:09):
So maybe that was part of the plan.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
And we'll obviously talk to Ryan Poe's I assume sometime
this week, and obviously without I'm sure that'll be a question.
But at the end of the day, they made the
right higher or they made the what everyone agrees is
the you know, the right higher. And now it's up
to putting Ben Jonson, letting him get his full staff,
building a roster that he can kind of use to succeed,
because you know, you can.
Speaker 5 (05:32):
He's very talented, play color. He can do a lot
of great things.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
But that offensive line needs to get better, that defensive
line gets he needs to be better. He needs to
have his you know, coaches in there. So there's still
a lot of work to be done, but this is
a really good first step at least.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Yeah, there's a lot of work to be done, including
of course finalizing that contract the Bears. Like I said
at the top, they have not announced anything, so so
we can assume that we're still waiting for that. I
see some some thoughts, some comments in the chat. When
is the press conference? Yeah, we don't know any of that,
so that's still all up in the air. Any of
the reported coaches that he's looking to bring along. I
(06:09):
know Dennis Allen's name was out there as defensive coordinator.
He is the former Saints coach, the longtime Saints defensive
coordinator under Sean Payton. I think it was seven seasons
they have been linked together, but none of that is
official yet. We're still going to have to wait and see,
you know, as this sort of pulls together. If you're
joining us here live on YouTube, do us a favor
and hit the thumbs up. That's a really great way
(06:31):
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Speaker 5 (06:35):
Leave us a review.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
We would really appreciate a five star review. And keep
an eye on our Twitter pages. I'm at Sean Underscore Hammond.
He is at m DWO Jack ninety four. We will
let you know when we're gonna go live. We will
give you guys a heads up so that you can
prepare and come join us live on YouTube. You can
see our lovely faces, you can join the chat, you
can get your bears questions in. I do want to
(06:57):
get to some of the thoughts and comments and questions
in the chat as soon as we can here, but Michael,
like you said, Ben Johnson, obviously there's a lot of
work to be done. Dennis Allen has been has been
linked to him. I think the one thing that that
you know obviously stands out when you're looking at Ben
(07:17):
Johnson's options across the league is the quarterback is Caleb
Williams is you know, I know the Jaguars have Trevor
Lawrence and and there's maybe some questions.
Speaker 5 (07:28):
About where the GM over there.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Fits in and whether or not Trent Palacky would be
a guy that Ben Johnson wanted to work for. It
seems pretty clear that the Bears were number one on
Ben Johnson's list as much as he was number one
on theirs.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
And it's become clear like we, you know, heading into
this offseason and during the off season we talked about
like is this job the number one job?
Speaker 5 (07:48):
Right?
Speaker 3 (07:48):
And obviously, you know, we don't know what things look
a little bit differently if the New England job was open,
if they weren't enamored and Mike Brabel maybe like obviously
Drake may is a great quarterback too, and you got
a lot of good things of cap space for New
England and good draft picks as well. But I think
Ben Johnson kind of made it clear that you know,
this is the best situation right that you want to
(08:08):
land in.
Speaker 5 (08:09):
Like Las Vegas.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Yeah, they have Tom Brady, but they don't have a
quarterback and that seems like a project that's going to
take a couple of years. The Jaguars, obviously they have
Trevor Lawrence, but it just seems like maybe it's not
the right atmosphere, especially with the general manager kind of
sticking around despite you.
Speaker 5 (08:26):
Know, lack of success.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
So it's I think Ben Johnson kind of told you
that he believes in what the Bears have, and I
think he kind of told you that he believes in
Caleb Williams right like. I think that's a big reinforcement
where he has been. He's been picky about where he
wants to go. Last year he could have gone with
Commanders or the Seahawks. He chose to stay in Detroit.
He got some interviews early a couple of years ago
(08:49):
as well, and this year he decided to go to
the Bears because of a lot of different things. But
I think Kayleb Williams is that number one thing where
he has the talent that's untapped right now. Like you
saw Caleb do a lot of great impressive performance, like
a lot of great things this year, but then you
also saw it make some mistakes and you know, try
to keep plays alive.
Speaker 5 (09:08):
And that's something that Ben Johnson's going to work with.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
But I think that the biggest thing is that he
sees the potential in Caleb, Like we've all kind of
seen the potential in him. And if you're going to jump,
make the jump to be your first time head coach,
you want to succeed and obviously stay somewhere for a
long time. And it really seemed like he was like,
this is a great landing spot. We'll work on the
offensive line, and I'm sure we'll work on the defensive line,
some shifting here and there, but I have my future
(09:33):
quarterback for at least the next four years and I
can really build something here. And I think that's the
biggest thing that kind of drew Ben Johnson to Chicago.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Yeah, this is a guy who who took Jared Goff
after a three win season, and most people at that
point were kind of thinking that this Jared Goff thing,
you know, is only going to have so much longer
and Ben Johnson. I mean, turn that into the best
offense in football. And you know, Jared off has has
played at an exceptionally high level. I know he played
(10:03):
bad in that game against Washington. I know there's that
he has. He still has his moments, of course, but
I think when you look at what Caleb Williams was
able to do his rookie season, despite all the craziness
and turmoil around him, despite the offensive line being you know,
obviously not what Bears fans hoped it was going into
the season. All in all, Caleb had about as good
(10:25):
as a rookie season as you can given that situation
that he was in. And I think that you can
be pretty optimistic that you get Ben Johnson in there,
you get the right pieces, you get him building that
offense how he wants it. I really do think that
this could be a pairing that that could be really
beneficial for this offense moving forward. And obviously, you know
(10:46):
we've talked a lot about you know this is this
you know he didn't deliberately say it, but it felt
like this was Caleb's number one choice, right like, just
based on the comments, like at the end of the
at the end of the season press conference, you know,
he was asked about Ben Johnson, and he talked about
how impressed he was just watching their games, whether it
was on TV, like after they finished their regular season game,
(11:08):
or whether it was you know, when they were playing
the Lions, Like he would watch what they're doing and
how they're like quickly adapting to what.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Their defense was doing and that sort of stuff. So,
and he talked on the State Brown podcast about how
much he liked, you know, the Lions OC and what
Ben Johnson is doing there. So yeah, I think this
is this is just feels like the perfect you know marriage.
You know, obviously we still need to see how it's
going to develop and you know how these two kind
of get along. But I think you you didn't put
(11:36):
Caleb in the right spot in the first year. You
gave him three two three, you gave him two play callers,
three O c's coaching change, an offensive line that didn't succeed, Like,
you did not put him in a good decision to
succeed as much as the Commanders did obviously with Jayden
Daniels and look.
Speaker 5 (11:51):
What's happening with that.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
But I do think now you found a coach that
is going to help, you know, develop Caleb put him
in a good spot, and I think that's a good
Would you have liked this maybe a year ago? Sure,
obviously it seemed like a stock reports that he was
interested in the Bear's job if it became open, and
you kind of wonder, well, did we really need to
wait a year to do this?
Speaker 5 (12:10):
And is there some damage to Caleb after that first year? Maybe?
Speaker 3 (12:14):
Who knows, But at this point you are paired together
and you do have a good coach. He's the thing
going here, and I'm really excited to see what that means, especially,
you know, even just like mini camps and that sort
of stuff, just you know, what is that going to
look like and how quickly are they mac and you
to build a really strong rapport.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Ben Johnson talked about it during his media session last week,
and I really do think that he means it when
he says like he's going to be a better head
coach for having waited that year. You know, obviously the
commanders were really interested in him in him. There were
the reports that he that they were on their way
to Detroit to interview him in person when he told
them he was pulling out of the running and you know,
(12:55):
I know there was clearly some emotions involved in that.
Speaker 5 (12:57):
That was right after the Lions lost in the NFC
Championship game.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
But you do, you do wonder I mean, I do
think that he is has benefited from that. You know,
he spent the whole summer talking thinking about what what
a franchise would look like with him as the head coach,
and that is that is I think more valuable than
maybe people would think. I mean, how many of these
(13:21):
coaches like jump at their first chance to be a
head coach? I know, I know Ben was clearly in
a very favorable situation. You know, not many guys are
as as talked about as as popular candidates as he
has been this last year looking back towards last year too,
(13:42):
So obviously he was in a pretty favorable position where
he could do that. But I mean, I don't think
that every every coach out there would would make the
same move necessarily if they had a chance to be
a head coach.
Speaker 5 (13:53):
You're talking about millions of dollars.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
I mean, the reports last year were that Ben possibly
wanted to like fifteen million dollars a year, and obviously
we don't we don't have that confirmed.
Speaker 5 (14:04):
We don't know what the Bears are going to be
paying him, but it's gonna be a lot.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
Like they talked about, Kevin Warren said, there will be
no obstacles and and you know you read between the
lines that means money.
Speaker 5 (14:14):
Yeah, definitely does mean money.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
And that again it goes to credence of you know,
giving you know, the mccaskey's credit, giving Kevin Warren credit
about running the search much better than the obviously last
week we talked about the private jet picking up McCarthy
and that kind of stuff.
Speaker 5 (14:27):
I know people were on they were on a jet.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
Alert yesterday trying to figure out whether that was Ben
Johnson going from Pontiac to to to Wheeling, which obviously wasn't.
But it just kind of shows about how different they're
doing it and how it also kind of says I
feel like kind of what it seems like Ben Johnson
probably put together a very you know, good plan for
(14:51):
this team.
Speaker 5 (14:52):
Right. It seems like he learned a lot over those
couple of years.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
Like he said, those experiences he kind of thought more
about how he wants what he wants to do as
a head coach.
Speaker 5 (15:01):
And I think that just must have been like what you.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
Mentioned at the top about how they just wanted to
be blown away, and it's very clear that they were
blown away because you could very easily see the Bears
being like, well, we want to do a second round
and we want to give everyone a fair chance, and
instead they were just like this guy has the perfect plan,
Like he knows how he's going to develop Caleb. I'm
sure he knows how he's going to build or help
build the roster. He has a lot of great, you know,
(15:25):
plans about how he's going to hold people accountable, and
that just comes from experience and kind of thinking about
it more than it maybe did two or even one
year ago. So yeah, obviously, you know he's developed as
a coach both offensively, but he's also thought about much more.
Speaker 5 (15:42):
Than he did in the past.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
And that's very clear that that's probably one of the
main reasons why the mccaskeys and the Bear stop. It
would be great to just bring him in right away
instead of just pulling this thing on.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
And you know, just an interesting thought on that too.
I mean, if the Lions win over the weekend, if
they beat the Commanders and they're still playing, you can't
interview Ben Johnson this week, right, And so if that's
the case and he is your guy, you're not gonna
sit around for a week and do nothing. You know,
you're gonna you're gonna interview some of those other candidates.
So I think that's another reason why this this net
(16:14):
was cast so wide, Like, uh, maybe it became apparent
that Ben Johnson was the guy, but if he wasn't
going to be available this week, you still got to
do your due diligence on some of these other guys.
Speaker 5 (16:25):
You still got to hold some second interviews.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Obviously, that's an alternative universe that didn't happen. The Lions lost.
He became available on Monday, right, and obviously it seems
like this was this was the choice for for both sides.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Yeah, it's kind of interesting, you know, you just kind
of listen a lot of these NFL insiders talking about it,
and it's become very clear that everyone is shocked that
the Bears did this, which is kind of funny, but
also like, I mean, I was kind of surprised, you know,
when when we got the notification. I think Tom Pelisara
was the first one to report it, but I was
like being like, well, we like need to tail this,
(17:01):
you know, plane like figure out like go to wheeling
or whatever, and then you just get the breaking news
and it's just kind of it is kind of shocking
that they're able to get this done because they just
haven't done this in the past, right, Like they just haven't.
They've had coaches reportedly been in coach and like in
the middle seats and that kind of stuff, like they
haven't run that. And maybe this is kudos to Kevin
(17:21):
Warren where yes see obviously you know, we gave them
a hard time about the amen and monologue to start
the press conference after he refluses fired, but at the
end of the day, maybe he is running this organization
much better and kind of helping them reach the twenty
first century as opposed to what they were.
Speaker 5 (17:35):
Doing in the past.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
And we'll obviously ask questions about that the process, what
was it like, and all that kind of stuff whenever
the press conference happens. But it is just kind of
interesting just listening to all these different people be like, Wow,
the Bears actually like did the right thing, like they
hired the guy, and it'll be interesting to see how
much does that kind of continue with the with the coaching,
(17:56):
you know, staff, and how much does that kind of
continue with you know, the roster country.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
You're saying the Bears acted like a six billion dollar
NFL franchise, Michael, Yeah, you don't think George McCaskey picked
him up from from baggage plane.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Appears not what we'll see right now. There's still a
chance that McCaskey could pick him up at O'Hair and
be like, listen, like this is what we've This is
a tradition with the Bears, Like I always pick you
guys up. I'm gonna park on the Bulls locked and
o'har's parking lot, and we're gonna walk over and I'm gonna.
Speaker 5 (18:25):
Have a sign and I'm gonna pick you up.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
No, I mean, it's just interesting, right, It's just how
different it all is. And I think we were kind
of surprised by it because we haven't seen it with
the stadium or anything like that. So it's interesting to
see that they were able to do it this way.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
This franchise doesn't really operate with speed, and it hasn't
really under Kevin Warren either, like the decision to fire
eber Flush.
Speaker 5 (18:48):
Warren likes to sleep on it likes to think about it.
Mull it over. I threw this comment from Rick up
in the on the screen here.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Who would have thought that the mccaskeys were picked before
Tom Brady. Yeah, that's you know that it's funny, it's
it's jokey, but it's serious at the same time. Like
I do think that I said this on Friday, and
you know I still feel this way. Like, you know,
Tom Brady is like the new shiny object for the
Raiders right now. He owns like five percent of the
(19:14):
team or whatever it is. Obviously he's he's done. You know,
he was very successful as a player, and he has
thoughts on how it should be done. But that's still
the Raiders. They still don't have a quarterback there, you know,
the rosters and shambles. I really do think that the
quarterback played a big part in this. And you know,
Tom Brady coming in and owning a small part of
(19:35):
the team isn't necessarily going to change the trajectory of
the Las Vegas Raiders. Obviously, uh, he believes he can
be a big part of that. Otherwise he wouldn't be
so involved in all this stuff. But you know, we
got to see the results there like this, this is
still a new partnership right now with Tom Brady and
the Raiders, and it would have taken.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
Like a leap of faith, right, Like you would have
to believe that Tom Brady could do this where he
hasn't done it right, like he's like done it, and
we've seen in the past and so many different sports
where you know, these great athletes just can't do it
anywhere else, whether it's you know, it's Michael Jordan.
Speaker 5 (20:11):
Being like you're in the Hornets like one they were,
they were terrible. He was a terrible GM.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
Obviously a great, the greatest player of all time, but
he was a terrible GM and terrible owner. And like
you've kind of seen that too, Like just because Tom
Brady was great at football, I know people have kind of,
you know, been like, well, he's an okay announcer, and
like from what I've heard, he's like fine, I don't
think you know, I don't want to get into the whole.
Speaker 5 (20:32):
Greg Olsen tom Brady thing.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
But at the end of the day, Ben Johnson would
have needed to do a leap of faith that he
was going to believe that Tom Brady knew.
Speaker 5 (20:41):
What he was doing when he's never done it before.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
The Raiders weren't in the position to get a quarterback
this year. Anyone you were going to bring in was
probably going to be a project guy or you know,
some guy, a retread guy, you know who's kind of
done it before but hasn't done it at the highest level.
Speaker 5 (20:57):
Maybe they would be in on Sam Darnold.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
Like, there are so many ifs, right with the Raiders job,
where you come to Chicago and you're like, Caleb Williams
is your quarterback for at least the next four years.
You have a lot of draft picks, you have a
bunch of cap space. This seems like a pretty good foundation.
You just got to adjust them. So, yeah, I agree
with you. Like Tom Brady's the shiny object. Obviously, maybe
it'll work in the next few years and he is
(21:20):
able to help. You know, Mark Davis built something great there.
But if I'm staking my first and maybe only chance
of being a head coach, I'm choosing the potential with
the talent that the Bears already have in place.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
Yeah, and you know, obviously the roster has has a
ways to go in certain areas, Like they're going to
have to fix some things the Lions when they you know,
when they they started their rebuild in the trenches, and
I know that obviously they drafted a lot of wide
receivers and a running back and all that stuff. But
obviously this Bears team has some issues to fix in
(21:55):
the trenches. And I think Ben Johnson is is well
aware of that, and he knows that you can't just
slap another wide receiver on this thing and make it work.
Like there's bigger issues there. You look at sort of
the staff potentially that he could bring in. We mentioned
Dennis Allen, sounds like he's the likely candidate to be
the defensive coordinator. Darren Rizzy has been linked to them
(22:18):
as potentially the special teams coordinator if he assuming he
does not land a head coaching job. Rizzy was the
guy who took over for Dennis Allen with the Saints
when Allen was fired in November and just kind of
perusing the Detroit Lions coaching staff. I mean, when when
a coordinator leaves, they will typically take one or two assistants.
Speaker 5 (22:42):
You know, it's not it's kind of rare. Like when
Matty Eberflus.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Left the Colts, the Colts decided they were going to
do a complete staff change on the defensive side of
the ball, so all those guys were available, I wouldn't
expect Ben Johnson to bring maybe more than one or
two of his guys with him from Detroit. And you
look at the names, and you know, I think one
name that really stands out is Hank Frayley, the offensive
(23:06):
line coach. Could he potentially be an offensive coordinator possibility there,
and obviously he knows how to build things in the trenches.
The Lions have have maybe the best offensive line in football,
or at least one of He's definitely an a name
to keep an eye on. Tanner Engstrand was their passing
game coordinator. He's another name to keep an eye on.
And obviously those guys will have to be weighing. You know,
(23:29):
the Lions are going to hire an offensive coordinator, They're
going to likely promote somebody, so maybe those guys are
going to stick around in Detroit.
Speaker 5 (23:36):
We don't really know yet.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
No, And for how much we have given the Bears
credit about being prepared, it seems like, you know, Ben
Johnson seems pretty prepared, like as soon as as soon
as it was reported that they've come to like an
agreement on terms. I think the next couple of tweets were,
you know, Dennis Allen is considered to be a very
heavy candidate obviously, and you've seen the Rizzi and then
(23:59):
I saw that Grand Bigs from the Tribune mentioned and
maybe they would keep high tower Rizzy went somewhere. But yeah,
I think if you can get Dennis Allen to be
your d C, I think that would be a perfect fit.
You've got someone who's been a head coach twice already,
which and you've got someone who's shown that he's a
really good defensive coordinator. So you've got someone who can
(24:20):
run the defense. I think they also run a four
to three defense, so that would be good. You kind
of keep the same you know, you would change things
things up defensively, but you would you wouldn't need to
do a major.
Speaker 5 (24:28):
Overhaul defensively with your what you have. But you've got
someone who can maybe provide some leadership for Ben Johnson.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
Then can kind of be like, hey, like this is
how I ran things, like this is what I kind
of learned doing this a couple of times, and maybe
it's beneficial for you to do it this way or
something like that. So it's great to have someone there
who's going to be able to help you like that,
and quite honestly, someone who is probably not going to.
Speaker 5 (24:54):
Be you know, considered for a third head coaching job.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
Right, No disrespect to him, but it's like no disrespected
in the sailing, but it just seems like it hasn't
worked two times he's gotten in it.
Speaker 5 (25:04):
Then you know, some guys are just good at being coordinators.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
Then maybe that's great where you have your defensive coordinator
for the next five, six, seven years and you're just
able to be you know, successful in that motion. So
that when I saw that name, I was really excited
because that just says that you're ready to go and
you would have someone good and and like you mentioned,
I mean, if you're bringing anyone, you're bringing Hank Frayley.
(25:27):
He developed that offensive line. He is able to identify
offensive lineman, something that you know, Ryan pulls and Ian
Cunningham hasn't really haven't really been able to do since
they've taken over. So it'll be great if you can
just you know, upgrade him to an O C, give
him a higher position so you can make the higher
I guess it just depends on what Frayley wants to do,
and whether the Lions are like, no, we're just going
(25:49):
to upgrade him and we're just going to keep him
within and he's going to be ro OC.
Speaker 5 (25:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
I mean if you if the Lions want to keep him,
I'm sure that they would would pay up and make
that happen. And also, I mean, if you're a coordinator candidate,
you probably still would rather be the Lions OC than
the Bears, given where that team is right now, the
roster that's built, I mean, they expect.
Speaker 5 (26:07):
To compete for the Super Bowl.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
Yeah, those those That's a really interesting point on Dennis Allen,
like a your head coach can lean on him and
and be like, very few NFL coaches get three shots
at being a head coach. I don't think anything on
on Dennis Allen's resume really stands out that says this
guy is going to get a third shot presumably if
things go well, like you're gonna you're gonna have him
around for the long haul, and.
Speaker 5 (26:32):
Uh yeah, you're right.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Like they he's traditionally run a four to three scheme.
That's exactly what the Bears ran under Matt Eberflus. At
least the base defense. They're built for that, Like, this
defense can can run exactly what Dennis Allen is gonna
want to run from day one.
Speaker 5 (26:46):
Uh. And I know that you've got some areas to improve.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
You still need to find another edge rusher who can
really be a difference maker.
Speaker 5 (26:51):
Yeah, but you like what you got in the secondary.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
The linebackers should you would think fit that scheme pretty
well at least what uh, depending on how similar it
is to it to what Maddieberfluse liked running. I would
think that this defense could could you know, take some
really nice steps. We thought that they were playing well
that first half of the season. Obviously it really kind
of fell apart with everything else that fell apart during
(27:17):
the second half of last year. But but I still
do think they have a lot of really nice pieces
and with the right the right head coach, the right scheme,
that these guys could still play at a really high level.
Speaker 5 (27:27):
And if they have a functioning offense, right.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
Like I think you know you and I like, I
know we're planning on doing a podcast later and whether
it's the next couple of weeks, you know, depending on
how the coaching the rest of the coaching search likes
obviously just kind of talking about what happened this past season,
but like that Bear's defense was able to hang around
for the first half of the season, but after a
while when the offense just continued to go three and
out and just wasn't successful, Like at some point you
(27:52):
need help, right, Like you can't do it all by
yourself and you.
Speaker 5 (27:54):
Can't be expected to do the best.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
And obviously you know that defense lost, you know, a
couple of key players. Obviously jo Kwon, Brisker Billings was out.
They never really found anyone opposite of Sweat. But yeah,
I would agree with you if you bring Dennis Allen,
you bring in someone else, whether you draft him or
you bring him as a free agent, someone else who
can play opposite of Montest Sweat. You have a defense
(28:17):
that is still very talented with a lot of young
talented players, and Dennis Allen can definitely do you know,
he can coach them up.
Speaker 5 (28:23):
So I would definitely agree that you.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
Are in a pretty good position to succeed if you
bring in a coach like that, especially if Ben Johnson
can get that offense going.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
Yeah, absolutely do we I do want to touch on this, Michael,
We got a few more minutes here before we got
a run. But are there any concerns that that Ben
Johnson has never been a head coach before. I know
that we're we're excited about the offense, We're excited about
what he can do for the quarterback. Were generally, you know,
I think are our vibes this morning are this is
(28:57):
a good move for the Bears? But is there any
concern that much like Matt Naggie, much like Maddie Refluse,
Ben Johnson's never been a head coach before.
Speaker 5 (29:05):
I mean sure, there's always concern, right, Like he's never
done it before. You don't know how he's going to do.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
It now, right, Like it's very He even himself admitted
he talked about how before he never really thought about
what it would entail being ahead, Like I'm sure he's
thought about it, but like fully entail what it means
that'd be a head coach, like taking care of all
the different things, addressing the full team, like you're not
just talking to the offense. You're not just sitting in
your office worrying about offensive play calls and like scheming
(29:33):
up cool trick plays like you're worried about like the
entire team, is the defense functioning well, what is the
schedule looking at? Like, how's the conditioning looking like? That
is all your responsibility and under your purview. So I
think the answer is we don't know, right, Like, we
don't know how he's going to be a leader in
front of the whole room and whether how much he's
going to be able to keep the entire team accountable.
(29:55):
But I think everything that you've kind of heard about
him from different reporters is that he is hard nos
Like he's a hard like he's going to hold you accountable.
He's going to make sure that you're reaching the same
sort of excellence or the standard of excellence that he
kind of hass So it'll be interesting to see, Like obviously,
you know, we'll talk to him and we'll hear from
(30:16):
what he has to say about what his plans are,
how he plans to build build this thing up.
Speaker 5 (30:21):
We'll see if he has a hits principle.
Speaker 3 (30:23):
That's obviously a major a major key when you're taking
over a team, you have to have some sort of
like acronym to make sure your team is all in together.
But you know, kidding aside, we don't know the answer
but that's what we're going to figure out, and it's
going to be really interesting to see. You know, a
lot of it will be his support system, right like,
does he surround himself and is he able to surround
(30:44):
with himself with a really strong support system to kind
of help him succeed. So we don't know the answer.
We're obviously going to see, but it'll be really interesting
to see because you know, Sean McVay didn't have experience before,
right like you know Shanahan didn't have before, Kevin O'Connell
didn't have experience before. Those there have been plenty of
(31:04):
guys who haven't had experience before and who have faltered
and they haven't done well. But they are also a
bunch who have and they have obviously succeeded at a
high level.
Speaker 5 (31:12):
So it just depends on if the Bears are.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
Able to put him in a good position to succeed,
and only time will tell at.
Speaker 5 (31:18):
This point whether that's going to be the case.
Speaker 3 (31:19):
You obviously see you know, big primetime candidates for his
coaching staff to start things off, which is good, but
you got to see what the next few months are
going to look like as we head into Minie camp
and the training camp and all that stuff.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
I think Bears fans would be thrilled if they have
their Kevin O'Connell, if they have their Sean McVay. Obviously
McVeigh is a really high bar. He's won a Super Bowl.
If they have their Kyle Shanahan, they're going to be
really really happy with that because that means that you're
competing every single year. And you know, the thing with
Ben Johnson too, is like, look, this is a guy
who walked on at UNC, you know, twenty years ago.
(31:58):
He was a math and computer science major. I think
this dude's wicked smart. I think he's if anybody is
going to have a good understanding of late game situations
and playing the odds. Obviously, the Lions loved to go
forward on fourth down. You wonder how much Ben Johnson's
influence affected that. I do think that that he's going
(32:19):
to have that stuff figured out, you know, I think,
or at least a lot better than the last head coach,
because that was clearly the number one downfall with with
the Maddie Refluce era was those end of game situations.
They were just not good enough, no matter how good
your defense is it didn't matter, And so I think
that I would be optimistic if I was, if I
(32:40):
was a Bears fan, that that Ben Johnson is going
to have those things figured out. We got to comment
in here, wondering where all the McCarthy fans went. Thanks
for joining the show, Thomas, any other last comments.
Speaker 5 (32:52):
Throw him in the chat here. Let's see.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
Rick says that Caleb can be the best quarterback in
the division next year.
Speaker 5 (32:58):
He says, my thoughts on that, I think we're getting it.
We're very optimistic. I don't think that's a terrible take,
I guess.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
I mean, yeah, I'm interested to see what Jared Goff
looks like without obviously Ben Johnson. We don't know what
the situation that the Vikings is going to be, whether
they're going to bring back Sam darn or, whether that's
going to be j J. McArthur McCarthy, whether it's going
to be Daniel Jones maybe and Jordan Love. You know,
he's been good, but obviously we've seen him falter a
little bit in the playoffs, and that's kind of interesting.
Speaker 5 (33:31):
So I don't, I don't, I don't, I'm not.
Speaker 3 (33:32):
I don't know if I'm ready to jump on that
bandwagon exactly just yet, but I could, I could see
it happening. I think the biggest thing, you know, to
kind of wrap things up here is, I think outside
of Caleb, Ben Johnson saw that you had a lot
of talent here. You got DJ Moore, you got Romadoons,
and you got Deanre Swift. You have Cole Kmet on
(33:53):
this team that apparently the Bears forgot this past year.
And I think the biggest thing is, yes, he's going
to bring a lot out of Caleb and obviously help
him develop, But is he He's going to find ways
to get Dj into space, He's going to find ways
to create you know, one on one matchups for Roma
Doonday so he can shine on the deep all right,
like he's going to you know, it depends on who
(34:16):
he brings in for his offensive line and how they're
able to develop that. But DeAndre Swift is a talented player,
and you didn't see that for much of the season
because you know, he didn't really get too many gaps
or opening so you know, for how much you know,
I think a lot of Bears fans are excited for
you know, what Ben Johnson means for Caleb Williams. I think,
you know, a Bears fans should be excited for what
(34:37):
it means for DJ Moore, for all these other top playmakers,
because the Bears invested heavily in these toys and they
just weren't used at all last season. So I think
it's really exciting to see, you know, start thinking about
what he could potentially do with all these different playmakers
that they have offensively.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
Think of what Ben Johnson has done for I'm on
Rustlint Brown and for Thomason Williams and those guys. I mean,
I was thinking about this as more ring too, Like
those guys are gonna benefit as much, if not more
than the quarterback if if they can get this thing rolling, uh,
that is is going to really elevate things for the offense.
Speaker 5 (35:09):
We saw that. I mean, they just couldn't get Dj
the ball like he.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
Was Yeah he was in his his yards target were
like exceptionally low.
Speaker 5 (35:18):
It was all these short, quick.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
Screen passes and lining them up in the backfield, like, yeah,
you can do that sometimes. Obviously we know we know
from watching the game over the weekend that Ben Johnson
is not afraid to use some some tricks and and
some some weird things sometimes. Uh maybe every once in
a while to his detriment, but I think he will
(35:39):
really help the bread and butter plays too, like getting
Dj Moore opened down the field. That has to be
a priority for this offense moving forward.
Speaker 5 (35:47):
Uh that that is a really interesting point. And yeah,
he's coached DeAndre swift. Uh.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
You know last last year in Detroit was was Ben
Johnson's first year as a Cordner.
Speaker 5 (35:57):
Now they traded him a year later. I don't know
what that means.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
You know, read into that if you want, But obviously
he's aware of what Deandre's strengths and weaknesses are and
how best to use him if if the Bears are
going to stick with DeAndre this season. Let's see comment
here from Adam Leonard. He says, I like the swing
from the owners. If it doesn't pay off, it is
what it is. And yeah, that's that's really I think
where Bears fans should be, where their heads should be
(36:23):
at like this is you swung for the fences. If
it doesn't work, like you much like I think you
can't have that revisionist history, you know, you can't. Caleb
Williams was the obvious choice for number one overall pick
last year. You can't change that after one season. You
can't look at this and say, well, Jayden Daniels is better.
(36:44):
Remember all the turmoil that that Caleb Williams had to
deal with. I think this thing that I think that
debate could look different a year from now.
Speaker 5 (36:51):
I'm not saying it will, I think it could.
Speaker 2 (36:54):
And I think with the head coach too, like this
this is your swinging for the fences here. I think
everybody is optimistic that this thing's going to work out.
Speaker 5 (37:03):
Let's let it play out and let's see how it goes.
Speaker 2 (37:06):
If it doesn't work out, you can at least know that, like,
your team did all that it could to get the
number one.
Speaker 3 (37:13):
Best hire on the market, and they made the obvious choice,
right Like, It's kind of what I talked about earlier,
where it's like you did what you were supposed to do.
Whether that works out, it's hard to tell. If it
doesn't work out in four or five years, you look
at the process maybe and you're kind of like, well,
did we set them up for success?
Speaker 5 (37:29):
Did we set up kayleb for success? Obvious?
Speaker 3 (37:31):
That's obviously being a pessimist, But they made the obvious
move here. They made the big swing, and I think
that's all you can give them credit for. They did
it the same thing with Kayleb Williams, and now you
know we're I don't think anyone will critique the hirings
or hiring Ben Johnson or drafting Caleb Williams. I think
the biggest critique from now will be did the Bears
(37:52):
put them in a place to succeed? And that's the
biggest question we're going to see it right now, right
like do you get the right coaches? Are you spending
enough money? Are you making the right trades? Are you
getting the right players around them?
Speaker 5 (38:03):
Right?
Speaker 3 (38:04):
Like you can like you can make the obvious higher,
you can take a big swing, but you can't stop there.
And I think that's the biggest thing you need to
take from this, where yes, it's fun that they got
Ben Johnson. Yes, it's great that they drafted Caleb Williams
last year, but that doesn't mean that you're going to
succeed and that you need to stop or you're done,
that the work is done. And I know that they're
obviously committed. It seems like they're committed with bringing in
(38:25):
a good defensive staff, bringing in a good offensive staff.
Speaker 5 (38:28):
We'll see how that goes. But the work can't end
right now.
Speaker 3 (38:31):
I think this is a good start and you have
put yourself in a good place to succeed. But you
got to keep that going because it just doesn't stop
with today, like you got to keep going in February
with the combine with the draft, with free agency, like
there's a whole lot of work left to be done.
Speaker 5 (38:45):
But I think this is a good start. Obviously, once
we officially hear things, Michael, the work is just beginning.
Speaker 2 (38:52):
And you know what, I think. I think you tied
that into a nice neat bow. I think we're going
to leave it there. That was beautiful. That was well done.
I love the analysis there. If you're with us here
on YouTube one more time, hit the thumbs up. That's
a great way to support the show. We would really
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(39:15):
pages as well. If you want to join us live
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off season. We'll keep an eye out.
Speaker 5 (39:24):
Obviously.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
We hope to hear from Ryan Poles and Ben Johnson
this week. We'll see what that looks like. We may
do another show this week after we hear from them.
We'll have to see how the rest of the week
plays out. As always, head toshaw Local dot com. Read
all of our Bears coverage over there Shaw Local dot com,
and please consider subscribing. That's the number one best way
to support us. Thank you guys for joining us here live.
Thank you as always for listening. He's Michael Dwojack. I'm
(39:48):
Sean Hammond. This has been the Shaw Local Bears Insider podcast.
Let's have a great week, everybody,
What's up, friends, Welcome back to the Shaw Local Bears
Insider podcast. We are back. I'm Sean Hammond, Shaw Local
Bears beat reporter. He's Michael Dwojack, joining me as he
always does, Shaw Local's very.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Own Michael, we got big news. Of course, Ben Johnson
is coming to Chicago. The Bears have reportedly hired Ben Johnson.
They're as of Tuesday morning, the team has not confirmed it,
but it sounds like they're hashing out the details of
the contract probably as we speak. Michael, this obviously they
(00:33):
swung big. This is the big splashy hire. This is
the guy you wanted all along. I think this is
where a lot of Bears fans felt like this was going.
But Michael, what are your thoughts here as we got
the news yesterday on Monday.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Well, I think my first thoughts are that you know
that our listeners are going to think they were liars,
because I think the last time we talked to them
we said like, buckle up, this is going to take
a while.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
Yeah, but I don't think you and I expected the
Lions to lose this week into the Commanders like a
lot of people did, and that just really changed the
landscape of what this coaching search is going to look like.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Right as soon as Ben Johnson and Aaron g Lin
became available, you know, everyone was ready to go. Everyone
was moving. And I think that's the biggest thing where
I think the Bears, you know, for how much you know,
slack we give them throughout the year, obviously have a
disappointment about how they run things about press conferences, side conferences,
all that kind of stuff. I do think you need
(01:26):
to give the Bears credit for how swiftly they acted
right like as soon as they like, as soon as
the Lions lost on Saturday night, they got their interview
scheduled Freddie George and obviously you know the Rooney rule
and you know, the all that type of stuff like
we don't really need to get into it, but it
does feel weird and it's not great and that kind
of stuff, and that's a different issue. But they were
(01:47):
ready to get their second internal external interview.
Speaker 5 (01:51):
Going and they were prepared. They got that done and
they were ready to move.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
And I think that's a lot of credit to you know,
whether that's Ryan Poles, whether that's the Kevin Warren effect,
whether that's you know, George McCaskey obviously being willing to,
you know, pay a lot of money because you would
imagine that Ben Johnson is getting a hefty payday. This
was a really good cohesive plan by the Bears that
they executed perfectly, and I think they deserve credit for
(02:16):
that because in the past we could have seen them bundle,
We could have seen them say, well, maybe we should
go for the more experienced guy.
Speaker 5 (02:22):
I don't know if I want to risk it.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
This, this whole group kind of came together, came prepared
with an action, and they got done very quickly.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
The way this came together so quickly on Monday tells
you that after that first round of interviews, the Bears
were very clear that Ben Johnson was their guy. Ryan
Poles very clear. Kevin Warren, I'm sure, was very clear.
He was saying all along that it would be obvious.
Kevin Warren was saying that, and it appears that that
is the case, that Ben Johnson was the obvious choice
(02:53):
for them. And you know, kudos to them for moving quickly,
because there's been all these rumors about the Raiders and
Tom Brady and and Ben Johnson. You know, did they
fire their GM so that they could get Ben Johnson's guy,
whoever that would be to help him run that organization.
You know, was Tom Brady, you know, gonna be giving
(03:16):
a little uh getting those extra conversations with his duties
on Fox, you know before the game over the weekend.
You know how much was his influence going to play
a factor in all this? The Bears did not let
Ben Johnson go anywhere near Las Vegas. They did not
let him go anywhere near Jacksonville. They said, this is
our guy. We don't need to do a second round
(03:38):
of interviews because the second round would have started this
week the only second interview they needed, and in fact,
they didn't even really actually, I mean the second interview
with Ben Johnson is is flying him into the building
and saying we want you. And so you got to
give the Bears kudos for acting quickly and like and
like having some conviction, you know, will we'll find out
(04:01):
three four years down the line if this was a
good move or not, But at this point in time,
you have to give them credit for, you know, following
those convictions.
Speaker 5 (04:12):
And the Bears made.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
The obvious move here right like they they the last
two years have made the obvious move and there's I know,
there's a lot of conversation about, you know, critiquing Ryan
Polls and whether he should have, you know, met with
Jaden Daniels obviously with the commander is doing so well,
and you know all of that stuff, and that's obviously
a different conversation. But for the past two off seasons,
it's been pretty clear what the Bears need to do.
(04:34):
They need a draft Kayleb Williams with the number one
overall draft pick, and this off season they needed to
hire Ben Jhonson, like the top candidates. And so, you know,
whether this works out, I'm not I don't. I can't
guarantee you that it's going to work out perfectly that
the Bears are going to win a bunch of Super Bowls.
Maybe it doesn't end up working, but it seems like
the process that the Bears underwent worked right. Like obviously
(04:55):
they got a lot of flak for all the candidates,
and maybe they always knew they wanted to get Ben
Jonson and then they're just like, well, we have to
wait until he's available and when the Lions lose, so
let's just talk to a bunch of people and figure
out what is going So wrong with our team and
what they're noticing about us.
Speaker 5 (05:09):
So maybe that was part of the plan.
Speaker 3 (05:10):
And we'll obviously talk to Ryan Poe's I assume sometime
this week, and obviously without I'm sure that'll be a question.
But at the end of the day, they made the
right higher or they made the what everyone agrees is
the you know, the right higher. And now it's up
to putting Ben Jonson, letting him get his full staff,
building a roster that he can kind of use to succeed,
because you know, you can.
Speaker 5 (05:32):
He's very talented, play color. He can do a lot
of great things.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
But that offensive line needs to get better, that defensive
line gets he needs to be better. He needs to
have his you know, coaches in there. So there's still
a lot of work to be done, but this is
a really good first step at least.
Speaker 2 (05:45):
Yeah, there's a lot of work to be done, including
of course finalizing that contract the Bears. Like I said
at the top, they have not announced anything, so so
we can assume that we're still waiting for that. I
see some some thoughts, some comments in the chat. When
is the press conference? Yeah, we don't know any of that,
so that's still all up in the air. Any of
the reported coaches that he's looking to bring along. I
(06:09):
know Dennis Allen's name was out there as defensive coordinator.
He is the former Saints coach, the longtime Saints defensive
coordinator under Sean Payton. I think it was seven seasons
they have been linked together, but none of that is
official yet. We're still going to have to wait and see,
you know, as this sort of pulls together. If you're
joining us here live on YouTube, do us a favor
and hit the thumbs up. That's a really great way
(06:31):
to support the show. If you're listening after the fact
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Speaker 5 (06:35):
Leave us a review.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
We would really appreciate a five star review. And keep
an eye on our Twitter pages. I'm at Sean Underscore Hammond.
He is at m DWO Jack ninety four. We will
let you know when we're gonna go live. We will
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prepare and come join us live on YouTube. You can
see our lovely faces, you can join the chat, you
can get your bears questions in. I do want to
(06:57):
get to some of the thoughts and comments and questions
in the chat as soon as we can here, but Michael,
like you said, Ben Johnson, obviously there's a lot of
work to be done. Dennis Allen has been has been
linked to him. I think the one thing that that
you know obviously stands out when you're looking at Ben
(07:17):
Johnson's options across the league is the quarterback is Caleb
Williams is you know, I know the Jaguars have Trevor
Lawrence and and there's maybe some questions.
Speaker 5 (07:28):
About where the GM over there.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Fits in and whether or not Trent Palacky would be
a guy that Ben Johnson wanted to work for. It
seems pretty clear that the Bears were number one on
Ben Johnson's list as much as he was number one
on theirs.
Speaker 3 (07:41):
And it's become clear like we, you know, heading into
this offseason and during the off season we talked about
like is this job the number one job?
Speaker 5 (07:48):
Right?
Speaker 3 (07:48):
And obviously, you know, we don't know what things look
a little bit differently if the New England job was open,
if they weren't enamored and Mike Brabel maybe like obviously
Drake may is a great quarterback too, and you got
a lot of good things of cap space for New
England and good draft picks as well. But I think
Ben Johnson kind of made it clear that you know,
this is the best situation right that you want to
(08:08):
land in.
Speaker 5 (08:09):
Like Las Vegas.
Speaker 3 (08:10):
Yeah, they have Tom Brady, but they don't have a
quarterback and that seems like a project that's going to
take a couple of years. The Jaguars, obviously they have
Trevor Lawrence, but it just seems like maybe it's not
the right atmosphere, especially with the general manager kind of
sticking around despite you.
Speaker 5 (08:26):
Know, lack of success.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
So it's I think Ben Johnson kind of told you
that he believes in what the Bears have, and I
think he kind of told you that he believes in
Caleb Williams right like. I think that's a big reinforcement
where he has been. He's been picky about where he
wants to go. Last year he could have gone with
Commanders or the Seahawks. He chose to stay in Detroit.
He got some interviews early a couple of years ago
(08:49):
as well, and this year he decided to go to
the Bears because of a lot of different things. But
I think Kayleb Williams is that number one thing where
he has the talent that's untapped right now. Like you
saw Caleb do a lot of great impressive performance, like
a lot of great things this year, but then you
also saw it make some mistakes and you know, try
to keep plays alive.
Speaker 5 (09:08):
And that's something that Ben Johnson's going to work with.
Speaker 3 (09:10):
But I think that the biggest thing is that he
sees the potential in Caleb, Like we've all kind of
seen the potential in him. And if you're going to jump,
make the jump to be your first time head coach,
you want to succeed and obviously stay somewhere for a
long time. And it really seemed like he was like,
this is a great landing spot. We'll work on the
offensive line, and I'm sure we'll work on the defensive line,
some shifting here and there, but I have my future
(09:33):
quarterback for at least the next four years and I
can really build something here. And I think that's the
biggest thing that kind of drew Ben Johnson to Chicago.
Speaker 2 (09:40):
Yeah, this is a guy who who took Jared Goff
after a three win season, and most people at that
point were kind of thinking that this Jared Goff thing,
you know, is only going to have so much longer
and Ben Johnson. I mean, turn that into the best
offense in football. And you know, Jared off has has
played at an exceptionally high level. I know he played
(10:03):
bad in that game against Washington. I know there's that
he has. He still has his moments, of course, but
I think when you look at what Caleb Williams was
able to do his rookie season, despite all the craziness
and turmoil around him, despite the offensive line being you know,
obviously not what Bears fans hoped it was going into
the season. All in all, Caleb had about as good
(10:25):
as a rookie season as you can given that situation
that he was in. And I think that you can
be pretty optimistic that you get Ben Johnson in there,
you get the right pieces, you get him building that
offense how he wants it. I really do think that
this could be a pairing that that could be really
beneficial for this offense moving forward. And obviously, you know
(10:46):
we've talked a lot about you know this is this
you know he didn't deliberately say it, but it felt
like this was Caleb's number one choice, right like, just
based on the comments, like at the end of the
at the end of the season press conference, you know,
he was asked about Ben Johnson, and he talked about
how impressed he was just watching their games, whether it
was on TV, like after they finished their regular season game,
(11:08):
or whether it was you know, when they were playing
the Lions, Like he would watch what they're doing and
how they're like quickly adapting to what.
Speaker 3 (11:13):
Their defense was doing and that sort of stuff. So,
and he talked on the State Brown podcast about how
much he liked, you know, the Lions OC and what
Ben Johnson is doing there. So yeah, I think this
is this is just feels like the perfect you know marriage.
You know, obviously we still need to see how it's
going to develop and you know how these two kind
of get along. But I think you you didn't put
(11:36):
Caleb in the right spot in the first year. You
gave him three two three, you gave him two play callers,
three O c's coaching change, an offensive line that didn't succeed, Like,
you did not put him in a good decision to
succeed as much as the Commanders did obviously with Jayden
Daniels and look.
Speaker 5 (11:51):
What's happening with that.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
But I do think now you found a coach that
is going to help, you know, develop Caleb put him
in a good spot, and I think that's a good
Would you have liked this maybe a year ago? Sure,
obviously it seemed like a stock reports that he was
interested in the Bear's job if it became open, and
you kind of wonder, well, did we really need to
wait a year to do this?
Speaker 5 (12:10):
And is there some damage to Caleb after that first year? Maybe?
Speaker 3 (12:14):
Who knows, But at this point you are paired together
and you do have a good coach. He's the thing
going here, and I'm really excited to see what that means, especially,
you know, even just like mini camps and that sort
of stuff, just you know, what is that going to
look like and how quickly are they mac and you
to build a really strong rapport.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Ben Johnson talked about it during his media session last week,
and I really do think that he means it when
he says like he's going to be a better head
coach for having waited that year. You know, obviously the
commanders were really interested in him in him. There were
the reports that he that they were on their way
to Detroit to interview him in person when he told
them he was pulling out of the running and you know,
(12:55):
I know there was clearly some emotions involved in that.
Speaker 5 (12:57):
That was right after the Lions lost in the NFC
Championship game.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
But you do, you do wonder I mean, I do
think that he is has benefited from that. You know,
he spent the whole summer talking thinking about what what
a franchise would look like with him as the head coach,
and that is that is I think more valuable than
maybe people would think. I mean, how many of these
(13:21):
coaches like jump at their first chance to be a
head coach? I know, I know Ben was clearly in
a very favorable situation. You know, not many guys are
as as talked about as as popular candidates as he
has been this last year looking back towards last year too,
(13:42):
So obviously he was in a pretty favorable position where
he could do that. But I mean, I don't think
that every every coach out there would would make the
same move necessarily if they had a chance to be
a head coach.
Speaker 5 (13:53):
You're talking about millions of dollars.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
I mean, the reports last year were that Ben possibly
wanted to like fifteen million dollars a year, and obviously
we don't we don't have that confirmed.
Speaker 5 (14:04):
We don't know what the Bears are going to be
paying him, but it's gonna be a lot.
Speaker 2 (14:07):
Like they talked about, Kevin Warren said, there will be
no obstacles and and you know you read between the
lines that means money.
Speaker 5 (14:14):
Yeah, definitely does mean money.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
And that again it goes to credence of you know,
giving you know, the mccaskey's credit, giving Kevin Warren credit
about running the search much better than the obviously last
week we talked about the private jet picking up McCarthy
and that kind of stuff.
Speaker 5 (14:27):
I know people were on they were on a jet.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
Alert yesterday trying to figure out whether that was Ben
Johnson going from Pontiac to to to Wheeling, which obviously wasn't.
But it just kind of shows about how different they're
doing it and how it also kind of says I
feel like kind of what it seems like Ben Johnson
probably put together a very you know, good plan for
(14:51):
this team.
Speaker 5 (14:52):
Right. It seems like he learned a lot over those
couple of years.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
Like he said, those experiences he kind of thought more
about how he wants what he wants to do as
a head coach.
Speaker 5 (15:01):
And I think that just must have been like what you.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
Mentioned at the top about how they just wanted to
be blown away, and it's very clear that they were
blown away because you could very easily see the Bears
being like, well, we want to do a second round
and we want to give everyone a fair chance, and
instead they were just like this guy has the perfect plan,
Like he knows how he's going to develop Caleb. I'm
sure he knows how he's going to build or help
build the roster. He has a lot of great, you know,
(15:25):
plans about how he's going to hold people accountable, and
that just comes from experience and kind of thinking about
it more than it maybe did two or even one
year ago. So yeah, obviously, you know he's developed as
a coach both offensively, but he's also thought about much more.
Speaker 5 (15:42):
Than he did in the past.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
And that's very clear that that's probably one of the
main reasons why the mccaskeys and the Bear stop. It
would be great to just bring him in right away
instead of just pulling this thing on.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
And you know, just an interesting thought on that too.
I mean, if the Lions win over the weekend, if
they beat the Commanders and they're still playing, you can't
interview Ben Johnson this week, right, And so if that's
the case and he is your guy, you're not gonna
sit around for a week and do nothing. You know,
you're gonna you're gonna interview some of those other candidates.
So I think that's another reason why this this net
(16:14):
was cast so wide, Like, uh, maybe it became apparent
that Ben Johnson was the guy, but if he wasn't
going to be available this week, you still got to
do your due diligence on some of these other guys.
Speaker 5 (16:25):
You still got to hold some second interviews.
Speaker 2 (16:27):
Obviously, that's an alternative universe that didn't happen. The Lions lost.
He became available on Monday, right, and obviously it seems
like this was this was the choice for for both sides.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Yeah, it's kind of interesting, you know, you just kind
of listen a lot of these NFL insiders talking about it,
and it's become very clear that everyone is shocked that
the Bears did this, which is kind of funny, but
also like, I mean, I was kind of surprised, you know,
when when we got the notification. I think Tom Pelisara
was the first one to report it, but I was
like being like, well, we like need to tail this,
(17:01):
you know, plane like figure out like go to wheeling
or whatever, and then you just get the breaking news
and it's just kind of it is kind of shocking
that they're able to get this done because they just
haven't done this in the past, right, Like they just haven't.
They've had coaches reportedly been in coach and like in
the middle seats and that kind of stuff, like they
haven't run that. And maybe this is kudos to Kevin
(17:21):
Warren where yes see obviously you know, we gave them
a hard time about the amen and monologue to start
the press conference after he refluses fired, but at the
end of the day, maybe he is running this organization
much better and kind of helping them reach the twenty
first century as opposed to what they were.
Speaker 5 (17:35):
Doing in the past.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
And we'll obviously ask questions about that the process, what
was it like, and all that kind of stuff whenever
the press conference happens. But it is just kind of
interesting just listening to all these different people be like, Wow,
the Bears actually like did the right thing, like they
hired the guy, and it'll be interesting to see how
much does that kind of continue with the with the coaching,
(17:56):
you know, staff, and how much does that kind of
continue with you know, the roster country.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
You're saying the Bears acted like a six billion dollar
NFL franchise, Michael, Yeah, you don't think George McCaskey picked
him up from from baggage plane.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Appears not what we'll see right now. There's still a
chance that McCaskey could pick him up at O'Hair and
be like, listen, like this is what we've This is
a tradition with the Bears, Like I always pick you
guys up. I'm gonna park on the Bulls locked and
o'har's parking lot, and we're gonna walk over and I'm gonna.
Speaker 5 (18:25):
Have a sign and I'm gonna pick you up.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
No, I mean, it's just interesting, right, It's just how
different it all is. And I think we were kind
of surprised by it because we haven't seen it with
the stadium or anything like that. So it's interesting to
see that they were able to do it this way.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
This franchise doesn't really operate with speed, and it hasn't
really under Kevin Warren either, like the decision to fire
eber Flush.
Speaker 5 (18:48):
Warren likes to sleep on it likes to think about it.
Mull it over. I threw this comment from Rick up
in the on the screen here.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Who would have thought that the mccaskeys were picked before
Tom Brady. Yeah, that's you know that it's funny, it's
it's jokey, but it's serious at the same time. Like
I do think that I said this on Friday, and
you know I still feel this way. Like, you know,
Tom Brady is like the new shiny object for the
Raiders right now. He owns like five percent of the
(19:14):
team or whatever it is. Obviously he's he's done. You know,
he was very successful as a player, and he has
thoughts on how it should be done. But that's still
the Raiders. They still don't have a quarterback there, you know,
the rosters and shambles. I really do think that the
quarterback played a big part in this. And you know,
Tom Brady coming in and owning a small part of
(19:35):
the team isn't necessarily going to change the trajectory of
the Las Vegas Raiders. Obviously, uh, he believes he can
be a big part of that. Otherwise he wouldn't be
so involved in all this stuff. But you know, we
got to see the results there like this, this is
still a new partnership right now with Tom Brady and
the Raiders, and it would have taken.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
Like a leap of faith, right, Like you would have
to believe that Tom Brady could do this where he
hasn't done it right, like he's like done it, and
we've seen in the past and so many different sports
where you know, these great athletes just can't do it
anywhere else, whether it's you know, it's Michael Jordan.
Speaker 5 (20:11):
Being like you're in the Hornets like one they were,
they were terrible. He was a terrible GM.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
Obviously a great, the greatest player of all time, but
he was a terrible GM and terrible owner. And like
you've kind of seen that too, Like just because Tom
Brady was great at football, I know people have kind of,
you know, been like, well, he's an okay announcer, and
like from what I've heard, he's like fine, I don't
think you know, I don't want to get into the whole.
Speaker 5 (20:32):
Greg Olsen tom Brady thing.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
But at the end of the day, Ben Johnson would
have needed to do a leap of faith that he
was going to believe that Tom Brady knew.
Speaker 5 (20:41):
What he was doing when he's never done it before.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
The Raiders weren't in the position to get a quarterback
this year. Anyone you were going to bring in was
probably going to be a project guy or you know,
some guy, a retread guy, you know who's kind of
done it before but hasn't done it at the highest level.
Speaker 5 (20:57):
Maybe they would be in on Sam Darnold.
Speaker 3 (20:59):
Like, there are so many ifs, right with the Raiders job,
where you come to Chicago and you're like, Caleb Williams
is your quarterback for at least the next four years.
You have a lot of draft picks, you have a
bunch of cap space. This seems like a pretty good foundation.
You just got to adjust them. So, yeah, I agree
with you. Like Tom Brady's the shiny object. Obviously, maybe
it'll work in the next few years and he is
(21:20):
able to help. You know, Mark Davis built something great there.
But if I'm staking my first and maybe only chance
of being a head coach, I'm choosing the potential with
the talent that the Bears already have in place.
Speaker 2 (21:33):
Yeah, and you know, obviously the roster has has a
ways to go in certain areas, Like they're going to
have to fix some things the Lions when they you know,
when they they started their rebuild in the trenches, and
I know that obviously they drafted a lot of wide
receivers and a running back and all that stuff. But
obviously this Bears team has some issues to fix in
(21:55):
the trenches. And I think Ben Johnson is is well
aware of that, and he knows that you can't just
slap another wide receiver on this thing and make it work.
Like there's bigger issues there. You look at sort of
the staff potentially that he could bring in. We mentioned
Dennis Allen, sounds like he's the likely candidate to be
the defensive coordinator. Darren Rizzy has been linked to them
(22:18):
as potentially the special teams coordinator if he assuming he
does not land a head coaching job. Rizzy was the
guy who took over for Dennis Allen with the Saints
when Allen was fired in November and just kind of
perusing the Detroit Lions coaching staff. I mean, when when
a coordinator leaves, they will typically take one or two assistants.
Speaker 5 (22:42):
You know, it's not it's kind of rare. Like when
Matty Eberflus.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Left the Colts, the Colts decided they were going to
do a complete staff change on the defensive side of
the ball, so all those guys were available, I wouldn't
expect Ben Johnson to bring maybe more than one or
two of his guys with him from Detroit. And you
look at the names, and you know, I think one
name that really stands out is Hank Frayley, the offensive
(23:06):
line coach. Could he potentially be an offensive coordinator possibility there,
and obviously he knows how to build things in the trenches.
The Lions have have maybe the best offensive line in football,
or at least one of He's definitely an a name
to keep an eye on. Tanner Engstrand was their passing
game coordinator. He's another name to keep an eye on.
And obviously those guys will have to be weighing. You know,
(23:29):
the Lions are going to hire an offensive coordinator, They're
going to likely promote somebody, so maybe those guys are
going to stick around in Detroit.
Speaker 5 (23:36):
We don't really know yet.
Speaker 3 (23:37):
No, And for how much we have given the Bears
credit about being prepared, it seems like, you know, Ben
Johnson seems pretty prepared, like as soon as as soon
as it was reported that they've come to like an
agreement on terms. I think the next couple of tweets were,
you know, Dennis Allen is considered to be a very
heavy candidate obviously, and you've seen the Rizzi and then
(23:59):
I saw that Grand Bigs from the Tribune mentioned and
maybe they would keep high tower Rizzy went somewhere. But yeah,
I think if you can get Dennis Allen to be
your d C, I think that would be a perfect fit.
You've got someone who's been a head coach twice already,
which and you've got someone who's shown that he's a
really good defensive coordinator. So you've got someone who can
(24:20):
run the defense. I think they also run a four
to three defense, so that would be good. You kind
of keep the same you know, you would change things
things up defensively, but you would you wouldn't need to
do a major.
Speaker 5 (24:28):
Overhaul defensively with your what you have. But you've got
someone who can maybe provide some leadership for Ben Johnson.
Speaker 3 (24:34):
Then can kind of be like, hey, like this is
how I ran things, like this is what I kind
of learned doing this a couple of times, and maybe
it's beneficial for you to do it this way or
something like that. So it's great to have someone there
who's going to be able to help you like that,
and quite honestly, someone who is probably not going to.
Speaker 5 (24:54):
Be you know, considered for a third head coaching job.
Speaker 3 (24:56):
Right, No disrespect to him, but it's like no disrespected
in the sailing, but it just seems like it hasn't
worked two times he's gotten in it.
Speaker 5 (25:04):
Then you know, some guys are just good at being coordinators.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
Then maybe that's great where you have your defensive coordinator
for the next five, six, seven years and you're just
able to be you know, successful in that motion. So
that when I saw that name, I was really excited
because that just says that you're ready to go and
you would have someone good and and like you mentioned,
I mean, if you're bringing anyone, you're bringing Hank Frayley.
(25:27):
He developed that offensive line. He is able to identify
offensive lineman, something that you know, Ryan pulls and Ian
Cunningham hasn't really haven't really been able to do since
they've taken over. So it'll be great if you can
just you know, upgrade him to an O C, give
him a higher position so you can make the higher
I guess it just depends on what Frayley wants to do,
and whether the Lions are like, no, we're just going
(25:49):
to upgrade him and we're just going to keep him
within and he's going to be ro OC.
Speaker 5 (25:53):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
I mean if you if the Lions want to keep him,
I'm sure that they would would pay up and make
that happen. And also, I mean, if you're a coordinator candidate,
you probably still would rather be the Lions OC than
the Bears, given where that team is right now, the
roster that's built, I mean, they expect.
Speaker 5 (26:07):
To compete for the Super Bowl.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
Yeah, those those That's a really interesting point on Dennis Allen,
like a your head coach can lean on him and
and be like, very few NFL coaches get three shots
at being a head coach. I don't think anything on
on Dennis Allen's resume really stands out that says this
guy is going to get a third shot presumably if
things go well, like you're gonna you're gonna have him
around for the long haul, and.
Speaker 5 (26:32):
Uh yeah, you're right.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Like they he's traditionally run a four to three scheme.
That's exactly what the Bears ran under Matt Eberflus. At
least the base defense. They're built for that, Like, this
defense can can run exactly what Dennis Allen is gonna
want to run from day one.
Speaker 5 (26:46):
Uh. And I know that you've got some areas to improve.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
You still need to find another edge rusher who can
really be a difference maker.
Speaker 5 (26:51):
Yeah, but you like what you got in the secondary.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
The linebackers should you would think fit that scheme pretty
well at least what uh, depending on how similar it
is to it to what Maddieberfluse liked running. I would
think that this defense could could you know, take some
really nice steps. We thought that they were playing well
that first half of the season. Obviously it really kind
of fell apart with everything else that fell apart during
(27:17):
the second half of last year. But but I still
do think they have a lot of really nice pieces
and with the right the right head coach, the right scheme,
that these guys could still play at a really high level.
Speaker 5 (27:27):
And if they have a functioning offense, right.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
Like I think you know you and I like, I
know we're planning on doing a podcast later and whether
it's the next couple of weeks, you know, depending on
how the coaching the rest of the coaching search likes
obviously just kind of talking about what happened this past season,
but like that Bear's defense was able to hang around
for the first half of the season, but after a
while when the offense just continued to go three and
out and just wasn't successful, Like at some point you
(27:52):
need help, right, Like you can't do it all by
yourself and you.
Speaker 5 (27:54):
Can't be expected to do the best.
Speaker 3 (27:57):
And obviously you know that defense lost, you know, a
couple of key players. Obviously jo Kwon, Brisker Billings was out.
They never really found anyone opposite of Sweat. But yeah,
I would agree with you if you bring Dennis Allen,
you bring in someone else, whether you draft him or
you bring him as a free agent, someone else who
can play opposite of Montest Sweat. You have a defense
(28:17):
that is still very talented with a lot of young
talented players, and Dennis Allen can definitely do you know,
he can coach them up.
Speaker 5 (28:23):
So I would definitely agree that you.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
Are in a pretty good position to succeed if you
bring in a coach like that, especially if Ben Johnson
can get that offense going.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
Yeah, absolutely do we I do want to touch on this, Michael,
We got a few more minutes here before we got
a run. But are there any concerns that that Ben
Johnson has never been a head coach before. I know
that we're we're excited about the offense, We're excited about
what he can do for the quarterback. Were generally, you know,
I think are our vibes this morning are this is
(28:57):
a good move for the Bears? But is there any
concern that much like Matt Naggie, much like Maddie Refluse,
Ben Johnson's never been a head coach before.
Speaker 5 (29:05):
I mean sure, there's always concern, right, Like he's never
done it before. You don't know how he's going to do.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
It now, right, Like it's very He even himself admitted
he talked about how before he never really thought about
what it would entail being ahead, Like I'm sure he's
thought about it, but like fully entail what it means
that'd be a head coach, like taking care of all
the different things, addressing the full team, like you're not
just talking to the offense. You're not just sitting in
your office worrying about offensive play calls and like scheming
(29:33):
up cool trick plays like you're worried about like the
entire team, is the defense functioning well, what is the
schedule looking at? Like, how's the conditioning looking like? That
is all your responsibility and under your purview. So I
think the answer is we don't know, right, Like, we
don't know how he's going to be a leader in
front of the whole room and whether how much he's
going to be able to keep the entire team accountable.
(29:55):
But I think everything that you've kind of heard about
him from different reporters is that he is hard nos
Like he's a hard like he's going to hold you accountable.
He's going to make sure that you're reaching the same
sort of excellence or the standard of excellence that he
kind of hass So it'll be interesting to see, Like obviously,
you know, we'll talk to him and we'll hear from
(30:16):
what he has to say about what his plans are,
how he plans to build build this thing up.
Speaker 5 (30:21):
We'll see if he has a hits principle.
Speaker 3 (30:23):
That's obviously a major a major key when you're taking
over a team, you have to have some sort of
like acronym to make sure your team is all in together.
But you know, kidding aside, we don't know the answer
but that's what we're going to figure out, and it's
going to be really interesting to see. You know, a
lot of it will be his support system, right like,
does he surround himself and is he able to surround
(30:44):
with himself with a really strong support system to kind
of help him succeed. So we don't know the answer.
We're obviously going to see, but it'll be really interesting
to see because you know, Sean McVay didn't have experience before,
right like you know Shanahan didn't have before, Kevin O'Connell
didn't have experience before. Those there have been plenty of
(31:04):
guys who haven't had experience before and who have faltered
and they haven't done well. But they are also a
bunch who have and they have obviously succeeded at a
high level.
Speaker 5 (31:12):
So it just depends on if the Bears are.
Speaker 3 (31:14):
Able to put him in a good position to succeed,
and only time will tell at.
Speaker 5 (31:18):
This point whether that's going to be the case.
Speaker 3 (31:19):
You obviously see you know, big primetime candidates for his
coaching staff to start things off, which is good, but
you got to see what the next few months are
going to look like as we head into Minie camp
and the training camp and all that stuff.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
I think Bears fans would be thrilled if they have
their Kevin O'Connell, if they have their Sean McVay. Obviously
McVeigh is a really high bar. He's won a Super Bowl.
If they have their Kyle Shanahan, they're going to be
really really happy with that because that means that you're
competing every single year. And you know, the thing with
Ben Johnson too, is like, look, this is a guy
who walked on at UNC, you know, twenty years ago.
(31:58):
He was a math and computer science major. I think
this dude's wicked smart. I think he's if anybody is
going to have a good understanding of late game situations
and playing the odds. Obviously, the Lions loved to go
forward on fourth down. You wonder how much Ben Johnson's
influence affected that. I do think that that he's going
(32:19):
to have that stuff figured out, you know, I think,
or at least a lot better than the last head coach,
because that was clearly the number one downfall with with
the Maddie Refluce era was those end of game situations.
They were just not good enough, no matter how good
your defense is it didn't matter, And so I think
that I would be optimistic if I was, if I
(32:40):
was a Bears fan, that that Ben Johnson is going
to have those things figured out. We got to comment
in here, wondering where all the McCarthy fans went. Thanks
for joining the show, Thomas, any other last comments.
Speaker 5 (32:52):
Throw him in the chat here. Let's see.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
Rick says that Caleb can be the best quarterback in
the division next year.
Speaker 5 (32:58):
He says, my thoughts on that, I think we're getting it.
We're very optimistic. I don't think that's a terrible take,
I guess.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
I mean, yeah, I'm interested to see what Jared Goff
looks like without obviously Ben Johnson. We don't know what
the situation that the Vikings is going to be, whether
they're going to bring back Sam darn or, whether that's
going to be j J. McArthur McCarthy, whether it's going
to be Daniel Jones maybe and Jordan Love. You know,
he's been good, but obviously we've seen him falter a
little bit in the playoffs, and that's kind of interesting.
Speaker 5 (33:31):
So I don't, I don't, I don't, I'm not.
Speaker 3 (33:32):
I don't know if I'm ready to jump on that
bandwagon exactly just yet, but I could, I could see
it happening. I think the biggest thing, you know, to
kind of wrap things up here is, I think outside
of Caleb, Ben Johnson saw that you had a lot
of talent here. You got DJ Moore, you got Romadoons,
and you got Deanre Swift. You have Cole Kmet on
(33:53):
this team that apparently the Bears forgot this past year.
And I think the biggest thing is, yes, he's going
to bring a lot out of Caleb and obviously help
him develop, But is he He's going to find ways
to get Dj into space, He's going to find ways
to create you know, one on one matchups for Roma
Doonday so he can shine on the deep all right,
like he's going to you know, it depends on who
(34:16):
he brings in for his offensive line and how they're
able to develop that. But DeAndre Swift is a talented player,
and you didn't see that for much of the season
because you know, he didn't really get too many gaps
or opening so you know, for how much you know,
I think a lot of Bears fans are excited for
you know, what Ben Johnson means for Caleb Williams. I think,
you know, a Bears fans should be excited for what
(34:37):
it means for DJ Moore, for all these other top playmakers,
because the Bears invested heavily in these toys and they
just weren't used at all last season. So I think
it's really exciting to see, you know, start thinking about
what he could potentially do with all these different playmakers
that they have offensively.
Speaker 2 (34:53):
Think of what Ben Johnson has done for I'm on
Rustlint Brown and for Thomason Williams and those guys. I mean,
I was thinking about this as more ring too, Like
those guys are gonna benefit as much, if not more
than the quarterback if if they can get this thing rolling, uh,
that is is going to really elevate things for the offense.
Speaker 5 (35:09):
We saw that. I mean, they just couldn't get Dj
the ball like he.
Speaker 2 (35:12):
Was Yeah he was in his his yards target were
like exceptionally low.
Speaker 5 (35:18):
It was all these short, quick.
Speaker 2 (35:19):
Screen passes and lining them up in the backfield, like, yeah,
you can do that sometimes. Obviously we know we know
from watching the game over the weekend that Ben Johnson
is not afraid to use some some tricks and and
some some weird things sometimes. Uh maybe every once in
a while to his detriment, but I think he will
(35:39):
really help the bread and butter plays too, like getting
Dj Moore opened down the field. That has to be
a priority for this offense moving forward.
Speaker 5 (35:47):
Uh that that is a really interesting point. And yeah,
he's coached DeAndre swift. Uh.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
You know last last year in Detroit was was Ben
Johnson's first year as a Cordner.
Speaker 5 (35:57):
Now they traded him a year later. I don't know
what that means.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
You know, read into that if you want, But obviously
he's aware of what Deandre's strengths and weaknesses are and
how best to use him if if the Bears are
going to stick with DeAndre this season. Let's see comment
here from Adam Leonard. He says, I like the swing
from the owners. If it doesn't pay off, it is
what it is. And yeah, that's that's really I think
where Bears fans should be, where their heads should be
(36:23):
at like this is you swung for the fences. If
it doesn't work, like you much like I think you
can't have that revisionist history, you know, you can't. Caleb
Williams was the obvious choice for number one overall pick
last year. You can't change that after one season. You
can't look at this and say, well, Jayden Daniels is better.
(36:44):
Remember all the turmoil that that Caleb Williams had to
deal with. I think this thing that I think that
debate could look different a year from now.
Speaker 5 (36:51):
I'm not saying it will, I think it could.
Speaker 2 (36:54):
And I think with the head coach too, like this
this is your swinging for the fences here. I think
everybody is optimistic that this thing's going to work out.
Speaker 5 (37:03):
Let's let it play out and let's see how it goes.
Speaker 2 (37:06):
If it doesn't work out, you can at least know that, like,
your team did all that it could to get the
number one.
Speaker 3 (37:13):
Best hire on the market, and they made the obvious choice,
right Like, It's kind of what I talked about earlier,
where it's like you did what you were supposed to do.
Whether that works out, it's hard to tell. If it
doesn't work out in four or five years, you look
at the process maybe and you're kind of like, well,
did we set them up for success?
Speaker 5 (37:29):
Did we set up kayleb for success? Obvious?
Speaker 3 (37:31):
That's obviously being a pessimist, But they made the obvious
move here. They made the big swing, and I think
that's all you can give them credit for. They did
it the same thing with Kayleb Williams, and now you
know we're I don't think anyone will critique the hirings
or hiring Ben Johnson or drafting Caleb Williams. I think
the biggest critique from now will be did the Bears
(37:52):
put them in a place to succeed? And that's the
biggest question we're going to see it right now, right
like do you get the right coaches? Are you spending
enough money? Are you making the right trades? Are you
getting the right players around them?
Speaker 5 (38:03):
Right?
Speaker 3 (38:04):
Like you can like you can make the obvious higher,
you can take a big swing, but you can't stop there.
And I think that's the biggest thing you need to
take from this, where yes, it's fun that they got
Ben Johnson. Yes, it's great that they drafted Caleb Williams
last year, but that doesn't mean that you're going to
succeed and that you need to stop or you're done,
that the work is done. And I know that they're
obviously committed. It seems like they're committed with bringing in
(38:25):
a good defensive staff, bringing in a good offensive staff.
Speaker 5 (38:28):
We'll see how that goes. But the work can't end
right now.
Speaker 3 (38:31):
I think this is a good start and you have
put yourself in a good place to succeed. But you
got to keep that going because it just doesn't stop
with today, like you got to keep going in February
with the combine with the draft, with free agency, like
there's a whole lot of work left to be done.
Speaker 5 (38:45):
But I think this is a good start. Obviously, once
we officially hear things, Michael, the work is just beginning.
Speaker 2 (38:52):
And you know what, I think. I think you tied
that into a nice neat bow. I think we're going
to leave it there. That was beautiful. That was well done.
I love the analysis there. If you're with us here
on YouTube one more time, hit the thumbs up. That's
a great way to support the show. We would really
appreciate it. If you're on Apple, if you're on Spotify,
leave us a review. We would really appreciate a five
star review. Follow us, keep an eye on our Twitter
(39:15):
pages as well. If you want to join us live
on YouTube. We're trying to do at least once a
week here during the season. We'll excuse me during the
off season. We'll keep an eye out.
Speaker 5 (39:24):
Obviously.
Speaker 2 (39:25):
We hope to hear from Ryan Poles and Ben Johnson
this week. We'll see what that looks like. We may
do another show this week after we hear from them.
We'll have to see how the rest of the week
plays out. As always, head toshaw Local dot com. Read
all of our Bears coverage over there Shaw Local dot com,
and please consider subscribing. That's the number one best way
to support us. Thank you guys for joining us here live.
Thank you as always for listening. He's Michael Dwojack. I'm
(39:48):
Sean Hammond. This has been the Shaw Local Bears Insider podcast.
Let's have a great week, everybody,
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