January 23, 2025 • 37 mins
The Bears introduced Ben Johnson as head coach during a news conference on Wednesday. Shaw Local's Sean Hammond and Michal Dwojak discuss what they learned during Q&A sessions with Johnson and other Bears leaders.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello, and welcome back to the Shaw Local Bears Insider Podcast.
We are back for another episode twice this week. Michael,
we're double double dipping here. It's been a busy week obviously.
Ben Johnson is the Bears head coach. Welcome into the
Shaw Local Bears Insider Podcast. I'm Sean Hammond, He's Michael Dwojack.
We're joining you guys again to to sort of recap
(00:23):
our thoughts from yesterday's yesterday's press conference, Ben Johnson was introduced. Obviously,
he was the star of the show. He took the podium,
answered questions for I don't know about a half hour
and uh, you know, I think he did pretty well.
It's it's it doesn't really matter how you do when
your first press conference. We've seen guys do well. We've
(00:44):
seen guys with some interesting interesting moments. Dan Campbell, Adam
Gase come to mind, and really it doesn't doesn't mean
anything for the job. But it was his first impression. Michael,
what did you think listening to Ben Johnson yesterday? Listener
like it went as well as you could have hoped,
right an intro press conference, because goes there was no
(01:04):
there were no acronyms. There wasn't really like any stumbling
or anything like that on words, no awkwardness.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
It felt like the perfect day for the Bears, right.
It seemed like, you know, a couple of weeks ago,
we were giving the Bears such a hard time and
you know, rightfully so just based on everything that's been
going on, and yesterday it felt like it was kind
of like a good like everyone was happy, Like everyone
was laughing along with Kevin Warren's jokes, with George mccaskey's
jokes and little dig at at Joe Bucks. So, I mean,
(01:35):
it was a good day obviously, and I think everyone
also acknowledged though that it was only one day, right,
Like I think Ben Johnson made it pretty clear that listen,
like this is just the beginning. We're getting started. And
I think Kevin Warren, George McCaskey, even Caleb Williams, you know,
we all we talked to all of them too, and
they kind of had the same refrain where like everyone's excited,
but I think everyone in the building knows that the
(01:58):
work's not done, that they're just getting started. And I
think that's the biggest thing where you know, you can
win the press conference. You can do well, you can
say all the right things, but it felt like there
was an acknowledgment, that kind of a shift in tone
compared to maybe what we've seen in the past. And
you know, time will tell at this point. But from
from the starting point, it was a good start. And
now we'll see in the coming weeks, you know, how
(02:20):
this coaching staff comes together, and then obviously we'll get
ready for free agency in the draft.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Yeah, rightfully.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
So it was a victory lap for the Bears, and
I think that was deserved. I mean, sure, you got
the best coach on the market. Of course you're going
to pat yourself on the back. I think the Bears
did a good job of letting Ben Johnson take the spotlight.
I know that that George and Kevin and Caleb all
talked afterwards, but but there wasn't you know, Ryan wasn't
up at the podium with Ben. This was Ben's moment,
and I think that that was handled the right way.
(02:48):
Ryan went up there and gave a very short intro
and then let let Ben take the stage. And and
you know, Ben said kind of the things that that
you would expect him to say.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
You know, he's going to set the foundation. He's going
to set the standard.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
We can dive into what his hiring is going to
mean for Caleb and the quarterback and the offense. I
thought it was notable too that he said he's not
just going to bring the Detroit Lions playbook with him,
And obviously you have to sort of cater your offense
to the players that you have, and this is going
to be a long process.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
I mean, it.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Feels like the Lions turned around in the blink of
an eye, but that took time, you know, and that
offensive line they got, Three of those guys were drafted
in the first round. Getting back to twenty sixteen, like
that was a long process to get to where they
are right now. And I think they all realize that
kind of going off what you were saying, like, obviously,
George has been here before, Ryan has been here before,
(03:44):
he hired Maddiebrafluce, Kevin has been here before. With his
time with the Vikings. When they hired a new head coach,
you never really know how it's going to go, but
it was rightfully so they could sort of take a
victory lap yesterday.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
I want to hit on something before we you know,
really get into the nitty gritty of you know what
we heard yesterday. But yeah, I feel like the last
two press conferences it's been you know, yesterday it was
Ben Johnson at the main podium and then everyone off
to the side. Last two weeks ago, whenever that was
it was Ryan Polls up at the podium and then
George and Kevin to the side. Do you feel is that, like,
is that just me looking too far into things, or
(04:20):
do you feel like they kind of heard about how
bad the optics looked of Kevin, you know, kind of
stealing the show from Ryan Poles at the beginning of December,
or is that just like a happy coincidence and it
just kind of worked out that way? Like is that
something that the Bears kind of learned from the public
perception of how kind of things went after they fired
Matty Refluce.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
No, I would imagine that that was that was intentional.
I mean I.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Think that that they they obviously hear the feedback, whether
they will admit to that or not, Like they hear
the feedback on some of this stuff. And you know,
you brought in Ted Cruz is a you know, a
guy who was brought here to sort of be a
big picture in these situations. He deals a lot with
Kevin Warren. I'm sure he was well aware of how
that was perceived. Uh, And and I think they adjusted,
(05:08):
and I think that that's good.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
They should do that. You should give Ryan Poles the spotlight.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Uh, you know, when you're going into the coaching search,
you should give Ben Johnson the spotlight on a day
like yesterday.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
And I think that they handled that well. I think
that you.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Know, it's it's it's Ben's moment, and it had to
be Ben's moment, and that's that's how it should have Ben. Uh,
they all know that that this is not going to
be like one man's not going to come in here
and fix everything. Like it's gonna have to be the organization.
It's gonna have to be the players buying into what
Ben is saying. But yesterday was about Ben, and I
(05:44):
think that they handled that the right way.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
And it feels like growth, right, Like it kind of
seems like they're learning, you know, whether they'll admit it
or not, it seems like they're learning right from their
past mistakes and they're like trying to transition and that
sort of stuff. And you know how for however little
that is. You know, some people might be well, who cares, Like,
how what does that really matter? It does kind of
show that they're listening and they're trying to improve, So
you know, want to give credit to them for obviously
(06:08):
doing that. Whether that translates to wins, that doesn't really
mean that anything, but it just does feel like just
an important thing, right, just that this franchise, you know,
on top of the way that they can of ran
this process, you know, flying in Mike McCarthy and that
sort of stuff, it just feels like there's kind of
been a switch, which has kind of been interesting to
kind of watch compared to how business was done even
(06:30):
a year ago or even a couple of years ago
before Kevin Warren got here.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Yeah, definitely, Michael, we heard, of course how much Ben
Johnson wanted to be here in Chicago. He mentioned going
to two Cubs games with his family every summer and
spending a weekend in the city, and obviously he's got
three young kids, and he was thinking, I think that's
maybe something that we didn't talk about enough over the
(06:54):
last year two years with Ben Johnson, is like he
was thinking about where he want to raise his family
and when you're talking about Jacksonville, in Vegas, in Chicago,
and I know, like most NFL cities are good cities,
like there's you can you know, you can find a
great place to live anywhere. But that was obviously a
really important factor for him, like just spending time in
(07:17):
Chicago and envisioning himself here.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Obviously we didn't we didn't know.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
He was spending time in Chicago in his summers like
until he was up there. But clearly, like we were
saying this before we heard from Ben, and I think
yesterday just confirmed it, like Ben picked the Bears as
much as as the Bears picked him.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Yeah, I feel like, you know, in most press conferences,
I mean, you'll never hear a new head coach being
like I didn't want to come here or anything like that.
Obviously he's going to love the place. But it did
seem like, you know, he made it quite clear. And
I think George mccoskey said this, like or whether it
was Ryan Poles that at the start of the zoom
he said I want this job, and then toward the
end of the of the zoom he was like, by
(07:56):
the way, did I mention that I wanted this job,
Like it's very clear that he was. You know, whether
it's all the different things we talked about, you know,
the Cubs games every single year, you know, loving the
city and that sort of stuff, or just loving Caleb
and you know, the talent that's on this team. You know,
we questioned for the past couple of weeks whether this
job was going to be the top choice for him,
and very clearly it was like he didn't come in
(08:19):
for a second second interview, He didn't have to come
to Hallas Hall to see things, see all the facilities
and that kind of stuff. Like he was pretty dedicated
to this and that's that I feel like that's exactly
what you want. Not only do you want, like obviously
the top offensive mind to mold your young quarterback, but
you want someone who, like he called this place as a
(08:40):
sleeping giant, right, Like he saw this place for the
past six years, twice a year, he saw what the
Bears could be, and it seemed like he really believed
in it, and it didn't feel like it was just
kind of like, you know, just stuff that you say
at a press conference just to kind of get the
new fans involved and kind of get everyone excited if
it felt sincere and like there really was a history
(09:01):
with it. So yeah, that was the biggest thing that
it seemed like very clearly that he loved this He
wanted this job from the start, and that's kind of
the reason why things came along so quickly. It became
clear that the Bears wanted him right away, and it
seemed like Ben Johnson wanted the Bears right away.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
And Ryan said in his session afterwards that you know,
when the Lions lost on Saturday night the Bears, there
was no panic, Like they were very prepared and knew
what they needed to do. Clearly, they as we all
know this this week was supposed to be the second.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Round of interviews. They didn't need to do that.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Like, they were very confident that Ben was the guy
they had from what Ryan said, like, you know, just
diving diving into the numbers and the analytics. Obviously they
loved what his offense was doing, and and and those
those zoom sessions with with Ryan and with George like
only confirmed the communication aspect of it, which which you know,
I think was something that needed to be better from
(09:56):
the previous coaching staff. I thought it was interesting too
that Ben mentioned in another session we had after the
press conference that they did end of game scenarios. They
would throw throw a scenario up on the screen on
zoom and ask the candidate what would you do in
this situation? And Ben said that was pretty unique, Like
that wasn't something that's not something that every team does.
(10:18):
I think that's a direct obviously, that's a direct result
of how bad their previous head coach was in those
end of game situations. I thought that was an interesting
little wrinkle, you know when you talk about like no
stone unturned, like that's part of it too, Like you
got to think of every possible thing you can ask
these candidates, and that should be something that is involved
(10:39):
with with your coaching search. But yeah, obviously there was
no panic with the Bears. They knew who they wanted
and they went quickly after him. George said, pretty pretty bluntly,
he said, Ryan said Ben's the guy, and I said, okay,
let's get him here.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
Yeah, you mentioned, George. I think one of the biggest
things that I also you kept hearing over the week
and was the dedication from the McCaskey family to make
this happen right, Like I think you saw I think
Ben mentioned, and Ryan mentioned it, and Kevin all so
they all mentioned that, you know, ownership is putting the money.
You know, they've realized that you need to put the
money in where if you want to succeed, right, And
(11:16):
I forget exactly who said the direct quote, but you know,
you put in what you get. Like, if you're not
putting in a lot of money, you're not going to
get the best coaching staff. And I think Kevin kept
saying like crediting the mccaskey's for stepping up in a
situation like this, right, Like we don't know the specific
contract situation for Ben Johnson, but I mean he was
the most sought out after coach, right, Like, he's going
(11:36):
to get a lot of money, and he's going to
get a lot of money to build this coaching staff
if he wants to bring the top things. So that
felt really interesting that just you know, for how much
I feel like the mccaskey's, you know, continuously have kind
of goten the impression that maybe they don't spend as
much money as you want to for building a football team,
and maybe that was the situation in the past, And
(11:57):
maybe that's because Kevin Warren's kind of pushing them and
saying like listen, like this is what you need to
do if you want to succeed. It's become very clear that,
you know, the mccaskeys are willing to do what it
takes to win, and I think that should have Bears fans,
you know, I see a lot of comments about who
they're going to bring in the coaching staff, Like I
would not be surprised if they end up bringing some
(12:18):
of the top coaches available assistant coaches, because it seems
like the Bears you know, are prepared to you know,
pay as much money as possible for whatever Ryan and
Ben think it's best to, you know, have this team
succeed on the field in the coming year.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
Yeah, I think they realize the importance of having veteran
coaches to help out your first time head coach, you know,
whether that is a Dennis Allen or or whether it's
somebody else running that defense. You know, I know Dennis
Allen's name was out there. Nothing has been finalized with that.
Ben mentioned yesterday that he's never met Dennis, so that's
(12:52):
still that that whole thing is still in flux, like
they're still figuring out what this is going to look like.
A lot of people people have pointed to Hank Frayley
as a potential offensive coordinator. It sounds like maybe that's
not gonna be the case anymore. He's got options in
Seattle and potentially in Detroit. We'll see where that goes.
But yeah, they're gonna have to you know, you're gonna
(13:14):
have to spend money. They get good coordinators too. I mean,
obviously we don't know what Ben's making, but from from
the sounds of it, I'm sure he's He's among the
best paid coaches in the NFL, and and probably.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
Maybe the highest paid first time head coach. Ever. I
don't know if that's.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
I don't know that for a fact of course, but
that's not a crazy thought given how popular he has been.
And yeah, it's gonna take money to bring in really
good coaches. If you're with us here on YouTube, hit
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(13:55):
would really really help us out too, And keep an
eye on our Twitter pages. We will let you know
when we're gonna go live. I see lots of thoughts
and comments in the chat. Here a couple that I
wanted to get to. I know I missed a bunch already.
Robert was asking about the players in attendance. Yeah, I
just saw Caleb, DJ, Rome, and Cole. I don't know
(14:15):
if anybody else was there. I did not notice that, Michael.
Did you see anybody else?
Speaker 2 (14:19):
No?
Speaker 1 (14:19):
I think those are the only four the The interesting
little tidbit from that was that djuh, according to Caleb,
DJ left his family vacation down in Orlando. And I
know people were making a big deal about DJ's vacation
comment in December.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Clearly, uh you know, he he knows.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
Uh, he heard the the criticism of that, and and uh, look,
this guy left his vacation vacation to come listen to
his coach give a press conference.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
That wasn't really necessary, Michael, No, it wasn't necessary. And
it's good to see, right like whether that means you're
gonna win on the field like that, you know, what
does that really mean in the grand scheme of things,
But you know, it's good to see that support, right
like in to see Caleb wearing that matrix thing I
know that became really popular yesterday with his trench coat,
but it is good to see and it kind of
(15:08):
led to an interesting moment, right like during the press
conference when you know, someone whether asked I forget whether
someone asked him or whether he brought it up himself,
but some you know, he brought up accountability, Ben Johnson did,
and he like looked like looked straight at the players
and said like you need to make sure you're getting
comfortable with being uncomfortable right like and talking like that
(15:31):
wasn't like he wasn't looking at the reporter, he wasn't
looking at the cameras like he was looking right at
the players. And you know, how much is that? Like obviously,
you know, I forget who. I think it was Eberfluce
who said, like get your track shoes on and you know,
get ready to run, Like what does that really mean
in the grand scheme of things? But it did kind
of feel like a Listen, these players have talked about
wanting accountability for the past year, right and it's very
(15:52):
clear that you know, for how much of an offensive
guru Ben Johnson is he's also going to keep players
accountable and if players aren't being accountable. Even he said, like,
you know, people, players are going to be made examples
of if they're not doing what they need to be
doing right, Like the communication is going to be clear,
the consistency's going to be required, and it's going to
(16:12):
be pretty clear that you know, these players are going
to have a different set of circumstances than they had
under Matt Ebraflus, and it's become very clear that the
vibe is going to be very different than it was
even a year ago.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Yeah, the players were begging for more accountability, and you
know that that sort of stuff I think does have
to come from the top. Like you can, you can
have a really good locker room, but but if it's
if it's not coming from the top, things start to
fall apart. Yeah, and so that's that's clearly something that
that they want and that they want to be held
(16:46):
to those standards. I think there was stuff probably going
on behind the scenes that a lot of us that
none of us got to see that that you know,
some players were unhappy with. You listen to the interviews
in December and it's pretty clear that there was some
other stuff going on. Obviously, like the public manifestation of
that was with the fallout from the Tyrek Stevenson hail
(17:07):
Mary thing, Like we all saw that on National TV,
watching the way that that that game ended, of course,
and then you know, it was kind of like a
slap on the wrist. He didn't start for one game,
and his playing time dipped a little bit there for
a couple of weeks, but then that was sort of
the end of that. And you don't know how a
different head coach would would handle that differently. That's maybe
(17:28):
just one public example of kind of what we're talking about.
But yeah, I think Ben Johnson is going to keep
that standard really high. And he made that clear and
he looked right at those players when he was saying
that that's that's a really that was a really interesting moment, Michael,
And that wasn't really by accident, right, Like I feel
like it felt like a lot of his press conference,
(17:48):
like he I felt like subtly did stuff on purpose,
Like you know, he talked about, you know, competing in
that NFC North and you know, he he talked about
Dan Campbell and Kevin O'Connell being coaching of the Year
and then like later, you know, just happened to mention
they like being Matt Lufloor twice like that that is
a deliberate like it like that's like a smart way
(18:08):
of being like we're going to be the Packers a
lot without saying like we're going to beat the Packers
a lot. Like it was very clear that, you know,
Ben Johnson came prepared for this press conference and he
had a lot of insightful things, like you know, whether
he was talking about why he took the job, like
he mentioned the people, but he also said like having
the quarterback helps, Like there is a lot of insightful
stuff in there, and that accountability thing just was another
(18:29):
thing where you know, he's very intentional with everything that
he does, and it's become clear and he kind of
made that clear with every position that he's had in
this career, he's obviously trying to you know, worked his
hardest and tried to be the best he can in
that position.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
And you're seeing that already where he's very deliberate in
what he's saying and what he's doing. And I think
that's something that Bears fans can get used to as
long as he's the head coach. Here.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Yeah, let's talk about that quarterback position because because obviously. Yeah,
you mentioned the moment where he's sort of talking to Caleb,
and he said too at another point in time, or
maybe it was the same question that he had had
thoughts on on Caleb's game and and some of the
things that they could do better. Obviously, that relationship is
going to be really really important. We heard from Caleb afterwards,
(19:13):
and you know he uh he made the the the
jokes and and uh talked about referenced his his prank call,
the prank call that that got him a couple or
last week or whenever that was, and and he said, yeah,
like when he was texting, when Ben texted him, he
sent him a selfie to to confirm that it was
in fact the real Ben Johnson.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
But all of that.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Aside, like that relationship, Caleb clearly I think wanted Ben Johnson.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
I think that is is.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
Yeah, he talked about wanting an offensive guy, and I
think I think Ben has sort of been on Caleb's
radar for a little while now.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
He has been on this radar. And the stuff he
talked about Caleb was really interesting, right, Like he he
praised them obviously, he talked about he's got a great RM,
he's able to you know, his confidence is great and
they and you know, he talked about how he's able
to get the ball in tight spaces within the numbers,
outside the numbers, but he was also I feel like
this was really important, kind of talked about how he's
(20:10):
going to kind of, you know, for lack of a
better term, like tear him down to bring him up right,
Like he's going to focus on Caleb's mistakes and that
he or Ay said that's already started, like stuff that
he's noticed about Caleb's game, like for how great Caleb is,
Like you saw like the up and down that we
that he had in his rookie season, like most rookie
quarterbacks have. So I think it was really interesting just
(20:30):
how pretty clear Johnson made it seem like, you know,
he loves Caleb, he loves his ability, but he also
believes like we're going to get at the stuff that
he's messing up on, like we're going to focus on that,
Like we're gonna hit on that a lot, so he's
not making those mistakes. And he said like they're going
to spend a lot of time together in the in
the spring, in the summer, during you know, OTA's mini camps,
(20:51):
training camps, like they're going to be joined at the
hip a lot. So I thought that was really interesting,
just kind of talking about like it would be easy
for him to say, just like Caleb great, he can
you know, he's a great quarterback. I can't wait to
work with him. But he mentioned that, but he also
talked about how you know, like we're going to tear
him down, we're going to bring him back up like that,
we're going to find faults, and he said this about
(21:12):
all the players, like we're going to find weaknesses in
your game and we're going to make you better. And
I think that's the biggest thing, right, Like you're only
going to become better if you know what you're not
good at, and that's really going to be huge in
Caleb's development over the off season.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
He then mentioned too, I thought this was really interesting
where he was talking about he believes that and maybe
maybe this isn't like anything surprising, maybe this isn't new,
but I thought that was interesting the way the wording
that Ben used when he was talking about the quarterback
position and the fact that elite quarterback play is the
(21:47):
biggest difference maker in the league, and he said like
he believes, you know, over the last couple of years,
for the first time in maybe twenty plus years, that
it's it's overtaken even like turnover margin, like you can
you can and still win. We've obviously we see what
the Chiefs are doing with Patrick Mahomes and these close games,
and they're just finding ways to win, largely because of
(22:08):
that elite quarterback play. And I thought that the way
he articulated that was super interesting, and it's it wasn't
necessarily like a you know, he wasn't talking about Caleb
when he said that, but it is quite an endorsement
of what he believes Caleb could potentially be when he
says that that I came here, you know, in part
(22:29):
because of the quarterback and at the same time he
thinks that that the elite quarterback play is the biggest
difference maker in this league, more so than at any
time in NFL history.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
Really, that's not groundbreaking. I don't think that he's.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
The first person to say that, of course, but I
thought he came at that with a really from a
really interesting angle.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Yeah, it was definitely interesting, right because like we know
what it is right now, quarterbacks are protected, right and
you don't win this in this league unless you have
your franchise quarterback, Like who is the last team like
one with like a mediocre quarterback? Obviously Patrick Mahomes and
the Chiefs have kind of dominated here in the last decade.
What ever since you know they drafted him. But you know,
(23:09):
you can't reach this weekend without having an elite quarterback, right,
Like the four teams who are in Championship weekend have
an above average or an elite quarterback like Patrick Mahomes
is great, Josh Allen is great, Matthew Stafford and Jalen
Hurts are all great quarterbacks, right, and then they build
around that. So, yeah, the league has changed a lot
(23:29):
in that says a lot from Ben Jhonnson just being
able to kind of vocalize it and say, like he's
seeing what is happening around the league. Like he's obviously
a very you know, for lack of a better term,
like nerdy guy. Like he comes from the computer science background,
Like he's looking at the numbers, he's looking at the
statistics and the trends and that kind of stuff, and
he like he, I'm sure he's going to focus on defense,
(23:49):
like he wants to get those turnovers. You know, he
talked about that turnover ratio and how that used to
be a key statistic. But the quarterback is what you
need to do and succeed, and that's obviously a key
reason why you know, he chose the job and why
he thinks that this team can be really successful moving forward.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
Yeah, definitely, that's that's definitely true, and and that seems
to be the case with him. I see some some comments,
some thoughts in the in the chat wondering what's gonna
happen to Fluce. Yeah, he he did interview with somebody
and it's escaping me now, not for a head coach
for the Falconer, right, Yes, it was the Falcons defensive
coordinators with someone else. I do think that he will
(24:28):
wind up being a DC somewhere. Yeah, Like it could
be one of these Sports Chicago style throws out Jacksonville.
It could be one of those teams that don't have
a head coach yet. We'll we'll have to see how
things shake. I thought it was interesting that Jacksonville fired
their GM yesterday.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
Michael, did you see that one?
Speaker 2 (24:48):
You know, for how much of a hard time we
give the Bears Sometimes I feel like the teams like
the Jaguars and you know the Jets sometimes and even
the Raiders are just kind of like, oh, things could
be things could be much worse. Imagine like you didn't
get Ben Johnson and then you decide to fire your GM.
That just that doesn't make much sense.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
I thought.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
I mean, we were sitting here a couple of days
ago talking about how bad the Cowboys handled this, and
then you know, never underestimate the ability of some of
these teams to one up each other in just.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
These dumb decisions.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
Obviously they should have done that from the start. They
should have fired the GM from the start. Now they're
way behind and they need a GM and a head coach.
And clearly, I mean that was sort of precipitated by
Liam Cohen, your guy, Michael, I know you went to
the Bears to interview him, saying that he.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
Was going to stay in Tampa. You know, he didn't.
It was no longer interested in the Jacksonville job.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
Obviously Ben preferred Chicago, and I think the Jaguars were
taking the hint. It was pretty obvious that that something
was a miss down there.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
Yeah, but where does that kind of leave you?
Speaker 1 (25:51):
Then?
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Like then you got to find a general manager, like
you got the Jets. Obviously they hired Aaron glenniov Suday,
but they don't have a GM. Like there's so much,
you know, I hear this a lot where it's just
like these are like billion dollar entities and some of
them are just like run so poorly. And it's just like,
how like if you were like a regular business that
didn't consistently like get NFL like revenue sharing and money
(26:14):
and that kind of stuff, like you'd be out of business.
Like it is. It is insane, like how some of
these NFL teams are run.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
Rick Gonzalez just through this in the chat, he says,
any chance High Tower stays, I think there's a chance
we'll see Special teams. Coordinators are one of those things
where like they seem to stick around sometimes. You know,
it's it's less philosophy based in terms of like how
offense and defense you got to fit the right system
and stuff like special teams. Obviously, those guys have have
(26:43):
ideas and thoughts and ways they like doing things.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
But I think there's a chance High Tower sticks around.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
I think he's you know, he's worked for a couple
of different teams now in that role, and I imagine
he'll if it's not Chicago, I imagine he'll get a
special teams coordinator job somewhere. Let's sort of wrap this
up by just you know, we kind of mentioned it earlier.
Ben says he's not gonna just bring the Lions playbook
over here. He's got to fit this thing to to
(27:12):
to the Bears, to Caleb, to the offensive line that
they have, to the receivers and the tight ends that
they have. When you when we're looking at the offensive
side of the ball, what what do you want this
thing to look like?
Speaker 2 (27:23):
Like?
Speaker 1 (27:23):
What what should the Bears offense look like? With Ben
Johnson and Caleb Williams and all these guys.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Well, you gotta I think that he did a big
thing and he mentioned how like this this offense is
not going to look like Detroit's offense at all. Like
they have different players, different personnel, different talents. And I
think the biggest thing that we've seen from Ben Johnson
during this time and Detroit was he takes advantage of
what he has right Like he isn't like, I'm good,
this is my offense, you need to run it like
(27:50):
he's well aware of that, you know, he needs the
morph his game and he said that right, Like he said,
I think the biggest thing for me was like, you're
gonna see balance in this offense, but you're going to
see a balanced offense throughout the season, not necessarily during
the game, like he said, Like there are some games
where well, we're gonna throw the ball fifty times because
that's what clearly what's working. And there are some other
(28:12):
times where we're just going to run the ball the
entire game because that's what's working. Like, I think the
biggest thing is from this offense is you're going to
see Ben take advantage of the matchups that he sees.
He's going to take if they're if if you know,
de putting getting DJ into space and creating screens. I
know everyone's gonna hate the screen game, but if if,
if that's something that works against a team, he's going
(28:33):
to exploit that. Right, Like, if you are seeing a
team that can't really protect a run, like he's going
to call that a lot with DeAndre Swift and Roshawn Johnson. Like,
I think the biggest thing is from this offense is
you're not going to see You're going to see like
a relatively like same offense obviously, but every game I
feel like you're going to see a little bit something different,
Like you're going to see him adapt to what the
defense gives them, and you sometimes you're going to take
(28:55):
advantage of Caleb running the ball right like sometimes you're
going to take advantage of Caleb, you know, getting a
deep shot here or there. Like, I think the biggest
thing is that this offense is going to exploit whatever
the defense isn't good at. And I think you have
the playmakers to do that. Obviously, you got Dj Moore
who's got speed, you got Cole Comet who can block,
and you know pass catch. So I think this offense
(29:16):
is going to look different just based on what you're
going to see the defense presenting it. And I think
that's going to make it really hard to defend throughout
the year.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
Ben Johnson did a really good job of building that
Lion's offense around Goff's strengths. Because we know that golf
can make some mistakes. Obviously we saw that in their
loss in the playoffs and just the way that like
things didn't work out those last couple of years in
Los Angeles, Like he's certainly not a perfect quarterback, and
(29:46):
I don't know that there are very few perfect quarterbacks, but.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
Caleb's very different. Caleb is a lot more.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
Rick has the comment here, Caleb is way more mobile
than golf.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
I am also very curious to see how Ben Johnson
uses that, because that's going to be I mean, that's
a strength. Caleb can move. He can he can move.
You know, he's not going to run like Justin Fields ran.
But at the same time, he's very mobile within the pocket.
He's very creative outside of the pocket. I would imagine
(30:19):
that they're going to find ways to move the pocket,
you know, left to right a little bit more than
maybe they did this past season. And obviously all of
that is is sort of predicated on having a better
offensive line.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
We know that they need to improve.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
It doesn't really matter what you try to do. That's
that's part of the reason why things were so bad
last year and why that passing game.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
Was was so short towards the end of the season.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
They need to invest in that offensive line, whether that's
free agency, whether that's the draft, whether that's both. They
got three picks in the top forty one. I would
imagine they're taking at least one or two linemen with
those three picks, maybe if not all, maybe maybe throw
one towards a defense savanza and edge rusher. But but
I think all those picks should be in the trenches.
That's clearly where this team needs to improve. But I
(31:08):
am really curious to see how with the right environment,
with the right offensive line, how how Ben Johnson could
could utilize Caleb's mobility a little bit more.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
Listen, Like you know, it was it was interesting to
say when you know, when Ben was asked about why
he took the job, like Caleb's a big part of it,
but he also said, like this roster's like stacked, like
he would he didn't want to get into like why
it didn't work, Like he wasn't trying to put the
previous coaching staff like you know, run them under the
bus or anything like that. But you know, it's very
clear that he believes that this team underachieved, like we
(31:42):
all believe that they underachieved, and you know, they didn't
take advantage of Caleb running the ball like you said,
or you know, other talent that they have. So I
think that's the biggest thing where Ben's going to bring
out the best in everyone and obviously that you know,
like we talked about and we'll keep talking about probably
until we get started here in September. You know, once
(32:02):
you get the offensive line, obviously hopefully that improves things.
But there's a lot of talent on this team. This
offense has been very heavily invested in. A lot of
big contracts are there and then underachieved. And that's going
to be as big as goal is just trying to
find the best out of everyone and trying to put
them in the best position to succeed, because there's a
lot of good things here and it's just you know,
putting them in the right position instead of just like
(32:24):
molding them to a specific type of offense like we
kind of saw previously happen.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
Yeah, that's I think the really good offensive coordinators do
exactly that. And we saw the Lions do that when
Ben Johnson was running the offense. And I mean too,
like the run game like has was obviously so impressive
in Detroit.
Speaker 3 (32:45):
They invested heavily in that. They spent on the running back.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
They drafted Jamior Gibbs with a first round pick they
traded up to do so, like that's going to be
just as important toward opening things up for Caleb as anything.
Speaker 3 (32:59):
If you can get that run game going.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
I know they they invested in in DeAndre Swift last offseason.
That's that's an interesting one because like the Lions traded
him away when Ben Johnson was the coordinator. I would
be curious to hear what what his thoughts are on
on DeAndre as a running back, if if they're going
to keep going in that direction, if they're going to
(33:21):
keep if they're going to look to add you know,
maybe it's a case where you play with DeAndre for
one more season and and you also draft somebody and
see what you can do.
Speaker 3 (33:29):
Uh there.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
But that's gonna be a big part of this this
plan of attack too, because it's not just about the
trick plays. It's not just about the creative ways to
get Aman rustling round the ball. It's it's just the
hard nosed running the ball. And just what that opened
up for Jared Goff in the passing game.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
Well, I think that's why they were so successful, right,
Like they were picking up the yardage on first down runs,
like they were getting four or five yards you know
on average, where the Bears, you know, struggled to pick
up a yard into and then usually set themselves up
in second and long and then you know, had an
incompletion or short or whatever, or they you know had
faalse start penalty or something that or holding obviously just
(34:07):
based on how last year went, but you know, they're
really I think Ben realizes and it helps obviously to
have the offensive line Eremier gifts like that obviously helps
a lot. But I think Ben recognizes that, Yeah, you're
gonna see a lot of trick plays. Yeah you're going
to see a lot of gadget stuff, but you're also
going to see just like basic stuff that we didn't see,
Like you're going to see the run being more successful,
(34:28):
hopefully with the better offensive line, and he's going to
be committed to that. He's not going to shy away
from that. I don't think as quickly as we maybe
saw previously happen. So I think there are a lot
of traits to success. Obviously, there's still I know a
lot of guys are you know, hoping for a good
offensive line coach at good OC who can kind of
support Ben Johnson. I see a lot of guys mentioning that.
But you know, I think the basic stuff is there
(34:51):
and under the basic principles are there. Now it's just
expanding upon that and making sure that you're kind of
putting those guys in the best situation in order to
you know, take advantage of both the basic stuff but
also the trick plays.
Speaker 3 (35:03):
Yeah, definitely we can.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
Uh, we will certainly dive into what what sorts of players, uh,
what profiles will fit this offense down the line. But
but as some folks in the comments are saying, well,
we'll have to see how Ben Johnson fills out his
coaching staff.
Speaker 3 (35:18):
Uh, and certainly we will.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
We will jump in and join you guys again when
we get a little bit more clarity on what that's
gonna look like. It's a fun time to be a
Bears fan. I know a lot of Bears fans are
excited about this, as they should be. Uh, it's been
a really fun week. Uh it's been after after obviously
what was a really tough season, Bears fans finally got
a victory. I think that I think everybody's pretty happy
(35:41):
with that.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
Yeah, they definitely are, and they should be right Like
it was, Uh, it was a bad year. They underachieved,
nothing went right there, is drama, you know, some drama
off the field obviously with you know Tyreek Stevens and
and and you know a lot of people a couple
of weeks ago were giving the Bears such a hard
time nationally and everyone was surprised. But the Bears got
a win. They got their you know, first win with
(36:04):
getting Ben Johnson. It's exciting to see. I think this
OP season will kind of mimic what last OP season
was with Caleb Williams right where you're excited to see
who's he going to bring in as a DC. Who's
this OC gonna be like one live, Like we're gonna
be talking a lot of linemen, a lot of the
college alignment tape and a lot of NFL linement tape
is going to be broken down here. But I think
it's going to be another fun OP season and hopefully,
(36:27):
you know, Bears can win the OP season and actually
start winning on the field as well.
Speaker 1 (36:31):
So stick with us, guys. Head to shaw local dot
com to read all of our work. You can read
everything that's up there from yesterday's press conference. The number
one best way to support us is to subscribe at
shawlocal dot com. If you're with us, here on on
YouTube hit the thumbs up. That's another great way to
help us out. Leave us a review. Look for us
on Spotify or Apple. A five star review would really
(36:53):
help us out. And if you're listening after the fact
on any other platform where you get your podcasts, be
sure to check out our Twitter. I'm at Shawn Underscore
him and he is at m Dwojack ninety four. We're
gonna let you know when we're going live. We were
gonna try to keep doing this at least once a
week during the offseason. We'll see what shakes out here
over the next week. I'm sure we will get some
(37:13):
hirings from Ben Johnson's staff, and when we do, we
will jump on with you guys live. Thanks for everybody
in the chats and in the chat and the comments.
We really appreciate you guys joining us here. This has
been the Shaw Local Bears Insider podcast.
Speaker 3 (37:27):
Thanks for listening, everybody,
Hello, and welcome back to the Shaw Local Bears Insider Podcast.
We are back for another episode twice this week. Michael,
we're double double dipping here. It's been a busy week obviously.
Ben Johnson is the Bears head coach. Welcome into the
Shaw Local Bears Insider Podcast. I'm Sean Hammond, He's Michael Dwojack.
We're joining you guys again to to sort of recap
(00:23):
our thoughts from yesterday's yesterday's press conference, Ben Johnson was introduced. Obviously,
he was the star of the show. He took the podium,
answered questions for I don't know about a half hour
and uh, you know, I think he did pretty well.
It's it's it doesn't really matter how you do when
your first press conference. We've seen guys do well. We've
(00:44):
seen guys with some interesting interesting moments. Dan Campbell, Adam
Gase come to mind, and really it doesn't doesn't mean
anything for the job. But it was his first impression. Michael,
what did you think listening to Ben Johnson yesterday? Listener
like it went as well as you could have hoped,
right an intro press conference, because goes there was no
(01:04):
there were no acronyms. There wasn't really like any stumbling
or anything like that on words, no awkwardness.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
It felt like the perfect day for the Bears, right.
It seemed like, you know, a couple of weeks ago,
we were giving the Bears such a hard time and
you know, rightfully so just based on everything that's been
going on, and yesterday it felt like it was kind
of like a good like everyone was happy, Like everyone
was laughing along with Kevin Warren's jokes, with George mccaskey's
jokes and little dig at at Joe Bucks. So, I mean,
(01:35):
it was a good day obviously, and I think everyone
also acknowledged though that it was only one day, right,
Like I think Ben Johnson made it pretty clear that listen,
like this is just the beginning. We're getting started. And
I think Kevin Warren, George McCaskey, even Caleb Williams, you know,
we all we talked to all of them too, and
they kind of had the same refrain where like everyone's excited,
but I think everyone in the building knows that the
(01:58):
work's not done, that they're just getting started. And I
think that's the biggest thing where you know, you can
win the press conference. You can do well, you can
say all the right things, but it felt like there
was an acknowledgment, that kind of a shift in tone
compared to maybe what we've seen in the past. And
you know, time will tell at this point. But from
from the starting point, it was a good start. And
now we'll see in the coming weeks, you know, how
(02:20):
this coaching staff comes together, and then obviously we'll get
ready for free agency in the draft.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Yeah, rightfully.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
So it was a victory lap for the Bears, and
I think that was deserved. I mean, sure, you got
the best coach on the market. Of course you're going
to pat yourself on the back. I think the Bears
did a good job of letting Ben Johnson take the spotlight.
I know that that George and Kevin and Caleb all
talked afterwards, but but there wasn't you know, Ryan wasn't
up at the podium with Ben. This was Ben's moment,
and I think that that was handled the right way.
(02:48):
Ryan went up there and gave a very short intro
and then let let Ben take the stage. And and
you know, Ben said kind of the things that that
you would expect him to say.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
You know, he's going to set the foundation. He's going
to set the standard.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
We can dive into what his hiring is going to
mean for Caleb and the quarterback and the offense. I
thought it was notable too that he said he's not
just going to bring the Detroit Lions playbook with him,
And obviously you have to sort of cater your offense
to the players that you have, and this is going
to be a long process.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
I mean, it.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
Feels like the Lions turned around in the blink of
an eye, but that took time, you know, and that
offensive line they got, Three of those guys were drafted
in the first round. Getting back to twenty sixteen, like
that was a long process to get to where they
are right now. And I think they all realize that
kind of going off what you were saying, like, obviously,
George has been here before, Ryan has been here before,
(03:44):
he hired Maddiebrafluce, Kevin has been here before. With his
time with the Vikings. When they hired a new head coach,
you never really know how it's going to go, but
it was rightfully so they could sort of take a
victory lap yesterday.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
I want to hit on something before we you know,
really get into the nitty gritty of you know what
we heard yesterday. But yeah, I feel like the last
two press conferences it's been you know, yesterday it was
Ben Johnson at the main podium and then everyone off
to the side. Last two weeks ago, whenever that was
it was Ryan Polls up at the podium and then
George and Kevin to the side. Do you feel is that, like,
is that just me looking too far into things, or
(04:20):
do you feel like they kind of heard about how
bad the optics looked of Kevin, you know, kind of
stealing the show from Ryan Poles at the beginning of December,
or is that just like a happy coincidence and it
just kind of worked out that way? Like is that
something that the Bears kind of learned from the public
perception of how kind of things went after they fired
Matty Refluce.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
No, I would imagine that that was that was intentional.
I mean I.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Think that that they they obviously hear the feedback, whether
they will admit to that or not, Like they hear
the feedback on some of this stuff. And you know,
you brought in Ted Cruz is a you know, a
guy who was brought here to sort of be a
big picture in these situations. He deals a lot with
Kevin Warren. I'm sure he was well aware of how
that was perceived. Uh, And and I think they adjusted,
(05:08):
and I think that that's good.
Speaker 3 (05:09):
They should do that. You should give Ryan Poles the spotlight.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
Uh, you know, when you're going into the coaching search,
you should give Ben Johnson the spotlight on a day
like yesterday.
Speaker 3 (05:18):
And I think that they handled that well. I think
that you.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
Know, it's it's it's Ben's moment, and it had to
be Ben's moment, and that's that's how it should have Ben. Uh,
they all know that that this is not going to
be like one man's not going to come in here
and fix everything. Like it's gonna have to be the organization.
It's gonna have to be the players buying into what
Ben is saying. But yesterday was about Ben, and I
(05:44):
think that they handled that the right way.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
And it feels like growth, right, Like it kind of
seems like they're learning, you know, whether they'll admit it
or not, it seems like they're learning right from their
past mistakes and they're like trying to transition and that
sort of stuff. And you know how for however little
that is. You know, some people might be well, who cares, Like,
how what does that really matter? It does kind of
show that they're listening and they're trying to improve, So
you know, want to give credit to them for obviously
(06:08):
doing that. Whether that translates to wins, that doesn't really
mean that anything, but it just does feel like just
an important thing, right, just that this franchise, you know,
on top of the way that they can of ran
this process, you know, flying in Mike McCarthy and that
sort of stuff, it just feels like there's kind of
been a switch, which has kind of been interesting to
kind of watch compared to how business was done even
(06:30):
a year ago or even a couple of years ago
before Kevin Warren got here.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Yeah, definitely, Michael, we heard, of course how much Ben
Johnson wanted to be here in Chicago. He mentioned going
to two Cubs games with his family every summer and
spending a weekend in the city, and obviously he's got
three young kids, and he was thinking, I think that's
maybe something that we didn't talk about enough over the
(06:54):
last year two years with Ben Johnson, is like he
was thinking about where he want to raise his family
and when you're talking about Jacksonville, in Vegas, in Chicago,
and I know, like most NFL cities are good cities,
like there's you can you know, you can find a
great place to live anywhere. But that was obviously a
really important factor for him, like just spending time in
(07:17):
Chicago and envisioning himself here.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
Obviously we didn't we didn't know.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
He was spending time in Chicago in his summers like
until he was up there. But clearly, like we were
saying this before we heard from Ben, and I think
yesterday just confirmed it, like Ben picked the Bears as
much as as the Bears picked him.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Yeah, I feel like, you know, in most press conferences,
I mean, you'll never hear a new head coach being
like I didn't want to come here or anything like that.
Obviously he's going to love the place. But it did
seem like, you know, he made it quite clear. And
I think George mccoskey said this, like or whether it
was Ryan Poles that at the start of the zoom
he said I want this job, and then toward the
end of the of the zoom he was like, by
(07:56):
the way, did I mention that I wanted this job,
Like it's very clear that he was. You know, whether
it's all the different things we talked about, you know,
the Cubs games every single year, you know, loving the
city and that sort of stuff, or just loving Caleb
and you know, the talent that's on this team. You know,
we questioned for the past couple of weeks whether this
job was going to be the top choice for him,
and very clearly it was like he didn't come in
(08:19):
for a second second interview, He didn't have to come
to Hallas Hall to see things, see all the facilities
and that kind of stuff. Like he was pretty dedicated
to this and that's that I feel like that's exactly
what you want. Not only do you want, like obviously
the top offensive mind to mold your young quarterback, but
you want someone who, like he called this place as a
(08:40):
sleeping giant, right, Like he saw this place for the
past six years, twice a year, he saw what the
Bears could be, and it seemed like he really believed
in it, and it didn't feel like it was just
kind of like, you know, just stuff that you say
at a press conference just to kind of get the
new fans involved and kind of get everyone excited if
it felt sincere and like there really was a history
(09:01):
with it. So yeah, that was the biggest thing that
it seemed like very clearly that he loved this He
wanted this job from the start, and that's kind of
the reason why things came along so quickly. It became
clear that the Bears wanted him right away, and it
seemed like Ben Johnson wanted the Bears right away.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:17):
And Ryan said in his session afterwards that you know,
when the Lions lost on Saturday night the Bears, there
was no panic, Like they were very prepared and knew
what they needed to do. Clearly, they as we all
know this this week was supposed to be the second.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
Round of interviews. They didn't need to do that.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Like, they were very confident that Ben was the guy
they had from what Ryan said, like, you know, just
diving diving into the numbers and the analytics. Obviously they
loved what his offense was doing, and and and those
those zoom sessions with with Ryan and with George like
only confirmed the communication aspect of it, which which you know,
I think was something that needed to be better from
(09:56):
the previous coaching staff. I thought it was interesting too
that Ben mentioned in another session we had after the
press conference that they did end of game scenarios. They
would throw throw a scenario up on the screen on
zoom and ask the candidate what would you do in
this situation? And Ben said that was pretty unique, Like
that wasn't something that's not something that every team does.
(10:18):
I think that's a direct obviously, that's a direct result
of how bad their previous head coach was in those
end of game situations. I thought that was an interesting
little wrinkle, you know when you talk about like no
stone unturned, like that's part of it too, Like you
got to think of every possible thing you can ask
these candidates, and that should be something that is involved
(10:39):
with with your coaching search. But yeah, obviously there was
no panic with the Bears. They knew who they wanted
and they went quickly after him. George said, pretty pretty bluntly,
he said, Ryan said Ben's the guy, and I said, okay,
let's get him here.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
Yeah, you mentioned, George. I think one of the biggest
things that I also you kept hearing over the week
and was the dedication from the McCaskey family to make
this happen right, Like I think you saw I think
Ben mentioned, and Ryan mentioned it, and Kevin all so
they all mentioned that, you know, ownership is putting the money.
You know, they've realized that you need to put the
money in where if you want to succeed, right, And
(11:16):
I forget exactly who said the direct quote, but you know,
you put in what you get. Like, if you're not
putting in a lot of money, you're not going to
get the best coaching staff. And I think Kevin kept
saying like crediting the mccaskey's for stepping up in a
situation like this, right, Like we don't know the specific
contract situation for Ben Johnson, but I mean he was
the most sought out after coach, right, Like, he's going
(11:36):
to get a lot of money, and he's going to
get a lot of money to build this coaching staff
if he wants to bring the top things. So that
felt really interesting that just you know, for how much
I feel like the mccaskey's, you know, continuously have kind
of goten the impression that maybe they don't spend as
much money as you want to for building a football team,
and maybe that was the situation in the past, And
(11:57):
maybe that's because Kevin Warren's kind of pushing them and
saying like listen, like this is what you need to
do if you want to succeed. It's become very clear that,
you know, the mccaskeys are willing to do what it
takes to win, and I think that should have Bears fans,
you know, I see a lot of comments about who
they're going to bring in the coaching staff, Like I
would not be surprised if they end up bringing some
(12:18):
of the top coaches available assistant coaches, because it seems
like the Bears you know, are prepared to you know,
pay as much money as possible for whatever Ryan and
Ben think it's best to, you know, have this team
succeed on the field in the coming year.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
Yeah, I think they realize the importance of having veteran
coaches to help out your first time head coach, you know,
whether that is a Dennis Allen or or whether it's
somebody else running that defense. You know, I know Dennis
Allen's name was out there. Nothing has been finalized with that.
Ben mentioned yesterday that he's never met Dennis, so that's
(12:52):
still that that whole thing is still in flux, like
they're still figuring out what this is going to look like.
A lot of people people have pointed to Hank Frayley
as a potential offensive coordinator. It sounds like maybe that's
not gonna be the case anymore. He's got options in
Seattle and potentially in Detroit. We'll see where that goes.
But yeah, they're gonna have to you know, you're gonna
(13:14):
have to spend money. They get good coordinators too. I mean,
obviously we don't know what Ben's making, but from from
the sounds of it, I'm sure he's He's among the
best paid coaches in the NFL, and and probably.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
Maybe the highest paid first time head coach. Ever. I
don't know if that's.
Speaker 1 (13:33):
I don't know that for a fact of course, but
that's not a crazy thought given how popular he has been.
And yeah, it's gonna take money to bring in really
good coaches. If you're with us here on YouTube, hit
the thumbs up. That's a great way to support the show.
We would really appreciate that. Leave us a review if
you're listening on Spotify or Apple, A five star review
(13:55):
would really really help us out too, And keep an
eye on our Twitter pages. We will let you know
when we're gonna go live. I see lots of thoughts
and comments in the chat. Here a couple that I
wanted to get to. I know I missed a bunch already.
Robert was asking about the players in attendance. Yeah, I
just saw Caleb, DJ, Rome, and Cole. I don't know
(14:15):
if anybody else was there. I did not notice that, Michael.
Did you see anybody else?
Speaker 2 (14:19):
No?
Speaker 1 (14:19):
I think those are the only four the The interesting
little tidbit from that was that djuh, according to Caleb,
DJ left his family vacation down in Orlando. And I
know people were making a big deal about DJ's vacation
comment in December.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Clearly, uh you know, he he knows.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
Uh, he heard the the criticism of that, and and uh, look,
this guy left his vacation vacation to come listen to
his coach give a press conference.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
That wasn't really necessary, Michael, No, it wasn't necessary. And
it's good to see, right like whether that means you're
gonna win on the field like that, you know, what
does that really mean in the grand scheme of things,
But you know, it's good to see that support, right
like in to see Caleb wearing that matrix thing I
know that became really popular yesterday with his trench coat,
but it is good to see and it kind of
(15:08):
led to an interesting moment, right like during the press
conference when you know, someone whether asked I forget whether
someone asked him or whether he brought it up himself,
but some you know, he brought up accountability, Ben Johnson did,
and he like looked like looked straight at the players
and said like you need to make sure you're getting
comfortable with being uncomfortable right like and talking like that
(15:31):
wasn't like he wasn't looking at the reporter, he wasn't
looking at the cameras like he was looking right at
the players. And you know, how much is that? Like obviously,
you know, I forget who. I think it was Eberfluce
who said, like get your track shoes on and you know,
get ready to run, Like what does that really mean
in the grand scheme of things? But it did kind
of feel like a Listen, these players have talked about
wanting accountability for the past year, right and it's very
(15:52):
clear that you know, for how much of an offensive
guru Ben Johnson is he's also going to keep players
accountable and if players aren't being accountable. Even he said, like,
you know, people, players are going to be made examples
of if they're not doing what they need to be
doing right, Like the communication is going to be clear,
the consistency's going to be required, and it's going to
(16:12):
be pretty clear that you know, these players are going
to have a different set of circumstances than they had
under Matt Ebraflus, and it's become very clear that the
vibe is going to be very different than it was
even a year ago.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
Yeah, the players were begging for more accountability, and you
know that that sort of stuff I think does have
to come from the top. Like you can, you can
have a really good locker room, but but if it's
if it's not coming from the top, things start to
fall apart. Yeah, and so that's that's clearly something that
that they want and that they want to be held
(16:46):
to those standards. I think there was stuff probably going
on behind the scenes that a lot of us that
none of us got to see that that you know,
some players were unhappy with. You listen to the interviews
in December and it's pretty clear that there was some
other stuff going on. Obviously, like the public manifestation of
that was with the fallout from the Tyrek Stevenson hail
(17:07):
Mary thing, Like we all saw that on National TV,
watching the way that that that game ended, of course,
and then you know, it was kind of like a
slap on the wrist. He didn't start for one game,
and his playing time dipped a little bit there for
a couple of weeks, but then that was sort of
the end of that. And you don't know how a
different head coach would would handle that differently. That's maybe
(17:28):
just one public example of kind of what we're talking about.
But yeah, I think Ben Johnson is going to keep
that standard really high. And he made that clear and
he looked right at those players when he was saying
that that's that's a really that was a really interesting moment, Michael,
And that wasn't really by accident, right, Like I feel
like it felt like a lot of his press conference,
(17:48):
like he I felt like subtly did stuff on purpose,
Like you know, he talked about, you know, competing in
that NFC North and you know, he he talked about
Dan Campbell and Kevin O'Connell being coaching of the Year
and then like later, you know, just happened to mention
they like being Matt Lufloor twice like that that is
a deliberate like it like that's like a smart way
(18:08):
of being like we're going to be the Packers a
lot without saying like we're going to beat the Packers
a lot. Like it was very clear that, you know,
Ben Johnson came prepared for this press conference and he
had a lot of insightful things, like you know, whether
he was talking about why he took the job, like
he mentioned the people, but he also said like having
the quarterback helps, Like there is a lot of insightful
stuff in there, and that accountability thing just was another
(18:29):
thing where you know, he's very intentional with everything that
he does, and it's become clear and he kind of
made that clear with every position that he's had in
this career, he's obviously trying to you know, worked his
hardest and tried to be the best he can in
that position.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
And you're seeing that already where he's very deliberate in
what he's saying and what he's doing. And I think
that's something that Bears fans can get used to as
long as he's the head coach. Here.
Speaker 1 (18:52):
Yeah, let's talk about that quarterback position because because obviously. Yeah,
you mentioned the moment where he's sort of talking to Caleb,
and he said too at another point in time, or
maybe it was the same question that he had had
thoughts on on Caleb's game and and some of the
things that they could do better. Obviously, that relationship is
going to be really really important. We heard from Caleb afterwards,
(19:13):
and you know he uh he made the the the
jokes and and uh talked about referenced his his prank call,
the prank call that that got him a couple or
last week or whenever that was, and and he said, yeah,
like when he was texting, when Ben texted him, he
sent him a selfie to to confirm that it was
in fact the real Ben Johnson.
Speaker 3 (19:34):
But all of that.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Aside, like that relationship, Caleb clearly I think wanted Ben Johnson.
Speaker 3 (19:40):
I think that is is.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
Yeah, he talked about wanting an offensive guy, and I
think I think Ben has sort of been on Caleb's
radar for a little while now.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
He has been on this radar. And the stuff he
talked about Caleb was really interesting, right, Like he he
praised them obviously, he talked about he's got a great RM,
he's able to you know, his confidence is great and
they and you know, he talked about how he's able
to get the ball in tight spaces within the numbers,
outside the numbers, but he was also I feel like
this was really important, kind of talked about how he's
(20:10):
going to kind of, you know, for lack of a
better term, like tear him down to bring him up right,
Like he's going to focus on Caleb's mistakes and that
he or Ay said that's already started, like stuff that
he's noticed about Caleb's game, like for how great Caleb is,
Like you saw like the up and down that we
that he had in his rookie season, like most rookie
quarterbacks have. So I think it was really interesting just
(20:30):
how pretty clear Johnson made it seem like, you know,
he loves Caleb, he loves his ability, but he also
believes like we're going to get at the stuff that
he's messing up on, like we're going to focus on that,
Like we're gonna hit on that a lot, so he's
not making those mistakes. And he said like they're going
to spend a lot of time together in the in
the spring, in the summer, during you know, OTA's mini camps,
(20:51):
training camps, like they're going to be joined at the
hip a lot. So I thought that was really interesting,
just kind of talking about like it would be easy
for him to say, just like Caleb great, he can
you know, he's a great quarterback. I can't wait to
work with him. But he mentioned that, but he also
talked about how you know, like we're going to tear
him down, we're going to bring him back up like that,
we're going to find faults, and he said this about
(21:12):
all the players, like we're going to find weaknesses in
your game and we're going to make you better. And
I think that's the biggest thing, right, Like you're only
going to become better if you know what you're not
good at, and that's really going to be huge in
Caleb's development over the off season.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
He then mentioned too, I thought this was really interesting
where he was talking about he believes that and maybe
maybe this isn't like anything surprising, maybe this isn't new,
but I thought that was interesting the way the wording
that Ben used when he was talking about the quarterback
position and the fact that elite quarterback play is the
(21:47):
biggest difference maker in the league, and he said like
he believes, you know, over the last couple of years,
for the first time in maybe twenty plus years, that
it's it's overtaken even like turnover margin, like you can
you can and still win. We've obviously we see what
the Chiefs are doing with Patrick Mahomes and these close games,
and they're just finding ways to win, largely because of
(22:08):
that elite quarterback play. And I thought that the way
he articulated that was super interesting, and it's it wasn't
necessarily like a you know, he wasn't talking about Caleb
when he said that, but it is quite an endorsement
of what he believes Caleb could potentially be when he
says that that I came here, you know, in part
(22:29):
because of the quarterback and at the same time he
thinks that that the elite quarterback play is the biggest
difference maker in this league, more so than at any
time in NFL history.
Speaker 3 (22:39):
Really, that's not groundbreaking. I don't think that he's.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
The first person to say that, of course, but I
thought he came at that with a really from a
really interesting angle.
Speaker 2 (22:48):
Yeah, it was definitely interesting, right because like we know
what it is right now, quarterbacks are protected, right and
you don't win this in this league unless you have
your franchise quarterback, Like who is the last team like
one with like a mediocre quarterback? Obviously Patrick Mahomes and
the Chiefs have kind of dominated here in the last decade.
What ever since you know they drafted him. But you know,
(23:09):
you can't reach this weekend without having an elite quarterback, right,
Like the four teams who are in Championship weekend have
an above average or an elite quarterback like Patrick Mahomes
is great, Josh Allen is great, Matthew Stafford and Jalen
Hurts are all great quarterbacks, right, and then they build
around that. So, yeah, the league has changed a lot
(23:29):
in that says a lot from Ben Jhonnson just being
able to kind of vocalize it and say, like he's
seeing what is happening around the league. Like he's obviously
a very you know, for lack of a better term,
like nerdy guy. Like he comes from the computer science background,
Like he's looking at the numbers, he's looking at the
statistics and the trends and that kind of stuff, and
he like he, I'm sure he's going to focus on defense,
(23:49):
like he wants to get those turnovers. You know, he
talked about that turnover ratio and how that used to
be a key statistic. But the quarterback is what you
need to do and succeed, and that's obviously a key
reason why you know, he chose the job and why
he thinks that this team can be really successful moving forward.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
Yeah, definitely, that's that's definitely true, and and that seems
to be the case with him. I see some some comments,
some thoughts in the in the chat wondering what's gonna
happen to Fluce. Yeah, he he did interview with somebody
and it's escaping me now, not for a head coach
for the Falconer, right, Yes, it was the Falcons defensive
coordinators with someone else. I do think that he will
(24:28):
wind up being a DC somewhere. Yeah, Like it could
be one of these Sports Chicago style throws out Jacksonville.
It could be one of those teams that don't have
a head coach yet. We'll we'll have to see how
things shake. I thought it was interesting that Jacksonville fired
their GM yesterday.
Speaker 3 (24:46):
Michael, did you see that one?
Speaker 2 (24:48):
You know, for how much of a hard time we
give the Bears Sometimes I feel like the teams like
the Jaguars and you know the Jets sometimes and even
the Raiders are just kind of like, oh, things could
be things could be much worse. Imagine like you didn't
get Ben Johnson and then you decide to fire your GM.
That just that doesn't make much sense.
Speaker 3 (25:06):
I thought.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
I mean, we were sitting here a couple of days
ago talking about how bad the Cowboys handled this, and
then you know, never underestimate the ability of some of
these teams to one up each other in just.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
These dumb decisions.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
Obviously they should have done that from the start. They
should have fired the GM from the start. Now they're
way behind and they need a GM and a head coach.
And clearly, I mean that was sort of precipitated by
Liam Cohen, your guy, Michael, I know you went to
the Bears to interview him, saying that he.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
Was going to stay in Tampa. You know, he didn't.
It was no longer interested in the Jacksonville job.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
Obviously Ben preferred Chicago, and I think the Jaguars were
taking the hint. It was pretty obvious that that something
was a miss down there.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
Yeah, but where does that kind of leave you?
Speaker 1 (25:51):
Then?
Speaker 2 (25:51):
Like then you got to find a general manager, like
you got the Jets. Obviously they hired Aaron glenniov Suday,
but they don't have a GM. Like there's so much,
you know, I hear this a lot where it's just
like these are like billion dollar entities and some of
them are just like run so poorly. And it's just like,
how like if you were like a regular business that
didn't consistently like get NFL like revenue sharing and money
(26:14):
and that kind of stuff, like you'd be out of business.
Like it is. It is insane, like how some of
these NFL teams are run.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
Rick Gonzalez just through this in the chat, he says,
any chance High Tower stays, I think there's a chance
we'll see Special teams. Coordinators are one of those things
where like they seem to stick around sometimes. You know,
it's it's less philosophy based in terms of like how
offense and defense you got to fit the right system
and stuff like special teams. Obviously, those guys have have
(26:43):
ideas and thoughts and ways they like doing things.
Speaker 3 (26:46):
But I think there's a chance High Tower sticks around.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
I think he's you know, he's worked for a couple
of different teams now in that role, and I imagine
he'll if it's not Chicago, I imagine he'll get a
special teams coordinator job somewhere. Let's sort of wrap this
up by just you know, we kind of mentioned it earlier.
Ben says he's not gonna just bring the Lions playbook
over here. He's got to fit this thing to to
(27:12):
to the Bears, to Caleb, to the offensive line that
they have, to the receivers and the tight ends that
they have. When you when we're looking at the offensive
side of the ball, what what do you want this
thing to look like?
Speaker 2 (27:23):
Like?
Speaker 1 (27:23):
What what should the Bears offense look like? With Ben
Johnson and Caleb Williams and all these guys.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Well, you gotta I think that he did a big
thing and he mentioned how like this this offense is
not going to look like Detroit's offense at all. Like
they have different players, different personnel, different talents. And I
think the biggest thing that we've seen from Ben Johnson
during this time and Detroit was he takes advantage of
what he has right Like he isn't like, I'm good,
this is my offense, you need to run it like
(27:50):
he's well aware of that, you know, he needs the
morph his game and he said that right, Like he said,
I think the biggest thing for me was like, you're
gonna see balance in this offense, but you're going to
see a balanced offense throughout the season, not necessarily during
the game, like he said, Like there are some games
where well, we're gonna throw the ball fifty times because
that's what clearly what's working. And there are some other
(28:12):
times where we're just going to run the ball the
entire game because that's what's working. Like, I think the
biggest thing is from this offense is you're going to
see Ben take advantage of the matchups that he sees.
He's going to take if they're if if you know,
de putting getting DJ into space and creating screens. I
know everyone's gonna hate the screen game, but if if,
if that's something that works against a team, he's going
(28:33):
to exploit that. Right, Like, if you are seeing a
team that can't really protect a run, like he's going
to call that a lot with DeAndre Swift and Roshawn Johnson. Like,
I think the biggest thing is from this offense is
you're not going to see You're going to see like
a relatively like same offense obviously, but every game I
feel like you're going to see a little bit something different,
Like you're going to see him adapt to what the
defense gives them, and you sometimes you're going to take
(28:55):
advantage of Caleb running the ball right like sometimes you're
going to take advantage of Caleb, you know, getting a
deep shot here or there. Like, I think the biggest
thing is that this offense is going to exploit whatever
the defense isn't good at. And I think you have
the playmakers to do that. Obviously, you got Dj Moore
who's got speed, you got Cole Comet who can block,
and you know pass catch. So I think this offense
(29:16):
is going to look different just based on what you're
going to see the defense presenting it. And I think
that's going to make it really hard to defend throughout
the year.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
Ben Johnson did a really good job of building that
Lion's offense around Goff's strengths. Because we know that golf
can make some mistakes. Obviously we saw that in their
loss in the playoffs and just the way that like
things didn't work out those last couple of years in
Los Angeles, Like he's certainly not a perfect quarterback, and
(29:46):
I don't know that there are very few perfect quarterbacks, but.
Speaker 3 (29:50):
Caleb's very different. Caleb is a lot more.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
Rick has the comment here, Caleb is way more mobile
than golf.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (29:58):
I am also very curious to see how Ben Johnson
uses that, because that's going to be I mean, that's
a strength. Caleb can move. He can he can move.
You know, he's not going to run like Justin Fields ran.
But at the same time, he's very mobile within the pocket.
He's very creative outside of the pocket. I would imagine
(30:19):
that they're going to find ways to move the pocket,
you know, left to right a little bit more than
maybe they did this past season. And obviously all of
that is is sort of predicated on having a better
offensive line.
Speaker 2 (30:33):
We know that they need to improve.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
It doesn't really matter what you try to do. That's
that's part of the reason why things were so bad
last year and why that passing game.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
Was was so short towards the end of the season.
Speaker 1 (30:45):
They need to invest in that offensive line, whether that's
free agency, whether that's the draft, whether that's both. They
got three picks in the top forty one. I would
imagine they're taking at least one or two linemen with
those three picks, maybe if not all, maybe maybe throw
one towards a defense savanza and edge rusher. But but
I think all those picks should be in the trenches.
That's clearly where this team needs to improve. But I
(31:08):
am really curious to see how with the right environment,
with the right offensive line, how how Ben Johnson could
could utilize Caleb's mobility a little bit more.
Speaker 2 (31:19):
Listen, Like you know, it was it was interesting to
say when you know, when Ben was asked about why
he took the job, like Caleb's a big part of it,
but he also said, like this roster's like stacked, like
he would he didn't want to get into like why
it didn't work, Like he wasn't trying to put the
previous coaching staff like you know, run them under the
bus or anything like that. But you know, it's very
clear that he believes that this team underachieved, like we
(31:42):
all believe that they underachieved, and you know, they didn't
take advantage of Caleb running the ball like you said,
or you know, other talent that they have. So I
think that's the biggest thing where Ben's going to bring
out the best in everyone and obviously that you know,
like we talked about and we'll keep talking about probably
until we get started here in September. You know, once
(32:02):
you get the offensive line, obviously hopefully that improves things.
But there's a lot of talent on this team. This
offense has been very heavily invested in. A lot of
big contracts are there and then underachieved. And that's going
to be as big as goal is just trying to
find the best out of everyone and trying to put
them in the best position to succeed, because there's a
lot of good things here and it's just you know,
putting them in the right position instead of just like
(32:24):
molding them to a specific type of offense like we
kind of saw previously happen.
Speaker 1 (32:29):
Yeah, that's I think the really good offensive coordinators do
exactly that. And we saw the Lions do that when
Ben Johnson was running the offense. And I mean too,
like the run game like has was obviously so impressive
in Detroit.
Speaker 3 (32:45):
They invested heavily in that. They spent on the running back.
Speaker 1 (32:48):
They drafted Jamior Gibbs with a first round pick they
traded up to do so, like that's going to be
just as important toward opening things up for Caleb as anything.
Speaker 3 (32:59):
If you can get that run game going.
Speaker 1 (33:01):
I know they they invested in in DeAndre Swift last offseason.
That's that's an interesting one because like the Lions traded
him away when Ben Johnson was the coordinator. I would
be curious to hear what what his thoughts are on
on DeAndre as a running back, if if they're going
to keep going in that direction, if they're going to
(33:21):
keep if they're going to look to add you know,
maybe it's a case where you play with DeAndre for
one more season and and you also draft somebody and
see what you can do.
Speaker 3 (33:29):
Uh there.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
But that's gonna be a big part of this this
plan of attack too, because it's not just about the
trick plays. It's not just about the creative ways to
get Aman rustling round the ball. It's it's just the
hard nosed running the ball. And just what that opened
up for Jared Goff in the passing game.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
Well, I think that's why they were so successful, right,
Like they were picking up the yardage on first down runs,
like they were getting four or five yards you know
on average, where the Bears, you know, struggled to pick
up a yard into and then usually set themselves up
in second and long and then you know, had an
incompletion or short or whatever, or they you know had
faalse start penalty or something that or holding obviously just
(34:07):
based on how last year went, but you know, they're
really I think Ben realizes and it helps obviously to
have the offensive line Eremier gifts like that obviously helps
a lot. But I think Ben recognizes that, Yeah, you're
gonna see a lot of trick plays. Yeah you're going
to see a lot of gadget stuff, but you're also
going to see just like basic stuff that we didn't see,
Like you're going to see the run being more successful,
(34:28):
hopefully with the better offensive line, and he's going to
be committed to that. He's not going to shy away
from that. I don't think as quickly as we maybe
saw previously happen. So I think there are a lot
of traits to success. Obviously, there's still I know a
lot of guys are you know, hoping for a good
offensive line coach at good OC who can kind of
support Ben Johnson. I see a lot of guys mentioning that.
But you know, I think the basic stuff is there
(34:51):
and under the basic principles are there. Now it's just
expanding upon that and making sure that you're kind of
putting those guys in the best situation in order to
you know, take advantage of both the basic stuff but
also the trick plays.
Speaker 3 (35:03):
Yeah, definitely we can.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
Uh, we will certainly dive into what what sorts of players, uh,
what profiles will fit this offense down the line. But
but as some folks in the comments are saying, well,
we'll have to see how Ben Johnson fills out his
coaching staff.
Speaker 3 (35:18):
Uh, and certainly we will.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
We will jump in and join you guys again when
we get a little bit more clarity on what that's
gonna look like. It's a fun time to be a
Bears fan. I know a lot of Bears fans are
excited about this, as they should be. Uh, it's been
a really fun week. Uh it's been after after obviously
what was a really tough season, Bears fans finally got
a victory. I think that I think everybody's pretty happy
(35:41):
with that.
Speaker 2 (35:42):
Yeah, they definitely are, and they should be right Like
it was, Uh, it was a bad year. They underachieved,
nothing went right there, is drama, you know, some drama
off the field obviously with you know Tyreek Stevens and
and and you know a lot of people a couple
of weeks ago were giving the Bears such a hard
time nationally and everyone was surprised. But the Bears got
a win. They got their you know, first win with
(36:04):
getting Ben Johnson. It's exciting to see. I think this
OP season will kind of mimic what last OP season
was with Caleb Williams right where you're excited to see
who's he going to bring in as a DC. Who's
this OC gonna be like one live, Like we're gonna
be talking a lot of linemen, a lot of the
college alignment tape and a lot of NFL linement tape
is going to be broken down here. But I think
it's going to be another fun OP season and hopefully,
(36:27):
you know, Bears can win the OP season and actually
start winning on the field as well.
Speaker 1 (36:31):
So stick with us, guys. Head to shaw local dot
com to read all of our work. You can read
everything that's up there from yesterday's press conference. The number
one best way to support us is to subscribe at
shawlocal dot com. If you're with us, here on on
YouTube hit the thumbs up. That's another great way to
help us out. Leave us a review. Look for us
on Spotify or Apple. A five star review would really
(36:53):
help us out. And if you're listening after the fact
on any other platform where you get your podcasts, be
sure to check out our Twitter. I'm at Shawn Underscore
him and he is at m Dwojack ninety four. We're
gonna let you know when we're going live. We were
gonna try to keep doing this at least once a
week during the offseason. We'll see what shakes out here
over the next week. I'm sure we will get some
(37:13):
hirings from Ben Johnson's staff, and when we do, we
will jump on with you guys live. Thanks for everybody
in the chats and in the chat and the comments.
We really appreciate you guys joining us here. This has
been the Shaw Local Bears Insider podcast.
Speaker 3 (37:27):
Thanks for listening, everybody,
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