Episode 394: Chicago Bears team owner Virginia McCaskey dies at 102 years old

Bears owner Virginia McCaskey died at 102 years old on Thursday. Shaw Local's Sean Hammond and Michal Dwojak react to the news of her death and what she meant to the team. Plus they wrap up their final thoughts on the 2024 season ahead of Super Bowl weekend.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hello, and welcome to the Shaw Local Bears Insider podcast.
We are back. It is Friday, February seventh. I'm Sean Hammon,
Shaw Local Bears beat reporter. He's Michael Dwojak, our Sports
Enterprise reporter Extraordinary. We had a whole episode planned. We
were going to look back kind of you know, it's
Super Bowl weekend, the season's over. We were going to

(00:23):
look back on what worked and what didn't this year
for the Bears, which I know we've kind of talked
about all season long, of course, but obviously some things
have changed with the news. Bears fans are well aware
at this point that Virginia McCaskey died yesterday at one
hundred and two years old. Obviously, our thoughts go out

(00:45):
to the McCaskey family. It's a sad day for the Bears,
sad day for Chicago. This is news that that you know,
we all kind of knew was coming, but I don't
know about you, Michael. It still felt like a surprise.
Even though obviously she's she's been around a long time.
One hundred and two years old, that is that is
a long and great life, but it's still it still

(01:05):
felt a little surprising to me.

Speaker 2 (01:07):
Yeah, it was a little bit surprising, right. It felt
like just like, you know, for one hundred and two
years old, you know, obviously maybe people aren't around as
much and maybe they're not doing as much. But I
feel like for the past few years, we've always heard
that she's still you know, attending games and she's like
still going to Like you would see her maybe I
don't know if over the past year, but you would
just see her at practices sometimes, you know, she would

(01:28):
be around, right, Like it wasn't just like she was
one hundred and two and she wasn't doing much, Like
she was very active over the past few years and
she was around. So yeah, you know, one hundred and two,
you're kind of like, well, I mean, you know, obviously
time was going to come in that kind of stuff,
but still it's it's still it is still surprising, and
just you know, like you said, condolences to the family,

(01:49):
you know, what a you know, one hundred and two years,
not only what is she seen, you know with the bears,
and just how different things are obviously when her dance
started the whole thing, but just even life itself obviously
how different it is and obviously, you know, the NFL
loses it's like like one of its last connections to

(02:09):
its founding, right, Like obviously Virginia was there when her
dad started the league when you know he was trying
to build it up with the Maras and the Rooneys
and all the different you know, original founding members, and
you know, the NFL lost that kind of you know,
that that knowledge, that experience, you know, the person who's
been there from the beginning. And obviously it's it's a
big loss for the Chicago area. It's a big loss

(02:31):
for the Bears, but it's also a big loss for
the NFL.

Speaker 1 (02:34):
Yeah, it is. And and some of the stories and
some of the the just the history just reading about
her life is just so crazy. Born in nineteen twenty one,
she only missed one Bears season. She came around a
year late to see the nineteen twenty season for the
the Decatur Staley's That's just wild. She was around for

(02:58):
I think almost every read Bears Packers game. Uh, you
know she watched Red Grange when she was a four
year old girl. That's just crazy, she said.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
The part of the Barnstorming tour, like.

Speaker 1 (03:10):
She traveled with she traveled with the Bears while they
were showing off Red Grange across the country. It's just crazy, yeah,
I mean, just the idea that an NFL team was
doing a doing a tour across the country to to
you know, build build the game and like show off
it's it's star player. Like just that idea is wild
to think about.

Speaker 2 (03:30):
Yeah, it is crazy, right, like back then, just the
whole stories. There's a good book called The League that
kind of gets into like the Founders of the League.
If you're really interested, there's a lot of good stuff
about Virginia there. But yeah, she was, she was there
from the beginning. She watched the NFL championship game in
the Chicago Stadium for those who didn't know that that happened. Like,
she was there throughout the entire history. And you know,

(03:51):
obviously she was you know, maybe throwing it into the
ownership a little bit, you know, sooner, or maybe she
never expected it to obviously she I think the the
thinking always was that her brother would take over, and
obviously he tragically died unexpectedly in the late seventies I
believe it was. And then her dad died in nineteen
eighty three and she was kind of thrust into the
ownership position right in nineteen eighty three, but even then,

(04:13):
like you know, she wasn't planning it. But she's still
you know, even throughout the years just kind of you know,
she cared about the team. She didn't meddle. She wasn't
like saying like, well, I'm going to pretend or say
that I know everything. Like she just let everyone take
care of their own business, right, And that was kind
of her thing where, you know, she knew what her
limitations were, she knew what she was good at, well

(04:33):
she wasn't good at. She let other people take care
of the things that maybe she wasn't you know, primarily
great at. But she started Bear's care. She like took
like knew the families of the players really well. Like
she was like just the perfect matriarch you would want
for the team, right.

Speaker 1 (04:48):
Yeah, mugs. Her brother died in nineteen seventy nine. At
that point, George Hallis, her father, was still alive for
a couple more years, but he was he was in
his eighties, you know, he sort of assumed that role
for a few years until he died in nineteen eighty three,
and at that point Virginia took over control of the team.
And like you said, Michael, it was never, it was never.

(05:10):
That was not her plan. You know, she expected Mugs
to be around. She expected Mugs to be the one
who takes over the future of the Bears. And yeah,
like she you said that really well, like she knew
what she did well and she knew she also knew
like that that she was much like George has said,

(05:31):
George McCaskey over the years. You know, he says he's
a fan. I think she would say the same thing.
Like she did not take like an outsized role, even
though she was very involved. From what it sounds like
back back in those days in the eighties and the nineties.
Obviously we weren't around covering the team back then the time.
In the time that that that we have covered the team,

(05:52):
she was was not very present. But obviously she is
over one hundred years old. But she really was of
like behind the scenes, Like she didn't make it about herself,
which a lot of NFL owners, Yeah, aren't that way.
We know that for a fact, Like they are very
involved and they want to be the ones making the decisions.

(06:14):
They want to be the ones who are the face
of the franchise in a lot of ways, that was
not Virginia McCaskey.

Speaker 2 (06:21):
No, wasn't right. And that's the biggest thing where if
for you know anything in life right, it's like knowing
when you're the leader of a group of an entity,
whether it's a business, whether it's a team or anything
like dad, like, you need to realize what you don't know, right,
that's how you kind of succeed. And you just got
to find the people who do know what you don't know,
and that, you know, she was able to do that
obviously throughout its history. She was there for the beginning

(06:43):
when they won the eighty five championship and obviously they
made the Super Bowl in two thousand and six. So
you know, she saw a lot of good you know,
maybe some bad, but there's a lot of good things
happening under her care. And it felt cool. You know.
I saw this kind of going around Twitter yesterday that
the Bears were able to win in drim attic fashion
against the Packers, uh to finish things off one last time. Obviously,

(07:04):
the hallis mccanskey family and the and the and the
you know hatred, you know, sports and sports terms hatred hackers.
It was cool to baby see that. That was one
last you know, one last win for the Halls McCaskey family.

Speaker 1 (07:18):
Yeah, that's that's a really cool, cool last game for her.
Alan Dunlapp in the comments says she was like a princess,
never expecting to become the queen, but had to do
it anyway. I think that's uh yeah, that's a great analogy.
That's really well said. If you're joining us live here
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(07:40):
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I know February gets slow. We'll see what we got
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a week talking bears with you guys. We really appreciate that.

(08:03):
Keep me on our Twitter pages. I'm at Sewan Underscore Hammond,
he is at m dwo Jack ninety four. We're gonna
let you know when we're going live. Yeah, you know,
she was. Virginia was obviously very present for the eighty
five team. She was. She had that cool moment in
two thousand and six when they got back to the
Super Bowl, and I think a lot of us remember

(08:23):
seeing her up on that stage and how much that
meant to take the George Hallis Trophy. Those are obviously
moments that really really stand out. And also like the
one hundredth anniversary in twenty nineteen, like that was a
really cool moment for Virginia too, just the fact that
she was still around at that point. Obviously, they put
up the George Hallis statue outside Soldier Field. They put

(08:44):
up the Walter Payton statue out there too. I was
reading somebody else's coverage and there was a you know,
looking back just over the years, and there was a
quote in there she said that, you know, after Brian Peaklow,
she and her husband you know, wanted to the goal
was to not get as close to some of the

(09:05):
players because that that hurt a lot. And she said
that the player who broke that rule for her was
Walter Payton and obviously he meant so much to the
franchise too, was around for it for so long and
was just such a personality that you know, seeing that
was another like like moment for her too in nineteen
ninety nine when he died and there was you know,

(09:28):
remembrances at Soldier Field and stuff. Just she's seen so much,
just over the course of all these one hundred and
two years. It's just wild to think about.

Speaker 2 (09:37):
And you're seeing a lot of you know, like tributes
obviously from the NFL Roger Cadell Packers, you saw that,
but you're seeing a lot of tributes from the players too, right,
Like you're seeing Walter Payton's kids, Like I saw Jared
Payton had a cool post about Virginia with like his
kids and his sister's kids. And I feel like you've
seen a lot of former players say man that, like

(09:57):
it stinks that, you know, future Bears players won't get
a chance to play under Virginia because you know, I
know there are probably a lot of criticisms around the
team throughout the years and all that kind of stuff,
But the constant was Virginia was always there. She always
cared for the players, She always cared for the players' families,
and you know, you don't see that, you know, too often,
especially in today's world, where yes, obviously there are owners

(10:18):
who care about the families, Like obviously there's a lot
of good teams that you know, care about the players
and that kind of stuff, but it isn't a guaranteed
in today's like cut growth world. So it's really cool
just to kind of see a lot of players be like,
you know, go out of their way and say, like,
Virginia meant a lot to me, a lot, meant a
lot to my family. And it's really cool to watch
the impact that she had on generations upon generations of

(10:40):
Bears players.

Speaker 1 (10:41):
Yeah. Absolutely, I mean the players they all call her
missus McCaskey, and and you know they they obviously really
respected her and kind of looked up to her and
wanted to win for her. I don't know that every
NFL owner, I don't know that the players feel the
same way about her, you know, every owner out there.
But in a lot of ways, she was different. And yeah,
it's just just a sad day for the Bears and

(11:03):
a sad day for Chicago. I do see a comment
here from Rick. He says, so is George the owner.
Now they won't sell the team, will they? And I know,
like we're gonna have time to talk about what this
means obviously over the coming months here. But the the
league rules stipulate that somebody has to have h thirty

(11:27):
percent voting power, so you know, obviously they're gonna have
to figure all that stuff out. You know, they knew
this day was coming. I'm sure they have a plan
in place. But at the same time, you saw it
in like the the news release from the Bears. Eleven children,
twenty one grandchildren, forty great grandchildren, four great great grandchildren.

(11:48):
This is a big family. There's gonna be a lot
of a different There's gonna be a lot of I'm sure.
I mean, that's that right there. You add that up,
that's like seventy people. That's not even counting you know,
spouses and all that stuff. That's a lot of people.
I'm sure they're will be different opinions on what the
family should do with the Bears. We're just gonna have
to wait and see because we don't we don't really
know what they're thinking.

Speaker 2 (12:07):
Yeah, it'll be interesting because it like impacts a lot
of different things, right, Like you figure the stadium plans,
you would have to kind of maybe put a back
seat on that, or maybe you don't. I don't know,
but I do think that for the time being, I
would assume everything's just gonna be business as usual. Would
for the off season, it's gonna be you know, Georgia
is still the chairman, all that stuff, you know, just
kind of run business as usual. But it will be

(12:30):
interesting to watch how over the half year, the next
year or two, you know, how that all unfolds. Obviously,
there's a lot of time for that and a lot
of time to talk about that in the future. But
for the time being, obviously, I think it's just gonna
be business as usual. And then you know, start stuff
will start to come around. I know, the owner's meetings
are coming up. I know obviously there'll be some opportunities

(12:52):
to talk to some Bears leadership and that kind of
stuff over the off season. So what I guess we'll
start to see things once we move a little bit
Pastvily Thursday.

Speaker 1 (13:01):
Yeah, well, we'll have a lot of time to discuss
what what this really means for the franchise and the future.
And at this point, I mean, obviously like like we
said at the top, our thoughts are with the family. Uh.
We know that this is a sad day for the
team and and for for all those those folks we
just mentioned, all the kids and the grandchildren who who
lost the matriarch of the family. You know, it's it's

(13:25):
a it's a sad moment in Bear's Bear's history. Uh.
And and I mean it is a it is a
pivotal moment too with with everything going on stadium wise
and the future of the franchise. There's there's a lot
of big decisions coming down the line that that will
have to to wait and see what what some of
this is gonna look like.

Speaker 2 (13:44):
It'll be really interesting, right and then you know, this
could go a lot of different ways. It could just
stay within the family, can obviously go somewhere else, and
we're just we'll just have to see how it goes.
And I don't think I think the biggest thing is
I don't think there's anyone outside of the family who
I don't think you even know if the family truly
know was what it wants to do. I'm sure it's
not on the top of their mind right now, right
but obviously I think that this can go a bunch

(14:05):
of different ways, and we're just gonna have to see
how it goes here in the coming year.

Speaker 1 (14:08):
It was interesting too, you know, I was reading Don
Pearson wrote the obituary for the Tribune, and obviously I
don't know when that was written. There were parts of
it must have been written years ago. But there was
a really interesting nugget in there, just talking about how
her father didn't like to talk about the future, you know,

(14:30):
and there wasn't you know, back in back in the
early eighties, like they didn't really openly discuss that, And
you do wonder where she stood on that, whether whether
you know, I'm sure that they have a plan in place.
We'll have to see what that is in the future.
But you wonder, obviously nobody likes to talk about what's
going to happen when they're gone. You wonder if Virginia

(14:53):
welcome those discussions or wanted to avoid it. Yeah, it
is interesting, Yeah, but anyway, our thoughts go out to
the family. It's gonna be a tough time for them
and tough time for the Bears. We did have some
other thoughts, plans that we were going to talk about.
I don't know if we want to dive into that

(15:14):
right now, Michael, if you want to sort of shift
gears a little bit here and think about the football
team for a little bit. I know it's a tough
time for the franchise and for the mc caskey family,
but we were, you know, we're planning to talk about
some things that went well, some things that went not
so well in the twenty twenty four season for the Bears.

(15:36):
I think, you know, maybe maybe we should shift gears
here a little bit and bring everybody's spirits up a
little bit with a little football talk.

Speaker 2 (15:44):
Yeah, it'd be fun. It's always fun to kind of
district ourselves with x's and no's, right, And I don't know,
you know, we're talking about twenty twenty four, so I
don't know how many positives help be, but we'll try
to find some.

Speaker 1 (15:55):
Right, Yeah, we you know, I gave us this little
mandate here, not mandate, I don't know what the right
word is. I said, Okay, let's both pick three things
at work, three things that didn't we with the stipulation
that we're not really going to focus on the coaching staff.
That's yeah, I mean, we know what happened there. We
know where where Maddie reflues and the staff was at

(16:15):
fault and maybe where they could have been better, And
we know their strengths and weaknesses. But we're talking about
the the players and where Ryan Poles and Ben Johnson
can can sort of focus their attention to to fix
this team moving forward. So with that in mind, Michael,
give me, give me. I don't know do we want
to start with the positive with the negatives? Should we

(16:38):
should we flip flop? What do we where do you
want to go? Take this away?

Speaker 2 (16:42):
Why don't we you know, I'm debating. I don't know.
Do we want to turn a little bit positive or
do we want to end on the positive? Maybe I
don't know. Maybe we should start about what things maybe
we can improve. That's what we're going to look at.
Let's start that we're looking for improvement. We're not looking
at the bad. We're just looking to find how positive.

Speaker 1 (16:59):
Note I like I like this. Okay, give me one
thing that didn't work?

Speaker 2 (17:03):
Oh boy? Okay, we also didn't talk about this. So
if we like double, you know, double whatever, whatever. But
I think the number one glaring thing given what the
franchise his goal was with Caleb Williams is obviously going
to be the offensive line that didn't. Yeah, I mean that.
There are a bunch of other things I'm sure we'll

(17:24):
talk about, but the top one was obviously the offensive
line because you didn't see I don't feel like we
got a chance to see a lot of full potential
from a lot of players, right. We didn't see Caleb
Williams full potential. I personally don't think we were able
to see DeAndre Swift full potential. We weren't able to
see Roma Dunesay's full potential, DJ Moore's And again, like

(17:45):
we talked about earlier, some of that comes down to coaching.
Some of that is just like what we were thinking,
what was the play calling, all that kind of stuff.
But the sacks was just and again that was part
of Caleb's problem that we can kind of combine that,
but the thinking of that this was going to be
a really good offensive line that just didn't work. And

(18:07):
you know, obviously these guys are trying and that kind
of stuff. But again, you look at what you have now.
You I think you only have Dardnell Wright that you
can kind of look forward to in the future and
confidently say, man like that is someone that we can
build upon, right, Like, I think the Bears will likely
bring back Braxton Jones because you know, obviously he's under contract,
there's no nothing to get rid of him or anything

(18:27):
like that. But I mean, did you feel confident about
Braxton Jones. I mean, he was getting bull rushed for
much of the season, and then you just have got
had a revolving door around the center position. Tevin Jenkins.
You know he fought through a lot of injuries this year,
but again he's been injury battered. And then at the
other guard position, you just you know, you whiffed on
Waite Nate Davis, right, that didn't work. You had to

(18:48):
cut them, You had to get rid of them. So
at this point, you probably are looking for three starters
in the off season, maybe four if you want to
make it a competition, maybe with Braxton Jones and Tierranamagaji.
Give Kuran a fair offseason, a chance to actually develop,
Maybe that'll help him in that sort of stuff. But
I mean, you're looking for a complete makeover for an

(19:11):
offensive line that never really protected Caleb didn't create holes
for the offensive line and was really a major reason
why this offense never really got going.

Speaker 1 (19:19):
This was number one on my list of things that
didn't work as well. And I think you're right, Like
I think Darnell Wright is the only sure thing going
into twenty twenty five. Obviously, I think some of those
guys will still be on the roster. I think Braxton
will still be on the roster. I just don't know
if he's going to be the starter at left tackle.
Right I think ideally you would look to upgrade as

(19:41):
many of those other four spots as possible. I specifically
kind of circle the interior. Not that look we Braxton
is like a fine starter. He's like a base level starter.
I feel like he's a player who has one major
weakness and teams exploited if but but I kind of
circle the interior just because obviously Nate Davis is gone,

(20:06):
Tavin Jenkins looks like he's gonna leave in free agency.
Coleman Shelton is also a free agent, so like, right there,
you gotta start over completely. Matt Pryor, who started a
lot of games at right guard after they cut Nate
and honestly before they cut Nate, he is also a
guy who's going to be a free agent. We'll see
what happens there that interior completely underperformed, And I mean,

(20:28):
I don't know if you just wipe the board clean.
I think you have to. I think you have to
invest in free agency. I think you have to invest
in the draft. I think you have to to spend
some serious resources building in the trenches. And while kind
of like, while you might want an upgrade at left tackle,
I think the focus has to be that interior first.

(20:49):
That's just me. That's just my opinion, just because, like
I said, like Brex and Jones can start for you.
He's a viable starter. Is he your long term answer?
I don't know that.

Speaker 2 (21:01):
No, And I am curious to know. Obviously I never
played the position. I was in an offensive lineman, and
I've heard a lot about how continuity obviously played a
role in their performance, and obviously a bunch of guys
were injured. But I am curious if you do you
feel like if you improve and fortify the interior of
the line, that obviously helps your tackles too, Right, So

(21:22):
that helps Darnel right play better? And does that help
Braxton Jones play better? Right? Like, if you are able
to adress and getting a better center, whether that's I
know the draft isn't full of them, so maybe you
go through it in the free agency way and then
you draft a couple of guards or you you know,
you bixmatch and that kind of stuff. Yeah, I'm curious
to know whether there's enough faith in Braxton Jones or

(21:42):
maybe Kiran where you're just kind of like, all right,
we know our right tackles pretty good. If we fortify
the middle of this line, does that help Braxton Jones?
And does that can we give them support? Can we
like help them in that sort of stuff? So I
wonder if that might be what Ryan Poles and Ben
Johnson are thinking about right now, where they're just kind
of like, we have a peace in his left side.
If we increase the interior, we can work on that

(22:05):
and give braxxon kira on a chance and maybe you
fixed that the next op season. I'm just curious to
know how much fixing the interior really helps that left side.

Speaker 1 (22:12):
Yeah, that's that's a really good point. I mean, if
you make the whole better, it's gonna help all the individuals.
I would think Rick brings up an interesting point too,
that like, if you wanted to spend for a left tackle,
you could potentially move Braxton inside. Obviously, he hasn't played
inside in a while. He was, you know, he was
a tackle at Southern Utah as well, so there would

(22:35):
be some questions there, but that's certainly a possibility as well,
if if you want to approach it that way. I
saw another comment where did it go here? From from CJ.
He says, what about the kid dancing in the speedo?
Theo Benedette was hurt all season long. But yeah, I mean,
he's gonna be a guy that that will be around.

(22:55):
And he's a you know, he's a tackle from Canada
who gosh, I can't remember the school now, British Columbia
or something, one of those Canadian schools I think it
was there, who obviously is an experience. But he's like
he's really tall, really long. Maybe a guy that you
want to keep around for a couple of years and
see what happens, see how he develops. Yeah, I mean,

(23:20):
there's a lot of different ways that they can approach this.
There's there's I see comments about Karan as well, maybe
he can play center. There's a million different ways to
approach this. I think the Bears would want to get
an experienced center in there. I think either I don't
know if that means bringing back Coleman Shelton, I would
ideally spend a little more and get get somebody who

(23:43):
is going to be your starter for for several years.

Speaker 2 (23:46):
I think the biggest thing you kind of go from
for Ryan Poles and learning what you had a couple
of years, I think you need to stop doing the
projects right. And that's not to say that like guys
don't deserve a chance, they shouldn't take a flyer on
some people. But I think the what is it the
three year plan now of bringing guys and believing in
like underrated fifth round, sixth round, fourth round guys, Like

(24:09):
if you're Ryan, you need to go for some some
some concrete guys that you're pretty sure are going to work, right,
whether that's Will Campbell like like like Mike mentioned, whether
that's drafting him, whether that's going for Trace Smith, whether
that's you know, signing a big guy like that. Like
at some point, like you gotta stop going for the
projects and you just got to go for someone that's
safe and someone that you're just kind of like this

(24:31):
guy has done it, or this guy is highly graded
and he did it at a high power for conference,
for an SEC team or a Big Ten team, Like,
at some point, Ryan's just got to go and fortify
it that way instead of going with these projects, because
you know, with all due respect, the projects haven't worked
the last few years, and I don't think a lot
of Bears fans have confidence in Ryan Poles that he
can scout a player that can turn into a concrete,

(24:54):
multi year starter.

Speaker 1 (24:55):
I'm okay with taking projects. I just don't want to
be doing it in the third round of the draft.
I'm okay with taking a flyer on a Braxton Jones
in the fifth round. I'm okay with taking a guy
in the sixth round whatever, And that's not meant to
be a shot at Karna Magaji. You know, he didn't
pick himself in that spot. But at the same time,

(25:16):
it's like they only had four or five draft picks
last year and they used a third round pick on
a tackle from Yale. I think ideally you want your first, second,
third round picks to be guys from the SEC, from
the Big Ten. Mike Johnson in the comments as a question,
what's up with Ryan Bates, That's a good point. We've
kind of been this whole discussion. We've been acting like

(25:38):
he's not there. He's still on the team, he's still
under contract, I would imagine. Obviously, he didn't play much
last year. He was out most of the year with
a concussion, out most of the year with various injuries.
I think he only appeared into three games with two starts,
if I recall, potentially he could be a rotational guy.

(26:00):
Potentially he could be your starter at center or right
guard or something. I just don't know that you can
plan on that. I don't know. Man, he missed the
whole season with multiple injuries. That's obviously a concern.

Speaker 2 (26:14):
He's again someone that I'm kind of like, you're kind
of rolling the dice on and you're not one hundred
print certain like part of it is not his fault,
Like he's not trying to get injured. He's not obviously
trying to give himself a concussion by any means. Like
at some point you just kind of like have some
bad injury look or whatever. But that that kind of
goes into Tevin Jenkins conversation right where you love Tevin Jenkins.
I think he's a good locker room guy. From what

(26:36):
we know. He obviously has talent, but at some point
you just got to be able to stay on the field,
and he did for some part, but he's still dealing
with injuries and maybe not reaching his full potential. And
when you're dealing with lineman, you know, health is so important,
and you got to have a guy that you can
rely on who's you know, going to be there almost
every single week because you saw over the past two
years what happens when you have to like mismatch the

(26:57):
offensive line and put different guys in. It just doesn't
look good and there are just holes in irregularity. So yeah,
I mean you could look at him and obviously if
you can make that work with the salary cap, and
you know, if it works for you, like where you're
at with the money that you're giving him, I wouldn't
say you don't necessarily need to cut him, but I
would say that again, look at higher, look higher, like

(27:20):
don't set the bar low when it comes to protecting
Caleb and getting that offensive line in a much better shape.

Speaker 1 (27:25):
And much like last year, if he's healthy, he is
a very valuable backup because he can play so many
different positions. So he's I would imagine he's going to
be on the roster going into the season. I didn't
expect us to talk about the O line for ten,
ten whole minutes. We did promise some positivity towards the
end of the show, so we gotta we gotta get
moving here. I'm gonna throw number two thing that didn't work.
And I saw a comment earlier. Let's see Alan said, well,

(27:50):
taking shots at the line, the D line didn't scare
many teams. Yeah, the defensive line was obviously a pretty
big disappointment, which they started really strong. Like I thought,
the first six games the D line was was really good.
Montes Sweat was playing well, Jiron Dexter was playing really well,
and then things just fell apart. Andrew Billings went out
with a season ending peck injury. Second half of the

(28:14):
year just was nobody was scared of that Bears defensive line,
even with Montes Sweat healthy and playing when he was
out there like it was not. It was not the
same defensive line the first half. In the second half
of the season, I think you really got to put
in some some effort to get a second defensive end
that you can throw opposite Montes Sweat, who is gonna

(28:37):
gonna really be a difference maker for you, because none
of the guys they tried were that.

Speaker 2 (28:42):
All right, Sean, let's have the conversation. Are you going
in for Miles Garrett? Are you trading him? What? Are you?
Are you right?

Speaker 1 (28:47):
Like?

Speaker 2 (28:47):
Are is that like a situation where you're kind of
like man like you have a bona fide guy that
you can guarantee is going to be good and is
worth it? Or are you someone who is mostly focused
on I want to find my Miles Garrett and I
want to develop him, Like are you are you? Obviously
it all depends on whether the Problems want to trade him,
but ye, are you? Are you? Are you in on

(29:08):
trying to gain Miles Garrett to the Bears?

Speaker 1 (29:10):
Me personally, I'm not. I would rather have my two
first round picks these next couple of years because that's
probably what it's going to cost to get him. It was.
I mean, I saw, I forget there was rapid porter
schefter compared it to the Mac deal, the Khalil Mack
deal in twenty eighteen. I mean, that's honestly, that's the
best comparison. Yeah, I know that the ages are slightly different,

(29:30):
but that's the last time that like a major like
Player of the Year candidate Pass Rusher, was on the
trade market, and so I think it was going to
cost a couple of first round picks. I don't think
I want to make that deal. I'd rather I'd rather
be you know, the Rams getting a Jared Verse, you know,
midway through the first round, who they have on a

(29:53):
rookie deal for four to five years. Obviously you got
to you gotta nail the pick. That's that's not a guarantee,
but I would take my chain is there. Personally, I
don't know. What do you what do you feel?

Speaker 2 (30:02):
I think I would agree. I think I think it
was Albert Breer who actually put it in a really
good way where it's like, I think you make this
trade if you think that the Bears are going to
contend for a super Bowl in the next couple of years, right, yeah, Like, yes,
he's twenty nine. That doesn't mean that he's like going
to fall off the cliff or like he's not going
to be good by any means, but he is twenty nine.
So this feels like a move that you make when

(30:24):
you're on the doorsteps of winning a Super Bowl or
on the doorsteps of competing, and I don't think just
you know, they're going to do other stuff. But what
does a deal look like? Do you have to probably
give up your first round pick this year and probably
your first round pick next year. I know you obviously
have two number two's this year, but I don't I

(30:45):
don't know. I think I'm more of the mindset of
I want to find my own Miles Garrett, Yeah, and
I want to develop him, and I think I can
find him with a tenth overall pick, I can find
I can trade up and maybe get into the later
round of the first round, right, and I can try
to find my guy there where. I don't know if
it's worth the investment because I just don't think there's

(31:06):
a Again, there's no guarantee they're gonna find that guy.
But I do think that there's there's less of you
have to win earlier. And I don't think the Bears
are in the spot right now where they're Super Bowl
contenders next year or in the next couple of years,
because I think there's still a lot of development that
needs to have from from Caleb and obviously you still
have to figure things out on the offensive line. Like
we talked about, Uh.

Speaker 1 (31:26):
Yeah, there's a comment here that that Khalil Mack is available. Yeah,
he's he's gonna be out there in free agency. Obviously
he's a bit older, but he, you know, has still
been a productive player. I don't know if the Bears
would go that route. I don't know if they would.
I don't know if he would want to come back
here after after getting traded away to guys guys hold
grudges over stuff like that. Sure, but I do think

(31:48):
there are gonna be some other options out there in
whether it's free agency, whether it's the draft. I don't
know that I want It's a great point, Michael, like
where this team is at right. I mean, this is
a five win team last season. That's that's just the
fact of it. Like, you're not one step away from
the super Bowl. You got to get you know, let's
talk about getting in the playoffs first. And so I

(32:10):
don't know that I would mortgage the future for a
guy like Miles Garrett. I know he's the best pass
rusher in the game right now. He got a little
bit overlooked last year because he was on a terrible
Browns team, but he's at the top of his game.
I just feel like him as well, like, at least
based on the statements he made and interviews he did
this week, like he wants to go to a team

(32:31):
that's going to compete. And I don't know if I
don't know if he would want to come to the
Bears either. Now obviously he might not, you know, have
a whole lot of choice on where he goes.

Speaker 2 (32:42):
Yeah, he does. I don't think he has a no
trade clause or anything like that. But it is it's interesting,
right because you you'll also have to want to go there,
and I don't We don't know if he'll want to
go there. But I see a lot of guys saying,
you know, Sweat from the Eagles, he can be good.
That someone that I would look like, look at and
it like I've seen someone else said it, it is

(33:02):
a dream. Mike Johnson said. It is a deep draft, right, like, yeah,
going to be a good defensive line draft. And you,
I think you can make some hay there. You can
find some guys that maybe some people are overlooking or
maybe they just fall to you in the second round.
And I think there's a good opportunity to do that.
And again, you can develop, right, You don't have to
make this a quick thing. You can have them for

(33:23):
five years on the rookie contract and you can benefit
from that with having them a young nucleus of Caleb
Williams and Roma duns A and those types of guys, right.
And you know, Austin Booker obviously didn't do much this year,
but he could take a major So I think we
knew last year at this time, we knew when they
drafted him that he wasn't going to be an impact guy.
He was going to need a year to develop, right,

(33:44):
so he could take that big step over the offseason
and he can develop. And I think we we liked
a little bit what we saw from Davon Dexter. Obviously
we want to see it in a more consistent basis,
but there are pieces there. I just I think you
can sell. You could add to it through the draft,
and I don't know if you necessarily need to give
up you know, huge raft capital to get Miles Garrett.

Speaker 1 (34:05):
I think Austin Booker is going to come back, you know,
fifteen pounds heavier in August and be a different player.
I just don't think that you can do that. You
can't make those types of gains during the season when
you're especially during training camp, when you're burning three thousand
calories a day or whatever, it's just too much work.

(34:26):
I think he's going to come back and be a
different player now. I don't know if that's going to
lead to results. Obviously, that's what the Bears are hoping.
We're going to have to wait and see on that.
I really liked Jervon, especially early in the season. I
think that there's really high ceiling there still. I still
believe that. I think when Billings went out that you know,

(34:46):
there was no you know, he lost his partner, so
to speak, and that really hurt his production. He had
five and a half sacks I think on the season,
and most of those are at least like five almost
all those, I think in the first half of the
season when when Billings was playing Michael. You got one
more thing that didn't work for us that you want
to you want to bring up here.

Speaker 2 (35:08):
I'm debating whether let's talk about this one, because I
feel like this would uh, this one was pretty good,
just based on the Ben Johnson conversation. Running the ball
was not good for this pass team. They finished twenty
fifth ranked in. You know, they had seventeen thirty four
total rushing yards. They had one hundred and two rushing
yards per game. Swift led the team with nine fifty nine.

(35:31):
He had six touchdowns. Caleb was second on the team
with forty eighty nine. He didn't have a touchdown, which
is kind of surprising because I thought they would try
to use them more on that. But you know, this
comes a year after.

Speaker 1 (35:41):
It feel like he had that many rushing yards.

Speaker 2 (35:42):
When you say that, well, I feel like a lot
of them. Also, how many were there were designed runs?
Right Like?

Speaker 1 (35:48):
I feel like, yeah, no, no, he scrambled, he was running around.

Speaker 2 (35:52):
It is It is weird looking at the zero touchdowns.
I would have thought that he would have scrambled in
for at least one or something like that.

Speaker 1 (35:58):
But that's very surprised.

Speaker 2 (36:00):
But but the year before, in twenty twenty three, they
had twenty just the yard shrive twenty four hundred yards.
They're averaging one forty one per game. That was both
of those were second in the league. Obviously, Justin Fields
led the team in rushing with six hundred and fifty
seven yards. He had four touchdowns. Khalil Herbert, who the Bears,
didn't think that he could do anything for this team.
He was six to eleven with two Deonta Foreman Roshan Johnson.

(36:24):
Each of those guys had more than three hundred yards
and the Bears only had two guys who had more
than two hundred yards, which is crazy. And part of
that had to do, obviously with the play calling. Some
of that had to do with the offensive line, but
some of that also just kind of felt like, you know,
just the decisions that were being made by the rushers
weren't great, right, Like sometimes you would see DeAndre Swift

(36:45):
running into people instead of like trying to avoid them.
And I know he had some really good runs that
were touchdown runs, and a lot of it has to
do with what space you have in front of you,
but it didn't really feel like the running game really
got going. And I'm really interested to see based on
you know, when Ben Johnson took over with the Lions,
the DeAndre Swift with the Lions and then he left obviously,

(37:06):
so I'm really interested trading me. What is that going
to look like based on the performances that we saw last.

Speaker 1 (37:11):
Year they traded him and then they or I can't
remember the exact what came first, but they you know,
essentially they added jamieer Gibbs and David Montgomery and traded
DeAndre Swift. And I see a comment here from Mike
Johnson said, who said, did the Bears have a chance
to sign Barkley or Henry uh? Talking about free agency

(37:32):
last year? I mean on Hard Knocks on the Giants
Hard Knocks, Joe Shane was saying that the Bears were
pushing up the price Forquon.

Speaker 2 (37:40):
And Saquon Barkley this week at the Super Bowl said
like the Bears were right there, Like, I don't know
what that means. They were making a Yeah, they were
making a push, like it seems like he always wanted
to go to the Eagles. I don't think it was
like that close.

Speaker 1 (37:51):
But to me, that kind of sounds like Saquon used
the Bears to push up the price.

Speaker 2 (37:56):
But right, but that's offered. They were in there, But that.

Speaker 1 (37:59):
Means that they were they were serious about it, at
least to a point. And so yeah, like they they
clearly were in the market for a free agent running
back and they they wound up signing DeAndre Swift. I
do wonder like with the coaching change. You know, was
was Swift a guy that Fluse really wanted in a

(38:20):
lot of ways, It feels like like that could be
the case. To me, that's just kind of going off
the you know, going off what we we knew about
Maddy Reflus and the type of team he wanted to have.
I do wonder if if swift is is really gonna
fit what Ben Jonson wants to do long term, but
also whether you move on from him this year or
next year, Like, he doesn't have to be your long

(38:42):
term answer. He's under contract for two more years. If
you find a trade partner, you can get get rid
of him relatively cheaply. It's going to cost about eight
million to straight out cut him. I don't think they
would do that. I think they would play it out,
play out the at least the second year of his contract.
And and that still doesn't mean that you could still
draft a running back. You know, with one of those

(39:03):
second round picks, you could still draft a running back
pretty high. I don't think the Bears are going to
be drafting and running back at number ten. I don't
know how you feel about that, Michael.

Speaker 2 (39:12):
I would not do that, obviously, Ben Johnson and with
Gibbs obviously they did that with the top pick. But
I think with the Lions, they had that offensive line
ready to go, right, Like they didn't have really a
lot of pieces to add. Well, they did, but like
they didn't have like those core guys to add that
they really needed to focus on when it came to
the line, and the Bears just need to do that.
I would would I use one of my second round

(39:34):
picks on a running back, maybe the latter one. It's
supposed to be a really deep running back, you know,
class Yeah, And we were talking about this just looking
ahead to the combine, where you know, neither one of
us really were looking at Bucky Irving obviously a local
kid who did really well, and look at the impact
that he had at the Buccaneers, and he was a
sixth round pick, right, Like you're able to find the

(39:55):
running backs like later, you just got to find them
and put him in a good position to succeed. So
I would definitely not use the top pick. I know
it's probably you know, it's enticed to go after Gentry
obviously you saw what he did with Boise State, But
I wouldn't make that investment. You need to fortify your
line before you start worrying about those types of skilled players,
like Ryan Poles has in the past.

Speaker 1 (40:16):
Everybody's saying that this draft is deep at running back,
you would think that that means that you can get
one in the second, third, fourth round, and beyond. And
so I think the Marriers will take take a shot
on somebody at some point, but I don't think that's
going to be particularly high in the draft. So that's

(40:36):
our Those are our three things that that did not work.
We had, uh the offensive line, the passer rush, defensive line,
and the running back. Those are areas obviously that that
Ryan Poles and Ben Johnson have to focus on fixing.
What can they build off of though, Michael, what what
worked well last year that you feel like these guys
can can look at that and maybe exploited even more,

(40:59):
Maybe maybe they can turn it into sort of one
of your identities. What are some of the areas that
worked well for the Bears in twenty twenty four?

Speaker 2 (41:08):
Well, with the will worked well. You kind of had
to look a little bit more obviously with the five win.

Speaker 1 (41:12):
Team at deeper.

Speaker 2 (41:14):
Yeah, but for my three I did a couple of
players and I did one category so I'll go with
the player first, and it's someone that both Ben Johnson
and Dennis Allen have brought up. Is Kyler Gordon. He
had a really good year. He had a major impact.
He had seventy five tackles for a loss, he had
half a sack, one forced fumble, three forced fumble recoveries.

(41:38):
He was just he for what the league is becoming.
And you know, he's kind of become that slot safety
right like there, He's become that safety net for this
team where he can come for a slot guy, that
third or fourth receiver, or he can even rush the
quarterback right like you've seen. You see how versatile is
and how good he is. And there's a reason why

(41:59):
Ben Johnson brought him up on prompted, there's a reason
why Dennis Allen brought him up unprompted. I think a
lot of the league believes in Kyler Gordon, and you
can see why. He just makes plays for you in
the secondary. He's able to get into your backfield, he
can help your linebackers as well, and he's someone that
really had a good year and someone that I would
expect that the Bears are probably currently having contract negotiations

(42:20):
about because if there's something that Ryan Poles has done
really well, it's strafting in the secondary, and he's a
really major piece for what this Bears defense is going
to be over the next five years.

Speaker 1 (42:32):
It's hard to find a really good nickel. Yeah, it's hard.
Like there's it's such a unique position. You have to
be able to play in pass coverage. You have to
be able you can't be a liability in the run game,
like you have to be able to tackle too, and
that's hard to find. And that's I agree. I feel

(42:52):
like the Bears, especially how much those guys are talking
about him, or at least they both mentioned him, I
would imagine that Bears want to try to lock him up,
you know, as as as quickly as they can. I
you know, a nickel corner. I'd have to look at
the numbers. Isn't gonna cost you the same as as
say a Jalen Johnson contract.

Speaker 2 (43:12):
No, probably, but uh so.

Speaker 1 (43:15):
So it's not like it's gonna gonna be a big
hit on your salary cap. But I do think you
would want to try to if they like him that much,
I think they want to lock him up as soon
as they can. I'll throw in. I'll expand it and
say that whole secondary. I know Jakwan Brisker missed a
lot of time, but Jalen Johnson was rock solid this year. Yeah,
you can build off off what those Kevin Byern is
gonna be back. He signed a two year deal last year,

(43:37):
so he's got another year on his contract. If Jakwan's healthy.
You know, I think you just really like that whole
group you have. Uh you got Tyreeke and Terrell still
kind of fighting it out for for that that other
spot on opposite Jalen Johnson. I think you can really
build off that, and I mean you don't necessarily even
need to add anybody. You just have those guys keep

(43:58):
playing together. Did some things Tyreek did this season concern you, Yeah,
of course, Uh, you know we don't have to dive
into that, uh that we can have a whole show
on that. But yeah, I think overall you have a
lot of pieces back there that that's gonna make a
really strong secondary.

Speaker 2 (44:15):
Yeah. I'm not worried about that secondary. I'm you know,
even if you want to look at the linebackers, I'm
fine with what they have. T J. Edwards had a
really great year. Too. He was someone else that I
was still gonna gonna mention.

Speaker 1 (44:26):
But I had him on my list too.

Speaker 2 (44:27):
But that back that back half of the defense. I
think you can leave it the same and let them
the sail and go to work, and I think it'll
be fine. Like I think you've got a lot of
great stuff back there. You want to hopefully Brisker is
able to get healthy, hope you know with him. I
don't know how you want to approach that. Obviously there's
a human element of that, but there's also like the
financial element. You want to make a commitment to him,

(44:49):
So maybe you kind of see how that unfolds. But
I think you like what you have in the secondary
and you just kind of keep it the way it
is because that was that wasn't really a problem for
this team at all last year.

Speaker 1 (44:59):
No wasn't okay. The next thing that worked, I'm going
Caleb Williams, I'm going with the quarterback. I think there's
a lot to build off of. I think obviously the
scheme and the system didn't always help him. The play
calling wasn't always great at certain stretches of the season,
But I mean you saw glimpses, you saw some of

(45:23):
the throws that he made, his mobility in the pocket.
The sacks are a concern. You can include the offensive
line in that. I feel like you can't really have
one without the other. But I think that there's a lot. Obviously,
Ben Johnson saw a lot to like, or he wouldn't
be here. He said that in his opening press conference.

(45:43):
I think that you need to get on the same
page with your play caller. Ben Johnson talked about that
so much, just how important it is, like the quarterback
has to be an extension of the play caller. And
and that's like a that's not something we ever heard
as under Matt Eberflus. You know that that was like

(46:04):
a novel concept here in Chicago, that that those guys
should be should be thinking the same way that that
essentially the quarterback is an extra coach out there, and
that's not really something we would ever hear Matt Ibraflu
say no.

Speaker 2 (46:17):
And I think the biggest thing with Caleb is, you know,
given everything he dealt with, the coaching change, the multiple
playlock callers, you know, all the different things, he still
made it look respectable. Right, Like, obviously there are things
we can look into his game you know, obviously holding
on to the ball a little bit too long, taking
sex and any rookie is going to learn from those mistakes, right, Like,

(46:40):
but you saw him make incredible throws where you were like,
how did he fit that into that tight window? How
does he able to you know, find you know, escape
from that and then hit DeAndre Swift Mitch Stride like,
he was able to make a lot of big plays.
And I think he did as much as he could
have with that offensive line and with the play calling.
Did missed some wide open throws deep passes, Yes, he did,

(47:02):
and he's I'm sure he's going to evaluate that. He's
going to look at his footwork. I'm sure Ben Johnson's
already getting on him and like being like this footwork
wasn't great, or like what's wrong with the timing here?
We need to get that straightened out, like he Ay said,
like they're all right on top of it. But given
everything that Caleb had to deal with as a rookie
being the number one overall pick, I think he handled

(47:23):
it as best as you could have. And I think,
you know, everyone wants to do the redraft of the
class already, everyone's gone through the whole thing about is
Caleb the fourth best quarterback? I'm not. I think the
Bears would take Caleb over, you know, number one, number one,
and I think I would do it too. Jade and
Daniels had a great season, and I think he's going
to be a great quarterback. I don't think that means

(47:44):
that Caleb was the wrong choice.

Speaker 1 (47:45):
They can both be great. That could be an outre.

Speaker 2 (47:47):
There is a world where other quarterbacks are allowed to
also be good.

Speaker 1 (47:51):
Did you see the voting for Rookie of the Year
last night?

Speaker 2 (47:56):
I didn't see the tallies. Well, we're the I know obviously, James.

Speaker 1 (47:59):
I'm gonna make you. I'm gonna put you on the
spot here. Where do you think Caleb Williams.

Speaker 2 (48:03):
Finished with Rookie of the Year for the offense? I
would probably say like fifth, sixth. Did he get votes?

Speaker 1 (48:12):
He finished tenth? He finished tenth. He got two fifth
place votes. That was those were the only votes that
what was the ranking? So Jayden Daniels ran away with this,
which is no surprise. Shrock Bowers was second, also no surprise. Third,
bow Knicks, fourth, Brian Thomas, fifth, Molik Neighbors, sixth, your guy,

(48:36):
Bucky Irving seventh, Drake May eighth, Joe Alt ninth, Lad
McConkie tenth. Caleb Williams to me, that's insane.

Speaker 2 (48:47):
Yeah, that is insane.

Speaker 1 (48:48):
That's insane any of those guys.

Speaker 2 (48:51):
No, Yeah, imagine a year ago if we said Bucky
Irving was going to be ranked four spots higher or
whatever it was, then Caleb Williams, We'd be like, no way.

Speaker 1 (49:00):
With six interceptions, he finished twenty seven yards shy of
Jade and Daniel's passing yards. That it's just it's all narrative.
I mean, it's just the fact that he was on
a five wing football team.

Speaker 2 (49:11):
Yeah, and that obviously plays a role, obviously, like he
he was a leader of that team, right, But I
I I can't really put that much on Caleb and obviously,
and maybe that becomes a new thing from maybe that
becomes a new home screen for him. The the ranking
of the top guys and these like number ten highlighted.
Maybe that's something. But that's surprising, Like, you're not surprised
that brock Bauers was higher than him. You're not surprised

(49:33):
that what's his face, uh, Malik Neighbors was better than him.
Neighbors Thomas had great Thomas had a great season too,
but man down to ten that's uh and no offense to.

Speaker 1 (49:46):
Joe Alton, Len McConkie. Great, great additions for the Chargers.

Speaker 2 (49:50):
Drake May really Drake May.

Speaker 1 (49:54):
Finished with three third place votes for a total of
nine points.

Speaker 2 (50:01):
Interesting. Yeah, well that's gonna be motivation, I'm sure.

Speaker 1 (50:06):
Let me tell you that was an interesting one. Michael,
you got we got time for one more here. We
do gotta get going here. But one more thing that
worked that we can that the Bears can build off here.

Speaker 2 (50:15):
Part of this kind of goes with what we were
talking about with the quarterback. But the Bears overall turnover
margin was really good. Actually, they ended up being plus
quick math plus eight on the turnover margin. They got
twenty four takeaways, eleven interceptions, thirteen fumbles. They only had

(50:37):
seven interceptions and nine fumbles. Usually, when you see that
type type of positive, you know, takeaway, that's a playoff team.
You look at the other teams that are in that margin,
all of them are in the playoffs except the Bears.
And I think that again goes into Kleb and you know,
we like to give Maddy Eberflus a hard time. But
the Bears did take the ball away, and they did

(50:59):
they held on to it, sometimes a little bit too long.
Sometimes it led to sacks, and some you can make
the argument of whether a sack is almost as bad
as a turnover, whether that kind of hurts your momentum
and hits your team. But they were in the positive
in that game by a wide margin, and I think
that bodes well for building upon the future of this team, right,
Like you want to have a quarterback who's not just

(51:19):
gonna throw interceptions. You want to have a defense that
can create turnovers, and you have the foundation.

Speaker 1 (51:25):
For that, you absolutely do. You have the foundation. You
want to cut back on the sacks, for sure, But
Caleb and he in college too, did a great job
taking care of the football. Yeah, I think this defense
is I know it looked bad the last seven eight
games or whatever, but they're not that far away from
like being a really good defense. I think they were

(51:46):
a really good defense the first couple weeks of the
season in twenty twenty four, and then things kind of
fell apart. I think that they can still create turnovers.
I think, you know the fact that they really don't
have to change their scheme a whole lot is going
to help those guys a lot. And and you know,
you find some extra pass rush help, you're gonna be
feeling really good about the Bears defense going into twenty

(52:06):
twenty five. I like that one, Michael. I mean that's
good football. Teams win the turnover margin, and I mean
you gotta think if the Bears keep that up, the
wins are gonna come.

Speaker 2 (52:17):
Yeah, you do. And I'm just curious to know, Like
I feel like a lot of what we heard with
Caleb this year was, you know, he shouldn't be afraid
to take chances, and sometimes you want him to take
more chances. But I don't feel like, do you ever
feel like he wasn't taking chances this year? Like I
feel like he was like he was throwing it tight
into tight windows, like he wasn't afraid to go for it.

(52:38):
I just don't think like I think he was. He
was dangerous enough with the ball, if that makes sense.
Like sometimes you just want to be dangerous. Sometimes you
have to go for it. And I feel like he
did it enough, and he didn't do it in a
reckless way that you kind of see some other quarterbacks
do it.

Speaker 1 (52:53):
No, and maybe that's a thing that he sort of
takes to the to the next level a little bit. Yeah,
you know, it takes a few more chances. Certainly. I
think that that Iberflus and that coaching staff wanted him
to take care of the football. That was a big
and every coach is gonna want the quarterback to take
care of the football. But I think I think Ben
Johnson will be a little bit more aggressive, yes in

(53:13):
that regard. Okay, we're running a little bit long here.
We got to get out of here really quick. Michael,
who you got in the Super Bowl?

Speaker 2 (53:19):
I'm going with Kansas City. I don't I just can't
pick against them at this point, Like why would you.
It's kind of like the Jordan Bulls. Why would you
ever pick against them. I'm just going with the Chiefs,
and I think it should be a really good game.
But I think, once again, Patrick Mahomes is just too good.

Speaker 1 (53:33):
I'm with you. I'm taking the Chiefs solely because of
Patrick Mahomes. I think go with the go with the quarterback,
and I like Patrick Mahomes obviously the three time Super
Bowl champ. Okay, we got to get out of here.
Thank you for joining us. If you're with us live
one more time, hit the thumbs up. That's a great
way to support the show. Leave us a review on
Spotify or Apple, and head to shaw logo dot com

(53:54):
to read all of our Bears coverage. We would really
appreciate that if you head over to shawlocal dot com
and please consider subscribing. He's Michael Dwojack. You can find
him on Twitter at I'm Dwojack ninety four. I'm Sean Hammond.
You can find me on Twitter at at Sean Underscore Hammond.
We will let you know when we're gonna go live.
This has been the shaw Local Bears Insider podcast. Thanks

(54:15):
for listening, everybody,