Episode 405: Evaluating the Bears' preseason game, joint practice with the Buffalo Bills

The Chicago Bears wrapped up another week of training camp after going against the Buffalo Bills in a joint practice and preseason game. Shaw Local's Michal Dwojak and Joe Aguilar break down the week and what's left of training camp.


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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello, and welcome to the Shaw Local Bears Insider Podcast.
I am Michael Duo Jack here with the Northwest Herritage
Joe Aguilar as we break down another week of Bears
training camp. Recording this on Monday, August, Joe, Joe, to
day is and I don't even know what day it
is anymore. We're doing this on Monday, and it's actually

(00:24):
I just don't know what they it is at this point.
I feel like today's kind of get lost. But it's Monday.
It's August eighteenth. We are two preseason games into this
preseason training camp, whatever you want to call it, two
joint practices into things. And you know, Joe, I know,
it's a preseason game against the Buffalo Bills where they
had most of their backups and they didn't play too much.

(00:46):
But I feel like any thirty eight to nothing blowout
win is always a good win.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
Oh yeah, hey, I mean, we don't know what the
regular season's gonna hold, but at least for one night,
it was really fun to watch Bears football. And like
you said, and now I'm gonna say, and we'll keep
saying it, it was only a preseason game, but it certainly
was fun. To watch Bears football for three hours or
was it longer because the first half of two hours.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
It was definitely longer.

Speaker 2 (01:13):
Oh my goodness, you were out there at Soldier Field.
But it was just fun to see every aspect of
the team function and look like a well coached football team.
And I don't know how it's gonna look during the
regular season. All depends on performance by the players who's healthy,
but they certainly look through two preseason games like a

(01:35):
well coached football team. And I can't remember the last
time I've seen that. Has anyone been griping about the
Bears coaching on social media the last two games? I
haven't seen it, you know, Bears Twitter is how Chicago
sports twitter is.

Speaker 3 (01:52):
I haven't seen it.

Speaker 2 (01:53):
So again, it's day to day here with everybody certainly
in this city as sports fans.

Speaker 3 (01:59):
But for one night, it sure was fun.

Speaker 1 (02:02):
Yeah it was. It was definitely fun. Obviously, the big
coveyat obviously is that it was a preseason game, but
still it's good to see as opposed to the alternative. Right,
if it didn't look good against the backups, I can't
imagine what we would be talking about today. But yeah,
we'll break it all down for you folks. If you're
listening on the podcast, thanks so much for listening to us.
If you're on the live stream right now, thanks so
much for joining us live. If you have any questions,

(02:24):
any comments, you want to talk about Sunday night's game,
or if you want to you know, break down the
past week, the joint practice on Friday, we'll be talking
with you folks here for the next you know, forty
five minutes or so. So thanks for for all her
chiming in. Brought Roberts in town. He's saying, hey, good
to get Robert here. So let's uh, let's let's talk
about that game on Sunday. And the biggest thing was

(02:47):
that Caleb Williams was making this first start of the preseason.
A lot of the starters also made their first starts,
and that first drive is exactly I feel like that
first drive for the Bears is a calm nation of
the past. I want to say, like the past week,
past two weeks of what we've seen from Caleb, where
you know, the installs are done, they went through twelve

(03:09):
days of installs and now they're honing it in more
and they're making it look more comfortable, like doing what
Caleb is able to execute. They threw a lot at them,
they threw up the splash them with the bucket of water.
Whatever you want, whatever analogy you want to use. And
now they're kind of bringing it in and I think
you saw, Joe, how comfortable Caleb can be in this offense,
right like first play, throwing it right to Coleston Lovelin

(03:32):
on the sideline, you know, getting a nice completion, finding
Cole Coman on the next play, and then you know,
moving the ball down the field. I think you saw,
you know, even if it's against the backups. The biggest
thing for me was how does the operation look? Does
he look comfortable? And that first that first drive, Caleb
just looked comfortable, right Like, he just seemed like he
understood what he was supposed to do. He placed the
ball perfectly most of the time. And that was pretty

(03:55):
much what you wanted to see in the in in
his first you know, preseason drive exactly.

Speaker 2 (04:01):
I mean, we've been talking about this since camp open.
Let's just see them break the huddle. Everyone get lined
up correctly, be in the right position, no one falls,
start and run a football play and deliver the ball
on time, and we saw a lot of that last night,
which was again nice to see. We saw open receivers,
we see we saw Caleb hitting receivers in stride. We
saw a push from the offensive line. And I'll tell

(04:23):
you what one play that won't get talked about. And
it wasn't a good play because it was an incompletion,
but the play where I don't know if it broke
down or what happened, but it kind of did a
little spin. It just spiked it at any completion to me,
I don't know. A year ago, I don't know if
he makes that play, maybe he tried to scramble some more.
All of a sudden's a ten yard sack and now
you're really in trouble. So even I think you could
tell they've been working with him on those things like

(04:44):
boom boom boom throw it boom boom boom throw. Whether
it was under center or a shotgun, it just looked
completely different. And I don't care if it was against
the you know, the you know, the Woodstock JV team.
I mean, it looked like they had a plan what
they were doing, So I will take it. And hey,
look Buffalo, I know they rested all their stars and

(05:04):
so forth. That's still a team that's in the Super
Bowl conversation again this year, and you know they're back.
You know, good teams. It's not just the stars, it's
it's their depth. So to do it against the Buffalo Bills.

Speaker 3 (05:18):
It's not the.

Speaker 2 (05:18):
Cleveland Browns you were playing last night. It was the
Buffalo Bills. They're still the Buffalo Bills. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (05:24):
I saw after the game. You know, Sean McDermott had
some comments and he was kind of hard on his
team where he was like, listen, I know the starters
didn't start like still where like you said, he didn't
say super Bowl team, but they are a super Bowl
team and you expect the second and third and fourth
string team. So I was kind of surprised by the
shut up. But yeah, like you said, it just looked good, right,
Like you saw Caleb make the easy throws. You didn't

(05:45):
see him trying to force things. I agree with you
that that that incompletion that he had on that second
drive where the screen just broke down like you just
tossed it. He was like all right, like live to
fight another day. And I agree, I think that's growth
where you're seeing him those decisions and he's realizing it's
not worth it to me or not not that it's
not worth it, but like it's just a net zero

(06:07):
probably if you try to make something out of that.
And yeah, and I think that's growth, right, Like you
want to see him make those type of things. It's
fun when he makes the scrambles and he makes like
the crazy throws or whatever. But a lot of the
times last year it led to sacks or incompletions or
or it just didn't lead to a lot of success.
And that's not really good for your quarterback to get
into a routine like that. So yeah, I agree, really

(06:29):
good stuff from Caleb. He he went for uh, he
went for where he threw for one hundred and seven yards,
completed six of his ten pass attempts. They went two drives.
First drive obviously he completed the short pass to Well.
I mean, there's a kas who I think is going
to be a really big play maker on this offense.

(06:50):
He's going to be that three or four guy that
is just going to be open sometimes like you saw
in that touchdown, and he's just going to take it
and run with it. We've seen that the entire training
camp and he's going to be a really good weapon
for this team this season. But scoring on the touchdown,
then the second drive, I think there. I think that
second drive they were trying to get the run going
a little bit more. You know, DeAndre Swift didn't start,

(07:11):
kylemong Guy didn't play. Roshan Johnson is injured, so Dan
Hankins got the start there and got a couple runs.
So kind of it kind of slowed down after a
first down, and you know, Rome could have maybe caught
that third down pass. Caleb took credit for that and
said I should have placed it better. But I do
think that after two drives, you had to be pretty

(07:32):
encouraged by what you saw with all the context obviously
from what this game was.

Speaker 2 (07:37):
Yeah, and then the you know, the Tyler Tyler uh
Tyson Beagent show starts and he was great again. So
I think they joked during the broadcast about it. There
QB controversy in Chicago, like stecks, not even go there,
don't don't even go there.

Speaker 1 (07:54):
Right now, there's no town that loves a backup quarterback
than Chicago. If there is no time to quarterback.

Speaker 3 (08:04):
Only the starter's bad. But I'll say this about Tyson Bajion.

Speaker 2 (08:08):
I didn't know if you hit it on your agenda
to talk about this morning, but well, at least he
looks like a competent quarterback.

Speaker 3 (08:15):
Who could you know?

Speaker 2 (08:16):
And again he showed it two years ago his rookie
season when Justin Fields was on he you know, he
went two and two. Not that it's all you know
on him, certainly, like any game, it's not always on
the quarterback, but he certainly looked like you know, everyone's
been talking about about being.

Speaker 3 (08:32):
On time, get the ball nowhere, no where it's going.

Speaker 2 (08:35):
And he had some he had some not great moments,
but he had a lot of great moments last night.
So and then even Austin Reid got in there. And
I think the one consistency, Michael uh and you can
tell me this better from your eye in the press box,
guys were open all the time. It's that quarterbacks, all
three of them look like they know they knew what

(08:56):
they were doing. Look for this guy. If he's not open,
look for the other guy. In the second guy was
open and was quick, quick, quick, and man, I have
not seen that in Chicago in a long time.

Speaker 3 (09:07):
So that was fun.

Speaker 2 (09:08):
I mean, they'd look good in the preseason last year too.
I do remember that, and then you know, we know
what happened during the regular season. But it was again
a lot of fun to watch that offense last night,
and you know, we'll see what it looks like in
three weeks, three weeks from today, right season opener.

Speaker 3 (09:23):
Yeah, with the Vikings. And Ben Johnson mentioned something last
night in the.

Speaker 2 (09:26):
Post game about kind of a I don't know if
he didn't use the word tune up, but about just
to know, get that feel of here's what's gonna look
like a night game at Soldier Field and kind of
get that same mentality going proup because the Bears were
certainly ready, and Sean mcdermy was probably saying about his
team like, I don't care who were playing, whether it's
preseason or who's the second string, first starters, third string,

(09:50):
doesn't matter. Let's be ready to compete. And the Bears
what we've seen early on, at least, whether it's during
the scrimmages against opponents in on the Friday or the
games here, they look ready to compete.

Speaker 1 (10:04):
Yeah, they definitely do. And I think you really have
to be encouraged, Like you mentioned, all the different aspects
of what that looks like.

Speaker 3 (10:09):
You know, with.

Speaker 1 (10:10):
Baigent, I've said, you know, I've thought from the beginning
of training camp that he's looked the most comfortable out
of all the quarterbacks. Obviously, I'm not here to start
a competition and say that it should be the starter,
but I think you have to be like Robert mentioned
in our comments, you know, if Beijen has to step
in during the season, I'll be confident. I would entirely agree.
I think that you know, you don't want to be

(10:31):
in the world where Caleb Williams is hurt or anything
like that. But I think Beijen has shown you that
he completely understands this offense. He knows where the ball
is supposed to be, he knows the timing of it all,
he knows every single play. He's not I don't think
it's rude to say that. You know, obviously he's not
as talented as Caleb. What you know, Caleb was the
number one pick and Tyson was an undrafted free agent

(10:53):
that the Bears found. But I do think that you
have a game manager in Baigent that if something happens,
you feel really comfident in his ability to do that.
And you know, Beigen said after the game, like this
is my time to shine af after like the preseason,
Like I don't think not they doesn't want to be
in there, but like it's Caleb show, he should be
and then everything is going great if Caleb is the
one who's doing everything. And I think that speaks volumes

(11:16):
about Beijen, right like where he knows what his role
is on this team, he knows what he needs to do,
and he really prepares himself. So yeah, I was really
encouraged by that. I really liked what what Beijen said
there and just what he's been able to do. Roberts
brings up another really interesting comment where I wasn't in
the in the press conference room at this time when

(11:38):
the question was asked by listening later, and you know,
Ben Jonson fatically said it had nothing to do with
scheming and it was all the players going full speed.
That's how to get your players on your side. And
I would agree with that because you know, in the
preseason game it's pretty vanilla, right, like you're not going
crazy with your scheming and and your game planning and
all that sort of stuff. But I do agree with

(11:58):
Robert where that that's a good way to get players
on your side, and that's a good way to boost
their spirits, right, Like you are giving them the motivation
of like, hey, if you run this play, this basic
play that we're running, and you run it well, and
you're gonna get open. And I think that's really encouraging
right where you're finding like you said, Joe got DJ
Moore is getting open for a first down, Rome's getting
open for an opportunity to right, it's a cay is

(12:19):
like colest that comet, Like all these different guys are
getting open and you're seeing all these different weapons. So
I agree there wasn't much scheming yesterday. Obviously it's a
preseason game. It's pretty vanilla at this point. But I
did agree with Robert Dad, you know, when he was
asked about that, he could say something about Ben could
say something about that, but instead he chose to, you know,

(12:39):
play up as players. And I think that's kind of
shown you what we talked about earlier about how, you know,
coaching matters, and it really is important to see how
this coaching staff is, you know, trying to boost this
team and kind of give it the confidence it needs
heading into the season.

Speaker 2 (12:55):
Yeah, you know, it's the old line that practice makes perfect. No,
it's perfect, practice makes perfect. And the culture has been
established since day one, since he really got here when
he challenged the players like, you know, be ready to
be you know, I'm paraphrasing challenge like you've never been
challenged before. That all matters, and he's lived up to
his part, Ben Johnson, and again we'll we'll see, uh,

(13:18):
you know, we'll see when he when it starts to
become real three weeks from tonight against Minnesota. But everything
I've seen so far, and you're you're there every day
at hallis you can you can speak better to this
than me. But everything looks right so far. There's been
no red flags yet. Doesn't mean they won't be a
seven win team again. They better not be a seven
win team again, or a five win team even worse.

(13:41):
But it looks right from every aspect, including defensively. We
can talk about that whenever. But Dennis Salin that's a
difference maker right there defensively because they that that unit
looks different.

Speaker 1 (13:55):
Yeah, they do look different, and they played the starter
has played only in one series. Obviously, Josh Allen didn't
start for the Bills. So defense forced to three and out.
Jervon Dexter and Tran main ends Edmonds on the first
play got through some a couple of blocks and made
a nice stop on a rush to get a loss
of a yard. Then you had an incompletion, two fall

(14:16):
starts for the Bills in another incompletion on a little
bit of a quick screen rush. So three and out
pretty easy. When it comes to the defense, I'm more
interested in, you know, talking about Friday. You know Friday's
joined practice against the Bills, and that was a really
interesting moment because I for both the offense and the defense,

(14:37):
I think you saw both good and bad. And starting
with the defense, like they started off well in seven
on sevens, I think they got the best of Josh
Allen a couple of times. I know Kevin Byron had
a had an interception during seven on sevens. But then
in your in team drills and eleven on eleven, Josh
Allen showed why he's the reigning m v P. And

(14:58):
I was telling a couple of peop over the weekend
and even at Friday's practice where you see an MVP
player on TV and you're like, oh, this looks good,
and then you see it in person and you're like, Oh,
this is what it's supposed to look like, Like, this
is how someone effectively runs the offense, gets the ball
out quickly, moves like it just looks different and it

(15:20):
was really impressive to watch it. I think the defense
held its own. I think Josh Allen picked up a
bunch of yards. He had a ten fifteen twenty yard completions.

Speaker 3 (15:29):
He you know, did.

Speaker 1 (15:30):
Pretty well in the red zone and during a two
minute situational trill. So defensively speaking, for Sunday was good.
And then I thought Friday you saw good and bad.
I think you saw a secondary that is a little
bit depleted right now and maybe got a little bit
taken advantage of the pass rush didn't go in as
much as we probably wanted to be going at this point.
But I agree with your point, Shoe, where this defense

(15:53):
is aggressive. It's going to attack and it's going to push.
And I was encouraged by what I saw yesterday, and
I was really encouraged by what I saw on Friday,
just because you're going against the Super Bowl contender that
is a top five, top two offense in the league,
and you held your own for the most part. They've
got theirs and you got some of yours at some point,

(16:13):
So I think you have to be pretty encouraged about
where this defense is at this point. There's still questions.
I still am worried about that secondary depth, especially with
Terrell Smith's you know, really bad looking injury yesterday. Like,
still got to figure out that secondary depth without Jalen
Johnson for the foreseeable future. Maybe he'll be back, but
I do think you have to be encouraged by the

(16:34):
defense of what you saw at this point.

Speaker 2 (16:36):
Yeah, I think Dennis Allen's going to find a way
to get pressure. I think, like you know in years past, here,
you know they just keep rushing for hope someone gets through. Well,
there's different ways to scheme, and I think Dennis Allen,
you're just seeing it. Whether it's the backups, teams, backup
second stringers, third stringers, some starters, They're finding a way

(16:57):
to get everyone involved. You're noticing different guys a lot
of times on different plays. The Austin Booker's been, you know,
playing like you know, Dan Hampton is prime these last
two games, but we're just seeing a lot of different
guys contribute. It really stinks about Terrell Smith, I it
looks like it could be a knee. You'll hopefully you'll
find out more, you know, today or the next couple

(17:18):
of days here, I'm sure, but that's tough because you
never have enough corners. You can have ten corners on
your roster and it's not enough. So they got to
find another guy to step up. And you know, getting
back to well, the Bills didn't play their starters last night.
They didn't play Josh Allen. That's the that's the one.
You can forget about the rest of the starters. I
know they're good, they're all competent, you know, James Cook
and Shakir you know, they didn't play without Josh Allen's

(17:43):
I mean, that makes all the difference. That's why it's
so important, as we know, to find the franchise quarterback
because that that game, certainly, even if you just count.

Speaker 3 (17:50):
The first half, it's the Bears.

Speaker 2 (17:51):
Worb was at thirty six, nothing at halftime whatever it
was thirty eight.

Speaker 3 (17:55):
You know, that's not the square as we know.

Speaker 2 (17:57):
If Josh Allen just plays two series, so ticket for
what it's worth. But you know, we're not talking about
Buffalo really, but you know, defensively, it's they just look,
don't they, Michael, Compared to last year, they just look
different scheme wise, more active. They look coached up. I mean,

(18:17):
it's probably the simplest way to put it.

Speaker 1 (18:20):
Yeah, I agree, they do look coached up. And you know,
like you said, it's the preseason. We'll see how things
kind of look go once the kind of get things going.
But I would agree, I think you're seeing Listen, Dennis
Allen's defense is aggressive and he's gonna hit you with
a bunch of different fronts. He loves moving people up
and down the line of scrimmage. He moves Dio in
and out. He you know, talked talking last week. I

(18:43):
had a story about Davon Dexter and how he can
benefit kind of in this defense.

Speaker 4 (18:46):
And you know, there's gonna be a five mats front sometimes,
like they are going to put five guys on on
the line of scrimmage and just be like, hey, one
on one matchups, stop us, right, Like, I think that's
going to be really interesting and it's going to be
hard to keep up with sometimes.

Speaker 1 (18:59):
And I think you've seen so far. Montes Sweat has
had a good training camp, Dio has had you know,
hit or miss moments. Sometimes. I think he's flashed a
little bit. Grady Jarrett. I mean he's just so he's
so hard to stop. I mean he's he's a proven veteran.
He knows exactly what he's doing. I think you have

(19:21):
to be encouraged by it. I'm just really interested to
see can this happen in the regular season and can
you have enough depth in that situation. We'll talk a
little bit more about the injuries later. But Austin Booker
left the game yesterday, Dominie Robinson left the game yesterday.
Those are two key guys that are going to be
part of your rotation if you're going to be a
pass rushing So I'm really interested in that. I don't

(19:42):
know if we talked about this the last time we talked,
but Kyler Gordon he's week to week with an injury here.
I think it was a hamstring injury that it's been reported,
and I that that's a that's a huge injury. They
obviously paid him over the offseason. He's your nickel. He
moves all over this defense. He can play at the
line of scrimmage, he can play back in coverage, he

(20:03):
can play outside, he can play inside. He is a
versatile Swiss Army Knight for you, and your defense is
worse without him, right. I don't think that's any disrespect
to the defense, but it's just worse without him. He's
just that great of a phenomenal player and a playmaker.
And I've been impressed.

Speaker 3 (20:20):
You know.

Speaker 1 (20:20):
Nick McLeod came in this week. He's played the nickel
this week and I think he played it well. He
kind of blew up that second play on Sunday and
I think he's done it really well. So I think
obviously you want Kyler Gordon back as soon as possible.
They're hoping to have him back before the end of
training camp or toward the end of training camp. But
I think you're encouraged by what you're seeing from Nick

(20:42):
McLeod and Josh Blackwell. They're really encouraged by him to
in that nickel position. But that'll be interesting to watch
as they kind of try to figure out who they
have in the second area. But that's gonna be a
really important part of this defense, right Joe. Just the
stickiness of this defense and who's able to make plays
in man de man coverage.

Speaker 2 (20:59):
Yeah, I mean, if they're healthy that that's a prettyod
secondary with Gordon and Brisker and Jalen Johnson. You know,
Tyrek Stevenson, you hope he. I think he looks like
he's certainly being capable of being a reliable corner in
this league. So, but guys start going down like Terrell
Smith all of a sudden. But you know what, that's
gonna be every team in the league. Every there's no

(21:21):
team that goes through a whole season injury free. That's
where you gotta rely on your depth. You're you're drafting,
you're the guys you bring in his undrafted free agent guys.
Not that they got to start seventeen games, but can
they plug in and and and Phil and you know,
make it not so noticeable? And then no one's gonna
have a love at all pros on defense, No team ever, so,
not even the great Steelers teams. They almost did it

(21:43):
in the seventies. That's another story for another day, but
not even for another day. But regardless, you you know
what I mean. So they're gonna they're gonna there's gonna
be weak spots, whether it's the secondary linebacker inside. But
that's where why coaching matters and That's why you really
need depth, and you need the guys who are your
depth pieces to be ready to contribute. Like you need

(22:04):
to find that the tyson beaging guys on defense who
really know what they're doing and are ready to plug in.
And they might be a backup the whole season, but
if they get an opportunity to play, you gotta be ready.

Speaker 3 (22:15):
You can't miss a.

Speaker 1 (22:16):
Beat, yeah, for sure. Wanting to wrap up some game
coverage here, Robert asked how come Swift Swift wasn't playing
with the first teamers. I'm not really sure. Ben Johnson
wasn't asked about that. He was asked about a young
guy and he I remember correctly, Kyle. You know, Ben
Johnson said that a little nicked up from Friday, but

(22:37):
he wasn't too concerned about it. I wasn't asked about Swift.
I thought that was a little bit interesting. That could
be just like Joe Tony didn't play on Sunday Eater. Obviously,
Joe is an all pro ten year plus veteran. He
knows how to get ready for an NFL game, So
I'm not worried about that at all. The DeAndre Swift
thing was a little bit interesting, but I mean he's

(22:58):
done it. I think you just want to you know,
the reps and snaps are really important with his coaching staff,
they keep emphasizing that and he maybe just reached his
limit with that or they were just like we saw
enough on Friday. I don't there's no need like as
you saw yesterday, there's no need to risk injury for
your starting running back. Roshawn Johnson's already out. Calmlanung guy's

(23:18):
dealing with some stuff. You can't be without your top
three running backs heading into the season. So that was
that was a little bit of a surprise, but I
wasn't too concerned about that. Uh, Like we mentioned earlier,
Tarot Smith's injury didn't look good. It was a knee injury.
Coach Johnson after the game said, you know, it was
a concerning moment and uh didn't look good. They're hoping

(23:41):
for the best with him. Booker suffered a knee injury
on a special team's play. Dominique Robertson had a right
ankle spraying, running back Dean Hankins had a knee injury,
and wide receiver JP Richardson hit ankle injuries. All of
them were out there doubtful to return, so listen, it's
kind of hard because you want to play these games.

(24:03):
But also like if you lose a lot of those guys,
like you lose a lot of depth in you're in
those different important spots. So I guess Sunday was also
kind of a reminder that maybe sometimes it's not worth
getting mad about not playing because you never know what's
going to happen in the game.

Speaker 2 (24:18):
Yeah, some of those guys like I'm not concerned about
like if they can't play or you know, they have
to go on on the injury list. I you know,
Dominique Robinson, you know, but Booker is the one. I
hope that was just like, you know what, let's not
take get a chances the games. The game's over. Just
what's what's the point here? I hope that's all it is,
because man, if he's out for an extended period of time, now,

(24:39):
that is that is concerned, considering how good he's looked
and the upside we've seen going back to last year,
and certainly he's flashing the the in the you play
the preseason here, So that's the one I'm concerned about.

Speaker 3 (24:51):
Tarrell Smith. It just doesn't look encouraging.

Speaker 2 (24:52):
Maybe we'll get some surprising good news from him, but
those are the two big ones.

Speaker 3 (24:57):
Swift, I don't know if he's heard or not.

Speaker 2 (24:59):
I hope not, because if he's not ready to go,
I have no confidence in those other guys. Being a
guy you can give the ball to twenty times a game.
Running backs guys always pop up.

Speaker 3 (25:09):
I don't know where. You see it all the time
in the league. So maybe there's one of those guys.

Speaker 2 (25:12):
But the other guys, though, I mean, I wish we
could have seen my young guy last night. But the
guy I really like is Ian Booker. I you know
another kid Brown?

Speaker 1 (25:20):
Was it?

Speaker 3 (25:21):
Devin Brown?

Speaker 1 (25:23):
Brittan Brown? Pardon Bretton Brown? Yeah, Ian Wheeler and Britton Brown.

Speaker 3 (25:29):
Yeah. I like Wheeler.

Speaker 2 (25:30):
I mean I liked him last ye until he tour
the ACL right, he looked good, So I just think
he runs hard, he looks for holes. He just doesn't
go up the middle of hook there's a hole. I again,
I'm not a scout. I you know, I never coached
running backs. I never played running back, but he certainly
looks good. I hope he makes the roster. I think
that running back depth there is gonna be interesting to
see who makes the football team, assuming everyone's healthy, because

(25:52):
I don't know, Michael, I mean, this is getting close
to cutdown day here we got I know we have
three weeks, but I mean it's Royshawn Johnson. Is his
roster spotting jeopardy or my uh overblowing that.

Speaker 1 (26:02):
I don't know if it's in jeopardy. I mean, obviously
he's injured. I think when he was healthy, he they
used him in the goal line situation and he showed
you that he can do that. Like there was a
good day probably three weeks in the camp, two weeks
in the camp. I don't know where we are at
this point in terms of time, but where they ran
a bunch of goal line situations and he's score on

(26:24):
a majority of his on his carries. So I think
that I think that that's a big part of what
he does well. And I think that not that DeAndre
Swift can't do it, but I think that's just Rochan Swift's,
you know, part of it. And you know you need
as many running backs as you can. So I'm not
worried about Roshan Johnson being cut at this point. I mean,
maybe if the injury is bad and toe injury, and

(26:46):
maybe Brian Poles is like listen, like this is a
consistent thing. Obviously, it was something that kind of had
a dealt with his rookie season last year. But I
wouldn't be too worried about that, and I wouldn't be
to worried about DeAndre Swift. The Bears didn't announce an
injury or anything like that. I think, I really do
think that's just a precautionary thing. You got two of
your top three running backs injured. You don't need your

(27:06):
top three running backs injured, like all respect Ian Wheeler
and Dan Hankins and all these different guys, but you
need your top running back to be ready in order
for the offense to reach its full potential. I want
to wrap up some things here about the game and
then get to the main topic that we got to
talk about here. We saw where was this comment? I

(27:28):
saw it, and there it is. Robert talked about Luther
Burden blocking on those two touchdown rounds. Gotta love it.
I think Luther Burden is showing you why he was
the second round pick and why the Bears jumped at him.
It has you know, he missed most of the spring
and so maybe he isn't the playbook isn't exactly where
he needs to be, and Ben Johnson's been honest about that.

(27:49):
But I mean, he looks like a dog, right Like,
he looks like he can play. He and he's I
think those two runs are really important lessons where he's
showing you that he understand Ben's mantra. If you're not
gonna you know, block, you're not going to get the rock.
Those are good examples of him buying into the system
because you need Luther Burden out there, and if he's
going to be doing stuff like that, like that's going

(28:10):
to be a very deadly, you know, a weapon for Caleb,
especially if he's like your third or fourth wide receiver
out there.

Speaker 2 (28:19):
I think he's showing that he's playing like he should
have been a first round pick. I mean, that's that's
how good he's looked. And I'm glad, you know, Greg
Olsen is so good at his job. I'm glad he
brought and they pointed out the two blocks on the
short yarded TDS where he really was almost pancaked the guy,
you know, pushing back three yards twice. He did that,
and then the catches right the one little little cool

(28:41):
move on the sideline there to gain like other ten
yards whatever it was.

Speaker 3 (28:45):
Boy, he looks really sharp.

Speaker 2 (28:47):
I keep wanting to say, Mussin Muhammada when I see
eighty seven out there, you know, but he looks really good.

Speaker 3 (28:54):
And again the weapons.

Speaker 2 (28:55):
I mentioned that last week we did the podcast Michael,
get the ball in the hands of these guys and
they they're gonna make things happen.

Speaker 3 (29:03):
It's just not gonna be catch.

Speaker 2 (29:04):
The ball and go down or uh, you know, there's
pass right there and they should have caught it and
it wasn't caught. And now it's third and ten and
now you're you know, now you're now you're scrambling again. Guys,
those guys, there's so many weapons now, Like DJ Moore
is almost like option three and he should be your
number one wide receiver. But between you know, among you know,
uh DJ Moore and a Doonzay and uh, you know

(29:29):
the tight ends comet. They all contributed last night. Luther
Burden and then Olet Mede is a chaus. I mean,
what a great I know he's had a great camp.
That touchdown was spectacular. Again, it wasn't just a guy
getting the ball, many falls down and he's tackled. I
mean he you know, he made that touchdown last night.
I mean, there's so many weapons now, just get the

(29:49):
ball in their hands. Even the first play of the game,
that little you know, naked butleg to calebtill Loveland, he
catches the ball. He's a big, strong dude. He almost
gets the first down. I mean, just simple things like that.

Speaker 3 (29:59):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (30:00):
Oh gosh, we can go back to the history of
the bad tight ends they've had on this football team
and guys who they threw the ball to way more
than we thought they'd ever get the ball during the season.
There's a long list of those guys too. But gosh,
there are so many weapons on this team. I don't
think Caleb has to be brilliant to be able to
move this football team down the football field.

Speaker 1 (30:19):
No, you definitely don't. And that's obviously what Brian pulls.
His goal was this season right offseason, just to give
him as many weapons, get the ball out and have
your playmakers make plays. And I think Luther Burden, like
you mentioned, is going to be a big guy who's
going to be able to do that. Sports Chicago Style
chiming in. Luke Newman looks like a dude. I think
he did look good. I think, you know, the Bears

(30:41):
are trying him out in a lot of different spots.
He started off at left guard, then he moved over
to right guard. They started him at center at the
beginning of camp. It didn't look great. Some of the
snaps were just off. But I think Luke Newman as
a sixth round pick would be a really nice depth
piece for you in the on the offensive line. I
think that'd be really good to have a versatile guy
who can just move up and down the line. So yeah,

(31:02):
I would agree. I think Luke Newman looked good. Kevin
Craven Moore, I'm not gonna finish that triple R. Scott
Scott had a TV Tyler Scott obviously is the podcast
number one Bear High and Low for Tyler Scott. He
cut that touchdown, but then he opened the opened the
game with a bobbled kickoff. I did not like that.

(31:25):
Devin DuVernay. Ben Johnson said was dealing with a little
bit something before games, so they're just precautionary and didn't
want to put him out there. Devin Duverney, I assume
is your kick returner at this point. But yeah, some
good so bad from Tyler Scott uh Chicago Sports Style.
Saint Brown runs hard and has nice feet. I would
agree with that. Homer roster spot. That's a little bit tough.

(31:47):
He's been injured at this point last week and a half.
I think, you know, you need guys out there obviously,
But we'll see, We'll see what that kind of looks
like with them and whether he can get back onto
the field. But we've got roughly ten minutes left on
the podcast and I wanted to lose use the last
part of the podcasts to talk about the elephant in

(32:07):
the room, and that's obviously the left tackle competition. Ben
Johnson kind of made some headlines on Friday when he
said that there's no clear leader at this point, like
they're they're three and a half weeks into this thing
and they just aren't. They just haven't found a leader.
Braxton Jones has been up and down coming back from

(32:29):
an ankle injury. Theo Bennettt has you know, been thrown
into the competition. Now he got a lot of first
team snaps. Ozzy Trapillo was is now working exclusively at
right tackle, Kieran Amagaji is getting the left tackle spots
Joe just in general, Like we'll get more specific into
this with each guy, but like, are you surprised and

(32:52):
are you worried at all that they still don't have
a leader in this left tackle competition.

Speaker 2 (32:57):
Well, I think the big news of the week regarding
that is the move to right tackle for Ozzie Trapilo.
If they're saying, look, he just looks more comfortable at
right tackle, so basically he's onto the running for the
starting left tackle. That's concerning because I did they blow
this like you don't need a right tackle. It's too
late to be changing, you know, switching Darnell right to
left tackle. You got to figure that out, you know

(33:19):
before camp started that you're going to try that experience.
But so that to me is like that's that's not good.
As far as Braxton Jones, look, if he's healthy, we
know what you got. He's serviceable, and you know that's
again you don't need you don't need five all pro
guys on your offensive line. You can get by with

(33:39):
one who's just okay, even though it is left tackle.
But I think if he's healthy, and I think they're
what they're trying to is push him a little more
because I think they see I think what I've been
seeing with this coaching staff is they're going to try
to get the maximum. They want every guy to reach
their ceiling here. I mean how every coach does. But
they're really I think they're pushing Braxton Jones. It seems
like they're pushing the right buttons, Like who's a Dan Rocher,

(34:02):
They're O line. Coach was saying like, you know, they're
you know first you know, maybe was talking about the
I don't know if it was the preseason game last week,
but like we see good and then the second part
of that and the next series whatever not so good,
Like we see you need to be consistent at all
those and they're not gonna let him get away with it.
And I don't know if other coaching staffs in the past,
you know, the bass in the past, did, but I

(34:25):
like what they're trying to do here. So I think
Brax and Jones are the ankles healthy. He's the man,
you know what you got there. I wouldn't like, you know,
go into the season screaming like, oh my gosh, we're
gonna be exposed.

Speaker 3 (34:35):
That left tackle. The other kid, Beneditt Benettett.

Speaker 2 (34:39):
You know, I know he's making for a nice story,
but do you want him as your left tackle?

Speaker 3 (34:44):
Maybe?

Speaker 2 (34:45):
I mean, you know, good for the kid. Maybe he's
got an opportunity. But maybe if Braxton Jones isn't healthy, Yeah,
you got this kid who's like ready to step in
and again be serviceable.

Speaker 3 (34:55):
That'll work.

Speaker 2 (34:56):
You're not going to find an all pro left tackle
on the on the market at this point.

Speaker 3 (34:59):
This he's in your three weeks.

Speaker 2 (35:00):
Away, you know, and left tackles, I mean, it's one
of the most coveted position you want on your football
team right quarterbacks, d n left tackle.

Speaker 3 (35:09):
So it is what it is at this point.

Speaker 2 (35:12):
This is what they got and if they want to,
you know, keep Trapillo on the right side and then
maybe working and let's that. You know, it doesn't mean
to say he's never going to be a left tackle
in this league. This is maybe not not week one
or the first half of the season. Maybe they work
on it, and I don't know if they're going to
give him reps. There's still like once things get a
little more cleared up, but who's going to be the starter.

(35:33):
But if he's a right tackle and that's where his
you know, he's going to make his money in the NFL. Well,
you got a problem then because you're not moving Darnel right,
So now what you got unless Heaven forbid, you know,
darnld Wright, it's hurt.

Speaker 3 (35:45):
But that was to me, that was the story of
the week. Is as far as the left tackle position is.

Speaker 1 (35:52):
Concerned, Yeah, I want to hit on that a little
bit more as we kind of wrap up here, but
I would agree with you, Dan Rochar and this whole
coaching staff. I think that the common theme and this
is early. Obviously it's still the preseason of the first year.
That could change very quickly as the years go on,
but this coaching staff is going to be brutally honest
with its players, and they're pretty honest with us as
like the media, Like during coaches assistant coaches availability, Like

(36:16):
Rochard didn't mince words when it came to the competition,
when it came to Braxton, when it came to Darnell, right,
like he was kind of trying to light a fire
and be like, hey, like when when Darnell tries, he
looks great, but like you just got to have that endurance.
And I thought that was a really interesting comment. Like
I thought Darnell has looked fine right like like through

(36:36):
training camp, But I thought that was a really interesting comment.
But yeah, I think, you know, on Sunday, Braxton looked good.
He was going against the backups. He looked solid. He
didn't get overmatched, and I think maybe he got overmatched
one time, but the play was going on a completely
different direction from where he was, so it didn't cause
any problems at all. On Friday, THEO Bennett got a

(36:59):
majority of the first team snaps, Braxton got the two
minutes or the red zone snaps, and he came in
during to move the ball drill halfway through. I agree,
I think at this point, Braxton Jones is your starter
if he's healthy. I talked to him yesterday and I'm
going to have a story out here later this afternoon
about Braxton saying he still trying to prove itself to him, like, like,

(37:22):
if you're being honest, he's if he's what like half
a year eight months removed from an ankle's break like
that that's hard to come back from, right, Like, so
I can understand, like maybe he's not one hundred percent,
but I think at this point, it's Braxton's shop to lose.
And you know, I think, I I you know, he's serviceable,
like you said, Joe, like, I think he's going to

(37:44):
protect sure, is he going to get overmatch sometimes? Yes,
I think that's just how it is at this point.
Maybe he can develop a little bit more, but I
do think at this point Braxton is probably your likely starter,
and maybe Kron or THEO can push him at this point.
But I think if you're if we're looking three weeks
from now, I think Braxton is probably going to be
your starter at left tackle.

Speaker 3 (38:03):
Yeah. At least, who's good to see Karan on the field.

Speaker 2 (38:05):
Least that I didn't know if that was going to
play or what so look like he got a fair
share of snaps, So I mean that was encouraging too.
I mean it's it's too early to call him a
bust certainly, but you certainly want to see more and
you want to see you know, strides in year two
like all these guys from last year. You know, you
look at that draft class last year. I know they
weren't a lot, there weren't a lot of picks, but
Caleb Rome, you know, the punters find you know what

(38:29):
you got in him. But Booker Amidaji is that it
is that the entire draft class from twenty twenty four.

Speaker 1 (38:36):
That's the whole thing. It was a small one, right.

Speaker 2 (38:38):
They all need to be better in twenty twenty five.

Speaker 3 (38:42):
That's that's that simple, all of them.

Speaker 2 (38:45):
And certainly Caleb you know, you know he's going to
be better, but Rome too, He's got to be better,
and that's what you expect right year two. But Karan,
at least he played last night and maybe there's still
some hope for him. I mean, he's he's not a
cut casualty, I wouldn't think, so, you know, just just

(39:07):
keep getting him stronger and better.

Speaker 1 (39:11):
Listen, Karan's been behind the eight ball, right, Like he
missed his entire offseason last year getting as a rookie
coming out of Yale, Like he wasn't healthy for much
of lest like he was dealing with stuff. And then
this great training camp, like he missed a week a
week and a half of training camp because of another
leg injury. So I mean, if this guy, like you know,
you want Karan to succeed, he just has to stay

(39:32):
on the field, and I think he flashes like good
stuff for you he just needs to stay on the
field to kind of listen. He's a smart kid. He
can be your swing tackle. He can go both ways,
I think, and he can he can grasp the situation
really well. He just needs to stay healthy and really focusing,
and I think that maybe he'll get an opportunity if
it's presented to him. Talking about Ozzie, you know, I'm

(39:55):
not four weeks into his rookie training camp. I'm not
here to call him a bust. He's not a He's
got a lot of development, He's got a lot of time.
Like I'm not I'm not at all calling him out
or anything like that. I recognize that he's a rookie
and that you know, there's plenty of room to grow
and he's still developing a lot. Are are you at

(40:16):
all upset now with the with the pick in the
second round?

Speaker 2 (40:19):
Though?

Speaker 1 (40:19):
If like if he's your right tackle, is that a
good use of the pick? Then if Ozzie ends up
being a right tackle for you, like do you do?

Speaker 3 (40:28):
You know what I mean?

Speaker 1 (40:28):
And like there's still a lot of you know, he
has this entire career ahead of him, so like this
four weeks aren't going to determine how good or bad
he's going to be by any means. But if it
does turn out to be that Ozzie's your right tackle,
was that a good use of the pick? And should
Ryan Pulls have gone someone else at that point?

Speaker 2 (40:45):
Yes, I mean I think that's fair and I think
that's something that's fair to evaluate or be I don't know, skeptical,
but it's certainly worth being a little concerned about. Because again,
they traded down from that pick. Were they were they
at thirty nine back in the draft.

Speaker 1 (41:01):
Once came off the board, they were like, okay, we're
gonna trade down.

Speaker 2 (41:04):
Yeah, there was there was still the Ursery kid out
of Minnesota. There were running backs still there, and they
wanted to be you know, let's.

Speaker 3 (41:12):
Accumulate draft picks. Okay, well you better get it right then.

Speaker 2 (41:16):
So if he's a right tackle, again, that's not saying,
you know, maybe it'll be an all pro tackle.

Speaker 3 (41:21):
Maybe maybe it won't be with this team.

Speaker 2 (41:23):
I don't know unless that happens to Darnell, right, You're
not doing anything with Darnell right. So that wasn't the
plan to let's draft the right tackle. After we drafted one,
what tenth overall the year before, right the year before.

Speaker 3 (41:36):
No.

Speaker 2 (41:37):
I so that that's again it's one week. We're not
even into we haven't even played one game yet.

Speaker 3 (41:44):
And again maybe they're.

Speaker 2 (41:45):
Like, let's let's focus on right tackle for a now,
a swing tackle. But you're not good enough your you're
number three then as far as in the running for
the left tackle position behind Braxton Jones and the Benedict kid.

Speaker 1 (41:57):
So maybe he might not be in it. I mean,
he didn't get left tackle snaps like Karen got the
third team snap. I think at this point Ozzie's out
of the competition. I I you know, that could change tomorrow,
that could I like, based on you know, they could
put him back in. They're like, all right, we took
a week he was in right tackle exclusively. Now we're
gonna put him back in the left tackle competition. But yeah,

(42:18):
I mean, if you're trying to get as many snaps
and let him develop as much as possible when you
have put him in the game yesterday, had left tackle,
just to see what you can do, Like, I thought
that was an interesting thing.

Speaker 2 (42:27):
Probably too, he's too tall to be a guard, right
I yeah, you know, if one of the guards went
down and have him forbid Jonah Jackson or Tuney. I mean,
he's not gonna play guard. So if this is what
he is, the right tackle, shame on the Bears. They
messed that up, you know. And again they're not gonna
get every pick right. But even the other kid they
took in a second round, Turner, right, Turner?

Speaker 3 (42:49):
Is he Have we seen him yet?

Speaker 1 (42:50):
Is he?

Speaker 3 (42:51):
I didn't even know he was. He did he play
last night?

Speaker 1 (42:54):
So Chicago Sports that I asked the question too, we
were all I was surprised, you know. I was getting
ready for Bill's joined practice on Friday and I'm looking
at who was warming up and I had to do
a double take and be like is that ninety five?
Like that's you know. Schamar Turner has been out with
an ankle injury since the first day of training camp.
He suffered it on the first day camp and yeah,
he was out there. He did not He is doing

(43:15):
individual drills. He did took care of some stuff over
the past few days, but he hasn't seen team activities
and he obviously didn't play in yesterday's game. Obviously that's
a ramp up. He's missed four weeks. He's got to
get a little bit into shape. But yeah, so it'll
be interesting to see what happens there. But yeah, I mean,
just just to wrap things up, I think this left

(43:38):
tackle thing is very interesting because Ben Johnson made it
very clear that this competition can go on for a while.
He said he's very comfortable with it going on for
the rest of training camp. He's comfortable, but for it
going through the rest of the bye week, like it
could be like a season long thing. He did say
he's not going to be rotating guys an end like
he's he's not going to be doing that. But the

(43:58):
competition is going to continue to happen here as long
as it takes to figure out who is the best
person to start. So it'll be interesting to see because
I agree with you obviously you're you've boosted your line.
It looks a lot better, but you need to figure
out that spot just for consistency's sake, right, Like you
need someone to be there in the left tackle spot consistently.

(44:19):
So Joe Toney knows them, like the how his left
partner acts and like what his tendencies are in that
sort of stuff like that is important and that is
what stops a lot of false starts. That is what
causes a lot of issues. Right, So I think you know,
Robert mentioned this yesterday, mentioned this in his comment a
sound from the press are sentder like the take frame

(44:41):
Masterday's going to determine who's the starter. I think it's
going to be very influential. I think Friday's joint practice
will be very influential as well. But I think you
eventually do kind of need to make a decision here
because you got to get this unit going consistently with
one group as the season's going, because you can't just
keep mismatching it this point. You need one guy to

(45:01):
be consistently working with the first team because Week one
against Brian Flores's defense, you can't have a situation where
you're putting like a guy like Karanamagaji in there and
be like, hey, figure it out against Brian Flores in
front of a national audience. Like, you can't have that happen.
You can't put anyone in that situation, right, like you
got to. You gotta have a situation as ready to

(45:24):
go as possible at that point.

Speaker 2 (45:26):
And then that's why I said it's day one that
if Braxton Jones is healthy, he's your starter. At least
he's seen it. I mean he's been in the league.
Was this year four for him?

Speaker 1 (45:35):
Now year three?

Speaker 2 (45:36):
Yeah, you're four, right, So he's the guy. And again
he'll be serviceable. But you know, it's like we can't
get caught up. It's like any roster, you know, baseball, NHL,
it doesn't matter who here's another sports cliche, it doesn't
matter who starts at who finishes. You might make the
opening uh day roster and you might be a starter,

(45:59):
but that could change like in the second half. You know,
you got you gotta perform, and if you're not performing,
the next guy comes up, and if you're really bad
for a couple of weeks, they're gonna do something and
they're gonna bring up some from the practice. It's gonna
be continually prove it ever every week for the younger
guys in particular, uh and not just a rookie. So
that's the case there. You just hope he's healthy because

(46:20):
if he's not, I guess it's gonna be Beneditt at
left tackle.

Speaker 3 (46:25):
That would concern me.

Speaker 2 (46:26):
It would concern me if, like I said in the past,
it concerned me if Ozzie was the starting left tackle.
Putting a rookie up against that that Brian Flores defense
on Week one at left tackle. No less, uh, I
wouldn't feel great about that. So let's hope Braxton Jones,
his fingers crossed, is good enough to go and figure

(46:47):
out the rest during the season, and hope he just
stays healthy and you know, he does what he's done
the last three years.

Speaker 1 (46:54):
Yeah, it'll be very interesting to watch, you know, to
his credit, like pro football folks has grated him well.
Obviously when you watch the tape, it hasn't looked great,
like obviously he gets over mad sometimes. But well, we'll
see how that looks. All right, guys, we're gonna wrap up.
If you have any final questions comments, drop him in
the in the chat here before we say goodbye. Bears

(47:14):
are off today, They're off on Monday. They're going to
practice on Tuesday and Wednesday. They'll be off on Thursday,
and then they play Friday night against the Kansas City
Chiefs in their preseason finale. Then we'll obviously have cut
down week next week. I forget what they specifically in
the week it is, but it will be sometime next week.

(47:35):
Ben Johnson hasn't. Obviously we didn't. We don't know whether
Caleb and the players are going to play on on
on Friday. I wouldn't be surprised if they go in
for a series, but I wouldn't expect it.

Speaker 3 (47:46):
I don't know.

Speaker 1 (47:47):
We'll see. We'll learn more from Ben Johnson on Wednesday
when we hear from him. But Joe, what you know
to practice? Two practices left and then you play Kansas
City on Friday. We'll we'll talk to you folks on
Friday morning before that game. But what are you kind
of hoping to kind of learn here over the next
couple of days before we get to that preseason finale.

Speaker 2 (48:09):
Well, first and foremost, I think it's the injury status
of Terrell Smith and Austin Booker. That's That's what I'm
waiting to hear next. After that, whether it's good news
or bad news, I don't know. Just continue to play
hard and take advantage of every day. It's all the
cliche stuff. But then get ready and you know, get healthy.

(48:30):
If guys need you know, Braxton Jones needs to rest
to get the ankle stronger.

Speaker 3 (48:35):
You know, it's good, you know, so be it.

Speaker 2 (48:38):
That's the most important thing and keep doing what they're
doing because they certainly seem like they're on the right
trajectory right with the offense and the defense. And then
come Friday night, I'm guessing Caleb and the starters aren't
gonna play. But are we gonna go the whole prison
preseason without DeAndre Swift seeing the field?

Speaker 3 (48:54):
Maybe he coulds on the field. I don't know.

Speaker 1 (48:56):
Yeah, it'll be interesting to see to see how Ben
Handles does. Obviously he's very snaps heavy. That is very
they have a very sports science way of handling this,
like they're trying to maximize the most amount of snaps
and that sort of stuff. So it'll be interesting to
see how they watch. Chicago Sports out asking a good
question here before you say goodbye. Is JJ running around yet?
Jalen Johnson? He did take part in early warm ups

(49:19):
on yesterday, like way before, like not warm up warm
ups like in uniform, but just like you know, when
guys were stretching two hours before the game and doing
some stuff, he was out there getting some work and
so that has to be really encouraging to see. They're
hoping to get him ready for that game Week one
against the Vikings. Obviously, Jordan Addison isn't going to be playing.
I know that Jordan and Jefferson is going to be

(49:41):
has been dealing with an injury during camp. But I mean,
you need Jalen Johnson out there if you want this
team to be out there competing at its highest level.
So we'll get more of that. I think that's the
biggest thing, right, Like, you want to get an updated
on Jalen and Kyler other guys who are injured, figure
out where the left tackle competition is, and then see
where Caleb is getting ready, and then start game planning
for the right like You've got a couple of weeks

(50:02):
to get ready for that Brian Flores defense to specifically
come up with a game plan on Monday night, So
it'll be interesting to watch and we'll break it all
down for you. But that's everything that we got for
this week's episode. Thanks so much for joining us. If
you were in joining us on the live stream, Thank
you to everyone who commented. It was good to get
your guys' comments and questions. Get you guys involved. If

(50:23):
you didn't get a chance to join us live, make
sure you check out the podcast and make sure that
you follow our social media. We always try to post
at least the day before when we're going to be posting.
We're hoping to be doing Monday and Friday from now on.
Now we're going to get into a regular season, regular
season schedule here, so we're hoping to be doing Monday
and Friday mornings podcast, So if you guys know, we'll

(50:46):
be doing at ten am. We'll let you know if
something else is happening, but we'll try to stay consistent
with that sort of schedule. Make sure you're following Joe Aguilar.
He's at Joe Aguilar sixty four on Twitter. He's got
you covered obviously helping out with Bear stuff, but obviously
everything else at the Northwest Held High School football is
getting started and all the other sports are getting started,

(51:07):
so make sure you follow him there and make sure
you're following all of my Bears coverage as we kind
of progress here through the final weeks of training camp
you get ready for the start of the regular season.
So thank you so much to everyone who joined us
on the live stream. Thank you for listening to this podcast,
and we will talk to you folks down the road.

Speaker 3 (51:25):
See you