Previewing the Bears' Week 2 matchup at Detroit

The Chicago Bears will head to Detroit to play the Lions on Sunday in Week 2. Shaw Local's Michal Dwojak and Joe Aguilar break down the latest news from Halas Hall and preview Sunday's game.


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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello, and welcome to the latest episode of the Shaw
Local Bears Insider podcast. I am Shaw Local Chicago Bears
reported Michael Duo Jack here with the Northwest Heralds Joe Aguilar.
It is week two. We've got one week two game
under our belts here green Bay. You know, looking at
the score, didn't seeing that bad? Looking at that Green

(00:23):
Bay against against against Washington, Joe not great. I think
a lot of Bears fans were like, this is uh,
this is this is gonna look a little bit more
tough than we expected it to.

Speaker 2 (00:35):
Yeah, that guy who wears number one, he's pretty good
at football, isn't he?

Speaker 1 (00:40):
He seems to mean good. There might be a reason
why everyone was really interested in him.

Speaker 2 (00:45):
Well, you know, and I know there was you know,
who wouldn't want him on your football team? I guess
other than Dallas, I guess, but I guess. You know,
I don't you know when people talk about, hey, you know,
the Bears aren't ready yet for a guy like Mike Parson,
is there?

Speaker 1 (01:01):
Yeah? Ye are?

Speaker 2 (01:02):
Yeah, get them now. Good football great football players are
always welcome, and great football players can turn even mediocre
football teams in the good football team. The sure would
have been nice to have him here, wouldn't it. Yeah,
But and then the stinky part is for Bears Pans.
Now you gotta deal with him twice a year for
the dreaded against the dreaded Packers. So tough. But yeah,

(01:26):
they sure certainly look like a Super Bowl contender, don't
you think. Yeah, I know, I sound like a guy
in ESPN now, like you know, overreact after you know,
one week in one game. But that's that's the case.

Speaker 1 (01:38):
They definitely did. But well, we'll worry about green Bay
later on in the here we focus on Detroit. Here
Week two, Prayers are traveling to Detroit to take on
the Lions. Ben Jonson obviously coming back to Detroit for
the first time since leaving over the off season. We'll
get you all ready for that. Just a quick quick
shout out. If you're joining us on the YouTube live

(02:00):
stream things so much, make sure to give us a like.
I get all your comments in their questions. We'll try
to answer them as quickly and you know, as much
as we can. We're gonna do our regular you know,
preview stuff. We'll do our matchups to look out for,
We'll do our most valuable bear of course and our
surprise prediction. But yeah, like I said, the Bears are
traveling to Detroit. It's going to be a big game.

(02:24):
Let's start things off here. Joe with the injury report,
which has kind of been interesting to me this week.
The Bears didn't practice on Wednesday after the short week,
but then they had their but they did send out
an injury report and then they officially did practice on
Thursday and mixed things in this injury report. DJ Edwards
made progress. He's now limited been limited with that hamstring injury.

(02:47):
Jalen Johnson has been full the last couple of days.
He told us on what on was that Thursday, that
he's going to play again or he expects to be
playing against the Lions on Sunday. He also told us
that he was never going to play on that Monday
night Vikings game. I you know, a little uh little
injury report, uh you know, a little little gamesmanship as

(03:08):
as we like to say, these NFL coaches like to
treat this type of stuff like state secrets. But so, yeah,
that was kind of interesting. But the big, big news
Kyler Gordon has still been out with the with the
with the hamstring injury, and then you got Grady Jared
out with the knee injury, and those are those are
not good injuries because you know, Kyler obviously really important

(03:31):
to your defense. Obviously Nick McLoud showed that he can,
you know, play the position fairly well, you know, in
Kyler's absence, but obviously one kind went back in there.
And the Grady Jared injury is very interesting because we
don't we don't know what nee it is. Like he
came back from an acl tair a couple of years ago.
Last year he was his first year coming back from that.

(03:53):
We don't know whether that's the same knee, whether it's
a different need. But it's it's it's it's not a
good sign to have Grady Jared on the other side
of thirty dealing with the knee injury this early in
the season.

Speaker 2 (04:05):
Yeah, it's not. And that's one of your big, you know,
off season acquisitions on the defensive side of the ball.
And yeah, I mean, you know, I like Andrew Billings,
but you need depth there and and Jared's a guy
who I thought really could make a difference if he's healthy.
And I just hope that's nothing long term, but I
hope it's not the knee that you alluded to, that

(04:26):
the a c L. So that's disturbing. The Jalen Johnson
k news certainly is encouraging. Again, Well, we'll see come
Sunday when the inactives are are listed. But that's big
to have him back because we've said repeatedly needs your
best defensive player. I mean, that's just fact he's got.
He's got the credentials, you know, the Pro Bowl, and

(04:49):
you need him back, Kyler Kyler Gordon. That stinks because
he's good too, and he has Pro Bowl skills, you know,
so get him on the field, and I think he
he's another guy who Dennis Allen will use, like even
Matt Eberflus last year used him, you know, to blitzer quarterback.
He was really effective at it may have been their
best blitzer, you know, on of those secondary guys. So

(05:10):
so it stinks not to have him because you know,
again you're you're still trying to, you know, show people
you're a good football team. So you need good football players,
and he's one of the best on the team.

Speaker 1 (05:21):
And Ben Johnson told us that he reappeared on the
injury report on Sunday because he came into the I
think they were either there they were doing something at
Hallis on Sunday, because obviously they were playing on Monday night,
and he came back and said he had some tightness
with the hamstring. He was he was back on the
field the last couple of weeks after dealing with it
earlier in training camp, and that I mean, you know,

(05:43):
with these soft tissue injuries, this just seems like something
you just got to let it settled. You can't push it.
You can't you know, rush him back because he's going
to be doing this all season long. So I think
the Bears plan probably is just like rested, give him
a probably, you know, we'll see what Ben Johnson says today.
He said he was hopeful that he could play. Well,
we'll see what the what the what the what the
decision is. But if I were the Bears at this point,

(06:05):
I would just sit him, don't don't let this be
a lingering thing, let it completely heal for the next
couple of weeks. I think Nick McCloud has shown you
that he can play the position fairly well in Kyler
Gordon's absence, and I think the sooner you can get
Kyler Gordon one hundred percent as opposed to partially healthy.
I think that's more important for this defense.

Speaker 2 (06:25):
Yeah, yeah, I agree. You don't want him to be
lingering and all of a sudden, you're at week six
and you know he's still hasn't played or his played,
but he hasn't been good. Then he reinjured it, reinjures it.
So it's a marathon, Michael, and not a sprint.

Speaker 1 (06:40):
All right. Obviously, you know, the big story of the
of the week has been Caleb Williams kind of talking
about you know, his his errand throws, the you know,
getting into getting into you know, some spurts where just
the throws didn't look close at all. And you know,
we talked to Caleb on Wednesday and he talked about how,
you know, some of that was footwork, some of that
was just timing accuracy. We heard from Declan Doyle on

(07:04):
Thursday and he said that that one route toward the
end of the game where DJ Moore looked open, that
DJ wasn't running the right route. So that's why Caleb
wasn't looking for him in that particular moment. Like obviously,
Declan did say like if you do see the receiver, obviously,
you want to get it there. But for he did
give some context into that moment and said, you know
that they weren't on the same page because DJ was

(07:25):
supposed to be running a different route. But Joe, based
on what you heard from Caleb and Johnson declan Doyle
this week, just what were your thoughts about how the
hit Bears kind of addressed, you know, Caleb's performance on Monday.

Speaker 2 (07:39):
Well, you're not going to be too critical, you know,
and as fans, even if you've played the game, you know,
you don't know what's going on, you know how play
was called or what it was designed to most of
the time. So I'll take their word, but you also
understand they're gonna be protective of the situation. No one's
gonna throw Caleb under the bus, not after one game.

(08:01):
But it's still we saw too much of it last
year and it looked a lots the same, uh, you know,
in the season opening Monday night. So we'll see, I mean,
we're just gonna have to you know, there were two men.
That wasn't the only play. You know, there are other
players where he missed downfield. What's what's the situation there?

(08:22):
Why wasn't he seeing it again. Where were the easy throws?
That's the more I thought about this game as the
weeks going on here, like where were the easy throws?
We even saw some of those in the preseason games.
You know, We're like, get guys in strut. That's That's
what I keep wanting to see more of, letting guys
catch the ball in stride so we can see the yak.

(08:43):
I want to see the yak, the yards after catch,
and we need to see a lot more of that
come Sunday.

Speaker 1 (08:50):
You know, I want to go off with two points
of app the first, you know, with the whole DJ thing.
It's been interesting ever since Caleb's come into the league
because I feel like, you know, when the Bears aft Caleb,
you're like, oh, he's got DJ, Like you just gave
DJ this big extension, Like he's gonna be such a
resource for Caleb in his rookie season. And it never
felt like they kind of connected last year. It felt

(09:11):
like there are a lot of different moments when they
weren't on the same page. And you saw that again
on Monday, and I'm just I'm just wondering, you know,
they were they were each asked, you know, how do
you get, you know, on the same page. And they
both said, you know, the standard line of you know, repetition,
working together and all that kind of stuff. But you
do have to wonder, like they've been working together for

(09:31):
over a year at this point, and I'm not here
to say that it's gonna be a perfect product by
any means. Like you're gonna miss like like Patrick Mahomes
and Travis Kelce, You're gonna miss some throws. There's gonna
be some inconsistency sometimes that happens. But it's been interesting
to me just like over the past year and one
game that Caleb and DJ just haven't been able to
build that rapport with each other. It seems like I

(09:53):
and like to give them credit, like like Caleb did
find DJ for two big plays on Monday wide open,
like he did hit him and stride in a couple
of times, but you just would have thought that DJ
would become more of a weapon for Caleb, and it
just doesn't seem like for some reason, Caleb was looking
for him that much.

Speaker 2 (10:12):
No, that's a great point. And even last year, you know,
toward the end of the season or as the season
progressed anyway, who is his go to guy, Keenan Allen.

Speaker 1 (10:21):
Yeah, Keenan Allen.

Speaker 2 (10:22):
Was the guy he had the most faith in and
trusted the most. Seemed like, so where's DJ? How are
they not on the same page? And at this point,
you know, I'm not gonna pick sides here, but DJ
Moore has the better reputation. DJ Moore is an accomplished
player in this league. He's never been to a Pro
Bowl because that position is so stacked. But I really
like him, and he's kind of like the forgotten man

(10:43):
almost with all the the you know, the added weapons,
but he's still the guy to me. He's still your
best wide receiver. No offense to Roma Dunes, there are
any of those guys. But I just wish because we'll
never know. Well if like, you know, if you just
talk one on one with DJ, more like when DJ
Moore goes home talks to his wife, like what does

(11:06):
he say to or like, man, I'm telling you a
this quarterback, he ain't it? He ain't it? I'd really
or he said no, man, you're not. Come on it'
stop this. Caleb's definitely the man. He's better than Tyson
Page it. Come on. I really would love to know
what he really thinks, and we won't know. But because
that's if he would say, like no, no, no, Caleb's the

(11:29):
man he is, He'll get there. I just don't hear
enough of that, you know, other than the cliche stuff.
I guess, but I don't know Michael, because again, he's
they had an entire year, you have an off season,
and where they still don't seem on the same page.
I mean, this should be a deadly combination.

Speaker 1 (11:49):
It should be right. It's just it's not. It's just
weird that it hasn't really clicked for them. And I like, listen,
I know we talked to early, you know, when we
were preseason, when we were doing their previews for the year,
and we were talking about how Rome likely becomes your
number one because he's that X receiver. He's got the
prototypical body to that, like DJ is gonna be used

(12:10):
a lot. And you kind of saw that in Monday's game,
like you saw him running a couple of times, you
saw him in the screen game, you saw him in
the slot, like they moved him around a lot. But
it just has been interesting, just I you know, it's
just interesting that they haven't really connected. Maybe that takes
off this week. I don't know, Like, obviously, you know calebs,
Caleb's learning a new offense. DJ is still in a

(12:32):
new offense, so maybe that is part of it too.
So no matter how good of a report you have
with each other, if you're still both learning a new offense, like,
it can be hard. Like I understand all of that,
but it's just interesting to watch how that connection kind
of hasn't come together. And it'll be interesting to see,
you know when, Like I feel like you've seen Caleb

(12:52):
turn to Rome in that one game. It's just been
one game on money, but I feel like you've seen
Caleb turn to Rome in those scramble drills, right, Like
you've looked at him, you know, down the sideline pass.
You've been looking for Rome a couple of times, even
in the preseason. So we'll see how it goes. But
that was just an interesting thing that I've kind of noticed.
And you know something that I appreciated Decklan Doyle kind

(13:13):
of being honest instead of just being like, oh, like whatever,
like it's not we're not worried about that. Like he
gave you an honest answer and kind of gave some insights.
So I really appreciated that. From from Decklan Doyle. Another
thing from Caleb before we start preving the Lion's game
was kind of interesting just kind of looking at the
stats was just he didn't really throw the ball that
much down the field. You look at next Shen stats,

(13:34):
he was two of four for passes you know, twenty
yards or farther. He really stayed in the middle. That
was his happy place, you know, between zero to nine
yards or zero to ten yards down the middle. That's
where his touchdown was to Roam Madunesa on that on
that one play. But Joe, for me, I this was
something that we talked about the beginning of last year

(13:54):
where we talked about, you know, Caleb's gota throw the
ball down the field, and you know obviously that it
takes some time to kind of get into it. And
I agree with you. You want to get those short passes going,
but eventually you need to get those long passes going
as well, because you got playmakers. You got Rom out there,
you got Luther Burnon, who I know got some looks,
not too much looks, but you've got playmakers out there

(14:15):
who can stretch the field, and you just got to
let it go. Sometimes and Caleb kind of said that
on Wednesday, where he was like, part of it is
the footwork, part of it is just like I gotta
let a rip like and he acknowledged that, he said,
I need to just throw the ball sometimes, like, and
I think we need to see more of that where
if he sees something, he just needs to go for it.
And I don't know whether he's scared about the interceptions.

(14:35):
I don't know if that's been like a big part
of it where he's kind of like cautious in that regard,
but I think I would I think Bears fans would
much rather him throw an interception here or there, but
be more willing to kind of let it rip as
opposed to being cautious and just thinking and docking it
you know a couple of yards here or there.

Speaker 2 (14:54):
Well, when you watch him and then you watch Jaden Daniels,
you watch Jalen her the other elite quarterbacks, but specifically
like when you watch jade and Daniels, like, did they
get this right? Is this the guy they should have picked?
Did they get this wrong? Jadeen Daniels throws a really
good deep ball really like you don't have to throw
your your ninety eight mile prower fastball. Every time, you know,

(15:18):
paint the corner with the ninety mile power change up.
I mean, Caleb, So, I think when he rips it, boy,
it looks good, right, Like that's an arm, that's a
Jake Cutler arm. That's the way it should look. Yeah,
but like you don't need to do that every time.
He's gotta have more finesse and the deep balls. I
every time he throws a deep ball, I kind of
expecting it not to be completed. I'm expecting it to

(15:41):
be off and that you can't you can't win with
a quarterback like that. I'm not saying he's done, you know. Okay,
I said two weeks ago in our predictions that he's
gonna be great this year. Not good, He's gonna be great.
So I'll stick by that, but I want to start
seeing it like now so and the interceptions, I just
he yeah, rip it, but like you don't always have

(16:04):
to rip it, you know. I mean, you get get
a nice you know, forty yard tossed down the sideline.
You don't have to throw ninety five out you know
that pass, But we're just missing it. And then I
see other guys like Daniels like, dang, that kid's good.
Why isn't our quarterback that good?

Speaker 1 (16:24):
Well to give Kriick Caleb credit, I think, but he
said rip it. He is talking about just knowing when
to pay, like he said, Like I like there was
a moment where he threw what did you throw, like Cole,
like probably one hundred mile per hour throw instead of
like an easy throw. I think he's meaning more of that,
just like I need to know what type of pass
to throw in certain moments, and he's he's struggled with that, right,

(16:44):
Like you saw a couple of times where he's like
throwing like the fastball instead of the change up like
you said, like, he's not lofting it in. He's just
like trying to squeeze it in real quick, and that's
obviously up to him. So that'll be a big interesting
thing to kind of watch there, Rick kind of chiming in. Rick,
good to hear from you. The first for draft picks

(17:05):
in twenty twenty five at zero effect on game one.
That's a polls problem. I I listen, you want to
get Lovelin involved, in Burnon involved. Shamar Turner obviously is
still coming back. From that injury, and Azi Trapello obviously
is into your starter right now and that's a whole
different issue. But for Loveland and Burden, I would kind

(17:27):
of give I don't know, it's one game, right, Like,
I feel like that's what we kind of talked about,
like Ben Johnson's feeling stuff out. You know, the rookies
are feeling some stuff out, like to be quite honest,
like they still need to earn Ben Johnson's trust. So
it's kind of like one of those things where it's
kind of like you're gonna give the ball to Cocamite,
You're gonna give the ball to Roam but Dunes DJ
Moore oz right over Luther, Burden and Coastin Lovelin at

(17:52):
this point, and he found Coast and Lovelan for a
nice pass. But I don't know if I'm gonna go
that crazy or not crazy, but just go to that
assumption right away that they didn't get involved right away
in game one, you would have liked that. But I
think there are other targets, especially for Colston and for Luther,
that you kind of got to get involved with, and
sometimes I think that's gonna happen like that that's where

(18:13):
we're gonna see in this offense, where there are just
some games where you're not gonna see a lot of
dj You're not gonna see a lot of Colston, You're
not going to see a lot of Luther. But then
there are gonna be other games where you are. I
think that's the thing about this offense, where every single week,
different guys are gonna step up. And it just happened
to you know, be in the first week that the
rookies didn't do much.

Speaker 2 (18:32):
Well. I gotta tell you I I agree with Rick.
I mean, you know, I mean again, it's one game.
We'll give it time. Sure, but when these three what
four picks in the first two rounds coast in lovel
in one pass, I need to see more of them.
You know, I don't care if you're not getting drafted
in the block. Good for him, but you expected him,

(18:54):
and you know you called me. You know you think
he's gonna be the rookie MVP of the team. I
picked Burden. They love Luthor. Always too good to pass up.
Even though we need other positions, we need running back,
we need online, he's too good to pass up. Where's
he been? Where was he I need. This is a
You're not the Chiefs, You're not the Packers. You need

(19:14):
the draft guys who come in and make an impact. Trappillo,
that's a bad look. We've we've talked about it before.
You think the guy can play left tackle, and I
figure out he can, he's better on the right side.
Now you've got two right tackles. Turner, let's go. I'm
sure the kid has hurt. I you know, but we
need to see more. I I this is disturbing. When

(19:34):
you're a bad football team, you've got you know, you're
the team that moved up in the get to get
picked here in the second round to get accumulate more
or move back to get more picks. Where is it?

Speaker 1 (19:46):
What?

Speaker 2 (19:46):
What do those guys do? And then you look back
at last year's draft class with the jury still on
on that with Caleb and I mean, Rome's been good,
but he has we thought it'd be better. I'll be patient.
I'm a Chicago sports fan. I used to make patient,
but man, I mean it's just gonna be the whole year,
because this is not like, Okay, next year, watch Ozzie

(20:06):
and shamiir turns they'll be really good. No, no, no, no, no, Well,
of course Polls will be back because he signed for
the next millennium on whatever it is that contract he got.
But I need to see more Otherwise we're looking at
a top ten picking the draft again, right.

Speaker 1 (20:23):
Yeah, I mean that's fair, and I am interested to
see what they do against the Lions and how much
they kind of use their different guys. I do think
the Colston thing, like we talked about earlier, was listen,
they were just trying to protect Caleb as much as possible,
and they used both Cole and Colston like that was
a game where you needed to use your titands as
extra protection and that was it. And Ben was asked

(20:44):
after the game about that, and he said, every game
is going to be different and guys are going to
be used differently. That game, very clearly to me, was
we need to protect Caleb as much as possible. We
got to give Braxton Jones as much supported on the
left side. So that's why you saw Cole and Colston
bunched together right next to each other next to that
left tackle spot or even the right tackle spot. So

(21:07):
but I agree you need more production out of them there.
They aren't first and second round picks or guys who
should make an impact on the field right away. They're
not guys who developed, they should be guys who make
an impact right away. I agree with you, guys. All
I was just saying is it's it's one game. Guys
are gonna be used differently in each matchup and that
sort of stuff. So it'll be interesting to see how
it kind of goes here in week two. So let's

(21:29):
talk about week two. We've got an interesting match up here.
Ben Johnson. Obviously he's coming back, Joe. I didn't know
until I read a story yesterday from Detroit Free Press
about and Lions fans have been mad about Ben Johnson leaving,
uh leaving Detroit. They've called him Benedict Benedict ben Johnson

(21:50):
or whatever like that. There there have been other names
that I will now repeat on this podcast that people
have used. But the Troy Lion fans are pretty mad
about this, and I listen, I kind of get that
if I'm a Lions fan. But he's also like, Ben
Jonson is the guy who made your team right, like

(22:10):
Dan Campbell has got a great impact on that, but
he revitalized that oftense, So I get that he hurts
that he went to a division rival, but I don't know.
He had to do it right for his family.

Speaker 2 (22:22):
Right, Oh yeah, I mean good for him. They every
you'd think every every coordinator or line coach or special
teams coach, they'd want the opportunity to be a head coach.
Maybe not everybody, but certainly you like, look like if
the Bears lose Declan Doyle next year to another team, like,

(22:43):
that's a good thing. You want that. It's like, hey man,
that means he did a good job here. So it's
nice to hear their upset because that means they know
they lost a good guy, don't I don't know anyone's saying,
boy really stinks that we lost Matt Eberflus now that
he's in Dallas. Boy, I'm really upset about that. No
one says that no one was upset after Matt n
Aggie left here, you know, like you and I know

(23:03):
they were head coaches, but you know, no, it's a
good thing because otherwise, you know, it's better that than
hearing as a Bears fan that boy, they couldn't wait
to get rid of Ben Johnson. He's overrated. He It
was all Dan Campbell and this guy thinks he's so smart. Uh,
and he's created with the play calls. Well, we'll see
what he does in Chicago. So that was that was

(23:24):
good news as a Bears fan.

Speaker 1 (23:26):
Yeah, I'm like, I don't know, like, put yourself in
Ben's position, would you not take a head coaching job
and you know, obviously try to Like I thought, Ben
stuck around longer than he needed to with the Lights,
he could have gone to He easily could have gone
to the commanders last year, but he was, like I
felt like he was loyal to Detroit, right, So I
don't know, those are kind of I had not heard

(23:48):
about that. I'm sure that there was somewhatever upset fans.
But when I saw that story and all the nicknames
and like the the fact that a reporter felt, you know,
like he had to come to Hell's Hall and like
kind of report on it, I was like, oh, I did,
Like this was this was the thing. I thought that
I'm sure they're upset people, but I didn't realize that
Detroit fans were that Maybe they're not. Maybe it's just
a small vocal you know how it is in today's world,

(24:10):
like a small vocal minority. It seems like the majority.
But yeah, I thought that was interesting. But Joe, let's
get into this game. What is your uh, what is
your matchup to watch in this week's matchup against the Lions.

Speaker 2 (24:25):
Well, I won't pick the obvious one, which is the
quarterback against Detroit's defense. I'm gonna go with the Bears
front line and they're they're really there, you know, they're
front seven against the running game here because you know,
other than Josh Jacobs saying, you know, I I know Minnesota,
I mean, Josh Shakers is a good football player, but

(24:48):
that running game at the end, it was like the
Bears that should have been the Bears running game set
of Minnesota, where they're picking up key plays and big
plays and Aaron Jones with a long touchdown passed out
you know, uh in the end. So so with this
dynamic duo here with Jamiir Gibbs and the expier David Montgomery,
you know, that's really good and we know all good.

(25:09):
That offense is thirteen points aside, you know from the
opener against Green Bay. So I really want to see,
especially if Grady Jarrett's not playing, that's not good. No
Caler Gordon again, big test here because that's Detroit. I mean,
you know, you got to run the football and we
haven't done that in Chicago in a long time. But

(25:30):
they do. And Ben Johnson is gone, but Gibbs is
still there. Montgomery's there, so that could be critical. You know,
third and third and eight and one of those guys
gets the ball and they get a first down.

Speaker 1 (25:41):
We know.

Speaker 2 (25:41):
Look, I don't know about you. I mean you were
sitting covering when David Montgomery was here, right or were
you not?

Speaker 1 (25:47):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (25:47):
Yeah, you know he's a good football player. He just
knock on him. Was he doesn't have the lack of
the breakaway speed and can he really be a featured
running back? I think Detroit's ca'sfect. He's got a perfect
role there in in Detroit, which he's which is proven
to be the case. So I like him a lot.
He's he's always we talk about the yact, you know,
they're the the yards after contact. He's that guy, you know,

(26:12):
he'd be he'd be nice to have here now with
with actually with de Andre Swift. Yeah yeah, right, So
I'm gonna I'm gonna say that's the one I really
will see. Can the Bears hold those guys intact, how
much damage will they do, especially controlling the clock, because again,
if they're controlling the clock, can't get the Bears offense

(26:32):
down the field, then everything is gonna be like, Okay, Caleb,
you gotta get a first down, you gotta drive, and
that just like well for him because he struggles. It
seems like what's you know, processing stuff, Like maybe it's
just that's not that's not good for him, like last
year where every time it was you know, again we
talked earlier, you know, other podcasts about they're down thirteen nothing,
seventeen nothing, now you gotta throw and if everything's on

(26:53):
a whack now and you have to get away from
your game plan and so long answer, but uh, run
game Lions offense versus the Bears front seven.

Speaker 1 (27:04):
Yeah, I think that'll be really interesting, especially because you know,
obviously the Lions are getting new offensive linemen in their
their their center is new, their guard is new. You
need to attack that because obviously that that's what listen,
you don't have Micah Parsons on your team. But I
do think that the Bears kind of talked about how
they saw what the Packers did and are gonna maybe
try to replicate that, and that's just getting attack the

(27:26):
middle of that area, right, like, attack the middle of
that zone. Limit, don't let Detroit's running game get going, right.
I think that's the biggest thing. That is the bread
and butter to that offense is the better brother too.
Obviously when Ben Johnson was there. It's going to be
their bread and butter moving forward, right. If you get
their run going, they're going to do really well. So
I would agree, And maybe that does include you know,

(27:50):
maybe Shammar Turner getting more involved. If Grady Jerry can't
play right like Andrew Billings, he was a big wrong stopper,
he needs to get involved there. But I would agree
they need to limit them, especially in the middle of
that offensive line. They're still trying to figure things out,
they're still learning about each other. I think you need
to exploit that matchup because if Detroit's able to get
their running game going, then things are not gonna go

(28:12):
well for the Bears. And on Sunday Night, my matchup
is kind of gonna be nerdy. I'm going with the
Bears silent count versus the Ford Field crowd. And I
say that because I mean most of the time when
you go on the road, you're obviously going to be
in a silent count. It gets pretty loud at that point.

(28:33):
But Ben Jonson kind of joked earlier, like he was asked,
how do you fix these pre stamp penalties, and he
kind of joked and he said, maybe we just go
to a silent account and see how that works. But listen,
that's gonna be huge. If this offense can, for the
most part, do well in a silent count, I think
that's gonna be huge because you saw how much JJ

(28:54):
McCarthy struggled at the beginning of that game on Monday
when they went to a silent count and they couldn't
really communicate with each other. So if this Fars offense
can execute the silent count fairly well and move the
ball down the field, I think that's going to be
huge because obviously the pre snap penalties delayed drives on Monday,
they really took away strong good plays, Like there are

(29:14):
a lot of different moments where you're just kind of
like man like, they were building momentum and they just
broke it there with that, with that holding caller, with that,
with that false start. So that silent count is going
to be huge. Because if you're committing false starts, if
you're not on the same page, like there are gonna
be a lot three and now it's five announce because
you're not gonna be able to get it going if
you can't run that silent count against that, you know,

(29:37):
in that noise, in that environment.

Speaker 2 (29:39):
Yeah, I know that's a great call, I because that's
been a lot of the talk this week. It was
a lot of the talk during the game, the the
pre snap penalties and this whole thing about Caleb being
better with his cadence. I think it was Grady Jarrett saying,
you know that when by the time he after he
signed and they did the with the OTAs whatever they
that first camp they did, it is much improved Caleb's

(30:03):
cadence in these last few months here, but it's clearly
not there yet. And that's yeah, you know, it's easy
to pick on Jonah Jackson. I did, others did because
he had two of the false starts and the quarterback
has to own a lot of that too, And I
don't know, maybe just simplifying it somehow, but that was

(30:23):
key because again, this offense, it's Josh. If it's Josh Allen,
I don't worry about them fall starting because they can
make that up pretty easily and we're nowhere near that.
A lot of teams aren't yeh at his level exactly, so,
but it's got to be better and you can't be
having this throughout the season. Is this can't be like

(30:44):
we we're talking about it every week. So yes, stop that.
Maybe the silent count will be just a little easier.
We'll make things easier for Caleb and we'll have fewer
guys fall starting.

Speaker 1 (30:59):
Yeah, we'll be interesting and kind of going minuscule, just
kind of before we move forward. I think we need
to see more from Drew Dolomon and Jonah Jackson, right Like,
I feel like those guys, I don't know what happened again,
it's again. I hate sounding like a broken record and
keep saying it's game one, but there you do need
the context of that, like it's one game, but you

(31:20):
do need to see the center and Caleb. You need
to see Drew Dolmon and Caleb, you know, be more
on the same page. That's gonna be huge, And you
need Jonah Jackson to kind of show you that he
he was worth trading for him, right Like, obviously I
think everyone automatically assumed when they traded for him, Oh
you got yourself. They like, I feel like kind of
lumped it together with Joe Toney and you're like, oh,

(31:40):
we got two all pro guards. Well, Joe Touney's obviously
THEO pro Hall of Fame guard. Jonah Jackson has showed
you that he can play well, but he needs to
kind of show it to you more. And I think
he needs to show you consistency, especially going back to
Detroit and doing well and that you know in that
little homecoming days got coming on on Sunday as well.
All right, Joe, what is going to be your surprise

(32:03):
prediction from Sunday's game?

Speaker 2 (32:07):
Bears win. I don't know why. I had no reason,
I really logistically, I don't, But that's the NFL. And
as angry as we were as Bears fans about Monday Night,
you know that is the fourth quarter because first three quarters,
like Bears are gonna win, Beers are gonna win well,

(32:28):
and then we know what happened. But this is the NFL,
and I don't know how. I don't know to predict, like,
what's going to be better than Monday Night? Their performance
Monday night. I really don't know, but this is the goof.
I've told you this is why I don't bet, because
I would get all the games wrong, all the games
that seem like it would sucker.

Speaker 1 (32:54):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (32:55):
So somehow they're gonna figure it out and Cairo, Cairo
Sancho's will kick a fifty eight yard or no, he's
not going to kick a pick.

Speaker 1 (33:02):
Oh, the redemption game for Cairo, the redemption game. He's
had redemption, He's had redemption games before. I would not
be surprised if he did it again. I mean, you're
inside a dome like for him.

Speaker 2 (33:14):
He'll give everything he's gotten Boom a thirty one yard
field goal, and the Bears will walk off victorious.

Speaker 1 (33:22):
That would be you know. I will get into our predictions. Obviously,
I would agree that that's a good prediction. I don't know.
I don't think many people have the Bears winning this
game right now, so I think that's going to be
pretty good. My surprise prediction is I think we're going
for an offensive shootout. I think that we are going
to see some good offenses together. I you know, I

(33:44):
I think thank Ben Johnson is a competitive guy man
like he he I don't think he's like a jerk
by any means. I don't think he tries to be
a jerk, but I think, man, when he I think
he wants to put on Detroit like his former team,
Like he's a competitive dude like that. He wants to
show that he's a head coach in the NFL and

(34:06):
that he deserves there, right, And I think at the
end of the game, he's gonna tell everybody that he
loves them, and I think he genuinely does love all
those people there, Like I don't think that it's like
a shtick or anything like that, but I also know that, man,
he's competit. Like, if we've learned anything about Ben Johnson,
he's competitive as heck. And I think the guys are
going to be motivated for him on Sunday, and they're

(34:26):
gonna be like, yeah, we want to help our coach
kind of show that he deserves to be at one
of the best offensive minds and we didn't. Everyone's going
to be motive. I think both sides are going to
be motivated as heck for this game on Sunday. But yeah,
because of that, I think both sides are actually gonna
put it put on a pretty good offensive performance, and
I think that we're in for an offensive shootout.

Speaker 2 (34:46):
Now, by offensive shootout, do you mean like thirty eight
to thirty four? What's your definition?

Speaker 1 (34:52):
I think this early in the year, I'll probably go
into high twenties. Let's go a high twenties game. Maybe
some maybe someone breaks into the thirties. But both of
these teams also did and have a great offensive Week one,
So I think we got to put that in hindsight
or in context a little bit. But I do think
that we're gonna see much more than thirteen points or
or what have you from last week.

Speaker 2 (35:11):
Yeah, so no, Bill's Ravens is what you're saying.

Speaker 1 (35:13):
Shoot, I don't think we're getting forty two to forty
three or whatever the score was.

Speaker 2 (35:17):
I don't.

Speaker 1 (35:17):
Maybe we will, but I do think that we're going
to see a lot of offense in this game.

Speaker 2 (35:21):
Well, I'll tell you what, and I think you'll agree
with me. If let's say they lose thirty four to
thirty one, Caleb throws for three touchdown passes and three twenty,
we'll come away saying, you know what, I know they lost.
I know it's sink. But because we've been saying forever,
even before Caleb was here. It's about the quarterback. So
if he plays well, it's like, man, he was hitting

(35:42):
guys in stride and yeah, well some of those deep
passes he connected with whoever, and they lose thirty four
to thirty one. I think, like, wow, you take that.
I'll take it. Well, the quarterback, maybe he will be good,
maybe he will be great. They'll figure out the defense
and get some guys back, whatever, But what do you think?

Speaker 1 (36:03):
No, I agree, I think you you don't want to
start the season zero and two, right, Like, obviously we
know the stats. I think it's the stats have kind of,
you know, been watered down with the expanded playoffs here
in the last couple of years. But if you're owen two,
you're not making the playoffs a lot of the times.
It's just the way it is. But I do think that,
especially oh and two in your division, you lose a

(36:23):
lot of tie breakers there. Like, it's not a good start,
But I do think that if you see that progress,
if you see Caleb throwing it away, the offense is humming,
and it just so happens that Detroit again, Detroit is
a team that is trying to contend for an NFC
championship or trying to get to the Super Bowl. Like
I know Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn are out, but

(36:43):
the majority of their guys are back, like they're still
in their windows, So that would not be a terrible loss,
especially for a Bear's team who's still trying to develop
with each other. So yeah, I agree with you. You
obviously want to win that game, but I would much
rather take a thirty four to thirty one loss where
Caleb looks like the franchise quarterback as opposed to like
a thirteen to seven win where your defense is carrying

(37:06):
the way. And I think that's what we've been saying
about this season, where I'm mostly focused on Caleb proving
that he's your franchise quarterback. Playoffs are great, more wins
are great. All that is very important, but I am
mostly focused on Caleb showing that he looks like your
franchise quarterback this year.

Speaker 2 (37:21):
Yeah, I think that's the big story, right. A lot
of people have said that at the end of the
year that the takeaway has to be do we have
the franchise quarterback in Caleb Williams regardless of one loss record,
and if he is the guy, then the one loss
record should be respectable, if not good anyway. So and
for the record, by the way, and our Shaw local
picks this week that we run in our newspapers, I

(37:42):
did pick Detroit, but on this podcast, I'm picking the Bear.
So I always got to cover both sides.

Speaker 1 (37:46):
You're hatching your bet here.

Speaker 2 (37:49):
So people could say, hey, you called her. I'm always
guaranteed see if I do the opposite on the podcast
and in print to say I told you so.

Speaker 1 (37:57):
Rick chiming in his surprise pick is going to be
that there's no pre snap penalties. That that that would
that would be a win, That would be a that
would be a surprise for me. Rick, I'm not gonna
lie to you that. I not that I'm predicting that
there's gonna be a lot of penalties. But I think
there's the that's a that's a good surprise prediction. I
like that one. Rick. All right, let's get to our
most valuable bears. Guys chime in in the in the

(38:18):
comments with who you guys think are going to be
your most valuable Bears in Week one. I chose Caleb
Joe got DeAndre Swift, I burned my quarterback pick here
early in Week one, and I won that matchup Caleb
based on fantasy points at twenty four points. DeAndre Swift
had nine points. So that's a win for me. But

(38:38):
so I start the season one to know. But then
I do burn my quarterback pick, Joe, I, since you
chose first last week, I will chose. I'll choose first
this week, and I'm going to go with I think
Rome is in for a big game. I was tempted
to get him last week, and I'm gonna go with
Roma Dunes this week. I think he showed you what

(39:00):
the heck of a catch down the sidelines that he's
in for a big week. I think that they're gonna
use him, They're gonna focus on him in this offense
a lot, and I think Romandonnday's a bit bit in
for a big game. I was tempted to go on
to the defensive side. I was really tempted to go
with Jalen Johnson in his first game, just to kind
of like say, hey, he's back, he's gonna shadow I'm

(39:22):
around Saint Brown and that sort of stuff. But I
still want to see this defense kind of get healthy
a little bit. So I'm gonna go stay on the
offensive side, and I'm gonna go with Romadoon Day as
my most valuable bear for this game.

Speaker 2 (39:34):
Okay, I really don't have like a strong opinion on this.
I said, you want offense, I'll go defense. And boy,
I want to say Jalen Johnson. I'm gonna say Jalen Johnson.
And you just mentioned him here, I'll go Jalen Johnson again.

(39:54):
He'll I'm assuming he'll be on one Ross Saint Brown
most of the game. And now if he doesn't play,
do I get like a you know, like incomplete or two?
You know, do I get like an asterisk if he
doesn't play? Because I'm just like, too bad you lost, Joe.

Speaker 1 (40:12):
You know, we've never we've never faced the situation before.
We might. Well, we'll talk it. We'll talk it over
with the delegation over the weekend. We'll decide for next
Friday's podcast. I would I would hope that he's playing.
If he's not playing in something very bad has happened
here in the next couple of days.

Speaker 2 (40:26):
Okay, well, good, so I'll go with Jalen Johnson.

Speaker 1 (40:29):
Then I think that's a good pick. I think My
only hesitation with him was maybe he'll be on a
snaps limit or something like that. But I was thinking
about Jalen and his I think he's gonna make an
impact right away. I think he's itching to get back
out there after missing all training camp and missing that
first game. So I think that he's ready to kind
of prove and he's been itching to play in this
tennis island defense, like he wants to prove that he

(40:51):
can be a playmaker in this man the man coverage
so and shadowing like the best wide receivers on opposing team.
So I I I.

Speaker 2 (40:59):
Like that, Thank you. I just hope we have several
candidates like boy, this is a tough pick because there
were so many good candidates, so many guys. You a
good games, because after Monday night, that was tough. Man.
That may have been the hardest question I had all week?
Who is the Bears MVP? Because you know, like the
positive is because no one really stood out. Am I
picked last week? Jandre whipped. I told you I watching

(41:23):
the game live, I thought he was pretty good. I
thought he ran hard. But then you look at his
stats and they're very similar to last year when we
all kind of agree he underachieved all, you know, regardless
of the offensive line woes last season. But they need him.
And we haven't even talked about you know, running back too,

(41:44):
because they got to figure that out because that's still
that's still a mess health wise. What do they think
of Manung guy. I mean, maybe that's a conversation for
another time, but they got to figure that out too,
because that's not just like a oh by the way.
They need to figure that out because as much as
I love DJ Moore, I don't want him seeing I

(42:04):
don't want him carrying the ball three or four times.
If you want to do that once every other game
or something, fine, get him at the good ball in
his hands, but don't don't make this guy like he's
getting three or four carries a game. That's not his game.
You're doing him an injustice.

Speaker 1 (42:20):
Yeah, Ben and Ben Johnson kind of took accountability for that.
During the week. He was kind of like, I need
to call more plays, like I need to call more
running plays, like him and Decklan were kind of talking
about how you know, they kind of got to go
with the game. He kind of got away from that,
and I think again that's part of the learning for
Ben Johnson of how does he manage to play calling
in the moment on top of being a head coach, right,
So maybe those are things that he kind of learns

(42:41):
and he's like, hey, Declan, where are we at with this? Like, yep,
it'll be interesting to see. I think you're definitely gonna
see more running the ball, and that's why Rick's pick
looks pretty good. I was debating going with him, Rick
is going with DeAndre Swift. I think they again for
DeAndre Swift, it's a big game for him. Obviously, he's
played Detroit with the Bears last year, so this isn't
his first time playing his former team. But I'm sure

(43:01):
there's some motivation, Like the team that trades you away
because they don't think that you're part of their future, Like,
there's motivation with that that stays with you, especially if
you're in an athlete. So I like that pick by Rick.
CJ's got Colston Lovelin getting his first touchdown and getting
more involved. I can definitely see that. I think the
tit Ands are going to be much more involved in
this game than they were in the first game. I

(43:22):
think they'll still use Cole and Colston as protection because
I'm you still have to stop Aiden Hutchinson and a
lot of great guys on that defensive line for the Lions,
and you're gonna need that protection help. But I do
think that they're going to use the tight ends a
little bit more than they did in Week one. All right, Joe,
what is your prediction? What is Sunday Sunday afternoon in

(43:45):
Detroit noon game at Fox at Ford Field. Ben Johnson
goes back to Detroit for the first time. What happens
Monday afternoon or Sunday or Sunday afternoon.

Speaker 2 (43:56):
Okay, I've already said the Bears will lose. I've already
said the Bears will win.

Speaker 1 (44:00):
Said that looks What are you gonna go with?

Speaker 2 (44:04):
So says this is the podcast. I guess I have
to stick with the Bears will win, as crazy as
that sounds. The score, boy, I'd love to see your
shootout prediction. I would I but I don't know if
I want to go that high. So maybe I'll go
Maybe I'll go twenty twenty one to I don't get

(44:25):
what I'm doing twenty one seventeen. No, like kylro Santos
is going to make a field goal, so so us
to the mathter twenty twenty. Uh, what's twenty one plus
they're twenty four, twenty twenty four to twenty I don't know,
twenty four to twenty That sounds.

Speaker 1 (44:43):
Right, that's actually the same. Uh, that's the same point
differential that I'm doing. But I have detroited winning twenty
eight to twenty four. Okay, I think that they're able
to kind of pick it up there late. We'll probably
be right, I don't I don't know. I look, listen,
we'll we'll be talking on the podcast on Monday, and
it turned out to like a ten to seven game
or something like that, and we're talking about Caleb and
the offense struggling to kind of get it going there.

Speaker 2 (45:05):
But yeah, this.

Speaker 1 (45:10):
I thought this was a tough game at the beginning
of the when the schedule came out, I thought it
was going to be their toughest game of the first four.
You're going to Detroit. Detroit started the season zero to one.
They're trying to be a Super Bowl contender here, like
they have a lot on the line. They got I
don't want to say humiliated, but it didn't look good

(45:30):
against the Packers in Week one, right, so I think
there's a lot of pride with this team. I think
that they're going to come out motivated, and I think
it's a really tough spot for the Bears to be
in while they're trying to figure things out. That's a
tough environment to play in. There are going to be
a lot of emotions in that game. So I do
think that Detroit ends up winning that game. But I
do think that you feel confident about what you see

(45:50):
with Caleb twenty four points. I know that that's not
a revolutionary in today's NFL, but I do think that
it's going to look a lot more positive and you're
not going to have the boosted pick six like you
did against the Vikings in Week one.

Speaker 2 (46:04):
Hope, so hope, So we got we got to see improvements.
They as they say, you know, progress always isn't linear,
and but we we need to see improvement, whether it's offense, defense,
kicker something you gotta you gotta be better because you'll
then you will be going to.

Speaker 1 (46:23):
For sure, CJ chiming in he's got the Bears winning
seventeen to fourteen. I wouldn't be surprised by that prediction.
I don't I don't know, obviously you're happy with the
win and you get a couple of touchdowns. I don't
know what the reaction would be with Caleb and that
sort of stuff, but I it's a win for the Bear,
so I'm sure they'd be happy. All right, guys, get
in any of your last questions predictions. We're gonna say goodbye,

(46:47):
But Joe, any lasting thoughts before before we say good
bye to the folks.

Speaker 2 (46:51):
No, it's just fun to have a noon kickoff on Sunday.
If you told you you know this summer like, I
just love That's what the routine you're used to fall,
noon kickoff football. Leave me alone and watch the game.
That's what I look forward to the most because to me,
that's the NFL. I know all they got to do
all the night games and Thursday and Sunday night. And

(47:12):
I get it. You know, you're trying to make money
as a league, but noon kickoff love it. Let's go.

Speaker 1 (47:18):
I particularly love it as a traveler, so I'm into
that at all. After that Monday night game, mister Shorty
chiming in twenty four to seventeen lions, I can see
that too. I think that would be good. But yeah,
I think it'll be an interesting game. It's going to
be an emotional game. It'll be an interesting I think
we're gonna learn a lot about this Bears team in
this game. I think we're gonna We've heard a lot
of comments over the past week, all the right stuff.

(47:42):
I'm really interested to see how they kind of respond
and that'll be really interesting to watch on Sunday. But
that's everything that we've got for this week's episode of
the podcast. Thank you so much. If you joined us
on YouTube, thanks so much for everyone who chimed in
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(48:03):
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(48:25):
sure you join us on there if you want to
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you follow me at all our social media's at duojiac

(48:46):
ninety four. All right, that's everything that we've got for
this week's episode. Thanks so much for joining us, and
hopefully you guys enjoy some football over the weekend, and
we will talk to you folks down the road