Recapping a thrilling 25-24 Chicago Bears win over the Raiders

The Chicago Bears held on to beat the Las Vegas Raiders, 25-24, on Sunday in Las Vegas. Shaw Local's Michal Dwojak and Joe Aguilar break down the big win and what it means for the rest of the season.


Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/shaw-local-s-bears-insider-podcast--3098936/support.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the latest episode of the Shaw Local Bears
Insider Podcast. I am Michael Duojak, Chicago Bears beat reporter
here with the Northwest Herold Show aguilar As. We are
talking to you on Monday morning after a crazy win,
a crazy win against the Las Vegas Raiders, like was
like how we all drew it up, how we all

(00:22):
expected it to go down. A crazy game, but a win. Nonetheless,
it wasn't pretty by any means. And we will break
it all down. We'll talk about the good, the bad,
the dirty, A lot of stuff to talk about after
this game. But Joe, the Bears find, you know, they
find a way to win a game. This is a
game that they lost plenty of times last year. It

(00:44):
was like the main focus of my story here from
Vegas yesterday. But the Bears wanted to beat that moniker
that this is the same old Bears, and at least
for a day, it seems.

Speaker 2 (00:53):
Like they did that absolutely. I mean, and we you know,
we've heard the cliche winning is contagious, losing his contagious,
and they had to get past that. And we talked
the other day on the podcast about maybe you got
to win one ugly if that's the case, so be it.
And that was the case because that first half, boy,
the offense really from the first snap until most of

(01:16):
the remaining of the half looked ugly, penalties, Caleb didn't
look comfortable. It's like, oh boy, they might have to
grind one through here, grind one out. And like you said, Michael,
last year, we saw a green bay, certainly the game
in Washington, where you had opportunities to somehow win an

(01:36):
ugly one and you had it and you blew it.
And especially for a young franchise with a new head coach,
not a young franchise they have eight hundred career victories.
That was a franchise, A young, young team with a
new head coach. Really important, especially with the bye week
coming up here where we talked about this too the
other day. You don't want to be sitting on a

(01:58):
bad loss for two weeks, and they don't have to
thanks to Josh Blackwell's great block to preserve the victory
in the final minute.

Speaker 1 (02:09):
Listen, it's it's definitely a program builder, right, And you
know that's funny that you know, it's funny to say that.
You know, I feel like you say program builder. Obviously,
for college, for high school and that sort of stuff,
like your identity. But I feel like we kind of
forget that that that also applies in the NFL, right Like,
this is Ben Johnson like bringing in his identity, his
coaching staff, the culture he wants and this and that

(02:31):
that doesn't just happen, you know, that doesn't just happen
by working out in training camp and then you know
you start the game and it's all there and it's
all perfect, right like that. It doesn't take that. It
takes time. It takes games like this, right Like, it
takes a big performance like you saw against the Cowboys
on Week three and then yesterday you cut it out
a win, and that's a ays. You saw all the

(02:54):
videos after the game, the players talking about Ben Johnson
talking about it. It's just these are the types of
games you win if you want to have a winning
culture and a winning program. Right So it's really important,
I know, and we'll we'll get into all of it.
It's really it wasn't perfect by any means. There's a
lot to talk about. There's a lot to dissect here
four weeks into the season, but it's really big for.

Speaker 3 (03:15):
Them to pick up a win like this.

Speaker 1 (03:17):
If you're joining us on YouTube, thanks so much for
joining us on the live stream. Make sure you get
your comments in there. We appreciate you guys joining us
on this Monday morning. Make sure you get all your
thoughts and comments in there. Rick joining us this morning, Michael,
are you staying in Vegas? I am leaving Vegas after
this morning. I like Vegas, but I'm kind of a
I'm kind of a two night Vegas kind of guy.

(03:37):
I'm not I don't need to spend more time in here.
They I did a couple of rounds at the blackjack table.
It didn't go well, and I was like, all right done,
I'm I'm ready to go. But yeah, so just a
quick like I said, thanks for joining us on the
YouTube stream, give us a like. That's the best way
to support us. And if you're listening on the podcast,

(03:58):
you're like, I want to be part of the conversation.
Make sure you check out when we posted. We like
to do this every Friday morning and Monday morning, but Joe,
every week we like to do winners and Losers. We
like to break down three winners and losers each three
winners three losers. Since the Bears won twenty five to
twenty four. Let's start with the winners. Let's start with

(04:19):
the positive here, Joe, who's your first winner from Sunday's win?

Speaker 2 (04:25):
Well, at least we have options, right, at least we
have good options to choose from here. We can go
a lot of different directions. I'll I'll just start with
Kevin Bayer the third. What a great game for him,
A tone setter, and man, where's the fountain of youth?
I want some? You don't need it yet, Michael, You're
still young, but I'll take what Kevin Bayert is drinking
because he has founded ten year veteran. He had one

(04:48):
interception in seventeen games last season, played in every game,
which is important, especially for your Bears player because a
lot of guys can't seem to play every week. But
he did. But you know, and he even said it
to get the end of last last year, Michael, and
you talked to him. I know though with the media
he didn't have as good a year as he wanted.
The team didn't, but he knew he had to play

(05:08):
better and he has come out with the vengeance these
first four games. Here that three interceptions down the two
yesterday set the tone two great pickups. We said, you know,
you know, I thought the Bears could find a way
to get some turnovers on defense. I thought Montese Wet
would have a big game. He had another sleeper. I
don't know where he was yesterday, didn't do anything. But

(05:30):
thanks God for Kevin Bayer Bears, because he was really impressive.
Had a tackle for loss. I know he missed the
tackle on Ashton Genty on the twenty five the first
half their gent He had that sixty four yard TV
run and Buyer could have stopped that, maybe hold him
to a field goal there. But that aside two interceptions,
the tackle for loss had a big stop two on
another play where he stopped the runner. I don't know

(05:51):
if it was Genty or someone else, you know, shy
of the first down marker. So props to Kevin Byard
playing like a veteran and showing it. I think even
he said, he tweeted out yesterday that he's still getting
it done in year ten in the National Football League.

Speaker 1 (06:06):
It's a it's a big performance from one of your
you know, your captains. You know, I know, maybe he's
not like a uh uh or you know, one of
those captains, but he is a captain on that defense.
He's a big leader, he's a big vocal guy. And
and listen, he said it came down to watching the tape,
like they studied Geno Smith. They looked at his tendencies,
and the whole defense just saw something. And every time,

(06:27):
you know, Bayard went you know, against the scout team
and and worked out a little bit. He got interceptions
during practice this week because of the film that he watched,
so he was feeling confident and you know Tyrek Stevens,
I mean both both both the Bayard's interceptions was you
could tell he studied. He was like locked in Geno Smith.
He knew exactly where that ball was going to go.

(06:49):
And that kind of goes back into not only player preparation,
but coach preparation, right, Like the coaches are putting these
guys in positions to win. And that's that's that's really refreshing.
You know, that Tyrek's Stevenson interception, Obviously he kne where
the ball was going, but that was also just a
crazy play like that was that that diving catch was
just that that's the last two weeks you've seen the
Tyrek Stevenson that we've kind of expected to see this year,

(07:12):
so that was that was a really big performance. But yeah,
for Kevin Bayern especially, you need this to start the year, right,
like especially you know you you kept for Kevin. I mean,
he's going into a contract year, right, so he wants
to put together a good performance and shows that he
can still play at this level. But yeah, I agree,
just for for what Kevin was able to do, for

(07:33):
what Tyrek Stevenson were able to do. The secondary just abused
Gino Smith. That kind of led to the Raiders to
kind of turn to the run, which we'll get to
later about that run defense. Maybe it wasn't you know,
it's one of those good things lead to a bad
thing sort of thing. But I agree that secondary had
that secondary looked like what we expected it to look
like at the beginning of the season.

Speaker 2 (07:55):
And one more note on that. I mean, and again,
like you just said, we'll get to the d line
in a in a little bit here, but they're doing
this the secondary. That's two good games in a row
now with no help basically from the front seven. I mean,
they're not getting any pressure at all. So for the defense,
because a lot of times it's coverage sacks right or

(08:15):
you know, or you're getting pressure, I should say you're
getting good pressure and that leads to an interception. Well,
this is has been the case. Now, that's what six interceptions, right,
three each in the last two games here. So that's
impressive considering the lack of production you're getting from the
pass rush.

Speaker 1 (08:31):
Yeah, especially you know, for how much we talked about
all off season about the pass rush leading to secondary.
For that's the whole dennisel on defense, right, Like, the
pass rush has to work in order for the secondary
to work. And yeah, this is so far. I mean,
the secondary has shown that it's doing its job. It's
playing good man and man coverage has a gob Listen,
did it get blown up against Detroit? Yes, it wasn't

(08:53):
That wasn't good. They did like let up some plays
against the Vikings. Yes, But I think you're starting to
see the secondary coming. It kind of come into itself.
And I think you're kind of seeing Dennis Allen making
some adjustments. He hasn't revamped his defense by any means,
but I think he's adjusting to seeing them. Maybe we're
not going to see the pressure that he wants to
have there and he's you know, mixing some things up,
sending the safeties back a little bit, you know, letting

(09:15):
them kind of stay as opposed to maybe what he
would want to do maybe more kind of his zone thing,
especially for Brisker and for Buyered. So I agree, and
that kind of leads to me to my first winner.
Just the preparation to win this game. That's the winner
for me. Whether it's coaching, whether it's the players. That
Josh Blackwell blocked field goal toward the end of the game.
That happened because Scott Daly noticed a tendency from the

(09:39):
from the Raiders field goal unit, and they worked on
in all weeks. You know, Special teams coorinator Richard Hye
Tower talked about it. This week they came. Josh Blackwell
said after the game that he came close on the
first couple of tries in the field goal and then
he finally was able to break through on that third one.
But whether it's the ha, whether it's like you know,

(10:01):
the whether it's Kevin Bayer knowing where the ball is
going to be going because it's Geno Smith and I,
the preparation you can just tell us so much better,
like you can I'm That's not to say the last
year's team didn't prepare. That's not to say the last
year's coaching staff wasn't getting these guys you know already
and wasn't coaching them up. But I think you're seeing
a difference, right Like you're seeing a difference of coaches

(10:23):
putting their players in positions to win, right Like you're
seeing that in the coaching like you're seeing you know,
Ben Johnson said he didn't adjust his offense too much
in the second half based on what he saw, Like
he said after the game, he'll need to look at
the tape and see if he really changed things up.
But you did see a little bit of a momentum
shift in that fourth quarter with the offense, the way
the play calling, like the shorter runs and the shorter passes,

(10:44):
and you know, Caleb was able to kind of, you know,
create some plays there with his legs a couple of times.
But my big, my biggest winner at this point is
the coaching. We weren't sure what we are going to get,
obviously first time coach, but you know, you had experienced
coaching staff, and this coaching staff is putting these guys
in positions to win every single week at this point.

Speaker 2 (11:03):
Yeah, good call there. And I'll say this, I mean
other than the Detroit game, because everyone got an f
on that one, everyone from Ryan Poles to the coaches
to the players, everybody. But really, since the get go here,
we've seen what Ben Johnson is all about, and that
goes back to the preseason, and it's been really good.

(11:23):
I do have faith in this coaching staff. I do
think this program this again, I use programmed. This organization
is on the right path with this guy in charge
the GM. That's another story. I'm not giving him much
credit for any of this, but I'll give him credit
for getting the coach right. And everyone wanted the coach
then you thought, well, maybe he's going to find out

(11:45):
how tough it is being a head coach instead of
a coordinator. But he's brought the right people in, not
only Dennis Allen but some of the other assistants. We're
seeing that and that I do have faith and confidence
and belief that they will continue to ascend.

Speaker 1 (12:03):
All right, Joe, who's your second winner from Sunday's win.

Speaker 2 (12:06):
Well, Michael, you know how much I love the kicker.
I've Cairo Santos fan.

Speaker 1 (12:10):
You've been Carol Santo's biggest fan from the beginning of
the season. Every week you're just singing his phrases. I
can't get on the podcast.

Speaker 2 (12:17):
Well, I will give him his prop But you know
what again, you know, early in the year, we all
saw it. They bring in Jake Moody. It's not just
to say, hey, Jay, come on and come to Soldier
Feel and be on our practice squad. They were seeing
what we were seeing and they needed to see more.
So I'm not saying it lit a fire under under
his butt, but Cairo Santos man was huge yesterday because

(12:38):
some of those possessions were god ugly man, god awful
ugly in the first half of the Bears and who
bailed him out? Oh my goodness. The kicker. Cairo Santos
four for four yesterday, two in the second half. I
think the two in the second half, we're both on.
We had three in the first half, but the last
two he hit were fifty plus yards. I know, you know,

(12:58):
he's not going to hit a six five yards or
like some of these guys in the league do. But
you know, if you can consistently, you know, make field
goals from fifty fifty five fifty eight yards in Okay,
And again, I know he's been one of the most
consistent kickers in the franchise. I didn't think he was
good last year, got off to a bad start this year,

(13:19):
but he really bailed them out yesterday because someone you
think about some of those possessions, especially the one I
think it was when they had six points and it
was like it was it was the third field goal
he kicked where it was the bad snap that looks
so ugly, may have been the comet drop and like,
oh my gosh, they're almost on a field goal range
here one of those and he comes in and he
nails a long one. So props to him. Four for

(13:41):
four and even they kick off at the end of
the game after they scored to go ahead, that was
actually Tory Taylor. I maybe I'm miss it. I don't
know if he'd been doing that recently. You maybe you
can answer that for me, Michael.

Speaker 1 (13:52):
But no, Cairo, it seemed like he kind of tweaked something.
Oh kay, they had a Puttory in there. Ben said
that Cairo was fin after the game, but so much
he tweaks something at the moment, so they had to
throw in Tory in there because.

Speaker 2 (14:04):
I had said, Tory Taylor, the guy can kick it
from here to the moon. I mean, why can't he
kick off and boom it eight rows back? And you know,
I didn't like that where he looked like he was
purposely kicking it to just staying bounced. And then they
almost broke one there and it set them up in
good field position. And let's face it there and they
without the you know, the Blackwell block, which I don't
think anyone any of us saw coming up block field

(14:26):
goal there. Let it let alone from Blackwell. You know,
the Raiders break our hearts again. You know, another NFL
team breaks the hearts of the Bears. So but I
don't know booming and if they boom it out of
the en zone, where do they get the ball to thirty?

Speaker 3 (14:40):
Yeah, thirty?

Speaker 1 (14:41):
I think it's thirty five now.

Speaker 2 (14:42):
I think thirty five now better than that because they
started where'd they start? That last drive of the Raiders
wasn't like at the forty forty two something like that.

Speaker 1 (14:50):
I don't have it in front of him was the
forty two.

Speaker 2 (14:54):
So I think you're rather just booming or booming into
the end zone and maybe force the guy to turn it.
But that looked like, I don't know, show off that
big thunder leg kid, let's go Tory Taylor.

Speaker 3 (15:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (15:08):
Yeah, And obviously it's a different thing. You know, obviously
kick ons and punting or you know, two different things.
But I you you are like, you can't do that. Yeah,
you are kind of surprised by that. And we'll see
what the situation with Cairo is. He will have two
obviously two weeks to get back. But you know, with
the context of obviously it's perfect conditions. You're inside, you're

(15:28):
kicking indoors. There's no win like you know, obviously you
know kickers are going to do well from from from
that situation. But I agree Cairo bailed them out a
lot of times. We'll get into the offense as ineptitude
with what the defense was able to give them. But
Kiro really came through for them four for four. It
was good to see him them kind of get back there.

(15:49):
My second winner is and obviously you know there's there's
these aren't like in certain positions, but my my second
winner is a quarterback and the confidence that Ben Johnson
has in his quarterback where you know, after the game,
Ben told us, and Caleb told us like heading into
that that final drive, like Ben looked at Caleb and
said like essentially like I don't have it off the

(16:11):
top of my have, but like for lack of it,
like for lack of a better phrasing, like you you've
got this, like this is what you were made for,
Like this is where you shine. And and you know
that just kind of gave Caleb calmness before going up
huge going into a huge drive. It's a the Bears
are trailing at that point, they're losing twenty four to nineteen.

(16:32):
They need to go down the field. You know, I
I tweeted out, you know I'm scoreing. I was like
Caleb Williams and Ben Johnson like the table set for you,
and I replies where people are like, well, I don't
know how this is going to happen. What do you?

Speaker 2 (16:43):
What do you?

Speaker 1 (16:43):
What have you been looking at? But I think you
saw you saw the difference between what makes Caleb Williams
a winner, right And you saw this a lot last
year where he led them on some some you know
what should have been game winning drives last year that
ended up becoming heartbreaking losses. When that wasn't because of
his faulton you know, yes, we can get into the

(17:05):
whole what is he doing for the first three quarters?
Why isn't it working for the first three quarters where
he has to be in these positions obviously to win
at the end of the game, And that's a totally
valid argument. But I do think that Caleb has shown
you that he just comes through in big moments, like
he can go, he can lead a team down the
field to score, and he can make big plays, whether

(17:26):
it's scrambling, whether it's finding the open receiver, whether it's
just moving the ball down the field. He can handle
the pressure, and he has continuously showed you that he
can do that in a lot of different ways. He
did it last year against the Commanders, he did against
Green Bay did and against Minnesota. He was doing it
against Detroit, like all those moments were moments where he

(17:48):
could have You know, the story would be really different
last year if they win those games, because it's like
Caleb Williams leads them to a victory, right Instead, it's
a heartbreaking loss to all of those teams. So yeah,
I think it's just the biggest winner or for me
from this whole thing is Caleb Williams shows that he
can win, and he had like the Ben Caleb relationship.
I don't think there was any doubt about, you know,

(18:09):
how good it was and how strong it was it
heading into this game. But I left leaving that game
being like Ben is all in on Caleb, and Caleb
is all in on Ben and the these two, if
they can kind of continue to grow the way they've
had through four weeks of the season, they can really
do something, you know, special, especially toward the end of
the year.

Speaker 2 (18:28):
Yeah. No, good call there. I was gonna if you
didn't say Caleb, I was going to because you look
at the numbers. You know what he ended up ended
up throwing for too sixteen or to twelve. That's respectable, certainly,
But the first half it didn't look right. I mean,
he was hurried, fumble, the batted down passes. I know
it was they were going against Max Crosby, uh, but
still Max Crosby looked like one of the you know,

(18:49):
you look like one of the all time you know,
best the ends in the history of the national football
He's good, but he hasn't achieved that status yet. But
right anyway, No, look, fourth quarter comeback wins are a thing.
I don't know if it's an official stat, but you
have that on your resume, and you're right, Michael, you
nailed that. He should have had a couple last year

(19:11):
and this team collapsed. Blame Mattie Reflues, whoever the hell
the failed Mary whatever. He should have had a couple
of those fourth quarter comeback wins on his resume last year.
He didn't. So this is important because it does become
like it can become like an albatross. Look, it became
that way with Justin Fields about it became like he

(19:31):
can't win in the fourth quarter. Yeah, but did you
see the drop pass by Equanimia Saint Brown? Did you
see that one? What about this play that the guy
just you know, ran out of bounds or whatever or
it wasn't his fault, but it became a thing Justin
Fields can't win the fourth quarter. So it does become
a talking point and players hear the noise. They try
to block it up, but they hear it. But this

(19:51):
is what Caleb does. And I think I heard that
Ben Johnson told before that last touchdown drive, you're made
for moments like this, and he is. We saw it
in college, but you need to start getting those on
your resume in the National Football League. And that was
a good start because again he's had better games. He's
not going to be you know, offensive player of the

(20:13):
Week in the NFC again this week, but when it mattered,
he came through. He engineered that drive. He goes poised
and you know those scrambles he had for like six
yards of one twelve on the other to keep those
drives going. Hey man, Patrick Mahomes does that, Lamar Jackson
does that, Josh Allen does that. You don't always have
to show off the great arm and the smart just
take off be an athlete and pick the right time

(20:36):
in spots to do it. And he did it, so
kudos to Kleb.

Speaker 1 (20:40):
It goes back to what we talked about last week, right,
like you need to learn how to win, and that
obviously didn't happen a lot last year, and you know,
call for what it is, like, well, what we're getting
to the negatives. I feel like I keep teasing that,
but you need to win. You need to win these
types of games. You need to learn how to win
these types of games, Like you need to know how
to make a stop. You need to know how to
go on the game winning drive toward the end of

(21:02):
the game. What works, what does it right? Like, you
need to go through those experiences no matter what you're
doing in life, right. They can't just you can't just
know how to do something without ever doing it right.

Speaker 2 (21:11):
Like.

Speaker 1 (21:11):
So I think that was a big thing, and I agree.
You just have to be really encouraged by what you're
seeing from Caleb right now. Is a perfect No, It's
not like there's still a lot of things to be desired.
Obviously it wasn't perfect circumstances for him yesterday, but you
do have to really be encouraged about what you're seeing
from the coach and the quarterback four weeks into the season.

(21:33):
All right, Joe, final winner for you before we start
moving on to the negative.

Speaker 2 (21:38):
Well, I guess I'll just go with Josh Blackwell and
may kind of lump it all with a special team
because that won the game for you. That's that's simple.
But I love what he said. You've already talked about it.
But Scott Daily, the Bear's long snapper, telling him their center,
their long snapper the Raiders. He moves the ball right
before he snaps it and Josh said he had almost

(21:59):
had a couple in that game, and man, and when
he finally got the one, it was at the perfect time.
But that was well, I haven't seen the picture yet.
There's got to be a picture of him. That leap.
I mean, that was air Jordan esque. That was quite
the leap to get a finger or two fingers, whatever
it was on that football. That was a great play

(22:20):
by Josh Blackwell. Undrafted kid on a second organization. You know,
he's a corner. He's not a he can't even play.
He can't even beat on guys other undrafted guys to
be a starting corner or get reps at corner rarely.
But he made a big play and he got a
game ball. Good for that kid. That's a moment he'll
have for the rest of his life. And he'll have

(22:42):
that football somewhere proudly displayed on a shelf like a
buckets jersey or something and his man cave someday. But
good for Josh Blackwell. So how can you not how
can we not pick him for at least one of
the positives from this football game yesterday.

Speaker 1 (22:56):
Yeah, and especially for him, just you know, obviously you
know the the coaching staff loved Blackwell like that. He's
just a great special teamer. He like gives it all.
He you know, he dealt with some injuries during the
their in training camp, so he wasn't out there. You know,
Nick McCleod kind of beats him out for their back
up cornerback nickel spot and you know, Knicks played fairly
well in place of Kyler Gordon for for the most part.

(23:19):
But I yeah.

Speaker 3 (23:23):
It's just great for him. It's great. Those moments are really.

Speaker 1 (23:25):
Cool for guys where he's kind of like, you know,
they put in a lot of work. You know, how
often are we talking about Josh Blackwell. I don't think
we've set his name at all throughout training camp. Maybe
we said, like who could potentially fill in for you know,
the injuries that they have at that position and that
sort of stuff, but we haven't really talked about him.
So those are really cool moments just to kind of
have that unexpected happen. Someone has to step up, like
Ben Johnson said after the game, and you know, help

(23:47):
you win a game like that, and that's exactly what
Josh did.

Speaker 3 (23:51):
And I'll go for my last winner.

Speaker 1 (23:52):
I'll go with just the entire defense, you know, forcing
four turnovers for a second straight game. I haven't been
able to go through the records book and see the
last time they've done that, but they haven't done that
in a while. They didn't do it last year. To
have back to back for turnover games that that, you know,

(24:12):
you can get into the whole like what is Pete
Carroll going for it on fourth and one deep in
his territory and then Andrew Billings back to back plays
just completely blows up the offensive line to force that,
and then you know, no school gets to force the
fumble and then Tyrek Stevenson recovers it. Kudos to the defense.
You know, obviously it wasn't perfect, and we'll get to
the rush run defense and all that sort of stuff.

(24:33):
But the force four turnovers they they gave. They gave
their offense plenty of opportunities to score in the first half,
and and uh, that's a good transition kind of toward
the negatives.

Speaker 3 (24:45):
Joe.

Speaker 1 (24:45):
I'll start off with the negatives. My first negative is
for how great Caleb was and how great the obviously
the game winning drive was like you come away, you
don't take advantage of opportunities after great field position, and
you know, kay Kevin Byrd gets the first interception, gets
the ball to the Las Vegas twenty four. You go

(25:06):
a total of negative four yards on four plays and
you have to kick a field goal. The fumble, you
get the ball at the Las Vegas twenty. You use
six plays, you go seven yards and it's intercepted because
Max Crosby is insane, bats the ball and intercept it.
That that was just an insane play. The second Kevin
Byard interception, you get the ball at the twenty four

(25:27):
of the Raiders. Again, you use eight plays to gain
a total of nine yards and then you lose a
yard on the whole thing, and then you just go
for a field goal. And then Tyreek Stevenson the interception
in a third quarter, you finally get a touchdown on
that you're able to go in a drive. But man, Joe,
you have plenty of opportunities to make this blowout game.

(25:47):
Your defense kept giving it to you, and you just
didn't look good at all as an offense. Like you
the Max Crosby, you know, he's insane. I don't think
I you know, when when Ben Johnson was talking about
him earlier last week and giving him his flowers. I
was kind of like, all right, like obviously you're going
to talk them up, like you don't want to give
him any bulletin board material. But and I've obviously seen

(26:08):
Max Crosby play throughout the years, but man, what he
was able to do. Yet he dominated that game. He
killed drives, he was everywhere, he knew where the ball
was going to be. He was bull rushing all these
different guys, and that effected the Bears from doing anything.
And you need you need more than you know, especially

(26:28):
on those first turnover through first three turnovers, you need
more than six points. You need to get into the
end zone. You're taking over at the twenty yard line
and you have a penalty, or you have this, or
you missed an opportunity there. And Joe that that is
still for how great the last minute drive was and
you know, finding a way to win the game, all
that sort of stuff, I understand that. But your defense

(26:49):
gave you a lot of opportunities to make this a
blowout and the Bears offense just didn't take advantage of
that at all.

Speaker 2 (26:56):
No, That's why I thought, while that was happening, I thought, well,
for sure, this is what everyone's going to be talking
about tomorrow how we the Bears lost this game because
of the failed opportunities when they had the ball deep
in Raiders territory on all those possessions you mentioned. It
was just really ugly. And you know, most of the

(27:17):
games in the NFL are basically at one possession game,
you know, so you know, you know the comet drop,
you know, if he catches that, it was only right
in his hands, he maybe gets into the end zone.
They at least come away with three there. But there
was so much shooting themselves from the foot yesterday, eight

(27:37):
penalties yesterday for sixty was it sixty yards? You know
this this reeked of past bad Bears teams and then
so for them to overcome all of that, and the
great game by Max Crosby was wonderful because sometimes, you know,
sometimes you got to sink a thirty foot or to

(27:59):
make par and like, wow, I can't believe it. Now,
I'm confident going to the next hole because you're safe
part with the thirty footer. Well, sometimes you got to
win a game like this to go into your next game,
whether you have a bye week or not. Just say, man,
we're coming off a win and I feel good and
let's build off that. But wow, that that offense and

(28:20):
just the clumsiness and discombobulated look was putrid. So for
them for us to be smiling as Bears fans today,
for the Bears to be smiling on that playing ride home, wow,
it just it didn't.

Speaker 1 (28:37):
Yeah, it just didn't look good. I mean, no matter
how you want to put it, like it, even when
Max Crosby wasn't involved on the play, you know, you
barely get the running game going, you like, are not
the passes, aren't following with some of the play calling.
At the beginning, it was kind of like is this working?
Is it's not? It was just it was just ugly.
It was bad and it kind of reached of what
happened last year where the offense just doesn't do anything

(28:59):
for three quarters, right, and then you finally break through
in the fourth quarter. You finally figure it out. But
if you're Ben Johnson and you're that coaching staff, you're
looking at what's happening in those first three quarters because
you know, in the first few games they score on
their opening drive, they kind of like make it look good,
like they come out with a good script, but yesterday

(29:20):
the first they you need to take advantage of those opportunities.
And I know they got the field goals. That's good,
like we talked about Cairo Santos, But you need to
score touchdowns in those moments you take over at your
own twenty. That that's that's just like a you break
a game open situation. You need to learn how to
do that, all right, Joe, what's your first first loser?

Speaker 2 (29:39):
Well, it's it's gotta be the run game again. I
you know, four games for stinky games from the run game,
and we thought they shored up the interior of the line.
You know Tony Again, I don't great offensive lineman for
a living, but I guess Tony has been really good.
And I've been been hearing his name. That's good, but

(30:00):
I don't know that. Look, this offense is not going
to be able to maximize its potential, even if Caleb
continues to learn and Ben Johnson continues to show he
knows what he's doing and bringing this young quarterback along
until they get the run game going. Now, to their credit,
they got some big runs late when they needed him.

(30:20):
The swift run even think those two yards out to
put him ahead. I give him credit there. You know
he did have some good runs. You look at his
overall numbers again, they weren't good past they rush for
what sixty nine yards? This has to be solved soon
because wait until they get a running game going. Now
you're going to see the quarterback really elevate his game.

(30:41):
And I'm not saying it's gonna be Patrick Mahomes in
two weeks after they get the run game figured out.
But now we're gonna see that. But until then, they
cannot be an efficient offense until they get this figured out.
I don't know who's out there. I keep seeing other
teams bringing guys that, you know, veteran guys on off
you know, claiming guys off waivers, and they're making an impact.
I don't know what they're gonna do, Michael. Maybe they

(31:02):
do nothing in the next two weeks, but can there
is there anyone that they can bring in because they've
got to get more as either a compliment to Swift
or do something with that interior, that that offensive line
in general to get a better running game going where
you can at where you can break off a long run.
We even had, we even had a long run from
anybody it's mainly been Swift who's been back there of course,

(31:23):
but man, it's been really bad. I mean really bad
these first four weeks.

Speaker 1 (31:29):
Yeah, I had in my takeaways just you know, the
Bears talked about, you know, watching the run game as
a team last week and they you know, they they
talked about how, oh, like it's small things, like we're
really close to figuring it out. And then I sat
there after Sunday's game, I was like, how close are you?
Like that that that it doesn't like what are you
watching that? Maybe that I'm not seeing, But like you know,

(31:50):
after one quarter of the Bears totaled one minus one
rushing yards. After two quarters it was three. After three
quarters it was twenty four rushing yards. They finished the
game with, like you mentioned, sixty nine rushing yards. So
you know, obviously they were able to get it going
in the fourth quarter. But you.

Speaker 3 (32:06):
Need to get this.

Speaker 1 (32:07):
I agree with you if you any competent, any you know,
dynamic offense has a good running attack where the defense
can't just focus on the passing attack, right, like they
need to focus in on the runner. They're gonna get burned.
Like that's basic football, Like that's you know that's what
they're doing in high school, like obviously, right, like you
you need to know, you need to get this running
attack going. And I don't know whether it's DeAndre Swift,

(32:30):
whether it's the blocking, I don't, you know, I don't
see a lot that There are a lot of times
where I'm just seeing that, you know, DeAndre Swift gets
the ball and there's someone already there waiting for him.
And I need to look at the next gen stats
and see what the what the numbers are about, like
how often you know, how long it takes for someone
to get to you know, Swift in the backfield and
it doesn't really have an opportunity to do anything. But yeah,

(32:54):
it's just it's not it's not working at all as
a run attack. You know, Caleb is I think Caleb
is able to scramble for a few yards. He's got thirteen.
You know, a young guy got four for eighteen. You
got to figure out and you know, sports Chicago style
says Roshan Johnson gets no love at the rr V position.
He only gets specialties team snaps. What happens when Homer returns.

(33:16):
I mean, at this point, I think Roshan Johnson's just
a special team guy for you, right, Like you would
think that you would put him in at least to
see what he can do for you, at least give
you a spark, right like, you just want to see
what he can, you know, pick up a you know,
a two or three yards on third or second down,
and it's very clear that that's not the situation. So

(33:39):
maybe Travis Homer is the solution when he kind of
comes back there, we'll see. We'll likely get an update
on him. Since four weeks are through the year and
he was placed on that IR to start the year,
we should maybe get an update on Austin Booker and
Travis Homer either this week but probably next week when
they kind of get back into things. But yeah, I mean,
this running attack needs to get going because you're not

(33:59):
going to reach your fullense unless you're able to do that,
and that that just isn't the case at all. So yeah, Joe,
I agree, you You just need to get that running
back thing going or this isn't gonna work. Yeah, all right, Joe,
my second loser is.

Speaker 3 (34:18):
Not I don't want to I don't want to put it.

Speaker 1 (34:20):
On one guy. I don't think I'll do with you
like I'll put it on Ryan Poles, the fact that
you are so start.

Speaker 3 (34:31):
Darnould Wright gets.

Speaker 1 (34:32):
Hurt, he has an elbow injury, he can't play. Ozzie
Trapillo is listed as your backup right tackle, but then
THEO Benedict gets the start after you played for right. Okay, fine,
but then if things are now working, you can't stop
Max Crosby. You can't figure things out. So then you
move THEO Bendedt from the right side to the left side,

(34:53):
and then you put Ozzie Trapillo in there at the
right tackle spot. And I, you know, I still need
to look at the tape. I having had a chance
to look at the tape and see, you know, how
he held his own. From what I've seen and from
what I've read, it sounds like Trapillo did a pretty
good job actually handling his own against Max Crosby in
his first NFL game. Like it seems like he actually
did a pretty good job. But man, I, this isn't

(35:17):
a good situation to be And like you you you
prioritize special players, you know, like you drafted a wide
receiver and a tight end with your first two draft
picks in the in the in the draft, this year.
And I that's not to say that Coaston Lovelin is
a very talented player, and you know, Luther Burn and
Third are really talented players. But it's become very clear

(35:39):
that you don't have a left tackle on this team
that you are confident at this point, I assume that
the competition is wide open. You know, Ben said that
he was He's liked a lot about what he's seen
from Ozzie. He keeps getting better every single week, and
he just saw an opportunity to put him in and
switch him out. But Joe, it's you know, I know
teams go through this all the time, and they go
through offensive line changes and mix guys up, but it

(36:01):
just feels like a bad, negative situation that they're in
the situation where you don't really know who your left
tackle is. You don't you're putting you're not really putting
your second round pick in the spot to succeed in
his first start or his first game action. Like, it
just all feels like it's not good. And I don't
feel like the coaching staff has been put in a
position at least where they can excel at those two points.

Speaker 2 (36:25):
Well, I don't disagree with anything you're saying there, and
you know me, I've I've been on this whole What
are we doing with Ozzie Trapillo? What's the plan they
mess this one up to? And by the way, this
whole draft class and I like Burden, I like Lovelin
and Lovelyin didn't play yesterday because of the hip. But
this they're getting basically nothing out of this twenty twenty

(36:47):
five draft class right now, and that's that irks me
so again. That they're two and two with getting nothing
out of this group basically is really an indictment on
the g who's been extended for five years. But that
offensive line, that the tackles, it's almost like we thought

(37:07):
we could do this. Oh it didn't work. Oh bit,
we better adjust. Not you've had in a off season,
a whole off season to get this right now, don't
all right? Hopefully I'm assuming he'll be back in two
weeks when they played Washington on Monday night. So then
you then you move it or are they thinking about,
you know, maybe we move him, Maybe we are going

(37:28):
to move him to the left tackle. I don't know
what's going on, but they need to figure it out.
And it's tough to do it in season, and it's
you're protecting your your quarterback, who that's the most important
football player on this team, and you're still trying to
figure out your tackle positions. This this not good. You know,

(37:49):
it's just not a good look, especially for the GM.

Speaker 1 (37:55):
Yeah, you know Chicago's sports Chicago style. I ask, so
long Braxton Jones, I don't know. I I quite honestly
don't know. We'll see how it goes, Like I said,
I'll need to look at the tape and see it.
But it became very clear that things kind of turned
around when they made the switch offensively. You know, I
don't know. You know, how much do you want to
put that? You know that Braxton Jones was causing you

(38:18):
a lot of issues. I mean, last week he graded
great against the Dallas Cowboys, right, Like, obviously, how much
are you gonna blame them for this? But it's very
clear that you don't have a solution yet and the
fact that you're still like wondering about Darnell right and
like do you put him at left tackle? Like that
shouldn't be like you drafted him in the top ten
a couple of years ago to be your right tackle,
like he is supposed to be your right tackle of

(38:39):
the future, and he played fine for the first few years,
like respectable, like at a good level. But like you
talked about Joe in the past, but you you needed
to draft the left tackle if you were so worried
about this, Like these are your top two important positions,
like the left tackle, obviously the blind side, but the
right tackle, especially in today's NFL for what you know,
for how much you can move, d rush or whatever,

(39:00):
that right tackle spot is also really important to your quarterback.
So I agree, I think it's not a good situation
to be in. We'll hear from Ben Jonson. I'm sure
they're gonna work through some stuff when they practice on
Tuesday and Wednesday, and I assume the competition is back
open at this point. But it's not a good position
to be in at this point. You you just want,

(39:21):
you want everything to be as good as possible for
Caleb to succeed and to continue to grow. And were
there some mistakes on Caleb in the first three quarters, Yes,
Like obviously some players were making some throwers were missing,
players were dropped, But man, he was getting rushed all
the time and he barely had an opportunity to do something.
And that's just that's just you're not able to stop
or even chip or protect Caleb at all.

Speaker 2 (39:43):
No, it's a wreck, Michael. I mean when you when
you consider, you know, every football team from high school
to college to pro pee wee, they talk about controlling
the line of scrimmage. That's the most important thing, controlling
the line of scrimmage. Bears lines of scrimmage. Offensive haven't
haven't controlled squat this year. And yet they're two and two.

Speaker 1 (40:07):
So that's the positive, all right, Joe, what's your uh,
what's your next negative?

Speaker 2 (40:12):
Well, like I hate to pick on the local kid,
Saint Bider's very owned, but boy Cole Comet. Wow, the drop,
that's that. That's a tough day. The drop. I mean,
you know you want to make your quarterback look good.
Well that that'll pat his stats right there. I mean,
that's a great throw by Caleb right.

Speaker 1 (40:32):
In the hands.

Speaker 3 (40:32):
I don't know if he peaked.

Speaker 2 (40:34):
Uh, that's you know again he maybe he gets into
the end zone there if he catches the dang ball. Uh,
and then the two fall starts. I mean, and you
know what, this goes back to last year too, wasn't
one game where he had uh, I think past offensive
pass interference penalties in the same game, Like I don't,
I don't know what you're doing. And you know, I
like Cole Comett I do. I think he's a good weapon.

(40:55):
He's a great athlete, as we know. But man, you
got he's got to be and Colston Loveland, Michael is
the word that he will be. Was that a precautionary
thing with the hip? You fully expect him. I know
you're I know you're at the team backed or anything,
or Colston Loveland himself, But do you think he will
be ready in two weeks against Washington? Because if he is,

(41:16):
he's got to play. He's got to start, and we
got to start seeing this kid unleashed. Now.

Speaker 1 (41:22):
It seemed like, you know, he was limited on Friday
and then he was listed as questionable. This just kind
of feels like a situation where like, why let's just
let a heal, Like we'll miss him for one game,
you get two weeks to recover, you get three weeks
to recover from the hip injury, and then you have
a big game against the Commanders on Monday night football
Week six. Right, it just feels like one of those

(41:43):
situations where you're kind of like, all right, we trust Cole.
I think he's like a good like he's a dependable
tight end. It just feels like one of those situations.
So I would, you know, for my uninformed you know,
guess I would. I would. I would guess that Colston
would probably play, you know, could there be a setback
and then I week and a half. Sure, like anything
can happen, but I would assume that Colston will use

(42:05):
the time to get you know, healed. You know, those
hip injuries, you don't want those to you know, you
don't want any injury to you know, to be part
of a to lag on or anything like that. But
you for for Colston to be an effective target like
he can be, you need that hip to be good.
So I can see them maybe being precaution or being like, eh,
we'll be fine for this one game. He'll be He'll

(42:28):
have three weeks to heal himself and he'll get back
in there. So you saw in that game against Dallas
they were targeting Colston before he got injured, like they
were making it a priority to get him in there.
So I would assume so, But yeah, I agree, it's
a you know those two fall star penalties in critical situations.
One of them was coming out. One of them was
on third down coming out of a time out like that.

(42:51):
Just that, and like, let me give credit like that.
That was essentially a home game for the Bears, like
the fans, the Chicago people traveled. There was loud in there.
If it was confusing sometimes to know who did what
because if you weren't watching because you were like, wait,
this had a good thing or a bad thing, because
both crowds were equally as loud. So yeah, you can't

(43:11):
you can't have those penalties happen. And it's just, uh,
it was a tough day for Cole. Obviously he's had
good he has had bad, but those are just one
of those situations where it just wasn't It wasn't a
good day in the office for him. It also wasn't
a good day in the office for another priority that
it doesn't seem like has worked for Ryan Poles, and
that's the defensive line and both aspects of the line.

(43:35):
You the Bears end of the game with one quarterback
hit and that's from Jakwan Brisker and no sex I mean,
and and all due respect to like Gino Smith all
like that that offensive line for the Raiders, I think
is fine. That's not one of your best offensive lines, right.

Speaker 2 (43:54):
But.

Speaker 1 (43:56):
You you're creating no pressure on the quarterback and make
and it's impressive that the secondary's able to do what's
been able to do up to this point. So you're
not creating much of a pass rush there. Then you know,
heading into this game, this this game for me, screamed,
this is going to be Ashton Gent's breakout game. And
that's exactly what happened. One hundred and thirty eight rushing
yards sixty four to one, you know, sixty four yard touchdown,

(44:19):
run for a touchdown, he caught a touchdown to most
Are added sixty two yards. Smith added thirty to thirty
one yards. No, it was a situation where, especially at
you know, for how good the defense was at the
end of the game, when the when the Raiders took
over at their own forty two, you're like, there's no
doubt in my mind that they're going to move the
ball down the field like they've been just doing this effectively, right,

(44:40):
Like there was no for all those turnovers at the
beginning of the game. The Raiders were moving the ball
really well in the third and fourth quarter against the Bears,
like they were doing a really good job. So both
is just bad for this defensive line. They don't have
a pass rush, they don't have a run defense. I
don't know what you change at this point. You can
only do so much, right like you you know, Shamar

(45:03):
Turner got in the game, he got a couple of tackles,
he had a tackle for a loss. He's starting to
maybe get some momentum, but you would want him to
kind of make more of an impact after missing all
of training camp. But listen, like your topic, Guy Montes
Sweat has one sack after for games, Dio Dainbo, I
think only has one sacker as two sacks like you, Grady,

(45:24):
Jared is injured with the knee injury, and with all
due respect, like that's a troubling thing for a guy
at his age, right, Like I know he might be
my age, but like I'm not a football player. I'm
I'm just Joe Schmoe over here. So it it's concerning
because it didn't look good on Sunday, and I don't
really know what the quick fix is at this point.

Speaker 2 (45:44):
No, what's it? Five two games with no sacks two
of your halfter games with no sacks in five total. Maybe, well,
Austin Booker, not that he's going to be you know,
Max Crosby as soon as he comes back, but I
think he's isn't eligible to come off the injured list.

Speaker 1 (46:03):
And should he is eligible, and he's been around the
locker room. I don't know whether that means he'll be
ready to go week six, but him and Travis Homer
will be eligible to come out over the next week.

Speaker 2 (46:17):
Well, if they didn't get him back, he's probably better
than he might be your best d you know, your
best pass rusher. I don't know. I mean, he certainly
has flashed these last two preseasons, you know, last year
as a rookie in this year. Not that preseason means much,
but he looked the game tape looks good on Austin Booker.

(46:38):
Maybe he provides a spark. I think just if they
can get Kyler Gordon back, I don't know if he'll
be ready in two weeks, but if they can get
not that he but you know he's an effective player.
You put a good football player on the field, whether
it's as a nickel corner, safety, linebacker, inside guy, whatever,
it's gonna help your defense as a as a whole,

(47:00):
So maybe he helps, but otherwise the bottom line is,
and we you know, it's a broken record here every
week with you got to see more on a Montest sweat.
We saw it, We said it all last last year,
you and Sean, I'm sure we're saying all you gotta
see more on a Montess. We got to see more
on him because you can't win. And that's why you
didn't ask me. But I figured at some point we

(47:20):
would say, whether it's this podcast or another one, are
the Bears a playoff team? Are they showing signs? Could
they be a playoff team? Because right now it's clearly no,
not with these offensive the offensive and defensive lines being
as bad as they have been, you cannot sustain this
and the schedule will get tougher, so there's still lots

(47:43):
of room for improvement. But we've said, I'll say it
one more time for the hundredth time prior this year.
Already it's all about the offense this year and Caleb
and Ben Johnson, and at season's end, if we say, yes,
yes they have it. They have the QB, they have
the head coach, then things will improve. But then again,
you still have Ryan Poles drafting people, and that's not good.

Speaker 1 (48:07):
It's just I think the troubling sign is I don't
know what the fix is. I don't know what you
do at this point. I mean, it's a lot to
expect Austin Booker to come in and revitalize his pass rush.
Like obviously he's he's he'd had he's had two good preseasons,
but obviously that's the preseason. He needs to show that
he can do it during the regular season. Like it's
obviously a much different game as we've seen. And yeah,

(48:30):
I mean, it's just and it'll be interesting to watch,
you know what happens here with those lines, because I
don't know what the fix is. You're not going to
sign a guy. I doubt you trade for someone, like
you're not gonna give up draft capital for someone for
If this was a team that was like, oh, we're
one player away from potentially making a Super Bowl run
or something like that, sure I can see that, but

(48:51):
this is a team at this point, through four games
of the season, this is a team that's still developing.
They seem to be playing five hundred football at this point.
For me, like it seemed every like looking at the schedule,
like this seems like a five hundred team up to
this point. Like they'll win some games they we should win,
they'll lose some games that they shouldn't lose. But I
don't know what quick fix is at this point. And
so Joe, what's give me one last loser?

Speaker 2 (49:15):
Well, we've we've pretty much hit on him for the
most part. I'll just say again, I'll say Ryan Poles
we've been talking about in the podcast, but this is
this is not a good look for him. Not a
good look for him. And if you want to develop
guys slowly, and I know you can't help it if
they're hurt, but you had opportunity. This is not second guessing.

(49:36):
This is first guessing. The running back situation, you know
they didn't address it. Monong guy got gets you a
little more playing time the last two weeks, he's looked okay.
But anything you get out of a seventh round pick
like if his if he retired from football today, I'd say,
you know what kind of good for you?

Speaker 3 (49:54):
Man?

Speaker 2 (49:55):
You may you had some good plays in the NFL
and your in your four games in the National Football
you've accomplished more than most seventh rounders ever have. But
if you're counting on that guy to be your complimentary
back or a guy who's gonna give you some juice
or a spark at any point in the game, come
on now, stop it. They haven't addressed the running the
running back situation, not necessarily as someone to replace DeAndre Swift,

(50:20):
but some of the compliment him back there. That's bad.
The offensive line they thought they should I thought, really
DeAndre Swift would have be better this year. The running
will be better because of the improvements they made on
the interior of the line with it with the two
guards in the center. I haven't seen it yet. Who's
that on? Is on the GM? That's not Ben Johnson.
They're trying to figure it out in camp, like who

(50:41):
can play? Where is this guy better than we thought
he is? Maybe this guy's worse than we thought he was.
Maybe this guy's in the wrong position. They're trying to
figure it out. But they're playing with the cards they
were dealt by the GM. So another bad look. Luthor Burden,
I want to see can we please see more of it?
I don't know, I don't know. Is it thereshing things.
Is he not well? Like? I don't know why we're
not seeing more of him. Maybe because they can't protect

(51:01):
the quarterback long enough. Well about to have been better.
I want to see more of this kid. Two catches yesterday,
I think for minus two yards this is a playmaker.
Can we see more of him?

Speaker 3 (51:12):
Otherwise?

Speaker 2 (51:13):
Why why do you pick him there in the second round.
I should be happy today, though, Michael. So I'm gonna
stay happy because the Bears have a win.

Speaker 1 (51:22):
They do have a win, and they're two and two.
Heading into the bye week, they're going to uh, they're
gonna do a little bit as many training campus Kayleb
Williams like the College Joe. They're going to be practicing.
Usually you don't practice on a bye week. They'll be
practicing on Tuesday and Wednesday before taking Thursday through Sunday off.
They'll have their week five by, you know. At the

(51:43):
beginning of the at the beginning of you know, when
we got the schedule, I was kind of like, oh,
I don't know about a week five bye. You always
want that to be a little bit later. You know,
you're dealing with some injuries. But quite honestly, I don't
think this buy couldn't have could have come at a
better time for this team, both injury wise.

Speaker 3 (51:58):
I mean t J.

Speaker 1 (51:59):
Edwards distill out, Grady Jarrett is obviously injured, Jalen Johnson
is gone, Kyler Gordon was bag limited. Maybe you can
get him back here in a couple of weeks here
with that hampshtring injury, they've been nursing that. Coaston Loveland obviously,
Darnel Right, this is a pretty injured team at this point,
and you know, Kayleb Williams talked about like they're gonna
treat this kind of like a mini training camp where

(52:20):
you look at what worked for the first four weeks
of the season, what didn't work. You could revamp some stuff.
Maybe there's some competitions for some spots. But it very
clearly sounds like this isn't going to be really a
bye week that's a bye week. It seems like this
is just going to be like, all right, we're gonna
get some work in, We're gonna figure some stuff out
because you know, Joe, for being at two and two,

(52:41):
it hasn't been pretty. There's a lot of stuff that
still needs to be worked out on. And you know,
Rick brings an interesting point. You know, the Commander's game,
Bengals game, Ravens game look a little bit better now
than it did at the start of the year. We
can get on a roll. I agree that they look better.
I don't know, Listen, those are still really good teams.
Like Jayden Daniel could potentially be back here in a
couple of weeks. We don't know his status. Obviously, Joe

(53:04):
Burrow won't be there. We don't know what Lamar Jackson's
looking like injury wise. But those are still really good
teams regardless. And you still need to listen. The Bears
are two and two, but they still need to like
they're lucky to be two and two. They got blown
out in the second week, they lost a game that
they shouldn't have lost in the first week, and they'd
beat a bad Dallas team who somehow tied with the
Packers yesterday forty to forty, which I've riddled me, that

(53:26):
riddled the NFL. But you know, Joe, it'll be a
really it's an interesting bye week for this team where
I think there's gonna be a lot of work done
this week, and I think there's gonna be a lot
of competition and I think there's gonna be I don't
want to say I there's gonna be a lot of
turnover per se. But I do think when we talked
next in preview that Commander's game, I think things might

(53:48):
be a little bit different.

Speaker 2 (53:50):
Yeah, and let's be clear too, thirty two on a
thirty two teams in the National Football League have issues
and there's no perfect even the Eagles four and A. J.
Brown is tweeting cryptic things about you're not happy, you
know Jalen Hurts sit and throat for a single passing
yard in the second half yesterday and they're four and
oh so every team has warts, but when you see

(54:13):
your team play every every week, you see the warts
more maybe than everybody else. So but go figure out
the Packers right to and oh start, they look like
they're going to the super Bowl, and now you know
their defense looks and the Bears at times, although I
still think the Michael Parsons deal was a great move
for them, but yeah, no, right, so everyone everyone has

(54:35):
issues still and the Packers gave them forty yesterday. But
the Bears need to buy week for the health factor alone.
That's it. And we talked about this back in the
preseason about you know about that bye week coming up.
It's early and it really I thought even then, it
depends on what kind of physical shape your football team is,
not so much mentally, uh, with learning a new system.

(54:56):
But so this will be good because they can just
keep learning, learning, learning and refreshed, especially with the first
year head coach. As much as Ben Johnson has looked
like the real deal here his first year head coach too,
so I'm sure he's learning as well. And certainly he
wasn't great like no one was great in Week two
against the Lions.

Speaker 3 (55:13):
So learn more, but.

Speaker 2 (55:15):
Get the guys because they got some really key guys
out here. Uh. Jalen's not coming back anytime soon, but
but Gordon would be a big plus. Booker would be
again and I'm not expecting to be Max Kronsby, but
I think he would help. Uh, we need Colt.

Speaker 1 (55:30):
You're buying that, You're buying that Austin Booker.

Speaker 2 (55:32):
That's he's to me, he's got a heartbeat, which I
don't see enough guys on the on the defensive front
showing that they have a heartbeat. Because at least he
maybe he does something. Maybe Dennis al And he'd be
a probably a package guy anyway. He's not gonna go
and play all three downs, but something at least, because
I don't see. They got to get those guys back,

(55:52):
and then they got to get Colson Lovelin back, and
they got to get him involved in this game. And
they gotta just spend the next two weeks figuring out
your O line and your D line.

Speaker 1 (56:03):
Yeah, there's gonna be you know, Ben Johnson has never
viede away, you know, steered away from competition, and I
can't imagine what those two praises are going to be
like this week and what the next week and a
half are going to because there's plenty of competition available
on this on this roster for a two and two
team at this point.

Speaker 3 (56:19):
But all right, we're gonna get out of here.

Speaker 1 (56:21):
That is everything that we've got for this week's episode
of the podcast. Thanks so much for joining us guys
in a live stream. Appreciate all your comments, all your questions,
If you give us a like, if you like what
you heard, that really helps us grow the brand and
helps us get to more Bears fans who want to
listen and talk about the Bears wins and losses. If
you're joining us on the podcast, make sure you if
you want to be part of the conversation, make sure

(56:42):
you check out our social media's.

Speaker 3 (56:44):
I'm at m.

Speaker 1 (56:44):
Dwojag ninety four, Joe's at Joe Aguilar sixty four. We'll
always post when we're going to be doing a live stream.
It's always usually Monday and Friday morning. The week six
might be a little bit different obviously with the Monday
night game, but we'll keep you guys posted about what.

Speaker 3 (57:00):
We're going to do.

Speaker 1 (57:00):
But make sure you are keeping up with our Bears coverage.
It's the bye week, but we'll have Bears coverage throughout
the week. Joe and I are going to give you
a little progress report, a little grades about what we
think the Bears are at four games into the season.
Toward the end of the year, we have obviously bear
down near it up some features and that sort of stuff,
so make sure you're checking out all our work there.
Make sure you're following Joe at Joe Aguilar sixty four

(57:21):
for allows Northwest Herald coverage as well. So thanks so much, guys.
We will be off on Friday and likely off on Monday.
We'll be back next Friday to preview Week six against
the Commanders, So enjoy your little bye here and we
will talk to you folks down the road