Recapping the Bears' thrilling win over the Giants

The Chicago Bears beat the New York Giants 24-20 in dramatic fashion Sunday. Shaw Local's Michal Dwojak and Joe Aguilar break down the win and what it means heading into a tough stretch the rest of the season.


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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello, and welcome to the latest episode of the Shaw
Local Bears Insider Bot podcast. I Am Chicago.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
Bears being reported Michael Duo Jake here with Joe Aguilar
as we are joining you guys Monday morning. After another
crazy Bears game. This is kind of become a tradition
at this point. Bears win twenty four to twenty over
the New York Giants after some more heroics from Caleb
Williams and the offense found you know, they found a

(00:30):
different way to do this this time. They were down
ten points with about six minutes left in the game,
and Joe they you know, it's not a great Giants
team by any means, but they still found a way
to win.

Speaker 1 (00:42):
A game and pick up their six winn of the season.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
Yeah, you know, I think we all could be an
agreement on if you looked at what the national and
even local perception of the Bears going into that game
yesterday was by the media, fans whoever, they'd be like,
I'm not I'm a really a believer. I'm not convinced
this is a playoff team. It's a good team, and

(01:05):
I think after the game yesterday everyone's probably feeling the
same way you know, it wasn't pretty. As Ben Johnson
said last week, Pribace had it again. You know, you
never apologize for a victory in this league, but it's look,
the Caleb is clutch that there's no doubt about that.
But you can't have ten points with less than five

(01:28):
minutes in the game against that team. And I know
the conditions weren't great at Soldierfield weather it was a
factor mother Nature didn't disappoint. But you know, you'll you'll
take it. And we've talked about this before too, that
the winning in the fourth quarter, the belief, the confidence
you can come back from a double digit deficit is real,

(01:52):
and it's it's real in life when you think you
can overcome when all odds are against you. And the
Bears have shown that ability certainly.

Speaker 2 (02:01):
Yeah, they definitely showed an ability to do that. Just
no matter what's going on, no matter what the deficit is,
this team is.

Speaker 1 (02:08):
Gonna keep battling.

Speaker 2 (02:08):
And I think you saw that, you know, for much
of the season, I think outside of the Detroit game
where that was just a blowout in Week two, they've
been in it in all these different matches and even
in those other two losses, that they had this season.
So it's really been impressive to see what they've been
able to do, what Caleb's been able to do, obviously,

(02:29):
Like we'll get into the nitty gritty. I call myself
at the end of last game being like, didn't I
just do this like three times already this season? Like,
I feel like it's been the same narrative this season
where offense doesn't play well for the first three quarters
three plus quarters at this point, a defense LEDs the
passer just do whatever he wants against them, but Caleb

(02:52):
still finds a way to somehow win the game. So
we'll try to make this podcast a little bit different.
We're not just gonna do a rerun of past podcast.
We'll make it a little bit different, but we'll get
you all caught up about what has happened here on
a Sunday afternoon with the Bears win. If you're joining
us on a livestream, thank you so much for joining us.
Make sure you get all your comments and questions in there.

(03:13):
We'll be happy to answer them.

Speaker 1 (03:15):
Make sure you give us a like while you're here,
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Speaker 2 (03:29):
If you're listening on the podcast, thanks so much for listening,
and make sure you subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts
as well. All right, Joe, we like to do our
regular three things that worked well, three things that didn't
work well, And I feel like that's always a good
way to just kind of get what we like to
cover everything in the game, kind of just going through
those matchups.

Speaker 1 (03:48):
We usually end up doing this, So, Joe, I'll let
you start. Who is your big winner from Sunday's game?

Speaker 3 (03:56):
Well, there are a couple of obvious ones, Caleb, but
I'll go with the guy who's well, I'm gonna call
him their their trade pickup even though it wasn't a trade,
and that's Chauncey CJ. Gardner Johnson or CJ GJ or
D D C D whatever he wants to go by.
We'll do that because, uh, Chauncey Gardner Johnson had himself

(04:17):
a game yesterday. This guy, look, I mean this is
two games only he's behaving so far. Good. We knew
he was a good football player, and he's delivered two
more sacks. Yesterday, had the force fumble on the the
Jackson Dart scramble, which turns out, you know, he got
a concussion on the game. I've looked at that replayed
Michael several times. I don't I don't know if he

(04:39):
got the concussion. I think they Ji Kwan Briskers need
clipped him on the way down. But it must have
been when when his helmet hit the turf or wasn't
anything that uh Gardner Johnson did like a you know,
a cheap pit or anything like that. Just a fluke thing,
unfortunately for the Giants, because that kid was causing the
Bears fits all afternoon. Uh But CJ. Gardner Johnson, big game,

(05:00):
the force bumble of two sacks, at the sack last week.
He's made an impact. He's making plays and we haven't
seen him look bad getting burned on anything, you know,
not on but two games. He was terrific yesterday making
plays for a defense that didn't have enough guys making plays.

Speaker 2 (05:16):
Yeah, I mean when they made the move, I feel
like it was kind of like kind of like a
blimp on the radar when we were kind of like,
all right, like this guy has a history, he's played,
he played well with the Eagles obviously last year. It
didn't work out with the Texans this year, and we
were like, all right, like you're kind of desperate here,
Kyler Gordon's injured. Nick McLeod isn't playing to the level

(05:37):
that you want him to be doing at that at
that you know, corner slot position.

Speaker 1 (05:41):
So you're kind of like, all right, like let's see
what happens.

Speaker 2 (05:45):
And I think that's a big credit to what you know,
I'm gonna give this a little bit later, but I
think that's such a big credit to what Ben Johnson
has built in this locker room already, where I think
last year of CJ. Gardner, Johnson comes into this, and
you know, it also the on him. Maybe he's more
mature than he was in the past. Maybe he's not
you know, causing, Maybe he is vocal in the locker room.

(06:06):
I can tell you that, like just based on being
with him in the last couple of weeks here. But
he's had a positive impact and the players have really
brought him in. Like he talked about after the game
yesterday about how you know, he was away from the
sport for a month and he he wasn't sure what
he had there. But then like coming to Chicago, like
everyone embraced them. Everyone put him in a good spot

(06:28):
to succeed, and he's embraced that like he's bought into
what the Bears are doing. He's not a nuisance, he's
not creating any problems. He's only making things better. I mean,
through two games, he already has three sacks. Those three
sacks is already third on the team, which you know,
that can get into a whole different aspect of what
we'll talk about later on here with the pass rush.

(06:49):
But in two games he has three sacks and he
forced a major fumble for you. So that's credit to
Ryan Poles, that's credit to Ben Johnson, to Dennis Allen
for finding a talent that was out there and nurturing
him and putting him in a good spot to succeed
right like it could have been. There's no doubt in
my mind that if the Bears did list last year,

(07:10):
I don't know if that would have worked well. I
just think that the locker room wasn't in the state
that it is right now, and that just is a
big credit to you know, all of them and CJ.
Just for embracing the opportunity. I think he saw man like,
I'm out of the sport. No one is really some
people are calling, some people are kind of interested, and
but I'm not on the spot that I want to be.

Speaker 1 (07:31):
And he just embraced what this opportunity was.

Speaker 2 (07:33):
And you have to be really happy about what he
is because not only is he going to be a
playmaker for you here without Kyler Gordon, but with Kyler
coming back here probably in the next I don't know,
two or three weeks.

Speaker 1 (07:46):
He's been on the ir for the last few weeks here.

Speaker 2 (07:48):
Now that's a major piece to have, especially if you're
able to kind of keep him in that slow position and.

Speaker 1 (07:54):
Maybe you move Kyler out to the out to play
quarterback there.

Speaker 3 (07:58):
Yeah, And I don't know, you know, really, I don't
know if I've spent reported I don't know how much
you can find out. But really, what's historics. I look
at his timeline since they won the Super Bowl again,
he had a good year last season in helping the
Eagles win the Super Bowl. Then he gets traded. It
looks like a decent trade. There's a draft pick another
player goes to Philly. He starts the first three games

(08:19):
with the Texans and then he gets hurt and then
they release him, and then the Ravens pick him up.
He's on the practice squad for a week. I think
he was a Raven for a week what I saw,
So I don't know what's going on there. I don't
know if if he you know, if both were said,
you know, here's your role, and he's like, you know,
forget this, I don't want to be a part of this.

(08:39):
And after a week you're out. What can you have done?
Could have done to really take people off there? Maybe
he just was going to be like, forget it and
I'll look for another opportunity elsewhere. And fortunately for the Bears,
they took a chance. Really didn't have much to lose.
If he doesn't work out, you cut him after a week.
But so far it's been a great acquisition. And you
need guys to make plays, even if you have a

(09:00):
good defense. He always look for playmakers. And the guy's young,
and he brings a little swagger, a little attitude, and
that's okay with me, as long as you're not taking
off your teammates. Your coaches bring a little attitude, bring
a little swagger. I do think they need more of that.
So so far, two weeks will take too and if
it doesn't work out, and if he's gone in another
two weeks, you two great games out of him, So

(09:22):
we'll take it like all of us, right, we're all
day to day.

Speaker 1 (09:25):
Yeah, it's just interesting.

Speaker 2 (09:27):
Just he kind of watched how he has really kind
of fit into Like I remember, I forget whether it
was last week or earlier. This week been talking about
like I hear them like talking about Tyreek and.

Speaker 1 (09:39):
Nay Sean and Jakwan and and CJ all talking. But yeah,
it's been a really good impact.

Speaker 2 (09:44):
We'll see how much it is able to continue here
as the Bears move on here into the tougher part
of their schedule. But you have to really be happy
for what not only for the Bears impact of things,
but also for cg just to find a new life
in the NFL and to find success with the new team.

Speaker 1 (10:01):
You really have to feel good. It's been a feel
good story two weeks into the year.

Speaker 2 (10:04):
All Right, my first winner is going to be obviously
it's Caleb, but I kind of more specifically him using
his legs in a positive way is really my big
winner and kind of what was the focal point of
my feature story yesterday where it was just kind of
like like the Caleb Williams that we've seen over the

(10:25):
past few weeks makes game. When he played, he he's
been Houdini, like Ben Johnson likes to call him, like,
he'll get out of like different situations and he'll get
out of like a lot of tough spots and he'll
make a lot of big throws. He's done that in
the past. But I think the major step that he
took yesterday was he actually used his legs to pick
up positive yardage like and I think that's a big
growth moment for him, where you know, instead of going

(10:50):
out of bounds, he said like on that when there
are down ten points, he had an opportunity to go
out of bounce and stead he decided to go to
to write and stay in bound and pick up two
nine yards to get down to the two yard line.
That's the point for me that kind of changed the game.
And that's kind of a point where things kind of
change for Caleb for me where he kind of realized,
I need to make plays with my legs in a

(11:12):
positive way, like they are not going to hit me,
and you know, we can get into the whole like
have there been a couple of late hits that haven't
been called on?

Speaker 1 (11:19):
And I'm sure Bears fans have a lot of thoughts
about that. But the impact that he's made and the big.

Speaker 2 (11:24):
Step that he's taken, you know, picking up that twenty
yard run to get down to the two yard line
and then running in for that seventeen yard touchdown, like
that is just Caleb scrambling, gutting out of situations and
then being like, all right, I'm just gonna take it.
I have a lane here, I can make a play here.
So that's such a major thing because that just makes.

Speaker 1 (11:43):
It so much harder to defend Caleb.

Speaker 2 (11:45):
Not only can he scramble, not only can he you know,
throw on the run and you have to defend that.
But then if you're defending him throwing on the run,
then you are giving up him. You know, you're giving
up a lane for him to just basically run and
pick up five, ten, fifteen yards.

Speaker 1 (11:59):
So that was just a.

Speaker 2 (12:01):
Big growing and learning moment I felt for him, just learning.
I feel like that's something that we've talked about for
the past few weeks that Ben Johnson has talked about
take the positive yards, like don't scramble, don't fight to
keep taking the plays, like they don't want to take
that away from him. But like when you get five, ten,
fifteen yards, take him like it's an easy yard. And
so I think you have to be really encouraged by

(12:23):
the big step that he took there, because if Caleb
is able to consistently do that and add that to
his repertoire, it's just going to be really hard for
defenses to try to stop him.

Speaker 3 (12:34):
Yeah, you know, he he tries. You know, he's he's
a still your heart, break your heart guy, right, and
maybe this will be him as even as he progresses
and gets better at playing quarterback in the National Football League,
because he you go back and forth with him, and
I think even he ideally you want him to sit

(12:55):
in the pocket, throw bullets all over the field. The
line protects him, he doesn't get hurt, he doesn't get
touched an entire game. I just don't know if that's possible.
I don't know if that's in his DNA. And you're right, Michael,
he has the ability to scramble. Look he's not justin Field,
Justin Field, who was a remarkable runner in the open field.
He's not Lamar. I don't know if he's Jackson Dark
my goodness, but he's got the ability to do it

(13:16):
that touchdown to to win it, you know late in
the game, that bootleg call. I mean, you're not doing
that with Jared Goff or Jordan Love. So use it.
And you gotta be careful, right because you don't like
like Dark gets you know, scrambles looks like another big
pickup and you know, giants are rolling and then he
gets inkercussion hits the ground. However, it was cost so

(13:39):
you don't want them, you know, like like Tua you
know too is the guy who like doesn't want to
go down. So instead of sliding and taking take you know,
just slide. He I'm gonna beat one more. I can
get five more yards out of this, which is cool
when it happens, but you gotta be careful. And it's
a fine line and no quarterback from Patrick Mahomes to
Josh Allen to Lamar to Caleb to whoever does it perfectly.

(14:01):
It just it's just gonna It's just part of the game.
But it's part of his ability. And man, some of
the sacks he avoided yesterday, how the heck do you get?
And look, Burns and Thibodeau, those are freaking monsters. Man,
they are good athletes. They can get and boy, did
did i'm that touchdown? I've watched that highlight several times too.
Did Burns get sucked in or what? But he totally

(14:23):
went for the fake handoff the swift and then Caleb
goes around and instead of just tiptoeing out of bounds
about the ten or whatever, he goes all the way
and it was just, Look, I'd rather have him throw
a thirty yard touchdown pass and just sit in the pocket,
be in touch. But if it's part of his game,
let it be the case. Because he can be electric
and this fourth quarter ability to come back. It's exciting because,

(14:51):
as we've talked about before, the the the process of
you know, becoming a great quarterback start from here, not
knowing the offense that you got earned the job. It
chased little steps and the ability to execute in the
fourth quarter is part of that process. He's got to
fill in some of the blanks in between, but he's
got that one part and that's undeniable, and again we

(15:12):
even saw bits of it last year and they just
weren't able to execute for a variety of reasons last year.
But we're seeing again, what's fourth four fourth quarter comebacks
like late for him this year and we're at you know,
we're halfway through the season.

Speaker 2 (15:25):
Yeah, I think the one thing you've learned is, like
Caleb Williams is clutch, and well, obviously, how is he
able to do this against you know, this has all
happened against you know, bad or like mid teams, right,
like none of the none of this has happened again,
this is this didn't happen against Detroit or you know,
it's it's all in all the top teams that they've got,
but it's happened, and something just clicks for him. Like

(15:49):
Caleb talked after the game, he just kind of calms down.
He feels that his body is, you know, calming down
after a couple of deep breaths, and you know, everyone
just keeps on saying like everything speeds up for other
guys and for Caleb, it just slows down and he's
able to just make the big plays, make the big throws.
And that's the biggest thing that you know obviously you

(16:10):
know you want this team now at six and three,
where we'll talk about the playoff hunt at the end
of the podcast. But this season has always been about
is Caleb your quarterback? Is he going to be your
quarterback of the future. There are obviously still plenty of
questions to answer, but I think through week ten now
I think you know that your quarterback is clutched and

(16:30):
key situations, and he can be the reason why you
win games at this point, Yes, all right, Joe, what
is your second winner?

Speaker 3 (16:40):
I'm gonna go with I'm gonna go with montege Sweat.
You know, he didn't get his two sack game yesterday,
but he had his one and a half sack game,
and I thought he was really good again. And really,
I think it's been since that Bad Lines where everyone
was bad, everybody, right, the water boy, the head coach, everybody,
everyone's bad in the lines. Gain but ever said, I
think it's week three, maybe it was week four. He's

(17:02):
been making plays every single game and he's the only
guy I see consistently pushing back the offensive lineman whoever's
blocking him. He's the one guy who's constantly almost there,
but too bad we had to get another guy. Austin
Booker gonna get a sack yesterday. I didn't get any
force fumbles, but I thought he was pretty good. He

(17:24):
was more noticeable than I owe o'dang bow and I
hope he heals well and you know all that stuff.
But Montest Sweat. IM gonna give him his props here.
You know this is consistently now what we've played nine
games is it's six games in a row that he's
made an impact play, whether it's a sack, force fumble both.
So they need that. The pass rush still isn't where

(17:45):
the Bears needed to be. Everyone knows that. They know that.
But Montest Sweat, Look, you get one sack of game
in this league, seventeen sacks, you're going to the Pro Bowl, right,
I mean you're you're probably first team All Pro or
second team All Pro. So I'm gonna give him props.
It has a bit splashy. He's not making highlight film plays,
but he's making an impact that he's the one constant,

(18:07):
at least consistent guy up front. And he did it
again yesterday, and so I'm gonna give props to Montes Swet.

Speaker 2 (18:14):
Yeah, I mean it's it's really clicked for him. I mean,
over the past four weeks he has at least one sack.
He obviously had that sack and a half in the
In those four games, he's accumulated six quarterback hits and
and that started with that New Orleans game. And I think,
if I remember correctly, I think the Commander's game was
the game where didn't he have a sack but it
was called back or I think I think it was

(18:36):
that game.

Speaker 1 (18:37):
But really after.

Speaker 2 (18:38):
I feel like the bye week, things have really turned
for him and he's he's just getting it. He's getting
more of what month of what Dennis Allen.

Speaker 1 (18:46):
Wants him to do.

Speaker 2 (18:47):
So that's big props to him, and he's quite honestly
doing it with not much, you know. On the opposite
of him, I think Austin Booker has kind of made
a There are a few times yesterdayhere I felt like
Austin Booker made a good impact and kind of, you
knowing forcing some pressure on Jackson Darden and.

Speaker 1 (19:04):
Obviously Russell Wilson.

Speaker 2 (19:05):
But yeah, I think Montes is playing at the level
that you were hoping for, you know, earlier in the year.

Speaker 1 (19:12):
And that's a big credit to him.

Speaker 2 (19:14):
Obviously last year didn't go the way he wanted it
to with the shin injury and what he was dealing with.
And at the start of the year, I mean everyone
was saying, like, whereas Montes swed you. You traded a
second round pick for him, you paid him the money
and you're getting nothing out of him. Well, he's really
turned it on here in the last four weeks, and
I think you have to be really encouraged by what
he was able to do and what he's been able

(19:34):
to do because, like I said earlier, he's basically doing
it without too much pressure on the opposite side. So
I think you have to give him a lot of
credit about what he's been able.

Speaker 1 (19:44):
To do up to this point.

Speaker 3 (19:46):
Yeah, yeah, I'm sorry. Where would he do without him? Right? Like,
like if he went down knock on wood, you know,
for extended period, they'd be really you think the defense
is in trouble now, they'd really be hurting with him.
He's probably been let me think about this for two seconds.
He's probably their best defensive player this year. I mean,
Buyer's been good, Tremade Edmonds has been much better than

(20:09):
last year. I think so, But he'd be in the
conversation because he's been again, not over the top spectacular.
He's not Max Crosby, but he's been good.

Speaker 1 (20:19):
Yeah, he's been very good, and uh, you have to
be encouraged by it.

Speaker 2 (20:22):
And you know, maybe maybe this is just what Dennis
Allen has to do this season based on what he has.
Maybe he just has to pass rush it and then
he's just going to consistently blitz with CJ. Gardner Johnson
and then maybe Kyler Gordon when he comes back, and.

Speaker 1 (20:35):
Maybe if you get Carlon back, you can send Brisker more.

Speaker 2 (20:39):
But this just seems like the defense that they're gonna
have to run at this point, with all the injuries
that that they've sustained this year, it's basically gonna have
to be Monteste Wet. Maybe you get something from Austin
Booker and then you just blitz with the coroner and
maybe you surprise him a few times. All right, Joe,
my second winner is going to be And you know,
this is when we kind of get into the part

(20:59):
where it's kind of like all right, like, yes, you won,
but it was far from a perfect performance. But I
will give credit to the Bears making some progress in
Key areas. One of them is in the red zone.
They went three for four. They scored three touchdowns on
their four visits. The other one, I was a bit disappointed.

Speaker 1 (21:22):
You know, you get the CJ.

Speaker 2 (21:23):
Gardner Johnson fumble recovery, you go down the field, and
I just I did not like the I don't know
whether it's play calling, whether it was miscommunication, but I
didn't like what was happening here, especially on that third
down throat of Roma Doms. There was just miscommunication there,
and you can't have that sort of miscommunication when you
get that far into their territory.

Speaker 1 (21:45):
But the Bears did go.

Speaker 2 (21:46):
Three for four in the red zone, and the Bears
only committed three penalties for twenty five yards, which, yes,
that's been huge and that you know, there were many
different reasons for the offensive inconsistency yesterday, but the penalties
weren't them.

Speaker 1 (22:03):
I think you only had one false start.

Speaker 2 (22:05):
Darnold Wright finally got called for for a false start.
I feel like I jinxed him with my feature over
the weekend, but he still had a really good game.
But yeah, I mean three penalties, you're three for four
in the red zone. Those are really big steps, especially
for what we've consistently been talking about, right, but you
know that when three for eleven on third down at
twenty seven percent, you'd like that to go be higher.

(22:28):
I mean, you got to convert higher than twenty seven
percent on third down. And that's I'm sure something we'll
talk about later on in the podcast. But Joe, I
felt like those two areas were signs of growth for
a team that, you know, consistently, even if they were
winning games, we're just not executing well in the red
zone and we're committing too many penalties.

Speaker 3 (22:47):
Yes, and good points, Michael, and I'll bring up the
second one first about the penalties. You no, look, we've
been ragging about it all season, the fans, everybody, and
they cleaned it up. They cleaned it up yesterday. Un
Fortunately they were still on the verge of losing with
five minutes to go in the game. Despite that. That
was a funny thing, was like, well, they finally cleaned
it up, and then that happened, you know, I mean, uh, sewell,

(23:11):
had the what that that kind of about that shit
about another sack Andrew Billings I think it was had
Dart in his grasp and was going down and then uh,
Sewell comes in and that they hit to the head.
That just can't happen. That's aggravating, but they limited them. Right.
You're not gonna play a squeaky clean game. I don't
think anyone really does. But three penalties for twenty five

(23:31):
yards good. Uh, that was very good. The second part. Yeah,
the red zone. Still like to see in Mexican better
like inside the ten. Get the ball in the end zone,
especially yesterday with the with the swirling winds and the snows,
tough day to kick that. No one was gonna be
out there, you know, trying a fifty yard or yesterday
you're you're gonna go for it. We saw that by
both teams. But it was better. There was still you know,

(23:53):
it's funny because getting back to Caleb people, you know,
the conversation once again today is do the Bears have
their franchise court Caleb will is the franchise quarterback. I'm
still not one hundred percent on that and I don't
want to go back to that again. But there were
still some throws he missed. Uh, and in the red zone.
I know, boy, we haven't even talked about We'll get
to the negatives about the drop passes yesterday, but it

(24:17):
was better and we'll take it, but definitely cleaning it up.
Three pennants for twenty five yards.

Speaker 2 (24:25):
Finally, all right, Joe, what is your final winner from
uh from Sunday's win.

Speaker 3 (24:30):
Well, this one comes like with an asterisk. But I'm
gonna go with the running game because I wanted to
see more of it yesterday and I thought they would.
But the running game was good. Swift ended up I
think eighty yards rushing Manung guy had twenty, you know,
and he didn't really he only carried the ball what
seven times average four yards of carry, swift average six
point two, Caleb at sixty three. A lot of that

(24:51):
was I think eighty percent of that was on you know,
the last drive of the game. There, kudos to Caleb,
but I thought the running game again, Michael, for this
was another like, oh my gosh, this running a running
game stinks the first two three weeks. But ever since
the bye week? How many games is that now they played?
Is it? Is it five games now since the bye week?

Speaker 1 (25:12):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (25:13):
Right, five? It's been good every single game. I would
have liked to see more of a Nung guy yesterday
after what he did against Cincinnati. But you know what,
de Andre Swift getting the opportunities, you can't argue with it.
He was he was excellent yesterday. And that one big
run by Swift was fourth and two at midfield and

(25:34):
the Giants kid missed the tackle that his teammate like
ran into him and bang, that was big. I think
that was on the drive after the Gardner Johnson forced
fumble and they went down. They had to settle for three,
but that pickup was absolutely huge by Swift. But the
running game again was good. No one's talking about the
running game today. Understandably so was what Caleb did in

(25:57):
the final four minutes. But the running game once again
really good. Props to the guys up front. You know
that that's where it starts. Any running back high school,
Peewee College will tell you that's where it starts. So
props to the old lineman. And it's nice to see
that the Bears. It's not Walter Payton days or anything
like that, but running the running game has been good.

Speaker 2 (26:19):
Yeah, I was kind of considering whether to put that
as a good or a bad. He's just you know,
looking at the numbers. I mean, they average six point
one yards per carry. Which is what you want, Like
kind of Eric the enemy always says that he wants
four point five at least on every yard and then
you get more from that. But I agree, I I

(26:39):
that's kind of why I was kind of like interested
in that they only they ran it twenty eight times
and through a thirty six times, and you know, I know, obviously,
you know that you had to pass a little bit
more later in the game since you were trailing by ten,
But I was, I was interested, And maybe we'll talk
to Ben about it a little bit more this afternoon.

Speaker 1 (26:58):
This was supposed to be a game where I've felt
like we were gonna run.

Speaker 2 (27:00):
They were gonna run the ball, right, like, going against
the second worst run defense in the league, and I
feel like too many times, you know, Ben kind of
went away from it, and there are some fluke There
are sometimes where like there was that one time where
you know, DeAndre Swift was running to his right and
and the soldier field turf just took.

Speaker 1 (27:18):
Down Darnell right.

Speaker 2 (27:20):
I don't know what happened there, I did, just a
turf monster got him. But there were a few times
where I was just kind of like, man like, just
they aren't really running the ball effectively against a really
bad run defense, and you know, swift average sixty two yards.
He had a couple explosive runs which were really good.
So yeah, I kind of agree with you, and I'm

(27:41):
kind of conflicted just with the with the thought of
all right, like six, Like you're happy they are averaging
around six yards per game, but I do wonder should
you have run the ball more?

Speaker 1 (27:53):
And Ben should have kind of stuck with that a
little bit more.

Speaker 2 (27:55):
So that was a little bit interesting, and I guess
we'll hear more from him this afternoon just to kind
of see what his what was kind of going on
through his mind when he was going with that play call.

Speaker 3 (28:06):
Yeah, it's tough too. I mean, look at every running
back every team. You know, it's not like you know,
you're gonna gain four or five yards that'd be nice,
and every carry, I mean, you win the Super Bowl
if you did that right. You're getting that first down
every every two plays or three plays. That's that's that's
not gonna happen. But uh, just just stick with it,

(28:27):
stick with it, and then you do get the chunk
plays of eleven yards twenty yards, and they've shown that
they can do that even though they don't have the
Jamier Gibbs, the breakaway speed guy, but swift is fast
enough when guy's been I said it last week. He
looks faster than I realized he was. But just bouncing
off guys too. He's got a little burst in him.
So the running that both those guys have looked really good.

(28:50):
Even Monong guy and a limited role yesterday, he did
have a drop right amongst other guys. But it was good.
It wasn't It wasn't saq On or you know, Jonathan Taylor,
but it was good. It's a positive for me.

Speaker 2 (29:05):
All Right, I'm just gonna put in a quick throwaway
winner because this wasn't a masterpiece by any means.

Speaker 1 (29:11):
Just credit.

Speaker 2 (29:12):
I feel like I do this every week. Credit to
the coaching staff. This isn't a game that they win.
If this is a Maniflus are a different team, this
is just this locker room has bought into the coaching staff,
and that's a big credit to Ben Johnson and all
his other coaches out there. All Right, Joe, obviously you
needed to score fourteen points in six minutes. It was
far from a perfect performance. Was your first loser from

(29:33):
Sunday's win.

Speaker 3 (29:35):
Well, he's been a nice pickup this year. But look,
you can't avoid the elephant in the room here. Alamide's
a kis. I finally got his name right. I think
that was bad. That was rough. Three drops so four
I couldn't keep count after a while. Tough day. He's
got to catch those balls. And you know again you

(29:55):
look big pictures an undrafted guy who's made a lot
of money now in in this league. All props, all
respect for Alamidae. I don't know if we've said a
negative thing about him all year, Michael, but that was
tough yesterday. And you know the Giants receivers. What that
Slayton kid with the one handed catch that should be
on the highlights all over in the first half, tremendous

(30:18):
catch on the sideline. The Bears didn't have any of
those yesterday. They had too many drops. The one buys
hez a Kyas in the end zone. Look, I couldn't
catch a nerf ball. If you were five feet from him,
you tossed it, I probably drop it, so I know,
I know catching the ball is hard. It wasn't a
great day whetherwise at Soldier Field yesterday. But Takias had
a tough day. Wasn't alone. But I don't want to

(30:40):
call I don't want to call him a loser because
he's not a loser. And I'm glad he's on the
Bears football team as a Bears fan. But he had
a tough one yesterday.

Speaker 2 (30:49):
Yeah, it was probably his worst game of the year,
which is saying a lot because I.

Speaker 1 (30:52):
Feel like he's been a major contributor for them all season.

Speaker 2 (30:56):
And I know I feel like Oz got a lot
of the blame from fans, but it's been It was
a whole team effort. I mean there, you know, DJ
dropped a couple of passes. DeAndre Swift and Kamannung Guy
dropped a couple of passes. Rome missed again. Like every week,
we keep saying, like I I like I like I

(31:16):
like Rome a lot as a person. I think he's
a very talented player, you know.

Speaker 1 (31:20):
I it was.

Speaker 2 (31:21):
Funny, you know, the first first play of the game,
Guess where the pass is going to?

Speaker 3 (31:24):
Right?

Speaker 2 (31:25):
Ramodons They and Rome was funny after the game, and
he was asked about that, he said, yeah, thanks dad,
But you know, he had tongue and cheek kind of
just funny moment after a win, you know, with his dad.
But listen, those like those are plays that they need
to make. And I think that's kind of the reason
why Caleb had a takeover on the ground because his
wide receivers weren't doing him any favors.

Speaker 1 (31:46):
There were at leasts at least six or seven.

Speaker 2 (31:48):
Drops pretty much by every wide receiver out there who
had a play and.

Speaker 1 (31:54):
Just didn't make it.

Speaker 2 (31:55):
And you know, they they talked about it after the
game about still trying to figure out how to get
in a rhythm with Caleb when he scrambles, because that
is a little bit hard because you are expected to
go one way and then when the play just kind
of breaks down and then you're just kind of like,
all right, like where is he going?

Speaker 1 (32:13):
Where am I supposed to go? What am I supposed
to do?

Speaker 2 (32:15):
So there were a couple of plays where it was
just like you got to catch that ball, like the
room ball before he before Caleb picked Colston loved them
when they were down by ten, like that's a play.
That's a catch that number one wide receiver has to make.
Alamode obviously a couple of plays, you know, DeAndre Swift
Kylemnung guy. But I also understand that if Caleb is scrambling,

(32:40):
you're just kind of like, all right, where am I
supposed to go? What am I supposed to do? Like,
it's kind of hard to get in sync with that.
So I agree. I think Oz obviously got a lot
of the looks because of that, And I think you
have the most drops, and he had three drops that
were fairly catchable, but it was a very and then
you know, Nashon Wright drops an easy interception in in
the end zone and it's at the end of the
quarter that would have, you know, taken away three points

(33:02):
for the Giant. So I understand. Listen, it was cold
out there. It was windy as heck it was. It
was not a good, you know environment to play a
football game. I know everyone loves bear weather, but it
was not great for catching balls, especially when Caleb is
throwing get probably one hundred miles per.

Speaker 1 (33:17):
Hour at you. But I thought that, uh, you know,
it was just not a good receiving day for the crew.

Speaker 3 (33:24):
Yeah. And you know one more thing too, I look,
Caleb's only in year one and a half, right, I mean,
you got some young receivers on this team. And hopefully
they all stay healthy and they can develop something over
the next two three years here. But like when you
think of a homes, you see a home scrambling and
it's kind of like they call it the fire drilling

(33:45):
team's practice that who does he always find Kelsey Son
of it. There's Kelsey again for fifteen, for the first
down for twenty. He's always got his baillant guy. Everyone
knows who he's the ballant guy. But Kelsey gets open
and I know where Kelsey is going to the Hall
of Fame arguing you know, top football, you know, the
tied end of football history whatever. He's that good. But
maybe just it takes time for those guys to figure

(34:07):
that out. Like, okay, I know, there goes Caleb again.
Is he's scrambling left, he's scrambling right, Here's where he's going,
Here's where I need to be. Maybe that just takes time.
It's not gonna happen overnight. It's not gonna happen during
the course of a half a season. So maybe that
just I'll cut some slack there a little bit, but
that's got to be better. And then when he does
throw at Bebie from you know, fifteen yard. You got

(34:29):
to be able to catch it, and they weren't doing
that yesterday.

Speaker 2 (34:33):
My first loser will be out kind of piggy peg
off of that because it was part of the reason.
But the third, the second and third and kind of
the first quarter offense has continuously still been bad. Like
I'm you, you know, whether it's the running a game
not going, you know, missed opportunities here and there. I
understand that the Giants are very talented, you know, pass

(34:55):
rush and that can disrupt stuff, but the Giants defense
is not going, and you shouldn't head into the fourth quarter.
What was the score? I think the Bears had only
at that point scored. They had ten points, So.

Speaker 1 (35:11):
Against that defense, like, you need to score more than
ten points.

Speaker 2 (35:13):
You shouldn't be in a position to have to score
fourteen points in six minutes. And you know, I think
the defense, you know, considering what they have, the injuries
that they've been dealing with, twenty points, I think that's fine,
Like you need to put up more points than you know,
twenty four twenty points that to.

Speaker 1 (35:30):
Win that game.

Speaker 3 (35:30):
So you know, it was.

Speaker 2 (35:33):
Something we talked about last week. How do you get
the middle part of the game offense to click, and
it's still something that the Bears are looking for because listen,
you can't do this against the Philadelphia Eagles, you can't
do this against the Vikings, you can't do this against
the Lions. The you know, I know the Steelers are
kind of free falling a little bit here, but.

Speaker 1 (35:53):
You can't put up ten points heading it into the.

Speaker 2 (35:55):
Fourth quarter against one of the worst off you know,
defenses in the league. So that still needs to be
a big area of concern because I know it's all
good to be like winning these type of games and
it's fun for it to be heroic, but Joe, you
and I both were saying that we wanted this to
kind of be a blowout game where you know, you
head into the fourth quarter and you're in control and

(36:16):
you're like in a really good position to win.

Speaker 1 (36:18):
And that just didn't happen because the offense just for
the first three quarters for some reason, is not really
able to build much of a rhythm and you know,
put up points.

Speaker 3 (36:30):
Yeah, it's funny because once again yesterday, the first drive
of the game very good, you know, Roome connecting with
our Caleb connecting with Rome early, and it looked good.
And then like they get off the script then and
then it really bogs down for whatever reason. And I
just maybe Ben Johnson needs to tell them after the
first series, looks, guys, it's the fourth quarter. We got

(36:50):
eight minutes to figure this out. Let's go now, and
don't look at the scoreboard or it says it's the
second quarter. Start getting a little more desperate and a
little more urgent. Don't don't think you've got four We'll
just b we'll just figure it out at the end
and we'll win and we'll play the song forget it.
Let's go now. We saw this all last year and okay,
I'll stop talking about last year for now. But that's

(37:12):
gotta be more of an urgency and get the points
so you don't have to be heroic in the fourth quarter.

Speaker 1 (37:20):
Yeah, it's just you know, I don't I don't know
what the exact fix is and whether it's you know,
whether it is just you know, executing on third downbatter,
I mean, twenty seven percent is not good third down execution.

Speaker 2 (37:32):
And Ben Jon Johnson talks about how he likes to
get the first down on first and second down so
you don't have to put yourself in bath third down situations,
and I feel like the Bears just consistently kept putting
themselves in bath third down situations and then just weren't executing.
So it's a big point of emphasis because listen, you

(37:52):
can rely on Caleb, you know, all the time, and
but there are some games where Caleb's gonna miss the throw.
Caleb is not going to be able to do that.
It's just natural in the NFL. Even the best, you know,
elite quarterbacks do that. So the middle tier offense really
needs to figure it out because it's it's you're playing
with fire at this point.

Speaker 1 (38:12):
And eventually you're gonna get burned. You got burned against Detroit,
you got burned against Baltimore because you weren't able to
execute in the first three quarters. And listen, it starts
with Minnesota and then you go on to Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.
You're you're not gonna be able to consistently play this
type of game and come out winning games. All right,

(38:32):
So good?

Speaker 3 (38:33):
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (38:33):
Something else? Yeah, all right, Joe, what what is your
second loser from yesterday?

Speaker 3 (38:38):
Well, kind of piggybacking off what we're just talking about here,
maybe this is part of the reason why they like yesterday, Uh,
we weren't able to score a lot of points up until
the last, you know, five minutes. Where was Coaston Lovelin yesterday?
In the first half. I think he was my mvy bear, right,
most availe bear I might predicted. I thought they would
build off that chemistry from the Cincinnati game I and Caleb.

(38:59):
But zero targets the first half, especially yesterday, when you
you probably didn't want to be throwing the ball deep downfield,
although Jackson Birk didn't seem to have a problem with that.
Everyone thought they'd dick Holston involved early and then I
was waiting and at halftime, I'm still waiting now he did.
They finally went to him in the second half. Four
catches he ended up with. He had that big catch

(39:20):
on that game winning drive and he kind of snagged
it like guys dropping pass us all day. That looked
like another one that oh he's gonna join the party too,
He's gonna drop that. But he snagged it to his
side and hung on to it. We see it again
with him? Where was he? And can we please get
Luth I've been I've been on this all year too.
Could he please get Luther burden involved more. He looks

(39:42):
good every time he touches the wall. He didn't have
any drops yesterday. He looks good. I want to see
the ball not on end a rounds and trick plays
get him open. I don't know if he's not being
able to get open or they just you know, he's
got to wait his time because he got other receivers.
But I want to see more of him, and let's
go to Loveland because I'm you know, I picked on

(40:03):
Ryan Poles a lot. You got the draft pick wrong.
You gotta get this right. You got drafted. You can't
draft the second round. You know what you're doing. But
I do like these draft picks from what I've seen.
And I know it's honeymoon period. We're only you know,
eight nine games in whatever, but more of Loveland. I
thought that was disappointed why they didn't go more to
him in the first half.

Speaker 2 (40:23):
Yeah, I would agree, And you know, Ben Johnson talked
about it actually a little bit last week. You know,
with all the different playmakers, like do you try to
make a concerted effort to get some guys the ball?

Speaker 1 (40:31):
And you know, obviously the.

Speaker 2 (40:32):
First play, you know, Rome is always going to be
the number one target for most of the plays. He's
your most talented player, right, But there are a lot
of different plays where you kind of get DJ involved,
and you get Luther involved, and you got Cole involved
in Coast it involved.

Speaker 1 (40:45):
So it's interesting.

Speaker 2 (40:47):
I'm curious to know whether that was just how the
game plan kind of unveiled and that's kind of why
Loveland wasn't involved into.

Speaker 1 (40:53):
The third quarter. And you know, Luther Burden, you know,
and I know with Luther, you know, he obviously missed
last game with the concussion, so maybe still trying to
get to the swing of things, like He's dealt with
some injuries here early on too, like both of them have.

Speaker 2 (41:05):
But yeah, it's interesting whether it's the play calling or
is the quarterback not getting it to Loveland or Burden.
But I agree, I thought that was interesting. Just you
you would have liked to get Loveland a little bit
more involved. I would have loved to get Cold more
involved too. I feel like both Cole and Colston could
have been nice little safety nets for him and I

(41:28):
you know, Listen, Burdon made a couple of really nice
impressive catches. Obviously that big catch on that game winning touchdown, drive.
You know, I think it was a double team then
he caught it without really you know, looking around too much.
But yeah, I would agree. So whether that's the play calling,
whether that's the decision making, I'm not entirely sure. But
you do need to get your key playmakers, like those

(41:50):
guys the ball much earlier in the game than you
have been.

Speaker 1 (41:54):
Joe, my loser, What is this my second loser? I
know the defense made enough place to win the game,
but they're just letting up.

Speaker 2 (42:05):
They're just giving up passing yardage at this point. Like
I think that, you know, I know, Russell Wilson came
into the game. I feel like if Jackson Dard was
still in that game, I don't know if you're having
the same result. And you know obviously that I think
the Bears just had no solutions for Jackson once he
kind of got progressed more into the game.

Speaker 1 (42:23):
I think he was able to run the ball well,
he moved the ball well, you know, passing wise. Obviously
a couple of nice catches by Darius Slater. But listen,
Jackson Dart finished with two hundred and forty two yards.
He completed sixty five point five percent of his passes
and he ran for sixty six yards in two touchdowns.

Speaker 2 (42:43):
That's what you want to see from your rookie quarterback.
And again you just see I don't know it's just
because you're injured or whatever, but this is the passing
game is just not stopping it like they're they're whether
it's Joe Flacko, whether it's Jackson Dard, whether it's Tyler Hunt,
these quarterbacks are able to just dice up this Bears defense.

(43:03):
And again, I know you're not creating too much pressure
on the quarterback. I know your secondary's injured. I understand
all of that. And the DJ Edwards is injured by
the way, with the with a broken hand, which was
good to finally find out on Friday afternoon. But yeah,
I mean there's just no solutions for this pass defense
right now. And you go against JJ McCarthy now and

(43:26):
Jalen Hurts and Aaron Rodgers, like, I don't know what
that's gonna look like here heading into the second half
of the season.

Speaker 3 (43:32):
Yeah, I know that was gonna be one of my
losers too, So I completely agree. I mean, Dark completed
what was his first ten of eleven passes and then
scrambling at two touchdowns and look they do miss TJ
and they don't. It's a depleted team defensively. But man,
oh man, that's why when I I think big, big picture,

(43:53):
like this is a playoff team. Can they win the
NFC you know or finished sack and can they get it?
Then I gat not with this defense. This isn't a
playoff defense. And when some of the monster teams coming up,
as you mentioned, you better score thirty five. This offense
better score thirty five because I don't know how much
you know. They got another takeaway yesterday, Like you said

(44:15):
the Nay Shawan right, man, you got to you got
to catch that ball in the end zone. That was
a gift. I think he just kind of took his
eye off the ball, thought he had it, and then
the kid that the big wide receiver tight end kind
of just punched it out, did a little peanut punch.
I think at Greg Olsen on the broadcast mentioned that
was right. But day Sean, man, you're you're like a
backup kit in the league essentially. I know you're starting

(44:35):
this year, but those picks are a little about his
fourth interception of the season, Nay Shawn Wright, He's got
to catch that. But man, just the scrambling by Dark
and you know what, just give him credit because it's
not like he had a breakdown game yesterday. He's been
doing this. This is why they're excited in New York
that they think they got the quarterback and they got

(44:56):
him with the twenty fifth pick. I mean, he looked
really poison. Let's I don't want to open this can
of worms, but he looked better than Caleb yesterday. I'll
take out the last five minutes. He was really good.
And then this probably should have been one of my
moments that mattered the concussion because even though look, you
know the quarterback wasn't on the field and when kayleb

(45:17):
was doing his magic in the final five minutes. But
Russell Wilson, yikes. I know's he's rusty. He hasn't played
since what week two, and I know he's old, but man,
the guy's potential Hall of Fame player. He's at a
great he's not that old. You know, quarterbacks play forever now,
and he's a good athlete. But boy, he looked terrible,

(45:39):
like because I think at all Russell's still got some game, man,
and that bears just like went after him like he
was a fifty year old man in the pocket. So
but the defense, yeah, it's it's again. I Gardner Johnson's helped.
I think Austin Booker is gonna help a little bit
down in the second half here. But this is who

(45:59):
they are. This is who they are, and maybe they
can got another three takeaway game in them down the road,
because they're gonna need one of those because otherwise they're
not just they're just not stopping people, all right, Joe,
Final loser from yesterday, Final loser from yesterday. It's a

(46:20):
tough one. Do I have a final loser from yesterday?
I gotta think about my offense, my defense. I guess
I'm struggling here with my final loser.

Speaker 1 (46:30):
You kin have been here. I'll go with Brian Dable.
What are we doing? Like?

Speaker 2 (46:35):
You you all down, You get that, you get the
ball down to the one yard line. You the bear
somehow don't get all their guys off the field after
the field goal? Yeah, I know, obviously when you're at
the one yard line, half the distance is half a yard,
but you got to go in for the kill shot
at that point, like you just got to go in
there and make it a fourteen point game. I think

(46:56):
it would have been a fourteen point game up to
that point and then yeah, I mean that's just I'm
you know, I just checked to see if he was fired,
because I don't know how you know, that's the third
you know, blown you know, fourth quarter blown.

Speaker 1 (47:10):
Game that they had this year. That just that was
just giving so much like PTSD.

Speaker 2 (47:16):
Like from me last year, it was just like what
are we doing with this decision making like that.

Speaker 1 (47:20):
I know you have Russell Wilt, but like Russell Wilson
helped move you all the way down to the one
yard line like you were moving well offensively, and if
it wasn't for Gervon Dexter like swallowing up Russell Wilson
before he got to the goal line, like, it would
have been a completely different game on that third down.

Speaker 2 (47:36):
So my loser is just what you know, from it's
been such a fall from grace from Brian Dable, where
he was a top offensive mind, the coach of the
year in his rookie year, in his first season, and
you know, he thinks Daniel Jones is in a good
quarterback and look what he's doing in in Indianapolis right now,
and It's just it's not good for New York Giants fans,
and I just didn't understand that decision at all.

Speaker 1 (47:59):
Yeah, that was a tough one.

Speaker 3 (48:00):
I'm trying to look at it from his perspective. You know,
you're playing the Bears offense hasn't done squad against you,
so maybe you're thinking, look, they gotta score twice against us.
That ain't gonna happen. Well, it did happen, and you're like,
this season it is dead for you if you're the Giants, right,
they know that their fans know that, so may as
well go for it, maybe put the pressure on it.

(48:21):
But you know, he's probably figuring we're up ten here,
we're in the fourth quarters, early in the fourth when
they made that call, right early mid fourth, the probably
think it's safe. But when you're having a bad season,
I think we've seen a few in Chicago, if I recall,
these are the things that happened that come back to
bite yet, but four blown leads in the fourth quarter

(48:42):
of the season, I think I saw today that no
other team has more than two and we're only at
the half way mark. I mean, so that that was
a bad look on him. He knows it, he knows it.
But you know, again, what are the Bears done offensively
against that team up until then? You could maybe say,
you know, after that too, they got just got a

(49:03):
little soft, got a little soft, like, don't give this
team any confidence. They've already come back three times and
they want they've won three games in the fourth quarter.
Let's not make it a fourth. And it was a fourth.

Speaker 1 (49:14):
I agree.

Speaker 2 (49:15):
I was watching the broadcast today and I uh listened
to Greg Olsen and I thought his he had a
good point of like if you don't get it, the
Bears are at their own half yard line, Like at
that point, you just like you can force the safety
or like it's gonna be hard to go ninety nine
yards down the field. But yeah, that that's just tough
for Giants fans that that. You know, I think you

(49:35):
have to be really encouraged by Listen, they've got some
talented guys on that defensive line. They've got I think
I like what I've seen from Dart so far. Hopefully
the concussions don't become a problem for him in his career.
I know that this was what his like fifth diagnosed
concussion already or using concussion protocol for the fifth time
this year. Like that's scary and you don't ever want
that for any player.

Speaker 1 (49:55):
But yeah, just a bad decision there a able to
think of a loser or not really, I don't think I.

Speaker 3 (50:04):
Got kind of touched on a lot of it. I mean,
nay Shawn Wright did the pick. I had that as
one of my plays that mattered or you know, moments
that mattered whatever, But that's got to be secured. And
it's too bad because again, this is the guy who's
a backup in the league, but he's been forced to
start because of the Bears injuries and he's done well.
You've gotten a lot more on a nay Sean right

(50:25):
than I thought they'd ever get out of him, you know,
not that he's been great. Tyreek, well, Tyrek Stevenson, we
didn't mention him. I don't want to pick on guys
too much. But he looked lost yesterday. Remember early in
the year he had a couple of good back to
back games or like, hey man, they get that out
of Tyreek, look out and he's just again, this is
another what second round pick Tyreek was he third? But

(50:48):
that's the year three. Now is year three and forget
about the hail Mary last year. Take that out. Let's
they say it never happened. It still hasn't been good.
When he flashed his rookie year, like you saw like,
okay man, this got could be a player, and it's
not happening with him and he's gotten. This shouldn't be happening.
There's no Elik Neighbors yesterday, so and we talked about,

(51:10):
you know, the pass coverage got to be better. So
just kind of lumping it in there, I'll separate it
and say nay Sean and and Tyreek.

Speaker 1 (51:20):
All right, Rick chiming in with the loser, he said,
the real loser is a show local fans, not games
they have. Joe rant On, Cairo.

Speaker 2 (51:26):
Santos, Yeah, I mean the weather, they were just not
going to kick a far field. It was I was
like looking down and like the south end zone field
goal posts, like the flags were swirling, and then you
look at the north and they're just completely still, Like
it just made no sense, Like it just made no
sense with what the wind was doing down there. So
there was no even like if you had a really

(51:49):
good kicker. Both teams very clearly were just of the
mindset that they were not going to kick yesterday. So
for a week we are safe from a Joe rant
On on Cairo Santos at this week. Yeah, there's always Listen,
the Bears are going to US Bank Stadium next week.

Speaker 1 (52:04):
That's a dome.

Speaker 2 (52:05):
So I am looking for no excuses next week, and Joe,
I prepare. I'm expecting you to be ready for a
full praise or full assault of Santos next week.

Speaker 3 (52:14):
When we're talking everyday, morning Jay, keep that leg fresh kid,
all right.

Speaker 2 (52:20):
Before we say goodbye, I guess we're gonna have to
start doing this every week. Now, let's look at the
playoff picture. I you know, before we say goodbye here,
Bears are currently the seventh seed at six and three.

Speaker 1 (52:34):
What is tonight?

Speaker 2 (52:34):
Tonight the Packers are playing the Eagles, So you know,
the Bears currently at seventh seed, would be playing the
Eagles in the first round at Philadelphia. Seahawks get the
number one by Joe like the the the forty nine
Ers right now are half a game behind the Bears
because they're six and four. They played one more game.
Obviously they've been dealing with, you know, with brock Perty

(52:57):
not being out there. Mac Jones has Donet a fine.
You know, he's been what he is at this point,
a backup quarterback, and you know Kyle Shanahan has gotten
some good stuff from him. But the number one thing
I see, it's obviously very encouraging for the Bears to
be six and three. Also worth noting that, according to Tankaton,
the Bears now have the hardest strength of schedule the
rest of the way. So you're six and three right now,

(53:20):
but you're gonna.

Speaker 1 (53:22):
Have to win a lot of games at this point because.

Speaker 2 (53:24):
And you know, even looking at if the forty nine
ers are they eight see right now, things can change
before you play them in week in week seventeen.

Speaker 1 (53:33):
But that San Francisco game in week seventeen.

Speaker 2 (53:36):
Is looking like it's going to have major playoff implications
if you know, both the forty nine Ers and the Bears.

Speaker 1 (53:40):
Continue to play at this level.

Speaker 3 (53:43):
Yeah, I don't know what playoff talk. I have to
I have to google that. I don't know what that
even means. In Chicago, you know, Michael, in high school football,
they're in the quarterfinals now starting this week. And I
had a coach Shelby after their win Friday night, and
they've blown out both of their opponents now said it
gets real now, you know, out of the course, it
gets real now, because but that's the fun part of it.

(54:05):
And for the Bears, it gets real now. And this
should be the fun part of it for him because
this is the test, because I've not heard many people,
if any, say, yeah, man, the Bears are for real.
They're going to the playoffs. No one's a believer yet.
I'm not a believer yet. I don't think you are
necessarily either, not to speak for you, but but this
is the test. How good are you? Can't ram put

(54:28):
up not to a next level? Because this is we
talked about the quarterback progression out. How do you go
from rookie to being good to like, wow, you're the
next level. Maybe maybe you're an MVP in the league.
How do you get that to the this is part
of the team too. Growing. Can you start beating the
teams that everyone's got else you got you know you're
losing to So this should be fun for them, you know,

(54:49):
Ben will, we'll get them ready. I don't think any
guy in there in that locker room is be too confident.
I wouldn't guess, but they'll be ready. But this is
the test. Now, maybe you're not good enough. If you're
not good enough, so be it. But now's your chance
to prove everybody that you're you're legit. You can be
kream bad. You can go to Minnesota winning the Dome.
You can maybe give the Eagles game, maybe you beat them.

(55:11):
Who knows me, how the hell the Bills lose to
the Dolphins yesterday? Another one ever, any given Sunday. But
here's your chances through the Bears to put the metal
to the pedal, metal to the pedal, whatever, put your
foot on the on the gash, and let's go. Let's go,
because this should be fun. And I think I personally
am looking to see can they take the next step

(55:32):
and can they improve to say, wow, they are a
good football team. Maybe they got a shot here down
the stretch to make a h to make the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (55:43):
Yeah, I'm I'm still in approve it mode. To me
at this point of the season. I listen, I give
all kudos to them for finding ways to win games,
obviously in difficult situations. And there is the listen this
they're injured, the defense for how bad they've been playing
in that kind of stuff, you're without Jalen Johnson from
all of the season. You're without Kyler Gordon pretty much

(56:04):
for all of the season.

Speaker 1 (56:05):
TJ.

Speaker 2 (56:06):
Edwards has missed half of your games. You lost your
top you know, free agent prize, which pass rusher, which
you know, arguing about how effective he was, sure, but
you still lost them. You lost your second round pick.
Defensive tackle Grady Jarrett has been obviously injured for much
of the season. It seems like, and again, is that
could your GM had done a better job of building

(56:27):
that defense. That's a different conversation, obviously, But at this
point you're six and three. I would have liked to
see you beat the Giants in more effective fashion. I
would have liked to see you beat the Saints in
more effective fashion. So I'm in proven mode. Can you
go to Minnesota? Lost yesterday? You're going into a hostile environment.
I'm very excited to go to US Bank Stadium if

(56:49):
my flights allowed me to get there. But I'm very
excited to go there because that's supposed to be such
a hostile environment and like such a very unique experience.

Speaker 1 (56:59):
Can you win there? Can you win in Philadelphia? Can
you split with Green Bay? Can you take care of like.

Speaker 2 (57:05):
The Steelers whin. It seems like they're you know, spiraling
right now. This is the time where you kind of
prove that you're a playoff team and you learn a
lot about yourself. I don't think any of us are
expecting the Bears for the to reach twelve wins or
eleven wins at this point, but can you squeak out
three or four more wins to qualify for the playoffs.

(57:25):
I think the Bears are at a point right now
where they're gonna be in the hunt come December. Now,
it'll be really interesting to see can they take that
next step against good teams and find ways to win
against them as opposed to just living on a prayer
against these bad teams.

Speaker 3 (57:41):
Yeah. Again, I don't know if we learned anything about
the Bears new from yesterday's game, but I think we'll
learn something new, if not Sunday against the Steelers. You know,
they're really reeling now too. And also, and that looks
like a game, but you should need to get that game.
You should get that win that game. But we'll address
that down the stretch here. But JJ McCarthy had a
tough one yesterday, but that coach is a great coach.

(58:04):
Up dear man, and they'll come after you. So there's
here's need to play better clearly on Sunday at Minnesota, I'm.

Speaker 2 (58:12):
Hitting on some points before he say goodbye to the
Sante Samuel ecquisition change this even around.

Speaker 1 (58:16):
Is he good enough?

Speaker 2 (58:18):
Listen like he like he's he's coming back from spinal
I think it was final fusion or it's like I
I like he was just recently cleared to practice. I
I don't know how much of an impact he's like.
I think if you bring him in, that's kind of
a long term play. I I just you know, the
guy just had cat surgery and was just cleared. He's

(58:40):
got to get into football shape. He's got to get
into tackling shape.

Speaker 1 (58:43):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (58:44):
I think you can probably bring him in, but I
don't know how much of an impact he's going to
make right away.

Speaker 1 (58:50):
For you, Rick Chiming in any injuries. We didn't get
an injury update. We usually get injury updates on Wednesday.
I don't think Ben usually gets them by the time
he talks to us, unless it's like season ending or
anything like that. But kudos to we say it every week.
Kudos to DJ Moore that guy just keeps playing through injuries.

Speaker 2 (59:09):
Man like every single week, like he just something happens
to him, he gets his hand knocked or whatever. That
guy's a warrior and he just continues to go out
there and continues to play. And I guess the other injury,
maybe you would be interested.

Speaker 3 (59:23):
I know CJ.

Speaker 2 (59:23):
Gardner Johnson left the game, but he came back, and
Reuben hipleg.

Speaker 1 (59:29):
Was out with the knee injury.

Speaker 2 (59:30):
Again, you don't want to lose another linebacker and another
draft pick, So that's gonna be tough. And I think
the major one for us obviously was jawon Brisker. A
scary moment there for a little minute when he was
grabbing his head after that tough play, but clearly he was,
you know, able to get back there. And we'll see
what the circumstances are like today because you know, obviously

(59:52):
last year when he got injured against the Cowboys, wasn't
until the next that they were like, oh, he's in
concussion protocol. But hopefully he's all clear and we'll get
more information on those types of injuries. When we talked
to Ben here in a few hours in the afternoon.

Speaker 3 (01:00:07):
One note on a Santa Samuel, Look, maybe you don't
need him, you're rex he's good. Even if he's clear
to play, he's good to go. It's gonna take him
time to get up to speed, right, he hasn't played
what over a year, But maybe maybe get him up
to speed by by December, three weeks, four weeks and
maybe Michael, have you heard anything more on Jalen Johnson?

(01:00:28):
Is there any And then we talked about is there
a possibility he comes back by December, because that was
on the table earlier, but we had really been No
one's really been talking about him the last months.

Speaker 1 (01:00:38):
Yeah, he's just indefinitely out. I mean I saw him.

Speaker 2 (01:00:41):
He was around the team last week, like he was
in a locker room last week, so it was good
to see him hanging around in a bit. But yeah,
I mean I've seen videos, I see him doing his rehab.
He's gonna do everything you can to get back in time.

Speaker 1 (01:00:52):
So maybe it does.

Speaker 2 (01:00:54):
Maybe it works out for you where you're in the
playoff hunt, and maybe you get him back for the
forty nine Ers game and the Lions game if everything
works perfectly. But at this point, I think the Bears
are under the assumption at least, I'm under the assumption
that you don't have them for the rest of the season.
He's out indefinitely, and then if you.

Speaker 1 (01:01:09):
Squeeze them in for the last two or three games
of the year, then that's a that's a great circumstance
I have at this point. But I think at this point,
from my standpoint, just from what I've kind of heard
and interpreted, is that he's definitely out and they're not there.

Speaker 2 (01:01:23):
They don't want to put a timeline on it specifically
just based on the type of growing you know, ab
area of surgery that he had.

Speaker 3 (01:01:31):
Well, it's a tough spot too, maybe because they're looking
in years past. You say, look, we're not doing anything anyway.
I just shut them down. There's no sense to risk
further injury with this guy. But all of a sudden,
like you know, let's they lose like four in a
row here and shoot themselves afoot and not now they're done.
But you know, if that comes down to the final
two weeks three weeks of the season, you're still in
this playoff hunt, and and Jalen's like I'm good to go,

(01:01:54):
and you're like it's good to go. Well, then do
you play him because you could use them. Yeah, they
got Green Bay what twice in December? Right, so twice
in three weeks. Yeah, so there you go. So maybe look,
if he plays one game for you at Jalen Jalen Johnson, ability,

(01:02:15):
that's a plus. I'll take it for one game, I'll
take it. So that's something to keep an eye on.
And let's not close the door yet, right, and no
one is on his potential return, but if you get
him back, it's probably just it's gravy.

Speaker 1 (01:02:27):
All right, we gotta get out here. But yeah, I
agree that. I think that's one.

Speaker 2 (01:02:31):
That's one thing when I think about the defense is
t J Edwards is gonna come back. He's gonna play
with the club on his hand, so he'll be back here.
Ben Jonson said he doesn't need ir hopefully, So hopefully
you get him back here.

Speaker 1 (01:02:44):
Maybe this week, maybe in two or three weeks.

Speaker 2 (01:02:45):
I don't know how quickly it takes to recover from
hand surgery and how quickly you know you can play.

Speaker 1 (01:02:50):
With the cast on.

Speaker 2 (01:02:51):
But with the assumption that TJ comes back and Kyler
Gordon comes back, I mean you'll have guys coming back here.
So it'll just depend on if you get Jalen Johnson back,
there is that secondary healthy enough to make an impact
and kind of make up for your past rush. So
that'll be something interesting to watch. All right, we gotta
get out of here.

Speaker 1 (01:03:10):
We appreciate everyone for joining us here on the live stream.
Love everyone's comments, Love to see everyone talking. After it
bears victory Monday, make sure if you couldn't join us
on the live.

Speaker 2 (01:03:20):
Stream, make sure you check us out. We always are
talking Monday and Friday. Obviously, the schedule changes a little
bit based on travel, but make sure if you want
to be part of the live stream, you give us
a like and join us. And if thank you so
much for listening on the podcast as well, make sure
you like us and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.

Speaker 1 (01:03:40):
All right, it's knowing right now.

Speaker 2 (01:03:42):
It's weird, but it's supposed to be sixty over the weekend,
So enjoy this fall weekend in Chicago or week in Chicago,
and we will talk to you folks on Friday morning
as we'll preview week eleven against the Minnesota Vikings. Until then,
we'll talk to you folks down the road