2021 Offseason begins | All Access

some answers to the questions. And so it begins the process of those answers. Welcome into the Bears All Access Show, brought to you by IGS Energy, with my broadcast partner from WBBM News Radio seven eighty and one oh five point nine FM. Tom There, I'm Jeff Johnny AAC. Happy you've joined us tonight special thanks to our producers Jordan trut Up, Dan Burrelli and Jordan Mally. Coming up at six ten, former Bears quarterback in Sirius XMNFL radio host

Jim Millon will join us for a few segments. And here we go. We're off and running on a new season. Already. Time doesn't take long, you know, it seems like you know, Jeff, is everything focused right now the twentieth pick in the draft, and then everything revolves around that, what type of um you know, player trades can you put together? How much value does that retain? Is there other players that you have in your sites that you may have to move

around and possibly try to attach yourself too. So from this point on, from the conclusion of the season, when you understand what your draft capital is, how many picks you have, the investigative work, the scouting that all starts to take place throughout kind of how we don't know how what the routine of it is going to be with the pandemic type of off season, and then it's all about you know what, what do you identify as your your biggest need either that can get down of

the field at the quickest process. Yeah, so we'll look at that throughout the course of this evening today, we're gonna looking at both sides of the football on some issues and position by position group to see what the experts think here Tom there and when Jim joined us as well. But you know, since that loss to the Saints, the focus in the building is on a plan to get back to the playoffs. And win a Super Bowl, and everyone Tommy fans, media analysts, the hierarchy in the building.

They all have differing opinions on how to get that done, of course, but you know, you can't make decisions based on outside opinion or pressure or heat or whatever. Most of the time, that doesn't work in any business. So you got to take care of your own and you have been there every day as a leadership group, You've worked with each other. You got to figure that out.

So I've always felt that way, and I've always been a guy that does like to not be so quick to make decisions like that, because over time, you got to have some guys that you believe in. You got to work through the process and work through the mistakes, and if you really believe in them, you gotta you

gotta ride with them. Because it's it's proven over the course of time that some of these situations and other franchises, they've stuck with it and they've gone through some tough times and sometimes it doesn't work, sometimes it does, but when it does, it's really good, right, you know, in the whole process of the last couple of days, Because I'm a Bears fan, I'm an alumni and I'm a

season ticket holder. There was some things in there that maybe I didn't agree with, But then after it's like everything shut down and you just kind of had a materialize everything that was said, Okay, the changes aren't going to be made that some people wanted. So now it's about finding solutions. Everything that whole conversation is in the rearview, mere folks, and so now it's about what do you need to make the Bears the team that you guys are talking about. How do you make this team a

playoff contender? How do you create that culture that these guys feel as positive coming out of the locker room on game day is any other day of the week.

So it is about solutions now. The process of the beginning of the priests or postseason has begun, and today Chairman of the Board George McCaskey joined a couple of afternoon shows here in town, including Right Here on the Score with Danny Parkins and Mark Rody, and consistent with yesterday's message Tom and process with his annual review the job, function, the titles and all that is involved win it. He was also asked if it's a must win season by

the guys. And the evaluation though, will always be broad when it comes to how George handles this. And it's not necessarily, as he indicated, a go to the playoffs or else mandate, because every season's a must win, go to the playoffs, win a super Bowl mandate in the minds of everybody that once you start that process. Yeah, but I mean, I'll disagree. I think it is a must win season. I don't care about all the back

the finance or the contract. Situation to me is I don't know if you can go up there and readdress the media like you did after a losing season and try to say everything is okay. I do think it's about you've got you've got this the management in place for a period of time that you have to go out there and you have to strike, and you got to strike now, and it's got you got to sit there and be in control of your division opportunities and

put yourself into playoff race. And I don't know is that the season ticket holder and me or is that the Bears fan talking? Because I'm serious when I say that, Jeff, because every time I hear the subject matter about the Bears, I do have to I do think about it in three different ways, and it's just not a clear cut yes, no, get rid of sign, you know, fantasy amount of money

type of decision, because it's just not the case. Yeah, it's it's it's not ever as black and white as as people sometimes want it to be, and it's just there's a lot of extenuating circumstances and there's a lot that we're not privy to either as even our positions as the play by a play crew and as much time as we spend talking about it and working with

those folks. And this year, obviously in a different format, not able to be in the building much at all or even to see, you know, much of training camp practices. Hopefully that's all going to change now a new defensive coordinator will be coming with no Chuck Pagano after he was elected to retire long career in coaching for Chuck, and he's seen a lot, been through, a lot, done

a lot, been successful along the way. But now the search for a defensive coordinator, what would you either internal or otherwise, what type of defense do you want to see for the Bears? And do you want just the continuation of a three four defense and the style of player. Do you look at all angles to this based on the talent you currently have and what you want as a franchise. You know, Jeff, you and I have been around long enough for the transition of the NFL. Defense.

Is the numbers that you put before your name as defensive coordinat and are really irrelevant. Yeah, you can be have a style, you can have your roots, but it's about the type of personnel that you're facing then the offensive side of the ball. So you're never gonna play one style of defense continuously. And so what Chuck Pogano was more through in the NFL, he had a good understanding.

But the first trade, the first requirement, the first idea that I'm going to put in my player's head as a defensive coordinator is a physical style of tackling, a physical approach to the game. Because, as disappointed as I am to say this, I think the last two weeks the defenses as a whole played more physical than the Bears defense, and I think they played more physical than

the Bears offense they were playing against. And to me, as a Bear's alumni, that was the really frustrating part of it, because when I saw Green Bay coming to Soldier Field, and some of the hits that they were delivering early in that game, they were setting the tone, and that tone rung throughout the night. Yeah, And that was the intended impressions wanted to make, is to really be a physical team for that game and for the season.

In fact, George McCaskey years ago said he'd like to have a Monsters in the Midway type, aggressive, nasty defense where teams had a fear about coming into town knowing that they'd have to deal with a lot of physicality and they're gonna be hurting after the cam win, loser draw. And that's the kind of defense I think we all would like to see, all Right, Coming up next, Jim Miller would join the program. We'll take our first break. This is Bears All Access on Chicago Sports Radio six

seventy to score. Welcome back to Bears All Access, brought to you by IGS Energy. Choose clean energy for your home at IGS dot com because every good choice adds up to a better world. With Tom Thayer, Jeff Jonia, Glad you're joining us tonight as we break down the twenty twenty season to look ahead. Now, joined by our special guest Jim Miller, former Bear Chicago quarterback and also host on Sirius XM NFL Radio Channel eight. Moving to Change with Pat Crow and Big Jim. How you doing,

Jeff Tom good to talk to you guys. Good to be with you again. Which show could have been a little bit further into the postseason that the Bears could have marched though? Right about that, and we got away with not seeing you one time the entire year? How did that happen to, Jim, It's unbelievable. I would always, you know, I'd always watch your show after lou and I do the morning pregame show. I'd always tuned in

for your guys' pregame show. So I did see you guys, it just wasn't in person, and it wasn't the same. That's hopefully that'll change. That was a one off. Let's please pray that's a one off and we get back all together and the way it normally is, Jim, let's dig right in and we're gonna be with here for a couple of segments, so we'll take our time few things. But I'm not certain if you had a chance to

listen into the entire news conference yesterday. But overall, what was your takeaway from the snippets you may or may not have heard from from the Bears brain trust yesterday. Yeah, I think, you know, it's nothing that surprised. Man. A lot of people want they just want rash decisions. Maybe, oh, somebody's got to go, And I just didn't think that that was going to be the case for whether it's Ryan Pace or Mattneggie. You can't, you know, you go to the playoffs two out of the three years here

with Mattneggie as the head coach. I just didn't think there would be any moves going in that direction. And I think whether it's George mccasky or Ted Phillips or even Ryan Pace, I think they all acknowledge need more production out of the offensive side of the ball, specifically the quarterback position. I think more needs to be done there, and I think they're going to do their due diligence to try and solidify that and get that done here

this offseason. Jim, when you think about this team and you think about the different qualities of the cornerbacks that are here right now, and let's throw Tyler Bray in there, do you think that you need to teach one system, the one style of athlete in order to get the most coaching volume out of the hours that you're spending with each of these players. Or are you okay with you know, a multidimensional attack that some of the you know, you saw what it did in I'm Philadelphia and you know,

just other other teams along the way. Yeah, well, I'm I'm always a big believer in being multiple. I think the more you can do it, it creates more problems for a defense of what they have to prepared for. But the bottom line is this, you can only do in your Playbook's got to be geared to what your players can do. You know. I think we understand Nick Foles is a different You're gonna call different plays for Nick Foles than what you're gonna call for Mitch Robiski.

And I think the Bears did get to that when Bill Laser started to incorporate more bootlegs and play actions and half rolls and and things like that. But the problem is why did it take so long to get there? I think that has to be, you know, better for for the Bears moving forward in order to be more productive at the position. Let's face the guys, you got you. Guys both know you're not gonna win many games scoring

sixteen points a game. You just you're you're not. And the Bears defense can average, you know, hold teams down to that. So the Bears average has to get up their point per game minimum of twenty five, twenty six, twenty seven points a game where you really have a great chance to win in this league. And I think they're capable of doing that. Absolutely, they're capable of doing that.

They just got to make a couple of adjustments and we'll see who comes in as the defensive coordinator if they can keep that rocking from that standpoint, because I definitely feel the Bears defense is good enough. The offense has got to get up to the standard to where the defense is well. Well, what lasting impression in the last couple of games as closely as you had a chance to watch him for the Bears, did the Bears

defense leave on you? Because right before the last segment ended, I was kind of tell you I was a little frustrated about how the opponent Green Bay two weeks ago, New Orleans last week, they kind of brought a more physical approach in their style of defense and so I think that needs to be recovered in a part of the Bears and that when the teams play this defense,

they know who they just played. I thought towards the end of the regular season, I thought the Bears defense was getting worn out because they're they're just they're on the field too long, too long. I mean, something's got to give when you're logging that many snaps per game, and so I think that was reflected. And then you don't have Jalen Johnson out there in a couple of the injuries that that happened to the Bears that I

thought we were crucial to that team. They started to lose their numbers, but I thought they responded nicely against New Orleans. I mean, that's an offense that averages sixteen or thirty over thirty points a game, and I thought the Bears completely neutered them. You know, you can't ask more of an effort when you go into the halftime seven to three against the New Orleans States and you get a turnover and you cause New Orleans to punt. I mean, that was a winnable performance in my opinion.

For I interrupt the anything about that, that's all well and good. But you know, Drew Brees, he was in total control. They may not have scored a lot of points, but for to have the football for almost thirty nine minutes, you're not beating Drew Brees. So eleven to seventeen nine

third down that that can't happen. You were your own self, and I know they got away with it early in the season, but yeah, he just was doing what he wanted to do, and that is he doesn't want to go down field right now anyway because he either can't or won't, and he relies on his guys to make yards after the catch. So that aspect of things, how do you stop an offense that's sole intention of bleeding you to death? I mean that that's really the question. Defensively,

I thought they did what they need to do. Again, you cause a turnover, you cause, like here, I was disappointed the Bears deferred the football. I'm like, man, why don't you want the ball for that? Those very reasons, Jeff, time of possession, keep keep your offense out on the field. That's one less possession for Drew Brees, is what you're thinking. If you can just you know, time of possession and take care of the football Bears elected to not do that.

The first opening kickoff, the Bears forced them to punt. Yeah, and granted they were eleven seventeen, but the bottom line is what you score. They missed a field goal, but the Bears did what they needed to do on defense keep that score down in order to give an ineffective offense a chance for a win. The problem is it didn't work out that way. Bears couldn't get the time of possession, all the things that reared their ugly head

again from earlier in the season. Bears didn't run enough plays offensively, they couldn't stay on the field, they were all for eleven whatever it was on third down, all the things you can't do against the New Orleans Saints to keep to allow them to keep their offense out on the field. And then ultimately I do think the Bears defense wore down in that second half, and that's kind of been the story the entire year for the

Chicago Bears. Well, what do you you know, Jim, what do you think it is priority number one for the defense. I know we'll spend a lot enough time this offense or this offseason talking about the offense, but when you look at that game and you think a young guys like Jalen Johnson, you think of the experience at Vildor and uh Duke Shelley Gott and you think of the Kyle Fuller being a young guy, and you know the

talent young Roquan Smith being a young guy. You know, when you look at the offenses around the NFL outside the defensive coordinator, what's need number one for the defense? UM, I would think probably you're either getting older at linebacker, I would think, Danny Trevathan, how much more to see I've left in the tank. I think they'll continue to draft that position because once Roquan got hurt and Josh Woods and they rotated some guys in there, I think

you could see the difference from that standpoint. I like the young Bears secondary players. I thought Jalen Johnson really stood up well prior to a shoulder Ridge Rouman. He was the most targeted corner in the league prior to him going out, and I thought he did a fine job. They're still really good up front, you know. I think with Khalil Mack, it's disappointed. I think we expected more from Robert Quinn. He had flashes, but I don't think the type of impact everybody expected a little bit more.

But I would think once they get any Goldman back, and you've got a Keem Hicks like what we've seen from Balal Nichols, and I think all the other guys, Brent Urban, they were a nice little rotation in there. So I still think they can have a formidable front seven. And they were playing a really good caliber of football until they started to get beat up and on the

field too much and guys started to drop. But I think they've got a nucleus, you know, but it's just one or two positions, and I think it's more depth related for the Chicago Bears defensively, there's not much to do. This is Bears All Access on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy to Score with serious x MNFL radio host Jim Miller on moving the Chains with Pat Kerwin and former Bears quarterback and Bears analyst as well. Good to talk to you once again. We're gonna take a break as

we move on. Jim's gonna stick around for a couple of segments. You got time for that, right, absolutely, guys, All right, big Jim, I know he's been working all daytime while you've been just lounging. You had your feet up out day. I know you did, I know you did. Now there's no game to get ready for. What are you doing all your time? Tom? I still have a lot of pent up anger. I'm trying to work myself,

and you and I both depressive anger. I guess This is Bears All Access on Chicago Sports Radio six seventies or the Chicago Bears Network presents Inside the Bears, brought to you by Verizon. Our friends Anthony Adams and Lauren Screeden cover the world of Bears football on off the Field every Sunday night at ten thirty five on Fox thirty two Chicago, or watch anytime at Chicago Bears dot Com. Around the Bears official app. Jeff, jony Ac and Tom. There.

Jim Miller joining us see former Chicago Bears quarterback. Hey, Jim, we're gonna bring here's what I want to do. It's okay with you guys. Let's let's focus on the offense in this segment, and Jim, you hang with us. After the next one, we'll talk defense. Let's kind of go a position by a position. We gotta start with quarterback. We've already touched on it. It's number one. It's always gonna be number one. It's been assumed by the conversation

yesterday from Matt Ryan there. They're gonna be looking at all options, everything on the table, including Mitch. But Jim, how do you look at it? Do you do you do you see fits here still for Mitch and Nick Foles? Or do you want to start over at that position? Well? Would you think best? Yeah? I think they're probably going to start over. I would think Mitch is going to test his you know what he can get in free agency, Well, he'll go test the market waters out there and see

what's available. I mean, he may potentially could return to the Bears if the numbers right, But I just don't see it happening. I think the landscape of quarterbacks around the NFL is going to be much like it was last year, meaning there's gonna be a lot available that it's going to be out there, There's gonna be some moves, some guys are gonna be released, There's gonna be plenty of market for players that are out there, and I think the Bears will look to potentially draft one as well.

You know, I saw Mac Jones. He elected to declare today. I don't think he's a first rounder. But I think at some point the Bears, if they're not thinking of drafting a quarterback in the first round with where they're at, they'd have to trade up to get one of the top guys. I don't see that happening. So maybe later in the draft the Bears will address the quarterback position

in draft it. Because you know, I see Mac Jones, I just don't see I see a guy who can definitely play, and he's there's a lot to like about him, but I don't think there's a first round on him. At least maybe I got to do more homework on him, but I just don't see him that way. There's other guys like Kirk Cousins who have been drafted in the fifth round and he's starting for Minnesota. You can still

draft guys that ultimately can become starters. But I see a veteran leading this Chicago Bears as the season kicks off next year. That's how I see it. Yeah, are you asking me the same question? Yeah? I mean yea, yeah, Because I'm gonna kind of go eat position by position here. Well, you know, to me, Okay, I would want to stick with Mitch. And the reason I would want to stick with Mitch is because, to me, not what I said yesterday,

this is an ultimatum year. And so now if you bring in a new quarterback that you have to learn a new system that he's it seems like you're always giving that one year grace period when you have a new quarterback, because he's got to learn this system. He's got to be able to understand it well enough to run this offense as efficiently as you need it. Their best way to run this offense as officially as it

needed it's with Trubisky. And I just think if you come in here and you bring another free agent in, it's gonna be a matter of time before you can say, Okay, this guy knows our system will enough to go out there and compete at a playoff level. Look I'm not

I'm not talking about anything other than playoffs. So if you want to get the best way to what you already spent three years installing to the point where you want to go out there and compete, your defense has to play better and your offense has to play as efficient as it did in those those later the games later in the season. Jim isn't an interesting You play the position your whole life, And these are the kind of conversations that are going on in every single NFL franchise.

It doesn't have a franchise quarterback in place, and they know they're they're gonna ride with that guy. And they were talking about you the same way. Yeah, well, I mean, poking holes in you and figure it out. Hey, you know, is this a fit? Is he the guy they're gonna lead us to the super Bowl? Yeah? I mean I love a lot of things about Mitch. I think he's a tough guy. I think he's he's won games. But here's what I don't like. I don't like the first

play of last week's game against New Orleans. That should have been an interception by Jenors Jenkins. I don't like the week before second play, second play, it should have been an interception. I don't like the red zone interceptions on first down. You can't win with that. You can't win in the NFL when you're thirty first in the NFL in third down conversions. That's why you time of possession is basically dominated by the opponent every single week.

There are certain situations where he's got to be better now. Can he be better moving forward? The Bears may ultimately make that decision. I don't know, but as of right now, it's not good enough to win. It's not good enough to win. He's very talented, and he's got a lot of work to do to get better. And whether that's in Chicago or somewhere else, either way, those those things have to improve from his game. All right, let's talk Allan Robinson. Free agency is something that he has earned

in terms of what he's done on the field. He had a chance after his injury. He chose the Bears. He said that this was where he wanted to be, he felt most comfortable, could have had you did have other chances to go elsewhere. Is it a guarantee that you have to invest in Allen right now or do you still weigh the market a little bit? Jim? I think you're still always looking at the market. I mean, because if they were to lose him, who would be

their surefire number one? Right now? They've drafted some players that really haven't emerged yet. I think darnel'mooney has, but still need to see more from Anthony Miller. How about Ridley. Is he able to step up and really take over that role. So I would say that that is yet to be determined from that standpoint. See, you know, for Robinson one, there's going to be negotiations between his agent and obviously if they don't like where the number is,

the Bears just franchise him. So he did, you pay him a one year eighteen million bucks and you move on and live with that. From that standpoint, so the Bears still can retain his rights if they don't agree on a contract, and that's simple. You just play some tag on him. You know. For me, I'm not going to pay him high end of the market. I'm gonna pay a Allen Robinson is not a game breaker, but he's a great contributor to your offense. He's not a guy that's gonna catch it and go eighty five yards,

you know for a touchdown run. However, I love Alan Robinson's commitment to the game. I love the difficult catches. He's willing to make, the difficult positions he's willing to put his body in. But I also need a negotiation out of Alan Robinson that he could possibly finish his career here. But if you're going out there to ask for the number one, number two receiver in the NFL. I just don't see that value in him. But I like Alan. I would bring him back just on his

work ethic. But again I need a as sensibly negotiated financial agreement to him. Totally agree. And one thing I do love about Alan Robinson what he stands for, what he represents, and what he's all about. You want guys like that on your team. Oh, he's tremendous in the life, you know, he's tremendous for the locker room, tremendous for that receiver group, and uh, just a no nonsense guy who always wants to be great. He wants to improve, and he just does a lot of great things. Some

of his catches are outstanding. And third down as it wasn't great all year for the Bears. That was my only negative really that the third down production wasn't there at that position either, and it got better as the season war on. But uh, you know, I got to move the chains and that's what he's very good at as well. All right, we'll have time for let's hit the offensive line. We'll go Tommy's way right now. Learned a lot about the interior, learned a lot about those

those five guys. At the end of the year. Were you looking at with the offensive line? Um? I you know, I again, I always like a more physical approach to the style of offensive line play. Today, I think they came in and did a really nice job. I think Sam Muster for was the real settler for this offensive line. But I think now you have to look at all,

you know, all the components. You have to look at Arlington, Hambright, Lachevia Simmons, you have to look at James Daniels, you have to look at what you want to do with Jermaine and Fetty. Where is Bobby Massey's future gonna lie where? What do you want to do with Charles Leno? So I think you know you gotta make It's all about the pieces that you have to put in place, and then how competitive then can you make them, and how

competitive can they keep you? Because if you're gonna whatever you want to do at the quarterback position, if you can't compliment a quarterback that's already here or an incoming quarterback with a real high caliber, offensive, threatening running game, it's gonna be hard to develop the entire system time of possession and the quarterback. So I again, I need a I like a more physical style, more physical approach. Jim.

The good news is, despite the changes and the injury to Daniels, you did learn a lot more maybe about your depth than you would have otherwise. Yeah. I thought, you know, when they finally moved White here to left guard, that was kind of the straw that stirred the drink and they got it going offensively in their commitment to running the football. Thought Mustford did a nice job coming in. But they'll get Daniels back, they could reshuffle that interior.

I would think probably you might be moving on from from Bobby Massey at the right tackle spot. So I mean overall, I do think they've got some depth with some versatile guys, but I think they'll be adding probably

potentially another right tackle here this offseason. All right, let's go tight end running back as a as a duo in a sense of time here, jimbo development from Cole Commet led all rookies in yardage and I think catches as well, and really shows a ruggedness to him that will really if there was a home crowd, they would have loved the way he played with a feistiness, and he got more confident in the season going on to show that kind of aggressive nature. He had Chicago written

all over him, and then so did David Montgomery. Yeah, I thought David was tremendous obviously the second half of the year. He finished only for the second half of the season, second to only Derrick Henry. I think in his rushes, in the amount of rushing yards that he had. So that's how well of a clip he was playing at Cole Commet that you mentioned. I think the ceiling's high for him. I think he needs to protect the football a little bit more after the catch and things

like that. But those are little things that he's gonna work on and he's going to continue to grow and he's gonna be better. And I love his blocking and everything he brings to the table there. So you know, I like what I saw two young draft picks that are emerging and trending in the right direction when you look at those players. Yeah, I like Cole Comets blocking because I thought that was going to be the immediate evaluation of him. If he can be a sufficient blocker,

he can get on the field for more reps. Earlier, However, his receiving career going forward, is gonna be a second third level receiver, like the passes that he can catch add or near the line of scrimmage and convert into yards. But I think he's a better athlete and he's more talented to get down field against linebackers or safeties or insufficient cornerback coverage and make use of his talent for

lengthier pass plays. And I'll just end this segment with this, Jimmy Graham, he really showed me a lot in that second half of the season, really was committed to block in and you know, we're an offense that is still trying to really evolve into scoring touchdowns or regularity. He had nine touchdowns and he's a red Jonas machine. I don't care what age is. The guy just knows how to catch the ball in the red zone and that was significantly important and cool Kamet grew up loving that guy.

I think it's a great duo right there. All right, let's take another break. When we come back, we'll talk defense and get Jim's opinion on the hiring of urban Meyer moments ago in Jacksonville. We'll get all that taking care of as well. This is Bears All Access on Chicago Sports D six seventy score. This segment of Bears All Access is brought to you by Athletico Physical Therapy.

Visit Athletico dot com to request an appointment in clinic or virtually and start feeling better tomorrow with Tom There, Jeff Jony Act, Jim Miller, former Chicagle Bears quarterback from Serious Sex MNFL Radio or Talking Bears and ahead here, not looking behind anymore because that's that book is closed. Time to start a looking at twenty twenty one and what they're going to do. Let's talk defense. We've already touched on it early in the show, so it all

begins right now with a new coordinator. And I before you joined us, Jim, I asked Tom if you'd like to maintain the same system or do you or do you think outside the box? Or do you go in the building and you promote somebody so that everybody doesn't have to learn a new new system, new language language

And what now? What's your opinion? UM, I would think you've got a lot of investment in already what it is with the three four, so I don't think that they would change from that standpoint, right because Mackie just signed obviously Robert Quinn that we mentioned to be another outside backer. So I just don't see a change it from that standpoint, I think. Plus, I think it offers more versatility. We look at three four. It's split throughout

the league. You know, obviously there are teams in postseason that run both that you know, four to three and three four can both win. But I just think with what they've drafted, you think they continue with a three fourth. There's guys that are out there. You know, Jimmy Schwartz, he's running three four before. It's not you know, he runs a four to three in Philly, but he's no

longer there and he's not under contract. But I mean that's easy for him to do, and he's done it before when you look at jim Schwartz, So there are plenty of guys out there that they could tab or hire or elevate from within, whether it's the d line coach of the Bears or whoever they're they're thinking about. Plus, there's other guys that have a lot of three four background. I think Gerard Mayo, the Patriots just interviewed for Philadelphia.

As a matter of fact, they run a three four in New England, So I think there'll be plenty of guys that they could identify and go after if they want to outside the building and Tim the biggest key. I think we just want more physicality and more takeaways. Yeah. You know, the thing about it is if you're gonna identify a different style of defense, and you got to start identifying different players, you need to fit in different positions. Because Roquan Smith is he a mike linebacker. He's not

an outside linebacker in a four or three defense. So I think to Jim's point, that's why you got to try to keep in house, because that's the personnel that you've built this system around in the last couple of years. And again, yeah, I want it to be more physical. And you know, is really the impression that Green Bay's defense left on me after that game was their physicality was from the defensive backs to the front end and it it just amazed me that they were able to

do that and they were willing to do it. And then when I went to when I watched the New Orleans defense, I saw the New Orleans defense more physical upfront in the back end. So I just I need some like you need that defensive approach that leaves an adelible mark of every team that you play, and the teams that you play twice a year, they don't want

to see you anymore. So we heard yesterday that Kelel macwhnew he was in the injury report a lot this season, but he played through a shoulder injury, still had nine sacks, three taken away by a penalty, created a lot of sacks for other other players on the team throughout the course of the season, at least eight and a half by my count, and then just the overall presence what he requires as long as he is healthy and Roe Quant Smith and Eddie Jackson come back to form being

that takeaway threat back there on the post, Jim, As you get every level the defense, and of course the team hicks up front stay healthy as well. I mean, that's some big names to build around. You feel good about filling in some other areas, getting Eddie Goldman back Jalen's second year. I mean there's a there's a lot invested obviously there and whether the salary cap makes that a problem, I don't know. But what's your take? Yeah, No, I think you're you're right. You got plenty of good

pieces that you can build around. I think it's that they have a solid foundation on that defensive side of the ball. The turnover issue, I'm with you that that's got to get better. I personally don't think Eddie Jackson. Jackson played to his standard this year. I think he knows he's he's capable of more, and he's and he's capable of playing better. I think he was at some point frustrated this year. But I do think the foundational

players are there. I think getting Eddie Goldman back is a huge get back in terms of what he offers that defensive line. And like you said with a Keem Hicks, you've got good leaders there. They're foundational players, and now you just pick up more pieces for depth. You know, if Buster Screen moves on you like Duke Shelley, you got other guys that can fill in at the nickelback. Maybe you draft another young UH defensive back this year

that can can show up and continue that depth. But all those guys filled in on special teams and there they played pretty well I think on the defensive side of the ball. But the foundational pieces are there, I believe to Shaun Gibson I thought he played really really well in that game and over the course of the year. You know, it's been a rotational position obviously since Adrian Amos left. Would you like to reinvest in him? He

signed a one year deal last year. Yeah, I would, because he's really accepted a leadership role immediately as soon as training camp started, and that defense needed a spokesman that has successful experience. It was Toshan Gibson. And he's stood up there at the podium and in answer to every question during the most difficult of games, during that six game losing stretch and in the early beginning success.

So I like to Sean Gibson. I like the weight he carries inside the locker room where he can say something to a younger player that either needs to put in more effort in whether it's their study habits or practice habits. He's got a good understanding of this defense under he's got a better understanding of the division now. So yeah, I liked on Gibson, and I would. I would like to see him, you know, return to Chicago.

I was also you know, Kendallville Door obviously is a guy who earned some invaluable reps and was one on one with Michael Thomas. I thought that was great experience and a toughness to him throughout the course of his weeks in that role. That's a guy to keep an eye on as well, at least in some way in that defense. So I was impressed with what he did overall. All Right, Jim, before I let you go, and thanks again for all the time, and look forward to it

each week here throughout this offseason. You'll be a guest of ours. Urban Meyer, Urban Meyer. So now he's joining the likes of a Pete Carroll and a Matt Rule and a Cliff Kingsbury going from from college to the NFL. I don't know what the numbers are, but if Matt Rule broke the bank last year, what's a guy who's coached the national champion and start at Florida and Ohio State gonna earn with Jacksonville? Yeah, and I think Sean conn was gonna pay it. I mean, you know it

was reported about twelve million. It's above what Matt Rule is getting paid, which is above. So that just raises everybody's right. Yeah, and a lot of owners were not happy with them, right, I mean, it doesn't he gonna be happy with shotgn now either, but shod Con was gonna pay it. Why because the Urban's gonna put butts in the seats. You know, people are going to be excited to go watch that football team. And it's an attractive job. You know, it's attractive job. They've got a

boatload of salary cap money. They've got multiple draft picks in the first round into other rounds as well. And that's an owner that's committed to really turning this around, and he wanted a big fish to land there. And Urban Myer, who's won a couple of national championships obviously some big ten titles as well, has had the health issues. I think he brings that cashe I know for a fact that shot Con called a former NFL head coach and basically said, what do you think if I go

through the route of Urban Myer. He was going to do it regardless, no matter what the coach said, do him that. He was committed to doing it. Plus, you're gonna draft Trevor Lawrence. He wants them to bring that style of college offense to the Jacksonville Jaguars. It'll create a lot of hoop hoop lah and hope and excitement for their fans that they've been sorely lacking for a

long time. The biggest fish might have been landed a couple of years ago, and we don't even talk about it anymore when they talk about one hundred million dollars ten year deal, ten million dollars a year given to Gruden for the Las Vegas team. So it's we are we've already forgotten about that when that was the last That was the most shocking deal in NFL coaching salary history, length of time and amount of money. And now here we are after Matt rule and the owners being disappointed.

Now you know they're going to break the bake for you know, Urban Meyer, So I you know, listen, don't be surprised. What's what's gonna happen next? Because you know, if we are, we're all naive considering how badly some of these guys want to put the finances forward to try it. Jim, you sure you didn't want to get back into you know, you coaching might be a whole lot better. Yeah, you're not kidding. Look how I mean just the movement of these coaches, how quickly I think.

But that's the funny part though, is there. These guys are getting longer deals now. I mean, you look at that Rules deal, a seven year deal, that that's very rare. And as Tom mentioned, the ten year deal for John Gruden. I get that because John had an obviously a relationship with Mark Davis. But for Mett Rule to get seven years, I mean, these are kind of unheard of. I mean, normally those deals have been If a coach normally gets five years, they basically have three years to win, right.

And I'm personally okay with the longer deals because to me, it takes time. It does, and no one wants to hear that. No one likes it, that's for sure, but it things take time. All right, Jim, we're gonna let you go. One more segment to go. Appreciate your time, buddy, all right, every week, guys, that's Jim Miller and well, one more segment to go with Tom There, I'm Jeff Johnny Act. This Bears All Access on Chicago Sports Radio

six seventy to score. Hey Bears fans, with shopping for your game day celebrations, don't forget to pick up your favorite variety of Lays potato chips in tostitos tostitos and lays are an essential part of the game day tradition. The official chip of your Chicago Bears, Go Bears. As we look forward to twenty twenty one with Jim Miller. Over the course of the hour, here we're now, we're gonna look at some things going on in the league. Tom and our old friend George Peyton lands the general

manager's job in Denver. Former Bears director here many years ago, left for the Miami Dolphins and then the Vikings. So he's got a ton of experience. He's interviewed many jobs looking for the right one, and he found what he thinks is the right one in Denver. What'd you think? Yeah, you know, he's a UCLA guy from college. He's a West Coast guy. He's got the kind of the John Elway type of mentality. Had a chance to talk to him yesterday and congratulated him because he's put in a

lot of effort to be given this opportunity. Turned down some efforts. But I think that when you look at him being hired on a six year deal, so next year they're either gonna fire Vic Fangio or he's gonna have to get some type of extension because his first deal is going to be winding down, so he may be in the perfect place that if VIC does fail, that it's gonna be him that's going to hire a

new coach in Denver moving forward. So George has put himself in a really interesting spot that if VIC does succeed, and he's showing signs that he could if he gets some of the healthy talent around him, but he also may have to go out there and take all of his experiences and hire a new coach for some ownership ownership issues too, that could be changed the landscape a little bit as well. We touched on Urban Meyer taking over in Jacksonville. The Detroit Lions has been going to

the division that picked general manager. He's also carries the title of the executive vice president. Brand Holmes leaving the Rams front office. Uh son of a player in the NFL once upon a time back in the seventies and also a player himself at the college level and has worked a long time with the Rams, and he started

out as a PR intern. So climb the ladder, well, he's gonna walk into that new facility, and the first guy he's gonna meet as Chris Spielman and Chris Spielman is going to be his right hand assistant, associate, his work you know, his work partner. So you know it's it's a new hire, but they surrounded him by some prex hiring experience in terms of the football mind to maybe, you know, not necessarily steer him in any direction, but at least be a sounding board for him. And then

you've got the Bikings. They'll have a new offensive play caller next year with a retirement of Gary Kubiak, and it'll be interesting to see what they're going to do, because they do again, they got pieces. They've got pieces on offense and the defense just didn't play well this year because of all the different changes. But they're gonna get DiDio Hunter back. He'll be healthy. There's some other pieces to that puzzle, but I would suspect they're gonna

load up. They played a lot of young players on defense this year. Well they had to because they got rid of a lot of veterans and then they did reload through the draftbring and a yacht a lot of young players and bust. With this pandemic stricken type of season, there was a lot of uncertainty weekend and week out. But Mike Zimmer, the head coach, is a you know, he's gonna he'll be in control of the defensive side

of the ball. And then you know, when you look at Dalvin Cook and you look at Jefferson and Kirk Cousins, I guess, and you look at it, you know, a tight end group they have. They do have talent. Feeling, yeah, yeah, yeah, feeling, buddy. I mean when you look at Jefferson, he's a superstar already. You look at Dalvin Cook, He's a superstar already. So you know, they got a couple of important pieces and play in terms of their playmaking ability that they can

go the distance when whenever they touch it. All right, quickly, we got about a minute a half. Let's whip through the games this weekend. Saturday Rams with Jared Goff. Today be announced the starter with the bad thumb at Green Bay. Don't care Green Bay. I don't want to talk about the playoffs. They're not gonna come in here, Pete, do you want to talk about the playoffs? There's just make you mad, all right. Baltimore, No, Baltimore and Buffalo Saturday Night.

To me, that's gonna be a physical affair. Boy, Where where is it? Buffalo? Okay? Then I'm gonna take Baltimore. Why. I just think that they have experienced they're the way their defense is playing. And when you get Lamar Jackson and you challenge him with a little bit of space in front of him, yeah, you're gonna get that. Josh Allen's gonna be able to run five to seven yards and get get tackled. At the end, Lamar Jackson's gonna

go fifty and you're never gonna touch him. All right, quickly, cle in Kansas City City and Tampa Bay and New Orleans and the Battle of Brady and Breeze. I will take Tampa Bay Saints to me, the most balanced team of the National Football egge in my opinion. So I'm going to Saints at home. Drew Brees defense is gonna be tough to deal with, but we'll see what happens. All right, Tommy, We're done. Joe Astrotski coming up next.

Thanks to Jim Miller. Thank you, Tommy, and thanks to our producer Jordan made Also Jordan tread Up and Dan Bareilly. We'll talk to you next week here on Bears All Access. This is Chicago Sports Radio six seventy to Score. Good night, everybody, thanks for listening to this Chicago Bears Network presentation of Bears All Access. Podcasts are available on Chicago Bears dot com and on iTunes, or download the official Bears mobile app.

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