All Access: Long on getting a taste for winning

Here on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy this score good to be with you again as the Bears get ready to meet the New England Patriots. Sunday had Soldier Field, Jeff Jonny Act, Tom Fare from News Radio seven eighty and one h five point NFMWBBM, and our special guest this week on Bears All Access, A guy we've been trying to corral for a while. Tom. We've done how many of these shows? This is your first one with Jeff and Tom Kyle Long everybody, How are you guys doing?

Pro Bowl guard? Pro Bowl offensive lineman. Good to have you you all juice back up after getting drained in Miami. You know you know that hot I think a lot was said about you know, the heat and whatnot. But I think the first quarters really when you feel it and then your body acclimates to it. I was a you know, I felt like really a dead man walking there for the first five, six, seven minutes probably of

game time. And then as the game went on, your preparation kind of takes over and we practice as hard as any team I've ever been on here at Alice Hall, and I mean we were ready, we just didn't execute. You know what kind of stinks though, is I noticed that when I was sitting down there before the game, when you sit on the natural grass field, it's a

certain temperature. Well, when you guys would come off the field and sit on that tarp, it was like fifteen degrees hotter, even though they were holding the shades over your head. That's one thing that I felt on the sideline that you had more a little bit more contribution to the heat. Then they heat it up your fans so much in the stands behind you at halftime that was just a sea of blue seats. Even the fans were kind of trying to re reacclimate to the heat. Yeah,

it was hot, it was. It was definitely a hot one down there, But you know, you go you get down in Miami, Florida, and what do you It's not going to be a snowstorm. So we all expected it to be hot. But you can tell that the uh, the architectural design was, oh yeah, one side shade, one side and that, and that's what Kiko Keiko Alonso is a teammate of mine from Oregon and that's sun over there. But I mean it's a heck of a home field advantage.

I think more and more because of the attention of this particular game and a hot the heat index was or high it was that some of the national evaluators of the game are mentioning it. Now. Yeah, well they've they've put together a pretty good home record under Adam Gase. I mean, yeah, you gotta use whatever advantage you have for you and you know the Bear should have the same advantage. You know, in the winter in December, but

you know, Miami is always hot. So you get these these teams like Buffalo that don't get a chance to go and um play in Miami until December. I think New England's going down there in December. Their record there's not good, right right, I mean, so they have a tough time, but you know, it's something you got to deal with. You kind of to me, I'm the guy who looked at the schedule ahead of time and kind of pointed out the games that might have something like that.

Do you weigh in before the games? Yeah, because I'm just kind of curious how much your body weight fluctuated in that four hour period. I bet you probably had to lose like fifteen fourteen? Was it? Yeah? You kidding me for real? Yeah? Easy, I'm being f Massey said that too, Yeah, fourteen. Honestly, there were heavy duty fourteen pounds and I'm down in gatorade about two or three. Every time. Put me down to Miami for a week,

I'd feel much better about myself. But you know, these guys, you go through a hot training camp practice and you'll go to easy easy. I mean, I'm naive then, because that's a stunning number to me, especially down there at Olivet and Nazarene when it gets a little humid. H you know, it wasn't quite Miami down there at training camp. And like you and I talked last week, Yeah, he was the subject of Joni X's journal last week in the pregame show. You know you're listed weight three sixteen

and you're playing well. The thing that slays me about the NFL, and I, you know, and I go through this everything week, my combine weight exactly that that's what I'm driving at. Everybody's rosters have the playing weight. And I'll tell you a quick story because it does aggravate me a little bit because everybody just keeps the same height, same weight. Height's not going to change obviously unless somebody

has some weird growths for it to twenty one. But and that's what you're stuck with the rest of your career on the rosters, the produced rosters. So it was a writer, famous writer up in Green Bay, Bob McGann. He still does writing and so forth, a very very good writer. And I always wondered why during Super Bowl Week he'd go to each team and he'd beat there with his notepad, whish how much you weigh in right now?

And so I was like, yeah, okay, what now I understand why because the weight is vastly different than so you're in a three thirty five to three forty range. Now I'm about three thirty three thirty five, and you know, how does that feel? I feel? Three thirty? Yeah, at the Super Bowl. When we play in the Super Bowl, I put my equipment on. In the New Orleans they had a scale in the back room, so I go, I want to see what I weigh right now? Because that was heavy. I mean I was eating large too,

So I put all my equipment on. I jumped on the scale, and as soon as it got over three hundred, I jumped off because I didn't want to see where it was gonna What do you think it was going to stop back? It probably was about probably three o eight? Would that? Would that be fineable? What did they value at?

You know, you probably wanted to be two ninety five to ninety even and you're breathing heavy and you're fat, and you're into our game, so you know the psychological part of it, you know, you got to feel good and you know, so it was just one of those things. If you weren't lifting in and trying to be in football shape, where would your weight naturally fall? Do you think for a man of your size, it's got to

be up there. When I had my ankle injury and I had a lot of time to really just be kind of natural Kyle weight and just kind of feeling like a like a normal human being. I was about two eighty, looking long and lean. Yeah. I showed up after a couple of months of being a way and I remember dal Loggins was like, is that because I had a beanie on and a beard, he thought it

was Zach Miller over there. I was like, Hey, thanks, but you know, I have I have a question about you that kind of I want to go back to the end of your college career up and down. Did you know this boast of story that's going on in Ohio State? Yeah? I was, actually, uh, you know, I looked at a little bit of it today. Okay, there's very few players in the NF that come in the NFL that have this freakish ability that there they have the size, strength ability to be great than they get here.

You're kind of one of those guys of your ability when you got here and your size and your strength everything. Do you wish you had a longer college experience and do you think that if you did have a longer college experience completely dedicated offensive line, what do you think it would have been different coming out? Oh? Man, that's a difficult question. I think I wish I had a better handle on my maturity as a younger guy, and I would have kind of expedited. You know, I was

twenty twenty four when I got in the league. I feel like if I came in as a twenty two year old, I'd be sitting here in year eight and I'd have a better understanding of the offensive line position had I had a few more years of Division one football and a few more years in my position, not playing D line right, not playing tight end right, not playing baseball, you know, and that. But the only reason I'm asking you is because you know, everybody wants to

get a surf shop in Newport. That's the best thing you ever day. But I'm the only reason I'm asking because there are very few people I've ever come across that have that kind of freakishness about him and Bosa, he's you know, fortunate to have, you know, the opportunity ahead of him. But twenty five games in college and you know, which is not an unrealistic number anymore for

a lot of guys. But um, but we don't see a lot of We don't see a lot of guys that can come in day one and well it's drawn some major criticism, obviously for for obvious reasons, but there's a big dollar figure attached to his decision. So I think as a player, I can see what he's doing and teammate though, and I wholeheartedly agree with him. If I were to be a former player looking back, I'd say,

you go get your money, big guy. But then, as a guy who also has been part of a team, who has played hurt, who has had teammates stick around and stick it out, you want nothing more than a guy who's willing to stick with you regardless of what's going on. But both of you, guys, and and he has a chance to win a national championship right the second without him on that defense. His dad was a Buckeye, his brother was a Buckeye. He has a chance to

leave his leg as he's a Buckeye. Now. I watched his brother playing the bowl game against my Ducks, right you know, I was in the stands for that game and down in Dallas. And his brother was a heck of a football player in college. And now you see what he does in the NFL. There's no doubt Nick's gonna be the same way. But you'd love to see

him stick it out. But I know we have to go to a break, but I do want to just visit just for one more second, because both of you guys are unique that you have football experience to give you advice, and that's what I'd be con you know, be interested in because a lot of us that go into professional football, we have nobody that's ever been through

that experience before. And having a brother and having a dad and having family members in the business, I'm sure they can give you a lot more wise advice than someone else that doesn't have the experience. You know, it's a dual edged sword because sometimes you just you just want them to be your dad and you just want them to be your brother, right, But you know that's but they can't help them. You know they can and they and they love me so much and I love

them so much. And that's what's special about our relationship. Man. Let's pick it up and that after this break, Kyle Long. Our guests were brought to you by IGS Energy. This is Chicago Sports Radio six seventy to score. Welcome back to Bears All Access brought to you by IGS Energy, a proud partner of the Chicago Bears, providing electricity, natural gas, and home warranty products to over one million customers across the country. More about IGS Energy at igs dot com.

Jeff and Time with You and Kyle Long our guests this week on Bears All Access. So please you're joining us. Hope you're enjoying the show. And Kyle, we love having you here. Uh, going back to what we said before the break, you know, sometimes you wish you'd just have dads and brothers as opposed to guys who've been at at this game for a while and your dad in

the Hall of Fame and brother is a great player himself. Uh, that it would just be different than just, you know, maybe giving you the advice you don't you don't ask for, but it's inevitable. So are there times when you shut them out? Uh? There are times where I take a mental vacation from it. And you know it's it's very obvious. Uh. My dad and I are best friends, We really are. Um, he's a great father. I have a great mother as well, Diane. She's she's you know, a butt kicker, she's at all

the games and she's a huge Bears fan. And but having a brother in the league, it's, you know, somebody I can lean on for emotional support. You know, he was in Saint Louis for a long time. He's won two Super Bowls. Now he's seen both ends of the spectrum in the NFL, winning all the games and losing a lot of the games. And now I'm starting to get a taste for the for the good stuff in

the NFL. You know, Tom brought it up before, if you would have started your career like a normal path out of high school boom recruited play four years, three years and then get to the NFL. When you went to that school, it was in Arizona, right, Orange County. Saddleback, Yeah, Saddleback College, So that Saddleback was in California, the Gahows, the gaut shows. But when you went there and decide, Okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna recreate myself, was there at all

any point? Because just because you're big and strong doesn't mean you're getting where you are. You gotta still work at it and stuff. But did you ever think or fear you wouldn't then ultimately become an NFL player because it is the path you're going to be taking. Really, I knew that as a kid. I was comfortable being with teammates and being on a team. I had no real intention of playing in the NFL. I just kind

of I wanted to go to school. I knew that, believe it or not, I enjoy school and I enjoy being in the books and learning. And also there was I remember I had I have my own reasons for playing football. I thought I was trying to be a cool kid, and I remember, you know, some of the football players are really cool there. And then I had an opportunity to play, and you know, I have an

impact on my team. And then there were there were certain wants that I had, and I knew that hard work and you know, dedication to the sport and to my team were necessary to get there. And I remember when Chip Kelly offered me a scholarship offer, I took it and I ran with it. And I had one year to play. And that's when I knew. I said, I have one year of eligibility to play and make

this thing happen. And it wasn't until week eleven. I think it was November third, two thousand and twelve that I had my first start in in an Oregon uniform and that was against USC, a team that didn't offer me a scholarship where I wanted to go initially, and uh, you know, and you kicked down that game. I remember back and watching every snap our team downated, dominated, and

it felt good. It felt real good. Are you glad that you play a different position than your dad and your brother so you guys can maybe bounce things off of each other, but it's not well, you got to do it like this because you know, they know that side of the game and fortunately your talents and put you on the right side of the ball. You know, there's there's Yeah, I'm on the good guys. I'm on

with the good guys. But I think there's a part of it that, uh, my older brother and my dad understand what defensive lineman don't like, and that's what they harp on with me. This is what we don't like. Do this, do this, do this, do this, and they can speak to the mental side of the game for a defensive lineman. If you do this to me fifty times throughout the course of a game, give us a stamp.

I've heard your dad during games give clues to the offensive lineman he was playing against that you're not going to be able to do against him, which is pretty funny to listen to. Yeah, oh man, we got so much time to talk about that. I love to. But yeah, it's just essentially just being physical. Um, I think too many times as offensive lineman, we're in we're in the mode where we're uh cautious, and you know, sometimes you

got to shoot your shot. I mean you look at a guy like, uh, I'm gonna talk basketball, but Alan Iverson and I mean he was as ferocious a competitor. He was jacking up shots from everywhere. He missed a lot of shots, but he made a lot of shots. And it is tough. I mean the pound for pound toughness that you always hear about with diminutive players. The players that my dad talked about were h you know, Bruce, Bruce Matthews, Mike Munchak. Uh. You know you look at

guys from in between that those generations. Walter Jones, I mean you did play against Mike Webster and made great John Hannah, the Maids, all these guys. Jackie Slater is one that he always talks about. He said, when I lined up against Jackie Slater, I knew that I was in for a fight. Yeah, Richard Den, when he was here always talking about Loomis Brown from Detroit. Right. I'm sure your dad mentioned town Thayer's name and d lineman want to be the guys that are imposing their will.

And when an offensive lineman can do that, I think it pays dividends. As the game goes on, you may have a couple of snaps that don't go your way, shake it off. I mean, even Rocky Marciano got knocked around for eleven rounds. He knocked guys out in the twelve. You know, my entire time with the Chicago Bears, I only had one offensive line coach from the day I got here till the day I left. I mean he

was the same message, preach exact same techniques. You've had what three offensive line coaches in the time you've been here. I've had Cromer, Magazoo, Washburn, he standing, that's right. So he had four offensive line coaches since you've been here. Do you take something from every one of them? Or are you onto Harry? I'm I'm onto Harry. But it's not to say there aren't certain things that have been ingrained in me right as a player. And you know

they say you can't teach an old dog new tricks. Well, Harry's done his best to do that, and I've partaken in his teaching and there are still things that I implemented my game that you know, Cromer gave to me, that Maggazer gave to me, that Washburn gave to me. Yeah, it's pretty cool because you know, it's unique that you have those experiences and you've been able to succeed along the way, changes in positions, changes inside stances and everything. So every one of those guys had to leave a

little something. But it seemed I love the seriousness of Harry. They attitude that Harry, he said, brought here when he was hired here, as you know, brought brought. You're not not a line to respect you guys are always respected, but there's a kind of sense of a tone with you guys that's pretty serious. He has a clear message and you know we've received it. And having guys like Charles Leno and Cody white Hair here with me, and you know I've been through I've been to hell and

back with Charles Leno. Um in our time here in what sense I mean, he came in, He lived on a he lived on an in an unfurnished little room, spare room in my house. When I first bought my house my second year in Lake Forest, he slept on an air mattress. I've seen him go from scout team, tried at right tackle. Now he's one of the most solid left tackles in football. And he's got his contract now and I think it's one of the best value contracts in the league. And he'll be up eventually and

he'll get to rob somebody, whether it's the Bears. He made a great block on Trys touchdown run this past week, made a block out in space week in week out. Yeah, you put on the film in seventy two shows up. How about what he's standing up? I think was it the first week of the season where he's standing up in the bunch formation to the outside like he's a sleek wide receiver. That's trust. You get a guy like Chuck and he delivers every day. He's the same guy

every day. And you know, I've, like I said, I've been to hell and back with him and he's always been the same. So he've been there for you too. Yeah. Absolutely, And I mean not to say we haven't bicker, did each other and fought like brothers, but we love each other. And that's the thing about our line. We have a tight room. Your whole locker room, though, you know, that's a bigger picture of your football teams. You guys have

a great office. The offensive line is always special because you're always with each other and there's a brotherhood in there that's unbreakable. But your whole locker room is a fun group of guys. Our offensive line is a microcosm of our team. Yeah, and it has been fun to watch and be a part of. It's like nothing I've ever been a part of here. I've felt bits and pieces of it over the course of the last six years, but this year it's it is real. It's the real deal.

Who's the crabbiest in the morning coming to work? I'll let you think about that, because I would have never guessed. Yeah, No, he's that guy's always got a smile on his face one hundred percent of the time. Did I see him anyway? Grabby, he's smart. Hey, you catch him before eight am? Man, same with me. Unfortunately, all right, we need to take a break. We'll continue our conversation with Kyle Long. This is Bears All Access on Chicago Sports Radio six have

any the score. This segment of Bears All Access is orchestrated by CDW. CDW people to get it. Jeff, Jonnyact, Tom There, Kyle Long our guest here on Bears All Access. We're with you until the time of the hour. Paul's Oranger engineer and Dan Billy, our producer here from Hollis Hall as the Bears getting ready for the new England Patriots. Heard you earlier today in the locker room, just emphasizing the hunger that this team has to win, and I think that's an advanced thought for a young team with

a sprinkling of veterans like yourself. It's a good thing. It is a hungry locker room. You can see it, you can hear it every day. The way you guys practice what you said about the locker room being is tightened microcosm from your offensive line of what the greater group is, from the coaching staff on down and just listening to everybody this week. Hey, I think you guys are a little ticked off. You lost and now you go up against the mighty Patriots with that kind of hunger.

You know, I don't think there's a better opportunity in football than to play the Patriots after a big loss, especially when they have a three game winning streak, and we get a chance to come to Soldier Field and you know, anybody can say, well, we're at home. We want to put on a good show. The way our fans have been this year and the way our team has been at home this year, I think, you know, it couldn't be a better a better setting for a

great football game. And obviously this team. Being a part of this team, I've never practiced so hard in my life. And I'm not talking about just doing you know, ladders and up downs that kind of stuff, because that doesn't happen. I'm talking line it up. They know what we're doing, we know what they're doing. Let's see who's better. We do it every day and we bring it. And you know, our scout team, credit to them. They play their butts

off all week. They don't get to go out there and put the sea on their helmet on Sunday, but they know that when we're out there as an offensive line and we're running the ball or we're giving Mitch time, that's because of what they did all week. And you know, our guys that are out there against the chem Hicks and Khalil Mack and Eddie Goldman and Leonard Floyd are the same ones that are cheering loudest when they're making sacks, when they're making tackles for loss, because that's the nature

of this team. It's it's symbiotic. We've got guys working for one another and not working for themselves. And this is honestly the first time in your career you've felt like this. There's been sprinklings of it throughout my career, but it is an everyday thing and it's it's organic. It's not something you have to manufacture. We show up

and we compete and we have fun. Well, you know what's cool for us, During the preseason games, when the starters weren't playing very much, the backups that came in and played were really well prepared mentally physically for the scheme that they were they were learning at the point, and it's kind of tells you something about the entire coaching staff here. Every one of them are good coaches. They have their guys mentally prepared, and they went out

there and played the preseason games. The guys that went out there competed and look good did it doing it? And they became better football players along the way, which is important. Yeah, it speaks volumes about the operation as a whole. And uh, you know, Ryan Pace has done a great job bringing in the right people. I've been so impressive coach Naggy up to this point. And obviously it'll be you know, nothing's really gonna change, It's gonna

be the same. I really enjoy the way that he brings a attitude into this building and he sets the tone for us in the morning when we have our team meeting, and then it just carries on throughout the day. You know, where were we ask everybody this where were you when Khalil mcdeal went down? How did you find out about it? And did you think people were kind of fibbing when they're calling you? Well, I remember, because you know, I've gone zero dark thirty with mister Trubisky

on the social media as you have. I don't know if you've he doesn't know what that means. I've been off of Twitter. I've been off of Twitter. Tom doesn't know what twitter. Yeah, I know Twitter, social media as a whole. I've been off of it. But I found out because I got I have the little ESPN alerts, and I got an ESPN alert on my phone. I was laying in bed and it was like, you know,

seven thirty eight in the morning. I think it was like a Monday, right well, because I remember I was off, so it was yes, um, and I got a you know, I got an alert and I immediately texted my dad and he was out west, so I knew he wouldn't get it for a few hours. And uh, you know, he texted me, OMG, oh my god, like this is huge, and I just remember being I was running. I was running around screaming because uh, you know, I've played the guy.

I've had to prepare against him, and you know, there there aren't many guys who can do what he can do in the NFL, right it. It was kind of cool for all of us. And add that to our defense, right right. And then you think, you know, the development continuous development of roll quant and stuff, and because he was really fresh at the same point that Khalil got here, and you said, Wow, these guys are gonna come in

and compete on this team. It's just gonna make the defense so much more fun to watch, difficult to prepare for But you know, you think you get ready to play for New England. You know, as as great as their quarterback is, you know, you'll never see a second of them because you're going to be prepared for a defense that's pretty complicated in its own right. Yeah, And that's you know, that's a credit to their prep and another example of management bringing in the right guys. And

you see so many different guys. There's a few fixtures there in New England, right, but every year there's new guys that they can plug and play. And aside from the linebackers and a few of their guys on the defensive line, all those guys can be moved around and play different positions. They're so versatile and I think that is really something that can confuse an offense and they can make simple things look very complex, you know. And two these are probably two of the better offensive line

coaches in the league. Harry and um what's their guys? Yeah, I mean both of them famous, right, yeah, he is famous. And they're a really well geled offensive line, just like the Bears are. So you look at different components to the battle of the underlying element is the two offensive line coaches are really well schooled and they have their great technician and fundamental teachers. I mean time, it's no secret games are won and lost up front. I would

know that. Hey, you know what, you know what his biggest line is, as Jeff, I may not know a lot of things, but I know football, no offensive line, and he does. He's he's an expert at that, no question. But uh, and you know a lot could be said about the outcome of that game on Sunday in Miami that you know. The scoreboard is lightening up in the league. You brought it up today too, but it's still one

in the trenches. It still is. I defy anybody to explain it any other way to me, because something big has got to happen up front for you to win a game, either offensively or defensively. And no matter what the scoreboard says, it's not seven on seven football, as everybody likes to make it sound. It may feel that way sometimes, No, I mean the thing about your offensive line. Yeah, it's the offensive defensive line, but they got to pack some components. It's like Frank Gore being down there at

the stage of his career with my me. It's Jordan Howard here at the stage. You know, you you come out and you bring that pounding to attitude of an offensive line, including the tight ends, and you bring one of those backs with you. Just wondering what kind of pressure is on a young quarterback. And maybe this is why Bill Belichick is so tremendous record wise with Ian Brady going up against any young quarterback, because you're going

to the game, you're facing the great Tom Brady. And do you feel or Aaron Rodgers like the other kid the other night from San Francisco, Bethard, do you feel you have even with a lead, do you feel like you have to the pressure builds as the game goes on if you don't score every time you got the ball or every couple possessions, is he gonna come back and bite you? Bethard found that out in Green Bay had happened. He didn't move the ball a couple of

series and bam, Aaron gets opportunities. Do you fear that for a young quarterback going up against not not Mitch, but just in general, do they feel maybe inadvertent pressure to keep pace with a great quarterback and the ability to score. You know, I haven't played a lot of quarterback Jeff, But I can speak to being a competitor and having to compartmentalize and kind of, you know, having a differentiation between things you can control and things you

can't control. And one thing you can control is executing your assignment on any given play. And when you start thinking outside of that box, that's when things go south. And you know, I line up, I have a three technique, the play is such and such. I need to block the three technique. That is all I'm focused on. And you know it happens more often than not. But when it doesn't happen, what are you gonna do. You're gonna move on to the next play and you're gonna try

to block the two eye. And you know, as a quarterback, I'm sure it's the same thing. You control what you can control, and as long as you don't beat yourself mentally, then good things tend to happen. Because we have a lot of trust for the guys on the other side of our ball. How long did it take you to

master this new terminology? Again, that's something that I didn't bring up before you had offensive line coaches, but now you've had a couple of different head coaches and every single time you change a terminology, and I always talk about how difficult it is for the quarterback to know what he's saying and know how all the other ten guys fit in. So you learn a new system. How long throughout OTA's training camp and stuff do you go

you break the huddle? Boom? I know everything against every defense, and I'm going to see, well, well, I think there's base, there's base components. And once you figure out the base components, it's, uh, you know, it's it's pretty simple. Really. A lot of the a lot of the other stuff is essentially for

the guys in the outside. You're just listening for that that clue that you figure out which which base language you're going to use, right, Yeah, you figure out what your buddy is okay with you using and what he's not. And once you have that, then it's kind of like peel and bananas? Do you have um? You know, kind of like back in our era, we had kind of had an offensive line language of our own at the line of scrimmage, so we could talk without giving any

hints or clues. Are you guys getting that? Because now you guys have been together for a while, and so there's a lot of time in your stances together, Bobby and I have a vast array of things that we can say and we know exactly. I mean sometimes when we have to say anything, right, it's we break the huddle, we see what the defense is in, and we can just look at each other and yeah, those expressions can

tell a story. We know what it is. Like. I bet you and I could line up next to each other and I'd give you if I was at right tackle, and I'd look at you and you'd say, yep, what was it hard for you to go to Miami for that one season to learn that if you spent everything in one offensive line, one scheme for your well, it was your head. Jerry Sandusky was the offensive line coaches.

And now so I'm going against with Walter Payton as a teammate with Neil Anderson and facing eight man fronts always, so there's always an extra tackler near the line of scrimmage. So then I go down to Miami and there's Dan Marino and now it's four and maybe five man fronts. It's like payday. You get you get a four man front and you got five offensive lineman. He gets four defensive rushers. With you had a bunch of dbs out there, right,

I mean, it's it's glory time. So the biggest reason to go down to the Dolphins was the sitting team meetings with Don Shula for a year and learn about AFC football in passing and stuff. And it was it was a great. It was like a classroom that you can't pay for. That's tomp there, Kyle Long with us. I'm Jeff Joniac. Will continue on with Bears All Access after this break on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy to

score this Sunday's game against the Patriots. He's brought to you by Advocate Healthcare, the official healthcare provider of the Chicago Bears. Jeff joni Ac, along with Tomp There and Kyle Long, our guest on Bears All Access. Your brother obviously won a Super Bowl with Bill Belichick. You were there. I'm sure you spent some time. You've met Bill, You've talked to Bill. What's your impressions of this wonderful head coach.

I think he is an absolute throwback. He says prepared as anybody, and he's as obsessed as anybody I've ever been around. And he's got his hands and everything he's you know, nothing is overlooked. I think in the Patriots facility by Bill, and you know it shows every everything is uh, you know, everything is as he wants it to be, and he has an understanding of what he wants, and good things tend to happen up there more often than not. As you could see. My brother was up

there for a year super Bowl. He's got that ring and now he's got a second ring. Uh. You know, Chris is a Chris is a heck of a heck of an investor. I'd say in football teams, is he love it? You still love it? Yeah? He loves it. I mean, the guy's a wacko absolute psychopath. He's what thirty he's thirty three now I think it's a year eleven or two year twelve and he's just he's rolling. Man.

He can you see yourself playing double digit years? Yeah? Absolutely? Um, you know there was there was a couple of years where my body was just so beat up. And man, I don't know how I'm gonna do this, but you know, you wake up on Monday, and you know I woke up after the Dolphins game, I felt great. I was itching to give back to practice. You know, today we practice hard. As I said, we practice harder than I've

ever practiced here. And you know, I took I did the I took some some rest days in training camp, and I haven't been taken those because my body doesn't need them anymore. And I think the harder I go and practice, the more able my body is to to withstand.

You know, the storm in the season. You like the schedule after the game where you guys get it with the day off right after the game and you come in on Tuesday and then start your work week because you know, throughout the course of time, your head coaches construct your time differently during the course of the season, and you know there's subtle changes. Do you like the tempo you're on? You know there there's there's uh, definitely

positives and negatives of it. Um. I've had it where we've come in on Monday, Monday morning and watched the time and head off Tuesday. But I kind of enjoy it. You know, it gives you time to decompress. You've been you know, once Sunday night rolls around in the games over you've been with your You've been with your guys.

However many hours I used to have that one day decompress, hang out, catch up on your shows, watch a little film, rest your body, and then you know, you get kind of a half rest day, half film day, get a good lifting on Tuesday. So there's there's good and bad to it, but at the same time, it is what it is. There's not much I can control as long as I get a chance. They had somebody to come Wednesday. Yeah, well that'll be happening here real quick against the Patriots

on Sunday a Soldier field. By the way, our pregame at nine kickoff and noon over on WBBM. Make sure you listen in rare appearance from Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. It hasn't happened often, and it's always fun for us to call games that involved great players, future Hall of Fame players, and we've seen plenty both in here and outside. So we'll be looking forward to to see Tom Brady and company. As you talk about this team and the tightness, we can talk about it

all we want. You know, there's plenty of people out there that probably hear us talk about the Bears. Well, you know you said that a couple of years ago too, about the Bears, and but the only take what you have in front of you and what we see, and we evaluate as broadcasters. Tom and I do what the context at the moment is, and then when you end a season, you can review your context and see where

things went well or not. But I'm one hundred percent convinced that what is in this locker room is how you just described it, because I feel it every day. Tom feels it every day, and there is something different here. There is something very different going on. And I don't think there's just going to be there's an obsession, because he wants you to be obsessed, but not an obsession

about taking a tough loss. I think it's going to be turned around as a learning experience and that's how Matt wants it, and that's how he wants you guys

to think. Is that easy to do. It's always a tough pill to swallow losses, and unfortunately I kind of, you know, my palate was expanded in the first few years because I got so used to the taste of losing, and it is really refreshing to that week in week out, we have not only a chance, but a good chance of winning, and it feels great to be on a team where guys are playing for one another and guys are willing to put the extra effort in and guys

are staying late, coming early. Nobody's complaining about it. And like I've I've gone back to the physical demand of our practices a few times in this interview, but it's something I keep drawing on because I mean, we are really callousing each other. And you know, if you were to tell me that we were gonna get it overtime against the Dolphins and you put that film on and we're going it looks like the first quarter, I mean

it really does. It's physical football, guys playing their butts off defense, making a stand at the goal line, offense driving the ball down the field. Granted, we'd like to finish better, but you know, our team is prepared every week. We are prepared, and when we get off that bus, ever stadium we're at, whatever city we're in, we have

a chance to win. You know, it's kind of neat by for us that have been exposed to Coach Naggie at the podium, as everything he says is the exact right thing to say, and he always talks about the process of just getting better the next week. And well, like you talk about, yeah, we're practicing hard mat we're getting at it. We're on the field and we're physical. But I think that's kind of the preached process of Matt. The read the way this is going to get better

is by hard work and practices. And like you said, you've referenced a couple of times. So the message we see out of Matt, it's probably hopefully the same message you're getting in team meetings. Maybe a little bit more aggressive at times, or more corrections, but it's good for us to hear from Matt. Yeah, you have to. I've

heard this from a number of players, you know. I watch a lot of the networks and stuff like that, just because I'm a fan like everybody else, you know, and I watch whether it's ESPN, NFL Network, And I listened to a lot of great players that are now in suits and ties up there, and they talk about the culture change in different locker rooms and how teams are becoming winning teams. And one thing that I hear over and over again, you have to learn how to

become a winning team. And that's not an overnight thing. And for a lot of guys that have been here. It hasn't always been that way, and things have to change. It's not like you just snap your finger and it happens. The little things matter, the details matter, being obsessed with it. It all matters, um, you know, whether it's getting your sleep at night, or eating the right way, um, staying after watching film, any little thing you can do. I mean,

Harry's got us out there. We're out there voluntarily, like literally, we got guys going out twenty twenty five minutes before practice because they want to do extra stuff. Um. And that that's the thing that I'm most proud of as a teammate. And there's guys stand after doing the same thing, and there's older guys helping younger guys. I see Charles Lenox with Rashad Coward every day working on working on his sets, and that's that's a you know, that's a

testament to the culture that's being instilled here. It's a win it's a winning culture. Yeah. But you know you're you're right about the learning to win it. You know, it's not just cliche. Um. I think after the Green Bay game, because it didn't get finished the way you wanted to, and I was trying to make up points I did. I went through everybody's record on the fifty three man roster, see who has had winning experiences. It's not all on the individual obviously, it's a team thing.

But your record follows you. Um and you know who had the most wins on this team, Bobby Massey, Arizona Cardinals. Yeah. So there weren't many, though, that were above five hundred. Yeah, out of that fifty three when I and I don't remember, Robbie was probably well, yeah, I mean he was surprised when I brought up to him. He would have never guessed that he was going on in the room making guesses. I was, He's up there. Absolutely, he's got a ring on his finger. So so just you know Trey Burton

and and I think Chase Daniel as well. Anyway, we gotta take a break. One more segment to go here with Kyle Long. This is Bears All Access on Chicago Sports Radix, seventy the Score. Thank you to Kylong for joining us today on Bears All Access. Ruth's Chris would like you to have this one hundred dollars gift card to enjoy one of their Chicagoland area steakhouses, Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. Thank you so much. That's the formal presentation of a

little red envelope. If this was if this was streaming or in your world of internet game playing, everybody could have seen the actual presentation. So we have a kick out of it every week. But thank you, thank you so much for joining us. Enjoy yourself a nice steak on Ruth's Chris. Tom There, Jeff Joniak one more segment to go here on Bears All Access, the offensive line has been playing very well. The introduction of James Daniels from series to series. How's that going? And what is

your impression of this young man. He's very he's young. He's young, but very talented, big body guy from Iowa. He's young, he's impressionable. He works very hard. He's somebody that takes coaching well. And he's somebody that is willing to put in the hard work. And like I was saying earlier, I alluded to the extra work. He's somebody that's doing all the things necessary. He's uh, he's a good kid. And you know, he just turned twenty one, I think two weeks ago. Oh man, I would think, right,

I wish I was twenty one in a rookie. Why does only the left guard slap the center to ignite the cadence because I don't want to do that. Really, Yeah, I just want to I just want to ask you to. I just said, you got it. I just want to look at my guy. Okay. I thought there was a pattern because it seems like it might have some everybody doing it. Yeah, it seems like a semi consistent there. It's probably a couple of right handed guys in there that maybe the guard has a little bit more experience.

But I sat here. One started with Matt Slawson. Yeah, Matt Slawson was a left guard for a long time here and he was my vet and he told me, no, I get to slap him. What a great guy he is. By the way, Matt Slawson loved it. Well, they're in a left handed stance. Their right hand is right there next to the quarterbacks. So you know, what's that do in terms of if you're analyzing it from a defensive perspective to tip off? Does it matter? Well? Yeah, I mean the thing about it is you just got to

stay in an awkward tempo. You don't want to Hey, you don't want to have great consistencies in it, because even if you're at home and in the quarterback, there's a lot of inexperienced quarterbacks that will go blue eighteen, blue eighteens and hut every time, and then they almost can fall into a vocal rhythm as much as they can. So, you know, all the offensive line is always trying to

be deceptive when how they're going to snap the ball. Now, the Bears have so much behind movement that if you get caught off guard, you can watch the you know, and the broadcast. It's easy to watch the wrong guy. Oh my god, it happened to me twice. Well, the vantage point was just awful from Miami. That story for

another day. But the mesh point on those RPOs, you know, to me, from the distance we are watching the game from the end zone, right, it looks like Jordan Howard's taking the ball and there goes Mitch and wait a minute, I gotta got him. I got me twice, you know. And you know, you don't even when you're calling a game, game you're in another place, like you're just so dialed into that and you start talking to yourself a little bit. I was like, God, I did it again. I said

it on the air. But anyway, Um, the deception is is something. I mean, Bill Belichick, who was throwing you guys, throwing you guys made your bouquets this week. Um again trying to win the mental game as well. Um, really was focused on all the things you guys do as an offense. And it is a lot. It is a lot that you guys do though, a lot of a lot of a lot of misdirection, a lot of deception, a lot of creativity. Don't you agree? Yes, Sampoi is that I'm not asking you to give me any secrets.

I'm just making a point that you want to I wanted to go. But yeah, I mean it's I mean, it's it is fun. It's fun. It's a fun offense to be in. Its even for an offensive linement, it's a lot of fun. It's always fun as an offensive line. Yeah, but I'll go, I like when you get out there and pull though, that's fun too. That's one of my favorites. You know that. I was telling Kyle early in the year, it's disappointed because some of the most devastating blocks he's had.

There's been a penalty that's happened. So you don't get to see a replayed countless amount of times because of a reap of the penalty that happened. So and you know it's there. It is unbelievable when you go out there and get to a second level and you have a guy standing in front of you that has no chance. It's fun. You know, you hit somebody just as big as you about sixty times a game. You only get about five or ten times a game where you get to go and hit a little guy and that's how

I sunk because they usually talked the most. Smack. Oh, it's so fun that you have no mental interruption as you're running over this guy, because it's like if you if you're getting ready to go and have a confrontation with a linebacker that's two hundred and sixty or a defensive end that's two ninety, there's a little bit of thought that goes into the positioning of it. But when you have a dB, it's just the train whistle and here he comes. I'll go back to the cadence stuff

that Tom was talking about. You know those d linemen they're so simple minded. It's like all they do over there is they just they're in wood shop all day. And you know, offensive lineman, we're very cerebral, there's a lot going on. But as a d lineman, you know, they're like, it's like Pavlov's dogs. You know, you don't want to get them thinking a treat is coming, so you got to make it up a bit. I love

that comparison. And way back when when I started covering football, I've had discussions about the difference between an offensive line and you described it exactly as every offensive lineman does. And these guys are just you know, raggedy dirt balls that don't do anything. But you know, hey, they're they're built for three and out. You know, an offensive lineman, they got to be built for seventy play staying in the field, never get substituted, stay out in that heat

from start to finish. You get the they have a different mentality and defenses are built. You know, they're three and out guys. Have you ever got under anybody's skin to the point that you regretted it, because it really did get them riled up and they started to whoop a little bit. I know, well, I mean other than the one this little disturbance down at Saint Louis that one time we forget about that under my skin and

can he regret? I'd say the only the only guy that I have fun with is is a Keem hicks Uh in training camp, and I mean we battle and he's as physically dominant a player as you'll see in the NFL. He's massive, and he's a lot of fun to play against, and he'll get you ready for the few but you guys in the street fight and I'll be happy. But last, the two of you guys harding the rest of the team. That's all you need. The hard part of signing him up to be on my side. Yeah, well,

we go at it so much. The last play the game the other day. You took exception to that guy that was trying to hit a little bit late and he drove him into the ground. I kept saying no, no, no no, no, Kyle on the air. Yeah yeah, well you rolled him right over the pile. You know, you look in the rear view and you say, well, what if that had pushed us back? And yeahda YadA YadA. But he's on Jordan late, so I want to get him off goal kicks and Patriot Tail. How about it?

You got a bud Sunday It Soldier Field fans are going to be cranked up, looking forward to the great matchup. Appreciate all your time, you know it's valuable. Thank you. Kyle Long our guest here on Bears All Access for Kyle and Tom Thayer, Pauser Wager Engineer and Dan Burrelly. I'm Jeff Joneyak. Have a great night, everybody. This is Chicago Sports Radio six seventy the Score. Thanks for listening to this Chicago Bears Network presentation of Bears All Access.

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