All Access: Nick Williams on his journey to Chicago

short while from now. The Bears defensive lineman making an impact and we'll need to on Sunday against the Vikings. But at the bounce from the one hundred I think I think one hundred and thirty five alumni got to show up at the alumni dinner on Saturday, and they're all welcome to attend the game, and there's almost four hundred family and friends going to be there from these guys.

So I think there's lingering impact from that hundred year celebration that we had during the middle of the summertime, and I think it's lingered a little bit with the modern day players and lingered with the alumni for sure. It was exciting to have an alumni outing after that event, and we had a record number show up, and again, you know, it's about being proud to be an a the Bears, and I think that's the key ingredient here.

And when you see the special within the last couple weeks of Missus McCaskey and the three other heads of state in the NFL, it's another impressive portion of why you're proud to be an alumni here. Do you think the gathering at the one hundreds sparked in some of these guys that, you know what, I have this personal love affair with this football team because I poured my heart into it as a player, and now I'm really respecting what ther organization has done, what they're doing, how

they've always been reaching out. Maybe I need to be a part of this a little more. I think it's the combination. There's a lot of quality people within the organization, both of the supporting staff and the players that you got to play with that you've really taken interest in their life and you create a friendship that's longer than just the time of period you played with the Bears.

And when you get a chance to maybe come back and reintroduce to a moment even the guys that we have a chance to see that we broadcast careers and now you have a chance to socially talk to them a little bit easier because it's not pregame, it's not post game, it's not losing or winning. It's just about you know, family and how have you, how are you

moving on and what it's taken place in your life now. Well, it's a perfect matchup because I have a feeling this is gonna be like the old NFC Central you played in Tom Black and Blue. Ball up your fist, put on your big boy pads kind of game. The weather's expected to be a little rainy. These teams, you know, the Vikings are clearly one of the best run teams in the league right now. Offensively, they'd like to stop the run. Bears are outstanding and stop on the run.

They'd like to run the ball a little more. Do you get the sense that's going to be the case today? I do. I think it's gonna be like the old style game. You're talking about grass stains on the front of your uniform and on the back of your uniform. The cleat cleaners out there when they go for timeouts and putting a little extra air in your helmet, making

sure you got your mouth guard. And but you know, the stadium of the Chicago Bears is taken on a different reputation than maybe just as much as a year ago, because I don't think team's really worried about coming in here in the noise effect of soldier fieldings have over the years, they've had a wealth time here, Yeah they have, but I think the last year it's taken on a

whole different monster attitude. So now when teams come here and they talk about their ability to communicate on the line of scrimmage, there is real concern for it because how much the crowd has been inserting themselves. We have concern about that when the Bears go play the Minnesota Vikings inside that terrarium, when they come to this outdoor stadium and you have a natural grass field and it's different to the specialists there because they just don't play

outdoors that much. I do think that the Bear Stadium is a different weapon than it's been in the black. How can they work this place and no friends who like they did at the Thursday night I opened our first three series. It was deafening. The defense was feeding off it. They were ferocious, getting after Aaron Rodgers and the Packers, and then a couple of big place took the air out of the balloon. They lost it. How can they keep it in this game against the Vikings

and start with that same kind of venom. If a big play does happen to them, then keep up the aggressiveness and the ferociousness that they did early in the game, because yeah, they're every quarterback in the league is going to have a big play against you. But how do you react to that? And I think that's one of the keys here is how can the defense rebound from,

you know, maybe being exposed to a big play. But I also think this is an entirely different defense than the first time the Bears fans saw him at home. I think playing against the Green Bay Packers here, going on into the road twice, being able to develop more continuity between the first line of defense and the second line, and how they support each other, how the inside linebackers are playing, how learning about buster screen. He's as Clinton Dix for that matter. Yeah, they they put put it

out there. We'd like three takeaways last week, so they got five so maybe they're gonna keep dangling that bait that that was from the coaching staff. They challenge these guys from matt On down to start taking the ball away. You know. Frankly, you get a few of those against the Vikings, that would be outstanding. He's only thrown two interceptions, Kirk Cousins only been sacked twice, but they fumbled a

lot most fumbles in the league. They only lost two of them, but they fumbled eight times in the first three games. Is that inviting? It's gotta be, you know, because there's two fumbles that I can remember right now over the course of this early season, one by Aaron Rodgers and one by case Keenom last week. Both of the times the quarterback fumbled, but the ball fell right in front of them and they are able to drop

on it. So I mean, there's a couple of opportunities that you have to create, and I think the Bears can do it because they can be disruptive at the point of the handoff, and that's you know, when you get a keym on a one on one, or you get a big push by Roy robertson Harris up, they can be disruptive and that is critical with Dovin Cook and now Bears did an unbelievable job against him last year twenty one for fifty. If you come out of the game at twenty one for fifty, you're winning. You're

winning the game. But in order to do that, you can't let he hits it hard all the time. So but you make him stop or you get that penetration with the guys up front, and we don't know if a team's gonna play, it'll be game time decision, it'll be it's a huge piece obviously that puzzle. But if they get the penetration, you can get him to stop his feet and he doesn't have that kind of gear to get it up and going right away again, that would be to me the most critical thing at the

line of scrimmage. Yeah, you know, as too as the responsibility of the Bears defensive lineman. If so Cline the guard is out, he's already on the injury port. They have a rookie center. The coded Dozier is the right guarden, right and they have a rookie center. So now right there spot of vulnerability. Now if the defensive lineman, if they can go up and do their job, better than

anybody else. And that's what I mean. Occupying too offensive lineman at the line of scrimmage and don't get pushed off. I mentioned a little while ago about Danny Trevathan and Roquan Smith. They can run as well as anybody. They can tackle in the open field as well as anybody. So that defensive line can set that standard for those linebackers and allow him to run and be you know, uh, you know, heavy contact against m Dalvin Cook at the

line of scrimmage. Now I do they immediately have the benefit of play action because of COO performance in the first three weeks, because that's their game. It's a Gary Kubiak influence. He is now the advisor offensively to this team,

and it's his marks and his handprints are all over it. Yeah, how can you not, Because if you're going to go up to the line of scrimmage and Dalvin Cook is in the backfield and the quarterback is either directly behind the center on a shotgun position, everything's going to flow through the running back and then you got to read to the quarterback quickly. But a lot of times that read, that read is being done by the defensive lineman and

how they're being blocked. They can read run pass immediately and then they're that changes their approach and just like the back end of the defense, they're gonna be reading everything through the offensive line to the head of the quarterback, to the running back. Conversely, the Vikings are good at stop on the run, but they're good at everything. It's a four to three and the two ends. Once they get you in third and long, and they've been very

good at getting teams in that. They like to just let them loose and they are two of the best. And Neil Hunter and Everson Griffin when they're on, they're on. They've already combined for five sacks and a bunch of hits on the quarterback, a ton of pressures. You know, these are challenge guys. So how do you mute that a little bit? Well, how you mute that? You mute them with a good run game, maybe the screen game,

and you know, getting some big chunks. So right there, you gave me a five minute description of what the defensive ends do well for the Minnesota Vikings and I and I agree with you, But what am I never gonna let them do? I'm never gonna let them do what they do well. So if I'm going to run the ball, it's going to be directly at them with force, with trapping, with cutting, from h backs, from tight ends to offensive linemen, from you know, to whoever can block

these guys. And that's just that's the key is there is you never want to let those guys, you know, feel, you know, feel the covert zone where they're only doing what they're they really want to do and what they're good at. All Right, we got a lot more to

discuss about this matchup. It's one of the intriguing ones in the National Football League here in Week four, a critical game when you think about it for the Bears, and it's been talked about by Matteggie will tell you about his approach when we come back, and coming up of the program, Nick Williams, the Bears defensive lineman, to join us as well. We're brought to you by IGS Energy with Paul's Oranger engineer and Dan Brilly our producer for Tom There. I'm Jeff Joniak, and this is Chicago

Sports Radio six seventy the 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. Learn more about IGS Energy at igs dot com. Jeff Joniak Tom there with you from PNC Studios here at Hollis all getting ready for the vikings. And it was a little bit out of character time, I thought with

Matt Neggee because Tuesday morning, big game. That's not typically what he does. Because you don't want a bit too much in one game. He feathered it out over the course of the week, muted out a little bit to the players. Didn't want to bang it over the head. But the fact of the matter is, back to training camp, the importance of division home games was pounded into their head. You already lost one, a second one would make it very challenging in terms of winning a division. Doesn't mean

you can't, but it is rare. It's rare if you lose two home games. And that's the weird math of the National Football League because you say that, but I'm always one hey after Thanksgiving, knocking on December's doors, when the cream rises and the team's being to separate. That's where I always look at it. I follow the lead of Bill Belichick. That's how Tom Brady and Bill Belichick think they don't worry about all that. But but you

have to. You know, every single day you walk into the building, something's gonna happen that you don't know is gonna happen, whether it's with the Bears or around the league. So last night you sat there, I know you did. You're a football fan. You sat there and you watched that Green Bay Philadelphi. Told me there was no way the Philadelphi. I thought there was no way Philadelphia had

a stance because they ran. They complained so much in the last couple of weeks about their injuries, about you know, getting certain people back, about not being able to go out and have practices, just having walkthroughs and stuff. But maybe they you know, maybe they solved the puzzle. However, is when you go back there and you think about everything that this game means to the future of the Bears.

Then you go out there, and when you go out there and you start looking what's happened around your division, it kind of changes things a little. Time you knock out the Vikings, you're three and one time for the division lead. You're going to London to take on the Raiders,

albeit not as easy as everyone makes it seem. But if you come back from London after the bye week, again, you're putting you're getting ahead of the game a little bit here, I understand, but thinking ahead, if you were to say the Bears could be in that position, say say they could get to four and one going into that game that Soldier field out of the bye week, you're thinking, Okay, we took the deep breath, we got ourselves back on center. We're still growing, we still had

a lot of offensive growth to make. That would be a dream scenario, but it's also what I expected. I really thought the Bears were this good of a ball team that would be better from the beginning of the season, that would be in this position, that they would either be undefeated at this point or go into the bye week with the loss. And I really didn't think they would have a loss. I was that confident in them. But but you know, you're right, this is a division game,

it's at home. I think the crowd support for the Bears is gonna be I think it was as loud as it was last year. And you know, it's as much as a lot of the Bear a lot of people were turned not turned away, or just so dissatisfied with the degree by outcome. They're able to come back because they see the team getting better. It's not like they played, you know, like they have and they're just getting worse from there. I think they've showed incremental signs

of improvement each week. Let's talking about the offense because they will not have Taylor Gabriel out with a concussion after his three touchdown performance. Uh, you know, he talked a lot about becoming more of a professional in this offseason, wanting to be more of a leader and getting that action anytime there's a connection between Mitch and any of his skill position players, that's a part of that growth.

Like the continuity and the chemistry needs to continue to develop, because he may he cut three touchdowns in Washington, but he is very off. He was healthy. He may not have even got a target this week, because that's how Matt Nage rolls. Don't know who he's going to be, the guy that he's going to try and create the mismatches with against the Vikings, but the next man up philosophy. Maybe maybe we see Riley Ridley. I don't know, Maybe

he's activated. But Javon Wimms had a very good game in that week seventeen against the Vikings and showed what he's capable of doing if he gets an Outfude. If you know, if I knew I was going to bat and who was gonna be a rod Alan Robinson, Anthony Miller and Javon Wims, those who are going to be my three widest of the widest receivers and slot receiver, I'd be okay with that. I like what Taylor has

offered since he's come here to the Bears. He gives you that element of speed, He's got right, great willingness to catch it in traffic and then he high pointed that football the other day with feet concentration. It was impressive. But I do see Anthony Miller wanting to have more responsibility given to him, so it could be challenging him

to be a better player. Every time Javon Wims has gotten into a game, even last year in Minnesota at the end of the season, He's played well, He's got catches, he's a big body, so and everybody knows what Alan Robinson has been doing since the beginning of the year, So I'm confident. What they're going to bring on the connection between Mitch and Alan Robinson in the middle of

the field. You know, that's that's an outstanding the vision that he has and the ability to shield defenders and make plays whether it be slants or hard in cuts or post patterns, that that is something to build on. Oh yeah, in the past, every you know, every throw that Mitch has, every throw to a different wide receiver. It's it's a great building experience. And when you talk about Mitch, you know, we're gonna be talking about the word building in Mitch three years from now, four years,

four years from now. And that's the way quarterback careers go. And you know, I try to bring up the equation of Steve Young's career and because I was parallel with him out of BYU through the USFL when he was in Tampa Bay onto the San Francisco forty nine ers, and if you wanted to judge his career in the first two years, you would have never heard of Steve Young. Then you think about Steve Young in the fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh,

you're talking about a Hall of Famer. Look at lu Kur Cousins. He's eighty fourty six million dollars quarterback. Right He's sewing only sixty three passes this season. If it ferrets out over the course of the year, it'll be the fewest average per game throwing the ball in the NFL. This is a quarterback that the last four years, Tom has hit that somewhat magic number that everybody wants of four thousand yards passing. He well over fourth for four

consecutive years. Right now, he just throw a lot of interceptions and they're trying to keep the ball out of his hands at the moment because they love their running game. I don't know if they're trying to keep it out, but they're trying to minimize, you know, mistakes. And so your job has never done as a quarter back. You're constantly evolving in they're evolving to you look at you know,

you look at Jamis Winston and Marcus Mariota. How much excitement there was about them and how they were going to be this then the other thing, and they were for and then they tear it off and now you don't know. And that is the quarterback position unless you're one of the greats. Well, you know, like Matt says

he's worried. He's concerned about letters, not numbers, and that's all w's and so I mean, that's what you're gonna have to do, is when you're a team and you're developing, and you have a young guy like miss Trubisky, it is about being patient with his development because you're not going to claim a success or a failure within one week's you know, even last year after the Tampa game, it wasn't like all this problem solved, you know, onto bigger and better things now. All right, Tom there, Jeff,

Joni Act. This is Bears All Access and it's brought to you by Igs Energy. One thing I want to say about the Vikings offense, because yes, it is run centric at the moment, but they could flip flip the script on you and make your play left handed, as they like to say, at any moment because they do have weapons. Stefan Diggs. If you thought guy has been targeted twelve times, he's caught six balls, two for big plays for touchdowns, doesn't mean he hasn't been open. They're

just not targeting him at the moment. That guy could go off at any time, limiting the big play against this team with Adam feeling this guy, and you know, they get IRF Smith Junior involved with the first time, and he is almost like their third receiver right now. He's at six two tight ends. He's not a big, thick guy an inline blocker, but can do it. This is a guy who can catch the football. So he's another guy to look out for in that play action game.

And you know he's been around a long time and he's a big target and big targets are friendly to quarterbacks as Kyle Rudolph. So they got plenty to have you worry about, right I just the two interior receivers. When you talk about IRV Smith Junior and Kyle Rudolph, you're talking about losing the size matchup because I don't know if the Bears have two guys that can go up there and match up with Kyle Rudolph, who's six six. You know he's not going to be covered by Aaron Lynch.

He's going to be covered by guys that have different responsibilities, just like Herb Smith, and he's a matchup nightmare. All Right, We'll talk more about the matchup between the Vikings and the Bears looking forward to its Sunday at Soldier Field. We're gonna have it for you, starting with a noon pre game and a three twenty five kickoff. Before it becomes a very interesting week, we'll delve into the London experience with Tom. I know he cannot wait to go

to London to see the Bears and the Raiders. This is Bears All Access on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy to score Ay. Tomorrow's game against the Vikings is brought to you by the Bears proud partner Beggar's Pizza. Jeff Jony Act. Tom there. We'll be joined by Nick Williams, the Bears defensive lineman coming up, pauls Oranger engineer with Dan burreally helping us out as well from PNC Studios here at Hollis Hall. Brought to you by IGS Energy.

So you got you get through this game, and let's just take a look at London a little bit, because you know things are gonna be rapidly moving after the game. Yeah, I mean, you get this. It's a weird week. It's gonna be it. You're gonna go off schedule a little bit. Everybody's used to it now in the league, has been

going on for a long time. The Bears have been there once, and you're not a huge fan of it, just because of what the toll it might take on a guy as they travel six hours there and who knows how long back, because there's always this urgency to get there, but you know, now you're in foreign territory trying to get back. Remember the last time we went there, we stayed on the at the airport for quite some time waiting to take off, and it just lengthens the

whole thing. It affects sleep patterns and whatever else may be. People may not think it's a big deal. I'll command it can't be that bad. Just put it in context. For a player like yourself, if you were in this position, well, you know, it's more of a business concern than it almost is a concern for the players because they want to amplify the brand and right, okay from you as a guy like you're starting right guard okay, Sunday in London, so you're gonna play the game three twenty five on Sunday.

You're gonna you know, go through your postgame paces and get ready to try to put in a game plan against the team you're all familiar with. You haven't seen the Raiders in a couple of years. This group of guys that have not ever prepared for the Raiders. So now you're going to go on a short week, you're gonna leave here on Thursday. You're not going to have the normal amount of meetings and preparation to get ready for a team that you really don't know very well.

So that's the one aspect of it. If you're a player and you're going in there and say something happens in the Minnesota game, then you're playing a guy or a couple of guys that don't have a great deal of experience, just like Oakland could possibly be doing that. And now that you're talking about it, kind of an interrupted approach to who, what position of these guys play, what does their importance and how does it fact around

in the game planning offensive and offensively and defensively. And you've got to concern yourself with those and then just the fatigue of the travel there and the travel back. You know again, I played in London, I played in Germany, I played in Sweden, I played in Ireland. I mean, we've we've done them all. Did you like all of those excursions as a as a younger guy. First of all, the incentive and those trips as we did them during the preseason. So when we went to an international trip,

yeah we didn't practice twice a day. We got to only practice once a day. So that was the big reward. So yeah, let's get out of Platteville. Let's go to whatever foreign country we were going to go into and only practice once. But now it's the regular season, it's different. The window, the hours, the time consumption, the fatigue is amplify. I just you know, you you're more aware of it. I know you have a kind of have a you're

kind of a funny duddy. You know, I'm not you have a you have a bye game on the hey, listen, I know, go play, go play regular season games in Hawaii. People in the United States allowed the but let allow the budget there to get supported by the NFL. Are you gonna be in a good mood for once over there? Come on? Yeah, I'd have some fun. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's the one thing is it isn't I love it.

I love it. I think it's totally cool that we're gonna be calling a game and Tottenham Stadium brand new, no games ever been called there in the National Football League. It's just a different environment. It's it's it's cool. I like it. Well, I mean, but you don't like you have but you just don't like traveling like that either. You just you get cramped up. Yeah, you like you

can't sleep, you're you know, you get well. You know, it's in football, you you get into um an itinerary week and you know whenever that you have to make adjustments. And that's with family, with tickets, with being you know, being away from home for a few days for the single guys, and how they have to make sure that everything's coordinated. Um, you know, it's just it's just weird

to attach all that to a regular season game. So a really good effort against the Vikings, a real feel good victory would certainly do well and serve them well to hop on that plane and go over the over

the pond, so to speak. Yeah, I mean, hey, yeah, I mean, that's got to be your biggest focus weekend in a week out, whether you're playing the Oakland Raiders of the Minnesota Vikings, because if you go there and you don't have full concentration about just taking care of the business, this weekend and you're trying to think ahead,

you're just going to get yourself in trouble. So go there, be prepared to play at three twenty five on Sunday, get the job done, and yeah, you know it'll it'll it'll make you know, getting on the plane a lot easier because Bears all Access. It's brought to you by IGS Energy, Jeff and Tom with you. Nick Williams joined the program coming up the Bears defensive lineman. As the Bears prepare for what is going to be a really rugged football game. In my opinion, looking at the offensive line,

Tom Matt Nag didn't need to say many words. It was very brief, Right, we expect more, They expect more. How are you analyzing the performance thus far the offensive line through three games, and how can they work in tandem to get that run game percolating it. It's not just the backs, obviously, it's it's the offensive line and the other elements of it, from the tight ends helping

out to the receivers blocking downfield. Well, you know, you can't have any imperfections in the exact timing and the way each plays choreographed because they're work to such a specific everybody's got to fit in perfectly, and it's really disruptive and hard to do that when you come away from stadiums like Denver in Washington. Yeah, you played the

Green Bay game. That's the first game of the year, no preseason, and you know, you just have to have better organization, better timing, better understanding of how everybody's going to work together. And then when you get examples of it on tape, you have a chance to really improve yourselves because there's a lot more to talk about. There's a lot more examples up on the screen that you

can make sure things are working more perfectly. And I think the longer this offensive line plays together, I think the better they're going to become. I didn't though they were five guys that are all starting in but in different spots. Is that still take some time? The continuity of that, Yeah, every year it does, you know, because you know the Montgomery Davis they see it completely different. Now you're not only working with the choreographists of the

offensive line on the tight ends. How does that running back see it? How does he interpret how those blocks are going to float to the second level? And when I see James Daniels from week one to this week. He's a much better player at the end of this Washington game than he was at the start of the Green Bay game. Then when I look at runs by David Montgomery, I see David Montgomery how he can interpret how the play is going to unfold to the second

level and then the running. My favorite play was he started out the twenty five yard or that was big in the fourth quarter, right part of the four minute offense that you like to tweak a little bit, but you know, just going down the line, you know you want to go point of attack, but you don't want to bang your head against the wall if it's clearly not going to be there. And he's like going through

the gaps. He goes to the backside what they call the A gap and boom, twenty five yards right the vision, Well, that's that's an experienced vision right there for a rookie. In my opinion, the more of a reputation the Bears get to run the ball, well, the more you're going to see eight man fronts, and so that always means there's gonna be one extra tackler according to the blocker. So if you win the point of attack, then there's no decision that the decisions being blocked for you and

made for you. But if you are willing to go to that backside cutback like Montgomery did, then you're going to take on that one tackler. But you should have an advantage. It should be a defensive back, it should be a guy that's trying to occupy a lot of space. So I just think the quicker, the running back can make the decisions along with the offensive line. Both segments are going to get better together. What's your opinion of the Bears screen game at the moment, because that's a

deadly weapon, especially against a defense like the Vikings. I would think I think there when they run their quick screens that get out there immediately and they're not trying to be deceptive against the defense, They're just trying to get blockers in front of a ball carry. I think they've running them really efficiently. The receivers are doing a good job of blocking as well as the offensive line

who are getting out there than downfield. Some of the deceptive screens I think across the board in the NFL, they're really being difficult to run. They take too long, they take too long, and the defensive linemen and linebackers are not dumb. They've seen him so many times now throughout the generations the NFL. As soon as they win something too easily, bam, they're thinking something different. I'm either

getting trapped or they're screening away from me. And you know, defensive lineman, you got to give him credit because the more reps they see, whether it's against their own guys or anybody else, are getting ready to face, they got a better understanding of how those types of plays where you guys are good screen team, Yes, yeah, we are good decision We are good at screens because we ran the ball so well and there are so many guys that were concerned about stopping Walter Payton in the run

as soon as he faked to the line of scrimmage and then we are escaping out to the outside to get a block out there. People were chasing Walter, people were in the backfield. But Walter, you know, he's a great job of reading and running him. Yeah. When it's run nice and it's precise, boy, it's beautiful to watch, no question. Same thing as I love I love the tackle sweeps, I love the pulling sweeps. I love those.

They're really fatiguing though we are playing Tampa once and it was about one hundred degrees the first or second play of the game. We hope we went down. We had like a sixty three yard screen to Walter. It was so fatiguing it was hard to recover for a couple series. Really. That's Tom there. I'm Jeff Joni. This is Bears All Access, brought to you by IGS Energy

on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy to score. Hey joined Bears, Karen advocate healthcare and raising funds for programs supporting Chicago area breast cancer patients and their families. Purchase your real Bears fans where pink shirts at Chicago Bears dot com slash pink and being around the organization for this long this is a great, great charity. Tom and we all have a closet full of these shirts over the years, So go and get yours with their long sleeves this year.

But you're a sweater, so who'll probably cut them off. Nick Williams joining US Bears defensive lineman, kind enough to spend some time with us getting ready for the Minnesota Vikings, and good to have you on this team because Tom and I appreciate lunch bucket guys. I always point out the guys that bring their lunch bail and nothing's given. They gotta earn it. And the guys who take the journey the way you, you gotta earn it like nobody's

given you anything. So congratulations on your success being here for a couple of years now and and already resonating in the locker room. Forget about what's happening on the field for a minute. But you're clearly important to the guys in your room and in the locker room. So how does a guy like yourself, who's bounced around a bit do that so quickly? I think it's just what Matt Naki talks about. Just being yourself. Just be you, you know, nothing, nothing more, nothing less. You know, guys

kind of gravitate to uh other guys being real. You know, you can kind of pick up when a guy's like trying to do too much or be outside outside of itself. So I just be myself. And how is that? How? How would people how would you describe yourself then? To those who don't know you in the locker room. I mean, I'm a fun, funny guy, you know, I bring some I'll bring some jokes out every once in a while,

you know. And but I'm a guy that I can I can talk to anybody in the locker room, you know, all the way from Chase Daniel that's my guy, from kseyah As your teammates, all the way down to whoever whoever else is in the locker room. I could. I could speak to and talk to any anybody in the locker room. So that's when I kind of prided myself on. You know, you think your past experience or Kansas City, Miami, Pittsburgh,

all good football teams and good defensive tradition. But now you're here, You're making an impact after you couldn't make those teams. You're here making an impact on one of the best defenses in the league. Are you Are you surprised yourself or did you always know you had to sen you? No, I always I always knew I had

had it in myself, you know. I always prepared like I was, like I was gonna start or if I was a starter, even though I was probably on the practice squad in Pittsburgh, in Kansas City, I was behind Done Terry Poe, Jay Howard, Alan Bailey. I was behind those guys. So you kind of get lost in the mix, lost in the shuffle, but I always stayed prepared and knew the type of player I was. So you play basketball till your senior year in high school? Correct? Yeah?

If you would have continued playing basketball, Were you a good enough player to play at Samford SA M F O r D. Where you went to college to play football? Heck no, man, So what that's what That's kind of what I'm more interested in. Okay, if you were, you know, you played basketball up until that point. But now, Nick, I look at you. You're freaking huge, you got yoked up, you got arms the size of legs, and you transfer from basketball to playing football at Samford. How did all

that click in for you? Man? I was just uh. I thought I was gonna be like six eight, and then uh my senior year. Going into my senior year, I just stopped growing and I was like. I looked at my dad and he was like, you better go out for the football team. So I went out for the football team. And most of my friends that I hung out with in high school played football. So I was like, man, I'm gonna go out for the football team, So go out for the football team. I had like

a we played against Hoover High School. If you ever heard of him, the tour a day show. They used to come on MTV, so he played against them. I had like a pick six at d N and I was like, man, I guess I'm pretty good. And then Pat Sullivan recruited me out of Sandford. It was his first year at Sandford, going into his second year coaching UH Sanford. He recruited me and gaming scholarship and the rest is kind of hit. So if you thought you were going to be six eighte and your warrant, you

grew up in Birmingham, Alabama. When you started playing football, did you think you're gone to Alabama? No, because that when I was coming up, when I was coming through high school, guys had started, um, guys are in high school started uh, they started committing to these big schools. But so when you got a guy that's just played a senior year. I got letters from all of the big schools South Carolina, Auburn, Oh, Miss, Alabama, and they just said they wish they would have had more film

on me. But I got letters from yeah, yeah, they asked me to walk on And I was like no, I'm gonna just stay here in Sandford's in Birmingham where I grew up, while I was born and raised. So it was just a it was just a win win for me, you know, along everybody's journey into the league. And obviously I didn't play because I also thought I was gonna be six eight. I just wanted to get the five eight, which I never did. Okay, I'm five

seven and a half and I'll take that half. But we hear no in our careers, right And I have a boss now that said no to me many years ago. You weren't you weren't ready. So in all these situations, with all these teams, you had to hear no. You know, you didn't make those teams for whatever reason. How much hurt were the nose or how much did they drive you? And did you agree with the nose in any of

those cases? You never want to agree with the nose, uh some one, I mean, like some of the nose you kind of know, like, hey, maybe maybe it wasn't my time. Maybe I'm not I'm not kind of ready, But I never get down. I never got down and out about hearing no being cut here, cut there. I just kind of pressed on forward. You know, I'm a huge believer, so I never I never got down and out about Hey man, Pittsburgh doesn't want you. Hey, Kansas

City doesn't want you. Hey, Miami doesn't want you. So you kind of like and a normal guy would kind of be like, oh crap, Like maybe I need to go find like a regular job, you know what I'm saying. So I just kind of I just kind of worked it in my head, Hey man, this is going to work out because I'm because I'm working too hard, Like I'm working too hard an offseason, I'm putting into work, and it just takes it just takes that right team, right opportunitial did well. You know, we see you know,

we see the HBO special. We see the moment some guys that hey, you know, thank you worked really hard. Really you know, we'll give you a good recommendation. Did you ever have the time to ask what you didn't have that they were looking for, what you needed to work on? Or does that conversation not happen in the National Football League? No, it happens all the time. I tell you, they tell you what you need to what you need to work on. Uh, they was there anything

that resonated you. You're laughing, so something must have made your la. Yeah, like you don't have to name names. But like I remember remember one team telling me I'm not a good name names. I remember one team telling me that my football IQ wasn't high enough. It was kind of it was kind of low. And I was just like okay. And then I had another team tell me you got to you gotta learn how to play the run, and I was like okay. And then another team told me you gotta learn how to brush the passer.

So I'm like, I'm like, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. So when I start hearing the kind of mixed reviews from teams, I started saying to myself, Okay, it might not be me. It might just be that it's just not my time, you know, And I can accept that, you know. So I'm gonna just putting keep putting in the work. Be a lunch pill guy, you know, bring my heart had to work, and just put in the work every single day, day in and day out, and it's gonna pay off at some point. You know.

You go to the last defensive snap of the Washington Redskins game, you come to the line of scrimmage and you know you're gonna run a stunt with Khalil Mack. Yeah, it free. It works out perfectly. In all the descriptions of what you just said about people told you you couldn't do, you kind of put them on to display when you do run an organized stunt with a guy

that you know results in a sack. Yeah, that play was just uh, it was just It's just kind of cemented all all of my work, you know, and we still it's it's still early in the season and we still got a lot to go. We still got a lot to do, especially in this division. But it kind of it was I was kind of lost in the moment. I was telling I was telling everybody, you know, all the hard work he put up to to get to

even be on the field with Khalil Mack. You know, it's kind of it's kind of cool how he gives himself up for for your behalf. He can he can give himself. I know I missed that, I missed the sack. I missed a sack. I think, uh, I think Prince got Prince got like a hand to the phase. It would have been, it would have been called, but I missed it and Khalil got it. So I was like, okay, you kind of old me one. Let me, let's let's

run a little etive it. Give it all right. I'm sitting here is our first conversation with Nick uh since you're and there's a there's somebody that he's just the striking reason wants too. We'll tell you who I think it is when we come back. This is Chicago Sports Radio six seventy the Scar. Hey be sure to stop by the Middle Light Ultimate Tailgate before Tomorrow's game against

the Vikings, located at the Field Museum. The Ultimate Tailgate, free for fans of all ages, in a great place to stop for food and drinks before heading into the game. Nick Williams with us here in our final a few moments bears all Access brought to you by IGS Energy Here at P ANDC Studios that had a song with Tom Thair. I'm Jeff Jonny ex so before the brag. I'm sitting here watching him talk you guys, wearing a baseball cap. He's got a sweatshirt on, but it's it's

his facial expressions. Is anyone ever said they remind you a little bit of Michael straighthand now you know, the teeth look a little different, I'll say that, but you have a striking reselets to Michael straighthand and my way off base just the way well you're laughing and stuff. I'm telling yea, I don't. I don't have the fingers to be Michael Strahan. Yeah up, but I've never heard that before. Take that one to the locker room. John thinks you looked like straight end if he plays like

straighthand that great boy. Right. Yeah, you know, I was thinking about your nick because you're twenty nine year old and the average age of the Bears is twenty five years old. Do you feel young because you don't have you know, just you know, you haven't beat up a lot throughout your career. You're a fresh body, got a lot of big future ahead of you. But you are twenty nine and these guys are twenty five. Do you seem old in there? No? I don't know, I really don't.

I guess it's just it's just my mindset, you know. It's just like you said, I haven't been beat down for I came to leave when I was twenty three, so I haven't been beat down for seven straight years. I missed a year in twenty seventeen, so the football is still still coming to me. I still got a lot of football left in me. So that year, you miss, man, what was going on with yourself? And how did you?

You know? It's almost a good lesson to tell kids how they can keep the belief within themselves because you went from basketball to football and then football year out of year. Yeah. Uh well that year that year, man, it was kind of I had got cut by the Miami Dolphins and I worked out. I actually worked out with the Bears probably like a week four of the twenty seventeen season, and they just didn't have a They

just didn't have a roster spot for me. I think they picked up a Mike Purcelle on the defensive line's practice squad. I didn't have any eligibility left. So then the next the next two weeks went by. Then I had to workout with the Falcons, and I thought I was about to sign with the Falcons. They had kept me an extra day and I was like, Okay, that's great, I'm gonna be I'm gonna be close to home, you know,

close home. So that didn't work out. They had to bring in a wide receiver because Muhammas and Knew went down. And then I was just working out. I just stayed in Birmingham. I just worked out the rest of the year. And then this scout hit me up from the Bears City if you know, City hit me up from the Bears and said, hey, do you want to you want to come in for a tryout at the voluntary workout like voluntary mini camp. So I came in and then they saw me and then the rest is history. It's

just crazy, is the craziest story. And I was back with coach Naggy. I had known him from Kansas City, so it was just a great fit. Well, you know, it's the NFL rosters during the regular season, they're a puzzle. I mean, just like you said, I mean, Bradley Sualt gets released last week with the knowledgies coming back, you know,

and it's just you do have to trust sometimes. And I know it's probably hard when you know you've been dealt with as many opportunities and still not able to land spots with these teams that your trust level probably is not that high. But I think I think you can trust this organization the way Ryan Pace runs the show here and the way Matt Naggi is forthright and very transparent. Yes, they're very They're very transparent, you know. Uh, day one, they tell you what they expect from you,

and they don't expect anything less. And you can only you can only ask that much of a of a head coach of a of a GM. You know. I just owe I owe everything to these guys for bringing me in off the street and having a belief in me. Uh TV and go out and put the put the sea on my on my helmet. H that's my guy, super tight. That's what he says. That's my guy. That's my guy, man, that's my guy from dat man. It

was the first. It was the first, uh the first mini camp and uh, I think somebody somebody came up and said, hey, should we uh should we sign this guy? I was laying on my tryout and uh during mini camp and they were they were like they came up to a chem and said, hey, should we sign this guy? And the keem said hell yeah, do you see his triceps? I was like, okay, okay, I can get it. I can get down with this. And that's been my that's

been my guy. Ever since I've been here. You know, you figure you're an ex basketball player, your position coach is an ex college quarterback, and you're playing on it. You're playing up and down the line of scrimmage. So the first teams you're at or you kind of wanted to mention all because it seemed like since you've been with the Bears, you've expanded your game from tackle the

tackle and every position in between. Yes, when I was with when I was with Pittsburgh, I came in primarily as a defensive end in a in a true three four, you know, the old Pittsburgh defense with Dick lebo right, you know. And I couldn't and I was a defense and I wasn't heavy enough to play and host tackle because they had the year before I got there, they had Casey Hampton, and then the year I was there, they had Al Woods and Steve McClinton. Now Steve mcclinton's

at the Jets. But there were some big guys. It was three thirty plus and I was about I was about three three or eight. It'd have been a good outside linebacker. James Harris and Lamar Woolley was pretty heavy. But I won't put his weight out there. But uh yeah, I feel like I feel like this defense just uh fits me well. I can play every position on a D line and I mean it works out. Jay gets at you, guys. Jay Rogers your position coach. I think

from a position change. I think he is, you know, really engaging coach for you guys to improve on your techniques. He really, he really is. He's a really engaged coach. You know. He tells you where you need to be, what you need to do, what you need to know going into a game. You know, we're always prepared with the exits and os, and we're all always prepared with a plan. We have a plan in place to execute and play well. Two quick questions, then we gotta fly.

What's he unlocked in your game? If anything yet? And then give us a quick sneak peek here of the Vikes on tomorrow. What he's unlocked in my game? I would say, just to belief in myself. You know, he's a he's a really good coach. He actually puts me out there on the field in situations and he has that trust in me. And when a coach trusts you, especially an individual coach trust you disguise the limit for that player. You know, he's willing to run through a

wall for him. So how about the bikes, man, the Vikes, I mean we stretch run game in the cup back right? Yes, yes, Dalvin Cook, I mean he's a he's a really dynamic player. But in between the tackles, we have to handle our business. And it's a black and Blue league, Black and Blue Division, rookie center, first starting left guard. Come on, my good. We can't wait, man, we can't wait. It's gonna it's gonna be a good it's gonna be a great game,

and we need to start fast. And uh, it's a it's a must win for us, especially to send a send a signal to the division that we're here. Well, we wish you great luck tomorrow and great to stay here in Chicago for a long time. Hey, we come back and join us sometime. We'll do. Yeah. Get Joe, that was awesome. You're you're good, dude. Good to talk to you. All right, that's gonna wrap up our show for Tom Thair, Big Nick Williams, I'm Jeff Joniac. Thanks

to Pauls arranging Dan Bailly. This is Chicago Sports Radio six seventy the Score. We'll talk to you on the radio starting at noon on Sunday from Soldier Field. Our pregame show kickoff at three twenty five. Join us on News Radio seven eighty one or five point nine f w BBM. That'll do it here on Bears All Access on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy The Score,