All Access: Shelley, Wilson on 2019 defense

all things Bears. Training camp just around the corner when the Chicago Bears will report to bourbon A to kick off their twenty nineteen NFL season. Always an exciting time of the year, a lot of expectation, a lot of pressure. That's what Matt Naggie has talked about recently and about not getting complacent as a Chicago Bear. Plus, We're gonna have a great show as we roll along. I'm gonna have some great guess is Bears six round draft picked Duke Shelley is going to join us out on the

program at tremendous nickel corn that the Bears selected. Plus at six thirty pm Eastern Time. Otis Wilson, former NFL or for Chicago Bears linebacker, gonna join us. We've got plenty to talk about the eighty five Bears because Eddie Jackson, coming out strong, said they want to top everything the eighty five Bears did. So we're gonna go back in time put out the statistics what the Bears could potentially

reach here in twenty nineteen. But who better to break it down over the next hour, none better than my partner. Let's welcome in Tom there to the program. Tom, how

are we doing today? Big Jim doing good? You know, with the anticipation of training camp, it's it's I you know, I don't know when the anticipation has been this positive in a long time, because you think even last year, we didn't know a lot about Matt Nagey, We didn't know how the team was going to perform, We didn't know the growth process and the fact that they were gonna get Khalil Mack when they ended up getting him and the whole You know, we are still anticipating a

contract situation with Roquan Smith at this time, but all that's behind us, and it's raised expectations by a large percentage, and not just by me, by all the people I talk about in the streets and around the Chicago Land area. Because the first thing they bring up is positive expectations of the Bears, where they believe that they can be at the end of the season. And then they also talk about the difficulty of the schedule they're going to face.

And so when you kind of take all that into consideration, if they do continue to improve, they're able to increase their offensive playbook. They have a Khalil and they have Roquan from the beginning, you get Clinton Dix and Busters Screen and these guys to fit into the system nicely. There's no reason that they can't accomplish all the goals that the players have been talking about and the fans have expected at the beginning of the year till the

end of the year. And it's interesting time because the Bears aren't going to sneak up on anybody. They're a surprise team last year when you come off four losing seasons, then you burst onto the team with Matt Naggy, you go twelve and four, You go from worse to first in the vision in the division, and take the NFC North. You know, last year, when you look at those surprise teams, probably Chicago tops the list. You gotta believe Indianapolis Colts.

Look how they jump back into it, found themselves in the playoffs as well. I think Seattle was somewhat of a surprise team last year. Now if you think the Washington Redskins, prior to the injury to Alex Smith, they were winning that division tim in the NFC East, and then Alex Smith goes down. They were five and two and their season kind of spiraled out of control with injury. But the Bears are not going to sneak up on anybody this year. Everybody's marking them down on the schedule.

But then you know, you'll go back and you look

at some games from last year. Danny Mack and Matt Spiegel we are talking a little bit off the air and on the air right before at the end of their show, And now you think about how disappointing that loss was to the New England Patriots because it was a couple of special team snaffoos that really took the opportunity to beat you know, what's considered one of the best teams of the last decade in the NFL last year and if you think if you would have just

added that victory to the last year's team, that would change the thinking process and it would change the whole profile of the Bears, because, yeah, they have a first place schedule now, they went from worst to first. But if you go out there and you beat one of the best teams in the league, you know, right there, you're there's a lot of different considerations that you got to put in place if you would have went out there and beat Tom Brady Bill Belichick in your home field.

How do you fight complacency? Mett Naggie was recently at Serious Sex NFL Rady when he talked about that. Really the quote was him that says, we can't beat complacent as a football team, you know, and that's probably the worst trait you can have as a football player time. I truly believe that if you're not doing the things you need to do to stay on top of your game and not show up with that preparation that you need in order to compete sundays, I think that is

always something that you gotta fight. It's just it's human nature. People tend to get complacent when they find themselves having a little bit of success. I think complacency can take effect on a losing team and a losing atmosphere and a losing culture because some guys they're not being competed against.

I think when you look at winning, the winning attitude, the winning culture, and you look at competition, you know from guys within your own locker room, if complacency sets in, that's the best way to get yourself out of the off the team and off the roster and onto a different team maybe or maybe not in the league at all.

So I don't think there's any players out there that have the luxury of being complacent because they've taken some big steps forward to get themselves into this first place schedule, into consideration preseason, consideration for the playoffs, and even bigger goals. So this is not the time for a complacency to set in because you haven't you haven't take did that

much success yet. Well, even with the recent comments of Eddie Jackson, we'll get into that about saying, hey, we want to try and top with the eighty five Bears did defensively, or even a Keem Hicks, what a tremendous leader talking about the team and not regressing. I mean, what's the vibe you get with the players in the

locker room of how they've approached this offseason. You know, having a chance to talk to a lot of those guys at the hundred years celebration and you look at some of the influences they had from the history, the alumni of the Bears and how and they see how it important is to them. Listen. I like the comments of Eddie Jackson. I like the fact that this is a team that wants to be better than anything the

Bears have put out there before. And I like a little bit of the pressure that a Keem Hicks felt when he was up there with Ed o'bradovitch, with Dan Hampton, with Chris Zorge and with Tommy Harris, and how much not pressure, but how much they wanted to see a Keem Hicks, you know, have success. Hey, you want to stay with us, because on the other side, rookie cornerback Duke Shelley is going to join us here on Bears All Access. Don't change that, Dow, keep it right here. Everyone,

Welcome back to Bears All Access. Brought to you by IGS Energy, a proud partner of the Chicago Bears, providing electricity, natural gas, and hold warranty products to over one million customers across the country. Learn more about IGS Energy at

igs dot com. Tom Thayer Jim Miller with you. We should be joined by Bears rookie cornerback Duke Shelley, drafted in the sixth round out of Kansas State, but brought up the comments of Eddie Jackson say one to top everything of the eighty five Bears and Tom we were prepping for the show, and it is a good topic to get into because you think of some of the great defenses in the history of the NFL, whether you go back to the seventy four or seventy five Steel Curtain.

Obviously the two thousand Ravens stand out as well. Eighty five Bears consider one of the all time grades. Probably even the early two thousand Tampa Bay Buccaneers defense was given a lot of love as well. You got the Orange Crush out there, endeavor. But the statistics are incredible

of the eighty five Bears. So some of the statistics are sixty four sacks on the season, thirty four interception, six rushing touchdowns, and we'll get into that in just a moment time, because I believe our guest is waiting there for so I'm getting excited talking defense. So let's go out and talk a little defense of the Chicago Bears as we welcome in Duke Shelley to the program. Duke, Jim Miller, Tim thare with you. Thanks for joining us tonight on Bears All Access. Hey, how ya doing? How

y'are doing? We're doing great? And for you, how's the time off leading up to training camp? About the first time you'll be able to dawn the Chicago Bears jersey in full paths? Maybe just talk about the excitement leading up to training camp. Man, I'm super excited to get out there with the guys getting put on pads. I'm excited about that. So okay, my busies and pats, I'll be running around in shorts too long now, So get

to hit somebody at this level I'm excited for. You know, dude, guys reading an article by Ryan Pace and he's called you scrappy, sticky, and highly highly competitive. You know that's some pretty high plaise when you, you know, for a defensive back, and especially when you look at you know, yeah, scrappy and sticky. I think you have to understand how how complimentary that is when you look at what Ryan

how Ryan Pace describes your abilities. Oh yeah, I appreciate compliment. Uh. I've been hearing it a lot and be talking to back Worth. Everybody liked how my feedes and being able to stick with guys in the slot and on the outside and things like that. H I mean, my it's my job to kind of glue be glued to receiver. So the fact he called me stick yot, I appreciate it. Well, well does it you know, because everybody will say, oh, he's an undersized slot corner. Does that bother you when

people say that? Is that why you're more scrappier and and why you're more physical, and just how you compete at the slot position and just how you play the cornerback position in general, Because that's all I hear, all he's an under size slot corner. Well, there's been a lot of under sized corners that played pretty darn good in the National Football League, right right. I mean I've been hearing my whole life. I've been on the side

of my whole life, y'all. It just a big kind of hind me have a cheap on my shoulda and go out and compete. I mean, I've been a super competitive growing up. I mean been playing any games since I was five years old, so I mean I'm used to it now. It comes with the territory. I mean, just just give me a chip on my shoulder, something something to go out damn food and guys, and when you actually do it, then they look at you kind

of different, so I'd be excited for it. Duke. So when you're playing cornerback, you obviously have a boundary and then you have the field of play. I read something else where I said you have an uncanny ability to mirror the receiver's feet. Is that a trait that you'll be able to use at the slot position because there's a little bit more feel for the receiver to work with then if they're sided along the sideline. Oh yeah, Definitely.

Being in the slot, you have to be clear because guys have opportunity to go both ways on you, a lot of option routes and and things like that. So being able to be quick and fast twitch, have a fast twitch about you definitely uh separates you in the slot compared to the outside have using the sideline as your help and being able to stay inside of guys and kind of use sideline as an extra man on the field. So I mean playing outside corner my whole career.

I see the difference in that. But for my skills, say, this's an easy transition. Well for the listeners out there, very instinctive cover corner. You got thirty nine passes defense and thirty eight career games, which is really impressive. And your football character is is second to none according to

your to your college coaches. But what has probably been the biggest transition from Case State to to what you've been learning for the Chicago Bears, and really the biggest difference to you so far a man, the biggest difference for me has been just coming in and seeing speed of the game thing. You know, I just level everybody. Everybody's fast, everybody's good, everybody know how to run routes and things like that. So I just stand out to you just as far as the consistency as far as

play to play. But at the end of the day, it's still football and you still play the game how you know how to play the game. So I mean that does the things, but definitely the speed of the game is probably the biggest difference that I see compared

to college living N's duke. What about the communication though, when you go into a slot now, it seems like if you're on a corner and you have a wide receiver that's the widest out of the offensive formation, you kind of don't have to communicate because you have you understand your responsibility. So now is it the outside linebacker to your side with the safety and maybe even the corner, So how will it your communication responsibilities change? Oh man,

that's that's the difference also as well. I mean, I'm usually when you out there on the outside, you kind of you kind of your own little world and called your own little island because you're just kind of separated from everybody else, you know, you you're kind of just locking down. You're you're a man and your side of the field. But in slote you have a lot of different people that depend on a lot of different things like that. So you might get a lineback and help.

Sometimes you might get cornerback help. Sometimes might be squatting on outside that come to you always have the safety behind you. So it's just different. And how you can play guys, and how you can line up on guys and U. I mean it's very It's very interesting for me because I can discuise more and play outside shade, play inside shade and things like that. So I actually

love it. I like transition. That's a great point. How has the install gone for you with the defense under Chuck Pagano to where you can maybe disguised knowing where your your hope is so you can play fast, uh defensively. Yeah, that's that's It's been a really smooth transition for me. Um. I mean I created my college coaches for that, um being being having coach Hayes for the first three years of my college career. He comes being that he came

from the NFL. He uh been being it was a quarters team running a lot of NFL coverages in college, so the concept kinda was the same. And I mean defense is kind of easier because you can only run certain amount of coverages. You can't really do too much out of the box. It is what it is. You even cover three, cover one, cover two, or man and man, so it's not really too much that you can really change up as far as that. So, uh, coming from coming from college and having an NFL coach Uh, definitely

plays a role. And how how well all that would pick out the playbooks? Not it's not hard at off me in a various moove. Hey, duke, I don't you know when you when you start playing as a freshman, you know there's not a lot of time that you have special team responsibilities. So throughout the OTAs and on mini camp, where were you rapping on special teams? And we're is your skill set fall into play on the different teams you'll you'll be a part of this year.

I'll definitely be on all the special teams. Uh, And I take it serious, Yeah, definitely. In college, I didn't have to uh run down on kickoffs and run down on punt because they needed me on the defense side. But now I'm doing both punt kickoff, kickoff return, returning kicks h holding up guys on punt return, so uh, it all works out. Special teams transition is very good to me. And I know, I mean, this is how you stay around in this league, being that it's so

competitive and things like that. So I go out and play special teams like his defense. Well, from your standpoint, who have you hitch your wagon to? What what veteran do do you find yourself maybe gravitating to just their style of play? Um, just how they prepare even going out to practice. Is that Prince of Mukamara is a Buster screen? Is it? Eddie Jackson? Who if you can't have really tried to emmy watching how they prepare themselves.

Really all the guys being you had two pro bowlers, uh in the banking with with Eddie Jackson and and stuff like that. I look at all the guys mennerism, see how they how they approach the game. I know this, uh coown Fuller. He more of a a quiet focused guy. He keep getting to his owns on before practice and things like that, and he kind of locked in. Eddie on the other hand, he can be focused in the same way, but he still talking to guys and things

like that. That's kind of more my personality. So I watched those guys and try to go out of MLA. Then Buster has been helping me. He's been doing a great job helping me learning different things and do different techniques and things like that. But I mean, I watch

all the the guys. Prince he had his own little way and getting ready because he they might take them a little longer so I mean in all words out but I definitely say attention to all of the guys, any anybody who's in front of Lead, and I can learn from him. I try to find my best to just do that and stay stay focused and try to emulate their game and that fire demand and it made Litt leave so hopefully and he had me when lead.

So just learn as much as I can, I Duke, just to get to know you a little better, and forgive me if I say it wrong. Is it Yaquis Bertrand and why so? Why are you Duke? And because I actually I love your first name and I think of prince. I think of haha, Clinton Dix, and I love your first name. But but how how did this go to duke? So I'm a junior and duke means prince. So when uh, when I was a little boy and my grandma just started calling me dude, they said it

and it just stuck with me every since. My first name is Yaquis and I'm a junior and it means strong leader. But my dad, I mean he wrote with that name. But Duke is just kind of a ways to me just separate myself, like getting myself my own by Well, Duke, last one, what do you do with you a little bit of time off or are you cranking it up in terms of your workouts leading up to training camp. Yeah, yeah, yeah, just trying to get

in the best shape as I can. Definitely been working out in training every day, have a great training bout here at home with Ernest Ross, doing a lot of speed training things like that, and trying to be in the best shape I can't go into training cap and feeling the best, feeling the best I have going into training cap. So that's that's all I've been doing, Just trying to get ready to camp in the season, knowing this a long season. I mean preseason games to the

regular season to playoffs. You'll pay playoff twenty gangs this year, so you just have to be ready for it and coach coach will call me, tell me go on playbooks and things like that. So I've been doing that and just noticed a marathon right now, it's not a sprint. So just trying to be in the best shape I can for the season. Well, Duke, good luck to you. We'll see it down in Bourbon at for your first NFL training camp. But we appreciate you joining us on

the show. Oh man, thank you appreciate it. Duke Shelley, everybody's six round draft pick of the Chicago Bears out of Kansas State. We're gonna come back talk more defense, recap. What Duke Shelley had to say, like the depth of the Chicago Bears secondary heading into twenty nineteen. We'll get to it on the other side. Keep it right here on Bears All Access. Welcome back to Bears All Access.

Good to talk to Duke Shelley, Bears six round draft pick five nine, about one hundred and eighty pounds out of Kansas State. He mentioned during the interview that he was still finally the healthiest he's Benny did miss five games in twenty eighteen with a lower right leg injury, and Tom he is he's a highly competitive young man for an undersized corner You mentioned how the coach called him sticky. You know, he's just kind of a pest is what he is, because he's always in the hip

pocket of the wide receiver. And as it relates to the depth of the Chicago Bears secondary, I like the depth at that cornerback spot for Chicago had into twenty nineteen. You go out and sign buster screen is what the Bears did. He comes over from the Jets. He has not missed a lot of games, whether in Cleveland or with the New York Jets. He's always been available to play some football. We know Sherick McManus has had the

ability to fill in at the nickel cornerback spot. Now Duke Shelley kind of being groom for that spot as well. So a lot of depth. You know that normally is somewhat you're based defense a lot of times because so much eleven personnel, one running back, one tight end, three wide receivers on the field so much for the listeners out there, that nickel kind of becomes your base defense

going into the scene, No Jim. The nagging injuries is what really followed Bryce Callahan around, and that was always difficult because some of the biggest games he had a lower body injury to show up. With Duke Shelley, it was a toe injury that's recoverable where to the point where it may never show up again. And you think about whatever size he is, one hundred and eighty pounds. He started playing as a freshman and played all the way through senior. He didn't have any physical injuries because

of the sport of football. It was more of the toe injury that you know, I'm not sure how he got it, but I'm talking about physical injuries in terms of shoulder, stingers, you know, the types of injuries that you face when you're you're making a big tackle. So I do think health consistency at that position is something they really wanted to have and was maybe one of

the deciding factors with Bryce Callahan going forward. And now he's gonna have more of an opportunity, but if that haunts him and follows him to the next team, it's always gonna be you know that question, Mark, are you gonna be ready for the biggest of games we need you for? And talk about raising the bar when you get Eddie Jackson said he one to top everything the eighty five Bears did, and Tom, you know, I threw out obviously the steel curtain in the era of the

seventies and how great their defenses were. Baltimore Ravens probably the most I think comparable to what the Bears did

in the eighty five. But the statistics are ridiculous. Sixty four sets on the season by the eighty five Bears thirty four interceptions, only gave up six rushing touchdowns, seventy four rushing first downs, only thirteen little over thirteen hundred yards rushing, one hundred and forty one passing first downs, and only twenty eight little over twenty eight hundred yards passing. Those are tough statistics to top, and I commend Eddie Jackson that they feel that they're going to try and

make a run at it. But man, it's far different in how the game's played now. With three wide receivers, that eleven personnel over twenty two thousand snaps of eleven personnel of what teams ran, that is more than double of all other personnel groupings combined in just where the game's changed. Maybe just talk about Eddie Jackson's comments and how difficult that is and how realistic it is to top some of those great defensive statistics. Five Bears. I

love Eddie Jackson. I love the confidence that he's coming into the second season, of the second season with Matt Naggey with Obviously, he's got some good teachings from his college career. He's in a professional type program down there in Alabama. But when I look at the modern day offenses.

When I look at these eighty five stats, I think it's really difficult to surpass the sixty four sacks because even if they go to the line of scrimmage and they have a pass play called, sometimes they get out of it because they know they're overwhelmed at the line of scrimmage and they're just going to try to run a play into a safety zone, whereas sometimes an old school and as a question I wanted to ask otis is about did you get the feel of teams autobowling

at the line of scrimmage? And that was at a pro or a con for them because now when you break the huddle, you break the huddle with two plays called, and then they call what they feel as best against the front they're seeing. You know, I think the next year after the sixty four sacks, the Bears went on

to have maybe seventy two. So it was that you know, that number the Bears because of the aggressiveness of their rush, the style of defense they're playing, and the limitations of the offense to get them out of some plays that were detrimental to this type of quarterback they had that we're taking the center quarterback exchange. So I think there's a lot difference of the quarterback play, there's a lot

difference in the tempo at the line of scrimmage. But you know, again, I'm glad Eddie Jackson is confidently saying that he would like to be part of a team that has the ability to surpass what those guys did statistically. Well, let's go out to the guest line. He gets some of the comments from Otis Wilson, two time All Pro as a Chicago Bear a linebacker, because Eddie Jackson, man, those are some big numbers to achieve when you look at that eighty five Bears defense. So let's welcome in

Otis Wilson to the program. Otis, Jim Millard, Tom there, thanks for taking a few moments of your day. Otis welcome, guys. How you guys doing good? Big? Oh, you know we're again. I'm confident. I'm happy that Eddie Jackson is talking about defense and play with confidence because I think that's an important thing for any team to have that confidence. So

I think it gives the offense confidence. But when you look at some of the numbers that you guys put up, you know, start specifically with sixty four sacks and thirty four interceptions when you watch football today, is the eighty five defense capable of achieving those types of numbers with a different style at the line of scrimmage? Well, you hit it on the head. I mean, the game of

football is totally different from when we played. And you know, the aggressiveness in football is totally different from when we played. And you know the style I mean, and that's basically when you're talking about a spread offense, you know, and throwing the football a lot and just really basically doing things a lot differently. You know, it would be kind of hard to do because number one, I would have to say it, you can't be aggressive, you know, you

get fine. Secondly, you know you had more running plays, um, then now you got pad more passive plays. Shouldn't been a totally different game. So I don't think, Bacon, we could have done what we're doing today. We can do then what we can do today. Yeah, And you look at it all the wide receiver screens. They get the ball out of the quarterback's hand so quickly nowadays, and a lot of it is just run after the catch.

There a lot of offenses are geared towards just getting the run after the catch, and it's kind of a fast pass happy league, is what we've seen. A you're protecting these guys so much. Yeah, you can't, you know, really, you know, you know, you can't touch a lot wide receiver after four yards or five yards. You know, I think the offense had truly had an advantage right now,

big Oal. So when you were at the line of scrimmage, were you aware of when a team was audibling against you and was that a good thing for them, a bad thing for them, or was it a good thing

for you or a bad thing. But because you know nowadays the audible is built into the terminology coming out of the huddle, back in our days, there was kind of an alert word or an alert phrase that changed the play at the line of scrimmage with terminology, What did you how did what did you feel at the line of scrimmage other teams were trying to do at

those difficult times? Well, I don't know, if you remember, Tom, we would call AFC, would matter front and cover, you know, and then we have the coverage to go along with it, depending on the set that the offense came out of. So we really never had a set defense that you know we would play. And you know, Singletary was so well versed in film watching and whatever teams did a lot of times whether they audibleed or whether they just ran to play, a lot of times he would call

out to play. We were getting adam, because we knew what they were going to run. We wanted them to run it. You know, don't call them or them might be quiet and let them go ahead and run right into what we're doing. So, to make a long story abailable,

we were doing what offenses doing today. We will call two or three different defenses and depending on what the set was, depending what they did, that's what we went into well in terms of in Tom and I just brought it up because there's so much eleven personnel being run in the NFL over twenty two thousand plays last year. Out of eleven personnel, three wide receiver sets buy offenses.

And for the listeners out there, you're normally defensively substituting out of linebacker and substituting in a nickel, So essentially you're in forty two nickel. I mean, how much can you even take us back or remember potentially how much eleven personnel you maybe saw back in eighty five. Well, you know what we really you know, we had the luxury of not interchanging our lineback as much. Number one, you know, because I would have usually run with a

tight end. Wilba was faster than I was. He can sometime run with a wide receiver because mind you, we didn't have to run but ten, ten to fifteen yards

because the ball was already gone. We allowed people to hold that football that long to wait till for play the mature, you know, so we didn't even change the I think the one mistake that we did make it if I can say anything, is in the Miami game when Buddy kept Wilba on the wide receiver, and I think Duper and Clayton, those those two guys were probably a little faster than he was. And then Marino with that three step drop. I mean, you know, he was

popping in there. So, you know, because Dicker and Buddy was going back and forth about putting a d be in there. So I think that would probably the only situation because obviously you know, three receivers now you know, linebacker wouldn't be in there. I mean, because they know, no way I'm running with a four or four or four to three or four two guys, I mean, that's

just not humanly possible. Hey, big oh. When you think about Dan Marino and his skill set and you think about Tom Brady and his skill set up today, I think they would probably tie if they ran a forty against each other, And it was difficult to get to

Marino because that style of defense. Do you see any similarities in the style of offense that Brady plays when you think about the way Marino played back in the day, You're right in saying as far as run wise, both of neither one of them you have to you know, clocked in with the calendar in the forty. But for the most part, with the receivers that Brady hads and receivers that Marino then had, I mean, those those guys

are mirror of each other. I mean they they're heading, they you know, had talent on the offensive side, and you know they both get that ball out when they need. Well. What's interesting too, is you guys back in eighty five only allowed six rushing touchdowns and probably the biggest team that runs the most eleven personnel would be the Rams. Eighty nine percent of their plays were an eleven personnel, but yet they ran the ball over five yards to

carry last year for the Rams. Do you think because it just seems like the fullback has gone away of the Dodo bird that now that is more of a running set than ever before as well. And how would you defend that? Otis? Well, that that is the key, you know, you the fullback is kind of obsolete now. I mean it turns into a tight end you know, you know, or wide big wide receivers. So but basically,

I mean, we would defend it real simple. You know, we go into the forty six and we'll make them keep players in because I mean that's what really the forty six you're designed to do. I mean, to keep a tight end in there or keep her back in there. Are you're gonna lose your quarterback. So we wanted to minimize the amount of people you're sitting out on pass.

So that'd be real simple. You know, call AFC and jump right in at forty six and you know, make them either either block somebody or you know, where league guy out of there, you know, Jim and Otis. And what's interesting about that as you think about the personnel groupings that the Rams used today. And then otis you go back to the Rams playoff game in the week before they played, you guys, Dickerson had two hundred yards rushing or something, and that was gonna be the thing.

Is they were gonna come and they were gonna run at the Chicago Bears and the big famous third and one or fourth and one stop that Singletary had against Dickerson, but their inability to run the ball. And that's the one thing I think that would translate the most from the time in eighty five even to this era with the running style that these teams would try to have and they would try to block with an undersize h back or a player that doesn't have the skills of

the old school fullbacks. And then that's the key because if you remember Tom, you know, a lot of teams when you they send Lawrence Taylor on that week's side, most of the time he was he was going against a back that was wasn't more than two hundred pounds. I mean, he outweighed him about fifty pounds. So what did everybody expect him to do? All he's got past that tackle that wasn't really a jib though, and you know that's what you do. You know, that's what we did.

We made people change their personnel and going back to the rams. Yes, you know, every they kept two tight ends and and you know I was trying to trying to deal with us that way. Well, Otis, how's the golf game, how's your summer game going along? You got the tea time set for tomorrow? You know what. I actually played the other day at Lost March with a group for the first team to help raise some money

for the young folks, and I played very well. I mean I actually hit the ball pretty decent, you know. So I'm looking forward to a good year because really we only have been having some nice weather in the last two weeks. I've been waiting for the rain leave us alone. So I'm I'll be out there and from this point on and this year, I finally enjoyed my game. I broke down and spent some money on my game,

and I'm really I'm really liking what I see. Well, Otis, can't thank you enough for your time to enjoyed the rest of your summer and get those rounds in. My friend, Well, thank you much. And you know, I think Tom was mentioning something about you know, I like to see these guys, you know, they want to compare themselves with us, and because that's the benchmark to everybody. I mean, all got those calls around Super Bowl because you know, did everybody

look at the numbers and see what we do? I mean, they can come up to half of what we did. That defense will be great. Otis Wilson, everybody. We'll be back with more Bears All Access right after this. Keep it right here, hey, everyone. The Chicago Bears Network presents

Inside the Bears, brought to you by Verizon. Anthony Adams and Lord and Screten cover the world of the Bears football, on and off the field, every Sunday night at ten thirty five pm on Fox thirty two Chicago, or watch anytime at Chicago Bears dot com or on the Bears official app our. Thanks to Otis Wilson, former Chicago Bears linebacker, those eighty five statistics were staggering sixty four sacks on

the season. Last year, two teams they were only able to achieve fifty two sacks, and that was the Kansas City Chiefs and the Pittsburgh Steelers. Bears in Vikings with fifty sex on the season's Bears got a ton of turnovers as well last year, but thirty four interceptions for the season for that eighty five group, And when you look at it, Tom, I mean, some of those numbers do seem with today's game and how it's played, that

they would be very difficult to reach. But again, you commend to Eddie Jackson, you gotta have goals, and I think they're talent enough to go out and try and reach those goals. For this twenty nineteen Bears group, you know, Jim, because of the percentage of the time that offenses are throwing the ball, is it interceptions? Is the one that can realistically get beat by a defense that is has a defensive backfield of their four or five and six dybs at times that are just their cover skills in

the matchup of the pressure of the front seven. Is that the one number that can be not that can be most tracked down. Maybe it'll never get to that, maybe it will, but you know, because when I look at that thirty four interceptions, a lot of it has to do with the type of athletes that were playing quarterback. Then when you're looking at Steve Grogan and Tony Easton and some of the quarterbacks that couldn't run away from

any of the defensive players at that time. Nowadays, when you look at Deshaun Watson, you look at Dak Prescott, and you look at just the creativity of the New Orleans quarterback, I'm just just yeah, Drew Brees, you know, just their skill sets, you know, is the sac one is going to be difficult. The timing of the offenses

is difficult. But if you get quarterbacks that are either injured and they're working into the depth of their quarterback But and that really didn't affect you know, San Francisco last year with the three quarterbacks they ran throughout the season, you know, they didn't you know, I don't. I don't know if they threw thirty four combined interception. So that's the one thing. Is that the one that's the most reachable of all the stats that we are talking about

of that era. Hey, twenty seven interceptions last year as a group. But you're right, I mean they will be facing some tough backs right away. You're going to say, Aaron Rodgers out the gate. September fifth, when the Bears line up to play the Green Bay Packers on Thursday night, they will face Drew Brees October twentieth. That'll be a

four to twenty five pm Eastern Time games. So they've got some quality quarterbacks that they'll be facing this year, and it's difficult to do, but we'll have to see how the Bears tacker. And I think the key to a time is because so many teams are running so much eleven personnel. Like I said, twenty two thousand place, that's more than double of all other personnel groupings, whether it's two tight ends twenty one, which is a two running backs, fullback in two wide receivers, it's more than

double of all other personnel groupings combined. So I do think it's difficult, but I think the key is is a lot of these teams are running the football out of eleven personnel on first and second down. I bring up the rams. You gotta believe Matt Lafleur, who's now the head coach of the Green Bay Packers, he has that same scheme that he plans on utilizing. So how much will Green Bay run the football on first and

second down out of eleven personnel? Because I think the old adage holds true if you can hold them to create third and longs Now you're cooking with gas where

you have an opportunity. So if you can stop the run out of eleven personnel and first and second down where a lot of teams have taken advantage, now you've got an opportunity to maybe eclipse those sack totals of potentially those interception totals which are close, but there's still that is a long way to go from fifty to sixty four sacks and from twenty seven to thirty four interceptions of the eighty five beris. You know, it's weird

too about today's NFL. I think there's a lot more consistency in coaching staffs back in the day when again I keep just recurrent for referring to the eighties, because you had Chuck Noll, you had Don Shula, you had Tom Landry, you had these guys that were with their organization for sometimes ten and twenty years. Now you got Bill Belichick, he's the guy that's been in New England

the longest. And now with all these coaching changes, and then you get the analytics involved, and then you get the scouting involved, you know, it's almost there's a certain there's a little bit of uncertainty within the first four weeks of a season because you don't know how La Flour is going to run his offense. You don't even know how that Chuck Pagano's going to run his defense. You don't know how Vic Fangio is going to run

both his offense and defense out in Denver. So with all these coaching changes that take place so frequently now in the NFL, that's why analytics play a role. I think in deciding what types of personality you're going to play early, and then of all of a sudden in week four you notice there's a real deficiency in a nickelback on a team, or you look at a real deficiency and the ability for a front seven to get to the quarterback. Then you start seeing game plans organized

towards the deficiencies of your opponents. Yeah, and I think when we come back TOIME, I want to focus on the division. I want to talk Detroit Lions, how they're the subtle changes that the Detroit Lions are going to be different this year. Green Bay we certainly though that's a whole new coach up there. But I think with

the acquisition of Gary Kubiak up there in Minnesota. That is going to be a great help to Kevin Stefanski, their offensive coordinator, and they got better on their offensive line. So when we come back on Bears All Access, let's talk in division, the NFC North, the Black and Blue Division. Hey, who's going to run the football? Because it sounds like the Lions they'll be first up, that's what they're gearing to do. We'll be back right after this. Welcome back

to Bears All Access. Hey, we started the show talking about the Bears. They went from worst to first in twenty eighteen. They are not going to surprise anybody. Obviously, Matt Nagy talking about that complacency would be the worst trait the Bears could have. So they've got to be ready and what to anticipate in the NFC North because you win your division, hey, you're gonna have the opportunity to make the playoffs. And you look at the Detroit Lions that they have made a lot of changes here

at this offseason. Brought in a new offensive coordinator, Daryl Bevel. Everybody knows him from his days and Seattle, and they wanted to pound the football. They suddenly have already changed much like the Bears did. With James Daniels. They took Graham Glasgow who was their center, kicked him out to guard, and now Frank Ragnow, who was a first round draft pick last year out of Arkansas, he will now be

moved into center. They go out and they signed C. J. Anderson and hope to have a healthy carry on Johnson. Then they drafted two tight ends as well, when you look at TJ. Hockinson out of Iowa, and they went came back in the seventh round and drafted Isaac Nada,

who's more of a movement tight end. Kabile a fullback h back type of that type of scenario for them, So their focus seems to be more on running the football defensively, Tom, this team did not play that bad defensively, and I know it was the first year of Matt Patricia and they ended up six and ten on the season. But the Detroit Lions, they were a top ten defense a season ago. They were playing extremely well down the

stretch defensively. But I think they're a team that plans on shifting and running the football much more would be the anticipation from the Detroit Lions. What are your thoughts on Detroit? You know, I think Detroit they had a lot of defensive back injuries, and I do think matt Patricia is a good defensive coach, and I think their

defense will get better. The one area that scares me about the Detroit Lions and where their deficiency I think will lie two young offensive lineman playing next to each other with the first time center and a slow footed quarterback. And Matthew Stafford, he's a good athlete, he's got he's

super intelligent, he's got a powerful, accurate arm. But if you give up any type of crease impact in that interior of the defense, and now you're making him be an athlete to his writers left, that's what you're taking away from him. And so I'm really interested to see how these two guys fit and form into their new interior offensive line positions. And he does run out of the shotgun a lot, and they run a lot of their running game from that standard formation out of the shotgun.

But again, I do think if you put Matthew Stafford in a position in retreat of retreat, of trying to escape, that's when you take advantage of one of his you know, deficiencies or weaknesses or however you want to say it because time is catching up with him. He's not a guy that is He's always a guy that is a not a heavy but he's a thicker quarterback and his arm strength has always been his main asset. Well, much like the Detroit Lions, green Bay kind of went in

that direction as well. Defense will remain the same under Mike Pennon and what they'll be running defensively. Offensively, it's going to be totally different. Nathaniel Hackett brought into is the offensive quitner, so the terminology doesn't change. It's a West Coast offense. But Matt Lafleur, he's a disciple of Sean McVeigh and the La Rams, So I expect a

lot of three wide personnel. But will they run the football because that seemed to be the bona contention last year in the news is that Aaron Rodgers was audibiling too many plays. So you'd like to think that Matt Laflour is going to try and get a handle on

this somewhat for the Green Bay Packers. And again, I I think there's another You know, the offensive line is going to be responsible for the success of them being able to run the ball because as quickly as you take the ball out of the Aaron Rodgers hands and handed to a running back, then you're trying to you you are putting the pressure on the upfront eyes. The biggest threat that Green Bay can pose to any defense is keeping the ball in his hands as long as

he possibly can find a target. But I don't think that's the way this system is run. I think this system is run and a timing of you call the play in the huddle, you go to the line of scrimmage with two plays, and then you have to stick with the decision of what you've called in the huddle. There's not going to be freedom for Aaron Rodgers. And when you take the freedom out of his hands and

now you put it in the feet. In the blocking ability of the offensive line, I think this offensive line has some deficiency, although there you know, I do hear compliments about it. I think as a group, they've had injuries, they have issues at the offensive tackle positions staying healthy, and man, if you don't keep Aaron Rodgers as the biggest threat behind center, then you put a little bit

more of a challenge to the offensive line. And finally, you look at the Minnesota Vikings again the changes on offense, So the Bears are going to have to keep up with how these teams. Their five game breakdown is early in the year because Minnesota with Kevin Stefanski, he's somewhat of a new play caller, but you know how they call plays offensively, certainly going to affect the Chicago Bears of what they need to be ready for going into

twenty nineteen. Well, hey, everybody, we thank you for joining us tonight on Bears All Access. We'll do it again next week training camp just around the corner. Tom As always, thanks for joining me this hour and we'll be back next week. Everyone, thanks for listening to Bears All Access. Thanks for listening to this Chicago Bears Network presentation of Bears All Access. Podcasts are available on Chicago Bears dot com and on iTunes or download the official Bears mobile app.

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