Analyzing 2023 draft options | All Access Podcast

from news radio one oh five nine WBBM. Mister Tom Bear, the Super Bowl Bear, and we're wishing you a pleasant, good evening. We've got a full show here tonight, just the two of us. Jim Miller not able to make it tonight prior commitment a time. I think we can think we can muster up an hour long show on the Bears. Can we do it tonight? Jeff? I heard that the Bears have the number one pick in the draft.

Have you do that? Because what it's amazing about this is because it's the first experience for us ever being around the first pick in the draft. When obviously you pay attention to a lot of football shows during this time of year and the playoffs and everything, and no matter what team they want to talk about, the topic always starts with the first pick in the draft. And now you're starting to see mock drafts out there from a lot of different people who are trying to capitalize

on the attention this far in advance. And it's just amazing because until they walk to the podium, unless some unbelievable, something unbelievably happens before then Goodell's going to go to the podium at at the opening of the draft and the Bears are going to be in control of that draft. Yeah, it's pretty cool now in the aftermath of what was

a fourteen lost season, But you do have draft capital here. Yes, I think one of the cool things about this year's draft, and I know this has been the last few years, if I'm not mistaken, but they have these drafts, similar simulators that you can go on some of the different platforms and you can punch in, you know, all the scenarios,

make your draft selections, make trades. So you're getting people doing this and putting it out on Twitter, which you're not on, and you're seeing all the Some people are saying trade down more than once, a mass as many picks as possible, a mass picks for twenty twenty four

and twenty twenty five in the first round. Just really, it's it's a fun time if you're a football fan, because this is fantasy football, and it's fantasy football steroidal right now with the draft, because the Bears have such draft capital. The name that keeps coming up if they were to keep that pick or even turned down most people, and it could be fans, it could be the experts. They're looking at Jailen Carter, the defensive tackle from Georgia

at number one. Yeah, you know, the thing to me is if I look at a player from that position, how many effective snaps a game are you giving me? Because we've seen guys come through the Bears train of defensive tackles and there's been guys that have been able to play multiple snap apps per game, and then there's been guys that were darn good what we're playing a

limited amount of snaps per game. So when you're talking about a guy like Jalen Carter, the first pick in the draft, who's gonna be a defensive game changer four year staff and for what your philosophical thinking is right now, Um, you know I would just you know, analytically, how many snaps are you giving? How many effective snaps a game? Are you giving me? What do you want? Um? I mean,

are you considering him a pass rusher? Are you considering him a first and down offensive our defensive lineman to stop the run? You know you've better give me, you know, thirty eight snaps a game of impressive football play. If you can give me that, then you are you are a game changer in a scheme changer. All right, Let's let's break it down a little bit. Because in twenty twenty as a freshman, played ten games two hundred eighty

seven snaps. Is a sophomore in twenty twenty one played in all fifteen games three hundred ninety six snaps, and then this past season ten games because he missed five with an MCO three hundred eight snaps. He had eighteen tackles, He had a twenty five total pressures, five quarterback hits,

and three sacks. So this is what you're talking about, because at Georgia, even on the offense side of that, they rotate in a lot of guys, right, you know, but two is you know, is he the type of guy that every time they break the huddle defensively speaking for the Bears, and are they as the offensive line and the protection gonna be, you know, concentrating everything on making sure identify where he is. Does he line up on one spot? Does he like to pick and choose?

Does he like to pick on the worst pass protector on you know, the opponent's offensive line. So you know, you play against guys like that during the course of your career that because of the protection, the direction you want to go, you got to locate him and then you got to make some calls go into the line of scrimmage. Well, you look at his length and his size and the space that he eats. He's got to lead quickness and agility and a really good get off

at the line of scrimmage. And you're thinking about Matt Eberflus's defense and Alan Williams and what kind of size that they had in Indianapolis at the inside position. Obviously three technique is the critical aspect of things. But you know, you get a defensive lineman from the interior like that, and as a guard to yourself, you know what that means.

That's a quick quicker steps to the quarterback from the interior position, which can collapse and force the quarterback to move to either side and get your ends to take care of business. It'll be interesting to see where they go here and what kind of player, because they need both inside and they need edge rushers. You know what else, if you take a guy on the interior like that and he's great, every snap he goes with the line of scrimmage, every time, they know what hand the center

is gonna snap the ball with. Now, if you've got a center that's thinking about, wow, i gotta get this snap up quick because the defensive lineman's gonna be into me so fast I'm not gonna have any power. Then the next thing you know, I'm gonna be in the

lap of the quarterback. So two is you know when you have a guy like that, and how much if he affects multiple thinking in if he's a great player from the offensive coordinator to the center, the center, quarterback, exchange to the quarterback, how much time he has and then the direction of the protection that they've called in

the huddle. Well, you know, we played Kansas City a couple of years ago, so him in preseason obviously not the same analysis, but watching Chris Jones play and moving him on the outside, the way he angles and attacks the guard position, I want somebody like that certainly to be as disruptive as possible. Even if he's not getting home, he's causing a lot of problems for your offer, right. And you know you have Clark and green Bay also,

who's a heck of a defensive tackle. And he's a guy that single handedly can slow down the running game from the inside shoulder of each offensive guard. And when you can take up and command that much space, your linebackers, your defensive ends, everybody's gonna play better because of it.

And I know there's a lot of emphasis on the role of the three technique defensive tackle in this type of scheme, but you have a guy that's overwhelmingly dominating over the center position that makes your three technique tackle even better. So, non playoff teams like the Bears, they've been in the bunker. They've been in the bunker already after that end of season news conference. Ryan Bowles and his crew are in it now looking at free agency,

getting ready for the draft. You got the scouts at the All Star Games, the free agent plan being formulated, and you watch conference playoff games this weekend, so you get a head start. But you'd rather be in those games San Francisco at Philly, Kansas City hosting Cincinnati. You'd rather be doing playoff prep today rather than roster prep. But this is the hand you're dealt, and the Bears are in a prime position to really do some damage. And I can't wait to see it all unfold. It's

not all gonna happen at once. We keep touching on that it's not all gonna but this this should be a markedly improved roster in twenty twenty three. Well, you know, you gotta look at the two teams in the NFC. You know, the San Francisco in Philly, the Bears beat the San Francisco forty nine ers, and I know that they were starting an inexperienced quarterback in a deluge of a rainstorm that day, but the Bears were still able to do And then they took it right down to

the fourth quarter when they played the Philadelphia Eagles. So there's somewhere that you've got to start convincing yourself you're not a law You're not a long way away from where these teams are when you look at what you're able to do, and then you think about the San Francisco forty nine ers, are they the and I don't mean any disrespect the Trey Lance, but are these guys

the luckiest team in the NFL? Because they convinced themselves that Trey Lance was the starting quarterback at the beginning of the year so much that they ignored Jimmy Garoppolo. And then immediately when Trey Lance was injured, Jimmy came in as the savior and then they were injured. And now because and I hate that term that because I think it's disrespectful when you say, mister irrelevant. It's just that Brock, he happens to be the last player allowed

to be picked in the draft. And you see how great of a player he's become. They had not that he's become. How great of a player that he is. Oh, he's efficient, He's just efficient, and he knows what he's doing. He can read the field, and uh, he believes in himself. That's first and foremost. He's not out there scared at one bit the poise of this quarterback. And I know things like this aggravate you they the Trey lance probably aggravates you, but but he did get hurt as the season,

you know. And then the New York Jets quarterback boy Zachy Trey getting injured as part of the game. But the whole Zach Wilson thing where you know, you've been scouted and they've had spent hundreds of thousands and dollars and determined that he's the number two pick and all the NFL draft and they never paid any attention to party.

I you know, well, you know, and this is the problem with quarterbacks many This why some are gonna drive up in this draft, you would think, because there doesn't seem to be a star studded list, but I think some will. Somebody's gonna fall in love with somebody and that happens. It's it's like a beautiful woman, big Tom. You know that the quarterback position you just and you know how many times you've been in love. You're a little heartbreaker, all right, Tom? There? Jeff Jonah Yack here

on Bears All Access. Thanks to our producer Tonight, Adam Stezinski in the score studios, Dan Brilli and Jordan Treadop helping us out as well. We'll take our first break. This is Bears All Access, brought to you by IGS Energy on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy to score. Welcome back everybody to Bears All Access. We're brought to you by IGS Energy. Choose clean energy for your home at IGS dot com because every good choice adds up to a better world. Jeff and Tom with you tonight. It's

a no guest night. It's just us for the whole hour, So welcome back and thanks for listening tonight on a snowy Wednesday, I'm many inches you get over there and Juliet big time, ah about five? Yeah, you shovel or did you let it? Just gonna let him melt? Shoveled and you know, pitched into some neighbors houses around the block, and uh, you know that's what we do here. You are America's good guy. You are helping helping everybody in your in your great town of Julie. I love that.

I Unfortunately didn't get my Sarry rear Wren out there to do even the sidewalk, so I need to get on that though, that's for sure. But a little more snow coming on the weekend when we'll be camped out watching conference playoff games, and I wanted to talk about this and take you down memory lane a little bit because your conference final games, obviously the very first one you were in, you guys made the made the big game, big game win over the Rams. You shut them out.

January twelfth, nineteen eighty six. After at twenty one, nothing went over the Giants. You go up ten zip. Then Willie Golf got a twenty two yard touchdown from Jim McMahon. And by the way, congratulations Jim mcmanhy's a new grandpa. Did you see that. Yeah, his youngest son, Zach had a baby. Yeah. His ex wife Nancy sent me some pictures. You know. So that's your version of social media, is

the ex wives sending you pictures. Because I saw it on Twitter and it looks Jim McMahon holding that baby. That was beautiful. I love see. I grew up really close to those guys when we all played for the Bear, so I spent a lot of time with all of his kids, and I still have a great friendship with all of them. But anyway, so let's go back and talk about that, because you guys clearly dominated that game.

It was It was a complete and the score may have only been twenty four nothing, but that was complete dominance against the La Rams. What do you remember about the preparation for that game? And in the end result obviously was a beauty wilbur finished it off in the snow and a fifty two yard fumble returned touchdown. You know what, you know what was their point of ehesus offensively speaking, And that's kind of what your challenge is

on our side of the ball. So you think if you have Eric Dickerson on one side and he got Walter Payton on the other, So now it's our Our goal is to make sure that we make sure the running game is as important as it's been up until that point in the season. And that's first and foremost. The role of the offense is to have a time consumption offense that gets a lot of rushing yards and then as complimented by the passing game and then McMahon

calling some audibles. I think I think he might have audible and a lot of scrimmage and ran in for a touchdown too. So you know, back in those days, it was probably more boring preparation because we are going over the exact same running plays that we inserted day one of the season and it was down to playoff time. Oh you guys ran at thirty three for ninety one yards, So it wasn't that's awful. Yeah, I'm just telling you what happened. Yeah, what were you expecting against that Rams defense?

You know, I was hoping that we would have, you know, in the high one hundreds in terms of rushing. But thirty three carries, that's just a time can assuming right? You guys own the clock you had. You had about a ten minute advantage on the clock. And I love just going back because I wanted to know, like the story behind the story here in that game. But the

defense shut them down. I mean, they did run for eighty six yards, but would he do sixty six passing yards on ten completions in that game for dieter Brock. Tell me a story about the dieter Brock experience. Dieter Brock was just a little guy who was using an offense that Eric Dickerson was their key to success. And if you go back and you look at their other play you know, the outskirt players and the receivers and the tight ends, there wasn't any you know, guys, you

know all pros. I don't think of the team at that point, and Dieter had no escapability. There was no way that he was going to run away from the defensive pressure that Buddy Ryan was gonna put on him. But I think it was always it might have been a fourth and one where they were going to run the ball with Eric Dickerson and my Singletary met him directly in the whole. It could have had a third one.

I thought it was a fourth and one though, because it was a play that they still play on all the marquee plays of a middle linebacker making a big play against a big player, and yeah Singletary against Eric Dickerson, it was just a great play, right, and Les Fraser had an interception in that one. And he is a coaching candidate again, should he so get some interviews now that the Bills are out, and at sixty three, still would like to see him get another crack at it.

So let's now take it to nineteen eighty eight. That one didn't go so well. Obviously you lost to the forty nine ers Montana de Rice twice. John Frank, who I believe now is as a dentist, Is that right, doctor okay, third quarter he scored a touchdown. It was zero winschill twenty degrees and I remember being in the locker room covering that after and guys were still cold.

But it wasn't It didn't go well, Big Tom, What do you remember about the preparation for that taking on that Bill Walsh led San Francisco forty nine, getting suckered into the pregame hype that just because that they were coming to Soldier Field and the conditions were going to be so awful, that they were coming into bare weather, and it was almost like they were just going to come in here, lay down, and we are going to beat them like we had the success during the course

of the season, then go on to the Super Bowl. That was our plan. Unfortunately, San Francisco they didn't cooperate because they had a great team, they had a great coach, they had explosiveness, they had a great defense. You know, earlier in the year we played them on Monday Night football at Soldier Field and we only beat him ten

to nine. So it wasn't like we were rolling into that conference championship game flying high because we you know, we beat them earlier in the year and that was probably one of the more physical games that I played in in my career. That that ten to nine game. Well, they had some pro bowlers there, remember Michael Carter. Oh yeah, medalist, silver medalist, and the Olympics first shot put Charles Haley at outside linebacker. Saw what he was at the NFC

Divisional game last weekend and uh, looking good. He had eleven and a half sacks that year. I remember defensive end by named Larry Roberts. Oh, yeah, of course, Yeah, you remember all these guys. Yeah, do you remember anything

about your own preparation for these conference championships? Um, you know two different times, you know, at this at the beginning, at the first year that I was with the Bears, that we were getting ready for the NFC championship game, I was kind of following in the jet dust of what these guys have already started in nineteen eighty four, and I was just trying to hang on and keep up and contribute, which was expected of me because of

what happened in eighty four. And I became just familiar with you know, the ID home and everything, and you know how determined these guys were when they did get beat by San Francisco to come back and have a big year. And so that was my experience in that

round of the playoffs. And then, like I said, we kind of got suckered into thinking that we are going to win the game against San Francisco the second time around, because we did beat him in a physical game during the course of the year, but weather and conditions and everything kind of you know, we were sold on the fact that they were going to come in and collapse

because of the temperature. And your group did not go back to another conference championship game and not another one for the Bears until the two thousand and six conference championship win over the New Orleans Saints at Soldier Field. I'm sure it's still aggravates you to this day. In any game I've ever played at in my entire career, losing that NFC championship game at home again to San Francisco forty nine ers is the one that's left the most indelible mark of any game. And listen, I lost

four times against US in college. I got beat in the Sugar Bowl for the National Championship game, I got beat in the USFL Championship game. I've been beat in games that I know the impact and how much they mean to a team, But losing that San Francisco game that haunts me worse than any game I've ever been around. Who beat you in the USFL championship game Philadelphia Stars O N Jim Morris senior Calvin Bryant was a great running back. Might have been Chuck Fusina the quarterback. There's

interesting USFL getting started up again in April. I believe, yes, it is all right. We're gonna take another break down there. Jeff Joni here on Bears All Access will take a look at it's some of the interesting nuggets about what's going on in the league in terms of coaches, who's going where. We'll touch on some of the all star games and look at some of the awards that will be given out on February ninth, including Coach of the Year finalists and MVP finalists. This is Bears All Access.

It's brought to you by IGSN Gian Chicago Sports Radio six seventy the Score. Yes, this segment of Bears All Access was brought to you by Athletico Physical Therapy. Visit Athletico dot com to requested employment in clinic or virtually and start feeling better tomorrow. Jeff Joni act Tom there here on Bears All Access. Adam Stadzinski is our producer tonight in the score Studios. Appreciate you being alongside Tom.

I was watching and digging into some of this draft coverage now, just getting ready the initial stages of getting ready for what is a lot of research for the next several weeks and months before the draft. And one of the best ones is the job that Dane Brogler of the Athletic puts together. It's called the Beast. It's so it's so much information. I don't know how one man could put that all together, but it was just looking at you know what some of the top picks

are going to be put. Edge rusher is the top position in this year's class as of right now, and a difficult position to kind of rank in terms because teams want different types of guys, but edge rusher and then corner and tight end. So when you look at the Bears, obviously every position is up for an improvement, right, That's the way you got to look at it. So and I like what Ryan Pole said at this season ender,

He's gonna focus on value in the draft. So no matter what you gotta focus on value and make sure that you're getting the right guy for your team based on value. And you're not just picking everybody's a top favorite guys. You're the value picks because guys are gonna fall and rise based on whatever everybody else wants. And that is a smart approach, and that has to be the approach. But I think, Jeff, that's the same thing I brought up when we talked about Jalen Carter. Value

is how many snaps are you giving me? I think there's value in the aisle the beholder. You say, Okay, I'm gonna go out there and evaluate this edge rusher. He's got explosiveness off the line of scrimmage like I've never seen out of two to three guys I've come across in this league, and his explosiveness is so dominant. That's the one trait you need to have in order to be an edge rusher. If you think you're gonna

be a slow edge rusher, it's not gonna happen. So that's what you have to go out and you look at the value of what they offer you, determining upon competitive position. But when you talk about Carter, I've seen him. Man, he can do everything great. He's as dominant as a player as there been at his level. That's gonna carry his talents to the next level. But you got to make sure. And it kind of seems to me that he's on that trajectory when you talk about the number

of snaps, he's increased every year during his career. So, like you said, whether you're looking at a tight end, cornerback, or edge rusher, there's gonna be one dominant trade that you need to see out of every one of these positions, and do they present that to you first? All right? He also has ten corners in his top seventy five picks, and he graded five tight ends top fifty players overall, which he says is rare. So if you're looking to add another tight end to the mix for the Bears,

what kind of tight end are you looking for? You know, give me another coal, you know, give me a guy that's can be a playmaker on the edge, that's a good in line blocker, that has instincts that are developing throughout his career. I don't think I'm gonna go and say, okay, now I need to have this six one, two hundred and forty pound tight end to split him out wide. Listen, I need a group of tight ends that are willing, a capable of play and everything that's asked of the

tight end position on this team. And I think every tight end on this team this year was capable of doing that same thing, because I don't want you to bring in a tight end that, yeah, he's got a trait, but he's only really good at one thing, and that's splitting him out wide on third and long to try to get a mismask mismatch coverage, because when I looked at it, you know, Day Montgomery, Khalil Herbert and the running back and the running game philosophy here is still

one of the main points of desire. Would you rather let let me put it to you this way? Put your personnel cap on play GM for a minute. What are you doing free agency by position versus draft? Do you care what side of the ball you're working on on that free agent side versus the draft? You know, So when Ryan Pace brought in Riley Reef and Michael Scofield, and I looked at him the first couple of days on the field, I was really wasn't so sure that

these guys could even play anymore. But both of them proved over a period of time of being on the practice field that they could. So if Ryan pace fields and all of his background as an offensive lineman, there's a young offensive lineman that's out there that's gonna be a plugging day one starter when you go and you spend that money on him. But he's got a career

that's gonna last another five or six years. And so at the late stages that he brought in Michael Schofield and Riley Reef, that's what he was able to bring in at that point. But if you're out ahead of this thing and Ryan really feels that he can identify an immediate starter on the offensive line, whatever position he thinks is the most important, then I respect his decision

making in the offensive linement. He brought a board the free agents and the rookies that he drafted, So right there, if there's a guy that you want to spend money on a free agency, I would allow him. I would wish he would do that. You know a lot of folks are and I see it almost every day, looking to maybe make a trade for arizonas Hopkins, the wide

receiver is that something that would interest you. It would, but you know the thing about it is it would interest me because he's a dynamic player, and he's got the type of speed and if he could develop a relationship with a quarterback, I think he could contribute a lot to your offense. However, when I'm talking to a free agent that's moving on for his third time, I need to have eye contact with him. I need to have a conversation in the room so I could judge

the importance that football plays in his life. And you could do that by having a conversation. You can have those types of indicators. You can ask the types of questions that you immediately know what answer you want to hear. So he would be hard not to have interest in. But I'm not gonna go and immediately put him, you know, at the top of my payroll. He is thirty, will be thirty one by the season opener, so I'm looking more in the twenty six, twenty seven, twenty five year

old range for guys in free agency. So I want him here, like your building, So I want him here right Well, that's kind of like my thinking philosophy for what I would would hope Ryan would have when you're looking at offensive lineman, you're not looking into to bring in a thirty something. You're looking to bring in a twenty something that all of a sudden, he played so well he gets rewarded with this contract because he's in

some type of unique situation on his team. And then Ryan goes and makes a decision there and from day one he comes here for Chris Morgan the offensive line

at OTAs and he's in place. All right, I told you this earlier this week because you are not on Twitter or any of the social platforms, but Braxton Jones named to Pro Football Writers Association of America All Rookie Team at left tackle, the only guy of the Bears to play every snap, one of the few guys in the league to play every snap, outstanding honor and given the growing pains of that position. As a fifth round I think that's pretty solid of a review by the

experts out there. Oh no kidding, you know, Jeff, I hope in ten years from now, we're having a conversation about Braxton Jones and we're saying, there, look at this guy. Remember him as a rookie, when he was that tall, skinny, underdeveloped player that was able to survive on athleticism and coaching alone. And now look what this guy has grown into. That's I hope for Braxton because he's not going to be able to survive on his skills only at this level.

He has to increase his skills fundamentally technique and inside the weight room. And if he's willing to make that type of dedication, you know, I hope in ten years we're talking about a lifelong you know, Pro Bowl, all pro career, Pro Bowl. Don't get me started yet, get me started. I won't get you started on that. I won't even touch it. Also, I got to give a shout out to Jaquon Brisker. I know he cares a lot about being great, he cares a lot about his day to day and he wants to be the man

back there in that secondary. But he doesn't forget where he came from. So today on Twitter he sends out to thank you. Six years ago today, my guy, Mark Duda, the head coach at Lakawana Junior College, came to his high school, gave me a chance. He got in all capital letters, a special one from the city. Appreciate coach till this day for that one of the best decisions I've made in my life. Thank you for everything. Coach

tells me a lot about the man right there. If you remember the people who got you where you are right now, and maybe you were headed down a wrong path. Yeah, it was a Duda told him this was his last chance, like this was going to be it Lakawana, was it you gotta And then he found himself grade wise and qualifying wise to get to Penn State and be a second round pick of the Bears. You know, it's amazing.

So earlier in the day, I was going to ask you a question, is I was gonna say this far in advance of the draft, is there any positions on the Bears that you do not have to look at? I would say no, no, okay. So to me, I was thinking, if I had a position and I wouldn't have my first choice, I would be running back. I don't need to go out there in draft the running back.

If I got David and I have Khalil, Okay, Well, you don't know if you're gonna have d right, And so I'm just saying that, you know, if I had them in place, I would I would be okay there in the biggest change of the course of the season has been the defensive backfield. And that's why I'm bringing it up because of Jiquan Brisker and then Kyler Gordon and then where Jalen's at in terms of his career. The defensive backfield and all the guys they had they got a chance to play during the course of the

year that they have in game evaluations from. They're not trying to make a determination of their future just by you know, a hope that they continue to grow. So defensive backfield with Jiquon and because of guys like Jiquan and Kyler, it's probably be my most second and confident position at the end of the year. All right, stick around. That's Tom Fair. I'm Jeff Joniak, and this is Bears All Access with producer Adam Stadzinski from the Score or

brought to you by IGS Energy back with Mornimum. This segment of Bears All Access is brought to you by c d W People to get it with Tom Thayer, I'm Jeff Joniak. Welcome in to the program. A couple of segments to go, will preview the conference championships. In our final segment. First of all, you got the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl coming up on Saturday, the East West Shrine Game coming up in a while, and then the Senior Bowl. Tom, Do you do you enjoy watching these? Do you tape

them and watch him? It's it's hard because you're not getting the actual coaches tape on these. But is this something that you do take a gander at as you prepare for your little draft analysis. Oh? No, I love watching them. I actually do because I kind of think back to my experiences when I went to these types of when I went to these types of All Star games. Sorry, so and Jeff, let me tell you a funny story.

So when I went to the All Star Game, I went to the Hula Bowl out in Hawaii and we stayed at the Sheridan surf Rider, which is a hotel righting wyki Key Beach. When you enter the sharedan Surfrider, there's this grand set of stairs that kind of bring you up into the lobby and it overlooks the Pacific Ocean there wyk Key Beach. So when I was getting there, and there was no regulation of the agents at that time, when we walked in after we got off the butt,

the flight to get us to the hotel. There was agents sitting on every stair with their cards in their hand and trying to like give you money or give you try to set up a meeting, get a conversation, try to get you off into distraction, to try to start selling themselves to you. And it was like that was my first exposure to it because at Notre Dame they didn't allow that to happen. So we come off the buses and the more popular guys in the football team they kind of knew what was going on, and

so I get a kick out of it. So but my memory does go back to the game itself. When I went to the Hula Bowl. Jackie Sheryl, who was the head coach of pitt who was getting ready to take the Texan A, A and M job, was our coach, and he said, came to us today and we are going through the playbook the first day and he goes, well, man, we have Dan Marino, we have Willie Galt, and we had a couple of I goes, we're not going to

run the ball very much Saturday. We are gonna throw the ball, as you know often, and we did, and that's what we did. We threw the ball. But you know, these guys that have the different experiences at these All Star Games, to me, it was a big thrill every time I got to meet or really see in person guys that I was reading about and studying, and you know, hearing about how great their careers have been. In nineteen eighty three Bowl, Yes, so what else did you play? Nothing?

I was supposed to go from the Hula Bowl to the Japan Bowl, which most guys did. At that point where I was kind of burned out, I knew I had three combines to get ready for. So I just I pulled the plug and went back to school and got ready for the combines. Yeah, I'm looking at so Jimbo was on that team, obviously. I'm just looking at the roster now and think about this because a lot of these names you've never heard of ever again, But Jimbo.

Dave Dressler from North Carolina, Yes, yes, second round draft choice of the Green Bay Packers. He's the guy that I'm always bitter against because I should have been drafted ahead of Dave and Tom Piett center from Michigan State. I mean, I don't even know some of these guys. Tim Crumry was on that team. Yes from uh oh, Dave Dewerson, yes, uh, Gary Kubiak, Interesting Dickerson, Roger craig Man.

There was some names here, Buddy, Dave Remington, Bruce Matthews, Don Mosebar ye oh my gosh, yeah, some good ones. And Dan dan Marino was backed up by what quarterback? Gary Mike Hohensey, Oh, Michael, Yes, yes, you're right, you're right, Mike, yeah, out of University of Minnesota. All right. So that's that aspect of things. And this is the Falling in Love season two because you see some of these games and the week of practice is more important than the games, honestly. Yeah,

the Senior Bowl, all the scouts leave on Friday. They don't even wait for the game to watch the tape later. But it's the practices, the one on one matchups in the game, and you start seeing guys and you start to fall in love. So when the shows in weeks to come, you know, you know, I'm coming strong on somebody. Yeah, I mean it's usually it's usually the tiny but mighty guys like Antoine Winfield Junior that I love from Tampa Bay. It'll be a dB or something slight tight end. Yes, yes,

a slight tight end. No. I I do fall in love with defensive backs for some reason. Uh and uh I like running backs. I do like running backs. Those are those are the kind of the guys I start falling in love with. All right, So coaching openings, Denver has has yet to ask for a second interview with Sean Payton, but you know they got a bunch of guys on their radar right now. Arizona, same story, Carolina. Steve Wilkes had two interviews already. Frank Reik had a

second interview today. Reportedly Kellen Moore, the Dallas defensive excum the offensive coordinator, gonna get an interview there as well. Those are the names that you're hearing about right now. Dan Quinn will certainly be, Jonathan Gannon certainly will be the defensive coordinator at Philadelphia, just to name a few. You tuned into any of that, what's your opinion? Well, I'm I see I like Damiko Ryans, I like defensive coordinator of San Francisco, But now I'm kind of worried.

Is he caught up in a Robert Sala type of the process of thinking that this guy is ready to be a head coach because he's coaching for a dominant offense and sometimes now the style about defense or playing is getting credit because they are playing with the time consuming, high scoring offense that they get to run against. So but I liked Miko Rhymes a lot. I think he's done a great job there, and I think the personality of the defense is really similar to the style of

player he was. So you know, he's a guy that hasn't been into this coaching carousel and another retread who I would love to see him get his head coaching opportunity. HI. Coach of the Year candidates, you got Brian day Ball, Kyle Shanahan, Nick Sirianni, Sean McDermott, Doug Peterson. Thoughts no Dan Campbell on that list, but I'm certain he'd get some votes if he were. These will be announced that

February ninth. Who would you go with? Um? I really like what Doug Peterson did, only because of the trash heap they were during the whole experience they had with your Ohio State guy. I can't remember his name, you know, the last I didn't think he wanted to mention his name. So no, no, no, no, I'm sorry, just it's kind

of forgotten about. But the trash heap where the Jacksonville Jaguars were at the end of last year, and you know, they had an interim head coach who really wanted to keep the job, but then they try to go they went completely on a different lane and picked Doug Peterson, who's had success, but he's been doing an unbelievable job with Trevor Simeon and Trevor Simeon, Trevor Lawrence and what his future is gonna be and Doug is you know, he's a heck of a football guy. All right. How

about MVP. You got the four quarterbacks and Justin Jefferson, So Joe Burrow, Patrick Mahomes, Jalen Hurts, Josh Allen and Justin Jefferson. You know, it's hard to go away from steer away from Patrick Mahomes. And I know he's got a lot of talent around him and they have a comfortable offense that has been built around him. However, is built around him because he's got a lot of great skills and talents and innatability to do things that you

don't necessarily practice. And with his teammates being aware of what his skills are peripety and downfield. You know, they stay alert and so to me, I like what Patrick Mahomes has been able to do. But I tell you, Joe Burrow, he really took a step forward in that Buffalo game too. I mean he's nipping at the heels of Patrick Mahomes. And I'm not gonna go through the whole list, but Brock Purty, my Iowa State guy, is a finalist for NFC excuse me for Offensive Rookie of

the Year playing seven games with the playoffs included. But would that would that be okay with you to give him that honor not playing a full season. Finally, you know it's it's because you know the other guy is the who's the other Kenneth Walker? Yeah, the run of that Kenneth Walker. And then m Garrett Wilson from the Jamil Walker. When we went out to Seattle at the start of the year, he had an injury so he

didn't get to play. And I was excited to see him because he had an explosive year at Michigan State. But when you look at the quarterback, especially the third team quarterback, and you're really not getting any yable reps really until you start becoming number two and then you're gonna get four or five a week. So considering what brock Purty has been able to do, making sure that he prepared himself in all the coaching time that he got from the coaches, that's all good and well, but

it's about personal preparation that got brock Purdy ready. Defensive Rookie of the Year, Sauce Gardner, the Jets, Aiden Hutchinson, Lyons, Terek wooland the corner of the Big six four corner Seattle, where you going? I'm telling you, Aiden Hutchinson, he did better than what I thought he was going to be able to do. I thought he was a little long. But he plays inspired football. He allows his teammates to feed off of them. He plays on both ends of

the line of scrimmage. He's got instincts for interceptions, but he can still get sacked. So I like what Hutchinson has done. But Sauce Gardner, here's a guy. Man. You may have one of the top corners in the na Football League for the next ten or twelve years, and if you hook into one of those guys and now you're really only responsible for three quarters of the field against the less than best receiver on the team that

can do a lot for you. All right. Gotta compliment the work of former Bear tight end Greg Olsen on the The Fox Crew with Kevin Burkhardt, the number one crew they got the NFC Championship game coming up on Sunday at on Fox. Does a really good job. Tom from A's just a slightly removed from playing. He's worked at it, clearly. He teaches the game well, from the little things to the big things. I actually texted him on Monday about the job he did because I think

he's doing an outstanding job. He's you know, he's not. There's nothing about it that speaks of anything then less than one hundred percent participation in getting ready to do this in a in a way that he does it at a very very high level. What do you think, Well, you're you're lucky I didn't have that head of hair or else. I don't know if you and I would be doing this show right, Yes, right, you're not pretty enough for television? Is that what you're telling me? Greg

has done a great job, he really has. He's been done a great transformation from being a player to being a broadcaster, and I think because of the time and the preparation you put in it as an offensive player, especially the tight end position, because you have to know every wide receiver position, every offensive line and blocking position, and you have to know every responsibility of the running backs. And so Greg is really capitalized on his study habits,

and I believe the son of a football coach. So that helps to get you set right away learning the game. All right, one more segment to go. We'll preview the conference championship games and from a Bears perspective, actually, we'll take a look at that with Tom in our final segment here on Bears All Access, brought to you by IGS Energy on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy. The score. You're one of the lucky ones. You were born a Bears fan. Your Sunday best is always blue and orange.

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called three one two Connies. An order today. Traveling to an away game to watch the Bears win big, get ready to celebrate, celebrated a little too much time to sleep in, slept in, and gotta miss that flight home. Time to change your flight without paying change fees thanks to United. So when will you worry about getting back tomorrow? Maybe? United Proud to fly the Chicago Bears does not include basic economy unless the United waver applies. Exceptions apply for

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year total sales. It's game time. But before Terry can enjoy his Brody's got one last thing to digest and impending work deadline. Luckily, cd whups Terry and his team make big plays from anywhere, even the tailgate. By preconfiguring Lenovo thing pants with the Intel Evil platform with business class performance and effortless connectivity, Terry tosses over the files and she's got damn. Glenovo makes seamless productivity possible. CDW

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Conference Championship Games. Condolences to the lim Bramer's family. The radio legend at WXRT certainly a part of the soundtrack of our lives in this city, and the reaction from the entire community longtime veteran radio folks to listeners of all ages, has been at once compelling and so sincere and a real testament to who he was and just

how cool he was. Tom and sports fan. I kind of think about some of these guys and how long they've been around, and the history and the traditions Amy to Chicago because he was a part of Chicago radio. When you pressed the button to get to his station, you know, back in the old days when we get drive our mom and dad car for the first time and AM and FM and you'd pressed the button and according to the station and you know, Lynn Man, he's a he's a staple of the Chicagoland community, and he's

a guy. When you talk about the radio business, you only have to use one name, either his first name or his last name, and you know exactly who you're talking about, right, everybody's best friend. That's that's how that's how I was. You know, he had me on during the Super Bowl run on XRT to talk about the Bears, and he coined this for me, and I will never

forget it. He finished the interview by saying, Jeff Joniac calling it like he's loving it, and I do, and that was that's an accurate description of my love of play by play of the Chicago Bears in the National Football League. All Right, So you know, condolences again, and certainly he will be missed, and his sports fandom in this town, certainly for the Cubs and and all these teams really profound. So it's a loss, no question about it.

Conference Championship Games forty nine Ers looking to become the fourth team in the past ten years to lead the NFL in total defense and make the Super Bowl in the same year, I believe it or not. Only Seattle and Denver had done it during that time. That's roy I'm leaning towards here, even though it's a road tilt at Philadelphia time with the seventh round rookie quarterback, and not that the Eagles aren't, you know, going to be a difficult opponent in that place, but there's something about

the forty nine ers and their attitude. I know the Eagles are a sack machine and they got a terrific quarterback right now and hurts, but I'm leaning towards the forty nine Ers for that reason. Of a balance football team, where are you? I'm gonna go with the Philadelphia Eagles. They're the most balanced football team in the NFL that's

left in the playoffs. And back when we played him in the thirteenth game of the year, I had Doug make a comparison of numbers between the Philadelphia Eagles that were twelve and one and US eighty five Chicago Bears who were twelve and one at the time, and the numbers were super comparative, and it was the most confident football team that I ever walked out of the locker room within my life. And I think Philly is gonna be the same way. Purdy doesn't make horrific mistakes, but

Jalen Hurtz can make game changing plays. How crazy is this the Eagles have? Now, this is from Babe Laffenberg, the analyst for the Dallas Cowboy Radio network. In the former quarterback, the Eagles have now made seven NFC title games since the Cowboys last NFC championship game. Yikes, right, that's a yikes. That's an ouch for sure. Okay, now let's look at Cincinnati. Zach Taylor's done a tremendous job.

He'll be the third head coach in NFL history to pear in two Super Bowls within his first four years, joining Hall of Famer Joe Gibbs and future Hall of Famer Mike Tomlin. If they can pull it off with Joe Burrow taking their act to Kansas City, they've beating the Chiefs three straight times. Tommy, Yeah, you know, everything that's going to be talked about leading up to this game is going to be the two to quarterback positions.

But I think you should talk about the two defensive lines because when you look at Trey Hendrickson and Sam Hubbard, what they need to do from the outside and containing a hobbled Patrick Mahomes. That can change the entirety of this other offense because a couple of years ago, when Tampa Bay beat him and they got Mahomes into a consistent back pedal, I would, first of all, I'd have to test his least favorite escapability with a bad ankle, and then I would attack repeatedly from that side and

push him into his uncomfort uncomfort zone. And then you talk about Chris Jones and Kansas City. That's a great defensive line well, Bengals defensive quartering in lew a room all getting a lot of attention. He mixes it off, he makes you think, and he keeps it simple. And one final note before we go, Travis Kelsey has played in sixteen playoff games. That's a full season. Well, it will be a seventeenth game when he plays on Sunday. But one hundred twenty catches, thirteen hundred nine yards and

fourteen touchdowns in the playoffs. That man is nasty good. That's a full season for somebody at a high level. He's done it in playoff games. So a guy to watch. Tom, You did a great job tonight, buddy. Don't be looking for any of those skinny tight ends now at the Senior ball. That's Tom Fair. Thanks to Adams Todisky here at the score, Dan Brilli and Jordan tread up as well. Gabra Mira is coming up next. This has been Bears All Access, brought to you by IGS Energy on Chicago

Sports Radio six seventy of the score. Good night, everybody, Thanks for listening to this Chicago Bears Network presentation of Bears All Access. Pod hasts are available on Chicago Bears dot com and on iTunes, or download the official Bears mobile app. Bears All Access has been brought to you by IGS Energy and sponsored by Miller Lite