Welcome in to Bears Weekly, powered by IGS Energy, a Chicago Bears network production. Bears Weekly is brought to you by Advocate Healthcare, Athletico Physical Therapy, C D. Jolligan, Connie's Pizza, IGS Energy, and Mellerliant. Here are your hosts, Jeff Chiliac aka the Mayor of Bearsville and is sidekick Tom the Surfmaster Thayer.
Well, things are popping, They are popping. Bears are adding coordinators and coaches, Senior Bowl activities wrapping up today in mobile we'll hear from Jim Miller, former Bears quarterback, who's on the scene there and getting ready to call the game on Saturday. And you got the Shrine Bowl tonight. So lot's going on and off season football is about as fun as you can get without playing a game. I'm Jeff jonnyak Long, my broadcast partner, super Bowl winning
Bears guard Tom Thayer. Thanks to Justin Pottinger, are in studio producer tonight, Dan b Jordan Trudip for helping us out as well. Eric Ostrowski, the executive producer of the Bears Radio Network. Time am I correct. It's been an enjoyable things are just starting to roll. In the right direction. You know, you get through the season, you're thinking, oh man, you need.
A little break. No, it's go time, let's go.
There is no off season between you know, Ryan Poles and Kevin Warren and their whole staff getting the head coach in there as quickly as they did. And now the whole process of putting together a staff, it's you know, day to day you're kind kind of searching for who it's gonna be. And then after they put the guys in place, you kind of become familiar with their background a little bit. And excuse me, who some of their
mentors are. And like you said, now you've got college All star games on and you have to pay attention to them because what do the Bears have seven draft choices this year and they have some high and up and enough in the draft that you got to look at these kids who are practicing all week and playing trying if you can become familiar with some of the positions that you desire even though you're not making the choices.
Yeah, a lot of good stuff. Coordinators introduced today by Zoom.
They're in the building.
Ed Hallishaw defensive coordinator, Dennis Allen, Declan Doyle, the offensive coordinator coming over from the Denver Broncos, is tight end coach over there and now will help construct the game plan with the head coach Ben Johnson. It's another set of eyes, another set of ears, another game planner there. And Richard high Tower remains the special teams coordinator. All three spoke today. We'll hear some chunks of those throughout
the course of this evening. Let's start on just the three Tommy and I know you and I did a podcast earlier today.
Let's just start with Doyle first. Because you really like the idea that a tight end coach. You like tight end coaches.
I really like tight end coaches as they climb the ladder of coaching inside the NFL because I think one position on the offensive side of the ball that deals with every element into fundamental football is the tight end coach. Because you got to think you have multiple tight ends, not all of them look the same. You have a tight end that's in a three point stance at the point of attack. Then you have a tight end that could be on the backside and could have backside running game responsibilities.
Then you have tight.
Ends that are in the h back position, and possibly put in motion. Then you have tight ends that line up at the full back position again point of attack football players. Then you have tight ends that are involved in the passing game, and they have to be familiar with the entire route tree. So every single element that's involved in offensive fundamental football they have to become familiar with.
And so when you're talking about their inclusion in the entire offensive game planning, I think they really benefit from being a tight ends coach before they ever get elevated to that offensive coordinator position.
From Mobile Alabama and it's former Chicago Bear quarterback, I'm serious. X MNFL Radio Jim Miller covering practices all week there. Jim, thanks for joining us. I know you're swamped over there, so appreciate it. We're just talking about the three coordinators introduced today, Decklan Doyle on the offensive side, mister Hike Tower back on special teams. And I want you to talk about Dennis Allen. I'm sure you've interviewed him many many a time as a head coach to head coaching positions,
leaving the Saints and coming over to the Bears. I interviewed him today at Hatis Hall. He looked energized, refreshed and thrilled to be in a building with such history here at Hallis Hall.
Yeah.
I mean, obviously Dennis Allen, he is a very experienced coach at obviously at the defensive coordinator at level. Yeah, he's had a couple of failed stops as a head coach, and you know, part of it was some things weren't right out and at that point it was the Oakland Raiders at that point, I'd say the same thing for New Orleans. Obviously there was a transition from Sean Payton today Allen and it didn't work out. But he is very decorative. For you to go look at his defenses.
He has some of the best.
Numbers against Tom Brady. His defenses have always been fierce and that's why I think he was selected. And obviously he's got a relationship with Ben Johnson. I would say the same with Declan Doyle. Doyle is a very good coach. But I think we know a lot of the offense is going to go through Ben Johnson is going to be my take.
On that, Yes, they are constructing it.
And my impression of Declan a very intelligent young man at twenty eight years of age, he's been.
I know it sounds crazy, but he has been coaching for.
Ten ten years at different levels, of course, and different teams, but he got the coaching bug and he's diving right in.
Jim. Have you met him before in the past.
I have not.
I've met his dad obviously with what went down at Iowa and you know, down in Jacksonville with him. But you know, there's it's not the all story. I don't think the whole story came out's got nothing to do with that. He's an excellent coach. I know there's been some backlash, but he is a fine coach and he's going to be very good and he's going to continue to grow, and like I said, a lot of it is going to be Ben Johnson.
And Tom high Tower also very excited. And you know what impressed me about Richard hight Tower the connection he has with his players. Those guys come from both sides of the ball obviously save for the operation, the kicker, the punter, and the long snapper, but he's really developed
a deep relationship with these guys. There are impact players on that side of the ball, and you know, it's another set of eyes and ears that have been here that can really, as you said, kind of take the baton from the past and introduce Ben Johnson to some of the intricacies of what's in the building.
And from a player perspective, well.
The first thing I would do is I would sit down with Ben Johnson in Declan Doyle and Dennis Allen, and I would sit in a room with high Tower and he would have the floor, and he.
Would kind of playing a little bit about.
Each and every one of these players that I need to get to know with a pre introduction before he ever shake hands or meet him face to face, see him on the field, see him in the meeting room, and you give me a little bit of an understanding of who they are, what they're about, what they need to improve at, and what is their strengths and their concerns.
Because I think when you are a special teams coach a lot like a tight ends coach, you work with every element of professional football, fundamental football, and so I think the biggest asset right now is having a guy like Richard high Tower in the building that can cut to the chase and expedite the introduction of all these players to the head coach and to the coordinators.
One of the things that I'm also picking up with they're laying down, Jim, is that they're all talking from the same playbook, so to speak, so that what they want, you know, and everybody wants this obviously, but you got
to speak it into existence. Tough team, physical, team, attacking, aggressive, communicative, any any word you want to throw on the table that would imply, hey, we're gonna we're gonna be a tough out when you come to Soldier Field or when when we come into your building and we're gonna build a winning culture based on those principles.
Well, all those stuff, all those things that are said, you got to make sure you do it right away. If you're gonna say those things, what you better expect it, you better demand it. And I think we know from recent experience that it wasn't demanded. And that's why an auspensive coordinator was fired after nine weeks because it wasn't
done right the first time when it was installed. So if you're going to talk big like that, you got to back it up, You got to follow it up, and you got to do it every single day where it becomes rope memory, so to speak, that you know what the expectation level is what your job is and what you have to do to execute to get it done.
Tom, how impactful will it have been for Declan Doyle to be what he as being now for head coach Ben Johnson when he observed Joe Lombardi and Pete Carmichael in New Orleans to help out the offensive coordinator, that excuse me, help out the head coach by being the offensive quarter but not the play caller.
Listen.
I think every observation that you have during the course of a football season, when you sit in meeting rooms with whomever the position coach is, the offensive coordinator, the head coach, the special teams coach, you better take something from every single time you were amongst the entire team, and you had to learn a lot from Sean Payton, and you learn a lot from every stop that you've been at. And I think that's when you look at
these young developing coaches. You know Ben Johnson's thirty eight in Declan Doyle's twenty eight, even though there's a ten year separation, You think of everything that Ben Johnson has learned in that ten year period, in what Declan Doyle's gonna learn in the next ten years. But how much you he learned up until this point because he is a lifetime decorated, invested coach. And I think from the time that you get your first job, that you start
putting information away. And it's like Ben Johnson talking about when he was the what's the coaching title, the operations director or what he was on the offensive side of the ball when he first got to Detroit and how much he invested himself in that position and then he got into a to be a position coach, and then
he just continued to climb that ladder. I think every one of these coaches, Jeff that we got to know and Jim over the last thirty years, when you're getting ready to invest the rest of your life and being a football coach, you're taking something from every single stop, every single step that you take.
All right, excited about taking all these guys to the next level. That's Tom Thayer, I'm Jeff, Joniek Jim Miller with us from Mobile, Alabama. Coming up next, we'll hear some of the new Conference what defensive coordinator Dennis Allen today on Zoom. We'll also get Jim's perspective over the course of the show tonight on what's been going on down to Mobile, who's looking good and who could be
potential candidates for the Chicago Bears down the road. This is Bears Weekly on the ESPN one thousand and the Bears Radio Network. This segment of Bears Weekly is brought to you by Igs Entergy, Jeff Joniak, Tom Thayer, and Jim Miller down at Mobile, Alabama at the Senior Ball holding up tonight.
Aren't we big? Jim? I know you always got big plans.
No, we're staying in tonight. We're all good. We got a lot of work to do tomorrow.
Yes, yes, indeed.
What has been your impression of how it's worked out this week? Tom and I talked about it today. We've both been obviously watching intently. I think it's been great. I think my opinion only. I'll let Tom speak for himself. Jim, the line of scrimmage has been fun to watch on outside, some really fun battles.
I thought the practices were very well done and a lot of competition, a lot of team drills, a lot of really good evaluation for scouts.
What's your thought, Yeah, there's a you know, in the trenches. It's really good down here. A lot of good offensive linemen like Murray Jones, the left tackle from LSU. He really has done a nice job. Obviously, the big name that everybody's been talking about is Tayleem. You know, this guy is just Gray's Abel. Excuse me, it is who I'm thinking of. Grey's Abel from North Dakota State. This guy is pretty much stalemated everybody. He's been rag Dollan guys and here. This is an FCS player and he
has physically looked the strongest as an offensive lineman. I think he'll project as a center. He can play for positions, but I think he'll be a center at the end of the day. On the defensive side of the ball, yeah, pass rushers have been great guys like Walter Nolan down here from miss He has shown his wars. Unfortunately, Mike Green just backed out of the game. He's had a great week out of Marshall. He's also an undersized pass rusher has done well. And then you got big guys
on the d line like Jamari Caldwell from Oregon. He carries a lot of beef at three p forty and Dealan Walker as well from Kentucky has been a load as well as a defensive tackle.
You know, Jim as much as I like to watch the offense and defensive line, and I paid attention to him all week.
There's always a position.
A quarterback at All Star games interest me because they're not the marquee guys. But you know, one of those quarterbacks is gonna make an NFL team and then eventually they're gonna create an opportunity for themselves. And you know, I'm not overly enamored with the Notre Dame kid Leonard. You know, he's a hard kid, he runs the ball Hart. I like the guy from Louisville. The guy from Ole
miss interests me. But if you look at all the quarterbacks that have been down there this week, is there any one of them that you do you think could possibly make an NFL career for himself.
I think this is a pretty bleak group. I think Jackson Dart, who you mentioned from Ole Mills, because he's well coached by Lane Kiffin. He knows a lot of the x'es and o's and what NFL offensive coordinators are looking to execute just from Lane. But I don't think his arm is overpower for powering or anything like that he may work. You know, he's probably going to be one of the top quarterbacks I would think at the end of the day. And I know a lot of
people are enamored with him. I get enamored by this though. Tom is Taylor Eggersmack. He's from Lawier College up in Canada. He's never even played American football. He's always been twelve on twelve. So the Ohio State quarterback backs out. He now comes down here. He gets an invite because of his arm. I'll telling you what, man, the first day he looked lost today and yesterday he did not. He's
got a big arm and he can make plays. And I would be interested in this guy if I were a team and you don't have to take him high. He could be a six rounder. He could be a party or something like that. Because he's new to the game. You put him on your practice squad for two years, let him develop. He's got an eleit arm. I'm telling you right now, he's got an elead arm. He's something that maybe when he needs to be looked at a little bit more.
Yeah. Taylor Elgerzma from Lorier.
He threw for four thousand yards and forty touchdowns in twenty four there at the college level, they're saying it's like the FCS level. But you know, one of the names that popped up was Tyson Bagent. You know guys that you know have a really good athletic background and have that competitive fire. And he's quoted as saying, Jim, I've got I'm going to give you a competitive fire that is unmatched.
I love every part of this game.
And you know, there's been all sorts of connections with this guy. For example, Drake may Bownicks trained by the same place he's working with quarterback and that was all pre draft, so he's getting really good coaching. His coach was Ben Neil. I'm sure you've heard of him, and a lot of good things point and he's six four and three eight two sixteen, so he has a big quarterback.
Yeah, you know he's somebody. Think about what I just said. He has never played American football, right, and he comes down here. I would be uneasy, Tom. Wouldn't you not be uneasy when you don't know the rules? Think about it. Canada has a wider field that got deeper end zone, receivers are in motion. They only play on three downs they play with twelve players, not eleven. And this guy comes down here and says, I talked to him. I said, well,
weren't you. Didn't you feel uncomfortable that he come down here and it just really be bad. He goes, I don't care. He goes, I don't care. I'll learn it. I'll figure it out. He goes on, I'm going to come out here and compete. I like that, And he has not embarrassed himself at all.
You know, Jim, you brought it up, though.
I think if you are a quarterback that has arm confidence the NFL, you shrink the working atmosphere, you still have confidence and what you can do once the ball is away from your fingertips. So I gotta imagine if he's playing on a field that's fifty three yards wideer a field that's one hundred and ten yards long, he's still.
Going to have that self confidence.
And that's what I like out of a guy like that. And I'm glad you brought him up because I haven't been floored by the quarterback talent, but I would like to see that guy that's really the dark horse and all the quarterback competition, you know, have the confidence to form some type of way to get into the NFL.
Yeah, let me throw this at you too. You talk about drilling down on things. Seth Henigan, the quarterback at Memphis. He is the only FBS quarterback that remained the starter with the same team he signed with out of high school for all four years. That's crazy. But let me tell you this, so I dig deeper. Is grandpa played in the NFL for the Lions and Jets. His grandfather, Mike.
He was the captain of the nineteen sixty three Northern Illinois ten and oh football team that outscored their opponents three thirty seven and ninety seven. With George Bork was the first college quarterback to throw for three thousand yards. Do you remember this name, Tom George Bork. Well, he played at Arlington High School, but he also played wait, he played for the Chicago Owls. They were a pro team at Soldier Field before the Bears took it over
from nineteen sixty seven to sixty nine. I looked up the Chicago Owls. They're you can actually buy a jersey the Chicago Owls. But anyway, Bob Kuchenberg played on that team and later became a fourteen year. Great for Don Shielders. Rudy Kuchenberg was his brother. He was on the Bears. Jim, these connections of football, you go from Denton, Texas to the Chicago Owl.
I can't get enough of it.
Yeah, it's a lot of fun. You know, it's funny. You know, I'm down here. You know Romanovin who I played with in Tampa. His son is playing in this game. Jason Taylor, the great Miami Dolphin Hall of Famer, his son is playing in this game. So yeah, at datya, But you know it's good. It just tells you that football is it's important in the family. And plus even for outside of our country like Canada, there's more and
more players that are interested. We know the NFL has set up an academies and not only the UK but also Australia. So I mean they're scouring, you know, everywhere to find talent. And Jim Nagy thought it was worthy to give an an invitation, and I think he's making the most of it. When you talk about Seth Henigan, I do like Seth Henigan. He's a six foot three, two hundred and thirteen pound quarterback, four year starter. You know, I think he'll grow up. I think he'll grow into
be a solid backup. Is where I see him. I don't. He does everything good but nothing. He does the most powerful arm, but he can run an offense and really move a team is what he's really been good at.
All.
Right, we come back, We'll hit the coordinators. Dennis Allen coming up next. This is Bears Weekly on ESPN one thousand of the Bears Radio Network. To last go until February tenth and donate one of your new or gently used coats to the thirty sixth annual Chicago Bears Coat Drive and helped keep Chicago.
Ins warm this winter.
Jeff and Tom and Jim Miller from Serious Sex MNFL radio down in Mobile, Alabama, as we get you set for the Senior Bowl, and Coach Allen visiting with members of the media today by zoom all the Coordinators.
Let's take a listen to a chunk of that news conference.
Hey, welcome Chicago.
Yeah, man, I'm doing great.
How are you doing well?
First and foremost wanted to get a feel for how you and Ben got connected. He kind of alluded last week that you guys hadn't really met before any of this started.
So what was the initial connection.
Yeah.
I think at some points as we got later in the season, he reached out to me just to see if I would be interested. I told him that I that I would be interested. I think it's probably, you know, a product of just the same connections. You know, Dan, Aaron, all of us were at A and M together at some point in time or have that connection. We're all
on the staff there in New Orleans together. I was with Terrell Williams was he was with me in Oakland, and so I just feel like I had connections to Ben, although I didn't really know him, and I just think him leaning on those guys in reference to me, and me leaning on those guys in reference to him. I think we both felt like it was a really good a really good fit.
League wide, You've got a pretty strong reputation as being aggressive and leaning into the man coverage principles pretty heavily. How do you describe philosophically what you want your defenses to be and look like, Yeah.
I think we want to be an attacking, aggressive style of defense. I think we want to want to take the fight to the offense and not let the offense dictate the tempo to us. We're gonna be aggressive, We're gonna challenge everything. We're gonna play the game the right way. We're gonna play a tough, physical, you know, brand of football, and I think the brand of football that you come to expect at the Chicago Bears.
Hey coach Harry, Hey, Pat, I was curious, as you knew that this was a possibility. Did you study the Bears defense? Did you watch them at the end of the season, and what do you make of the pieces that you have, because this is a unit that started the season really strong and ended it not quite as strong.
The answer to question is, yeah, I took it. I took a look a little bit at the at the pieces on defense. I felt like there were some some pieces in place, you know, in particular, I think there's some things that we have to have in the secondary that I like. I think there's some some pieces at linebacker that I'm encouraged by. I think there's a couple of spots up front that I feel like we've got
some some players. So I think the foundation is defensively and and I think look, when when Ben asked me if I would be interested, there was a couple of places that I felt like had the pieces in place to potentially be a really good football team. UH in Chicago was obviously one of them. And so I was excited when when it came about that this was the job that uh that that he really wanted and this was the job that he was able to get, And I was excited when he wanted me to come along with him.
That is the secondary that the Bears have here. A lot of good talented young players. I'm just curious when you when you watch a film with them, kind of how they fit ideally, how you want your secondary guys to play.
Yeah, look, I think you know when I when I came in here and I looked at the board and I and I and I really saw who we had and and you you know, you get a chance to see what the measurables are. Like, I think there's a lot of there's a lot of things that I like. I like we've got some size and linked at the corner position. I like the fact that they have some man coverage ability. You know, I think we've got some
versatility at the safety position. And so uh, I see uh the fit I think, you know, Kyler Gordon, I think is an outstanding you know Nickel player, so I have a vision for how, you know, we can utilize him, and so I think the foundation for what we want to do is there. And then I'm just excited about finally getting these guys in here and us having an opportunity to work with them, uh and seeing exactly what we have and then we've got to be creative on how we want to use them.
So that's just a snippet of the news conference.
His defense is top ten and scoring four straight years before they were nineteenth and twenty twenty four, top seven or better three years.
From twenty twenty to twenty twenty two in.
Yards, Tom and Jim. Your analysis of what he had to say. Dabbled around some of it as he tries to get to know the roster.
You know, I just think that he knows that he's an attacking style defensive coordinator, and that's what he's always been. If you get the right pieces in place from the very beginning of the season inside Soldier Field, when you get that support of crowd noise, if you appeal to that crowd and you come off the ball and you create turnovers, you create takeaways, you live at the opponent's success on offense. They're going to fit right into exactly
what Dennis Allen wants. One thing that I wish, and I think about this when he talks about Kyler Gordon, I wish we knew more about your Kwan Brisker because I think if you had a certain in place and you had another young guy like Kyler Gordon and the Jaquan Brisker, I think it would really solidify your defensive back end, that would upgrade your confidence in that group. I don't know what's going on Jaquan. I don't know if any of us do. However, I like Dennis Allen's attitude.
I've always liked him as a defensive coordinator. I think he likes that attack styling defense and I think a compliments crowd noise when he gets it well.
I think for Dennis and Tom kind of touched on it there. One. I think he identifies the personnel already. He says, there's a good foundation already there, there's stuff to build from. He sees a vision. And because all the things that Tom just said, when you look at you know, Brisker, they're gonna play him a lot down by the line of scrimmage, you know, much like they did with Tyron Matthew there in New Orleans, Brisker, Tyler
Gordon who we mentioned. He knows his blitz ability and they had a good and a man cohner down there called Marshawn Latimore. They just traded him to the Washington Commanders not too long ago. So he knows the pieces to the puzzle, and I think that's what intrigued him about joining the Bears, because the Bears have drafted well and developed those players that he's talking about. There is a lot of length when you trade for Montees sweat
and what he can do. And you look at the linebackers, they're long and lean, especially when you look at Edmonds. So I think he sees there's a lot of good pieces that are already in place that he can get this well. They were already up and running. But he's gonna add some tweaks and it to me it's going to be a lot better. The numbers speak for himself. You mentioned the scoring numbers, go look what he did against Tom Brady. Tom Brady's worst numbers in the NFL are worse are against Dennis Allen.
You know, also, I'm big on speed on defense, you mentioned that in a conversation I had with him, and you know speed as I discussed this with Tom earlier today, speed is yeah, you get a fast team with the Stopwatch, but you can get a fast team as well that are mentally ready to go.
They don't have to think, They just react.
How a defensive lineman gets off the ball, how quickly a pass set is done by an offensive lineman, or how much you strain through a play to kind of dilute the speed on the other side of the ball. Would you say that in this day and age, Jim in the NFL, you got to have a fast defense.
Yeah, I think well they Yeah, I think you got to have a fast defense. They got to be able to react because there's so much misdirection. You know. You look what Kansas City is doing and some of the other teams, like like Washington where they spread you out. They can get you flowing pretty good. But you know, big and physical can beat speed too, you know. So I'm not going to discriminate here. I think you can win both ways.
You know.
One thing I would like to do is I would like to take when you talk about speed up a defense, I would do a little exploration. I would take a guy like Javon Dexter, and I would see, Okay, Von Dexter, what can you do on first and second down rushing from the outside. You're not gonna be a committed three technique defensive tackle. I'm gonna move you up and down the line of scrimmage to see if you can offer me a little bit more versatility, and then you create
packages accordingly. Again, I don't know where all these guys are contract wise, but I know Montes Sweat's gonna be here. I know that Gavon Dexter is gonna be here, and I know Billings is gonna be here, and I think Zach Pickens is gonna be here. But I am gonna do some lex explorer, you know. I'm an exploratory movement maybe in OTAs, just to see how guys offer you that speed that you talk about.
Jeff, Jim, Jalen john you mentioned, you know, and Dan Reader asked this question about a big man guy.
That that works for Jalen Johnson.
Correct, Oh, yeah, I think it works for Jalen. Like I said to me, I think Jalen Johnson to me is he's gonna look at him like Latimore. That's who I think he's looking at him as all right.
That is Jim Miller, Tom Thayer, Jeff Joniac.
When we come back, we'll hear from decland Doyle introd issue to the new Bears offensive coordinator. It's all coming up next here on Bears Weekly on ESPN one thousand and the Bears Radio Network.
You were listening to Bears Weekly on the Bears Radio Network.
This segment of Bears Weekly is brought to you by CDW. Be able to get it, Jeff, Joniack, and Tom Fair along with Jim Miller from Serious x MNFL Radio, the former Bears quarterback down in Mobile, Jim, other than training camp, when you're bopping from one to the next, is this the busiest time of the year for you? Because you do, I believe the Championship game, you go down to Mobile, You're gonna do Super Bowl, and then the Combine's coming up here in a few weeks.
Longer stretches. Obviously, training camp tours the most, but yeah, this is probably the second longest stretch. But it's fun. You know, I love to do it. I'm a football lifer and you know, I really enjoy it.
Yeah, it's not quite preparing for a game, but it's preparing for a season. And the business season has become really something. And this is the scouting season. The business season starts with free agency. The NFL never fails in this regard. I have had more texts and Tom, I know, is getting besieged by his people as well about you know, everything from the Shrine game and who's your favorite players
in that too. You think people take a break from it. No, they don't, and that's why we love what we do as well. The fans appreciate all of this knowledge that is dropped and is all presented to them.
Jim, they can't get enough. They cannot get enough.
Yeah, well, and rightfully so, because and I've said this before, I think fantasy football has really made fans understand the league as a whole. You know, they know who offensive coordinators are, they know who aggressive play callers are on defense, what players are good, and who going to give them the most point totals. So they're just more not knowledgeable. So when the Bears sign a coach like Ben Johnson, of course they're excited. They've had so much success, they've
scored a lot of points. They know who he is and they know what he's about, and there creates a genuine excitement and now all these pieces to the puzzle are gonna be added here this offseason. Are the Washington Commanders not the best example of what you can do in an offseason? Look at what they've done. They went to the championship game. For God's sake. I mean, they haven't won in forever, the last twenty years, they haven't won. Look what they did in one offseason.
You know, Jim and Jeff.
One thing about the NFL is we can talk about these all Star games, you can talk about getting ready for the combine, you can talk about all the other kind of information that you study all season. But as soon as you have coaches that are out there like Pete Carroll and Rabel and Bill Belichick, and then the first coach goes on the hot seat, and then you have that in season rumor mill that starts, that begins that awkward and outward conversation of who, when and where
that coaches aren't going to start falling and moving. And it's so the rhythm of the NFL it starts at training camp and then it kind of skips a little bit of that heartbeat up and down when this when a coach goes on the hot seat. So that kind of is an additive nowadays to the modern day NFL that maybe used to not happen until after the season was over.
All right, Declan Doyle the other coordinator taking the mic today as the Bears media got a chance to visit with these guys on zoom. Decland Doyle a tight ends coach and also a Denver bronco assistant with Sean Payton in New Orleans and in Denver kind enough to take the time and our very own on ESPN one thousand, Courtney Cronin let us off with the first question.
I'm sure you've heard from press conferences doing your research what some of the players have said about last year that they kind of demanded more accountability and wanted it from the coaching staff. Obviously, you're one of the younger coordinators in the league. You haven't coached every position on offense.
How are you going to get the buy in and be able to coach players who might either be older than you or might have more experience and kind of as you were feeling your way out in your first time as in OC, Yeah.
I think knowledge is power, and that is what the guys care about. Ultimately, last year was the first time that I've ever actually been older than all the players in my room. And so, you know, I've been coaching. This is gonna be my tenth year. But that's really kind of been a part of, you know, my journey to this point. But I think players care about you know, can you help me first and foremost? Can you put me in a position to be successful, to help the
organization and my family? And that's earned, you know, like you have to to put in the work and earn that trust, in that confidence, And that's my plan here, you know, hit the ground runner and go to work.
Hey, deacln you obviously mentioned your time around Sean in two places. Obviously, he's a head coach who calls plays offensively. I'm curious what you learned the last two years about how Joe Lombardi was a resource for showing in that in that relationship. And then you've obviously further removed in New Orleans. But but Pete was a right hand man for Sean for so long. What you've taken from those two guys that will help you help Ben.
Yeah, So those two guys are two people that I look up to a lot. They've had huge impacts on my life, Joe and Pete. And I was actually talking to Ben about that during the interview because it was like, you know, basically my entire time, you know, five of my six years in the NFL, there's been this position
that was Pete and Joe. The biggest thing is high levels of communication from you know, that position, the ability to utilize all the resources within the staff and give very direct you know, not only messaging, but direction to
what we're trying to accomplish. The biggest thing is that you're on the same page as the play caller, and so me and Ben are gonna have to spend a ton of time together diving into film and I'm really really excited to go do that and to make sure that I see the game the same way he sees it, to be able to orchestrate it and set the table for him, and you know, really make sure that we're doing it the way he wants to do it. Hey, Dequelin, how are you doing good?
How are you?
I'm good, I'm good from afart. What did you see in Caleb Williams that you're intrigued by and what what did you see in Kleb Williams that you're eager to get down and try to fine tune on the other.
Side of that. Yeah, so, you know, obviously I didn't spend a ton of time, like I'm not in the same division like Ben got to see my crossover film quite a bit. You know, this is we're pretty early in the process, obviously in the draft process. The arm talent is it's crazy. I mean, it's very very impressive. You know, he's he's a very impressive player. I got to watch him a little bit when he was at USC, you know, didn't get a chance to watch him as much.
This past year.
I've started to dive into him. But but I wouldn't say that that's a you know, full evaluation quite yet. I don't think that would be fair. I think the biggest thing is, you know, just the talent of the kid, the ability to use his legs. You know, he is a tough kid. You see it on tape. You know, obviously the communication and you know all that stuff. But him his second act, his ability to evade the pocket, his ability to create is a is a special thing, and it's something that I got to see with bo
In in Denver last year. You know, that ability to evade and pressure on the defense and and kind of be the eraser of game planning mistakes. I think that's really exciting about him.
So that's a portion out of the inn of Declan Doyle, Tom Wells spolcan man, who has had plenty of experience despite his age in the National Football League and at the college level.
Yeah, but the next step in his experience is to get to know Ben Johnson as well as he can possibly get to know him through a series of watching tape and and to me, that would be really fun to be a coach that's come aboard a new developing staff and start learning and understanding specifically and exactly what Ben Johnson wants in the details of his offense. So when he does stand in front of the players and he starts giving out this information, he knows exactly what.
And when to say it and how to say it.
So I think for Declan Doyle in the next period of time, it's gonna be get to know Ben Johnson and his system as well as he can possibly get to know that information and then just continue to regurgitate it and go over it and over it again.
Jim, how impactful has it been for the guys that are head coaches, that are play callers to have somebody with the title of offensive coordinator. You bring in a passing game coordinator, you have a quarterback coach. How impactful has that been? As most teams are doing it this way, I would imagine now.
Yeah, if you go back to Mike McCarthy when he was with the Green Bay Packers and Joe Philbin was essentially his OC. Joe Philben did both the offensive line and was the offensive coordinator. So he would put together the game plan during the week. Hey, here's the run game, here's the pass game. Then about Thursday evening and really Friday, they got in they really start talking the game plan. Hey, coach, this is what I'm thinking you should call here in
this situation. This is what I'm thinking here. And then by game time, once they had talked through the game plan, Mike McCarthy was ready to go and saw the vision of Joe Philben of how the game should be called. And I think that's typically, Like I said, that's kind
of how teams are doing it now. A lot of teams and I think Ben Johnson will have that same structure, so Doyle will be carrying the heavyweight and certainly Ben Johnson will be calling the plays that hopefully results in a lot of wins.
Yeah, when I talked to him as well, very intrigued by the talent here obviously, and one guy, you know, Tom you mentioned this a few weeks ago.
We never got into it when we about the talent.
We know what dj can do, We know Cole Commet who by the way, Doyle thinks that he has been underused, so you know, and I'll be excited to see what they do. But how about Roma, Dunesay, because what he put up pretty good numbers given the number of talents that had to touch the football, got over one hundred targets.
What did he prove to us this year in terms of his future? From your perspective, Tommy.
To me, I think he's a multi dimensional receiver because a lot of these receivers that come in, whether in the draft or on a team, they get tabbed or you're an over the top threat, or you're a crossing route intermediate red or you're a short to eight yards off the line of scrimmage. I think Roma Dunze is capable of running every single route that can be offered to an offense and a wide receiver. I think he's fast enough to go to take the top off. I
think he's tough enough to go across the middle. I think he can catch screens, and he's proven that at the line of scrimmage he can run jet sweep. So I think Roma dunes A. His upside is unlimited. It's just how creative can this new coaching staff develop his uses inside of this offense.
All right, We're going to take another break here, one more to go. Another segment. We'll continue to look at the Bears coordinators with Richard high Tower. He's coming up next with Jim Miller and top there Jeff Joniek here on ESPN one thousand of.
The Bears Radio Network.
This segment of Bears Weekly is brought to you by Athletical Physical Therapy. Visit Athletical dot com to a question in clinic or virtual appointment that start feeling better Tomorrow. Jeff Andtown at Jim Miller from Serious Sex and MNFL Radio. Richard high Toower back as Bear Special Teams coordinator with the insight that we alluded to early in the show, how can he be an asset for head coach Ben Johnson right out of the game.
Yeah, I mean I feel like, you know, this is my third time with a first time head coach, So obviously when I came back to this regime, that was with the first time head coach, my time in San Francisco helping you know, Kyle Shanahan as a first time the head coach getting that program turned around. I think
I could be an asset. And the main thing is they feel I could be an asset, which I'm honored you know to obviously George, you know, Kevin Warren, Ryan Poles and being for believing in me, And I can't wait to to help you know on board this process.
Richard, what's been the process for in terms of the last couple of weeks Ben gets hired, the staff starts to get gets formed. What were your interactions, like, have you had many in person virtual meetings just with the head coach that you're not going to be working with about the structure and plan for the off season for coordinators?
Yeah, I tell you what, when I sat down with Ben, it was clearly evident from the get go that this was someone that I wanted to work with and somebody that wanted to work for and be a part of his staff. You know, the players here really enjoy The players here really enjoy hearing Ben's vision. He was clear and concise from the get go and very transparent about everything that was occurring. So his passion for special teams
really was exciting to me. And not only for special teams, but connecting all three phases together playing complimentary football was just really exciting to me. So I'm excited to be back and help these help these guys reach the next level.
You mentioned about Ben's vision and wanting to work for him.
Can you expand on that a little bit? What type of vision is that? And why do you want to work for him? And so much?
Yeah, just really you know, Ben has an aggressive mindset and I love that, you know, really love his aggressive mindset and all of the things that he talked about he wanted to do.
And really, what.
People don't understand about special teams is when you have that aggressive mindset on special teams quite really is what he's been around, you know. But when you have that aggressive mindset on special teams, it helps the other two phases. It helps your football team so much win games. So that was really intriguing and exciting to me. So I'm fired up for that.
Yes, that's the temple of the game sometimes. Final thoughts Tommy on the trio and what's next In terms of the staff, There's going to be a lot of good names already in the building. Antoine Rendel is one of them. A veteran who's only he's played obviously, a player, local guy, and a guy who's got a lot of experience now as coach.
Listen, it's going to be Ben's offense. Dennis Allen knows the defense as well as anybody in the league, and Richard high Tower understands special teams. So a lot of that learning curve I think is expedited just by the hirings he's made already, and I think all the pieces.
Are getting put into place.
Now we need to see what a couple of other hires are gonna be.
Jim Any final thoughts.
Well, I'm just excited for the Bears. I think they got this right. I think the Bears fans should be excited. This is a really good staff that's being put together, and I just think the attention to detail will be there. I think it'll be there on the offensive side of the ball of where it needs to be. And that's what all Bears fans should be excited about.
All right, give me one position group you're gonna enjoy watching on game day at the Senior Bowl and Mobile.
It's gonna be receiver, and it's gonna be Tes Johnson, the Oregon Duck receiver. He's only one hundred and sixty pounds, but he's breaking dude's ankles down in the red zone. He's like Tink Dell. How many times he scored today? When Tank really blew it out of the gym down here?
Right? How about a royal the tight end from Miami.
That's a guy I have circled if if he plays, we'll see. Tom's gonna be watching the old line of d Lan.
I know that. Yeah, I got to.
I got you.
What are the best offering for the Bears? All right, boys, that'll be it for tonight. Thanks Jim. We'll see in Mobile.
All right, guys. Thanks, good to be with you.
That's Tom theare I'm Jeff Joniac. Thanks to our producers. Coming up next, we've got Bleckenham Dalla. This has been Bears Weekly on the new radio home of the Bears, ESPN Chicago.
I have great night, everybody enjoy the show.
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