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Well back together again with you tonight on Bears Weekly. Good to have you alongside the final week of the regular season with Super Bowl winning Bears.
Guard top that Ray. I'm Jeff Joniac justin Potting.
You're handling the controls at our ESPN studios thanks to our producers Dan Brilly and Jordan Treda from the Bears and executive producer the Bears Radio Network, Eric Ostratski. Coming up an interview with Bears defensive tackle Jonavan Ford and coordinator Thursday Tommy Here in week eighteen.
Some thoughts from the Big Three.
Chris Beatty on the offensive side of court, Coach Washington on the defense of Richard high Tower on special teams. So a little bit everything as we preview the pack. You know, give me a couple of give me a story, Give me a story on a Bears packer. I mean, because they never get old. Give me something maybe you haven't said in a while. Give me one at Lambeau too. At Lambeau that's a lot of pressure. I wish he would have told me this this afternoon. Paid attention to the Notre Dame Georgia game.
But listen, every every story about the Bears packers is unreal. It's like the first time that we were getting ready. We went to Lambeau Field knowing that William Perry was going to catch a pass and he was most likely going to catch a touchdown pass. He was inserted in the lineup a couple of times, so there's high expectations that.
He's going to be a lead blocker. He could possibly carry the ball.
But they didn't know what Ditka was willing to do with them next, and all of a sudden, here we are at Lambeau.
Field in the in the red zone.
Will William Perry, after the snap of the ball, he goes as if he's going to kick out the outside man on the line of scrimmage.
The guy goes to take him on.
William Perry kind of olays him, goes out there and makes a perfect catch for a touchdown, and just the stardom grew from there and he just became a.
Bigger, one of the bigger personalities in the world.
And you think of what this game, if you do something great in this game, it can.
Do for you and your future.
All right, let's think, all right, the one of the biggest hits, good or bad, that happened in a Bears pack that just I'm thinking remember Tim Harris. Yeah, I think it was late eighties. There was a little something with you and the Packers. Well, Tim Harris wasn't a big hitter.
He was a good sacker and he would come up and he would line up against you, and I just remember one game he had had got a couple of sacks already and he lined up across from me and he can, oh, you know, I haven't gotten a sack off of you yet.
I think I'm gonna go here.
And he he kind of gives you a four warning beforehand, So now, alls you're doing okay.
He's not an overpowering guy.
So if you get your hands on him, then it you know, you can usually get him stopped and then be in control of the block. The funny thing was once we're in goal line, his shoe came off, and Jay picked up his shoe and he acted like he threw it in the stands, but he tucked it in the back of his pants. And Tim Harris was running around thinking that his shoe was in the stands and asking for them to return it.
How about the Mkowski game? What do you remember?
Oh, that was just a bad, bad time because that's the first time we got beat up in Lambeau and there was no replay back. Then Mkowski crossed the line of scrimmage, he threw a touchdown pass, we ended up getting beat and Dick could just treated us bad from the moment we walked in the locker room to watch him film the next.
Day, and it, you know, was was not.
A really good that the conclusion of that week and the week leading up to the next game.
Yeah, I'm just reading about it from a Packer perspective.
That was the instant replay game, right.
Then enjoyed a winning season in seven years and that and beaten you guys in five So that was And Brian Noble, Yeah, mine bath for front of mine. Yeah, he is quoted as saying I'm overwhelmed with emotion. Guys were crying, Guys were screaming. I was crying and screaming, and we've been through these games and coming down to
the wire like this one. We finally found ourselves, you know, on the winning end of it for a change, which is a lesson that can apply to today, because the Bears obviously have a long losing streak against the Packers, and by any means necessary Week eighteen, week one, it doesn't matter. Hopefully they can feel some sense of victory in Green Bay on twelve o'clock kickoff time.
Yeah, you know, Brian Noble is a good friend of mine.
I met him when he was a freshman in college at Arizona State, and then he went on to play with the Packers.
He got injured once in the Bears.
Packer gave me he hurt his neck, and I went and knelt down next to him just to make sure that he was all right, you know, because sometimes you got to separate the humanality of the game from the the rivalry. And people were criticizing me for showing that type of compassion for a Packer.
During the game, really.
Barry yelling, I was.
He was in the end zone and I and they were yelling from the stands.
Get away from him, leave thelone.
He's just a packer, you know, all right, right, so yeah, yeah, well, hey, the temperature runs hot in this thing.
So I don't know.
You know, the Packers, as we discussed in our podcast earlier today, You and I Bears podcast, you know the Packers, they're six or seven. It's a matter of, you know, if if they can figure out a way to win this game with whatever they're gonna choose to do with their players, starters, if they're gonna play a lot. Josh Jacobs keeps saying, it didn't think he's gonna get the ball much, you know, stuff like that. It's either going to be the Rams or it's going to be Philadelphia.
So but we don't care about that. But I'm just I'm just saying.
Yeah, listen, if you think the Green Bay Packers are going to be having this speech before the game of take it easy on the Bears and if you're not gonna play, just grab a warm glass of cider and sit there and enjoy the game.
That's not the case because you just can't.
Like Difka always used to say, and there's nothing more true about sports and especially football. He goes, you can't turn the switch off and then back on. Once you turn it off, it's over because you're not going to just be able to turn it turn it back on in a week. And you know that's the same thing about the way that these guys are preparing for this game, or that the Bears players should be prepared preparing for their opportunity time.
Did you hear Caleb Williams yesterday Wednesday at a Hallis saw He had some really interesting comments to make about He was asked obviously about what he'd like to see as a coach and how his progression has happened the offensive line. Uh, let's listen into a chunk of that and get your reaction to some of it. Caleb Williams at the podium Wednesday at Hallis Hall.
It's the challenges myself, whether his offense scording their head coach challenges myself but also challenges you know, us us as players.
Whether it's on the field or character, doesn't matter.
Just just just a coach that challenges us, A man of a man of his work.
A.
A discipline coach meaning whatever his rules are, you know, whatever you know, you know he's he's gonna bring rule wise or how he's gonna you know, control the team and and managing you know, control the team, things like that.
Things like that, I would.
Say, uh, you know, uh. Another one would be just a person, you know, a guy that wants to win and finding and helping and you know, finding ways and helping us players and helping coaches or whatever case was, to just you know, pull out wins throughout the season, whether it's a tough win or or we blow out somebody, you know, just just helping.
Us and and and and and finding ways to win.
Because I know a lot of times offensive coordinators some of them may have played the position, some of them not. Do you think there's a benefit for you having whether it's head coach, oh se whoever next year, like in your ear, somebody actually played the position.
I think it's I think it's helpful.
I mean, but if you're good at your job, you're good at your job. It doesn't matter, uh necessarily if you uh you know, you play quarterback, I think it helps because you just you've been in a multitude of different situations as a player and then being able to
see it from a different lens. But if not then you know, as long as you're good at your job, demanding of us, and like I said, for a bunch of the qualities, I think, uh you know, I think you you fit the job and description and just find ways win games.
Looking back on Thursday, of the sacks you took, which ones were would you take?
Would you sit there and say that's my responsibility to not?
Yeah, I think throughout this throughout this year, there's been a there's been.
A stupid excuse my language, but a.
Stupid idea behind my offens a lineman, I will say that there's been Yes, everybody gives up sacks, everybody messes up, everybody missed the block, everybody drops a pass, everybody those pick I got six and I got a couple of fumbles and things like that.
So you know, the.
Connotation behind you know, my offensive line has been annoying and uh frustrating because uh you know, they worked there. They work their tail off to be able to go out there, and you know the guys that whether you know, guys are fighting injuries, whether guys can't play, and we got other guys stepping up at whether the guys you know, been playing the whole season and so you know, the
the negative connotation behind them. Uh they come in here and work their boat off each each day and each week.
And uh, you know I've taken I've taken sax yes, and and uh you know a good amount of been on me, whether it's a small you know, small things of getting the ball out of my hands and and you know, just maybe durting it, you know, maybe not trying to uh find the the you know, the perfect route, perfect play all of that for you know that that situation maybe is just throwing it thrown out of balance,
durting it, uh, find the checkdown faster. And then and then the other one was just not trying to make plays all the time and understanding that.
So, like I said, this, the the and.
I don't misjudge words, Uh, the stupid connotation behind uh my offensive line being bad is is not the true I've taken a I've taken a good amount.
Of sacks that have been on my fault, been my fault.
And you know, and and and a couple uh throughout that last game we're mine, uh like the one and empty where I believe I'm trying to remember what number sacked me, but you know didn't make the easy you know flipper check, and uh that guy blitzed and tried to make a play and you know, and and took a sack instead of Okay, I messed up and uh didn't make the flipper check, throwed out of bounds over the due's head or over the the.
Hot you know, the hot or check downs head.
And so uh, you know it took a took a fourteen yard sack on that one, I think it was, and put.
Us in a bad situation.
So there's been many times this season where yes, you know, people have given up sacks. Sure, and then and then you know, myself is is completely a part of that.
All right, So that's a chunk of it. Anyway, you know a lot.
First of all, there's a lot on the plate obviously that he is explaining about what roocky quarterbacks do go through and so he'll conquer this over time. But overall, you know, he's doing what he as a team leader. He's taking responsibility also recognizing that these things have happened over the course of the season.
First of all, the very first question they asked him about what he wanted a new coach. Now this is two players this week, both Kyler Gordon, Yeah, and Caleb that talk about accountability. They want to coach that holds these guys to a discipline standard of preparation. Interesting that two guys that are I think widely respected in the locker room kind of have the same answer for the offensive line question.
That's not for Caleb to answer during the season.
That's something that if he wants to reminisce or think or talk about during the offseason, then that's fine because when you talk about the offensive line this year year and the differences in the lineups and the player.
Change and playing out a position, there's so.
Many different factors that go into the performance of the offensive line, and that's not for that's not for Caleb to answer.
All right, coming up next, Well, listen it to Chris Beatty, the Bears offensive.
Coordinator, and you're fighting Irish victorious today, Tom.
They knock off Georgia in a pretty convincing fashion and Marcus Freeman and company have not lost since the NIU upset. And just imagine how that would have looked if they managed to conquer that one. Because it's been they've been dominant. They've won by an average of twenty seven points a game since that loss, so state gratulations, just stay focused.
All right, that's out there.
I'm Jeff Joniek and this is Bears Weekly on the ESPN one thousand of the Bears Radio Network, and this segment of Bears Weekly is brought to you by Igs Energy. Jeff and Tom with you as the Bears get ready to meet the Green Bay Packers. Chris Beatty, Bears offensive coordinator.
Of some things to say today, Tommy as a lot about Caleb Williams and putting it in some context given that, you know, he's a young man in a league where there's a whole mix of different types of quarterbacks, veterans and even the young guys who've played, you know, like he's gonna mention Bo Knicks, who played six years in college football.
Let's listen in just on the maturation of a young quarterback.
I do think there's some maturity that goes through the process of this. And at the end of the day, we're looking at it a couple of weeks ago, where Bo Knicks is twenty three or twenty four and Caleb is three years out. Those guys are six years in, you know, having played. So I do think there's some
maturity things that way. But at the end of the day, I think stability is huge for everybody, you know, particularly the quarterback and him being not being exposed to as much as maybe Michael Pennix or some of those other guys, Bo Nicks and those guys.
You know, those things do.
Experiences everything, and so in his case, I think he's learning through this experience.
What are the big things you think he needs that he can't improve on his own? Yeah, in this building us a couple of months.
Yeah, I think his footwork.
Speeding up his footwork would help, you know, I think those things I think you know when you look at it, you know, like Patrick Mahomes gets so much depth away from the pocket and so and then he's able to step up where you know, I think Caleb hasn't learned yet that hey, we might need to get a little deeper in our drop to be able to step up and be able to hold the pocket in the middle. So sometimes he's stepping up on top of the lineman because it's all you know, those things that you learn
through the process of experience. Again, I keep saying the same thing, but at the end of the day, you know, I think those things I think getting with these guys. I talk to our guys in the receiver room. It's going to be important for the people that are back to be able to do those things in the off season, whether it's the OTAs everybody's showing up or the groups going out somewhere warm and practicing and getting their timing
down and being able to see things the same. To your point, you know, we talked about that as far as we've got to make sure that we get to a level or you know that we all see first window, second window, third window the same and not see it differently based upon where we are in the offense or in our location. So I think those things would definitely
help them. But I think the greatest thing for Caleb is the experience and being a little bit Now you sit back and you know that, hey, this is a little harder than I thought it was going to be. I think we all go through that, like you know, we come in and we think we'll take this thing over,
and then you get humbled. This league is humbling. It's like golf, you know, and at the end of the day, you want to learn how to to make sure you know my game is where it needs to be before I start getting mad at everybody else.
So I think it's all a process.
What do you appreciate about Keenan during the course of his career and even though it might not have kind of come.
Off, Yeah, I mean, Keenan is a pros pro, you know.
Like I said, I think he's you know, people pattern their game after him. It's amazing because I was in college and we would watch Keenan Allen cutups, and then the next thing, I'm in front of him coaching them, and I'm like, Okay, how am I going to tell this guy with how to run these routes when I've been teaching our guys off of his stuff. So, you know, but I appreciate Keenan more than I could really express
because he's allowed me to coach him. You know, I think there's a lot of stars in this league that don't want to be coached, but then the great ones allow you to coach him and try to help make them better. So I appreciate that, and I think the fans should appreciate the fact that he gives everything he has. He sits back and coaches our guys, you know, as far as he has a meeting with all the skill guys on Thursdays to be able to just talk about it and see, hey, this is how we see it.
Make sure the.
Quarterback sees it the same, and we're all kind of seeing things the same, you know, because he's you know, Encyclopedia football.
All right, it's a couple of interesting things there.
Let's go back to the very beginning, because he said the magic word, and you know what it is regarding Caleb Tom and any young quarterback is just continuity consistency. You know, can't have a bunch of constant change because that's going to hurt any quarterback.
Well, what he said, he says said there's nothing like experience, and that if you that's the whole thing that capitalizes what Caleb needs. And experience within the same system, experience within your protections, experience and understanding what you just said in the huddle and how it pertains to what you can do after the ball is snapped.
And one thing about.
It is, Caleb is if you want to you talk about a quarterback dropping deeper in the pocket, well you better know if your offensive tackles can sustain a one on one pass blocking assignment, so you can get deeper in the pocket, because if you get so deep in the pocket, you really open accessibility to the defensive ends to where you're setting up.
So there's so many things you have to take into account of.
Just oh, I got to get deeper. But yeah, both of my tackles are getting beat. And I'm not saying the Bears tackles. I'm just saying in terms of the protection a guy like Patrick Mahomes and stuff, because you know, he's been around the same system, the same terminology for quite a few years.
And then a great point about Keenan Allen, because you know, these coaches are teaching guys who've been you know, all pros, and you know they are they willing to hear what a coach has to say. You know, it's it's very
especially in young staffs. If you have a young coach that brings in a lot of young coaches, maybe some who have never played in the NFL, and you're you're teaching a guy that you know, it says a lot to me about the professionalism of Keenan Allen that he would take that coaching and he's turning it around and giving his knowledge to these guys once a week meeting with these skill position players.
I think that's a pretty cool compl.
Yeah, I agree, But you know, it's also when you have guys like just Tyler Scott, for example, if you don't sit there and take and digest every single thing that's said by Keenan and DJ inside the meetings, or maybe they have some suggestions in a game plan against a certain coverage, or else they see a vulnerability of
a defensive back that they can take advantage of. Those are the things that you want the young guys on your football team to take advantage of, as well as the teaching of the position coach that's making sure you understand all of your assignments and responsibility.
Did you ever take anybody under your wing in your NFL career?
Similarly, I didn't, you know.
I mean, you know, when I was here where they drafted Jerry Fontina probably to come in and take my job, But then they ended up trading Jay to Cleveland and Jerry moved over to center. So then you start having more discussions about what can I do to help you and what can you do to help me? The same
discussions that I when I start playing. You know, Jay was kind of filling me in of how I could help him, and you know the same discussions that you know Keith would tell me because he had so much expense.
If you were a twelve year veteran, thirteen fourteen year veteran.
Tack our guard tack or whatever.
And the coach, Hey, Tom, you're a starter, but I need you to work with this guy behind you.
I need you get him ready. What would Tom say?
Because you know what you know, I'm putting on the spot because I kind of know your answer, I think, but no, you're you're you tell me, Okay.
If I was making the money that the guys are making today, I would be more than happy to help
a guy behind me. If I was trying to survive in the in the financial world like we had to back in the day, I would probably be a little bit more selfish because when guys came into the building, I didn't encourage them to come to the weight room with me every day and say, hey, let's go and get stronger, bigger, and faster so you can take my job a year or two sooner than you're going to Anyways, it's just kind of an odd combination back then to now.
Well, and believe me, it has changed because even I remember guys here. I'm not going to name names, but guys would tell me from they come from other teams. They say, Man, nobody helped me as a rookie. They had they want, they'd be telling me the wrong information, not the right information, because they didn't want me to take their job. And and these players, and there was more than a handful that would I chose not to
do that to the next game. I'm gonna help guys, And so it's a matter of perspectives on everything.
I never I never relied on anybody to teach me the assignments.
That was that I had to do myself.
But you know, the watching a guy a specific technique, watching technique they are going to practice against a guy like Steve McMichael because ming's going full speed all the time, So you better be. You better practice at a pretty good tempo WHI else he's gonna make you.
Work look worse than he already did.
Yeah, I can imagine that was some kind of an eye opener for a lot of guys.
All right, coming up next.
You know, we've been fortunate to have some conversations with with a lot of guys that don't get a ton of attention, and one of the new the newest, the newest defensive lineman on the team, Jonathan Ford, caught it enough to join us. We'll hear from him coming up next here on Bears Weekly with Tom Fair. I'm Jeff Jonihak on ESPN one thousand of the Bears Radio Network. This segment of Bears Weekly brought to you by CDW
people to get it all right. Welcome back, everybody to Bears Weekly on ESPN one thousand and the Chicago Bears Radio Network with Tom Fair. I'm Jeff Joniyak. Tom will be along just a moment. We've got one of the newer Bears, Jonathan Ford, joining us, a third year player out of the University of Miami. I'm gonna start right out of the gate. You're not gonna like this. I'm an Iowa State graduate. We got you by one, but it was reminded to me they took Cam out in the second half.
Right.
Did you watch the game?
I watched it. It was hard to watch for a while. I mean, first half we came out, we were pretty good, yeah, but we just I wanted us to do a little more on defense, So that was hard to watch.
But it was a fun game.
Though. It was a real fun game, real fun game. Guys came to compete. I can't say that nobody got off the bus ready for the season to be over. Everybody was ready, ready to go, but I wanted us to get to win.
So there's something about Miami guys. They stick together throughout their entire careers. I'm sure when you were there, all the guys come back, right. How cool is it to be a hurricane?
Very cool?
I mean just to see guys like ed Ree Jonathan Vilma every morning he's in the weight room working out. You got everybody that come back, Bryan McKinney, all these people that reach out to you on social media, whether they're in the building, whether you have their number. Like I could remember at the combine, I didn't know he was there. Reggie Wayne approached me. I didn't even know it.
I didn't even know he knew me, but he approached me and told me I had a good day and just came to me as a hurricane, And I was like a special moment for me.
So does it feel like a burst of confidence when they recognize this, you know, and you did it do a lot for you.
It does. It does because I like, like I said, I didn't know he knew me, so when he approached me, it gave me that confidence, especially going out there to workout in front of the whole world at National Combat Scouting COMBA, and uh, it definitely did something to me.
Yeah, I'd imagine you could pick up a lot of pointers from guys, especially the technique heavy positions offense, defensive line, like unlocking your hands or the slightest footwork. Did you get a lot of that instruction from just guys? Hey, you know I caught your act in this game and maybe try this or you know whatever, maybe in practice or something when they're watching.
Yeah, more practice, mover practice. We have a Warren shot. One time he came in and critiqued us and everything and gave everybody pointers. It wasn't just really me, but it was more of as a defensive line like he was in the room telling us we were watching some of his old tape and he gave us some pointers and everything. Yeah, very animated dude, but good dude.
And met ed Reid at Devin Hester's Hall of Fame induction over the summer, and boy, what a nice guy man. He he's the he's the youngest looking Wait no, he's the oldest looking young guy really, but what a player.
He was a great dude as well. I can remember him in the locker room every day, you know, him telling us the little things that helped teams win championships, like cleaning up the locker room, like guys bonding outside, like he talked about the little things where it wasn't really all about football, because he knew you got to go out there and do your job and you have to play as a team. But he talked about the little things for us and he stretched that every day.
Yeah.
Well, now you've been in the league for a few years, getting your most appreciable playing time obviously here with the Bears.
Is he right?
The little things matter on winning a snap or making it to the fifty three, or getting that opportunity and taking advantage of it.
It does, It does.
I think over these past few years for me, it's just been a learning experience for me as far as just learning how to be a pro. So me getting into the league and seeing guys that's been in the league for a few years or more years, more years
than me just watching. I'm a big observer, so I watch everybody and I watch what people does do and that was something that helped me throughout the time in the league and helped me grow as a player, and also just taking it serious and going out there and playing as hard as I can.
How hard has it been to wait your opportunity because you had two years on that practice squad with the Packers, yep, and then you know, we bring you here and you're leaving a playoff team to come here. You need playing time, right, you need for your long term career, You need playing time there?
You do h It was very hard. I mean for the first year, you know, I felt like it was a learning year, so I didn't really stress about it as much. But the second year, I felt like I can go and I didn't get the opportunity being released and everything being on practice squad a whole nother year, so that that definitely took a toll on me over time mentally, especially this year. I think I have my best preseason, you know, coming into the season, and I ended up tweaking my calv so I ended up on
the injury reserve. But when I got off, I felt like I was ready to go on ready to play, but I didn't. The opportunity wasn't presented to me at that time. But God is real, you know. He came and gave me an opportunity here, and I just had to take my opportunity and run with it.
Well, you certainly have with Jonathan Ford, Bears defensive tackle. He's a big man. He's a big man. Right now, what are you tipping right now?
The scale somewhere just heavy?
But do you still feel good though you feel or would you like to be if the season were starting tomorrow all over again, you'd like to be be a little lighter or do you feel good at the way you're at?
I feel good. I feel good.
I see it is wrong for improvement with everything, you know, but I feel good. Feel like I'm shaping everything like that, and yeah, I feel good.
Yeah, how has the transition?
Ben?
Because you made an immediate impact?
Yeah, you feel you on tape, You could feel your presence on tape.
I think that was just all hunger and just me wanting to show and prove that I can play in this league, you know, like even you know my time in Green Bay, like I was told that I could play this league, but I didn't believe it for a while because of our contulities that wasn't presented at that time.
So h me coming here, it was a smooth transition with the scheme and everything, and then with my mentality of just wanting to go out there and contribute with this defense and just help the team as much as I can.
You know, it's the rare player that will be as honest as you just were, like, Okay, somebody drafted me. I don't care if I was unsigned. Somebody drafted me. They thought enough of me on my traits. But then if you don't get the opportunity, you start want well, I don't know, maybe maybe it's not going to be for me, right, And so how challenging was that to try to get yourself mentally right to say, listen, man, I don't care what anybody.
Else I know, I can do this.
Yeah, it wasn't like throughout like my first few years of hard. But as I gotten to this point my third year, I kind of became mumb because I started to understand the business and understand how things work. So uh, it wasn't that hard for me. I just knew that I really don't have nothing to lose, but a lot to gain. We're just going out there and just giving everything I have and just putting it on tape.
Uh. There's a guy on this team that I've become fond of, and it's Chris Williams, Bronx kid, tough as nails. You know, we just sat down recently and he said, I don't want the season, and like, you know a lot of guys, and it's been it's been.
It's been hard. It's been a long season. But you know he shut like you.
He just got his opportunity here and he's made plays. He's got three sacks and it's part of that rotation. I don't know if you've befriended him at all or how that, but you guys strike me as maybe similar mentality about.
This is that? Is that a fair statement? It is?
It is? Because it's crazy that that was the guy who I chose to sit by in the mean room because he's quiet, guy observed like me and everything. But uh, Chris, Like, I remember talking to him one day and we were just talking about our journey and everything like that, and he was just like, man like, I'm not like, I'm not upset about nothing losing or anything. I'm just happy
that this organization gave me opportunity. And I felt the same way, you know, when I got the call saying they wanted me to what they signed me here, I'm like, man, I don't care what the record is anything. I'm just like happy to have an opportunity here. So him like me and him like we we jailed on that, on that, on that type of time. And you know, once I got here.
The interesting diversity in backgrounds because you know, he said, Hey, people don't even think there was football in New York City. I mean, he's a Coney Island kid, you're Lauderdale football hotbed. I mean, have you guys chopped it up about some of those backgrounds.
I try, I try to stay away from that car guys. Guys think Florida guys. It's just like cocky and everything. And we got it all that. Man, You're full of a lot of athletes in South Florida. So I mean with guys like uh, with guys liked Walk and BC, like we all talk about Florida guys, so we encow. Yeah, we talk about you know, the Florida just the pipeline of guys that comes out of Florida.
So as in aside Hester, you know, he and I are closely relying aligned because of his success and me calling his plays. But so I did a story. I went down to Orlando where he lived, and he's coaching his son. And I'd never been to a youth football game in Florida. In Orlando is where it was. And I was taking a back.
I was like, man, they are serious right here with these kids.
The moms, the screaming, the yelling, where the they take it quite seriously. Uh, And everybody kept, hey, it's different here, and I you know, that's almost cliche, but I don't think it. It is different there, explain it from your perspective growing up in Why why at even that levels.
It's so different.
It's just the I would say, definitely backgrounds. You know, some some people that's all they got, Like that's that's all they have, just to just to get to the get to where they want to get in life. I mean also just growing up, that's all we do. We play football in the street, play football. Like me growing up, we played football on the basketball court. We play football in the streets. We play football on a grass field somewhere in the neighborhood and everything like, that's just what
we we do down there. We love football. We always like that's that's the way we bond together. That's the way we come together with just sports and everything like that. And it's a lot of guys that's just natural athletes, you know that come from where I come from.
Yeah, but all right, I gotta cut it off there because we're running out of time in the segment big time. But I know you appreciate guys like that. Guys are just getting their opportunity. You can hear the hunger in his voice.
That I hope is around here for a long time.
And he's not going to be a guy that you're going to have to go and give an inspiring speech to him Sunday morning before the Packers games. He's going to be the guy that you want to sit around to realize the importance of what the moment is. I love these interviews when we get introduced to these guys that we don't know a lot about, because, like you said, you could hear it in his voice how important it is to him.
What have you seen from him in the short time he's been here. Because as soon as he got out of the roster they put him in there, and you know, I think he's got eight or nine tackles in a couple of games here playing good defense up front.
He one thing he reminds me of William Perry.
William Perry had the innate ability to predict the snap count and he had an explosiveness that he could get off the ball that at times he was almost unblockable. And one thing about Jonathan Ford, he has the ability to be disciplined about not just off side, but being disciplined to explode when the ball is snapped. And that's what I'd like to see out of him. I do think he had one off side since he's been playing.
But you can see that innate ability in him to understand that he's paying attention to the football.
He's not listening to the quarterbacks. Cadence listed at three five, big deal. He's a big man, big big, heats up. He fills the doorway town. Yeah for sure, all right, we got to take a break.
That's time there.
Jeff Joniyak here on Bears Weekly again. He has been one thousands of the Bears ready a network have an new or gently used coat laying around head to your local jewelasco until February tenth to donate one of your new or gently used coach to the thirty sixth annual Chicago Bears Coat Drive helped keep Chicago's warm this winter. Jeff and Tom with you as the Bears get ready
to meet the Green Bay Packers. Tom, anything you see on tape that they're doing better, worse, or the same since Week eleven, when the Bears lost by a single point to the Green Bay Packers at Soldier Field.
You know, there's nothing necessarily that stands out. But you know, Josh Jacobs, he good running back. I don't know if he's gonna play this Sunday. Jordan Love he is, uh, he has big play potential when he has all the receivers in place. Tucker Kraft is a good tight end. I don't know if he's gonna play or nothdy. I know he had some it was ill. Maybe it was
just a rest practice. But you know, it's more like on the defensive side of the ball, because we didn't know what was gonna happen when they hired a new defensive coordinator, if they were gonna take a step ahead or a step back and they're a little bit more unpredictable about the pressures.
They want to bring. Even though they've had some key injuries on the defense.
They still have a good variety of upfront packages that you better understand your assignments and how to fit your protection the best against them.
Right, they take the ball away, that's for sure. They take a ball away. They're getting points in every imagine a way. They got seventy takeaway points. Uh, and it's it's it's it's been interesting to watch them. Half Lee, the defensive coordinator, has made an impact and, like you said.
A little unpredictable. I don't know if he's gonna play either.
Brenton Cox, he didn't play any snaps before Week eleven, and since that time, this defensive ent out of the University of Florida, undrafted last year, has four sacks, seven hits on the quarterback, five tackles for lof eight and a half Herry's force fumble, and he's making an impact. Well, he's he's a little banged up, but ever since they got rid of Preston Smith, he went in and he's been playing well.
Yeah, but it's the word that you always use.
How do you deploy your assets and they put him in position to get into a winning rush or you know, at the right down and distance where they give him the opportunity.
So it is, you know, his how how deployable he is.
And the other guy that's playing really well is the their top pick, linebacker Edgerrin Cooper. He's he's he's going to be a problem in years to come.
He's very active.
Bears defensive coordinator Eric Washington on Jalen Johnson named to his second consecutive Pro Bowl.
It's a job by him. Really excited for him and our defense and well deserved and just really excited for him and proud of it.
Eric, What do you want to see out of your group in this last game against Green pay A Lambofield.
The same thing we saw last week. I wanted to play with passion, with intensity. I want to be situationally smart. I want us to limit their rushing attack and just play with the kind of the executioner we saw the other night against Seattle.
Where are you some us growth from Jami next year?
This year, well, his rush production has really picked up and he's been impactful as a rusher and he's also been able to finish against the quarterback, and I think that was a targeted area for him. And there's a lot more to gain as he continues to work and to get better and to get stronger and all the things that you want to see in terms.
Of his growth. What have you seen in Jordan Love in the last couple of weeks.
Since you faced the last Yeah, Well, the accuracy is really there.
He's not missing a lot of targets.
He knows where he wants to go with the football, he's diagnosing the coverages, he's going to his secondary targets, and he's really taking care of the football. They have not turned the ball over a lot in the last two or three weeks.
Yep, six straight games without an interception for the quarterback. Jordan Love the rare team town that runs the ball more on a percentage basis than they do passing the football, and on first down they run it sixty two percent of the time. That's right there at the top of the league. So I expect them to run the ball.
Yeah, so do Why but Seattle ran the ball a lot last week and the Bears only ended up giving up six points to Seattle, and they had dynamic receivers like green Bay. They had a you know, Gino Smith playing quarterback. Jordan Love is a younger version. So if Eric can get his defense to put the same performance out there and hold Green Bay to six points at home, this is a game that the Bears should win. So it's a lot of disappointment leaving that stadium with the
Bears losing six to three. But I want to see the same performance by the Bears defense and the Bears walk out of there with more points than six.
Yeah.
Bears still allowing the fourth fewest points in the second half in overtime this season, one hundred and forty two. That is right there behind the Green Bay Packers at number four. The Packers are number three. They've only allowed one hundred and forty so points. It's going to be a top one way or another. They score a lot. Bears have been stingy, and let's see what happens. We've gotta take one more break.
Yeah, I think the temperatures will invite some type of weird turnover one way or the other.
All right, a bouncing ball. We'll follow it with out there.
Jeff Jonniac one segment to go here on Bears Weekly on the ESPN one thousand of the Bears Radio Network.
All Right, winding down here in this show, this segment.
Of Bears Week, it brought to you Biathletical Visical Bear. We visit athletical dot com to request an inn clinic or virtual deployment to start feeling better. Tomorrow, Jeff and Tom getting ready for Bears Packers. Tory Taylor will head to lamb over the first time in his career. Getting some good praise from his special team's coordinator Richard hight Tower earlier today.
He's really helped our football team in a major way. And I think people can agree to disagree on the pick, but I think the pick was outstanding and phenomenal. The way he's helped our football team, A lot of people can't tell because you really have to study it. You really have to know how that helps the defense, how it helps the offense, how it helps everyone. When you got somebody that can flip the field position that on a consistent basis, it's.
A game changer.
And a lot of other coordinators and a lot of other people talk to me about it pregame all the time, like that dude is a dude and he's going to be a dude for a long time, and he's just a baby right now learning how to play. So it's for him, it's one game at a time.
Uh.
And I want to see him. I want to see him performing. I'm challenging his behind to perform in this weather. So that's what I want to see from him.
Yeah, because the weather is, like you indicate, it's going to be a little different there in Lambeaull Little Chilli.
Well, you got to make sure that first of all, it's ball security, whether you're a quarterback taking a shotgun snap or a punter taking a long snap. And you got and say you're backed up a little bit, so you know there's going to be a little bit quicker pressure provided. So you just have to make sure that you pay attention to details because it is his first time up there and the conditions are not going to be favorable from the crowd out of the field.
All Right, we got thirty seconds. What your biggest key to the game for the Bears to end the season on a high note here?
A vertical passing game.
I you know, I'm not frustrated with the horizontal passing game, but I think they have the people in place that they can be more threat vertically and see if they can get one of those chunk plays or scoring plays.
All right, Tom, that's gonna do it for us.
Special thanks to Bears defensive tackle Jonathan Ford, the executive producer of the Bears Radio Network, Eric Ostrowski, and our producers Dan Brillly, Jordan tread Up at in studio, Justin Potten.
Sure for tent there, I'm Jeff Joniak.
We'll be back next Monday night, right after the season ends with former Bears quarterback Jim Miller. And of course we'll have the game for you, starting with our ten am pregame on the network. Kickoff coming up at twelve o'clock at lambeau Field. Thanks for joining us, everybody, have a great night. Enjoy your college football as well on the new radio home of the Chicago Bears. This is ESPN Chicago. Bleck and abdalla our next. Good night, everybody,