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Thankgrovering the opener was big for the Bears.
They do it and come from behind fashion and now they move into Houston looking to pull the upset of the defending AFC South champion Houston Texans. They'll do so, possibly a little banged up offensively. Welcome into Bears Weekly right here on ESPN one thousand of the Bears Radio Network with Super Bowl winning Bears guard Tom Thayer. I'm Jeff Joniyak. Coming up we visit with Bears tight end
Cole koment Well. Also here from the coordinators from today's podium at Halisaul and of the ESPN studio Spender Thedos. Tonight is Kendra Smith. Thanks to our producers, Dan Brilliant, Jordan Tredap from the Bears and the executive producer of the Bears radio network. Is Eric Ostrotski joining us for the first couple of segments tonight. Former Bears quarterback Jim Miller from Serious xm NFL Radio will get to him
in just a moment. And that barking is one of Tom's dogs in the background, Yes, sir ree, which.
Is going only one dog that bars like that, and that's sweet Lou. If there's anybody on my perimeter, he is gonna make me aware of it. And sorry, sorry for the interruption.
But it is what it is, man, That's how we roll right now, Hey Tom, Jim Miller now ready to join us as well from Sirius xm n up for a radio We missed your brother since the preseason when you called the preseason games with Adam Aman got yourself on Hard Knocks. Jim, did that increase your public profile? You got on Hard Knocks just like Big Tom and myself?
Yeah, I did hear it. You know a lot of people text me and stuff and said things that he made the cut last night. But hey, I was down in Chicago a week one and the game was fired up like anybody for the Bears to really pull out that victory the way they did. And hey, here we go week to another big challenge already on store for the Bears.
Oh yeah, glad you can join us, Big Jim.
Let's talk injuries because Roma Dunze not practicing. It appears a knee injury that widely reported as an MCL of some sort. Keenan Allen dealing with a heel, so let's start there, carry blasting game. Did not practice. Ryan Bates did not practice today. He's dealing with shoulder elbow issues. So let's start on the offensive side of the ball big time. What is the trickle down with some of this?
You know, guys that have been here all preseason, all training camp, all OTA's You got Tyler Scott, you got Colin Johnson. You have the possibility of veils going in there at the receiver position. When you look at the offensive line, they're super fortunate they brought in Matt Pryor.
Because he is a big man.
We saw a big man last week and to and Andre Sweat, but Matt Pryor is equally as big. So if they had any hiccups at the right guard position or any other offensive line position, I think that Matt Pryor could go in and steady the ship and then when you look at Karrie blasting game in the full back position, I think every tight end on the team has that versatility in them, whether it's a guy built like Gerald Everett or a guy's big as Cole Cobt,
Steven Carlson, or even Marcedes Lewis. So I don't think the offense will change one iota.
However, when you have marquee players, you'd like.
To have them in a game this big, this magnitude, this nationally scoped.
Yeah, Jim might firepower and firepower that's what you're hoping for this year. I mean that Houston defense was down on the field for only twenty minutes in their win in Indianapolis, and in those twenty minutes, somehow the Colts put twenty seven points on the board.
What does that tell you about that defense?
I don't know what you were able to watch and analyze with detections in that game defensively, but what did you see?
I did their training camp. I think that is a well built team what Nick Cassero has done. Why because you know, much like the Bears, they got the rookie contract and they're starting to spend now. And then of course Demiko Ryans, who's really got a good heartbeat of that locker room. I just you know, just watching him coach and how that team's going to come together. And how about since going back to last year, CJ. Stroud has not thrown an interception in two hundred and thirty passes. Wow,
two hundred and thirty passes. I mean he's playing mistake free football. That he's the anomaly of all quarterbacks that have come out. I mean, we saw the young quarterback struggle this weekend. You know that got their first start. And but what they've done with him, the weapons around him,
with Tank Dell and Nico Collins. I think the Bears have an opportunity, but we'll see if the receivers, like I said, are healthy, otherwise they'll have probably have to go more twelve personnel with two tight ends, and then you wonder if they can keep up with the scoring of Houston. I think the Bears defense will keep them at bay. But this is a very good offense. The Bears will be seen good test.
You are at QB, tell us what you saw. Tell us what you saw from Caleb Williams and the offense.
Yeah, I think he was a little amped up you know, I you know, I think the key thing is and I'm sure everybody'll say, because it's obvious, if you don't make the big mistake, you got a chance. If your quarterback doesn't make the big stake mistake, he got a chance. I thought he played. He was a little late on
some of his reads. I think we know he could have had a couple of touchdowns Keenan Allen dropped that one in the front of the Pyelot thought he had a great one on that had an opportunity on that go route down the left sideline. So he was a little amped up and a little jacked up. But I think again, it says a lot about the maturity of him. It didn't bother him after the game. His postgame is like, hey,
you know, it's my first start. Doesn't matter that the stats weren't great, but we won, and I think he was And I think he's sincere saying it. You know, these things don't seem to linger bother him where it you know, because like for me, he missed two touchdown throws, I'd be losing sleep at night. You know, it's probably bothering him internally, but he doesn't show it. And he's cool as a cat, and I like that too.
You know, the two things that I took away from this game is the fact that it's the first real action by Caleb. And after you spend five months in a red Jersey where no one can get into your space, no one can interferre with your legs, your feet, your follow through or.
Get anywhere near you, and then.
You're sought You're a sought after product when you talk about playing in a real game against an opponent that has a defense like Tennessee or a Tennessee or a Houston defense. But the thing to me is the defense picked up where they left off. And I think that's the key ingredient here. It's not that Caleb Williams has to come in here and be the savior of the Bears organization. He's got to play a brand of football that he improves week in and week out and then compliments the defense.
And one way of doing that is not turning the ball over.
Yeah, you went, you gave up a nineteen yard sack, but you didn't throw the ball into Harm's way where you put the defense there, you know, their backs to the goal line, or you gave him multiple opportunities, and so I think, you know, like Jim said and Caleb's postgame comments, I think he's going to ascend through the season here and he's never gonna be a guy that's gonna shy away from the big opportunity he's earned in life.
Yeah, overcoming adversity is part of the whole puzzle, and I think he's had great experience at that.
This venue will not be too crazy for him either.
He's been on the biggest platforms in college football at Oklahoma and USC. He's been rising to the occasion, and hopefully they can take the starch out of that crowd with a run game and getting some first downs. Just two third down conversions some of those seven I believe we're third and five or less. So those you gotta get at least five of those, right, five of those That gets you another fifteen plays at a minimum, extend some drives and put you in position to get some
some more points. And so that's what I'm looking forward to. Pass protection's got to hold up against those edge guys. Daniel Hunter obviously a wrecker outside coming over from the Vikings. He's always been a problem for the Bears over the years, because he is good. He's one of the premier pass rushers in the NFL that often doesn't get talked about when you're talking about the Miles Garrett Miles Garretts and you're talking about the TJ. Watts and all that, but he's right up there in sax Town.
Well, one thing about cloud crowd, quieters, sacks, defensive turnovers, and special teams touchdowns, and the Bears were able to do all of that in this past week's game. So if you can bring that into Houston and you can allow your offense to continue to develop over time and then Caleb not make the big mistake, they're gonna give themselves a better opportunity because with the Bears have multiple sackers, they have defensive lineups that they can put sacks in numbers.
Then they got turnover opportunities, and then they got special teams either big kickoff returns or punt blocks for touchdowns.
Jim Joe Mixon only six backs, thirty thirty carries or more last year in the NFL.
He had thirty.
The young man in San Francisco getting the start last on Monday night, he had twenty eight carries. Slowick, the offensive coordinator Houston.
Is he more.
Tied to the tree of Shanahan or McVeigh in terms of this, because I was listening to the forty nine Ers broadcast on radio and they kept talking about, Okay, the magic number of carries is thirty thirty carries, thirty carries, thirty carries.
So is this where we're headed in this particular scheme?
Now?
Well, first, to me, it's always going to be Kyle Shanahan. It's this is you know slow, It comes from San Francisco, and that's really and even you know Sean McVay, he was with Kyle Shanahan in Washington. He was really under him. So it's really this all this tree is the Shanahan tree, and he's been awesome at it. But I would think Slow, he's gonna be more in line with Kyle Shanahan coming from San Francisco. I mean, look at that game the
other day by San Francisco. I mean they just ran outside zone run after outside zone run and just put it on the New York Jets. And that's really gonna be the style of Houston, you know, because that's who they want to be. From Bobby Slok, They've got a young talented passer, but forty minutes time of possession and Joe Mixon was a wrecking ball. I still can't believe Cincinnati gave away Joe Mixon. Didn Cincinnati just get embarrassed week one. They could have used Joe.
Mixon for a seventh round pick. They dealt him for Yeah, seventh round pick. Okay, there's still value in backs. That's what you're telling us, Jim, no question about it. All right, we're gonna take our first break. Jim back here for this segment, we'll talk about Shane Waldron. Hear what he had to say, as well as the Bears get ready for the Texans. Here on Bears Weekly on ESPN one thousand of the Bears Radio Network.
Well, welcome back to Bears Weekly. Come a Bears Network. Here's your host, the voice of the Bears, Jeff show you.
This segment of Bears Weekly is brought to you by Igs Energy, Jeff and Tom and Jim Miller alongside. Before we delve in, let's listen into what Shane Walder and the Bears offensive coordinator I had to say about Week one.
Caleb Williams and I look ahead.
Yeah, I think for him just going out there playing with clean eyes, clean feet, first chance to get out into a road environment, which I'm sure he'll be rocking on Sunday night, to be able to get to operate that way. Great communication with his guys up front, and you know, the receivers, the running backs, tight ends, everyone supporting him and knowing that as an offense, we want to keep improving every single week. And what's that looked
like again? You know a results will speak for themselves as we go out there, work at it, clean it up. I think the thing that gives us so much confidence as coaches as players as you come in here on Monday, head it. First of all, a great week last week by our defense, inspy, our special teams unit. I heard Tyreek talking about it too just a minute ago, about
what a great brotherhood these guys have formed. Everyone has each other's back, and you felt that from from our lens on offense right there, whether it was at halftime,
whether it was during the course of the game. So then when we're moving forward this week, knowing each week, you know, different units have to support each other, knowing that we have to do a better job of supporting our defense and our special teams moving forward, and that'll happen by just those incremental improvements here, you know, staying together,
playing together. So when we came out to practice yesterday as an offense, the tempo that we operated at, the enthusiasm, effort to hustle, you know, the hustle on the backside, the blox, you know, all the things that on a Wednesday, if if you have the right people, it looks like what it did yesterday is a.
Developer or established running game.
How much it's doing that would help.
I think for us, you know, we always want to have that balance of the run in the past, I think you know this this past week obviously want to do a little bit better job of getting some more runs off and helping that and you know, in the negative plays and know you know, when you have sudden change situations or some things that occurred, or you know, Dre has a really big kick return, we want to be able to get the runs going in those scenarios.
And I think for us that's just part of, uh, you know, the offense as a whole of what we want to be as a balance system. Uh, and starting with running the ball, and I think you know, Chris Morgan and the offensive line has done a good job, you know, talking about a group that started out yesterday, you know, bringing the right attitude, bringing the right effort.
You know, those guys set the tone for practice like they will every day and you know, excited to see what those guys go out and do this next one.
Caleb's accuracy has been one of the calling cards that he had been He missed a lot of throws on something that that he normally wouldn't from your lens, What was behind the accuracytions for Caleb?
I think for Caleb it's just about reps and the more time he's out there, like anything, like you know, anyone that's playing any of the positions, anyone that's coaching, the more reps that we're able to accumulate, uh, the slower it becomes each week in and out. And I think I know Caleb had mentioned it though, but the
tempo was of his feet. I think just playing with that good, clean tempo and mentioned clean eyes, clean feet and sticking to that, and then that'll obviously lead to an improved accuracy on a couple of throws here and there. But like you said, we've seen him make all these throws throughout the course of practice throughout the course of his college career and have all the confidence in the world that each week that'll get incrementally better and we'll be excited what we see.
All Right, Jim, you're the QB, So I have to defer to you right out of the gate when you talk about clean eyes, clean feet, to explain what that all means, big Jim, I've got you.
Okay, go ahead.
Yeah, So normally when you when your feet, when you're throwing, your feet should marry up with the routes that you're throwing. Like we always talking about the timing and rhythms. So five step, drop, hitch throw, you know, whether that's throwing you know an out route, but your feet will will really get you to the right spot into our throw because if you're processing everything you need and he'll be faster at processing, he'll get better and better at that.
These are some new looks that maybe's ever seen before. But his feet will start to marry up. And sometimes, like I said, if you're say throwing an out route, say you're normally in a if they were in a cover two, you're gonna adjust and throw get your footwork to where you're gonna throw a hole shot on the outside. Now, say if it's single high safety at the snap of ball, say you know he's under there, and says said, hut, he's looking at cover two. Now they rotate to a
cover three. Now you've got to get your feet to where what the drop would be on a five step drop for an out route to be thrown at twelve yards and keeping it outside so everything will start to marry up, where the timing and rhythm will get better and it would become seamless, and it'll become rope memory. He's too talented of a player not to do it, and he'll get there. It'll just take a little time.
You know.
What one thing I like about this week and what Shane kind of alluded to that the run game is the responsibility of the offensive line. They got to do this whole offense, this whole football team a service by having an effective running game. I also think after this week there is not going to be any shock to the system in terms of the atmosphere in the crowd, noise, in what you're going to face throughout the rest of
your career. And I really like the fact that you get these out of the way early a home game, all of that excitement, the adrenaline is flying like it never will again.
And then you go to.
This environment that they're going to face this week in Houston, a white out Sunday night, National TV.
The crowd is going to be absolutely insane.
But I know you've been in big games like this before in the college level, but you haven't played against guys like this before in a loud stadium. Because these guys that you're going to face throughout the entirety of your NFL career are completely different athletes than what you faced an allowed atmosphere in college. So I think these first two games are going to do more for the development of Caleb than a lot of other portions of improvement will do for him.
Jim.
I'm also you know about flowing rhythm. I know every quarterback wants that. Every quarterback enjoys working in rhythm. So you know when personnel packages are thrown into the mix, and I believe they had twenty six different groupings of personnel in that game, how do how do you get that with that kind of change down to down, how do you get into that rhythm as a passer?
Well, well, the reads are still going to be the reach. You know, you're going to go through your progressions and you know you're going through this checklist once you hear that play. So imagine me just sitting there looking at the sideline or in the huddle, waiting for that call to come in my helmet. And as soon as I hear those words, I'm coming up with my checklist. All right, we're you know, I got to be careful here. We
might have to audible to this play. This looks no good, so all right, this coverage we're going to you know, make an adjustment here. So and I'm going through this checklist, all right. And by the time we say ready break and we're walking up the line of scrimmage, All right, now what am I little?
All right?
Like I said, all right, strong safety is down. Be ready for the strong safety blist. That's what my checklist there. If it looks like it's coming, hey, I'm gonna I may check a week side run, you know, so I'm seeing you know, pressure on the right side, and then I'm going through the checklist, make the audible run the play, because that's my job to get the offense and the best play to take advantage of the defense. And I
think again, he'll get better and better and better. He'll see it, he'll understand it, and now how do I attack it? And that's gonna get better and better every single week.
Tom Demiko. Ryan's talking a lot about stopping the run. He's got some really good players on that defense, obviously at the at the ends, but they've got a bunch of new bodies as well, some really named players in the secondary. Jalen Petree is their nickel, but he's a safety. He's he's a guy that'll come up. He's not afraid of contact, so he's already thinking like the Bears, you know, could be taking that path to success.
And well, if you're talking about a third line level player being the leading tackler in the game, the Bears running game is doing well.
To me.
When I look at guys like Will Anderson and daneil Hunter, I am not gonna let them do what they want to do, and that's rushed the passer. I'm gonna make them absorb a physical style of game. And like we saw the first play of the game, they went unbalanced left. And now you put a big guy like Darnell right on the far outside next to Braxton Jones, and if you want to have multiple times where you run an unbalanced line, it's okay you can do that, especially with
the success you've been having. But never am I gonna let the guys do what they want to do in
order to showcase their talent. And I think if you can run the fall, run the ball effectively to that edge, to maybe those interior holes or that outside zone that they talk about, you can keep the offense on the field and you can put Caleb in a favorable second and four, a third and three situation where it's not you know, three seconds of protection, that the protection if at last two and a half seconds, it's enough to get the ball out of your hand.
A Zizou Shara, their middle linebacker, their green top player, number one in tackles in twenty three with the Titans, also did lead the league in misstackles as well, so that's something to keep an eye on as well.
Big Jim, any.
Final thoughts before we cut you loose, and we appreciate you coming on. We'll have you on here throughout the regular season for a couple segments if you're so kind to do so.
We love having you.
Well, hey, good to be here with you.
Guys.
Hey, I'm fired. I think this is a good you know, this is a good test for the Chicago Bears. We know defense can travel. The Bears were one of the better rushing defenses last year and that's going to be tested because I think with what Joe Mixon with the thirty carries and what he went over, they still want to protect a young quarterback too. So the Bears run game has to travel and the Bears rushing defense has to travel well. And if they do that, they'll have a shot.
All right, Jim, thank you so much.
By the way, mixing too games one hundred plus in his last thirty six games with the Bengals, and had the big opener down in Houston. And we come back Tom and I visit with Cole Kmet the Bears starting tight end. It's a next on Bears Weekly on ESPN one thousand and the Bears Radio Network.
Well, welcome back to Bears Weekly on the Bears Radio Network.
Here's your host, the voice of the Bears, Jeff show.
You and this segment of Bears Weekly is brought to you by Athletical Physical Therapy. Visit athletical dot com to request it. In clinic or virtual deployment and start feeling better tomorrow. Welcome back to Bears Weekly here on ESPN one thousand on of the Chicago Bears Radio Network, Jeff and Tom and our good pal tight end Cole Comet joining the program. Tom, we had to fight elbow for this because you know, he's his own media star. Now tell us you're podcasting.
Yeah, I'm podcasting. It's been fun, you know. I started doing some stuff last year with of those guys over at CGO and then started decided to do my own thing with their help, and it's been cool to kind of get some of the players in and get their perspective on things. I think fans, you know, if you tune in, are able to learn a little bit more of the intricancies to each position that each guy plays and really highlight all those guys. So it's been a lot of fun so far.
It's called the eighty five.
It's called the eighty five.
Tom.
People could get confused. Now, I mean that's Super Bowl winners.
Now everybody knows what eighty five means. Right now, it's Cole's number, and it's Cole's number for the next decade, and that's what how people can talk to them.
Hey, Cole, So you think of back to the start of the season.
They bring in a new offensive coordinator, they start installing a new offense. You guys get announced, say you're going to be on hard knocks. You begin all the processes of the preseason. When you got to last week, did it seem faster or did it seem like things slowed down because of it?
Now it's the regular season.
Well, I think the regular season is always an uptick from the preseason. So and I know those preseason reps in the moment, you know, seem like a lot maybe to a lot of the fans, and you know, you really try and digest and you know, really taking everything that happens on those on those days in the preseason.
But regular seasons a whole different animal. You got defensive coordinators are now game planning specifically against your offense, and you're seeing maybe some different looks that you hadn't seen before. And obviously this past week against Tennessee you're planning against a new defensive coordinator for them, So there's a lot of looks that you're not really seeing that you haven't
seen from them. So there's things that you got to look back when you know that DC he was in Baltimore, so you're looking at some Baltimore film and I obviously they got different personnel in Tennessee. So there's a lot of a lot of things going on in that regard, you know. For me, Now, for me personally, going into year five, things have continued to slow down a year after year for me, And you know, I've always been
feeling pretty good out there, you know, especially recently. So I'm sure for some guys, I know, the rookies, maybe it probably ticked up in speed a little bit. And that's just how the NFL is going to be and it'll adjust as the season goes.
So your your inclusion into this offense, is it how you fit against your next opponent or what changes this offense can make for you to fit better against your next opponent.
Yeah, we'll see where it goes.
You know, I'm not gonna be a guy that is gonna, you know, go ahead and complain for targets or for my involvement. You know, I'm gonna trust the whatever coaches roll out there, and we'll kind of see where it goes.
You know.
Obviously, you know I've said what I said about the about everything, and you know, I feel like I'm a top tight end in this league, and you know, I'm a guy that can that can do it all, and I really feel like this year I'm a I'm in a position to take a big step with where I'm at physically and mentally.
So, uh, we'll see where it goes.
You know.
Obviously we got a lot of pieces that we got to figure out, just a lot of new guys, a lot of talent that we got to take care of, and obviously a rookie quarterback as well that we also got to bring along.
So we'll see where it goes.
You know, I'm still very optimistic about where we can what we can be offensively this year, but it just might take a little bit of time.
Shane Waldron said, as much about you knows you're one of the top play makers and you've done everything right since you got her.
You said it today at the podium here at Hallis Hall.
But this whole one ball many weapons thing fans were curious before the season, you add more talent, but this league is about matchups, right, and so when you get a great matchup, you might get ten targets this week and play you know, sixty snaps.
Yeah and everyone, yeah, everyone will forget about it. So yeah, yeah, but yeah, we'll see where it goes. This is a matchup league, and we got a lot of good matchups across the board. You know, whether you're looking obviously at like DJ Keenan Rome has looked really good throughout training camp and you know myself Gerald and then in the running back room as well. So a lot of good a lot of good weapons that we can choose from, you know, just about putting it together and making this thing.
Jel is the offensive coordinator's door open. Do you talk to him?
Absolutely?
Yeah, yeah, no, we we we we have a great dialogue. All the players have a great dialogue with Shane. Shane's really receptive on things. He's a really smart guy. You know, he's been really good with axes and no's and that's been evident for him throughout his whole career so far. And you've seen this stuff that he's done in Seattle and other places he's been at, so he has a
lot of knowledge. And but look, this is a thing that we got to gel together and that that that's something that take that takes time, and but all this is all part of being a team and being new.
One of the best tight end rooms in the league, variety age, and you know what.
Yeah, I mean, obviously Gerald's been around, he's been doing he's been doing a good job. And then you know Mercedes, you know, at almost forty years old, I think is still the best blocking tight end in the NFL. And obviously I put myself up there as being a very good blocking tight end. So you know, when we got me and him together, we can do some damage up front and then obviously all the things we're able to do in the past game.
So it's a very talented room.
Well, one more fun topic for me is throughout my Notre Dame career, I was owing four against USC and I don't know what your record was, but I saw George Kittle this morning whereing Iowa State helmet because he did bet with Brock thirty home of Jeff Joniak. I know it's not until the end of the year, so I'm gonna give you time to think about some fun bet that you can have with premiere quarterback number one.
Oh, I already I already got this in mind.
Man.
Well, first I never lost to USC, which is the biggest thing that I hang my hat on leaving the name so like that to me was because I can't stand us. But I'm going to propose that he dresses like a LEPrecon. If we beat him, how about that?
That's pretty good, I means.
And if it goes the other way, then you got to dress as like one of their trojans.
Yeah, he can pick.
He can pick whatever he wants, but he's dressed up as a LEPrecon. If we win that game, that's for sure, and I'll buy the costume too. Cole, You're more familiar.
With the college noise than I am because I'm so old, and I think about you guys going into Houston. Is there similarities between the stadiums that you played in and how packed it was, because usually all state even away stadiums were packed against Notre Dame. Is there similarities to it or is there an extreme noise difference between the your college experience and the your NFL experiences.
Yeah, we were actually talking about this on the field the other day. I don't think I've ever been in an NFL stadium yet, honestly that has been as loud as some of the college stadiums I've played at, and that includes Georgia Notre Dame at times.
I play at Michigan in front of.
One hundred plus thousands, So those stadiums get really, really loud in those college football atmospheres. Now that being said, there's a lot more communication involved at the NFL level than there is at the college level. You know, everyone's looking to the sideline in college to get their play.
There's no huddle calls.
The checks are usually verbal in the NFL, and there's having to signal at the line of scrimmage and having to communicate across the line of scrimmage and run checks. And you know, if there's a down safety here, if the safety flies back there, that might change the point in a protection or in a run scheme. So there's a lot more intricacies in the NFL game and a lot more communication that has to happen. So any type of noise is going to affect you, you know, that
being said. The loudest moment in a football game I've ever been a part of was when the other I think was last year when the Lions had beat us and they came back and Algerson had that strip sack and that was the most That was the loudest I'd ever heard of stadium in my life. So, well, I'm sure it'll be noisy. I'm sure it'll be routed riled up there in Houston. It's the first time they've had a Sunday night football game, I think in a long,
long time, five years. Yeah, so they're gonna be juiced up, ready to go. There's gonna be a lot of noise. We're gonna have to communicate really well. But this is nothing that most of us haven't played in before, and we just got to be able to handle it.
Fluis is thinking it's a college environment, indoor on top of it.
Yeah.
So Cole covet our guest here on Bears Weekly on ESPN one thousand of the Bears ready a network. So I can't remember now through the five episodes Tome you watched off five, so I don't know how many appearances you had on camera and hard Knocks, but I see they're dropping some stuff that they picked up the cutting room floor and they're repurposing. Yes, So the football car to Mercedes Lewis was one I saw online this week, which is pretty cool.
Were you cool with.
Your appearances or lack thereof on hard knocks. Were you looking for a little more time?
I think it was like the perfect amount where I showed up here and there just cause I want to be able to show this to my kids one right, so like they'll know, Okay, like I was actually involved in on the team and like that was on in there, but I never had like a big feature which I was totally okay with.
Yeah, and I feel the same, Wait, our calls were on there, Tom. Also that's something for perpetuity this general managers keep adding local products. So the latest is Karanamagaji. You know that flavor, and we keep bringing it up.
Is it important in a weird way? Yeah?
No, I think I think it matters here more maybe than in other places, because you've got to understand the environment that you're getting into here.
You know.
My example was just the past Sunday. I think some people were a little shocked that the Boo Birds came out at halftime. Uh, this is Chicago, man, They're expecting the winter and they have they have big expectations for their football team. So having guys that know the area, well, I think it brings a level of comfort and understanding as to what this football team means to the city, and just that level of understanding. You come into the practicely knowing what you got to do every day for sure.
So from hard knocks that you threw out the first pitch at the Cubs game.
So when you went to the mound, did its is what you remembered? Did you think, Okay, I gotta I gotta deliver this so I don't look like some of the other high lighted players that couldn't make it to the mound.
What was your your pre pitch thinking there?
I was getting I was getting nervous before. Honestly, I have no idea why. I started warming up with my brother beforehand, and they had told me the mascot was gonna be catching the first pitch, and so I was like, can I like throw this thing in there? Because whenever you have to for me in baseball, when you got to lob something in or like put touch on it, it never goes where you wanted to go. You just
got to fire it through the chest. And so they were like, yeah, you can fire this thing, fire this thing at him. So I'm like all right, So I just got up there and ripped it and it might have been a ball outside. George was giving me some crap for it the other day, saying that it was that it wasn't a strike, but you know, it got over the plate, it looked, it looked professional.
Did you get the did you get the MPH on it?
Yes? Yes?
What'd you fire?
I think they said it was in the seventies, so not bad, not bad, not bad, not bad.
What'd you top out it?
My top out in college I think was ninety six. Yeah, and I sat at ninety ninety three, so yeah, wow, yeah, yeah, I had a good arm from the left side. But that was that was like a dream come true for me and a lot of fun.
How's the wedding going?
Oh my gosh.
I get home every day and my fiance we always got stuff to talk about. But credit to her, she's been killing it. She's been taking care of a lot of different things. We just did a wedding tasting deal the other night and we just had a blast with that. So the process is fun with it. We're having fun with it. But yeah, definitely a lot of work, a lot of that has to be done, but we're enjoying the process for sure.
All right, back to football, So.
Don't don't ebody.
He doesn't talk. Yeah, yeah, he does not go to weddings.
He doesn't go to the question I'm curious about because during hard knocks we saw Caleb have a little bit of an interruption, interruption with the communication device in this helmet, and he was able to piece the words together and know exactly what he was supposed to say in the huddle. How was the communication Sunday? Being the first time four quarters in a regular season game, some alternate, some alternate down in distance that you were facing, how did that process of the game go?
Well?
I thought in terms of the huddle, it was great and it was good. I mean, there were some mishaps here and there, which is expecting that happens in every NFL game, but you know, for the most part, I thought it was pretty good. And I think we're kind of what I mentioned with the noise in Houston and
you know, having to communicate the line of scrimmage. I think that's where we can all get better, you know, not just at the quarterback position, but between receivers, tight ends, offensive line and running backs, and we can communicate better with the post huddle deal. And I think that'll help us out tremendously.
The Neil Hunter, Will Anderson got a black those guys, yeah, we.
Got hear hear of them. Yeah, they look really good.
Obviously, two talented guys, and you know those are guys you got to look out for and if you can neutralize them, I think we'll have some good success on offense.
Thanks for the time, appreciating good luck on the podcast. Good luck on Sunday and the rest of the season. Cole commit our guest. We'll continue with Bears Weekly after this on ESPN one thousand of the Bears Radio Network is Bears Weekly.
With the voice of the Bears for twenty four years, the Chef Chilney a chef pu up Bears Network.
This segment of Bears Weekly is brought to you by CDW. If people to get it, Jeff and Tom Love talking to Cole Comet Tommy. If he gets thirty five catches this year, he'd cracked the top five all time in franchise hints history for Bears pass catchers in his first five seasons and third and touchdowns by a tight end in the NFL is ince twenty twenty two, behind only Kelsey and Kittle.
So if he doesn't have thirty five catches, we have to have an investigation, right because Cole Kmet, as he mentioned, he is.
Capable of doing it all.
He's a very good inline blocker, he could play h back, he could play full back. He's a downfield threat, he's a red zone threat, and he's a consistent five yard plus tight end.
So Cole is.
Just in the midst of the beginning of a great All right.
Let's switch it over to the defensive coordinator, Eric Washington. He went to the podium and dove right in on the Houston Texans.
A good challenge for us this week. The first is to the defense making sure that we play to our standard four quarters in every aspect of what we do with all of our values, our culture, and then just stopping the run and just doing everything that we can going into this week to elevate our level of play, our discipline, ball production, hits on a quarterback, just being efficient on first and second down. We want to make sure that we take a pretty decent jump this week.
And the second is the opponent this offense, what can you say? The quarterback is dynamic. The offensive line has done a nice job of creating lanes for their runners Joe Mixon. They've got a receiving corps that can really produce explosive plays, and we'll have our hands full in terms of keeping this off in front of us and doing everything that we can to address the way that they try and attack you, especially with the explosive plays.
Joe Mixon has done a really nice job of protecting the football, and for a defense that has that you know, has aspirations of taking the football away, that's going to be a tremendous challenge for us and we're going to need a special effort to get that done. So good challenge for us, good opportunity for us to grow and to continue to make progress against a really really good offense and a dynamic young quarterback.
Here, Coach Washington talks about wide receiver Nico Collins very talented.
I mean the size, not only the speed to catch radius. I mean the quarterback does not have to be perfect and one accurate for him to make a play on the football. And what gets lost in the whole thing is his ability to block on the perimeter.
I mean, very physical blocker.
All of the receivers are, and so we're gonna have to do a really good job of being physical disconnecting from blocks actually against perimeter runs. But he's the full he's the full, total package with the.
Way they established the run last week and then win themselves to what did you see on video about how Mixing had the day that he had.
Yeah, it's number one. They're run inventory creates some issues for you. I mean they can go from a gap scheme concept with pullers to an outside zone looking to cut the football back and so they've got a nice blend, a nice mix of run concepts that you have to do a really good job of addressing and fitting, especially when they start to pull an offensive lineman.
They seem to establish himself pretty early on those underneath throws. For CJ, is that when you try to scheme up like responsibilities of how you're going to attack their three receivers, is that something that you expect to stay consistent on a week to week basis to prepare for that, you know how they might use them differently.
Yeah, we we have to be prepared for all contingencies as far as the route concepts that we'll see, and I'm sure they'll move Stephan around so that we can't identify and pinpoint one location for him and design our plan around. But wherever he ends up in terms of the route concept, we have to make sure we execute the coverage.
Yeah, digs with two touchdowns in the red zone. Tommy interesting on the variety of runs. So yes, inside gap and outside zone two very different styles and you got to prepare for both.
But you know with what.
Andrew Billings did, and we're so intrigued by what he did in this game, had a lot of reps, put hits on the quarterback, stuff the run, put pressure on the quarterback.
He becomes a very key figure.
He's a super key figure because his versatility brings the type of what I'm gonna call him EW. Okay, that's Eric Washington. Fluse gives everybody nicknames. I'm gonna now go
with EW for Eric Washington. Because when he talks about the variety of runs that opponents have, the Bears have a variety of defensive fronts they can put out there because of their versatility of their front seven and as you say about their defensive backs, they have great deployment and they can put him in a lot of different positions. So Eric Billings, i mean Big Billings can do a lot.
But Zach Pickens is also elevated to a full practice today, So you know what type of reps, what type of versatility does that get the defensive front.
I don't want to ignore Billings because I gotta tell you what.
He impressed me more in this first game of the regular season than he did throughout training camp. And his production and the way that he assisted the linebacker position and the way he assisted the defensive line in the way he put pressure on the quarterback was more impressive to me than I thought I saw. But going back and looking at it, listen, man, Billings is a big man that's hard to move, and I think he can be a stabilizing force in the center of that defense.
You know say, with guys like that, they grow roots, meaning they're hard to dig out of there for an offensive lineman, guys like well Andrew Billings.
One thing about that, Jeff, and that that's a great point by you, because when you have a defensive lineman that's considered has great roots, that means the combination blocks of offensive linemen have to spend more time of getting that guy moved than they can getting to the second level.
And then that gives.
A little bit of you know, three quarters of a second, half a second more freedom for the linebacker to get in position to make a play.
Once se'mon Ago, We'll get Tom stattson Richard High Tower, his views on the special teams excellence that was a part of that big victory at home against Tennessee. This is Bears Weekly at ESPN one thousand and the Bears Radio Network.
Well, welcome back to Bears Weekly on the Bears Wingdio Network.
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fifty seven to fifty five. Don't miss this exclusive opportunity with Chicago Bears vip our remaining moments here on Bears Weekly, We'll start with Tom's thoughts, Tom, what do you got?
Okay, I'm gonna tell you an actual story from my career that I think it's relatable to this week. So we were in our season with Mike Ditkaza, head coach, and the offensive line. He wanted them to play better, and in front of everybody, he stood there and he said, if I criticize the wide receivers that I'll go into a shell. If I criticize the defensive backs, they'll they're too sensitive. So the team, the only faction of a team, segment of a team that I can criticize in front
of everybody is the offensive line. If you win the game, you get no credit. If you lose the game, you get all the blame. So when I think about this week going into Houston, I want the offensive line to play a more physical Chicago brand of football.
I want them to play.
A brand of football that Chris Morgan, the offensive line coach, continues to preach and coach. So these guys have to up their standard of physical approach to football in the most difficult circumstances they can possibly face, and that is not hearing the snapcount, being in a super hostile environment, being the most important segment of the Chicago Bears football team in order for this team to come away with
a win. So for my actual experiences, I want to relate it to these guys and I want them to play a better, more physical brand of football.
I like it.
Physicality on special teams is something that Matt Eberflus brought up earlier in the week. Richard high Tower also applauding the work of Daniel Hardy, who blocked that plunt in the win.
It's a testament to not only him as a person, and I actually met his mom this week as well for the first time. It's a testament to his family, how he was raised, how he goes about his business, and it's a testament to our personnel department finding a guy like that because a lot of people didn't know who Daniel Hardy was, and for him to work and develop and and you know, make the plays that he made. I'm very proud of him as well as his teammates. His teammates are proud of him as well, And I'm
proud of Daniel and his teammates. And then we're just looking for more growth.
You know.
One quick thing on that, because I could talk all day about Hardy Okay, But what's interesting that people don't know is after the game he had and after he was you know, you know, recognized by coach as one of the players you know, of the game that contributed and all that. The kid after that, she came right up to my office and wanted to know what he could get better at.
Oh, that's what I love here in big time and you've got thirty seconds. We both liked this young man.
Love him, love him since training camp, in his production, and I hope he has more success than he or his mom originally thought he could have.
Yeah, his mom was at the game.
Post game when I was interviewing him on Marquee, she was standing right there taking pictures.
I saw him in the locker room.
She said it was one of her biggest thrills, like watching all this come to fruition as a former basketball player, didn't play a lot of high school football and had to find a way to get to the college level and has earned himself a spot and he is relentless on special teams.
You should have interviewed, yes, and you should have interviewed her.
All right, the most important person in her life.
We gotta go big time. We'll see us Sunday night in Houston.
This has been Bears Weekly on the new radio Home of the Bears, ESPN Chicago.
Coming up next, Chris Black. Good night, everybody,