Right justin middle of the field forty five to fifteen, bring Russ in front of a leading Lions in this way. I am Jeff joniyancklitz is on don go r What was like playing for Coachy boddom Ah.
I don't want to answer any questions like that.
Sixty one yards?
What's Sunday stroll.
For justin Field?
Ye Bears, et cetera with the voices of the Chicago Bears Jeff Joniac who challenge waits the Bears this Sunday. It is Christmas Even A three twenty five kickoff into the Bears and the Arizona Cardinals. Kyler Murray coming to town and Jonathan Gannon, the new head coach of the Arizona Cardinals, brings a three win outfit to Soldier Field. We'll have it for you starting at three twenty five on ESPN one thousand of the Bears Radio Network with Tom Thayra. I'm Jeff Joniak and this is episode forty
four of Our Bears et Cetera podcast coming up. We'll be joined by Doug Flank, the ferocious Bears safety. The forty six defense invented by Buddy Ryan because of the blonde bombshell, and we'll talk to him.
We always love talking to Doug.
He's still doing national work on radio and has keen insight on the Arizona Cardinals and your Chicago Bears.
Tom.
I know the Bears suffered that defeat and it sucked the wind out of everybody in Cleveland. But I'm certainly very excited about Sunday. I know it's a holiday. People are gonna be listening, people are gonna be watching if you're on the road, going to family or whatever. I love talking to our fans on the holiday because holiday
and football goes together. In recent years, we've had some Christmas Day games, some Christmas Eve games, and whoever shows up at Sojier Field on Sunday, I think they'll be entertained with two mobile quarterbacks like Kyler Murray and Justin Fields.
Yeah, you know.
Kyler Murray is interesting to watch on tape because although I've never been a huge fan of his, just because I didn't know if that his size was gonna be usable and his escapability was gonna be an asset.
At the NFL level.
But I gotta say, when I watch him on tape, I see a player with his assets, plays with extreme confidence. He's got great escapability. He's willing to throw across his body. He's willing to throw across the field. He's willing to extend pockets to for one of his receivers to get open. But also he's willing to drop if he feels pressure rather than taking a hard hitting sack.
He'll go to the ground and go to the next play.
And sometimes that acceptability is you know, keeps them healthy and on the field. So I'm really interested to watch two dynamic, young developing quarterbacks this Christmas Eve.
Coming off that Aco.
He hasn't played a lot obviously this year from from last season and the Cliff Kingsbury experiment didn't work out there in Arizona. That led to Jonathan Gannon. But you know they've signed him to a big contract. But is this home for him? Is this gonna be Kyler Murray's football team moving forward? This is a three win team that's going to a high draft pick and could be interested maybe in one of those quarterbacks that are coming out.
Yeah, they could also be interested in the big time receiver because if you look at Kyler Murray, you know he's got an explosive arm, he's got great confidence and he's got great you know wherewithal in terms of the passing game and how to extend the time behind the line of scrimmage to make sure one of those receivers
get open. So if you have a contract that you've already signed Kyler Murray to, and you have a high draft choice where maybe you can get one of those top two or three receivers that have an immediate impact on your offense, you know, maybe that's the route to go. You bring in a head coach. Kyler Murray is understanding of the terminology and the development of the system. He had time to wait until he actually had to play because, as you mentioned, the recovery of the knee injury.
So it is the fastest route to success.
Because it seemed like they have a tight end in place who's a real weapon on this offense. James Connor is a really good running back. So just think if you add another receiver to this football team that can kind of play off of the other you know assets they already have on this team.
Yeah, and they do have an excellent second year tight end and Trey McBride, somebody the Bears are gonna have to be keenly interested in given what David and Joku did a we could go to the Bears with ten catches and over one hundred yards and the lost to Cleveland.
Murray is the guy.
Obviously, he will steal yards outside the pocket because of his mobility. He does not take a lot of hits. Tom He will slide out or get away without getting touched. He is maneuverable in that pocket. And I call him tiny but mighty.
I agree one hundred percent.
Again, you know, I'm kind of old school in the way that I've looked at you know, height and as an importance for the quarterback position. You know, when Doug Flutie really proved a lot of us wrong in terms of, you know, longevity at the position and how good you could possibly be. And I didn't know what to think God Kyler, But like I said said at the beginning of the program, I really admire his confidence and he's willing to do a lot of things. But can you
block passes? Can you surround him in the pocket? Can you try to keep him from really seeing the receivers downfield?
Yes?
However, like you said, if he gets outside the pocket, he's got incredible sliding ability because of his baseball background, but he also can convert pressure into a first down by when he does get outside the pocket.
Cardinals made some noise with Murray during the early portion of his career, but just seven and twenty four the last two seasons, obviously missing the end of last season and the early portion of this year, so they got a lot of work.
To do to make it happen.
But they feel they got one of their franchise cornerstones at one of the tackle positions in Paris Johnson. He's had his ups and downs this season, a fair amount of penalties, I think tied for second in offensive penalties this year, but a really good left tackle from Florida DJ Humphries and so pieces Will Hernandez the guard is an nasty blocker. He will root you out in the run game. What's your look at their offense overall? Hollywood Brown to the outside at receivers, got some speed as well.
So the offense not scoring a ton, but a dangerous outfit indeed.
Yeah, but I think the offensive line, when you're talking about having all those five pieces in place for a period of time, they have to learn the quarterback and how to play with the quarterback they have, because when you talk about a protection, there's an exact there's a real specific how you want to make sure that you have your hands in place as an offensive lineman and
where you try to get to. But also if you have the uncertainty of Kyler Murray and maybe if you think the protection strength is to the right but he takes off of the left, that kind of makes you vulnerable to penalties at time. So I think it's a process where you have to have a head coach that understands the willingness of the quarterback and then how to work with an offensive line if you can keep them in play for a while.
So I'm still trying to figure out how the forty nine ers gave up over two hundred yards of the Cardinals the number one rushing defense in the NFL. Is this put you on alert for the Bears defensive front seven.
Oh one hundred percent? But I think you so if you're a defensive coordinator.
Jeff, you've been around the NFL long enough and then you're getting ready to play against the Arizona Cardinals. So where do you start with when you're talking about limiting the success of their offense. Do you start with the arm of Kyler Murray, the escapability of Kyler Murray, or the running ability of their running backs? Because they have a couple of good running backs that run hard, they have explosiveness, and they get outside.
So what's your first goal?
And I think whether you're a play by play guy evaluating how you look at the Arizona Cardinals or you're a defensive coordinator, what is your first goal? So I think that's what you kind of have to look at when you're looking at the Arizona Cardinals and limiting their success.
Up the run period. Michael Carter also a jitterbug back. He was a waiver claim from the Jets not just a few months ago, in the early portion of November, and he can do some damage as well. We're brought to you by PNC Official Bank of the Bears with Tom Thayer Jeff Joniak. All right, let's take a look at that defense, and it is a little bit of an interesting adjustment for the Bears to take a look at because they throw a lot of different personnel packages.
Jonathan Gannon worked for Matt Eberfluss as a defensive back coach for the Colts. For several years, so they know each other very well, but operates a slightly different kind of defense, doesn't he he does.
You know, I was interesting watching the tape of them because it's almost like a.
Five one five approach when because you know.
There's an interesting because you're gonna have five men against the across the defensive line of scrimmage, but they're all up at the line of scrimmage. So that means when you call a pass protection, the offensive lineman are you're you're responsible for everybody up front, and then you'll have a linebacker that runs really well kind of that in the middle position, and then all of a sudden, you're
going to have a lineup defensive backs. They may line up straight across a line that's about twelve yards behind the offensive lineup scrimmage, and now the quarterback has to figure out who they're going to cover, how they're going to cover. Is it going to be man coverage, is it going to be zone coverage, or are they going to bring one of those bodies up to the line
of scrimmage to provide an extra personnel of pressure. And it's going to be interesting to see how they do go about attacking this defense, and you know, the one thing about it, if you get a defensive coordinator that plays an unconventional style and a defense and they have success with it, they're going to stay with it. It's not like if you don't have success against it, they
won't change. So that's one thing that the Bears are going to have to do is they're going to have to have some explosive plays both in the running game Justin's escapability and downfield passing.
Visy heart Seltzer, the official heart Seltzer of the Chicago Bears. That defensive line for Arizona, they will do some damage. They've got a variety of different guys, all shapes, all kinds of speed. Bj Aujulry, their young outside linebacker, is talent that he's got rush ability and is very slippery.
Dennis Gardek, who went to Crystal Lake South, really was not recruited very heavily, went into colleges and including Division two West Virginia State, wound up at Sioux Falls College undrafted, and he's got forty five tackles in five sacks this year and a really great resume as a veteran on special teams with over fifty special teams tackles. Boy, you talk about getting there the hard way for a local guy, that's the hard way right there.
I listen, man, I love guys like that because the game is important to them.
If they're not going to Division I school and they.
Got to be coddled through three or four years of college and tell them every day how great they are and how important they are to the program and what.
They're going to do at the next level.
I like these guys that show how important getting through the ranks so they can get a professional evaluation, and then when they get their helmet and a professional team, they do the most to keep.
It and have success.
I mean there's guys from the Bears and every team across the NFL that have had that type of success. You look at Big Cat Williams going to Cheney State. You know how he turns into the one of the best offensive tackles in the history of the Bears. So it's when it's important to you, it tells me a lot about what you're able to accomplish.
Look at Richard Dent, You're a good friend. I mean, right, same store, right, same story.
Right, I mean exactly. But you know some of these schools.
You know, it's always interesting to look at a roster and you look at some of the schools that I've still and have never heard of, that these guys are on an NFL roster and they're having a successful career. You know, listen, man, I really I admire them because you know, I went to Notre Dame and I set my sights on the NFL, and I had the opportunity
because we are on national TV every week. When you have these guys that they have the size, the ability, and the gifts that you need physically to get to this level and then they're able to accomplish that, I have all the admiration in the world for them.
Take a chance download the bet Rivers app. Today we also got to talk about Buddha Baker. He is their kind of their tempo setter, I would guess, not unlike in many respects and who he's growing into, Jakwan Brisker, but Buddha Baker been around a bit, just twenty seven years old, but a highly instinctive player with an urgency to his game. He packs a punch, don't he, Tommy.
Yeah, he does. He's always been good. You know, this is not a guy that's you know, waited his time.
He's been good since he came into the NFL, And yeah, you know, he's the type of guy that you can build a defensive backfield around, and you can have him like Chakwan Brisker, line up at a lot of different levels and take advantage of personnel groupings that the offense is putting out there and sometimes put him at as an advantage. Is he quicker than a tight end? Is he stronger than a wide receiver blocker? How do you deploy him? Is you know, you're always going to get value from him?
And Josh Woods, the former Bear three years special teams, a guy who always believed himself, went to Detroit Lands in Arizona. He's a starter Tommy with sixty one tackles and he's getting the calls and making the calls for the defense at that linebacker position. The one thing you know to expect from Josh is high energy and he had a lot of belief in himself.
He plays urgently.
Congratulations to him because I kind of lost track of him and I said, I don't know if this guy's really a legitimate NFL player. You know, he can dance a lot at practice. But he made a couple of special teams early in his career, and he ran as well as anybody on the field. I'm including fast cornerbacks, big time receivers. And I said, Okay, if this guy can ever take his God given gifts and turn him into a football player, no matter what position they put
him at, he's got the ability to play. But it's someone really taking not necessarily a chance at him, but finding out where and how he fits best. And obviously he's shown these coaches where it is.
Another player I like on the Arizona Cardinals from just watching tape is the box safety Jalen Thompson. Another player who plays near the line of scrimmage with an attitude. That's the one thing that I've noticed on this group. There's a lot of high motor guys that played through the whistle and they do punch him many. They're an aggressive bunch and they play with their hair on fire.
Despite their record of just three wins, the Bears are going to have to match that intensity on Christmas Eve at Soldier Field.
In my opinion, listen, you know they fired Cliff Kingsbury, who was an offensive minded head coach, came from a high profile program in college and they didn't have success. So they go, Okay, we're going to go out. We're going to find a head coach that has a defense background, and what type of players do you have already there,
and what type of new players do I need? And I think that's really the thing about this defense and why they're playing so well is because you have a young, creative, defensive minded coach that goes, Okay, I think I have a group of personnel here that I can develop that are really good at their position, or you know, maybe I can change a little bit about their style of play and get better play out of them.
Game day snacking calls for good foods. Chucky guacamodi made with has avocados, tomatoes, onion, cilantro, and a squeeze of lime juice. It's the perfect snack to watch while the Bears win. Score some today at your local grocery store. Game Day is guac Day. Time out to switch gears and bring in our old friend and former Chicago Bear is Great, one of the top one hundred history. Tom and I are tickled right now. We miss seeing him around Chicago. We see him every now and again.
The unbelievable.
Chicago Bears safety still looks like he can play. There's not a wrinkle on his face, and he's still got the blonde hair. Are you dying your hair, Doug Plank, No.
I wish I wish I was. Though. It's you know, it's it's amazing how how we look it matters in what we say, don't you think, Jeff.
I mean, it's like, the better you will, the more credibility you have.
And it's just like I frequently speak to younger people athletes, and.
It's important for me to look like I could tackle somebody. I could throw football, I could catch it football.
If I come rolling down there at two hundred and eighty nine pounds or whatever, and I can.
Barely walk, I got my knees are shot, they're already shot.
But I have to look like, hey, listen, this guy could at least play for a couple of plays.
And you know, Doug clide Emeric used to say that all the time. He always used to say, you know, Tom, he got to think about the big picture. He goes, when you meet people and you meet kids twenty thirty years after you're done playing, you want them to recognize that you were a football player at one time, instead.
Of instead of somebody saying, what happened to you? Where is Dug Plank at? Somewhere inside that two hundred and eighty pound body, Dug Plank is hiding out. So I'll give this for the surgeries I've had. Though I've had the poor joint replacements, the knees and the shoulders, it's been a blessing because it's reduced my ability to have to deal with pain every single day, you know, so it allows you maybe I'm wearing it out though I'm
still bench pressing. And last time I went to the doctor, he goes, what have you been doing, Doug, And I said, well, I've been bench pressing. He goes how much. I said, four hundred pounds. He goes, if you want to come in for another surgery. Keep doing what you're doing, He said, you are wearing your joints out.
So, guys, I will stand here.
I'm trying to look ten years down the road and say, Okay, I'm gonna need this joint for another ten years, so I need to wise up.
You know what Tom told me. Tom told me abs and calves are the hardest things to develop. You do you have abs and cabs?
Are you? Are you sporting a six pack?
Yes, I am, I am. You know what you know with muscle is more dense than fat, And I think I can say the word fat, So you maybe don't look like it, but you know you're you're denser and you're heavier. And but you know I enjoy lifting weights. You know, I call it a walk through workout. Every room in my house has weights. So as I walk through my house from my kitchen to my bedroom, I'm lifting weights, doing sit ups, doing pushups, uh, doing band I've got bands. Every room is different, so it's not
like I get bored doing something. No, I can do everything. I like to go jump in my pool later on in the day.
I'll tell you right now before Tom jumps in, I got to jump in because you're making me look bad as a sixty one year old. I mean, Tom, I mean I got people tell me, Hey, you gotta do X, Y and Z. Yeah, I'll do it after the season, Doug, I have no excuse after what you just laid out, I have zero.
Excuses from this day forward. You are an inspiration.
You know what, if you want to really make yourself feel guilty.
Make sure you get a log like this, and you log and you dictate everything you do every single day, and you go wait till Sunday and go back and look at.
Your past seven days. Are you proud of what you did?
Or is it a lot like this?
I woke up, I ate three meeals a day. I jump back in bed.
I got nothing, You've got nothing on here? I go. You know what that incriminates you, that holds you liable for the things that happen to you, the things that you say and what other people say to you.
Wow, all right, before I get to a football question, Doug Clyde always used to say, it's more important to eat right than it is to work out.
What about your eating habits?
Are they discipline or do you have freelance at that a little bit?
Well, you know, I would say I'm disciplined. And until thirty days ago, I used to drink a six pack of mountain Dew every day. I don't drink wine, I don't drink I don't drink alcohol, I don't smoke. But the mountain dew had me. And I've slowly been able over these last thirty days to get back into more I guess more authentic drinks, you know, fruit drinks, non sugar, you know, just water. You know, it's a great way to start off your day. You know, everything is to happen.
We are who our habits say we are. So now I get up, I have three glasses of water. Tom, You know, before I do anything, before I start thinking of anything, I just go one, two or three.
That kills your appetite. It kills yours for at least through lunch. Right, If you get through lunch, then you're in good shape, you know. Then it's into the fascinating. You know whatever. You do it at night and don't eat until at least.
The next afternoon.
Do you drink coffee?
Yes, I do cups before we got on so well, the caffeine is not my energy. This is partly four cups of coffee.
Also, you know, douge your energy.
Everybody that goes to a Bears game, they're reminded of it every week because there's a Hall of Fame mascot.
That wears a forty six jersey.
But I want to talk to ask you a question about the forty six defense. Two questions is it is it a talent generated defense or and is it usable against the RPO offense.
I think it is. I think what happened though he has a lot of the techniques of that defense Tom was attack the quarterback and make contact with the quarterback, which is now becoming less and less conducive, you know, whether it be through penalties or fines or ejections on a football games. You know, we used to be allowed to just literally abuse the quarterbacks and make sure that every single play somehow he got knocked down on the ground.
Every time a quarterback would throw an interception against us, the guy with the ball was on his own. The other ten guys were going and hitting the quarterback and the like circus play. It was so much fun. He would laugh, like we were at the playground. We'd come back to the huddle, high five and everybody. I mean, and if there's one thing that still bothers me about watching Chicago Bear games, and they've been doing better lately,
but it's individual effort, like blocking and tackling. You know, some of the tackling techniques, especially once they get past in the line of screamagi in the secondary. I'm not saying abuse people, just grab them, wrap them up instead of trying to make like a blocking tackle. You know, blocking tackles don't work against the world or Payton's of the world. You know, the Patrick Mahomes. Those guys are too good, They're too athletic, they can move left and right.
You know, everybody says, what, you know, what do you attribute to this forty nine year offense too lately? You know what, if you watch those plays over and over again, they take great pride in blocking, blocking other defenders, and that's what makes their offense so great.
That allows their quarterback to throw the ball down the field.
It allows McCaffrey to get into the line of screamage and then in the secondary and do his thing.
It's those little things that add up to big things.
You know.
So then you think about the peanut punch that's become so famous around the league and even into college and into high school, guys actually attempted. Do you think that stripping the ball has affected the way eyes tackled nowadays because the second guy is always stripping instead of hitting, where you can probably take more of a toll if the second guy was hitting as much as the first guy.
You know what, though, and I really try to concentrate which you can't use your helmet out for a lot of things, especially if it's the first thing you're leading with. Even coming up to a ball carrier, I always try to put my helmet on the ball, and I was aware of that every day in practice. Now I wasn't doing it against our players, but I would go up there like a mock interpretation, and then at the last second before I was going to hit somebody, just veer
off left or right. And you do that time and time and time again, tom in practice. When the game come comes, you don't even think about it.
When the ball snaffed.
And that guy has that ball, your body is drawn like a magnet to that ball carrier and you're thinking football.
Football. Now here's my whole point.
If I didn't get that football, I would be criticized in lambasset in meetings. Doug, what are you doing? Why don't you make the tackle? What were you thinking of? He goes, I was thinking about the ball. That is the most I feel like turnovers is the most important dynamic in football. It changes games. Look at some of the games recently where the ball obviously wasn't caught or controlled or something at the end of the half or the game that could have been the difference.
Between winning and losing.
So when I'm a coach right now, the last coaching I did in the National Football League was with a Jets. I coached every single day, get the ball, loose, grab that ball. Whatever happens. Even if you missed the tackle, then somebody else behind you has to be working their butt off to try to get over there and make that tackle. One thing that frustrates me watching Bears on defense, I think there's guys that make assumptions. They're coming up to make a tackle and they think another guy has
made the tackle and he hasn't. He hasn't made the tackle. You know, he's only grabbing the guy. Well, somebody has to be there to make sure that guy's on the ground. And I don't know, I just think that it's a different game right now. Guys are scared about hitting people with their helmets to getting fined and suspended. So I don't blame you for that.
Doug Plank, our guest here on the Bears et Cetera podcast episode forty four with Tom Thair Jeff Joniant getting Ready with the Bears and Cardinals On Christmas Eve three, twenty five, the kickoff. All right, So a twelfth round pick out of Ohio State. Before you got on, Tom and I were just going over a guy on the Cardinals, Dennis gard Deck, who played at West Virginia stated Division
two program. He came from Crystal Lake out here in the northern Northwest suburbs and then finished his college career at Sue Falls College, which I've never heard of, but yet he is a veteran. He was a special teams demon, and now he's five sacks. I mean, he's still playing. He's got the hair. He's got better hair than Tom ever had in his life.
It's a flowing main.
But we just ticked off a bunch of guys that came from parts unknown to make it in this league despite all the scouting and all the work and the money invested in scouting to find some of these gems. But the gem's got to be willing to do it, and they got to be willing to do it at all costs, and they gotta love it. You would have been an undrafted free agent back in the day because the drafts were, you know, sixteen rounds or whatever, and you would have made it and you would have been
the star that you were over the Bears. I mean, just a nasty defensive gem and a great teammate. Don't you have a great deal of respect for guys that took a long way to get to the big stage.
I really do, you know? Because they weren't.
They weren't encouraged every day, they weren't the first ones to the training table afterwards. To me, because I wasn't starting, I was known in the category in Ohio State as the Ayos. And that was not the first team, not the second team. The Ayos, the a yos were.
The all you others and your wife. Force is an acronym, just like in the military. And for three straight years.
When I was eligible to plate in varsity football Ohiose State. My first my first day, I told you, I someone grabbed my knee and rode like an alligator and threw my ligaments or cart leach and tore one ligament. And so the second day I was at Ohose State, I was on the operating table. I was getting my knee operated off. So I came back with a vengeance. I could never get to be the regular starter. I was the next man up guy. But I led the team in tackles on kickoffs for three straight years. Now.
If you want to talk about.
A I shouldn't say the word. You know, there's something where you collide with people continually and you have to have a mindset that is like nobody else. And you know what, you can be a very nice guy on the sideline and you know, look at cheerleaders and all this kind of stuff. No, when you're on that field, this is life and death. And many times I had to run through guys two fifty to three hundred to get through the ball carrier because he was a kickoff returner.
I had to run into wedges. I knew that this was gonna hurt. But you know what, that mental training is what got me the success at Ohause. You got the Shuggle Bears. There was nothing else that was gonna bring me fear. I already played with a two time Heisman Trophy, Archie Griffin. I already played with seven guys that were in the first round draft pick in my class.
You know what, I was already in the NFL. I was doing it every single day in practice, and on every kickoff, I would look at who was down there that I wanted to go knock out hopefully not myself, because you know, it was easy to run through blockers.
Blockers didn't expect to be tackled.
When you ran down on a kickoff, the guy was thinking he was coming to get you. No, you were going to get him. I can't tell you how many times I hit guys. They never saw me coming, Thank you, guys to.
Eighty two ninety, they'd go boom, flat knocked out. I'd go make the tackle.
You learned how to become a very aggressive player in the circumstance.
Didn't you say one time you wish that every fan could run down kickoff one time to understand what you're talking about here?
You know what?
Honestly I think of that, and I tell my wife there isn't much else in life. I feel like I needed to accomplish one hundred thousand people.
You're running out there and you can hear this roar, this.
Crowd because it's like something out of a movie scene, and to tackle some Oh my gosh.
I mean the first time I ran onto a field in Ohio.
State, the first game with there wasn't one hundred thousand back then, there was eighty or ninety thousand, ninety thousand. I guess that it was so loud you didn't feel like you were even running onto the field. Jeff, you felt like you were flying onto the field. And you know what, I started crying before the game. I don't I don't even know why I'm crying. I'm crying because my energy level is so high. Tears are the next thing to come out. And I would run on that.
How many times a coach said, I've never seen a play that ever made a tackle with a small ones space, But you, Doug, You're the first guy saw made a tackle with the out of face.
Hey, Doug.
So if you look at the modern day quarterbacks in the NFL, we'll talk about Justin and Kyler Murray. Do you think that would take away a little of your preemptive aggressiveness because of the fear of them getting outside the pocket? Or would it have any change of style of how you played the game?
It would because those guys are such great athletes. I mean, you think back in the day, other than Frank Tarkan, and that's the only guy I can think of right now. It was a small, little, very agile though good roun If everything was covered, man, they took off. That's the standard now by how you measure a quarterback. Once everybody's covered, what are you going to do with the ball? How
are you going to get out of this pocket? And I think you know a lot of the quarterbacks, you know, like the Chicago Bears, obviously I saw plenty of hitting from Ohio State. Those kind of guys are great at just getting out, getting getting into the open. You know.
The one thing that surprises me though, is that instead of you know, chasing, you know, one thing I noticed about a lot of defenses now, instead of containing the quarterback and maybe attacking him a little bit more slowly tom you know, and keeping in their lanes, too many guys they take inside releases as defensive ends. You're toast the quarterback. Those quarterbacks today, boom, they're gone. It's fast,
and they're faster than almost all your secondary guys. So even though you want to hit somebody or contain them, go slower, don't ever give up the outside edge. I was always told as a safety in a corner as I played corner also in Ohio State, the short side corner. You know, it's amazing how different the hashes are in college than the pros. On the outside hash Oh my gosh, you only got like ten fifteen yards and the sideline.
So you don't have to be this athletic, they ask corner. No, you have to be ready to take on sweeps and things like that, which is where my position was. But the important thing is with those quarterbacks, you can't give up the outside edge because you are going to get beat.
So you're a defensive coach now you know you went on to the coach defenses. So the Bears have DJ Moore. I'm a huge fan of Marvin Harrison junior, and I.
Think he should have won the Heisman Trophy.
When you look at the receivers in the game today, does that back you up? Are you coaching your safeties to stay backed off the line of scrimmage because of those guys or do you still want them sticking your nose into that second level to be you know, more of an create immediate response for the quarterback.
You know one thing I noticed too, just the Chicago Bear secondary, and I'm not trying to be extra critical with him or not. When they're running backs or quarterbacks get through the line of screamage. Too many times guys in the secondary to state these quarterbacks they're not making tackles.
They're trying to run up there and do a block tackle. Just try to cut the guy legs out.
These are guys or pro athletes, they're used to that, and all they have to do is just fight off.
Fight you off for.
One one foot or one step, and now they're on their feet and they're gone. You have to add the tackling aspect, even if that means if you have to slow down. You can't be running at somebody full speed and try to get under control. You have to go under control, be able to wrap people up, bring him to the ground. That's why I used to tell people
what I did with the struggle bears. If it wasn't for my grip doing dumbbell cleans all the day, you know, exercises with the dumbbell, hanging down with a rock, whatever you want to call it, Tom, That's what I did so I could grab an earl Campbell, who was a beast, that man ran over people and bring him to the ground. I mean, that is that was the standard of it that I always judge myself by. If I can't bring him down, then I shouldn't be out here.
Hey, Doug, did you ever have an honest, one on one tackley experience against Walt her and because because I know back in our inner squad games there was times playing against McMichael was worse than playing against anybody on an NFL day.
Did you ever have any of those?
Yeah? And you know what I would I wouldn't say Walter wanted or I wanted, because it was never in the wide open, but a lot of times it was almost It reminded me of when Earl Campbell Jack Tatum, which was trying to tackle Earl Campbell in one of those games. It's a video that's been on for a long time, and they both hit each other at the line of scrimmage and it was like like a stillmate. Obviously, Earl Campbell still went on afterwards another five yards, but he was almost like knocked out.
Here's the other thing.
Once I realized that Walter Peyton was ninety nine percent of our team, Tom, I'm.
Not going to touch you a right, I ran the other way.
I never wanted to be anything, you know, because I roomed with him my first training camp. They put everybody by authetic order. How can you hurt your your roommate? He he you know, he doun it out too. Tom.
He had a oh my gosh, he he.
Was that thing. It was like get hit with a baseball bat, you would just ring your help, your helmet would just ring. And uh. Once I figured out, hey, listen, this guy, he's the start. And the first workout that we had, they brought all the rookies out and we had a camp down in Florida for three days and I played with the only two time Heighschool Trophy winner. That guy could have been that same guy. He he could have won that thing if he was on an
Ohio State team instead of jack State. He got the state, right, he just got the Jackson in the Ohio rang. He was in Ohio State, he would have won. You know, one of the he was something else. He could punt, he could throw, he could run, I mean, he could catch. There wasn't that he couldn't do.
So I immediately, you know, gain respect, huge respect. In three days.
Doug Plank our guest here on the Bears et cetera podcast with Tom Bayer, Jeff Jonahak and as always we've got sponsors to compliment as well. And this is brought to you by United Good News Chicago, United Airlines is getting brand new planes with all the bells and whistles, like Bluetooth connectivity screens at every seat in the room for everyone's roller bag United, Proud to fly the Chicago Bears,
and you too, I know this well. I don't remember all of our conversations, but we've had plenty dougs, certainly at the one hundred as well when the Bears celebrated their one hundred. But you know, I often look at the looking at this Bears team right now. It's a young team. There's a lot of these guys won't be here when the Bears are winning, like winning and competing. And you experienced a life with Walter Payton and Dan Hampton and Mike Hartenstein and some others that trickled into
the eighty five Bears and became centerpiece. Is for the eighty five Bears kind of paving the way a little bit, taking their lumps, but building that camaraderie, the chemistry, that something that you cannot define until you actually see it come to fruition. How hard was that for you not to be a part of taking that one last step to get to the eighty five team and the championship team I'll.
Tell about Jeff. You know, there's you know, the ladder to success is a step by step. When you're up there and you have some success or you're a starter or whatever, the trip down goes quickly. And especially I firmly believe there's only so many concussions, there are only so many torknees, shoulders hips, whatever the human being can endure it.
And I think at the end, if I was still a young.
Person that could run and all that, I would maybe felt like I was left out. But at that point in time, I really felt like the the body parts that I had, they were they were already being replaced. And uh and concussions. Concussions were another thing. I mean that was a no big deal back then, but you know that those you know, after a while, those things
accumulate and there's long term aspects to it. And I just started thinking, what kind of a husband, what kind of a father am I going to be down the road if I'm continually you know, deteriorating.
My body maybe in terms of even my mental acumen.
So did I watch them? Yeah? I watched them every single game I could. At that time, I was still running fast food businesses, so sometimes I couldn't watch the game because I was down.
Serving the customers, so to speak.
But I, you know what was so funny though Jeff, was to watch the games and watch Buddy Ryan on the sideline. Buddy is giving the same defensive signals that was there. I was there. I used to call I used to call it the play before the has even happened, you know, and here company Mike around the corner or press them on the outside. Oh. It was fun watch in the game because I felt like I was part of it and I knew exactly what they were doing.
And people say, you know, everybody has their own little niche, and sometimes sometimes we go above our elevation in terms of job responsibilities which maybe we were unqualified for or that wasn't us. I think Buddy at that defensive coordinator position, there was like nobody like him, and he would make you feel so good or so bad, and you.
Always wanted to be on the good side. Even when I got knocked down.
Sometimes I remember telling myself get off the ground, because this is done film and I have to run into the ball afterwards. So I never spend any time on the ground. In fact, I would practice in practice ruling because if I knew I got blindsided or something Tom and I'm flying through the air, I would duck my head, roll and get back up on my feet to go make the tagle. You do that, I go. I do it every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday here in practice. And if you're welcome to join me, if.
You want, you do you do? You agree with me on something about the safeties.
I know the game is won and lost to the line of scrimmage, and I know quarterbacks are getting all the attention. Obviously, you got to have one to win a super Bowl. In most cases that's one hundred percent true. But you also have to have a tone ceter at safety, and you paired with obviously with Gary Fencik and his early portion of his career and he carried out to lead the lead the Bears and interceptions for his career. Playmakers. Guys that set tone is that necessary to win a championship?
Because I feel it is.
I do it is, Jeff, without a doubt. Somebody has to be your leader, you know what. And if you think you're a leader, you're always following somebody else. And nobody knows that there was Guys on our team. I'm not going to say to the word well hit. Some of them were on defense, Walter with the guy on offense, I'll tell you that. And I'm thinking, man, why can't I be like him? He brings it every play, I mean every single play, even if you need to make
any yards. He ran through and broke three tackles. Getting back to a lot of scrimmage. He set the standards for like what the team should be. And I think, you know, you know, you forget all these people in this meeting room. Once they watched that film one time or maybe twice, then they're they're scanning around the other guys on the field.
What did he do on that play? The guys or whatever.
My teammates years after I was done playing and say, you know what, Doug, I appreciate you because even though you had nothing to do with the play, you somehow made it part of you to get in on that play and you went up there he blasted to a blocker or something and made a tackle. I just think every single time the guy was running with the ball, what happens if the guy misses a tackle, Who's gonna be there to make that tackle?
I always wanted to be that guy.
I don't care what sideline it was on, whether they were coming up the middle, I would take it right to the very very end. And sometimes it was good for me. Sometimes was it. You know, sometimes I got pen lies.
You know, when you're run.
He threw a hole from a free safety. You got a ten yard run and that holes opening and here comes the running back. Suddenly though a guy gets right in front of you. It's a referee. He's trying to look at the play too. There's been times where I hit referees. They made the tackle, I hit him in the back. They went flying forward. They made the greatest four tackle I've ever seen in my life.
Collateral damage.
You know what the good news is they didn't even know who it was.
They couldn't they couldn't penalize me because there was no replays and that I fell back then and I don't even know you give credit to I mean I always wanted.
That got the tackle.
Yeah, hey, Doug, when you look at so the Bears in the final three games, so they could possibly have the first pick in the draft because of Carolina.
Right now, I think they're number five.
And if it was only the Bears draft choices. I think everybody saying, oh, we want the Bears to tank these final three games. Yeah, I see you got your Bears alumni shirt on there, proud of Lomnife.
You're if you're in there.
Given the message to this team the final three games, what would your message.
Be to them?
How?
How do you want them to approach it?
I would say number one, the one thing that will get you to be faster than anything. It's mental mistakes, being going in the wrong direction, having the wrong technique, jump off sides. I do broadcasting. Also, you guys know this. This year I watched a team I'm not going to tell you who they were. Twice the same guy jumped off side. How in the heck do you jump off sites twice on the same team after you've already been penalized once. Now it's another five yards Tom, I'm just thinking,
you can't play with guys like that. You have to identify them. You know what, all the coaching in the world will make a difference. You could keep those guys in there for five hours watching films. They don't have the mental.
Acumen to say, hey, listen, I'm going to discipline myself.
I'm not going to make mistakes. I'm going to do my assignment. I'm not going to go in the wrong direction. But I definitely believe, you know, I believe practice what you preach.
In other words, if.
It gets to the end of the game and somebody else is trying to do a hell Mary play, should you practice it occasionally? How many teams I don't even know how many teams never even practice plays like that.
Go and put yourself.
One time I talked with Bill Belichick after a game, and you know one thing he said, because they made a great play on a specialty because we practiced that all the time. Now it was played much like that, Tom. You would never expect yet any team they would do it. But they practice on side kicks, but not to hell Mary's very often. You know, those were decided. Those were game decisions this past week, big plays like that, you know.
And so when you go down there, expect something expecting, unexpected, expected, the ball is going to come to you, and be ready for it instead of just running down there like mindless, you know, nothing on your brain. Always be thinking about what's gonna happen in the next few seconds that I can maybe be part of.
Doug do you have a game this weekend.
No, I'm off this week I mean I enjoyed, enjoyed tremendously.
You know.
It's some games are better than others, you know, you know sometimes you know, just know.
Before the game even starts, this is going to be a great game.
I enjoy seeing people that I've met over the course of my life, not during my playing years. But like John Lynch, you know, the general manager of the forty nine ers, I always appreciate him. You know, I think what the stuff that he brings to the table in terms of detail. He's a great person for just the details of the game. You know, when I watch their team play, every one of the players on the defense is making an effort, I mean crazy effort, one hundred
percent effort to get to the ball. On the offensive side, they don't miss any blocks. You wonder why those receivers and running backs McCaffrey for example, Oh my gosh. Now he's not the most gifted guy. You know, he doesn't run the fastest, he doesn't bench press the most. But you know what, you want to give him the ball, He's going to find a way to gain yards. He's going to get that first out and you know what, and when he does, he comes back to the and
it's like a you know, a cheering session. Everybody is complimenting, and they line up again and they're going to do it all again. And I noticed also along the lines of scrimmage, those those guys blocked, but they don't just block, they sustain their blocks. And I heard it Kurch one time says, you're only as good as how well you get off blocks and how well you sustained blocks.
Hey, Doug, one question, Jeff, I'm sorry.
So this past week, I'm watching the tape of the San Francisco Arizona game and it's a whole Arizona home game, but when Kyler Murray is in shotgun, he's using a silent count. Is are the are the opponents fans coming into Arizona Stadium at such a high level that there's crowd noise against Arizona even though they're at home.
And I don't know if.
You even get a chance to go in the stadium or been there.
You're bringing up a perfect point. When Chicago comes to town. This is truper hockey, baseball, and basketball. Okay, I know I live here. You think you're in Chicago. These are all Chicago bands. I mean not just murmuring. No, they're jumping out of their seats, They're yelling, they're screaming. It's the craziest thing I've ever seen in my life. Same thing as true for San Francisco on their the forty nine ers. When I was watching that game, I didn't
do that game. I just watched it on television. They would scan like they didn't want to scan the stands too much because it looked like a home game for the forty nine ers. Everybody had the colors on and the crowd was so loud. I mean, it totally negated especially the year that the Cardinals are having. And you know, I love like the forty nine ers. Yeah, they had a downturn of what those three games, but man they got back on track and you know, look out here
we come. And the other thing I like about it, they're they're willing to design plays Tom that are so wide open. You know, like watching that game last week's game they played they were unbelievable. It just they got behind early against the Cardinals, but as the game was going on, you could tell the plays that were being called from the San Francisco side were so much better than the flip side over here in Arizona because guys
were wide open. You know, they were misdirection crossing routes, things like that that we all learned back in high school and colleague and all that sort of thing. But you know what, though, it takes a lot of courage to call those plays during a game, because what happens if they don't work?
You look like a fool.
You know, some of those plays, like McCaffery one time, he was so wide open he had time to catch the ball, fall on the ground, get back up and run another ten yards, a forty one yard touchdown. I mean, how does that happen? Nobody even knew he was over there. I mean it's you know, sometimes that's your job, is free safety. When you see everything in front of you, and when you see there's a screw up, you got to go. I gotta get deeper now because now I
got to play that. I got to play for that guy's responsibilities because no, but he should be that wide open, and I'm going to run over there just in case somebody throws the ball, which they did, and you know they just you could tell them the second half momentum.
Just switch so much in the crowd. The crowd just they took the.
Game, all right.
Our final question with Doug Plank the Great Chicago Bear with Tom There, Jeff Jioniac Here and the Bears et cetera podcast, So, have you called an Arizona Cardinal game this year?
Yes or no?
First?
Yes, we did?
Okay, So what is what's your mini scouting report as the Bears get ready to meet this three win team with Kyler Murray healthy and ready to roll.
You know what, it's amazing because you don't really know, you know what, what Colin Murray was going to show up. He's such a really talented person. I know he's had disagreements with the front office in terms of what the summary some of the responsibilities or limited responsibilities that he should have. But if he gets lose path line scrimmage, look out. He's a He's a beast. He can run
any direction, he's tough, he utilizes the sideline very well. Uh. I would say one thing about his game, although they've got a real good they got a nice tight end. That's you know, done some good things over the last couple of weeks. A lot of times there's a chance for him to run on a pass play. As we all know, if everything's covered, he's he's taught. Now here's
the other thing. When he takes off running, he doesn't throw passes to the sideline because that takes time to set up, set your feet, and now you're only looking at one direction, not the other. You could get hit. Most times, he's concerned about receivers to the inside of the field because that goes with his taking off with the ball out of a pocket. He likes in the interior routes, crossing routes because if everybody's covered, he's through
that line so fast you can't even believe it. And you know he's been hurt and he's had you know, some medical attention, you know, recently, last couple of years. And but no, I think it really should be an awesome game. But I would just say he's one weapon. If you give him the chances, you'll take advantage of it.
Doug, we could talk to you forever.
Your wealth of information and your exuberance and good health and good thoughts are certainly perfect for this holiday version of This bears cet our podcast. Thanks for taking the time, Big Doug. We miss you, Tom Hey.
Always a pleasure talking to you guys.
Thank you you too, Doug, Thank you so much.
Merry Christmas.
Thake care.
How much fun was that with Doug playing?
He's awesome, Like could and we could do a whole afternoon with him.
Just amazing. The passion for the game. It's still there. I mean, he's in his seventies, he's fit, as we heard at the beginning of the show, but he's still calling games on a national network on radio and does a great job and he watches everything, and that's a football lifer. And he's made himself a great deal of post football career decisions in business, dabbled into coaching, finished, you know, all his head coaching opportunities, whether it be
Arena league or in other venues. He finished with a sixty five winning percentage, So he was a winning head coach and had some assistant jobs in the National Football League.
But all people were afraid of him, you think, yeah, why yeah, because his toughness resonated in his personality and he overshadowed some of the passive coaches that he worked with, and they were intimidated about by his look.
And his success and his demeanor.
His enthusiasm, his requirements, all that kind of stuff.
Very interesting perspective. Bears fans, you could be there for live NFL action all season long. As the official ticket marketplace with the Bears of the NFL, Ticketmaster has a wide selection of tickets available for every home game. Fine tickets today at ticketmaster dot com. All right, Tom, final thought on Bear's Cardinals. So you got a key to the game in this one for us?
Yeah, got a key to the game is the quarterback play of both of ye both quarterbacks. You know, Justin has to be the dynamic decision making quarterback that he has been since he's returned from the injury. He's got to understand to keeping you know, DJ Moore and Cole commit involved, don't forget about Darnel Moody. And then defensively, you can't over commit to Kyler Murray. And you better do things fundamentally perfect because you don't want to contribute to the escapability of Kyler Murray.
All right, that's going to wrap us up for our show this week. For Tom.
There, I'm Jeff Joniac. Thanks to Doug Plank our guest. Our Next Bears, Etc. Podcast comes up on Tuesday. We will recap the Bears Cardinals game. Thanks for listening, and please subscribe now in the Chicago Bears official app, Apple, Spotify.
YouTube, or wherever you get your podcast.
Bear down, everybody, and have a merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, everybody.
Most instant strings steps
Less,