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Hey are we doing, everybody?
We're learning more and more about twenty twenty five Bears with each passing day during the OTA portion of the offseason, with mandatory mini camp set to open next Tuesday. Here at halisaw Welcome into Bears Weekly on a SPN one thousand and the Chicago Bears Radio Network with Super Bowl
winning Bears guard Tom Thayre. I'm Jeff joniak along in a moment Bear's former Bears quarterback Jim Miller from Serious x MNFL Radio guest free tonight, but we'll hear from Bears head coach Ben Johnson, quarterback Cato Williams, defensive end Montes Sweat, and the new veteran quarterback case Keenum. From the week that was up here at Halis saw Tommy
good evening. I think Dan Barilli and Jordan treadep our producers spending the dials at ESPN is Jack McGrath, their executive producer, Eric Ostrotski of the Bears Radio Network.
A lot going on.
We got the next week's gonna be big, Gonna love that, But hey, what have we learned this week? What have we learned about the Bears that has caught your attention? It's almost my weekly question to you out of the gate. But with a few more OTA's in the books and the Caleb Williams podium experience, we'll here's some of that tonight.
So a lot of things.
You know, they're playing a faster brand of football.
There's a lot of encouragement and coaching going on from the coaching staff. I think that they're trying to identify who fits where. We often talk about and I talk about with the depth chart, and everybody's trying to get their name on that depth chart because that's a key ingredient.
When you move into training camp.
What I'm excited about going forward is next Tuesday, all the alumni are invited to the practice, and I think that the way you monitor social media, I think you'll see you'll be able to read a lot more about what the alumni that come to the practice for the first time, what their reflection is of the atmosphere. And I think because these guys have so much experience in their football life, they understand how to listen to coach,
and they understand how to watch their position. They understand how this stage of development is really important part but stage with the next stage of the whole process in the football team development is that's when the real stuff starts. And so I'd be excited to talk to a lot of those guys at practice, but I'm super encouraged by what I see at practice. I'm super encouraged at the speed of at which they're playing and the requirements of Ben Johnson and all of his staff.
Hey, big Jim Miller joining us now. Jim will be here at training camp. He'll do his Syrio x NFL training camp tour, and his stop will be here in Chicago, hopefully with yours. Truly, we'll be breaking things down. But I know you're going to be excited to all this too. You're an alumni, it matters to you. I know you've played for several teams, but I'm wondering for both of you and Jim, welcome and good evening. I hope you're
doing well. Did you guys have a lot of alumni hanging around when you guys were at these guys' age right now, you know, for the the eighty five Bears, Tommy, that was your first year, but Jim, I mean there were plenty of eighty five Bears around. Certainly Tom was one of them calling the games that you worked in for us.
Yeah, like you know, guys would would show up periodically and also at training camp, and yeah, it was important, you know, and you'd have different staffs that come into, like college football staffs that come in. This is typically the springtime where staffs want to see what you're doing offensively, and certainly Ben Johnson, he'll have a couple of staffs that roll through there that are interested to see what he's doing offensively and how we install things, how they
coach certain positions, all those type of things. So there's actually a lot going on in the spring, and it is more team team, It isn't installed. You're teaching guys the basics of what you want to accomplish and all the discipline and the techniques and all those type of things. So it's very thorough, and it has to be very thorough for a reason, and these are building blocks of what they want to press on to and that things
are gonna come a lot faster come training camp. But it was always good to have the older players come by, stop by, you know, just to see them. You know that they've been through it. They've gone going through the same things you're going through as a curtain player, and they had a lot of success, so you try to tap their brains. Guys like Tom Thayer, Hey man, what was so different about your team? Why were you guys
so tight? What made you guys so close knit? You know, we knew they were talented, But I think if you're a very good team, typically you're gonna have guys that work hard, that are self starters, like a Tom Thayer, like that whole eighty five Bears team, And there's a reason why they were so close knit. They knew that they were going to be good, and they believed in one another, and they counted on one another, you know.
Jeff, Because we didn't have OTAs and we led us right into mandatory mini camp. We didn't have a lot of alumni hanging around at a mandatory Mini camp, and it was a three day mandatory process that you know, Dick had kind of dangled that carrot in front of the horse, where Okay, the last day of mini camp, we'll either have one practice or two practices.
But it was more training.
Camp when the guys came to Platteville, and that's when you know, either it was a destination to drive to with their family for a day or even a couple days.
There's nice surrounding areas up there in Platteville, and so if you had that chance for fifteen to twenty minutes in between practices while we were in the weight room, they would come and visit the weight room in Clyde Emerck or even at night when we had our fifteen minutes of free time at the end of meetings and guys would go to different places and have a beer and and they would be there as well. So for us, it was more catching up with the alumni at training camp more so than Mini camp.
Do you do you remember who showed up?
Oh, there there was a lot of guys like Mike Pyle, ed Obradovich, Roland Harper, Jim Osborne, Danny.
Neil, Doug Yeah, Doug Buffone, Doug Plank, you know, Terry Schmidt. Uh, you know, there's a plenty of guys.
You know, you still had your Bob Avellini's and stuff, So there was plenty of guys that showed up for one reason or the other.
Yeah, I get a kick out of that.
Actually, when I see all that they it's I think it's important to keep that. The alumni close to the organization of the Bears do a really good job of trying to make that happen. So they'll continue to do that next week. So guys like Kyler Gordon, T J. Edwards dealing with some soft tissue injuries, Luther Burden the third as well, and we'll learn more about this during
the next week with the mini camp. Who's available, but Ben Johnson saying yesterday that everybody should be in the building at least it is mandatory, so even if you are injured. With that said, let's listen in to some Ben Johnson yesterday at the podium. He was talking about the specifics that he needs from his players. No detail too small, and one is they start defining what a snap, a rep a play looks like at the finish from defense right through to the offense.
The ball, the momentum of the ball running through the defense in practice, even without pads on, and so it's a learning experience of what that looks like and what we're going to be about. And then offensively, we talk about the finishing aspect of getting connected down the field and blocking for our buddies.
So finishing is a huge deal about.
What we're doing.
We're very much rooted in the fundamentals and the techniques of what we're asking our guys to do. And so we saw growth last week in that way, and that's the expectation for us going forward.
I saw you guys make him go back in the huddle several times. What exactly are you looking forward in the huddle and as they come out.
Of Yeah, there's a certain way that the play needs to get communicated in the huddle. There's a certain way that the break should sound to us around us. That means that that we're ready for business and we're ready to get going. And if it doesn't sound that way, then we're just not going to allow the practice to
go south. Fatigue is something that we're gonna combat. The longer practice goes, the more fatigue guys get and the mental toughness has to come through of still doing the little things correctly.
So that's a part of it.
I saw I'm gaji left tackled last week when we were here and today it was Ozzie. Is it a is it one day on, one day off for each guy or is it based on how they're.
We're moving guys around. Yeah, we want to give everyone an opportunity. So you know, Darnell woul feel pretty comfortable keeping him at the right side right now, so the left the left side until we get bracting back in the mix.
It's gonna be a little bit of musical chairs. Consider right tackles, settle them that he's not going to uk to be determined.
Anything's on the table, and we're gonna let the plan play out, which is keep them there for the time being and let these guys battle it out on the left side and we can decide to change course whenever we need to.
And what have you been learning about what Caleb can at this point as you're resetting for him.
It's been consistent throughout.
He's been very attentive, He's been very detailed in terms of the meetings. He's taking great notes, He's asking excellent questions. The more we're out on the grass together, we're figuring out what we can put in in the morning and what we can execute later on in the afternoon. And so that's that's been the fun part of it so far, because there is for everybody, there's a saturation level that we got to find what that point is so that as coaches we don't ask too much out of any
player over the course of the season. We've got to be able to download a game plan and and execute it. And so it's been a health the process right now. I think JT. Barrett's doing a phenomenal job. Deklan's a big part of that as well, just figuring out how much install we can push on these guys. And the good news is we got the weekend that they can get the plan and start ahead for the next week.
And you can really see guys separate, not just at the quarterback position, but really all around on offensive defense. Who's in their book a little bit exer than the next guy.
Keen of helping Caleb throughout the case has been phenomenal.
I haven't been with him in the past, but he came highly recommended from a number of people that I trust. He's got skins on the wall. I mean, he's been to playoff games, He's won playoff games. He's done it at a high level. He's been the number two quarterback at a number of different places as well, so his experience level is off the charts. He's seen a little
bit of everything that this league has to offer. And I can say from my experience of being in the room with him, he finds a good way to ask questions that I might not or Deck Leonard JT we might not have provided the answer to prior. So he does a good job filling those gaps. And then, of course we're constrained so much by the time limits in the springtime that he's able to help the process when we're not in there as coaches, and he.
Is battling for the number two job with Tyson Bag and entering his third season. One thing out of this that I'll throw in and then I want your reactions from both of you guys.
He is a first time head coach.
He has not had a regular season game just yet, but he certainly sounds like he's been here before. He sounds like a head coach and everything he's saying makes sense. That that's the number one thing for me. Everything Ben Johnson is saying makes sense.
You Know one thing I kind of giggle at is when I listened to Ben Johnson, if you didn't know he was a first time head coach, you really wouldn't know it because he's prepared and he's concise about all
of his answers. However, when I listened to him, he reminds me so much of George Allen talking at the podium, because George Allen was a stickler for breaking the huddle, and he says the breaking the huddle that was a big part of the influence of practice because he kind of got a feel that everybody was on the same page, the sound of the break, the way you went to
the line of scrimmage. And when I think about my past experiences of football and all the quality coaches that I had a chance to play for, it already kind of makes me think about a guy that we're all waiting to see how his first experience goes at head coach, but he sounds like a seasoned head coach and it's super encouraging to me because it's things I've heard. I've heard before from coaches with a great deal of experience.
Yeah.
I like the part of if we don't allow things. That was the problem last year, and it was veteran players saying, well, we just kind of skipped over things and if something wasn't run right, they just let it go. Okay, you can't allow that. That's why you're dead last in offense, dead last in sacks. I literally would put up every statistic of what the Bears did last year in that locker room to let them know how bad they were.
And if I were Ben Johnson, I'd say when a player says, oh, I got it, coach, don't worry, I got it. The only thing you're gonna get is me fired. I'm not gonna be the guy that gets fired over you not knowing your job. Okay, So don't allow it. Don't allow it at all on any single play. And it starts with breaking the huddle. Like Tom just said, don't allow any of it because they haven't earned that right as any player in that locker room.
Well, by watching practice, I can tell you it's fast, it's furious, it's aggressive on both sides of the ball, and they are pushing the limits here just in short pants and shirts and helmets, no pads.
It's going to be a great training camp when we come back.
We'll be joined by Caleb Williams some of his press conference yesterday here at HASAW. This is Bears Weekly on ESPN one thousand and the Bears Radio Network.
You were listening to Bears Week on the Bears Radio Network. Fiss Bears Weekly with the voice of the Bears for twenty four years, Chef Chef on the Bears Radio Network.
This second of Bears Weekly is brought to you by IGS editor Jeff and thom and Jim Miller from sirius X and MNFL Radio, as we break down what has been an interesting off season for the Bears leading into next week's veteran medicamp. It was admittedly a distraction, frankly the only one of this offseason distraction. Freeze good, that's what teams want. But the ESPN senior writer Seth Wickersham's upcoming book, American King's, a Biography of the Quarterback, will
include some Caleb Williams in there. Some of what came from Wickersham was discussed at length Wednesday, as the Bears quarterback who did a very good job tackling some key points, clarifying his thought process and what he wants to do as a Bear moving forward. And this is about moving forward, among other topics. Here's Caleb Williams.
The main goal and the main objective of being here is to turn around. That's why I was selected number one. And so you know, that's what we're here to do. That's what they brought you know, me here to do. That's what they brought all these guys here to do, Joe DJ, all these different guys, and that's why they brought Ben here. And so, like I said, it's a challenge and and we look at those challenges and you
know we you know, we don't laugh. We look at him really really seriously, and you know, we go attack him, you know, to the best of our ability to go and change it and turn.
Around about the new leadership.
Has has left an impression.
Yeah, no, it, Ben's uh. I think y'all have been able to to see it. When he gets up here and you get a little taste of of how he is. He's he's always laser focused. He he encourages and he pushes you and challenges you to be at your best as a team, offense, defense, special teams, doesn't matter position, uh sharp. And he's a he's a guy that wants to win. And so you know, being here being the head guy, and he's and and to be honest, he's
consistent with it every day. So excuse me, uh so him him being here and being the head guy and and doing all those things and being consistent with it. So far, it's been awesome, and I think everybody's been enjoying what.
Has Ben taught about.
Those shortcuts are just things that maybe he sees that he wants you to start seeing.
Like I said, I think Ben has been extremely detailed. And so when he talks about the plays, when he talks about you know, the past run screen play action, he talks about him really in depth and and you know, what we love him verse and what we don't love him verse and things like that, and you know, just have an idea going into practice, going into soon game days and things like that, it's gonna be nice for
something that we've been repping and getting after. And you know, I think I think that's been I think that's been one of the things that's that's been really awesome. Is the detail. And you know him him really been on top of that. And I mean he's been in it for six years, has been his offense for six years, so you know, he's really on top of it. And you know, we're only trying to catch up. I'm only trying to catch up to him and be on top
of the details as much as possible. Curious, uh Na, honestly, don't care. It's not it's not you know, like I said, we're we're all those things were in the past, all the things happened already, and so we're here focused on the future. We're here focused on the present and and and really trying to, like I say, get this train going, and and and you know, have this thing picking up steam and and and chewt you and alone.
Being said when when you the past is the past? You're hearing now Ben Johnson has made some tweets to your game. Have you adjusted to the change and the stands? How have you adjusted to being under centered a little bit more?
Yes, the Ben Johnson effect, right, I guess the Ben Johnson effect.
Right.
He's gonna get a kick out of that when he hears it. Yeah, No, I think I think uh, I think part of it is just you know, different coaches have different philosophies, philosophies for things, and you know that's one of his things, is left foot up. I've been a right foot up guy for typically all of my career, and I think I've I've done it once or twice throughout my you know, throughout my time and playing QB.
So you know, it's just one of his things. And then, like I said, the details been on top of it, huddle. We call it PSP, but preesting that procedure all these different things, and especially in big games and big moments, all the little things come up. And so you know, I think, I think, you know, that's important to him, and it's important to us, and we gotta, you know, we gotta get on top of it and be on top of it from from the head down. So like I said, the Ben Johnson effect, I guess right.
Yeah, And and the Ben Johnson effect is permeating the entire building in many different ways.
But okay, so that's a portion of it. Tommy, take the floor, you know.
The thing about whether would put forward or you know, and how things are changing, that is fundamentally done and you're gonna do it a million times before the season start, and it's gonna become second nature and that'll be an easy transition. But when Ben Johnson was talking up at the podium, he was talking about oversaturating these guys and see how they absorbed that amount of information and then how they carry it to.
The field in the afternoon.
And that's just the process of installing a playbook to all these guys because they're you know, they're all star darting from ground zero because this is a new head coach. Fortunately, I was in a system for seven years and by year two or three, it's second nature to you. You know every single little thing about it, and then you just keep repeating it. It's not something you start installing different stuff because that's not what your offensive game plan is.
So by the time Caleb gets in the training camp and the latter stages of training camp, all of this footwork and terminology will become second nature to them.
Yeah, Jim, that's a great point.
It would be refreshing to know that Caleb Williams will be with this head coach for the next five years at a minimum and learn, you know, everything second nature, And to me, that would make the most impact on Caleb Williams is the continuity with the head coach and play caller.
Absolutely, and here Ben Jonson's given him the reasons why. There's a reason why he wants his left foot forward. It's to make them a more efficient, better quarterback and there it absolutely correlates to him playing better. And so again he's not responsible for the sins of the past. However, Caleb was coached in the past. I don't care. I don't think Ben Johnson cares, and nobody else should care.
The bottom eye is to make him a better quarterback, and having your left foot forward will make him a better quarterback. So do it coach his way and maybe we'll have better offensive numbers than we had a year ago because there's a reason why he wants you to do that, and so he's got to do it his way. And again, you don't allow with certain things, and Ben Johnson's in control of it.
Jim, what will defense This may be a shot in the dark, but what will defenses do to challenge Caleb now that they have a seventeen game survey of sorts to sift through from last season? Or is it all irrelevant from last season? Because it is going to be a new system.
Yeah, yeah, it's irrelevant. They'll they'll go by the first game breakdown or the first five weeks breakdown. They'll see what the Bears. You know, I think they will go back to watch the Lions tall Ben likes to you know, he does two tight ends twenty six percent of the time, So we're probably going to expect Loveland and Cole Comet are going to be out there twenty six percent of
the time. Is how either teams are going to game plan them before week one, they're going to look at some of the things that Ben taps into some of his tendencies. But as for the Bears players and what
they've shown, no, they really can't game plan. It won't be till after really week four, week five that they'll start to get really a beat on Caleb and how he performs in this new offense, and how he performs differently from what they did a year ago, and what their areas of focus are going to be, because there's going to be areas that are better than others until they catch up with everything that Ben wants to.
Do, you know, And one thing leading up to that first four or five weeks of the season. For Jeff Joniac the broadcaster, it's going to be more important for you to pay attention during practices in training camp than it will be for preseason games, because I don't think that Ben Johnson is gonna reveal or unveil what his offense is all gonna be about in that first four or five weeks. He's gonna show a little bit of something.
You guys start preparing for this, but this is a this is an offshoot of what else we can offer you. So probably for us going to practice every day in training camp, it's gonna be a time that you really really want to pay attention.
We'll do good advice.
Indeed, coming up next, we'll hear from case Keenum, the newest Bears quarterback. As we continue on Bears Weekly with Jim Miller and Tom There, I'm Jeff Joniac. This is Bears Weekly, an ESPN one thousand of the Bears Radio Network.
You were tuned into Bears Weekly with Jeff Jonia on the radio network. Well, welcome back to Bears Weekly on the Bears Radio Network. Here's your host, the voice of the Bears, Jeff Jolian.
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Jeff and Thoma.
Jim Miller from Serious x MNFL Radio another quarterback new to the Bears, but certainly not to the NFL. A battle under way for that number two spot, according to the head coach, Ben Johnson, with third year Tyson Bagent and the twelve year veteran Case Keenan on his eighth team. In those twelve years, once upon a time, the NCAA leader in total passing yards, touchdowns and completions at the University of Houston. And you gotta remember, and I forgot
this fellas. This is an undrafted player at six one two fifteen, similar in size at least height and wait to Caleb Williams, and he's impressed.
With the second year quarterbacks performance.
Only cows.
Guy's really good and he's got a chance to be a lot better.
And it's been great.
It's been so much fun coming here and playing and being a part of that quarterback groom and an offense and you know, working with Ben a deck and JT and press and obviously with Caleb and Tyson Austin, those guys in that room.
It's just it's been really special for me. I'm enjoying it.
You was to be a guide for him, So so what is excited you about the early stages of that relationship on what you think you could give him at the.
Stage, you know, he's just he's a sponge, you know, for being an all world talent, a guy who's obviously, since high school, you know, been the best player on any field anywhere he's ever stepped on.
Uh.
To to be humble enough to like ask me questions and and and watch and learn.
Has been really refreshing.
To see a guy that young and that talented, but but still you know, take to to me, it will say, you know, it's been it's been really fun.
One of the assurances that you could compete to be the number two coming.
Out, I've competing my whole life. You know, I show up every day and hope my lockers are not cleaned out.
Man.
That's that's how I treat every day.
I compete against myself, compete against uh, the guys in that room. I compete against you know, the defense we're playing that day today, And then every day. I've competed my whole life, so you know I have I have a knack of uh, you know, sticking around and being ready to go when my name is called, no matter when that is or how that is.
So I'm impressed with that whole room.
Caleb, obviously, I've already talked about him, but I think Tyson is gonna play a long time in this league.
I really do. He is very athletic.
Uh, He's trained, and he is hungry man he is. He's one of the most well prepared guys on that field every day. So I'm very impressed with him in Austin. I see a lot of myself in Austin. Young guy that just needs a shot and it's hungry, doesn't get a ton of reps, but uh, it makes makes the most of him when he when he can.
You have a connection with Ben Johnson all or anyone else on the staff.
I mean when you played as long as I have, and you've been around enough coaches that we had a bunch of kind of a couple of degrees of separation. And I've talked to a bunch of guys about him, and I think he did the same about me.
Uh to some of those same people.
So, uh, yeah, we had we had some connections, but no, I'd never really worked with him in the past.
She talked about you can watch some of cables from before you into him coming here.
What were some of the things that you.
Saw that immediately you were like, if he makes this small tweet, he's gonna take.
This next step.
I mean, uh, what jumped out immediately was just effortless arm talent. I don't know if I've seen a guy do that as as a you know, a young guy, but just just being able to take sometimes what defenses give you and not make this crazy big, you know, off schedule play, letting those plays kind of come to you.
And I think he found some spots of that last year.
And you know he's he's settled into this this offense and how Ben sees it and trying to get on the same page with him and Press and Deck and JT, trying to trying to all come out of that quarterback room and seeing the defense the exact same way as the play caller has been. So you know what we're trying to accomplish and how we're trying to accomplish it along with the footwork, you know, the operation before the snap, defense recognition, all all those things combined with leadership.
So it's quarterbacking.
I mean, it's an art and it's a science, and it's all of that combined. And there's a you know, one hundred ways of getting the ball down the field. But in the end, you know, I think there is some common thread, some common themes of being a pro quarterback. What it means day in and day out, showing up here, being ready to do your job.
And you know, that's.
Representing himself, his family, this, you know, an offense, a coaching staff, the team, an organization, and a city like Chicago where it was such a a story tradition of players and coaches and and really sports teams. It's it's incredible that he's got a chance to do that. He's going to do it for a long time.
And that is case Keenum coming to the Bears after not able to playing last season because of a foot injury, but sixty six starts on his resume in eighty games, only twelve starts in the last six years, but Jim eleven and three in Minnesota. In that twenty seventeen season, he had twenty two touchdowns and just seven interceptions.
And I'm sure there's a lot there you can relate to.
I'm intrigued by him calling quarterback playing art and a science.
Would you agree?
Yeah? That that year in Minnesota he was the number one quarterback against the Blitz. Okay, he knows protections is not how to get sacked or avoid sacks. And so that'd be a resource if I were Caleb and Tyson that I'd tap into. You know, and you hang around the league twelve years for a reason, and like you said, he's an undrafted guy because he takes his job seriously. He's responsible for what he had to work for everything to stay at a roster. He knows what it's about.
So you know, they need to use him as a resource. Tap into him. You know, how were you the number one rated quarterback versus the Blitz? How do you learn your protections, what's hot, what's not? How do you protect yourself? Utilize that that asset, that experience that he has. He's been in eight different offenses that he just mentioned. He knows a lot of football.
Is my point.
Use him, use them. He's a resource that you can learn from.
You know, one thing about case I don't want his experience to be wasted only on the quarterback room, because he's got the same mentality I did. Every single day I walked in the Hallas hall, I thought, this may be the day.
That I'm going to get cut.
And his dedication and desire to be a professional football player should spill over to some of these other young guys who take it for granted, because once you start taking the NFL opportunity for granted, and the next step is going to be out the door. And I think Case can be a great reflection to every single position I'm in that locker room about what it takes to be a dedicated, double digit years of service player.
We'd do on Beijing, by the way, Jim, because more often than not, I'm hearing these same platitudes about his preparation.
And the amount of time he spends on being ready.
And for Case Keenum to come in here only for a few months and know that out of the gate he's seeing it firsthand, says a lot about Tyson Beaging. And this sounds like it'll be a pretty interesting battle for the number two job.
If teams are gonna call to trade for Tyson Beagen. I guarantee you. They may have already gotten them calls the words out. That kid is a grinder. That kid prepares. That kid went to and two as a rookie, and Justin Fields was getting sacked one out of every eight plays. Tyson Bazin Pagent was inserted into the lineup, he was sacked one every twenty one because he knows what's expected of him the words out. He will be a hot commodity that teams will call the trade for by the
trade deadline. If a quarterback goes down, then you still have a veteran in case Keenum that could step in and play and the Bears could get assets for Tyson Beagen. Okay, that kid's the words out. He's a good player.
I would like to keep Tyson Beaijing. I like this player. I like his personality. I think he's good for the football team. He's got the respect of the players as well. Tom Jim knows all these ratios of sacks per PA.
Did you know yours?
No? I didn't know why. I know for the Bears, I only got sex seven times that whole year.
I do know that the two thousand and one season.
Yeah, we got back twenty seven as a team, and I was responsible for seven of them.
Holy smokes, and it Doug on it. If it didn't happen in that playoff game, we'd be singing a different tune, Jimmy.
Of that. Hey, if you Doug Douglas to me right now, cage match, Let's go.
Right, Hugh Douglas, Tommy, you Douglas. Oh, he was a nasty player, But Jim you were a hell of a quarterback. Here, buddy, a hell of a quarterback. All right, let's take another break. Coming up, we'll hear from defensive player, a defensive end that has a lot of significance to his game and will need to be that way this season.
Montes Sweat.
This is Bear's Weekly on ESPN one thousand and the Bears Radio Network.
You were tuned into Bears Weekly with Jeff Joniak on the Bears Radio Network. I'll come back to Bears Weekly on the Bears Radio Network. Here's your host, the Voice of the Bears, Jeff Joy.
This segment of Bears Weekly is brought to you by Igs Energy, Jeff Joniak, TM Thayer and Jim Miller from sirius XM NFL Radio. Getting you set for the start of Veteran Minicamp next week. We talk a lot about Cale, a lot about the offense. But strangely, I've had some interviews, not interviews, but speaking engagements up here at Hallashall with Bears, partners, sponsors or whatever, and I find myself Jim and Tom
not talking that much about kit. I'm talking a lot about coaching, and I'm talking about other important pieces to the puzzle, because it is a puzzle. It's not just about the quarterback. Yes, the quarterback has to play well and all that. But one of the guys I've been
talking about is Montes Sweat. And I think I mentioned on Wada and Sylvie earlier tonight when I was out with them late this afternoon that you know, I'm thinking that I never heard this, but you know, Montes Sweat had some issues in training camp with a nagging injury and it may have lingered throughout the whole season. That's that's my guess, and I think he was working through some stuff and now with a new defense to learn
that he has not really played in much. It's it's probably a pretty big learning moment right now for Monteste Sweat. Albeit that when you're an edge rusher. You know what your main job is. You got to go get the quarterback, but stop of the run will be as equally important this year.
Yeah you know.
I mean that's one of the requirements of Dennis Allen is having a defensive line that's willing and able and capable of stopping the run so they have the opportunity to rush the passer. But if I think if there's any one marquee name on this roster that means the most of the success of this football team, it is probably Monteste Sweat. And not to deny the fact that Caleb Williams is going to be an important part of
the future of this organization. But when you go out and you get a guy like Montese Sweat and then you give him a big contra, you want every offensive line, every offensive coordinator for seventeen weeks to think about how you're gonna block him.
And then when you figure out how.
You're gonna block him, what openings does that give the other members of the defensive front seven and even defensive backs for that matter. So when you look at Montese Sweat, he's got to be such a dial mover for your defense that other guys are succeeding because Montese Sweat is succeeding.
Right and Jim, you know, not every team has a pass rusher that can demand a double team down in and down out in the pass game. And so but those moments when he will be he'll be chipped or whatever, it does open up some great opportunities from other defensive lineman's that's the obvious. And I just think he's a terrific talent. He's still young, and he's still got a lot left in the tank.
He does he's got to be a double digit sack guy. I believe he had five last year. Whether he's heard or whatever was wrong. They need him to be a double digit sack guy. And on the other side, whether it's Booker, whether it's Daye who's brought in there, they've
got need to take advantage of that. You know, if you got a double digit sack guy on one side, you have to be able to take advantage on the other side because of the attention that he commands, and those other guys got to step up and get in on the party. No matter if it's a rotation or if Dayo's the guy. You you know, it's just you gotta get minimum. If you can get twenty sacks from your two outside guys, you're cooking with gas. If both
are double digit, you got something good brewing. But if he can be just who he is, a double digit sack guy in sweat, and then you can get whether it's Dale Booker, other guys opposite, to get up the double digits, say five and five as a rotation group. Now you're talking, but it starts with sweat. Period.
I think the pass rush does on obvious third down start with a Monteste sweat.
But I think you have to have.
The understanding that if Grady Jarrett gives you interior explosiveness and he's making penetration into the backfield, and now you're talking about how a center guard tackle will slide all the way.
Out to Monteste sweat.
Now if they have to slide quicker and maybe sustain a little bit longer time with Grady Jarrett, then that's gonna give Monteste sweats some one on one opportunity. Or if they feel that that guard's got to slide out to help the offensive tackle as quickly as possible to try to get to Monteste sweat, it's going to open up opportunities for Grady Jarrett, and so I think when you look at the relationship between those two guys, that's where the influence of pass rush is gonna come from.
All Right, let's listen in to Montest sweat from the podium yesterday. Hear it to how Saul his initial opinion of his new defensive coordinator, Dennis Allen.
Oh, yeah, he's a very complex individual.
He has a lot of a lot of fronts and schemes and things that he can attack the attack the offense with.
So, yeah, he's a great guy. Smart.
You were thinking about it for a second.
For White, it's complex. The word that comes up when you.
Think the end.
Well, I mean, I'm saying I'm trying to learn a new defense right now.
So it's a uh.
It presents his challenges, different friends, different blitches, different different countries, different coverages and things like that, and uhs just more than I had to learn in the past, I would say. So, uh, he's definitely a little bit more complex than the DC's I had the path.
Seeing how the team addressed the D line, how do you feel about that?
I'm excited. Yeah, add a new talent on the D line. Every year you get new guys and uh, new personalities and things and stuff like that.
So yeah, I'm excited what the year has to offer early.
But what has Brady brought to that room, you know of off the field.
And how do you expect your bringing on the field, because obviously.
That pressure in the middle if you'd probably help you will.
Yeah, Greaty.
He's brought a lot of leadership and experience to the to the room. He helps how the young guys a lot.
Uh.
He's also kind of played in this type of in this type of defense before that. Uh, some some players haven't included me, so he's helping out in that in that aspect too, So yeah, Greaty is a big help right now.
I know you guys are still getting to know the coaching staff, but are you already sensing that they're bringing in the right energy or there's a sense of buying in the room that the culture is going to change the way that you guys.
Feel it needs to.
Yeah, I definitely feel like we're on the right track.
You could do all the hoot and to hollering before the before the season and all that type of stuff, it all comes down to what's what's happening on Sundays.
Are we winning or are we losing? So we'll bring the judge board out there.
We'd expected that in this defense that's different from the specific defense you played under.
I don't know.
I don't think much has changed. Football is football.
I'm just probably playing from another alignment or from another stands. But at the end of the day, are here to fade the QB. Grady said that Von put together those workoutshots. Did that in Miami? You showed up why that was important, But also what do you think it said about de people that together? Yeah, dex is Ah, he's a leader on the d line, he's a leader on his team. Uh, he's actually from he's from Uh, he's from Florida. So it was a kind of convenient for us to come
to meet him down there. And I just thought it was important because, uh, just meeting your new teammates, letting him just developing that chemistry and all all those type of things.
Uh.
Yeah, supportant.
Last season, you.
Guys struggled to stop the run, especially towards the second half of the year.
What kind of changes is da Broady?
And of course the talent has been out of that.
You think it's gonna affect stopping to run more positively.
This season, We're gonna see we understand that we got to stop the run to rush the passer. And everybody likes to rush the passer, but you gotta stop the run for So that's definitely a big emphasis in his defense and.
That's what we plan on doing.
That is Montes sweat guys.
One of the key things he said there that that really got my attention that he looks at Jervon Dexter as one of the leaders of the football team. And I mentioned this earlier today as well. The more young guys that can emerge as important leaders is a great sign for the future. And there's any number of guys on both sides of the ball. If you just want to stick on the line of scrimmage, a guy like Darnel Wright and a guy like Javon.
Dexter Senior Tommy, that would be huge.
And that was Jervon Dexter's initiative that brought those guys together.
Yeah, you know, you think of Grady Jaron, the enthusiasm that he approaches football with and you look at the skill and the athleticism what.
Dexter Senior has.
He's gonna have to figure out how to compliment whomever he's playing next to, if it's Monteese on one side and Grady on the other. But he's gonna have to turn into that high draft choice bona fide defensive line leader, that it develops a reputation within the the conference, in the within the division, that he is a guy that you have to identify his whereabouts as much as Montes
or anybody else in that defensive line. And we've seen, we've seen you know, uh steps of you know, uh improvement by Dexter, but we need to see it for seventeen game, all year round type of performance.
Jimmy is a hustle guy, backside guy, downfield guy. Do you feel that there are dominant traits that can be pulled out of him from Dennis Allen and the d line coach.
Definitely there.
Yeah, he's an interesting guy who's like like Tom said, he's made splash plays, but this is a new defense for him. And it's good that you know, here, you just heard from Montes Sweat saying, hey man, this defense is pretty complicated. It's pretty complex, and Dexter is the younger player than even Montese Sweat and he's out there to show in leadership. So it tells me he feels pretty confident in what he's being installed and that he
is going to do pretty well in it. If he's out there, you know, bouncing around and having that type of enthusiasm where guys are calling him a kind of a leader guy, he should be a more competent guy. He's played, he's had splash plays, he knows he's capable of more, and now he's going to be in a new defense that probably, if anything, would cause him to be more reserved about it practice. But it seems like he's excited about this move and how he could be utilized.
So it could be a good thing. But a young player who's ascending is what i'd say.
Right, He's only twenty three. He'll be twenty four in season on October fifth of this year, So a young player. Jim born in two thousand and one, Jim, when you led the Bears to the playoffs, we're getting old?
Who was our who is our defensive leader?
Well?
No, no, I'd say you, well, no, no.
No, no.
Jervine was born in two thousand and one. I said you and I.
We're yeah, man, I can't even believe that. Don't bring that start up again.
J One more segment to go. Well, we'll get to the lightning round. As I like to say, Tom's thoughts. We got Tom's thoughts. He texted some today. Jimmy, you saw him. We'll break him down there. Coming up next on Bears Weekly on AESPN one thousand of the Bears Radio Network.
You were listening to Bears Weekly on the Bears Radio Network. Is Bears Weekly with the voice of the Bears for twenty four years, Chef Shone Chef on the Bear's Radio Network.
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Final five minutes of our program tonight, as we took a canvas look at the week that was here up at Hallow, Saul, Let's talk DeAndre Swift want to talk to you guys about the fit and how he can be used to his full capabilities with Ben Johnson. Jim will start with you because he was with Ben in twenty twenty two, and if you just go on Pro Football Focus rankings, it's just a good gauge to give you some just a ballpark anyway, he had his best rushing grade in twenty twenty two, that was his final
season in Detroit. It was not a big workload, small sample size of carries, but at least it gives you some idea that Ben Johnson knows what he has in a DeAndre Swift.
Yeah, he knows him, and DeAndre should feel pretty comfortable of how the system is set up and didn't work out in Detroit, but here he's getting another He gets another bite at the apples, so to speak, in an offense that he's familiar with, with an upgraded offensive line, So he should be pretty excited about that. And I think for Swift, he's you know, he's definitely a three down back, you know, and in my opinion, he's been in a couple of places that we haven't utilized him
the way he should have been utilized. And I think Ben will tap into his skill sets. But he's a good receiving back out of the backfield. One drop in Detroit kind of plugged him. That kind of went south for the fans that he dropped the touchdown pass and he kind of never recovered and why he got you know, ended up moving on to Philly. So the best is yet to come, I think for Swift. I think he's got probably the best personnel around him as he's had other than Philadelphia prior to Chicago.
You know, I believe DeAndre Swift is a three down back there, There's no doubt about it. However, there's one thing that Ben Johnson said when he's at the podium, I want to make sure DeAndre Swift is willing to get the dirty yards. And so that will be something that I will pay attention to in the early portion of the season. If it is that third and two, third and one second three, are you willing to take the point of attack and commit to it?
Yeah? And another thing my head turns every time. I love the screen pass.
One of my favorite things for a running back, not just a wide receiver or a flanker screen or a tight end screen. But I'm watching and there's this lightning bolt and it's Swift on the screen with the big guys out in the front. That could be some deadly damaged there.
All right.
Some of Tom's thoughts. Tom Offensive line.
We talk about left tackle, It's going to be a big battle at training camp, no question about it, between at least those three guys that we know of right now. When a healthy Braxton Jones, I'm a Gaji and Ozzie Trapido.
But you are not shying away from the.
Rest of the battles because the spillover for the sixth and seventh and eighth offensive lineman. You got to view them also as starter grade because of the threat of injury or performance issues.
Correct, Well, you think of the Bears offensive line last year, if they didn't have Coleman Shelton, where would they have been at center? Now you're talking about there's the sixth inserted offensive lineman. Then you do have a late season injury by Braxton Jones.
So this is not all only.
And I know we focus a lot of tension of the future of the left tackle with the Chicago Bears because it is really important.
However, when you're talking about.
An offensive line, you better have minimum seven hopefully eight.
All right, and Jim time off after training camp. It's always a pet peeve from my big guy over here, Tom Thayer. What are you gonna do with that time? He feels it's his important as training camp itself.
Do you agree.
Yeah, you better be cranking it up prior to training camp starting. You know, you you better be in your best shape because there are no guarantees. This is a new coach, so you better be ready to go day one if you're a player, So I wouldn't do yourself a disservice. I would not do your team a disservice by coming in out of shape and not knowing your assignments because that would not be a good thing. And
as coach said, it's not going to be allowed. So don't even fall into that trap if you're a player.
Yeah, the mental part of it, you better stay.
Is dedicated to the mental part of it as you are right now going to meetings every day, the weightlifting part of it, the conditioning part of it.
That's what's expected of you.
However, you can't come in here in full pads and start making mental mistakes.
Yeah, that will be the first thing that gets you cut for sure, or at least lose your position.
Guys, we're out of time. Thank you so much, Jim, appreciate it.
For Tommy and all our producers, including Jack McGrath, this has been Bears Weekly on the new radio home of the Chicago Bears, ESPN Chicago. We are joining Game five of the NBA's Eastern Conference Finals between the Knicks and the Pacers. It's coming up next here on ESPN one thousand. Have a great night, everybody.
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