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Pierre Your hosts Jeff Joniak aka the Mayor of Bearsville and his sidekicked Tom the surffask there.
Pleasant get even everybody.
Later this evening we find out if the thirty Bears, already in Trina, Canton and the Pro Football Hall of Fame will become uh well more Company Veterans Committee finalists and legendary defensive tackle Steve McMichael return star Devin Hester, a Hall of Fame finalist for three years in a row. We'll fight out surely if they'll get the gold jackets officially and their bronze bus displayed for perpetuity.
Exciting that ahead.
Indeed, I'm Jeff Joniack with Super Bowl Bear Tom Thayer and thanks to producers Jordan Trudup, Dan Brilli. Also to Kevin z Pet of the Spen One thousand Studios, Executive producer of the Bears Ready Network as Eric Ostrowski also joining us from Vegas after Super Bowl. He's been working all week from Serious x MNFL Radio is moving to change. Jim Miller time we start with you. Great anticipatory night.
A lot of rumors out there, obviously, but until we hear it for official, I know, as an ex teammate of Steve McMichael, for one, and a broadcaster for Devin and Julius Peppers for that matter, is.
A big night.
Yeah, you know, Jeff, I just wish that we could react to the stories because with anticipation of it all happening, I'd like to be able to talk honestly about a
guy that deserves a Hall of Fame. I'm talking about a teammate first of all, and Steve McMichael, he deserves it on what he was able to accomplish, the impression that he left on the league, the improvement that he helped his football team when he came aboard the Bears, but his commitment of him, his self and his life to professional football, and then obviously Devin is a game changer.
He's left more good memories in our mind and your broadcasting voice, and a lot of other guys they have along the way, And we all have tons of respect for Julius Peppers, what the type of player he was, who he was compared to, and his accomplishments and results.
And Jimmy, you wore the uniform of a bear as well, so a lot of pride as well for the charter franchise of the National Football League. And I'm certain that you long felt that McMichael hester included should have been in the Hall of Fame even before this.
Yes, And you know, I think it is safe to say that Mago's getting in. You know, I can pretty much say that I know Misty, his wife. I was texting back and forth with back and forth with her. She's out here in Las Vegas for a reason. Because Mango's getting in, and he's well deserved. And Tom can talk about him as a teammate more than I can.
I can only talk as me as a lover of football, you know, watching the tenacity that he played with and in the fierceness and the competitiveness that he played and what he's what he stood for from afar, No time can go a lot deeper than that. As for Devin Hester. You know, with the current rules in the NFL with the kick returns, you know, it's pretty much been eliminated
with the new rule. We'll have to see what the NFL does down with the NFL and the owners meaning supposedly they want to implement what is the old XFL kick return and how the XFL ran it. But no one has done what Devin Hester has done, and I think that's what swayed the voters. You know, as for right now, he's the number one guy all time. You know, you could make an argument why wasn't he a first ballot Hall of Famer because he's done more than any
kick returner has ever done. So that one sounds like it's in the books as well. Well.
I'll say this about calling all those except for one with the Atlanta Falcons that put him over the top pass Diane Sanders, I haven't seen anything like it to have it.
Repetitively done, and you're you're still kicking too.
And then for periods of time they weren't kicking to him, they were afraid of them, and he was getting frustrated. It affected his play in anything else, including a wide receiver and the pressure and I just was on with the Cap and Waddle on ESPN one thousand and we talked about this because I believe that Devin, from the time he started playing youth football knew he was going to be a Hall of Famer and he charted that path long, long time ago because he always knew he
could do it. And just how he returned the ball, the arrogance of which he returned that ball, and the confidence and the competitiveness of the opposition, the coaches, the special teams, coordinators, the punters, the kickers, Eh.
Let's give it a shot.
Maybe you know, maybe we'll make a story out of him by not letting him get in the end zone. And he proved everybody wrong every step of the way, Tommy, every step of the way.
See, let me ask you something about confidence and arrogance. Are you glad that he read turned the one in Atlanta? Or else you would have called everyone no, I listen, listen me. And Devin wasn't a bear at the time, so we never cheered against him. However, if throughout the course of your broadcasting career, you could say I called every single one of Devon's returns throughout a Hall of Fame career. That would be something amazing to say.
Yeah, no question, you know. Yeah.
But West Durham, the Atlanta Falcons radio guy, Jimmy he he, he did give me a little shout out, like my good friend Jeff Joniek would say, Devin Hester, you are ridiculous.
He said it, so thank you, West Durham. It means a lot.
I you know, you never know who you're gonna call in this in this league, right and and he was just he just resonated with everybody. And I get more questions about where did ridiculous come from even today. Well, that's the genesis of that. It was the it was the second return against Saint Louis. The Bears were blowing out the Rams. They were on side kick and I saw the distance between Devin and the nearest approaching defender.
He blew by him like nothing. I just I just lost it. And you can't believe this stuff. I just can't believe it.
Jimmy, Well, it's perfectly framed, and that's what you do as a radio guy, and he's framed it perfectly. It's ridiculous. What he was doing was it was ridiculous at the time of how he was making special teams play to
another level. I'll never forget the game where Mike Shanahan is the head coach of the Washington Redskins at that time time formerly the Redskins, i should say, and Keith Burns who or not Keith Burns, Keith Butler who was their special teams coach, and we had we had played together at some at one point, and he became their special teams coach and Mike Shanahan challenged him or Keith Burns excused me, and there was Mike Shanahan challenged him. They kicked to him twice and he had two returns
in that game, and it basically destroyed the game. White coaches would even kick to this guy or challenge him is beyond me. And that goes back to the Super Bowl against Tony Dundee. If you remember, Peyton Manning was screaming on the sideline, who the heck made that call to kick to this guy? And it goes back to the head coach and Peyton was upset from the first snap, yep.
And you know what happened after that? Tom Tom smacked Jimmy smacked me so hard on the rear end, which he used to do before every broadcast early in my career, anyway, to make sure I'm ready to go. And it hurt, it's stung. You got your mind off the nerves. And he turned to me with a finger and my faces in the game hasn't even started yet.
And he was so right.
And if they just would have continued to run the football, we would have been talking about a second Super Bowl champion in Chicago. I really believe that. Anyway, we got to take a break, boys, sit back. We got some time in between. Earlier today we visited with Jim, your old teammate, Jerry Azuma for some twenty minutes talking about all things. Very lovely man, great player for the Bears. We talk with him coming up next here out of espon Chicago and the Bears Radio Network.
This is Bears Weekly with a voice of the Bears for twenty three years, Jeff jony Aik on the Bears Radio Network.
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Welcome back to Bears Weekly, Jeff Joni Aak and Tom Thayer. Jim Miller to rejoin the program from the Super Bowl in Vegas in just a moment and joining us now our good friend, the president of Bears Care, the charitable
arm of the Chicago Bears. One of the most exciting Bears players for a seven year stretch from nineteen ninety nine to two thousand and five, the New Hampshire running back turned cornerback and Pro Bowl kick return to the one and only Jerry Azuma, who still every time I see him, is fit to hit, looks like he should still be playing. I don't know how you do it. What are you thirty five?
Yeah, something like that.
Yeah, we'll just stick with that.
But no, you you have kept yourself in tip top, rock solid shape. And is this something of significance in your life that you pay attention to every single day?
Well, I have to you know, you know your body starts talking to you, you have to start listening to it, especially when you get older. I have a six year old and an eight year old, so they basically keep me active as much as possible. So it's all about them right now, so I have to make sure that I'm able to move around for them.
By the way, I love the names of your children, Santiago and Valentino, those guys that either they're movie stars, starting quarterbacks, I don't know, but they're gonna be a really big right, Like, tell me the genesis of those names.
So Bianca my wife, she is a Mexican, and we wanted to go with a name that just kind of was like Spanish influenced because they have a whole bunch of African names right behind them.
So we went with Santiago.
He was born on Christmas Eve, so a couple hours later he would have been Jesus who knows, but we went with the saint instead for Santiago. So that's how that turned out. And then Valentino was just a name that we've always loved and admired, and we went with that with our youngest.
Jerry.
So you figure where your body's at at this point, What is the state of the game in your mind of a father for young kids? And I'm going to follow up with the question after that, but let's talk about that first.
Yeah, I mean, I get that question asked a lot. You know, my kids in the fall, it was the first time playing flag football and they absolutely loved it.
And it was the first time that I.
Was able to actually throw the ball at them and have them catch it in you know, just kind of learned the foundation and fundamentals of the game, so.
They really liked it. I think I grew up in Oklahoma.
So I grew up in Oklahoma in the late seventies early eighties, So football was life and it was all about hitting people as hard as you could. It was always about being aggressive, you know, the Oklahoma drills and things like that. So I learned to hit and be
aggressive at a very early age. And then now looking back at it, and now that I have kids, I'm thinking to myself, well, maybe that isn't the direction that I necessarily need to go, because you can build a strong foundation and really learn the game of football and love the game of football without having that physical contact, you know. I think flag football builds a strong foundations. You can learn the ex's and o's and things like that.
So I'm more of the standpoint of, you know, learning the game and having a lot of fun and running around what you can do with flag football without the physicality.
And then later on, once your.
Body starts to mature and you feel like you know what, you can lace up the cleats and see if you're really about that life to take some hits, then we can find out.
So I would say, like you know, junior high high school.
Is is when you can start put on pads and see if you really want that contact.
Well, you know, you are also a guy that brought people out of their seats or made them stay in their seats for a part of the return game, and I think you kind of forge an opportunity for yourself in the NFL through your ability and the return game.
Yeah, give me.
Your feelings about the state of the return game in today's NFL. Do you want to see it changed and stay in as significantly as has been throughout the one hundred years of the NFL? Or are you okay with the changes that you're seeing.
Yeah, Well, the return game and special teams has always been a dynamic thing in the NFL for a long period of time, and I understand.
The changes that they've made. They've they've made these.
Changes due to safety and safety concerns and things like that, So I understand it. And they made drastic, sweeping changes, you know, to kind of push the game forward as we now know it and try to get away from, you know, the big time collisions with you know, running down on kickoff. You know, we have guys like Israel, Aadneje who's running down at you know, three hundred pounds, running as hass as he can to like knock somebody's
block off. So I understand getting that part out of the game, but they.
Can't swing it too far because these days, these.
Games and these plays are extremely dynamic. You're talking about a person like Devin Hester, who's hopefully we'll get into the Hall of Fame tonight. He basically flipped you know, the field position. He changed the whole dynamic of a game. He changed game plans, He changed so many different elements that the game presented, and I think that I don't want to see that go away, and it's it's definitely have gone.
It's gone away.
And you know, return is the most one of the most exciting things to start off a football game. Returns are extremely exciting because if you have a person like a Devin Hester or a Johnny Knox, or Glenn Milburn or Daniel Manning, you know, the list goes on and on and on. These guys can really do incredible things just off of one play.
So I think the NFL is they have their.
Concerns, and I understand their concerns, but I just don't want to see them eliminate, you know, special teams return plays.
Former Bears cornerback kick return star Pro bowler Jerry Azuma with ushign Bears Weekly, Jeff and Tom with you here on the ESPN one thousand of the Bears Radio Network. So to that point, a couple of things. One back to the flag football and then we'll get back into the kick return thing. I heard a quote from Brock Perty, the starting quarterback for Sunday Super Bowl for the forty nine ers, and my.
Fellow Iowa State alum loved that guy.
He started playing flag football at twelve, and he said, hey, it was a quicker game my decision making process I had to think quickly, and that's kind of transferred over to him as a quick thinking quarterback. I thought that was an interesting statement about you know, because flag football is going.
To be an Olympic sport.
It is.
It's mushrooming, no question about it, and it's including girls and women. So I think it's fantastic for the sport of football in general because the game's always under attack.
So that's just my statement about that.
Okay, So looking back at your career as a kick returner, a couple of seasons you had over forty returns.
The average number of returns this year for an NFL team was eighteen.
That's it.
The Rams had nine returns. So you've eliminated the third phase of the game. Because on top of that, the punt return game, Zoom and Tom.
The kickers have become.
So so good athletic, big legs. They're either kicking it out of bounds or really a lot of hang time for fair catches. And so to me, the more dangerous of the two. And I didn't play the game, so maybe I'm speaking too much here would be the punt return. You look what happened at Tarik Cohen shortly after he signed his long term contract, gets jumbled up there and suffers a serious injury that he's.
Still coming back from.
But they have to they have to find a way to keep that excite, inciting element in the game.
It's a football play.
And you know, you suffered some injuries though, and I don't know, I can't recall you had a pair of neck injuries, you had a hip problem. Was it more from playing corner or was it more from the return game.
I just think it was just from playing football. You know, you know, I spent a lifetime playing football, and people are like, you played seven years in the NFL, you know, relatively short career, and you know, why did you retire so early? And I was like, well, actually, you know, I started playing football at the age of six, you know, and I played till you know, twenty eight, twenty nine years old.
So that's a lot of.
Time of you know, pounding my body and really playing football and really getting after it, mixing up, mixing up myself with football. So it was a lot of a lot of time between starting and loving football at the age of six or early age, going all the way through, you know, my professional football career.
So injuries do happen. This is the game of football, you know.
And I understand what the NFL is trying to do with slow down injuries and prevent them as much as possible. But at the same time, I'm about the integrity of the football game as well, and I feel like the integrity of the game is really taking a hit at this point.
I feel like, you know, the.
League is leaning towards protecting certain some people and not necessarily protecting all people. And that's a bigger conversation that we can get into. But I just think just looking at it, I just think that you know, it's still football, and there should still be some type of integrity that's still in place. And at the same time, you do have to be mindful of like the egregious you know,
for example, head shots or next shots. I mean, I think that we all know what those egregious headshots look like. But you know, sliding last minute and then getting hit, you know what I'm saying, It doesn't really feel like the egregious headshot or the unnecessary roughness, or taking a quarterback down even if he's off balance and then trying to race yourself so that you don't land fully on him. You know, like there's a lot of little situations that happen that.
We have to be mindful of.
And I think that the NFL is doing all that they can to protect people, but at the same time, they're losing a lot of the integrity of the football game.
Jerry, you look at the two way player that Dion Sanders has in Colorado, then you have to think of some of the untapped potential of a guy like Devin Hester. But I remember during your career, I used to sit with Jay Hilgenberg, and he would sit there and say, week in a week out, one of the best running backs on the Chicago Bears is Jerry Azuma.
When you think about.
The game and where it's at now and the potential you had back then, could we have seen Jerry Azuma and the backfield as a running back on an NFL level?
Well, absolutely, Tom, Absolutely, you know I'm going to say yes to that.
Growing up, I've always.
Been a running back, and I've always been on the offensive side.
Of the football.
I've watched Walter Payton in my days in Oklahoma, and that's who I try to be. I try to be a running back and I try to beat Walter Payton. So conceded on being a running back through high school, through college, and then when I got to the pros, you know, I started running backwards, which was completely different and very different than what I was used to. So the challenges were definitely there. But in the NFL, I think that there is some room right now for you know,
two way players. I mean, there are guys out there that can that are very dynamic on the offensive side of the football and defensive side of the ball, So why not give them an opportunity to go out there and show their greatness on both sides of the football field.
You know.
So I think that we might see a lot more of that because things change in the NFL. As we know, the running back position has changed a lot. It's no longer like really ground and pound. Now they're they're looking more for like scap backs and guys that can you know, step in the slot or guys that can catch the ball out of the backfield.
So the traditional running.
Back sort of speak, or like even the quarterback, you know, pocket quarterback, you have to be able to run these days, and now they have design runs with these big time quarterbacks that the overall like positions, the foundation is there, but like, I think that they're morphing into something different and I think that you'll see a little bit more. I would like to see a little bit more two way players, you know, because there are a lot of dynamic players in the football league.
You know, you think of the play specifically like the Jets sweep and how much that has infiltrated the offense, whether it's the distraction of the motion that tries to get a defense off balance or the actual handoff at that place specifically, it seems there's been some plays that have been developed since even your time from the NFL that have could have been a part of you being
on the offensive side of the ball more often. And Jeff and I were talking about it even with the guy like Devon, because Devon's never going to be on a field like Terry Hill, and you're not going to be announcing defensively where he's at in what he could possibly be doing. But like those plays specifically have changed the course of some of the athletes in the NFL today.
Yeah, and I think that you'll see more of that moving forward, Like you know, the evolution of the football player bigger, stronger, faster, more dynamic, can do different things. You know, you look at like I think his name is Taysom for the Saints, Taysom Hill. Yeah, Taysom Hill. They use him, and he's very dynamic. He can throw the ball, he can run the ball, you know, he can pass the ball. He can do a magnitude of
a lot of different things. So I think that you'll find a lot of players coming up and trying to find, like the offensive coordinators and defensive coordinators to try to figure out the best usage of these dynamic players.
I think that you'll start to see more of that.
There's one at Utah.
I just did the Senior Bowl for Sirius XM NFL Radio, and sionovaki is gets a really good running back, can catch the football, but he's a bad man at safety. So you know, And I'm looking back at your statistics, and you had three hundred and fifty two tackles in
your career according to Pro Football Reference. Anyway, you may got more from Lovey Smith, excuse me, from your coaching staff, but did you think when you started in the NFL, when you get drafted in the fifth round, that you would have had three hundred and fifty two rushes as opposed three hundred and fifty two tackles at least in your direct and that you know, we've talked about this the four just to convince you that it's gonna Hey, Jerry, we need you to run backwards and play corner.
Yeah, it was. It was very weird.
I don't know if a lot of people understand that story, but I started getting in college. I started getting, you know, some calls and some scouts coming up saying that I could possibly be a defensive back, and then I was I just really didn't understand that because I went forward so well, and I wonder Walter Payton Award in Rushford, you know, sixty two hundred yards and so on and so forth. So I felt really confident in my in
my ability to run the football. And then I went to BC's pro Dade, which was the biggest college that was in the area, and I did running back drills and then afterwards this scout comes by and he says, hey, there's a little buzz going on that you could possibly be a defensive back.
I'd like to take you through some dB drills.
And I said, you know, I've never done this in my life, but if you think that it's worth it, then I'll give it a shot.
So he took me through the drills. Later on he shook my hand.
It was actually Phil Emery, who was an area scout for the Chicago Bears back then turned GM, you know, so he was the one that was probably very instrumental in drafted me. But he was the first one to say, hey, I think that you could be a defensive back at the next level, Like, let's send you through some dB drills and see what you can do and then after that I went to the combine and did running back drills and you know, the whole dB thing just never
really took off. So I was like, okay, well that was that was quick lived and I'm just going to be a running back. And so I got drafted by the Chicago Bears and on the phone they told me that they wanted to see me as a defensive back.
Unreal.
You're also a teammate of Ryan Dave of Ohio state head football coach from New Hampshire, as well some other NFL players.
But so you know, the.
Debate is raging on Justin Fields number one pick in the draft, and from our perspective, it's been a fifty to fifty split.
Were you standing at this point.
Well, looking at the team, I think that Polls basically stripped everything down and he's building this team up in the right way.
Obviously, the draft capital is.
Very important, as we know, and getting you know, key free agents, you know, to plug and play will really make this thing go. So, you know, looking at this whole thing with Justin Fields, I think that he can. I think that he has a lot of potential. I think that his ceiling is definitely high. He has a lot of potential. I think that he has to get the right system around him. He has to get more help around him, and things will start to naturally happen.
I think last year he started to take off.
Obviously, you know, he had his dips and he had his moments, but at the same time, he he had a lot of flashes of really good things. And then you put a person like DJ Moore around him, who arguably had his best, you know season of his career, you know, thirteen hundred yards, eight touchdowns, almost one hundred yards you.
Know, receiving.
I feel like if you add and add more pieces to Justin and then a strong running game as well, a strong offensive line that's that's really good at the point of attack and creating you know, creases for him, and then just the system of utilizing his strengths and his talents. He's good on the run, he's good and sprint out and rollouts to misdirection and things like that three step drop.
He can get the ball out.
So I think that he has some things that that can be very beneficial moving forward. I don't know if I really want to hit the hard reset button with a brand new quarterback, you know, and it's a rookie quarterback too, so there's no real guarantees. I like the soft resets, and I also like putting more pieces around Justin Fields. So that's where I stand with this whole thing. Put pieces around Justin fields. And last year, if you look at at a lot of the games, we were.
Really really close. We were really really close. And I think that if they keep on.
Building the pieces and putting things around Justin fields, I think that will be in a really good situation because the offense is you know, they're coming, and the defense is playing extremely solid special teams obviously, and then coaching, the coaching really here's the thing. The offensive coordinator is extremely important, just as important as the quarterback, and you have to get a person that can put people in the right place at the right time and really utilize
their their their their talent and their skill set. So hopefully this coaching staff can get together and they can work with Justin Fields to bring out the best in him and build pieces around him.
And that's where I stand on that.
You know, Jerry, one thing you can't deny about the decision that you're going to make future is how the finances figure in on the deal.
So when you.
Talk about college players with NIL and then you think about what the quarterbacks are making, especially in their second contract, that's you know, that's not a subject that you can't bring into the conversation. My question to you, though, is we never had the luxury and the opportunity.
What is your feeling about.
The NIL money because I think it changes everything from college all star games to the amount of money some of these kids are making and not playing very much. But what's your feeling on an IL money.
I'll tell you what, Tom, You and I were just too early. You were just too early. The NIL has really changed the game and really changed the dynamic of you know, college sports in general. These guys are you know, pretty much professionals. Now they're they're making money and with that.
Comes business decisions.
So the fact that these guys are like holding out of you know, bowl games and things like that, the spirit of you know, college football has really taken a hit. I think that, you know, college football was all about the guys, the kids, I should say, that want to go out there and give it their all and win a championship for their team, for their university. I felt like that spirit and that desire was in them, but now it's all like.
The business decisions. Everyone is making a business decision.
On whether they want to play, whether they want to leave this team and go to another team and play for this coach and that coach. So I think the spirit of the NIL and like the portal for example.
Was good.
You know, I think that they wanted it to be a good option for kids to exercise and things like that. But now I feel like it's spiralless out of control and they're trying to get it back somehow, and I feel like they might not be able to get it
back at this point because it's just gone. But you know, I understand why they were trying to do it, but you know, it's it's very unfortunate because guys are jumping into the portal also, and then you hear horror stories too that you know, guys are feeling that they are more than what they really are. They get into the portal and then they just get stuck in that portal and then they might have to come back to that team.
And then now you know, the administration and the team and the coaches are looking at you like, well, wait a minute, why should I even you know, invest in you, you know, when you decided to go into the portal.
Or another situation too WITHOL with the college coaches, is, you know, instead of the developing younger players, why don't I just go into the portal and just get a rough diamond that I can develop, you know, and an upperclassman that's had some success, you know, playing at their respect to school and I could plug him into this type of system and get the best out of them. Why should I even develop? So there are some issues that need to be worked out. Hopefully they get worked out soon.
All right, Jerry, one more to let you go, and we really appreciated here on Bears Weekly with Jeff and Tom Jerry Azuma. The trivia question of all trivia questions, who scored the last touchdown at Old Soldier Field before it was torn down and rebuilt into the current stadium.
The answer would be Jerry Azuma.
And it's picked six of Donovan McNabb the thirty nine yard touchdown return and that one divisional playoff against the Eagles quarterback by our own Jim Miller before he was injured by Hugh Douglas. Sadley and Wow, That's something that I bet a lot of folks would not have that answer, but you remember it vividly long ago, and you were on the five team, you got hurt in that game, and then you know the six they go to the
super Bowl. So there's a lot there in our final question here as you got a taste of the Super Bowl run one five and then they go on O six, how much regret did you have that you were not able to continue or forced to retire because of your injuries? And uh and then the final cap for who you who you're picking on Sunday.
You know what, looking back at my career, I have nothing bad to say about it. I mean, it was an incredible time to be alive. It was a fantastic ride. When I got into the league, I thought I'd be a running back and they were like, nope, You're going to be a defensive back. So I got into a situation that I had. I had no clue what was going on, and everything was just happening one hundred miles an hour. But the good thing is that I played with some incredible guys on defense.
I mean some.
Incredible guys on defense, so that they made the transition easier for me. So I don't regret any period of time that I played with the Chicago Bears.
So it was a fantastic time.
I played with some incredible guys and really loved the fan base. I'm still in Chicago, so Chicago is home. So it has brought me an an incredible life. But when we're talking about the Super Bowl this time the forty nine Ers versus the Chiefs, man, you know, I didn't think that the Chiefs were going to be able to go to the Buffalo Bills and beat them, but they did. And then they went into Baltimore and then
beat them decisively. And I bet against them basically, I said, you know, they're not going to be able to do this. I just think that it's too much for them. But they went in there, Mahomes was able to do his thing. The defense of the Chiefs has really stepped up tremendously, and I think that that's going to be the tipping point of this game.
And then you know their head coach, Andy Reid.
He's really done a great job of putting guys in the positions to make plays and win football games. And then you have you know San fran who is just loaded on offense and defense with talent, and Brock Perdy is doing a fantastic jobs just feeding his playmakers and letting them make play. So this is going to be an incredible Super Bowl. I am looking forward to it. I can't wait. In terms of like a prediction, I'm leaning towards the Chiefs. Definitely leaning because I don't want
to get burned again. I think that's what it is. I just don't want to get burned again. Travis Kelcey, I mean, eleven targets, eleven receptions. I just don't understand how he gets open all the damn time, Like, come on, guys, like somebody.
Get him, get him. And I don't know.
If they're going to be able to cover him the way that they need to for this game. But you know, two defensive, really good, defensive, talented teams.
We'll see what happens. But I'm leaning towards the Chiefs on this one. All right, that's all good? Thank you, guys, love being.
On coming back.
Jim Miller rejoins the program here AESPN one thousand and the Bears Radio Network.
Excus Bears Weekly with a fort of the Bears for twenty three years on the Bears Radio Network.
The segment of Bears Weekly brought to you by Athletico Physical. There be visit Athletical dot com to request it in clinic or virtual deployment and start feeling better tomorrow. Jeff and Tom and Jim Miller from Vegas at the Super Bowl. How's it been out there?
Jim?
Crazy as you can imagine. Jeff, Today's probably the busiest day. Obviously, more the you know, the stars guys that are in town to enjoy. If that's the reason, why is can I Tonight is the honors party, but it's picking up steam brother, And I'll tell you what Vegas from all the acts that are here, Like you two played at the Stratosphere last night. That was a big show in town. But pretty much every place is got a show and everybody's having a great time.
What's the takeaway overall about having a Super Bowl there? I mean, you got entertainment built in as it is. What's your takeaway of that place having a Super Bowl?
Yeah? I think they're going to pull it off. Basically, both teams are staying about forty five miles outside of the city. You know, both the San Francisco forty nine ers in Kansas City. They didn't even want the players around it because, like you said, it's basically one big party of that's going on. Everybody's enjoying it. There's a ton of events that are that are scheduled downtown, and you know, as the NFL always does, they kind of
go in the city, they take it over. There's banners everywhere, everything's about the game and all the promotional aspects of it. But I think overall it's gone off without a hitch. You know, they really have done a nice job. And even through NFL employees like imagine me here. You know, I'm here because we're part of the NFL, and you know, basically I'm a part of the league employee with serious being a partner with the NFL. We're not even allowed to gamble in the in the casinos. So the NFL
is serious about it. There is an integrity aspect to it and that you have been forewarned, and from what I understand, everybody that I've seen has been abiding by it.
Hey, Jim, who's the early fan base support, who's the dominating colors that you're seeing in the facilities or on the streets.
I think it's pretty even although San Francisco travels well too. They've got a very big contingent because they've got rich history. They're going for their sixth Super Bowl victory as well. They've got a great presence in forty nine er fans have a lot of pride. But I'll tell you what Chiefs fans, with the role they're on, they you know, they want to be a part of history and what they're trying to accomplish. And here Patrick Mahomes is trying to play it down. You know that, hey, I'm not
even halfway to reaching Tom Brady. But make no mistake about this, Chiefs fans know that they're part of something great here. This is kind of a mini dynasty that's going on, and they're kind of the villain. You know. When you look at NFL fans, they always want to
see something new, new teams and things like that. You know, you look at the run the Patriots went on, and I think the when you look at the Chiefs right now, they're kind of the villain because they've been a part of, you know, thinking the Super Bowls that they've been in. This is their third one. Patrick Mahomes knows anything, doesn't know anything. Else other than playing in championship games for a six year career. That's pretty crazy when you think about it.
Yeah, it is, and so is this eleven and zero playing in domes with thirty three hundred passing yards, twenty six touchdowns and two interceptions. Yes, they will be playing inside on Sunday. Let's take a break. We'll break it down more x's and o's and get Jim and Tom's thoughts here on Bears Weekly on the ESPN one thousand of the Bears Radio Network.
This is Bears Weekly with a voice of the Bears for twenty three years, Jeff Jonik on the Bears Radio Network.
This segment of Bears Weekly is brought to you by IGS Entergy. Jeff jonniec top there. Jim Miller camped out in Vegas for the Super Bowl. Jim, give us a couple of keys to victory for whomever. Let's go Chiefs first and then go for the forty nine Ers. We'll give you and then no, we'll get Tom's keys as well.
Yeah, I think for the Chiefs. I agree with Jerry A. Zuma. The Chiefs have been playing awesome offensively from Week one all the way to the championship game in their victory over Baltimore. Think about Baltimore. They were averaging thirty four points a game at home in their building. Dude, they have held them to ten ten points, and see Spagnolo upped his blitzes. He was really blitzing to stop the run and it was so successful he said, let's keep it going. And so I think they're going to be
very aggressive. They're a very good group. They're very versatile. I think they put Chris Jones more as a defensive end at times. And then I look at San Francisco's defense. They've been gassed as of late. You know, you look at the the you know, they beat the Detroit Lions, but Detroit Lions had one hundred and forty eight yards
rushing at halftime. And Andy Reid has been having an uptick in terms of their carries to Pacheco Paticko's been get about twenty four carries a game, and then you'll factor in a couple of a couple of pass receptions as well. So they've been pretty solid on both sides of the ball. Although they're still not scoring a lot of points, they're averaging in the mid twenties on so it's gonna be key for them to ball control time of possession, and Patrick Mahomes was able to do that
against Baltimore. You know, that was a high blitz team that led the league in sacks with sixty. He has not been sacked yet in the postseason and he has yet to have a turnover. He could break Tom Brady's record of over two hundred and twenty three passes without throwing an interception. As for the keys for the forty nine ers, I just think, you know, young brock Perty he struggled in half, you know, half the games, both games that he started here in the postseason, he basically,
you know, the half didn't go right. One of them was due to weather. I think we understand that that where he didn't play well. But at the key moments in the game where they needed a game, when he drive, he was able to put it together. So I think a lot for that. You've got a veteran quarterback who's
been there, done that. I think for Purdy, can he play a complete game because he's going to have to, because I think we all know four or five plays will cost you the game, and Purdy can't make the mistakes in their first two games, whether the division round or the Championship round, if he makes those type of mistakes, to me, San Francisco would lose.
Tom Perdy against the Blitz. Cording next Gen stats has been his most productive led the NFL, with eleven touchdowns on passes outside the tackle box. So if Spagnola's gonna bring its pretty gonna answer the call.
Yeah, But I don't care about the Blitz because it's gonna be Chris Jones. He's gonna get two sacks, He's gonna have two passes deflected. One of them is gonna result for an interception. It's gonna change a possession and
you give the ball back to Patrick Mahomes. It's dangerous, but I'm gonna keep it on the line of scrimmage over there because they have some of the poorest offensive tackle play in playoff with the Kansas City Chiefs, and with no crowd noise, giving one team the advantage to get off on the defensive ends is gonna be immediate. So with Chase Young and Bosa, I think they could
be a dangerous combo. So rather than you think of all this super star potential up and down the line of scrimmage and in the offensive backfield, I still think it's gonna be the defensive line. They're gonna be the biggest factors in the overall outcome of this game.
I close my eyes, I see all this and I see Mahomes running for his life against Tampa Bay and the Super Bowl a couple of year when they thought they they had the cheak code to stop Patrick Mahomes.
The constant pressure.
But I'll tell you, just like a Zuma said, he keeps if he keeps finding Travis Kelcey like that, you know that's trouble for the forty nine ers. My two cents is there's just something about this forty nine er team. I know the Chiefs have played extremely well, probably better than they have early or mid portion of the season. They're coming together, they've got the belief they've got the best quarterback. But there's just something about this Brock Prety
led forty nine er team. And I'm thinking Kyle Shanahan will have something cooked up interesting for this Kansas City chief outfit.
Our final thought, let me guess yeh. The one thing is the Iowa cyclose. Is that what Jeff Well, that would be.
The Iowa Hawk guys and the Iowa State Cyclones. Don't get it mixed up, buddy, don't get it confused. Jim Miller, Tom, There, I'm Jeff Joniak our final segment when we return here on Bears Weekly on ESPN one thousand of the Bears Radio Network.
This is Bears Weekly with a Voice of the Bears for twenty three years Jeff on the Bears Radio Network.
Want VIP access to every Bears home game, exclusive seating, sideline credentials, and more now available. Get the ultimate VIP fan package by visiting Chicago Bears vip dot Com. Jeff and Tom and Jim Miller at Vegas.
Did they give you a nice hotel?
Yeah, we're at the Mandalay Bay so they blocked off basically Mandalay Bay and Dolano. So yeah, it's been great.
I heard one of the hotels and I don't know which one. I think it's a big media hotel. He say it's haunted. This is the weird stuff. So the legend has it, it's haunted. And then you got the practice turf not up to snuff for the forty nine ers. The alarm went off early this morning, right, welcome up,
fire alarm went off. I mean, weird things happen, and you know, these Super Bowls, it used to be okay, keeping an eye out for the player that does something wrong the night before the Super Bowl, but all these little things are popping up, Jimmy.
Yeah, and typically it happens. I've been, you know, at away games that I'm sure Tom has too, where you know, if a phantom alarm does happen, fire alarm and they didn't have to exit the building. But maybe maybe it's
a little gamesmanship going on. Maybe was you know, somebody on the inside who's working for the resort that the forty nine ers are staying at that maybe is a cheaps fan, because that was pretty odd that that happened at about six in the morning out here, which I'm sure it didn't please a lot of the players.
Tom would have been up at four, so he'd been fine. Tom, Anything weird happened the night before the Super Bowl to you.
Uh no, because our hotel was getting picketed because of what was allegedly said Jim McMahon. So you had to find a safe entrance to go into because they had, you know, the people out there protesting. But again, our hotel back in the day was packed.
Like it was.
The Beatles were staying there, so you know, we all took it in stride and we had a lot of fun with it. So I don't think any of us were trying to hide from anybody or trying to, you know, make sure our entourage had all proper entrances.
Jim, we got less than three minutes. I know you talked to a lot of folks this week and interviews.
Did you talk to any Bears?
Yeah? Today I talked to Khalil Herbert. I talked to TJ. Edwards, So they're both out here. You know. Obviously Khalil he's a big, big user of the Q collar and he wanted to promote the safety of the Q collar. He plays with, not a lot of NFL players doing. TJ. Edwards will just want to experience, you know. Obviously he's been to a Super Bowl. He's been there, done that, so he's just out here experience. It's in the moment again. So it was great to talk to them because they're excited.
They were fired up about next year. They're already turned the page looking forward to twenty twenty four.
All right.
I saw some other Nicole Comet out there, DJ Moore out there. Of course they're all getting asked about the quarterback position. But tonight is as frankly, you know, your awards cover all things, but the Pro Football Hall of Fame. From a Bear's perspective, it's going to be a Bears offseason, and it sounds like it's going to be a Bears night.
And if in fact Steve Bigmichael Devin Hester, and Julius Peppers, who played four years here with the Bears, get inducted, it'd be awesome to see Jimbo Covert, the eighty five Bear starting left tackle and former defensive lineman at Sprinkle.
The most recent editions class of twenty Erlacker in eighteen, Richard Dent, Tommy and eleven and Michael would join Peyton, Singletary Dent, Hampton and Jimbo from your Super Bowl team, Mike, Dick, Obvizy and Shrine as a player in the class of ninety eight.
Hopefully Jay Hilgenberg's around the corner.
Just the pride of that in their final minute, having all those Super Bowl Bears in the Hall of Fame.
Let's for not to forget about Dick Stanfeld great offensive line coach who was inducted in the.
Hall of Fame.
But listen, nobody deserves it more than Steve McMichael, and I couldn't be more proud if, in fact, they announced his name tonight as being one of the newest members in the Chicago Bear family, a part of the Hall of Fame. And I'm not denying that same feeling for Devin Hester. But Steve was a really special teammate of mine and it did a lot for me throughout the course of my career like he did a lot of other guys in the organization.
Yeah, it should be something else and Jim Real Quick, Nick Alan Gretty could be the starting left guard because Joe Toney apparently not ready to go for Kansas City. Got to give a shout out to the Lincoln Way East High School product. I was a great wrestler, great offensive lineman at Ubai drafted by the Chiefs, and he did a really good job in the run game last weekend my opinion, or two weeks ago in the conference championship game.
But what a thrill He's been to a couple now.
But to start in the Super Bowl, you don't give many opportunities but a big one for him, Jim.
Yeah, he sold it nicely for the All Pro Joe Toney and Hey, a lot of times he was lined up against Michael Pierce, who's about three point thirty for the Baltimore Ravens. Didn't stop them. They ran the ball very effectively against Baltimore. He did a nice job.
Well, Jim survived the week. Enjoy the postgame.
I know you're in the interviews with all those guys after the game. It's going to be fun for you. It always is. I don't know how many Super Bowls you've been a part of, now, do you have that number?
Yeah, I've been a part of the eighteen in a row and they played in two of them, so basically twenty. So it's hard to believe. But all I can say, Jeff before we end, go site close, because that's where you're leading.
That's Jim Miller, That's Tom Thayer. I'm Jeff Joniack. Good night everybody. Thanks to our producers and for you for listening. Out of our guest Jerry Zuma, good night, blecking up Dona our next, thank.
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