Josh McCown on young NFL quarterbacks | All Access Podcast

the festivities on Thursday? You know, Jeff, I got three older sisters and an older brother who's married. So that's one thing I'm Thanksgiving. I don't have to cook. I just get to enjoy all of what they offer us. And my problem is is trying obviously trying not to overeat, having some self control. So I'm gonna watch a lot of football. I'm gonna eat food and just see how

the week goes. Three games, tripleheader, that's number one. But you guys, when the family was all together mama's house, it was a turkey first thing in the morning, right, and then another one later in the afternoon. Yes, my mom made two turkeys and it was a it was a double meal for all of us, but you know, we probably had, you know, twenty five to thirty people per holiday that would come and eat of when you

include all the family members. And when my mom and dad were alive, it was everybody's priority to be at their house. And that's the way my mom wanted it, and that was a great thing about the holidays. We'll help everybody out there will celebrate with their family, enjoy themselves,

and enjoy every bit of your Thanksgiving holiday. The Bears are not playing on Thanksgiving this year, but we've gotten used to it a little bit over the last few years with those trips to Detroit, but thankfully not this year. It'll be a trip against the New York Jets, a team that is six and four. They've played some good football tom but last week and a couple of weeks earlier, the Patriots of hung some bad juju on them and

continue to do so. They've lost I think fourteen or fifteen in a row now to the Patriots, and that's raising a ruckiss out there out east about the quarterback position. Yeah it is. You know, this is a highly motivated coach that it has a high level of expectations for every single one of these guys, and so he wants these guys to kind of be attached to his personality

and his desire and willingness and accomplishments. So, you know, he puts a lot on these guys, and you know, so I think going forward, it's going to be interesting to see the growth and the development of the team as a whole. But they got a lot of question marks about their quarterback. This is a guy that they took really high in the draft, and you know, because he didn't answer some questions at the podium. Now, you know, everybody is kind of attacking him on the social media.

But you know, Zach Wilson has a lot of improvements to make and I maybe he does have to capture the brotherhood of the locker room to make sure they're all fighting for the same thing. He ranks last in quarterback creating, thirty third in completion percentage, thirty first in TD to interception ratio, and thirty first in passing touchdown percentage. So it has not worked with a very good defense that many are saying is arguably the best in the

National Football League front to back. Do you agree, Yeah, yeah, you know, And unfortunately, I know you're gonna bring it up at some time during the show because an Iowa State product was injured in the whole process in the development of the New York Jets. And his name is I'm well aware of that. I listened to you compliment him all last year and you know, and he's a

heck of a football player. And so you know, when you're developing a young quarterback, you have to have a total awareness of what the offense could offer you to help a young guy like that grow. And when you go up and your draft and what was he the second pick in the draft, Zach Wilson is. I don't think he ignore him this quickly. So you know, to me from out from the way outside, and I still

think he'll be the starting quarterback this week. Who will be the starting quarterback for the Bears, we don't know at this juncture. We'll find out more tomorrow when everybody gathers up here in have us Hall. With a shoulder injury of some nature, he is day to day. That would be QB one justin fields. What would you like to see happen tom even if it's banged up, If he's a you know, he is tough. The kid wants to play. He doesn't want to miss it down. He

was not able to finish last season. He missed five of six for a variety of reasons, and you'd hate to see that happen again in this key developmental year. Well. Number one, if he's not one hundred percent healthy, I'm gonna be reluctant to play him. If they are going to play him and he's less than one hundred percent healthy, I'm almost going to encourage him or not let him

run the ball. And I know that's what everybody wants to see out of Justin, But ultimately it's gonna be about how he develops as a passer, and that puts more stress and straining on the offensive line because these guys are great, are really good pass rushers. They have multiple guys that can come at you from not only the level of the defensive line, but level two and level three. So I want Justin to be healthy because I think he's a huge part of the future of

the Bears. And if Trevor Simeon had to come in and play, I would be interested to see how he interacts with the receivers that the Bears have brought a board, so they can develop and they can provide a serious, a big man passing attack. The Northwestern product is the

backup quarterback David Montgomery yesterday. And what it would be like with Trevor Simeon versus Justin Fields in this current situation would be very different, you know, especially losing a guy like that, especially losing Justin and who he is and what he means to his team into his office especially. Yeah, it's going to be super difficult to not have. But you know, coach getson um. You know, the offense, we

prepare all those guys the same. So whether it's Nat or trev Or, whoever it is, you know we are prepared to roll. You know, Justin's always ready to roll too. You know. The thing about it is what you want to prevent is losing Justin if he does have some type of an injury issue, you don't want to lose him. So you don't want to put him in harm's way. And you know, the consistent development of Justin Fields is

where this team is ultimately going. When they're competing for the division crown and their division, they're competing in the playoffs and stuff like that. It's it's gonna be with justin. But if they do have to go in with Trevor Simeon, I don't expect anything less. I just think there's gonna be a different type of format to the way the Bears are going to go back, go out there and

call plays and run this offense. Matt Eberflus earlier this week talked about the sting of a losing streak, which now the Bears have only had one win since the last trip to East Rutherford and MetLife Stadium against the Giants. To go through adversity, you have to be hard. You have to be mentally tough, you have to be and be physically tough to go through that. And we're going through it right now. And it's important that guys are

really good in terms of having their eyes forward. And I thought we had a real good response for those guys today. And I'm excited about this week in terms of preparing for the Jets and getting going here for this week of work we have ahead of us. Well, I'll be back here tomorrow at hallis how to start that process. Thanksgiving, of course we'll be a little bit of a different day with families involved than visitors, and then you know, get right down to it Friday and

leave Saturday. Yeah. You know, one thing I'm interested in is when the Bear sent out the media schedule for the week just revised, is Justin is meeting the media tomorrow? And you know, if it was a foregone conclusion that he isn't gonna play this week, would he still have to meet the media. But are they gonna make him answer some questions that maybe is you don't want to answer. So I'm a little bit I am very interested to see what he says when he meets the media tomorrow.

Conflicting reports from the national NFL media about what that could be separated show, They're not a separated show there, so we don't know. We're gonna wait, wait and find out like everybody else tomorrow. But we want to thank our producer, Caesar Perez, our good friend who used to work with us on Bears radio broadcast, does a great job here at the score and coming up at six thirty, we'll be joined by former Bears quarterback Josh mccount. See what he's up to you down there in the heart

of Texas. You know, I gotta say it was great talking to Mark Sanchez last week because we you know, when we're broadcasters and the guys are active players, we don't really get a lot of chances to have post career conversations. And I'm looking forward to talking to him because you know, yeah, you admire these guys from afar and then you kind of get to talk to them when they kind of get into the normal realm of

human life like we all do as ex players. All Right, we'll visit with him coming up in just a while. Thanks for joining us, everybody. We'll take a break here first. This is Bears All Access on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy the Score. Welcome back to Bears All Access. It's brought to you by IGS Energy. Choose clean energy for your home at igs dot com because every good choice adds up to a better world. Jeff Jony Axtim Fair On another Tuesday, as we count you down to Bears

football against the Jets. Coming up at the bottom of the hour, we'll be joined by former Bears quarterback Josh McCown and it'll be good to talk to him. He's always great to everybody. As an article that I read a while back, Damn Pompey Road Time, Josh McCown won three Good Guy Awards for three different teams of the ninety flight for so well well thought of individual not just as just a dude, but a heck of a

football player as well. So the New York Jets, what's the plan of attack for a Bears defense that doesn't know who will be the quarterback? They'll probably know a little bit more tomorrow, if not for sure, if it's going to be the young man, or if it's gonna be Mike White you through for a four hundred yard game last year, or they go he's the number two. Really, Joe Flacco has been inactive the past few weeks, but he opened the season and had three pretty good games.

Whomever it is, I'm gonna take some chances from the defensive side of the ball because you have a lot of really interesting moving parts that you can blitz, and from the cornerback position, from you know, the safety position. Both Jaquon Brisker and Eddie Jackson. Jack Sanborn has proved to be a really good power blitzer. They have good speed. And Nicholas Morrow I'm gonna I'm gonna encourage my defensive line to be more aggressive at the snap of the

ball and try to get a field. If it is Zach will wol and you put him in a compromise position where he doesn't have all of his perfect fundamentals within each throw, he leaves throw short, sometimes he sails him over the top. You can create inaccuracies against him, and he has an enormous amount of pressure on him.

If he is the start starting quarterback this week in New York, and if he doesn't have the type of effort that the press expects out of him, then he will You know, he is going to be questioned and attacked on the podium for the way he answered some questions last year. And then if it is Mike White or Joe Flacco, I'm gonna have the same template of

attack that I would against Zach Wilson. I want to challenge each and every one of these guys, and I want to encourage and open up the excitement of the defense to allow them to be more of an attacking defense, to see if they can produce some pressure that doesn't necessarily have to be sacks. But if you can compromise the throwing position of any of the quarterback, maybe you

can turn some of that compromise into interceptions. The Jets they have a stretch here of difficulty coming up after this game, so you can look at their playoff chances and say, okay, they're still in pretty good shape. But they got road games the next two weeks at Minnesota and Buffalo and four their final six around the road, so they are at a crossroads what they do at that position for sure. Yeah, it's interesting, you know, having

the same record as the New England Patriots. So the message by Robert Salo, their head coach, has gotta be lookuys, we're still in this. We can really you know, push forward and get to ourselves and keep ourselves in a position where we can possibly keep the playoffs alive. So the Bears have to take all that enthusiasm away from them. They have to go in there and treat the New York Jets like the team that played the New England

Patriots last year. Last week, if you look at their stats, they were less than impressive, and they put themselves in a position on the offensive side of the ball that they had to rely on a punt return for a touchdown from the New England Patriots to win that game. So I think it's about you know, the attitude of both coaches, And I like Matt Eberflus because because being the head coach here and he's gonna be back next year.

And Ryan Poles and making the decision about all these guys in the type of effort that they give during the game and making sure they're all mentally prepared for if they do get an opportunity to play in the game. That each one of these guys they're not auditioning for the other teams. They're auditioning for the for the leadership of the Bears. And here's how the Bears are dealing with these losses. The veteran and running back again David Montgomery.

I mean, anybody who's a competitor, you know get you don't like losing. Um, so you just kind of it sucks. You prepare, you prepared it best way as you feel like you should, and um you just fall short. But you know, is your professional You still got coming here and do your job. Still gotta be a professional. Still gotta you know, walking around with your heah, I know your job, man. Justin Jones and finding ways to win, Tommy, he takes it as an individual pursuit first before a

team effort. I feel like I feel like winning. It's like an extrinsic motivation, Like you gotta have some menu. You play this game, you know, go through the uts and downs and still be able to work hard and still you have to come to work, you know, with the spoiling your face. Has got to be some kind of intrinsic motivation, you know, to while you played this game, and you know when the season not going your way,

but you like trending in the right direction. You know, you still have faith in your team, you know, and you just you just want to put the best fool forward and keep pushing, you know, so we can go get those wins, you know, towards the end. You know, it's two different types of personalities of NFL experience. There you got David Montgomery, who was drafted by the Bears,

and that's the only team he's ever been with. But the reflection of his work ethic and his desire to be great, his power style of running, his ability to catch the ball out of the backfield, and his willingness to do what's ever asked of them to help this team be better. You know, that's Dave Montgomery, who was born in bred here as a Chicago Bear in his NFL life, Justin has a little bit more experience around the league and he understands the ups and downs of

different organizations and different teams. But he comes in here and he's encouraging his teammates to make sure they stay focused, They work hard, they put in the effort making sure they're prepared. And I think the way that Justin's played in the last not you know, since he's been here, but most certainly in the last couple of weeks, you

can see that the game is important to him. But to me, I love the leadership of David Montgomery, and you know, in these last couple interviews, he speaks as as a super confident, you know, football player, and I think that's the same reflection that we get out of when we when we get to watch him play. The game means a lot to David Montgomery, sure does. We'll take another break here on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy the Score. This is Bears All Access and it's to

you by Igs Energy. Coming up at the bottom of the hour, former Bears quarterback Josh McCown. Stick around and thanks for listening tonight here on six seventy the Score. This segment of Bears. All the access is brought to you by Athletico Physical Therapy. Visit Athletico dot com to requested employment in clinic or virtually and start feeling better tomorrow. Jeff Joni Actom there coming out at the bottom of the hour. Josh McCown, the former Bears quarterback of veteran

of nineteen NFL seasons, will join the program. I want to touch on something Albert Breer of SI saying that he's heard that Justin apologized to his teammates after the loss in the locker room and telling them the defense gave the offense a chance and the offense didn't get it done, and the defense says, no, we got you, Justin, we got you. So whether or not that that's something

that happened, could I could see it. This team is very close and they do pick each other up, and there's none of the weirdness that's going out apparently in New York going out here in Chicago. Yeah, but Justin doesn't auto apology to anybody. They understand Justin's commitment. They see a reflection of his work ethic on the practice field,

getting there early and staying late. That you can see the expression on his face and how much it means to him to be the leader of this football team and take them to a new level that they haven't seen in quite a long time. When I first became aware and I read that, I felt, I mean, I I just didn't think Justin was a guy that needed to apologize. And I hope someone stopped him and said, Justin, listen, we have all the respect in the world for you

and with you, and we got your back. And one of the key connections right now, the work put in is starting to bloom in a way that is getting him in the end zone. For one is Darnel Mooney and Justin Fields the work that's been done there Monday out of the Bears coaches showing WBBM, those guys spend every practice, you know, forty five minutes afterward on the field, you know, throwing and catching, running the routes that we're running for that particular week, you know, going through the

plays and making sure they have their timing down. And they've been working every single week, you know, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday after practice, And I think it's important and it's paying off. Tim it is and I'd like to say one more aspect of that that justin starting to get in a position where he's challenging his receivers to make the tough catch. We saw that from cole Comet last week, Eberflus on that top. Yeah. I mean those guys are

really doing a good job. Like I said, we're building chemistry. It's important that we keep doing that, you know, and we spread the ball around. It's important that we keep spreading the ball around to the backs, all the receivers and the tight ends. I look at it as trust because two examples of it, Darnel Mooney's touchdown catch. Justin let that ball leave his hand eleven yards before Darnell

Mooney was able to make the catch. So he put the ball on the spot and he trusted that Darnel Mooney would be exactly at that spot when the ball was catchable, and Darnell Mooney focused on it and made a difficult catch, had a hard landing on his back, but ended up with six points. And then it's a trust catch for cole Commet. He threw the ball up

above anywhere a defensive back ultimately could touch it. He knew that cole Commet was going to take a little bit of a shot from the side, but he knew that he was going to be able to excuse me, he knew that he was going to be able to touch the football and Cole went up and just made an amazing catch. All right, So this was also on the Coaching Show on Monday night. Mattie Berflus decided to show the team the game tape in sequence. Because typically

offense goes together, defense goes together. You don't see the game as it's unfolding in real time. So I pressed him on why that was the case, why that was benefit when you show it that way in front of your peers. I think that's very powerful because guys want to perform, they want to do well for the guy it's standing next to him. Because we got type football team, you know, the guys really care about each other. We work hard for each other, and I think it's important

to him. Jeff twice in my career we did the exact same thing. One time we had a snow game that we weren't able to travel home, so Dicka put us all in the main ballroom and we watched the game in real time and he ran the projector. It was not easy because we did not win the game, and Coach Dick did not take it easy on us

when we were watching tape under those circumstances. And it was only twice in my career, but I remember him as if we are sitting there today, I think, man, in this case, Matt's idea, well, that's probably part of it,

was that it is complimentary football. So what happens early in a game is as important as what happened late in the game when they could not score a touchdown late, or they gave up the kick return touchdown, or the idea that there have been four return touchdowns in the last four weeks that have made a major difference in

the outcome of these last four games. And for us, it was criticism in front of your peers made us a closer football team, and it developed camaraderie and it understood, okay, if you can get criticized by the head coach, no matter you're a multi year All Pro, than anybody can face criticism. And so it allows the young guys to understand that they're not exempt from it, but are either.

Are the veterans all right? Coming up next, we'll be joined by Josh McCown, will be talking to us from Texas where he's working with a high school down there. A former Bears quarterback and outstanding, outstanding leader and a lot of the great qualities that you seek in an NFL quarterback in NFL head coach. We'll see where his mind is at on that route as well. With Tom there, I'm Jeff, Joni X Caesar Perez, our producer. Thanks for listening tonight, everybody. This is Bears All Access and we're

brought to you by IGS Energy. Back in a few this segment of Bears All Access is brought to you by CDW people to get it. Jeff, Johnny Ack and Tom there, welcome back to the program, or brought to you by IGS Energy. And I'm the line from I'm assuming now, I'm assuming big fella down there in Texas, right, rush Russ Texas? Is this is this right? Or? Am I off base? We're you at these days? No? You hit it, squirrel in ahead, I'm I'm in Russ, Texas, sitting right outside of the gym. Um, you know, the

madness never stops. We moved from football to basketball pretty quick, so um so yeah, so we're we're already in the gym now, but uh. But yeah down here in russ how you guys doing doing okay, doing okay, getting ready for a nice Thanksgiving. Hope that's the case for you as well. Now I might to assume you're also coaching basketball. Uh no, I'm not. I took a break from that, UMU a few years back. I coached the boys when they were younger, you know, kind of doing the little

dribblers thing and all that business. And we had a pretty good, uh, pretty good squad and for the good record, so I left it there, you know what I mean, that top whiles ahead, uh and uh and had a lot of fun doing that. So I do your mask to be bad and moston. Now, I do remember one story. You're surprised though I don't know what team it was, but you did a three sixty dunk and during your NFL days and you raise some eyebrows with some of

the fellas, you had some hops. Yeah. Well yeah, yeah, once upon a time, so you know, not not not quite so much anymore, but uh but yeah maybe maybe back then. Hey, Josh, I'd like to ask you a question about your encouragement to the young athletes of today, and do you ask your football players to go and choose another sport to play or how do you handle, um, the encouragement of the rest of their year to either get involved in other sports or just stay active in

some way, shape or form. Yeah, I mean to me, uh uh, competitors compete. I think that first and foremost, and so I would encourage to play as many things as you can play. So uh so, you know, for me growing up, it was going into the gym as soon as as soon as football was over with, it

was in the gym playing basketball. And and then after basketball it's you know, it's track or baseball or whatever kind of spring sports you can get your get yourself into or then you're in the off season and you're training. But um, but even if it's not your specialty, I think, you know, so much has lost nowadays with the specialization of things to where we're going, well, I'm just gonna

play baseball, I'm just gonna play soccer. I'm just gonna play football, and I'm gonna I'm gonna work at it, you know, year round. And and I think that, you know, I think that the thought of it is right, like I'm gonna get really good at it. But I think you're it's detrimental in the sense that the lack of you know, just general competing and and then being a

part of a team. But the neural pathways that you can create when you're computing, if you have to free throw line, when the games online and you got to go shoot the ball, those are good for Those are good situations to put yourself in as a competitor, and it pays evidence no matter what sport you specialize in, her that's your favorite one. And I just think the gift of being on a team, you know. Again, so many kids go, well, you know, if I'm not going

to start, then I'm not gonna play. And it's like that, that's not really the idea. The idea is to go be on a team, be about you know, something bigger than yourself and and uh and I think if you're a talented athlete and those things, then it's great to cross train your body in your mind anyway. So so I see tremendute value. So I always encourage people, you know, people stop me in an airport or wherever, and you know,

you want my two cents on that stuff. I tell them, play as much as you can without burning yourself out. Play as much as you can while you can, because it's great for you all the way around. Josh developing the mind of a quarterback. So there's been a lot of conversations in the last couple of weeks whether Russell Wilson didn't want to wear a wristband, but Tom Brady wears a wrist band, or you know, you guys had the listening device in your helmet that kind of help

you with the communication. How do you develop that in a order back at that age when they haven't been around the game that long that can maybe carry them to whatever level they're going to be able to play in, but make sure they transfer that information correctly. Yeah, you know, I think those things, you know, when you get into kind of uh developing that, I think it's just mastering whatever whatever you're being asked to do, you know, to

start with. So if you're talking about a junior high quarterback or you know, and he's starting to learn, you know, learn the position or whatever, it's just mastering the things that you're asking to do. And then when you get into kind of the higher levels of things as you talked about with Brady or with and the wristband type of things, those are. Those are because we're asking you do a lot more now and but still the requirement

is to master whatever we've asked you to do. And um and people, I mean, the wristband thing is just it's really you know, the way that guy's mind works, and it's special to that player. You know. Some guys UM like to hear it called into them and then repeat it. I was an audio guy, like I like to do that. I like to hear it and then repeat it. Some guys want to read it off the wrist band. It hits their brain better if they read it and they could see it in their mind as

they read it. So everybody's different. It just really depends on the player. But what the player is responsible for different than the coaches that whatever we decide, whether it's the wrist band or whether it's just calling into the audibly and you're repeating what I just told you, whatever that is, you have to know the assignment of the play. And so that's what I would tell a young player

is to master the assignment of the play. Master those things and then understand how you learn and what's best, and then the team can determine, okay, like it's better for you to do this on wrist ban or it's better for you for us to say it and then you repeat it. So I think it's really more, you know, up to the player and up to the organization on how they're going to approach it. But for the young players, more than anything, it's just master whatever their coach is

asking them to do. Master that to the best of their ability, and then all of the other stuff is kind of it's just personal preference. Josh. When you begin installing a system at the high school level, do you begin with the same template that we've learned at the NFL level, where you know, you start the basics of the playbook and then you keep feeding that information or you know, or is is that you know? How what

is your how how do you feed that information? Yeah, I mean I've only been kind of responsible for it a few times. But uh, but got with our our

I wasn't not the offensive coordinator. I was just at the quarterback coach this year, um, but but I got with our offensive coordinator said do you mind, you know, do you mind if I put us a book together kind of how we you know, kind of how we do in the pros where it follows the kind of methodology of how we're going to teach everything and uh, and he was completely on board with it, and so we did that actually this year, and I wanted to do it more for my own practice of just how

how would I bucket plays and the teaching method of these plays and how they progress and how one built off another and so the learning patterns flow for the kids and and it was a great exercise for myself and I think it, uh, it paid dividend with our guys too, and the kids really enjoyed it and um and so yeah, I think it's we don't have the volume, you know, at the high school level, you just don't

have the volume. Um now, I mean, you know, that was fun for me to bring my my you know, eighteen years and you know, twenty something playbooks up to the office and show the highchool coaches like this is what this is what it looks like. This is what day one install looks like in the West Coast offense, you know, and it looks like the whole high school

offense and one day you know. So um so it's a little bit different, but but at the same time, the methodology of it is really really really good, so similar in that regard, but just not not quite the volume. Josh mccaud our guest here on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy to score. This is Bears All Access, brought to you by IGS Energy. With time there Jeff Jonik from

Hattis Hall in Lake Forrest. Josh, that we know you've had sons that played yet wanted Colorado, and you've managed to find the time, and you always have of trying to work your way around some area of football even while you're with other teams as a pro, you wanted to always keep coaching. Do you ultimately want to be in the NFL? Do you want to be a head coach? Uh? Yeah,

I mean I think I think so. Uh you know, Uh, Jeff, I've you look at you look at uh my career and the number of stops and so that that old saying that you know we're planning god last, I think, you know applies to my career as much as anybody's and uh and so uh so yeah, I enjoyed coaching and being around the game and just just as I said with the with the the uh the multi sport thing with kids, just being a part of a team,

being a part of an organization. And uh and and you know, getting getting together with a group of people and saying, okay, let's go try to accomplish something together. Let's go try to do something greater than ourselves, because the best version of ourselves always exist in selflessness, and selflessness always exists best on teams and so so I just enjoyed that part of it. And uh. And if that path leads me to be a head coach someday, that'd be awesome. Um. But uh, but I just enjoy

being a part of a team. So I really don't care what the role is. Um. I just I just enjoy you know, all assets of joining an organization. You know, I've done it so many times. But just watching how how that team takes shape and uh and then finding the pieces of of how you know, where where can you plug in something and make it better? How do you how do you grow this position? How do you

get that better? I think that's those are all fun challenges. Um. So you know, maybe one day we'll see but uh, but yeah, I do, you know, definitely see you know, myself being around the game in the future for sure. Did the Jeff Saturday hiring an Indie. What you know, it had a lot of reactions in different ways from different groups of people. As an ex player who's put his whole life in the NFL over nineteen years and nine different teams and success along the way, how do

you feel about that? Yeah, you know, I think, uh, every there's thirty two of these things, and every these does. These owners have the right to do whatever they want with the team, so we kind of always have to start with that caveat that they can do whatever they want. Um. And I will also follow that by saying we can we need to continue to uh examine and make better the hiring practices of our league. Okay, so um So

I think that's that's paramount also. And then that said, um and once we understand that, I think the fearlessness to step up and go, Okay, I'm gonna go out there and do something that's that's never been done before. I just appreciate that, And I think that's part and

parcel to a good leadership. You know, right, wrong or different of what you believe about Jim Urse, I just think good leadership in general is there's a fearlessness to go This is what I believe, and I don't care what anybody else thinks because this is what I believe. It is the right thing, and I'm gonna move forward in this direction. So and their case show was hiring that Saturday. So I think that in of itself is is respectable. I get probably where the where the coaches

are coming from, you know very much. So where where if you're sitting there and you're uh, you know, an assistant coach that's been you know, you for that opportunity and you work your butt off for it, I understand, you know. I think I think it resonates probably with players too, because I've been the quarterback sitting in the room where you draft a young kid and that you know leap prows you and go straight to the front and he's a starter, and You're like, Danga, man, I've

been waiting for this opportunity for you know whatever. So I think I think we do it every year in the draft. You know, people, you know, I you know, I know that was a big deal with all these other coaches and people saying all these other coaches have been waiting to turn, waiting to turn. I get that, But we do it every year in the draft, and we have no problem going an experienced college kid right

to the front of the line. So um, so I think that's part of that's just part of this business unfortunately, um now, and I think we do that because we see a talent in that person. And so obviously they saw a talent and just Saturday that they believed in and they made that decision. So so I certainly respect the opinions and the feelings of those guys because, like I said, you know, players, especially dull or you get

as a player, you feel it. You know when they bring somebody else, they bring somebody else, all those things happen, So you understand the perspective of those guys. So I don't think there's any right way to do it. But like I said, there's thirty two of them. They run the teams the way they want to run them, and uh, and so you just have to kind of let it go the way it goes. But you know, I hope

the best for Jeff. I hope that's the organization. I love Frank Wright, and so I was bummed at that happened to him more than anything and sad to see that happened. But uh, but you know, um, we'll see I mean, it may be changing the landscape of the league. You never know. We'll see, We'll see how Jeff does Josh. Through all your experiences throughout the NFL, do you have a best experience? And uh an experience that was less

than the best. I'll tell you a good one. Uh, I mean most of them are less than the best. But here's my here's my one. I should I should this the other day. And this is because this is like probably twenty ten, twenty eleven, I K twenty eleven, probably so almost what is that eleven years ago or so?

It's it's this time eleven years ago, all right. I get signed to the Chicago Bears, all right, and I'm I'm thrilled and U And it's the day before Thanksgiving, and I ate somewhere out in Lake Forest or Vernon Hills, somewhere out there. I ate at a seafood restaurant. It's like the only place open for Thanksgiving. But that day, this is less than the best. All right. That day we're in the scout team practice, all right, and I

had been there like on a Wednesday. I got there on Tuesday evening practice Wednesday, but didn't take any Scout team reps. Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, we go in there, we have that quick practice you guys know how it goes. And we're out there and the weather was bad, you know. I mean it was like Chicago weather, which I mean, which is probably like a nice day in Chicago, but but it was just the winds blowing sideways and and I'd been there for a day, so they didn't give

any reps. So the Thursday, I get out there and they're like, hey, take some scout team reps today. So I'm like, cool, I can get you know, I've been in the league ten years. I can get in there and read a car and so it's like, you know, probably twenty five degrees and so sure enough, you know, and I don't have the biggest hands in the world, okay, So I'm always I always know exactly what the weather is, okay, um, because you know, if there's moisture in there, I just

I have to I have to prepare it. Right. So I get in the huddle in the and the and the stinking play on the card that I get in the huddle is, uh, it's a fleef flicker, all right. So I'm like, oh, crap, man, it's a fleeflicker, which is the hardest thing to do when you have small hands to grab the ball and get laces right and get it down field. So it's a flee flicker. So we're balls on the right hash and we run this fleef flicker and fall gets flipped back to me and

the wind is howling. It is gray and cold and a little precipitation there and it's howling, and I throw. I throw the ball, and I mean, it looks like I punted it. It's terrible. And it goes from the right hash and I think it lands on the on the on the left sideline, like outside the numbers on the left side. It's like nobody gets closed and Jeff, it's dead, silent like crickets, and somebody I think it was. I think it might have been lands Briggs, but somebody goes,

where the hell do you find this guy? You know, So that was that was less than the best for me, like you know, of all the moments, you you know, it was out of the league, trying to get back in. I finally get back in with the Chicago Bears, and you know, the first pass on the practice field was was a while thrown a police liaker so um so, but it's I think about that now every Thanksgiving and I was sitting in you know, Captain des or some

some seafood restaurant out in Vernon Hills. Uh, you know, Thanksgiving night by myself eating going, man, I'm probably gonna get cut off that throw. Um. But thankfully it worked out and the team was head at the Oakland Uh that that weekend. So I'm just looking at the game logs right there. And you started later in the season the last couple of games against the Packers and the Minnesota Vikings. Got it all right here right, Hey, would you got a lot more to talk to you about?

Do you do you have the time to give us another ten minutes? Yes, yeah, let's do it. All right, We're gonna take a break. We'll be right back with Josh McCown. Thank you so much for your time. This Bears All Access on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy This Calling All Bears fans. Get the ultimate VIIP fan package with Chicago Bears VIP security, game ticket and appearance from Bears legends and more by visiting Chicago Bears vip dot Com.

Another segment graciously from Josh McCown, our guest, the former Bears quarterback that eleven through thirteen seasons and then hit free agency and kept on going. Man. And I just looked this up because I want to. I want to get your perspective on today's quarterbacks, including hours right now,

justin fields, the dynamic escapability and running ability. The most you ever ran in a game was in twenty thirteen you were with Arizona taken on Carolina six carries and career high forty eight yards rushing and a rushing touchdown. And the kind of math you're seeing right now. And I'm assuming because I know you do watch a lot of NFL football, right, I mean, have you watched a game with justin Have you watched how some of these young quarterbacks are playing the game these days? And what

do you think about that? So? Um yeah, so yeah, I have um so for one real quick, and it's just this is the old shameless fuck. Um. I've partnered with Underdog Underdog Fantasy, Underdog Fantasy, and I am not I'm not a big fantasy player. Uh. People tell me I've helped them out that twenty thirteen years with the Bears, I've helped a lot of people win and then I've helped a ton of people lose. So um, so that's

my experience with fantasy. But we partnered with Underdog Fantasy and what we started doing and you can check it out on YouTube just just search Underdog Fantasy in the show's scheme all right, and Josh Norris as the host and Josh Town myself we break down plays and so we did justin a couple of weeks ago. And so Bear fans go check that out. I think you really enjoy that. Um. And I'll give you the cliff notes here is I think he's a terrific player. Um. And

I think you said it, Jeff. The running, uh, the way that the schemes are now that we run with these with these young quarterbacks, I think it would certainly of help me move the football a little bit better as a young player. Um. But uh, what we what we have to be careful of, and you know we're experiencing this in real time, is just to wear and tear that it creates for this, you know the position.

And I still think you have to win if physics, man, I think you have to win throwing it from A to B from the pocket and I think the biggest runs are always going to come like the big one against the Dolphins a few weeks ago. The biggest runs are always going to come in the unscripted run game and the scramble and off the scramble and uh and so you know, so the quarterback still there's a premium on throwing it from the pocket and playing from the pocket.

Now that said, these quarterback driven runs that we're seeing more and more, I think can can really benefit uh, young young players. And we're seeing it more and more with the with with the guys that can that can handle it, their bodies can handle it, and we're getting more and more players from the college ranks to have the physical tool sets to handle it. But um, but it does you have to understand it comes with the premium and uh, and you want to limit the hits

that they'll guys take. And I think those guys got to be really smart when they carry the ball is when they get into the open field to get back down. Um. You know on the show I talked about it, there's a there's a play he breaks into the secondary against Miami and then he quickly slides and I think that's what you're looking for. You know, uh in these quarterback driven runs. Um. But but I think he's a fantastic player.

I think the skill set is there, um, you know, to to win both from the pocket and to move him around and and do some things um outside the pocket. But but it's just it's just being judicious about it because the ship you know, we want, we want Justin skills to be the quarterback for the Bears in the the next fifteen years, right. I mean, I think everybody would love that. I don't think that those things can be realities if we're running these guys too much and over

the over time that Hits just had up. We see it with the running back position, and so you know, we gotta be smart about that. And you know, it's not just Chago Bears, it's every team that can that can utilize a quarterback and utilize the running skills or seeing it with with Hurts and Philly uh so um so uh so that's my opinion of I think I think that, you know, we got to be smart about

how we develop and how we bring them along. The easy thing to do early is to run them to generate offense, but you got to be careful not to rob Peter to pay Paul and go, Okay, well I'm gonna do this, but at what expense? And then at years spy six seven, when the guy needs all the throwing reps to win the game, we took those story reps away because we were running them early. So there's a there's a balance. I think Luke gets you know,

those guys are figuring that out. I believe they will figure that out, and hopefully we'll see a healthy Justin

Fields leading the Bears for many years to come. Josh and all the different roles as a quarterback in the NFL, whether you're a starter and you have a backup or your backup to the starter, and you guys have similar traits and you kind of understand the offense through the quarterback's eye, would you give advice or what would you be If you are Trevor Simeon and you're a backup to this system, you don't get very many reps, but

you're watching Justin Fields in front of you. How do you, as a quarterback get ready if you are inserted in the lineup this week or even down the road. Yeah, that's a great question, Tom, I think you have to have you have to understand the offense. You have to know you have to have your plays ready, right. I mean even even way back when you know, backing up Jay, I knew like the way that Jay Cutler moves to football and the way that I've moved the football are

gonna be two different things. Because Jay has a whole bag of throws. You know, you know that he can go to as far as just how he would throw, uh, you know, off platform and all these different things. Whereas for me, it was like, man, especially at that point in my career, I need to be in the pocket. I need to I need guys to be where they're supposed to be, and I need to be able to you know, to to to process play fast and get

the ball out of my hand. And so you understand that as a backup and uh and I think that's that's critical. It's just you know, know, the old thing knows thyself, know who you are, all right, And and I know Trevor Simuon knows that, like he knows, hey, man, we're not running quarterback sweep with Trevor Simuyon. Luke gets he knows that, you know, Okay, we're gonna move the football. But it's gonna be different and a skill set that Trevor has that's that's kept him in the league just long.

And I think he's a very he can be a very good player. But it's just operating within that. The biggest part of it is getting the other guys that maybe not have had to execute some of those plays as much because they're doing different a little bit of

a different offense with Justin. Is getting those guys on, you know, up to speed because like I said, the receivers everybody, it's a holistic approach with like, hey, I need you to be if if the route says eighteen and in, I need you to be right there right on time because because I I have to throw the balls in the pocket, Like I'm not gonna run around and generate offense. If you're not there and you miss

and we miss that rep, that hurts our team. So I think that's the biggest hill to climb when you go from a quarterback change in this instance where the skill sets are so different, is it's really the guys around them that have to really rally and Okay, we got to you know, be on top of it with the details of these plays because these are the plays that are gonna help us win the game. Josh, great stuff. If you could just give me thirty seconds and a

couple of nuggets from an article. Damn Pompey road Rod Marinelli. You worked with him when he was the Bear's defensive cording. He left notes in your locker to inspire you about coaching. Can you give me one note that inspired you about coaching? Do you remember, man so so many? One of my favorite ones that Rod does the cycle of the snap,

and it just kind of takes you through the mental process. Uh, and I we only have ten seconds, but it just takes you through the mental process of how how players should digest a snap process what just happened and then

moved to the next snap. And it was always little things like that that Rod was dropping him in my locker, and how you need to be thinking about this, you need to be thinking about that, and really up until that point, and you know, so, I'm so thankful for I'm so thankful for that miserable Thankgiving day where plays greegs make fun of me because I got back in the league and I got to be around great men like Rod and Lovey and Chris Ballard and and men

that started just to pour into me and say, hey, you should think about coaching. You really need to think about this. And then you know, open to that point, it really wasn't on my radar. But those little you know, encouragements along the way, uh, you know, helped me kind of allow me to go into the back half of my career. Really, guys with that mindset, like I didn't know I was gonna get to play eight or not more years. I thought, you know, every day I walked

into House Hawk, I thought, this is it. Man, I'm so thankful to be here. This is my last day in the NFL. And so um so the encouragements from Rod and those guys, I got to, you know, spend you know, from twenty eleven to you know to twenty twenty, my last season in the league, thinking about it like a coach, approaching every day like a coach and processing you know, team meetings and all these things like a coach. And so I'm very thankful for those guys encouraging me.

We're here from coach Eberflus almost every day cycle of the snaps, So that's a Marinelli guy as well. All Right, Josh, we gotta go about it. We appreciate you. I hope we can do this again sometime. We have a lot more to talk about and Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family. Love it. Likewise, guys, have a great one. Appreciate it. That's gonna do it for tonight's show, oh man. So many people to think and also great seats available to see your Bears this season at Solderfield. Get your

tickets in Chicago Bears dot Com slash tickets. Thank you to season, Perez and the folks of the Score and to Josh. Talk to you Sunday in New York on WBBM against the Jets, nine am pregame, noon kickoff, stick around. More ahead here on the Score, and thanks for listening to everybody. This has been Bears All Access on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy The Score. Good night, Thanks for listening to this Chicago Bears Network presentation of Bears All Access.

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