Lucas Patrick previews Giants, talks O-Line | All Access

gets underway at nine, kickoff at noon. Coming up with the show, veteran offensive lineman Lucas Patrick joins the program, and we also hear from the voice of the New York Giants, Bob Papa. Thanks to our producers Dan Brilli and Jordan tread Up and the folks at the score. Tom,

how you feeling. I'm feeling good, Jeff. You know, it's kind of crazy how your expectations change in week four from the beginning of the season, and even though the Bears are suffering through some growing pains in their passing game, now the expectations of what you can do going to New York. Can you go toe to toe with these guys?

And then can you come out with a win? And I think all of those things are doable, but I guess that the anticipation of the week leading up to the game, Well, we know where the Bears are and they are not going to change in that regard. From an offensive perspective, we're going to focus on that. In this segment Tommy offensive coordinator Luke Gatzy described it to

the TEA. They are a physical based rushing offense. From the very beginning we walked in and training camp, we made it the focus of what of who we wanted to be and the way we wanted to play the game, and they have taken that by the reins for sure, and our play style reflects that. The way they're they're firing off the football, the way they're finishing all that stuff, that's that is That was the number one thing we

said we were going to do. We wanted our tape to look a certain way, and those guys have definitely accepted that challenge and done a really nice job. Joe, he wants the tape to look a certain way, wanted to set the tone with that from day one. You watch the tape as much as anybody has. That been a mission accomplished in terms of the running game. Yeah, But the thing that's impressed me about it is this

is not just an exclusive outside zone running team. They have interior vision by the running backs and they have nice solid physical performances by the guards in the center to keep that interior running game open, being effective and being profitable. And a big part of it is the fullback. It is Karrie blasting game. He hasn't played much fifteen snaps last week thirteen, the week before eleven before that,

but Tommy, the production has been outstanding. This is from the Bears Coaches Show with Matt Iberflus on Monday night.

And that's such an important thing on early downs to have that fullback in there, and it changes, you know, if you're in twenty two personnel or twenty one personnel and you have that guy in there, it's it's a big adjustment for the defense and you have to really work on those run fits because not every team carries a fullback, you know, so you know, only a few teams do you know, and more and more are starting

to go back to it. But man, when you have that weapon as a fullback, it creates a lot of situations for the defense to handle. Tom. I know you love it. I know you'd probably like to see more Bake. The defense matchup against you the fullback is not a revelation.

It makes it more challenging nowadays because you know, Jeff, back in the day when you had your Matt Sueis and you had your Calvin Thomas's, and you had your Brad Muster's part of the fullback family of the Chicago Bears, you're talking about linebackers that were two hundred and fifty pounds at the point of attack. Now you're talking about interior linebackers there are two hundred and twenty pounds. You get a fullback this two hundred and thirty five pound

plus with a running start. That's a winnable battle. And you get that winnable battle and it means positive interior rushing yards. So I understand the creativity of all the boy geniuses around the league, But what's the basic football fundamental physical interior presence. And that's because of a fullback. And I'll tell you they've gotten some really good yards

before first context. So you got to give the guys up front, the receivers, the tight ends, the backs all doing their part in this rushing attack that produced two eighty one against Houston and Luke Yetzi. Tommy thrilled with the performance of Khalil Herbert, just what he brings to the table. Not certain what David Montgomery status will be for Sunday, but he had to leave the game after

eleven plays with that lower leg injury. It's got a really cool patience about him that he's able to kind of let things happen and make it feel like he's not necessarily going full speed but he is, which then allows him to make cuts, you know, and read off

the blocks of guys pretty really well. But was to me stood out this game compared to the other ones was his ability to make the first defender miss, whether it was a stiff arm, whether it was running through a tackle, or whether it was a making miss move. I think that was the biggest improvement this week. Well, he's a racked up dude as well. It's great leverage, Tommy, and he just he gets north and south in a

big hurry. Yeah. But you know, Jeff, when a new offensive coordinator comes aboard, you really don't know what your personnel can deliver for you until you get into the regular season. Running backs are rarely tackled in practice. You really don't get the solid understanding of their vision and how they see things unfold in front of them and

how they react accordingly. I think Luke Getsy is finally getting an understanding of the traits and the talents and the vision and the physicality of a guy like Khalil Herbert that you can play him in multiple in multiple ways within this offense. They gotta worry about. I'm talking about the opposition of this case. The Giants gotta worry about justin fields when he gets out of the pocket and picking up rushing yards. You gotta worry about those

fly sweeps. You gotta worry about Herbert. You gotta worry about blasting game. Heck, but you're getting six point seven six yards on first down run of the football, second best in the National Football League behind Nick Chubb and the Cleveland Browns. How significant is that? How can you build on that? And how can the passing game develop because of that? First of all, don't shy away from it. If that's where you have coming into New York, then

continue that process. Make the defensive coordinator, defensive personnel adjust to you. And then as soon as they start saying, Okay, we're committing to stop the run. We're gonna have eight guys up in the box, no doubt about it. And then you use Justin's athleticism outside the box identify that receiver immediately. Like he said last week, you got to be willing to take checkdowns and turn those three yard

completions into ten yard plays. So yeah, there are going to identify what your best asset is offensively, and that's running the ball, and they're going to try to figure away how to confuse you at the line of scrimmage and make more guys have individual assignments for the second week in a row. At hat U saw during his Thursday news conference, Luke Getsy asked right out of the gate what his confidence level is. Trust in Justin fields and we do whatever we have to do to win games.

So we've opened up the passing game. It's not like we haven't called pass plays that we were or that we've been intimidated to call a play by any means.

We're calling the game the way we feel his best to attack with our matchups, So it doesn't just it's not you know, the perspective is that everything is just because it's through Justin, but we have ten other guys that we have to account for too, So you know, sometimes we aren't able to go five wide and spread people out because of matchups that we have to deal with.

So that goes into a lot of things. So as we go through the games, we just got to find about our way to take advantage of the matchups that we feel really good about and kind of stay away from those matchups that maybe we don't feel so good about. My concern is to me, is when you get into a passing down, what are they going to do with that safety? So the safety last week for Houston, he kind of was a spy against Justin, and if Justin

wanted to run, the safety would chase him. If the Justin did not want to run any he was going to throw the ball, then he was dropping back into trying to get into a confusing coverage joint. So to me, Jeff, it's all about how does the safety factor in an individual battle an eye battle against Justin And it would be Xavier McKinney and Julian Love Adam Nazareth High School here in the Chicago area. When we come back, we'll be joined by a veteran offensive lineman Lucas Patrick. This

is Bears All Access. It's brought to you by IGS Energy on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy the Score. Welcome back, Bears All Access, brought to you by IGS. How dierg you choose clean energy for your home at IGS dot com because every good choice adds up to a better world. With Tom the Jeff johny AAC joined by Bears offensive lineman Lucas Patrick. Good to see you, Welcome to the show. And how about this Giants, how about this? Two teams

with new regimes, new coaches. One of these two teams got to come out of this firing overtime of course at three and one. That that puts a smile on your face, right, because no one really had these kind of expectations outside looking in anyway. Yeah, I mean, I know inside the building we see our team differently, and we have certain standards that we hold ourselves too. But um, you know, I've been in the league long enough and you start to look at the league as kind of

its own game. The regular season kind of has four quarters. Now, I know, we have seventeen games, so that math doesn't really add up, But if you can win each quarter, it sets you up for a nice shout at the playoffs. So three and one would be huge. And you come from a program that's been super successful. When you when you came from college and then you went to the Bay Packers, was that kind of feeling that you're talking about right there talked to you by the other players,

was a talk to you by management. It was the expectations high because of the success you were having. Um, a little bit of everything. Um, I think, uh, whenever you can get a player led team, and coach Fleus is really big on us kind of setting the tone and taking care of things. But um, when the older guys can kind of instill in the younger guys or

vice versa. But like, hey, this is our standard, and it's to win this quarter, you know, the first four games, and then set ourselves up so that you know, because you never know what uh, what game you went earlier in the year can help with seating and UM, yeah, it's just it's something that I kind of got indoctrinated to early on in my career and I firmly believe in it that um, you can't you can't look at the NFL season as a you know, a big mountain,

you know, huge task because when in the Super Bowl is the hardest thing you have or do. You have to go weekend, week out, and each week the price becomes a little greater. So you got to segment them, break them up, and really attack it one week at a time and kind of compartmentalize the season. What I like to do is into four quarters and try and win each quarter because that's you know, that's kind of how we try to win the games. It's going drive at a time and you know, win a quarter at

a time. Lucas Patrick Gard guest here on Bears All Access on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy of the score, Healthy and ready to go. Ed had to tear your heart out a little bit because you were brought here for a very specific reason to help, you know, not only take the next step in your career, but but get this offense acquainted with the scheme and so forth. And then the injury to the hand pops up. I'm sure given your route here to the National Football League.

Never easy to deal with something like that because again you had a new platform and you had to be sidelined a bit. But now you're back and it's it's all over. But mentally, how did you handle all that? You know, you think it's going to be easier each time you you get an obstacle and something comes your way and UM, but it's not because each each obstacle has different parameters to it. Um, and this one was unique in the sense that, UM, I felt as if

I had a bigger role here. Um was brought in for a purpose and I feel like UM sometimes you know, when you're just watching your guys practice and grind through camp, you're not fulfilling your purpose. Um. And so it's tough. You gotta you gotta do a few gut checks and rely on you know, teammates like Cody's been exceptional through this and been a great teammate, and uh, somebody like Sam who's uh, you know, taking the challenge and run full steam with it and super proud of what he's done.

And UM, so I have some good guys around me. But it's tough. But you just gotta keep putting one foot in front of the other and take everything with a little bit of grace and gratitude and just know that you're in a certain situation. You know, one similarity we do have. When I came out of college, I was kind of a center guard guard center combination and I was going to play wherever they needed me most and I but I always had a preference of playing guard.

That's where I felt my most football confidence. Do you have a preference of where you play? Do you have the football confidence that I had? And what do you like? What position do you favor? I think, without like giving away any scheme stuff, I definitely prefer one position, and I think you could probably guess which position it is. It's a position I was signed to a team to play. I just enjoy the battle of that, the mental and

the physical. At the end of the day, the opportunity to play in the NFL so short, and I saw that early in my career, which I look at as a great learning lesson that I don't want to be back out of the league. So if they need me to play anything and give them everything I got. Well. Jeff mentioned it before about the practice we are at the practice when you got hurt, did you know immediately because I remember you uran Uran your play. You turn around, walk back to the group of guys, and it seemed

like you recognize something. Did you know immediately that you had tweaked something? Yeah, Unfortunately, I've had previous hand injuries that required medical attention similar to that, just hoping it wasn't severe enough to remove me for a long time, But yeah, I knew right away. Lucas Patrick our guest here on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy to the score with Tom There Jeff Jonia getting you ready for Bears and Giants. One thing, no matter what position or what

your situation might be, you bring unbelievable enthusiasm. You always catch you doing something. You're the life of the party on the football field, and I'm sure you're pretty pretty significant in the weight room too in terms of motivating and however you go about doing it. Is this who this native Tennesseeing always has been? Or have you grown

into this personality? Definitely? Early on in my career I was be seen and not heard, and I think it's just as you get older, you get more comfortable and you know what to expect to the season. But one thing that I love about our coaches they let us be ourselves. And I learned that from a previous staff and this staff is amazing at that, especially seemos probably Chris Morgan, our offensive line coach. We all call him Semo.

He is so he's so good at balancing personalities but also like getting us to work, and it just makes it fun, Like we're playing a kids game, way too much money to play kids game, Like let's go out and have fun, like let's win games, let's play hard, let's do what we need to do, but let's have fun. And you know, I only get to do this for certain, you know, limited years, you know, because the NFL tends to tell you buy before we want to say bye. So I'm gonna have as much fun every day as

I can. You know that was a veteran move right there. Tom now is he's worked at the MIC more than he has in the trenches in his great career. But did you notice the veteran move right there? Because not everybody listening knows who Semo is, but he did a reset there. That's a veteran move by Lucas pa Patrick. I like it tell the audience who Semo is. Chris Morgan and getting to know him is just something. Really impressed by his attitude. Number one, I know time He's

got plenty of comments also to make about seemos. I'll let him do that as well. But what have you taken from him that really sets him apart maybe from others that you've worked with over the course of your career, and just he's working with a really interesting group of guys. He's got the two vets, he's got a bunch of young guys trying to get on this, get this thing going.

I think one of the best attributes that Semo has is, like I said, letting us be us, but like working, but sometimes you can look like you're working but not be working efficient. And that kind of was an epiphany early on in the spring because I've always like it's kind of been my career, like I've had to work as hard as I can at everything and exhaust myself. But his biggest thing is like, you don't have to exhaust yourself if you're smarter, you know what they're gonna do.

Like let's study, Like you should know exactly what they're gonna do before they do it, so that you can beat him to it and then you can play even harder and make it through the seventy five snaps And just that mentality of like being a maniac about the details and not, not that I haven't been detailed before, but that's that's what coaching is. It's making your you know, you're better, your best and keep keep climbing and keep improving.

And he's really good at improving, you know, a guy like me, a seven year vet and improving a first year player in Braxton and uh, you know, even second year players like I think Devin Jenkins has made one of the greatest jumps from a tackle to a guard and he's playing a really good ball right now, and um yeah, Simo is able to handle all all of that in one room. I like the little details that he pays attention to an offensive line play, just a

small thing. For example, you're gonna have a double team block. You guys both have to hit the defensive player, don't have any contact with each other. And that was one of the things that frustrates me around the league when you see an offensive lineman bumping another offensive lineman off

the block. So you know, I really you know, lucas As, I was watching the speed and wish you guys were practicing at throughout OTAs and I was going, I know, I think in my career and my time with the Bears, player, and now as a broadcaster, I don't think I've ever seen the tempo in OTAs like I saw you, and I was going to wonder if this is going to

carry over to full pads, and it did. So my question is did it surprise you at the tempo and wish you guys were practicing at number one in number two when Matt Eberflus was introduced as the head coach and he came up and he said, these guys better have their running shoes on. Did the running shoes part sit well with you? And did the tempo of OTAs set well with you? Yeah? I mean I've always thought I was in good shape, but this is a different shape. And it's not that I ever played in a bad shape.

It's just this is a different style of working, and um, it's good. I mean, we firmly believe if we get a team in a close bat on the fourth quarter, they didn't work like us. And like I can say it because I have. I have never ran like I've run here before. I've never drilled like I've drilled here before. And when we get in the fourth quarter, I feel fresher than I've ever felt before with you know, six years prior to me in the NFL, so it's definitely

worth it. But like it's it's eye opening, like you got to you gotta bring your lunch pail literally every day because nothing is given from coach Fleus or Semo. And I love it because it it we have an edge, like we believe the fourth quarter is ours and right now defense believes that too. They haven't a lot of touchdown to the fourth quarter. That's all. It continues in East Rutherford against the Giants. That is Lucas Patrick, I' Jeff jonnyaku Town there. We'll take our first break here

in Chicago Sports Radio six seventy The Score. This segment of Bears All Access is brought to you by Athletical Physical Therapy. Visit Athletico dot com to request an appointment in clinic or virtually and start feeling better tomorrow with Tom Thayer, I am Jeff Joniac and Lucas Patrick our guest for one more segment here on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy The Score. We're brought to you by IGS Energy. Tommy.

You know, when you see the development of an offensive line, it's kind of unique in that the fact that it's kind of a team within a team, and like I said, I really enjoy what I've seen out of Chris Morgan and how he's coached everybody and coach guys of multiple positions. As an offensive lineman, when did you start seeing this thing come together? Going Okay, I'm getting an understanding that we're gonna be a solid group and we're gonna be

a really powerful offensive line. You know, it's not to give you the coach or the player answer, the football answer, but like I just I guess because I'm in the weed of it. I still feel like we have so far to go. But the only times you can kind of barely and I'm talking barely look up and peek around is after games when you look at rushing yards

and we gotta get bread and protection. It's one thing that you know, we're working on with our fundamentals, but we're doing some special things up front and kind of have to rely on the fact that this is what

we wanted to do from the beginning. This is the goal we set out in OTAs when we had our first meeting about being a special grouping, being tight, having a brotherhood, you know, not being vets and rookies, but being older brothers and little brothers and really looking out for each other because at the end of the day, the five guys that are out there have to play as one. And when we get to play as one, everyone plays better. And when we play better, the team

plays better. And it's it's just kind of the mentality we have to have. You know, our offensive line coach always used to tell us, if you win the game, you're not going to get any credit. If you lose the game, you're gonna get all the blame. So I guess generation the generation, that's the way it goes. I'd like to ask you a little bit about the emotions

from week one to week two. So Week one, you come out, you sold your feel you get the introduction, you got a super supportive crowd, and it's so whether that I haven't seen three or four times in my life, and so I'd like to capture the emotions of that game, and then the emotions of week two going to Green Bay because in my I mean I've played played in Green Bay a number of times and to me as never being a Packer but being a Bear, I know what the emotions are of that game. So Week one,

as a Bear in Week two as a Bear. Going into Green Bay Week one as a Bear was a little more emotional for me personally, just you know, my journey through the NFL and then signing here and post injury and like knowing I was going to get snaps, didn't know when those would come, and then finally playing and then in this crazy back and forth just slug fest.

It felt like against a really good Niners team. I mean that's you know, the last three to four years, that's been the consistency in the NFC has been the Niners. They've been what two or three Super Bowls, they haven't won one yet, but a couple of NFC championships, and I mean that's that's been kind of the NFC standard.

So to go toe to toe with them felt great, and I think it I think it gave us a lot of confidence in our process and belief in our system and what we're building here, because anything worth building is gonna be hard, Like there's gonna be some really tough days, and there were some tough days in the spring, the summer, fall camp. But like that was kind of a thing to say, like, hey, you're on the right track.

It's not perfect, but like, let's keep going. And then to segue into week two just personally going back, you know, spending six years in a in that building and with that staff and certain players that are still there when I was there, and it was definitely emotional for a different reason because I felt a lot of gratitude an appreciation for a place that allowed me an opportunity to now be a bear and come back. You know, there's plenty of staff. I know, there's plenty of staffs, kids.

I know, there's players and even some of the players kids that I know. Um, so it was good to see some faces and get some hugs and and see all that. But then, uh, the lost stung. Like I when we were going down in that fourth quarter drive to go was it like ninety eighty seven yards I think was how long we were I was convinced we were gonna win that game because we were gonna score, especially as that thing was going. We were gonna get

the ball back like I knew we would. But you know, that's another top team in our division, Like it is what it is. You got to win your division if you want to know you're going to the playoffs. And I think to go again, toe to toe with them, and you know, one bounce goes our hey on a call on a goal line, and that's a completely different ball game, and that's, you know, a completely different storyline. Lucas Patrick our guest. Okay, So I don't know if

I wrote this or somebody wrote this about you. All I know is the affable teddy bearish Tennesseeing. It starts with that. You know, you're partly to tryout at a rookie camp in Green Bay, and that's why you're here right now. You worked your way through the practice squad. You got opportunities in your first three years, but in a reserve role, and then you get to be a starter battle some injuries. When you look at the entire way you got here, how much do you respect that journey?

And who do you think for that? Wow? I mean that's a deep, heavy question. There's there's a lot of people I have to thank. I mean, first is my Lord and Savior. Like I would not be the man I in today if it weren't for knowing and the unconditional love and person that I am in my faith. That's like one of my core beliefs and allows me to I think be so comfortable around people and be myself and trust that I'm like I'm good enough because if I'm good enough in God's eyes, that I'm good

enough in anyone's eyes. But when I look back and look at this journey, it's it's one of like I've always said, when I leave the NFL, whenever I'm told or whenever, hopefully I get to choose, is that everyone can say it was a good teammate Like that's and most guys who play like if if you say, man, that was a good teammate, that's such a short compliment, but a very like there's a lot of depth in that.

So that's what I've tried to do pretty much since getting in the pros is just be who I am, work hard, you know, be on time, do the SMA, all things right, celebrate the big things, move on from the bad things as quickly as I can. Yeah, I mean be open, like, be open and honest with teammates.

I think sometimes guys are afraid to share their personality or really show who they are or be themselves and so but also being a good teammate sometimes yeah, you have fun with them, but sometimes you gotta be tough on them. Too right, and I think you can. You

can pull that off pretty good. Yeah, I mean a good teammate or a good coworker in any function of a team or business, Like there's gonna be tough conversations and there's gonna be hard days, and you need people to look you in the face say that wasn't good enough or you know you just weren't prepared or like to get you better because we don't have time for you know, we've got seven days in between each game.

We don't have time to sit and worry about feelings sometimes about hey, like hey, don't be sagosh down sensitive. Yeah I know, I'll speak frankly about myself last week. That wasn't good enough, Like I can't give up a sack like that. It was bad technique, poor I was, I was seeing too much, but that wasn't good enough. And I've had that conversation with a few guys I was in with and told them like, hey, that won't happen or I'll try everything I can to not let

it happen again. Like that's being real, and like being real, it's what we need. All right, We'll let you go here. We're brought to you by Igs Energy. This is Bears All Access with Lucas Patrick. Quick scouting report of what you're seeing from that front of the New York Giants talent. I mean, you know, they got a lot of high draft picks, they got a lot of size. They've got a lot of speed too when they go in their sub packages, and they present a lot of issues to

your base rules. So you really got to understand who's in the game and how they're trying to attack you so that you can respond, well, well, good luck on Sunday, we'll be looking forward it. It's a traditional battle man Bears and Giants to the Emily run organizations. When they get together, it's always a lot of fun. So it should be fun. And it looks like teams you're just gonna run the ball. It's good old fashioned football, exactly

what way we like it. Right. That's Tom there. I'm Jeff Joni acc Thank you, Lucas Patrick, appreciate your time. Thank you. You're never gonna forget those sacks no matter how old you get, dude, because I can tell you. I can tell you right now three of the worst sacks I ever gave up, and I every time I see it talk about football. You'll always remember them and it's a good thing. It's part of the growth process. I appreciate what you've done and thanks for coming on, No,

thanks for having me. I appreciate it too. Coming up next, we get a Giants point of view from they're veteran play by play man Bob Papa. It's all ahead. You're on Bears All the Access on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy the score. This segment of Bears All Access is brought to you by CDW. People to get it with Tom, theyre Jeff Joniac. We're breaking down Bears Giants Week four upon us already and we're hitting the road. In fact, the Bears are hitting the road six out of nine weeks.

It's gonna be quite the journey, quite the chunk of the season. First stop though, met Life Stadium in Jersey, pleased to be joined by the veteran voice of the New York Giants, the multi talented Bob Papa. So where are they at right now? With a new regime, Brian Dayball. After this week, one of these two teams are going to be a surprising three and one. Yeah, I know that that's a shocker. There's a definite, definitive swing within the building and the organization of They have broken from

their past. Giants have always run a certain way general manager, with the authority the head coach and the way the whole thing on folds. They realize that these sort of half baked rebuilds weren't working, and they decided to sort of sweep it all clean, and thus they bring in Joe Shane from Buffalo to be the new general manager. He brings in Brandon Brown, who's a young rising stars

and assistant genne. They got him from the Eagles. And then Brian Dable comes in and even though he learned a lot under the Patriot Way, he's been a guy that's been to a lot of different places. And what they've put together is a collaboration. Now people there are people within the front office, personnel side, college side, coaching side that have all come from various places that haven't always they're not all connected. Put it that way, so it's more of a think tank fresh ideas, and I

think it's really energized everybody within the building. I'm not a big fan of analytics, but sometimes it's hard to ignore numbers during the course of the season, so you look at the Bears and the Giants statistically and there's very similar numbers on both sides. You double us in the amount of pass yards and you're better twenty yards better against the rush. But then on the percentage side, it gives the Giants a sixty six percent chance for

them to beat the Bears. Is it home field advantage? Is the crowd noise support? What is the two thirds advantage for the Giants that they have over the Bears. I think, first of all, it's at a little bit of the home field component of it. Although the Giants, you know, since the start of twenty seventeen or a whopping thirteen and twenty nine and MetLife Stadium. Thanks for that nugget, by the way, I'll be that one. It's not like it's been a house of horrors for teams

coming in. I think there's just a different energy about this Giant's team. They play hard. Brian Dabele Tolcar Banks and I on the field before the game last week a Monday night. He said, look, we know that we don't have a chance to draw picassos every week. We don't have a chance to be the prettiest girl. We're not going to draw the prettiest picture the way our team is right now in this maturation and turnover the roster.

Can we hang in there and fight, fight, fight, and get this game into the fourth quarter and take the opponent into the deep waters and then see where the chips fall. And the team is bought into that mentality, which is why they were able to figure out a way to win in Tennessee and figure out a way to win against Carolina in Week one, and in the Cowboys game, you know, they had to lead in the game, they had opportunities late in the game, they weren't good

enough to make the plays. But the philosophy is, if we could just hang in there, we're gonna be good enough and play smart enough to steal some games that maybe in the past they haven't. You know, when they hired Mattie Eberflus, he came in and I'm not saying single handedly, but a lot of this preaching and a lot of his messages to the team has really been accepted. And he's a big responsibility for the change of culture in this building. So immediately is Dave all the same

as he changed the culture that much. He's just a real person. He takes time going into the cafeteria at lunch and he'll go in there and sit not just with the football people. Sometimes he'll sit with a group of marketing people. Sometimes he'll sit with a group of people in the season ticket sales office or PR or broadcasting,

just to get to know them. Because he feels like he's every single person that works in this building has value to the team, and I want to know that I feel that way about them, and so he brings He's really good at team building. He's really good at being authentic perfectly. So much was made about Darius Tony only playing a couple of snaps in Week one seven,

Kenny Galladay played two the following week against Carolina. He told those guys up front during the week, probably not fitting into this game plan this week for whatever the reasons are. But he was honest and he wasn't trying to b s. And the other thing that I've noticed about him is he's not trying to act like how a head coach should act. He's acting like Brian Dable. And if you talk to anybody who knows Brian Dable for a long period of time, they say he's like

the same guy. He came from nothing. He was raised by his grandparents, you know, in Canada, in the Toronto area or in the Buffalo area, and he's just like there's no airs about him. But he also has drawn a line of where he's the coach and he's not the buddy. And I think everybody respects his honesty and him not trying to say, Okay, now I'm a head coach of a football team, I gotta act like this because this is how head coaches are supposed to act.

Pop Our guest here on Bears Out Access on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy the Score, Jeff and Town with you. Neither of them are calm plays. Am I correct? I mean I know Heberfluce isn't is Dable No no, And I thought that was a really smart move by a Dable because you know, it's not easy to give that. That's how you got the job, right, You're really good at that. That's what got you in this position to get the job. Now suddenly I'm going to give that up.

But he looked at the big picture and he had a lot of respect from Mike Kafka and what he's done in Kansas City and his reputation, and he gave it. He gave it a walk through during during training camp and through the preseason games to see how it would go. And he told us so many times during before our TV production meetings during the preseason. He goes, Man, he goes, I don't know what to do with myself in the morning, because when I'm calling plays, you know, I have I

had my whole routine. I'm going here and I'm just walking around not really know what to do with myself. But it's all good, you know. Obviously he shares in some of the things that go on during the course of the game, but he's letting Kafka run with it, you know. To me, I think sae Quon Barkley is a running back that is like league wide. I think everybody when he got injured was pulling for him to get back into the type of guy that we are introduced to early in his career. Number one, is he

back to one hundred percent? And number two, is he the biggest offensive influence on your team? Oh? Without a doubt. As far as influence, Yeah, Barkley. Last year you could see that he was still feeling his way back. In fact, the only game last season he had of seventy or more rushing yards was the one against the Bears in which he went for one hundred and two. This year, he's over seventy plus rushing in every game. We saw it in training camp. We saw that burst, that quickness,

elusiveness that we hadn't really seen last year. The other thing that we saw the sake. Well. The other thing that this is coaching. These guys are stressed in a sequon Barkley. Sometimes you gotta just take the dirty two, the dirty two of the dirty three, and Barkley has bought in. And if you look at him compared to what he was doing in the past, there's much less dancing, there's much less looking to try to find the home run, and he takes the dirty two and the dirty three,

which eventually leads to the sixty eight yard run. You think about the game in Tennessee against the Titans in Week one, and he wasn't doing that much. But you know what, he wasn't trying to bounce it outside and look for the home run ball. He was just sticking it in there, sticking it in there, and eventually the defense cracked. Same thing happened last week against the Cowboys, a lot of dirty two's, a lot of ugly runs, but not negative plays, not the loss of four, two three,

keeping unmanageable down the distance. Then he cracks one for thirty six for a touchdown. It's music to the ears of your guy right here, Tom Thare. He'll take the dirty two, he'll take three, he'll take three and a half, He'll take whatever. And it's a stunning number of rushing yards last week by the Bears at two eighty one. I was thinking they were gonna pop like three fifty at one point. But both teams are running it, and both teams are given up some yards on the ground.

So is this a trench game, Bob? To wrap us up, Yeah, it definitely is a trench game to me. It doesn't matter if it's the Bears were born in nineteen twenty the Giants were born in nineteen twenty five. And we could talk about all the different schemes that have come into the support and whether it's the run and shoot, the spread, the K gun, all these different offenses, ground and pound, everything else. One thing hasn't changed since nineteen twenty. If you don't win at the point of attack, you

do not win. It doesn't matter what schemes. I don't care how creative these guys are. If you can't block them and you can't stop him, you're not gonna win the football game. And you know Leonard Williams being an outless we killed the Giants. He's a Pro Bowl caliber player. But then when I looked at the coaches tape, the defensive line wasn't as bad as it looked at first blush. It was the inside backers who they Let's say that

they don't have elite inside backers. Take Crowder and Austin Calitro are not elite inside backers, and those guys were running out of holes. Gap integrity was terrible. They have to be better, and looking at the Bears, they have to be able to stop the run because it is about the trenches in this football game. This is not It is gonna be a low scoring game, and if you can stop the run, you're gonna have a great chance to win, especially with the Giants hurting at the

receiving car. I'm gonna give you one stat from my little note card. I'm starting to prep it for the game. The New York Giants have not scored a touchdown in the first half, not the first quarter, in the first half of their last seven games. Oh my good. The last first half touchdown they scored was on December the twelfth in Los Angeles against the Chargers, the legendary Mike Glennon with a three yard touchdown pass to full back Eli Penny. Is the last time that the Giants have

scored a touchdown in the first half of a game. Well, it's almost impossible in the NFL, right, and the Bears haven't given up a touchdown in the second half so far this year, so something may have to give, hopefully from a Bear's perspective, will keep that streak going for you. Shut out touchdown in the first half. You know, it's amazing. We just did thirteen and a half minutes. In this quarterback era, we never mentioned Daniel Jones or Justin Fields. Well,

that's interesting. I'm gonna give you some words from Brian Dable the game against Caroline. Jones got ripped on social media by the ESPN guys for his eyes not seeing guys that appeared to be open. I asked table about it today after the game. I said, he goes he's selling my wife because he's seeing like my wife, He's like Daniel played one of the smartest games ever. He goes. You know, some of those guys that were running wide open, they weren't in his progressions, So he wasn't cutting it

loose at them because they were where they were. They were they were running routes that weren't even part of the play. So how does he know to cut it loose? Are they gonna stop? Are they gonna keep going? Are they running a sail route? Daniel doesn't know. He said he played one of the most intelligent games that he's seen a quarterback play. And then what the way he played on Monday night was as tough a game as you're going to see a guy play and delivered plays

under pressure. So they're very excited about what Jones has done so far. I don't know if he's the future, but I know for certain he's he's playing the game much better than the outside public, media and fan base. I think he's playing the game. Not only a coach could tell you that. All right, we're gonna let you go appreciate the time as always, and we will see you Sunday in Jersey. Looking forward to seeing in the Booths, Yes, sir, thank you, Great Bob Popa and the New York Giants.

Tom and I resume the show after a break here on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy The score. Great seats available to see your Chicago Bears this season at Soldier Field. Get your tickets at Chicago Bears dot com slash tickets. With Tom There, I'm Jeff Joniac wrapping up our show. In our final segment time we looked at offense in the first segment tonight, interesting conversations with Lucas Patrick and the voice of the Giants, Bob Bob. But now let's

look at the Bears defense through your eyes. What do you see when you watch the tape of the Bears defense that is a exciting for you to see how it continues to build or if there's anything troublesome for you right now. And I think the run defense would be the focus on that. You know. I think Nicholas Morrow and Roquan Smith are understanding how to play alongside each other, how to commit to a point of attack, and then how to flow to the point of attack.

They're being complimented by solid play up up front. Blackston gets a tip ball that's creative results and an interception for Roquan. They got a variety of outside pass rushers that they can just keep the offensive tackle off balance because he doesn't get a chance to continuously read one guy's stands. And I guess it's up to the defensive

backs to compliment the pass pressure. So to meet this week, when I look at a guy like say Kuon Barkley, start low, stay low by the front eight, because when you're gonna tackle say Quon Barkley, you better be in a perfect tackling position. Eddie Jackson, the Bears starting safety on high alert about say Quon Barkley. He hasn't been to take the ball, you know, eighty yards, hundred yards or whatever. So us he just gotta build my keys

and we reroute. We gotta come, make sure we crowd a line and give him less base as possible, overfill, you know, make the tackles, you know, easier on ourselves. You know, when the ball starts to hit, you know, the second level of the defense. You know, he's healthy, he's thick, thighed, he's fast, he's big. He can pess catch as well as anybody, and definitely can hit the rails. And burn you. His speed is always going to be

a challenge to every defense that he plays against. And you probably know at the forty time on Daniel Jones from the combine, I don't but say quon speed. You have to respect Daniel Jones speed. You can't let beat you. So when Annie Jackson's talking about what their responsibility is, his is from back to front. So make sure that you keep say Quan in front of you. And like I said, don't be looking to strip the ball, look to tackle. Four three seven for Barkley, four eight one

for Daniel Jones. But he can scamper now he's got thirteen rushing first downs this year. Well I know that no one would know that off the top of their but I'm just saying four three year respect four eight don't let beat you. Alan Williams on Barkley, it's hammer the rock, hammer, the rock hammer of the rock and then big play. He finds a gap, someone that's peaking backside and could be the nose or it's he's going outside and it may be the defensive end that's that's

peeking inside. For whatever reason, he's on the edge and you know, going for thirty or forty so, um, yeah, he is a he's a scary guy in terms of his home run ability. So it's an interesting name game here. Ro Quan versus say Quan Jaquan the Bears safety Jiquan Brisker also against sa Quan. They're gonna meet these three guys. It's almost a triangle of trouble there, both for say Quan and for the for the Bears because those two guys in the safety may be involved here if he's

in the box. Well, you know, Q thir Q is a third latter in their names. You know, how often does that happen? Not often, Roquan. By the way, it gonna be more position, according to Matt Heberflus, the further he gets deeper into this defense to be in a position to make big play. No, he's growing in the defense. He's understanding where he fits in the defense. You know, And I said it last night. You know he's coming from a three to four, you know. So it's a

little bit more lateral. Um, it's a little more take on. And this is more run, you know, it's more run, it's more speed, it's more playing, you know. Um, you know, in front of the in front of the lineman in front of that penetrating and you have to learn how to do that, and I think he's learning as he goes. He's getting more comfortable in that position for sure. Yeah.

I mean, you look at these tackles for a loss just from this Houston game, and you look at what the defensive line was doing up in front of them.

And when Matt Eberflews talks about the freedom of these linebackers to run, reading and penetrate, it's because you either got a guy like Justin Jones that's making immediate penetration and he's getting the entire playoff balance, or you got those guys on the inside taking multiple blockers to allow the speed of Roquan and Nicholas Morrow to take over. And I go back to the tape watching it, so it's three weeks now, you start to develop some tendencies

and you start to see things. That doesn't mean they're gonna show that exactly, but this was interesting this week. I don't know if you heard Alan Williams discuss how the idea is to be difficult to scout. If you're good at what you do, you have tendencies. Good teams have big time tendencies, and I would hope that when people look at us, they would say, hey, we kind of know what are doing, but they execute their stuff

so well that we can't we can't stop them. That they play at such a speed, at such a rate, at such a voracity that they can't be stopped. So I'm more that's more important to me than saying that, gosh, they do everything. We want to do something well at the end of the day. We want to say that when people come and look at the or they look at the tape, I want them to say, wow, did they speed the tape up? Is that the speed of you know the tape? Or are they really playing that fast?

And that precise and that consistency that those the words I want people to use, not just they do a lot of stuff. Listen eighty five, eighty six Bears, you get to the two thousand era, Ray Lewis, Baltimore, Ravens. There's things that they can do so good no matter what you try to do, you can't block them. And you know, that's the thing about the process of playing in the NFL. When we played against when Buddy Ryan went to Philly and he had the Reggie White and

you look at that defensive personnel group. Sometimes they're so good that you know their ability outweighs tendencies. This has been Bears All Access. It's been brought to you by IGS Energy here on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy the Score and calling. All Bears fans get the ultimate VIP fan package with Chicago Bears VIP security, game ticket and appearance from Bears legends and more by visiting Chicago Bears

VIP dot Com. That's gonna do it for us. For Tom There, Lucas Patrick and Bob popeyem Jeff Joniac, Thanks to everybody listening, and thanks to our producers. Tonight, have a great night. This has been Bears All Access on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy the Score