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a day today, that's for sure. Tom there, Jeff Jonny Ek with you on Bears All Access. It is brought to you by IGS Energy. Because as soon as my feet hit the floor there was there was word of issues going on, and you know, I had a just so it's been a NonStop day. The Bears did get a practice in town, but they had a little bit of a disruption today with a COVID positive for DeAndre Carter, as it turns out, the new punt returner and wide

receiver for the Bears. So they had they had a The troops set them out of there bringing back they got to practice in today. Here's Charles Lenno Junior on the ace activities. It was about the same as if it wasn't even a training camp. I feel like we had a day like that in training camp where we all left and came back, so we already been to this, so I was like riding a bike. Yeah there you go,

Tom there, welcome to the program. Yeah, well, training camp, you're talking about trying to develop a team in full pads and you want to have a really serious practice at this stage of the game. The restrictions as has loosened up. You don't have pads on you. You're really inserting a game plan of information that you've been installing

now for four or five months. To me, Andre Tucker, it's amazing what he's had to go through this year and for what he's had to do to readjust his schedule to the information he had to get out there, get the information out there clearly, and then being able to you know, you know, we see Matt and Aggie on the zoom call and then three hours later they're having a practice when they didn't know if they were

going to be able to practice. Just so that you know, just the turmoil that every every building has been in the NFL this year, it's it's amazing that. I'm really impressed that it's still going on. Yeah, you know, I am too. And here we are in week fourteen, and everybody's making sure they check. I keep saying this. Anytime anybody asked me how I'm doing, I say, I'm just

checking boxes. And and that's what they have to do when something like this happens, the domino's fall and you start checking boxes and your first fear because of the three practice squad players and now this one. You know, are they interconnected? Doesn't sound like it. Matt Nagge today, Temmy, and how good he feels about this thing not spreading any further. Pretty good. I think they're doing a good job.

They're they're they're following the rules, and it's just, uh, you know again, when you leave this bubble, what are you doing? And but we've our guys, they've they've answered all the questions, they've done things as best as they can, and um, you know, now it's just about handling it. Yeah, that that is good news. Now they're real good news. It's Thursday. It's an important practice day, this is situational day. It's third down Thursday. All those things that are normal

in the national Football League. So I am glad they got they got some work done today on the field. Oh me too. I'm really glad they're on their feet forever, however long it was, because you need to put these plays in motion. Yeah, you're not going one hundred percent, but you're being able to make eye contact with everybody wants the huddle breaks, but you're also being able to

engage inside the huddle. Make sure you get the plays out, make sure you understand what you're calling, make sure everybody understands their assignments, and then come Sunday, you got to try to put it all together, all right. The injury report has Khalil Max still out today with a shoulder. So you think about it, what he's gone through this year already with a knee, back and shoulder. It's a lot of bumps and bruises for the guy that kids nicked,

hit and bounced around, probably more than anybody on that defense. Right. But you know, I kind of wish that Khalil's attitude was contagious because when I look out on the field and I see players, and I see the seriousness of Khalil his approach to the game, you know, he's not a jack around type of guy on the field that the game is really important to him, and he's a highly profiled guy and people have high expectations for him.

But you know, Khalil is the type of guy that's in such great shape and if he had to sit out a day or two or even three and still play on Sunday, he could also out today with a concussion. Still is Buster Screen, who's been a big target of late in terms of being the focal point of some offenses because of the way they run things, and you know, he's important piece to that puzzle in the Nicols spot

there for the Bears defense. Also a did not practice today for James Vaughters and Darnelmonia for personal reasons, limited for JP Holtz, Charles Leno, Junior Allen Robinson, and returned to full practice today for Alex bars Tom Coming up in the show, we got Seth Payne. He is part of the pregame crew for the Houston Texans radio network and a former player in the National Football League. We'll get a bird's eye view of the Texans and where they're at at four and eight and what's headed here

to Chicago on Sunday. We're also going to be joined by our broadcast Matan, your good friend and teammate Jay Hilgenberg at the bottom of the hour talk a little football on the offensive line, which was a topic today as well. Charles Leno Jr. Was asked about all that, and he said, the communication right now with these guys is very good upfront, and he pointed to the smarts of the group that have been added to the mix, and Sam Mustifer and Alex Bars and Cody Whitehair being

that way as well. Yeah, well, you know, I think it's a great opportunity to us to talk to Jay because there's nobody that has more in common with Sam Mustafer than Jay Hilgenberg. You talk about two undrafted free agents that you developed high expectations during the course are the early portions of their career, and then when they were inserted the coaches found out that they are a

legitimate candidate for their position. And we'll hear from Jimmy Graham the Bears tight End is the Bears Walter Peyton Man of the Year nominee. And then our feature segment on this week's Bears Game Day Live and in Joni X Journaline WBBM is David munt Gummer. Here a chunk of that feature that's going to air on Sunday at ten thirty on Fox thirty two Chicago. Wonder that I am I stay over on. I was wondering why you had the Iowa stay Now that's not why. It just said,

you know, hey, just seventh in the country. Put him into the playoff. Moving a lot to the head. CLI more five more spots and get aheads getting in best Florida. Maybe get in there. Maybe we'll play Notre Dame again the National vitory. All right, coming up next, seth Paine's coming up. Thanks to our producer Mike rankin making this all happen tonight. Jordan tread up and dam really as well. This is Bears All Access with Tom there. I'm Jeff Joniac.

We're brought to you by IGS Energy on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy the Score and welcome back to Bears All Access. We're 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 Joniac, Tom Fair getting Ray Eddy for the Bears and ten

Tins on Sunday at Soldier field. As Week fourteen gets rolling, we're joined now by a member of the broadcast crew for the pregame show on a former fourth round pick of the Jacksonville Jaguars and back in ninety seven, and a prominent defensive lineman, Seth Paine, who played seven years then with the Houston Texans, a part of their expansion draft. Believe it or not, you kind of forget about that with the Houston Texans, but an expansion team that has

had some great success over the years. Seth, how are you doing? Thanks for joining us tonight. What's going on? My man? It's my pleasure. I just have one question to ask, and it's based on my last memories of playing in Chicago in two thousand and four, which I believe at the time was the coldest wind chill game ever played in Chicago. Is what's the weather forecast for Sundays. I haven't even looked, because you know, we're just used

to the uniqueness of it. But Tom there, my broadcast partner, an offensive lineman of note from the Super Bowl Bears of eighty five, is always worried about what the temperature is, whether we're going south, and he gets real nervous about hot weather, and he gets real serious about cold weather because he goes to Maui every offseason, so he's got that thin blood. Tommy, what's the way forecast, Well, it's it's so I think it's a high of thirty three

and pretty sunny on Sunday, so it'd be pleasant. It's it'd be nice because Friday and Saturday there's like ninety five ninety seven percent chance of rain, so I think the field will be covered. The field conditions as still perfect this late in the season, and you know that type of temperature is not egregious. You know. Now you got me looking into it, Seth. I'm trying to see what the what the what the forecast was? And that faithful day you guys won the game. Oh no, that

was all. That was two thousand and four. No, that was in Jacksonville. I have to look it up. But anyway, this would have been when I was with the Texans. Oh with the Texans, Okay, okay, with the Texans, Okay, well it was it was. It was one of the

coldest games you guys have ever played. And I just remember pulling up um and and just some of the kids from the South, you know, it's always the kids from the South that have never played a cold their game before got off the bus and you could see it in their eyes, like what are we getting into? And I thought of it because of Tom So the life of me, I can't remember who the center was for the Bears that year, but I just remember talking

to him during a time outbreak. It's just asking like how the hell he was holding onto the ball, because it was I grew up in upstate New York and I'm no stranger to him. My hand had never been as cold as they were that day. It was crazy, Oh, that I had to be the big bad Olan Creutz, right, it wasn't. I have a feeling like Olan Creutz was injured or something. I don't know, Okay too much, I would. I wouldn't have been messing with Oland. I tried to

talk to him. That would not be recommended. Hey, what's what what are we expecting from this uh, with this Houston Texans outfit? Because clearly, uh, the average fans gonna go to two places, Deshaun Watson and J. J. Watton. Now you fill in the blanks for us, right, Okay, So that's and that's about the only places they bothered going now because Will Fuller was the best receiver left on the field after the trade DeAndre Hopkins. He got pop for PDS. Bradley Roby was really the only viable

cornerback on the team. He got pop for peds. They look their taints of supplements. That's the story, and beyond that now the playmakers really are JJ Watt Deshaun Watson. JJ has looked a lot more like himself the last few games. You know, he's never gonna be the defensive player of the Year caliber guy that he was twenty and twelve through two fifteen, but he's been looking He's

been breaking up a lot more passes. He's been getting heat on the passers, so he's more of a concern for the Bears offensive line than he might have been earlier in the year. DeShawn is really probably coming off, if not his best statistical game in some respects. It was maybe one of his more impressive games of the season because he lost Will Fuller. You guys all know that he doesn't have DeAndre Hopkins, and yet he found

these guys. Chad Hanson, who got called up from the practice, buy k QT, who is a slot receiver, who had constantly been in Bill O'Brien's doghouse and couldn't find his way to the field. He has over one hundred yards receiving in that game, and Deshaun does a really nice job of spreading the ball around. And it's really a matter of okay, just like any quarterback who can run, all right, are you are you going to sell out on the pass rush and risk him hurting with your legs?

Are you gonna play coverage? Deshaun's gotten a lot smarter and looks a lot more like an a polished professional quarterback this year, it says that nobody else is really coming along for the ride with him. Hey, Seth, when you look at JJ wat, I'm an ex offensive lineman. I've been watching this guy since he came on the scene as an next defensive lineman. What's JJ's most impressive trait as a player? I think, you know, when he was younger, it was his ability to convert power to speed.

You know, guys always had to account for his power, but then he'd quick swim you, and then he could he could redirect extremely fast and then accelerate even faster, so he'd get past a defensive lineman, and he could redirectly make his way to the ball, and that's how he he. You know, Frankly got away with freelance and a lot when he was younger. Now he's got to rely a lot more on savvy and he's still the strongest guy on the field, you know, but he can't

quite freelance like he used to. He gets in too much trouble if he starts trying to backdoor blocks. So he really he does a good job of getting in passing lanes. I think he's become much more of a bull rusher, you know. His long arm pass rush is more of a concern than his speed is. But he still lines up on the outside. They I don't think they really like subjecting him to a whole lot of

getting banged up on the inside. So on passing downs, you're gonna see him play about seventy five to eighty percent of his snaps on the left side of the defense, and then he'll swap over to the right side, mix it up, depending on you know, if he's facing a really weak offensive lineman, which I don't think. I don't think either of your guys are necessarily weak. They're not world beaters, but they're not weak. But he'll go over to the right and try to find a matchup if

you can find it. Did did he improve with Jadeveon Clowney or did he do anything to help jj Watt? You know, because when you talk about bookends, you talk about him moving from side to side nowadays, How did he compliment him or not compliment him? Well, that's a you know, the funny thing about Jevon, And I know everybody's all heard it by now, but it's true that when Jadeveon was healthy, he didn't produce with sacks. With the statistics. He's kind of a skiffer guy. He would

he would win pass rush, he would win. He would win versus the offensive lineman. But any really hard time breaking down and bending at the last moment, those last two steps to complete the sack. But offensives had to account for him. And he also he blew up a lot of plays, you know, So if Jadeveon got a lot of run plays, you'd blow up. So if Jenevion got a tackle for the lost on first down, all of a sudden, it's second, fifteen, third, and fifteen, and

everybody's eating. But now it's pretty much just JJ Whitney Merciless who's the other the outside linebacker that typically plays opposite JJ got a big contract extension in the off season last year, but he's thirty years old and all of a sudden this year he looks like it so so far. Of the starters, JJ is the one you need to worry about. Of your backup outside linebackers, Jacob Martin is the guy who want to keep an eye on.

He is very, very fast. He's actually the guy that came over in the trade for Jadeveon Clowney last year, and he's not completely polished yet. You get the feeling the Texans don't really trust him against the run, but when he gets out there on third down, he just turns on the after burners and he can blow right

by people. Steth So Last week the Bears played the Detroit Lions, and the first remark on a new head coach, Daryl Bevill was he wanted to bring some more fun into the building when they got rid of Bill O'Brien and announced Romeo Cornell the next head coach. What were they trying to get out of him into the building that was needed, you know, It's hard to say because there have been so many. Yet today there was a big piece that came out about the Texans front office

and Jack Easterby, who was the interim GM. There were a whole lot of rumors about Bill O'Brien having blow up arguments with J. J. Watt. I think that there had been enough in fighting and there was just enough stress intentions, especially because of all those really you know, head scratching moves that Bill O'Brien had made in the

personnel side. That when you start off winless like you did, and that's just winless but convincingly winless things, I think just things got to a fever pitch and Bill O'Brien, you know, frankly, had too much on his plate. It was very few people should be both the general manager and the head coach in the NFL, and that was

a mistake the Texans made. They gave a guy who already had a hot temper and it was a little bit of a control for more reason to be stressed out and angry and have a hot temper, and it just wasn't gonna work out. So Romeo, his interim coach, you know, obviously brings a different flavor. You know, he's way more laid back than Bill O'Brien. But I think at least part of it is that the schedule weakened

up the Texans. The tech Tings have lost to pretty much all playoff All but one of their losses have come to playoff teams. Um all all of their wins have come versus teams that are decidedly out of the playoffs. So I think part of it was that everything just balanced back out a little bit. They're not one of the worst teams in the league. They're certainly not one of the better teams in the league, but they had

a really, really hard schedule to start the season. Seff paying our guest here on bears Ald Access brought to you by IGS Energy and Chicago Sports Radio six seventy the score top there, Jeff, Jonihac and Seth part of the pregame crew down in Houston with the Texans Radio Network. Are you still hosting your own show? And so forth? Too? And you got I think you have podcast? You're a multimedia king down there. I get bored, you know it is, there's there's so much to talk about. You do you

do a sports show in the morning? And then there's still stuff that you got to talk about to avoid talking to real life people. Oh yeah, you can do all. You can follow me on Twitter at se se tame got oh well, Sean Pendergass, my co host, is I lived in Chicago for a long time, so he's he's super excited that I'm talking to you. Tom. I never

realized what a complete Chicago mainstay you were. I didn't realize you were from Chicago and went in like you never For the most part, you spent most of your professional in college career and in high school care in that area. So so by extension, Sean filled me all in on it this morning. He was very excited that

I was talking to you guys. He's the old time version of current Bears tight end Cole Comet, who grew up in the Northwest suburbs here in Chicago and is now having a good time being the tight end for the Bears offense right now, Hey about the offense of

the Houston Texans. Real quick, just going through some of the map, the numbers that are popping and on my board that I put together for the games, I highlight and read if you're in the top ten and I see all those passing numbers in the top ten, but the one that sticks out his yards for past attempt Now, is that all because of will Fuller or is it because of Deshaun Watson. Finding anybody who can get downfield? Well, you know, obviously a little bit of that's gonna be

will Fuller because he's such an extreme deep threat. But look, DeShawn is an aggressive quarterback. He wants to push the downfield in that was to his detriment. I think early in his career. One thing that he's changed is that look he's going to extend to play. I think I think he's developing into probably Russell Wilson would be the closest comparable. I think he wants to extend the play. He wants to push the ball downfield, but he's gotten smarter about it, and he's quicker to check down to

running backs. Now, I think he's more likely to get tight ends involved in the passing attack. That's where I say he's become more of a professional quarterback. That's the jump he's made this year. But because of the speed of will Fuller and Brandon Cooks and gap, will Fuller's not there right now. He's been able to really do two things. One utilize the play action to his benefit because the tech Look, look the Texans conventional running game. You guys are gonna be astounded. Like and I know

the Bears don't run the ball. Well, I'm telling you, I'm just promising right now, you're gonna be astounded. It's how bad this Texans offensive line is it run blocking? But because the Shaun is a threat with his legs, they opened up some deep shots downfield. And likewise, because he can extend to play, he finds some opportunities deep

deep downfield late in the down. Well, you know, seth Let's I want to talk about the offensive line because when the Houston Texans came aboard and they brought in car as the quarterback, it seemed like they never surrounded him by any quality offensive lineman. I think throughout his career made had the third rounder, was the highest draft choice. So is you know, you guys get rid of Hopkins and I think you have followed the NFL you think, God, what a what a move that was? How how silly

it considering what he's done. But it's also silly how they lacked the support until they brought in Laramie Tunsil of your offensive line. So what direction are they gonna go? Is it? Will they ever provide you with an offensive line or do they have to go out there and find a receiver? Well, I do think it's pessimistic. As I am about this year's offensive line, one of the most frustrating things about it is that I think they

have physical potential. You know, Army Laramy Tunsel has had a good season, and that was he worth two first round picks. Kenny Stills was released the other day, so now it becomes it was Laramie Tunsel for two first round picks and a second rounder. Who knows, But as far as his contributions on the field, he's been pretty good. The rest of the guys, you know, they've got another first rounder, they've got two second rounders, They've got one

guy that could be replaced at right guard. But I think the four tour guys they have, with the right coaching, with an offensive coordinator that really understands what he's doing, I think they have potential there. So in the immediate future, next year, the year after, as long as the Texans gets the head coaching higher, right, I think that that offensive line is gonna be okay. It's just that they're right now, they're they're very discombobulated if there's not a

whole lot of coordination and communication. This Bears. These Bears pass rushers, frankly, are going to be watching the film from last week and they're really going to be working on their te and et games because the tech is gonna be had with some of that. You know, Nick Martin the center, who's another guy who got a big extension last year. Everybody knows that he had a really bad snap that lost the game at the end of

the game last last week. The real crime was that after the bad snap, he whipped on the run block in front of him and Grover Stewart. The nose tackle ended up disrupting Deshaun from recovering the football, and that really seals the games. So it's a lot of stuff like that over and over again. Well, these are gonna be two top teams in the league in terms of fewest rushing attempts per game going at it here, you guys at twenty one point eight attempts a game and

the Bears at twenty two. So we'll see if the weather changes in the in the direction of the team here in the final month of the season will bring more of that. And by the way, the investigation on your game here in Chicago is now complete. Is Olan Creach happened to be listening to the program and it was him, and he'll want to talk to you later in an alley somewhere. It was twelve degrees and eight degree winshield, he said to me, He goes, it was me.

Must have not been real memorable. I guess I'll tell you what I honestly, because I remember playing I remember the other time I played against Oland, and obviously I was always really interested with Olan. The thing is that I don't remember much from that game at all. And the same goes for Gary Walker. Did you guys have like one minute for you to tell for me to tell a story. That's about all we have though. Yeah, one day, okay, So Gary Walker comes off to the sideline.

We're all sitting on the hot bench with the planes underneath. You know, all of a sudden there's a quick change of fumble or a turnover of some sort. So Gary grabs his helmet, throws it on his head. Didn't realize that the flame had melted half of the inside paths of his helmet. But Gary goes out very first, plays an inside run. Bam. Gary's out goals, and I would guess that Olan or one of his compatriots probably knocked

me out. Actually at some point that came. So apologize to all and all the respect of the world to Owen's one of those guys that after you played him, you felt like a better player the next two or three weeks. There's like playing on a flower level of the video game. As a fair, fair analysis. Indeed, well, we appreciate the storytelling. That's why we have some of you old guys who played the game on this show, because we love the stories. There's so many we never

hear and appreciate it. Good luck broadcast this week and thanks for joining as Seth all right, guys, have a good one. Seth Payne Houston, Texans Radio Network and a former defensive tackle Tommy He had two tackles in that game and a Texans big winner with the Bears in that game. Coming up next, we'll be joined by Jay Hilgenberg, the Bears seven time consecutive Pro Bowl center and part of our broadcast crew. This is Bears All Access on

Chicago Sports Radio six seventy to score. This segment of Bears All Access is brought to you by Microsoft Surface and CDW people to get it learn more at CDWT dot com. Jeff, Joni, Act Tom. They're not joined by our broadcast mate on WBBMA in the pregame show with Ron Leason and Jimmy Schwantz. Mister j Hilgenbert, thanks for coming on the program. We just got done talking to Seth Paine, a part of the Houston Texans radio crew

and a former player for Jacksonville and the Texans. Hearing about Houston and talking offensive line play, so I thought we'd get you on to talk about the Bears one offensive line play. Jay, how are you doing tonight? I'm doing good. I'm doing good. Jeff, how are you doing? Doing all right? Doing all right? Enjoy hearing what they have to say up at Hollis Hall today about the

offensive line from Bill Laser to Matt Naggi. Two players out of the offensive line like we're hearing about from Charles Lenno Jr. About to play Sam Mustafer on the inside and you know, looking for that edge on the offensive line. I think you got two guys right now and must fur and bars. This is just my opinion that do bring some of that edge with them to the equation and some smarts on that offensive line. I was recognized by by Charles today. Did you see that

what you're watching and do you feel that? Oh? Yeah, yeah, I definitely do. I've seen Sam he hustles after the play to where the ball carriers tackled, and I've seen him pushing guys out of the way, and Alex is the same way. I like the attitude that those guys have. Sam Sam to me, he's a natural center. I mean, I think that's it's probably the only position he can play. And I that's kind of a compliment I give him because there's no way I could have played guard or

tackle in the NFL. I mean I was. I think I was like a natural center also, So it's been fun for me to watch Sam. He's gotten better every time out there. Alex this past week. I like how how he's been physical. A couple of times he was probably taken too big of a first step lateral step on a run play and got pushed back a little bit. But that's the and that's the other thing that I like about Sam playing the center position on those each blocks. He's doing a nice job and he's not giving up

a lot of penetration. You know, Jay, One thing about the center position and Sam must have for playing he throws a conventional shotgun snap, and believe it or not, I've always think that is a real plus. It's a real positive because the assurance of the speed in the height of it. And then when you talk about the other snaps, like Cody used to do the knuckleball snap, the quarterback has to watch the flight of the ball and I don't I don't even think that knuckleball snap

was around and you played center. But what do you think about the evaluation of the specifics of Sam must have for shotgun snap. I haven't seen a problems with it. You know, As I said, he's a natural, and Cody was. He had to kind of adjust and learn the snap, and I think that was kind of an easy way to just to flip the ball back. You know, my my father, he was a longtime coach and he taught all of us kids in the backyard how to snap the ball. And he he always said, it's you know,

the team loses their long snapper. The easiest way to go, and if you don't have anybody that's a long snap or get in there and just flip an end over end like the shotgun guys are. So that's I think if you have trouble with that shotgun snap is as you go to something like that with Cody. But you know, the Bears are lucky to have a player like Cody Whitehair. I've always been a big fan of his. He's done a nice job at the center position, went to a Pro Bowl at the center position, and I think he

has the ability to play any position on that offensive line. Jay, what are you going to tell the offensive lineman if you're the center of the team about the awareness of J. J. Watt? You know it's he's there. He's there pass rusher, so you know, you just gotta know where he's at and identify him. Make sure you know where he's at and have the protection. And you know, Thoma's a lot like we did. You know, we recognize, we helped each other. We worked with each other, the whole five of us did.

And if we had a slide call and you didn't need to, we we check and make sure if we'd stay on that double team as long as you can tell you you have to slide out to pick up a blitzing linebacker or a slanting defense event from the inside, so you know, but jj Watt mainly plays on the outside, So you're going to see a little more that the guards getting out there and probably helping the tackle, keeping it in an eye, staying inside with an arm, but looking outside to where JJ Watt is at, and you

probably see a lot of chipping by the tight ends and running backs. Just to check it out. Bears Great, Jay Hilgenberg out the program. This is Bears All Access, brought to you by IGS Energy with Tom Fair, Jeff Joniac,

thanks to Mike Rankin, our producer. Tonight here at the score, I'll throw in my two cents because the first thing that I always see from JJ Watt and watching it again, and he's overcome some serious injuries here of three of the last four years, so his durability has not been great of late, but it's the relentlessness of the guy. So be prepared for the relentlessness of jj Watt. Because you look at the defensive numbers of this team and they're not good. They are tackling better of late, but

they are not good. And if you just look at the math, you're thinking, Wow, this is gonna be a breeze. But that's not the case. And he's not just the pass rusher. He's also an outstanding run defender and he lines up all over the place. But so when you deal with a guy that relentless, you got to match that, don't you. Oh, no question about it. Those are the scary guys, Jeff, the guys that never stopped, you know, keep moving their feet. And he that is JJ Watt.

He's relentless out there. Um, that's he's very impressive. I remember the last time he was here, though he didn't have too good of a game. I remember it was the big matchup of his teammate Gabe Kareemi going against him, and Gabe actually played a really nice job against j. J. Watt. But boy, that is a game that a lot of folks won't even remember. Gabe. Yeah, that's a various cantankerous name with Jay oh it is. Okay, maybe we should talk about it, or we're talking about a bunch of

Wisconsin football players instead of Hawkeyes. Okay, yeah, well yeah, soon you'll be talking a lot about some cyclone players in the National Football League where the rankings by the way seventh seventh. Yeah, what are you guys? Sixteen? You're lucky you didn't play I whether this year? Maybe maybe right about that, Hid Your coach is a great coach out there Iowa State. I just I don't hopefully he

stays there. Yeah, I know, I know exactly. Um, is this another matchup that both of you guys looking at that you can hopefully fuel up and fuel up that run game and run it a lot more than just twenty two attempts per game, which is the average because it's a team given up north of one hundred and fifty a game on the ground. Yeah, yeah, definitely. I think the Bears running attack has been better with this new lineup. They run the ball better with Mitch at quarterback.

But you look at the rushing stats of these least two teams of the league, they run the ball least than any other team in the NFL. I mean, the Bears have two hundred and sixty two carries, the Texans have two hundred and sixty four, and the Bears are thirty yards ahead of them. So I mean they're just

not gonna run the ball that much. It doesn't look like it, but it's just I think it's the Bears avanger are run the ball because if you look at the passing attempts, the passing attempts of the but the Bears and the Texans, the Bears have eighty more passes than the Texans. But the Texans have six hundred more yards. Yeah, the Bears pass more than any other team in the league in percentage, sixty six percent time. So yeah, so the answer to your question, Jeff is I'd like to

see the Bears run more. I mean, Montgomery's getting stronger, He's had some good games here back to back, and that inside of that offensive line. I like the way they're playing. Well. You know, the best way to keep warm on the field is run the ball well. And Seth Payne, who we were just talking about with from

the Houston Texans, he was asking the temperature already. So now if you have one of these warmer teams that are coming in and the conditions aren't perfect, the best way to really challenge your opponent is run the ball effectively. Keep your offense on the sideline, but try to take a stronghold of that running game and keep your offense warm,

keep your offense going, and keep your offense on the field. So, you know, Jay, I think that's the mentality these offensive linemen have to come out of the locker room this week is run the ball strong and you're gonna win the game. Oh yeah, no question. I think it seems like the weather could be a little iffy. It looks like and I agree with it's cold, get after him,

gets physical, you know. Well, so you know, I don't know how meaningful it is, but a little thing that I mean, the Bears could accomplish something they've never done here. They've never beaten the Texans oddly enough. Well, yeah, four meetings though, Yeah, you know, yeah that is true. Yeah, that is true. So let's knock down that door an end of the sixth game losing streak. Jay, appreciate you taking the time. They look forward to talk to you

on Sunday from Soldier Field. Oh guys, Jay Hilgenberg Bears Center, seven time consecutive Pro bowler, a great, great part of the history of the Chicago Bears. When we come back, we're gonna listen in to Jimmy Graham. He has named the Walter Peyton Man of the Year nominee representing the Bears well. Also here from David Montgomery. It's All Ahead on Bears All Access on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy to score. This segment of Bears All Access is brought

to you by Atletico Physical Therapy. Visit Athletico dot com to request an appointment in clinic or virtually and start feeling better. Tomorrow. Jeff Joniac along with Tom thare getting you ready for Bears Texans, and before we do that, everybody in the league getting there. Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year nominees out in Todaytom Jimmy Graham gets

the honor. A certainly very active in that regard in the community, in philanthropy, his own community work with his Jimmy Graham Foundation, which provides life changing and impactful experiences through the Freedom of Flight. We did a feature on that and uh, just really impressive what he's done with veterans and underprivileged youth. This is some of how he

feels about it. All complete another shock and you know, especially to be here in Chicago when it's named after Walter Payton, you know, and he is bigger than life what he did for this community, you know, even what he did for the Chicago Bears even bigger what he did for the NFL. He was a truly special man who had a heart that was bigger than most. You know. Obviously, when I first signed with the Bears, that was you know,

I mean, that was also on my mind. I knew, you know, Chicago, Chicago being the third largest city in the US this time that we were going through. You know, I was, you know, looking to help in any way that I could. So that was party number one after signing with the Chicago Bears. Was trying to make an impact and you know, trying to help people who couldn't

help themselves. And that was really my focus for my first few weeks, um being being in Chicago Bear you know, because I was I was that child even in high school that got that helping hand that completely changed my life. So for me, that was that That's always and forever will be one of the nearest and dearest things to my heart is is helping our youth out. You know, um, I understand exactly where they're coming from and how difficult

those times are. And you know, you you always feel like you know why me you know, uh, you know, I can't remember those days of why me? You know, how is this happening to me? Um? You know what makes me so different? You know? Why can't life be a little easier? So I was looking at helping anyway. I can't to all those kids that are just saying why me. And you'll read an article in Chicago Bears dot com written by Nathan Smith, one of the Bears writers on that site, and he talks about the story

of Jimmy coming to Chicago. The first thing you wanted to do was vet the financial records of local charity, and then had had the one that he wanted to pick, and so he helped ignite an organization that works at risk youth in Chicago time. You know, Jeff, there's a lot of NFL players that really have enormously big hearts, But a lot of times because the chance for us to talk to him is immediately following a game, whether you win or your lose, and you're not discovering that

part of them. But when the NFL went out there named the Man of the Year ward about Walter Payton, it kept his name alive and it meant a lot to these young guys who came up through the ranks and were being named as a recipient of a war named after Walter Payton considering the type of man he was. But Jimmy Graham is just a reflection of a lot of guys in the NFL, how much they care about people and how much they care about the causes that

they fight for. When you see the cause of the cleats for cause, you know what they did last week. And so I'm happy for Jimmy Graham, but I'm happy for every I on every team that's nominated for the Walter Peyton Award, and Bears cornerback Charles Tilman obviously the last winner representative Bears league wide and twenty thirteen, he's

the fifth one to win that honor. Peyton in seventy seven year old roommate from Notre Dame, Tommy, Dave Duerson, the late Dave Dewerson in eighty seven, Mike Singletary in nineteen ninety, and Jim Flanagan back in two thousand. That's amazing, you know, because you hear those names, and you know Jim Flanagan, you know, we haven't heard anything from him for years, and we on the unfortunate happening of Dave Duerson and everybody has, you know, knows the credibility of

guys like Mike Singletary. But every one of those names you mentioned were special men within their community during the time they played in Long After all right, one of those guys that, when no doubt one day get the same nomination as David Montgomery. He is a guy committed to community as well. He came from humble beginnings from Cincinnati to star at Iowa State and become an NFL draft pick. He'll be our feature on Bears Game Day Lives Sunday morning at ten thirty from Soldier Field in

our player profile feature. Here's a snippet of what you might hear. Hey, you and I should come from the same cloth a little bit. Iowa State Cyclones, Baby, Yeah, those boys are rolling right now. When you got there, you were a big part of a big culture change. A lot of the credit goes to you as well. That was from coach Campbell. But you know that was a three win season your first year. Would you learn from that that you can apply even to today's situation

that your own team right now is in. Yeah. Just being able to rely on the process, like I said, just being able to when it may not look good, just continue to do the small things and having that belief in your money or hard that you know it'll change. So I try to apply that to my everyday lifestyle, regardless of the situation. However it may look, how challenging hasn't been for you, because we know what you want

to be great, Rome wasn't building a day. I wouldn't say that I expected it to be a straight easy path. But miss gen our Dietestians in here she has this. It's not really a quote, but it's a depiction of two graphs, and there's two lines. They're both going up, and one arrows what you think success looks like, and it's just going up at a constant rate, no flutters

or anything else. But then on the other graph it says what the success actually looks like, and it's a line starting and then it just goes all over the place and it just ends going up. It may not look the way you want it to be and the moment, and it may not feel the way you wanted to in the moment, but it doesn't define you until the

story is written or it's done. So for me, I just want to be sure that I continue to just like I said, in store all my faith in the guy and let her know that I'm still behind and I always will be. But I'm also going to keep working hard, doing the small things, trusting the process, and being able to let my teammates know that we're going through this together, but we can get through it together as well. I read a story that was written about you.

I think back from Cincinnati when you were about to get drafted or whatnot. But the writer said his running style referring to David Montgomery, his running style is akin to his life path. No matter how many times you hit him, no matter how impossible his escape appears, he finds a way out. Did that man capture what you were all about? Yeah, that's the equivalence of my life.

Even in the midst of the moment right now, it goes back to me saying it will never look the way you want it to be, or would never feel the way you wanted to. But if you keep fighting and you keep giving all your faith to God, it'll work out. It sounds like you love fishing. Tell me about your level fishing, and have you have you headed out to Lake Michigan at all? I haven't a lake Michigan. But I haven't went to fish. I just was on a boat hanging out, but fishing. I love fishing. But

really my favorite thing to do is cook. That's my Yeah, that's my top tier thing to go to. UM when I have a little bit of time, I just put on something, some old school music, and I just kind of just let the cooking. Dude cooking. What's the old school music? I listened to my Michael Jackson here and there. I'm big on Luther Van Draws. I love some Luthor. I listened to Poc you know, all of the mainstream, big old school people back in the day. But some

Sam cook. Whatever I can do to kind of slow down the mojole, so I can just kind of let life slow down because it moves so fast. You don't really realize how fast it moves until listen it's done. Just like football. I've been playing football for a while, but Guile hasn't flown. He's being able to just let life slow down a little bit and just be able to love it for for us small amount of time

that you get. You know, one things that I love about doing these interviews is that you really find out a heck of a lot more about the guy, what's really cooking, you know, in the kitchen, so to speak. To steal his he gave me a whole menu, by

the way, complete meal that he's been making. So, you know, he's very introspective and unfortunately we don't have these face to face moments, but even through zoom, you can find out a lot if you just ask, you know, if they're willing to do it, if they're willing to talk about it. You know, I love listening to David Montgomery because he needs that type of exposure because he's such a great football player. He's a hard nosed guy, he's really dedicated. Then you'll learn a little bit more about

his personality. You know, Jeff, When I started cooking, and I think this is great for mothers. My mom used to put all the ingredients in a bag and then send it home with me. When I started cooking, she always knew that I had to call her a couple times while I was cooking, and all is she was doing it was trying to create conversation, and so I think that's important for all the people that are you know, we talked to Brent Urban. He's in a cooking David Montgomery.

He's in a cooking same way. Wait, but it was all instigated by my mom, who wanted to have conversation when we weren't together. It was through cooking that she knew how to create it. Very interesting. Didn't know that about you? Okay, very good. We're gonna take a break. Our final segment coming up, we'll look at some of Tom's key points for a Bears victory. Hey, gotta get rid of this six game slide somehow, some way, Texans

in town. On Sunday, this is Bears Out Access on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy the Score Everybody in the Chicago Bears Network presents Inside the Bears, brought to you by Verizon and Anthony Adams and Laurens Greed and cover the world of Bears football, out and off the field, every Sunday night at eleven o five pm on Fox thirty two Chicago, or watch anytime at Chicago Bears dot

Com or on the Bears official app. Just ahead of Thursday Night football New England at six and six taking on the Rams at eight and four should be an interesting battle there, indeed, but we're gonna focus on what the Bears have to do to beat the Houston Texans.

One thing I want to bring up now he didn't practice this week yet, but with Duke Johnson and David Johnson out of the backfield, they're both excellent path receivers in and do some damage if they both play, and I'm not certain that's going to be the case and the Bears take away the receivers. I mean, it seems like you keep springing leaks a little bit offensively on what to stop. Is that an area of concern for

you in the passing game? My biggest area of concern is Deshaun Watson being able to extend the pocket, extend time behind the line of scrimmage, because if he creates fatigue within the defensive pass rush, you're taking away one of the most important elements away from the Bears defense to be successful as a team. So to me, if they're throwing it to the running back out of the backfield,

you can limit the success of those yards. I don't want the big strike plays downtown after Deshaun Watson scrambles behind the line of scrimmage for six or seven seconds. In the last couple of weeks, we've seen how haunting a three man rush with no pressure has been from Aaron Rodgers to Matthew Stafford. So when you're talking about rushing Deshaun Watson, you better make you better compromise him, you know, and make him get the ball out of

his hands. Yeah, it doesn't throw him any interceptions. He does get sacked, but he doesn't throw them any interceptions. Just six all year ahead and one didn't once since Week six, but it was stripped out of the hands. I think of Brandon Cooks, otherwise he would have had that street continue. But overall, in terms of what they're doing and what they've done against some really good teams, is this a better four and eight team than it looks? Oh? Yeah.

Like like Seth mentioned, you go look at the record of the opponents that they've lost games too. I think every one of them has a winning record. So you know, they've lost against some quality opponents, and you know, there's there's a tremendous amount of respect for the athleticism that's you know, in the quarterback position today and Deshaun Watson as a heck of an athlete. So you know, maybe

that's where the responsibility falls on the Bears offense. You better be a time consumption offense that results in touchdowns and then you put a little bit more stress on the offense of the Houston Texans, But it's really about time of possession of the Bears offense. What the heck is going to happen in this third quarter? Fourteen points

all year? I mean I went back some twenty five years and granted there's still four games left, but you just don't see that kind of number, you know, in the third quarter, right, I mean to me, I I would be willing to scratch every other element of practice other than kind of only making it have one one day. That's only that's committed to coming out of the locker room, and I, you know, kind of make up these falls as you know, where I keep people in meetings and

I have them come out boom. We have third quarter. I have a script in the third quarter. I have plays that I practice, and you know, you kinda like I said, you try to create an atmosphere for at least one day, that's all you think about. Yeah, I believe, And I'm certain they've scripted some of it. I mean, you would think they went up tempo last week. It didn't. It didn't. It didn't drive. It didn't work. I heard I think Shanahan kle Shanahan and scripts the eight plays

of the second half. I mean, there's no doubt that they do some of that. We have we have less than thirty seconds. Okay, you can prepare during the week the script your first place, but you don't know the adjustments they're going to make defensively in that halftime. All right, Tom, we're out of time. There's an I football coming up here on the score. Thanks to all our guests, Thanks to Mike Rankin and everybody at home for listening. For Tom Bear. I'm Jeff jonnyak will talk down the radio

Sunday from Soldier Field. Not I am pregame noon kickoff. This is news. I almost said the wrong thing there. I almost said my my real station that I work at. But this is Chicago Sports Radio six seventy discore. Good night, everybody, Thanks for listening to this Chicago Bears Network presentation of Bears All Access. Podcasts are available on Chicago Bears dot com and on iTunes or download the official Bears mobile app.

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