Cut over that DJ Moore episode Touchdown Touchdown Pair. I am Jeff Joniyan Glitzes on don go.
What was like playing for coache Goodgo.
I don't want to answer any questions like that pressure coming is a big trouble Donnie Goes, Montest Sweat.
Now Bears, et cetera brought to you by Geico with the voices of the Bears, Jeff Joniac and Tom Thayer. Nine games in the NFL decided by one score in Week eight, Unfortunately, the Bears at the center of the drama after an agonizing twelve second play that actually was seventeen seconds snapped to finish that ended in a Noah Brown touchdown on a Hail Mary launch by Washington rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels and the Bears go down in DC
with Super Bowl winning Bears guard Tom There. I'm Jeff Joniak. Episode one oh six of the Bears et Cetera podcast is brought to you by Geico. All I gotta say is what a Sunday Tom. If you love the sport, if you love the excitement, you're loving the NFL, which now I believe is up to sixty six games decided by one score so far in this first half of the season, NFL record. But when you're on the losing end of it, the pain is real. But just like a win, you gotta flush it. You gotta flush the
loss and tuck it away somewhere. I don't know how you feel as a broadcaster, I know how you'd feel as a player. As a broadcaster, I think this one's gonna sit for a couple of days.
Yeah, I can't flush it. I need to get out the plunger and help it down because I can't get rid of it. And I've been a part of nearly eight hundred games as a player and a broadcaster, and this is the first time I've ever been a part
of this. And I think the winning end is as exciting as the losing end is disappointing, because in the reality of watching it last night from the booth as you and I were seeing it, the overwhelming disappointment of watching the opponent catch the ball in the end zone and knowing that all the effort that the players put in to fight a great comeback, to be resilient about getting themselves an opportunity to win that game, and then it all go down The drain within that seventeen seconds.
As I sit here today, it's still hard to get over.
I remember I said, what felt like two seconds on the board felt like twenty so I was a little off, but I was in the right area code. It felt like.
It was that way his you know, the quarterback scrambling ability and then almost the flight of the football was the great unknown of what was going to happen.
He scrambled for over forty yards back and forth.
Yeah, I mean, I guess that's what you have to do when you know that you have to allow your receivers to get in position to make that type of play. It's not something you can have a five step drop back, throw the ball up in the air and let those guys be in position. So he scrambled long enough to you know, have the results they have. And we are
talking about a little earlier. I remember playing the Denver Broncos on Monday Night football and John Elway scrambled against our great defense for thirteen seconds, lined up in the same spot in the field that Jayden Daniels did. Let a pass go downfield and it was like a twenty seven to twenty eight yard completion that factored in the outcome of the game. So yeah, you have this memory recall of maybe I've seen this before, but the end result, I haven't seen that.
Before, which is something because there have been plenty of hail mary's and plenty that have hit. But to be a part of all that, I mean our one season which was my first at the mic. You know, the Bears back to backs against San Francisco and Cleveland, the walkoffs with Mike Brown's interceptions. But one of those games was Shane Matthews of James Allen that would be considered a hail mary into the end zone that forced overtime. Right now, that was about as close as I remember.
But you know, you mentioned Elway, and I think with certain quarterbacks and you could never do this as a player, but as a viewers, as a broadcaster, I'm not sweating many quarterbacks to heave it that far down the field and have something like that happen. Certain quarterbacks, Yes, John Elway, Aaron Rodgers, Johnny Yanidis. Yeah, Jaden Daniels has got a arm on him. He just whips the football and so he launched that thing from his thirty five yard line.
So you know he's got he's got the scrambling ability, and that's the key ingredient of even setting yourself up for this opportunity, because even if you go back and you look at the Peyton Mannings or the tom Brady's, they don't have the escapability Dan Marinos the escapability to extend to play for that long before they have to
get rid of the ball. So he's a uniquely talented kid, and I think he and Caleb will see each other on the field, and everybody's always going to have a big interest and it's always going to be a story that's revisited every time Jalen and Caleb line up against each other.
The weird part is, and we mentioned in the broadcast, Caleb did that exact same thing just ten miles away at Gonzaga Prep College Prep, in that big hail Mary that put him really in the national spotlight. Pulled it out almost the same length, same scenario, scrambling to find time and at the high school level there. But the other thing about it is too is that when a game like this happens, you just hope that it doesn't
come back to haunt you. And you could say that about any play obviously that casts you a game, but you just hope that it doesn't cost you, and especially what if.
It improves you? Though? How about if it makes you a better football team because of what you just faced, what Tyreek Stevenson has just faced the message inside the locker room to everybody that has to pay attention to it. And we talked a little bit about the resiliency in the flight of this football team to get themselves back in the big play to Keenan Allen, not the interference,
but the scramble throw by Caleb to Keenan. So there are plays and there are instances in time that you have to really take into account what they meant in this game.
Takets like Miller Time. Go to Middle lank dot com slash bears pod to find delivery options near you. Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Ninety six calories and three point two carbs per twelve ounces. All right, So Tarik Stevenson, we're gonna hear from him. We're gonna hear from Cole Comet and Kevin Byern. They were made available on Monday
to the media. But first our sit down interview with the head coach, Mattyberflus each week the status at haus with coach all right man, thanks for joining us once again, appreciate your time. First, befall before we get into the tape, and what you saw. Mood of the team. I think that's always important to address after a win or loss, and it's particularly one this way.
Yeah, I would say that the mood of the team is good. You know.
I know the guys are still disappointed, you know, meeting with them today day after the game, but you know they're also encouraged, you know, because of the things we did, you know, to be able to come down from a you know, twelve zero deficit and to be able to get ourselves in winning position at the end of that game was was really good by the whole group.
You know.
We had to obviously had a nice drive going there. We fumbeled the ball in the one, the defense responding with US three and out. We get down there again and then have the ability to you know, score a touchdown.
We're a really good third down.
Conversion by Rome on third and ten, you know, and then also Keenan Allen being able to draw that that file the DPI puts US at to one and then we punched in on a second play, which is really good. And uh, you know, so we were at scoring position
there in defense. You know, I know that they had a couple of yards on them, but you know, we played good on third down, really played a lot of really good red zone defense and held into you know, four field goals, which is which is pretty good versus that particular offensive group that's been scored a bunch of points.
So a lot of good takeaways from this.
And again we didn't execute on the last play the way we wanted to the way we had in the past and the practice. But again that's been addressed and we'll work to get.
Better there going forward.
But again there's a lot of positives to take from this particular game, and you know, the guys see that, and the guys are.
Working working to improve.
And again we just ripped off three wins in a row, and you know, this was a hard fought battle and again we ended up coming up short. But there's again, after every performance and every every time you play, there's only something good and something you could work on to improve on.
Is it okay to have a little anger, I mean as a player, as long as it's channeled properly, correct.
Anger as long as it's channel in the winning and bringing the team together. If there's anger, you know, and you know, a little bit mad or pissed off, how do you want to say it? And it's and it's dividing and pulling people apart, then it's not good, you know, because then it's about you and it's about being selfish.
And I don't tolerate that.
But I do tolerate guys that are passionate that they care and they are pissed and they want to work to improve and bring the team together and work on themselves to make the team better too.
I know you spoke to Tyreek. I know he's speaking to the media today, but in a private moment, is he angry at himself?
Yeah?
I believe he is, you know, so I didn't visit with him privately, And you know, the big main message to him was how can we use.
This to develop and how can we use this to grow?
And as a player, because he's made a bunch of plays for us, He's done multiple things well for us over the course of his time with us, and he's made real impactful interceptions, tackles and he's a really good player and he's one of ours. So we got to make sure that we you know, obviously you know, work with him to improve. But again there's also for him.
This is going to take a minute to get over because it was it was a big deal just about his focus and attention to detail in terms of in that moment.
Yes, because then as a head coach and you know his position, coach, John Holk, I mean, I'm certain you're going to watch him this week because you got to make sure it doesn't impact his next performance he doesn't go into the tank a little bit or he feels he can't show that same emotion. I mean, yes, something should not have been done like that, no question about it. You can never excuse it, but you can't multiply the problem now right.
Yeah, And I think that it's it's important to use it as fuel, you know, to really, you know, for your next performance. You know, so you could always use adversity in a good in a good way, you know, really use it as fuel to make you motivated to improve, you know, motivated to do it better and make you a better player.
From watching the tape, let's go in the defense the bend no break that happened multiple times three you know, I think three red zone field goals, which you'll take any day in those situations. What was the what's been the key to the red zone defense? You guys are now number one and a red zone touchdown efficiency allowed this season under forty percent conversion for touchdowns, A big reason why your defense is playing so well in the
big picture. What's what's the key in what you've seen on tape in the red zone defense.
Yeah, it's always going to come back to the players. You know, the players are doing a really good job of executing the calls in there. The guys know where they're supposed to be when they're supposed to be there, and they're doing a good job of that. But in the offseason, we did a really good job of studying that. You know, we really had to improve on that from last year. That in third downs, that was going to be a big point of ephesis for us, and I
think we've improved on both those so far. And again it's the year is still young, but we got to keep working it and making sure the looks are right and making sure we're executing the calls down there. But we put a lot of time and attention to it from a from a coach's standpoint, but also, like I said, it comes down to the players executing those calls.
All right, look to the offense. Caleb obviously struggled to find completions just ten for the game, finished those six of eight. How was it that he was able to mentally stay in the focus of the game plan despite that and still managed to put the Bears in a position to win the game.
Yeah, So you know, it's about the grind, right, He's got to be a grind through it, you know. And we were fortunate that our defense, you know, kept us in that position to win the game, and special teams. Our special teams played really well yesterday. The kickoff cover,
the kickoff return, putt return. We have really good protection obviously toy on the punt and pins you know, created those field positions for our defense to be able to get those three and outs or set the field for our offense, you know, in the in the last part of the games. But you know, I think as a team, I think all together performed well going down to stretch as a couple of plays.
You know, everybody's talking.
About the Doug Kramer play and talking about the last play, but there's a lot of plays in between that where we executed well and did a nice job in terms of coming together to find a way to win that game. And again we just came up short. And that's what
everybody's disappointed about. But in terms of Caleb, I believe that, you know, he just has to find his rhythm, you know, inside the offense and really do a good job of you know, when the titans are there and the backs are there in those in those lower part of the intermediate, you know, in the shallow routes, you know, really just take take the layups there. And again they weren't open every time, and the protection wasn't great all the time.
But again I thought we did a decent job you know, going into the second half in terms of having that protection. You know, with all those different players and combinations in there, that what to me was was really impressive. Doug Kramer's
coming in, their Quran's coming in there. You got different guys moving around, and you know, I thought for the most part, you know, with with that being said, you know, all the different combinations did a solid job of in the second part of the game there of keeping it pretty solid.
Yeah, let's even let's talk about Amagaji because you know, as Tom always says, there's no notification you're in.
That's it.
You know, you've got to be ready to go and you prepare to play, no matter what your position or place on the depth chart is. I watched it all, you know, you know, I'm not the expert obviously, but I thought he handled himself quite well. Sure, there's some things he'd like to have back and work on technique, It's always going to be the case for any offensive lineman on any given day. But just kind of frame what he did in the situation that in a high pressure situation.
Yeah, I mean to come in there and execute the way he did. You know, I think he had some really good pass procepts. You know, I think he really really did a nice protecting all bad times.
You know.
Obviously, I think he was laid out a couple, you know, opened the gate a little bit of a couple. So that's you're going to have that, you know, as a as a young player. But for the most part, it was was pretty consistent. You know, again he's again he's got to improve, you know, it was you know, it was overall was it was. It was a good performance. But not you know, up to his up to where he can be. And again that's just all part of getting in there, getting that exposure.
Yeah, and you guys have learned a lot about him how he worked in this offseason, working through that quad uh tear. So that was from last season obviously in college, So you learned a lot, You bank rolled a lot of information on him. And do you feel he made a lot of strides despite his injury, even metal reps.
Yeah, yeah, I really do.
That showed when he came in and played, so you know it was it was a good, good performance in terms of his first performance, but again we looked.
To get better from here.
Swift's n't he.
Yeah, exciting to see him play. You know, he was really the energizer, you know, you know, defense hold him to the field goals and the special teams and then all of a sudden, now we get that big, that big run over fifty plus yards, really good blocking on the perimeter and the guys did a really good job with that. But again, you got a player like like Swift that
can gass it all the way. You know, some guys can't take it all the way like that, you know, and he's one of those guys that's dynamic that way in terms of his you know, his h his ability to cut and move, and his ability to take it take a home run, you know, with his speed. So it was exciting to see that. Then he had a really cool run in the fourth quarter. You know, he hurt it over. That guy had good ball security. Really gave us a lot of energy there, you know, going down to stretch.
I want to mention Tory Taylor real quick because five inside the twenty one shive of a Bear single game record. So some weeks he's kicking sixties, other weeks he's just trying to place it. He really does every every club in the bag, and his performance should be noted. That's a pretty significant game right there.
Yeah, there was four Putton pins and what we deem as a putt and pin. It was a really good job, you know, be able to set the field there, you know for us defensively, and then we took advantage of that a couple of times. A couple of times we didn't. We let him out of there a couple of times. But we've got to make sure that we take advantage of that every time. So we st set the field at midfield for our.
Offense, five punts down inside of the Washington twenty, tied for the most by any punter in the NFL this season. All right, now another road test before you'll get three straight at home. I got to finish up this this chunk of road games in Arizona against a team you beat at Soldier Field last Christmas Eve. Kyler Murray had returned by then. I noticed that he's had great success with Trade McBride, the tight end bridging last season of
this season, some really significant production. What do you look at their offense real quick?
Yeah, just about you know, it's always about Kyler right in his ability to move out of the pocket extend plays. You know, that's always going to be something that you talk about with him, and he's got done a good.
Job of that.
I know they've scored a lot of points to start the season, you know, and have been down in the last couple of weeks. But again, a two big win for those guys here in the last two weeks.
But it's going to be a big challenge for our guys.
Yep, no easy outs in the NFL. As this weekend proved, what a lot of crazy last second finishes nine games decided by one score, so once again, the league's on a record pace for one score wins sixty six through week eate.
Crazy.
Yeah, that's what it all comes down to.
That's what we talked about the tving today, about the in the game, in the game scenarios and executing those calls and executing those plays, you know, at a really high rate in terms of being consistent and being on your job and being on the screws dinner. So again, we'll keep repping those and looking at those and making sure we're doing everything the right way.
All right, Matca Lucky be the prep this week. We'll talk to you next week. So yes, he is going to look at a lot of the positives that led the Bears to put themselves in a position to win the game. And that's what he does every week, winner, lose,
and the stuff you have to work on. So what are the building blocks from your perspective of what went well despite a slow star offensively going seven drives, shout out on the first seven drives of the game, and then hope arrived when DeAndre Swift takes that crack toss left fifty six yards.
Yeah, you know, just The thing about it is as challenging as it was for the offense to go out there and gain yards get into scoring position. It didn't happen until they had that nice sweep that was led by karn Amagaji and DeAndre Swift filed as blockers and was able to get into the end zone right there. If you look from the you look from the end zone to the sideline, it's a whole different football team.
They're motivated, they're excited, they know they're back in the game, they know that this thing has just started because there's still time left in the third quarter and then the Bears have an opportunity to come back. And I think it kind of ignited the fight in the Bears, in these players, and that's what I was excited to see. But I know earlier in your interview with coach Fluse, you talked about the red zone efficiency of the Bears defense.
And I think you know, Jeff, as we set up there broadcasting this game every time over the last in the Rams game, in the Carolina game, every time a team kicked a field goal, we never lost sight that the Bears can win this game. Yeah, if they keep them to those field goals and that's what they did with that nine to noth in the lead.
You know, would have been too bad. I mean, it's too bad he was out with an injury. That was Montese sweat. If he was in there on that final drive because he eats grass. He's the guy that can track down Jaydon Daniels and put pressure on him even on a double team. So that would have been That's too bad that that happened. That's a victim of circumstance.
There, all right.
So a lot of the guys had plenty of sand the locker room after the game. You saw, they wore it on their faces. They had that stare that comes with losing something you thought you had. But Cole Comet had some really important things to say about the outcome of this game. I think it's it's worth listening to right here, Bears tight end.
Cole Comet, Yeah, well, I mean from Tyreek, Uh just kind of stood up and, you know, in a way said that what he did was was unacceptable and uh that he's got to be on the p's and q's there and you know, which which we all appreciate. I think, uh, you know, unfortunately, in that scenario, like he's a guy, you know, and gets caught with somebody with a camera and and obviously the result to play that happens and
all those type of things. But I think it's a really, uh a good lesson for everybody to learn from in
terms of how to respect the game. And I think we had examples of that throughout the game and quite frankly throughout the week of practice this past week, where you know, there's there's moments where maybe some guys lay off here and there, and those are the type of things that can happen when you do that for for just a split second, and you know, it doesn't always come to bite you in the butt, but when it does,
it hurts, and that's the that's the unfortunate. And I would also say beauty of this game is that you know, you disrespect it in a certain way and it'll come to haunt you in some form of fashion. So I think it's a learning experience for everybody. We all play with a lot of passion. Tyreek plays with a lot of passion, and we all love him for that, but there's definitely a respect level of the game and knowing that you got to finish it out into those double zeros at the clock. Cool.
I've got a separate question.
But when you said there's moments in practice where people lay off, what do you mean?
Just wanted to clarify what you're saying.
Yeah, it's more of a general thing. I'm not not necessarily whether it's how you operate in the weight and this is all like things done in the dark, things that you only you know personally. And that's like if you're in the weight room, are you doing all six reps? Or are you doing five reps and getting out of there? Are you you know, when you're on the field, are you getting the jugs after practice? Are you doing this?
Or is your footwork correct? And the walkthrough and just those little things that can't necessarily always be addressed by a coach or another teammate, but things that you do in the dark that really come to fruition on game day. And I think that's what respecting the game is. And if you relentlessly respect the game, I think you you'll
get the results that you want. And unfortunately, if you know, if you get caught disrespecting the game in some form or fashion, it does come to get you at some point.
Tom is a former player yourself, and how much we enjoy Cohle's conversation. I thought he crystallized the whole moment there, right, There's no other way to put it. You have to respect the game at all times, otherwise it's gonna come back to bite you.
Is there any one word out of his interview that you come back and you think about it? He used the word dark a lot, there's a dark place, and you got it. What do you do in the dark? Do you do five reps when you need six? Do you have the correct footwork and the walkthrough when you know that?
Well, when no one's watching, what are you doing?
Right?
Yeah? And that's the thing about it is I I like that message by Cole because, as you know, Jeff, this is probably one of the first times I listened to him that I can think captain, I can think leader. I could hear it in his voice. I can hear the frustration and the determination, And I thought it was a great interview. And I really liked how he represented himself the individual, not everybody, the individual, how he represented himself and his role in the importance of everybody's role.
All Right, the man that's getting talked about league wide right now. Obviously on social media, it's a big conversation. But Tyreek Stevenson spoke to the team, then spoke to the media via zoom on Monday, explained his stance on everything. Didn't get into the weeds on exactly what he said, but took responsibility for engaging the crowd. He says it was Bears fans. He was just trying to pump up, but for some four seconds of that play, his back
was turned before the play started. So I've never seen that in an NFL game before. I don't think you have either. Uh, but it can't happen again. Let's listen to Tyreek.
Honestly, just letting my teammates down in a situation that we pretty much know how to handle on any day, you know, pretty much with.
Our eyes closed.
So I would say only regret I have from yesterday is just letting this team down from you know, working hard and coming back and putting us putting ourselves in a in a in a in a w column, you know, just for me to be out of place and you know, do do do something that's out of character of me and just you know, costs us a loss.
What's your process now of kind of gathering yourself emotionally and also dealing with what is going to be kind of a tsunami of outside criticism.
Hey, wor everybody.
Honestly, my my focus is on this building and how the people in this building field.
Understand that's anger.
Understand you know, somebody ticket I understand that the things that go outside of the building that could you know, possibly affect how somebody feels and all that. But you know, to be honest, I'm worried about the opinion of the building. And you know, if you know, these guys got my back, and that's how I'm moving forward.
Tyreek.
It looks like in the video that you're talking to fans since the ball is snapped, and then Matt said today that your obligation was to go box out. Noah Brown, when you run in and you leap, are you trying to make an interception? Are you trying to bat the ball down? And is doing that related at all? Trying to kind of prove what prove a point or anything like that?
Nah? The play was I opposed a box out? Eighty five had to be out to play? Was you know, cheering on just cheering with some Bears fans when taughting no fans, was just sharing with some Bears fans and the Washington fans react to how they wanted to.
And my goal, My.
Job was to box out eighty five and you know when I went up to hit the balls pretty much to knock it down interceptions and then you know, especially in the close game like that, so uh, just try to make a make a play for my team. And you know, he either could have went either could have went, oh, Tyreek, you know, good pass not down.
Or when the situation we're in.
Right now, when the ball was your back was turned to the ball when it was snapped, what was your thought process when you turn around and you saw receivers running down the.
Field pretty much to get in my space and all my.
Space, Tyreek?
What was when you get to the locker room and when you get on the plane, what was what was that experience?
Like it's like every other loss, quiet, you know, everybody to theyself trying to figure out what the individual could have did better to you know, help help the team win.
So pretty much like any other loss.
Heb told us just a couple of minutes ago that he's you know, he've used it his his responsibility to like pick you up in these moments. What has the response been from your teammates?
Today's pretty much just picking me up, because you know, any day, if this happened to anybody else, any anything else would have went down like this or any other teammate, we all would have been there just for them, just as they do it for me.
So a lot of encouraging words from the guys, a lot of love and I know a lot of picky heads up. You know, let's focus on next week. So great energy coming from the team. Can't ask for nothing better.
Trek Matt told us this morning that you addressed the team and a team meeting.
How did that come about and what message did you want to give.
To your teammates? Honestly, I can't.
Honestly do them feel like I should probably share what intimate side of me that I shared with the guys, because you know, I let them down and them guys hold me to high standards, such as everybody in this building. But to give you the brief message, just you know, I probably apologize in them voice for letting them down. I let the moment get too big, and it's something that you know can't never happen again.
It won't ever happen again.
To the to the coaching side of it, Tyreek, have the what of the coaches said and have beyond telling you you shouldn't have done that? Are there any consequences for it? Beyond that?
I don't think there's no consequences. As of right now, we haven't met having met with the coaches that we've been going over film and doing walkthroughs and trying to get everything corrected. So honestly, I can't give you no details on that.
But how do you play with an edge like you do, but not over overdo it like you've also done? Is how tricky is that for you? Do you think that's kind of a maturity thing that you need to go through or just you know something? How do you improve on that? How do you without taking away the edginess that makes you you know who you are? How do you how do you kind of refine that?
I don't think it has nothing to do with my level of play. I think it's more of a mental part of the game that I should improve on far as just figuring I mean not figuring out. It's like understanding that the game ain't over to all zeros on the clock, no matter if we're up about thirty or we up by one point, you know, So I would just say probably the mental game is just staying locked in through the whole sixty minutes instead of you know, instead of just you know, fifty eight minutes.
You know, the game could come down to any any.
Type of play such as it did yesterday, and no, I got to realize that this is the NFL.
After the unnecessary roughness penalty, Is there ever a moment to yourself for you thinking I'm reving up too high here, I've got to doll it in. Or does anybody approach you and say, hey, you got to lock in here after that penalty?
Oh yeah, No, there's always correction after appenally like that. Uh, it's just you know, being a football player and being on the field and having your emotions and genuine pumping, sometimes things get a little bit out of character. And if it happens to me, if it happens to any other guys, we always, you know, quick the nip it in the butt and let each other know, like you know, that that ain't who we are and that in our standards.
So a couple of guys, let me know, let me know.
I got to keep my cool, and you know, at some point you got to keep my cool.
Erry Mark asked you a couple of minutes ago about consequences being part of this team when when the standard is violated? What is the sense of accountability? What should be the accountability from one teammate to another in situations like this?
Pretty much what pretty much what's going on on? You can't do nothing. You can't take back the game it was yesterday. I understand the emotions and how everything flared up, but pretty much anything that a teammate could do, it's pretty much just point out the problem, address it how they feel it. And you know, if I don't respect that teammate, then I take it a certain way.
But I respect all these guys and I love all these guys.
So all I could do is take it on the chin and you know, letting them boys know that you know, this won't ever happen again. They ain't got to worry about, you know, me me playing out a character like that again.
So Tyreek, you know he answered the questions I mean, and he is right in one aspect of this. You can't undo what happened, it's done now, and you learn from it, and you just can't go down that path ever again.
Okay, then let's not go down that path ever again. That's all I leave it at. I don't want to see another personal file out. I don't want to see you poking your finger in the face of an opponent. I don't want to see all that extracurricular activity that can lead the Bears as a football team into negative yardage. And yeah, you better have learned a lesson. That's a teachable lesson to everybody in the NFL about what not to do in those important instances of time. You talk
about the time of the play. He scrabbled for however many seconds then he released the ball. The flight of the ball took time, and so there's a lot that goes into the entirety of that play by the time from the time they break the huddle to the time that catches made. But I just want Tarik to accept accountability and understand that these infractions can ever happen again.
Have a new or gently used coat laying around. Head to your local jewe Alasco until February tenth and donate one of your new or gently used coats to the thirty six annual Chicago Bears Coat Drive help keep Chicago ins warm this winter. A guy Tony Medlin spearheads that for a long long time. It means everything to him, It means everything to the organization. I know it means
a lot to you two. You're a big contributor of that as am I, and will continue to do so on behalf of those who need it as the winter months are fast approaching. Right. We love what Tony does.
Listen, man, I think the coach Drive is one of the greatest things the Bears ever started doing. And you know they're Gary Hager, the old equipment manager for the Bears. He had a big part of putting this whole thing together. And Tony is spearheaded it ever since he's been the
head equipment manager. And when I see people walk in the streets of Chicago during the wintertime and I don't see them with sufficient and enough clothing or a jacket on, I think back about this cod drive and I just want them to keep on doing it, and anybody and everybody who can participate, please participate, because it's not You're not giving up any time or effort all you're doing is you're going into your closet and you say, I haven't put this coat on in five years. It can
certainly help somebody else. Go there and deliver it to wherever these bins are offered to the general public and help somebody stay warm.
And thank you to a long time partner with the Bears, jewel Osco, for their assistance as well. All right, digging back in, Kevin Byard also was at the center of that Hail Mary Throwbike Daniels in the catch by Brown for the win. He also discussed his teammate and landed support right where it needs to be, because teammates have to take care of teammates no matter what, and that's what Bayern's doing with Tyreek Stevenson.
You know, at the end of the day, you know it's a tough way to lose. You never know what's going to be to play. But I always kind of look at it whereas though like we shouldn't have been in that place playing that situation in the first place. There's a lot of plays that we could point to h during that game deficiently offens best teams whatever it may be. Tours though we don't have to be defending the last play hell Mary to lose the game like that.
Obviously it was an exciting game playoff atmosphere. But yeah, obviously I know Tarka's kind of you know, been getting hammered rid of it was social media and obviously been in meetings and things like that.
But I'm gonna support my guy.
I think for him, it's gonna be a great lesson for him just as we go forward throughout this season and just in life period, you know what I mean, just you know, how to be able to handle his adversity. And you only lose when you don't learn. And I think he's gonna learn from it and we'll get better from it.
As a captain, k how do you help him gather himself understanding that one he's an emotional player and two that there's a lot coming at him from the outside right now.
Yeah, Like I said, man, it's life.
You know, Like if you know, if any of you is, you know, have any children or anything like that, you know, if your children does something that you're disappointed in or you don't like, does not mean that that's not your child anymore, you know what I mean?
You still love them, You still love on them.
You know, you can chastise them, you can hold them accountable, but you still love him at the end of the day. And Ricaus our brother. He's my brother, and I will continue to love on him and support him. And you know, like I said, I know it's going to be a lesson learned from him, and I believe that he'll learn from this lesson. And he addressed the team without anybody asking, and you know, kind of set his piece and said what you need to say.
And I thought it was a great message.
Just apologizing, it's saying that you know, he wasn't locked in and things like that. So that just shows growth right there within hisself. So that's all you can hope for in a situation like that. And like you said, we'll continue to support him.
All right.
Everything we're hearing is what leaders need to say. They need to be out in front. And Byard is a team captain as well.
Tom any thoughts, Yeah, I mean, listen, Kevin Byer's got a world of experience. He's got years of experience that Tyreek hasn't even scratched the surface of yet. But he also understands what type of player Tyreek Stevenson can be if he stays focused in on his job as a football player and what it can mean to the rest
of his life and the future of his family. So Kevin Byard is just trying to give advice to a child because he talks about the importance of having kids and how you teach them lessons, and when you look at the life of a football player, Tyreek is a child compared to a parent that Kevin Byard can be. It's not an insult and I'm not trying to mince words or mix words, but Kevin Byard has got a world of experience in the NFL that he can help teach Tyreek some really important preparation lessons.
We're brought to you by PNC Official Bank of the Bears. All right, let's dig into this a little bit deeper. Let's go defensively, because the defensive line was quite active, Tom They had a lot of tackles in this game, which you want to see twenty nine combined tackles by the defensive lineman only I'm not talking linebackers or anything like that. So that was pretty good production. Javon Dexter at four solos, Montese sweat three hits on the quarterback
in a sack. At the linebacker level, Tremaine Edmunds the tackle leader with ten TJ six taps. Edwards also had a sack. And the three running backs that were of concern to me in this game, they only had three catches for seventeen yards. So I thought, overall, despite four hundred and eighty one yards of offense, and you take the sixty one yard completion of Terry McLaurin, scary Terry and then the hail Mary, that's one hundred plus right there,
it looks a little more manageable. But overall, I thought the defense spent, they didn't break. They managed things at the linebacker level, which was part of your big key to the game.
Actually yeah, but you know, yeah, yardage production is one thing. Keeping them out of the end zone for touchdowns as another thing. So if you allow them to be productive in their offense from their goal line to the thirty yard line, you know, that's part of you know, being a good defense. When you skid inside the red zone inside the twenty and you become a stingy defense and keep them out of the end zone, that's what really matters. And so I understand there's a lot of yard cards
giving up. They have a lot of playmakers on that football team. Jayde and Daniels did some nice job in scrambling when he had to. However, they kept him to nine early points and you know, kept themselves in the opportunity to play up until the last play.
Of the game, right and they did miss a field goal that you know, maybe that size up front was a little too much for Austin Cybert kicking from distance because he didn't get any elevation on that kick. He might have scraped the ground at first when he wound up to make that kick. Also, a terrific job by Tory Terry Taylor in the punt game. Five inside the twenty, I think three inside the ten. So that's playing good chess match defense with your leg. Among the top backs
in the league right now is DeAndre Swift. Tom last four weeks had some really good productions getting into the end zone. I'd like to see him more involved in the passing game, honestly, right out of the gate. I know you agree, get the tight ends and the backs involved. Those are the easy completions that Caleb couldn't find in the early part of the game, and it kind of lingered until late when he went six to eight. But finding ten completions is not enough, obviously.
No.
I'm glad you transitioned though, to DeAndre Swift to Caleb, because I think the best thing you can do for Caleb and a young developing quarterback is to have him have a decisionless process at the line of scrimmage where he's not audible concerned, where he knows if he has an outlet passed to a wide receiver. He's not thinking
about reading defenses and changing the play. He's concerned about efficiently getting the snap of the ball off correctly and getting the ball out of his hands into the hand of a playmaker, that being DeAndre Swift or any of the other backs. So I think the best process we can talk about there is how DeAndre Swift can improve the thinking process for Caleb to make him a more complete, efficient and decision making quarterback.
Good New Chicago United Airlines is getting brand new planes with all the bills and whistles, like Bluetooth connectivity screens at every seat in room for everyone's rollerbag. United Pride to flout, United Proud to fly the Chicago Bears, and you too, let's take a look at the Cardinals, because this is a team I didn't put a lot of faith at all on their defense, but their defense is playing actually a little bit better than I thought they would.
And then with Kyler Murray, obviously, now we have to be really aware of what he does with his legs. He does not take direct hits. If you're going to try and deck them, he's gonna slide first or get out of bounce, he'll go down. He does not take hits. The Bears got a taste of him last year on Christmas Eve as Soldier Field, but now he's at home. I think it'll be a partisan Bears crowd. A lot of people I know are going, you know, they're going
to fill that joint up with Bears crowd. So it may feel a little bit like London than Arizona for a Cardinal home game, at least that's my guess. But where your concerns lie, especially offensively with this team, well.
You know, Kyler Murray thirty six pass attempts and he was not sacked. It's really frustrating for a defensive line because it means that the less he's sacked, the more you're chasing him around and he can be super fatiguing and he can make you frustrated if he gets you on the periphial and gives you a headfake and turns
it into a first down. So to me, and we always talk about it, you got to limit the first downs by third down scrambles of a quarterback like Kyler Murray and make him throw the ball more often, even though if you're not putting him on the ground, try to create incompletions or interceptions. And you have a guy like James Connor and he's you know, in this last game he had twenty rushing attempts and then he had two catches on three targets. He's a versatile back and
he's really physical. He plays well with Kyler Murray because Kyler Murray creates running lanes for him because of the contained type of rush that you have to have by the defensive ends and then the interior of the defensive lineman and the separation of the linebackers to either you're not necessarily going to spy Kyler Murray, but you're always going to try to keep him in front of you. So the way that Kyler Murray's athleticism changes the style
of the defense. It opens up opportunities for Connor. And we haven't got to your favorite guy at the tight end, Yeah, Travan Harrison Junior.
Yeah, Trey McBride became aware of him at Colorado STATEED a couple of years ago. They drafted him, and now he's really hitting his stride. But since Murray's return last year, that was in Week ten, So this is a cumulative number here. So in his last fifteen games, one hundred and twenty two targets and ninety five catches, So that's a high completion percentage to him. Almost one thousand yards, ten point three a catch, forty nine first downs, and
he's off to a great start again. He had eleven targets, nine catches, one hundred and twenty four yards in that game. He's not caught a touchdown pass this year, but he's moving the sticks, Tom and then you throw in Marvin Harrison and he's starting to get going. So you have a weaponry to be concerned about here.
Harrison Junior eighteen to five, eighteen point five per catch, so he's almost got two downs per every catch he makes. He made six six catches on seven targets, so Murray, Connor McBride, Harrison Junior, and they have other guys. But when you talk about the big four in the athleticism and the production of those guys, that's a heck of a you know, a heck of a responsibility for the defense.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois right here at home, driving access toward healthier communities through it all back to the hail Mary, how is it practiced? Well, here's the only I know. Here's the one thing because you're not doing that full live. You don't want guys jumping turning an ankle and practice. So yeah, it's ripped and you do it frequently. I don't know how frequently they do it during the season, but you have to. You have to stay sharp with it. Everybody's got an assignment go
do it, but just everybody's clear time you don't. It's like a special teams play. You don't run that thing full blast.
No, but what you do, it's almost like doing a rebounding drill in basketball, where you don't necessarily want guys jumping up in groups because you'd have the threat of turning an ankle. But you understand your responsibility a body position against your assignment. So if I'm covering Jeff Joniac on a hail Mary, I know that I gotta be by I gotta be feeling you. I gotta have an
elbow on you. I gotta be able to have something touching you that I know if you leave your feet, either I gotta leave my feet, I gotta nudge you with my hip, or I gotta out rebound you to that position. You cannot leave a character in the back of the end zone all by himself. And then the last thing that you can't you cannot tip the ball in the air, you.
Know, sit down, knock it down, knock it down.
That's all you ever hear about the hail and so lessons learned Again. We talk about being in this game now for thirty years together and it's the first time we've had this happen to us. I don't expect it to happen again. But the responsibility of your specific technique, it is a technique, it's not just a by chance. So you got yeah, that's the other thing, right place, at the right time.
I'm glad you brought that up, because, yeah, we called a hail mary, which is in other words of prayer, and yeah, in many respects. You could look at it that way, but there's technique involved across the board right offensively and defensively, techniques of rush off front.
How you want to keep he contained, keep the guy inside the pocket so he doesn't have that outside throwing lane. To extend time and try to get to an open throwing area, you have to have a linebacker there. That's kind of spying that midfield in case the quarterback decides to run and do the whole lateraling thing that we've seen happening.
Here is a painful loss. Remember the Atlanta game in Atlanta, Matt Ryan, he had no time left hit I think it was Harry Douglas on an out rot gets out abound seconds. Yeah, and they kicked the field going won the game. Yeah, so we've had our ship, believe me and Aaron Rodgers.
I meant, did you get a hail married? You get a hail foot?
I guess I don't know.
Yeah, I was.
I was gonna say yesterday, but I didn't want to. I didn't want to make it all about I didn't want to make it all about Washington. But I know the Sun Times used the headline, oh hail No. I was gonna say that, but I chose not to because they they'd made this big thing Hale Washington, Hale Command all that. So all right, well, let's talk injuries because the offensive line now is is a little bit in question here. What's going to happen. Don't know the severity
of Braxton Jones or Tevin Jenkins. Tevin had to leave the game twice, both in the end with knees. I'm not thinking it's severe, but I don't know, won't know until midweek until guys start practicing or not. And how you felt about Karanamagaji.
You're inserted in the game in the middle of a high profile game where it's distracting crowd noise. I think Amagaji came in there he had no mental errors and that was that's the key ingredient right there. Yeah, he had a couple times that he was trying to be over aggressive and he got his head down and missed his block. But the result of the play was a
second down and three. The hurdle play by DeAndre Swift, Yeah, but he made the defender take a longer path to get to the point of attack, and so he never got there. And DeAndre Swift was up the field. I want to see a guy miss being aggressive, then I
want to see a guy miss being passive. And so I'm not going to sit here in downgrade karam Amagaji for what he did in Week one, because there are significant improvements you can make if you know that you're going to be the starter, and if that's the case, I have high expectations for him. A super intelligent kid. He's got good bendability, he's got good arm length, he uses his punch well. And so if you are drafted to be a starter in the NFL, your time has come, my son.
Okay, father Thayer. The thing about it is he just faced the most significant competition he's ever faced in his college or high school football plan life. Right then in there.
No doubt about I don't I don't think there's a lot of those guys playing against Hinsdale Central, so they are you know, I'm not gonna you know, I listen, there's a lot of great high school football players, and there's a lot of great players in the IVY. Yeah, yeah, no doubt about it. But I'm just proud of his mental preparation. So the Bears didn't have to shrink the playbook.
I really like his length and as athleticism too. He can move, he can move as we saw on that toss Cracks We've Left, which I do love that play Braxton Jones also and I wish they would use it more. Actually, Bears fan Steinhoffel's a proud partner of the Chicago Bears. This Bears season, Steinhoffel's partnering with Special Spaces Illinois to
create dream bedrooms for children battling cancer. For every false start caused by the Bears defense during a home game, Steinhoffls donates one thousand dollars to Special Spaces Illinois shop in store and online at Steinhoffels dot com. We'll be back with you on Thursday. We'll get in the weeds on Arizona. Look at their defense a little bit. They've had a lot of injuries, a lot of injuries on the defensive line, so I don't know what's left for
them to deal with. But I'm expecting a bounce back performance by the Bears in a much needed way, frankly, because things are going to start getting real interesting here in a couple weeks and you can't look past obviously, but you're gonna have three home games coming up after this trip to Arizona, which will be the eighth trip to the Bears will have taken so far this season already,
so it's a lot of trips. When you put in the preseason in London, they're traveling the most air miles I think of any team in the league, and you know travel does come with a price at times. One last one we got to get to. Tommy is our Geico. The Geico brings your more football stat of the day. It's not about the Bears. I think you're gonna like this one, tom This is about the Jets. They became
the first team since nineteen forty. Put that in perspective to lose a game, scoring twenty or more points, no turnovers, and holding their opponent under two hundred and fifty yards of offense. Previously teams were seven hundred and fifty six and oh under those conditions. Well, that's interesting. That's an interesting math for me on that one. Because you know
your baseball. You can always say, you know what, there's no way on the face of this earth that if you watch the game even for one hundred years, say you're one hundred and ten years old, and you watch baseball since you've been a ten year old kid, something new is always going to happen. You can say that less of the case of the Nation Football League, but I keep getting proved wrong. That's another example.
Yeah, I mean it is. I I think if you're a fan of football no longer, how no matter how long you've been a fan of football, you can always see a first. And this was my first Sunday in Washington.
You better not have a second unless it's a Bears win.
Yes, I only want a second.
No, no, no, let me let me ask you as it's happening. Okay, the first it's an art well, first was an incomplete, then it ERTs throw, and then and the one to McLaren. Forget about you as an analyst for a second, as somebody just watching the game. What was going through your head as this is unfolding in the final twenty three seconds?
Do you recall you know? Well, I was thinking I don't like the easy completions that they're giving up because of how dynamic kickers are in the NFL and how long of attempts that they're willing to give them. Then the speed of McLaren, and then you know, Jade and Daniels and his escapability, his arm strength and just luck. I'm going God, please don't let these guys get lucky. The bear, you know, luck is gonna come in, is going to answer this thing somehow.
Hey, Daniels could have run for a touchdown for all we know. It would have been hard to do.
But hey, I'm not TJ would attract him down and lit them up.
But I gotta say, you're yelling a body caught. It was just priceless. They played it on NFL Network time. They played the Washington call. They were very calm. They were very calm, and then throwed because there's a long developing play and then they lose their mind. You and I calm making the play sounded a little tense. Boom, ball falls into his hands. I couldn't believe my own eyes, and you took it right from my eyes to your mind. And then I just quietly said, he caught the ball,
and the game is over. Miracle finish, it's the Marilyn miracle. I guess that's what they're calling to me. What are you gonna call it?
I need to think of another word for disaster that rhymes with bears.
Right, come up with one. For our podcast, episode one oh seven that'll drop on Thursday. We'll preview the matchup against Arizona. Also plan to talk to a Bears player, and heck, who knows, we may talk to a few surprises along the way. Special thanks to Matt Eberflus As usual for Tom Thayer, I'm Jeff Joniac. Thanks for listening. Everybody, please subscribe now. I'm the Chicago Bears official Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts give us.
I will not revisit the Hail Mary after today.
No, I don't want to talk about it anymore. It's it is, It's over. That book is close, Tom, that's it. It's a wrap, right, Go Bears. One less