Returning to the field | All Access

Access brought to you by IGS Energy. With Tom Thayer, I'm Jeff Jonyacho to have our producers Jordan tread Up and Dan Barelly. I'll put us out as well as we inch closer to a full squad on the field practice time, maybe in the next week and a half or so. As Modified Training Camp twenty twenty rolls now. We're setting the stage for you in a very hopeful about the twenty twenty season. It goes out without a hitch. Heard Danny Javathan yesterday, Tom, you know they're going about

this not knowing for sure if they're even gonna play. Yeah, but I was really inspired by the response of Danny Trevathan saying that these guys are a bunch of professionals and they're all going to go about their business the right way inside the building and outside the building. Probably more importantly, and as we heard on Thursday, fourteen assistant coaches were available. I mean, it was a Smorger sport. Tom.

You know, I've always liked when the assistants get to talk because they get real in depth with their guys. So we're gonna hear a bunch from Mike Fury, We're gonna hear from John d. Filippo, Jay Rogers, Chris Taber on this call. We're also going to hear a little road Kuan Smith and Danny Trevathan throughout the show. And then Happy Hank. Happy Hank. Does everybody know who Happy

Hank was? Circa two thousand and two? Hey, you know, they're gonna have to jog your memory because there's probably not a lot of positive reflections in terms of football. But what he was able to accomplish is a Hall

of Fame career right in the Canadian Football League. Henry Burris, who's now part of the Bill Walsh Minority Fellowship program with the Bears, so he's up at Hattisaw working with the offense and Matt Naggie and the quarterbacks, and so that'll be a insightful conversation with a very engaging player here at that time. But as Tom pointed out, he's now in his forties and he put together a Hall of Fame career in the Canadian football. He does some TV work up at TSN in Canada, which is a

big network, not unlike ESPN here in the States. I want to focus though on Bill Laser, Tom, because the offensive coordinator trying to learn everybody and get to know what exactly the plan is going to be. Another run game means a lot to you and I. We're old school football guys, and that was right up your alley as an offensive lineman for the Bears during your time with Chicago and Notre Dame career two and at Juliet Catholic. So the run game resonates with us before I play.

What he has to say about what's critical in designing a run game just from what you've been able to piece together, and what do you think the run game will look like that it didn't look like last year? Well, I think outside the new approach by Wanca, still the offensive line code assisted by Brown, the tight ends coach. You know, I think it's the opportunity to put David and Montgomery into the second year of the system because Matt Naggie was trying to build an offense and really

didn't know what David Montgomery was capable of. So I really think that increases the profile the offense because David Montgomery can do it all. He can block, he could run the ball, he can avoid tackles, and he can catch the ball equally as well. And I think that's a really important starting point of the combination a new oh line approach approach to David Montgomery. All Right. Bill Lazier earlier this week on the critical aspects of designing

the run game Personally, I think it's critical. I think the real critical part of it is that everyone's together on how it's designed. Because there are different ways to get it done. There's some teams that are great run teams that are zone schemes. There are some teams that are great run teams that are more man schemes. So there are a lot of ways to do it. I think the key is that you have everyone understanding this is our philosophy of how we're going to run the ball,

this is what's important to us. This is how your technique has to match it and how we coordinate everyone together with the calls, with the timing, with the formations. To me, more than the specific and I hope I'm answering your question more than the specific, run is how you install it, how you teach it, how you practice it so everyone is together and that the techniques that they work on during their individual periods and then their

competition periods against the defense. You know, O line versus D line, tight end versus out tobacker, they're all those things, streamline and direct towards this is how we want to run the football. The next level for the coaches then is okay, this is what we want to be. Here are the players we have. Right, to some degree in a given year, you can direct your player acquisition towards the vision you have of running the ball, but to some degree you don't. You also have to evaluate the

players you have once you finally put pads on. I believe we will eventually right and then make decisions. Tom, what do you think? You know he's saying the right things, because that's how you have to go the evaluation process of properly putting together a running game. It's really complicated. I know it seems easy, like run that way and throw the ball to David Montgomery. It's more intricately designed.

It is very choreographed. So to take these guys from the classroom to the grass field with cleats on and no equipment, and then to the equipment and the battlegrounds of the offense and defensive line. It's totally three different teaching phases. But everything that he's taken to an account in terms of you have to first of all evaluate your weaponry. That you have to see what you can do and how aggressive you can be. So heard Wan Castillo the other day, and he mentioned Brian Westbrook as

David Montgomery, and that means a lot more. In the passing game, which you and I both have discussed, is a very real possibility of David Montgomery. You know, yes, you have to recoon, You definitely have to recon in that regard too, But David Montgomery in the passing game is also a weapon. You know, the greatest thing about David Montgomery, Jeff, is his toughness has already been tested. You know that if he has to carry the ball up the middle of the field twenty or thirty times

a game. He's willing to do that repeatedly, and he can do it very well. However, if he can bring that dynamic of catching the ball out of the backfield away from eight to nine man lines of scrimmage, you're going to see open territory form. He know, they know he's the tough guy. Now they got to make sure they understand that he can be the receiver that they want in a running back. I don't remember what play

it was a team. I know the play, but he was running down the seam out of the backfield and he had to adjust, turned completely around, twisted his body and make the catch. I think he's a really good ball tracker, and I think he is able to then get his feet and shoulders back in line and get up field and makes yards after the catch. In that regard, How flexible is he in your opinion with that in

terms of his hips and whatnot. You know we've seen that from when he got here, how fluid he was in catching balls just as easy as you know playing catch between he and the quarterback and running distance routes. You know one thing about David Montgomery when you see that type of play, he can go to the line of scrimmage, line up in the backfield or the line of scrimmage and be the primary or receiver of the route.

And that's a great trait to have because when you think of the wheel route and the history of Soldier Field, Jeff, there's one play that comes to mind, and you know how effective it was. So if we can see David Montgomery do that once a game, you know, three times every five games, you're talking about the possibility of a big play. Now we also hear that there is going to be plenty of opportunities for the very explosive Cordell Patterson. Mike Fury said, so, do we anticipate him being in

the backfield? I think he wants to be. You and I have had the opportunity to interview him before and Bears all access, and we asked him, do you want to play at the line of scrimmager in the backfield? And he said in the backfield. So I think he's capable of offering you a lot more. He can be a ball carrier, he can take a pitch get to the outside. They can throw him a screen, or they can have a matchup that's favorable to Cordarrel and send

him down Heeld. So you know the offense may expand in terms of the defense's fear of it when they got Cordarrel in the backfield. That's top there. I'm Jeff, Joni yak. We're gonna step away. When we come back. We'll listen in to John D. Filippo on his view and trust of Nick Foles and also here more Bill Lazier on Mitch Drobiscio and his initial impressions are as. The Bears quarterback battle will be one of the top

stories in the national football legge this year. This is Bears All Access, brought to you by IGS Energy on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy The Score. Welcome back to Bears All Access brought to you by IGS Energy, a proud partner of the Chicago Bears, providing electricity, natural gas, and home warranty products to over one million customers across the country. Learn more about IGS Energy at igs dot com. Jeff and Tim with you as you break down the

Bears and getting ready for their on field performances. Can't wait to get up to Alasaw and check things out. A lot too clear in terms of hurdles and so far, so good. You know, the COVID testing of the league has gone on daily and only about two point two percent of players have been tested positive. They got to keep it now, They got to be vigilant about it. Everybody seems to be on board with this and this is what they gotta do, and you just hope they

can sustain over the course of the season. That that's really my biggest concern. Yeah, you know, you have to treat everybody as an equal though, Jeff. You know one thing about football, and you earn seniority, You kind of earn a little bit of priorities inside and outside the building in terms of the team. So when you have this, you have to make sure that everybody is understand how important they are to the outside the building success of

this football team. So you want to make number one feel like sixty, and you want to make sixty feel like number one. John d. Philippo, the Bear's new quarterback coach, spent a lot of time talking about the quarterbacks, as you might expect, but also other things about his coaching style of whatnot this week, and he's a very hands on, engaging coach. He speaks his mind. He's not afraid to tell a guy when he's doing something incorrect, and he'll get on you a bit, but he also pat you

on the back as well. He does both, and that's the definition of a teacher. John D. Philippo an expansive answer Tom on why he trusts Nick Foles from his experience with him in Philadelphia. First off, I think number one, Nick is a great person, and so obviously that gives you trust that he's doing the right things, not only in our building but outside our building. You know, he's not going to be one of those guys that's you know,

he's got two young kids. He's just had a son born not long ago, so you know, his wife, Tory's awesome. So he's going to be doing the right things on and off the field, which I think games you respect not only of the building, but of your teammates more importantly. And then you know, obviously he's been around you know, the guys that are touched him the most during the day, whether it be our head coach, whether it be our offensive coordinator, myself, you know, we all have different experiences.

You know with Nick from you know, Matt being his quarterback coach, and from coach Laser being his quarterback coach when he was younger to me being his quarterback coach, we want a super Bowl, and he was a little bit more of a veteran, so we all kind of seeing Nick in different stages, so we kind of know what we're getting there from a you know, from a growth standpoint, and what he can handle from a growth standpoint mentally and physically. And then you know, Nick does

such a great job of taking care of his body. Uh, you know, he's always going to be there and available. Uh you know, he's he's just a guy that that you really trust in and he knows the offense and you know, the majority of it, not all of it, but most of it. And there's some new things he's got to learn and we're challenging him to do that and do some things are a different way than he's been used to and he's been totally open and honest

with that. So that's all you can ask for a guy when you're trying to, you know, engage the trust factor. You know, one thing about Nick folds in his further advancement is going to be understanding the talent. He knows this offense and he can make tweaks and changes the better he learns it, or it's repetitiously presented in front of him. But he doesn't know how Jimmy Graham runs around.

He doesn't know the value of Alan Robinson, the Tree Collins, that David Montgomery's and all the other cast of characters. So when you go through these reps on the field, you're paying attention not only the player calling, but you're paying attention to the type of talent that you're seeing. He did also admit that the man has at a disadvantage taking the words of Matteggie from not being here during the offseason as the case was. Do you agree, Oh,

I agree one hundred percent. But that's every position, every player in the NFL. There's going to be some type of setback that you're going to have to overcome. But the veterans know how to do it best. All right, Now, let's look at Bill Laser's view of Mitchell Trubisky so far. Really get to understand what he's all about. Just not from watching take He's shown his great recall, which I

think is a critical part for the quarterback. I mean, when when we're talking about install on a play, he can talk about you know when it was put in, why it was put in, what the situations were, even even what happened. And I just think, you know, one of the keys, like when a quarterback, here's a play in the huddle, there's got to be recall, and the recall has got to be not only what is this

play that's called right? To put it simply, but the reason why the best quarterbacks in the league are typically, you know, the older quarterbacks. The reason why the older quarterbacks, if they can do it physically, just get better and better and better is because their recall is also a library of all the experiences they've had playing that play. Right when you get to the point where it's hard

to fool them anymore because they've seen all the defenses. Well, Mitch has shown me that he has that ability to recall. So I'd say that that would be one thing that stands out on the field. Again, he hasn't been in a situation where the quarterbacks can go full speed yet, but in our walk through situations, if we ask them to do something that's different, he's able to do it. If if something comes up and he said, you know what, I don't we don't want to do that situation this year.

Maybe it's a brand new cadence. You know, it sounds like a simple thing, but he can he can take it and change it and make the correction and go with it. And so, just like with any learner, you want a guy that you can get through too, or a guy that can take it from the classroom and then walk out onto the walk through grass and put it right into action. And he's shown that so far in uh, you know, next level will be when it

gets to be full speed exactly. You know, first stage of evaluation is the classroom, But how do you transfer recall to onto the field? Because you know, we can all sit there and understand something that's drawn up on the board in front of us, and we can answer the questions. But when you take the snap of the ball and you feel that rush coming at you, now you see how officially are you having this recall where you can go from A to B to C with

great immediacy. Which brings up another question. Because he's worked on his footwork, he's altered things in how he goes about his mechanics. In a situation like that, that's a lot maybe new that he's thinking about and he's understanding the offense because he's been in it, but they've tweaked it. They've got a new coaches, he's got new voices in

his head. Will you be watching that early on in camp to see how he's processing all of that if you think you're beat right, And I think when you talk about all the processes that Mitch went through throughout the offseason to get himself better, it's not something he can be thinking about. He just has to be doing naturally because he wrapped them so many times. He's just fluid at it now. Okay, then you take the information,

you bring that to the line of scrimmage. Mitche also has to go through that process of knowing what he just said, not thinking as the balls being snapped. That could be the most destructive thing to him. So again it's about taking that recall and put any in motion. We know what want Casto wants to the run game. He wants he wants to mesh, he wants to get up there, be physical. Can you be as physical in

the past game? You know what, Jeff. If they are physical in the running game, that's going to help every element of the further parts of the offense and So what I mean there if the defensive front has to respect the dominance of the run game of the Chicago Bears, now Walson, you get a team and you start throwing a little bit more play action in there that can expose Mitch to the running game or easy passes because there's focusing on stopping the run. That's an offensive lineman's

dream right there. That's a head coach's goal in life is to run the ball so well that if it puts fear in the defense. And then when you run the ball, it opens up that downfield passing game even better because there's a lot of guys playing at the line of Scrimma is trying to slow it down. Then all of sudden you take an advantage up because there's limited numbers trying to cover that staff there, I'm Jeff

Jonahac come it up next. Former Bears quarterback one NFL start in his entire career and then a huge takeoff in the Canadian Football League. Henry Burrus, now one of the Bears assistant coaches helping out in training camp. Will talk to him next on Bears All Access here on Chicago Sports Radio six seven. Either Score Tide Cleaners is now offering new Tide Complete Care. This exclusive cleaning formula can only be found at Tide Cleaners. Visit Tide Cleaners

dot com to learn more. Today, Jeff Johnny Act Tom there here on Bears All Access, brought to you by IGS Energy and joined by a man we last saw here in Chicago anyway, And if I'm not right, you gotta correct me. Henry. Back in two thousand and two with the Chicago Bears, the quarterback Henry Burris, who went on to have a Hall of Fame career in the Canadian Football League kind enough to spend some time now a member of the Bears coaching staff here during training camp.

What a great, great, great career you've had at a great journey, Henry. How the heck did that all fall into place? Well, first of all, deep time, I mean, thank you both for having me off. And yeah, it's been a long time since we've gotten together and chatted about football. But you know what I mean, it was

a different world for me when I was here. You know, I was still a young quarterback, a young kid who's still trying to understand the game, still trying to find a place to get comfortable and you know, you also as a quarterback, you want to be in that place with people that believe in you and give you that opportunity to overcome your struggles and and learn from that, because that's the only way you truly can grow in

this game. But you know, for myself, I was given that opportunity in candidate where guys believed in me and they gave me an opportunity to build my career and not only as a man off the field, but also as an athlete and quarterback and leader on the field. And honestly, once I had that belief and I had that support behind me, you know, things just really took

off an elevator for myself. And and you know, we all have that envision that we want to succeed as far as that what we're doing and that goal that we want to reach. And thankfully, my game was able to ascend in the right direction and really take off once I went up and and uh, you know, got the opportunity to show just to get to God to give him. You know, Henry, when when we look at your resume, it's unmatched by a lot of football players in the US or in the Canadian league. But I

would like to know, what's the foundation of your resiliency. Well, I think there's just that that inner desire I've I've had to to I guess I might have gotten that from my father. You know, he was a you know, a black man who was you know, one of I guess in the area at the time. Him growing up, he was one of the top baseball players in the state of Oklahoma, you know, in a collegiate level, and especially in the conference that he played in at Southeastern

Oklahoma State University UM and uh. But you know, when he came to this opportunity to work out for professional teams, you know, when scouts would show up and they find out that, you know, he was a black man playing on a white team, a lot of scouts turned their back on him. And I think just from having that past being in my DNA now to never say die attitude.

And of course my father went on to serve in Vietnam after getting drafted into the war, and instead of spending time by bars for saying no, you know, he said he would never do that, and thankfully he went over there for fourteen months and came back and just hearing those types of stories and seeing other people go through different things like that, and you know, seeing so many different black quarterbacks like Jefferson Street, Joe Gillham and

Bernie Cutters and so many others who played the game back in the day and reading books about just their journeys, you know, for me to see those men do the thing that things that they went through or make the sacrifice that they made, and for me to get this opportunity, and just when people said no, for me to sit there and look at it as Okay, no, I can't take it for grant for what they say. I can't

let them define my legacy. Only I can define my legacy to finding ways to make myself better, learning from the mistakes I made and making sure I don't make those mistakes to give because for me to get to this point, somebody had to put their hand on me and blessing with this gift, and I was not for me to perfect it the best that I can and give myself the best opportunity to help and only make myself successful, but to make my teammates successful, which for

me was either more important. Former Bears quarterback Henry Burris our guest here on Bears All Access with Tom Fair. I'm Jeff Joni joining former Bear John Timu, the former Washington Star linebacker as an assistant here for the Bears. This is part of the Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship. It's been quite bountiful in terms of numbers of people over the years, Henry, but it's a it's a great way to break into the coaching ranks. And is this

a path you'd like to take. I know you're doing media work as well with the Sports Network up in Canada, and you've done some radio and television after your playing career, but is this something you'd like to pursue Totally something I knew at some point I definitely was going to get involved in. And it's one of those things where you never knowing that you're going to reach that junction

on the train. But I think now it's pulled up to the station because honestly, happening in this world for a reason, and you know, and it's calling for change, and I know now more than ever, more strong men are out there are needed to make a presence in young men's live and and for me, I've always found a way to do that through the game of football.

And you know, what better stage and what better brand to affiliate with, and the NFL and also with the Chicago Bears, one the most is not the most storied organization as far as in all of football, and and so for me to have a chance to come down here and start the journey and to show my commitment by going to the NFL Combine and meeting with a number of different coaches from different teams and starting that networking, and especially being in the league for playing twenty years

of professional football as a player, you know, you know, I've made some great connections over those years, and so for people to see that I'm putting that lesson right foot forward now, to put that effort out there and show that I'm not a guy who's you know, banking on the fact of just what my resume is in

the past. Yes, I hope that experience, should you know, create some comfort to showing that at least this guide you know, has been out there, he understands the whole ramifications and the process of putting together game plans and XS and those and all that. But to me, it's about the person that I've become. All the things that I've experienced, I've been with good coaching. I've been with bad coaching, and I understand what it takes you to help.

You know, from a coaching perspective, to get through to your players, it's bigger than just sitting in office. It's all about what takes place outside the office. So to be able to share those things and help impact men is not only becoming better players, that more importantly better people, better husband's, better community ambassadors, better fathers. I mean, that's

all encapsulated as far as in what coaching does. But also look at the people you can impact, not only in this great, great community here in a place like Chicago, but really all over the US because so many eyes are watching you and your journey and it's time for us men to make great decisions. So therefore the ones that looked up us can follow follow in our footsteps and take the baton and continue to run in that

next generation. So now you've been introduced to the Bears offense a little bit, and throughout all your time in the different offenses you've seen, is there one offense that you play in and that resembles this Bear offense or

was it all new information to you? Well, it's something that actually the last office that played, and it's very similar because a lot of the concepts are the same, and it's something just how interconnected, you know, the things that we did in the Canadian Football League and here in the NFL, it's pretty much a lot of the same stuff now. And and the pretty much offense I ran up North was Mark Trestman's old offense, so it's definitely the West Coast style offense that he's been able

to build over the years. And but then when you look at it, I'm seeing like, wow, if Brad Children's offense is the same as as what you know, the offense I ran last year, just how the teaching is. But again, the different mechanisms that takes places mainly through terminology, and that's kind of the biggest as a aspect of this offense that I have to make the adjustments with.

It's making sure I'm speaking the same sheet of music as the coaching staff, but as far as understanding you know, the reads, the footwork and different things that come into executing this offense as a quarterback, you know, pretty much everything is status quo as far as what I've learned in the past. So it's it's pretty refreshing to know that all that I've been through is all for none and now, and I'm seeing different things being inserted on

a daily basis. I'm like, Okay, I remember that play and then maybe something pops in my head. Okay, but this is what I learned from that play. And so I mean, it's like I said, it's refreshing and it's pretty outstanding. The fact that you know, all the experience I'm able to bring to the table. It definitely I can definitely refer back to that, especially when addressing the coaches or even the players to that aspect. Well, Henry, it's no secret there's a quarterback derby going on here

in Chicago. When I look at your stats, sixty eight rushing touchdowns, you ever over five thousand yards five point nine yards per carry. Why is Canadian quarterback so successful? Because Damon Allen is the leader in the Canadian Football League with ninety three rushing touchdowns. Why is that such a such a big part of Canadian quarterback play. Well, I mean, I think the Canadian quarterback was kind of the coming of what is now the more athletic style

quarterback that you're now seeing down South. You know, you

looked at this past draft. I mean all the kids, the majority of the kids that were being drafted, even Joe Burrow, their kids who not only can pick you apart in the pocket, you know, just with their mental progression and understanding how to manage an offense from the pocket, but making good decisions, but also using their feet because defensive athletes is you guys can see and Tom, I know definitely you just can see this just how much faster and more athletic you know, these these at the

defensive linemen are. I mean, you can't be a statute quarterback without an offense, a great offensive line and be able to survive in today's game. And it just isn't possible. And I mean right now the successful quarterbacks of the guys who can drop back and go through their progression, but really within three seconds, if nothing's there, you need to either use your feet and run for your life or throw the ball away. So it's always a major component,

especially with that huge field because it's down here. You got a fifty two fifty three yard wide field in the NFL up there the field to sixty five yards wide and you only have three downs, so you got first down, second down, and if you're not manageable situation a second and short, you're gonna be punting on third down, so you have to be very efficient, make good decisions. But hey, let's not get as few guys. I was slow.

I was never known as the Canada. Majority of my touchdowns came on one yard sneaks because, as you know, in the CFL, the defensive line is a yard off the ball. So when you get to the one yard line, our pluns was just the quarterback keeping it and driving a seat and running quarterback sneaks, finding a gap and making sure you plug in their stay low and get into that zone. So that's probably where all my touchdowns

came from. Henry Burrus our guest here remaining moments with the former Bearers quarterback, but more importantly, a Canadian Football League Hall of Famer out makes his home if I'm not mistaken, in Ottawa, and you fell in love with that place up there. But you know, what did that one NFL start do for you? How did it manifest itself for the rest of your career because you had to play with last minute notice. If I'm not mistaken,

John Shoop was the offensive coordinator. We're playing in champagne A Memorial Stadium, the eventual Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers are your opponent. Wow. I mean I went back at that game and you know, after peeting my pants one finding out like the day before, I'm starting a good Tampa and I'm like, oh my gosh. And then You're looking at TV and people are saying this is

the best defense probably ever in the NFL. I'm thinking, great, thanks, you know, But I always ask myself, man, if I could have known then what I know right now, it would have been I think it would have been a much different game. But you know, especially from a confident standpoint. But uh, you know what, it's one of those situations where I always say that, man, I learned so much from that evening and it's just unfortunately I didn't have a chance to follow up off of that because, yeah,

I turned the ball over, I did those things. But my thing was the moment was bigger than me. And you know, for me starting my first game in that situation, you know, I felt I shouldn't prepared better. I felt I should have done a lot of things better. Uh, and the moment was too big for me then. But again, you know, It took those moments to help me grow into the person and the player that I became, and I was truly thankful for that, And you know, that's

something I'll always look back on. I'll probably never watch the game because it's one of those things because they're always replaying in my mind, but you know, that'll be a memory that I'll always hold on to forever, and hopefully, you know, for one day I can get a chance

to be a coach. You know, I'll make sure that you know, any young quarterback that's coming up looking for that opportunity, I'll make sure all my quarterbacks are coached up ready to go, just as the starters, and that any you know, you know that they can cross their teas and dot their eyes, so whatever situation that they're faced with, they'll know exactly how to respond, because it's

all about being confident. If you can be confident, rehearsal those things mentally and you step out on the football field, that's the easy part. On game days, practice is always hard. Game days are easy. But for me on that night, guys, that was a tough game night. I could probably do that. That's what I definitely don't want to relive again. I have a great time with the Bears this training camp, and you never know, you never know where the journey takes you. But it's gonna be good to see you

up here, and thanks for joining us. Hey, guys, thanks for having me, and hopefully we can talk against him sometimes. We'd love it. We'd love it. Henry Burris our guest. Let's take a break here on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy the Score. This segment of Bears All Access is brought to you by CDW. People to get it learn more at CDW dot com. Jeff Joni actoum there here on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy the Score on Bears All Access, brought to you by IGS Energy, as we

break down the entire Bears team. Defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano Tom talked earlier in the week. First of all, his view of the defense after having a year to get to know his guys. I'm expecting some adjustments. I'm expecting some tweaks. I'm expecting some additions on how he goes about using his personnel. Do you a hundred percent, Jeff, I see Chuck Bagano being able to be the aggressive defensive coordinator that we all want to see. If you put all the bodies in place that Chuck Bagano was

game planned without, it's a completely different defense. Just a team in Khalil and now Robert Quinn backed up by ro Quan and m Roquan and Danny Trevath and then not to and the other guys also. However, the aggressiveness of the upfront personnel can overwhelm the quarterback. And I think Chuck can really capitalize on that. He's got a potential All Pro safety back there and Eddie Jackson. Eddie, who is an outstanding Bahawk, can get off the hash,

he can range the field. He can also move into the box, as we learned last year, and the question was raised for Pagano if he's going to spend more time keeping Eddie on the back end of the defense as opposed to closer to the line of scrimmage like was the case often in twenty nineteen. You just don't want to be Okay, we got a free and we got a strong you know, because we just don't want

to line up. And you know, Tom Brady comes from down on a Thursday night, you know, and just tell him, you know, because if they turn on the tape and every time we're in single high defense, it's always thirty nine. It's always thirty nine. No matter what we're doing. If he always ends up there, um, that's not good for our disguise. So uh, he's really good in the deep parts. He's good down low, he's good Blitzer. Um, we're gonna we're gonna play to his strengths, and we're gonna do

We're gonna play to all their strengths. You know. I got to do a better job you know, as a as a play caller of putting all the guys, all eleven guys in the right spots to make plays. And then as far as you know, the competition there um, the trades part, I mean, uh, you know, ball skills, Uh, you know, anticipation range, they've got to be able to tackle Blitz. We're gonna ask him to do a lot of things. So um, you know all those things we're looking for. They both can do that, you know, Dion

and get Um. But it's gonna be it's gonna be a great competition, you know. And and the great thing was coach you know, Ryan, Coach Naggy, myself, Sean, when we talked to Sean about coming. You know, we laid we laid it all out there, and we talked to Dan and said, Okay, here's here's how it's going to roll. And they're gonna get equal number snaps with the ones. They're gonna have to come in here and compete, you know,

day after day after day. It's gonna be a little bit different, obviously with no preseason, but we're going to create the competition and create the situations to where, um, we can we can do honesty, Bell and those guys can give them both an opportunity, you know, win that job. Yeah. So that's Deon Bush and to Sean Gibson competing for that position at safety opposite Eddie Jackson. Let's take to Eddie Jackson first. How would you prefer to see Eddie

used exactly? How Chuck says. You know, Eddie Jackson is talented enough as a safety where he can play at or near the line of scrimmage. He can blitz, or he can play the run. He can play the deep end of the football field and be most preventative against the big play. And he's got really good vision where he can understand his responsibility. But kind of keep a little bit of vision that underneath route and we've seen him before capitalize on and take it to the house.

All right, Now, the battle with Dion Bush. He is now a veteran. He has not had a ton of defensive snaps. He is a special team stud. He does help out that unit significantly, but he really feels he's going to get a fair shake here against a veteran who's been a ballhawk in his career with twenty three interceptions and has been to the Pro Bowl. Hey man, I love identified competitions. I think they're great for a

football team because they involve a lot of people. When these guys are competing, they're encouraging the group they're playing with or practicing with, the play harder because they're in this battle, and I think that's a positive for the locker room and for the team. So hey, you know, just like the quarterback battle, I'm as excited to see this safety battle and the way it works itself out because if I was a safety and had the opportunity to play with this group of pass rushers up front,

I'd be licking my chops for interception. Hey, how would you rank all these battles? Give me. Let's pick five, because there's I think there's a good five. There's a good five obviously, QB, you know, ranked ranked the five battles, you gotta put QB number one. Are you gonna go offensive line, right guard? No, I'm going that's a great question though too. I'm going QB corner. I'm going right guard. Safety. Um, you got throwing wide receiver situation, that's what you know.

I was gonna say wide receiver, but I was almost gonna throw you know, candidates in there. But well, you know, let's let's talk about that because you got Alan Robinson. Anthony Miller should be the two, but he's gonna get pushed by Riley Ridley. You got Cordarrell Patterson, who they feel is gonna get the ball more this year. You got Darnell Mooney, and you got Javon Wims. So there is a battle going on there and how they're all going to be placed. You know, a full buffet of

sizes there too. Again, you're right from six to five to world class speed to smaller, quicker guys inside. You know, I think it's going to be an interesting partial of it. But yeah, to me, quarterback and cornerback are one two. We're gonna hear from Chris Tabor on Eddie Pinnetto when we come back. But his first impression was he got stronger,

he got more weight on him. It's to sustain himself over the course of a season, and it's all about battling that wind that he's going to encounter a soldier field and other outdoor facilities in the in the winter months, because we know he's got a big leg. He has a big leg and when things are right and he's always talking about the wind, Pinnetto and now Chris Tabor is as well. Yeah, but you know what, the wind has got to be a conversation for every day. It's

not necessary. You can't talk about the wind in three months today because you don't know what you're gonna have. I think the biggest thing for us to do is stand in front of Eddie Pinero when he's kicking and listening to his foot hit the football. If you hear that popping sound, then you know there's been leg speed in muscle improvement, just to have to have the direction

in the distance. My man, let's take a break top there with us here on bears all access coming up next, we'll hear from some other Bears assistant coaches, including Mike Fury and Wine Castio. It's on next on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy to Score. Hey, Bears fans, it's important to stay connected now more than ever, and at Motorola, we love making that possible. With the new razor, you

can enjoy staying connected a little bit more. It's a phone, it's an accessory, it's an icon reinvent it HEADO Moto, Jeff Jony Actom there here on Bears All Access on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy to Score, brought to you by IGS Energy. Tom. We're gonna start with Want Castile, the Bears offensive line coach, on his plans, because he was asked, you know, are you're gonna keep Cody at center and as James Daniel's going to be your guard. If you can play center, you're gonna line up at

guard because you don't have to snap the football. I think they're both very talented. I think that Cody had had already lined up at center before, and I think they're both are going to have to play center. I think that James can lay center if he needs to. I like James's link at the guard position. Really, I like Cody's leadership at the center position. You know, Cody has already proved himself that he's as versatile as a one snap notice, so you got to grow on that potential.

But then you have to really look at what James Daniels is capable of, and if he can have equal value at guard and center, that just increases the value of the offensive line, all right. Mike Fiery Bear's a receiver's coach talking Anthony Miller, he really feels at the addition a Ted gain in the presence of Alan Robinson going to really pay dividends on this kid. It's gonna

help him grow. And I'm so excited about that because now you have myself Alan Ted and it's kind of like, you know, the light's got to go off eventually, Like these guys are all doing it and and he's been he's been so receptive of that already, and so it's exciting. And it's all about being professional. It's being consistently professional and how you go about your day to day work, right.

You know, Jeff, we've watched the sports specials throughout the pandemic about players that have been so prepared and gotten so much better throughout their career. They became legends. And that's what they're saying about Anthony Miller. They're saying, look, man, you got skill, you got speed, You're a tough guy, and you've already showed it. If you go in there and let the quarterback trust you on every single down year in there, you're gonna see his catches increased dramatically.

He certainly has the potential to have a great year. Also, Alan Robinson, you know you got the contract simmering in the background. He's letting it off play out. He's not letting it bother him. And Mike Fury who has asked if this is part of his motivation to have a big year. You just keep playing the game. You know,

things keep take care of themselves. There's a bunch of reasons that you and I have no idea about, and so you know, it's hard for me to comment on that, but from a players standpoint, you got you gotta go play. You gotta go play the game and let everything fall. And I think obviously we all know that Alan's probably one of the best pros that we've ever been around, and I'm sure he'll handle that the same way. You know,

Alan Robinson needs to prove nothing to me. I respect him for his work ethic is rebounding from a knee injury and how with a positive person he is inside the locker room. Let's talk Danny Krevathan. He was on Zoom with media this week on Friday, aiming to hit the restart button time because he really was at a high point and his playing, you know, coming back from those injuries a couple of fourteen and sixteen and then unfortunately he had the season cut to just nine games

due to an elbow. Man, I was just getting started. You have an I'm like, I'm being serious. I was just touching the tip of the bird. UM started to feel for the defense. Um started to get a feel for that the inside backup for the defense and no player playing with my guys and understand it. Um, Now you know I understand football, So will I know how to you know, play the game mentally and beat people mentally,

you know, as as well as physically. So I feel like I was definitely gonna turning it out a couple of Nazis last year, and so I get excited when he talks like that. Because he is. He is one of the guys that puts together heartpee to that locker room in that defense, and I honestly think he's underrated. If he stays healthy. If he stays healthy, this is gonna be his fifth year with a Bear, so he surpassed his Denver career. He wants to be a Bear forever.

He wants a Super Bowl, He wants to create his own legacy as one of the best linebackers in Bears history. You know, go to the Bear's website and listen to the entire idea of that interview, because at one point Danny Trevathan was asked, what do you have to do to get back to that level? His first response immediately as I've never left that level. I had an injury that was a setback, but I'm still playing at the

same level. But I felt I was getting to last year, and I like that about Dan come in with that type of confidence, and you know who else has confidence right now is running buddy this As a tandem, they could be one of the best in the National Football League. It's roll Kuan Smith. Oh. I definitely feel like the better shape you in, that's the better, better player you'll be.

So I was definitely thinking coming into the season, I wanted to be this my best year to the day, and so I was just like, I'm gonna do whatever it takes to make sure that happened, regardless of how much work I have to put in. So just putting in work each and every day, and that's just tends to, uh what happened when you putting in some good work, good work. I think he said he came in at two hundred and thirty four pounds. He can carry every bit of that. Roll Kuan Smith that he stays on

the field. Again, I've mentioned him and the same breath as a guy like Luke Keekley with that type of impact to a defense, and I still believe Roll Kuan can have it all right, So two guys apped out. It's Eddie Goldman and Jordan Lucas. So we're placing Goldman obviously a starter of note for Jay Rogers. Guys get an opportunity. We've trained Blo out the knows, We've trained Abdula Anderson at the nose. We've trained in the past, John Jenkins at the nose. Brent Urban has never played nose.

We're training him at the nose position. We'd like to have options at the end of the day. Which you'd like to have is the best you know, two three, four guys out there on the field that you could possibly put out there with the ability to substitute when you need to and not have any drop off. You know, John Jenkins is kind of in a category of his own in terms of his size and structure, But when he mentions, is every single one of those other guys they can play up and down the line of scrimmage

with equal effectiveness. They all have to increase the production of their play. But I think Jay is a good guy for the job to have that group of athletes on the d line. All right. Lastly, let's end it with Chris Tabor, the special team's coordinator, who's very high on Eddie Pinetto. You know, anytime that there's other people in your position group competing, it's always a competition. But at the same time, I think that you have to stay focused on what you're doing, and that's that's what

Eddie's really good at. I'm gonna be honest with the first day we went out and kicked, and I hadn't seen him kick since the last since the Minnesota game of looking at you know, a bigger and stronger Eddie Pinero and I was very impressed and just you can tell that that he's matured, he's becoming more comfortable and uh, we're not done yet, and he knows he's not done yet.

So we'll ratchet things up in practice. And he knows that he has to produce and I know that he will because he's he's just he's that type of guy. He's done. The nice thing is I know, uh, he's done. He's done it once and he had an opportunity where he didn't get it done, and those things eat at him and he knows. But the good thing for us is he's been in those situations and we've seen him come through. Now we want to see him take the

next step. And because he's learning how to handle the win here much better and I'm real proud of him. But we did we we still have a lot of work to go and there's so much more growth that this player can really take off, and I'm excited to watch where that goes. Yeah, I think confidence is a huge part of the battle when you're talking about Kicker, because you have the experiences at practice of earning the confidence of your teammates on the practice field, you have

to transition that the soldier field. But there's also growth expected out of a kicker, just like there is an offensive guard. If you were at one strength level last year, we need you to be at this strength level this year, and it's going to be evident when you look at them. All right, Tom, that's out of time we have for you tonight. Thank you everybody. Jordan tread Up, Dan Burrelly and Henry Buris our guest tonight, and all the assistant coaches.

Those dropins really helped create the show for us today. So we'll talk to you next week, Big timid Ye all right, thanks everybody for listening. This has been Bears All Access, brought to you by IGS Energy at Chicago Sports Radio six seventy the Score. 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. Bears All Access has been brought to you by IGS Energy and sponsored by Miller Litte