Roquan Smith talks Packers Week | All Access

you jacked up about the impact of this game. Drama, dripping and gripping as the Bears get ready to meet the Green Bay Packers for a right to go to the playoff. Both teams right now situated at one and seven in the NFC Playoff picture. My broadcast partner Tom there, welcoming you too, Bears All Access brought to you by IGS Energy with our producer Adam Studzinski, thanks to Dan Barelli and Jordan tread Up. Tom, let me take your

temperature right now where yet? Mentally? Oh, you know, Jeff, It's been fun really to approach this game because I really believe in what the Bears have been able to do in the last couple of weeks. It puts a whole different flavor to this game. If it was a stagnant offense going nowhere and you're accounting on the emotions of the division to carry you over the top, that's not necessarily what you need. You need the same improvements

that you had the last couple of weeks. You need Mitchell Trubisky to be the most confident player on the field. You need everybody else to have a hand in the movement and the motion of the football, and the defense has to have a hand in stopping the football, tackling to perfection, making sure every one of their responsibilities are fulfilled, praying and hoping. Chuck Bagano is aggressive every single chance

he gets. I do not want to see a three man line after Aaron Rodgers where he's just waiting to see where he's not going to throw it. Not necessarily that he has to throw it. So there's a lot of emotions that are built into this game. But I'm as excited for a Bears Packer contest this late in the season as as excited as I bet in a

long time. To me, it boils down to some things that will get into deeper but it's stopping their run or at least containing it so that they just don't have the ability to keep beyond edge every single second, which the mere presence of number twelve does that anyway, and the Bear's ability to do so against a improving run defense, or at least an adjusting run defense like they did adjust to Derrick Henry with more beef up front, they are giving up a lot of yards per carry

for the season four point six seven. That's still in the twenties in the NFL. But they seem to me to have gotten a little better stop of the run, and the Bears will have to establish the run. They have to. Yeah, but you know the thing about it too, The Bears are different monster in terms of just the ground game, and they were the first time they played Green Bay, or even what they were three or four

weeks ago. So when you see what green or what the Bears are capable of now, either the configuration of the running game, the configuration of an interior power running game, and the athleticism of Mitchell Trubisky the defensive, Green Bay has a lot more thinking to do before the balls ever snapped, rather than just concentrating on trying to race to the quarterback. That's in the tackle box behind center.

There has been a dramatic change. It's been talked about at length Allan Robinson to daytime on the dramatic change in how this offense has turned on a dime. It's not something that you can pinpoint, you know, I think across the board, you know, I think once we started get the run game established and then started being able to create some explosives, you know, started getting some first downs on first downs, you know, we didn't get we didn't get into as many third and longs and third

now situations became more manageable. Once we again started getting more explosives, you know, we started getting in the ras on more. Once you get to the rest on, more able to run the ball and things like that. You know, your resin efficiency goes up because you're able to run in pass, you know. So across the board, it was tough to pinpoint one thing because we've gotten better at you know, offensively, really every category statistically across the board.

So again I got said before, Man, I think it's just a true testament to everybody going out there and putting the work in east and every day and trying to get different results and trying to change what wasn't happened early on in the season. So a lot of dominoes fell there is he went step by step to you, what is the most significant domino to start the chain of events that has happened over the last three or

four weeks. You know, listen, I don't want to sound just like I'm supporting a guy because he went to Notre Dame or he's an offensive lineman. But this what Sam Mustafer has done for at the center position. He's made Cody a more powerful football player at offensive guard. He's been able to use the time spent together between he and Alex bars in the time they invested in

college is paying off as on a professional level. And the ability to again an interior point of attack running game, so David Montgomery can hit the hole in stride and convert it to a lot of extra yards. And then the snap factor for Mitchell Trubisky. If you look at the consistency on every shotgun snap since Sam has been in there, it's a consistent hip, high spiral snap. Now Mitch is not focusing on the flight of the football

because it's coming at you oblong. It's coming at you in a spiral manner, so he's catching it, controlling and looking downfield without ever having to take his eyes off in when they're moving around, when they're trying to move before the cadence to either get into a blitz position or even trying to disguise coverage. So I know it's not, you know, a sexy position, but listen, man our man

Sam Mustaffer is given some consistency. And again I remember you saying at five to survive with five games left, if he can find five offensive line and that would survive the rest of the season. And yeah, it's something that's stuck with me, and it's still part of their improvement.

Five to surviving. Five are thriving. And today word that Bobby Massey will be getting activated off injured reserve, and so he'd become available, and not necessarily for this game, but another guy to throw into the mix, possibly for a playoff for the Chicago Bears. Mitch's twenty twenty journey significant with the start to sit down, the slide, coming back, working his way back, and now putting together an offense that's averaging thirty five points a game, certainly taking notice

around the Lake. Heard from Aaron Rodgers today, Tom he said, this is a big Chicago versus a little Green Bay. You know, already starting at twist, twist and knife a little bit. But he says he does appreciate the rivalry. It's it's something signify. He likes playing here. He likes the fans uncertain, certainly no fans here, but he does like the environment. Yeah. I mean, when you look thro youre talking specifically about the population of the two home downs,

you are talking about little against big. But I know what Aaron Rodgers the cyclo trying to say, and wy're trying to try to needle all of us. But as a player, as confidently as he is, he's got that right, Yes he does. Coming up next will be joined by Tom Silverstein, the writer for the Milwaukee Journal Senter who was covering the Packers for a long time. And at six thirty we'll be joined by Bears inside linebacker Roe Quantum.

That's allah header on Bears All Access brought to you by IGS Energy with Tom There Jeff Joni on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy the Score. Welcome back to Bears All Access Everybody, brought to you by IGS Energy. Choose clean energy for your home at IGS dot Com because

every good choice adds up to a better world. Jeff Joni Actum there with you on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy The Score, talking Bears and Packers Tonight on Bears All Access, now joined by Tom Silverstein, the Milwaukee Journal set No Packers beat writer NFL VET Tom. Happy New Year, buddy. How are you doing? Oh, I'm doing great. Same to you as well. Are you jumpy? Are you Jeff? Backed up?

Are you what you're feeling about this matchup? You know, I think we've been here before a number of times, both sides, you know, a big game at Soldier Field, And in fact, I was just kind of going through them a few of the games, and you know, it always comes down to the quarterback, at least it hasn't in the biggest of the games, and so you know, I think that's probably what's going to happen again. And

whether Chicago can slow down Rogers, I don't know. It's been tough, and now he's got a little bit of a running game. So we'll see his potential for a third maybe even you might might most people say a likely MVP award Comparatively speaking, as you analyze his performance, how would this wants stack up to his first two. I think this one is he's assuming he gets it. I think this would be completely different. And another two two instances. I mean, he was he was playing at

such a high level. You know, he was at AU he was at the Brady level at that time. And now he's he's a different player. Uh He he relies a lot on their run game, he relies on their play action. He's far less of a scrambler than he used to. He doesn't hold on to the ball like he used to. He's bought into Matt Lafleur's system and it's made him look really good. If he went back to playing the way he did in two thousand eleven they scored five hundred and sixty points or whatever it was,

it wouldn't work. So you know, Ages has taken from things from him, but he's playing in an offense that he's totally bought into. Hey, Tom, when you look at the Green Bay defense, I do think around the league they're underrespected. But when you think about this game in particular, the emotions that are involved in the importance that's surrounding it. What does Mike Patton, what does the defensive coordinator have to do in order to control the new Trubisky lead offense.

And I don't know how much of this offense you get to see, but there's a wide variety of guys are actively involved in getting their hands on the ball. The running game is better, The offensive line is really settled. So are the what are the defensive concerns you see about this new offense? Well, I think I think you definitely hit on one, which is the offensive line seems to be playing a lot better. I watched the Jacksonville game,

and objectible, isn't that good? It looked like Trubisky was comfortable and like he could function in the offense and not have to worry about being under pressure immediately and have to use his legs. But I think, I actually think that is something that they are the most concerned about, is him running all over the place, and that they're gonna want to try to keep him in the pocket and try to get him to throw a few more of those balls like he threw into the end zone

you know that got picked off. I think it's really about not letting him get first downs, don't let him run out of a third and ten and get a get a running first down. I think they'll take their chances with him throwing. But I also think they're worried about Montgomery. You know, they just faced Derrick Henry and they played great against him. But they had a plan to totally force Tennessee to throw the ball in the snow and they couldn't do it. This will, this will

be a little bit different than that. I think Chicago's not as married to you know, they're running back as Tennessee was. You know, it's something to see. You know, Mitch Trubisky has been able to take a page out of Aaron Rodgers snapcount playbook. In every game he gets one or two free plays a game. So when you think about the atmosphere, not only this week, but going forward, it does Green Bay they don't earn as much other than the temperature when they have home field if they

get home field advantage through the playoffs. So is uh is Aaron Rodgers' ability and his voice control equally as as a destructive and illegal on the road as it is at home. Yeah, but you know, teams have really worked at not falling for his heart count. I mean, he's not had a lot of success with the heartcount this year or the twelve man. He's always really good at at when teams try to substitute getting them while they're you know, have a twelfth guy on the field.

But I think the one thing he has been able to do is communicate freely with the players, and really they do a lot of check with me kind of stuff, a lot of run pass option where he can he does. He can call a run and if the corners eight yards off of devote Adams, He's going to throw it to him. There's a lot of It's not really sophisticated checks and audibles and things like that, but it is. You know, he's giving guys a lot of information at the line of scrimmage. And I think in a in

a road atmosphere that might be different. If fans were in the game, I will say, though, you know, they are counting on Lambeau being a cold weather venue and not having an impact. You know, I wouldn't matter against the Bears. It probably wouldn't matter against Seattle. It probably wouldn't matter against Washington. But maybe New Orleans, Tampa Bay, you know, teams like that, maybe they would have a problem.

La Rams, Tom Silvers down our guest Tera the Packers beat writer for the Milwaukee General Sentinel, remaining moments with him, Tom, if you had to pick one thing on the team, offense, defense or special teams that has been a weakness that has evolved over the course of the season into a strength, what would it be for the Green Bay Packers. For the Packers, well, first, I'll give you a weakness, that a state of weakness, and that I think you can. I think you can. I think the Bears will try

to exploit that. And that's their special teams. They've been just giving up big play second half of the year. And you know, Sean Menenga, their special teams coach, was an assistant with Chris Tabor and Cleveland, so that's kind of his mentor. And I can imagine Tabor knows a lot about Menenga, and you know, you know, they're friends up until kickoff, So I would expect I would look

for a breakdown there. As far as something that's become better for the Packers, I would say inside linebacker, they've got two young two rookies who've come in and they're more physical. One of them is really good, Chris Barnes at getting everyone set and they had signed a long term you know, time veteran Christian Kirksey and these other two guys about played them. So that's probably where they've

improved the most. The receiver position, after Davante Adams, who they rank him as the number one receiver in the league, is your second best option Tony in the tight end because it doesn't seem like there's any other clear candidate out there that is getting a lot of attention by Aaron Rodgers other than a lot of bootlegs to the tight end, but they're runofficially. Yeah, Tonyon has become kind

of a big play guy. He's got ten touchdowns and they're not you know, they're not like red zone touchdowns, not all of them. He seems to find a way to get open, especially when the coverage is going towards Adams, but free just down to down. I think Lazard is the number to target. It's just that he's been a little bit off because he had core muscle surgery earlier in the year and he's just not quite as explosive.

But he is, you know, a third and seven. He is as comfortable going to Lazard as he is going to Adams, and he's the kind of guy who will get first down. Adams is gonna break it for a touchdown. Lazard's gonna, you know, run his comeback right to the first down marker, but Rogers is gonna feel really confident about throwing it to him. So it's kind of That's kind of how it's been. Yeah, great year for Tanya, the mckennery High School East All Conference quarterback turned tight

end out of Indiana State. Also played in basketball Mary and Kaeptic and a workout pel of George Kittle, who proclaimed himself a Bears fan growing up. I'm sure Tonyon was as well. Hey, we're gonna let you go. Tom, appreciate it. Happy New Year to you and your family, and we'll talk you down the road. Absolutely, take care, guys out a happy new year. Thank you, Tom Silverstein. Coming up at the bottom of the hour, rope quand Smith will join us. This is Bears All Access on

Chicago Sports Radio six seventy. The Score with you on Bears All Access. Jeff jonn Yak in time day, We're brought to you by IGS Energy and go to have you alongside as we break down Bears and Packers. I cannot believe a couple of things I cannot do. Three things I can't believe todaytime a that it's week seventeen. It does you know. I'm sitting there this morning, sipping my coffee. I'm thinking, gosh, this whole thing started with

so much uncertainty. We were freaking out about whether we're gonna have a season, We're gonna travel, were we not, you know, worried about how we're gonna call the games. So that that, and then we went to training camp and was summer, and now it's a snowy day yesterday, and it's it's a new year coming. It's just a weird thing. That's number one. Number two today happens to

be Lebron James's thirty sixth birthday. It happens to be Tiger Woods is forty fifth birthday, Sandy Kofax's eighty fifth birthday. Three legendary figures in professional sports that kind of caught my attention, And now I forgot my third one. I remember now, I oh, here it is here, It is here. It is that the NFL today did say that they will hit the one million fan mark one hundred and

two games of fans this year. None, of course, it's sold your field here in Chicago, much to everybody's disappointment, I would have never guessed that. I don't I don't even know. I mean, I haven't seen that. I haven't seen that many people during the course of the season and all the games that I've watched the season, So yeah,

that really catches me by surprise. But back to the original point again, I admire the head coaches, the players, the staffs inside the building that we're able to keep these players self by self discipline or by the testing procedures that they went through, because I do think this season so far has paid dividends for the USA all right, today, for the world. For absolutely today I walked through for

both teams. They both walked through today. The Bears still, if they would have practiced, would not have had rookie cornerback Jayleen Johnson getting better because of that shoulder on a tackling Sean Watson a couple of weeks backbuster screen stilling concussion protocol Dion Bush for the foot illness. Today for a Keem Hicks, any concerns about those three guys in the secondary or what they are facing if they don't play, and Duke Shelley and kindallville Doore going up

against number twelve. My concern only for is the big picture of Buster buster screen because I enjoy his personality so much and he is a kind hearted person. To have this long of a concussion concern after having a couple of concussions, I, you know, whatever the decision has made, I just he needs to make the best decision for him. But you know, Jalen, he'll be back a Keem Hicks if I have to go in and suit him up and push him on the field, he'll be there Sunday.

That's right now. They need him. He was he wasn't. He's got to play. He wasn't in that first game, right, you know, for all the fans when we are sitting there watching the feed to get ready to broadcast the Bears game and a Keem Hicks came out and he was warming up before the game, he kind of get an indication, all right, he's feeling good, he's got his rhythm.

And then when the inactives came out and he was not a part of the game plan, I had a really defleted sense just for the defense when he's not in the game. AJ Dylon getting his biggest day of work against Tennessee was impressive. He's two hundred and fifty pounds tom and runs a four to five. He'll run through you, aneron you if he's got space added to what they already have with Aaron Jones. I don't know what Jamal Williams will be. But what does that add

to the mix here for the Bears. Well, you know the Dylan and he can catch the ball. So he's not a one dimensional big guy, you know. He you know, he's got a wide variety of skills that if Aaron Rodgers to put him out as the primary receiver in an out route or a wheel route, he'll he'll he's got the arm, confidence to go to him and he's just he's put that on display. But that's what Jeff

My first key to the game is premium tackling. This has got to be the best tackling game by far of every single member of that defense, you know, from you know, every single from the defensive line, every level. They got to be able to come out and when they have a chance to have contact against a Green Bay player with the ball in his hands, it's got to stop there. You can't turn a two yard run into a seven yard run. You can't turn a twelve yard catch into a twenty five yard catch. It's got

to be immediate contact. Hey, that goes for Aaron Rodgers too. If he's starting to scamper around, bring him down, man, don't let him. Don't let him scramble for anything. He's got a bunch of first downs again this year. Do you hear they claimed snacks Harrison off Waivers today? The Pack did not hear that. While another big defensive tackle, but the heart of their defense is led by the defensive tackles. He won't be eligible to play on Sunday.

I wouldn't think so. I wouldn't think so. That's that's looking down the road of their playoff picts are all right, coming on neck. We'll be joined by a roe Quand Smith, the Bear star linebacker joining the program. Next. This is Bears All Access on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy the Score and welcome back to Bears All Access. It's brought to you by IGS Energy Here on Chicago Sports Radio

six seventy the Score. Good to have you along. Tom there, Jeff Joniac bringing you the Bears and Packers from Soldier Field. Exclusive live cover starting at noon and our pregame show with Ron, Jim and Jay and then some good packer memory talk. We always bringing it to the table in that pregame show, Tommy, and then kick off at three twenty five. Are you indifferent or do you care the game was moved? I mean, you sent me something today about the coverage for the telecast. It's almost the entire

United States gonna get that game. It is. It is amazing, And I don't I don't, I really don't care. I don't know the condition, you know, so the daytime high temperature is before kickoff, it's like sometime like midnight tonight or something. Then it's gonna go down. It's, you know, be an uncomfortable twenty five degrees. But I don't think it matters from noon to three twenty five. It's not

big of that big of a deal. The players get to sleep in a little bit longer, and actually they may feel a little fresher and a little bit more alive and woken up at three twenty five. Mitchell Trubisky certainly is a topic of conversation. He won the Good Guy Award by the Pro Football Writers of America Chicago Chapter today for his he steps up to the table and it has ever since he's got here. Just a really impressive approach after games good and bad. Time Now

to join Roquan Smith, the Bear star linebacker, joined the program. Roquine, good evening, Thanks for joining Bears All Access here with Tom and Jeff. How's things going going very well? Happy to be here. Thanks for having me. Appreciate appreciate it. So you were with the media today on a zoom call talking about you know, everybody's very supportive of the way you've played this year, and that's why they pose all the questions about the Pro Bowl absence and all that.

I know it doesn't seem to really move your needle very much, but but deep down you must know that what you've accomplished this year, as you look in the mirror, you have to agree it's been a great success for you individually and has this team in a position to go to the playoffs. Don't you think you've had a good season? Absolutely? I feel like I've had a really good season this year. I know I wanted to be my best year to this day, and I felt like

you had has thus far, but not done yet. And it's just more so focused on this game to get us in the dance and then we'll go go from there. Hey, ro Quan, what's the one thing I You know, people keep asking Tom and I this other time. Why this year is so much of an impact year for Roquan Smith, not like the other ones weren't. But do you think the idea that you know, they gave you a lot responsibility.

You got the headset, you got the the the chart, you're in charge of the defense, You're you're making the calls, you're lighting people up. Do you think that made your focus a little bit more significant in the day to day preparation. Oh well, I think even prior to that, myocus I felt like my focus was at another level. But Dan like with all that added things like being one of the leaders making the calls on defense, that's for sure make you more focused because there's a lot

of people depending on you and some affort situations. So to be able to you know, handle that and then know how to navigate and go from there, I think that takes a lot of maturing. And then it's just like learning from the other guys and just all knowing what's right and what's wrong and just doing everything to the best of my ability. Hey, Roquan, forgive me because I did not get to see your press conference today, So I don't know if you're asked this question already,

because I saw it. I saw it in the game and your first interception where you're gonna flip the ball to Kyle Fuller, I absolutely was. I had a boy thank you, and I I like it because Kyle was there kind of egging you on to hey, man, give me that rugby pass and I'm gonna and then you got to turn into a lead blocker. Absolutely, all right. Hey, so you know a lot of times when we refer to a young quarterback, they always have that expression the

game is slowing down for him. Not necessarily, That's what I'm thinking about you, but are you able to filter more information more quickly in terms of what they can do from run to pass, play action to drop back, and just the information that you're seeing from the time they break the huddle till the ball is snapped. Absolutely.

I feel like this year things are like very slow, and I feel like das are slow down so much that I'm able to like process, I already know what we're in inside and out, and also just processing with those the possible threats that those guys could give me. So yeah, I would definitely they say, things are very

have flown down so much this year for sure. How much of you guys, how much of you and Danny Trevathan benefited from the play of the defensive line because again that they play such an important role in the amount of tackles that you guys can fly around the field and get. So when you when you talk about their role and their importance to you, guys, talk a little bit about the because it's a group of guys,

it's not just one or two of them. Yeah, I would agree, uh, and it's it's a tough job, man, and not they don't get much notoriety or anything like that. But man, hey, like, I'm very thankful for those guys and the subtless jobs that they do, like eating up blocks just so we can get free. That means a lot. That speaks volume to those guys character and whatnot. So I'm just happy to have those guys with my teammates. This segment of Bears All Access is brought to you

by Microsoft Surface and CDW. People to get it, learn more at CDW dot com. Roquan Smith, our guest here on Bears All Access, Jeff Joniac end time there. Yeah, you mentioned those guys up front. I had a conversation with with Al Nichols. We'll hear some of it coming up after we're done with you here this evening as our featured player on our Bears Game Day Live show on Fox. Just you know you guys, You guys are

good friends. You guys know that you guys are part of the core for the future to let alone the present. Just where he's gone, where he's taking his game from when he started to where he is now. Yeah, it's pretty insane, man. I got a lot of respect for the way I got to go about his business and the way he come in eating every day, go to work with his heart, had all never complain. That's always do whatever and taking to getting the job done, and like you just to continue to get better year one,

year two, and now you're there, y'all. Think he's planning, especially the last rests of games. I feel like he's planned some of the best ball of his career. But you don't get much notoriety, but I'll definitely appreciate that guy. All right, So the stage is set. This is, uh the launching pad game for this Bears team. You guys fought through so much to get to where you are

right now. I know you try and tap down the significance of it in terms of emotions, but the significance of Bears packers for the right to represent the NFC in the playoffs, it doesn't go unnoticed certainly. Well, how are you looking at this? How are you framing this as a guy that's now involved in this significant rivalry in NFL history and what it means for this Bears team on Sunday. I think it means it means a lot because everything is on the table. It's either win

or go home. We feel like that's then our whole mindset the last couple of weeks, so it's literally give everything you got every single play nuts and we wasn't doing that before, but it's really when or go home and get the next game. So we're looking at it at that and it's a game whether or not we

get into the playoffs. So I think that's that has enough on it within itselfs to like have god hair flickering up a little bit and nor on what's to stake, Hey, Roquat, when you think of the atmospheres that you played in this season, is there you do you have any ability to pick up any repeated information because you can hear it on the other side of the line of scrimmage or do you have to completely discount that because you have enough of your own huddle call to think about. Well,

for sure, you're for sureking. I feel like you can hear what some of the other guys, especially that they are repeating repeated cadence and things of that nature. So I think that definitely is good. But I feel like I was hearing some of those things even when fans were in the stadium, but like right now, it's even more clear. So like different things, you can't pick up all real. Quat spent our guest here on Bears All

Access on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy score. All Right, what cannot happen Sunday when you're playing a guy like Aaron Rodgers? What cannot happen on Sunday? I'm gonna say, first and foremost, not letting their run game gets started, because once their run game gets going, then he can

pretty much do whatever run or throy. So first, verst and foremost, I feel like we have we need to eliminate the run game, and then if we do that, then I feel like we can be in good spent a going that stamped out, and then we can all focus focused on the bad. I feel like still making them one dimensional with a sense. You guys have faced some really good backs this year, so it's uncertainly helps and I faced Aaron Jones already, but AJ Dillon for

the first time. That guy's got some steel belted thighs. Man. That guy is a horse, isn't he. Yeah, he's a He's a nice he's a nice time back for sure. But yeah, it'll be a great It'll be a great college to get some rookie You haven't seen any rookie backs this year, so it'll be nice. Uh to get up and walk get him and uh, I beat you guy Jones looking forward to what I'm thinking, it'd be great. Well, you know, you gotta get your staff or Eddie. You

got to get those guys on the huddle. Buck. To me, Roquan, the most important element is premier tackling, and that's all the running backs and the receivers that when you have initial contact, you got to stop them in their tracks just to give him anything extra. So when you're in there, that's got to be one of the key elements of the entire defenses focus this week with that many weapons.

I agree, Yeah, eliminating yards after catch, after to run or anything like that, because those guys feast off those type games. So we'll definitely it be all best interest to eliminate that for sure. Hey, real, qu on one last thing before we let you go, and we really appreciate you joining us. So you had that playoff experience as a rook and you know those games take on a greater intensity. This is a playoff game. Packers head coach Matt Lafleur is saying the same thing. This is

a playoff game for us. That's their mindset. They're gonna attack this thing that way. What did you learn from that playoff experience that you can use on Sunday against the Packers and think of it as a playoff game and nothing less. Yeah, absolutely that it very well is

a playoff game. Winner go home, And I feel like it's just going out there trusting what you see, trusting what you see, and just playing every play like it's their last playing and not taking night of something, no more nothing, just eliminating their main things what they drove on. No regrets, right, ro Quan, no regrets leave the field, no regrets whatsoever. All right, Roal Quant Thank you so much. Good luck on Sunday, Happy New Year to you. Thank

you up news. Ro Quan Smith, the Bears outstanding against side linebacker, joining Bears All Access. We're brought to you by IGS Energy. We'll break things down here a little balow Nickels on his career arc right now. He's having a fantastic year. Five sacks and a lot of big plays behind the line of scrimmage. Hopefully a few more on Sunday against the Pack. This is Bears All Access on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy The Score, everybody just sayment of Bears aut Access is brought to you by

Athletical Physical Therapy. Visit Athletico dot com to request an deployment in clinic or virtually and start feeling better tomorrow. Jeff Joni Ech along with Tom Thair. This is Bears All Access, not Chicago Sports Radio six seventy Score. Adam Stezinski is our producer tonight and Score Studio is good to hear Roquan smith Man his year and his trajectory time is taking off in a very big way. Yeah.

I mean he's got a lot of responsible a lot of responsibility on his football life shoulders because where he was drafted in the first place. And then when you get handed the green dot, and the green dot is a communication device within the helmet of Roquan Smith that you have to reach a certain stature or a certain understanding knowledge of how to call plays within the huddle because you're the guys transferring information to the other ten guys.

So that whole growth pass is still is really an unknown until you see him be able to perform under those types of outside the football box type of pressures. So everything that the Bears have asked Roquan Smith to do, you know, whether it's gain weight, you know on you know, study in your on your tablet, all the elements to make him a better football player, He's done everything asked of him. He's triggering fast two in the run game and of the past game, and if something does get

down field, he goes and chases you down. I mean that's the one thing. And then last week dropping him in there almost it was it wasn't I don't. I don't believe it was cover a cover two situations, but dropping down the middle of the field like Brian Urlacher used to do in the four three. This is certainly not that. But dropping down into coverage and going then and take that interception away down the middle of the field was was erlak er esque a little bit right.

He was under support to the safety over the top of the route. But the more impressive route was earlier in the game. They had a third and two, so Roquan Smith lines up inside the heels of the defensive lineman. Now that completely changes the responsibility of the offensive lineman who they're responsible for first, so they count ro Quan Smith as their responsibility. But he takes off and he chases a back naterally all the way to the sideline

and stops him before he gets a first down. So you just think of the confusion that he creates at the line of scrimmage and then he's no longer there, and then he's stopping the running back who's taken an outlet pass before he can convert it into a first down. So it's the elements not only of his individual ability, but where he can adjust himself and put in to a confusing position for the opponent. Speaking of confusing, Fred Warner got Player of the Week, not that this matters

in the NFC at eight tackles. Yet eight tackles and when Roquan has a couple of interceptions plus those eight tackles and snubbed Q eight tackles, two interceptions and two fumbles, you know what it is. I kind of laugh about that because they were able to recover both of them.

But even you know, asking him about his he know he knew he was going to pitch it too, and you nailed that on the broadcast because I was thinking, Okay, he's acting like the lineback, you know, the running back shifts the ball to run away from you know, the different types of attacks from from the guy tackling you.

But you were right on the money as per usual, big time, and that would have been the right thing to do, is put the ball in your opposite arm so you can stiff arm with your right and then you're controlling the football in your left hand away from where you're going to receive contacts. Still a couple of tackles away from matching Brian or Lacker and Lance breaks for tackles for law excuse me, Alex Brown for the

all time record in a single season of nineteenies two. There, it'd be great to happen against the Green Bay Packers. Another career arc with a very strong trajectory right now playing nose tackle and end is blown Nichols. He's our feature on Bears Game Day Live coming up on Sunday on Fox at ten thirty in the morning with Luke, Anellis and everybody. And here's a little snippet at this point this season, what excites you about what you've become. I think it's exciting me the fact that you know

I'm making great progress. Um, the funny thing is I'm nowhere where I want to be. But the good thing is that I see it and I'm making strides and you know where i want to be. I'm on my way, but I'm not there yet. And uh, you know, as a young player, that's that's exciting to know that all the hard work that you put in, you know, it's starting to pay off and you're starting to see, you know,

some of the fruits of your labor. So you know, it only motivates me to continue to work harder and harder and continue to just be the best me I could be. I have a funny feeling. You're never going to feel like you arrived, are you. You're always going to be pushing that envelope. Yeah. No, I'm never gonna feel like that, just because I've never felt like that in my life. I've always been, you know, the underdog.

So it's a part of me that won't ever allow myself to feel like, what's the thrill of the hunt?

Like now that you're second quarterbacks regular Lake? Yeah, oh man, it's awesome, you know, just that feeling that just you know, you being out there with your teammates and you could just feel you know, you feel the atmosphere, you feel the energy that you know you get to go hunt and uh, you know, it's it's an amazing feeling, especially when you know, uh, you've worked hard, you prepared all week to beat you man, and you finally get there and you finally do it. It's like a it's an

unbelievable feeling. I mean, it's it's amazing. I've seen him call you young King, I've seen him call you baby bull, your guy A. Kim Hicks has really continued to kind of take you under his wing. But now it's it's more a friendship and a mentorship that is really a terrific story over the course of the years you've been with him. How would you describe it. It's it's it's amazing. Um. You know, I don't have anybody else with the relationship like I have with the Kim in the NFL. It's

very different. It's like you said, he really liked a big brother to me. I mean a lot of the things that we talk about we talk about life outside of football. Of course we talk about football, but you know, the conversation that we have outside of football, the things he's putting me onto and he's telling me about off the field are just as huge as the things he's

putting me onto on the field. You know, he's a guy that you know when I when I have things I want to talk about, you know, I'm gonna give him a call. All right. So the stage is set Barris Packers Soldier Field. When you're in how are you feeling as all this is coming to route here? I feel I feel great. I wouldn't want it any other way against any other team, you know, if if I could, if I could paint it out like this, This is

exactly how it would be. Um. You know, everybody knows about the rivalry we have with them, everybody know how we feel about them, and everybody know how we feel about us. And I wouldn't want it any other way. I wouldn't want to be any other team to get into the playoffs. So I'm excited. I'm ready to go. You feel you guys are a dangerous team. I do. I do, And I feel like we're gonna put the league on notice pretty soon. You know, we we got

our momentum ruling. You know, we're feeling good. We're starting to feel that we got that swag back. We're starting to get that back, and I feel like, you know, we're a team that you need to look out for. And Tom, you know, he's one of the young cors. I mean, it's Tim, It's Eddie Jackson, It's a real quant Smith, It's you know what we find out more and more every day, is it Duke Shelley is a kindle Ville door coming into their own as well as

they'll get a lot more opportunities down the road. Jalen Johnson David Montgomery on the offense, side of the ball, Mooney must if. I mean, there's a pretty good cash of young players here that are going to be your future leaders, no doubt about it. You know, when I listened to blaw Nichols and I listen to him talk, you can hear him absorb a lot of information from the different guys he's got to play with. He compliments Robert Quinn, really well they do They run line stunts

efficiently that result in sacks. He plays really well on the inside while he's going with a Keem Hicks or he's going with Brent Urban. However, last week in the Jacksonville game, you see this play that shows multiple levels of just football intelligence blaw Nichols when he almost intercepted that screen pass. First of all, you're defeating an offensive lineman and you're kind of reading the signals he's giving you. He tries to release, it's too easily. Blow immediately reads screen.

He sees the back release of the outside flat and he takes a path where the pass is gonna go. He should have caught that thing on the run and would able to convert that into an interception. So it's a multi level intelligent play. While you're adjusting your assignment midstream because you know what you're thinking about as a defensive lineman in your stance depending upon a down a distance.

It's how destructive can I be immediately disengage from this offensive lineman, get in, create a sack or stop the running back. But when you have that multi level vision site intelligence and then you see a factor into that type of play, it's gonna be soon where he's gonna snag one of these interceptions from one of these courts. Jay Rodgers is a defensive line coach whom he also raves about in that interview that you'll see on Fox and here on WBBM on Sunday, and that's a significant

piece to this too. He says he's never been around a guy and that's been able to coach him like he coaches him and he has him a ton of credit. Also, when you have an opportunity like that, and there have

been many this season. You know, talk about this team not having the takeaway totals that we fell in love with in twenty eighteen and they thrived on, is that there have been a lot of missed opportunities to take the ball away, whether it be on ricochets or a ball in your hands, and you're not against Green Bay on Sunday. If that rare moment comes because this guy doesn't throw picks or the ball doesn't come out, you

can't miss it. There can be no miss Yeah. I remember early in the last Green Bay game someone got in onto Aaron Rodgers and swiped the ball out of his hands in comfortably and luckily it just landed at his feet and he was able to PLoP on it. Those are the types of plays that the Bears. They have to be. They have to be the recipient. If they're gonna have that destructive of a play, then they're gonna be the guys that have to get that loose football,

whether it's in the air or on the ground. Bears fans been shopping for your game day celebrations, don't forget to pick up your favorite variety of lace, potato chips and tostitos. Tostitos and lays are an essential part of the game day tradition and the official chip of your Chicago Bears. Gold Bears a moment with Sean Desai. All the coaches spoke this week, so a lot of good detail.

Thought this was interesting about how you have to attack from a safety perspective, from a cornerback perspective, from a Nickel slat perspective. When you play a quarterback like Aaron Rodgers. The biggest thing that we try to emphasize is with Aaron is obviously he can he makes all the on time rhythm throws, and then he makes all the spectacular throws that are off schedule and off time too. So you know, the average NFL play goes from four to

six seconds. We got to be ready to play from six to ten seconds, you know, and we got to make sure that we're on point and finishing and the playing over until that whistle blows or the balls on the ground or you know, there's an incomplete pass or something like that. That we've got to make sure that we're doing our jobs at all levels of the defense, not just the back end, until the play is actually over, because you don't know when that plays over six to

ten seconds. That really caught my attention. It's a good thing you only play a guy like Aaron Rodgers maybe twice a year if you're you know, because of that great Not everybody has those types of skills, but Sean is exactly right. You have to understand that you may be coming across the whole width of the field to assist on a tackle on the opposite side or pressure

in the line of scrimmage. It's a it's just a you know, a snap to whistle type performance that this defense has to have and they always have to be in an advantaged position when after the ball is snapped. How are you gonna deal with Davante Adams right now? So in the first game, where do you have sixty one yards? He had a touchdown. He's been just crazy good. How do you defend this because he'll get the ball flip to him if you're gonna give him cushing and

he's gonna get a little something. He's gonna move the sticks if you get up in him and try and press him. He's got the size and strength now and the savvy. He invites it, and he's gonna beat you down the field and Aaron puts it on the right money spot nickel, you know, and diame you to death. He could do it all with this guy. What do you recommend and how to defend this receiver? Right now? You know, I'm gonna try to coordinate my pressure into

the side he's lining up to. I don't want Aaron Rodgers to have an extended view out there to wait him get to that crease and then he fires the ball to him. I want to put Aaron Rodgers on the defensive. I want him to move his feet as much as he possibly has to. And I know that he can throw the ball out of any stance, out of any type of foundation. But if you can affect how much power he can put behind these passes, then maybe you know he's got to bring it down and

go into a different direction. But you know, I would rather go down with the ship of firing all my cannons than having a bunch of ammunition stored down below while I'm still sinking. Any weapon that you want to weaponize on Sunday that hasn't been utilized to the extent you felt they would be offensively for the Bears, you know.

I don't know if it's a blitzing Sherick McManus. I don't know if it's DeAndre Houston Carson coming in as a sixth defensive back and maybe lining up closer to line of scrimmage, trying to get a one on one battle for a Keem Hicks that he can absolutely you know, power into the backfield. So there's a lot of elements offensively, give me one. You got thirty seconds? Yeah, I keep the tight ends involved as much as you possibly can. I think the biggest mismatch in height and receiver ability

is Jimmy Graham and Cole commet Anthony Miller. Can you hear me? Number seventeen and he's waiting throw to the Yale another big play? Anthony Miller. All right, thanks town, we're out of time. We're breaking down Bears and Packers. Hope you enjoyed the show. Thanks to Adams, the Zinsky and our guests wrote Quantum at the time Silverstein. More on the score coming up next, don't you Tago Sports Radio six seventy to score. Thanks for listening to this

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