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Hosts, Jeff Chilliac aka the Mayor of Bearsville and his sidekick Tom, the Surfmaster Thayer Holleren. Everybody, let's go scare some Cardinals over in Arizona. How about it with Super Bowl winning Bears guard Tom There, I'm Jeff Joniak And in the ESPN studio Spender the Dallas Tonight, justin Pattinger. Thanks to our producers Dan Brillly and Jordan tread Up and the Bears. The executive producer of the Bears Radio
Network is Eric Ostratski. It's Week nine, Tom Bears jetting the Phoenix to play the Cardinals three zero five Sunday. Changing the clock Saturday, so an extra hour sleep, but I don't need it. I'm ready to play right now. How about you?
I am too.
You know, seventy degrees for a high and it's really unusual, so I look for a fresher style. A fresher brand of football when you go out there, even though you're traveling.
I don't know if they'll have the roof opened or closed.
It's supposed to rain.
Oh it is in the morning, most likely closed then, So I'm glad you updated me.
But it's an exciting game.
The Cardinals are an exciting team, but so are the Bears. So I expect a really fun brand of football on Sunday afternoon.
All right, thanks to Fox thirty two Chicago cameraman Jeff Wieris for the update on the rain. So yeah, we gotta do Bears game Day live, bright and early there. And so I think we're gonna get a little wet in that game.
Well not if they have the roof closed. We're not gonna get They're not gonna get wet.
We got all sorts of stuff happening here tonight. We got TJ. Edwards joining the program. You heard from Bears running back coach Chad Morton, Richard hight, Tower, Cole Comets, Eric Washington, and the offensive coordinator Shane Waldron all jam packed in our show tonight. Tom, Let's check the injury report first. First, on the offensive line, you've got Karanamagaji CAF did not practice today. Braxton Jones knee did not practice today. Tevin Jenkins knee was limited yesterday, did not
practice today. So Ryan Bates limited as he comes into that twenty one day window after being on I with a shore shoulder. Larry Borum though full, he had that twenty one day window open up here last week. So you know, I was asked on Wadaw and Sylvie by Peggy Kazinski and Mark Silverman, what's the offensive line gonna look like? And I can't call it right now, can you? Well, well, this is it.
So I was a part of that twenty one day opportunity that pupp list that they have to make a decision within the twenty one days. It's not that you have to be out there for twenty one days and
then they make the decision. So to me, if they felt strongly about the way Larry Boram practiced last week, and they feel that he did a nice job of going through the conditioning requirements that the staff put him through while he is rehabilitating his ankle injury, and the same thing with Ryan Bates, and they give you the best option of veteran talent, then I would play them I wouldn't shy away from him. But also Doug Kramer came in and did a nice job at offensive guard,
and so you still have options there. And it's not like you're gonna be void of the proper number of offensive linemen to go to Arizona with.
But if you have a game day.
Jersey, you just gotta be ready to play if you feel and you tell the coaches that you are ready.
Also, did Jakwan Brisker and Kyler Gordon still sidelined?
You know, the Kyler Gordon one.
It doesn't make me nervous because there's a linger and to a muscle, a soft you injury, a pull of whatever whatever it is. But I am concerned that I'm worried about Jakwan Brisker. I'm not gonna, you know, hide that because Jaquan is a great football player.
He's a really neat guy.
And I want you Kwon Brisker to have a long, successful, healthy career. But now going into Way, this is week three of that concussion of what he's dealing with. So I just want the best for I just want the best for Jakwan.
All right.
Shane Waldron at the podium as he is each and every Thursday. Uh, We're gonna focus on this chunk of it is just dealing with the pressure packages that teams come up with, whether it be blitzes, twist stunts, or whatever, and how the Bears have handled it a week to week from the beginning of the season where they are right now. And also look at this defense of Nick Ratis and Arizona. Jonathan Gannon coming from the Colts organization, Philly organization, so they do like the.
Pressure operated at a good level earlier on in the I think that's going to be a week to week thing. And I think just as much as the teams that have blitzed us, it's the teams that have shown disguises. Because we're going into another week this week with nicko Alis and Arizona where they do an excellent job of bringing exotic pressures into those third down situations or known passing situations, but they also do an excellent job of showing that look and then pulling out and playing coverage
on different situations there. So I think for us all about the communication, I think Coleman Shelton's done a really good job of handling that communication at the center position, working with Caleb, and to me, all the pressure looks that we get all the different ones that we've gotten throughout training camp, and we keep stacking those reps and keep getting better at those every single week so we can always play clean against the Blitz, which is a goal every single week.
Caleb Williams tell us he's missing throws that he wouldn't normally miss. When you go back and you look at those miss throws, what are you kind of seeing or diagnosing from those situations?
Ye, I think Caleb's just doing a good job of just building an inventory of seeing these throws, different ones that he knows that that he can make us, especially you know, early on in the games, and and does a good job of looking to self correct, looking to see making sure feet, eyes, rhythm is all in a in a good spot right there. And then it's when it's a chance to work off schedule, you know, and and you know, hits that that first throw and then
clicks right in. And I think the best part about Caleb though, is if he misses a throw, he does he has that forward thinking mindset so he's ready for that next play, that ready for that next challenge. So he never lets that uh, play before and incompletion, before Uh I look back to the Jacksonville game and interception, he doesn't let that affect his next play. He'll come right back out there, ready to fire and and ready to go through the process.
From your time in the NFC West, you obviously have familiarity with Baker.
You describe his value to that the what kind of strength he puts on Yeah, I think.
You know, around the league each week there's there's great a lot of great players on every team, and you know, and then there's these unique players like Buddha Baker, uh that really set the tone, set the attitude, set the culture for a team and for a defense. And I think the way that that he his ability to run and hit and cover impact the game. Run the alleys going against him multiple times, they talk about a fearless player,
that's that's always in attack mode. So he's one of those guys that we always have to respect, we need to account for. They obviously use a unique structure with how they're able to move him around, So it's a it's a big part of our game plan and a big part of our week for a guy that we have a ton of respect for.
About their defense.
Yeah, well, starting with Buddha Baker and then the ability to move around Collins or there are different pieces with Wilson, you know in non normal alignments. You know, they might be a defensive line alignments, they might be at linebacker alignments. Uh, so they can mix and match. I think Coach Rollis is a very unique scheme. So it's something we honed in on starting to work on on Monday, and then it worked all the way through and it'll be a good challenge to attack.
Collectively as a staff figure out Larry Borum's readiness after an extended absence of just trying to gauge where he's at.
Yeah, I think Larry's done an unbelievable job. First of all, when he was injured, you know, going back to the preseason, gets injured, and that happens of staying connected, staying involved, staying in with this up to date with the scheme, and he's worked his butt off to get back healthy through that rehab and then gets a chance to get out on the practice field. And this is the guy who's played in games and played you know, played at a high level. So his readiness from a mental standpoint
is right there. Physical standpoint right there and then you know, so we have all the trust in the world of him playing and playing at a high level in the game.
I think he called this Cardinal scheme unique.
I think it's unique with the way they can utilize their linebacker spots both on the ball and off the ball. And then Buddha Baker, you know where he's able to you know, with him Thompson with the safety is the DBS. They're able to play a lot of blurry structures pre snap with a three safety starting point right there, and then rock and roll into different looks. So it's just like I said, it's a little different than other schemes.
They might get into some of the final coverages or front structures that are normal, but the way that they get to those is traditional.
All right. So that's Shane walldron a portion of his news conference today at Halsall, Tom, you watch the tape, what are you seeing defensively that that that front is really messed up with injuries right now?
It is Jeff and you know, both our safeties are good football players.
It's not only Buddha Baker.
But you know, I kind of don't like the fact that the press gets right into third down, because yeah, you're gonna listen. The first question when they're asking about was third down and passing.
No, no, no, no, no. I I edited that.
I know, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay.
So because I think they're really blockable on first and second down. I look at this defense and it looks like a three to one two defense.
They got three interesting huh.
Three defensive linemen and stances, one linebacker that faces up wherever the running back is positioned into the quarterback, and then the two outside linebackers.
But when you look at the.
Positioning of the guy right over the head of the set in the two defensive tackles, they're kind of in the gap between the guard and the center. It makes them really double teamable, if that's even a word, because you're almost putting yourself in position where you can go half body to half body, and then you have that one linebacker that's gonna flow according to the direction of
the play. To me, when they talk to Shane about third down, I wish they would talk first about first and second down, because that's the one thing about the Bears offense. You're gonna have to be successful on first and second down. Whether you're running a screen or just running the ball at the point of attack, and then you're gonna be then you're gonna have a little bit more understanding of what they're gonna have to do on
third down. So to me, the beginning of the question should always start with first down, and that's gonna tell you a little bit about the progression of the defense.
He used last names of mac Wilson's starting line. But they do move him to an edge. They lost their best edge rusher and Dennis Gardick to an ACL against the Chargers. And of course the former Bears all in there, Blal Nichols and Justin Jones, they're out there on IR right now. So and you mentioned in our podcast, Kiris Tonga is still there another act Chicago Bear playing on the defensive line. All right, we're gonna step away. When
we come back, we'll hear from TJ. Edwards, the hit man second in the NFC and tackles since twenty twenty three. That's coming up next here on Bears Weekly on the SPN one thousand of the Bears Radio Network. So this segment of Bears Weekly brought to you by Igs Energy, Jeff Joni, k Tom Player, with you as we're getting you set for Bears and Cardinals, had the opportunity to talk to one of our favorite players. I think Tom
would would agree on TJ. Edwards made it took the long way to get here, right, undrafted free agent, and he's always got that in the back of his mind, as we'll learn here in this conversation. But Tom, the Bears, according to Pro Football Reference, have had the fewest misstackles in the NFL through the first eight weeks of the season, just twenty five. Some teams have one hundred already, which is hard to imagine.
I mean, that's crazy. You know, look at a majority of these players. They accelerate into the tackle and the reason they miss so few tackles they're in perfect tackling position. They practice fundamentals. Matt Eberflus talks about the way and the technique he likes these guys to use, and we always brag about.
The way TJ.
Edwards and the rest of these guys accelerate right before the collision and it becomes a collision because their willingness to hit guys on the other side of the ball.
And that's a good place to start in our conversation with the Bears linebacker. Everybody goes sideways or backwards. I mean you delivered this pop. I mean the way your coach to tackle under Matt Eberflus and coach Washington is significant. It's the hamstring tackle. But sometimes you just can't get to the hamstring. You just got to take care of business. Do you think the men that you hit field TJ.
Edwards, I'd like to think so.
You know, it's not like I'm always walking away clean too. Sometimes that's self inflicted wounds there too. But man, that's kind of just how I know how to play the game. And I feel like it's something that's really helped me get to where I am today and still so much room for improvement.
Man.
So I'm just I'm excited every day to get in here and get to work and get to do what I love for a living.
It's incredible.
Captain TJ. Edwards has a nice ring to it as well. Everyone I've asked about it who's become a captain, especially when it's the first time or early, they really appreciate it, like there's just something different about it. You know, you carry yourself always. This is my interpretation also as as a leader no matter what. But to have that title when you got it and how you embrace it would what's the feeling like for you? What's how does that manifest itself for you?
Yeah? And I think you kind of allude to it.
But I think there's so many leaders in this building, right, And but I think for me being able to, you know, get voted captain by my peers, you know, it's it means something so much more, and it's something you know, I don't I don't take lightly at all, and you know, I try to just be the be the same guy every day though, right. I think you know the best part about kind of our captains in general is it's a bunch of different personalities and they lead in you know,
their own way. Yeah, yeah, one hundred percent. That's what I'm saying, Like we've kind of.
Got it all.
But it's it's a blessing, man, And to do it for you know, my hometown team, my first ever time being voted captain, it's it's something special.
What did they miss? What did they miss about TJ Amen? I think I couldn't pear into the soul the man.
I think, you know, I think everyone's enamored with the T shirt and shorts, right, I think everyone loves that. But good thing for me is, you know, that's not what you play football, and that's not the entirety where so I think, you know, I think people thought I was slow and and things like that I wouldn't be able to fit into these the system and in this league. And that's something that drives me every single day and
to this day. You know, I think I still carry that with me that you know, you don't think I'm good enough and I'm gonna show you why. So I carry that that chip on my shoulder will never go away. But it's something that I love to prove, you know, to other people.
For sure.
We can talk about tough losses all day long. Every player and every sport, anybody at any level have had that one tough one. But I keep being told if you lose a Super Bowl, that's the one. Did you do? You still carry that with you and and just being on the brink and not able to finish that and as a lesson then it's the rest of the room. Yes, that you can tell.
Guys absolutely, And like you said, there's so many guys who have tough losses, you know, Tremaine, and I was kind of reminiscing on that, you know, on our careers and things like that and the losses that we've took, and doesn't mean that this one that we had didn't hurt any more or less. But it's also, you know what, that was our seventh game, right, we got someone, We got ten weeks left at minimum, and we get to go show why we you know, deserve be in that dance and we're gonna go.
Get those things corrected.
But at the end of the day, like I think that the super Bowl one hurts, you know what I'm saying, because that's your last game of the year.
You're going home after.
That, so we've got we've got time to do, we need to do to get it corrected.
What's the TJ stand.
For Terrence Joseph.
Yeah, you're in trouble, you get the Terrence Joseph.
Or man, I love the TJ.
Would you rather prefer the Terrence?
It's crazy, I've never really gone by Terrence.
I think it's when I'm in trouble growing up, That's kind of how it was. It was a Terrence or it's like you know, when I when I shank a t shot off the whatever you're yelling at myself Terrence like.
But other than that, it's TJ.
They got any other nicknames for you in that room?
Uh, my parents are around here, both. Yeah, I don't. I don't really have too many.
I think, you know, obviously flu scam me the Hitman one here, you know, I think that's that's really it, TJ.
My friends make fun of me call me Terry Joe.
Back in the day, my wife's name is Kelly Joe, so they always, you know, kind of make fun of me for that.
But other than that, it's really it.
Do you remember your first Halloween costume or what was your go to back in the day.
I mean I had the I had the Classic Bears one, right, you know what I'm saying. I had the Irlacker one. I was I was Blade one year. I remember that that was a good picture. This past just you know, a couple of days ago. I was a joker So oh really what was that for? Just a little team to get together.
But the guys dressed up?
Yeah, come on, absolutely, man, absolutely, Hey you got you.
Know what, man who won the costume of the year, who walked in and you went, oh, my this guy went all out.
There were some good ones. Who was Tremaine was h what's a Scooby doo?
Uh? Fred and uh and uh Daphne and his and his girl. So that was that was a couple of good ones. I think Keenan was the mask which was a good one.
Jim Carrey one. So now I forgot. Yeah, yeah, I don't remember. It was a lot though. It was a good time.
That's pretty funny. Yeah, all right, Arizona, you've challenged Kyler Murray three times in your career.
I looked it up.
He hits you by ground, he hits you by air, and he's a hard little guy to hit. He's an interesting, interesting guy here in a Heisman battle. What's the key to stop and him from hurting you too badly?
And I think you nailed it.
I think he's a guy who can do a lot of his feet obviously, and he can do like a great job extending plays, making them right reads, and you kind of I feel like I've seen his progression. Everyone's seen his progression from a from a thrower, you know, standpoint, he can make every single throw. But I feel like just watching the tape, he's doing a great job of just kind of making the right decisions and making the right plays and then also being a playmaker when he
has to. So it's gonna take everybody, all right, it's gonna And obviously we got a little taste of that last week with a runner playing a running style quarterback. But you know these guys are these guys are different in what they do too, so it'll be it'll be fun.
Man. We're excited, all right.
TJ. Edwards a portion of our interview. We'll hear more from him later in a couple of weeks. But the Kyler Murray aspect of Thanks Tom, have you noticed anything different? Because he was here last year recovered from his ACL tear in twenty twenty two, so he played eight games last year. He's already played eight games this year. Do you notice anything different about him?
I think he's the most unblitzable cornerback in the NFL.
Wow.
If you think that you're gonna.
Play a one directional rusher against a blitzer, I think you have to blitz from both sides because he has the ability to headfake. He's got quick to twitch muscles, he's got a short arm throwing motion, and he's impossible to tackle in a big space, and so the difficulty of trying to trap Kyler Murray by a one man blitz from the films that I've been able to watch, it.
Seems almost impossible.
And you know, when you have a quarterback that's recovering from a knee injury, you always test him in some way, shape or form. When you play against a quarterback like that that's recovered from a knee injury, then you better that challenge. It better be processed a little bit more intelligently by the scheme that.
You're gonna put at him.
Yeah, he doesn't take many hits either. He gives himself up sometimes slide feed first slide. But you know, a quarterback like that, hit him and then let's see what happens,
he said, see how he respond. So hopefully the Bears can put the pressure on him and do so in Glendale, Arizona coming up on Sunday at three oh five, when we come back, we'll take a listen to the running back coach Chad Morton here on Bears Weekly on ESPN one thousand of the Bears Radio Network, calling all Bears fans want unforgettable access to see the Bears play at Soldier Field this season. VIP Official ticket packages are now
available for every home game. Unlock access to exclusive ticket packages that may include entry to win stadium, hospitality lounges, pregame, sideline credentials, and the Chicago City Pass. Visit Chicago Bears VIP dot comerce call eight sixty six two oh two five seven five to five for more info. Again the Chicago Bears VIP dot comer Call eight sixty six two oh two, fifty seven to fifty five. Don't miss this
exclusive opportunity with Chicago Bears VIP. Jeffing Time back with you on ESPN one thousand of the Bears Radio Network. Here on Bears Weekly Time, Let's talk the running game, because things that are percolating right now for the Bears rent ground game and DeAndre Swift before we get into Chad Morton and his look at it. What's been most intriguing for you over these last five weeks with Swift and the offense, working with the offensive line and how he's created some big plays, you.
Know, and the interior of the running game.
I like that he's running lower and powerful, He's respecting the point of attack, He's getting what's offered to him by the offensive line, and we're not necessarily talking about touchdown runs, but we're talking about averaging four yards plus per carry. And then his vision on the outside zone runs is excellent. He understands how the blocks are gonna unfold in front of him, He understands the patients that he needs a blocker to get in the right position,
and then he capitalizes on it. And then if you look at things, I know it's not a run, but I'm gonna call a screen a run play because it starts at the line of scrimmage.
He's got the.
Patients to allow his blockers to get out in front of them, and a lot like an outside zone play. He gives those guys a chance to get in position, and then he capitalized on what's offered him. The tight ends are doing a good job and the receivers are doing a good job in the running running game blocking responsibilities.
Here's running back coach Jed Morton today here at Hollis.
He's just getting more comfortable out there. He's just really understanding the design of the run. We're trying to get done on it. Who we're trying to influence and it's just a profit of him, his attention to detail studying. He's always trying to improve. If you ask him right now, I'm sure he's not even close to being satisfied of where he wants to be and I'm not either, So we're gonna still push the envelope on that, and we still have a lot of room to get to get better and improved.
What types of things do you feel that you're you're not entirely comfortable yet with or he's not Just is it from the simple to the complex or somewhere in between?
Just setting up your blocks, I mean normal running back stuff, pressing the track mix. Sure you're on the right angle. I think that's really important. You're on your right track. How we influence these backers to get them to where we want to go? Uh so we can manipulate that. Just things of that nature. And he's just you know, he's just continuing continuing to grow in that aspect and I'm proud of them, but we got more to do.
Sureld you love that crack toss plate. I mean you know what, I want to see it every like ten times a game. Right, that's just old fashioned football, Right, there is that one of your clearly one of your Favoriteyah.
It's great just because of what he's able to do with it, too, because a lot of times you see runners cut back maybe a little bit too early, but it's really the emphasis of stretching that thing all the way to the sideline and really setting those blocks just not for the lineman but for the receivers too. And there's a time to cut back, but the biggest thing is really stretching that play and getting those guys to run laterally and help set up your blocks and then
then we could decide from there. But if you cut up too soon, you know, you see that a lot just through out the league too, right, Guys they don't want to get stretched away out there. They want to hit it every time they seem a little seam. But that's not the design of the play. Those things like that of just not running the space but understanding the scheme and what we're trying to do.
And that's a big difference.
And so the end result Tommy five hundred and thirty three yards from scrimmage, if you throw in the passing game as well, trailing only Derrick Henry first bear with four consecutive one hundred yard from scrimmage games and a touchdown best in the NFL that streak top five and receiving among running backs since Week four and fourth overall receiving since twenty twenty. So a lot of good things going on. Then you hit upon all of them.
Yeah, you know, that's the one thing about DeAndre Swift. You cannot talk about him being a running back unless you talk about him being a running back receiver, because that sets up a lot of his game. When you're an influential running back and inside the shoulders of the tackles and all of a sudden you bounce something to the outside and you're setting up for a screen. You have all those defenders bunched up in the middle, and
then you have you've created some space for yourself. So Chad Morton did a really good job of describing the development of DeAndre Swift, understanding that he's not happy yet.
But you and I talk all the time.
We're not looking unrealistically at the performance of the production. We're looking at that a little over the four point per carry is what's gonna do most to help your offense.
This just popped in my head right now because we keep talking about how you know, the Bears are not hitting out of the gas putting points on the board in the first quarter, just three points on opening drives. Ten points in the first quarter. I mentioned earlier today on ESPN, Philadelphia hasn't scored a single point in the first quarter. A steady diet of runs on the first series. Maybe just move the chains and get things going to
set up the passing game a little bit more. Would that maybe get the engine started a little quicker, possibly, yeah, or.
Even something that if you get into an obvious run type of formation where they know the defense where they're going to run the ball, I guarantee, let's bring everybody up and then you give Caleb the opportunity for play action if it's if you get the opening drive going by deception or you'd always like to do it, like you said, by performance and be successful on first and
second down running the ball. And I do think that this defense is gonna give the Bears offense an opportunity to be successful in the early downs of a series and running the ball.
Got to talk about Khalil Herbert real quick too, because we did talk with coach about this, Chad Morton, and he said he's just been blown away about not complaining about his situation that it's uh, he's staying motivated because he's got to be ready. You don't know when your number is gonna get called. He was healthy and active last week. A lot of that has to do with special teams, and you know there's good special teams players.
I'm wondering at the new kickoff rule because guys like Daniel Hardy are doing so well on special teams and and and bigger guys are out there that it takes away that opportunity to try and compete for time. And we know that Homer's a very good special teams player. They value him very much for you know, a corese special teams player, but working hard, taking all the scout
team reps. You feel for a guy because it was in this game a year ago he really ran well against the Cardinals that sold your field on Christmas Eve.
Herbert, you know, I don't have any concern for the professionalism of Khalil Herbert.
He's a number one to me.
And last year when he twisted his ankle on the Washington game and then he was out of the lineup for a little bit, and then when he got back in the lineup. He showed his dedication to get back on the field and he showed his explosiveness.
So Khalil Herbert, He's he's a true pro.
But the position is really difficult when you do have a DeAndre Swift, you have a Roshawan Johnson and so, and then you talk about the special teams component makes those game day activations difficult to decide on.
All right, we're gonna step away for another break. When we come back, we'll hear from special teams coordinator Richard H. Tower on the punting of Tory Taylor. We're gonna go into the weeds on this one. It's a lot of good detail about how he's punting the football for the Bears,
an absolute weapon. That's Tom there. I'm Jeff Joniak, and this is Bears Weekly and Yes p in Chicago and the Bears Radio Network have a new or gently used coat laying around well a head to your local jewelasco until February tenth to donate one of your newer gently used coach to the thirty sixth annual Chicago Bears Coat
Drive help keep Chicago's warm. This winner, Jeff and Tom, we talked about it on our Bears et cetera podcast Tip of the Cap to Bears equipment man and a veteran Bears employee, a guy who loves this franchise deeply, but also loves giving back to the community. He leads the way in cole Comet, the guy the ambassador helping out this year. Thank thank you to jewel Osco Savation Army Tommy. We talk about it a lot. Donate a cop, help out somebody.
Tony Medlin had equipment manager of the Chicago Bears. His You know, when this thing began years and years ago, Tony Medlin kept this thing in motion and it's clothed, you know, one hundred. I don't even know what the number is really, but you know, for thirty six years they've been doing it, and I love the event as much as any event that we go through each year.
All Right, as the Bears get ready for this Arizona outfit in Glendale, a lot of praise heaped upon Tory, Taylor, tom and the covered units for that matter. Eight punts inside the ten yard line. See, we used to talk about inside the twenty all the time, right, yeah, yeah, Now we got to start talking about inside the ten because we're watching this and he had several in that game on Sunday, He's got the second most in the
NFL and the most in the NFC. Let's listen in to Richard hight Tower and what he's been feeling about.
This protection unit did a phenomenal job in that football game, whether it was backed up or it was in the plus fifty area to pin those guys to give our defense a long field. I felt like the gunners did a great job outside getting in the face of the returners, and we challenged them as well as the unit to make more impactful plays, and the gunners did a phenomenal job with that, something we wanted to do coming out
of the buy. I thought Tory punted better in this game then he punted when he won Special.
Teams Player of the Week for the Rams.
He had an amazing football game to punt the ball. The way he punted it and the situations that he was presented with and how he punted the football was tremendous growth and we just need to.
Get more of that.
And the first live play at the ball game, Noah Sewer knocks the football out and the ball just went their way. So in two back to back weeks. Daniel Hardy knocked the ball out in London and we just missed recovering the fumble. We knocked the ball out last week and we just missed it. So what I'm challenging them to do this week is knock it out again, but recover it this time. And that's what I want to get done. And we got a great group we're
going against. You guys know I worked for Jeff Rogers, phenomenal football coach, phenomenal person, does an outstanding job with his units. So we know they're gonna be schemed up. We know they're gonna be well designed plays that he's gonna have, and there's gonna be some things that we haven't seen that we need to be prepared for. And I learned a lot from Jeff Rogers. He gonna turn every stone that he can turn. I learned a lot from him, and I'm fortunate to have the opportunity to
work under him. So our coverage units, everybody's gonna have an extremely challenging task again this week because again DJ Dallas, all right, he scored the first touchdown in this dynamic kickoff model, and we gotta.
Cover against him.
Yeah, he went ninety six against Buffalo Week one, So a lot of praise for Tory. I know, we both enjoy him.
Correct, you know one thing about Tory Taylor.
So I we're gonna do an experiment for the rest of the season. If we meet a football fan under the age of twenty years old, we're gonna ask him if they know or they've ever heard, the term coff and corner because Tory Taylor has brought that back into the vogue again where it used to be a mainstay of punting or in the early part of the NFL, and.
Then they got away from it for a while.
But Tory, if you think of a couple of the biggest impactful punts that he's had this season, they ben coff and corner style kicks. And that means no matter where you're kicking, from your kicking towards the sideline to get it to hit out of bounds to give them that inside the ten field position. So we're going to do a little experiment here to see if young people know what the term coffin corner meets.
It Perfect for Halloween Night, Tommy, the confidence, I know.
But that's why I wanted to explain what I was saying, rather than, you know, having people think that I was making something up right.
Taylor forty eight point five average gross average. That's the highest single season punting average in Bears history. If it holds. George Gulianix, I think that's how you say his name. I could be wrong. Nineteen forty nine, that's how long it's been that record. All right, Let's flip it over to defensive coordinator Eric Washington. Tom he gets to the podium and he's quite serious every week about the opponent. He's quite serious about the Arizona Cardinals this week.
Starting with the quarterback of this offense, Kyler Murray, you could describe him as a nightmare for opposing offenses, defensive coordinators. This young man has tremendous speed, arm talent. He can change the arm angle against the rush. They've done an excellent job of protecting him. He's done a great job
of protecting the football. Not a lot of opportunities for interceptions and so everything that we aspire to do, and that's get hits on the quarterback to put him in third down situations that would take advantage of what we've been able to do on third down. We want to definitely work to get that done, and it also starts with defending the run. Their number one or they're in the top five in terms of explosive runs with James Connor,
big physical back, downhill runner runs behind his pads. The offensive line does a nice job not only of protecting the quarterback but executing the various run schemes and run concepts that they will feature for him. So we're excited about the challenge going out here against an NFC opponent on the road and getting ourselves back on track.
Jacob Bart first chance to see him this season.
He got out there and look like he was after the quarterback a little bit.
The energy was obvious, his energy, the speed, the quickness, the toughness. I thought he did some really nice things, you know, as an edge rusher. I thought he was in position a couple of times to not only affect the quarterback, but to hit him. And I'm looking forward to him taking a pretty significant leap.
This week of the ren zone. Defense is cent a theme all year.
What did you notice in particular on Sunday you mentioned holding them to four field goals and how.
You guys stepped up and made plays when you were down in their clothes.
Well, it's been consistent that that game didn't really reveal anything. I mean, we've been in the position that guys have done a tremendous job and that part of the field of understanding the urgency that you need and understanding that you know, our goals or our field goals and takeaways, we want to take the football away or forced field goals,
and so their urgency went up. We had to do things to defend the run, We had to do things in terms of affecting the quarterback, and everything was exactly what you wanted.
Kyler Murray has been at his best, but Marvin Harrison Junior has been a factor. I know the Bears generally don't shadow anyone or target a receiver just in general, but how much of a priority has he become for a defense and how all the cliff is this defense to kind of keep him off that eight games.
He's growing as a player, and you see why he was picked and where he was and his confidence is growing. He's becoming a person that that you have to that you have to address, that you have to plan for, and his catch radius to speed, the ability to get himself open and be in the right spot so that Kyler can get the ball out.
Of his hands.
We have to we have to make sure that we do a good job with him in terms of shadowing him. We like, we like our matchups with our corners against him, all of our corners, you know, Tyree, obviously, Jalen and any any other person that we try to assign to his position. So we just have to go out and execute, do a great job of making sure that we put the quarterback in a position where he's not real sure what we're in so that we can let the rush be effected.
Now, you got to tackle James connor Man. He is one of the top three in the NFL and yards after contact. And of course Marvin Harrison Junior starting to have himself a game. I had hisself a game last week, but really starting to emerge. Play a lot of slot last week, so they line him off all over the place,
all right. When we come back our final segment, Tom and I will talk about the Arizona Cardinals and also a little preview of our interview with Cole Comet that you'll hear on Bears Game Day Live on Fox thirty two Chicago on Sunday, morning. This is Bears Weekly on esp in Chicago with the Bears Radio Network. Weekly brought to you by Athletical Physical Therapy, visit Athletico dot com and a requested in clinical or virtual deployment to start
feeling better. Tomorrow, Jeff and Tom at our final seven and some snapoo going on. So Tom's on the phone. But Tom, we're going to talk about Cole Comet. He is our feature on Bears Game Day Live on Fox thirty and two Chicago, coming up on Sunday morning from Glendale. I asked him about where he's at in his career right now. How would you then describe your style from.
Your yeah course, Yeah, Well, I think we're My physicality is my main thing, and I thinkicality in the run game in my routes is a big deal.
And obviously after the catch is.
Being physical as well too, and I think that provides a tone setting for the offense and for the team.
And you know, I know the.
Offensive lineman appreciate the physicality, especially when I get the ball in my hands and obviously when I'm in the run game with them as well. So I think it all starts there as being a physical football player leaning into that, and then and then the other things kind of that I've grown with, whether it's just been my my strength, my my speed, and those type of things that have kind of come along, you know, over the past few years or so.
In the words of Brian Erlacker, the great Hall of Famer, every time they took the ball away.
We got one.
Yeah, yeah, we got one.
Yeah yeah, Yeah.
He's great one.
I think so he's he's amazing. First of all, He's just an amazing person, and he's everything you can ask for from a leadership standpoint in that position. And he's obviously grown into it as a rookie, but he understands everything that the quarterback position entails, especially here in Chicago, and I think he he he understands the big mar knows how to handle it. So he's done a really superb job at that so far, and that's been really
cool to see. And then obviously the talent and the plays that we've seen so far have been really special, and I know that he feels like he has a lot.
More room to grow, which is really cool, really cool.
Tom.
I talked to Jim Dre, the tight end coach for Cole today and you know, basically summed it up by saying he's never satisfied, and that's always important when you're an NFL player, doesn't matter what age, and certainly five years in now, being never satisfied is a great starting point.
It's one hundred percent right. I mean, I walk into Hallas Hall every day a fear of losing my job, and I think that's the way that a lot of us are motivated. And I think when you look at the complexity of the tight end position and the guy like Cole Comet, he's capable of doing every single thing that's asked out of that position, and he can do it at a high level. So I'm excited to see how he grows along in this offense with Caleb Williams
and every other moving piece. But we're just now talking about Cole.
All right, thing before we go, Tommy, I want to talk about the defense again for Arizona. Forget about what's happening upfront, because I've circled Buddha Baker. I mean, obviously he's the biggest name. He's a five time Pro Bowl, three time All Pro. He throws his body around significantly, and you would think that's one of the matchups here with Cole Kmett one of those two safeties, but Buddha Baker always round the ball. Is is that a matchup to watch?
It is a matchup to watch, And it's equally as important a matchup Buddha Baker against DeAndre Swift because if he runs through the interior and gets into the second and third level, you talk about the way he throws his body around, and I think that that's what DeAndre Swift is good at, either lowering your shoulder or hurdling a guy who gets his head down. But when you think of Cole Comet, I don't know if Buddha Baker can cover Cole Comet, Manda Man or have single responsibility
against him. So if they do try to match him up against Cole, I think he's going to be an exploitable receiver and I would be exciting to see that. And I think Cole has done a nice job of blocking whoever's responsibility is. And we talk about those outside zone runs a lot of time. It's the block of the tight end that's successfully done. Gerald Everett did it last week and Cole's done it in the past.
All right, Tommy Good Show, we'll talk to you coming up on Sunday three oh five from Glendale, Arizona. That's going to do it tonight for Bears Weekly. Thanks to TJ. Edwards and all the producers are helping us out. This is the new radio home of the Chicago Bears esp in Chicago. Good night everybody. Chris Bleck is coming up next.