Talking Coaching Staff | All Access

set for championship weekend of the National Football League. I know that just rubs Bears fans the wrong way, right. You want to be there, You definitely want to be there. But we're here to talk about some of that and what's going on with the Bears and what to look forward to here in the offseason. We'll be with you

every week of this offseason with Tom Fare. I'm Jeff, Jony Act, your Miller will be along for a few segments as well from Sirius XM NFL Radio, the former Bears quarterback that I mean, tell me how you doing, Jeff, I'm good, I'm with you. Super jealous about watching football over the weekend, envious of all the fun they're having, and you know it's kind of twofold because you still remember back in the day when we did go to the Super Bowl and just all the surrounding fun as

a team you have. But then selfishly as broadcasters, I want to live through that same fun. I want to live on this end of the accomplishments of the players in the coaches and see what you know, that type of success is all about. So I mean, every year

your farther removed, the jealousy just grows. Yeah, you know, I always talk about playoff games and the drama of every snap, but honestly, when you get deeper into it and you know you got a chance to go to a super Bowl, the drama is just so thick and it's palpable, and you're just leaning on every single play in the game and every near miss or every big play,

and your mind starts working. Boy, as you get through the first half, Okay, now can they close this out, can they come whatever the case may be, and it's that drama that we love is announced. Well, well you gotta turn that that drama into a positive because you can have drama that can tear a football team apart. Throughout the playoffs as jealousy amongst each other grows between the different appearances or opportunities that may be given or

thrust upon one person that another person is envious experience. Well, no, I mean yeah, we because you did see it. You did see the different types of offerings that you had throughout the course of our success. But just getting to the modern day drama because it's so much more, it's increased so much with all the social network additive of

the drama that we didn't have to live through. I think the coach has a really important role of keeping a football team together the deeper they go into the playoffs, and then when they have that two week window of opportunity, you better make sure that the guys stay focused at what's at hand, not get caught up in what their opportunities could possibly be. Our producer tonight, Rick Camp in our Score studio is good to have him along, Hun

Thanks for listening everybody, as we get you set. Were brought to you by IGS Energy, and we'll be with you here until seven o'clock tonight. One thing I've always talked about, I'll never forget being on the team plane after coming home from the super Bowl the following day. I don't know. You may have gotten a red eye out of there because you wanted to keep Miami behind.

But a couple of things I remember about that is one or the build up to the game was so exhausting, like you had so many responsibilities that day at getting to the stadium super early. And then now you're waiting opening kickoffs as the darkness falls and Devon returns the opening kickoff, and I remember you smacked me on the rear end as hard as you possibly could, and you looked at me, say, the game hasn't even started yet,

and that's that turned out to be the truth. But then getting on that team plane and Olan Creutz walking over, don't worry, Joniac, we'll be back. We'll be back, And yeah, you know, you hope that's true. You felt you had a really good team. You had terrific offensive, lie great defense. It's great players erlak Or Briggs, Peanut, offensive lineman like Owl. And then you don't get back, and it's just it's got to be really difficult when you pour yourself into it.

And that's why every snap does matter for all these guys, and you don't really realize what you're missing when you

don't get it back, you know. I was recently talking to Clyde Emeric and I was recently talking to Halton about this, because when they got beat in the NFC Championship Game in nineteen eighty four, he got on the microphone on the airplane to address the team about remember how you feel, because we are never going to feel like this again leaving an NFC Championship game, and we have to put our mind to it right now about what we're going to accomplish next year, a lot like

the players felt when we're flying away from the Super Bowl down in Miami, but that that message is kind of resonated with a lot of players and a lot of people that were around the organization, and then you

see what was able to happen the next year. So it's really interesting the course of action throughout a history and or a history of an organization, how those two moments can go in such different directions after you either lose a Super Bowl or you lose an NFC Championship game, all right, Teams that lose the Super Bowl usually have a hard time with that process, you know, because things, you know, maybe decisions are made out of a rash, thinking Okay, maybe we aren't good enough, and then now

we're really not good enough because we're taking many steps backwards and they never get back to that plateau. That's why it's so hard to repeat unless you were the Green Bay excuse me, the New England Patriots or the Pittsburgh Steelers. Are those great teams forty nine ers for you? You were not there in eighty four. You were there in eighty five. You were learning what it was like.

Did you What was the sense when you got into that team from the inside out, as you were trying to find your way and find your fit on a very tight football team, one that really did have Super Bowl aspirations from the because of what happened in eighty four. I was intimidated because I was a Bears fan, and I was playing with guys in the USFL that kept telling me how great the Bears were on the defensive side of the line of scrimmage or the offensive line,

and how are you going to make that team? So I was like being forewarned about it, but I also had the envy as a fan, and so when I was going, oh my god, I'm driving on my way to try out for the Chicago Bears. You know, you just have hope and desire and everything that's needed in

you because it's your lifelong dream. But you know, when you go to a team that's returning from the NFC Championship game, there's not going to be a lot of turnover, and so you just sit there and we kind of grinded it out every single day, and you know, you're a enamored because you're seeing Walter Pyton, You're meeting guys like William Perry, you know, from being an offensive lineman and reading a lot about the Bears defense and finally

seeing you know, Otis Wilbur and Singletary in person and seeing a little bit what Halfen the McMichael are like. And glad Doug Plank left the team because I was worried about getting hit by Doug Plank. So you know, there's a lot of things that come into play when you're a fan of the team that you're getting ready to go try out for. I was thinking about you

in a Brown's guard this week was going out. It was miked up Tyron Matthew of the Chiefs, and he was coming right for him, and man, he just put him on his back, but it was still a tackle for loss on the play. And I was thinking about you because you loved those one on one opportunities with a little dB. But you know, Tyron Matthew gets right back up on his feet, took his medicine, said, man, that guy kicked my booty. But hey, you know it was still a loss on the plank he ty tackle

for loss. Tyrone Matthews got up because he was underneath the player. He patted him on the head and then pointed to the tackle so he was able to accept the responsibility. But again, so Tyron Matthew was blitzing. The guy that made the tackle was the guy the garden was responsible for. So it was a good defensive call by Kansas City at that point. That really mess that play up. Chiefs in Buffalo in Kansas City and Green Bay taking on Tampa Bay and the Brady Rodgers matchup.

And today the passing of Ted Thompson, a ten year NFL player, Tim a linebacker and a well known scout, very very respected man. Was not one to really put himself out there with the media. Was very quiet guy. But you know, you think about his legacy and his first draft pick was Aaron Rodgers. Yeah, you know, you think of the guys like Ron Wolf and Bob Harland that he learned a lot about organization and the green Bay Packers and how it ran and how they went

through the protocol. Ted Thompson was a hell of a guy. He was. He was a super nice guy. He was a good football player. I think he was the perfect low key management position for green Bay and brought him through the Far era into the Rogers era pretty successfully. Yeah, just sixty eight years old, and many of the guys he picked are going to be in that championship game this weekend. All right. When we come back, we'll be joined by Jim Miller, a former Bears quarterback in Sirius

Sex m NFL radio host. He'll join us as we take a look at the Bears and the coaching carousel. So I'll come it up next here on Bears All Access brought to you by IGS Energy on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy The Score. Welcome back to Bears on Access 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. With Tom Farem, a broadcast partner from news Radio seven eighty and one oh five point outfmw BBM, mister Tom Thayer, and our good pal Jim Miller from Sirius sex M NFL Radio. Moving the chains with Pat Kerwin joins us. Now, Jim, how you doing. Lots going on, obviously, even not Bears related bub We'll start with that. In the coaching carousel, looks like Mannegge is gonna have to add a few more offensive coaches with where Today Dave Ragone headed down

to Atlanta to become offensive coordinator for Arthur Smith. Break that one down for you, because he also maybe bringing along the running backs coach as well, Charles London. And I'm reading where and I don't have any of this, and none of this is official in terms of Charles London. It is with Dave were gone, but that he'd be quarterback coach. Yeah, yeah, I did see that one. Good to be with you guys again, and yeah, it's I mean, it's hard to keep up with it, yeah, a lot

of the times. I mean, there's so many coaching moves going on right now, and these are a lot of uh promotions for a lot of these guys. Obviously, Dave were going to the call plays down there, and it'd obviously be with Arthur Smith who's getting his first out. And then if shot at being a head coach. And I saw Dean Peas coming out of retirement for the second time. You know what I thought of you today, Jim, you when you you love Dean pas And and properly so.

He's an outstanding defensive corder had really that Tennessee defense was playing outstanding before he retired. But yet when the naive Michigander, I know Dean personally, he coached at Michigan State and obviously he got great job for the Ravens and uh he was retired at Devil's Lake, Michigan, I think for ten minutes. Uh yeah, I think it's a world record for a coach coming out of retirement. But this is happening at time or two because it's in the blood and you can't get rid of it. There's

nothing that's going to have the exhilaration. Yes, you want to be with your family, you want to see your grandkid, you all that, but you know it's in the blood. And if some young coach in this case Arthur Smith, who by the way, I'm reading he's going to be the play caller still for for Atlanta. But if you get the call from somebody you respect, you're going to try and help him out. But you know, Jim and Jeff.

One thing about this year uniquely enough, you may get an opportunity to interview guys that you may never before in the history of the NFL be able to because they got to fly from wherever they are to wherever they're going. When I look at the list in the NFL app of the amount of interviews for all these teams, it wouldn't be able to happen logistically if they had to fly to every one of these sites to sit

in front of them and get interviews. So all these guys that are doing these zoom interviews, I may say, Hey, let me just get the temperature of Gary Kubiak. Let me see if Dean Peace is a piece is interested at all in coaching anymore. Hey, let me scratch the surface of this old offensive line coach of the New England Patriots to see if he'd be interested in coming

out because we work together at one point. So to me, I think you're seeing a lot of these interviews because of the situation we're in and they're all being done through skyper Zoom. Yeah, and it seems like, you know, with all the first year coach i'd say, other than urban Meyer, I mean, let's face it, for Nick Sirianni to get the job in Philly, I mean, congratulations to him, but that's going to come with a lot of oversight.

I think everybody knows that that's about getting the quarterback right and all the moves, and Howie Roseman is kind of going to be controlling the controlling this thing. And i'd say that for the Lions or any other teams, are even Arthur Smith. You know, let's be honest, these guys are first time coaches. They've elevated very quickly, and those organizations aren't just going to give the keys to

the car. Let's just be honest. That seems to be what's happening right now, and we'll see what happens with Houston. Houston to me, has a little bit of leverage right now because everybody's fighting for one spot, so they'll be able to dictate who they want to hire, and it is probably leaning towards Eric Bienemy. I would think, well, with Nick Sirianni, did that come out of left field for you because it happened quickly unless he was on their radar for a while and they just waited for

the end because he interviewed Monday and basically hired yesterday. Yeah, I think some team some people turn him down. Like I said, there's going to be heavy oversight there for the next head coach. That's why Doug Peterson wanted out. He even want to be told who to play, want to play him, all those type of things, and he wanted out and he got granted his wish. And I think the guys that interviewed for that job, a few of them had already turned him down because there's going

to be heavy oversight. And so how do you make it attractive. You go after a first year guy, you don't pay him a lot of money and say hey, we're gonna make you a head coach and you're okay with that, and he'll say, yeah, there's only thirty two of them, I'll take that job. What's both you guys jump in, But Tom, what's the impact? Okay, you turned

over the offensive staff a year ago. I had great detail to focus on the quarterback and now the passing game coordinator that is respected coach, and Dave were going and we do wish him well. Love Dave, love his insight, love his ability to talk talk ball. And then with Charles London, very respected running back coach too in that room, all those guys love Charles London. So what does that for two years in a row due to a staff

where you're trying to get on the same page. Well, I mean, as long as John D. Philippo and Bill Laser are still here, I don't think just because you're removing Dave are going out of the room, it's gonna have any impact on the quarterback position at all, because both of these guys understand the position, they understand how

to coach it. Matt Nagee still is a big influence on the quarterback position, so I don't think it'll be much of a distraction on when you're talking about inserting the offense to whomever the quarterback is or and then

on the running back side of it. It seems like running back is a unique kind of coach because it's running backs have the innate ability to understand how they're gonna run the football, but then they got to be able to someone's got to be there teaching them the system in all the intricacies of you know, coming breaking the huddle with two different plays, breaking the huddle, going from a pass play to a run play to a pass blocking responsibility, blitz pick up, and all these things.

So London did a good job of getting the entire backfield ready, because everybody's a little different, you know, Tree Cone's nothing like Cordail Patterson, and Corderyl is a lot different than Dave and Montgomery. So I think he did a nice job. But I do think there's a lot of really relatable, good young running back coaches out there that first of all need to come in and learn the system themselves, and then how they get that message

across to their running back room. Jimbo, Yeah, I think. Well, I mean that's the challenge you got one you're gonna hire guys. You know, Ragon was down in Tennessee right before he arrived with Bears, so he already had a relationship with Arthur Smith. So I think that that typically is how it happens where you connect, especially now with like what Tom said, with all the you know, you're

really just doing these zoom in interviews. A lot of it you're going to trust on the really the relationship that you have with the with the coach over time, and why you want to add them because you feel you're gonna have your best success as a football coach. And that's true for all these new coaches, the teams that now have their guys leaving the building, Jay Rogers and the coaches you'd s mentioned Charles London and Dave are gone. Now you know, is there enough quality out

there that you can bring in? And I think there is. You know, I think the Bears have already interviewed a couple of good guys. Gannon has very well thought of the DB's coach for the Indianapolis Colts that that seems to be getting to look see. George Edwards was with

Mike Zimmer up there. I think you make a call even he said, see this tells you it was going bad in Philly because Jim Schwartz made it this announcement before the end of the season, so you knew that was going south there and I think they felt like they were hanging the coach out to dry. And Jim Schwartz is a very principled guy and he made that statement.

Maybe you make a call of Jim Schwartz. That's a hell of a defensive coordinator that's out there right now, and convince him to not take a year off and come back. The last thing I'd say is I had the opportunity to interview Chuck Pagano today on Sirious, and

he was fantastic. He is not good even remotely think about coming back in He's a lifer, and he had just had a lot of great things to say and all the great memories that he had, and he certainly wanted to think the McCaskey family in the great time that he had in Chicago with the staff of the Chicago Bears. So but we couldn't coach because he was under Dean Peace. I said, well, are you gonna be like Dean and decided to come out of return. He said, no,

that's not happening. Dean's he said, Dean Peace has always been a waffler. He goes, I'm not so no chance that Pagano's coming back. Jim just outline a couple of guys up for the defensive quarter job. According to multiple reports,

nothing official from the organization. James Betcher another one three years at Arizona with top ten defenses, a very blitz minded guy coming from that Todd Bowles tree a little bit and with the Giants for a couple of years, and then Tommy Mike Singletary's name has come up as well as somebody that reportedly has interviewed for that position

as well. Yeah, hey, Mike's got a super intelligence, He's got a lot of skill's was one of the most well prepared professional athletes I ever played around, and mentally, at that point, you had to understand a lot more information than you do nowadays, because nowadays you have that device in your helmet where you're getting all the information

from the sideline and you're getting reminders there. Mike Single, Mike Singletary and that defense had to know the personnel they had to make the adjustments, and they weren't getting signs held up on the sidelines to tell every position front to back what to do. But like Jim mentioned, Jim Schwartz and then you got Mike Singletary, they have a different style of defense in mind than what the Bears play right now. So if you're gonna bring in a defensive coordinator that wants to play a four man

front in the well Jim. Yeah, Jim was. Jim was three four in Tennessee and he was three four when he was in Cleveland with Bill Belichick. So but you know, he's that y nine single in Singletary's a four man front. So if you're gonna bring in both defensive coordinators that like to play both fronts, you have to make sure that you have the personnel that they can form in the defenses they want to run. There's gonna be some internal candidates as well. Sean Deshai's name has been speculated

as one as well. All right, we're gonna take a break more with Jim Miller coming up. This is Bears All Access, brought to you by IGS Energy on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy. The Score, The Chicago Bears Network presents Inside the Bears, brought to you by Verizon. Anthony Adams and Lauren Screeden cover the world of Bears football on and off the field every Sunday. I had a ten thirty five pm on Fox thirty two Chicago, or watch anytime at Chicago Bears dot Com or on the

Bears official app. I'm Fair Jeff Jonny Act, Jim Miller guesting as well from serious x M NFL Radio. What's the big topic on your shows these days? Well, yeah, just these championship games coming up. You know, it's great talking to Chuck Panganah because he could give us good insight right on defending Tampa Bay this year, which the Bears won and going against Aaron Rodgers and uh difficult. You know, these probably are the best four teams that are left. But oddly enough, these are the top four

passing teams. These are Packers come in one. Buccaneers would be two, Bills would be three, Chiefs would be four, believe it or not. So I mean just gonna be some great matchups. I think they're all gonna be very close, and uh, you know, but it was good getting insight from from Chuck Panganah because oddly enough, the Bucks when they played the Packers earlier in the year, because both

of these are rematch games too. Um, Todd Bowles got a couple of interceptions on Aaron Rodgers and he's only basically throwing five, all right, and the Bucks got two of them. You know, you know, real quick, because I like that Tom Brady is familiar with playing in colder conditions because I don't want any because by Buffalo going to Kansas City, they they're gonna be as familiar with that weather as Kansas City. Well, and going into Green Bay,

I don't know what the conditions are yet. It's gonna be snow and cold. Yeah. So when we've seen Tom Brady play some of the best games in the history, whether it's here against the Bears, down in Champagne or in New England itself throughout his playoff days, that you're not gonna he's not gonna go into Green Bay and be intimidated. And I think he's the guy that can deliver the message to the rest of his teammates. Why do you have to bring up Champagne. We had a

month down twenty seven to three and they won. I remember that game, Hey, what's the worst? Was the worst game he experience in Champagne? That one? That one was painful because well I didn't even start that game. Chris Chandler remember the first series he got a concussion. I had a bad shoulder and I had to come in the game and we go up and there was one play I remember was the third Yeah, I think it was the third quarter. We ran uh fake twenty six due x in and I had to scramble out of

the pocket. I threw it to the right, and I think Dez White thought I was throwing to the receiver behind it, but I was trying to throw the Dez but it would have been It was high and he didn't he didn't jump up to get it. And man, if we would have, if I just would have thrown a more accurate pass, we would have won that game. And then they had the epic comeback and oh, you just you're sick after those games. But what was that play again? And well, what are we supposed to be doing?

Zero strong fake twenty six duel X in Z post? You know what it is? Heavy run. Look, you're running the twenty six duel, which is a gap run play. But we're faking it fake twenty six duel. We make it look like twenty six duel. Marty Booker's running the post. Dez White was running the deep x in route and it was it was wide, but I got flushed out of the pocket, so I had to I had rolled my right and throw it and just out of the outstretched hands of Des White, and we would have won

that game. Still in fury, It's amazing, right, now you probably can close your eyes and see every bit of that, see every bit of that play, every bit of that play. But I mean just sees I mean the matchups, the quarterback matchups in this game, the two of the greats uh in this and how Aaron Rodgers is playing down the stretcher. I mean, I'm excited for that. And you know, I don't give me that statistic about Tampa can't win in games under forty degrees. I mean, enough of that.

This is for the NFC Championship. You know that Tom's has played in cold weather. They got plenty of guys on that roster have played in cold weather. From Antonio Brown, you name it, Tristan Worfs played at Iowa. He's used to playing in the cold. So you know, I think this is just gonna be a great matchup. Really, I tell you their center that Ryan Jensen, Oh yeah, he is.

He is an instigator of epic proportions and he's the type of guy that he he he antagonizes these guys through the whistle and then he just walks off like he's innocent and he's letting just a path of frustration behind him, and it's kind of good. Because you know, challenge of the players disappointment, I must there was a bunch on Twitter this week to those highlights of him, and it's just it's good viewing. And you know, honestly, I want my offensive lineman to play that way I do.

I want you to play exactly the way he plays that kind of nasty. They got enforcers on both sides of the balltop. Do you think a Dominican sue doesn't get under Aaron Rodgers skin? You know, and literally that first time around, Jim, he had a couple of Dominican Sue had a couple of big hits on Aaron Rodgers, one right before the end of the first half that Aaron Rodgers kind of took an exception to. And then Tampa Bay Look came out in the second half and

they never let up. So I think this is gonna be a super interesting game, and I'm so excited and looking forward to the way Todd Bowles calls this game against Green Bay. You know, being a guy who likes interviewing people and finding exactly what makes them ticking, and so forth time through one on the table for me today, Jim. So now I'm gonna have to ask him about it. But if you guys were interviewing for the Bears defense coordinator job, what is the one question you would ask?

The one question I would ask, well, how's this one with the salary cap changing? What are we talking here? I kind of need to know the pieces to the puzzle. Who were keeping, who were getting rid of you? Once?

You can want to know that because I think there are a lot of teams around the league that are going to have to make some significant cuts and there's gonna be a secondary market out there, or maybe you're gonna approach a player and say, hey, can we you know, there's always going to be a reduction, you know, or you know, say a redo, a contract redo, or essentially you could be and the player may say no, say hey, can you take a pickup? No, I'm not taking a pickup.

We're gonna have to cut you. Yeah. You know, that's a hard ask because for sure, strategy point of view, Tommy, for the offseason, you don't want stuff like that getting out. If a guy's gonna tell yeah, I don't, can't you can't promise, well, you know, to me, I would just ask him what segment of the defense is your most important because when you look at the Bears, and let's take it down from the defensive line to the linebackers

to the defensive backs, they're very fortunate. Jalen Johnson played really well, to Sean Gibson came in and played equally as well at safety. We all know Kyle Fuller can do. I think Eddie Jackson regrets throughout the season. So now, if I'm talking a new guy, do I need the defensive backs or do I need Roquan and his crew to be the most important element in your defense? Or do I need a Keem Hicks, Khalil McQuinn and that crew up front to be the most important element in

your defense? Right? So how would you answer that question? Then? What would you answer? How would you answer? What do you want is the most important part of your defense in twenty twenty one? I want that as a defensive coordinator, I want the defensive pressure to be the most important element. And I want the pressure to be equally as important against the run as it is getting me sacks, quarterback hits,

pressures and the pressures that lead to interceptions. So I want the immediate, the immediate see of the defensive line to be a factor in the teams that they're going to play. And I would guess Jim that ninety percent of the guys would say the same thing, right, because it does start there. Yeah, well, yeah, I think it starts up front. It's it's in the trenches. You want solid at all levels, There's no doubt about that. I mean, good coverage can can lead to pressure sacks and what

we call covered sacks too. And uh, you know, I think the Bears are young at with their young corners, and at times that wasn't the case all the time this year. So I think they're going to continue to prove improve in that secondary. But I can't disregard what Tom saying. I think at times throughout the season there wasn't a lot of pressure. But again, I go back

to the offense. I think if you correct some things on the offense, you can play more complimentary football, because I thought that defense was thrown to the Wolves way too many times this year where they logged way too many snaps that they were out there, and um, you know, even in that last game, I thought that was and that was a pretty darn good defensive game plan the way I looked at it, though, the way Pegana went in and hed Drew Brees. You got Drew Brees. What

was it seven or seven to three at halftime? You're doing pretty darn good, So I don't think there's too many tweaks that need to be done defensively for the Chicago Bears. That's Jim Miller. Tom There, I'm Jeff Jony Akwin, take another break. One more segment to go with our guest, Jim Miller. This is Bears All Access on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy the Score. This segment of Bears All

Access is brought to you by Athletical Physical Therapy. Visit Athletico dot com to request an appointment in clinic or virtually and start feeling better Tomorrow with Tom Bear, Jeff Jonny a Clock with Jim Miller from Serious Sex, NFL Radio. Moving the Chains with Pat Kerwin, A Cole Comet, David Montgomery, Darnell Mooney. Are these the new emerging faces of the offense until we find out if Alan Robinson is going to be back as a Bear in twenty twenty one? Tommy, Yeah,

well I think they are. They gotta be. They gotta be a first, second, third level important role in this offense. David Montgomery is a great leader, Cole continued to have develop throughout the whole season, and Darnell Mooney made a bigger splash this season than some of us may be predicted at the beginning of the season. But I think David Montgomery is able to accept everything that's going to

be thrust on his plate. I think Cole commet his The opportunity in his career is going to be endless because he's a good blocker, he runs well, and he can be a deep threat. Now, I need Darnell Mooney and I need him to stay safe. And so what type of routes am I going to give him access to? What type of punishment am I going to try to keep him away from? Because if he's gonna be the lead, you know, take one of the leads. Even if Alan Robinson comes back, he's gonna have to take one of

the leads in the receiver room. So how can I protect the talents of Darnell Mooney? And I think that'll be an interesting element to his game going forward. Jim as a quarterback or a play designer, how do you do that with Mooney? Do you keep him healthy? You're gonna throw some from arm around him here in the offseason. He's gonna get stronger. He's a very committed guy. So how do you make him how do you kind of

shield him a little bit from a repetitive getting smacked. Yeah, well, I think for him, like you said, I think he's gonna get bigger in the weight room. He'll just add this natural weight being another year. You just mature, and it happens to all of us from that standpoint, So he'll grow into that from his standpoint. But you know, better technique things like that, playing smarter football, like that

one shot. I forget the game where he hurt both his ankle and I believe he had the head injury, you know, just getting out of bounce things like that, where you can play smarter to not take those type of hits. Because again, it's about availability and staying on the field from that standpoint, So sky's a limit for him. He really, you know, for him to burst onto the scene as a fifth round pick, and he was earning, earning more and more opportunities every single week with his play.

He's obviously a tough kid, so you like that about him. He plays with a lot of passion and enthus he has him and he's got great talent, so I think you're extremely happy with him. I think Cole commits another one. I really surprised and how well he blocked. I think he's going to continue to get better and better and better.

Needs to be incorporated in the past game and what could needs to be a run first strategy for the Bears to get those play actions and those bootlegs where he was very effective as the season I went along, So I'm high in him. And what can you say about David Montgomery the second half of the year. Guys, it was King Henry and him. I think he had the second most yards the second half of the season other than King Henry. So I mean that's they were going at a good clip after and that was when

Mitch was inserted back in the lineup. When he go over those those games, Montgomery was as productive as anybody in the National Football League, and he shows that he can take a lot of carries and he can take the wear and tear. So yeah, I think those three are really really key guys that need to be all

involved heavily for the Chicago Bears. But you know one thing, Jim about Cole going forward, I'd like to see like uses talents more vertically, kind of like some of the a lot of the routes we see out of Gronkowski, because I think he has the ability to reach up and over the top of defensive backs or shorter linebackers, but I think he has the speed to get downfield.

In turn, maybe some of those side side routes into into vertical routes make bigger plays for the Bears, and also make sure the defense is concentrating on protecting against what he could do to the middle of the demons. I'm with you, like him, you know on over routes, he's more than capable of doing it. And you know you can put him on corner routes or seam routes and you know, I think he could, like you said, I'll leap people. I mean, he's he's a terrific athlete

for cool comets. So I think that'll all emerge for the Chicago Bears, and that's what those players need to be working on to be counted on next year for Chicago. All I want to talk about James Daniels Tommy because coming off of injury, lost his season, but it's a big year next year, his fourth year. He's got nine point three million dollars guaranteed money that over the course

of his contracts. So you got to think about what he's going to be doing in terms of your long term future and what are we gonna be looking at with him? And would you be surprised if he got any of those three positions that he's gonna be playing, well, you know, left guard, center, right guard. I think right now, Cody Whitehair he maybe did a nice enough job to nail down the left guard position in that type of

off season and consideration going into the regular season. Sam Mustafer was a really nice settling piece in the interior of that line. To me, it's gonna be about the right guard. What does Alex Bars do in the off season to become stronger? I don't necessarily know if he has to get a lot bigger, but he does have to get stronger. And then how does James return after having such a long time off. Did he invest himself

in the weight room? Is he does he look like a more mature player after sitting out basically a whole season. And then I don't want to forget about Arlington Hambright, because here's a guard they drafted last year that was able to get a start. Whenever you feed an NFL football player a start, he's a different animal because now he's got a little bit of a taste and he's saying, I don't want to come in here and compete as a backup. I want to come in here as and

compete as a starter. So to me, do you know if James Daniels is right handed or left handed? I wish well if he is right handed, he may be better off at the right guard position because it's more natural balance. So to me, if I'm looking at the way the offensive line finished at the end of the season, if I'm looking how backups are gonna line up behind him, I'm gonna have Arlington to Handbright line up behind Cody and I'm gonna have James line up behind Alex Bars. Yeah,

it's an interesting situation. It's a strength area now to me for the interior the offensive line. So get those guys in the right places once again and it should be some really good competition there. I misspoke to His contract is expiring. He's an unrestricted free agent in twenty twenty two, so there's gonna it's a big year. It's a big year for him, but most importantly, he's got to be healthy. All right, Jim, we got a few

more minutes with you. Let's hit some quick topics. One you obviously talked about it today on Serious sexm but talking about it here on the hiring of forty four year old Dan Campbell, is the head coach of the Lions in the division. Really laid the hammer down as he wants a very tough football team that's gonna had some great quotes today and they say, you know, people don't make fun of the fact. Why you don't you win news conferences or you lose news conferences. He won

the news conference. But now you gotta go to go to work and get his guys to play the way he wants him to play. Yeah, I mean, he's an old school leader of men coach. That's what he is. That's why you heard him. Maybe we're gonna bite chunks out of your knees and all that type of stuff. And Dan was a tough player and he played tight end for the Detroit Lions, so they know very well. Chris Spielman knows him well and was on the hiring process.

But Dan is a no nonsense coach, and I think he will command and be able to lead young men and certainly understands the environment of That's why I brought up Detroit. It's a tough city, it's it's fighting back. But what I think is the key for them is they're giving him six years, so though they're gonna let

him decide how he wants to rebuild this now. He said glowing things about Matthew Stafford, but he didn't commit to Matthew Stafford because right now, would you would be thinking if it goes three years, if he ends up keeping Stafford, then he could elect to move on from Stafford, or do you just pull the plug on it right now, say hey, let's try to trade Matthew Stafford. We're just going to start overhauling this right from the get go.

So he's got two different choices. But from what I've heard of and I know coaches on that staff down there in New Orleans, and he did a fine job as an interim head coach, remember when he took over for Joe Philbins. He's interviewed a couple of times and he's been very impressive with his interview us, and so I think Detroit feels comfortable in hiring one of their own because they know what Dan Campbell's all about it.

That's all well and good you talk that way, but can you get today's players to play the way that he's describing because that because otherwise you just get rid of them. Right, So those players that are there, because if those guys don't buy into his tough culture, they won't be there. Yeah, they didn't like mac Patricia's tough culture. Well, well he went in there and that's right. Players didn't buy in. Yeah, they didn't buy in. But that's why I'm saying Dan can pull the plug on this right

now and just say, hey, we're overhauling all this. This guy's gone. This guy's gone. Who doesn't like to practice of the snow? Get that guy out of here. What this guy doesn't come in from workouts, Let's talk to the trainers. This guy doesn't get his rehap. Get this guy out of here. That's what's gonna happen in Detroit. Tom, Is it fantasy for a guy like me and a lot of fans out there who want your football team to reflect your city. Tough city, tough black and blue division.

That's why I would like to see from the Chicago Bears, certainly defensively in a running game to match it is it is it fantasy to think that every player wants to be that player, because you know, I don't know if there are enough of them around. Every player, Well, every player wants to win, that's the one thing. And however you have to get there. You know, the guys that are willing to take the challenges set before him by a new head coach, they're gonna be around and

hopefully you turn the culture around. You know, back in the olden days, when you had a Jimmy Johnson, you had a Mike Dicker, you had a Dave Janstead, and these guys were coming in to take over organizations, and you had a training camp rosters of nearly one hundred guys, you could beat their brains in until you were left with the toughest guys that were still remaining. Nowadays, it's a little bit more fragile how much you can beat

these guys during the course of training camp. So one thing Dan Campbell I like how he put himself out there talking about the toughness needed in Detroit to be

the team that he ultimately wants them to be. But you also have to do it safely because when you go to training camp with eighty guys and you're gonna have him have a full pad practice every other day, then you can't be going out and losing three or four guys per practice because you're going through some of the archaic Yeah, the rules limits anyway, The rules are the rules. But you know that's one thing I'm not

even talking about it. I'm just saying on game day, I know, I got a tough minded player that's gonna play tough and he's gonna be a you know, as the players like Danny Trevathan always calls everybody dogs. He's a dog. Those are the type of players that inspire me to watch them perform because you know, you're gonna be in for a dog fight every day, right, Jimbo. Yeah, and that's who. That's who basically Dan Campbell was as a player. Yeah, I mean, so he wants it to

reflect him. Sean Payton's like that too, Sean. I mean think about him that he's got ties to Bill Parcels. When you look at Sean Payton, so those you know, and I don't think anybody would call New Orleans Saints a slouch team. That's a very physical football team, and so it'll be kind of more did practice wise what they what they did in New Orleans. And probably the one thing Dan didn't start talk about is what's between

your years. I mean, with all the things that Tom just said, when you're meeting virtually and uh, you know you're not practicing as much, you gotta have a smart football team. I mean, it's really you know, that's a key to every team too. Now. You need smart football players that are able to go out there and execute a game plan when maybe you're missing, like what Cleveland did to have to pay play Pittsburgh without their head coach, without six players who are out on the COVID list.

You need guys who are ready to step up and play and are smart players that can step in and fill in and pull a big upset like what Cleveland did over the Pittsburgh Steelers. So you know, I add that to the list. I think that's probably one thing Dan Campbell didn't add today is about the toughness of his players. He talked about, but hey, you need smart football players too. All right, let me get your thoughts.

Who's winning this weekend. Jim, I do like Tampa. I like Tampa going up and I do I think the world of Todd Bowles is a defensive coordinator, and we'll see if they can do it again. It's tough to do because Rogers will make the corrections. They'll make the corrections and protections because they got to him five sacks last time. Plus they got the two interceptions against Green Bay and they'll find a way to really double uh

Davante Adams. So I liked Tom Brady and what they're doing on offense, and I think they can go in there and I think they can run the football with Ronald Jones who kind of carved him up in the first contest too. And I'm still you know, your heart wants Buffalo to win, but you just you just don't see it happening against Andy Reid in the Kansas City Chiefs. So it's a really close game. It got to really

the fourth quarter. Last year at least they were in the in the score the first time they played earlier in the season. But I still think Kansas City has too much and I think I think Kansas City wolver take the Buffalo Bills. Yeah, you know, I really like Todd Bowles. I think he's he's a creative defensive coordinator. When he plays against the best of talent, that's when he's at his best. So to me, I like what Tapa Bay is going to bring into Green Bay Again,

that's been no secret. I think Aaron Rodgers is the best player in the league, but I think Todd Bowles is one of the most aggressive defensive coordinators and has the talent to put that that stuff in place against Green Bay. And I'm not pulling against Kansas City, but

I'm pulling for Buffalo. I like kind of the attitude that they've been able to build up there, the confidence when you get a quarterback like Alan who embraces himself to the city in which he's playing in and he's not looking for an exit, he's looking to just create a found you know, just a family foundation there. So I think it's pretty cool. So I'm pulling for Buffalo.

Can you can you believe? Because like Buffalo played that rope a dope and here Kansas City really ran for you know, I mean even Clyde Edwards laire head over one hundred and forty yards rushing in the matchup because they they wanted Kansas City to run the ball. He just wondered, I mean, think about the Sea McDermott and Leslie Frazier. They didn't call one blitz versus Patrick Wholmes, not one in that game, so just to avoid the

big strike. And you just wonder if they're gonna go in with that same type of game play because they were within a score, like I said, in the fourth quarter, it was like I think it was twenty three sixteen or something like that in the fourth quarter. Yeah, I'm going I'm going with Buffalo and Tampa as well. I am. I'm going for them in the in the road upsets, going for that for Leslie Frazier a little bit here. I do think the Packers have the best team in football.

And you'll get arguments, you know, obviously with Kansas City, but I just, uh something, something tells me something's up. How And I'll let you go with this. Jim, thanks for all your time. How crazy is it? Because he's he was one of my favorite players, and now his son is starting to already get my attention. But Aaron Rodgers played against Antoine Winfield many times, and now he's gonna play against his son this weekend. That's unbelievable. What do you think of it? I mean, and he's had

a heck of a year. I mean, he definitely should be thought of of defensive rookie of the year. Everybody's got high on Chase Young and Jeremy Chin had a great year down there for the Carolina Panthers. But Antoine Winfield junior has really been playing some good football, really hasn't. And Bruce arians really brought up just what he's done the old season long for that team. But pretty crazy

when you think about feisty player. All right, Jim, maybe you'll be coaching, you know, maybe you'll be coaching against your son playing in the National Football League one. You know, King James, I'll look forward to it. He could be the next Mike Alstott. Did you heard it here? So he's feeding him well, pretty pretty beep he already is. He he's the biggest in his class and he can run, my boy, he can run well. Half fun with him, Half fun with him. Jim, we'll talk to you next week.

Having a great weekend, all right, see you guys. That's Jim Millner from Serious SEXAM NFL Radio. One more segment to go when I got time here, We'll stay with us here on Bears All Access on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy The Score. Hey Bears, it's been shopping for your game day celebrations. Don't forget to pick up your favorite variety of Las Potato chips and tostitos. Tostitos and lays are an essential part of the game day tradition and the official chip of yours Chicago Bears, Go Bears.

As we await the news hopefully soon on the new defensive coordinator for the Bears and any other coaching changes, and it is a process because you're dealing with all these other openings and you never know who's going to

be taken from your staff. Because of everything we talked about today at the time of the show, we told you about Dave Ragone going to be the offensive coordinator, not the play caller, as we're to understand with Arthur Smith down in Atlanta, they had a previous relationship in Tennessee. Looks like Charles London. It's not been official yet, but Charles London will be leaving to join that staff as well.

But there's so many intricate relationships in this league. And you know they could Brandon's Day take it over in LA with the Chargers, could bring some of his people that he's worked with in the past with him as well. So that's well, what this is this part of the year I would like to figure out. You know, in the short time that Matt Naggie has been here, he's had two defensive coordinators and he's had two different types

of system with Vic Fangio and coach Chuck Pagano. You know, it's almost you got to figure out as a head coach and a general manager, what do you want to be the main influence of your defense. Do you want them to be protection up front and then responsible in the defensive backfield or do you want to be aggressive from the line of scrimmage through the linebackers and then

put your defensive backs more in a playmaking position. Because when you look at the quarterbacks in the division, you look at the new coach and Dan Campbell, you look what you have in Minnesota because they're going to be changing now that Gary Kubiak has gone, and then what you have in Green Bay, obviously you have the goat of our division. So I do think it's really important when you investigate what the defensive ordinators bring in with them,

what type of style do you want to play. But the other added wrinkle is you got a tight salary cap and you can't be like totally getting a new personnel. They can't play these you know what I'm saying. So it's got to be a similar type system. I would guess, yeah, But you know if two is like what we've seen, what you've seen out of like the defensive backfield Eddie Jackson and turnovers and stuff with Vic Fangio and that what you've seen out of that same position with Chuck Bogano.

To me, I think you need to put these guys in an aggressive, confident playmaking position so they're out there and they're contribute their contributing and it's creates a real fun atmosphere on the team because what's created on the team can't come from guys like Dan Campbell. It's got to be come from the players that are on the field. And so to me, I want to feel I want to see a system that's going to take advantage of

the assets the Bears have in place. Right now. I'm already starting to do our work on college players obviously, but the combine is completely different. There'll be no in person workouts pro days, they're on campuses instead, all the virtual interviews and the psychological testing, limited in person medical exams probably in early April. It's a whole new world for Scouts in twenty twenty one. It's not going to

be the combine where we all become used to. I'll tell you if you've if you're a guy that's become one of these coddled guys that needs a lot of pampering, you could be in trouble because when you're player for a player, because you need to be working out with the other guys that you're going to these comb combines that are being evaluated just as strictly as you are.

So if some of these guys are separated into their training routine and they really don't get the challenges and being pushed like they need to, it could it could hurt some of these guys. It'll be interesting to see how their agents also handle this in twenty twenty one. All right, it's gonna wrap up our show tonight. Coming up next, Joe Ostrowski will entertain you tonight for Rick Capp and our other producers. Jordan trud Up and Dan Bailey. For Jim Miller and Tom There, I'm Jeff Joniac. Thanks

for joining us today on Bears Out Access. We'll talk to you next week, and we're brought to you by GS Energy here on Chicago Sports Radio six seventy the Score. Have a great night, everybody. Thanks for listening to this Chicago Bears Network presentation of Bears All Access. Podcasts are available on Chicago Bears dot com and on iTunes, or download the official Bears mobile app. Bears All Access has been brought to you by IGS Energy and sponsored by Miller Litte