Shut over that Dj Moore nisode Touchdown touchdown Pairs.
I am Jeff Joniac, glitz us on dot.
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What was like playing for coach Boddom.
I don't want to answer any questions like that pressure coming is a big trouble. Donnie cos Montes Sweat Many Bears, et cetera. Brought to you by Miller Light with the voices of the Bears Jeff Joniac and Tom Sayer. Well, it's over as quickly as it started and participants in the first preseason game in Katon, Ohio.
The Bear is one of the first to end the.
Preseason with a convincing victory in Kansas City thirty four to twenty one to wrap up what is a four and oh preseason for the first time since nineteen ninety four. Welcome in everybody. I'm the voice of the Bears Jeff Joniac with Super Bowl winning Bears guard Tom Sayer and our special guest. For episode number eighty seven, which is brought to you by Miller Light, we had.
To have the former Bear number eighty seven.
It's play I'm at nineteen ninety four playoff team. Tom Waddle from Wattle and two and he has been on a thousand of the Bears radio network, but also our good good friend, a member of that team that went to the playoffs and had two playoff games. Tommy, I never thought i'd see the day we're doing a podcast with us hosting you.
I am thrilled, I'm honored, and you know I love you guys, So it's my pleasure to be with you.
Pey Wattle.
I want to hear one thing though, so I hear the introduction about you being a member of the All Madden team at one time. Do you still have the Madden sweatsuit?
Yeah?
Is it wearable or is it like an archive?
No. I tried to put it behind glass and hang it up at one point years and years ago, and my oldest daughter said, hey, that looks really cool.
Is there any chance I can wear it to school one day?
And I was like, This was years and years later, and I said, absolutely, you can wear it now. It has I have four daughters. It has been passed down from daughter to daughter to daughter. It's still in really good shape. But yeah, it's it's not the behind glass memento that it was years and years ago. It's really I mean in John Madden fashion. It's really you know, I mean it was durable. It really durable.
Well a taboo story about that. So Jay Hilgemerg made the All Madden Team a couple times. So one day I was at his house looking for a sweatshirt and he goes, just put that sweatshirt on.
I go, no way. If you don't make it, you don't wear it.
And so I would never put on an All Madden Team sweatshirt if it wasn't my own.
You got you got to be friendly with him.
Tommy, did you ever bring up the fact that you know wears a little love for Tom Thayer a grinder inside there?
No, but he mentioned me in one of his books One knee equals two feet, and he gave me some props about playing in the USFL and the NFL back to back. So I felt vindicated. No sweatsuit, but it's in print. But you guys are made men. When John Madden acknowledge you, you know you guys are made men in the NFL, right, it's lingered for the rest of your careers.
Yeah, you realized that that year I made it was ninety one. I think I think it was me.
Jerry Rice Michael Irvin. I think maybe one of the one, maybe Art Monk was on that list.
It was the.
Typical, their prototypical, Jeff, one of these things is not like the other one. You all pro, all pro, all pro, all pro me which was cool.
So nineteen ninety four, we're only bringing it up.
And I tried to get coach Eberflus to bite in the pregame interview. I said, man, kind of cool to go four and oh, and he wouldn't bite it. You know, I know it doesn't mean much. He didn't say that, but I did. But I just feel any kind of winning is important for this club right now. This has been an organization, has been on a roller coaster ride and has had so many dips that they're trying to
establish a winning culture. And maybe it started next year with the end of the season and is carrying into and it certainly feels that way. But I put some importance on it, and they just didn't go into these games. They whipped some tail a little bit. They went the blitzing. Are you kidding me?
I love it. I love the blitzing. I love that they ran the ball. I love the balance.
Tommy Thay or what you do you feel what I'm saying or doesn't matter because that foreign o Bearstem went to the playoffs and went into the second round.
Yeah, you know, but the story of the NFL the preseason is so individualized.
If you're a guy like.
Tom Waddle, if you're a guy like Tom Pair, your only intent when you start training camp is to make the football team. So if I got twenty pancake blocks and the Bears lose every game, I'm okay with that because I'm making the team. And unfortunately, that's the only portion of the season that it can be individualized because the wins really don't matter. And I don't think coaches are gonna put a lot of out front stake in it, but I guarantee it behind the scenes the privacy of
a team meeting. They'll complement the accomplishment, but they're not going to make a big deal out of it.
It's such a great point, Tom, And look at some of the highlights from the preseason. The Bears had twelve sacks, they only allowed two. They had five interceptions, their quarterbacks through zero. Now I'm with you, like everything starts for real now and now it.
Starts to count.
But I think success breeds success in a lot of ways, and when you start to have some success, you start to expect some success.
So I think most importantly, guys, to me was the.
Fact that I thought they got better in a number of ways over the course of this entire training camp. And the list is long and the improvements, but I think overall that was the lasting impression I had from this preseason.
You know, Dicka always says winning is contagious and losing is contagious, and so what you say, T Wattle is I do believe that, and so it has been a productive preseason.
During the easier to build off a win than a loss, although there's a lot of lessons in both tastes like Miller time, celebrate responsibly, Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, ninety six calories and three point two carbs per twelve ounces. So you, guys mentioned improvement over the course of the preseason. Will each of you, at the top of your head come up with three major improvements that you saw in the preseason. We'll start with T.
Wattle.
I would say even the quarterback play. I think Caleb Williams showed progress. There were things that he did in his first action that I thought was spectacular in Buffalo. Some of the throws were fantastic. I thought the third down throw he made to DJ Moore in the first conversion, I thought was probably his best throw because it showed you how he plays the quarterback position in a really efficient manner and with a lot of knowledge behind it. So I thought that we watched him grow even in
a short period of time. I would say, also, you saw some offensive line improvement over the course of time, and you don't have your five standard guys right now, but to only give up two sacks of it, of course the four games, I think is.
Really really good.
And I would say that some young guys rushing the pass are probably from you know, I call it improvement. Maybe it's not improvement because they were getting after quarterbacks from the jump in preseason. But I love watching young guys define themselves, so I know, whether it was Booker or it was Hardy, I love seeing these guys actually.
Go out there and get a little bit of notoriety.
Yeah, I would agree with you.
The complimentary pass rusher to Montese sweat, and whether it's Hardy or whether it's Booker, we still haven't seen enough of Jacob Martin to maybe possibly put him on the radar. Javon Dexter had a really good training camp and I think he's a big body that he can use his length as an asset.
So the defensive line is better this.
Whole team, on the whole roster, the development of depth, I think they're better off in a lot of positions that if you do have a hiccup during the course of the season, you can fill it with a legitimate veteran option. And there's some young guys that are developing along the way. And like you started with the quarterback position, there's no denying that Tyson Pagent is a good, solid backup.
He's a good sounding board in the quarterback room. The complimentary that Shane Waldron is passing along to these quarterbacks with balance, and the way he calls the game and listen, man, the story is Caleb. When you can go out there and if it's like seeing a baby. If you see a baby every day, you don't notice the growth.
If you see a.
Baby maybe once every two weeks, it seems like he's turning into an adult before your eyes. And I think that's one of the cool things about Caleb. He has showed significant growth since the day he came aboard.
That antidote from the only one of the three of us does not have his own child, but he's seen plenty of babies in your family, right right, That's the thing about it.
And I don't see babies every day because I don't have one, but I see my niece as a new since I've been nine years old.
Yes, and there are a lot of them. That was a great, great anecdote right there. So I'm gonna pick up at the baton there because the Caleb story.
And I had a message this.
Morning from an unnamed NFL scout that said, you guys are going to be just fine. You got him, And that's referring to the quarterback, obviously, but also mentioning the fact that the depth across the board is substantially different. And I can close my eyes now and I can see the Bears offense and I can see the Bears offense making plays because there are weapons.
We said that there were going to.
Be, and Caleb is going to prove that these weapons can be thrown open or they can get open and create the separation that may have been lacking over the years and it's not just going to be Dj Moore. It's going to be a lot of different guys. And then I revert to the secondary. I've just fallen in love with almost every one of those guys. They're all not going to be on the team. But how about the play of this Ready Stewart, undrafted out of Troy,
plays with his hair on fire. Physical from the time camp started, he was intercepting passes and then put on that command performance last night in Kansas City, just terrific reads on the ball and trusting himself and being a little bit patient there at the goal line.
And then the pick six.
And I don't know if Adrian Kilbert's going to make the team, but he can blitz anytime for me at safety, and he laid out and knocked the ball, that ball away that was going to be a big play. It was one of the most exciting plays I've seen in a long time. And then Booker, I mean, Tommy there, I gotta make sure I differentiate the two of you now. T Squared t WAD has been all over the development of Booker from the jump, and albeit twenty one years
of age, this guy's going to be an animal. I don't know if it's how it's going to work out over the course of this first year, but in the big picture, this guy he could be really something.
He's just getting stuck.
You know, one thing about Booker, which another compliment is, is when I first saw him on one on ones, you can just see a naturally gifted pass rusher that doesn't need to be repeatedly coached how to get better. My curiosity was how he's going to play the run, and because of his pass rushing skills, he plays the run equally as well. And so that's what probably at the end of the preseason I'm most excited about in Booker as much as I am just being a naturally gifted pass rusher.
I think with him as well, and Tom, you could speak to this better than I because I was never at the point of attack. But I think a player like him who doesn't have a ton of experience, like you go back to his college days and there's not you know, seventeen hundred reps there, I think that he would best be best suited, in my humble opinion, of being somebody that you rotate in and you allow him to grow at his.
Rates, which I think will be very quick.
But I just don't think you could take a player like him, stuff him in there and ask him to or expect him to do too much. Let him dictate his growth rate, and I think that you'll be just fine with how he does that.
It's like I equate it.
To you know, you see quarterbacks that you know, bow knicks in Denver's had a really good training camp as well. Nobody's played more snaps in college football than bow mixed it.
You know.
It's why I think Brock Purdy came in and the acclamation process wasn't very difficult because he played so much football regardless of the level. And by the way, at Ohio Iowa State, I believe Jeff Right.
Isn't that where.
Robert, Yes, you definitely know that.
God, Now you know the.
Point that I'm making is is that he's still getting ramped up with regard to playing football and now you're playing at the highest level. And I share your guys, you know, appreciation for how well he has.
Showed himself so far in training camp.
I just think the process now when it gets real, he'll see it'll speed up, it'll get more physicals.
So one thing to you, wile don't sell yourself short. I've seen you at the point of attack a couple of crossing routes and the Tampa Bay Bucks in the bottom of your chin.
Has the proof, has the proof to show it that's true.
But I was, you know, I was on the receiving end. I wasn't on the delivering end ever, So.
I just tried, you stuck your nose like they said, they put you put your face in there.
Yeah, chi chin first.
Yeah, who hit you or who?
It was so funny too, Joey Thomas ever Tom, I was out there. It was in the first half, and I'm balling, you know.
It said nineteen ninety four, I think, And I hadn't played a ton.
I was the third receiver.
We had a I think we had an injury and I got to start and I was out there.
I think I had three or four catches in the first half of whack.
Thomas Evert, Steve Steve Walsh, who I love dearly, threw me a medicine ball, as they like to say. When he clows it up, you definitely you're gonna You're gonna find yourself in trouble.
And Thomas Evert lowers his helmet hits me right.
Here on the chip and just exploded in my face and actually had an MCL issue on the way down as well. But I think they asked Wannie who Thomas ever played on Jannie's Dallas.
Defense years and years prior.
I think they asked Wannie after the game if he thought it was a dirty hit, and he goes, no, No, I thought it was clean. The following morning in the newspaper, there's a picture, you know, on the sports page of the tribute Thomas Everett's got his helmet down and hits me right on the.
Chin with beer. It was just one of those moments.
Have you ever interviewed Thomas Everett on your show? You know his whereabouts? Would you like to have a would you like to take a meeting? Would you like to harbor?
Jeff I harbor no, ill will. It was part of the job description.
Uh.
We are brought to you by as well, Visy Heart Selzter Flavors for every Vibe Celebrate Responsibly, Most Corps Beverage Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. You're referring to the Madden recognition each of you, and I hope Tommy says what he's going to say, But I hope he is. But you guys have secured many momentos over the course of your playing career, whether it be at the high.
School level, college level, or the NFL level.
Do you have a favorite momento that you still cherish that is in your possession in each of your lives? Tommy, you better say the right right one here, But I don't know.
Now I'm kind of not saying it because I'm worried that if I don't say the right thing that it better.
Be your super Bowl ring.
Correct.
Oh well, yeah, I mean I thought that was an obvious you know, you know what, I and I.
Always with you, with you because you're a minimalist and you do not that's not your thing is to collect mementos or look back on your fine career.
But yeah, so it's not an obvious for me.
Well, no point, So let me just clarify that because when I was watching Hard Knocks this past week and Ryan Pole's they are filming in his office and he's sitting in front of his super Bowl trophy.
The super Bowl trophy to.
Me is as equally as important than my super Bowl ring because I never wear that.
But if the super Bowl trophy was in our.
Restaurant when we had a restaurant, or people get to see it for the first time. I recently brought it to an appearance and people that never got to stand next to a Super Bowl trophy did so. I like the Super Bowl trophy as much as I do the Super Bowl ring, just because I don't wear a lot of jewelry and it basically sits in a box in a cabinet and rarely sees the light of day.
Wow, Jeff, I would say, obviously, the Madden sweatshirt is something that I'm very, very proud of. To be in the company of those great receivers I mentioned and to be recognized by, you know, one of the greatest coaches of all time was very special to me. But I would say, you know, I was the recipient of the Piccolo Award my last year in the league, and it's voted on as the veteran or the you know by
your teammates. And the fact that my teammates saw enough of me at that time, knowing that I wasn't contributing at the same level of a Curtis cop Jeff Graham or some of the other players. I was at the tail end of my career, but always considered myself a professional and how I went about doing my job and always gave it everything that I had. That's probably the thing that I most treasured from my time in Chicago.
That is awesome recognition. I mean, you look at the Piccolo Award, you look at being named the All Madden Team. Those are some awards that are not duplicated by a lot of people. And when you have it and then you have evidence of it, that's pretty cool.
We're going to get back to the Bears. But this is a flow in this podcast. So whatever as top of mind, did you guys both envision a career in broadcasting while you were playing your thinking I might want to do that?
Was that ever?
Were you ever thinking about that as you were winding down your careers respectively?
Why do you can start?
Jeff, I have a finance degree from Boston College. And I don't say that as a flex I'm not flexing. What I'm saying to you is, as I went to school and studied this, you know, portion of the economy to to actually my thought was is I was going to be in the finance world sooner rather than later, because it was a long shot that I was ever going to be able to actually live my dream.
So I was I was more than ready to go to Wall Street.
But that's actually you know that that that never occurred, and I got an opportunity to play.
And you know, the.
Funny thing was is I want to say, the last two years I was playing, we all got the opportunity to do the Sunday night television shows right like two with Dick or whatever else. I was doing a Monday night or a Tuesday night radio show with Dave Ennitt at one point two, and I just I got exposed to the media industry, Jeff, and it was something that
I really enjoyed. And over the course of time, I had an opportunity after I retired to segue right into broadcasting and didn't have to use the the finance degree. And I found that, you know, for me, at the very least, it's it's the closest thing that I've ever really experienced to competing. You know, the light goes on, you better have something to say. You know, you're still a performer in some ways the way you were as
an athlete. So the adrenaline rush exists at different times, as you know as well, So I never envisioned it, but I'm sure glad I got the opportunity.
I've loved what I've done for the last several decades.
Three days I honestly thought about being a professional wrestler.
I figured, I.
Got, you know, I have a bald mullet, I got the look. I'm you know, three hundred pounds. I'm a weightlifter. I was healthy at the end of my career, so I figured I could go take some of that abuse. And then I found a surfboard and that was over. And then I got into surfing that and then got into the media and of the business. But so before our last playoff game, the NFC Championship game, we were practicing at Notre Dame and I did an interview for
the back page of the Sun Times. I still have a copy of it in the basement of my mom and dad's house here. And the last question they asked is what do you see yourself doing at the end of your career, And I said, I'm going to I think I'm going to get into professional wrestling.
And wow, I see, I've known you for twenty eight years.
I do not You've never told me that.
Well, I'll let you. I'll take a picture of this article and let you read it. And I really did. I was thinking, okay, here, I am I could I think I could take what I've accomplished in football and I still have size, and I still have health. And then I will say then after when Steve McMichael got into professional wrestling, we went out to dinner the night he got back from a school in Atlanta of a month of learning a little bit about the business. And he goes, hey, Tommy, look at this, and he lift
up the side of his shirt. In his entire rib cage was black and blue.
Just vicious. And I go, ming, what is that?
He goes, that's just from learning how to bounce off the turnbuckle.
That's how to learn how to bounce off the ropes and stuff. When I was going, whoa, that that is some serious business there.
I think he took the right path, Tommy.
Yeah, we're brought to you by PNC Official Bank of the Bears. Okay, let's let's get into where we're at now. Cut down is Tuesday, So many of those guys I likely will get back on a practice squad, likely the Bears practice squad.
But I do believe there are going to be some difficult cuts. Tommy. We saw.
Daylas Jones run for one to eleven in a final preseason game.
How do you evaluate that.
Look.
I've never denied the athletic ability that Dayles has. I just when I balance the good versus the not so good, I still come up on the not so good side. I just want to know where he fits. I think you've got a nice compliment of running backs. I'd hate to see somebody like and I don't think that'll happen, but somebody like Khalil Herbert find himself in the outside looking in because they're trying to, you know, use Dayles
Jones as a running back. I don't think Vaalas is going to be somebody that's going to play a lot of snaps at wide receiver if they keep him. I think the kickoff return is we've learned over the course of time, and we may change our opinion of it is really a glorified running play. And if it's a glorifi fied running play, I don't know about you, guys, but I'd much rather see Khalil Herbert doing that than somebody else. So I thought he played really well last night.
I you know, I don't know if it's enough. I think they played Homer and they played others before him. I don't know if you read between the lines with regard to you know, how they put the guys in. But I think Vayalas is on the bubble and I think it's in his favor Jeff because he was the first offensive draft pick of Ryan Polls and I but I think the body of work probably works against him a little bit.
You know.
You know, I think that both of Dayles Jones Junior and Tyler Scott put themselves on the NFL roster radar, but I think that's for all teams. So now if there's a team out there that's desperate for speed, but Tyler Scott did enough last night to either open the eyes of other gms or continue the interest by Ryan Poles.
And then when you look what Vaalis did in a desperation time because Ian Wheeler went out of the game with an injury, Homer was already taken out of the game, so Valas had to play a bunch of snaps even when you know, fatigue could have creeped in. But he made some big plays. He had a nice crossfield touchdown run. He probably had another run late in the game that if he was fresher, he probably would have been able
to run away from those guys. But at least they've increased their radar of other teams looking for possible multiple position playmakers.
And Tom I think I mentioned this a week or so ago and it kind of got scoffed at by my coworkers. But you know, the move to running backs, he was seen as a no lose situation for the Bears.
Maybe it provides you a little bit of spark and he defines himself, or maybe at the very least, he goes out there and makes himself attractive to another team, and maybe he is somebody that would interest you in a You know, however, whatever you'd get back in a trade, whether it be a conditional seventh round pick or whatever the case may be, I just think what it does is it gives the Bears options, and I think Ryan Pols has done a brilliant job over the course of
the last couple of years keeping himself available with the number of options.
In a number of ways.
Would you put any comparisons between Corderol Patterson and Dayalis Jones, No or not?
I would.
I mean, I see that people are talking about it at Cordero. I believe it was a first round draft pick as well, even coming into the league, so I think that there was at least some accomplishment from the very beginning. Look again, I have nothing against Dalis Jones. I've really never met him. I'm sure he's a good guy.
I know he's got a lot of talent. But sometimes and he's one of those guys though that if in fact they decide to move on and he goes somewhere and he finds success, it's not that's not a situation if I was Ryan Polls or anyone in the front office that I would have regrets. I just wouldn't. I feel comfortable with the roster he's put together. I feel comfortable with the guys at running back and at the wide receiver position and those that can return.
And I would just move forward. It's you know, it's it's a business.
I was on the receiving end of the business on several occasions, so I know it's not a lot of fun at times. But you know, I guess the best way to kind of circle back and sum it up is is these are these are you know, first class.
Problems to have.
Right when you improve the overall talents on your roster and you do have to start waving goodbye to guys that may fit into other teams systems, then you know you've you've upgraded your your overall organization exactly.
There's certainly levels uh and and where they fit in the these certain levels. And in regards to Vailus that the cool thing is they've given him every opportunit tunity possible to prove himself over time.
Tastes like Miller Time.
Go to millerlt dot com slash bears pod to find delivery options near you. Celebrate responsibly Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Ninety six calories and three point two carbs for twelve ounces. So the obvious is Caleb Williams as the most interesting player we all want to see perform in a regular season game and see how this season goes.
That's a no brain or so beyond him.
Each of you share the next player or two on that list that you are most excited to see here in twenty twenty four. It could have been somebody who's been here a while or somebody brand new.
To the scene. But there you got the floor, buddy.
You know, I was trying to think of this morning. I was going to ask you, guys, is who is the engine of the Chicago Bears offense? And to me, I still think it's DeAndre Swift And he's the type of guy I want to see play first, second, third down,
first second, third, and fourth quarter. I want to see what the options are outside of him if he's not the designated running back or not the designated receiver, But how does he influence the opponent's defense to open those other opportunities for all the playmakers that they have involved. And I know that the running back position is more of a community position, but I'm interested to see what DeAndre Swift does as a main influence of this offense.
Guys, there's so many names here really that you and I agree with you, Tom on so many fronts because I think there are going to run the ball and I think in Tom, I tell me if you agree to disagree to you as well, Jeff, Like when you see you see how Buffalo in that play that Caleb tucked and run and when you go from single high safety to too high safety and Caleb recognizes it, what you're going to do then, is you're going to give
yourself the opportunity to talk and run. The point I'm making is is I think you're going to see a lot of too high against Bears offense. Is they try to protect themselves from the combination of Keenan Allen and DJ More and Roma doonsay, and that means, what are you gonna do? You're gonna run the football, And I agree with you, Tom. I think DeAndre Swift was a thousand yard rusher last year at four and a half
yards per Carrie. He's a player that's going to also contribute the passing game, so definitely, I think he's going to play an enormous role.
I think Rome also will.
I love Keenan Allen, true technician, but I think what you're going to find this year is Rome has got to prove to them, and he will that he's going to be a number two receiver sooner rather than later. So it then gives you flexibility next year with regard to what you're going to do with Keenan. I said this for a while too. There's no question that Caleb Williams is the most important person in that building right now. It's the reason why he was the number one overall selection.
I think Shane Waldron is just behind him. Shane Waldron is entrusted with developing this first overall pick and getting the most out of him and also finding a way to get the ball to swift into Keenan Allen into DJ into Rome of doonsay. So how he coordinates this offense is going to be really really important.
And you flip it on the other side, guys, Dexter's the three technique? Does he establish himself there?
Tyrek Stevenson to me is also a key because people aren't gonna throw at Jalen.
They're just not Why would you, You'd be silly too.
And I think Stevenson's got all the talent in the world and has the capacity to also play as a Pro Bowl caliber corner. So we saw the second half of last year. I think he's going to have an opportunity early in this season as people go away from Jalen to really define himself too.
Yeah, I'm gonna throw in.
I was going to go with the secondary in general, because that's been where I've been all all this last season and this season, but because they started taking the ball away in such big numbers last year, and they've done throughout training camp. They're doing it at all levels in the preseason here. But Jalen has moved to a different level now the way he's practicing and he is feeling his oats and he's feeling his oats as also a leader on this football team, and he's talking about
it and he's backing it up. Just some of the practice sessions, how he twisted Keenan Allen into knots over the course of time was impressive and I'm excited to see where that whole secondary goes here in twenty twenty four.
And a big part of it.
Is that Matt Eberflusse and I discussed this with Ryan Poles in the lead up to this kickoff against Kansas City, is at this is his element.
Coach is a ball coach. This is what he is. He's the head coach and he has to be the head coach.
But he's getting the call plays again, and I believe the team took on a different personality when he started back doing it last year. And there's a comfort zone now and he's got this look in his eye. To me, he's it appears to be more intense just dow the day to day, and I think it's because as a coordinator, you're always thinking, you're always thinking.
About but now you're at it, you're the head coach as well.
There's a lot going on, but on game day, just like certain players are game day players. I believe Mattibrifluse gets fired up about game day, he's gonna call players to try and reckon offense. So I think those are some of the things I'm looking forward to see as they continue to springboard here after what they did last year. And then on the offensive side of the ball. You know, Shane Waldron, as Tom's pointed out in the broadcast repeatedly.
Is he's really come away.
He's He's complimented him in every single broadcast for his balance and that's just preseason. But that that to me is a trigger because you don't want to play caller to just call plays. It's got to be a method to your madness, and that is an art. And to me, it's the hardest position to find in the National Football League in terms of somebody that you trust, somebody that's gonna actually make your players better on the offensive side
of the ball. And I believe he's got that in him, and he's he's gonna set teams up over the course of the game.
He's not just going to call plays to call plays and hope they work.
He's got a plan and it's the Bears plan, and he's working with what he has. He's not forcing his beliefs on what they have, and I think that's going to net a lot of results. I don't know why this name popped in my head, fellas, and maybe you guys can help me out a little bit on this, but I remember Hunter Hillenmeyer always would tell me, Hey, all we want, tell me what we needed, what we have to do where I'm supposed to be, and I'll
do it. And that's it. If you have me questioning what I'm doing or wondering why I'm doing it when it doesn't make sense to me, that's when the trouble starts and things start to unravel. And I don't think that's going to be the case with the Bears offense with Shane Waldron.
I don't know how you guys feel about it.
Yeah, you know what to build on that.
I think it's one of the things that I that left me puzzled in the past, guys, I kept asking myself week in week, you know what is going on?
It doesn't make sense going back to Mitch. You know, Mitch was a one.
Read, throw at guy and always excelled when you would cut the field in half. And in his final year, as we saw coach Naggie cut the field in half. They won three of the last four games and scored a bunch of points. I always said, though, that will limit you when you step up in class. And then they went to the postseason and really weren't able to accomplish much because that limits what you're going to do. But it took them so long to really accentuate what
Mitch was capable of doing. And while I never thought that, you know that the previous oc here was the the.
Was football satan.
I thought he got a little bit too much, you know, abuse for some of the things that went on. It took him a while to get accustomed to or or adjusted to what Justin and his offense was capable of doing. I don't have those concerns with Shane Waldron. I'm not suggesting that he's going to make you forget about Kyle Shanahan and other great play callers.
But what he does make sense.
It made sense to me in Buffalo, guys, when you know you had a couple of guys missing on your own line, you have a shuffling some So what do they do?
I mean he was booting three or four times.
Not only take advantage of what Caleb does well, but to protecting. That's the way I interpret it it. So there's a method to what they're doing. And I think you guys probably have seen it every day in camp, and I concur with a lot of what you're saying, Jeff.
I agree with that.
I know, I agree with everything you said. You know I can sit here and compliment Shane Waldron even more.
But I think Gerald Everett, Jeff.
And I were doing an interview with him the other day, and he's got a background with Shane Waldron, and it's the best thing that you can have by a player that's already played for you, is compliments to the way he goes about business. And I think you see it in Caleb, you see it in the receivers that they have aboard here, but when you hear it from an next player, it's kind of that vote of confidence that this guy knows what he's doing and he knows what he's saying.
And then going back to Matt.
Ebrafouths because even when we saw this on Hard Knocks, Matt Eberflus can have conversations of coverage with Caleb because he understands coverage and what their responsibilities are and what they're trying to do to the quarterback. So I think that relationship is a good relationship to have when it's not Shane Waldron. But the defensive coordinator knows what he's talking about when he's talking about what the coverage is
trying to do to the quarterback. So I think they all compliment each other.
It's such a good point too.
Tom My father in law, obviously he played for the Patriots for years, but then was a broadcaster for twenty five thirty years and he was there through the Belichick years, and he would always tell me Bill Belichick spends more time in the offensive in the quarterback room than he does in his defensive room. Now he spends time with his defense. But your point is absolutely spot on. He
knows everything he's throwing at opposing quarterbacks. So who's better to actually sit and kind of counsel a quarterback than a defensive mastermind. So that's why I agree with you when I saw Kochieberflus meeting with Caleb, that's not just for show's there's something really good to be taken out of that.
Does it all the time? Too?
Busy Heart Seltzer Flavors for every vibe, Celebrate Responsibly Motion Coors Beverage Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. And we're brought to you by PNC Official Bank of the Bears. All right, our final thoughts. Do you feel better about where the Bears are at before the offseason began?
More encouraged? Let's where are you guys at?
I want them to compete in the division. I want them to win division games.
I want to at the end of the season where we walk away and go wow, these guys were physically, mentally, and emotionally prepared Week one at Soldier Field against the Tennessee Titans, and then that carried through the rest of the season. But I keep thinking about you saying, well, the season really doesn't start to the eleventh week when they start playing division games. Eventually, if you're gonna set your sights on getting into the playoffs, you gotta win
the majority of your division games. So as much as I'm interested in Week one, and I want to see a better showing than I saw last last year a week one. When it comes time for those Vision Games, they're gonna have a lot of video to watch about Kalab but the Bears are gonna have a lot of video to watch up their opponents.
Listen, I'm as excited and as optimistic about this group as I've been in a really long time. I just think talent wise, they're better than they've been there, deeper than they've been. I think they've got the right guy under center. I think, as you guys just talked about, a lot of it makes sense. I still, you know, because I worry quite a bit about certain things. I'm worried that the offensive and defensive line still need a little bit of a little bit here and a little
bit there. I don't know that I'm fully on board with everything they've got going on there, But listen, you can convince me that that old line will gel nicely and that they will become.
A top ten offense.
But it's got to start at the line of scrimmage. The center's got to be solid. You've got to have a couple of reliable guards and your tackles have got to make progress. If all of that happens, this offense will be really hard to stop. If in fact, that doesn't happen, there could be some issues, especially with a rookie quarterback.
It won't be a straight line to.
The super Bowl. There will be ebbs, there will be flows. It'll be a roller coaster. But I expect more good than bad from this team. I really like what Ryan Poles has done, and I really like how they've gone about trying to mold this group. And Tom you said something about did they learn or that they did learn from last year's approach to getting ready for the Packers. I think that Week one loss to the Packers set the tone for the first six or seven weeks of
the season. I thought it was the worst loss of the season. I thought it was the worst thing to happen to that team. I get the feeling that they learned from that and that they'll be more ready to play against the Titans, and they'll be much more ready to play early.
In the season.
Are I feel good? I feel good. Jet.
There's a great sense of appetite for victory throughout this football team right now. There's some hunger. You could feel it in the building when you're there, and you can hear it from the players.
All right, well that's going to wrap us up.
Would a love to tell more Joe Oaks and tell more Tommy Wattle stories, but you know, we get.
Well, you know, big big Jeff.
This is a salute to Tom Wattle, episode eighty seven of our podcast. It is now we're onto eighty eight, so you better go get Glenn Kozlowski's at your phone.
Number and find them out there. We're just gonna go right down the list. That's right, it's in ninety nine, right, No, appreciate your time. I know it's valuable as you go to work on Are you working today on Wattle?
And Sylvie? What do you got on course time? All right, all right here you've been thinking.
That you know how much I appreciate you guys, how much I love you guys.
Right back at you.
You guys are great teammates. Thanks for having me.
Right backs to special thanks to Tommy Wattle. Four time, I'm Jeff. Thanks for listening. Everybody.
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