Cut over that DJ Moore En Zode touchdown touchdown pair. I am Jeff Jonia.
Glitz Is on.
What was like playing for coache goodge.
I don't want to answer any questions like that pressure coming is a big trouble. Donnie Goos Montest Sweat.
Now.
Bears et Cetera brought to you by Geico with the voices of the Bears, Jeff Joniac and Tom Thayer. Well, there's nothing better than a flight home after a big win, even more when it's coming back from London after a week in the English countryside, and that's an investment of time away and adapting to prepare for a game in a training campush way the Bears Hamburg Jacksonville coming out of that thirty five to sixteen with Super Bowl winning
Bears guard Tom Theayer. I'm Jeff Joniak. Welcome into episode one oh two of the Bears et Cetera podcast were brought to you by Geico. Bears four and two through six weeks, extending their designated home winning streak to nine, the longest since five oh six, and again the longest active streak in the NFL, longest stretched by a defense of sub twenty one point scoring, the longest since the two thousand and five Bears defense. So much to get
into tom Wow, but welcome back. We survived. We survived London.
Do you feel closer to me now that you spend a week in the English countryside?
I do.
We didn't really get on each other's nerves. A few pot shots here and there. We enjoyed a couple of doubt beverages. We enjoyed some dinners, some lunches, some breakfasts. So yeah, all good, and we had a great time calling that game. You have to admit these last few weeks have been some of the best weeks we've had in a long time, as you know.
Leading up to the game, though, I did have some apprehension because of some of the substitute players that were playing. But they came in and they played right in the tempo of the way they've been practicing since they've been here. And I think the efficiency of the way they went about business last week in the English country side more of a training cab atmosphere, I think it paid dividends in the game.
Yeah, And as far as you and I are concerned, we got to know some of the guys a little bit better. Some guys you had never even met, and I always want them to meet you. You got a lot of knowledge, a lot of background. You wear that Bear color proudly for some forty years of your life as a player and a broadcaster, and certainly as a homegrown fan.
So you know, it's in a casual surrounding.
It's not like everything we're talking about at that point is football. It's just kind of fun sitting around a table in a cafeteria.
That is just idle conversation.
All right, let's break things down. We'll hear from head coach Matt Everflu's coming up as well, And we should also tell you the Chicago Bears and PNC are supporting Chicago's small business community. If your small business is in the food service industry, head over to Chicago bears dot com slash small Business all Pros to submit your application to get a two week marketing partnership with the Bears. So apply. Now let's start. Let's start on the offense.
Let's start with Caleb Williams. I think we're all very impressed with what's going on here. If you just slow the tape down and watch them goes through progressions alone, you're impressed. I mentioned with Flus that we'll get into about his rapid fire getting rid of the football and his accuracy with that high percentage high percentage completion and touchdowns. After that, the blitzes that are coming at him, he's definitely sliding by. Yeah, he's been sacked in a tight
pocket a few times here, even in this game. But overall, the arrow if this were a diagram again, Tom, the graph would be just one giant straight lineup.
You know, since the existence of the NFL, you're never going to talk about the quarterback as an individual accomplishment. It's how do you factor in and the system and
the team that you're playing with. And I think the development of not only the offensive assets that Caleb has at his disposal, but also the entirety of learning the offense and the improvement from week one to what are we in week six now through week six Yeah, yeah, I just think it's an incredible accomplishment by the Bear's team, the Bears offense, the Bears coaching staff, and so Caleb is a huge part of it and a huge part
of where they're going. But the overall performance of the Wiley veterans like DJ and Keenan to the young guys like Rome, and I still consider guys like Cole a young guy and another veteran in DeAndre.
Back to back weeks, the offense going five touchdowns first time in sixty eight years, Tom back to nineteen fifty. I mean, come on, yeah.
Well, we used to run the ball in the eighties, so it was more of a time consumption type of offense. No, I'm kind of joking about that, Listen. It's a part of the explosiveness of this offense. And I think it's been talked about almost at nauseum throughout the entire offseason that if the Bears were able to use all these weapons they have, it could be this type of a scoring offense.
And kept talking, Oh, there's only one football.
Wait, we know that, but look at how it's being distributed inefficiently, you know, profited by all.
Right, let's look at that. Targets are pretty much even across the board. DJ's got the most, but it's not by a big margin. Keenan's missed a couple games, so his yards per catch at eight point one. Everybody else is ten plus. So you're getting a first down every time. These guys on average, you're touching the football, and so that's all you're asking for. That's what we're talking about. This is good stuff, you know.
The thing about it is, you know, I guess you can talk about football and offensive football balance in a couple different ways.
What is your run to pass ratio?
And then as one guy being isolated so much that now the defense can try to factor him out of the game and then try to challenge you to get to the other components of your offense. But that's the great thing about this, and you talk about the amount of equal targeting, it's super difficult for an opponent's defense to just try to take one player out of the mix.
Yeah, so right now the Bears are forty three percent running the ball and fifty seven percent throwing the ball. So I prep with that, Yeah, one hundred percent. Uh, that's very solid right there, and and and the balance
on Sunday was incredible as it turned out. So in terms of the defense, now, before we get into flues, what are they doing that you didn't expect them to be doing at a high level right now because obviously they're number one of the league and taking the ball the way since the start of last year, they're among the tops. They are the tops now in points off turnovers at fifty four points. Pass rush, maybe I would say, you know, if I had answered my own question, i'd
say pass rush is better than I thought it would be. Actually, right now.
I think they're undetectable. So they're not.
You can't preemptively get ready for what they're showing at the line of scrimmage because they have deployable weapons. As you always like to say, between brisk Er, between Kyler Gordon, between True Tremaine and TJ. Edwards and even Jack Sandbord for that matter. So when you come to the line of scrimmage as an offensive line, you understand what the protection called. In the huddle, you look at all of
your commitments that include a linebacker. So now all of a sudden, you have Jakwan Brisker or Kyler Gordon that come in and out of your responsibility. Now you're putting thinking and confusion in the head of the responsibility. But you're also making the quarterback responsible for one of those guys. So that's what I mean about undetectable. It's yeah, the efficiency
of eight defensive linemen. They all have different asset abilities about their type of game, but it's the way that they put the assets in motion to make them undetectable according to what they listen to in the huddle and what they're seeing at the line of scrimmage.
Okay, Tim, this is a great entrede to this question. If you are an offensive game planner right now looking at the Bears defense, what are the things that you have to concern yourself with? But they just play hard. They play hard, they get in your face, they hit you hard. There's hustle on this team. How is it offensive core? Are you looking at the Bears defense right now?
I need to have the commitment out of my offensive tackles to be primarily responsible on a one on one commitment to the defensive ends that they're facing, because I need multiple bodies on the inside to be able to take care of the first level and that could be Billing in, Javon Dexter along with Tremaine TJ. Kyler in Jikwan and I need multiple bodies to take those guys
out of the mix. And then I need if it's a running game, I need a commitment to a point of attack run because I need an organized plan of attack exactly where I'm going with it, no matter what the Bears are going to do. And I'm not giving away secrets about what I would do if I'm looking at to block the bear, block the Bears, but primarily I need my offensive tackles committed to the defensive end position, both run and pass.
I think big picture, you're worried about how my points you're going to be able to score because they're not letting you score right.
And you know the thing about it.
Over the last two weeks, Jeff, even though that Jacksonville Jaguars open up with a twelve play drive, I believe, and they were limited to a field goal. And you look at Carolina last week with Andy Dalton an experience at the quarterback position, they're limited to field goals. Same thing with the Rams a couple weeks ago, with experience
at the quarterback, they're limited to field goals. And we sit up there in the booth now for almost thirty years, and every time we think about field goals, we always say, field goals will get your beat. And that's what this defense is doing is keeping the opponent out of the end zone and making them settle for three.
All right, let's get the status from hallis from Bears head coach Maddy b Reflus and Bears fans. Steinhoffel's a proud partner of the Chicago Bears this Bear season. Steinhoffels is partnering with Special Spaces Illinois to create dream bedrooms for children battling cancer. For every false start cause by Bears defense during the home game, Steinhoffels donates one thousand dollars to Special Spaces Illinois shop in store and online at Steinhoffels dot com. And the Bears are forcing a
fair number of false starts already this season. All right, here my conversation with a head coach. First of all, congratulations, Now what's transpired not only the winning streak that's obviously the fruits of the labor, but what's been going on between the coaching staff and the players and the communication
that we've been talking about for weeks now. But it's evident in the way you guys are playing and the way the respect, the mutual respect for one another, teammates, the teammate and coach the teammate has really taken off. Matt really impressed. How do you feel about it?
I feel good about it, you know, because the foundation that's been laid for a couple of years now. We started off in twenty two and then working into twenty three of building that foundation of you know, mutual respect, how we respect everybody in the building and really working to get the right answer, not necessarily your answer, you know, going forward. That could be anything and performance, you know, and you know, training, if it's nutrition, whatever that might
be for that particular player. I mean, it's all about the players always, right, So we're always trying to the players are the performers. We're always trying to put them in the best position to perform. And that's no different with what we're seeing now in terms of the communication and putting guys in position, you know, to make plays.
And that's going to be ongoing.
That's an ongoing process as you go during the course of the season. You're going to have adversities during the course of a game. You're going to have adversities during the course of the season, but the communication has.
To be there and it's got to be on point in.
Terms of what you're going to pivot to or move to next to get the job done.
And it really boils down the one simple word.
It's trust.
If there's a lack of trust in either direction, then you know progress is probably going to be muted. Would you agree with that?
Yeah? And I trust the leadership of this football team. You know they've done a really good job.
You know, not only the captains, but throughout, you know, the guys that are you know, the the younger players that are developing, or if it's the guys that have roles, certain roles and on our team, but those guys have all worked together for a common goal. That's just working to be our very best on Sunday and getting better every single week.
You learn a little something more every day, let alone every week about every performance. What'd you learn this week? What did you learn about your football team this week?
Yeah?
I learned that they can handle adversity in game. There was a lot of adversity. We didn't start out the way we wanted to. You know, on offense, we had a couple of three and outs. Defensively, they had a long drive. We did a nice job in the red zone stopping them. And then we just know that we just stay at it. You know, we just stay at it and keep going. And you know, it's always about execution and always about us being on the same page,
you know, in terms of that execution. You know, all eleven of us out there at the same time, and we just kept pressing forward and eventually it turned our way. But you know, you know, all games are different, you know, and you can't really, you know, predict exactly how it's going to be. You can predict some things, but there's unforeseen events that happened during the course of the game and you have to be able to respond to those rather than react.
Obviously, fans are going bananas. I mean the whole week in London. Anytime you met a fan, it's all about you know, Caleb and I know it's the team, but his attention is obvious. It is, and we knew it would be this way. But I mean, we're talking about people coming up with research about things that haven't happened since nineteen seventy or nineteen fifty eight. In terms of
the passing game. I know it's early, but I don't know how you look at that, or even if you look at that, but it's pretty eye opening what's going on here. And it's just the beginning. It's like new floors keep getting set and we know that ceiling is super high. Right.
Yeah, you know, you can look at those things, but you know how the football season is, it's all about right here, right now. So we have to really do a good job of focusing on where our feet are and our feet are planet right here after week six in a bye week, and we're going to focus on
getting ourselves better. I will meet with the coordinators here this morning and we'll outline two or three items we need to improve on on offense, defense, and special teams, and then we'll have an outline for how we're going to get that done in the meetings, in drill work, in practice, and then in the game, and then we'll follow through with checkups on those items. So it's important that we do a good job of detailing this plan
during the course of the bye week. And it's no different than any other bye week we've had since we've been here. And it's important that the individual position coaches meet with the individual players in terms of one or two items they can get better at, you know, in terms of their fundamentals and technique, you know. So we'll be looking at that over the next couple of days.
Get that to the players when they come back on the bonus Monday next week and after a good recovery and rest that well needed for those guys as they enjoy their family and friends.
I recently saw a quote and it kind of stuck with me because it can apply to all walks of life, let alone sports and specifically football. But yesterday's success is the most dangerous thing in the world because people fall back on there, you know, whatever the case may be. I think we all know what that means. Do you feel this group, your guys, you know them better than anybody is equipped to handle success that they're experiencing right now.
Yeah.
I think we have really good veteran leadership here and also a bunch of good young leaders as well, and you can see that throughout our football team. So I trust those guys, you know, to be where their feet are and really have that mindset of getting better every single week.
And you know, we know what time it is and where it is in the season.
We're still early on in this process of running our race, and we got to make sure we focus on it's always going to be about us and how we do things.
All right, So there have been ten games played. We talked about this a couple of weeks ago. The majority of those have been away from home, including preseason, and a lot's happened. Do you feel this bye week? Some might say it's so early.
I don't know.
If it were me, I'd say it's in just the nick of time, especially after a trip to London. How do you feel?
Yeah, I think the season sets up well in terms of that, you know, in terms of the natural breaks in it. We had six weeks and then our normal buy and then we got six weeks coming up, and we got what we call here a mini buy for a Thursday game, you know, in Detroit. So it's important that you know, we focus on, you know, this next block of games. But really the first thing is that is executing the BUYE week correctly and then working on to that Washington Commander week.
The thirty third report, the team report a bunch of NFL former coaches, gms or whatever they have other research people that write stories, and one was about Caleb said he had his best game is a quick passer. In week six he was thirteen or fourteen for one hundred eleven yards and three touchdowns on throws under two and a half seconds. So I don't know how detailed you are about all that. But if you heard that from one of your researches or or research assistants or coach,
is what what did that mean? Does it mean that he's seeing it so well? You know, is that what that answer is?
Right there?
Well, I think it's about you know, going through his progressions.
You know, he's been going through his progressions well, him understanding the concepts of where the ball needs to go and just getting better at it. You know, he's just improving his game as a as a quarterback. You know, that's part of that's getting the ball out of his hands and and getting it to his first, second, or third read. And he did that yesterday, and you know that to me, it's always about good quarterbacking.
And he did a nice shot of that yesterday.
I had a quarterback rating of one twenty four that you know, had all those touchdown passes, you know, so to me, that's that's the mark of a good quarterback. And he protected protected the ball well too. I know he had the one interception, but again that's a that's a that's a shot that we took in that particular part of the game. And again that's got to be our ball or nobody's ball and then working it there. I'm sure he you know, he would tell you that he need to put a little bit more error on
that one, a little bit deeper. But you know, again that's that's just something that we responded to. On defense. We went three and out and then the defense offense gets the ball at the fifteen and goes down the field with a couple of quarterback runs scrambles you know, for twenty three and nineteen, him using his legs when everything is covered, and then we score a touchdown there with giving those guys thirteen seconds on the other side.
So to me, that was good, you know, really good complementary football by the whole.
Team there, absolutely one hundred percent agree. And the balance, I mean, I think it was twenty nine and twenty nine run pass, which is, you know, these things just fall together that way sometimes, right, because when you're hot at hot at one thing, you keep going with it. And so but the balance and the whole notion about spreading the ball around. I looked at the overall statistics here through six weeks, and it's Keenan missed a couple games.
Otherwise you'd have five guys basically having the same number of targets all all but Keenan averaging over ten yard as a pop touching the football. I mean as those are first downs on average that every time they touch the ball, So I mean things are really setting up nicely using all of this talent.
Man.
Yeah, I think that Shane and the offensive staff have done a really good job, and really Caleb has done has done a good job on distributing the ball. Playing point guard like we talked about, you know, and and the ball goes to certain players based on coverage contour a lot of times, yep. But also players are designed to go to certain players and we always have a balance of that, and you have to have a balance of that.
And you like to get guys involved early.
On, you know, in the scripting, to make sure that they get touches so they can get going.
And that's always.
Important to be able to distribute the ball evenly early but also throughout the game.
Defense continues to take the ball away. Best in the league right now, are at the top since last season, best in the league. It's everything you've preached. It's it's now a way of life, and there's no there's no way around it. This is the way the Bears are going to be that identity has been totally set, right, You're pleased with that?
Yeah, you know, yesterday I thought Tremaine's cause fumble and recovered fumble was really good, uh, you know, in terms of operating and causing that fumble and being uh you know, really on top of it, you know, in terms of jumping on the football right there in that crowded area. It's it's unfortunate they took that away from him from us, but that's the way it goes. And then obviously Hardy had a really good cause one on kickoff.
You know, we have to be really good.
In terms of being you know, instantaneous reactions to be able to get on those as soon as possible because that would have been a big field position as well. And then you know, obviously the one TJ had to open the second half.
Was big, really big there.
What a great job of being on the spot and he doesn't get that unless he's hustling, you know. So part of our Hits principle is the effort in which we play and you can really see that on that particular play where he did a really good job of punching it, you know, from behind that particular player didn't have five points of pressure or a lock up on it,
so did a really good job with that. And then obviously Elijah with a nice return for I think it was nineteen yards to the forty one, I believe somewhere in there on the plus side. And then Blackwell had a nice interception yesterday, you know, playing cover two. He was trying to get the middle sit down there on that particular play and he did a good job of vision and breaking.
On the ball, you know.
So we just need a little bit better return on that one. Got to get the offensive lineman blocked and then we'll be up the sideline. But to answer your question there, Jeff, it's something that we do in practice. It's something that's important to us, something that's emphasized not only by the coaches, it's emphasized from the inside out.
And that's what it works best.
All right. Then lastly, and we'll let you go appreciate it. I mean, I could talk defense all day with you. Tried to hit all these points. Hard to do, but the blitzing, you know, the blitzing, the well time blitzing. We always think of just the past game. But your run blitzes have been very beneficial as well, and Kyler Gordon a big part of that.
TJ.
Edwards a big part of that. Kyler's game was sensational. Saw him after the game. I said, man, you had me so excited about your performance. He was slithering and nasty.
He was awesome.
Awesome was Kyler is a really good player for us.
He's one of the best nickels in football, and we're excited to have him, obviously our first draft pick.
You know him and him and Brisker.
He's everything we stand for in terms of his work ethic, in terms of how he plays the game, his passion for his teammates, and he was having a really good performance yesterday. Was unfortunate that got hurt, but he made a lot of good stops, you know, a lot of good TFLs, you know, and he's special and there you need a guy that's got really good instincts, that has you know, quickness instincts and striking ability, and he has all of those.
All right, Matt enjoy your bye week. I know there's some work involved with some relaxation as well. Look forward to coming out the other end way to go. A nice job.
Thanks for having me on you got.
It, Tom. I know you're uniquely interested in that whole thing about how do you deal with success? And I think every young team and a team that's just now learning how to win. Going back to last season, they won eleven of the last nineteen games. This is a different team though. Is that what you wanted to hear from from coach Flues?
Yeah?
You know, Matt is really interesting because he's never going to offer or give or take too much credit for any individual player himself. He's just going to give credit to the effort, to the attitude, the preparation, to the coaching staff, and to the preparedness. And so he's a difficult guy to get an answer out of. But I kind of respect that about him because he's not going to over compliment anybody until the ultimate job is done.
So I didn't really get into a lot of it, but certainly interested in what's going on with the injury Bears. There's some scans that have to be done. We'll probably know something when they get back together next week next Monday, with that practice and they don't even have to give an injury report just then, but by Wednesday we'll know. But Kyler Gordon in the hamstring, certainly Tyreek Stevenson and
his calf, certainly, Jakwan Brisker. Concussions protocol still remains in that so those are big right there, and then what do you do at lung snap.
Well, I'm sure Ryan has had eight or nine in the building already and.
He'll continue that process throughout the week and investigating along with Tory, Taylor and Cairo to make sure that they have an eyewitness account of who the candidates could be for that position. Ryan I have all the confidence of the world that he'll take care of this by early this week. And then when you look at Tyreek and Kyler Gordon and Jakwan Brisker, they're fortunate to have a top notch training staff that will get these guys up
in hopefully ready as soon as possible. I don't want to jeopardize anybody because this is a big picture look and they have some quality talent behind him, because we also have to look at guys like Zach Pickens and Terrelle Smith, these guys that can come in and contribute to the depth of their position specifically, So there is a over a handful of guys now that we're looking at to get back on the field healthy in asap.
Yeah, Jacob Martin started. We don't know a whole lot on in terms. We know his career. He has been a really good pass rusher, so he's back in pract The scene was in London, good new Chicago United Airlines getting brand new planes with all the bells and whistles, like Bluetooth connectivity screens at every seat and room for everyone's rollerbag. United proud to fly the Chicago Bears and you two. I want to look at red zone. They were four for four, one turnover in the game. They
converted half of their third and fourth down conversions. I'll take that too. Twenty five first downs on sixty one plays. Tommy had only two penalties for the game. I would put this in the clean category game.
Yeah, you know, it's kind of funny.
If you're an offensive lineman and you play seventy two plays per game and you give up a sack on one play, the whole game is awful. And I think about even a Caleb's interview on the field after the game and talking about the one interception. You can have a great game and you can score every opportunity in the red zone. You can make scrambling plays or great reads like to Cole Comet, but it's that one play
that always comes back and haunts you. And I'm not belittling the effort that the Bears put in or Caleb himself, but it's always that one play that you want to make sure that you don't make that mistake again.
So, you know, excited to see what will happen with that.
You know, who's the leading receiver among running backs in the NFL over the last three weeks.
DeAndre Swift.
DeAndre Swift with one hundred and forty seven outstanding rushing touchdowns three He's in the top five of just about every statistic, and so that that's an important that's important because of the early lack of success and concern. But we knew what he's capable of doing in this offense. You said it a long time ago, long time ago, you said, this offense is going to run through DeAndre Swift.
Right, He's the key component of the moving parts of this offense. And whether it's screens run efficiently and so well timed, understanding how to follow his blocking those exterior outside his own plays, and how to read and set up his blocking the interior effort that he puts in there against the physical runs and again opens up opportunities play action passes for guys like Rollman stuff that have had success with that because of the influence of DeAndre Swift.
Tom Caleb is really good in he He was extraordinary on Sunday, scrambled when he needed to, ran ourpo very well four times, fifty six yards in rushing, six incompletions, and controlled again at the line, use the middle of the field to his advantage quite a bit. Cole Comet the benefactor. He's been taking what's given. Yeah, he had the underthrowing, the deep shot, the interception by Andre Cisco. That's not going to happen too many more times. That
connection is going to pay big dividends. The big shots are coming. We keep saying it, but they are coming.
You know, Jeff, if you go back in your revisit everything that was said about the Bears this offense, Shane Waldron Caleb after the first two weeks of the season and then stop it there and then restarted over the last four weeks. It's incredible what he has taken on his shoulders, the pressure of the constant podium visits or the outside interviews that are requested of him, and then what he's been able to accomplish in How so you don't have Keenan Allen for a minute, but then you
don't lose sight of him once he comes back. You have the ability to help Roma Dunes. They continue to develop. Now the next guy. Just think if they get Gerald Everett somehow involved in this game. Now you're talking about Cole Gerald Everett, all three running backs in every wide receiver and it's all you know with the continuous development of Caleb and the development of the relationship between Shane and Caleb.
Tastes like Miller time. Go to middle Lane dot com slash Bears pod to find delivery options near you. Celebrate responsibly. Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Ninety six calories three point
two carbs per twelve ounces. All right, let's talk Cole comment two touchdowns away from Tyan greg Olsen, who had twenty as a Bear from most seven to twenty ten, second in the league behind George Kittle this season in and receiving first downs, tied with Brock Bauers, the rookie for Vegas third in receptions with twenty six and yards with two eighty nine plus the long snapping last week, or I should say the short snapping for the field goes.
He didn't have to long snap a punt. And then the blocking he's asked to do, those wam blocks, the perimeter work.
He's doing a lot time everything that's asked of him.
You know, when you look at what the tight end has to do in a modern day NFL offense, when you play h back, you're leading and you're trapping, you're wham blocking, you're playing point of attack tight end, you're going downfield, you're a red zone target. Listen, Cole is doing everything that's asked out of the tight end position, and I think he's probably got more to give if
you want to. And he has been at fullback, so I think he's only tapping the surface of what the Bears thought about him when they drafted him and they signed him to a new contract.
How about the work of the defensive secondary from Jalen Jones to Josh Blackwell to Elijah Hicks.
Listen to me, a lot of that credit and I'm not taking minimalizing the effort of the players, but I'm also looking at the credit of the coaches, because that's one of the most difficult positions to get depth ready and to come in there and play against NFL quarterbacks and have the entire defense up front and not skip a beat being able to play the same coverages, have the same disguises that this defense is is really working
well with. So every one of those guys you mentioned, I'm really happy for him because they have the same desire to be a player that anybody else does in the NFL. And then when your time comes, you kind of have those expectations from every one of those guys up front of you that I'm playing hard to play up to the same level of whomever you're taking over for in that game.
I've you got Bears quarterback coach and passing game coordinator John Hoak, David Overstreet the nickel coach, and Andre Kurdish the safety coach, doing a heck of a job with all those guys. And there are more guys that are there are getting schooled and taught properly and they can step in as well as we move forward. You hope you don't go too deep in that, but you.
Know one thing about defensive backs, and it's a lot like offensive Lineman. There's no two that have the same template. You have something different about you, whether it's size, skill, speed, whatever your abilities are, and so every one of these coaches have to coach that talent up to these guys to the best of their ability. So I again, credit to the coaches, but credit to the performance that the players put on.
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois right here at home, driving access toward healthier communities through it all. Okay, so time for our Geico brings you more football stat of the day. There's so many, I'm just going to have to pick one here, but Caleb Williams seventy nine percent completion percentage, the highest market in league history, league history by a rookie with twenty five or more attempts and
four plass passing touchdowns. Tuda keenan to to cole Comet again, this is just scratching the surface of what he's going to be doing and what this offense is capable of. But worthy as this, We've been quarterbacks starved in terms of stuff like this to be the best of something, and so let's enjoy it while you know, let's enjoy it. Let's just enjoy it and not now nothing too crazy about it, because it is a long season and there's still a lot of growth to be had.
A secondary stat to that also, five point two yards per rush. I think when you look at that and you and I have been asking for four point yards per rush when you're getting a a yard plus more per rush, and then how that factors in the entirety of the offense because you're not one dimensional.
You're getting equally equal profits.
From running the ball as you are the stats that you mentioned in throwing the ball. So you just can't lose sight of the importance of that running game.
Yeah, some other nuggets montest what now number three in the NFC since last season in sacks with fifteen. Mercedes lewis the second player in NFL history with a reception in nineteen plus seasons. Jerry Rice says the record catch in twenty seasons, the great Hall of Famer Jerry Rice. Okay, couple of league wide things and will wrap up so you can enjoy your bye week until we drop another
podcast on Thursday. Aiden Hutchinson, Now, if you look at a single player on any team and say, Okay, this is a guy we cannot lose, I would say that would be. With all due respect to everybody else on the Detroit Lions. There's a certain aura about him that he brings to the table, his full throttle Max Crosby ish type impact on the defense, and you got to put your big boy pads on every single rep against Aiden Hutchinson, a pretty nasty leg injury. Is out for
the year. He's leading the league time at this point in nearly every pass rush category you can think of, from pressures to pressure rate, to sacks, to hits on the quarterback and early down pressure. And that's a kind of an irreplaceable guy. I don't know if they're gonna now go out and try and get somebody like a sounderratic or they're mentioning Max Crowd who knows, but you're not. The fact is him, Yeah, you're not getting him, this young,
vibrant energizer bunny for that. How do you look at the Detroit Lions in that light?
Now?
You know? I think Dan Campbell is a type of guy that h still has command of the locker room and he'll just raise the expectations of whomever is going to take his spot again. He's not replaceable, but I don't think they're going to lose sight of what they have going there. They have a super supportive crowd when they play at home. They're bringing a really legit offensive line, running game, and good receivers on the offensive side of the ball. So what I do is I don't ever say, okay, defense,
you're not capable. Is I increase the expectations of my offense, time of possession, scoring, you know, just everything else about what their offense is capable of being, and just the personal side of it, the human side of it. I just feel awful for him because I would I rather see a young man continue to flourish in the effort that he gives rather than be injured and be out of the lineup. So I think everybody collectively is praying for the young guy, right.
And how about this division? The top four teams in point differential in the NFL are the Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Viking, Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions. No division can match that.
No, But I think that was kind of expected at the beginning of the season, but you just didn't know in what order they were going to fall. There was high expectations for Detroit in their offense. There was high expectations considering what the Green Bay Packers came off of last year.
You didn't know.
And then when you talk about the weapons that the Bears put into play throughout the offseason and then drafting Caleb, there was that type of expectations.
For them as well. And then you didn't know.
Because JJ McCarthy was drafted by Minnesota. Sam Darnold, who's had a frustrating start of his career, was signed as a backup, and I don't think people put a lot of faith in him. But what they've been able to do in Minnesota is equally as impressive as any team in this division.
And that's why, you know, we keep saying it, I keep saying it. The season begins at week eleven now, and honestly, every week matters. But this is that's why bankrolling all of these performances and gaining strength both mentally, physically, spiritually, combining everything and being a tight football team, a team
that believes in itself is so important. Coming out of the by they got to hit it hard, they gotta they gotta come out with a fury because Week eleven's approaching and the division is staring right at you.
It's gonna be tough. It's gonna be awesome.
I can't wait, you know, because at the beginning of the season, when they went through the first couple of games, I said, well, it's gonna be week eleven. But there's gonna be a lot of information that these teams are gonna have about Caleb William and the Bears, and the Bears are gonna have a lot of information about their opponents that's increased since you look at the performance of
this division. This is gonna be one of the most investigated divisions between each other then there's been in a long time. And so let's roll.
Yep, let's roll Bears fans. Steinheffels probab partner of the Chicago Bears this Bear season, steinh Hoffel's partnering with Special Spaces Illinois to create dream bedrooms for children battling cancel. For every false start caused by Bears defense during the home game, Steinhoffls donates one thousand dollars the Special Spaces Illinois shop instore and online at Steinhoffels dot com. I leave you with this John Harbaugh opening up about the kickoff.
I'd like to see more returns. Tom so he is and he is supporting the idea of the ball at the thirty five or forty yard line on touchbacks. That's cool to encourage kick returns with them.
What are we playing arena ball? What are we go start playing in fifty yard fields? Come on, stop trying to fix the wrong leak.
Just listen.
If you don't want to return it, you get it at the thirty. Now you got seventy yards to travel. If you're crappy offense, you're still not going to be able to score. So, uh, you know, I'm not looking at it like that, Jeff. You're just trying to fix all these problems year and in, year out, and they're not that big.
So what is your answer to the kickoff? Though you'd like to see the ball returned.
Let me see a season of it. Let me see it when conditions deteriorate. Okay, let me see when they get a kicker that puts it in a spot where the team only gets it at the twenty five.
So you're saying, let it breathe a little bit, let it play out. I mean, my gosh, I'll tell you the kickoff by Santos that short hopped tank Bigsby. You put that in a different weather condition or on a grass field, because that was that was turf there in London at Tottenham. I mean that could turn into a big problem.
Like that could be you know, the San Francisco game when it had the trenchial downpour, the San Francisco game in Chicago when it had forty five mile an hour wins.
Let's play out a season.
Wait until that second half of the season where you're playing divisional games after week eleven, in the conditions inside Green Bay, inside Soldier Field, inside San Francisco, inside all these other areas.
It's so horrific.
You don't know if the ball's gonna stay on the tee or you're gonna have to get that twelfth guy.
To come out and hold it. So hold off, everybody.
You must have gotten some good sleep overnight. I love the vibrancy because you didn't sleep very well in London.
I listen, man, I was ready to roll as soon as I got home. And uh, you know, it's just that I'm I just don't want to sit here and listen to as a coach's complaint about something that is irrelevant to their concerns.
All right, big time, we will wrap this thing up and be back with you on Thursday for another episode. Obviously it's the bye week, so we will have a surprise or two along the way, but we'll look ahead a little bit. We'll look at you know. Flus even said he's looking at this in six game chunks kind of there's natural break, so we'll go look at it, will take stock a little bit. You good with that?
Yeah, I'm fine with it, man. Just keep your nose of the grindstone. I think the Bears set the template for success and overseas trips how they went about business last week, and if this is a continued process, I hope they do the same thing.
Special thanks to Maddie Refolution for time.
I'm Jeff.
Thanks for listening. Everyone. Please subscribe now on the Chicago Bears official Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcast. Bear Down, Everybody,