Bears vs Panthers: Who REALLY Has the Edge? | Jurko's Full Preview

0:00At City Colleges of Chicago, I get personal support, convenience schedules, and I save thousands of dollars into wishing. They help my community too with free ESL and diploma classes. Love it. Live it with classes at City Colleges of Chicago. Apply today at ccc.edu slash apply. Ben, I'm Bears Fans. Another edition of the Chicago Bears Podcast. Coming your way, the first official podcast of the year, your go on a day where there is football. That is real football, as you call it, exhibition. Yeah. Football being played. Excited Seattle, New England tonight. I don't know England tonight. Seattle tonight. Oh, are you? It's going to look like a... I'm not going up there, but I'm going to be talking. I'm going to say it's in Seattle tonight. Oh, I thought you were saying you were wrong. I was like, oh, no, no, no. I'm doing here before. Why are you here? The game's in Seattle and it's going to be interesting to see if our guy, Mike Brabel, is happy the NFL year is here. So you can put the off season behind him and all the distractions and everything.

1:00Everybody says Chicago is kind of a candidate to have a regression. A regression yet. Jacksonville is the team. New England's team, it's up for a regression too. So for those who don't think they are, they are. Seattle looks sound. They still look good. They lost their running back, which is fine. They just fine. They got another running back. They're fine. Yerko, are there still the five offensive linemen that opened up those massive holes? I believe they are. Well, he's going to be good then. That's good. Yeah, I don't think, you know, they're going to have problems. I've got him winning tonight. I got him handling him probably by about 1213 points if I had to slot it. Yeah. That's what that's right at the victory. I'm kind of right there with you. Uh, that's tough game going out. New England, all the way out to the West Coast. Do you like game Super Bowl early? This early doesn't bother me. Not at all. Doesn't bother me. You don't get it all the time. It happened to be a quirk this year in the schedule. Fine. I've got no issues whatsoever with it. Get it in, get it done. And tomorrow's game, the Rams against San Francisco is going to be beautiful too.

2:00Oh, yeah. Maybe not for San Francisco. Two ladders it too early. We asked the question to the commissioner one year. Is there any chance that you could put those division games at the end of the year? Because some of the games at the end of the year started being crap. Uh-huh. And some division games still end up turning up like crap. 100% There's a lot of NFC stuff. Every once in a while, you get that great match up a couple last weeks of the season. And now they're starting to start early with some matchups and go late with matchups, which I don't mind. That's not an air floss for either. Let's get it and play the meteor schedule and then see what happens at the end when you've got to try to win a football game, see what happens. I'm here for it. Middle of the season, everybody's locked into football. I'm going to be entertained. No matter what. No matter what, right? A Thursday night football game comes on. I know it's bad. Yeah. You know what I mean? I'm watching the Titans take on the commanders. The commanders don't have a quarterback. And I'm going, you know what? I'm still going to be tapped in. End of the year. Give me some excitement. Yeah, that's what that's what you're looking for. But yeah, again, in the middle of the year, you don't carry. You can't wait for football on Thursday.

3:00Yes. Yeah, I can't wait for that Friday Christmas game. I'm fortunately, you know, fortunately, I'll be working. I will as well. Yes, it'll be Christmas time. That's a tough one. Well, Thanksgiving too. But either way, that's making a difference. That's when the games are this year. So that's when you got to work. I don't mind that. I know what I signed up for and he has signed up for it and said the hell with it. Here it is. Those days, uh, kissed the family on the cheek. So I love you. And then I'll come to work. Well, that's how I start the season here. I dropped it in a tweet. I kissed the wife and kids goodbye today. That's it. I told them I'm not going anywhere before football seasons here. Right. Probably not going to see me even when I'm here a little bit of time. Even when I'm here, I'm not here. I'm when I'm, yeah, exactly. I'm here, but I'm not. I go because mentally I'm thinking about the game. Well, mentally I'm thinking about tonight's game. And then we still got baseball as a wonderful distraction. Yeah. On those days that we don't have NFL football, baseball does provide a nice distraction. Were you out on college football? You still entertained by that and all there is a kind of loss. It's lost. No, actually, I've watched a little bit more of this shit. Okay. All right.

4:01In years past, maybe that was to start his crazy. I was in Florida last week. Florida's college football crazy. Even though they've got three professional teams down there. They still love Florida. Florida, Florida State Miami. Florida South Florida is down there. UCF is down there. So there's a whole crap loaded division. One football that's down there. So they really love their college football. And Georgia's basically North Florida. Oh, yeah. There's a bunch of people in North Florida that love the Georgia Bulldog. So, um, you know, it's big down there. Football is big. They love their football. It is, it is one of those things when this time of year comes around. If you're a college football fan, which I have gotten more into it. Of course, doing this line of work. You're looking for draft picks and things like that. Wednesday night football this week. Thursday night football this week. College football on Friday. College football on Saturday. NFL football on Sunday. NFL football on Monday. Yeah. Your call. My pants might not come on. That's right. Yeah. And this might be, this might be one of those, uh, rest of the weeks that the pants might be off.

5:04The rest of the week. Let's it. Then you have to make sure you just have some good food that you can go ahead now. Oh, I got a little taco spot by me. That's going to be hooking me up over the weekend. I'm going wrong with that. Yeah, it's going to have tacos every day. Says who me. It's like heaven trying to have steak every day. At some point, you're going to get tired of steak. Same thing with lobster. You have lobster every day. You get tired of it. Variety is the spice of life, my friend. Ooh, I like that. Can we hit up a t-shirt brand and put variety is the spice of life on a shirt? My quote, that's somebody else's quote. So you'd have to credit the individual that actually said that. Yeah, we'll say said by Yerko originated by. Yeah, we'll get along. Sure, that will make it work. Let's do a little bit of Bears football to talk here. I also want to talk a little bit of ball tonight. And of course, give some predictions on the season. All that more in today's episode. Did that like button subscribe to the page? Leave the five star review. Y'all know what to do. We appreciate you guys for tuning in. Showing love as always. Today's Bears Fresh Start headlines brought to you by Midwest.

6:05Dairy, dairy delivers more than great taste. It delivers nutrients and help power your day. Visit us dairy dot com to learn more. Are you going to play a little game here today called where's the edge? Where are the Chicago Bears going to have the edge this upcoming weekend looking at some of the Bears edges? You might not feel that confident on them right there. But when you go into this upcoming week versus the Carolina Panthers, where would you say the Chicago Bears have the best edge over the path? The best edge. The best edge that can be the edge. It could be a Montess wet with them struggling with their tackle position. It could be Caleb Williams just going out there and saying, I'm better than you. As your former teammate says, who cares? I don't want to throw out there. I'll throw the ball. And I don't want to be a generic edge. I mean, like I think the Bears offense is better than the Carolina defense. And I think that's where our edge is. I kind of want to be a little bit more specific. And I think of Rome plays.

7:08I think that the Bears edge might be in their receiving game, their passing game, their receiving game specifically against the Carolina Panthers. So that's why I could come with the advantage rather than just the offense is better than the defense. And we know the defense is not going to be an edge against pretty much anybody this year. Unless they established something, unless they say, hey, this is who we are this year. This is what we're all about. But I think, you know, including your backs catching balls, your tight ends catching and your receiver's catching. So the passing game against the Carolina Panthers, where I think the Bears have the edge. How hard was it for you to slow down a team that had an elite tight end and really good wide receiver rule? Well, it was difficult. Any time you played Dallas, it was difficult to slow down Dallas. And even though you could, their commitment to running the ball back in the days, what killed you. So, you know, Emmett was going to get the ball 30 times. 100%.

8:08And you're different in a 30. Yeah, 30 times in the Dresch for 135 yards. And you break one or two runs. But even at the end of the day, it come down to like 4.3 or 4.4. But they were so willing to do it. Then they'd play action pass off of it and they'd hit Irvin. And Dion was on the team with him. And he was running some routes. Alvin Harper was on the team. Jay Novichek was on the team. And then they still hit Emmett for a screener to every single game. So it's just difficult trying to get him off the field. And they committed to the run. They committed to the ground and pound. And then they play action pass, yeah. And, you know, just try to find a way to hit you. And they could execute back in the day when they were one of the best teams in the league. They could execute. You hope for mistakes. You hope for penalties. Combination mistakes the penalties give you a chance to, you know, survives it at some point during the day. But you're going to have to outscore them at some point. Yeah. You're going to have to get some points on the board. If you only score 17 against them, odds are that you're looking, you're still looking up at them. But if you can find a way to put 24, 27 on it, you gave yourself a chance to be.

9:11Is the variety the hardest part with that? Because I feel like that's what the Bears are going to be able to come with this season, right? I personally believe no matter who the number one receiver is, the number one receiver is going to be Colson Lovelin. I think he's going to catch most of the balls this year. That relationship with him and Caleb. I think it's going to be what we've seen in history. Tight end, great quarterback is like the Elite Point Guard in center in the NBA, right? Like I think that's going to be right. I think I think last year was a little bit of a quirk in the way things end that are working. You have a lot of guys that had similar amounts of catches, similar amounts of damage. Nobody over a thousand. Historically looking back at Ben Johnson, usually it's one receiver. Then a tight end, then another very productive receiver per catch, and then another receiver, and then the running back. I mean, you know, kind of, he gets him back. He gets him back. So your number one receiver, whoever it's going to be, luthered a Rome, tight end Colson Lovelin, then a receiver that's going to be ultimately productive in yards per catch, which might be Rome only catching 60 balls and maybe catching him for 15, 60 yards.

10:16A pop, which still pretty good. That's a good year. 16 years pop. Then you're running back in the Jameer Gibbs. I don't know how many receptions he had last year, but he had a ton. So I mean, that's the combination. If you look at his offenses in the past, what they probably end up doing, when they're hitting on all cylinders, and when you're completing 68% of your ball. Yeah. So that's the other major improvement. You're looking for his Caleb being a little bit more confident. Caleb having a better understanding. Caleb being able to take the layups and the gimmies, because they're going to give you a good positive yardage. And it's also going to force the defense to come up. If he shows them, I'm willing to take the easy stuff that you're giving me. They're going to not drop his deep. They're going to try to cheat up a little bit when they think, okay, he's made his commitment to go short, which might open up some stuff in between. I don't want to say that the wrong way. How, how, how, how demoralizing I guess, or back breaking was it when you would go up against the quarterback that had the talent? I can hit you down, feel like I can take the chances.

11:17But if you get me these underneath all day, I'll kill you. Well, again, that's what you're looking for. You're looking for a quarterback that wanted to hit the home runs, and would be frustrated, you know, with the shorts. You were hoping for the guy that was chasing the points down. Yeah, if somebody's chasing the points down the field, that's not a problem. Please do. And, you know, most of the times those are going to end up falling in complete. They got a guy running in the flat, wide open. Of course, down in distance dictates which you can do also. So if you stay ahead of the sticks, then you're not going to have a problem. If you're third and 12, guess what? Completing that little five-yard bunny where everybody comes crashing upon you doesn't help the offense much. And if that's the way you end up doing it, then we don't really care. But when it's second and five, and you got the option of doing whatever you want, that becomes more difficult. Second and three, we can do what we want. Third and two, we can do what we want, especially if we're a team that's aggressive, and we're going to go for it up for it. Well, you pass it. We can run it. We can do whatever we want. When you look at the flip side of this, we focused on the offside. That is what you feel the bear's edge is going to be.

12:20I think we're all kind of passing game. Yes. I think we all kind of look at the defense and go, there's going to be a little bit of an experiment. And for me, Yerko, my biggest question for Dennis Allen is, how are you going to help the kids? You got Jordan Van DeBorg more than likely getting a lot of snaps here early on. You've got a lot of snaps. That's what I'm going to ask you. If he's rotating in, I would say that he's probably just with the rotation, getting half of the defensive tackle snaps. I would say. So you're looking at 65 plays. Yep. Double it. That's 130. Right. 65 divided by 32 and a half. He won't have 32 and a half. You don't believe so. No. You think they'll go. No, I think they'll know. I think they'll know. They'll go it. I think they'll go to three man rotation until he gets more comfortable. If you told me at the end of the year, he's getting 35 snaps per game. I'd say yes. Okay. Yes. Toward the end of the year when he sees things, when this game's going to speed up for him now.

13:21So then that's going to be much quicker. That would be the answer. At the end of the year, at the end of the year, right, you're going to start them off slow. If he gets 15 to 20 plays here, I think they're introducing the way he needs to be introduced. Right. And if they get up, I think, okay, now we can get him in there too. That's the same way we broke Kobersky into the league. We broke Derrius Holland into the league. It's the way they broke the kid from Cornell. And I'm looking at him right now. Played with us in Jacksonville. We had Bernaldo win. And then he ended up being a nose tackle for the Houston Texans in the early 2000s. Seth Payne. Seth Payne played a Cornell. That was impressive. So it was Seth Payne. Bernaldo win. Anytime you got a young defensive tackle and he made the team, he was going to play. You're going to get him in there and try to find a fit for him where he can get about four plays in. Three, if they get a first time to get him four plays, then you rotate him out and say, Hey, what'd you think? What'd you see?

14:21How to feel? What it looked like. And early on, it's a bus saw. And they're flying all over the place for you. So you'll get them series of fours. I mean, you can get them four series of fours, especially in a longer one. Now, there might be a time where you're a place into a drive and you get, Hey, get in there. Yeah, he needs to get three plays. So you give them three plays and then you get your crew back in there. Those are going to be the rotations for him early on. They got him listed as the 50 defensive tackle in there. So and that's fine. You introduce some slow. You know, or you introduce him when you got a 12 point lead. And then he starts to come in and maybe gets after the quarterback for you a little bit because he's got that bull rush. He's got that press he could put in the middle. I think he's got a chance to be a real nice defensive tackle. I do too. That you got in the six round. But you have four new guys in there. We haven't seen him yet. Well, and that was what I was going to say. I don't know. I haven't seen Jared this year. I haven't seen Gallimor this year. Sweat is a contabious. Know what's his name? Contabious Street.

15:22Street. Street. I haven't seen street in there. I haven't seen any of these guys really play together. So we'll see how that forms as time goes on. But the responsibilities against the run are important. They're important. The problems getting to the quarterback are well documented. Is that the way to protect, you know, somebody other kids out there dealing with the enemy and Malik Muhammad? Because you're kind of in this position where not for nothing. We don't really have anybody else to play that position. But you, right? When you look at the enemy and it's safety. The enemy and that, my hymn. That has started from the jump. Yeah. First round pit. Took them in the first round. You, you, you, you, you, everybody go. Well, you said we're going to get a safety that's going to be able to play. So the, the enemy was projected to be a start of the whole time. The fact you don't have collar Gordon. And you've got to play who lost Kobe Bryant. Right. Yeah. Who's the, yeah, you lost Kobe Bryant. Now, Xavier Woods is out there with him. You got Cam Lewis in there. Lewis is the guy. Yeah. Malik Mohammed.

16:23You're starting to shuffle some guys and some bodies in there. That's where the challenge becomes. So how do I help my defensive backfill? I help my defensive backfield by playing better against the run and putting him in obvious passing situations. Mm hmm. So how can Dennis Allen help his guys back there? By getting and being stout and putting him in negative yardage situations where they're more predictable than they would be otherwise. So if I can get him in third and eight plus. If I can get him in second and four and a half five plus. That makes them predictable on second and third down. I can help my team a little bit better. Now, down in distance is going to tell you what they want to do. Right. Formation comes. The personnel comes next. So you see where they go. They go three wides one back. Did they go four wides right away? So personnel tight something. And then formation is the final key. What does their formation look like and what they like to do out of it? And that'll tell you runner pass. You know, and most of the time it's passed.

17:23It's like 80, 20 pass. But there are formations that can pop out and that they got all. They pass more out of this. Yeah. But they can also run. It'll break down more to 50, 50 or 55, 30, 45. Right. 45, 45. And so that's how you help yourself. You know, and help your players is by putting them in more predictable situations. So I've said, you know, going watching this team throughout camp, watching, um, you know, just kind of the preseason games, I believe that this Bears team is going to be solid against the run. Not great. 16 through through 20 somewhere in there against the run. And a better team in the red zone because of the speed that they have and the tackles that they have added to the team. I think they're going to be a little more stout right now. They've tried to give themselves that they've tried to give themselves that. Is that enough to make your defense? Mediocre. Servusable. It's all you're looking for. That's all I'm looking for because what it does. And I think we're going to see this a lot this year. Your call is put some in obvious passing down. Like you said, but I've seen the Bears give up a third and 18.

18:26I've seen the Bears give up a third and 26. You're not going to give it a ton. Oh no. But I think that like if you make a team one dimensional in that way, and you know, you've got struggles in the passing game, will it make it that much better? What were the bears down? 27 to three in the playoff game against Green Bay Packers. Oh, Packers will 20. Yeah, I think so. 27 three and then they came back. No, 21 three, 21 three. Is it 21? Yeah. And the Packers scored one more. Well, but they came out right away and they started stopping in my belief. So I mean, that's how you're looking for his stops. And the ability for your team to get off the football field. That should be the number one goal of this Bears deep face. Let's get off the field. And if we're going to, if something gets given up, it's got to be three. It can't be seven. Yeah. So I don't mind if you bend it, but you definitely can't break. And it's too easy sometimes last year. They get the ball down there and then in variability, it was like they're going to score a touchdown. Yeah. Because it looks like nothing. But we played the Rams great. Yeah, the whole game.

19:26I watched it the other day actually. I just rewatched it. We played the Rams very well. Yeah. You know, just it didn't happen, you know. What is the struggle or what? Like, because talking to the pros now, like everybody's like, you're going to make your halftime adjustments. A lot of people have said, like, I don't know what the halftime adjustments work. Half time I go in, I take a piss, I come back out. And that's that's not true, though. I mean, you do do that if you've got to do it. Yeah. And they come in and they claim like the last three minutes. Okay. Your position coach come talk to you first. And he'll bring the dealine together. He'll talk to you guys. What the adjustments are. Right. This is what we plan. This is how we plan to attack. Your coordinator comes in and kind of reiterates it and then gives you a bigger picture of what's going to happen. And he'll tell everybody what we need more. We need this great job there. But this is what we're looking for. Also, blah, blah, blah. Then you come into the team. And then the head coach gives you the overall mission statement. We're behind. We're this. We need to get our heads out of our asses. No penalties.

20:26Blah, blah, blah. We will execute offensively. And let's go out there and let's kick their ass. Blah, blah, blah. Go. Now you go, you get out and then you go to the field. But those are your halftime adjustments. Right. Your D-line coach told you first, he gave you to nuts and bolts on exactly what needs to be done technique wise. This or that. Somebody's getting too far up field. They've been killing us with the inside trap. We've got to be more wary when they're coming out. They get to a four man side. That's a wham side. We got to call it out. We got to alert each other that it's a possibility. Right. That kind of stuff. Your break out of your coordinator comes in. Then he gives you the next thing. And then you go to the head coach and he gives you the final thing. And that, but there are adjustments that are made. Okay. You hardly ever come back and say, uh, hey, everything's rosy. That's a great. Um, I remember I think it was Halloween this week and uh, don't forget to pick up the candy for the kids. That doesn't happen at half. I think it was a man in cast and they were like seven minutes. Yeah. The first seven minutes, you've got, you can deal with whatever you've got to deal with.

21:30Yeah. You need new tape. You need new this or you need that. Some guys um, stripped down and changed their lower stuff because they like dry stuff. Uh, I like stuff. So they'll drive, you know, they'll get dry stuff on another dry fits stuff, whatever. Just to become more comfortable. Some guys will switch socks. Right. They'll keep the tape on, but they'll just switch socks. They'll just switch socks out. Make them dry and go to work. I hated having what stuff on. It was a rain game. I'd come in. I want to whole new everything. And it didn't take me long to get down everything off. I even did a new tape. I cut the tape off. I'd go get new tape on my ankles. Mmm. I want it. Everything, I came out in the second half. I wanted to be trying. Maybe that's why I remember listening to a man in cast and the man in cast was like, you should have do it at home that I'm the road. Yeah. They like to say it's nothing, but because you're involved in the game, you're thinking about it anyway. And then the coaches come together and you're listening for what's important for you. Right.

22:31So I'm listening like a play call. Oh, yeah, if Payton's playing well. The whole play comes out. There's only one part of that play that matters to me. Right. And then that's the part I've got to execute. So if they come out and they're talking about other stuff that's not you, you're like, oh, we didn't really talk about it. Yeah. But they did. They can talk about everything. Just not to you. They talk about the adjustments. It just didn't happen to apply to me that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That makes more sense there. If Payton Manning goes in at halftime when they're down seven and he's not communicating with everybody in there, I find that to be a false foot because you know he was inside and he was talking to his coaches saying this is where we can exploit him. Boom, boom, boom. He's looking at all of them films. He's not looking at those films because it makes him look smart on the sidelines. He's looking at them films because he's trying to exploit an area that he knows that they've got an advantage in. And how do we get to that area without them realizing we're getting there? You know, He was the one calling the adjustments. Maybe that's what it was. When you're not playing, there's nothing for you. Yeah. Then you're on the sidelines. Yeah.

23:32You know, unfortunately for me, I was never in skivis too many times. Skivis are just civilians for me. So I was never in civilian clothes during those times. And when I was hurt, I didn't really want to be in the locker room. I was a distraction. Yeah. You're hurt. You stayed the hell out of the way. Well, they put us in a booth up in Jacksonville. Okay. Hold on. We're going pivot here because I didn't expect him to say that we're going pivot here. I had something else, but now I want to get your perspective on this. Kyler Gordon has essentially said, I'm going to rehab myself. I'm going to go with my trainers. We're going to work this out. I'm stepping. I don't know if he said he's stepping away or the team said, you're good to step away. Whatever it is. Well, he had that permission from the club. You got to have permission from the club, but I'm saying, I don't know if he brought the idea up or they said this, you in favor of him making this move or would you rather him be working with the Bears trainers? Because he's essentially saying, I don't want to be a distraction. I'm out. If I'm a player on this team and I'm a coach on this team, I don't believe I'm going

24:34to have Kyler Gordon for the rest of the year. That's the way I'd approach it. And if you end up getting them back at some point, then it's possibly a bonus somewhere down the line. I would anticipate with how much he's played and how long it's been since he's played, which ended the year, came back and played into two playoffs, games and three regular season games, five total. I would anticipate nothing from Kyler Gordon this year. If I'm a player on the Bears or if I'm a coaching staff from the front office, I don't think I'll get anything from him. That's just the way I feel. And don't pretend, don't count the guys that are here, Mohammed, Cam. Yeah. Camelouc. Lance Steven's. Lance Steven's. Lance Steven is the Thai Rick Stevenson. Lance Steven is the basketball player. Thank you. Thai Rick Stevenson. Lance Stevenson, whatever. I was not expecting you to pull a Lance Stevenson. I was right. I'm 29. And Jalen Johnson, these are my guys that I cone on. Yeah.

25:34These are the guys who are going to be in the mediums on Monday. And when we're doing our pre-game stuff in Carolina on Saturday night, I'm looking around the room and these guys that I can depend on. Right. Right. When you're injured, Nisleeg, you're invisible. You've said that before. Yeah, you're invisible. So do you get Kyler's perspective on it? Kyler Gordon is invisible. I don't care what Kyler Gordon's perspective is. Is that what you're asking me? No, no, I was just, I do not do care. Do you get the process of him going? I'm a step away and get out of the way. Listen, he does, he's doing whatever he wants to do. Okay. Okay. For me, Kyler Gordon is not a member of the Chicago Bears right now because the team that's going to battle on Sunday is the team that I can count on. I can't count on him right now. For whatever reason, he's hurt, he's injured, he doesn't feel right, whatever it is. But he can't be counted upon. They got him on Pup, I R, whatever it is, there's an ability for him to come back at some

26:35point. So he'll be ready to play in an NFL game without the run up that like they pulled their endowl out. Yeah. Why not enough runway? Because he didn't, yeah. Not enough runway in the disease. He basically had his own training kit, right? Which isn't the same as being an NFL trainer. 100%. So he can be doing whatever he's doing, but he's not going to have that runway. You know what the hardest time to have a run up in the NFL season is during the NFL season? Yes. Because there's not a lot of physicality at some point. It's more important that you guys feel great than it is that they beat the crap out of each other. So the hardest time to get prepared for the NFL is during the NFL season, which will be another challenge if he ever comes back. But I don't mean it to be cruel or to be hard. It's the reality of it. The reality is that it's not a part of this football team right now. That's the way I look at it as a teammate. If I'm in the front office, you know, you got your depth chart on the board, you've got him down to the side. You can't be dependent upon right now for whatever reason.

27:37You guys have all said whatever reason. J. Mac, when Lance was a part of the pod, like every pro Tommy, he was like the loneliest you'll ever be. Yeah. Is in that training room when you're hurt because nobody is there with me. I broke my TBR plateau in 1997. It was against Pittsburgh. It was the fourth week of the year. There were another 13 weeks in the NFL season. The doctors gave me a guy. It's going to be six to eight weeks and eight weeks are going to be able. It'll be healed at six. Eight weeks, you should be back in shape. You will be available for, you know, obviously the playoff run. Yeah. But six weeks would have put it would have been a week 10. Eight weeks would have been a week 12. So we started games 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17. I still caught seven games. Because there's a bite. Oh double. Okay. I was saying I was like, you haven't had 17. But yeah, yeah, yeah. But available week 10. So that's 10. Even if I've had the time. It's 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17. Right. Okay.

28:37It'd be eight games. That was eight games. Yeah. Sure. And so I got a half a season that I could play for you. Right. They've called me in and they said because of injuries that have happened and lack of room that couldn't hold me on the active roster. They're going to have to eye army. And back then, if you got put on injury reserve, you're done for the year. So here I am week 10, fucking walking around like a spring chicken, working out like a fucking champion. And you got no team. What do I get? And then you know, Pete Prisco, because he was right in John O's shirt, Jean Frenad and Mike Bianchi and all these guys. Are you all right? You know, I'm fine. But they put me on an hour. And what happened was to come from Pritchett towards ACL. Don Davy towards ACL. Yeah. So as you're starting three rotation, your front three rotating in the middle are gone. Right. They're going to play a Jose White. Do you remember Jose White? I do not. I do not. You're playing a young you know, Jose White.

29:38Hey, I don't got a Jose White. Yeah. Jose in the NFL. Not a common name, by the way. A young Seth Paine. A young Seth Paine in the middle. And a couple of journey men, we picked up off the street because that's what had to happen. And that's the year we gave up 300. Some of you had just rushing into playoff game to Denver. So you were never eligible to come back on. Never eligible to come back off the injured reserve. Back in the day once they put you on, you were done for the year. It's also the way the Redskins used to hide players. That is true. There's a young quarterback there. Bobby Bethley and Joe Gibbs. They'd say, hey, we really love you. And you know, like guys would side up downs. Like the upside would pay them 180,000. But the downside would only give them like 90. Right. They'd tell the guy, listen, we'll pay 180. Sign the contract. Even if you're on injured reserve, we want to keep you. You know, rather than lose them. So another team, they had a guy on injured reserve for a blood disorder one year.

30:41Like guys when it was playing, but they like Jay Schrader. And so they told Jay and Mark Rip, hey, we want to keep you. We're going to pay you full salary. But you've got to blood this. We'll have to try an injured reserve. That way they kept them dead. They didn't lose them. Somebody else would pick them up. Yeah. The practice squad was a little different back then. Well, it wasn't. Yeah, that was practice squad. Yeah. It was just a little different back then. What are you thinking about the game this week? If you had to make a prediction, will you? If I had to make a prediction, Jericho, I think that the Chicago Bears come out. I think that Caleb Williams is locked in. I think him and Ben Johnson are speaking the same language offensively. And that's going to mean a lot. And I also believe that the defense is going to get picked on a little bit. I don't think Bryce Young is great. No, but I think Bryce Young can attack Malik. Ted McMillan. I think Ted McMillan's really good. I've got the Bears winning this 38-17. Blow out. They blow out the start decision. Bears told me they wanted average 38-game.

31:41They want to be a top scoring team. Malik, here's your chance. We'll find out. 38-17 is where I got them winning this game. What do you feel like outside of Jeshover powering offense? What do you feel is going to be the tipping point in this game? I think just the cream rises to the top. I think the better team is going to find a way to win. I think the Bears, the expectations that Ben Johnson has put out there for this team. And when you taste success, you love it. You're in the playoffs. Most of the teams are at home. You made it to the second round. You got to ram sitting in your house. Everybody's cheering. Everybody loves you. That is a intoxicating feeling that you get. I went to the playoffs for six straight years. 93, 94, 95, 96, 97, 7, 98. Went to two championship games. Lost.

32:42I loved to have been to a Super Bowl. But I lost in both championship games. And just the thought and knowing that every one of the guys that plays this game except for four teams on that particular weekend. It's sitting at home and they're watching you. That's an intoxicating feeling. That's a great feeling. And knowing that it's you and the group and the guys that put whatever game plans together to win games is a great feeling. See, I mean, you'd rather win than lose. Trust me. And I've been on two losing clubs. When I was in Miami, we were 12 and four. Come back to next year. First year in Green Bay, four and 12. I was in the practice squad. Come back to next year, 97, 97, 97, 97, 11 and five. I go to Jacksonville, we finish 97. And then I think we go 11 and five and 11 and five in the next two years. That's fun. Yeah. Winning double digit games, only losing five games. That's a ball. We went on a six game winning streak at the end of 96 to get to the playoffs. Then we beat Buffalo and Buffalo. We would beat Denver and Denver.

33:43And you go to playoffs, you start winning games. That believes. That's even better. Yeah. I mean, it's like, come on now. Here we go. Did you notice that it changed things with maybe some of the mindsets in the locker room? Because here in Jalen Johnson, yesterday, Jalen Johnson sounds like he's preparing for a Super Bowl caliber run. He sounds like he, I love how he said he's like, it's the first coaching staff I've had since I've been in the NFL where they said we can go win this thing. And I believed him. Yeah. And I think that that just like having that changes so much. And Jalen Johnson's always been a reluctant leader. Sure. All right. No, he's been a reluctant leader. He's been giving him a C, but he hadn't didn't act like captain, but they gave him a C. Anyway, I think this year they gave him a C. And I think he truly wants to lead something missing. He wants to be he wants to be out there in the forefront. Good. Yeah. Because the defense needs it. You know, when he looks, he looks good when you import a guy like Grady Jarrett and you make him, okay, you're my captain. Yeah. That's great. Last year I think it happened, too.

34:44It's senior, I believe because his knees were bad. Hopefully he's healthier this year. You know, but when you do that, Jalen's been here forever. So he's been here. Yeah. At one point he was the top five paid, you know, cornerback. Now they've been outdone a little bit here, but you know, we we've got to see what we saw previously the last year. And I know he got banged up and I know he came back because guess what? You come back when things are going great in your winning games. You want to be a part of it. Of course, of course you're going to come back and do anything you can to get back in there. So it's good to see he's a leader. Two and he's a captain on the other side. I think at some point, Darnell Wright will be your captain on that side when two and he steps away. I think Darnell Wright becomes your captain. Do you like that we finally got into the point where there's not 37 captains on the team? Well, I remember. But you know, who does it? I saw this the other day. The Rams do it. The Rams have like 14 captains and that's a successful organization.

35:45Mike Hombren did it differently. So Mike Hombren did it with captains, but he would have point three captains every single game. Special teams guy defensive guy and offensive guy. And if you rotate it, if you won that game, it wrote it. If you won the game, they took a picture before and you got your picture in a plaque with a little thing of what date when and who it was. That's Johnny Gray was what it's one time. He was the celebrity captain. So it was pretty cool. But let me tell you, when the referees went to somebody, captain was bred far. The captain was either redgy white. They'd go to Reggie, or to the side. Or as you're middle linebacker, you're middle linebacker did all the talk. He's calling everything. So even Leroy, you know, early on, but Leroy toward the end of it, Leroy became a Leroy. Yeah. Leroy. Mama called him Leroy. I'm a call him Leroy. All right. But Daryl Williams, same thing. All of a sudden he was the run. I was like, wait a minute. Leroy became, you know, like the captain and the referees go talk to Leroy. Leroy looked at a sideline, they give him an idea what to do and then he'd do it.

36:49So the refs know who the captains are. Yeah. They don't play games, you know, and even like Joe's the captain, tune his captains. But the natural guy that talks in the huddle all the time. Caleb. So Caleb, whether anybody likes it or not, your quarterback is the captain of your football team because he speaks the most. Your linebackers because they have to communicate with everybody usually, they're the natural captains on a football team because they're the ones that have to talk. Yeah. Yeah. Well, hopefully we see a lot of good talk and let's rapid fire this one, Yerko finishing off the pod here. Appreciate you all for tuning in to show 11th. I like buttons. I'm going to play a star of you. Y'all know what to do. I want to hear you bears awards for the season. Who do you think is going to be the MVP of this team? No, it has to be Caleb Williams. They're better. They're better. I think we're going to be in trouble. It has to be Caleb Williams. Who's the defensive player of the year for this team? I'm hoping. Jordan Vandenberg. No, I'm hoping it's Jalen Johnson. I hope it's the number one comes in with a six interception year, one return for a touchdown

37:54and reestablishes himself as one of the better corners. That would be a heck of a call if he just nailed that out right on head. Get me Montess wet. I think Tess has gotten a... I just want to see more consistent pressure. 100%. I'm not going to put a number on. People are like, oh, yeah, 10 sacks. I go, yeah. Give me the pressure. But I need pressure. I need the... I don't care how many sacks you get as long as you're disruptive. Yes. As long as you're disruptive, early on in his career, Aiden and Hutchinson didn't rack up a lot of sacks, but he was a presence on the whole way as in the quarterback's face. He was a presence on the football field with pressures. That's what I want to say out of Montess wet. I want to see him become more disruptive. That's all. I won't put a number on him. I'm going to have eight sacks this year and be more disruptive. And I'll tell you, he played better than he did last year. I'll be honest with you. I think that's going to be dial this year. I think that there's going to be just because he's more interior. I think there's going to be more pressure, but there's not going to be the sack numbers that we were hoping for that you paid him for, which was interesting going in there. He's motivated. Good kid. He's motivated.

38:55And Van and Berg have the same move. They get into the chest and they try to push your back. But at least, they work. And Van and Berg's got a rip move. A shoulder slap and a rip move that if he ever develops a counter off of that might be something he can hold on to. Dio's just got the sludge hammer. There's no other tool in his. He opens up the toolbox and the wood. But the hammer. We need a screwdriver here, Dio. I'm there. Ballpoint hammer, sludge hammer, claw hammer. But they're all hammers. We need some pliers, Dio. We need pliers. I got a hammer. Shout out to Dio. What's the player to your not named Caleb Williams? Offensive player. Coulson Lovel. I like it. I like it. I would agree with that. And then you're rookie at a year. Rookie of the year. Well, Logan Jones, I don't know if he's going to get an opportunity. The guy that gets the most opportunities probably going to be them in. So I'll go with the thing. Dylan, thing to me. You know what? I'm a ghost. Arian Thomas.

39:55I think that they are going to utilize him. All the weird ways they want to utilize DJ last year, except he fits that role. And he is kind of bizarre. Now predict me DJs here. I'm Buffalo. DJ more. Yeah. I think he is going to be the only person targeted outside of Dalton concade. So give me a 1100 yard eight touchdown. Who's your number one guy? DJ more. DJ is there no one guy? It's Keon. Keon Coleman's the other guy. I'll go. It might be 12. I'll go with 108 receptions. So that'd be about 1272 yards. And I'll give double digits of touchdowns. But you know, DJ didn't work here. And it's fine. Yeah. With, you know, with Ben Johnson and what is it? And they got something for him. Better remember, you got something for him, which is wonderful. Which turned into Roush and Thomas, right?

40:56Yeah. They got a second round pick that they flipped. And I think that became Xavier and Thomas and Sam Raid. I might be wrong on that. So yeah. So yeah. But, but they did a, they did him a favor. Yeah. Hunter said. So we appreciate it that you did for us. Thank you very kindly. Um, we, you know, we got you and the first round pick, right? And then what they got? And then ultimately, I don't pick McCombs Caleb. He became Caleb William. So thank you for everything. I'm reek is in that. And now he can go have a couple of productive years. Yeah. With the contract extension three years, get some, get some of them numbers that he's always wanted. He always wanted to be up there. So good for him. Um, I predict he's had going to have real nice share. Yeah. And I hope he does. I took him to fantasy. So I really hope he does. Tell you what I want to though. I don't say, man, I missed you. Yeah. Well, that was what I was going to have. There's going to be people out there. 100%. Man, I was, oh, he's did you more? I'm still with it. Yeah. You can't know more because what he's provided. Yeah. He provided you with a pop came in.

41:59You got something. If you two, your favorite games probably as a bears fan. I mean, he's the game winning touchdown. Yeah. On two of the best games, bears fans have had in 25 years. There's a go. Yeah. So good for him. And you know, hopefully he finishes career with the flourish and that'd be good for him. I hope he's a big grudge guys that leave. I mean, you got. When we traded away that number one pick, we got a lot. He was one of those pieces we got. Yeah. Now we traded him away and we got some more pieces. And he was productive football player for us. Fight. Like, like, it's a, it's the one thing I'll give Ryan polls. He's a GM that tries to give people, put people in a great opportunity, not always to the benefit of the bears. But it tells you that he cares about the people that are coming in and out. And I'll give, I mean, he traded Chase Claypool to Miami when Miami was still good. Trade at Robert Quinn to the back to the Eagles. Right. To the Eagles, I think it was. But you got Chase Claypool. You gave up a second. It wasn't good. And the biggest blemish on his is Vailess Jones and his weird infatuation with Vailess Jones.

43:03I don't know what it was. It was weird. It was a fifth round. I don't know what it was. It was something. Remember we were watching hard knocks and he's like, yeah, I can't do it for that. We're like, wait no, no, no, no, God. It was the movie where he's looking at himself in the past. You know what it is. He's Christmas past. It's. Not that what that is. That's the ghost of Christmas. The ghost of Christmas past. The good one. No, it was he had to go to black. Me Joe black were Anthony Quinn, not Anthony Quinn. Who is that with them? No, the guy that played the guy that played. God, I can't believe it. Can't think of this. Anthony Hopkins. Anthony Hopkins. Anthony Hopkins was in me Joe black where Brad Pitt is the guy that's coming to take him off the earth. He's going to die. Yeah. He's there to tell him, but people could see him. He wasn't invisible. I don't know if I've seen them. Yeah, meet Joe black. Yeah. I'm going to have to tap in with them. Are we going to have to do a movie list on here like what Jack is going through?

44:09I'm trying to remember Brad Pitt. He's a big mover and a shaker of a company. And Anthony Hopkins is basically the grim reaper. He comes in that form. And he's. He's there to tell Anthony Hopkins that I'm here to come and get you. Interstellar was what I was thinking. Interstellar. That's what I was thinking. I had to look that one. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. A little more kind of. All right. Let's get up out of here. I appreciate y'all for tuning in to show love. That's always hit that like button. Subscribe to the page. Leave a five star of you. Y'all know what to do for the good kid. John Yerke, a digital web path designer. Back at it. Get footballers back. Maybe we'll see you guys tonight. If you want to pull up on the livestream on Twitch at path designer TV. Better. Well, love. Peace. When it comes to my ride, I don't mess around. Advantage Chevrolet. Three locations. Chicago lands covered. You want a Chevy? They've got it. You want savings? Oh, yeah. Most important. Trust. No runner out. They shoot you straight. Advantage Chevrolet hot shkins together. Let's drive.