Dan Bernstein (2:53)

We evaluated your team, Arthur, and it's not good. You should fire people.

Co-host (2:57)

It's not great here. I need to fire everybody.

Dan Bernstein (2:59)

They also fired the gm. So Terry Fontenot also fired.

Co-host (3:02)

Correct. But in Cleveland, that's going to be Matt Ryan. They're going to hire Matt Ryan in charge of everything? Apparently, yes. He's going to be football czar. That's what they're. Matt Ryan will be the first guy hired, it seems, and he'll be in charge of absolutely everything. And then he'll be involved in hiring the general manager, who will ostensibly be involved in hiring the coach. But let's just enjoy the fact the Bears aren't doing that instead of the Bears are getting ready for a playoff game. And I look at this right now as a choose your own adventure. Those books that we read when we were kids, whether it's your code name is Jonah or the spy versions or the underwater one or the time travel ones or the porno ones, I didn't see a porno. Choose your own adventure. But I'm not saying that at that age I would not have enjoyed it. And maybe at this age, you know.

Dan Bernstein (4:01)

Frankly, I think seventh grade, they were. Those were available at the book fair, I think.

Co-host (4:05)

What? The porn ones? I'm sure I was not looking in the right place because at the book fair I was buying things like 1978 NBA All Stars. Ooh, Truck Robinson. Hooray. The. There's no right way to view this Bears team at the moment. Let's just say that it's choose your own adventure. If you believe the Bears are a Super bowl contender in a year that does not have one of these big time legacy programs at its best doing its thing with its monster quarterback in a way that frightens you. Okay. If you think this is a chance to reset everything back to 01 game at a time. The Bears have a home game against a team that they've recently beaten and who knows? The ball bounces in funny ways. And you've got the Bears winning the Super Bowl. Okay, cool. If you think this has been a hell of a regular season, this has been immensely entertaining. Five months or whatever. It's been a year since Ben Johnson has taken over and it's clear you believe that you. Even though they set all kinds of franchise records with the offense, they scored the most touchdowns they've ever scored. They finish top 10 in most categories that the defense just isn't good enough and they're probably doomed one way or another. And you just ride it out and enjoy what you can. Fine. You're also right. There's. Or if you say, hey, I'm very worried about the offense and all of a sudden can't run the ball. The playoffs are a different animal. And Ben Johnson's been great. He's never faced the playoffs before. I'm not sure I trust him. Okay. Okay. That's not necessarily where I am. I'll tell you where I am. I'm not worried about the offense. I know Johnson is, and that's what he controls. So that's what he came out and said is his biggest concern. Where I am right now is they. They can't rush the passer well enough to win a Super bowl in my estimation. How do you make up for that? You got to generate a ridiculous number of turnovers. You have to get a little lucky, and you have to take control of the game offensively and probably score 35 points a game and just dominate on that side. Try to outscore people. You cannot have an empty possession. You get a score in every possession. Ideally, you score a touchdown in every possession, never punt. And then can you win? Yeah, sure. Of course you can. It's hard, and it's going to be hard looking at some of these other teams that we've seen, but I don't think there's a right or wrong answer. I love the fact that they're facing the packers and it's a team they know they can beat. It is going to be a scene at Soldier Field, and I hope the nervousness of the playoffs doesn't keep everybody from just leaning into it and enjoying it. Go ahead, show out. Wear your cheese grater hats. I saw there was a guy with a bratwurst hat on. It was a Packers fan. Now wearing a bratwurst head. What do you do to a bratwurst head? There's no bratwurst grader. What's the response? What do you do? What can possibly be the immediate response to headgear? There must be opposing headgear because that's where the battle is fought. On our heads with foam rubber figured out. It's cool. This is. They're going to do this again and we get to have another Packer week. And if. If the. If the packers knock the Bears out of the playoffs this year, at least it won't be Aaron Rodgers doing it. And I thought that we were finally vanquished. We had finally vanquished Aaron Rodgers last night. Haha. But no. What a game. What an unbelievable way to finish off the regular season. Down to the last kick and got Mike Tirico was brilliant. It was an incredible broadcast of an amazing game that we're and we'll do a lot of the football stuff, don't worry in forward progress because by the time we get to forward progress today, every team's going to have another coach or all these. Every team's going to have all these other openings. So we're definitely going to get to that. But this is a perfect time to balance our appreciation for what the Bears season has been with a cold eyed, sober assessment of where they are right now. And I get back to that. They're probably not good enough to win a title without a lot of things going their way without catching a ton of breaks. And they've had a ton of breaks already this season. And that's okay. I'm not apologizing for them. I'm just noting that that's a fact. They faced a lot of terrible quarterbacks this year. Lost to some of them, beat some of them and they had a year that they're not going to duplicate when it comes to turnovers, you know, but.

Dan Bernstein (9:21)

It'S the Bears aren't the only team that faced a lot of bad teams. Or they're also not the only team to face a lot of bad quarterbacks. A lot of teams faced bad quarterbacks. The Bears ended up winning 11 of 17 games.

Co-host (9:34)

Yep.

Dan Bernstein (9:34)

That was good enough to be the number two seed in the nfc. It was also good enough to win their division. And you ask, where are the Bears at now? Where am I at with the Bears right now? As a fan? The Bears are zero like the other, you know, the other six teams in the NFC. They are one of 14 teams that has a chance to win the Super Bowl. There are a lot of teams that are on the outside looking in and it's a, it is a brand new season. Like Ben Johnson said. And you know, you're correct, the Bears have not had a pass rush all season long and they still won their division and they are the number two seed in the NFC with that shitty pass rush. They've not been able to run the football as of lately. Teams have put a lot of extra players in the box to shut down the run game to force Caleb Williams to throw more. And we've won some, we've lost some in that regard. And the bears are still 11 and six and they won a division and they're the two seed. So it is a brand new season. And until they show me that they're going to be the same shitty team that can't get pressure on the quarterback, until they show me that they can't run the football effectively being one of the best running teams in the NFL over 18 weeks, I'm going to believe that they still have a chance to win the super bowl because they are one of the seven teams in the NFC that has a chance to represent them in the, in the Super Bowl. And that's objectively correct, right? Until they don't do it. Why would I not believe that they can't do it?

Co-host (10:54)

That is objectively correct. There is nothing about that statement with which I can disagree.

Dan Bernstein (11:00)

Correct.

Co-host (11:01)

Thank you. It just that that's pure fact. I'm also, I'm not worried about the offense. I know it's Ben Johnson's job to be worried about the offense, but I've seen enough of a body of work this year to say that the offense is fine. If they lose it, that's not going to be the reason that I think they'll figure it out. And I also, I love them going into a week feeling a little, a little chippy, feel it. Feeling disappointed and feeling like they didn't put their best foot forward and trying to figure out. This is really the other thing, these slow starts that have been noticeable the past few weeks, they come back and they win and we get all excited. But this goes back to training camp. Remember this? The idea of slow starts, the idea of feeling their way through stuff that's gone back to some practices that's gone back to some. What they've talked about for a while is just getting going, getting into it, getting established in a game, using what they can do in the first scripted plays to get the offense moving faster.

Dan Bernstein (12:18)

Now we saw them have success early on in the season in opening drives and scripted plays, something they were unable to do last year or in previous seasons. And so they started off doing really well in that regard. And this is, this is not just a singular criticism of Caleb Williams, but I believe that lack of urgency or effort to start a game falls squarely on his shoulders, not only as the quarterback but as the team leader, because that, that's what he is. And we've talked about it and he's talked about it more than once about having these slow starts and not being warmed up and not being ready to go, well, dude, it's time now. Like there is no opportunity in a wild card round against your oldest rival in the NFL to not start playing until the fourth quarter or the second half. You can't do that. So it's got to be on whatever mindset shift he needs to make, whatever pregame preparations he needs to do, whatever difference there needs to be in Caleb Williams perspective and approach to start the game. It needs to start this Saturday. It has to. It falls squarely on him again. And I don't, it's not a, it's not a significant criticism of Caleb as a player, as a person. It's just he's talked about it. I'm not warmed up. I'm not ready to go. Well, dude, you need to figure out what it's going to take you to be warmed up and ready to go from snap number one. Because we've seen it. We've seen, we've seen success in opening drives. Let's get right. We've seen dominating games. Now, not very often, but the Cowboys game, the Browns game, that dude, the Browns especially was the most comfortable I've ever seen that guy run Ben Johnson's offense and they dominated that team with 31 to 3. Like you have the ability, you just, you can't expect it to like to flip a switch and get going. Even though he's done that time and time again, we can't have that play out in the playoffs. Not this weekend against the Packers.

Commercial/Ad Voice (14:13)

Did you know you can opt out of winter with VRBO? Save up to $1,500 for booking a month long stay when thousands of sunny homes are waiting for you, why subject yourself to the cold? Put the snow shovel down, put the parka back in the closet and don't you dare scrape another windshield, slip into some flip flops, consider a sunless tan and use the monthly stays filter to save up to $1,500. Book your warm getaway at vrbo.com Dan.

Co-host (14:43)

Bernstein, unfiltered, as always, is brought to you in partnership with my bookie. And there's no reason to bet the playoffs anywhere else when my bookie is giving you everything you need right now to get paid. The NFL playoffs are live. College football is down to our final four, right? And the super bowl is coming up. This, right now, this is peak betting season and my bookie is built for it. Same account, same wallet, sports casino reloads, live bets, everything you need is all in one place. And as you know, we have a special code. So go to MyBookie Ag now, use our code, DBU. Those are the initials of Dan Bernstein, Unfiltered See how easy? And then your first bet is covered up to 500 bucks. We say, what does it mean it's covered. If it doesn't hit, you now will have a bet back, bonus token, and then you can just run it back. That is with the code dbu. So you can build a bankroll in January and just run it, ride it through the super bowl, bet on anything, anytime, anywhere. Only at my bookie. So Ben Johnson's never done this before. He's never been a head coach in the NFL. We've never been a head coach anywhere before. But I guarantee you that he has had a plan, that he has visualized where he was going to go when they made the playoffs and what this week was going to be like. And I'm very interested in seeing how he handles it because this is. This is all new. There's no track record here. We can't say, well, a Ben Johnson coach team does this, a Ben Johnson coach team does that. This is how we know he handles things. We don't know. And that's the fun of it. When they gather today, are they going to watch the film of this last game? Are they going to treat this like it is week 19 and say, well, now we just got another game and this is where the teams are. We're going to keep our routine, or does he change it up a little bit? Does. Does he send the message that we know what we do and how we do it? However, this is different now because the truth is, and I know he understands this playoff ball's different. Playoff balls got a lot more physicality and intensity to it. And you saw it last night in the violence of that Pittsburgh and Baltimore game. There was teammate on teammate stuff going on, but just how horizontal to the ground so many people were so often. Just the very vectors of the game, change those spaces close faster. It is a. It is. You don't have time to learn as a young player right now. You don't have time to come out and go, oh, boy, that was. That was different. I haven't experienced anything like that. This is Johnson's job now to get a lot of these guys ready for doing this for the first time. And I think your. Your previous thoughts about Caleb Williams, that's the relationship. That's the one that matters. Will Caleb Williams be ready for a playoff game? For a home game? It's going to be a long day Saturday, isn't it?

Dan Bernstein (18:18)

Yeah. Luckily I have. What do we have? We have four basketball games that day, and then we have birthday dinners to Go out and celebrate before the game. So it's going to keep my mind distracted and elsewhere so. Because if I was just sitting at home all day waiting until 7 o'. Clock. Yeah, it wouldn't, it would not have been good. So I'm glad to be very busy on Saturday leading up to that kickoff. And I think what Ben Johnson. I think Ben Johnson is going to do all those things that you said. I think they are, they are going to, I mean, he said it yesterday that they're going to look at this tape, but they're going to turn the page quickly, a little more quickly than they have in previous weeks in the regular season and get on to preparing for the packers in the playoff game. But he was very disappointed. He was very upset and I think not only just in his offense and his players, but in himself as well. And I know that the Lions dominated the first half time of possession and throughout the game. It got better in the fourth quarter, obviously, and the number of plays just weren't, weren't equitable there for Lions and Bears. But I think when looking back on this, he's going to say, I should have done this differently. I should have called this.

Co-host (19:24)

The camera caught him saying something.

Dan Bernstein (19:26)

Yes. It was on fourth, on fourth down when they punted. He said we should have gone for it. Or, or, or the field goal. It was the field goal drive. Instead of, instead of taking the points, they went for it and fourth down didn't, didn't execute and he, the camera catches him. We should have, we should have gone for it. So taking the, take the points there.

Co-host (19:43)

I think I thought that's when he punted. I thought, I thought it was when they were facing fourth and five on their own. What, 31.

Dan Bernstein (19:51)

Oh, so that's, that's in the fourth quarter. Yeah. No, I thought that's the game. Maybe it is. Maybe it was.

Co-host (19:56)

That's what I thought it was. When he said we should have gone.

Dan Bernstein (19:58)

For it, I thought it was taking the field goal. But maybe, maybe, maybe you're right there because he actually talked about that too in his post game press conference about that fourth down play. But, you know, but he also said that they punted because they still had three timeouts. I, I'm sure you're right, but I thought it was for going for the field goal, taking points there in the first half. But maybe it was about that fourth down kick and maybe someone will find it here.

Co-host (20:21)

You hunt when you trust your defense, and I didn't trust the defense yesterday. I understand it. I understand why he did it in the moment. I didn't say, damn it, you should have gone for it. It's just a matter of a coach deciding when the game will be decided that you get to do that. It's not like baseball when all of a sudden these leverage situations just happen and you got to bring your highest leverage pitcher into the fourth inning of a do or die game that he, he could have, he could have accelerated things there.

Dan Bernstein (21:02)

Yeah.

Co-host (21:03)

All right, this is it.

Dan Bernstein (21:04)

If you go for it, fourth and five deep in your own territory in a 1616 game and you don't execute that, you don't make it. You're.

Co-host (21:12)

You're.

Dan Bernstein (21:13)

I mean, you are roasted for that decision. And everyone would be saying you should have punted the ball, make the Lions come downfield. Maybe your team executes one of those turnovers again or they make a stop for the first time in the game. Yeah, I just, I think that's the right call there. I think you have to punt and you have to try to try to give them more distance to cover to get into field goal range. Now, unfortunately, it didn't work out well for the Bears. And I knew it, I felt it. I don't know how you felt. There was just too much time on the clock. And I thought with Jared Goff, they were just going to get downfield and get in the field goal range and they certainly did, you know, and again, we talked about the time of possession and the number of plays that each team had. I just thought, I thought DeAndre Swift was running the ball really well and just didn't get enough opportunities, you know, And Kyle Manon, guy didn't run the ball very well. He just, he looked like he got stopped more behind the line of scrimmage. But Swift was able to use his vision and some of his speed a little bit to create holes that maybe weren't there initially. I would have loved to seen him get more opportunities to run the ball. I think he only ran 10 times, if I'm not mistaken, 10 for 40 and Manungai six carries and he averaged under two yards of carry. I know, I get it. But the time of possession, the plays, it's all there. But it was also a two score game. It was a two score game. Like, you can't abandon what you do and have done one of as best in football, top three running teams in football. You just can't abandon that in a close game at home.

Co-host (22:41)

Well, I would like to know what they really thought about the drop from Ozzie Tropillo down to Theo Benedict. It clearly made a difference. And while you're also trying to account for Aiden Hutchinson and everything else that's going on, there's a reason why Tropillo won that job and why he had been we hadn't been talking about him and already taking some of that left tackle play in the run game for granted. And it may just be that that they that that was a huge difference and a second watch through the tape may tell us and or some well placed questions may tell us but I want to see Ozzie Tropillo back from that was listed as what knee and groin injury. I believe he had a double.

Dan Bernstein (23:34)

Was it both? Okay.

Co-host (23:35)

I thought it was listing.

Dan Bernstein (23:36)

We'll double check. Not that it matters now.

Co-host (23:38)

I would like to see him back. I would feel a whole lot better about their chances if they they, they didn't have their backup left tackle in the game.

Dan Bernstein (23:47)

And one thing that the Lions did really well and I don't know if you if you caught this on run defense, the number of tackles made by a backside defender coming in pursuit down the line of scrimmage that was, that was well planned and well executed. On the Lions defensive part there were, there were more tackles made or contact made behind the line of scrimmage from a backside defender coming in untouched. And that's just, that's really good scheming. That's really good execution on their part. And the fact that the Bears didn't really do anything to adjust to that was frustrating throughout the course of the game.

Co-host (24:20)

Well, what can you do if guys are crashing down backside? You make them pay for it by throwing over the top of them and by putting more eye candy in your run game. By making them stop, by making them question am I in the right place? Am I over committing? And that comes down to motion. What you learn from the motion and then what you can get from side to side movement.

Dan Bernstein (24:46)

Which also speaks to what Ben Johnson said about this game plan. That it was one of the more simple game plans of the season which I just I, I like my when I first heard that I questioned what was the point of that. Why why did he make that decision to make this one of their more simpler game plans going into week 18 with still something significant at stake?

Co-host (25:06)

Well, the answer might be and this is sort of galaxy brain on my part, but the answer might be that you the stakes of this game were a little bit lower. You're already in the playoffs. Maybe he's waiting to unleash things this week. Maybe he's he's holding back the stuff on his reserve list. And I'm not just talking trick plays that it's possible that he's especially a team you're going to see for the third time. You know, the basketball rule on that usually is it's not a. You don't, you're not here to trick anybody in. It can be a baseball thing too. When you're getting into, you're playing a division rival in the postseason, everybody knows what you got and what you're going to do and there isn't, there isn't a whole lot you're going to do in basketball. You're not going to all of a sudden put in a new 1 3, one zone that you hadn't seen before. Football gives you a little opportunity in that because of what's already been installed that maybe you have not used. And this is what we're going to learn about Ben Johnson. This is what I'm excited about. It may not just be all right. Matt LaFleur, you know what we do. We know what you do. You stop us, we'll try to stop you. And let's go do this. Let's go dance. Football gives you some other opportunities here to say you haven't seen this before and there's going to be new wrinkles that we're going to lean on. There's going to be formations that you haven't seen or those formations that we just kind of gave you a little bit of a look at to make you nervous about. I want to keep you guessing when it comes to, for what you are practicing. And we don't know, maybe, maybe Ben Johnson's going to use this week of practice to decide some of those things before the final plan is in.

Dan Bernstein (26:55)

Yeah, I understand that and I get, I get what you're saying and I wasn't asking for, you know, a half a dozen or eight, 10 new plays that we'd never seen before from the Bears. But why he decided to make it more of a simpler game plan. And maybe, maybe that was deliberate in the fact of we're going to go as vanilla or as simple as we possibly can go with my scheme, with my game plan, with my playbook, both sides of the ball, defense and offense. And let's just see, let's, let's do a self scouting evaluation. We know at worst we're going to be a 3 seed. At worst, hosting a team in wild card round. Either way, win or lose, you know, we're going to be two or three with a first round game at Soldier Field. So maybe it was more of an opportunity to evaluate. These are some things. Let's go back to the basics and let's see where we're at. I don't know. I don't know. But I was kind of surprised to hear him say that it was a simpler game plan because it made me disappointed. That your guys who are one of the best offensive teams in the game couldn't execute a simpler game plan to a higher level. Was just disappointing to hear.

Co-host (27:54)

If you need windows, you know where to go. You're going to go to Chicago Window guys, because that's Russ Armstrong. And I have had people always ask me, so you're really not happy with the windows, everything you say about Russ? Yes. Yeah, I am. And you will be, too. And that is why I have never hesitated to recommend Russ to anybody in the Chicagoland area that I know. Whether it's co workers or neighbors or friends or relatives, I would say, yeah, just give him a call. 847-302-9171. And Russ Armstrong will come out to your house and he'll look at everything and he'll tell you all about the way the windows work and the way windows, the pricing works. What's real, what's not real. When you hear about these gimmicks, these impossible sales things about buy one, get one free and all that, he's going to match any price and he's going to tell you what, what you're getting for them. And he explained windows to me in a way that was so technical and complicated. I said, russ, listen, I trust you. Just good, give me, you go to your factory, custom make these really good windows and I'll see it in my heating bill and my air conditioning bill. And that's exactly what has happened. When you're getting quotes from these other places as well, ask them who's installing the windows because they won't know. They use third party labor. They, they use subcontracted people. They don't know on a given day who's going to be out there installing your windows. Not the case with Russ. All his people in and around your house and he stays in touch with you and he makes sure that everything is on time and that everything is cleaned up and then you've got good windows that you should have. You got a nice house, put good windows in it. Call Russ 847-302-9171. Check out all of his five star reviews at Chicago Window Guys dot com. We're going to be talking a lot of bears this week getting you ready for a playoff game, a real playoff game. It doesn't. That one against the Saints didn't really feel like one. That was all weird and this one isn't. This is about as real as it gets and it's going to be. I'm. I'm already sort of checking my watch and counting down the time. Also, what I have done is look at the weather forecast for Saturday night, and they're the ones that I've looked at have been in conflict regarding the possibility of snow. There is one that says that snow on the day is more likely to be early. There's another one that says the chances of snow and wind will pick up throughout the day. The wind could be at 20 to 25 miles an hour and gusting by the time the ball is kicked off. So it's just something to keep an eye on. It doesn't look like it's going to be insanely cold. It's probably going to be around 30 degrees Saturday night by game time. And it does look like, if nothing else, the wind is supposed to be picking up. It may be a factor in a way that it certainly wasn't yesterday. So just keep an eye on it and we shall see if it's going to come down to somebody's right foot in this game. Yikes. I felt so bad for Boswell and last night. And then I felt bad again for Loop because it was. That was a total shank. That was a no chancer. I can't.

Dan Bernstein (31:23)

And Tirrico's call on it was. Was beautiful. Set up about talking about Tucker. So good and about Loop, and then, you know, he sees it going wide right and it was. It was a great call. It was a really good call. And as exciting as the game was, it was just. Man, it was like that. That demon that just won't go away. Like, dude, go away already. Seriously. No, we're done with you.

Co-host (31:44)

He won't. And. And boy, he was in vintage form, too.

Dan Bernstein (31:46)

And he gets the ten wings.

Co-host (31:48)

Yes. Everything. Anytime they didn't complete, he's like, come on. Yelling at guys for not knowing all his secret signals. And then they're making such a big deal about they spend so much time with him. So wouldn't you be so sick of that idiot? Wouldn't you? Seriously, with all the, like, oh, okay. Please. So you go to practice, you learn the playbook, and you learn everything your coach tells you. And then you gotta go to secret practice. You gotta spend all that time at secret practice learning the secret signals. It just. The heat loss, the weight of that on an organization. Can't you just have a quarterback that runs the plays the coach wants?

Dan Bernstein (32:25)

But how about the fact that they spend all this time together working on all these secret plays, and yet they still can't execute him? And he's still yelling at people and.

Co-host (32:30)

He'S still screaming at them, right? What's happening every waking moment? You got to be with this guy to learn. Oh, I patted my head. Oh, no, I patted my stomach. That means you go over here. It's like, come on, man.

Dan Bernstein (32:40)

I patted my head and rubbed my belly at the same time, right?

Co-host (32:43)

Now look at this. That means you go over here. That means you. And now I scream at you again. It just, it's got to be such a pain in the ass after a while. Again, as is usually the case, I may just be projecting on another subject. I am, and I'm not kidding about this. And let me explain. I am serious that the news that broke Saturday morning, the first person I thought of, I have yet to hear what he thinks about what's going on as this is unfolded. And all the details are coming in now. I'm not certain I'm going to agree or disagree, but I want to know what Ozzie Guillen's opinion is about what is happening in Venezuela. I just, I want to know because Ozzy Guillen tells it straight. He's. It's going to be an unvarnished opinion. It may not be a popular opinion. I don't know that he, he's. He's going to try to tailor everything he says to fit a certain audience. I don't believe that. I believe that Ozzy Guillen will say what he thinks about his, about what's going on in his homeland and the apparent efforts by our country to turn another sovereign country essentially into a gas station. And that is pretty much been said, if not implied, in a way that some people might even find refreshing. They're trying to hide behind some convoluted legal justifications to say, no, they happen to be sitting on 17% of the world's oil, and we're going to go take it because we want to. And then we'll trump up some justifications about drug trafficking, even though the guy from Honduras, you know, we, we didn't mind it, we pardoned all that exact same behavior. But in this case, it's not, don't worry about it. Just, everything will be fine. We're going to send in all the American oil companies to take it over and then sell all of that, because it's just something you do. I want to know what Ozzie Guillen thinks. And before you say, oh, he's just a baseball manager, why do you care? He's a lot more than that in Venezuela, A lot more than that. It is a country that has revered and respected not just their baseball tradition, but their shortstops with Aparicio and Guillen and Carrascal. Guillen was the manager of the champion manager of the Sharks there. And I believe he's actually managing or has been managing the, the team from Aragua, which is the, which is. And anything using that phrase. There's. There was trend Aragua that has been the. The gang that has been demonized and has been blamed for everything and all the steps that have been taken against Venezuel and immigrants here and against Maduro. And I don't want to speak out of turn because I'm not going to claim that I have deep knowledge of anything that's going on there. But I want to hear from him. I want to hear from him. He's very respected there and I respect the fact here that Ozzy generally is one of the least full of shit people that you're going to have around. And I'm not saying I'm going to agree with him.

Dan Bernstein (36:34)

Just want to hear what he has to say.

Co-host (36:36)

I do. I really do. It's missing. It's missing. And you know, it's funny because I, I also think that the comments about Fidel Castro that helped get him fired in Miami were in large part misunderstood. And I think, as is often the case, it was a convenient way to get rid of him by pinning it on that because a lot of what he said was taken and it was run with by a very small group of very vocal Cuban expats in the area that intentionally misconstrued his comments. So I, I know that everybody thinks about. Oh yeah, wasn't Ozzy Guillen the same guy that said these things about Castro that got him fired? Yeah. Go back and really look at that. I understand what he was saying because we. There are people here around Chicago who understood where Ozzy comes from sometimes and where. Why he says certain things and what he means by those things. And I don't expect him to be or dismissive. And I don't know if he plans a return there. I don't even know where he is right now, if he's, if he's here, if he's in Florida, if he's there. But I'm looking forward to hearing what he has to say, I want to know. It's just a missing piece.

Dan Bernstein (37:50)

He was the manager of the. I think it's the. The Sharks, you're correct. In a 23, 24, they won the Caribbean title, like the first time that team had done that in 40 years. Then he was named manager earlier in 2025 of the, I want to say Tigers of the Venezuelan Baseball League took over a team that was under 500. So, yeah, he got that job there for Venezuelan baseball as well.

Co-host (38:10)

Yeah, that's the Tigres de Aragua. Yeah. So he has been active there. He's also been. He's. He's a major figure there beyond just being a baseball manager. So let's see. There's. I'd like to find out. I have my. My own opinions about what our constitution allows our country to do to other sovereign countries. Yeah. And I. I don't know what's eventually going to end up being okay or not. I just think the justifications are interesting for what can be done in Honduras vis a vis what can be done in Venezuela, and the way we have very different responses to such things depending on how much oil happens to be buried or underneath the borders of that country.

Dan Bernstein (39:02)

Yeah. And my biggest concern, Dan and I don't want to get into big political discussions. We're not going to do that here. Or debates with anyone outside of the show. But the fact. And I don't care if he's Republican or Democrat or independent or he, you know, he's on the, like, the Moose Lodge Party. I don't really give a shit the dude. The president's not well, and he's mentally not well right now, and that's a concern. And if you're not concerned about that, regardless of your party affiliation, if you have one, then that's a problem for you as well. But the dude just not well. And I saw him talking about a possible second wave in Venezuela and He repeated himself six times in a matter of like 30 seconds. It's just, he's. He's not well. And that's a concern. And if you're not concerned about that, then you really don't give a shit about this country, period.

Co-host (39:47)

We do have, as expected, the latest breaking news here on Whacking Day, and that is that the Las Vegas Raiders are firing Pete Carroll.

Dan Bernstein (39:56)

Oh, they are? Okay. He was on my. He was on my list. I was questioning Pete Carroll, and I want to see what happens with John Harbaugh. So Pete Carroll fired.

Co-host (40:03)

So he will be including interim coaches, their sixth they'll be looking for their sixth head coach since 2021.

Dan Bernstein (40:14)

Well, it's also a guy will step into that job as the Raiders head coach with the number one pick in the 2026 draft as well.

Co-host (40:21)

And it's not, it's not an automatic. I mean, if you want to say, look, we're going to hire the best offensive guy and he's going to have Fernando Mendoza or Dante Moore. Okay, that's, that's, that doesn't sound quite the same as you're going to have Trevor Lawrence or you're going to have Caleb Williams, regardless of how they've done. Since this is definitely not a year where there is absolutely an automatic choice, you say, we got to make sure we get the best out of this, this generational possibility. They've got some players there. Brock Bowers is a star. Ashton Genti's really good, and it looks like Max Crosby is likely to be elsewhere next year. We'll see. Maybe you want to find out who's going to be running your team before you make a move like that, but you can, you can now add that to the list of openings.

Dan Bernstein (41:15)

Yeah, I would, dude, I would love to. And I know, I know it's not going to happen, but like Max Crosby in a Bears uniform, dude. Oh my God.

Co-host (41:24)

Well, it kind of, kind of addresses the bit of the problem that we're discussing.

Dan Bernstein (41:28)

I just, I think what that would take to get him is just too high of a price for the Bears to pay.

Co-host (41:33)

I don't even know. Look there. Here's the thing about being good. Your first round picks aren't as valuable. That's where you want.

Dan Bernstein (41:41)

I think right now the Bears are projected to be the 20th pick in the draft.

Co-host (41:44)

Your first round picks aren't as valuable when you're good. And it's something you take into account when it comes to where you expect to be. And there's, it can come off pretty presumptuously at that point. We say, well, when we made that pick, we didn't think it was going to. Well, you know, you're, you're 2 and 15 now and you're picking first now and you gave it away, right? Because this.

Dan Bernstein (42:05)

Would you, would you give up two first round picks to get Crosby? Or what if it's three first round picks? What would you do to get to land him on the Bears next year?

Co-host (42:13)

I think long and hard about any deal you put in front of me. Let me put it that way. I would give it real consideration depending on what's presented and how you're presenting it to me, I'm not going to make any, like I say, sweeping judgments on that right now, but we'll have a conversation. We'll be involved. Speaking of which, when it comes to having conversations about acquisitions and being involved, you notice. You notice the Cubs are doing it again. Yes, you notice that the Cubs are. Nobody beats the Cubs at being interested in people. They're always doing due diligence. They're always in talks, they're always at the table. But boy, do they pride themselves on getting their precious evaluations just right and then not budging. And they say, well, price got up here, our valuation is here and that's it. And that's where we go with it. And they love that. They love to be a good soldier in baseball, in mlb, to say, like, look, we're, we're not going to go higher and you're not going to go higher in your valuation. Right? You're not going to go higher. And that's, that's what I've always referred to as soft collusion. And MLB loves it, especially among big spenders.

Dan Bernstein (43:34)

Mm.

Co-host (43:35)

They absolutely adore the fact that there's been so much cross pollination of front offices that it's really incredibly coincidental how all of these free agents, even when they're coming, you see what happened with Tatsuya Imai. You saw that deal that he signed that was a fraction of what had been estimated. That here's a 28 year old hard throwing starting pitcher that ends up with the Astros on a deal, completely reasonable deal. None of this stuff happens in a vacuum. And the Cubs are always one of those teams that's involved in having this valuation on players that fits right in to where so many competitors value somebody. Here's the situation right now, and I don't care if we're talking about Cody Bellinger or Alex Bregman or resigning Kyle Tucker. If they were to want to do that, I don't think they're going to. But the message always has to be to Jed Hoyer and Carter Hawkins and Tom Ricketts that you can pride yourself all you want in getting the valuation of a player correct and say this is the proper objective amount to pay this player. The market doesn't care and competition doesn't care what you paid for a player. Sometimes, depending on where you are in your competitive cycle, sometimes it's okay to overpay for something you really need and it's like you're in an airport and you lose your earbuds. What is You. You go over to that kiosk and you buy earbuds. You know that feeling? Sometimes you need something. Sometimes you get to a hotel and you forgot underpants. It happened to me in Paris. We went to Paris. I forgot underpants. I didn't have any. I didn't pack any underpants. True story. So luckily, there was a Gap right near us, right? Same street as our. As the flat that we rented in Paris. I go to the Gap. I bought a bunch of underpants at the Gap. I didn't care what they cost. I couldn't even figure it out. I don't even know. You give me your visa and you hope you get the exchange rate. I don't know what I paid for, but you get what you need when you need it and you pay whatever it costs. You don't have to say, well, I guess I'm going to go without underpants in Paris because I don't like this valuation. I don't. Because I could get home and I can get the same underpants much cheaper, or I can get an equivalent that's much cheaper. So I don't need it right now. That's just not how things work. So if you're Jet Hoyer and you need one of these guys, it's okay. You're And. And you're the Cubs. You're not some schmuck team. You've got money. You've got. You've got plenty of money. You don't have to be silly or stupid or be embarrassed and say, boy, we. We deviated from our plan and Tom Ricketts is gonna be mad at us because we spent too much on a veteran third baseman. Sometimes you do, sometimes you don't, sometimes you should. And it. And sometimes it's okay. So you're. And if Scott Boris controls your future in some way, deal with it. He's an agent. He represents good players. Good players cost money. You have money. It's okay to get good players. It's okay. Like the worst possible thing in their world is overpaying. What, they think they should get over it.

Dan Bernstein (47:34)

Yeah. Because the Cubs and Tom Ricketts, their evaluation of players is based on the financial valuation, and they're never going to deviate from that plan. They're not going to. He won a World Series in 2016. He brought a World Series to the Cubs after 108 years. He met his wife at Wrigley Field, and he sat out in the bleachers and did all that shit. And he tells you that they. All they do is Break even. And they're doing the best they can because they break even inside the walls of Wrigley Field and they don't account for any of the money they generate outside the walls of Wrigley Field, where they could spend a lot more money, but they're not going to. Because the goal, Dan, isn't to win a World Series. From the Ricketts perspective. It's not. I've never heard them say that, but that's what I can evaluate using my own fucking brain, that they don't care about winning a World Series. It's about making as much money as they possibly can. And we're going to spend enough and hope that we get some good breaks and some good players to come through with some great seasons to get us further in the playoffs than we've got the previous seasons.

Co-host (48:35)

Well, last year. While also thinking about what their budget is for 20 years from now.

Dan Bernstein (48:40)

Yeah, that's not how it works. And the fact that they are too afraid to overspend and not. And not be successful and say, well, yeah, we could spend $400 million on Kyle Tucker, but we may not win. Well, yeah, that's how it works. But you've got to go out and spend the guys to fill the needs. And it's not about just filling needs, though. It's about finding the best player possible that's available to you to fill that need. Not just filling the need with a body that's the best shot.

Co-host (49:10)

And especially over time. I don't want to hear that. Yeah, we were interested in that player. We were. We were talking to that. If you're interested. All I want to hear is, did you sign a guy? Did you sign a guy? Is he a Cub? Tell me when someone is a Cub and don't say, well, you know, we presented a completely fair market value deal. Sometimes the market makes you wrong about that.

Dan Bernstein (49:40)

Yeah, Dan. And they're interested on everybody. They're interested in every single person. But it's like being a single guy and being interested with every girl that you know and never going out and asking one out. Like, great. You can be as interested as you want. You're never gonna get a date without asking. It's just not gonna happen. And you know what? Sometimes they say no and that. That's what happens. But you gotta try. And if you don't try, you're never gonna get any dates.

Co-host (50:01)

My goal wasn't to get you riled up here, but.

Dan Bernstein (50:04)

Well, I just. I didn't think I'd get riled up at The Cubs. God damn it.

Co-host (50:08)

Why?

Dan Bernstein (50:09)

Fucking January 5th.

Co-host (50:10)

Where'd this come from?

Dan Bernstein (50:11)

Because I'm irritated about it. I'm good.

Co-host (50:16)

Like I said, not my intent.

Dan Bernstein (50:17)

Bears are going to the playoffs.

Co-host (50:19)

Woohoo.

Dan Bernstein (50:20)

Let's go.

Co-host (50:23)

Yeah, I didn't, I didn't think all of a sudden, you know, Cubby Matt was gonna come out of the woodwork.

Dan Bernstein (50:28)

I'm tired of it, Dan, because they, I know you are so tired with the financial stuff. It's like, oh, we break even. Like, how can you actually say that with a straight face? You break even. You've got more money than most people in the world. Spend the goddamn money, but you don't want to win. That's what bothers me.

Co-host (50:43)

They want you. They truly don't want to. Disagree. I disagree.

Dan Bernstein (50:47)

I'm not talking about Jed Hoyer. They do want to win a World Series every year.

Co-host (50:51)

They want to, but they're not willing.

Dan Bernstein (50:54)

They're not willing to do what it might take to win a World Series though, in any given season. That's the problem.

Co-host (50:58)

They don't want to spend what it costs to give them a better incremental chance. That obviously huge, huge expenditures can make you slightly more likely. And they don't want to play that game.

Dan Bernstein (51:15)

No, they don't. And for me, they truly don't want to win a World Series.

Co-host (51:18)

Then.

Dan Bernstein (51:19)

Okay, if you're not willing to give yourself the best opportunity to win a World Series, then you truly don't want to win one.

Co-host (51:26)

One more sports point that I have today. Watched a lot of Bulls basketball over the weekend. The Bulls have the Celtics tonight. I don't know what the hell is going on with their, with injuries with them. They cannot catch a damn break. That, that head to head collision Saturday night between Jalen Smith and, and Lamelo ball was nasty and Jalen Smith was knocked out. He was out. And the fact that Lamelo Ball, who I've always thought was kind of soft and, and, and fragile, good for him coming back in that game. I thought he was done. Done. Mouth is bleeding, leaves the court. This is a guy who misses a lot of games with a strained this and you know, tight that and he's balling. They've got some good players and that's a team that's got some young talent that is going to be real difficult to stop. And the poor Bulls just don't even know who they're going to have on a given night and have no margin for error. I think they're, I want to say they're getting 11 points. We'll have your DBU picks coming up later.

Dan Bernstein (52:38)

11 and a half tonight.

Co-host (52:39)

Yeah, I may stay away from basketball for a while. I've been awful with my basketball picks for a while, but like I say, if I get a strong feeling, I'll let you know if you care. But the. The Bulls just. They have to play as hard as they possibly can. They have no margin for error with offense, defense, coaching, anything. They got to win every 50, 50 ball. They've got to try to get to the free throw line, and they can't do it. Seems like they're doing what the Bears are doing. Feels like they're down seven nothing every game and expending so much energy to keep climbing back in some games. And they had a 15 point lead. Everything was looking real good against Charlotte until the wheels came off and the other team just sort of flexed a little bit, so. And it's also been chaos in the broadcast booth. They're going through me how many different broadcasters it was. They've had Adam Amin, they've had Connor. Onion. Onions. Oh, onions. And they've had. I still do our guy, Wayne Randazzo. Randazzo. Every time at Mariana's, by the way. Every time you do it when you.

Dan Bernstein (53:46)

In the produce?

Co-host (53:47)

No, at the checkout. Put your onions in the bag. Onions. You'll hear me. You'll hear me do it.

Dan Bernstein (53:58)

Sometimes the self checkout says it describes the item and other times it doesn't. It just says put your items in the bag. It bothers me. Like, be consistent.

Co-host (54:06)

Well, I think it has to do if their software is like, updated with all of their inventory. I don't know. That's a great question. I never know.

Dan Bernstein (54:15)

Although, call everything items or like, call it out by name because I want to hear some things that maybe you don't want said out loud.

Co-host (54:24)

Put your condoms in the bag.

Dan Bernstein (54:26)

Right? Put your Preparation H in the bag. Put your flow tampons in the bag. You know, I want it out loud.

Co-host (54:35)

Put your giant bottle of lube in the bag. In the bag.

Dan Bernstein (54:41)

Say it out loud. I want to hear all of them. Not just rip your item. And then it whispers, you know, it's like, woo. Place your item in the bag.

Co-host (54:49)

Hey.

Dan Bernstein (54:49)

And I want to know when the luck.

Co-host (54:52)

I wanted to compliment me on my shopping. Wouldn't it be nice if they said, hey, put that ridiculously inexpensive steak in the bag. Nice job on that one, Bernstein. Put that steal of a box of day old Stan's donuts in. In the bag.

Dan Bernstein (55:11)

Yeah, I want each item Called out by name.

Co-host (55:13)

Yeah, I want it. I want it judged. Oh, yeah, yeah. Just tell me, tell me if. You know, like. Hey, you know, by the way, the Kroger brand wavy potato chips are really, really good for 199 a bag and actually better than some name brand potatoes.

Dan Bernstein (55:28)

Oh, yeah, I've gotten those before for like lunches and stuff. But yeah, I want them here. I want to hear like, put your third frozen pizza in the bag. Chubby. You know, like.

Co-host (55:38)

Or else. Or something. Like, put another handle of inexpensive vodka in the bag like you did yesterday.

Dan Bernstein (55:51)

Right. Has your tracker on there. That's your third bottle this week, Bob. Right.

Co-host (55:57)

This is a lot of cheap vodka.

Dan Bernstein (56:04)

Right.

Co-host (56:05)

Put that boiled cheese in the back. What? Yeah, I mean, what are you doing, man? Onions. Every time when you buy a shallot.

Dan Bernstein (56:14)

Yeah.

Co-host (56:15)

It says put your onions in the bed. I buy a lot of shallots.

Dan Bernstein (56:18)

Yeah, for sure.

Co-host (56:19)

Put your onions.

Dan Bernstein (56:20)

And you'll hear me because you do it.

Co-host (56:22)

That's funny. Every time automatic. I can't not do it. It might be kind of quiet. I might be. Onions. So, yeah, it was Connor Onion. And then it was Kylan Smith. Was that her name? Who was doing the game? Kylan Mills. Kylan Mills. Okay. And basically she was getting them in and out of break and the entire game was Stacy King bemoaning three pointers. So that's essentially what that game is. Is. Is. Is. They had her doing the nuts and bolts of play by play and then it was a lot. It was basically a podcast essentially, of Stacy having all that space to. To basically rail against three pointers.

Dan Bernstein (57:05)

Adam Amin's the main guy though, right. And he see.

Co-host (57:07)

Yes, he just.

Dan Bernstein (57:08)

He just called to other duties. Is that. That's.

Co-host (57:10)

I think so the issue.

Dan Bernstein (57:11)

Right.

Co-host (57:11)

Yeah, I think so. Okay. But you know, Wayne Randazzo is great. Connor. He's really good. Yeah. It just. I just. I just really want Stacy to understand that shooting threes is. Every time it's more.

Dan Bernstein (57:25)

He's not, though, Dan.

Co-host (57:26)

More likely to give you more points and when. When they're not falling, shoot more of them.

Dan Bernstein (57:33)

Yeah, that's. He's never going to go that route, though.

Co-host (57:35)

That's. I know, I know, I know.

Dan Bernstein (57:37)

He's not going to change his ways.

Co-host (57:38)

I. That's okay. I know what I'm getting and it's okay. The football playoffs are here and my bookie is where you tune turn bets into bankroll. Everybody's betting, you know, that the NFL is in do or die mode right now. College football's down to your final four. The super bowl is coming. If there ever was a time to get in the game, it's right now. And my bookie makes it ridiculously easy to play. It's one account. It's one wallet. You can bet the spread. You can live bet the second half, even during a commercial break. You can hit the casino if you want. And it's all in one place, and you have the power. So here's what you're going to do. You're going to go to MyBookie AG. You register, you make your deposit, and when you do this, the promo code, DBU, is going to give you a leg up. Dan Bernstein, Unfiltered dbu. Just those three letters, and then your first book bet is covered up to 500 bucks. If it doesn't hit, then you have a bet back bonus token and you can run it back. So don't just watch the playoffs. Make them pay. Bet anything, anytime, anywhere, only at my bookie. And that will do it for today's Dan Bernstein Unfiltered here on NFL Whacking Day. More.

Dan Bernstein (59:02)

That is not correct, my friend. We have one thing to do left.

Co-host (59:06)

Yes, I believe I wanted to also mention that we are brought to you by the Chicago window, guys.

Dan Bernstein (59:12)

How about DBU picks?

Co-host (59:14)

Oh, it's Monday. It's Monday.

Dan Bernstein (59:16)

Let's do picks.

Co-host (59:18)

Let's do DBU picks that are brought to you by my bookie.

Dan Bernstein (59:25)

Sorry, pal.

Co-host (59:26)

I'll.

Dan Bernstein (59:26)

I'll lead off for us here, if that helps you at all.

Co-host (59:29)

It does. It helps me tremendously.

Dan Bernstein (59:30)

Okay, good. I have two things for you. And obviously with the playoffs several days away, I have a college football game tonight.

Co-host (59:39)

Okay.

Dan Bernstein (59:39)

And I'm going to do my first NBA pick of the season.

Co-host (59:42)

Yeah, let's get it.

Dan Bernstein (59:43)

And you're going to love it, too. So, okay, Illinois State takes on, I think, Montana State.

Co-host (59:49)

Oh, this is it.

Dan Bernstein (59:50)

Bobcats. It's the. Yeah, it's the. It's a championship game tonight, right?

Co-host (59:54)

What is it? It is the FC FCS championship. Championship.

Dan Bernstein (60:00)

Illinois State playing in their second FCS championship ever in school history. They are getting ten and a half points. And so to. Yeah, I know it doesn't look good against the Montana State. I want to say Bobcats or Tigers or Lee Grays. I have no. I have no idea what they are, but I'm going to go with Illinois State and take the ten and a half points.

Co-host (60:22)

Okay.

Dan Bernstein (60:23)

Because that's where my daughter went to school and got her undergrad was isu. So we're going to we're going to go with the Redbirds.

Co-host (60:28)

Yeah, they're the Bobcats by the Montana State. They're 13 and 2.

Dan Bernstein (60:32)

A lot of Bobcats in Montana. And then my NBA pick. And you're probably not going to like this after what you just talked about about the Bulls. I'm going to take the bulls and the 11 and a half points at Boston.

Co-host (60:44)

Okay.

Dan Bernstein (60:45)

So we're going to go two things. ISU plus 10 and a half and the Bulls plus 11 and a half.

Co-host (60:50)

All right. Well, I have actually a Bears thought for you. That is counterintuitive.

Dan Bernstein (60:57)

Okay.

Co-host (60:58)

And it's because of the odds that I saw on this pick. We're gonna get into this on FP, but I'm going to take the plus 320 odds for a DJ Moore touchdown Saturday night. When we last left the Bears and the packers, it was DJ Moore all spent and lying on in the end zone after catching one of the great touchdown catches in Bears history. Yes. I don't know what that was yesterday from him. I, I, I don't know. I don't really saving up. I don't know if he wasn't trying. I don't know what's going on. I didn't like the effort. But for whatever reason, sometimes it's darkest before the dawn. And it's just a feeling that I'm going to take that, that plus 320 on a DJ Moore touchdown Saturday night.

Dan Bernstein (61:56)

All right? So I'm going to jot that down so we can bring it back for us on Saturday night's PostGame show around 10 or 10:15 so we can pay that off. So DJ Moore plus 320 on a touchdown catch against the Packers.

Co-host (62:09)

And those are DBU picks brought to you by my bookie. Lock in your picks now with my bookie. Bet on anything, anywhere, anytime.

Dan Bernstein (62:19)

Dan Bernstein, unfiltered. Unfiltered on 312 sports.