Chicago Bears - new stadium funding? | So long AA-Ron

Summary

Podcast Summary: Dan Bernstein Unfiltered – "Chicago Bears – new stadium funding? | So long AA-Ron"

Host: Dan Bernstein with Matt Abbatacola
Date: January 13, 2026

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Main Theme & Purpose

This episode is a classic ride through Chicago sports, led by unfiltered host Dan Bernstein and producer Matt Abbatacola. The central themes: reveling in the Bears' playoff victory (especially eliminating long-time nemesis Aaron Rodgers), dissecting Rodgers's humiliating exit from the NFL, celebrating the newest memes and moments of Bears fandom, and—most importantly—breaking down major breaking news that the Bears will privately fund their new stadium. Alongside these headlines, the episode includes playful banter about pop culture, NFL music cues, and locker room controversies, all served with signature Chicago snark and candor.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Celebrating the Bears’ Playoff Win and Rodgers’s Humbling Exit

• 00:07–13:35: Dan and Matt bask in the glow of the Bears’ latest win and, with palpable joy, deconstruct the last moments of Aaron Rodgers’s career. The duo find catharsis not just in the victory, but in the way Rodgers exited—sacked, intercepted, and followed in real time by cameras as he left the field dejected.
  • Rodgers’s Final Play: Recounted in detail from the official play-by-play, ending with a pick-six and a bruised legacy.
  • Dan’s Reaction:

    "To watch him get physically beaten off the football field...That was so delicious. That’s like when you go to Jean and Giorgetti and this steak comes out and it’s still sizzling..." (02:01)

  • The humiliation is discussed in both football terms and deliciously metaphorical culinary terms, showcasing the depth of Chicago schadenfreude.
  • Banter about Rodgers's attempts at tackling and his off-field relationships extends the ribbing.
  • Notable Segment: The hosts riff endlessly on fan memes, including "new owner of the Packers" and cheese grater hats (07:35).

2. NFL Wild Card Recap and Betting Angles

• 08:14–10:22: Quick rundown of the Wild Card games; strong showings by visiting teams.
• Discussion of playoff betting picks—a brief victory lap about correct predictions.
• Observations on the Texans’ defense and coach DeMeco Ryans having his team “caught up in a religiosity frenzy.”

3. Breaking News: Bears to Privately Fund Their New Stadium

• 13:35–21:22:
  Major Story: Dan breaks major Bears news sourced from POLITICO—State Rep. Cam Buckner reveals Bears claim they’ll fully privately finance the construction of their new stadium.

  • Original Language:

    “The Bears have recently said they would privately finance the stadium itself. I’m going to read that again. The Bears have recently said they would privately finance the stadium itself. Awesome.” (15:10)

  • Dan and Matt parse what “privately finance” means: will the money come from existing capital, outside investors, or new sources?

  • Infrastructure (roads, ramps) may still see some public funding, but the core stadium cost will not be taxpayer-funded.

  • Both hosts are wary but hopeful about the shift, questioning why the Bears claimed not to have money before if they had it all along.

  • Jabs at the prior “bad look” of seeking public money.

  • Potential Stadium Sites: Discussion that Arlington Heights appears more likely than Chicago, and that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell was seen touring both Illinois and Indiana spots.

  • Key Quotes:

    • Dan:

      "I've never been against infrastructure. You need it...But if they've come off of the ask for public stadium money...that’s a big turn. That’s a big story." (18:03)

    • Matt:

      "Where has that been all along? What's changed? Where has a new influx of money come?" (19:08)

    • Dan:

      "Don’t spend any money you don’t have to spend until you have to spend it, I guess." (19:32)

  • Segment ends with both hosts calling for Kevin Warren to "get the shovels in the ground" (21:22), noting the weather’s about to turn brutally cold.

4. Old-School Bears Facts, Trivia, and Fandom

• 23:04–31:10: The guys go off on Bears defensive and interception trivia, both historic and personal.
  • Reveling in names like Gary Fencik, Charles Tillman, and Sid Luckman (surprise: Luckman played defense as well as quarterback).
  • Lighthearted quiz and leaderboard discussion for interception, pick-six, and forced fumble records.
  • Nomination of Charles "Peanut" Tillman as a Hall of Famer, both for his play and his off-field impact (30:59).
• Memorable moment:

  “He wasn’t asked to do what other corners do...there is an absolute, candidacy, a very, very real argument that can be made for his enshrinement.” (31:10)

5. Locker Room Swearing – Dick Vitale, Ben Johnson, and “Class” Debates

• 31:31–44:08:
  The show pivots to address controversy over Bears’ coach Ben Johnson’s “F the Packers” locker room outburst, picked up and critiqued by Dick Vitale on social media.
  • Dan and Matt eviscerate this take, pointing out Vitale’s support over decades for far more egregious (and often hypocritical) coaching behavior by legends like Bobby Knight and Coach K.
  • Broader defense of player and coach authenticity, rivalry, and honest moments—especially in private team celebrations that now happen to be public.
    • Dan:

      “You can’t be the world’s biggest champion of Bobby Knight and then also take offense to ... an F bomb…” (33:15)

    • Matt:

      “If you want to be fired up and say 'fuck the Packers,' the only people that should be bothered … are the Packers.” (39:18)

  • Both are adamant that locker room candor is normal—only now it’s recorded and visible to fans.
  • A larger point: Get offended by real injustice, not locker room language.

6. NFL Broadcasts & Bumper Music

• 46:33–49:45:
  Fun tangent on how the NFL’s commercial break and bumper music has dramatically improved—both hosts enthusiastically note hearing favorites from multiple genres, not just traditional “stadium rock.” - Dan:
  > “Have we experienced an overall noticeable increase in quality of the music that NFL broadcasts use to go to commercial?” (46:33)
  • Brief plug for upcoming halftime acts (Bad Bunny, Bruno Mars) with typical wit.

7. Chicago Fan Moments, Pop Culture, and Memory Lane

• 51:29–58:30:
  Sprinkled throughout the closing sections:
  • Reflections on the Bears’ comeback, fan euphoria, and the unique electric atmosphere during/after the win versus the Packers.
  • Anecdotes of friends and radio colleagues caught on stadium TV, kids’ first playoff games, and even mistaken identity stories (Bernstein lookalike at a porta-potty, 54:19).
  • Light banter on killer clown TV, pop culture corrections (Ryan Murphy did American Horror Story, not just Glee, 50:52), and, in classic fashion, a retelling of a sideline water bottle mishap that leaves everyone in stitches (55:56).
• Heartfelt note:

  “I haven’t [moved on from the Bears’ win] ... I’ve got the rest of my life to talk about [it].” (52:07)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Dan on Aaron Rodgers’s exit:

  “They stuck with the Aaron Rodgers career, walk off the field the entire way. That was like they were following the Pope. They had cameras set up for his entire humiliation. That was so delicious.” (02:01)

• On Bears stadium funding:

  “The Bears have recently said they would privately finance the stadium itself. Awesome.” (15:10)

• On old Bears legends:

  “Gary Fencik’s first interception of his career… he’s still the Bears interception leader at 38.” (23:18)

• On Dick Vitale’s criticism of Ben Johnson:

  “You can’t be the world’s biggest champion of Bobby Knight and then also take offense to ... an F bomb…” (33:15)

• On locker room swearing:

  “If you want to be fired up and say, fuck the Packers, the only people that should be bothered by that are the Packers.” (39:18)

• On Bears fandom:

  “I haven’t [moved on] ... I’ve got the rest of my life to talk about [that game].” (52:07)

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Important Segment Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment | | --------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | 00:07 | Immediate celebration of Bears win, Aaron Rodgers career postmortem | | 13:35 | BREAKING: Politico scoop – Bears to privately fund new stadium | | 19:08 | Hosts debate how/why Bears found the money | | 23:04 | Trivia: Old-school Bears DBs, interceptions, forced fumbles | | 31:31 | Dick Vitale’s critique of Ben Johnson, and locker room language controversy | | 46:33 | NFL broadcast music – a surprising uptick in “bangers” | | 51:29 | Fan culture, stadium atmosphere, personal anecdotes after the big win | | 55:56 | Water bottle mishap: “I’ve never ever seen that before.” |

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Tone, Style, and Takeaways

• Language & Tone: Authentic, irreverent, and full of Chicago pride. Dan and Matt don’t hold back, giving sharp opinions but also plenty of laughter.
• Key Takeaways:
  • The Bears are (apparently) building their new stadium with private funds, a seismic change in sports business for Chicago.
  • The city is collectively savoring not just sports success, but the tasty humiliation of their fiercest rival and his star QB.
  • The show isn’t just about games—it’s about what it feels like to win, lose, and root in Chicago, mixed with trivia, food talk, and pop culture asides.

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For Listeners Who Missed It

This episode is packed with developments that matter for Bears fans and sports enthusiasts:

• A share-in-the-schadenfreude celebration of Aaron Rodgers’s exit.
• Immediate, major news regarding the Bears’ new stadium, potentially ending decades-long public funding debates.
• Defense of sports traditions, authenticity, and fandom against “pearl-clutching” critics.
• Plus: trivia, behind-the-scenes locker room talk, and a strong undercurrent of enjoying victory for its own sake.

If you care about Chicago football or want to understand the city’s underdog-but-proud sports ethos, this episode is essential.

Transcript

[A]

Dan Bernstein, Unfiltered Unfiltered on 312 Sports.

[B]

Dan Bernstein, Unfiltered is brought to you by my bookie. Brought to you in partnership with my bookie, in fact. And you know, it's one thing to have that great Bears game. And I keep doing this ever since Saturday night when everything's just kind of quiet. If I'm not actively thinking about something, you smile. Yeah. My brain is defaulting to how awesome was that Bears game Saturday night? So I keep doing that just randomly just thinking about certain things. You know, you're making dinner or whatever, you're sitting down, you're watching the other game, you're like, oh, oh, yeah.

[A]

Oh, yeah.

[B]

That Bears game Saturday night, how awesome was that? I keep immediately just like, oh, yeah, that was good.

[A]

Yeah, I like the team, Dan. I've turned the page. I'm ready to.

[B]

Okay. I haven't go for the Rams.

[A]

Yeah, I know.

[B]

Not yet.

[A]

I get it.

[B]

And you know what distracted me last night? And you know, it was great last night with all things Bears going on the last play of Aaron Rodgers's career. That was the. To watch him get physically beaten off the football field. And yes, I said what I said, to watch him just beat. Get mentally and physically beaten up by that team and have his final play, his last pass. I want to make sure I got everything exactly right. So I looked it up in the play by play that the last pass of Aaron Rodgers, NFL career. It just says in the official play by play, parenthetically, shotgun A Rogers pass, deep right, intended for P. Friar. All caps intercepted by C. Bullock at 50. C. Bullock for 50 yards, touchdown. And the best part of it was that Rogers half tried to tackle him.

[A]

Is he. Wait, he's a. Like, he's totally done. We know that for sure. You do now.

[B]

Okay, come on, Come on.

[A]

That guy.

[B]

How are you going to go and stand in front of your fans and say, here's your quarterback.

[A]

There's a team out there that'll take him.

[B]

How do you do that? How do you have that press conference even if you're like the Cardinals?

[A]

I don't know.

[B]

How do you have that press conference?

[A]

Because it's happened before.

[B]

Oh, at some point it has to end. And I think by every measure, that was it. And then the best part, the Texans just won that game. The Texans won the game with a brutally suffocating defense. Yet another one of these games that you keep underlined. These physical, physical, violent games. Guys, you know, getting. They're getting concussed and bones broken and beaten up. There's, there's season ending, career threatening injuries right and left. I mean, this is some nasty football being played. And I'm here for it too, for sure. I'm absolutely here for it. And they stuck with the Aaron Rodgers career. Walk off the field the entire way. That was like they were following the Pope. They had cameras set up for his entire humiliation. That was so delicious. That's like when you go to Jean and Giorgetti and this steak comes out and it's still sizzling and it's sitting in front of you just on that white plate by itself and you're just kind of looking at it and you cut it, you strip steak right down the middle and it's perfect. And you can just eat the best part while you're the hungriest and eat from the inside of the steak out. And then a couple of those, those cottage fries.

[A]

Well, my favorite part of the game last night was the, the sack where his offensive lineman falls down and then Rogers kind of just tripped over him, kind of fell down on top of him. Like really kind of gently and gingerly kind of fell down.

[B]

And it was like I said he needed a couch.

[A]

It's like, oh, that was a sack. And he wasn't even touched by an opposing. No, he just kind of fell into him.

[B]

And then. How about the grounding or the half grounding? He's just like, oh, I can't. Don't get off of me.

[A]

So I know last night during the game, I didn't know he was married because I saw him when he put his hands up to his helmet. He had a wedding ring on.

[B]

It's an aura ring. I don't think it's a wedding ring.

[A]

Well, I, I don't.

[B]

I think it's an aura ring.

[A]

Right. So he can give all his very private about. Who was give away?

[B]

His dad. I know he was.

[A]

He just, he was just dating Shailene.

[B]

Woodley and she was like dating a witch. She's a witch.

[A]

Well, that's not Shailene Woodley, though. She's the one who escaped. It was like.

[B]

Right.

[A]

Ruined my life and.

[B]

Yeah, no, he was dating a witch. Her name was like blueface or something.

[A]

I think you're making that up.

[B]

I'm not. Type in Aaron Rodgers Witch blue.

[A]

All right. Who is Aaron Rodgers? Wife. Her name and what we know about their marriage. He's married.

[B]

Fine.

[A]

I didn't know he was married.

[B]

Well, he's got somebody to whom he can go home after a complete on camera. Live humiliation. Walk of shame. That was awesome. An emptying stadium. There's barely anybody left. A smattering of booze, crying children, drunken Steelers fans. And he's trudging off the field. And the cameras are following every single step. If you have a taste for schadenfreude, oh, it doesn't get a whole lot better than that. Especially as the Bears are alive in the playoffs, too, and just beat the Packers. And they can't make the cheesehead greater things fast enough. Apparently. They're on such back order that even if you get your order in, you're not going to get it until March, so you'll be wearing it for brewers games. But this is that. I mean, what more do you want in life right now?

[A]

Well, at least he has someone to go home to, console him that he's married.

[B]

Did you look up the thing about the witch?

[A]

I didn't, but he got married a couple months ago, he says, back in June. June of 2025.

[B]

All right, all right. I mean, he's. It's sort of like people get married when they're in prison. You know, there's things like. There's always those weirdos out there.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

The women that will fall in love with a mass murderer, and then they marry them via Zoom or whatever they do. So I'm not surprised there's somebody for everybody.

[A]

All right, so this claims that she's an ex. Aaron Rodgers. Ex. Blue of Earth.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

Accused of being a witch throughout their relationship.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

So, like a witch in their relationship or she was like an actual witch while they were dating?

[B]

Actual witch.

[A]

So then this isn't who he married.

[B]

So he didn't marry the witch, I guess.

[A]

Now. Which calls her an ex.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Aaron quickly moved on to a new relationship. Well, good for him. Glad he's finding love in his life. That's what he needs. Hey, and speaking of the departure of Aaron Rodgers, here, I have a. I've commissioned the official DBU show artist.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

To create a new photo for us.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

I'm going to put it up here for you right now to enjoy.

[B]

Okay. Aw, isn't that sweet? New owner of the Green Bay Packers, a smiling Caleb Williams with his foam rubber hat. Yep. And is that Kevin Warren holding a shovel?

[A]

It sure is.

[B]

It doesn't look like him.

[A]

And they're at 312 forward progress way at Iceman Field.

[B]

Very, very nice.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Very cute. I love it.

[A]

So that's from our official show artist.

[B]

Thank you. Thank you. We'll have a lovely collection that he'll have to have a show at some point and try to sell his originals. We can all stand around and sip champagne and watch him try to sell his art.

[A]

Hey. So you had s six wild card games, five road teams win, and almost.

[B]

All, for the most part, tight games. Yeah, they put up a graphic last night. It was a record number of one score games. And fourth quarter lead changes already for a post season already just through the wild card round.

[A]

Yeah. And I just, I can't get over that, that Bill's Jaguars game, that. That killed my. That killed my play.

[B]

All. All I want to do is savor what was done to Aaron Rodgers last night. And he's blaming everybody around him too. And he knows when the cameras are on him and he's pointing and he's gesticulating and he's rolling his eyes and he's come on. What the are we doing out there? What are we doing? I know what you're doing. You're missing people and you're running for your life and you're terrified of people in the opposing uniform smashing into you and they're batting away passes late. His eyes are dropping. Oh, oh, so good. And then he's like, oh, I should tackle this guy who just picked me off and is running for the touchdown. And he. It's just the lamest tackle attempts. He half jumps into him as I Keyshawn Nixon at the goal line against DeAndre Swift. Although at least I think Rogers effort was even better than Keyshawn Nixon. Where. Oh, no. Oh, I guess I'll try to tackle you. Go away.

[A]

Yeah. So his final game, 17 of 33. 146, 4.4 average, zero touchdowns, one interception, sacked four times.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

For 36 yards, a rating of 50.8. And then your. Your attempts came in, right? Or did you have completions?

[B]

I got them under. Under the 21 and a half completions.

[A]

17.

[B]

And I also had the running back under the yards. So Jalen Warren finished with 43. It came in had to be under 53. So there you go, the parlay for the my bookie DBU picks for me. I was due. I needed a win and those hit.

[A]

Yeah. And I had the Texans minus three, which that hit pretty easily.

[B]

Your defense is.

[A]

Yeah, it's something is a thing.

[B]

And d' Amico Ryan's really does have them sort of all caught up in this religiosity frenzy that he's got going on. They're a very God. God apparently is on the side of the Texans. So listen.

[A]

Well, we got to Ask Nate Hobbs about that.

[B]

Well, I'd love to.

[A]

I would.

[B]

Honestly, I'd love to know what Nate Hobbs thinks. Because these guys believe that they. They're anointed on some sort of heroic heavenly crusade.

[A]

Well, maybe against Aaron Rodgers and the.

[B]

Steelers, I'll grant them that.

[A]

Pope Bob is not going to let that happen. If they play the Bears in the Super Bowl. And really cute, though, that they scored 23 in the fourth. It was really cute. They're like, oh, we're not going to get as close. We're not going to do what the bears did.

[B]

But 25.

[A]

Yeah, 23 is cute.

[B]

We'll do 23.

[A]

Good number.

[B]

You know, we'll wink at the whole Chicago thing. Why bet the playoffs anywhere else when my bookie gives you everything you need to get paid? The NFL playoffs are right here. We're talking about them. And they've been unbelievably competitive and fun. College football is down to Indiana and Miami, and the super bowl is just around the corner. Maybe the Bears will be in it. It's peak betting season, in other words. And my bookie is built for it, quite literally. Same account, same wallet. You get sports, you get casino, you get reloads, you get live bets, you get everything you need in one place. So right now, go to MyBookie AG and make sure you use this promo code with which we arm you. DBU. Those three letters, that's all you need. Dan Bernstein, unfiltered DBU. Get your first bet covered, up to 500 bucks. And if it doesn't hit, what does it mean that it's covered? Well, because now you have a bet back bonus token, and that way you can run it right back. So build a bankroll in January, right it through the Super Bowl. Bet anything, anytime, anywhere. Only at my bookie have we. Is the Terminator dead. Have we finally vanquished Aaron Rodgers? Is that it? Is that his final pass? I want to say was Joe Namath's last pass, I think was intercepted by Gary Fencik when Joe Namath was a Ram. One of the great Rams, Bears moments right there. We can put that on the list as we're starting to remember them. And I, and I do remember watching it, I think. Was it Buffone that had the pressure and Fencik made the pick?

[A]

You know, that sounds right about Gary Fencik.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Let me.

[B]

I think. I think that's right, that I think Buffon got a different guy, too. But. But it was. I believe that was Namath's last pass and now we can all commit to remembering that we saw Aaron Rodgers go out on a pick six where he made the lame attempt at trying to tackle the guy and he had to walk off the field. Oh, it's just so great. And now he'll go into a yurt or whatever he does. Is it a vision quest or a yurt? And he'll go into the woods to his dark place, and then he'll emerge with his friend the witch. She's a witch.

[A]

No, they're not together anymore.

[B]

Yeah, but you know, it's. You always find your way back to the witchy woman somewhere down the line. Well, this, this woman will get sick of him, whoever he's with now. Could you imagine that? Bye, honey. You're leaving for the day? You going to work? No, I'm going to my yurt in the middle of the Gobi Desert. For like, for two months. I have to be in a yurt. Anything that gives me the excuse to say the word yurt over and over again, I am going to do. And speaking of building and constructing things, we have major Bears stadium news. And I am not kidding. We actually have serious Bears stadium news. This was from today's Politico Illinois Playbook that's part of Politico magazine and the website. And Shia Kappos, who has broken a lot of Chicago stadium stuff. Whether it was Jerry Reinsdorf talking about the possibilities for the Sox, now it's the Bears. So this is from the Politico Illinois Playbook newsletter as of this morning. And it's kind of buried down in here, a couple of bullet points down, but check it. State lawmakers remain in active discussions with the Chicago Bears about the team's stadium. Future state Rep. Cam Buckner told your Playbook host in a live interview at the Hideout on Monday night. Shout out to the Hideout. By the way, love, love, love that place.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Oh, the Hideout. Awesome. My friends bands have played there. I actually got to perform there as part of kind of a standup reading that people did. I had a great time there. The owners are lovely people. It's terrific. So at the Hideout, Buckner said, we've had a number of face to face meetings. I do think they the Bears are becoming more transparent and more forthcoming. We're not there yet, but we're getting there. Buckner, a Chicago Democrat and former college football player, said the Bears search for a new stadium, whether it's in Chicago or Arlington Heights, continues to raise questions about the state's role and its priorities. He said even if they do go to Arlington Heights. What I don't want is the people of Chicago to be left high and dry holding the bag. We owe 532 million on the last Soldier Field renovation from 20 years ago. That's not small change. And here's the headline. The Bears have recently said they would privately finance the stadium itself. I'm going to read that again. The Bears have recently said they would privately finance the stadium itself. Awesome. But Buckner said the broader package, including infrastructure and tax treatment, still warrants scrutiny. He said. I'm happy now that they are saying they are going to fund the whole actual stadium portion privately. That's the right thing to do. He said Kudos. And he pushed back on comparisons between stadium funding and other state backed investments such as psi, Quantum Campus or Public Transit. He said those are used every single day by the people who live in an area. The Bears play eight home games a year, hopefully two or three playoff games a year. That does not equal out to something extremely pivotal in the economic landscape for a city or state, he said. We've got this nasty appetite in this city, in this state and places around the country to go chase the shining thing.

[A]

Right.

[B]

Without putting real accountability behind it. My thing is always show your work. He said infrastructure's not off the table. But he criticized the Bears approach to seeking it. It's not that we shouldn't have a conversation around infrastructure. He said the team missed some opportunities by not being, quote, more forthcoming sooner, unquote. And he said negotiations remain alive heading into the spring legislative session. Anything can happen, he said. Literally anything can happen. This is huge. The Bears. The Bears will fund their own stadium. I don't know where they came up with the money.

[A]

Right.

[B]

I don't know how they're they're going to do this, but apparently they're going to. And then they'll figure out the tax burden. And I've never been against infrastructure. You need it. You need exit ramps and stoplights. That's what government is for. That makes everyone's life better. That's not cutting a check to hand over money to the owners of the Bears. But this is if they've come off of the ask for public stadium money and now they're not that, they're going to build this thing themselves.

[A]

Okay, where are they going to build it?

[B]

Well, he didn't say Indiana. All he said here was whether it's Chicago or Arlington Heights, which tells me it's Arlington Heights. And there were videos. There were some people noticing that Roger Goodell this weekend was touring facilities and picking up slack as he's looking at the area out in Arlington Heights. And I think they also knowing they're going to be seen, they drove him out to some spots in Indiana. But this is enormous, I think. Am I, am I wrong here?

[A]

No, it's a huge story. And given the fact that this is the first time we're hearing of that and that ability to actually finance it themselves, where has that been all along? What's changed? Where has a new influx of money come?

[B]

Or have they had the money the.

[A]

Entire time and then tried doing it through taxpayer money, which is really shitty?

[B]

Well, don't spend any money you don't have to spend until you have to.

[A]

Spend it, I guess. Yeah, right.

[B]

Figure they give it a shot, they get pushed back. They did just like what the Cubs tried with the.

[A]

I know, but that's, that's a real.

[B]

Bad look, though I was getting, giving.

[A]

Them with as bad as it's. It's gotten. And as you know, the really, the, the really negative way they've gone about trying to do this.

[B]

That's what he's saying.

[A]

If you, if you have the money all along. So, you know, I'm going to just, I'm going to go on the side that they haven't had the money and it's newfound money somehow, somewhere. Just curious to know where that came from.

[B]

Well, I have been giving them the benefit of that doubt by saying, look, the only reason they'd be doing this, it's possible they just don't have the cash. And then to raise the cash, they would have to sell a controlling interest in the franchise. They can't just sort of farm out some to private equity, flip that over for cash and that's enough to build a stadium.

[A]

Yeah, no, that seemed very reasonable and logical and like the most plausible possibility of where they were at.

[B]

So I don't know where that came from or did Pat Ryan just say, here, I can help with this. They're not talking about bonds. This isn't some sort of special debt issuance. I don't know enough about the actual legality or accounting of stadium financing to know if they were just sitting on this money the whole time and it was just a matter of deciding to use it. But, man, that's a big turn. That's a big story that they have. The Cam Buckner last night said, I'm happy now that they're saying they're going to fund the whole actual stadium portion privately. That's the right thing to do. Kudos.

[A]

All right, Kevin Warren, get on it. Let's go.

[B]

All right. Get your shovels in the ground. If you're funding it yourself, get to work.

[A]

I would get one in the ground today because that would. Because you said you're going to have shovels in the ground before 2025 ended. So this gets you 13 days late. That's it.

[B]

And the ground's about to get real cold.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Starting late today. I saw that the temperature at kickoff is going to be in the single digits Sunday night. So either Ram's going to come in early, get in a practice here. You think they would do that? I would be asking those questions of Sean McVeigh right now.

[A]

Yeah. I don't know if they will. It's interesting. I don't know if NFL teams really put that. If they give too much credence to.

[B]

I don't know if they don't. Yeah, some just want people acclimated. Just say, look, this is what it's going to feel like until you run over to the sideline and put your electric heated Coke, which they all use.

[A]

And there's heated benches and.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And it's not like these guys have never played in cold weather before, so.

[B]

No, I just. I.

[A]

Some.

[B]

Some coaches want to simulate the conditions. Maybe just your special teamers who are handling long snaps and holds and some of that stuff. You don't want it to go bad there. Boy, some of the Texans are doing last night.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Kicking it all over the place.

[A]

No, I just think guys need to dress appropriately for themselves because, you know, every guy's different how they want it. Some guys want to be out there in short sleeves, and other guys need to layer up as much as possible and just get yourself ready to go. They've all played in cold weather at some point in their lives, whether it was high school or college or definitely pro games. And we know that weather isn't a factor as far as impacting both sides.

[B]

Correct.

[A]

Of the ball and both teams.

[B]

Yeah. All the players.

[A]

No team has an advantage because of, you know, bear weather or whatnot. Gary Fencing did intercept Joe Namath's last pass in the NFL. It was Gary Fencick's first interception of his career.

[B]

And he was the Bears or the.

[A]

He is the Bears, which is insane to me. He's still the Bears interception leader at 38.

[B]

Well, it's just longevity. You've had guys with big interception seasons.

[A]

Charles Tillman is third with 36. Richie Pettibone, 37, is second. Then you got like, Donnell Wolford, 32.

[B]

Is Mark Carrier on there.

[A]

Benny McCrae at 27.

[B]

Dave.

[A]

Dave Witzel.

[B]

Dave Witzel, sure. David Witzel.

[A]

Doug Buffon is number eight at 24. You have to go see Dick Buckus, 11. Erlacher's 13. Leslie Frazier, 17 with 20.

[B]

And I know Tim Jennings have, like 10 in a season, didn't he? Didn't. They had a couple. Nathan Vasher had a couple big seasons in there, but, no, they just don't.

[A]

Mark carrier at 20.

[B]

Okay. They don't stick around long enough.

[A]

Nathan Vasher, 19. Dave Duerson, 18. Sid Luckman, 17.

[B]

What?

[A]

Well, he played both ways.

[B]

What are you talking about?

[A]

Reading the interception list right here. It says sid Luckman is 25th all time with 17.

[B]

Well, he maybe threw that.

[A]

This is defensive interceptions.

[B]

Sid Luckman.

[A]

That's what it says on Pro Football Reference.

[B]

All right. I guess I believe you.

[A]

Position? Quarterback. Defensive interception. 17. That's what it says.

[B]

All right.

[A]

He's right. He's just above Lance Briggs.

[B]

Why is that funny?

[A]

And just below Tim Jennings.

[B]

Why is that funny?

[A]

I don't know. It just is.

[B]

Okay?

[A]

Be like, hey, Lance, who's got more deceptions, you or Sid Luckman?

[B]

But I guess we'll remember this day. We remember this was the day we found out that the Bears were going to pay for their own stadium. All right, this is. I didn't think we'd get it on a little notebook here off of Politico, but I guess Cam Buckner said this in front of people at the hideout last night. I'm gonna say, here's his quote again. I'm happy. Now they're saying they're gonna fund the whole actual stadium portion privately. That's the right thing to do. Kudos to the Bears.

[A]

He was at a bar when he said this.

[B]

He was at the hideout.

[A]

Okay. All right. Do we know that this is accurate? Is this after a couple of buckets of beers?

[B]

My rule, I always drink old style.

[A]

Okay.

[B]

Or hams. I think this is one of the places that has the $2 hams. Wow. So. Yeah, and they'll do a Chicago handshake for you if you want. But, yeah, usually when I'm at the Hideout, I got a hams in my hand.

[A]

I did ask regular Google if Sid Luckman played defense. Yes, Sid Luckman did play defense.

[B]

All right.

[A]

Known for his skills as a defensive back and also played quarterback and halfback, so there you go. I didn't know he played both ways.

[B]

I guess I learned that today, too.

[A]

Good for him.

[B]

It's pretty good. I'll say. Nice Work. If you are conscious of your eating, maybe you have made a commitment in the new year to tighten up the exercise routine a little bit or eat healthier. You know, what is actually healthy for you is meat. A high protein diet. I know it's something I've been doing for a while. Is more meat than carbs. And if you want the feeling of knowing and you get that little, the notification that there's the giant Omaha steak box that has arrived on your doorstep, it's a great way to do it because then you can stay satisfied and get energy and fuel your routine. Premium prepackaged protein. If you want to look at it that way, think about that now and you start talking about the values here, delivered to your door. Omaha Steaks. Handcrafted USDA certified tender steaks. Gourmet burgers. Versatile chicken, pork and more. An unmatched variety of high quality proteins that everyone loves. And right now you can taste the difference and get an extra 30, $35 off@omaha steaks.com with the promo code Bernstein at checkout B E R N S T E I N. Just my Last name at [e-mail] Last night I went down to the freezer in the basement and I pulled out three of the big Omaha Steaks gourmet burgers and I made patty melts. I bought dark rye, good, really intense dark rye. And I grilled the onions and I caramelized the little edges of the onions and I got the real American cheese, not the individually wrapped slices. The actual. It doesn't say processed cheese something. It's actual. The good expensive American cheese. And I made idealized, perfect patty melts.

[A]

How many did you make?

[B]

Three of them.

[A]

And who ate those?

[B]

I ate all three of them.

[A]

Did you really?

[B]

I cut them in half, so I had six.

[A]

How big are these burgers? Quarter pound or half pound?

[B]

Big enough. I don't know. And I flatten them out a little and I salt and pepper them and I do in the pan because I want to kind of smash them down a little bit and have it all and then toast up the.

[A]

Rye bread.

[B]

It's so good. And then I melt it down there. I put the COVID over the pan to melt the cheese. I grill the onions first and then I melt the cheese over the grilled onions so they all stick on there under the cheese.

[A]

It smell like Comiskey park in here.

[B]

No, well, that, that's. But. But that beef. And then I. I'm gonna save some of the beef fat because I like to make Scrambled eggs in it.

[A]

Oh, yeah, yeah. It also puts them on your face.

[B]

I sure like war paint.

[A]

Well, yeah, sure like war paint. Yes, exactly.

[B]

Yeah, I could do that. Come in here with that all. Maybe a little gravy on there too. Some ketchup, some mustard.

[A]

Save it for the post game show.

[B]

If the Bears.

[A]

Bears beat the Rams.

[B]

Yeah. Then I'll just smear Omaha Steaks like burger on my face. I think it works. I like it. So if you want the giant box of awesome meat burgers, chicken steaks, unrivaled quality and variety, the 100% satisfaction guarantee, every steak perfectly aged to maximize tenderness. It's grass fed grain finished beef from Omaha Steaks, America's original butcher since 1917. Here's what you do. You can let Omaha Steaks deliver these high quality proteins right to your door. Visit Omaha Steaks.com get an extra $35 off with promo code Bernstein at checkout. That's O M A H A steaks.com promo code Bernstein terms apply. See site for details.

[A]

All right, who leads the Bears all time in pick six? Number one is with eight.

[B]

Tillman.

[A]

Charles Tillman.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Number two with five.

[B]

Number two with five pick sixes. It's not Fencik. It's probably. It's Wolford.

[A]

It's Lance Briggs.

[B]

Oh, really?

[A]

Number three tied for third with four. There's two guys. Benny McCray is one.

[B]

Doug. Nope. Damn.

[A]

Mike Brown.

[B]

Mike Brown. All right. Okay.

[A]

And I was looking at forced fumbles. Yeah. Who leads in force? Fumbles.

[B]

Hampton.

[A]

Also Charles Tillman.

[B]

Really?

[A]

With 42?

[B]

Well, it's. I mean.

[A]

And Richard Dent is second with 33. And then from there it goes down to 19.

[B]

Okay. I knew he's famous for it, but I didn't know he's the all time Bears all time leader.

[A]

It's not even close. The old peanut punch.

[B]

Yeah. Hall of Fame. It should be a Hall of Famer.

[A]

Oh, yeah, for sure.

[B]

If you talk about a game changer and you talk. That's a guy right there as a cover two corner.

[A]

Yep.

[B]

For what he was asked to do. One of the best ever to do it.

[A]

Yep.

[B]

He wasn't. He wasn't asked to do what other corners do. If you actually evaluate him based on what he was asked to do, there is an absolute, candidacy, a very, very real argument that can be made for his enshrinement.

[A]

Hall of fame player and hall of Fame person on top of it.

[B]

I saw something yesterday that I need to reconcile because it made me. First I was angry and then I was kind of disappointed and then I went back to a little sour about it for some for reasons. So let me just present it to you. This is from Yahoo. Sports. Dick Vital, at his core, is a sports fan. He watches so many games across so many leagues, well beyond his role as ESPN's most famous basketball college commentator or college basketball commentator. That meant he was paying attention to the Chicago Bears wild comeback win over the Green Bay packers on Saturday. And Vital also saw what came afterward when in his post game speech in the locker room, Bears coach Ben Johnson delivered an NSFW message f the Packers. Vital shared his thoughts on X on Sunday. Here's what Vital tweeted Total classless all caps attitude in winning by Ben Johnson, coach of the Chicago Bears in the fab comeback to beat the Packers. Main theme should have been the gutty comeback, not the childish F Packers comments. Here's the thing. I am in between here. I'm a fan of Dick Vital, the guy. I think sometimes the broadcasting can be a little much and the style can be a little much. I wasn't always a huge fan of him as a broadcaster, as a dude, he's a prince. And I like him a lot. I like Dick.

[A]

Mm, you do?

[B]

I do. I'm on record as saying I like Dick. He's a really good guy. I don't like this take. And here's why. As some have already pointed out, some more angrily than others, Dick Vital made a career out of pumping up Bobby Knight. He was his hype man. No matter what was going on. He was the general Robert Montgomery Knight could do no wrong that this, this was the avatar of coaching. This was the everything. And you just can't. You can't. You can't be the world's biggest champion of Bobby Knight and then also take offense to the head coach of a professional football team daring to drop an F bomb, talking about his, the team's primordial rival. Because, come on here, what are we talking about? Your guy, Bobby Knight, the perfect coach, the greatest coach, the infallible Bobby Knight who choked a player in a practice, who made jokes about rape. Everything. You want to run down the list of all the other boorish behavior was.

[A]

The chair throwing incident, was that one time thing, or was that multiple times.

[B]

He threw a chair? The little slights and the mean asides and the petty cruelties that he so enjoyed. And Bobby Knight could be charming and funny. He could be hilarious. Like a lot of mean people can also be really, really funny. But come on, that doesn't work. That's the essence right there. As Terry used to say, that's the essence. And now, after all that time being. Being the biggest honk out there for Bobby Knight, now you're pearl clutching over Ben Johnson going meatball in a way that everybody loves, and it's going to be nothing but fun from here on in. Come on. No, no, no, no, no, no. Not okay. Not okay. And I don't know. I would think that he would see this before tweeting something like that, but I know Dick has been through a lot in his elderly years. He's been through, what, two bouts of cancer right now? He's still a huge fan. I know he wants to get back, and he's not done broadcasting yet, and I really do wish him the best. But this is a take you probably want to reconsider or rephrase and just acknowledge that he helped make his name in doing college basketball. And it isn't just Knight. It's Krzyzewski, too. Another guy who's treated people like absolute garbage. And this whole idea of the F bombs, where you had everything wonderful to say about Mike Krzyzewski, maybe even more so than Knight for decades, literal decades, in that bully pulpit when Krzyzewski was the guy calling student reporters into his office so he could call them motherfuckers. How dare you. And for daring to criticize his program, for daring to give ratings to his players performances, he brought in student journalists and screamed at him for criticizing his team. And I've got the transcript of it if you want to go. Look, if you've got a problem with F bombs, got a problem with that. He wasn't saying Mike Krzyevsky wasn't saying F Carolina, F State. He was saying F you to student journalists on his campus, where he claimed to be a professor before he was a coach. I didn't know that there were other professors running around campus MF ing their students, but that. That was. That was Vital's guy. So just. Just be careful when you're wading into this end of the pool right now.

[A]

Yeah, I don't quite understand all the.

[B]

The.

[A]

The news that this has. Has brought up all the reaction. I saw a tweet from Olin Cruz the other day, and he said that coaches have been talking shit forever in locker rooms.

[B]

It's just.

[A]

It's recorded now. And I don't think Ben Johnson does this for the fans. He doesn't do it for social media. Ben Johnson does it for the players. He does it for his team. He does it for the staff that you don't see on Sundays. He does it for the staff that names don't get recognized or paid the millions of dollars. He does that for the team, the organization. Now, I know it gets recorded by social media, and the Bears put it out there because it's great to get clicks. I get how all of that works. But Ben's not doing it for a show. He's doing it for his team and for the players and for what they put every week and every day into preparation and what they do to their bodies to play that game. And so if you want to be fired up and say, fuck the packers, the only people that should be bothered by that are the Packers. That's what the rivalry means. They should save that for their next regular season game next season. And they can use that in that week of preparation. Say, do you remember when Ben Johnson said, fuck the Packers. We're going to kill those motherfuckers this week?

[B]

And Johnson knows that, right?

[A]

And that's what it should be for. And everyone else to be all upset about it and stop swearing. And it's classless. First of all, it's football. It's a violent game meant to hurt the opponent, physically hurt the opponent. And that's a locker room. And you're getting.

[B]

It's privileged for you, and it's their job.

[A]

It's privileged for you to see in the locker room what happens. It's great for us as fans to see this now. This is not normal. It's normal now. But growing up, for all these years that we watched Football Day, we never saw inside the locker room. You heard stories from reporters. You got to see it firsthand as a reporter. It wasn't meant for the fans. That's not meant for us. So for people to react like this, it's insane to me.

[B]

Well, what.

[A]

I like to be offended by swearing.

[B]

I know.

[A]

Like, come on, man. Seriously, this world right in, like, Dan. Like, I. I had. I had one guy on X say, hey, stop swearing so much on the post game show. He's like, you're better than that. So I'm like, all right, so I'm going to go look. And I looked at his feed. The very first post I saw was all full of swear words from him. I'm like, come on, dude.

[B]

Like, he's probably just messing with you.

[A]

No, he wasn't. He wasn't. He wasn't. But it's like, don't be offended by that.

[B]

There.

[A]

There are so many things in this world that you can spend your Energy. Being offended and bothered by that. We should speak out against a football coach swearing in the locker room to his players should not be one of those things.

[B]

That's why I liked the response from Jacob Fry, the mayor of Minneapolis, when he said to ice, get the fuck out of Minneapolis. And I was like, oh, my God, he used the F word. And he, in response to that, said, okay, on the one hand, you have killing someone, and on the other hand, you have using a word, killing someone, using a word.

[A]

And have any of those people that spoke out against him saying, fuck, have they said anything about ICE killing American citizens?

[B]

I don't know.

[A]

Right? Probably not. They probably haven't had any outrage over that.

[B]

Well, the other thing that bugs me, too, is that when somebody said, well, Ben Johnson, you can do it, but that should be behind closed doors. First of all, knowing it would get out, are you gonna be angrier when you hear about it later? Because it would get out. Are you kidding?

[A]

There's no video of it, but it's like, oh, my God, Ben Johnson told us players that, fuck the packers, and he hates those guys.

[B]

Of course it would get out. Of course it would. So he is skipping a step is all that's happening.

[A]

Putting it out there for you.

[B]

He's skipping a step, otherwise he'd be, hey, did you hear what Ben Johnson said? I heard. He said, is this true, Ben, Ben, Ben, Ben, is this true? Did you really say that? Yeah, I said it. I'd say it again, but he said he's skipping a step. He's just saying it. Okay.

[A]

And on top of that, Dan, another. Another thing, just to put this to bed, the Bears deliberately, in their HBO hard knock show, didn't want any swearing, wanted it to be very family and very clean.

[B]

Wasn't that because Virginia was still alive.

[A]

And McCaskey's as a whole? Yes. But McCaskey has no issue with what Ben Johnson said. Yeah, we talked about it. We're on the same page. We're aligned. I saw another great tweet from our old guy, Greg Gabriel. He. He said his first. His second day in the job with the Bears, he sat down, he was in his office, and McCaskey came in and sat down with him and started talking about the Bears packers rivalry. He spent 17 years with the Giants prior to coming to the Bears. So, you know, he knew the NFC east, obviously knew the Bears and Packers. But second day on the job, boss comes in his office and sits down and says, hey, I want to tell you about the Bears and Packers. So Come on, let's. Let's relax a little bit. That we're going to criticize a grown ass man, the head coach of an NFL football team, after a game like that for swearing.

[B]

Yeah, boy. And as much as Ditka is venerated here, could you. Could you imagine.

[A]

Oh, my God.

[B]

Your sensibilities, could you imagine?

[A]

Yeah. If any of that was recorded, anything that was done, any of the shit.

[B]

That was talked, that was real.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Like that distaste, that animosity was real and personal.

[A]

Where was Dick vital when Mike Ditka gave the finger across the field of the camera? That was famously caught on as a famous photograph that's cherished and beloved.

[B]

Every bar has that picture somewhere.

[A]

Everyone loves it.

[B]

Like, oh, look at that guy.

[A]

He's one of us.

[B]

It's like the Johnny Cash one. It's the same thing.

[A]

Like, yeah, he's one of us. Like, come on, man, relax. This. This criticism of Ben Johnson is insane.

[B]

He's the head coach of the Bears and people are mad at the head coach of the Bears for swearing about the Green Bay packers or they're mad at him for not liking the Green Bay Packers. What are we doing? What are we pretending to be mad about?

[A]

Like, if he'd have done that, he.

[B]

Should never really do that.

[A]

Right? Like, if he'd have done that to Matt Lafleur, like, went up to him and like, fuck you. You guys suck your stupid children. Right?

[B]

Like, there are lines here, right?

[A]

This is not one of them.

[B]

No, this is well within them. This is. You know what this is? It's sports. And it's okay.

[A]

It is okay.

[B]

Cause they're. If you really. And I think your point is well taken, if you have these strong feelings about impropriety and injustice, there are some really, really good causes and some actual helpless people that need you.

[A]

Yeah. And swearing is not one of them.

[B]

Don't worry about swearing.

[A]

Right. And you know what? And if swearing is not your thing, that's fine too. You don't have to swear.

[B]

No, no one's making you swear. But if you're. If you really are this unhappy about it, pick up a whistle and get on a signal chat and see how you can actually help people. Go to one of these parties where you put a pamphlet together with immigrants rights on them and in case it in plastic and have a whistle and go into neighborhoods and hand these things out. Go help some schools with their daily dismissals.

[A]

Right. Or make sure that, you know, if it comes up or you want to go out there and Talk about Renee Goode, who was shot in Minneapolis. And then the administration comes out and lies, lies, lies, lies about what happened, of what we saw with our own. You want to be upset about something? Be upset about that. A U.S. citizen shot in the face by a member of ICE and then.

[B]

He called her a fucking bitch right.

[A]

After he shot her. And the administration comes out, Christy Noem, Donald Trump, J.D. vance, saying that he was. She was trying to run him over with her car. Called her a lunatic, an agitator, a professional agitator.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

As she waved the cars by and backed up and turned her wheel to turn away and got shot in the face. But you want to be upset because Ben Johnson said, fuck the Green Bay Packers.

[B]

I'd say pick your spots. Can I ask a question that has been on my mind and I've been meaning to ask it in this forum. Have we. And this is a good thing. Have we experienced an overall noticeable increase in quality of the music that NFL broadcasts used to go to commercial? Is it just me that where every broadcast now has bangers going to break? It isn't just like the Fox injury music. It isn't just canned stuff. ESPN been really good with it. Amazon and whatever, I guess they've got the rights to whatever published music. I've heard everything. I've heard Eric B. And Rakim. I've heard REM and say what you want to. I heard it last night. There is no way I would ever say anything nice about Ted Nugent. But the Stranglehold riff is awesome.

[A]

I'm really so. I thought this was like a music question. So I'm really glad that this is where it went because I had the same thought in my head last night.

[B]

Watching the game, but it's every game.

[A]

But what stood out last night, though, was some of the bad country music they used. And I was like, I was thinking, is Monday Night Football the only one that uses bad country? Like, there was a few times. And I know I love country music. That's like my genre, I guess.

[B]

They've got a guy who's doing it and every truck now. I don't know if there's an arms race going on where, like the person in the truck for one network is like, you know what? I'm gonna go off script a little bit and I'm not gonna just use Eye of the Tiger or whatever it is. And here's this.

[A]

I like it. No, I like it.

[B]

Am I right, though?

[A]

No, you are right. It has changed.

[B]

It sounds to me. Or here's the Other thing, it may just be that they're aiming at a 56 year old white person. I don't know if they're just deciding we want. Cause an algorithm can find the right playlist, but much of this sounds like my algorithm. Like, there's just stuff that I didn't think about that I wouldn't go out of my way to. I'm like, oh, yeah, how about that? Like, listen, they're using that riff or they're. It's. It's in whether or not they're making a comment on the game. You know, like Chris Tannehill stuff. Yeah, that kind of thing. But I just think it's really cool.

[A]

Yeah, no, you're not wrong. You're not wrong in that. Music has. Yeah, the music has changed.

[B]

NFL bumper music has gotten way better.

[A]

And you know, it's. I'm glad you brought this up too, because I was thinking about the, the halftime show this year with, with Bad Bunny. And I don't, I don't dislike Bad Bunny, but I'm not like a huge, like, I don't know his library. I couldn't name songs, but I've heard things and I say, oh, it's. You know, I like that it's enjoyable. And Bruno Mars has a new album coming out and he just dropped his new single called I Just Might. It's a banger. Yeah, it's so good.

[B]

He's great.

[A]

And I just thought, but why can't we just have it as a Bruno Mars halftime show? I know there have been some great ones over the last 59 years. He's been one of the best.

[B]

Yeah, I like Bad Bunny just because he makes people mad by existing.

[A]

I like that aspect of this show that's coming up. Yes.

[B]

Actually, Bruno Mars is actually named Hernandez and is a quarter Jewish, so he'd make people mad too.

[A]

He's so great though, in his halftime show is because you need people that entertaining. Oh, and by the way, we have an answer. I know, I should have just.

[B]

Is this the Sid Luckman answer again?

[A]

No, it's not. This is what we talked about yesterday with Snoop Dogg and I should just ask my wife when there's like pop culture things. Oh, what?

[B]

He said yes.

[A]

She texted me because she finished listening to for Progress this morning.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

In case you wanted to know, Snoop said, I'm high as a motherfucker right now. That's what got bleeped out. That's what they bleep.

[B]

That's why he said, you have me out here too long.

[A]

Right I'm high as a motherfucker right now. That's what he said.

[B]

Okay, well, I don't. I mean, I expect that to be.

[A]

The case, but that's what he said. And then when we were talking about Ryan Murphy. Yes. And I couldn't remember what series he had done.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

The horror series American Horror Story.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

Is the thing that he'd done. And then apparently Glee and Nip Tuck was his first one, which I didn't. I haven't watched Nip Tuck. I never watched it. I heard it's great, though. And I've never watched any of the American Horror Story stuff. There might have been one that I watched about a killer clown, because I like those.

[B]

You like killer clowns?

[A]

I do. Yeah. I like it. Style. That's. That sounds good.

[B]

And John Gacy.

[A]

Oh, yeah, I was.

[B]

He was a great guy.

[A]

Yeah, we used to know him. He was a family friend. And then we never watched. Oh, no. I watched a few episodes of Glee here and there, but, yeah, never regularly, but that's what he did. So there. Our pop culture expert gave us the information.

[B]

All right. You have a bunch of answers. I have a question.

[A]

Okay. I have more answers.

[B]

I have a question. How awesome was that Bears game on Saturday?

[A]

Oh, my God.

[B]

Seriously, How. How. How awesome was that game? Like, that's. That was so great.

[A]

Yeah, it's funny. It's really funny. Obviously, you know, players. Players love it and enjoy it. Obviously, they celebrated it, but to hear players yesterday talk about it, it's like they're. They're. They've moved on already. You know what I mean? Like, they're.

[B]

I haven't.

[A]

They've enjoyed it that night.

[B]

I'm not going to move on to, like.

[A]

Like, this game starts, like, hearing Tremaine Edmonds, like, they don't have that luxury. That's the thing.

[B]

I do.

[A]

I know, but they don't.

[B]

I've got the rest of my life to talk about.

[A]

Like, Jermaine Edmonds was like, we went out to dinner. We chilled out. He's like, could you believe that happened? That's what we did. And then he woke up the next day and it's like, all right, let's get ready. Okay.

[B]

Good for them. I'm glad that's what they're doing.

[A]

I'm not. I know, I know.

[B]

I'm not.

[A]

I know. And you shouldn't.

[B]

I just find myself kind of drifting. That was awesome.

[A]

So what I hope this does for you, and I hope it carries through the week, because I've already. I'M good. I'm onto the Rams.

[B]

Okay. I'll get there soon and I hope Tim Jenkins coming up today on Forward Progress. We gotta.

[A]

I hope it carries you through the week, though, so. So you're not getting all antsy about.

[B]

I'm not.

[A]

The anticipation of this game, so. Okay.

[B]

I'm not yet.

[A]

So was it just because it's the packers, you think?

[B]

I don't know. It was just. It was so great.

[A]

Well, of course it was so great.

[B]

And they're the way after the game and Caleb grating cheese.

[A]

You know, I've seen so many videos of, like, 10 minutes after the game, the stadium still passed. Like, no one left.

[B]

Why do you. Where do you have to go that's better than that.

[A]

I know. It's great, though.

[B]

Where do you have to go that's better than that?

[A]

But just, like, the idea of. And every team has faced this and every sport where people are walking out early because the game's over and I want to beat traffic.

[B]

Pittsburgh last night.

[A]

Yeah. And people just leave, but it's like, no one left. And it's been 10 minutes. It's been 15 minutes, and it's. The stadium still packed.

[B]

It's great. Yeah. I don't know why you'd be in a hurry to leave that feeling.

[A]

A buddy of mine in town, we coached. Coached a couple years together. Youth football. He texted me the next day, and with pictures of his kids. He took his kids to the game. And I'm like, you lucky. That, like, how great. How great was that? But it's, you know, 21 to 3 at halftime, and picture the kids, like, in a corridor having snacks and eating, and they. They didn't look happy. They looked miserable, you know? And Dad's like, we're sticking it out. And they were there for that.

[B]

Did you see Parkins?

[A]

I saw a tweet early on he. A pregame thing that he tweeted that I retweeted. That was really cool.

[B]

All right, so. So I knew he. So this is hilarious. Parkins calls me, okay. It's like. I don't know. Inactives had just come out, so it was probably like 80 minutes before the game.

[A]

Okay? So he's like, four drinks in.

[B]

And Beth says, your phone is ringing. I'm, like, ringing, ringing. Or I got a text. She goes, no, it's ringing, and it's Parkins, okay? Like, hey, hey, Daddy. No. He goes. He's like, are you here?

[A]

Oh, God, no, you're not there.

[B]

I said. I said, no, you know me. He's Like, I knew it. I knew you weren't here. Like, okay, what's going on? He goes, one of my friends just came up to me and said that he saw you in line for a porta potty. And he said he's 100% sure that you are in line for the porta potty.

[A]

So he knew you weren't there. He was confirming his friend.

[B]

I told him there's no way Bernstein. He's like, no, it's Bernstein. He's wearing a Tulane jacket. It has to be him. Wow. Because it has to be him. He's in line for the porta potty wearing a two lane jacket.

[A]

There's a guy stealing your bit.

[B]

Right. So Parkins called me to confirm that he was right, that I was not there. Like, no, I'm not there. And he's like, yeah, I flew in. I had to fly in for this.

[A]

That's great.

[B]

And I said, please tell me you're not wearing any foam rubber on your head.

[A]

He was.

[B]

And then he goes, I'm gonna text you a picture.

[A]

Was he really?

[B]

And you tell me what you think.

[A]

Was it the cheese grater?

[B]

He texted me a picture, and he's got the cheese grater on his head. So I texted him back. What did I say? I said something like, I should never have doubted. And then you can see Parkins when Caleb is being interviewed late. He's in the background.

[A]

Is he really?

[B]

They got his head. Yeah. It's hysterical.

[A]

That's great.

[B]

Oh, and I sent you. Did you watch the video I sent you late last night of Monongai on the water bottle?

[A]

Oh, yeah, I've seen. Oh, I saw that.

[B]

I hadn't seen that.

[A]

Yeah, he has it backwards and he squirts it out. Yeah. And then Luther Burden about had a heart attack.

[B]

The best part. Okay, so if you haven't seen this, Kyle Manuguy picks up the squeeze bottle.

[A]

The water bottle, Gatorade, squirt bottle. Yep.

[B]

Typical. And he holds it up to his mouth and he squeezes it. And he had the bottle upside down, so this spray of water comes out the backside of it. And he tries to play it cool. Manon guy's like, oh, yeah, you know, whatever. But Burden saw it. Burden is absolutely dying. He's laughing so hard. This is the fourth quarter, and Burden is. He's like, man, oh, my God. Oh, my God. And Manungai has one of the little, like, balaclavas, the little.

[A]

It looks like a scuba suit.

[B]

Head cover.

[A]

Head cover.

[B]

And it's the white one. And he puts it up over his face, like, tries to hide from it. He puts it over his face and he's like, we'll talk about that after the game. He says to Luther, he's like, we're gonna talk about that. We're gonna talk about that.

[A]

Luther wants to talk about it now.

[B]

Exactly. Luther's like, oh, no, we're talking about that right now. Did you see what you just did? I. Truth be told, I've never seen it before.

[A]

Never ever.

[B]

In, like, youth hockey, they all love their squirt bottles, their water. I've never, ever, ever seen that. I thought, I saw, I thought in with hockey, with everything they do with, like, trying to hit the bottle off the thing, the puck, and. And I've never seen.

[A]

We've all seen them. They're like the 32 ounce Gatorade squeeze bottle with the orange tops.

[B]

I've seen it done to someone else. I have seen somebody put it up to their mouth and on purpose squirted at somebody else.

[A]

Oh, sure.

[B]

But I've never seen somebody actually trying to take a drink and hold it upside down and miss their own mouth by 180 degrees.

[A]

It was great.

[B]

I had never seen that before.

[A]

It was really great.

[B]

And. And Burton, it was laughing. So the genuine comedy in that moment was fantastic.

[A]

It was really good.

[B]

Yeah. And Manung guy's so adorable too. You know, he's like this. You know, there's this, like, little gerbil covered in muscles and he's just fun. And he was like, burton fell over on the bench.

[A]

It was. Yeah. I mean, could you. I mean, you would die, though, if you saw that. If your buddy legitimately did that.

[B]

Of course you would. In the middle of the game and they're sitting on the bench, on the heated bench. Oh, my God, it was so funny. That was fantastic.

[A]

One other thing, too. A few. Several people on social media and on YouTube. YouTube comments. Yes, I did. I told you that someone would correctly identify the actor I was thinking of. Yeah, Mario Cristobal.

[B]

Yeah, somebody got it right away.

[A]

It came through multiple times. And it's Danny Houston. Okay, so that was the guy I was thinking of. I knew someone would have it. And it came through immediately once the show posted, and it's come through multiple times now. Emails, social media, YouTube. So thank you for saving my brain. It's Danny Houston, the actor. And when the Miami movie is made, after they beat Indiana next Monday, Mario Cristobal will be played by Danny Houston.

[B]

The football playoffs are here. My bookie is where you turn bets into bankroll. Everybody is betting with the NFL in this do or die mode. College football's down to the final two. Super bowl is around the corner. NBA is going. College basketball is going. If there ever was a time to get in the game, it's right now. And my bookie makes it it ridiculously easy to play because it's one wallet, one account. You bet the shred. You could lie, bet the second half. You hit the casino during commercials. It's all in one place. You've got the power, whatever you're comfortable doing. If you like parlays, if you like the prop bets like I do, or maybe you just like money lines and spreads, go to MyBookie AG. Use the promo code DBU for this show. Dan Bernstein unfiltered. And your first bet's covered up to 500 bucks. If it doesn't hit you use your bet back. Bonus token, you run it back. So don't just watch the playoffs. Make them pay. Bet anything, anywhere, anytime, only at my bookie. That's going to do it for us. Today's forward progress is going to feature a quarterbacking guru, Tim Jenkins. We have a lot to discuss with him and we got a ton planned throughout this week to get you ready for Bears and Rams on both of these shows and a whole lot more. This has been Dan Bernstein Unfiltered and it's brought to you in partnership with my bookie, Dan Bernstein Unfiltered. Unfiltered on 312Sports.