Chicago Bears - that's what good leadership sounds like

Summary

Dan Bernstein Unfiltered

Episode: "Chicago Bears – that's what good leadership sounds like"
Date: January 22, 2026
Host: Dan Bernstein with Neil
Podcast: Dan Bernstein Unfiltered on 312 Sports

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Episode Overview

The central theme of this episode is a refreshing change in leadership and competence displayed by the Chicago Bears during their end-of-season press conference, breaking a longstanding pattern of organizational dysfunction and confusion. Dan Bernstein and Neil delve into how new head coach Ben Johnson’s attitude and forthrightness, along with general manager Ryan Poles’ alignment, have begun to shift the culture. The hosts also branch out to discuss Chicago’s young sports stars, Cubs projections, and a fun run through Oscar nominations, all delivered with sharp wit and signature Chicago sports banter.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Bears End-of-Season Press Conference: A Shift in Tone

• Tradition of Frustration:
  • Historically, Bears fans have come to dread the end-of-season press conference due to mixed messages, lack of accountability, and organizational confusion.
• A New Day with Ben Johnson:
  • “It was incredibly refreshing to hear yesterday’s end of season Bears press conference…when you can have the coach and the general manager stand in front of the assembled media representing all of us as Fans and not sound stupid. That's really the victory.” – Dan Bernstein [04:30]
  • Ben Johnson refused to dwell on exceeded expectations, framing 2025’s NFC North-winning campaign as “not good enough.”
  • “Ultimately we came up short. We're one of the 31 other teams that fell short. If anything, that just rejuvenates me and makes me want to push harder and longer…It's back to the bottom again, and we got to build this thing back up.” – Ben Johnson [11:03]
• Alignment Between GM & Head Coach:
  • GM Ryan Poles repeatedly referenced “what coach said,” signaling cohesion and mutual respect.
  • The press conference avoided the past pitfalls of blame-shifting and confusion seen in other franchises (e.g., Buffalo Bills’ recent PR disaster).

2. Competency and Quiet Confidence

• Contrast with Previous Regimes:
  • “Previous head coaches who had kind of an unexpected year would have talked about all the good things they did, would have lived on how great it was…Ben Johnson, plain and simple, wasn’t good enough. It starts over.” – Neil [12:51]
  • The new leadership is focused, self-critical, and driven by high standards rather than self-congratulation.
• Press Conference Structure Praised:
  • Only Johnson and Poles addressed the media, keeping the messaging streamlined and focused on football.

3. Assistant Coaches Attracting Interest

• Offensive assistant Declan Doyle and DBs coach Al Harris being interviewed elsewhere signals the broader league’s respect for the Bears’ coaching improvements (even if “fraud” and “luck” narratives linger).
• Poles and Johnson’s steadying influence credited for this interest.

4. Ryan Poles on Close Games and Roster Building

• “I heard the whole Cardiac Bear thing. I'd rather not be the Cardiac Bears, but if that's what that game needs, then that's what you need to do. …I don't think that's a characteristic that you should ever shy away from.” – Ryan Poles [14:20]
• While the “Cardiac Bears” label isn’t the preferred brand of football, he values the poise and ability to perform in tight situations.
• Poles echoed the importance of the offensive line, highlighting improvements made through trades, free agency, and the lasting impact even amid injuries.

5. Addressing Injuries and Offseason Challenges

• Injury updates: Jalen Johnson’s wrist not deemed serious, but Ozzie Tripillo’s avulsed patella tendon is a significant, potentially career-altering setback (“deep into next year,” per Poles).
• Consensus that the roster will look “very, very different” heading into 2026.

6. Chicago’s Young Sports Star “Boy Band” (Fun Segment)

• The hosts riff on Caleb Williams, Pete Crow-Armstrong (PCA), Connor Bedard, and Modest Buzelis as a “Mount Rushmore” or “boy band” of emerging Chicago sports stars [24:03].
• Imagined as a sitcom or superhero team living together, each with quirky roles and “superpowers” – a humorous highlight demonstrating Chicago fans’ hopes for a new era of homegrown talent.

7. Cubs Offseason & ZiPS Projections

• Cubs projections for 2026 have them in the low 90s win range, setting expectations for another playoff run.
• Discussed individual positional projections and upside, especially for Michael Bush, PCA, and Tyler Austin [43:14].
• Dan and Neil reflect on how baseball projections can’t predict crucial streaks (e.g., Brewers’ 14-game win streak), emphasizing the role of unpredictability in sports [44:40].

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Bears’ Progress:
  • “It's a small thing, but if you've really gone through it every single year for so long, …it shouldn't be a luxury to have intelligence and competence.” – Dan Bernstein [17:34]
• On Good vs. Past Leadership:
  • “To have a working relationship built on confidence and trust…There are counterparts of Ryan Poles that would be envious of a press conference like that.” – Dan Bernstein [16:39]
• Ben Johnson’s Reset Mentality:
  • “You can look at [2025] and say, hey, it's a great start. Well, the truth is, it was really hard to accomplish what we accomplished, and it wasn't good enough.” – Ben Johnson [11:03]
• On Ice Cream Shop Sitcom with Chicago Athletes:
  • “They all live together…it's like a reality show follows their lives…I like boy band. I think boy band’s the way to go.” – Dan & Neil [27:06–30:04]
• On Postseason Drama:
  • “As exciting as it was, you don't choose that life [Cardiac Bears] because it's not one you want to live. It's not a healthy one for anybody involved.” – Dan Bernstein [15:06]
• On Baseball’s Unpredictability:
  • “The one thing that's always important to remember with any of these projection systems is sequencing. Timing of things in sports is nearly impossible to predict.” – Dan Bernstein [44:40]
• On Pitch Labs:
  • “I love pitch labs staffed by elves…they actually climb up on the pitcher's back and grab his hand and move his hand around.” – Dan Bernstein [48:21]

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Important Segment Timestamps

• [04:30] – Overview of why Bears’ end-of-season presser has traditionally been dreaded
• [11:03] – Ben Johnson on “coming up short” and the reset mentality
• [14:20] – Ryan Poles on not wanting to be the “Cardiac Bears”
• [16:01] – Poles repeatedly aligns his answers with “what coach said” (Ben Johnson)
• [19:14] – Poles discusses achievements with the offensive line and team-building
• [21:08] – Injury updates and long-term consequences
• [24:03] – [30:04] – Creative riff on Chicago’s boy band/mount rushmore of young talent
• [34:35 – 47:26] – Deep dive into Cubs’ ZiPS projections and discussion of baseball’s unpredictability
• [48:21] – Humorous discussion about “pitch labs staffed by elves”
• [51:09 – 55:02] – Recap and reactions to the 2026 Oscar nominations

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Tone and Style

Dan and Neil maintain a sharp, humorous, and self-aware voice throughout, poking fun at sports clichés, longstanding organizational dysfunctions in Chicago, and current sports media tropes. The tone is equal parts skeptical and hopeful, as the duo note the genuine improvement in Bears leadership while acknowledging the city’s scars from years of disappointment.

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Summary Takeaway

For the first time in years, Bears fans can walk away from an end-of-season press conference feeling seen, heard, and, most importantly, respected by their team leadership. Dan Bernstein and Neil celebrate this turning point—not with giddy optimism, but with the measured satisfaction of fans who know how rare such moments are in Chicago. Along the way, they provide context, humor, and holistic perspectives on the broader Chicago sports landscape.

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Recommended if you want to:

• Understand what good sports leadership sounds like in action
• Get insight into the Bears’ evolving culture and offseason priorities
• Enjoy sharp, Chicago-centric sports banter touching the Bears, Cubs, young stars, and more
• Laugh at some of the more creative riffs in Chicago sports media today

Transcript

[Neil]

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[Dan Bernstein]

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[Neil]

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[Dan Bernstein]

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[Neil]

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[Dan Bernstein]

Dan Bernstein, Unfiltered Unfiltered on 312 sports filtered brought to you in partnership with my bookie and by our friends at Giordano's. Giordano's is on a roll with its tribute pizzas. They're honoring the legendary Derrick Rose on the occasion of his jersey retirement with a brand new limited edition piece, stacking two layers of Giordano's signature pepperoni and topping it all off with a drizzle of homemade Calabrian. Hot honey. You're gonna need some hot honey. It's getting cold here the next couple days. So I would tell you this. If you're listening to the LA Rams, fill your socks with cayenne pepper and your shorts. Fill your shorts, your socks. Put a book on your head and cayenne pepper in your socks. I still can't get over that. I don't understand how did we let that go and just be okay? I did see that Kaylin Kahler posted a video where she went into the locker room and was sort of picking through and pointing out the socks on the floor that were all bright orange because they had been covered in cayenne pepper. That's not why my shirt is orange today. This is the aforementioned tangerine fishing shirt. When I, I went through all of the colors that nobody else wanted and figured that I would look like I would be in leg irons and shackles being led to a cell or into solitary confinement.

[Neil]

A zoom call with your judge.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yes. That's perfect. My parole officer or the judge handling my case. That's fine.

[Neil]

Did you speaking about the, about the weather to this storm that's coming through. I was hearing a little bit on weather and the Weather Channel. Not good stuff. If you're in the south and then particularly our friends down in Mississippi.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah.

[Neil]

For the Senior bowl that's going on this weekend. Well, and it's going to be, it's going to be dangerous, dangerous weather situations down there. So hope everyone is prepared. And you know, they're saying the possibility of being without electricity for a week.

[Dan Bernstein]

Well, you don't need electricity for the Senior Bowl. Let's see how much they love football. Damn it. That'll be.

[Neil]

People that live down there might want electricity.

[Dan Bernstein]

They haven't had electricity down there forever. They're fine. They haven't had education or electricity or roads or anything like that. They'll be okay.

[Neil]

But I just think of our good friend Matt Miller who's going down to the Senior Bowl. I know Matt Bowen was always down there for the Senior bowl, so yeah.

[Dan Bernstein]

Matt, Matt Bowen's going through his giant stack of college offers for his kid right now.

[Neil]

That's all he's doing for him. That's awesome.

[Dan Bernstein]

He's busy. He's busy going. I think it's been like Nebraska, Ohio State. I think he's just.

[Neil]

I think you read one letter, have one beer, read a letter, have one beer, go through that bush. That bush light £30.

[Dan Bernstein]

Bush heavies. Bush heavies. Probably. I guess he's celebrating. He's splurging on those. Yeah.

[Neil]

That's awesome, man. I saw that on Instagram. Very cool.

[Dan Bernstein]

So this is usually a day of misery if you're a Bears fan. The day that we sort through the post season Bears press conference, when the season's over, they've had their exit interviews and they meet the media, it's almost always misery because usually the people in charge of the Bears come out and they make us feel like they aren't watching the same games and they say things and then they take them back halfway and then one person says one thing, another person says another and we come away scratching our heads wondering what was good enough, what was not good enough. Why do they like continuity but they talk about change and then we ask, well, who's really running things and who's accountable to whom? Who. Who's answering to whom? This is usually that day and our well worn habits put us in a position to say, oh great. Bears end of season press conference. This is when Ted Phillips will say, did we get the quarterback right? Nah. Our coaches smart? Not really. But we're going to bring them back because it's easier and that's just kind of what we do around here. And then we go shuffle off into our winter and we watch better teams play football. They so it was incredibly refreshing to hear yesterday's end of season Bears press conference when you can have the coach and the general manager stand in front of the assembled media representing all of us as Fans and not sound stupid. That's really the victory. Yesterday, the Chicago Bears organizationally presented themselves publicly on a day that usually screams into the hinterlands how stupid they are and how behind they are and how far away they are. And yesterday they didn't. They actually sounded competent and aware and as if they have experienced what we've experienced, but they are keeping the. Their bar high.

[Neil]

Yeah, I loved it. The fact the season ended three. Three days prior to that press conference yesterday, and Ben Johnson referred to it as last year. Last season. I mean, that dude closed the book and turned the page and it's ready to roll.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yep. He took the book off his head and then he. And he turned the page and then he put the book back on his head because you need that because of the weather.

[Neil]

We know last season, man, he is. He is on 20, 26 already.

[Dan Bernstein]

And then he filled his socks with Hungarian paprika.

[Neil]

Yes. And Calabrian chilies, which are the best. If you're gonna have hot honey, you might as well have Calabria and hot honey. Cause it's the best hot honey you can have.

[Dan Bernstein]

Right? Well, I mean, you're just looking out for your peeps in Calabria, probably, but why not? But I understand that. Yeah, we keep a jar of Calabria and hot chilies in the fridge and use either the chilies or the oil on a lot of stuff.

[Neil]

Yeah. Well, I have a jar in the fridge and I have a jar on my nightstand next to the bed. So if I get cold, I just. I rub some on my feet.

[Dan Bernstein]

Just put it right on the pillowcase.

[Neil]

Yeah. Lay in it. Yeah.

[Dan Bernstein]

How did that. They let Melissa Stark stand there with a jar of. She's like. Just like. You can get in the grocery store. Stop telling people to do that. It's stupid. Please. At some point, somebody in the broadcast should have said, nobody at the NFL on NBC recommends that you actually put cayenne pepper in your fucking socks. Right. It's. Come on.

[Neil]

What.

[Dan Bernstein]

Stop doing that. Well, they're. They're really onto something. They're.

[Neil]

I'm telling you. I'm telling you. I think it's. It was. It was Tony Medlin who reached out to the Rams equipment manager was like, hey, I know it's going to be cold, but there's something that we do that you guys should consider trying.

[Dan Bernstein]

See, here's the thing. We know T. Med does the coat drive every year. The Bear's coat drive. Tony Medlin and the equipment staff, it's their thing. It's their baby, which tells me they understand you Know what you do when it's cold?

[Neil]

You get a coat.

[Dan Bernstein]

As our buddy Jim Tillman once said, put on a coat. That's what you do. You don't put seasonings in your socks.

[Neil]

And I wonder if they, like. They try all different types of peppers, like chili powder first, like you use for a nice taco mix.

[Dan Bernstein]

Or right, like, regular. Do they put, like, a serrano or maybe a poblano? Do they. Do they try out the dried and.

[Neil]

The cayenne works the best and everything else.

[Dan Bernstein]

And the science has said that the best seasoning to put in your socks to keep your feet warm. Come on, people. Like, I know we've gotten dumber, but this is the fact that a national broadcast allowed that. Nobody questioned it. Not a single person there said, what the hell is wrong with them? What are they doing?

[Neil]

Yeah, if I'm a producer. If I'm a producer and I. And I like Melissa Stark, I say, hey, let's. Let's not do that. Or, I don't want you to do that. Let's see if we get the guys in the booth to do it.

[Dan Bernstein]

Or if you do it, maybe raise an eyebrow comically. Maybe say, well, this is what they think works. So, hey, you know who's right?

[Neil]

Then she could have followed it up with. And then the bears put Italian beef in their socks to keep them warm.

[Dan Bernstein]

Just the seasonings, not the. Just the oregano and the garlic powder, probably, right.

[Neil]

Oregano, garlic, onion, pepper.

[Dan Bernstein]

Oregano, you know, maybe. And they put that in the.

[Neil]

Shake it around, a little salt and pepper to taste.

[Dan Bernstein]

But they did it with a straight face. She held up a jar of it.

[Neil]

This is.

[Dan Bernstein]

This is really what you're supposed to do. No, you want to talk about changing the sizes of the cleats or who's going into the blue tent. Oh, they're going into the cayenne pepper tent because they're not seasoned well enough yet. This guy needed more salt.

[Neil]

No, that's what they need a sponsor on, like, the food tent. He's making his way to the Giordano's.

[Dan Bernstein]

Pizza tent to go in and get red pepper flakes smeared on him to keep him warm.

[Neil]

Comes out with red pepper all over his face. What'd you eat?

[Dan Bernstein]

Nothing.

[Neil]

They just sprinkled me with red pepper.

[Dan Bernstein]

I'm warm now. I'm good. I'm hot now. Taste. Oh, my God.

[Neil]

All right, so the press conference for the first time ever.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yes. First couple notes of Bears News. Declan Doyle has been requested in the Eagles interview slate. They want to talk to him about their open offensive coordinator position. And Bears defensive backs coach Al Harris is going to get an interview to talk about the packers defensive coordinator job.

[Neil]

But I don't understand, though, Dan, help me understand this. Why would other teams want to talk to the assistant coaches on a team that was fraudulent, that wasn't real, that was getting lucky, that played nothing but bad quarterbacks? Like, why would you want to bring a guy for a defensive coordinator when your team. All you did was play bad quarterbacks and bad teams and had really no important wins at all in the season? Why. Why would that happen?

[Dan Bernstein]

It's because of the guy we're about to hear from, and that is the Bears head coach, Ben Johnson and what he has done with this team to kind of. To change our world a little bit. Because this is a day that usually is not fun when we listen to the Bears talk and they're. They're annoying and weird, and they weren't in large part because of what this guy had to say.

[Ben Johnson]

You know, we won games, we put ourselves in a good position, but ultimately we came up short. We're one of the 31 other teams that fell short. If anything, that just rejuvenates me and makes me want to push harder and longer than what we did this past season. So I'm already looking ahead to 20, 26 myself. We go back to square one. It's back to the bottom again, and we got to build this thing back up. You know, the thing is, you can look at 20, 25 and you can say, hey, it's a great start. Well, the truth is, it was really hard to accomplish what we accomplished, and it wasn't good enough.

[Dan Bernstein]

Hit the reset button on whatever video game you're playing, you did not make it to the final boss. So you start back at level one, and to hear them say that and to be able to not feel bad about that, to know, okay, there's a level of trust now that we can say that for. For him to declare a reset and a beginning and whatever this new crop of guys is, and it's time to build him back up the way he did it last year. I actually think it can be even better. Because now they've got a season where they're going to pare away the stuff that they didn't like that they did. They're not going to tell us what it is, probably, but we can ask. I think there's some good questions to be asked to Ben Johnson to say, what. What might you do differently? What did you question? What did you go into last year saying, we'll see how this works, and now you can. You can move off of it. You can adjust. You can make your own halftime adjustments in the way that you did your job so good. It's. It's. It's much better news than we usually get.

[Neil]

Yeah. And what I loved about it, Dan, is that previous regimes, previous head coaches who had kind of an unexpected year would have talked about all the good things they did, would have lived on how great it was, and would have taken those exceeded expectations and really, you know, patted themselves on the back and said, you know, yeah, we won more games than we were expected to win. And, you know, we did this and we did that, and I did that, and I. They. They would have really lived in the glory of what was a very small anomaly of what their. Their coaching career would have been in Chicago. Ben Johnson, plain and simple, wasn't good enough. It starts over, you know, and we heard him say last on Monday that. That there is no building momentum.

[Ryan Poles]

It's.

[Neil]

It's all. It's all zeros now, and we're starting from scratch. This roster could look very, very different. Very, very different. So you can't talk about what we did in 2025, because that's dead and over with. And I just love that he didn't hang his hat on what they accomplished this year, because no matter what they accomplished, and they accomplished a lot, no matter what they accomplished, it wasn't good enough. They were one of the 31 teams that failed in the 2025 season. That's what I love to hear from my head coach.

[Dan Bernstein]

How about what we hear from the general manager? And we'll see if Ben Johnson's words, Ben Johnson's presence, and whatever this season was can make a Bears GM sound smarter than usual on this day.

[Ryan Poles]

I heard the whole Cardiac Bear thing. I'd rather not be the Cardiac Bears, but if that's what that game needs, then that's what you need to do. But I do think you got to win close games. When you get down to that two minutes, it's important. It repped that a lot, and the guys were prepared for it. Yeah, I don't think you want to be living on the edge all the time, but I think what you can take from the season is that we were able to have poise down the stretch of games and be poised to finish, and guys made plays when they needed to be made. I don't think that's a characteristic that you should ever shy away from.

[Dan Bernstein]

Don't want to be the cardiac Bears don't want to live on the edge. Thank you.

[Neil]

Yep.

[Dan Bernstein]

As exciting as it was, you don't choose that life because it's not one you want to live. It's not a healthy one for anybody involved. It's not a way to run a football team to say, oh, well, we're never going to have the lead in this game until the. Until all of a sudden the game is over and we've won, and that's just how we're going to do things. You want to win every game 50 to nothing. You want to. You want to stomp everybody and you want to make them miserable and you want to make them never want to play football again. Ideally, that's how you do it. And you get wherever you want on offense and you prevent them from gaining a yard on defense, and there's absolutely no drama whatsoever. That's an impossible goal, but that's what you shoot for. And if and when the Bears are winning championships, it's not going to be playing the way that they did last year. Not to take anything away from how exciting and fun and fulfilling and enjoyable it all was. No.

[Neil]

Correct. And I think one thing that stood out to me with Ryan Poles, pretty much every answer he gave, at some point in the answer, he referred back to what coach said. What coach said, what coach said. And that just stood out to me a lot. It really. And because I. First of all, I haven't heard a Bears GM do that. And it also speaks to the influence, the power that Ben Johnson has at Hallis Hall.

[Dan Bernstein]

They've.

[Neil]

What coach said, what coach said. This is what coach said. And what coach said followed up. Oh, and coach said, a good GM.

[Dan Bernstein]

Would love to do that. Yeah. Do you know how much easier that makes a general manager's life when you.

[Neil]

Have a competent guy in charge of the team?

[Dan Bernstein]

Yes. To have a working relationship built on confidence and trust. That's exactly. It's. There are people, there are counterparts of Ryan polls that would be envious of a press conference like that. Look at that absolute shit show in Buffalo. Did you see that? It's like, well, we never wanted this receiver. The owner is sitting there saying, well, that's on him and that's not on him. They had to clean it up. They. They spent like the. The next 15 minutes trying to explain what the hell their owner was talking about. And they're probably calling Keon Coleman and saying, hey, man, we're not mad at you. Don't worry about it. We know you're going to be around next year. Sorry for crapping all over you at a press conference like that. Was the. That used to be the Bears. That kind of.

[Neil]

It was a mess. Yeah, for sure.

[Dan Bernstein]

That used to be that. All that stuff that was going on in Buff would have been the kind of thing we used to expect from the Bears.

[Neil]

Right.

[Dan Bernstein]

And the fact that it wasn't is. It's. It's a small thing, but if you've really gone through it every single year for so long, it's. It's. We shouldn't be celebrating it. It shouldn't be a luxury to have intelligence and competence. But the primary reason for all, all of it, every bit of it, is Ben Johnson on a day like that. Obviously, the drafting of Caleb Williams was not Ben Johnson's doing, but everything that has been built around him has been directed at the very least or strongly advised by him. And to be here on this day hearing this kind of stuff is good. And we get a GM who can kind of take a little bit of a victory lap when it comes to last off season. We start talking about. We start talking about trust and we start talking about what we can do to say, hey, I. I think it's reasonable that the Bears can sustain this level of quality, if not this kind of football that they don't really want to sustain. Last year at this time, I was saying, damn it, the Bears need to improve their interior offensive line. And I was saying it as. As strongly as I could and as many times as I possibly could that guard, center, guard, and needed to be improved for them to do anything that they wanted and do anything that whoever their new coach was going to be could possibly do. And I'll be damned. They did it. Ryan. Polls went out and through trades and free agency, was able to put together an offensive line that did the job even with injuries. And that's something else that polls addressed.

[Neil]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Yeah.

[Ryan Poles]

It was cool to see them go through the process. I think one thing with. With O line, it's almost like a choreographed. Like you got to work together. It's a unique position where that. That's true.

[Neil]

Yeah. So he was asked about the three interior linemen that he brought in to evaluate their season. That's the answer he gave. It just. It jumped out and it stood out to me. Just because of what we discussed yesterday and the move of Joe Tunney from guard to tackle for the final game. Again, not going back saying that's why the Bears lost the game. It just. It just. It's it just, it didn't sit right with me. It's not going to sit right with me. And it'll take some time to fade away. And to hear Ryan Poles describe it that way, an offensive lineman himself, that it's like a choreography and those guys, you know, work together and it is like a dance. And to have those three guys understand each other's movements and their tendencies and to have that time of working together for, you know, 17 regular season games, the first playoff game, and then to have that interrupted in the divisional round at home against the Rams. It's just that that comment from Ryan polls stood out to me. But kudos to Ryan Poles for doing what he did, not only in the draft class, but in free agency and in trades to put this team together that won the NFC north and from.

[Dan Bernstein]

Whoever was responsible in the PR department for making sure it was just those two, that you didn't need Kevin Warren there, you didn't need George McCaskey there. You didn't have to clutter up that press conference with unnecessary levels or layers for it to be about football and for all of us to emerge from it with a positive feeling. I rarely compliment the way the Bears handle this stuff, but from, from Ben Johnson's opening press conference through now for them, they've, they've gotten better at a lot of it, especially on the football side. They've gotten better because their coach is smart.

[Neil]

And one other thing that I want to mention from Ryan Poles, they didn't pull the cup, but he was talking about the injuries, the Jalen Johnson wrist injury that happened in the Rams game. Said it's not a big deal, but he did mention about Ozzie Tripillo and he said, quote, no timeline, but quote, deep into next year, end quote.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, as we talked about when I, when I started asking around and I read you what our anonymous sports orthopedic surgeon said was the completely avulsed patella tendon is a bad injury and it's a bad injury for a left tackle.

[Neil]

So we about a 55% recovery rate.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, it could be and it might reasonably be career altering and certainly not in a good way. The super bowl is coming and championship week is here. My bookie is where you turn bets into bankroll. Everybody's watching every. Everybody has their take. And when it comes to the big game, that's when the props matter as much as the score. And this is the specialty of my bookie. You may have seen the super bowl prop board. It's deep, it's fun to play every Year when the game rolls around, the My bookie props get talked about on Jimmy Kimmel Live. And if there ever was a time to get in, it's right now. It's one account, one wallet. You can bet the spread, you can live bet the second half, hit the casino during commercials. It's all in one place. And that place is mybookie.com. so use the code that we're giving you. It's DBU for Dan Bernstein, unfiltered. And your first bet is covered up to 500 bucks. If it doesn't hit, you can use what's called the bet back bonus token. And boop, you can run it right back. So don't just watch the big game. You can make it pay with my bookie. This was something that we noted yesterday. If you've listen to the latest organizations win championships about where the Bulls are as they head into the trade deadline and what the rumors are and also all the big fun stuff going on with our Giordano's and Derrick Rose this weekend retiring his number one jersey the last couple nights. In the last Bulls game, Caleb Williams and Pete Crow Armstrong were sitting together courtside and they seem to be enjoying each other's company. And they mentioned that they are. They went to the Hawks game together the other night also. And I think Caleb was wearing the Connor Bedard jersey. And there is a photo of Bedard on the ice in front of Caleb Williams and pca. And do you remember, I think it was a. It was a poster called Chicago Times and it was. They were all in tuxedos. Remember? It was Andre Dawson.

[Neil]

Oh, yeah. Michael and Walter.

[Dan Bernstein]

Walter Payton. Yeah, and Michael Jordan.

[Neil]

Yeah. And the tuxes. I do remember that. Yeah.

[Dan Bernstein]

That kind of just, you know, a late 80s cool Chicago vibe. These guys have to get together and do something. And then their other buddy, the other guy that, that hangs out in that group is Modest Boozelis. He's not at that level yet. This is kind of what we were debating yesterday on OWC was what it would take for Modest to be able to be at a level professionally where it would. It wouldn't look awkward if he's in that group. Yeah, but he's, you know, he's getting better, he's playing well. But I just.

[Neil]

So is this like the Mount Rushmore of young rising stars in Chicago sports?

[Dan Bernstein]

I don't, I don't like using the Mount Rushmore, but I was thinking more like what could we do with fan fiction? What could we do to. To write a different script where we Know the character. The people involved are Caleb, pca, Bedard, and Modus. And either they're, like, solving crime or they're fighting crime or solving mysteries or performing acts of random kindness. Or it could be something really mundane where they have, like, an upholstery business or something, or they form a firm to do sort of arcane tax law. It doesn't have to be really exciting, but I've been sort of playing with this in my mind of, like, Caleb is probably the leader and. Oh, and Caleb's dog. His dog has to be a part of it, too. Okay, Super. That's his dog. Is that right? Like, s. His dog's name is Super, I think. Look it up. I think so. I think it's S u p R or something for super bowl or something. Like, he's got a. That's his dog. And I. I see like a. Like a. Like a Scooby Doo kind of thing where they're all in a. In a. In a van with the sides painted, like, airbrushed. Super cool stuff. Or like, real kind of, you know, Chicago street art on the side. Caleb's driving.

[Neil]

His dog's name is Supa.

[Dan Bernstein]

Supa. S u p a Supa. Okay. Yeah. So that's. That's the dog that's like, Scooby.

[Neil]

Okay.

[Dan Bernstein]

And then the dog is there, and the dog kind of talks, but not really like. And you can understand what the dog is saying. And the dog is a personality and. But what do they do? Like, this is a blank canvas for us to figure out. And PCA is like, the guy. He's always a little bit crazy. You never know exactly what he's going to do. And his hair is, like blue hair or something.

[Neil]

I think it's like. I think. I think we're. We're. I think we're just settle on maybe like a sitcom. Like a reality sitcom. They. They all live together.

[Dan Bernstein]

Okay.

[Neil]

Where in each. It's an. It's got to be an apartment. A loft.

[Dan Bernstein]

It's a. Like a gorgeous loft apartment in Full Market.

[Neil]

Downtown. Yes.

[Dan Bernstein]

Fulton Market. Right.

[Neil]

And they all live together. And it just. It's, you know, it's like a reality show follows their lives. I'm kind of getting, like, a similar opening type of, like, sequencing of maybe Three's Company. But the four of them, you know, do.

[Dan Bernstein]

And I know bikes.

[Neil]

Yeah. And like. And one of them is, like, the slob. And one guy is the airhead in the group. I'm going to. I don't even know him, but I'll Say Buzelis is like the airhead, but Dart is like the quiet one. Keeps to himself. Very neat and clean.

[Dan Bernstein]

But they. But they also each have a superpower.

[Neil]

Oh, okay, so they need superpowers.

[Dan Bernstein]

Well, don't they? Because, like, each one, if. If needed or if stressed out, they've got to have a superpower because it could be like a Fantastic Four kind of thing too. Right? Where. Where Caleb turns into Iceman and he's. He's like Frozone or something. You know what I mean? Like, he can. He makes everything cool.

[Neil]

Or maybe. Maybe we don't do the sitcom. Maybe you want them to have, like, a business. How about they have like a frozen yogurt shop or an ice cream shop.

[Dan Bernstein]

And then hijinks ensue.

[Neil]

Yes. Yeah. Iceman's Ice Cream Shop.

[Dan Bernstein]

Iceman's Ice Cream Shop. But, like, there's a big delivery and Will. Will Modest Bruisellas make it on time? I don't know. Because he's got to get the frozen yogurt where it's got to go. Like, these are all different. We need to just get a handle on how many episodes we have, how long the season's going to be.

[Neil]

Bedard serves the cups of ice cream with a hockey stick. And his flings laser shots of people.

[Dan Bernstein]

Just flicks.

[Neil]

PCA breaks down the boxes with his bat because he's angry, because he struck.

[Dan Bernstein]

Out at a bad pitch throwing stuff everywhere. Yeah, I don't know. We can go in a lot of directions with this.

[Neil]

I do like this group, though, you know, with Modest.

[Dan Bernstein]

Modest is what he looks like shaggy, because maybe he could. Maybe Modest is in charge of Supa.

[Neil]

How about a boy band? Can we make him into a boy band?

[Dan Bernstein]

Sure.

[Neil]

Modest could be.

[Dan Bernstein]

There's no. There are no bad ideas. There are. No. No. Modest wouldn't be the cute one, but.

[Neil]

He'S got that look that.

[Dan Bernstein]

He's the tall one.

[Neil]

Yeah, the tall one with the hair that's just weird looking like kids wear today.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah. If they were a boy band, Modest would be like. Like Ringo Starr. Like, he would be the one that, like, people only like because other people don't like him. You know what I mean?

[Neil]

Like Darth, the quiet one. PCA is the outlandish, flamboyant, crazy one.

[Dan Bernstein]

And Caleb's sort of the grown up who rolls his eyes. Yeah, he rolls his eyes at the actions. Like, oh, there they go. Crazy. Modest is doing his things again.

[Neil]

Yep. I like it. I like boy band. I think boy band's the way to go.

[Dan Bernstein]

Well, they could also be a boy band. Don't you understand that the way these things work is it's. It. You know, like the Monkeys or the Partridge Family. Like, by day, they could be their sports stars, and then they're also fighting crime and solving mysteries, and they're a boy band.

[Neil]

Wow. So there's a lot going on.

[Dan Bernstein]

Busy show. I'm just putting this out there. I just think this is for Chicago to have in multiple sports a reasonable selection, reasonable representative group of young stars. We don't get to do this all that often.

[Neil]

Well, I think if we're going to go the boy band route, we need to add one more guy to the group, though.

[Dan Bernstein]

Well, because Angel Reese is too famous.

[Neil]

No, I think we need to add Colson Loveland if we're doing a boy band. I don't know.

[Dan Bernstein]

I guess the Bears. No. Do we need a White Sox?

[Neil]

Oh, you want to. Yeah. We could put Louis angel in there.

[Dan Bernstein]

Munetaka Murakami.

[Neil]

No, Louis Angel.

[Dan Bernstein]

No, he's not here yet. He's not.

[Neil]

But that's a great name for a boy band, though.

[Dan Bernstein]

Louie Angel. Yeah. Yeah. It would help us demographically. Actually, from a business perspective, that wouldn't be a terrible idea.

[Neil]

Well, who else is on the White Sox? That's.

[Dan Bernstein]

Oh, it'd be. What's his name, the shortstop?

[Neil]

Oh, Minecraft.

[Dan Bernstein]

Not Chase Minecraft. The other guy.

[Neil]

I like Minecraft. No, I like him.

[Dan Bernstein]

Colson Montgomery.

[Neil]

Oh, yeah. Montgomery. He's the best player, right?

[Dan Bernstein]

I think so. Okay. I feel like Minecraft, you know? You know, we didn't even get till. We didn't get 60 seconds into this until an angry White Sox fan fired off an email. I promise you. I promise you. We didn't get 60 seconds.

[Neil]

Can the Pope represent the White Sox?

[Dan Bernstein]

No, but he is in it. He's definitely in this.

[Neil]

He's the guy they go to for advice.

[Dan Bernstein]

Or it's. Yes, like Tennessee Tuxedo will show up and he'll be taught by Phineas J. Whoopee.

[Neil]

Or if there's. Yeah. If there's any tension in the group, they go to the. They go to the Pope, and he helps them resolve it.

[Dan Bernstein]

Right. Listen.

[Neil]

Words of wisdom, you knuckleheads.

[Dan Bernstein]

Now he smacks their heads together. You guys figure this out on your own. Now hug it out, bitches.

[Neil]

I can't believe you left the White Sox out.

[Dan Bernstein]

That's terrible.

[Neil]

Dan, longtime Sox fan.

[Ben Johnson]

Wow.

[Neil]

And that was. This is your bit, too. You deliberately left them out.

[Dan Bernstein]

Well, I just. I don't know that they have Somebody who deserves inclusion yet.

[Neil]

Because when you told me about it, I texted you. I said, what about White Sox?

[Dan Bernstein]

And you just. You didn't.

[Neil]

You ignored my text. Oh, God. Man, oh, man.

[Dan Bernstein]

Who is it going to be? Kyle Teal. What are you going to do?

[Neil]

Is that a player?

[Dan Bernstein]

Yes.

[Neil]

You know, Kyle Thiel on the White.

[Dan Bernstein]

Sox and Edgar Caro? Yes. But, yeah, it's probably Colston Montgomery, because now there's a Colson Montgomery, because there's a Colston Loveland and a Colson Montgomery. Got to make sure we get our Colstons and our Colsons appropriately separated to make sure we understand them. All right.

[Neil]

I like it, though. That's a fun group. A fun group of young rising stars.

[Dan Bernstein]

Or maybe the. The White Sox guy comes in in, like, the fifth season, and it's like, the moment, you know, the show's over and the shark has been jumped.

[Neil]

Oh, yeah. When.

[Dan Bernstein]

When he comes in, like, you know, we've talked about this before, like, cousin Oliver on Brady Bunch or the, you know, the Great Gazoo or the other guy.

[Neil]

The.

[Ben Johnson]

The little.

[Dan Bernstein]

The little cracker ass on Different Strokes. Goober Joe.

[Neil]

That wasn't Oliver. Which one was Oliver on?

[Dan Bernstein]

That was Brady Bunch.

[Neil]

Brady Bunch. Okay. Yeah. Who was the. Who was the white kid on Different.

[Dan Bernstein]

Strokes we talked about?

[Neil]

Yeah, I know. I remember his name, though.

[Dan Bernstein]

Redhead. Gomer. I eat something like that.

[Neil]

Yeah, Gomer sounds about right.

[Dan Bernstein]

And they brought him in and, like, the. Nobody knew what he was doing there. It's like, get the hell out of here.

[Neil]

So those are like. That's. Those your comparisons to White Sox players?

[Dan Bernstein]

For the purposes of this show, I'm just taking notes. Stop now. I didn't do anything. Yes, you are working.

[Neil]

Forcing you to speak words from your mouth.

[Dan Bernstein]

Ulterior motives. Next thing, you're gonna have bad words for South Sudan basketball.

[Neil]

Right? Why can't it be Lu all day?

[Dan Bernstein]

Why do you hate. Why is Lu all day not in this show?

[Neil]

I suggested Lu all day. And you're like, hell, no. All in capital letters.

[Dan Bernstein]

Jesus.

[Neil]

I'm like, why so outraged?

[Dan Bernstein]

Well, you know how it is. The Cubs ZiPS projections are out, okay? And these are Dan Zimborski's computers that spit these out for fan graphs every year. And last year when we did this around the same time, where I did this around the same time, they ended up being almost dead on Zips Did a really good job nailing down where the Cubs were last year. And this is much more individualized than it is for the whole team. It's probably It's a fool's errand to just kind of add up all the wins above replacement that are generated by these projections. It's not like Pakota, because when Baseball Prospectus comes out with their, their Pakota projections, that is done with an estimate, an estimation of playing time.

[Neil]

Okay. And you have a, do you have a win total here on this, on these projections?

[Dan Bernstein]

No. That's what I'm saying. Because they don't. They don't really, you can get an idea of where they are, but they don't give you this many wins. They'll just give you what the individuals will do and then it, it's a matter of playing time. It's a matter of who's healthy, who's not, who's playing, and when. That's going to give you sort of a team projection.

[Neil]

All right, give it to me. Nate.

[Dan Bernstein]

This is soaping yourself up in the shower for the this is the 22nd season in a row that the Zips projection system has done this. And this is a like all these other mechanisms, it's constantly being tweaked based on the results and as we get more measurements and better information, they're always trying to update the version each year. So Zimborski will write this. I'm not going to give you every little bit of gory statistical detail because it's better to just go with what is presented here. Okay. And he writes that Zips was a big believer in the 2025 Chicago Cubs and it was right on point about most of their core talent. The problem was that Zips wasn't right about the Milwaukee brewers and the Milwaukee 14 game winning streak all but settled things by mid August. Add in a five game loss to the Brew Crew in the NLDS and a successful season ended in underwhelming fashion for the Cubs, who went into the off season looking to replace Kyle Tucker and shore up the rotation. Said Generally speaking, the Cubs have a rather boring lineup in one manner, it's mostly well established players who are largely in the same roles as last season. You've got Carson Kelly and Miguel Amaya as the ladder is swapped in for Rhys McGuire. So there's your competent tandem behind the plate. Swanson, Horner, PCA will play terrific defense and PCA will add a bunch of homers at the cost of rather low on base percentage. Hap and Suzuki are on the wrong side of 30, but not distressingly so, and the typically B plus corner outfielders will likely put up their typical B plus seasons and one can see why the Cubs felt they could afford to trade Owen Casey to Miami for Edward Cabrera because he was going to have a hard time finding playing time. Kevin Alcantara's defense makes him a more versatile fourth outfielder, so he's got Alcantara there. Says there's a lot of changes. They're third base to DH by way of Suzuki playing a lot more right field. Alex Bregman more or less the Kyle Tucker replacement. A bit less bat, bit more defensive value. Ballesteros has a lot of offensive upside, not exciting yet as a full time dh. Says Matt Shaw loses significant value as a dh while Zips is optimistic about Tyler Austin though it doesn't provide a lot of flexibility and he said it's mostly successful six year run in Japan. He says mostly successful because it wasn't particularly durable in the npb. His most notable and amusing injury this Tyler Austin coming when he smashed his head on the dugout ceiling while changing his jersey. I didn't know that happened so I'm not sure what happens with Shaw. He's been musical chaired out of a significant role. I don't know how seriously the Cubs consider him a super sub because the durability of Swanson and Horner. We didn't get any sneak peeks about how the Cubs really feel about his ability to play middle infield when the rubber meets the road. And he mentions among pitchers the Cubs have a very deep rotation that is very deep. Also in unexcitement, there's some upside here in Edwin Cabrera, but the team has a whole lot of broadly average starting pitching options. The good news? If Justin Steele has any setbacks, Zips likes the team's replacement options even with especially bad luck with injuries. The computer thinks Assad will be adequate and that Ben Brown and Jordan Wicks could be far more acceptable as starters that they've shown so far. Said even if Colin Ray or Connor Noland were forced into starting some games, it wouldn't be apocalyptic. While deep in meh, Zips is more enthusiastic about the bullpen so that projected sufficiency comes out of the defense behind it. With the relievers having eras below four, Hunter Harvey, Daniel Palencia and the relief version of Porter Hodge are well liked. Said remember the rule, don't freak out about one year home run totals. He said the only ones that Zips look at looks at with a side eye are Ethan Roberts and Jacob Webb. All in all, the Cubs look like a team with a win total in the low 90s. The only negative is that Zips feel similarly about the brewers this time around, we won't know the end of the story for another nine months. So I guess the takeaway is no news is good news. That's the takeaway here. And a lot of these projections have come out close to the middle. I was a little surprised that Kate Horton, and this is my editorialization now, Kate Horton, I think, has got the most upside room here, at least judging from my eye test, is that they only have him as a 1.7 WAR pitcher. Not they, but the ZiPS projection only has him there. And it's. That surprises me a little bit because I just thought that some of what we saw here last year had star potential in it. He's absolutely projected at a 3.89 ERA pitching 125 innings and striking out 109 and walking 37. The best pitcher that they have projects to be Matthew Boyd. Oh, okay, right. He's at 2.4. And then you've got Imanaga and Cabrera at 1.9 wins, Horton at 1.7.

[Neil]

They have Cabrera the same as Imanaga.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yep, yep.

[Neil]

I don't like that.

[Dan Bernstein]

Again, a lot of that might just be injury. As far as the. The total WAR number around the diamond, it seems about right, if a little bit conservative. They got the catching position between Kelly and Amaya at 2.7, Bregman 3.7. Swanson's a 4:1, Horner's a 3:9, Bush at 3.5-pca, 4:9, which is a really high number for this kind of projection. That generally is conservative. And then HAP at 2. 9, Suzuki at 2.

[Ben Johnson]

8.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, that's a playoff team is what that.

[Neil]

Yeah, it sounds pretty reasonable. For sure.

[Dan Bernstein]

That's a playoff team. And I'm not. Again, there's nothing to get mad at, really. It's not a person doing this. It's just an algorithm that does it, that will project based on similarities and histories and previous seasons plural statistics. But boy, look at those Michael Bush numbers that this thing spat out. 28 homers, 27 doubles, 87 driven in. And if we look at some of the advanced numbers on Bush, a slash line of 257, 345, 485 and a team high OPS plus of 138.

[Neil]

Oh, wow.

[Dan Bernstein]

So he would project as the Cubs best offensive player. Next is Suzuki at 134. And then it would be PCA or, excuse me, Tyler Austin. Again, just not talking about playing time, but they've got Tyler Austin at a 125 OPS plus and then PCA 118. Excuse me, Hap. 123. There's some solid numbers all the way across the board there.

[Neil]

Yeah, I jotted down 93 wins and you said that. Low 90s. It sounds about right. Where they should be between 90 and 95, I would think.

[Dan Bernstein]

Right? Yeah, like that's. It seems about right. But at least they might have a little better understanding now. And Zips will have a better understanding of how good the brewers are in large part because it's got another season to work with that. Now these, these projection stats can actually bake in and use as fodder for this year's projections. What these guys actually did last year, the Bryce Turangs and the Sal Freelix and everybody that was.

[Neil]

Yeah, I know that that's, that's true. And I'm not going to disagree with the numbers because it's. They're the numbers. But that 14 game win streak has got to alter things quite a bit. You can't anticipate that to say, oh, they should be around a 95 to a 98 win team like they were last year, because you can't account for a 14 game win streak.

[Dan Bernstein]

The one thing that it's always important to remember with any of these projection systems is sequencing. Timing of things in sports is, is nearly impossible to predict. You can look at a season's worth of numbers and say, in the next six months, this person will accomplish the following. But sequencing is critical, and that's the missing piece to so much of it. Like if you look at the Bears season, for instance, if you had looked at the Bears final numbers and just said, here's all these receivers with 700 yards and 50 catches. Here's what your quarterback's numbers were, here's what your running backs did. And it wouldn't tell you much of the story at all, would it? Because it wouldn't say, here's this game, this game, this game, this game, that they had a 98% chance to lose and they won. And it's all right. It's all sequencing. It's all about when things happen. And if you say, if Pakota would say the brewers were at 90, whatever wins, at no point do they say in July they're going to win 14 in a row, right?

[Neil]

And then if you look at the Bear season, say, well, they start 0 and 2, they end 0 and 2. You're not going to possibly say, oh, they finished with 11 wins, right?

[Dan Bernstein]

And here are the numbers, right? I don't know. They didn't really have a receiver breakout. They didn't have this and didn't have that. And boy, the defense. Look at all these yards the defense gave up. They were probably.

[Neil]

Yeah. You'd look at it and say, God, it'd be lucky if they won six games.

[Dan Bernstein]

Right. So that I would, I would really keep that in mind. Exactly what you say that the 14 game win streak that nobody can possibly see coming once you get to the middle of a season and they're not, they're not looking at playing time.

[Neil]

They're just really, really frustrating too.

[Dan Bernstein]

Oh, it was the. Wasn't it terrible?

[Neil]

Because even when kept winning, like they.

[Dan Bernstein]

Were down five, nothing in the third, Right. And you're like, well, they had this coming. Like then later in the day you'd look and they won eight, six. Like, God damn it.

[Neil]

Right? I know, it was really, really irritating.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yes. But that's, that's why baseball seasons are fun though, is because you have those sort of long term sequences of things that you kind of, you know, you ride the good and the bad and.

[Neil]

What are we, three weeks away from pitchers and catchers? Yeah, it's not that far.

[Dan Bernstein]

Oh, no, no. The workout, it's already there. And best shape of his life is still there and. Or new pitch grip. I think the new, the new best shape of his life is learned a new pitch or they changed the grip or his arm angle. The kick change for the Supinators, the regular change for the Pro Naters. All the stuff that we're learning and what they're. Especially with the Cubs. How does he look? Oh, he's fat as shit. But he's got a new pitch.

[Neil]

Right.

[Dan Bernstein]

He's in terrible shape. Worst shape I've ever seen. But new secret pitch grip, and now it goes like this. And now people can't hit it.

[Neil]

As long as that grip makes him throw 102, it's fine.

[Dan Bernstein]

That's good too. But then there's the. He stopped throwing his bad pitch and now he throws his good pitch. Because the magical elves in pitch lab, are they elves?

[Neil]

No. Maybe it's your four boy band guys. They're in Pitcher Lab.

[Dan Bernstein]

They repair Cubs pitching. Yes. No, I think then we're begging the question because PC yeah.

[Neil]

They have the conversation. They're like, hey, you know that one pitch that got hit a lot? Yep. Stop throwing that.

[Dan Bernstein]

Oh, stop throwing that. Thanks, coach. Yeah, it's all stuff like that, right?

[Neil]

Done. Done.

[Dan Bernstein]

I love that idea. So we fixed him. How'd you fix it? Well, he had a pitch that everybody hit. Yeah. What do you do with it? Well, we made him stop throwing. That was brilliant. I like pitch labs staffed by elves.

[Neil]

Yeah, I'm good with that.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, like, really smart pitching elves. And they all went to Amherst, and they all went to mit and, you know, they have little clipboards and tablets, and there's a lot of them everywhere fixing pitching. They actually climb up on the pitcher's back and grab his hand and move his hand around. They stand on his shoulders like, no, no, no. Your arm angle is supposed to be here. Thank you, pitching elf. Hey, Oscar nominations are out.

[Neil]

Yes, they are.

[Dan Bernstein]

Did you see these?

[Neil]

I haven't, actually.

[Dan Bernstein]

You haven't seen any of them?

[Neil]

I haven't seen any of them. And then after you mentioned it, I decided not to look.

[Dan Bernstein]

Okay, that's cool.

[Neil]

I wanted to be surprised with the. With the rest of the class.

[Dan Bernstein]

Okay, well, before I read them to you, I just want to mention that this week, Chicago honors a legendary Derrick Rose's jersey goes to the rafters. Or if you're Danny Parkins, it goes to the Raptors. And Giordano's is celebrating a moment that means everything to this city, from MVP chants to unforgettable nights at the United Center. This one's for Chicago. Derrick Rose's jersey retirement. A homegrown legend, a Chicago icon. And we'll celebrate all week with Giordano's as the Bulls honor one of the greatest to ever wear the jersey. Dubbed the MV Pizza, this new pie is a Giordano salute to the youngest MVP in NBA history. One of the city's most influential sports figures, the MV Pizza celebrates the Chicago native's hefty career with the Bulls by stacking two hefty layers of Giordano's signature pepperoni and topping it all off with a drizzle of homemade Calabrian hot honey. Order yours now@giordano's.com. also speaking of Giordano's, we have a Giordano's opportunity for you right now in the app. If you haven't downloaded the 312Sports app, get the new 312Sports app in the Apple App Store and Google Play. Then register your account and you can win great prizes. One of those is dinner for two at Giordano's, where you can actually get the MV pizza. And I should mention, too, that $1 from every pizza goes to the etiquette series that is helping youth in underserved communities. It's available for a limited time. You can order now@giordano's.com. there's dinner for two at Morton's the Steakhouse. There's dinner for two at the Smith in the heart of River North. Enter the promo code. Eat E a T on any reward for a chance to win in that free 312 sports app, we have a new record that has been set for Oscar nominations from one film.

[Neil]

Was it one battle after another?

[Dan Bernstein]

It was not one battle after another. Even though that had. That got a lot. One film got 16 nominations making it the most ever nominated movie in Oscar history.

[Neil]

What movie is it?

[Dan Bernstein]

Sinners.

[Neil]

Oh, I was my second guess, but I thought no, you'd be too happy about that.

[Dan Bernstein]

Sinners good for that. Yep. Yep. And the two movies you guessed are the two movies I've already seen multiple times in the theater.

[Neil]

Yeah.

[Dan Bernstein]

And the last two I've seen multiple times in the theater and I can't even remember. But we have a brand new record. So the nominees for best picture are one battle after another. Marty supreme, sentimental value, Begonia F1, Frankenstein, Hamnet, the Secret Agent Train, Dreams and Sinners. Best actress, Jessie Buckley and Hamnet Rose Byrne, who's getting a lot of attention for her performance. And if I had legs, I'd kick you. Kate Hudson in song Sung Blue that.

[Neil]

Won the Golden Globe.

[Dan Bernstein]

That movie's supposed to be just a. Just a hoot. And it looks like it too. It really does. That movie looks fun. I just. I don't think I need to see it in the theater. Renate Renzve for Sentimental Value and Emma Stone for Begonia. Best actor, Timothee Chalamet, Marty Supreme, Leo for One Battle. Michael B. Jordan for both roles in Sinners. He could have been nominated for either one of them.

[Neil]

Did you see Begonia? No, I haven't either. I want to, though. I haven't seen it.

[Dan Bernstein]

I haven't. Ethan Hawke in Blue Moon and Wagner Mora in the Secret Agent. This is where I'm really excited and I don't know, I'm torn for best supporting actor.

[Neil]

Well, no, you want.

[Dan Bernstein]

Delroy Lindo.

[Neil]

Delroy Lindo.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah.

[Neil]

That's who you want to win for Sinners.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah. Delroy Lindo got nominated for Sinners and he did the best individual acting job in that movie by far. But Benicio Del Toro from One Battle after another as the sensei just brings a smile to my face because his character is so great. I think the one I might remember longer is Benicio Del Toro, but I think the guy that deserves it is Delroy Lindo. But it might be. The winner is probably going to Be Sean Penn, because he's in the same category. Okay. So it's going to be hard to not give it to Sean Penn for one battle. And then you've got Jacob Elordi for Frankenstein and Stellan Skarsgard for Sentimental Value.

[Neil]

So did you see Frankenstein? No.

[Dan Bernstein]

Okay. I did not, but that. Yeah. What'd you think?

[Neil]

I thought it was good.

[Ryan Poles]

I thought it was.

[Neil]

I thought it was. I thought it was really good, actually. Read me the best films again. What's nominated for best film? Go one at a time so I can say if I saw him or not.

[Dan Bernstein]

One battle after Another.

[Neil]

Yes.

[Dan Bernstein]

Marty Supreme.

[Neil]

No.

[Dan Bernstein]

Sentimental Value.

[Neil]

No.

[Dan Bernstein]

Begonia.

[Neil]

No.

[Dan Bernstein]

But I want to F1.

[Neil]

Yes. I thought it was very good, actually. That's the sequel to F1. Is Fu.

[Dan Bernstein]

Frankenstein. Hamnet.

[Neil]

No.

[Dan Bernstein]

The Secret Agent.

[Neil]

No.

[Dan Bernstein]

Train Dreams.

[Neil]

Never heard of it.

[Dan Bernstein]

And Sinners.

[Neil]

Yes. Yeah. If you haven't seen Sinners yet, and I know you talked about it a lot when we started this podcast. It's so good. It's really, really good.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yes. And multiple viewings. It gets like when you can start kind of anticipating things that you know, because already some of the surprises are. Have worn off a little bit.

[Neil]

Yeah.

[Dan Bernstein]

Best Supporting Actress, Elle Fanning for Sentimental Value. Amy Madigan for Weapons.

[Neil]

It's on HBO right now. I haven't seen that either.

[Dan Bernstein]

I haven't either. Chicago's own Amy Madigan. Her father is John Madigan, after whom I. Mike Madigan. No. John Madigan, News Radio 78. It was because of him that when I started at the score, I would sign off with the score that was an homage to John Madigan. Wunmi Mosaku from Sinners. Inga Ibsdotter, Lilias for Sentimental Value.

[Neil]

These are supporting actress.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yes. This is supporting actress and the Force of Nature. Tiana Taylor, One Battle after Another.

[Neil]

Oh, yeah. She should win that.

[Dan Bernstein]

I think she's going to win that. Yeah. The best director, Chloe Zhao Hamnet. Josh Safdie. Marty Supreme PTA for One Battle. Ryan Coogler for Sinners. And Joachim Trier, of Sentimental Value.

[Neil]

I think Coogler wins that.

[Dan Bernstein]

Do you? I do. Okay. Screenplay. Original screenplay.

[Neil]

Blue Moon.

[Dan Bernstein]

It was just an accident. Marty Supreme, Sentimental Value and Sinners.

[Neil]

What is Blue Moon? That's the one with Ethan Hawke.

[Dan Bernstein]

What is that? I don't.

[Neil]

I love Ethan Hawke.

[Dan Bernstein]

I don't know. I don't know anything about that. Best Adapted Screenplay. Begonia, Frankenstein, Hamnet One Battle and Train Dreams. And then it's pretty much all the same movies here in various permutations or best cinematography. Best original score. Best song is Dear Me from Diane Warren. Relentless golden from K Pop. Demon Hunters.

[Neil]

That's a good tune right there.

[Dan Bernstein]

I Lied to you from Sinners, Sweet Dreams of Joy from Viva Verdi, Train Dreams from Train Dreams.

[Neil]

Blue Moon. In 1943, lyricist Lorenz Hart confronts his shattered self confidence in a bar as his former collaborator, Richard Rogers celebrates the opening night of his groundbreaking hit musical Oklahoma.

[Dan Bernstein]

Oklahoma. I don't think that's how it sounded. Ok, well, that's from Wedgie Fever. That's from the SNL skit with Jon Lovitz.

[Neil]

All right, then. Ethan Hawke plays Lorenz Hart.

[Dan Bernstein]

Oklahoma.

[Neil]

Oh, Bobby Canavail's in this as well.

[Dan Bernstein]

I love him. I do too.

[Neil]

You heard Rose Burns, when she accepted the Golden Globe, mentioned that Bobby wasn't there to support her because he was at a, like a reptile show because they were getting like a bearded lizard at home. It was really funny.

[Dan Bernstein]

What?

[Neil]

Yeah, it was really funny the way she ended it.

[Dan Bernstein]

Bearded dragon.

[Neil]

Oh, yeah, I said bearded lizard. Bearded dragon.

[Dan Bernstein]

Correct. My friend had a bearded dragon and it would occasionally be loose in the house.

[Neil]

Yeah, not happening.

[Dan Bernstein]

You would just kind of look over and it would be staring at you.

[Neil]

Looking at your ham sandwich. Hello. Yeah, I'm not. Yeah, I'm not interested in having one of those. The boys have asked a couple times for something along those lines.

[Dan Bernstein]

They're nice.

[Neil]

No, not interested.

[Dan Bernstein]

That.

[Neil]

Snakes, spiders. Those aren't pets.

[Dan Bernstein]

Our next door neighbors have had a tortoise. And the problem with a tortoise is you have to put stuff in your will about it.

[Neil]

Oh, yeah, because they live to be 200.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah. Like you. Actually, there's no, there's no, like dog years or anything for a tortoise, you know? Yeah.

[Neil]

Jack wants a tortoise and, and if, if I get one, I just leave it with the house. Right?

[Dan Bernstein]

I think you can.

[Neil]

With the house?

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah. You can include it if you want. I mean, if you just want something that's gonna sit around and eat lettuce. I don't, I don't really get the fun of it, but go ahead, man. I. I saw a guy out walking one on a leash right here in whatever Lakeshore East.

[Neil]

He had a leash around a turtle?

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah.

[Neil]

Where at? Around, like around right here. The turtle shell?

[Dan Bernstein]

No. Right. Kind of like on his neck, like one of those little harness things. Like it went over.

[Neil]

Turtle harness.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, I think he made it himself, but it went over the turtle's shoulders and then kind of went around the back of the Car.

[Neil]

Did you shoot him a judging glance at all?

[Dan Bernstein]

No. I wanted to know the tortoise's name and because they're London Dog. I love the Every. You know, when I go fishing, I walk through there and there's adorable dogs everywhere. And there's. There's always, like, pit bulls and staffies and bully breeds that I just. I can't get enough of.

[Neil]

Yeah.

[Dan Bernstein]

I love those dogs with their big smiles and their big heads and you just want to grab them by the head and kiss their nose. And then there's a tortoise. And I went over and I wasn't going to discriminate, you know, and I just said, hello. I said, you know, what do you do with the tortoise? Do I put my hand out to have him smell it? What do you do? Just even little scritches behind the ears. I don't know. I was like, hell, hello. Who are you?

[Neil]

So what did you do?

[Dan Bernstein]

I kind of said hi and just. I didn't really do anything. I don't know. They might snap at you and bite you. So I didn't. I did run across a tortoise in the wild that I didn't mess with. That was a gopher tortoise it was hissing at.

[Neil]

What'd he go for?

[Dan Bernstein]

Thanks.

[Neil]

Frank was outside today with the new. The new fresh fallen snow that we've had here. It seems like it snowed every day the last week. And he likes to go on the deck and he licks the snow off the. The bench, and then he'll turn and look, and his face is just covered in snow and he looks like Tony Montana, like, with a bright woman. They're being giant cocaine. Yeah. I'm like, dude, come on. He just stares at you, and then he goes back to it. Puts his face right in the snow.

[Dan Bernstein]

Frank's got a good sensibility.

[Neil]

Giant blockhead.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah. Frank. Frank's. Frank's cool. Frank's cool. Frank's easygoing.

[Neil]

Frank's. He's very much easygoing.

[Dan Bernstein]

Very easygoing.

[Neil]

He's not, is he? Not so much. Yeah.

[Dan Bernstein]

Izzy's. Izzy runs a little hotter, I think. She does for sure does.

[Neil]

All right. So that's fine. Those are. I think. I think I've seen about half the Oscar movies that are nominated. That sounds about, like, on par for me every year. Like, I want. Did you ever go through and look at all the films that have won Best Best Picture and count how many of you've seen?

[Dan Bernstein]

I can't tell you the last time I've done it.

[Neil]

Yeah, I've seen a lot less than I probably should have for, like, movies. But. Yeah, I just, I don't, I don't generally see the ones that win because generally the ones that win don't look very good to me. But that's just me.

[Dan Bernstein]

This is a perfect to let. Well, as long as they're not too fartsy because, you know, it's artsy's fine.

[Neil]

But they could be artsy fartsy.

[Dan Bernstein]

Right. Well, yeah, you get a problem. It's just fartsy. But tomorrow we're going to have some fun. And I know there's people have asked about DBU and what we've been doing during football season. And what we've been doing has been our Friday feedback Friday, which isn't going anywhere. We've got a ton of Friday feedback that is going to be there on Friday Feedback Friday. And we had been doing these top ten lists of the Bears opponent and their mascot. So we've decided to expand things rather than saying, well, that's it. We've decided to. Because we can.

[Neil]

Yeah. On the heels of the Oscar nominations.

[Dan Bernstein]

We thought for this week, and I have never done this before in 30 years. I've never actually done this before, that we're going to each provide our personal list of our respective favorite sports movies.

[Neil]

Yep. Our top 10 sports movies. Not objectively, not what critics think, not based on awards. Our personal top 10 again, the committee's gone. We had our exit interview. They're out of the house. This is my own list of the top 10, my top 10 favorite sports movies. You'll have your top 10 favorite sports movies.

[Dan Bernstein]

I'm going to stay after today. I'm going to do my work. I'm going to put everything together and I'm going to have it for you. But I'm already the back of my mind is starting to slot things into place subconsciously. And then I got to bring it to the front and then let that part work on it.

[Neil]

One thing I want to share with you before we get out of here today. Baseball Reference does this every year. It goes back through the previous season and it lists the. The players that were like their players pages that were viewed the most and they break them down by state. I don't know if you saw this or not, but they had 20, 25, the most viewed picture. And so this is like by state, the picture, the pitcher's page that was most viewed by state.

[Dan Bernstein]

Does Ohtani count?

[Neil]

No, they did not put Ohtani in as. As picture category. So, yeah, Because I think he was number one overall. But of the 50 states, Clayton Kershaw claimed 34 of those 50 states, which was interesting. There are two that stood out to me, though, quite a bit. Number one in the state of Oklahoma.

[Dan Bernstein]

Dan. Oklahoma.

[Neil]

Correct. Can you guess who the most viewed pitcher was and baseball reference in 2025 in the state of Oklahoma?

[Dan Bernstein]

Is there a logical way to arrive at this answer?

[Neil]

There is not. And if you were to get it, I'd give you $1,000 cash.

[Dan Bernstein]

The most viewed major league pitcher in Oklahoma. I was Louis Severino.

[Neil]

Nolan Ryan. Yes, exactly. That's not the one, though.

[Dan Bernstein]

That. What?

[Neil]

That caught my curiosity. The most. Okay. Can you guess the pitcher, Major league baseball pitcher, whose page was viewed the most in the great state of Iowa?

[Dan Bernstein]

The most. Okay, well, who was somebody who was. Was an Iowa Cub. Who was. It's got to be a Cub because we know that Iowa loves the Cubs. I'm going to say Shota Imonaga.

[Neil]

Okay. I love your thought process there. You are correct. It was a Cub. It was not Shota Imanaga.

[Dan Bernstein]

Is it Kate Horton?

[Neil]

It was not Cade Horton. And I'm gonna help you out. It was not a pitcher that pitched for the Cubs in 2025.

[Dan Bernstein]

It's a former Cub.

[Neil]

It's a former Cub.

[Dan Bernstein]

Harry Wood.

[Neil]

It was not Kerry Wood. He was actually mentioned on this. On this here podcast within the last week.

[Dan Bernstein]

This pitcher for the. You didn't pitch for the Cub was mentioned in the last week on this.

[Neil]

Podcast, and it wasn't in a positive reference either.

[Dan Bernstein]

Carlos Zambrano.

[Neil]

No. I'll give you one more guess.

[Dan Bernstein]

Mordecai Three Finger Brown. I don't know.

[Neil]

Good guess, but it is not. All right, here's your final clue. He was mentioned with drinking and Wrigleyville.

[Dan Bernstein]

Kyle Farnsworth.

[Neil]

Correct. Kyle Farnsworth was the most viewed pitcher on baseball reference in the state of Iowa.

[Dan Bernstein]

That's got to be wrong.

[Neil]

It's not wrong.

[Dan Bernstein]

Okay.

[Neil]

It's not wrong.

[Dan Bernstein]

All right.

[Neil]

I mean, you have. Justin Verlander was looked at. Paul Skeens had three states that looked at him. Mm. Again we see Charlie Morton had a state.

[Dan Bernstein]

Was there some sort of, like, contest where you went to his page to win something?

[Neil]

I could not find any. Any logical reason as to why. There was, like, speculation online as to why it might have been, but yes. Kyle Farnsworth.

[Dan Bernstein]

All right.

[Neil]

The most viewed pitchers page in the state of Iowa during the 2025 season.

[Dan Bernstein]

Congratulations, Iowa. It is championship weekend and the super bowl is coming My bookie is where you turn bets into bankroll. Everybody's watching. We all have takes. But this is a game where props matter just as much as the score. And I can speak to you as somebody who at one point finished third nationally in a media super bowl prop contest. I can tell you my bookie has the best selection. Their super bowl prop board is deep and fun, and it's got goofy bets on there. It's the same reason they get talked about on Jimmy Kimmel Live every year when the game rolls around. So if you want to get in and start having fun with this, there's no better time than right now, as the super bowl is coming. It's one account, one wallet. Bet the spread live bet, the second half, go to the casino during commercials. Everything's right there in one place at MyBookie AG. And with our promo code, DBU, your first bet is covered up to 500 bucks. So you go in, you register, you deposit, you use the code, and then if that bet doesn't hit, you got a bet back bonus token, and you can run it back. So don't just watch the big game. Make it pay with MyBookie. And that will do it for DBU today. Brought to you in partnership with my bookie, Dan Bernstein.

[Neil]

Unfiltered Unfiltered on 312Sports.

[Dan Bernstein]

Here on a job site with Tim, who owns his own electrical contracting business.

[Neil]

Three employees and two work trucks.

[Dan Bernstein]

Tim traded up to Geico Commercial Auto Insurance. We're positively here where he needs us most. They sure are. With step by step help on all his insurance needs, all for shockingly low rates. Shockingly low, huh? Just a little bit of electrician humor. Do you get it? I got it. You know, it feels like we have a real connection. All right, I'll stop.

[Neil]

Get a commercial auto insurance quote [e-mail] and see how much you could save. It feels good. To Geico.