“Chicago Bears WIN! Ben Johnson’s Team Surpasses Expectations at 8-3”

Summary

Podcast Summary: Dan Bernstein Unfiltered

Episode: “Chicago Bears WIN! Ben Johnson’s Team Surpasses Expectations at 8-3”
Date: November 24, 2025
Host: Dan Bernstein
Co-host: Matt Abbatacola

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Episode Overview

This episode of Dan Bernstein Unfiltered dives deep into the remarkable 8-3 start by the Chicago Bears under new head coach Ben Johnson. The hosts focus on the rapid transformation of the Bears, possible reasons behind their record, the growth of rookie quarterback Caleb Williams, and the critical role Ben Johnson has played. The conversation extends to other Chicago sports (Bulls, Cubs) and includes memorable reflections on coaching, team culture, and the importance of championship standards.

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Main Discussion Points

1. Bears’ 8-3 Start and Ben Johnson’s Impact

• Bears at 8-3: The team’s current record is termed as “the story of this season,” particularly under a first-year head coach and following an 0-2 start.
• Ben Johnson’s Genius: Johnson’s adaptability and offensive mind are credited for the turnaround despite a roster not fully of his choosing.
• “Rebuild of a Rebuild”: Dan reiterates that earlier in the season, the Bears were viewed as undergoing a “rebuild of a rebuild,” emphasizing how much further ahead the team is now than expected.
  • "This is Ben Johnson walking in the door saying, 'What do I have? What's here? All right, we got a long way to go to teach this. We are just more than halfway through season one, and the fact that they're eight and three and they still don't quite get the whole thing yet…’” (05:00)

Timestamps:

• [01:18] – Dan and Matt open with Bears’ record and the looming Philly matchup.
• [05:38] – Reflection on preseason expectations and Johnson’s early obstacles.

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2. Quality of the Bears’ 8-3 Record

• Point Differential Paradox: Despite their winning record, the Bears have a negative point differential, which Dan points out is “astonishing” and evidence of good coaching rather than dominant play.

  • “To be 8 and 3, I think is… with a negative point differential is a pretty good coaching job that's being done here.” (06:24)

• Strength of Schedule: The recent “run of quarterbacks” the Bears have faced is noted; many have limited NFL experience, hinting that the Bears’ schedule may have inflated their record.

  • “Five of the last six quarterbacks the Bears have gone against don’t have 20 career starts...” (03:22)

• Upcoming “Real Test” vs. Eagles: The hosts discuss whether the Eagles game is the team’s “first real test," disagreeing, as they point to other key division matchups.

Timestamps:

• [06:24] – Negative point differential and coaching.
• [11:18] – On whether the Eagles game is the first big test.

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3. Evolution of the Offense and Key Players

• Offensive Personnel: While Johnson inherited most offensive personnel, the hosts discuss which current players may be in the long-term plan.

  • “What we saw yesterday… on the offensive side of the football, it's not too far off from what his roster is going to be.” (07:42)

• Attacking Mindset: The Bears’ shift to a more aggressive and vertical passing offense is detailed as a clear departure from the “dink and dunk” approaches of the past.

  • “These don’t look like Bears games… this is an offense that takes shots, that is looking for big plays down the field and isn’t going to dink and dunk.” (12:50)

• Caleb Williams’ Resilience: Rookie QB Williams is credited for his resilience and mental fortitude.

  • “One thing that I want to say about Caleb Williams that I absolutely love about this kid is he is completely unfazed by failure and mistakes. And that is something you cannot teach.” (15:53)

Timestamps:

• [07:41] – Johnson’s imprint on offensive roster.
• [13:34] – Shift to attacking offense.
• [15:44] – Caleb Williams’ demeanor and leadership.

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4. Overachievement and Perspective

• Embracing Overachievement: Dan and Matt discuss the challenge of keeping short-term success in perspective, and how to turn an “inflated record” into long-term gains.

  • “I’m trying to keep the overachievement of this team in perspective… how does this opportunistic overachievement… help them actually win a Super Bowl?” (18:45)

• Importance of Game Reps: Despite success, the reps and experience being gained matter more for future growth than the 8-3 record itself.

  • “It’s the game reps that matter. That’s what’s valuable right now.” (21:32)

Timestamps:

• [18:45] – On overachievement.
• [21:32] – On importance of current season for the future.

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5. Standout Individual Performances

• Nishan Wright’s Emergence: The Bears’ defensive back gets highlighted for his recent playmaking, particularly his athletic interceptions and contributions in the run game.
  • “The guy’s tied for the NFL lead… Never in your life gonna see an interception like that.” (24:35)
  • “Dude is playing like a Pro Bowler.” (28:17)

Timestamps:

• [24:01] – Discussion about Nishan Wright’s game ball-worthy play.

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6. Around Chicago Sports

Bulls: Championship Standards and Leadership

• Vucevic Calls Out Soft Play: Nikola Vucevic’s critical postgame comments after an unconvincing Bulls win serve as a lesson in championship mindset.
  • “We finally started playing, you know, for three quarters… we were very soft. No resistance. Oh, man, we gave no resistance… It was really bad.” (46:10)
• Value of Veteran Leadership: The hosts praise Vucevic for holding his teammates accountable in public, noting this is essential for a team’s growth.

Timestamps:

• [46:07] – Vucevic interview and aftermath.

Cubs: Offseason Moves

• Assessment of the signing of reliever Phil Maton, skepticism around outlier pitching numbers, and historical caution with picking up ex-Astros bullpen arms.
  • “I’m a little worried about some outlier numbers from last year, especially in the lack of hard contact…” (54:09)

Timestamps:

• [54:03] – Cubs bullpen moves discussed.

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7. Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

Dan Bernstein on Ben Johnson’s Impact

• “I think the Bears hired the right guy… Ben Johnson can really coach.” (06:58)
• “Overachieving is not an insult. It's a compliment.” (18:45)
• “Don't get mad at math. Don't get… It's not even math. It's just addition.” (06:05)

On Caleb Williams’ Mental Toughness

• Matt: “He is able, like wearing a raincoat, to let raindrops just roll right off his back, be able to take mistakes and failure… and put them away and move on. And that is, that is a great skill to have.” (15:53)

On Team Building and Perspective

• Dan: “How can it be… How can the record and the early overachievement be important rather than just saying hooray?” (18:45)

On Bulls’ Culture

• Vucevic (on Bulls' effort): “We finally started playing, you know… But, you know, obviously we're happy we won but… we can't keep doing this. It's not sustainable. We have to be better.” (46:10)

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Important Segment Timestamps

| Segment | Timestamp | |--------------------------------------|---------------| | Bears’ 8-3 start, schedule talk | [01:18]–[06:24]| | Point differential, Ben Johnson | [06:24]–[07:41]| | Personnel & offense development | [07:41]–[13:34]| | Overachievement & perspective | [18:45]–[21:32]| | Nishan Wright’s defensive highlights | [24:01]–[28:42]| | Bulls—Vucevic interview | [46:07]–[47:13]| | Cubs moves—Phil Maton | [54:03]–[56:38]|

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Conclusion and Takeaways

• The Bears’ unexpectedly strong start is a product of Ben Johnson’s coaching acumen, despite a not-yet-complete roster and “rebuild of a rebuild” context.
• The coaching staff and QB Caleb Williams are showing maturity and mental toughness seldom seen in a rookie-led team.
• There’s sober awareness that this success could be transient given the schedule, injuries, and underlying metrics.
• Standout individual performances (e.g., Nishan Wright) and veteran leadership (Nikola Vucevic with the Bulls) are shaping the identity of Chicago teams.
• The conversation always returns to long-term growth: What can the Bears do to convert early overachievement into lasting contender status?

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Listen to this episode for:

• A balanced mixture of big-picture thinking and day-to-day analysis
• Brutally honest takes on players, coaches, team-building, and what true progress means in Chicago sports
• Entertaining stories from Bernstein and Abbatacola’s decades around Chicago athletics

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For more Chicago Bears analysis and the authentic sports talk Chicago fans crave, “Dan Bernstein Unfiltered” drops new episodes every weekday.

Transcript

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[Dan Bernstein]

Dan Bernstein unfiltered unfiltered on 312 sports it's Dan Bernstein, unfiltered. I'm Dan Bernstein, that's Matt Abaticola, and we are brought to you in partnership with my bookie. The Chicago Bears are 8 and 3 and they've got a short turnaround facing a grumbling Philadelphia Eagles team. I don't know if you stayed up to stuck around. I should say stuck around. Yeah, watch the end of that game because a lot of people bailed. A lot of people would say, all right, 21 nothing. But the Dallas Cowboys stormed back and it shows you to beat this Eagles team, you've got to rush the passer. You got to rush the passer. And the Cowboys have some guys who can do that. They have a couple of dangerous guys up front. But now the Bears are going to be facing a pretty unhappy Philly team. We'll get to that. The story of this season at eight, at eight and three, the story and somebody mentioned, and I don't know where I saw this, that that was the original 6 7. The whole 83 bit was really the original version of 6 7.

[Matt Abaticola]

Did you see that Domino's has a new promotion. It's like, was that real?

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah. Okay. I didn't think it was real.

[Matt Abaticola]

Oh, maybe it's not.

[Dan Bernstein]

Somebody sent it around saying, oh, look at what.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah, I got. I got it sent to me. I. Yeah, maybe it's.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, I don't know if it's. I don't know.

[Matt Abaticola]

I'm going to believe that it is because I love it so well, because.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, the kids hate it. But now The Bears are 8 and 3, and the job Ben Johnson is doing is the story. What Ben Johnson is doing with this team is the story. Don't lose sight of that, regardless of what happens. Now, table for a moment, the debate about the quality of the Bears, because you don't know, I don't know how good they really are at 8 and 3. This run of quarterbacks that they're on right now is pretty incredible. I. Brad Biggs did a really good job of cataloging this run that they're on, the likes of which we've never seen before anything quite like this. Five of the last six quarterbacks the Bears have gone against don't have 20 career starts. Mason Rudolph is the second most experienced. This is the run that they're on. Spencer Rattler, 13th career start. Tyler Huntley, 15th. Joe Flacco, obviously, 198th. Jackson Dart, seventh. J.J. mcCarthy, fifth. God, he sucks. Oh, my God, is J.J. mcCarthy bad? He's bad.

[Matt Abaticola]

Bad. He's real bad.

[Dan Bernstein]

He's bad.

[Commercial Narrator]

Bad.

[Dan Bernstein]

They're like, get him out of here.

[Commercial Narrator]

Move on.

[Dan Bernstein]

Bad. That'd be the crazy takes about J.J. mcCarthy and then Mason Rudolph and his 19th career start. Dart's a rookie. McCarthy, Rattler, second seasons. But table that for a second. All of that, not long ago, in this space right here, this microphone, this room. We were talking at the Bears 02 saying, wait a second here. Remember what I told you the term was that I heard. Talking to people around the team and talking to people close to the situation, reminding us, going out of their way to tell people like us what the real story was. Remember what I said? A rebuild of a rebuild. Remember that?

[Commercial Narrator]

Yep.

[Dan Bernstein]

Wasn't all that long ago.

[Commercial Narrator]

No.

[Dan Bernstein]

That I was sitting right here saying, don't lose sight of the fact that this is a rebuild of a rebuild. These aren't his guys. I'm not even talking about how far they are down the depth chart. This isn't his roster. This is Ben Johnson walking in the door saying, what do I have? What's here? What do I have? All right, we got a long way to go to teach this. This is that we are just more than halfway through season one, and the fact that they're eight and three and they still don't quite get the whole thing yet. Like this is when he says, we'll be playing our best football in December.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yep.

[Dan Bernstein]

He said that over and over again. And they might. But that. That gets eroded by injuries. That's just a natural fact. The. The attrition and erosion of injuries. The gravity of injuries is undefeated. That happens to everyone. So I'm using that and using that to balance everything we're talking about here. And they might. They still might. There might be evidence of them playing, by his definition, their best football by December. But what he's doing with this game to game, the way he's calling it, even though they have a negative point differential, which is astonishing. Yes, of course. Well, it's just if you take away that one game against the Lions, that's not how it works. That's what point differential is. That's the point of it that I. That you can push back and say, well, it's only that one game. Right. But when you're not also winning games by a ton, that one game is magnified more. That's just. That's just math. Don't get mad at math. Don't get. It's not even math. It's just addition. It's just adding up the numbers in the columns. And to be 8 and 3, I think is. With a negative point differential is a pretty good coaching job that's being done here. That, that to me is the story. I think the Bears hired the right guy. I don't know what's going to happen with the remainder of this year. I don't know. I don't know if these next few games are going to be a huge come to Jesus meeting about the qual of the team. I don't know if they're going to get knocked out in the playoffs or what's going to happen. But I know the one thing that I can bank from the evidence we have is Ben Johnson can really coach.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah. That is the story of 2025. That is that this is the Ben Johnson factor. This is what it's like when you have a head coach, an NFL quality head coach and one of the top five offensive play callers in the game.

[Dan Bernstein]

And.

[Matt Abaticola]

And I want to go back to real quick to you talk about this not being his roster. What we saw yesterday, and we've talked about this on the offensive side of the football, it's not too far off from what his roster is going to be. It's not. And they've had the good fortune of being healthy, offensively speaking, not on the defensive side, but offensively speaking, they've been very healthy and they opened yesterday in the 12 personnel. And that's, that's pretty much what you're going to see with maybe question marks at running back and left tackle. Outside of that, you have your two tight ends, you have your two wide receivers. I was thinking have your quarterback, you have most of your offensive line with a question mark at left tackle. And who's your running back? This is your roster with Ben Johnson offensively moving forward.

[Dan Bernstein]

I was thinking about it yesterday that if, if Tripillo in for Benedict is a fast forwarding and here's your look and I'm wondering if they weren't as Johnson's talking to Dan Roshar and they're breaking down the film today, if they aren't looking across left to right and saying, all right, okay, next, next, next few years. This is, this is it.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah. I mean it's, it's very possible. We saw the starting offensive line in, barring injury for the next several years.

[Dan Bernstein]

That's what I was thinking too.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah, 100%.

[Dan Bernstein]

That's what I.

[Matt Abaticola]

And you have your two tight ends, you have your two wide receivers, you have your quarterback.

[Dan Bernstein]

I'm not sure about the wide receivers. I'm not sure.

[Matt Abaticola]

Well, I mean, I'm talking about if you're looking at 12 personnel. I'm looking at Rome and Luther. Okay, Roman, Luther, your two tight ends, your offensive line, maybe Tripillo, maybe someone else, maybe Benedict. You have your quarterback and you have your running backs right now. But, you know, and yesterday Kyleman Unguy got more of the snaps than DeAndre Swift. But this is what it looks like moving forward.

[Dan Bernstein]

Just remember where we were and we're going to.

[Matt Abaticola]

We are.

[Dan Bernstein]

We've got a ton to do on forward progress today and we will, yes. But I just really want you to remember where we were after two games talking about the job that Johnson had in front of him. And I'm willing to bet that he's going to tell you that this record is way ahead of schedule. We all know it, everybody knows it. Everybody looking around the league and you watch a lot of games and you can be hooray for everything. And there's a lot of that and that's great. And I don't think that understanding that takes away from happiness. I don't think that you have to be a drooling pom pom waving fanboy all the time. I think you can. After winning, you look at the record and nothing against that level of excitement that's there. But understanding where this fits in the larger picture of trying to win a Super Bowl. It's okay to know that they're ahead of schedule. It's okay to know that this is an inflated record right now. Which is why going into Friday, I don't care about the outcome Friday. I think the Bears are a seven point dog right now. It's about right considering they've got no linebackers and Phillies coming off. This loss is going to be wound up.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yep.

[Dan Bernstein]

You can survive whatever initial onslaught is coming and make a game out of it. All I care about Friday is the quality of the Bears play. I don't care. You're going to.

[Matt Abaticola]

You're going to lose game.

[Dan Bernstein]

The Bears aren't going to go undefeated the rest of the year.

[Matt Abaticola]

Correct.

[Dan Bernstein]

They're going to lose games. I'm not. This is not a must win by any stretch, but this is. If you are excited about everything that they're doing, Friday is a must play well rep, represent yourself well, carry yourself well and compete well.

[Matt Abaticola]

I saw some some comments towards the show talking about how Friday's game is like the first real test of the season. I disagree with that because you've had two. You've had three division games already and you let J.J. mcCarthy steal one. You almost let him steal a second one and then you got just completely hammered by the Lions. So this is the fourth really important test and so far you're one and two in those games and you're going into Philadelphia, who just lost a divisional game while leading 21 to nothing. Losing to the Cowboys, who are fighting to keep their playoff hopes alive at 5. 5 and 1 needed that win and they got it at home over the Eagles. The Eagles are going to be pissed off and ready to go on Friday. On a short week, they will be ready to go and take it to the Bears. I want to see the Bears perform well now. Yeah, I want them to win and I'm not going to go out and say that the outcome to me doesn't matter because it does matter. But they need to perform well starting with Caleb Williams on down.

[Dan Bernstein]

I think it's also important to understand and the point of why I'm bringing up the larger picture here is to give a sense of what's really going on here. And that comes down to Caleb Williams. It comes down to what he's learning and how he's learning it and what this offense is and why, what it isn't about the downfield nature of these shots that Ben Johnson wants to take, what the way teams are defending the Bears, when this is popping, when this is working, there's big chunks of yards that are there and the fact that it's not even working all that well yet and it's, it's a big boy offense that. These don't look like Bears games. Now first game did, second game was just bad. But what we're seeing Ben Johnson do over time as he's trying to figure out his roster and his guys, this is a, an offense that takes shots that is looking for big plays down the field and isn't going to dink and dunk. That isn't a game management kind of offense.

[Matt Abaticola]

No, it's an attacking offense.

[Dan Bernstein]

It is an attacking offense. And even in the fits and starts, even in these head scratching passes, there at least I'm get, I'm getting a picture now. I'm starting to understand a little bit better the, the high risk tolerance that they have for some things here and what it's going to take for them to, to get to the, the gears meshing better of everything that they're doing. And with every data point we have on Caleb Williams, there's, there's a way of also not getting bogged down in detail to detail because of the big play nature and because of what you're going to have to live with sometimes as he's learning to see what Ben Johnson sees when he sees it. We called this, and rightly so, a rebuild of a rebuild. And they're already here. It's perfect. But I'm, I'm giving this coach a lot of leeway because he's proven to me that he is seeing what we're seeing. He, he knows exactly where the growth has to occur. But they're, they're winning while a lot of growing pains are happening. And that's a sign of, of how hard they're playing. It is also a sign of being, taking advantage of lesser opponents. It's true. And it's okay. It's okay. You can say that. You can say that. Which is why I also think that Johnson knows the Lions den they're going into this week. He understands it. And I'm fascinated to look at their readiness to play. I'm fascinated to look at this resiliency that is there, identity, this ability to find ways to win. That is their identity. If you can do it this week, if you can just, just play well, it might not end up all right and the ball's going to bounce weird and things are going to happen. But even amid all that, the through line on this is really positive.

[Matt Abaticola]

Right. And this is a byproduct of Ben Johnson being the head coach and the preparation and the game planning and the scheming and the study and the work and the belief. And the belief 100%. And one thing that I want to say about Caleb Williams that I absolutely love about this kid is he is completely unfazed by failure and mistakes. And that is something you cannot teach. I don't care how gifted you are as an athlete, you cannot teach that. You have it or you don't. And he is able, like wearing a raincoat, to let raindrops just roll right off his back, be able to take mistakes and failure and bad drives and bad passes and put them away and move on. And that is, that is a great skill to have. And again, not something you can teach. And which is, which is also why they're. They're 8 and 3 on this year. So I'm not going to take away any of what Caleb Williams has done with some of the unbelievable passes. With the exceptional talent and potential that he has, I'm not going to overshadow the mistakes, the bad passes, the misses, the things he's not seeing that I think after 28 games in the league he should be seeing.

[Dan Bernstein]

You know what I like too is when DJ Moore had that really stupid penalty for taunting.

[Matt Abaticola]

Really dumb.

[Dan Bernstein]

When he flipped the ball, it didn't stop him.

[Matt Abaticola]

No, no, I, it didn't.

[Dan Bernstein]

It wasn't like, well, I guess that's that. And here we are being stupid again. And that's why DJ Moore was told by Ben Johnson f fix your body language. Right. Stop moping out there.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah, I get it. And he's a competitor. And you know, I'm sure if I played the NFL I would do dumber things than DJ Moore did throwing a ball. I'd get pissed off and lose focus on it. But come on, dude, you got to know better. You got it. I mean, you're the veteran wide receiver on this team. You know, you have to know better.

[Dan Bernstein]

Didn't stop me. He was the guy that caught the touchdown pass. Yeah. On that drive that he gets a 14 yard taunt or 14 yard reception for Roma Dunes A. There's a taunting penalty. They, they get to Swift for 14. That was the screen pass on second and 20 and it was third and six that ends up with that touchdown on the coverage bust. And old Bears teams that we knew that was like, that was something like that would have happened and it would just have been like, I. Well, I guess.

[Matt Abaticola]

But here's the thing, though, too.

[Sleep Number Customer]

They've actually.

[Matt Abaticola]

They've grown throughout this season, too, because we're. We've seen things like that this year where they stack mistakes on top of mistakes. They overcame it this time, which is great. And I want to. I want to know if. And I'm looking forward to hearing Ben Johnson talk today, if that coverage and that busted coverage led to that. That led to that touchdown pass was something they were hunting. Was. Was that something they were looking for?

[Dan Bernstein]

That's a great question. That's a great question. Because it might look like a bust, but it also might be something for which they were waiting and waiting and waiting.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah, I'm really, really excited to see if that does come up. And, you know. And awesome. And if not, you know, great, whatever.

[Dan Bernstein]

Still an awesome play or just recognizing it, right? I. It's I and I. And I'm trying to keep this overachievement so far, and that's a good thing. Overachieving is not an insult. It's a compliment. I'm trying to keep the overachievement of this team in perspective that says, what can this year mean? What can the fact that they're here, they are at 8 and 3. How. I guess the way to phrase it is this. How does this opportunistic overachievement. How can they make it more likely that they win a Super bowl, whether it's this year, next year, the year after that. It's great to be in this position. But what I keep beating myself up trying to figure out, rather than just marching down the street and waving pom poms for everybody and doing cartwheels, is how can the fact that they're early. Don't waste it. How can it matter? How can. How can it be. How can the record and the early overachievement be important rather than just saying hooray? And that's great. Say hooray. Be happy. Love it. Do whatever you want. Take your pants off and run down the street waving them over your head. Please do that. And you don't need my permission to do it. But I. I can do that on occasion, too. I also want to know how the fact that they're here can be an advantage later. What does this allow you to do now that maybe you wouldn't have been able to do before? Because in a losing year or in a. In a year that maybe you're playing this guy instead of that guy? But you know what? They're all out there. The rest of the guys are hurt. You know, I've been, I said play Shamar Turner where you can't play him. Ozzie Trevilla got in the game because he got in the game. But that's a good thing. He had a good game. And you, like you, you're, you're, you're trying to fill out your practice squad with guys. Now on the other side of the ball, Nishan Wright has found money in your pocket. It's a $20 bill. You find in your jeans that you get that guy. The way some of these people are playing. Fantastic. Also good coaching. But how do you make the, the fact that you're early to success. What's the advantage in that? Is my question. All right.

[Matt Abaticola]

Here and listen and I, I want to get into it in great greater detail in, in forward progress as we dive deeper into that get that game and then the big picture too is where I want to go. But I'm gonna, I'm gonna answer right off top of my head there. There is no advantage that you can create by being 8 and 3 right now. But the question is, and you asked before, how can you make this eight and three season so far matter.

[Dan Bernstein]

How can you make, make this, make you more likely to be the champion you want to be?

[Matt Abaticola]

Okay. And we'll talk about that in forward progress. One thing I do want to say because it's not about eight and three and one thing that you can make this matter are the reps. And you can, you can have, you can get value towards your Future by going 1 in 15 or 1 in 16 or you can get value for your Future by going 10 and 7. It's the game reps that matter. That's what's valuable right now. But more specifically, how can they make this eight and three season matter today? That's the question. That's the big picture for 2025.

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[Dan Bernstein]

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[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah, they won by 97.

[Dan Bernstein]

That was not pretty. And at the end of today's episode, we're going to have more DBU picks for all the action tonight. I got a question. What does my guy, Nishan Wright have to do to get a game ball?

[Matt Abaticola]

I don't know, dude. Okay, what?

[Dan Bernstein]

What does he have to do to get a game ball?

[Matt Abaticola]

Maybe. Maybe he needs to not let a offensive player knock an interception out of his hand because it's happened twice now. Maybe that's it. Maybe that's the standard.

[Dan Bernstein]

The guy's tied for the NFL lead.

[Matt Abaticola]

Makes another beautiful interception, a one handed. Unbelievable.

[Dan Bernstein]

Never in your life gonna see an interception like that.

[Matt Abaticola]

He's like Go go Gadget. His arm just stretches and stretches and stretches.

[Dan Bernstein]

I said that with the last interception that he made on the under throw in the corner of the end zone. But what does he have to do? It's not like Kevin Warren ran in and took it from him this time. But DeMarco Jackson had a nice game. You know, they were testing them early. If you noticed what Pittsburgh was doing with them. All that side to side stuff as we talked about in the post game yesterday, making them pursue, testing their eyes, making them choose gaps and pick pursuit angles. And eventually the Bears figured all that out and it was clear that they were told, hey, here's what's being done to you and the defense. Yeah. If some of these linebackers coming up making all those tackles, awesome. And I'm going to bog Bemiga and demarco Jackson did that. But my God, Nishan Wright was great in the run game, too.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yes, he had an exceptional game.

[Dan Bernstein]

He was terrific. Crashing down in the run game. And that pick is going to be on every highlight film. That's a career highlight.

[Matt Abaticola]

I mean, remember, this is a Vikings practice squad guy that came in for just over a million dollars in one year. This dude is writing himself a contract for the future and he's. He's playing unbelievably well.

[Dan Bernstein]

I don't know what he's got to.

[Matt Abaticola]

Do to get a game ball to.

[Dan Bernstein]

Get the poor guy give the man. This is it is my mission in life. All I want. I feel like that's my game ball. I just. I want to see. And then you do your good, better, best on the whole thing.

[Matt Abaticola]

Here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to. I'm going to say after last week's conversation about it and what happened to him on a personal level and the game that he had, I'm going to say that they.

[Dan Bernstein]

When he's mourning the death of his coach and all that, okay, here's your ball.

[Matt Abaticola]

I'm going to say that privately. The Bears did that for Nishan Wright last week. That's what I'm going to hold on to.

[Dan Bernstein]

You think so?

[Matt Abaticola]

And that's what I'm going to hold on to. I just. I can't see what I've learned of Ben Johnson this year. I can't see him letting that opportunity badly. Yeah, I just can't. And I think last week I think they took care of him in a private way and maybe at his own request. That I just don't want to be front and center.

[Dan Bernstein]

I don't know.

[Matt Abaticola]

I can't handle it this week. And I saw. I'm just going to go with the fact that they did it privately last week. And can I share one other NFL note before you move on?

[Dan Bernstein]

But let me just say.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah, wrap it up.

[Dan Bernstein]

I would ask. We're not in on the Ben Johnson Monday press conference that they usually do via Zoom.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah.

[Dan Bernstein]

I would simply ask it that way, Ben, what does Nishan Wright have to do to get a game ball? Because I think he'd answer it in good spirits. Yeah, I think we'd get a really good answer if you phrased the question exactly that way. If we had a reporter, I would be texting our reporter right now.

[Matt Abaticola]

Please ask this question.

[Dan Bernstein]

Please just say yes, whoever it is. Gern Blanston, 312 Sports.

[Matt Abaticola]

Did we hire him?

[Dan Bernstein]

Gurn?

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah. I'm looking forward to when we, when.

[Dan Bernstein]

We do flesh this out and if indeed like because I've been going to Bulls games and trying to ask questions at Bulls games.

[Matt Abaticola]

Can you ask Billy Donovan why Nishan Wright not getting a game ball?

[Dan Bernstein]

Billy, Billy, Billy. Why can't Nishan Wright of the Bears get a game ball? What does he have to now the question is what does he have to do to get a game ball? Two weeks in a row the guy's made ridiculous. He has two of the top five NFL interceptions of the season. Probably not to mention the pick six he had in the opener. And again, I don't think he's that great either. I think he's probably a third corner. I don't know if he's a starting quarter in the league.

[Matt Abaticola]

Dude's playing like a starter now.

[Dan Bernstein]

Dude is playing like a pro Bowler. He's a Pro Bowler?

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah. Oh no, for sure.

[Dan Bernstein]

He's an absolute as of right now.

[Matt Abaticola]

11 games in for the Bears.

[Dan Bernstein]

He is a Pro bowl player. He is there. He's, he's going wherever they go. I don't even know if they have the Pro bowl anymore.

[Matt Abaticola]

He's going wherever his buddy goes.

[Dan Bernstein]

I think they, his buddy. I think they sit around, they play video games now instead of a Pro bowl. But I just, I, I don't know. I, I, I what? Tell me what I can do. What can I do to help Nishan Wright get a game?

[Matt Abaticola]

I think just keep getting the message out there, Dan. That's what I'm maybe, maybe it'll get to, to Hallis hall and you know.

[Dan Bernstein]

They'Ll wrap it up, bang the drums and fan the flames and do everything.

[Matt Abaticola]

I have to do. One other game I want to mention from yesterday before we wrap up NFL stuff again. We'll have more NFL and Bears talk on Ford progress today the Cleveland Browns beat the Raiders 24 to 10.

[Dan Bernstein]

God, the Raiders are horseshit.

[Matt Abaticola]

Remember, I, I, my pick was take the Raiders minus four. They're at home. You know, they're, they're playing Shador Sanders in his first start looked okay and they lose 24 to 10. Sanders goes 11 for 22009 yards, 55% completion percentage averaged almost 11 yards completion, one touchdown, one interception. He was sacked one time, a rating of 87. So obviously give you a bad pick there on the Raiders but one other area why I was keeping an eye on that game was Miles Garrett. And then we talked about Miles Garrett and the fact that he's on pace to break the single season sack record. You know what he had yesterday?

[Dan Bernstein]

No.

[Matt Abaticola]

3. He's at 18 now.

[Dan Bernstein]

Well, that's what Montez Sweat should have had. I don't know what happened on that third one. I don't think he knows either.

[Matt Abaticola]

He's like old stiff legs sometimes, man.

[Dan Bernstein]

Not like Javon Dexter was.

[Matt Abaticola]

Oh, yeah, the vanishing ball. But Miles Garrett now. Now has. He has 18 sacks on the season.

[Dan Bernstein]

Okay. Yeah.

[Matt Abaticola]

I mean, I'm telling you, watch it. And then he sells the Titans on his schedule, which is the. They've given him the most sacks in the NFL. Telling you he might get five that game.

[Dan Bernstein]

Are they going to make Miles Garrett an honorary member of the All American Watch family?

[Matt Abaticola]

Oh, God, that was something.

[Dan Bernstein]

Parents are at the game. You know, they have another brother. Here's Larry.

[Matt Abaticola]

That was something, man. I get it. JJ's doing the game, but, man, it was a lot of.

[Dan Bernstein]

Here's former Secretary of the Interior James Watt. Hello. Yes. And let's not forget the distant relative, longtime Seattle SuperSonics point guard Slick Watts. Hey, buddy. Also a member of the family. Hell, are you sure? Yeah. Well, we didn't talk about that. But bottom line, to put a bow on some of this football discussion, what Ben Johnson is doing with this team is remarkable. And I hope that the. The short term sort of this. This calorie rush, the sugar rush that we're getting from the fact that they're 8 and 3, doesn't take our eyes off the seeds of better things that are being cultivated as all of this is happening. Does that make sense?

[Matt Abaticola]

Yes, sir.

[Dan Bernstein]

I think that's all I'm trying to say. And my windows are coming. My windows are coming. They called the other day. They are just finishing up the painting. And thankfully, Russ called to confirm. It's like, hey, those ones in front, we don't want them white. Right? We want them to match with, man. I'm glad you asked. I'm gonna go outside and look.

[Matt Abaticola]

He's finishing a painting of you.

[Dan Bernstein]

Is that what it says?

[Matt Abaticola]

Didn't Russ do a portrait of all of his customers?

[Dan Bernstein]

Well, he certainly should. And he should have it behind him at his desk. Big picture of me behind Russ's Resolute desk. But Russ Armstrong is the owner of Chicago Window Guys, and he will treat you exactly like he's treating this order for the windows at my house. Because what he does is he comes out and he will explain to you what the deal is and you'll say, well, look, well, I talked to these people and they said this price. And he'll say, oh, okay, well, for that, the price of me will be this. And he will match. Anytime you hear these buy one, get one free or 50% off stuff, he's going to explain what the real math is on good windows and how it works. And then you'll say, oh, and then you're going to want to work with Russ. So call 847-302-9171 and check out his five star reviews at ChicagoNowGuys.com and know that these are all his people. I was working his guy, Camille does the measuring and he texted me and he's like, I'll be there in 20 minutes. I'll be there in 10 minutes. I'll be there in five minutes. And then he came in and then afterwards he's like, hey, let's just make sure the colors on these and they work with you to make sure it's exactly what you want. He makes the windows himself at his factory here in Chicago. And then everything is installed. It doesn't take all that long because he's done stuff in my house before. And like I say, he knows everybody in and around your house and that is it gives you a lot of peace of mind. Don't forget the lifetime guarantee with parts and labor. So if your windows are old, cracked, falling apart or just broken or you're just, you're hearing the heat kick on all the time and you're tired of that, Russ at Chicago window Guys has you covered. So call him right now. 847-302-9171 chicago window guys.com it's going to be the Bulls and the Pelicans tonight, and you talk about a team that's got to start playing better. Boy, this weekend was the ring of honor weekend and there are a lot of people in town and you heard all sorts of nice things said. And I want to say some nice things too. That hearing Neil Funk messing around with those guys was kind of nice. And to hear Neil and the good spirits that he's in is really good. I was a huge fan of Bill Cartwright and he was very helpful to me when he was an assistant coach and I was on the Bulls beat. And Bill would always take time to answer good questions really thoughtfully. I love talking to him before games. And Bill was the kind of guy where I would show him my notebook and I'd Sit down next to him, right there on the bench.

[Matt Abaticola]

And he's like, what's wrong with you?

[Dan Bernstein]

Well, no, he would say. And I'd say, bill, what was this play that they ran? And why did you have trouble defending it? And he would take my notebook and he'd put his glasses on and he'd start drawing. He'd say, look, he'd say, you don't quite have the angle of this screen right. And here's why. Here's how we would show this play to them. And it helped me. Oh, and he would teach. And then you heard that in what was being said when they were talking about Bill Cartwright, they called him teach. They called him teacher. Because that young team needed him to explain that a championship standard. They needed an old guy who'd been through it to say, this isn't good enough. You need to do this like this, or, this is a test, or, you gotta stand up to this guy. And sometimes he would take it upon himself on the back line of that defense. And he did it in his own way with tremendous physical toughness, but a quiet gravity about him, a gravitas about him that engendered a lot of respect, and it really did matter to that team. And they will tell you how much it mattered to that team. And to trade Charles Oakley, that move by Jerry Krause, to trade Jordan's favorite guy, his bodyguard, his guy was Oakley. And that was a ballsy trade that was enormously important in getting the Bulls where they had to go. And Norm Van Leer, of course, we know our old buddy Norm, who I wanted him honored the first time around in the ring of honor. And I'm very, very pleased that he was included again. And Pax a great player. And regardless of what you think about his tenure, the 17 years that he had in charge of the team, his devotion to the Chicago Bulls has never wavered, nor has his level of class. And you can say all you want about his drafting or anything, but you can't take away the fact that he's always carried himself as a representative, a proud representative of the organization.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah, when I was living in the city and I was in the Gold Coast, I would run into Norm on a consistent basis on Sundays at Paisano's. No, this is like Sunday brunch. He's coming from church, and he was always sitting at the bar, and I'd walk in there, get some food, get some beers, and just sit down next to him and start talking to him. And he was always real generous and gracious with his time, you know, some idiot from radio that he didn't have to talk to, but he talked to. And it was great. He was, he was so kind. And then John Paxson, I don't know if I, if I told you this, but was it 1993? I had. My buddy and I were doing radio in college when I was down here at Moody and we talked to the program director of 90.1 to give us media credentials. Yeah, because we just wanted, we wanted to go to Hallis hall. We wanted to go to the Berto center because I mean we wanted to geek out over the players. And we convinced him that we would go and talk to Christian athletes that were coming into town and get sound bites that they could use on 90.1.

[Dan Bernstein]

And the first time you add Christian athlete to the team too.

[Matt Abaticola]

Oh yeah, he's done. He'll go with less fishing and veto session.

[Dan Bernstein]

Somebody mentioned that I said less child friendly to keep him away from schools.

[Matt Abaticola]

But the first time I went to the Berto center and you know, we had no, really no right being there. No right talking to these guys. And there's, there's two guys that I'll never forget that spent more time with me and my buddy Craig. Then, then they, they went like above and beyond. Doesn't even come close to it. And one of those guys was John Pax and the other one was Stacy King and they took pictures with us, which was completely like wrong to do, being there under media credentials. But they spent about 20 minutes each with us separately just talking and they could not. And it wasn't even all about basketball. Just could not have been nicer guys. And the John Paxton thing will always stand out to me about the kind of person that he was to two young college idiots that he had no reason to be to spend that much time.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, like another guy when Pax was an assistant coach, one of his jobs was to write the opposing plays on the whiteboard. So I'd always, especially in the playoffs in these hard fought chess games when you, you'd be in the game four and everybody's running the same stuff. And it would, they were. This was in the finals actually against Seattle and he was drawing a, A play. It was a Gary Payton little duck in where they, they got consecutive buckets off of it. A third quarter at Key arena and there was nobody else in there. A couple of people, you know, good camera people. It was really early and Pax is riding it there and, and I just said, I said underline that one. And he kind of looks at me, goes, why? He's testing me. I said, and I held up my notebook. I said, because they got two in a row off that in the third. And he didn't defend it either time. He just starts laughing. And then I asked, I said, okay, well, what are you going to tell him about that? Like what? He goes, well, the big's got to come off and help. He said, the moment you see that setting up, you got to jam the cutter and then you're going to screw up the timing of the play if you push him off the cut back when you could do a lot of that stuff very differently. And he said, also, the big just got to help and then they're going to turn it out and then they'll get back in as. Oh, okay.

[Matt Abaticola]

Now, you covered both sports, football and basketball, like, very much in depth. Was that just the culture of basketball guys?

[Dan Bernstein]

Oh, always to always be like that.

[Matt Abaticola]

Because it's not like that with all football. But it's generally the case really, overall for basketball still is.

[Dan Bernstein]

Because you can't hide in basketball. There's no secrets. There's no, you know, you don't wait all week.

[Matt Abaticola]

I know, but there's. But there's no reason for a guy to sit down and do that and talk like that. I don't know. Which I think they do pretty consistently.

[Dan Bernstein]

Basketball coaches like to talk. That's it. Where football coaches generally don't. No, really, it's a cultural thing.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah.

[Dan Bernstein]

Basketball coaches love talking. Seriously, Billy Donovan would sit there and do 40 minutes of post game because he's just talking about the team. And basketball coaches are always. They always want to talk about what their team can't do, not what it can. They always want to say, hey, guy, awesome, you're nine and three. Yeah, we can't rebound always. It's the nature of it. And I also want to mention while we're doing this, Horace Grant, and it's amazing to me, for those of us who lived through the end of Horace Grant's Bulls run and the blue flu and all of the stuff going on with Reinsdorf and Horace on the magic, pumping his fist, knocking the Bulls out, I can't believe that everybody is back there and he's getting his just due. And it just shows you how the organization doesn't hold grudges very far from it. In a lot of ways that people don't remember how much bad blood there was with Horace Grant and how Persona non grata he was. The fact that he's back here is pretty Amazing. And boy, Johnny Bach. Terry's got Johnny Bach stories. John. My favorite aspect of John Bach is you'd always see the two old guys next to Phil. John Bach and Tex Winner. One guy wore western gear. One guy always had the western cut suits, bolo ties. But like, when I say, you know, with the. Where the back had that extra.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah, there's the stitch. The stitches and the stitching on the shoulder as well.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yes. Yeah. However, that wasn't Tex.

[Matt Abaticola]

It was John Bok, Right? Yes.

[Dan Bernstein]

But one guy's name is Tex. One guy's Tex Winner. The other guy is wearing western gear.

[Matt Abaticola]

So here's John. Here's Tex. Who dresses like a cowboy.

[Dan Bernstein]

Exactly.

[Matt Abaticola]

John Does.

[Dan Bernstein]

Which one's wearing the bolo tie? It's not Tex. I just was always tickled by that.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah, no, it's good.

[Dan Bernstein]

That was one of my. But he instilled that kind of attacking defensive identity in some of the guys out there. A lot of it was beyond tactical. I know he sort of got praise as, like, this great tactic. He was not what I would consider a brilliant basketball tactician. Where Tex was that Johnny Bach was a motivator and a guy who was able to take whatever toughness, whatever identity the Bulls wanted to have on offense and say, bring that defensively and it'll translate. And to sell that to Mike and to help them understand where the tip of the spear was and a lot of their defense was really important to. Wasn't.

[Matt Abaticola]

Wasn't Tex the X and O guy?

[Dan Bernstein]

Triple post offense?

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah. And then Phil. Phil was more of a work your brain kind of cultural type guy.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah. But Phil also should. I mean, this probably for another time, but. But Phil should get more credit as. As a technician, tactician. He always had a reputation for. For running a really good practice, for really being able to just put it in his head. He didn't have to. He never had a sheet in front of him or anything of what we're doing next. What we're doing next. But he would know that this has been 10 minutes, this has been 9 minutes that he could really, for an NBA team, run an efficient, tight practice where people listened. I know. It was all about reading. They didn't read those books.

[Matt Abaticola]

No, no. They did all this gambling.

[Dan Bernstein]

Which is why Van Gundy was right when he would always kind of do the hand job metric for you're the beat off for Big Chief Triangle. He hated that. And I totally get it, because he was right. Because the reputation of, oh, we're gonna talk about.

[Matt Abaticola]

Sit around and meditate and all of.

[Dan Bernstein]

These things, and the players just be like, if they had phones, they would have been on their phones.

[Matt Abaticola]

But one of the highlights of my. My radio time was we had Phil in studio when he. When his book came out.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, it was good. Do you remember what I asked him?

[Matt Abaticola]

No, I don't. I was. I was. I was. I was.

[Dan Bernstein]

I was so excited to ask him this question. Have you ever lost a well officiated game?

[Matt Abaticola]

Oh, yeah. Okay.

[Dan Bernstein]

Do you ever what he said and then he.

[Matt Abaticola]

He left the studio?

[Commercial Narrator]

No.

[Dan Bernstein]

I guess he gave me a look. He's like, you. And then he paused. And I always got along fine with Phil. And he said something like, to the extent that any game can be well officiated, basically. His point is, all officiating sucks that they're not. They just can't officiate. Well, of course, now I do have another Bulls point to get to. A lot of the stuff we're saying about the Bears, but understanding who you are and understanding what your record means and understanding that just because you won the game, it doesn't mean you're good, because there's always going to be tougher tests down the road. And it takes, like I was saying with Cartwright, it takes somebody in your locker room other than your coach to remind you of that. The Bulls got stomped by the Heat, embarrassed by the Heat. They got their ass kicked by a team that has their number. And then, okay, great. Here's Ring of Honor night. Here come the lowly Wizards, who have one win right on the season, I believe. They've won one game.

[Matt Abaticola]

That is correct.

[Dan Bernstein]

The Bulls should have lost to the.

[Matt Abaticola]

Wizards 1 in 15.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yep. The Bulls should have lost to them, and they didn't. They. They won the game because Vuch hit a three. And everybody's going crazy. The Bulls win. Bulls win. And. But there's one guy who was not having it. And this is courtesy of chsn. I want you to hear. This is Casey Johnson pulling Nicola Vuchevic aside after the game. And I think you'll hear it in here. You'll hear when Modest Bou Zealous jumps on his back. And then Jalen Smith comes over and starts clowning with him. And Vuch had something to say. And this went on and on and on. We're only going to play like 30 seconds of it, right? But this. This is what happened after the game.

[Matt Abaticola]

Boots, you guys saved your best for last. What changed in that fourth quarter?

[Sleep Number Customer]

We finally started playing, you know, for three quarters, whatever. We were very soft. No resistance. Oh, man, we gave no resistance. We gave no resistance. We didn't do anything that we talked about. Just play really soft. It was really bad. And then we play a little bit in the fourth, but, you know, obviously we're happy we won, but it's, you know, we can't keep doing this. It's not sustainable. We have to be better.

[Matt Abaticola]

So now when you heard, if you haven't seen it. Yeah.

[Dan Bernstein]

So when he says move, he's talking to Modest, like, get out of, get out of the shot. Stop your, stop your, your clowning. And then you hear Jalen Smith say, come on, be happy, man.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah. So the pause in there, too, is, is Jalen Smith is chesting his, like, shoulder. Yeah. He's, like bumping into him while he's trying to do this interview. And so the pause in there, if you haven't seen the video and we'll repost it on our socials, is Vuch walking away from the microphone? He takes a step out.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah. He's like, yeah, okay, you want to be stupid?

[Matt Abaticola]

Because he is. He is. It's not only not having any of it.

[Dan Bernstein]

He's pissed off and he's talking to them. He's trying to get a message across. And he. And it went. Then he came back to KC and, and went on. It was like a diatribe against their quality of play.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah.

[Dan Bernstein]

And Wizards have some, that Cam Whitmore can score a little bit. They got some fun guys and that Vukovich look out, because that's what the Bulls need. That's what the Bulls need. And I'm also told, well, we'll get to tonight's game also, because just listen to what he's saying. Listen, listen to the idea of a championship standard. I don't know if he's going to be around. I don't know if they're going to trade Vuch for the deadline or what's going to happen or if they're going to, like, resign him to a one year deal. But somebody other than the coach has got to say that to a team that is young and learning, you know.

[Matt Abaticola]

And we'll, we'll get into it again. And this circles back with the Bears, as you brought it up, too, for him, for Vuch, this isn't a season about development and growth.

[Dan Bernstein]

He's 35.

[Matt Abaticola]

He wants to win a championship. He's out there competing every night to win a championship. That's why he's there. He's not basking in the glory of hitting another three that won a game that you shouldn't have won. He's about winning a championship. That's what matters right now to him in this season.

[Dan Bernstein]

What you do against the Bulls and what I think you're going to see the lowly Pelicans try to do.

[Matt Abaticola]

You guys going tonight?

[Dan Bernstein]

It's in New Orleans.

[Matt Abaticola]

Oh, is it really?

[Dan Bernstein]

I'd love to.

[Matt Abaticola]

Oh, I thought. I thought you guys had talked about going.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, okay.

[Matt Abaticola]

My bad.

[Dan Bernstein]

Jay's home. He would definitely be if.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah, I thought for sure. Okay.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah. That's why I can't wait. Tomorrow we're gonna be doing organizations win championships with the two of us actually next to each other, which often get. Has gotten physical in the past. Like during the podcast. He's trying to punch me. Or I got like a wet willy at one point during the podcast, which I hate. And he knows I hate them, so.

[Matt Abaticola]

He should do them.

[Dan Bernstein]

No, he shouldn't. He should.

[Matt Abaticola]

As often as possible.

[Dan Bernstein]

No, because now that he's coming off a concussion, if I just. I can't get too physical with him. If I jostle him.

[Matt Abaticola]

Well, he has the guardian cap on. He's fine.

[Dan Bernstein]

I have to put something on.

[Matt Abaticola]

You need suits of armor for your whole family.

[Dan Bernstein]

Don't. Don't. I didn't just.

[Matt Abaticola]

I didn't. I didn't say anything. I just. I didn't say anything.

[Dan Bernstein]

Okay, you shush.

[Matt Abaticola]

Thank you, mister.

[Dan Bernstein]

So here's how you beat the Bulls. You. It's a hockey four check. You forecheck against the Bulls, dump and chase. The Bulls are a below the rim team, and the Bulls are a terrible defensive rebounding team. We used to see this a couple of years ago. The Raptors did this to them where you. You put it up on the. Just like in hockey when you say put it on goal and everybody rush the net and get a rebound and get greasy goals because the goalie's going to lose his net. Or they just don't. They don't clear the puck out well. 4 check for check for check against the Bulls, pound the glass and they don't know what to do. They're overwhelmed because they're too small and they're too below the rim. And especially with some of the injuries they've had and not. I didn't think they'd really miss Patrick Williams, but they kind of do. Just to have a body down there, somebody who can jump up in the air and pull a rebound down. And I think Zion Williamson is going to play tonight. But that's what I would be telling him. I would say even if The Bulls score. Get it out of the net, run down the floor, go right at a guy, make them stop the ball. Those are two things. Make them stop the ball. Because sometimes they don't resist and they just let you go with the ball. So make them stop the ball. And as soon as that shot goes up, everybody get down there. Everybody get above the rim, reach for the ball, get it, and stick it back in and draw a foul. Because until they figure that out, until they figure out, sometimes when they're. When they're boxing out, it almost looks like they've been playing zone, which is usually, you know, really hard to clear the defensive glass often when you're coming out of a zone. But the Bulls don't, and they're still having some difficulty here. But you shouldn't lose to the Pelicans. I mean, I know they're going to win more than they're two. I think they've won two games. Bulls are a much better team, but Zion is coming back. And in DBU picks, I may have something for you there to give you a little bit of an opportunity.

[Matt Abaticola]

There's still a top 10 defensive rebound rebounding team. Statistically, the Wizards are three overall defensive rebounds per game.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, it's the. It's the offensive glass where the Bulls are just been getting other teams offensive rebounding.

[Matt Abaticola]

Got it.

[Dan Bernstein]

So a lot of that is sort of by percentages here, where you got to make for some one and dones. Because getting stops for the Bulls has been tough.

[Matt Abaticola]

That's not a good look, right? No, but stopping your guy.

[Dan Bernstein]

But they're fun. Like, it was a fun game.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah, no, we talked about it, but they moved the ball. It's a fun style of basketball to.

[Dan Bernstein]

Watch Good ball late because you're like, God, who's this guy? Who's that guy?

[Matt Abaticola]

But I just love that Vuch got pissed.

[Dan Bernstein]

And he should be. He absolutely should be. And you forget it because it's such a party and it's such a circus there that goes on. And everybody loves the win. And it's dinner theater. And everybody goes home happy, happy, happy. But you almost lost all Wizards, right? If you can survive Thanksgiving with your family, you deserve an easy W. And that's where my bookie's got you covered. The lock of the season is back. It's the bet every better talks about it doesn't miss a single touchdown. That's all it takes. Black Friday, Bears, Eagles. One trip to the end zone, you double your money. And that is the simplest bet you'll ever make. The easiest cash of the season. And that's why my bookie is for you. You get the sports book, you get the casino. You get everything in one spot. No hoops at all. You just hit the site and you're in the action. Use the promo code DBU when you sign up and grab a welcome bonus to get started now. Dbu. And you get that welcome bonus. So load up, lock in and enjoy the whole feast at MyBookie. Yeah, I'm confident that we're gonna have enough money to field a good team. Well, some of it went to Phil Maton. Phil Maton. And I'm a little troubled that it's another former Astro veteran reliever because, correct me if I'm wrong, Hector Neris bad?

[Matt Abaticola]

Yes.

[Dan Bernstein]

Right. Ryan Presley bad.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yes.

[Dan Bernstein]

Okay. Well, they're going to the well again. I know he wasn't most recently on the Astros because he was with a couple of teams last year.

[Matt Abaticola]

Ranger.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, I think it was Rangers. And. And doesn't matter. He's here and he's pretty good. Then the numbers. I'm a little worried about some outlier numbers from last year, especially in the lack of hard contact. He did a great job last year avoiding hard contact and avoiding barrels. And I'm not sure where the sustainability is there in some of those numbers that in 2024, 2023 with Houston, his barrel rate allowed was 7.2%. 2024, it was 7%. Last year it dropped in half. Last year it was at 3.6%. He only allowed five barrels in 137 contact events. And I'm not sure if that. That seems outliery to me. He doesn't throw very hard at all. He relies on a cutter 36% of the time. And he. His curveball usage went way up last year. In 2024, he used his curveball 29% of the time. That jumped up to 38% of the time. And that was at the expense of his slider. The slider percentage dropped off significantly. So the pitch mix is interesting. What the Cubs do with the pitch mix is interesting. And the fact that it's a two year deal with a likely work stoppage, you know, I. You're going to need guys. And if this is where some of the money is going that Theo that Jed's got a thing for these former Astros veteran relievers and you had two that didn't work. And the gambler's fallacy is this will be the one that does. But Phil Maton is going to be a significant Cub from Jump. And they'll obviously need more with Kittridge going back because think about how much they relied on Kittridge.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yes.

[Dan Bernstein]

Down the stretch. And apparently that seems like kind of a rental deal they made. The way that.

[Matt Abaticola]

Oh, they. They borrowed him from the Orioles and gave him back and got money.

[Dan Bernstein]

So, yeah, it worked.

[Matt Abaticola]

No, I mean, he was. He was great. He was great in the playoffs. 1. One thing I want to pay something off from last week that I pulled out and something for you.

[Dan Bernstein]

Excuse me while I whip this out.

[Matt Abaticola]

Before we go into DBU picks Tulane. Your football team ranked in the AP poll, 22 right now.

[Dan Bernstein]

Roll wave.

[Matt Abaticola]

The head coach, John Summerall. I've talked about him a lot on this show this past weekend. They beat temple 37. 13.

[Dan Bernstein]

Watched it.

[Matt Abaticola]

I have comments from John Sumrall from last week that I never played for you. And I want. I don't know if you heard this. I want you to hear this. So this is John Sumrall. This is prior to this past weekend's game against Temple.

[Dan Bernstein]

Do you feel like your team is one of the top 25 teams in the country currently?

[Matt Abaticola]

I don't know.

[John Sumrall]

You know, I hadn't watched that many other people play. I watch us play, and I watch whoever get ready to play play. And then after that, I don't really know who else is out there. I mean, I'll just be very candid. There's some days I feel like we're one of the bottom 25 teams in the country watching us play. So, you know, if we want to start feeling comfortable or casual about somebody wanting to vote us in the top 25 teams, there must be a lot of bad football going on if we're one of the top 25 teams. So, I mean, there must be some really bad football played right now in college football. So I don't know. We're average. We're an average team. We get every six or seven days on the schedule of the week to promote ourselves or embarrass ourselves. We've done that before. So we better. We better get ready to play. I think we're. I watch this practice. I think we're average.

[Matt Abaticola]

I love that guy.

[Dan Bernstein]

I watched us practice today.

[Matt Abaticola]

I think we're average.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, see, that's a basketball coach.

[Matt Abaticola]

Oh, God.

[Dan Bernstein]

He's in the wrong sport.

[Matt Abaticola]

It's so good.

[Dan Bernstein]

He's coaching the wrong sport.

[Matt Abaticola]

That's funny. I forgot to play that for you last week. I was. I was dying.

[Dan Bernstein]

I like. I say, I love that about basketball coaches. Hey, man, how you Doing our inbound plays are awful. I just said, how are you doing? Like you run into somebody.

[Matt Abaticola]

Can't wait to talk about how bad something is.

[Dan Bernstein]

Something is keeping them up at night.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah, that's funny.

[Dan Bernstein]

It's always, always a basketball coach.

[Matt Abaticola]

Well, that's your guy. John Sumrall, head coach of Tulane.

[Dan Bernstein]

Well, not for long.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah. Oh, you're going somewhere else?

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, I was waiting to see what Lane Kiffin does she. Cal fire their coach, too?

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah. There's more openings, I'm telling you. I'm getting a phone call soon.

[Dan Bernstein]

Hey, man, they're working their way down the list. It's like Bears linebackers.

[Matt Abaticola]

Oh, yeah.

[Dan Bernstein]

Eventually, you're going to be out there.

[Matt Abaticola]

Suiting up against the Eagles.

[Dan Bernstein]

My bookie presents DBU picks, and here are mine. For tonight. We have San Francisco and Carolina. I think San Francisco is going to win, but I think because of that, there's going to be some cheap late yards available in the middle of the field for Bryce Young.

[Matt Abaticola]

Okay.

[Dan Bernstein]

And because of that, I'm going to take Bryce Young over 208.5 passing yards. I don't necessarily think they're going to be valuable yards. I don't think it's all going to be in a winning cause. And I know he's had some pretty pedestrian overall yards numbers, but I just think they're. They're going to be there regardless and that he'll have an opportunity to go over that 208.5. And I've got another one for you tonight, because down in New Orleans, I think that there's going to be a couple of teams flying up and down the floor, playing at a very high pace. And therefore the Pelicans. Jose Alvarado will be over 2.5 assists. I know that maybe you didn't see that one coming.

[Matt Abaticola]

No, I didn't.

[Dan Bernstein]

But I love watching Jose Alvarado play. He is.

[Matt Abaticola]

Who doesn't?

[Dan Bernstein]

He is a. He's a scrappy, tough, annoying little bastard.

[Matt Abaticola]

I mean, the dinner table. We sit around and we talk about Jose Alvarado.

[Dan Bernstein]

Just you. You watch after a made basket, when he's on the floor, after the Pelicans make a basket, which they don't do all that often, but if they do and the inbound play is coming, he loves to peel back and try to get a hand on it. If you're standing there with the ball, he loves to come up behind you and just take it. And he's fun to watch. And he can hit an open three, too. So I have Jose Alvarado over two and a half assists in his 20 minutes or whatever he gets against the Bulls tonight. Those are my two.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah. And then I have Brock Purdy tonight for the San Francisco 49ers. I'm going to have the under. I'll take the under for brock Purdy of 254.5 passing yards. So I think the 49ers win, but I think he goes under 254.

[Dan Bernstein]

All right. So we're on the same page, some of that stuff.

[Matt Abaticola]

We are. And recap yours for me.

[Dan Bernstein]

I've got Bryce Young over 208.5 passing yards in their game against the Niners. And I have in Bulls Pelicans, Pelicans backup point guard Jose Alvarado over two and a half assists. And those are DBU picks. Lock in your picks now with my bookie bet on anything, anywhere, anytime. That is also Dan Bernstein Unfiltered. And it's been brought to you by and presented by my bookie, Dan Bernstein.

[Matt Abaticola]

Unfiltered.

[Dan Bernstein]

Unfiltered on 312 Sports.