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- [00:02]
Dan Bernstein
10, 2, 19, 219.
- [00:09]
Matt Abaticola
Forward progress a Chicago Bears podcast with Dan Bernstein and Matt Abaticola on 312 Sports.
- [00:18]
Dan Bernstein
We give you Forward Progress right here, right now on 312 Sports. I'm Bernstein, that is Abaticola. And today's episode of Forward Progress, as always is brought to you by Beer Church Brewing New Buffaloes Brewery Pizzeria in a historic church wood fired Neapolitan pizza small batch craft beer brunch every day. Visit beerchurchbrewing.com a little more about our friends at Beer Church a little bit later on in this episode. The Bears are at the by, which is they're two and two at two and two. Yes, it's fine. Things at the moment are okay in the Bears world and there are a lot of moving parts. There are all kinds of problems that need solutions right now as we have begun to discuss. But one thing we can do at this time is certainly bring in a guest and get some more perspective on your Chicago Bears. And no less an authority than Kevin Fishbane of the Athletic is joining us now. You can find him on Xfishbane and he's also doing a really cool podcast called Brilliant Breaking in where he gets various members of the sports media and has them tell their stories because there are a lot of people that want to know, how did you make that get your big break? What was it? What was the hard work? When did that meet good fortune in a way that allowed you to break into the business? And there's been some really, really cool stuff. I hope you're having as much fun with that as it's sounding.
- [01:50]
Kevin Fishbane
Kevin well, thank you, Dan. I appreciate it. It's great to see you guys. And yeah, the podcast has been a lot of fun. You know, I got a, you won't believe us, a snarky response on social media.
- [02:04]
Matt Abaticola
No way.
- [02:05]
Kevin Fishbane
Yeah, crazy about. Because I had Joe Buck on. And the thing about Joe Buck is like everybody knows how he got his start. Like that's not, you know, that's, that's kind of the bit, if you will. But I said but that that's the thing is if you listen and you know, he'll tell this story and he, he was so open about how he dealt with the criticisms of the nepotism and you know, being 21 years old and reading in his hometown paper just this really biting stuff about how he got the, you know, got his start. So that was just an example because you have someone like that and then it's been fun to get hey, your guys, guest Mark Potash was on my show telling stories of Arkansas and classic Potsy. I hit end, and he goes, oh, I forgot to tell you about this story that I left Scottie Pippen off my list of top, you know, players in the area. I'm like, potsy. So I made him rerecord the last 10 minutes.
- [03:05]
Matt Abaticola
That's great.
- [03:06]
Dan Bernstein
Well, the. And the thing about Joe Buck, too, is people don't realize just what an awesome guy he is. And people think that sometimes these big national voices have sort of a Ron Burgundy imperiousness about them, and he's got none of that really unpretentious. And like you say, over time, he has become fearless in his self awareness and his willingness to discuss the stuff that he's been through and whether it's been personal or professional. It's been so refreshing to hear from him and just how normal a guy he is.
- [03:46]
Matt Abaticola
Yeah, he's great, except for the fact he hates Chicago.
- [03:50]
Kevin Fishbane
And we got. And we got into that. We got into that because he hates everybody's team.
- [03:54]
Dan Bernstein
And I was waiting for that with this Cubs series. I know, as big a Cubs fan as you are, when I was. People generally feel jarred by the first national broadcast they've heard in a while because they're so used to a home broadcast. What's wrong with these? They hate Chicago. They're not calling them by their nicknames, and they're not cheering them on. So I hope that we're. We're inured to that a little bit now as. As a fan base. But I've always found Cubs fans particularly reactive to the onset of national broadcasting, being in charge of their games, and it's been a minute since they've been in the playoffs.
- [04:30]
Kevin Fishbane
Yeah, it's such a funny thing about media, too, because you never hear. Because in the NFL, we're all used to it, right? Like, that's what it is every week, so nobody complains. But yeah, the second the baseball goes to playoffs, it's. It's. Where. Where's my guy? Where's my hometown call? You should be more excited about this Carson Kelly home run. And, yeah, it's. It's funny, but. But I will say it's kind of fun. As somebody who, like, grew up listening to radio, it's a fun moment for radio, too, during the baseball playoffs, because I feel like then some of those things get on a bigger platform these days. So that's kind of nice, too.
- [05:06]
Dan Bernstein
That's why Len Casper went to the White Sox. I know he said that specifically, that Was he wanted to call playoff games and call a World Series, and you can't do that in local television.
- [05:16]
Matt Abaticola
And how fun was that game yesterday, Kevin?
- [05:19]
Kevin Fishbane
That was playoff baseball, guys. There's just, there's nothing like it. That was.
- [05:25]
Matt Abaticola
That's a slogan.
- [05:29]
Kevin Fishbane
Well, you know what's funny is I was, I was watching the game and then the Bears changed their schedule this week. So they had. They originally supposed to have practice on Wednesday and they decided to move it or there's no media availability. And I was watching, I'm watching Wrigley Field. I'm like, you know what, I'm just gonna go. So I'm gonna talk Bears with you guys and then head to Wrigley.
- [05:53]
Dan Bernstein
Good for you. Yeah, why not do that? The Bears are at an interesting point right now. And for me, around the buy. I'm trying to balance the here and now with the larger picture. Because one thing this first quarter of the season has done, I know it's not exactly the first quarter is reinforced for me how much work there needs to be before this team is going to win a Super Bowl. And I think it's settling in on Ben Johnson as well about just how far away they are, really, what he was left here as far as the roster, the culture, everything involved. How do they balance this year and what they're going to make of this year with how it's all going to look when they're really good again and making some decisions that have future implications that may not necessarily be a win the next game, win the next play call. And where, where and when does that balance get moved around?
- [06:56]
Kevin Fishbane
Yeah, I think if you look at the areas of the team that are maybe below average, so pass rush, for example, I mean, it's been like they barely touched Geno Smith. They didn't. I think Jaquan Brisker got the only quarterback hit and it came on the final drive when they did an all out blitz. Those two guys, Montesso and Diodainbo, I'll use those guys as an example. When you get to January and you're counting up your foundational pieces, you want those two to be in that category because of what you're paying them, what their age is, what their position is. I don't think you can say that right now. You could say that they'll be here next year because of their money and their contracts and their age and all that, but you can't necessarily say those guys are helping you get to the Super Bowl. And so, like right now, you know, my colleague Dan Weider, kind of wrote a story after the Lions game. He's like, who can you look at this rapture and say is going to be here? What was the year he used. I think he said 2028. Like, who could you, like, go through the roster like, who? So that. That's part of this. And. And we've had this discussion in town a lot with the White Sox and the Cubs when they've had their rebuilds. But the problem is the Bears aren't supposed to be rebuilding right now, but they are. Yeah, and that's. But I bring up Sweat as an example, Dan, because, like, you should look at Monto sweat right now and say, this is going to be a. A dude when this team is making that run. So you're trying to figure out who. So that's like the. The kind of. The two paths you kind of talked about is go week to week and keep trying to win as many games you can and figure out who those dudes are going to be. And if Sweat kind of gets. Finally gets in a rhythm, you can count him. If Odangbo, who had a great opener, by the way, I thought Dioding put really well against Minnesota. Can he get there for you? Because the most important part of that, Caleb, like that that makes the equation more interesting as you go through this, because you can watch him grow. He's going to be a part of this thing if they can get to a team that's going to make a deep postseason run and Roma dun. I think you feel good about those two right now, but you're really lacking. You're lacking star power at key positions who are young, who are out there right now. So, yeah, it's. It's. It's an interesting dynamic, Dan, because they are not swimming in draft capital. They're not swimming in cap space like they have in recent years. They have a few older guys, so it's those guys who are younger than 30 who are at key positions. When you get to January, who can you sit there and be like, okay, like, you go back to 2014. Cubs, right. You know, you go back to. It's November and you're looking back at the season. Okay, who are these guys who are going to be here when we get good? And I almost said White Sox, but they never got good.
- [09:43]
Dan Bernstein
They forgot that part.
- [09:44]
Kevin Fishbane
Yeah. So that's what the Bears are trying to do. Yeah. Yeah. I'd like to see Colson Loveland with their burden are going to be in that conversation when we get to December. January, unfortunately, I can't say that about the other two second round picks right now. We've seen a little bits from Loveland and Burden, but you got a long season to go. You want to get to January and have a bunch of those bedrock guys.
- [10:04]
Matt Abaticola
We've talked a lot about Montez Sweat through these first four games and he's not making the individual impact that a guy at his cap hit should be making. So, you know, you're around the team a lot. So tell me what, what does man sweat, Montez Sweat, Mon Sweat, Montez Sweat do to make guys around him better? Or maybe the stuff that we don't see off the field that he's helping the team.
- [10:26]
Kevin Fishbane
I mean, I do think if you go back and watch some of the games and you know, this is something to do I'll be doing during the buy is trying to dissect that pass rush a little bit. Like, it does seem like he's attracting a lot of attention. I think you saw that in some of the plays. If you go back to that first game, Javon Dexter was making some nice plays. Odangbo I mentioned, like, those guys are benefiting from the presence of sweat. But you reach a point where it's like, well, you need to start getting those numbers up so that teams continue to give you that attention. And even if they give you that attention, I've always made this argument too. TJ Watt gets double teamed all the time. Max Crosby got triple and quadruple team and look what he did. Like, that's. You are paying Montez Sweat to be that player you were paying him to. That shouldn't matter if he's double triple teamed. I used to get frustrated sometimes when, when Khalil Max production started to drop and they'd say, you know, oh, well, he's getting double and triple teamed every week. I'm like, okay, but he's Khalil freaking Mac and sometimes Cleo Mac would get through those. But. And he was, he was battling injuries and that was a problem. I think Montau's sweat was more hurt than the injury report would allow you to believe last year. And I think that was a real issue. He had a great summer. Like, he was one of the stars of training camp. You felt really good about it. I don't. I'm not writing him off at all. And I've seen some good things. But yeah, I, I think you need to see more on field production from a guy like that because he's, he's not, he's not Grady Jarrett, Matt. Like, he's not like he's not this, he's not a rah rah guy. And that's okay. You don't have to be a rah rah guy. But if you're supposed to be this, you know, big part of the defense, you got to get that production up.
- [12:08]
Dan Bernstein
You mentioned Colston Loveland, and when we start projecting where the critical tight end position is going to be, Loveland has to shake the oft injured label. And that was something that dogged him at Michigan. That made him a bit of a surprise draft pick where he was when there was another at his position ranked higher and actually playing a lot better. And Cole Comet in the last game was terrible. And I don't know what's going on with him. I don't know if this is just adjustment pains. I thought he was kind of beyond that at this stage of his career. When you look at his money, he's being paid, I thought, an appropriate amount of money to be a top third tight end in the NFL to be a good player. Not necessarily great, but just be a win because of contributor. How does this shake out now? How do they work both guys in. How do they use at least the rest of this season to find out in his idea of using 12 personnel, how it's going to work with. With these two?
- [13:13]
Kevin Fishbane
Yeah, the Cole Comet thing is interesting, Dan, because he played every single snap on Sunday and what that tells me and then rewatching some of the stuff, I was very curious how they handled Max Crosby after that first quarter because he wasn't. He made a couple plays after. You know, he's still everywhere. I think Cole actually had a decent game in that regard and I think his run blocking, which Ben Johnson challenged him on in April, has really improved. His pass protection was good. But you mentioned top third paid you. You're not making top third money to be, you know, a blocking tight end. And you can't have these false starts. And you know, some of that's probably because.
- [13:55]
Dan Bernstein
Or the drop that terrible.
- [13:56]
Kevin Fishbane
The drop was bad. Drop was really bad. So those are magnifying. So it, you know, so I, I bring up the every snap thing because I do want to like mention that obviously Ben Johnson didn't take issue enough with that stuff to remove him. They needed him in certain spots. So it's finding that calculus. And look, you could see a situation where Colson Loveland is going to start playing 65, 70, 80, 85% of snaps and Cole Komet is at 30, 35. He's that clear number two tight end that's going to block and get a couple catches here and there. Maybe as the g. As the season goes on, Loveland gets more comfortable, gets healthy. You see that switch? Because they haven't. It's so funny, Dan. I went through Colomet's first game with a new play caller, and poor Cole Comet has had like five first games with a new play caller in his career, from Nagy to Laser to, you know, get. And every time he gets like, no targets, and then it's a whole big conversation. I don't know if you guys know this. Colette's actually from the area, so that comes up here and there. So it becomes a whole conversation in town. And, you know, so I, I think that even Ben Johnson has struggled to. And he admitted it. Ben Johnson told us after week two, I need to be better about getting these guys involved. So I, I don't know. But the Lovewood thing, he got hit hard. I mean, you guys saw it. That hit that took him out. He tried to stay on the field, too. He went into the huddle and they were like, absolutely not. And, you know, he practiced when we were out there on Tuesday, so it's a good sign for him. But, yeah, that's going to be a thing to monitor. I just, I want to see him get in a rhythm. Because I tell you what, guys, the. The combination he has of his size and the smoothness that he runs his routes at, it's like, really intriguing. You're like, oh, it's okay. I see it.
- [15:43]
Dan Bernstein
His catch radius, like his. His ability to. To change body position once he launches for the ball, using his shoulders to shield off, extending his arms high, pointing the ball, hands catching. All that stuff is wide receiver like. And which is why it leads me to my next question, just to whiteboard this. Does Ben Johnson draw a clean distinction between a Y tight end and a U tight end? Are those strictly separate positions? And if not, how interchangeable are they?
- [16:17]
Kevin Fishbane
Look at you with that whiteboard. This very nice man.
- [16:20]
Dan Bernstein
This is forward progress.
- [16:21]
Kevin Fishbane
I love it. Yes. Yeah, that's a great. That's a great question. Because right now it's weird because Cole starts and plays more snaps, which is supposed to be the pass catching tight end role. And then Loveland comes in and is still working his way up. So I think we're still trying to figure it out. Ben Johnson's still trying to figure out. And, you know, one of the. I'm going to say this, I'm going to say two sides here. Rookie tight ends take Time. It's a hard position. Like, put that here. We get that.
- [16:58]
Dan Bernstein
Yeah. Brock Bowers ruined it for everybody since Ditka.
- [17:03]
Kevin Fishbane
And there you go. And Tyler Warren is ruining it. And we said this about quarterbacks, right? Hey, quarterbacks take time. And then we see what Jaden Daniel's done. Why can't the Bears have a rookie who doesn't need time, which is like steps out there and is dominant? They've had. Look, they've obviously had some pretty good rookies over the years, but right now, this class, and it starts in Loveland, was numbered at pick. And it's a weird deal because, like, you look at the production that's not there, the injury, I don't think anyone's worried about him, but you just want to see him get going, get in the rhythm. And to Dan, your question, I think that's when we start to learn more about who Ben's tight end ultimately is going to be.
- [17:39]
Matt Abaticola
You know, you said something before about Ben Johnson needing to get better at doing certain things, and we've heard Ben Johnson say that a lot over the last four weeks. That I need to get better at this. I need to get better at that. One thing that I'm sticking to and listening to closely. And it helped me decipher this. Since you're around the team when Ben Johnson talks about having difficulty getting the play calls in, and that's on him. And I need to do better. I need to do better. We first heard that after week one and we just kind of deciphered that he was protecting Caleb Williams and his inability to get the call out of the huddle quicker. We heard it again after Sunday's game in in Vegas that he needs to do better getting the calls in and he's not doing a good enough job as the head coach. Is he covering for the offense in some regard or is he really struggling as the head coach and getting play calls in? And if so, why?
- [18:26]
Kevin Fishbane
What.
- [18:26]
Matt Abaticola
What's going on that he's having difficulty with it.
- [18:29]
Kevin Fishbane
So we're always watching that play clock from the press box. And I'm sure you guys can see obviously when you're watching on TV or if you're in the stadium, and we kind of got in tune to it last year because Caleb was so late so often last year, we'd be like, come on, like, five, four. You know, the shot clock is winding down. So a lot of us are just like, it's just in me now. I'm just staring at that play clock and watching the huddle. And it's. It was definitely much better in against Dallas. Everything worked well against Dallas. I actually. There were a couple moments and I know they had to kill. They had to burn some timeouts in the first half. It didn't seem too bad, but it's just. It's this problem where the play calls are long and he wants Caleb to get to the line early so he can see everything. So, to your question, I don't. I don't know. I honestly don't know. I. I think that it's. I think it could easily be a little bit of both. I think that this is. You have a head coach, you have a play caller who is a head coach for the first time in his career, still trying to balance everything. And you have a quarterback that we saw last year, had some struggles just getting everything to the guys quickly and getting them to the line. So it's going to be something we monitor, monitor it. Every snap. We're watching that clock. And yeah, we're going to keep watching as the season goes on.
- [19:45]
Matt Abaticola
All right, so we'll take that answer as a, as a, As a good answer that it's partly both sides and hopefully just with repetitions and games, they both just get better and a little easier and a little smoother with doing that. Because I don't want to hear in week 12 or 13, my head coach saying, yeah, I need to do better getting the play calls in. Like, you know, at a certain point it starts to lead a level of incompetency which we're experienced with here in Chicago with our head coaches and play callers.
- [20:09]
Kevin Fishbane
Yeah. And look, I said look the way Dennis Allen does.
- [20:13]
Matt Abaticola
Look, don't ask questions about last week.
- [20:16]
Kevin Fishbane
Look, I will not talk about last week's game. The. I. Look, Caleb has struggled with that in his short NFL career, so it's obviously something that he needs to get better at. And I think that, you know, it's so funny how. And we're not used to this in Chicago, I'm taking this a little bit of a different direction, how when you lead a game winning drive, the things that it masks, the things that it. Just like the first three quarters, first three and a half quarters are terrible for the offense. And then you see, I was just going through play. I play in that fourth quarter and he had completion. He had. He was four for five on that final drive. And he had two really critical scrambles. And it's just like, okay, like, you know that that's one part of his game they don't have to worry as much about. And it's now getting the other stuff fixed. I got a story going up on Thursday at the Athletic kind of where I looked at Caleb's stats inside the numbers, just how everything's comparing to last year and how everything's comparing to the rest of the league. And you look at it and you actually, I think at least the way I looked at it, you feel good knowing these are where his numbers are right now and he's doing it without a running game, without Colston Loveland. We haven't seen DJ Moore have that DJ Moore game yet. And I, I'm. It's coming and we hope so other.
- [21:37]
Dan Bernstein
Otherwise there could be something.
- [21:38]
Kevin Fishbane
Yeah.
- [21:39]
Dan Bernstein
If it doesn't.
- [21:39]
Matt Abaticola
Yeah.
- [21:40]
Kevin Fishbane
Yes. And you have a defense that's been terrible. So to see where he's at right now, which is not good enough at all. Accuracy needs to get better, EPA needs to get better. All those things need to get better. But he's still better than last year and ranks pretty well in the league at some important categories with all those other things going on. So I think you can, you could certainly talk yourself into, well, if this is where he's at now, where could he theoretically be if this thing clicks come December forward?
- [22:12]
Dan Bernstein
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- [24:03]
Kevin Fishbane
Sorry Dan. Can I give another nod to beer church?
- [24:07]
Dan Bernstein
Of course.
- [24:08]
Kevin Fishbane
I am a beer church supporter and we, my family has beer church often. We love, we love going up to New Buffalo when we can and beer church is our ultimate stop because it's what it's as you guys probably know, when you get up there and it's the summertime, it's hard to find a place that's going to allow you to carry out. And we love that beer church does it. And the pizzas are great and the salads are great and the beer is great. So I will, I will jump on that for you, Dan, that I can attest that beer church is as great as you just described.
- [24:40]
Dan Bernstein
Yes, sir.
- [24:41]
Matt Abaticola
There we go.
- [24:42]
Dan Bernstein
All right, let's package that up and send it along.
- [24:44]
Matt Abaticola
Hey Kevin, when you look at the first four weeks of the season, take a look at the NFC North. We have the Lions with a three game winning streak, the packers with a tie. Minnesota is just man up and down and looking terrible and the Bears at the bottom at 2 and 2. What have you learned about the NFC north so far? Early part of this season?
- [25:02]
Kevin Fishbane
One thing I thought of Matt when I was watching the Dublin game was are we going to reach Week 12 and the Bears are going to be like how did we lose to Minnesota? Which you could already say that now. Yeah, yes, that would be a very good sign. Right. Because it means the Bears are doing well. And from a division standpoint, Minnesota continues to, you know, just try to find their footing again. They should have won it regardless. But I, I, I was wondering that I was as I was watching it because it's just, you know, we all saw what Jason McCarthy did the next game. Like he did not pick up on that fourth quarter greatness that he showed at Soldier Field. And I like J.J. mcCarthy, I, I, I really liked him Coming into the draft, and I was very curious where he was going to go. I thought that was a great spot. I still think it is. I still think he could be a really good player. But that's a team that's. I've got some question marks about, boy, Detroit, they took that week one game and they're like, yeah, okay, we got it out of our system. You guys keep having these conversations about Ben Johnson, Aaron Glenn not being here. We're just gonna go do our thing like that. Like, they're, they're, they're on like a scary level of like, oh, boy. Like they, they did not enjoy the way. What everybody said about them after week one. I don't know what to make about the packers guys, because every time I think about the packers, it comes back to, is Jordan Love taking you to a Super Bowl? I don't know, maybe if he played the Bear, if We played the 2022 through 2024 Bears every week, maybe because he seemed to do pretty well in some of those matchups, but I just haven't. I just need to, you know, he had the great playoff game against Dallas a couple years ago. But yeah, that, that team, you give 40 points, you know, that's, that's, that's a problem. So it's, it's an interesting division. I wouldn't be surprised if they still send three to the playoffs because I do think all those teams are still pretty good.
- [26:56]
Dan Bernstein
Let's talk offensive line here, because that is front and center after they made a big move. It is a huge deal to bench your starting veteran left tackle in the middle of a game right near the end of the first half. Even though the broadcasters didn't note it, some of us did when we said, well, wait a second, that's not that guy. And that's number 75 and 79 is over at left tackle. And it does appear, I would think, that Theo Benedict at least is likely to be the left tackle going forward. That's based on everything that I know at this point, it could be wrong. But when Darnell Wright comes back, I would imagine he's still the guy at right tackle. Even though Tropillo acquitted himself well in a very difficult situation. For as much as offensive minded coaches like to talk about continuity and they like, they want these guys to sit at lunch together and they want them to walk around together and they want them. And especially now when you can't practice in training camp with pads on as much as you want it. They do say it takes time to put an Offensive line together. How do they manage this now again through that prism of this year versus the future?
- [28:05]
Kevin Fishbane
Yeah, the Theo Benedict thing is fascinating because the Bears can count. I don't know if counter is the right word, but for every criticism of having a second round pick not ready to go and not ready to go, they can say, hey, how about this undrafted guy from Canada who didn't play last year and now we can put him against the Raiders on the road and he did. Okay. So, I mean it's, it's really. I was thinking about this yesterday, guys, and I might have to send, I might have to put Mark Potash on the, on the case with this because I can't. I don't know how to research this. Inspector Potsy, the last, the last time a player signed a futures deal with the team, which you. Futures deal go to guys who spend the whole year in the practice squad. A new coaching staff comes in and then he starts at left tackle for you.
- [28:57]
Matt Abaticola
I'll say never.
- [28:59]
Kevin Fishbane
I, I can't, I can't think of any time. And this is a guy, by the way, Theo Benedict was an incredible player in Canada. Was that playing right tackle there? And then last year's staff wanted him to play guard. I mean, this is really incredible what he's done. So you can, you know, again, if you're going to look a little bit like optimistically. But Dan, to your point about the long term future, is Theo Benedict a five to ten year starter, left tackle? We can't, absolutely cannot say that right now.
- [29:30]
Dan Bernstein
No, no, he's not. Look who starts at left tackle in this league exactly like this. It's almost like quarterback. When you look at pedigree, they, the.
- [29:40]
Kevin Fishbane
The, the question for the Bears is going to be is Darnell, right, your future left tackle and Ozzie Trillo is your right tackle? I, I just, I don't know. I don't know. I don't.
- [29:54]
Dan Bernstein
But my next question is if they make that judgment, when would you rather do that? Sooner than later?
- [30:04]
Kevin Fishbane
This is the week, right? Like this would be the week to do it. We didn't. The problem is we didn't see Darnell, right at practice yesterday because he got this elbow injury. So there he missed one potential opportunity. At least get some reps over there if that is in consideration. But it's funny because Ryan P. Opened the door to it early on last year and then the door quickly closed. So, you know, look, I think that we could all agree that I thought this last year that you could put yourself in position where all right, I'm gonna. Matt, you can cut the last three seconds as I was just trying to. What?
- [30:41]
Dan Bernstein
No. Yeah, it's a pocket look like Dr.
- [30:45]
Kevin Fishbane
Strange.
- [30:45]
Dan Bernstein
For a moment I thought a portal was going to open.
- [30:48]
Kevin Fishbane
Okay. My best case scenario for the Bears left tackle heading into the season was this. That Braxton Jones plays well leaves in free agency. You get a comp pick because he would sign a massive deal. And then Ozzy Trapillo, who has spent the year backing him up is your starter moving forward. And you have Tripolo and Wright. That was what I was thinking in July would be best case scenario. Obviously we saw what happened Ozzy triple over the summer. Left tackle seems to be far out of his purview. You're not using second round pick who's going to be a career backup at right tackle. So what do you do with Darnell right now? I say that acknowledging next year is the last year of Darnell rights deal or could be based on 5th year option. Like you have some. You know, so you don't you. You have some questions about Darnell rights future. So there's a lot of ways they can go. I, I will like Benedict gives them an option that they can consider but. And now I'm going to land the plane. When you're thinking about needs for next off season, unless your answer is Darnell Wright, I think left tackle is probably number one. And is that the position where you spend the year? You try Benedict, maybe you try right. Maybe you put your pillow back there. Maybe you see and then you make it through. And then you're like, okay, we're gonna splurge now whether that's going to be your first round pick or you know, $80 million, whatever you want to do and say, all right, that's the hole we need to fill. The problem is with that scenario is I think they're going to have a lot more needs than just left tackle come next March and April. So you have to. You have to balance that out. They would love to figure out if one of these guys can do it.
- [32:26]
Matt Abaticola
Kevin, last thing I have for you. And going off the offensive line looking at the running game. We know what Ben Johnson has said publicly about the run game.
- [32:33]
Dan Bernstein
What's.
- [32:34]
Matt Abaticola
What's being discussed or talked about internally to fix this run game. Is it. Is it just a matter of getting better at executing? Is it hey, down the road we need to find guys that can actually run the ball. What, what are they saying internally?
- [32:46]
Kevin Fishbane
I thought I took note of Ben Johnson coming to DeAndre Swift's defense yesterday or in his Monday presser because like again, unlike other Bears coaches, like Ben Johnson's not really afraid to criticized, maybe not players that openly, but like he's doesn't, he doesn't come across as a guy who's going to do empty platitudes. And I think if you watch too, like there's, there's something off and I know that's not like the most technical answer, but you, you know, you have these three brand new interior linemen. You have, you have this shift going on at tackle. You have a head coach who came from Detroit, so he's got his idea. You have a running back coach from Kansas City who worked with Andy Reid for a long time. You've got a lot of Sean Payton stuff that kind of is through your offensive coordinator, through your offensive line coach. Those guys are with Payton. And I was thinking about, I was listening to Olin Cruz talk about this as well. Like you just wonder if they're still just trying to figure out who they are as a run offense. And that's part of the problem. I, the advanced stats will tell you that their yards before contact is really good right now, but that's, that's a problem because their overall yards is bad. So that would tell you, if you just looked at those stats that tells you your running back is just not hitting the right hole. That, that the, that the blocks are there, that he, he's getting room and he's just not going the right direction. But I still take note of what Ben Johnson said. Like there's just, there's just this lack of cohesion going on that they, that the by. I thought the Raiders game was going to be maybe the get right game for the run game and that was very wrong.
- [34:30]
Dan Bernstein
It was for the Raiders also. I thought they were going to be much more outside zone reliant, especially when they got Dalman. And you see that his effectiveness in the run game has almost been exclusively as a get outside, get on the move, find a body seal aside, allow for the cutback. And yet the Bears have done a little more duo with a double team in there, keying everything than I really expected. We also, we've seen God's play, as Matt Eberfluss called it. You know, we've seen that where they start with a double team on the edge and they'll do power and they'll pull somebody around. It's just, I guess less outside zone based than I expected. What about you?
- [35:16]
Kevin Fishbane
Yeah, I'm with you now. Duo has become super popular. And I think you're like, Detroit does it a lot. And so I think that's kind of that lion's tendency. So. And Ben Johnson kind of said throughout the summer that they're going to have to find what they do best. So maybe they come out of the buy and say duo is what we do best. Let's just go all in with duo. Or do we. We need to get this wide zone going. Look, look at who we have on the offensive line. It's a major thing to, to consider. And look, I. The Ashton Genti thing, like, if he was there at 10, I think the Bears would have taken him. Right? We've talked about Travion Henderson. If he wasn't picked one pick before him, they probably would have taken him and you have a different conversation. Then again, if you really were not satisfied with DeAndre Swift and did not want him to be your starting running back, there were myriad ways you could have fixed that and they didn't. So I'm still kind of keeping open mind to seeing Swift get better and see this thing improve as things go along.
- [36:17]
Dan Bernstein
Kevin Fishbane, this was a delight. So I hope you enjoy your bye week and we can keep enjoying both your work on the Bears with the Athletic and the Breaking in podcast.
- [36:30]
Kevin Fishbane
Thank you so much, guys. And Dan, you won't be surprised to know I will be celebrating some of my bye week watching Northwestern play Louisiana Monroe this weekend.
- [36:37]
Matt Abaticola
Enjoy.
- [36:38]
Kevin Fishbane
Because I'm a, I'm a masochist if you know, if nothing else.
- [36:42]
Dan Bernstein
Well, Tulane had their number. That was really all I cared about so far.
- [36:45]
Kevin Fishbane
Gosh, they did.
- [36:46]
Dan Bernstein
Yeah, they did. Thanks, Kevin.
- [36:48]
Matt Abaticola
Kevin, thank you so much. Good seeing you, pal.
- [36:50]
Kevin Fishbane
Thank you, guys. You too.
- [36:51]
Dan Bernstein
All right, that is Kevin Fishbane, old friend from the Athletic giving us some little sexy football.
- [36:57]
Kevin Fishbane
Yeah.
- [36:57]
Dan Bernstein
Good stuff, man.
- [36:58]
Matt Abaticola
He's always, he's always so good going deep on the beach and loves Beer Church.
- [37:01]
Dan Bernstein
How about that?
- [37:02]
Matt Abaticola
Let's go.
- [37:02]
Dan Bernstein
Yeah, I already, I sent along a note to our guy John, the owner of Beer Church, who happens to mutual admiration society, big fan of Kevin. So maybe awesome brings the kids out there might, you know, maybe throw in a little, little free six pack of that Pontius pilot for him. Who knows? Fun stuff. That has been Forward Progress, a Chicago Bears podcast on 312Sports. Ted219.219 has had.
- [37:35]
Matt Abaticola
Forward progress, a Chicago Bears podcast with Dan Bernstein and Matt Abeticola on 312 Sports.