Caleb Williams - First Road Win

Summary

Forward Progress - A Chicago Bears Podcast

Episode: Caleb Williams - First Road Win

Hosts: Dan Bernstein & Matt Abbatacola
Release Date: September 29, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode dives into the Chicago Bears’ improbable 25-24 road victory over the Las Vegas Raiders—Caleb Williams’ first road win, which levels the Bears' record at 2-2 heading into the bye week. Dan and Matt provide analytical breakdowns, acknowledge how chaotic and “grimy” the win was, and debate what it reveals about the state of the Bears, their rookie quarterback, and the ongoing team culture reboot under new head coach Ben Johnson.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Game Context & Emotional Tone

• The Bears enter the bye at 2-2 after a wild, “ugly but beautiful” win in Las Vegas.
• Both hosts emphasize the emotional lift of winning these types of games—especially after previous heartbreaks (“They were on the right side this year... this isn't—did I hear Caleb Williams correct? It's his first road win.”—Matt, 00:57).
• The performance, though uplifting, did not follow a blueprint anyone would recommend: giving up 240+ rushing yards and surviving four turnovers without fully capitalizing.

2. Breakdown of the Game: Execution, Errors, and Turning Points

a) Defensive Issues and Historic Context

• The Bears allowed 240+ rushing yards but still won—a feat not seen since November 11, 1979.
  • “First time the Bears had won a game in which they allowed 240 or more yards rushing since… 1979...I remembered this as the Ricky Watts game.” —Dan, 07:12
• Turnovers saved the day: Bears’ defense forced four, spotlighting the importance of tight execution even when the offense is sputtering.
  • “They forced four turnovers...but why didn’t it matter more? It’s got to be converted.”—Dan, 33:01

b) Playcalling & Coaching Adjustments

• Dan and Matt highlight troubling offensive habits, especially a repeated ill-fated swing pass:
  • “Ben Johnson, stop running this play… Max Crosby sniffed out that play real quick… One of those is going to get picked off and taken the other way.” —Matt, 05:52-06:29
• Ben Johnson’s mid-game tackle substitutions are discussed, notably using Ozzie for a “spark”—unusual phrasing for an offensive lineman.
  • “How often does a right tackle provide a spark?...This is the first time I’ve heard a right tackle [do that].” —Dan, 14:46-15:15

c) Special Teams Decisiveness

• Scott Daly (long snapper) identified a “tell” from the Raiders’ snapper in film study, leading directly to Josh Blackwell’s game-saving blocked field goal.
  • “Cool stuff, hearing about how it actually happened… these games when the tiniest things tend to matter for the biggest reasons.” —Dan, 04:25-05:15

3. Player Focus

a) Caleb Williams: The Grimy First Road Win

• Williams’ performance was far from flawless (one interception, another almost-pick) but he executed when it counted:
  • “He was just good enough to get them downfield...made some plays...lucky not to have an interception returned.” —Matt & Dan, 09:54-10:08
• Williams credits the win to full team execution and emphasizes belief, trust, and “building something special.”
  • “We marched down the field...those are the moments you dream about...a confidence builder, a culture builder for us...especially my first one on the road.” —Caleb Williams, 23:24-24:32

b) DeAndre Swift & the Run Game

• Swift’s role and effectiveness as featured back are debated.
  • “I still don’t think DeAndre Swift is good…I think DeAndre Swift would be a really good backup in this offense...not the main guy.” —Dan & Matt, 26:29-26:45

c) Defensive Standouts & Concerns

• Tyreek Stevenson gets praise for a strong follow-up game (interception & fumble recovery).
• The lack of push from highly paid pass rusher Montez Sweat is noted:
  • “If you’re going to give me the fact Sweat hasn’t been effective because of attention...then everybody else, win your matches.” —Dan, 32:32

d) Roster Flux & Health Updates

• Ongoing uncertainties at tackle (Braxton Jones vs. Benedict), injury recoveries (Grady Jarrett, Colston Loveland, Cairo Santos), and IR returns (Austin Booker, Travis Homer, Amen O Bung Bemiga) are explored, with some optimism for the weeks ahead.

4. Team Culture & Messaging

• Both Coach Ben Johnson and Williams repeatedly say, “We’re building something special.”
• Johnson’s coaching points (as echoed by Williams): get the run game going, use early/fast completions, take shots downfield.
  • “Those are not things that Caleb is saying. Those are what Ben Johnson is teaching to the team.” —Matt, 25:41
• The win, though ugly, is framed as a growth and culture opportunity—giving players real “muscle memory” of overcoming adversity that can carry forward.

5. Penalties & Continued Growing Pains

• Penalties (8 for 60 yards) are hurting the offense—especially given lack of efficiency elsewhere.
  • “Penalties, too. It’s still too much. False starts, illegal shifts... Those are simple things that you clean up really easy.” —Matt, 35:01

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Bears’ style of victory:
  “I would also say improbable and unsustainable...It gives you something early to say, we did this together, and it doesn't have to be gorgeous.” —Dan, 12:31 & 24:32

• Caleb Williams, on the fourth-quarter drive:
  “Those are the moments you wish for. Those are moments you dream about. Being able to have those moments and come through is important...a confidence builder, a culture builder...” —Caleb Williams, 23:24-24:32

• Coach Ben Johnson, on overcoming adversity:
  “It's easy to get frustrated, but we don't panic. We just don't. It's not who we are, and that's not what we do...Everybody stayed the course. No one panicked whatsoever.” —Ben Johnson, 12:46

• Matt’s summary of the offense:
  “So it's not going to look like that high-speed Lamborghini offense that we want, that we expect from Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams, the number one pick, Roma Dunes A, who is emerging as a star wide receiver in this league.” —Matt, 27:54

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:18 — Immediate reaction to Bears’ improbable win; context for season at 2-2 entering bye.
• 04:25 — Scott Daly’s film study and key special teams play (blocked field goal).
• 05:52-06:55 — Playcalling critique: persistent issues with the swing pass; Crosby's batted pass.
• 07:12 — Historical perspective on Bears winning despite huge rushing yards allowed.
• 10:36 — Red zone efficiency, failed capitalizations, and the “blob game” aspect.
• 11:32-13:36 — Ben Johnson post-game: building “something special,” handling frustration, and the importance of “character wins.”
• 14:18-16:39 — Offensive line changes, uncertainty at tackle, and Max Crosby’s disruption.
• 22:26 — Breakdown of the game-winning drive; its importance to Williams’ development.
• 24:32 — Caleb Williams on confidence, culture, and building something special.
• 25:41 — Matt identifies Ben Johnson's main coaching points echoing through the team.
• 26:29-27:00 — Hosts debate DeAndre Swift’s role and capability as main back.
• 32:32-33:36 — The need for others to step up on defense, especially with Sweat drawing extra attention.
• 34:22 — Ben Johnson speaks directly about the value—and missed opportunities—of the turnovers forced.
• 35:01 — Penalties and general sloppiness that must be addressed during the bye.

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Themes & Takeaways

• Resilience and Grit: The Bears didn’t play pretty football, but found a way to win. The experience of “winning ugly” is seen as vital for a young team and quarterback.
• Coaching Identity in Progress: Ben Johnson’s culture-building efforts are echoed by leaders on the field. Clear priorities: fix the run game, simplify passing, selectively strike deep.
• Roster is in Flux: The current Bears are a work-in-progress with only a handful of foundational players. Many current contributors may not be long-term fixtures.
• Areas of Concern: Run defense, offensive penalties, and consistency on both sides of the ball remain major issues to address coming out of the bye.

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For Bears Fans

If you skipped this episode, you missed a lively, honest conversation balancing analytical breakdowns with fan emotion. Dan and Matt celebrate the win, scrutinize every detail, and do not shy away from the Bears' deficiencies. The episode is a microcosm of “Forward Progress”—unflinching, deeply informed, and passionate about the Bears’ evolving story.

Transcript

[Matt Abaticola]

Ted 219219 forward progress a Chicago Bears podcast with Dan Bernstein and Matt Abeticola on 312 Sports Sports.

[Dan Bernstein]

We are back with you on Forward Progress. It feels like we just left. It feels like we were just talking about this Bears victory that we all saw coming that we all knew that you can give up 240 yards rushing and you can decide you're not really going to do anything with four turnovers. But you knew they were going to win. The Bears are 2 and 2 coming off the improbable 2524 road win over the Las Vegas Raiders and we've reached the by week. We've reached all the time off time for the self scouting time for some players to come back. We're going to talk about all of it today. Dan Bernstein and Matt Abaticola with you here on three one two sports.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah, big win for the Bears. Certainly not the the blueprints that you would lay out for future games. Certainly not what Ben Johnson wants. Lots to clean up still. But a win is a win and we talked about this. Two teams enter the Blob. One team leaves with a win, one team with a loss. The Raiders had a chance to win and the Bears came through and they, they make a big play instead of being on the wrong side of a dramatic finish. They were on the right side this year and this isn't. Did I hear Caleb Williams correct? It's his first road win.

[Dan Bernstein]

I think it's right. Wow. And we mentioned it yesterday evening. And by the way, thanks for everybody that tuned in live and even thereafter for forward progress. It's just been a blast to see all the post game energy that we're getting on this particular program. Really appreciate you being there and being a part of that community because I love the feeling of being able to go just right on and even with the TV kind of still on and I can glance over and see everything and watch some of the stuff that's coming out of the locker room as we're in the middle of it. It's just, it's a really fun, energetic feeling. So yeah.

[Matt Abaticola]

And make sure that you subscribe to Dan Bernstein Unfiltered and Forward progress both on YouTube. So you have alerts for both of the channels when we do go live because we went live yesterday morning for Dan Bernstein Unfiltered. If you don't have notification, you didn't know that we were live. We just kind of threw one out there and had a little fun talking baseball, college football, a little NFL football as well. But Dan, you know the season is basically a you know one quarter over. We're four games in on 17 game season and after that collapse in the fourth quarter on Monday Night Football and just the the motorboat and they got from the Detroit Lions didn't think that they would be two and two going into the bi week but here here we are. Didn't expect the Cowboys to you know not show up offensively like they didn't now their defense we expected the Bears could take advantage of some things with Matt Eber flus who gave up 40 again last night. So that's my math is Craig's at 8081 in two weeks. It's a lot of points but they.

[Dan Bernstein]

Understood now how to game plan their offense without their top receiver and having George Pickens take over in that role and knowing CD Lamb wasn't going to be that shows you the difference that any coaching staff in the NFL what you can do when you aren't surprised by losing your best player in the way that they were the fact that I didn't think they would be able to score 40 points against the packers.

[Matt Abaticola]

Not what I saw against the Bears.

[Dan Bernstein]

That's what I was wondering like how how now retroactively are we looking back at the Bears winning thing? Oh maybe that was a little bit. I'm not. I still think that day the Cowboys were awful.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah.

[Dan Bernstein]

And they're and they were going to be awful. But now that they actually had a week to recover and slot some people in and practice differently it just show how much it means to at least know who you're going to have. It's the worst thing that can happen is it's immediately at the start of a game losing your best player and then trying to adjust.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah. Then you could look retroactively too at the Green Bay packers who we thought with that first game win over the Lions were going to be the class of this division. And then they have a stinker in Cleveland who Detroit handled yesterday relatively easy and then they have that 4040 tie. So things look a lot different for the packers after four weeks and a lot different of how we're viewing the Lions clearly at three and one on top of this division really are separating themselves from the packers and the Vikings who are just kind of a mess. Kind of a mess right now.

[Dan Bernstein]

We've got a lot of notes on the game. I think one of the important ones is the credit to Bears long snapper Scott Daly who as we were finding out afterward in everything that was said Scott Daly noticed that his counterpart on the Raiders had a tell. He had a little bit of a trigger. This was the equivalent of a tipped pitch. The idea of how his tendency was to tilt the football a tiny bit before snapping it, that got passed down properly, shows you the communications are those lines are open and working correctly. When somebody notices something and it can get communicated to everybody else. The important guy being Josh Blackwell. And Daly said that it was through film study. I read this, reported in the Tribune, this quote, we were able to get a jump on him. Josh was able to take that. So it was the first thing he told me after the little heads up before really helped him. Josh made an amazing play, jumped it perfectly, did a great job laying out for it. That's a good sign that things are functioning well behind the scenes, that something that happens in the film room can get to the person who can make use of it. And he did, and it saved the game. So very cool stuff, hearing about how it actually happened, what they noticed and. And in these games when the tiniest things tend to matter for the biggest reasons, it was certainly one of them. Good job to all involved.

[Matt Abaticola]

There's one play I would like to highlight. We talked about it on the post game show as well. And I want to make sure that it gets out there because I would like Ben Johnson to stop running this play. And it's the one that they ran in Minnesota when your guy Van Ginkel. Read, read the. That quick swing pass, immediately rushed right up field, right past any defenders or any offensive players and got his hand on that pass. It happened again last night in the first quarter, third and 14, Ben Johnson takes his first time out and this time it's Max Crosby sniffed out that play real quick, outlet pass that he just rushed up field, got his left hand on it. One of those is going to get picked off and taken the other way.

[Dan Bernstein]

It was out of a timeout.

[Matt Abaticola]

Of a timeout. That's the problem. That's. That's the biggest issue of the whole thing. Like there's something happening in that play where defenders know that it's coming and they don't have to worry about anybody in front of them. Just get around them, get up field, get your hands out, you're going to get your hand on that pass.

[Dan Bernstein]

Okay, well then find a counter. Now a smart team where that guy does it, he's out of position, hit something behind him, counter it.

[Matt Abaticola]

Right, exactly. Or run, run, run at that open space.

[Dan Bernstein]

That too.

[Matt Abaticola]

Like if he's going to just rush, run up field. Straight up field to go for a ball that's not there, run at that space or move that guy around him to get in that open space. So take advantage of that aggressiveness for sure. But stop. Stop throwing that pass, please.

[Dan Bernstein]

It was the first time the Bears had won a game in which they allowed 240 or more yards rushing since November 11th of 1979. Considering that was in my meat childhood era of Bears fandom as a 10 year old at the time, I remembered this as the Ricky Watts game. Oh, and because that was when. Wait a second, hold on. We were starting to think that maybe this Ricky Watts was something. It was a huge deal to have somebody with 100 yard receiving game back then. It was a huge deal for somebody to have six.

[Matt Abaticola]

Huge deal for us now to six.

[Dan Bernstein]

Receptions in a game. Mike Phipps had one of his rare good games. He didn't have 50% completions because nobody did back then. But that was where Mike Phipps had two.239 yards passing and two touchdowns. No interceptions despite being sacked five times. Ricky Watts, six catches for 147 yards. A touchdown along of 68 like that. That is a massive historic Bears receiving performance up until that point. And hell, probably still out of the list for maybe ever. But the rushing yards they allowed to the Rams that day. It was Wendell Tyler who had taken over for Lawrence McCutcheon who was coming off of a ghastly, gnarly knee injury and he only had one attempt. That was really the end of the career for Lawrence McCutcheon despite the fact that he was still on the team. Wendell Tyler at 129 yards. Their fullback Colin Bryant was 66. Elvis Peacock rushed for 22. And their quarterback Jeff Rutledge also scrambled for 28 yards. And somehow, some way, thanks to the heroics of Ricky Watts, the Bears won on that day in 1979.

[Matt Abaticola]

What a great memory.

[Dan Bernstein]

Well, I remembered it. I remembered the Ricky Watts game.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah, that's funny. I heard you over there looking at your. At the screen. Yes, I heard you out loud talking about it.

[Dan Bernstein]

And that was the game where Brian Bashnagal, despite eight targets, only caught two.

[Matt Abaticola]

So not only was that a first for the Bears, but a first from an amazing stat of giving up 24 points or more. The Bears were what? 0, 240 and 25 off the schneide. Yeah, that's it. Because we mentioned it. We broke that jinx and the Bears get a win after giving up more than 24 points. 24 more, they still get the win. Winning 25 to 24. So Caleb wasn't very good, but he made some passes when he needed to and he made some plays. He was just good enough to get them downfield to put them in a position to win this game. He had the one interception, which was an unbelievable, unbelievable play by Max Crosby. So, you know, we'll give him that. So that's not, you know, really all on Caleb.

[Dan Bernstein]

No. That wasn't like a great time throw. I will say the one that should have been picked was a way worse pass.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yes.

[Dan Bernstein]

The one he threw across his body running right from left to commit.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah.

[Dan Bernstein]

And should have been picked and maybe returned for a touchdown.

[Matt Abaticola]

Possibly. But that, that should have been picked. He got lucky there. But he did enough to help his team win the game where Geno Smith did a lot to allow the Bears to stay in this game despite starting five offensive possessions in Vegas territory, having four Redfield or red zone opportunities, and I think only coming out with one touchdown. So they just, they really just did not have a very good game. And it was a blob game that they won. And that's, that's all you can ask is to go out and win those games if you can. And they certainly found a way.

[Dan Bernstein]

We'll find out more today when Ben Johnson talks. But the Bears are scheduled or were scheduled to practice tomorrow and Wednesday before the collective bargaining mandated four days off. I don't know if that's going to change, but they were scheduled to hold practices tomorrow and tomorrow and Wednesday and.

[Matt Abaticola]

Then off Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, back at it. Monday.

[Dan Bernstein]

Correct.

[Matt Abaticola]

Okay.

[Dan Bernstein]

Which. And if they want to give him an extra day in there, we'll. We'll find out. I. My guess is no. My guess is that with this team the way it is and considering you got a new coach, new staff that he's going to want every hour he's got and every opportunity in front of these guys he's got. But we shall see. Why don't we hear from that man, Ben Johnson and find out what they said immediately after that surprising victory that came as dramatically as it did here were the opening remarks from Ben Johnson.

[Ben Johnson]

Came out of that game pretty clean. There really was nobody that of note that didn't finish the game. We're in good shape there, man. I'm proud of our guys. They. They came through for us. We're building something special here and I think they're feeling it. Just the. They have in each other the belief they have in this coaching staff. I thought it really shown through. This is a Huge win for our team. Finding a way in the fourth quarter to come out on top. I just thought that was outstanding for us. So proud of our guys, proud of the locker room. I know it's an ugly game at times. You know, I thought, give a lot of credit to the Raiders. They played their tails off, which we knew they would. You know, Coach Carroll is such a good coach, and they have so many good players on their side that it was going to be a dog fight. And they were desperate for a win, and we were desperate for a win as well. And, you know, it came down right to the wire, just like we thought it might. And so, like I said, that's a huge character win for our team, and I just love it for them.

[Dan Bernstein]

So he used the word ugly. I would also say improbable and unsustainable. So in his mind, what does it mean for his team?

[Ben Johnson]

It's easy to get frustrated, but we don't panic. We just don't. It's not who we are, and that's not what we do. And so, you know, we have a three and out to start the game. I believe on offense and, you know, defense comes through for us, and, you know, they end up with four turnovers on the day, and we're not able to capitalize on those turnovers to the extent that we'd like to, you know, And I could see where either side of the ball would get really frustrating. I could see where the defense would get frustrated with the offense and the offense frustrated with ourselves. And, you know, that didn't happen. Everybody stayed the course. No one panicked whatsoever. I thought we came in at halftime, we hit that reset button. That's what we talked about. Take a deep breath, and let's come out and play 30 minutes and find a way to win.

[Dan Bernstein]

I think the point being, as ugly and improbable as it was, he's saying that amid all that chaos, they now can have the actual muscle memory and memory of recovering from that and pulling out a win from something that was that strange and that's a positive. And you can always remind guys, hey, remember what happened in Las Vegas? We're in this. Weird things happen in football games. It came down to Blackwell's fingertips. Were never out of it. So that is something on which to build. We also noted there were not. There's not one change at tackle. There were two. Why? And what does it portend?

[Ben Johnson]

Yeah, we knew going into the game that Ozzie was. Was likely to get some snaps for us. He's. He's a guy that just keeps getting better each and every week. And so we were just at the point where we weren't doing a whole lot on offense and we felt like that might give us a little spark and ignite us a little bit on offense there.

[Matt Abaticola]

Interesting that it was about the offensive production and not what was happening because of Max Crosby and the defense.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah. How often does a right tackle provide a spark? I don't know that I've ever heard that before.

[Matt Abaticola]

I've heard they weren't getting the job done, period. Right.

[Dan Bernstein]

It's almost always a skill position player or so. You know, you put a third down back or you give a different running back a series, you have a different package of wide receivers. I think this is the first time I've ever heard a right tackle or an offensive line providing a spark. A spark. They're not. They're not sparky players generally.

[Matt Abaticola]

No. Yeah.

[Dan Bernstein]

I think. I think he didn't want to say Braxton was bad and needed to come out.

[Matt Abaticola]

Right. Yeah. That was a really polite way, nice way, kind way of the head coach not throwing his. His right tackle under the bus for whatever reason, because we all saw it. So it doesn't matter. You can do it. I mean, it was a very different Max Crosby again, you know, Ozzy had his moments and Max still made plays at times, but it was a significant difference to start the second half of that game. And Max Crosby, he was there but didn't. Wasn't as impactful from the start of the second half to about the midway through the fourth quarter.

[Dan Bernstein]

And make no mistake, he has full autonomy to do whatever he wants to move around and to find whatever he thinks is the weak link. He is allowed to constantly be pushing and prodding and testing and say, oh, you know, maybe I'm going to loop around inside. It's hard to game plan for his level of randomness and sort of arbitrary.

[Matt Abaticola]

Deployment because he generally doesn't do the same thing. And consecutive plays, I mean, he'll start off on the left side and end up going around the entire line around to the right side. He's really a good player. And even Caleb Williams. Caleb Williams said he was the best player he's ever played against in his NFL career.

[Dan Bernstein]

I can see it.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah. And that's what $38 million cap hit does for you this year. That guy right there.

[Dan Bernstein]

Here's Ben Johnson on the deciding play, the Josh Blackwell blocked field goal attempt.

[Ben Johnson]

He came through for us right when we needed it. And you know, I'm listening on the headset. And Coach Hightower, who does just such an incredible job with our special teams unit in all those phases. He's kind of narrating it in real time and he's like, yeah, Blackwell's going to get this one for us. He's going to come through. And sure enough, it came to light, just like he thought. And so, man, I was so proud of him. He's a guy that not only is a key cog of what we do on special teams, but a key contributor there as a backup in our DB room. And you know, that was huge for him.

[Matt Abaticola]

Not their DBU room. No, that's a separate room.

[Dan Bernstein]

Oh, that room would be awesome.

[Matt Abaticola]

They have a DBU room.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah. Just to. Just to listen.

[Matt Abaticola]

You think they called him Blockwell after the game.

[Dan Bernstein]

I see what you're doing. And you know, if you do have a DBU room, you know what you should have in there just to make it tissue?

[Matt Abaticola]

What?

[Dan Bernstein]

Well, you're going to need food. Oh, food, right. And. And speaking of which, here on Forward Progress, we would like to welcome a brand new sponsor to Forward Progress, but not a new friend, because you know that I've spoken in the past about Beer Church Brewing. They're in New Buffalo, Michigan. It's just over the border. Just a quick trip from Chicagoland in northwest Indiana. And I have been to their pizza making school. I had an absolute blue blast there, getting hands on, learning about the wood fire kitchens and all this fabulous Neapolitan pizza that you can make there. And you learn everything. You learn about how to stretch the dough and stretch out the glutens and top it with all their legendary ingredients. Personally, I made. I'm a bit of a purist. I made a pizza margherita with the fresh mozzarella and the tomato and the fresh basil leaves. And you're going to want to try everything. And I have, because when I visited Beer Church, John just started filling up a table with everything that was coming out of the kitchen. All of their beers are wonderful and they have fun with. There's all kinds of tasting stuff and flights that you can do, but you can do a party there, your own party. Put together a group of friends, 10 or more. Could be coworkers, could be your friends, maybe your fantasy football team. You want to all come out because there's big screen TVs all over their heated outdoor bar area. It is a great place to just come and graze and hang. You can add a craft beer, wine or cocktail package. You can pair, pair all the Pizza with their small batch brews that you're not going to find anywhere else. You can do it for lunch or dinner. It's private, it's exclusive, it's the ultimate party upgrade. But even if you just want to go hang out. I drove by a couple times when I was up there this summer. Every time I have driven by Beer Church packed, absolutely packed. Just because it's such a fabulous place to be and just such a great facility. It is an actual church. It was a church. So when you're in New Buffalo, you cannot miss it. And I mean that literally and figuratively. It is Beerchurch Brewing. You can check them [e-mail] to let the pizza party begin. Beer church in Beautiful new Buffalo, Michigan. More information beerchurchbrewing.com welcome to the team here on forward progress. Happy to have them.

[Matt Abaticola]

That sounds good right now.

[Dan Bernstein]

The pizza. Beer.

[Matt Abaticola]

No, the pizza.

[Dan Bernstein]

Okay.

[Matt Abaticola]

I'm always, I'm always down for pizza.

[Dan Bernstein]

So good. It's so good. And it's a, it's the, like, I'm telling you, I know you're just fresh back from Italy and had wonderful pizza there. I will put theirs up and I, I've had pizza in Italy too. I will put theirs up against it.

[Matt Abaticola]

Okay.

[Dan Bernstein]

And I'm telling you, it is that good. Caleb Williams also had thoughts after the game. He got his first road win. Yay.

[Caleb Williams]

It comes down to execution as a, as a team on all sides of the ball. If you look at it, offense did their job at the end of the game. Obviously it's not, it's not what we wanted, you know, the whole game. But when it came down to it, you can only win the game in the fourth quarter. And so it came down to that. We marched down the field. Everybody did a good job on that. On the offensive side of the ball, defense did a great job. Obviously, you know, they wanted to keep him out of field goal range. They have a great kicker. He was in field goal range. But no defense did a good job keeping that a long distance for a field goal, meaning that the trajectory of the ball has to be kicked at a certain height and a special team. So all three sides of the ball at the end of the game came through.

[Dan Bernstein]

And that's what you wish for, indeed, spreading out a lot of credit there because this was big for him personally and he didn't stand there patting himself on the back. But when the Bears came out down 24 to 19, starting at their own 31, they, this was a drive that was well called well executed, with the exception of the false start on Cole Comet, in large part, well executed. And they didn't have to face a lot of third downs. By my count, it was only the third and three that they faced because I had second and five, first and 10, first and 10, second and seven, first down, second and 11, first down, second and 10, then that one third down that DeAndre Swift picked up, that brought them to first and goal. And so other than the failed two point conversion and the Cole Comet misstep.

[Matt Abaticola]

That's correct.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, it was, it wasn't gorgeous. They weren't reinventing anything, but they found the yards they had to find and got the ball in the end zone with Caleb Williams quarterbacking it, Ben Johnson calling those plays on the road.

[Matt Abaticola]

And that's, that's too, that's two games in a row now where you've had really significant drives to really shut down any possibility of anything negative happening for you. Now, the Cowboys game came in the second quarter that was just like, we're just going to run the ball, you're not going to stop us, we're going to do this to you. And then this was a much needed drive to get themselves in position to win the game, which they were able to do. And going into the, at that point before that drive, Dan, the Bears had had 11 plays for negative yards and the Raiders had only had four. So it was really important to not, you know, not what they've been doing in these last three games were, well, not really the Cowboys game, but the first two is stacking mistakes on top of mistakes. They couldn't afford to find themselves digging deeper holes and they really had an important drive. And outside of the Cole Comet fall start, Caleb had a really nice first down run. They really did a lot of positive things to get themselves in position to win. So this is really important for Caleb Williams building off this win.

[Caleb Williams]

We're down, it's all 11 of us on the field and we got to go do a job. And so I think just the belief, the trust, the hard work that we put in, those are the moments that you, that you wish for. Those are moments that you dream about. And so being able to have those moments and come through is important for one, the confidence, especially like I said, in the moment where, you know, it's not a favorite position, you're away, you're down and you got to go in the game. So it's a confidence builder, it's a culture builder for us. And you know, especially the type of game we had a Grimy game, like you said, and being able to come together in the end, it builds a lot of confidence for us. And obviously we have things that we have to find, find ways to get better, get the run game going, get early completions, fast completions, and then obviously when we get our shots, take them. But I think, I think we're, you know, we're creating something, you know, special here and we got to keep going, something that we got to keep building on. But it's a, it's a tough team, tough opponent over there, tough defense, and they got, they got, you know, some, some really good players over there. And so being able to, to come together and find a way to come, find a way to come out victorious is, like I said, I think it's a big win for us, especially my first one on the road.

[Dan Bernstein]

A confidence builder, a culture builder, took that a little step further there because this, it gives you a, a tent pole win. It gives you something early to say, we did this together. And it doesn't have to be gorgeous that they were able to get on the plane and come home into the, into this buy into the break feeling better about themselves than we thought they were going to be.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah. And you know, there are going to be games like this that are ugly and you want to come out on the positive side, which they did. So that's good. They're two and two now after four games, going to the buy with some time off. But that culture comment comes from Ben Johnson. We didn't play all of Ben Johnson's comments after the game yesterday, but he talked about how this builds culture. That's so he's repeating things he's hearing and there's, there's a section in there that I want to point out because he said a couple things. Number one, he said on that cut, Caleb Williams, that we're building something special. Ben Johnson said the same thing at very, very early in his opening comments. We're building something special. So this is the quarterback. If you listen, you're hearing the same things that Ben is teaching and saying to them.

[Dan Bernstein]

There's a theme develop.

[Matt Abaticola]

There's a theme developing. And there's three things that, that Caleb said there and these are things that, that are not his take. This is what Ben Johnson is telling his team. Get the running game going, number one. Number two, early and fast completions. So stop holding the ball, throw the ball. It's the timing thing we've talked about with Caleb. Get the running game going one, early and fast completions, two. And number Three is get our. When we get our shots, we take them. Those are not things that Caleb is saying. Those are what. Those are what Ben Johnson is teaching to the team, saying to the team, working with the team. Hey, we need to get a running game going. We know that he had a special meeting. They watched every run play they had together as a unit. Why are we not doing better? What are we supposed to do? What are you not doing here? What do you need to do here? What was good here? So this. He's taking an effort getting the running game going. He knows it starts with a strong running game.

[Dan Bernstein]

Let me say this too. I still don't think DeAndre Swift is good.

[Matt Abaticola]

I agree. I agree. I think DeAndre Swift, it would be a really good backup in this offense. A guy that come out and give a spark or a burst at times. But he is not the main guy. He's not the main guy.

[Dan Bernstein]

Totally agree with you.

[Matt Abaticola]

Not the main guy. I like him. He's just not the main guy for this offense. Break a tackle more than once a game.

[Dan Bernstein]

Break a tackle. If you watch what guys are doing after contact. God. You see Josh Jacobs go through people.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah.

[Dan Bernstein]

I mean, just right.

[Matt Abaticola]

I know it's a, it's a, it's a different level and he's. He's just not that top tier guy. He's just not. And that, that's okay because you have to have guys like him to make up your roster. But he just can't be the main guy.

[Dan Bernstein]

I guess I kind of buried the lead with all the different adjectives we've used to describe the game. Whether it is ugly, improbable. What did Caleb Williams give us? Grimy.

[Matt Abaticola]

Grimy. It was the. Whoever asked the question referred to the game as grimy.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, grimy game, greasy goals. I. It looked like a Bears game. That's the problem with it.

[Matt Abaticola]

Right.

[Dan Bernstein]

Is was a win. But it still was too bearsy.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah.

[Dan Bernstein]

It was still one of these like, oh, this and this when we feel weird about it. Just don't make these wins look so Bears gamey.

[Matt Abaticola]

Right. But here's the thing and I think we have to keep this filter on for ourselves.

[Dan Bernstein]

I guess on this show we have to keep a filter on.

[Matt Abaticola]

Well, for this, I guess. Yeah.

[Dan Bernstein]

Fine.

[Matt Abaticola]

This particular thing needs to be filtered because when we look at the roster, Dan, 53 man roster, there's probably seven, eight, nine guys max that matter when it comes time to competing for a championship on the roster now. So it's not going to look like that high speed Lamborghini offense that we want, that we expect from Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams, the number one pick, Roma Dunes A, who is emerging as a star wide receiver in this league.

[Dan Bernstein]

Well, that's why the themes that we're hearing are above and beyond personnel. When he talks about building something special that the next part of that is a lot of you schmucks aren't going to be around for it.

[Matt Abaticola]

Won't be. They absolutely won't be.

[Dan Bernstein]

And the idea of that confidence of the understanding of the play calling of take our shots when we have them, that is more Ben telling the world about himself. That's more. When he says we take our shots. That's the royal we. Yeah, that's the royal we from this coach. That is. Look, this is how I call games. I'm going to have these trick plays in. I'm going to understand when we want to run tempo to keep personnel on the field. That's going to allow me to call something that I had in just for this game that he says we. But there isn't enough we that's going to matter when it matters.

[Matt Abaticola]

Correct? Correct. So get the running game going is one, two early and fast completions and three, get our shots. We take them. And then we saw that demonstrated in the Cowboys game. The Cowboys gave them shots to take and they took advantage of it with those big chunk plays. And that's what his offense wants to have. Where you're going to see two or three of those a game when they're given to you by the defense. But that comes off of a good running game and being smart in the passing game with using your timing and your routes and your progressions well, which Caleb is still learning and developing, which is. That's. It's just the reality of where we're at right now with him. And that's fine.

[Dan Bernstein]

We were looking at the roster that you mentioned. There are all kinds of positions in flux at the moment for various reasons. Obviously, we want to learn more soon about what the plan is at tackle. Darnell Wright is going to be. Everybody's got two weeks to heal up from their immediate injuries, so Wright is among those. And then they'll have to decide, is it going to be Benedict at left tackle? I don't know how you go back to Braxton Jones now. I don't. I don't think you can. I don't think they will. And that it'll be right at right tackle. We don't know if Tripillo is. Or Trapillo is going to be the next guy at either position. If Jones is going to be inactive, we're going to hear more and more questions will be asked about that. Grady Jarrett gets to come back from his knee. And here we go with the Colston Loveland experience that he spent most of training camp recovering from a previous major injury and now what they thought was a minor, minor injury was enough to keep him out of a game. So there are those that warn that the, the the Loveland experience involves of injuries. So we're going to sort of put a flag on that one and see Cairo Santos hurt his quad and he said he could have kicked if need be. Something tightened up or something felt weird. Tori Taylor was handling some kickoff duties so he's got two weeks to get that figured out.

[Matt Abaticola]

And Ben Johnson did say he was fine. He was. He was okay. Good to go.

[Dan Bernstein]

Okay now there and he was also.

[Matt Abaticola]

Called Corey in the broadcast one time.

[Dan Bernstein]

Corey Santos first quarter.

[Matt Abaticola]

Okay came out came out quick and.

[Dan Bernstein]

He said Corey Santos well after the minimum four games on injured reserve, Austin Booker, Travis Homer and Amen O Bung Bemiga are eligible to return. What is to reopen their practice window?

[Matt Abaticola]

Austin Booker. Yes.

[Dan Bernstein]

They don't have to be. They can wait another game on this but they can they are now eligible to to begin practicing once again. So that's right around what they said the timing would be for each one. Austin Booker, who had a spectacular preseason would be great and who also has a particular single skill that you would think would matter for them considering how few sacks the Bears have gotten. Sure. The sooner we can see him and maybe it would be between Booker and Dominique Robinson. I would imagine for the active spot. We'll find out because we because she Mark Turner saw his first action.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah. And we talk about Montez sweat as well. I think there was one play early.

[Dan Bernstein]

On maybe even don't talk about Montez.

[Matt Abaticola]

Sweat on the interception. I think he might have impacted the release. Maybe. Maybe I wanted to see it and it really wasn't there. But again just another game where you don't see a whole lot of impact that you want to see and if.

[Dan Bernstein]

There is attention paid to him make it matter. That's where Dayo Dangbo who did have a solid play early on where I had him on the Geno Smith no gain on third and one right before the fourth and one fumble that it was Odengbo crashing in from the right side. But if you are going to give me the fact that sweat has not been effective because of all the attention paid to him that Means everybody else win your matches.

[Matt Abaticola]

But we know that's not the case, though, because we talked to Courtney Cronin. Through three games, he had been double teamed six times.

[Dan Bernstein]

Also, in the run game, if the Bears linemen keep staying blocked, this is going to be a problem because they're getting gashed, they're not getting off their blocks. It is down to the simplest aspects of football. As much as Dennis Allen wants them to physically defeat blocks, they're not doing it. I don't know if it's hands out of its pad level, some combination of balance and everything else, but beat the guy in front of you, throw him to one side or another, push him backward, find that ball carrier, secure the tackle, and everybody else, rally up to the ball. If the run stopping doesn't improve, nothing's going to improve. You're not going to win games consistently without an ability to stop the run, let alone getting trampled. And the Bears got trampled, but they were able to stay in the game because of four turnovers. Four they forced. And it's great. And then you got to ask people, why didn't it matter more? It's got to be converted. I think we have a Ben Johnson cut on the turnovers. Yeah, that. He actually addressed that directly. And you got as much as you're happy that you got them. They've got to matter more.

[Ben Johnson]

We were going to need to get some turnovers on the road here to get our first road win. And those guys came through. Bayard came through with two of them. I thought Tyreek had had a. One of the more athletic plays. I've seen the way he bounced up after that, I thought that was. That was incredible. And then. Yeah, that. That we don't win that game without those turnovers. You know, just the way that they were able to move the ball. And then, you know, like I said, had we been able on offense to capitalize on that a little bit more, it wouldn't have come down to the wire like that. But one for four in the red zone for us on offense, it's not going to. It's not going to win you a.

[Matt Abaticola]

Whole lot of games.

[Dan Bernstein]

Okay, good. Acknowledged.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah. I also want to say too, about the run game, if that doesn't. Defending the run doesn't clean up here moving forward, you're not going to be able to do much more successfully on defense. But there are penalties, too. It's still too much. It's too much. False starts, illegal shifts. I mean, you had. I think it was Rome. Rome started running forward before the ball. I mean, like you just, those are simple things that you clean up really easy. Cole Comet had two it's got to stop 8, 8 for 60 yesterday in penalties. It just, it has to stop. The offense is not clicking well enough, is not playing well enough. They're not very efficient to overcome all those mistakes all the time. And again, as we talked about stacking mistakes on top of each other, they've got to stop. It's got to get cleaner. It has to.

[Dan Bernstein]

I also want to mention one other thing that I didn't I was looking at my notes here, the important return that they're going to be getting after the buy. We presume Kyler Gord will be ready to go. He did practice last week was limited. They held him out one more. But that's going to be a huge weapon for Dennis Allen, who singled out Kyler Gordon when he took the job in Dennis Allen's first press conference. Remember that he mentioned him as one of the reasons he was excited because in his defenses he usually has a multifaceted defensive back who he can move around to do different things. He can put him at slot, he can put him on the boundary. There are places where he can even rotate to safety and rush the passer because of his multifaceted skill set.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah, and I do want to point out Tyreek Stevenson had himself another follow up great game with that unbelievable interception. He recovers the fumble as well early in the game. So another really nice game for Tyreek Stevenson going into the bi week and again creating his own narrative for that Washington Commanders game coming up in a couple of weeks.

[Dan Bernstein]

Forward Progress 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 beer churchbrewing.com and that has been.

[Matt Abaticola]

Another episode of Ford Progress. It's our Bears Focused podcast. Make sure you subscribe to Forward Progress as well as Dan Bernstein Unfiltered when you subscribe on our YouTube channels, you can click the little bell icon. It'll give you notifications. So when we go live because we did a surprise Dan Burns an unfiltered live episode Sunday morning. We were just hanging out. I said hey, let's jump on. Let's do a show. We talked baseball. We talked because it was the final day of the regular season. There was so much happening still. We talked NFL. The Steelers and Vikings were going on as we were on the on live with people listening and commenting and being a part of it.

[Dan Bernstein]

I was giving you college football scouting tips.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yes. We were talking about Alex Harkey, who just dramatically falls down in space on his own.

[Dan Bernstein]

Good. He's good.

[Matt Abaticola]

You have to subscribe, though, to get those kind of things, because we're gonna do that. I mean, we have the stuff at home to do it, and we're just sitting around be like, hey, let's just do a show. Let's. We talked about my bee sting and my tongue, which I. The first time ever in my life was stung and right in my tongue. It was amazing. I had to go see the doctor. The doctor, by the way, at the immediate care, reminded me of the doctor in the Hangover. I mean, sounded like him, looked like him. I remember he was given directions. It was like the corner of. You ever saw Hangover?

[Dan Bernstein]

I saw it. I didn't like it. I didn't like. Beth loves all the Hangover movies. Okay? And I don't. It's just not. Not a thing for me. It just didn't. I didn't find him really all that funny.

[Matt Abaticola]

All right. I love you, but let's just. Let's end now. Just end the show. Just. We're. Can I. Can I.

[Dan Bernstein]

Can I do whatever you want? All right, Red ass.

[Matt Abaticola]

I'm not a red. I'm. How am I being a red ass bitch? Because you don't owe good movies.

[Dan Bernstein]

You're taking it personally.

[Matt Abaticola]

I'm not taking it personally. I just. I want to stop talking to you now.

[Dan Bernstein]

Fine.

[Matt Abaticola]

I'll talk to you tomorrow.

[Dan Bernstein]

Stop talking.

[Matt Abaticola]

Tomorrow.

[Dan Bernstein]

Stop talking.

[Matt Abaticola]

I'm going to talk to you tomorrow. Tomorrow I'm. You're not even on camera anymore.

[Dan Bernstein]

Stop talking.

[Matt Abaticola]

Stop talking to me.

[Dan Bernstein]

You stop talking to me.

[Matt Abaticola]

You stop talking to you.

[Dan Bernstein]

Don't you look at me.

[Matt Abaticola]

Don't look at me like that. You stop first.

[Dan Bernstein]

No, you stop first. 10. 219.

[Matt Abaticola]

219.

[Dan Bernstein]

Forward.

[Matt Abaticola]

Progress. A Chicago Bears podcast with Dan Bernstein and Matt Abeticola on three. One, two, sp.