Caleb Williams vs Steelers defense - great test for young QB

Summary

Forward Progress – A Chicago Bears Podcast

Episode: Caleb Williams vs Steelers Defense – Great Test for Young QB
Hosts: Dan Bernstein & Matt Abbatacola
Date: November 20, 2025

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Overview

This episode zeroes in on the Chicago Bears’ upcoming matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers, with special focus on rookie quarterback Caleb Williams facing the daunting Steelers pass rush. Dan Bernstein and Matt Abbatacola dissect personnel developments, injury updates, coaching philosophy, and statistical trends—balancing sharp analysis with trademark Bears-fan emotion and humor. The backdrop: a critical test for Williams’ poise, processing, and for the Bears offense to prove its progress against one of the league’s most aggressive defenses.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Game Preview & Quarterback Scenarios

• Setting the Stage (02:17)
  Soldier Field prepped for a classic matchup. Both hosts hope for Aaron Rodgers to play, even if it raises the stakes:

  “I'm excited to watch. I hope Aaron Rodgers plays, even though that’s on the backside of the possibility of him tearing the Bears to shreds...I'm willing to risk that happening for the Bears to get after Aaron Rodgers and get a win at Soldier Field.” — Matt (02:50)

• Steelers QB Depth
  Mason Rudolph is discussed as a competent backup with humorous banter:

  “He's probably a guy who is a year away from being on one of those progressive ads.” — Dan (03:18)

2. Bears Personnel & Coaching Decisions

• Luther Burden’s Emergence (04:40)
  Offensive coordinator Ben Johnson praises rookie Luther Burden earning more snaps:

  “You get what you earn, and I think he's earned the increased snapshot…It’s the route, running detail…making sure his alignments are right...he's progressing nicely.” — Ben Johnson (04:40)

• Accountability & Competence
  The hosts celebrate basic, competent coaching decisions—a welcome change for Bears fans:

  “It shouldn't be that hard that the guy that can’t hang onto the ball gets benched, but…it has been for so long.” — Matt (06:17)

• Drop Issues & Caleb Williams’ Challenges
  Persistent receiver drops are highlighted, frustrating both Williams and fans:

  “In the last three games…the Bears have been dropping one of every six [passes]. That’s too many.” — Dan (07:13)

  “It’s frustrating watching these games with Caleb...he makes some really bad throws and then...unbelievable throws that maybe a handful of guys in the league can make. And then there’s the drops, too…” — Matt (07:27)

• Tone – Humor through Pain
  The hosts slip into comic relief to cope with Bears trauma, referencing The Princess Bride and Bears game rituals (08:07–09:19).

3. Facing the Steelers’ Pass Rush

• Ben Johnson’s Werewolves Analogy (09:29) Johnson describes the Steelers’ edge rushers (esp. T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith) as “werewolves”:

  “Yeah, I mean, they got some werewolves on the outside…some of the best first steps I think you'll see in this league...you gotta be pretty creative as a play designer so that they don’t affect the game in a negative fashion.” — Ben Johnson (09:29)

• Keys for Caleb Williams Play design and pocket discipline are critical. Johnson emphasizes creative protection schemes and the need for Williams to maintain correct pocket depth.

• Hosts React with Puns & Pop Culture “Werewolves of Pittsburgh” riff (10:28–10:56):

  “Werewolf. Werewolf. Their wolf.” — Dan
  “Werewolves of Pittsburgh—that’s what I was waiting for.” — Matt

4. Secondary Depth and Player Packages

• Kyler Gordon & CJ Gardner-Johnson Discussion about returning defensive backs and how to get both on the field:

  “If you, you could play Gardner Johnson at a safety. You could put Gordon at boundary corner.” — Dan (13:11)

  “I think you leave Gordon at the nickel. Then you get creative...” — Matt (13:14)

• Injury Updates Emphasis on Bears’ cautious medical approach:

  “Last thing we want to do is put a player in a spot where he could potentially hurt himself again…” — Ben Johnson (14:55)

  Both agree that despite any optimism, returns from serious procedures (like groin surgery) won’t be rushed (15:39).

5. Bears’ Offensive Development under Ben Johnson

• Caleb Williams on Ben Johnson (16:43) Williams praises his coach's consistency and vision:

  “He’s been everything that he told me he was going to be...he’s provided that belief, that confidence, but also the discipline for us. When you have all those...you start being able to win some games and even win some maybe unfavorable games.” — Caleb Williams (16:50)

• Legitimate Offensive Progress The hosts stress this is no “gimmick offense”:

  “It isn't like the rushing offense when all the numbers were padded with Justin Fields doing college stuff...It is a legitimate NFL offense…” — Dan (18:36)

• Room for Growth Williams’ recognition and timing are highlighted as development areas, especially reading pre-snap and knowing when to extend plays vs. staying in the pocket (19:48–21:41).

6. Advanced Statistical Deep-Dive

• Steelers Defensive Metrics (26:53)

  • Blitz Rate: Steelers are third in blitzes (136), fourth on blitzes per dropback (31%).
  • QB Knockdowns: Steelers second (42).
  • Total QB Pressures: Fifth (103).
  • Missed Tackles: Surprisingly, Steelers are second in the NFL (93).

  “One stat…Steelers were up at number two with [missed tackles].” — Matt (28:25)

• Bears’ Pass Protection & QB Experience

  • Pocket Time: Bears (Williams) average 2.6 seconds—tied with Eagles for longest; indicative of either holding the ball too long or solid protection (30:13).
  • Times Blitzed: Williams is ninth most-blitzed (103), but is hurried most in the league (47).
  • Scrambles: Williams is eighth in the NFL.

  “He has been hurried 47 times, which is first in the league...that's not a product of him holding the ball.” — Matt (32:03)

  • Discussion about quarterbacks with least scrambles—Stafford, Goff, Geno Smith, and how that correlates to sacks and play design (34:49–37:38).

• Coaching Vision Hosts assert Johnson wants Williams to “give the play design a chance” before bailing.

  “Let the play design work before you go off on your own. Get the ball in the hands of the playmakers...more likely to get an explosive play by you doing your job of throwing the football.” — Matt (36:16)

7. Caleb Williams’ Growth and Mentality

• Room to Improve Williams must fine-tune internal clock—when to wait, when to go, and how to process incoming pressure.

  “So much of this is about…just give some of these plays a chance to develop just a tiny bit longer because…I know you waited, he's going to take some hits…” — Dan (20:22)

• Resilience & Maturity as Assets

  “He doesn't succumb to failure. He doesn't get lost in his own head...an attribute of his character as an athlete.” — Matt (40:55)

• Importance of Admitting Blind Spots

  “Sometimes the hardest thing...for somebody in his position is to say, ‘I don't know’ or ‘I don't get it.’…A proper working relationship allows him to say, ‘I need to see it…I can learn it, just have to learn it a little differently.’” — Dan (41:23)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “You get what you earn, and I think he's earned the increased snapshot.”
  — Ben Johnson on Luther Burden (04:40)

• “They got some werewolves on the outside...some of the best first steps I think you'll see in this league.”
  — Ben Johnson on Steelers edge rushers (09:29)

• “It shouldn't be that hard that the guy that can’t hang onto the ball gets benched, but…it has been for so long.”
  — Matt Abbatacola (06:17)

• “He doesn’t succumb to failure. He doesn’t get lost in his own head...that’s an attribute of his character as an athlete.”
  — Matt Abbatacola on Williams’ resilience (40:55)

• “It's not a gimmick offense. It is a legitimate NFL offense, and they're barely clicking on half their cylinders, and they're still doing these numbers.”
  — Matt Abbatacola (18:48)

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Key Timestamps

| Segment / Topic | Timestamp | |----|----| | Episode opens / Bears-Steelers setup | 02:17 | | Luther Burden’s role & coaching philosophy | 04:40 – 06:53 | | WR drops, Caleb’s struggles and reactions | 07:13 – 08:07 | | Ben Johnson on Steelers’ “werewolf” defense & pass rush | 09:29 – 10:56 | | Secondary shuffle: Kyler Gordon, CJ Gardner-Johnson | 11:36 – 14:10 | | Injury update & timeline discussion | 14:55 – 16:05 | | Caleb Williams on working with Ben Johnson | 16:43 – 17:58 | | Offense progress vs “gimmick” narrative | 18:35 – 18:57 | | Pressure metrics: Steelers & Bears | 26:53 – 30:13 | | Pocket time/blitz/scramble stats for Williams | 30:13 – 32:22 | | How play design, decision-making intertwine | 35:57 – 37:08 | | Williams’ resilience & learning style | 40:54 – 41:47 | | Closing banter: werewolf folklore & 80s movie nostalgia | 44:00 – end |

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Final Takeaways

• Caleb Williams faces a pivotal test against a Steelers defense that’s aggressive, quick, but vulnerable to missed tackles.
• Ben Johnson’s offense is real, not smoke and mirrors—a marked change from Bears trends of years past.
• Bears coaching staff is now making rational decisions and holding players accountable, a cultural shift fans are celebrating.
• Williams’ rookie ups and downs, mental resilience, and relationship with Johnson are showing promise—with plenty of room to grow, particularly with handling pressure and trusting the offense to develop.
• Statistical deep-dives reinforce the stakes: Chicago’s offense ranks high but faces its toughest challenge yet in Pittsburgh’s pass rush. The interplay of protection, timing, and play design could define the rookie QB’s trajectory.
• Humor and cultural references round out the show, with extensive “werewolf” running jokes, ensuring fans get the usual Forward Progress blend of serious analysis and fandom catharsis.

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Missed the episode? This summary delivers the essence—from tactical insights to cultural camaraderie—as the Bears look to keep progressing forward.

Transcript

[Dan Bernstein]

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[Matt Abeticola]

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[Dan Bernstein]

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[Dan Bernstein]

Ted 2:19:219.

[Matt Abeticola]

Forward progress a Chicago Bears Podcast with Dan Bernstein and Matt Abeticola on 312 Sports.

[Dan Bernstein]

We give you forward progress here on 312 Sports, a Chicago Bears Podcast. The Bears and the Steelers kick it off on Sunday at noon. Looks like a perfect day out at Soldier Field. Ideal conditions for some NFL football with some storied family owned franchises. And then we'll find out if indeed Aaron Rodgers is healthy enough and his wrist is braced enough to take them on. There are some Bears who appear to be on the mend as well.

[Matt Abeticola]

Yeah, it's going to be a fun game. I'm excited to watch. I hope Aaron Rodgers plays, even though that's on the backside of the possibility of him tearing the Bears to shreds. I mean, I'm willing to risk that happening for the Bears to get after Aaron Rodgers and get a win at Soldier Field.

[Dan Bernstein]

I am, too. You have, you. You have turned me over to that side of things. And Mason Rudolph is a perfectly capable NFL backup.

[Matt Abeticola]

Yep.

[Dan Bernstein]

He's. He's probably a guy who is a year away from being on one of those progressive ads. You just have to find a task for him.

[Matt Abeticola]

Yeah, for sure.

[Dan Bernstein]

I mean, I'm surprised that we haven't had like a, you know, a backup Christmas tree decorator, you know, somebody for the holiday season putting the tinsel on there, putting the star on.

[Matt Abeticola]

It's a. It's a. It's a good ad.

[Dan Bernstein]

Clever ad. Yep. So that. That's where Mason Rudolph is. But, yeah, get Aaron Rodgers out there and let the Bears have Adam, even if the. The defense is still trying to kind of piece it together. But it seems like there's some good news in the pipeline and we will get to that. But we've got words from the material participants.

[Matt Abeticola]

Yep. So Ben Johnson, Caleb Williams met the media yesterday, so we'll go over some sound here today. Not all of it, of course. We hand pick some things that are relevant to what we've discussed, what we want to hear, what we can learn from Ben Johnson. We talked about a couple weeks ago going into, well after the six drop game, and Zaki has had, I think, four of those drops demanding more time for Luther Burden. And it seems that in last week's game, Luther Burden got that time. Zaki has played 10 snaps, same number of snaps that Ozzy Tripillo played. If you want to get an understanding of what your number three wide receiver, where he's viewed at now. And Ben Johnson was asked about Luther Burden and why he's getting those more opportunities.

[Ben Johnson]

You get what you earn, and I think he's earned the increased snapshot. You know, it's something we evaluate each week. What does practice look like? How are these guys through the course of the week? Are they making plays or not? And he's steadily climbed. You know, it's the route, running detail that's showing up the consistency and making sure his alignments are right, his assignments. He's doing a real good job with that. And it's a credit to the receiving room. The vets are showing him the way. And then, you know, Randall and Robbie Picasso, they do a great Job meeting with him and making sure he knows what he has going on. And so he understands that. And as a young rookie, I think he's progressing nicely.

[Matt Abeticola]

There you go.

[Dan Bernstein]

But what was his title that Mike Tomlin bestowed upon him yesterday? Was it Luther the wide receiver?

[Matt Abeticola]

Oh, God.

[Dan Bernstein]

What was it? He just said it yesterday.

[Ben Johnson]

Right.

[Dan Bernstein]

It sounded as if he had some sort of royal title. Luther the pass catcher.

[Matt Abeticola]

Luther the young guy Out.

[Dan Bernstein]

You got to figure it out now because he's not just Luther Burke Burden.

[Matt Abeticola]

He's Luther the. Yeah. Young. Young receiver.

[Dan Bernstein]

The young receiver.

[Matt Abeticola]

Yeah.

[Dan Bernstein]

I think that's what.

[Matt Abeticola]

It was so long ago.

[Dan Bernstein]

I know. It was all. It was 24 hours ago. How could we possibly remember what it was just 24 hours ago?

[Matt Abeticola]

So, again, this just goes on to show that what we're seeing as Bears fans, the coaching staff is seeing and that we're aligned. If I can steal one of their pages, we're on the same page. And it's nice to feel that way as a Bears fan.

[Dan Bernstein]

It shouldn't be that hard that the guy that can't hang onto the ball.

[Matt Abeticola]

Gets benched, but it shouldn't be that hard. But, like, it has been for so long.

[Dan Bernstein]

I know.

[Matt Abeticola]

Like the obvious. Correct. Right. Decisions weren't always the ones that were made. And it's just. It's nice to see that.

[Dan Bernstein]

I agree. It's a. It is a totally lame thing to celebrate.

[Matt Abeticola]

I know. It totally is. I mean, it's. It's. It's. It's a real low bar for celebration.

[Dan Bernstein]

Coach has eyes, sees things.

[Matt Abeticola]

I see.

[Dan Bernstein]

Coach processes information, makes decisions based on facts.

[Matt Abeticola]

And why did you see. Ruined it.

[Dan Bernstein]

It's like, like, oh, it's okay. Oh, man. It's okay. Yeah, well, yeah, Luther, let's see. He's fast and he's doesn't. Whether you throw him the ball, he doesn't drop it. In the last three games, do you know, like, the numbers say that the every. The Bears have been dropping one of every six.

[Matt Abeticola]

Yes.

[Dan Bernstein]

That's too many.

[Matt Abeticola]

That is too many.

[Dan Bernstein]

That. That is. And poor Caleb's gotta be like, hey, you know, every. Picking me apart here, I threw some through some dots there. Right. Right there. People seem to not be hanging on to him.

[Matt Abeticola]

Yeah, that's why it's. It's frustrating watching these games with Caleb because, you know, I love the kid and I love his potential and where he's going in the NFL. And you get so frustrated at times because he makes some really bad throws and then he makes some unbelievable throws that Maybe a handful of guys in the league can make. And then there's the drops, too, that go on. It just adds on to it. It's like a recipe of just like what you feel like as a Bears fan. You get angry at him for the bad throws. Yeah.

[Dan Bernstein]

Then we're angry at him for. For evincing our feelings. Right where he's reacting. Exactly. Oh, God damn it. Right. But then he can't do it. I'm like, hey, you know, young man.

[Matt Abeticola]

You shouldn't do that.

[Dan Bernstein]

Really shouldn't do that.

[Matt Abeticola]

We'll do that for you.

[Dan Bernstein]

Exactly.

[Matt Abeticola]

Yes, I'll do it.

[Dan Bernstein]

I did. Actually, you know what? Last night during the Bulls game was the first time I was booing my television. I wasn't mad. I was just.

[Matt Abeticola]

What were you. What were you booing?

[Dan Bernstein]

Oh, I was booing the fact that they gave up a 31 to seven run and they were going to lose the game.

[Matt Abeticola]

And I was.

[Dan Bernstein]

I was literally just sitting there and boo. I don't do that during Bears games. Bears games. I yell and I scream and I kick and I throw stuff.

[Matt Abeticola]

Yeah. Who was the Billy Crystal's wife and Princess bride? What actress is that? Carol Kane. And she's booing. Remember? She's booing.

[Dan Bernstein]

You're confused.

[Matt Abeticola]

No, she's booing.

[Dan Bernstein]

No, she's not.

[Matt Abeticola]

Princess Buttercup.

[Dan Bernstein]

No, she's not. That's not. That. That's not Valerie.

[Matt Abeticola]

Oh, it's not.

[Dan Bernstein]

No, that is.

[Matt Abeticola]

Oh, it's a different character.

[Dan Bernstein]

Boo. Boo. The queen of filth. The queen of putrest. Boo.

[Matt Abeticola]

Not his wife.

[Dan Bernstein]

That was the dream she was having.

[Matt Abeticola]

Yeah, you're exactly right.

[Dan Bernstein]

That is not Carol Kane as Val.

[Matt Abeticola]

Is that how you were booing?

[Dan Bernstein]

Boo. Boo. No, mine was kind of lazy. I would just. I was watching him kicking the ball all over.

[Matt Abeticola]

Nachos are flying out of your mouth.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah. Seriously, watching Donovan clinging like the golem, and I'm just going boo so bad. And then, well, you know, they win and. Fine.

[Matt Abeticola]

All right, then there was a question of our head coach, Ben Johnson on the Steelers pass rush. What are your talking points this week for your quarterback?

[Ben Johnson]

Yeah, I mean, they got some werewolves on the outside. That's what that show up. They have some of the. Between 56 and 90. I mean, it's some of the best first steps I think you'll see in this league. And so when you have both sides that you're concerned about, that's where. That's where you got to be pretty creative as a play designer to make sure that they don't affect the game in a negative fashion. So, you know, I think. I think those guys, they hop off the tape immediately, both in the run game and in the passing game. Like I said before, it's a physical unit. They do a great job in the inside, clogging it up and not allowing you to get them off the line of scrimmage. And then those guys on the edge, I think they do a phenomenal job and put a lot of stress on the quarterback. So we got to be very disciplined in the depth of the pocket. From a quarterback perspective, make sure we're not getting too deep because they can run around and tackle in a hurry. It doesn't matter who you are in this league. They're darn good players.

[Dan Bernstein]

Werewolves.

[Matt Abeticola]

Yeah, That's a new one.

[Dan Bernstein]

Werewolf. Werewolf. Their wolf.

[Matt Abeticola]

Yeah.

[Dan Bernstein]

Werewolves of Pittsburgh.

[Matt Abeticola]

That's what I was waiting for.

[Dan Bernstein]

Delivery. You're waiting for it? Yes. I saw Werewolf with a Prometic brothers menu in his hand.

[Matt Abeticola]

Yep, that's what I was waiting on.

[Dan Bernstein]

Thank you for walking through the Strip district in the rain.

[Matt Abeticola]

Yep, there it is. I like it. I can count on you.

[Dan Bernstein]

I like it. He was looking to get a peppered egg sandwich.

[Matt Abeticola]

So we'll talk about a little bit later here in the the podcast about quarterback pressures, because that's been a talk and a theme this week from the Bears reporting staff.

[Dan Bernstein]

And, yeah, the theme is do it more.

[Matt Abeticola]

Right. But really more on the Steelers end and how quick they are and their pressure. So I want to dig into the numbers a little bit.

[Dan Bernstein]

Okay.

[Matt Abeticola]

And take a look at QB pressures, both Steelers defensively, Bears defensively, and then what Caleb Williams has faced as a quarterback this year. So some good numbers to get into. But continuing on with Ben Johnson, he was asked about Kyler Gordon and what his plans are for Kyler Gordon when he is eventually back. Kyler's window opening. What do you sort of anticipate shaking out the nickel?

[Caleb Williams]

And has CJ done enough that you.

[Matt Abeticola]

Want to get both those guys out?

[Ben Johnson]

Yeah, I mean, I think CJ is definitely a playmaker, and so he's a guy that we're going to want on the field. And when we feel good about Kyler being ready, we'll make sure we have a good plan in place in terms of how we set that up.

[Matt Abeticola]

And what's that plan? What do you plan on doing when he's back in?

[Dan Bernstein]

What position does he play?

[Matt Abeticola]

Will they play on the field together? Is that the plan you have?

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah. So what did he say?

[Matt Abeticola]

He didn't.

[Dan Bernstein]

What do you mean?

[Matt Abeticola]

Well, it wasn't asked. Why not? I don't know. I wasn't there.

[Dan Bernstein]

Well, where are you going to play him? They play the same position.

[Matt Abeticola]

Yeah. So I'd like to. I would have loved to hear what his, what his plans are. And he, you know, he may not have said anything. He may have just said. Yeah, you know, we're working through it, so.

[Dan Bernstein]

Okay, well, that's fine.

[Matt Abeticola]

We'll update you on that.

[Dan Bernstein]

Let's go to the options here where they're both nickel corners.

[Matt Abeticola]

But here's what I wanted to ask you though, when, like from that, what you heard, and this is again, we're learning to speak Ben Johnson. What. What did you hear there? Because what I heard was they will be on the field together. That's what I heard.

[Dan Bernstein]

Well, I don't know that I did hear that.

[Ben Johnson]

Okay.

[Dan Bernstein]

I don't know. Or maybe you have different packages depending on personnel. I don't know because I. That's not an easy one. You say good problem to have, having too many good players. You're too deep at nickel corner. But if you, you could play. Let's go through the options. You could play Gardner Johnson at a safety. You could put Gordon at a boundary corner.

[Matt Abeticola]

You could.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah.

[Matt Abeticola]

I mean, I think you leave, you leave Gordon where. You leave Gordon at the, at the nickel. And then you got, you get creative.

[Dan Bernstein]

You can't move Gardner Johnson out to boundary corner.

[Matt Abeticola]

No, you can't. But you get creative with what you do with him as a hybrid linebacker, safety type position.

[Dan Bernstein]

Well, would you take a linebacker off the field then? Would you take Noah Sewell off the field? I know you wouldn't take T.J. edwards off the field. No, but would you take Sewell off the field and go small?

[Matt Abeticola]

I would if all the time. If he's going to continue to make plays, Absolutely.

[Dan Bernstein]

Depending on his production and run support. If you're going to, somebody's got to be in the box. Or you just, you walk brisker down and use him as more of your run stop or just as long as the box numbers are okay. Yeah, I don't know. But I don't think it's that easy. And it certainly deserved, you know. So what are your options as you make those decisions?

[Matt Abeticola]

Yeah.

[Dan Bernstein]

Well, we'll see.

[Matt Abeticola]

We'll see. As it gets updated now, I don't anticipate it being this weekend that they play, so we'll have some more time to figure it out. And what he has to share.

[Dan Bernstein]

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[Matt Abeticola]

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[Dan Bernstein]

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[Matt Abeticola]

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[Dan Bernstein]

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[Matt Abeticola]

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[Dan Bernstein]

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[Matt Abeticola]

Was also asked about Jalen Johnson and Kyler Gordon, the plan, the timeline for their return.

[Ben Johnson]

We have a plan. We have a plan in place. It's something that, you know, got a lot of trust in the support staff, just like you mentioned, between the training room and then our sports science department, we'll make sure that we're acclimating them properly. And last thing we want to do is put a player in a spot where he could potentially hurt himself again. So we'll be very smart about that. But at the same time, I know that they want to be out there and they're pushing hard to be game ready, whether that's this week or not. But we're doing every. All of our due diligence to make.

[Matt Abeticola]

Sure we're smart about it, whether it's this week or not.

[Dan Bernstein]

It won't be.

[Matt Abeticola]

It won't be. No. But I still thought that was surprising to hear him say, well, I know.

[Dan Bernstein]

He'S just putting that out there. Yeah. Whether it's this week or not.

[Matt Abeticola]

It's not this week.

[Dan Bernstein]

Of course not. The guy had groin surgery. I mean, come on. We still don't even know exactly what he had repaired.

[Ben Johnson]

No.

[Dan Bernstein]

Love to find out if it was similar to what happened when he was working out on his own. If this was indeed, we find out, a core inguinal hernia, sports hernia kind of thing that is common and sometimes presents in an odd way. Yeah.

[Matt Abeticola]

And we probably won't find any of that out until after, after the season. Someone talks to him and he shares that. But yeah, he was asked about how he knows that they're ready to play. And he talked in there in detail about the medical staff, which I think that's a good route to go if he's that coach. I would rely on the doctors myself too, if that was him.

[Dan Bernstein]

Just make sure that you're not going with government websites. That's where I'd be careful. Do you want to go through the whole injured list?

[Matt Abeticola]

One more cut.

[Dan Bernstein]

Okay.

[Matt Abeticola]

Let me do one more cut from Caleb here. Caleb was asked about his time so far with Ben Johnson. Here's the question, too.

[Caleb Williams]

Rewind a little bit to January when.

[Matt Abeticola]

You were excited about Ben coming in.

[Caleb Williams]

Was this kind of what you thought.

[Matt Abeticola]

It would look like?

[Caleb Williams]

How does this compare to kind of what you hoped? I didn't really put an expectation on it in the sense of that.

[Ben Johnson]

When.

[Caleb Williams]

You start training and learning the playbook and all these different things, you understand that that's a process in itself. And then there's multiple different things that attribute to winning games and all of these different things. And so that was my focus when he first got here. And I was just excited just because all the things that I've heard from my friends around the league that whether they've played against them or they played for them and things like that, you know, just excited for what was to come. And then, you know, now being here with him, he's been everything that he's told me he was going to be, and, you know, just going out there and fighting for him and all the coaches and all the, you know, all the players in Chicago. And so I think he's provided that belief, that confidence, but also the discipline for us. When you have all those different things and belief in your coach, belief in each other, you know, you start being able to, you know, win some games and even win some maybe unfavorable games.

[Matt Abeticola]

I'd really like to know when. When he said there that. That he's been everything he said he was going to be like. I would love to hear, like, what their initial conversation was like. What did Ben tell Caleb that he was going to be? You know, I would have loved to heard, like, from his perspective, what Ben said he was going to be.

[Dan Bernstein]

I still think there's a long way to go.

[Matt Abeticola]

Oh, no, there. There definitely is a long way to go.

[Dan Bernstein]

A long way to go in that relationship, as good as it's been. And. And frankly, that's the good news is as much as we nitpick and as much as our expectations are where they are, and that's not going to change that in year one, 10 games in. They're a top three offense.

[Matt Abeticola]

Yeah.

[Dan Bernstein]

And it's not a gimmick offense. It isn't like the rushing offense when all the numbers were padded with Justin Fields doing college stuff. It's not like that.

[Matt Abeticola]

No, it's not a gimmick offense. It is a legitimate NFL offense, and they're. They're barely clicking on half their cylinders, and they're still doing These numbers.

[Dan Bernstein]

I think we're firing on cylinders.

[Matt Abeticola]

Are you firing?

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah.

[Matt Abeticola]

Yeah. You fire your cylinders.

[Dan Bernstein]

Don't you think so?

[Ben Johnson]

Yeah.

[Matt Abeticola]

And you. You fire your bad employees, too.

[Dan Bernstein]

I think. I think we're firing on all cylinders. And we. We're either it. Things are clicking. That's a good thing. Or they're not clicking unless it's a shoulder or your knee.

[Matt Abeticola]

Yeah, you don't want a knee to click.

[Dan Bernstein]

Oh, God. I walk up the stairs, it's like. It's like popcorn. Oh, yeah. Down the stairs in the morning is even worse.

[Matt Abeticola]

So they're barely firing on all cylinders and Cinderella blocks, too.

[Dan Bernstein]

You also got a fire on all.

[Matt Abeticola]

You gotta fire on the cinder blocks and cylinders and all the other shit, too.

[Dan Bernstein]

As long as they're on the same page. Yes.

[Matt Abeticola]

Just don't turn it ahead of time. Yeah, but there is still a ways to go, and that's. And that's fine. And there is some progression and I think there's some frustration on both ends probably because Caleb's got to get frustrated.

[Dan Bernstein]

Sure.

[Matt Abeticola]

There's a lot to learn and a lot to do, and he really needs to improve on being able to read what's presented to him before the snap. That's. That's one of the biggest things that's huge.

[Dan Bernstein]

It's also knowing when to go. Go big play hunting. It's. It's when to get out of the pocket and break things down because there are so many plays on which I know Ben John would say, hey, Caleb, just give it, Give it one half a beat longer for that guy to come open.

[Matt Abeticola]

Well, just, just.

[Dan Bernstein]

I love your instincts, I love the little backspin and all of that, but just give some of these plays a chance to develop just a tiny bit longer because I know you're had you waited. He's going to take some hits, he's going to get drilled.

[Matt Abeticola]

He's going to have to.

[Dan Bernstein]

He's taking him anyway.

[Matt Abeticola]

He talked about that. And on the. The deep pass to DJ Moore on the third and eight, third and nine, the second one that he missed early in the, in the game, he talked about that play and what I liked about it was he saw before it happened, he saw D.J. was going to. Was going to break off and be open. So he saw it early, which is great. What he did was he threw the ball probably a second too soon, and if he, if he just holds a second and sees him break into that route, he makes a better throw more on a line, hits him in stride that he can possibly turn up field. But the fact that he recognized it early, before he, he broke off to the right was great. And he even said that he needs to hold on to it a second longer and if I'm going to take hits then so be it. But that's, that's part of playing the quarterback position. But I love that he recognized it before it happened and just has to put those two steps together, the recognition and then the timing of it and he'll get there with it. And the one that Rome, he talked about and said that was just a bad ball, he needs to give Rome a chance, which he didn't.

[Dan Bernstein]

We're brought to you as always by beer church brewing here on Forward Progress. It's new Buffaloes brewery pizzeria and a historic church wood fired Neapolitan pizza small batch craft beer brunch every day. Visit beerchurchbrewing.com you can make some pizzas, you can have some of their fabulous small batch brews. The Pontius Pilate real good. And if you want, if you, if you head out there, ask, they'll pair things up for you. Depending on what you're ordering, depending on if you're just crushing beer all day, hanging out and watching football or if you want something specific to what you're eating, they really know what they're doing.

[Matt Abeticola]

I'm telling you, when you go your first time, get the meatballs, get the sausage, stuffed banana peppers, their homemade sausage is, it's just the best. And the margarita pizza and a Caesar salad, you're good to go. Finish it off with some gelato, have whatever beer you're drinking. If it's a brunch type time, they can do their bloody Mary looked incredible. And they can do one, you know, non alcoholic as well too. That's an easy one to do if you just want to drink it. But I'm telling you the margarita pizza will change your life.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, I was looking. The Bloody Mary is.

[Matt Abeticola]

Yeah, they got this picture of it.

[Dan Bernstein]

It's a meal, isn't it?

[Matt Abeticola]

Yeah.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah. The Blessed Mary vodka, their housemade bloody mix. It's chard of the cup, pepperoni, cup and curl pepperoni or curl and crisp cherry tomato basil, a ball of fresh mozzarella, olive, mini pickle, a lime and then the spice on the rim.

[Matt Abeticola]

Yeah, no, that's good stuff. And they can do that for you. No, vodka, that's an easy one to do. Or vodka and you do all that and then you finish off with a flight of gelato. You can do a taste of five or three. We did the three, but I'm telling you, it's worth the drive.

[Dan Bernstein]

So here is the latest that we have. Aaron Rodgers did not participate yesterday, nor did Jalen Warren, Alex Highsmith, Johnny Smith, TJ Watt and Cameron Hayward. Those last three, Smith, Watt and Hayward were all a rest day.

[Matt Abeticola]

And then on Aaron Rodgers too. Want to just elaborate a bit? He was asked about if they have found a brace yet and they have not. He said they're working through it and if the brace isn't for. The brace is really for safety and protection. It's not about functionality, it's not about pain tolerance. It's really just about if I'm going to fall, is this going to help me? Is it going to make it worse? I need to make sure that I can function properly.

[Dan Bernstein]

Getting the snap under center, that's the most important thing. Well, because that thing comes at you and you have to be. It is the left hand that takes the brunt of that force. So they might have to do some pistol stuff. I know that there's. Arthur Smith does like his play action passing and that's not going to work if you're all gun.

[Matt Abeticola]

So, yeah, no determination yet on where they're at with Aaron Rodgers. I think, you know, he says he wants to be out there, so we'll see what happens. He needs to get. First of all, he needs to get clearance to play, but they need to find the brace first that he's going to play with and then get the medical clearance.

[Dan Bernstein]

Where did Ben Johnson get that term Werewolves?

[Matt Abeticola]

I don't know. I'd never heard that before.

[Dan Bernstein]

Not either. I. Yeah, like it's not really a footbally.

[Matt Abeticola]

It's not a football player.

[Dan Bernstein]

Maybe it is because he comes from a little different tree, I guess. I don't know. Maybe we got some werewolves out there.

[Matt Abeticola]

Yeah, but he said it right away.

[Dan Bernstein]

Right.

[Matt Abeticola]

What are your talking points this week for your quarterback?

[Ben Johnson]

Yeah, I mean, they got some werewolves on the outside.

[Dan Bernstein]

What if they had actual werewolves? I know. Think about that.

[Matt Abeticola]

Not even just players.

[Ben Johnson]

Yeah.

[Dan Bernstein]

We start. We start drafting the all that. We should have done that for Halloween. We hit on the all monster team.

[Matt Abeticola]

Oh, that'd be a good one.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah. We got our top 10 Steelers that are coming.

[Matt Abeticola]

Yep.

[Dan Bernstein]

I'm already deeply in it.

[Ben Johnson]

I.

[Dan Bernstein]

It's. It's going places already.

[Matt Abeticola]

Yeah. That'll be tomorrow for DBU, our top 10 Steelers of all time.

[Dan Bernstein]

And Friday feedback on feedback Friday. Yep.

[Matt Abeticola]

And then we have a.

[Dan Bernstein]

We haven't even decided which it is yet.

[Matt Abeticola]

We have a Pittsburgh Steelers reporter too. That will join us tomorrow for Ford Progress.

[Dan Bernstein]

How cool is that? As far as Bears injuries, they had as the DNPs, Brisker, Byard, Edmonds, Edwards, Jarrett and Sewell. Jarrett and Byard were given rest days limited for Dahlman, Gordon, Homer Johnson, Jalen Johnson. But again, I look at Gordon and Johnson, I don't know why they list him as limited because I don't think they're playing. I obviously could be wrong. This could be a complete smokescreen. Tyreek Stevenson, Ltd. DeAndre Swift, Ltd. Darnell Wright, Ltd.

[Matt Abeticola]

Okey dokey.

[Dan Bernstein]

All right, so we'll see if that improves today. But it's certainly good news that the return to practice windows for both Johnson and Gordon are open. And then we'll, we'll figure out how they handle this embarrassment of riches. Poor Nick McLeod and maybe even Nishan Wright somewhere. He'll have another chance at his deserved game ball unless Kevin Warren swoops in and takes it away from him once again.

[Matt Abeticola]

All right, so birthday, looking at some advanced stats about defensive pressure. Do you want. You want offensive numbers first? You want to look at defensive numbers?

[Dan Bernstein]

I put you in complete charge. You're the one that's been doing the research. I trust your instincts when it comes to how you're going to walk me through this.

[Matt Abeticola]

All right, let's look at team defense then, because a lot has been made about the Pittsburgh Steelers and their ability to get to the quarterback quickly. So just lots of different advanced numbers here for NFL teams. The number of times that they've blitzed. The Pittsburgh Steelers are third in the league with 136 blitzes.

[Dan Bernstein]

Well, they're not going to see more than 67% of the time, which is what they saw last week.

[Matt Abeticola]

Right?

[Dan Bernstein]

67, 6 7.

[Matt Abeticola]

That's Ben Johnson's thing.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah.

[Matt Abeticola]

Where is that at? Blitzes. Yeah. So The Steelers are third at 136. Vikings are number one. Falcons are number two. The Bears are 15th at 89. So next advanced stat. Blitzes per drop back. The Steelers are the fourth most blitzing team on a drop back opportunity. 31%. The Bears are 12th to 26%. QB hurries. Pittsburgh is 11th at 28. The Bears are 27th at 19. QB knockdowns.

[Dan Bernstein]

Pittsburgh, we did some of these. These are not good for the Bears.

[Matt Abeticola]

Second at 42. The Bears are 29th at 22. Sacks, we know. The Steelers are third at 33. The Bears with 21 is 23rd. QB pressure. So that's everything that is that. Sacks, hurries, Knockdowns. Steelers are fifth overall. With 103, the Bears are 29th at 62.

[Dan Bernstein]

Okay.

[Matt Abeticola]

One stat that that was interesting to me, that that popped up on my radar was missed tackles. The Pittsburgh Steelers are second in the league with 93 missed tackles.

[Dan Bernstein]

Are the Bengals first?

[Matt Abeticola]

The Bengals are first with 126.

[Dan Bernstein]

All right, good. They. I think they practice their missed tackles.

[Matt Abeticola]

Yes.

[Dan Bernstein]

I think they actually set aside practice time to have a guy, like, get kicked in the sternum and run over. Good job.

[Matt Abeticola]

But I was surprised by that. I was surprised. The Steelers were up at number two with. And then the Bears are 21st in the league in missed tackles with 57 missed tackles.

[Dan Bernstein]

I'd love to know how tightly that gets defined. Like, how. How squarely does it have to be? Do you have to. Or is it an arm tackle run through? Does that count as. How do they evaluate. That should have been a subjectivity.

[Matt Abeticola]

Is there to it that that should have been?

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, yeah. There has to be a lot, because they're not all obvious.

[Matt Abeticola]

Well, who is the. The safety from the Bengals that we highlighted. He kept talking about how it wasn't his fault and he was in the right place and everyone else. He had, like, 12 or 15 missed tackles that game.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah. You were all over him. I know, but he's went on me.

[Matt Abeticola]

Talk to my teammates. Talk to the rest of them.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, talk to them. I was.

[Matt Abeticola]

They were all misaligned. I was good, even though I missed 12 tackles. All right, so looking at it from an offensive standpoint and Caleb Williams, how he deals with pressure and what he's experienced so far this year through 10 games as the Bears quarterback. So there's a stat called pocket time.

[Dan Bernstein]

The guy you're looking at, by the way, Jordan Battle.

[Matt Abeticola]

Jordan battle.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yes.

[Matt Abeticola]

Number 27. Pocket time and pocket time.

[Dan Bernstein]

Stop pocket time. That's it. And pocket time.

[Matt Abeticola]

Pocket time is the time between the snap and the throwing of the ball or the pressure that collapses the pocket.

[Dan Bernstein]

Okay.

[Matt Abeticola]

Okay. So this could be a positive thing for a quarterback, that he's quick to release the ball. Could be that your pocket collapses quickly because you have lack of blocking or you hold the ball too long. So a lot of different factors.

[Dan Bernstein]

Sure. The.

[Matt Abeticola]

Now, the differential between the worst and the fastest is 0.5, but that's a lot. So 2.6 is the worst. 2.1 is the. Is the quickest. It's 2.2. So it's actually 0.4. Tied for first with the. The slowest pocket collapsing time or slowest time to release the ball is the Bears. And the Eagles at 2.6. So I think that's a product, obviously, of Caleb Williams holding the ball too long. He's had pretty good. Pretty good protection for the most part. So that is a byproduct of him holding the ball too long.

[Dan Bernstein]

If it's. You were just talking about not total time before release, but time in the pocket, I would guarantee you Ben Johnson wants that number to come down significantly. Yes.

[Matt Abeticola]

So who's. Who's at the bottom of that list or the top of the list and how you want to view it?

[Dan Bernstein]

I know Rogers is getting it out faster than he ever has.

[Matt Abeticola]

Aaron Rodgers is number one.

[Dan Bernstein]

That makes sense because. So if you look at what is sacrificed there, there is an equal and opposite reaction to that because that, My guess is his average depth of pass is also very low.

[Matt Abeticola]

It's very low. It's got to be under. Under. Under 10, under 12, because you're just.

[Dan Bernstein]

Not giving your guys enough time to get far enough downfield.

[Matt Abeticola]

Yeah, he doesn't want to get hit.

[Dan Bernstein]

All right.

[Matt Abeticola]

Number of times blitzed for Aaron, for Caleb Williams, he has been blitzed 103 times, which is the ninth most in the NFL. He has been hurried 47 times, which is first in the league. Okay, so that. That's not a product of him holding the ball.

[Dan Bernstein]

No, it's bad blocking.

[Matt Abeticola]

Yes. And he's number one at 47 times hit. He's 26 in the league at 21 times times pressure. So again, that's hurries, hits and sacks. It's 12th in the league at 84. He has been pressured on 23% of his drop backs. And now scrambles. Now, scrambles are defined as plays with a quarterback runs. On a designed pass play, he scrambles 27 times, which is eighth most in the league. Eighth most in the league. So looking at that number, because I thought this was pretty interesting. Number one in the league on scrambles, on designed pass plays. The New England Patriots with 44.

[Dan Bernstein]

Hmm.

[Matt Abeticola]

The Commanders at 43, the jets at 42, the Chiefs at 36, and the Giants at 33 are your top five.

[Dan Bernstein]

That's a lot of bad. Except for the Patriots, right?

[Matt Abeticola]

Yeah. Patriots 9 and 2. Top of their division. Can you tell me, and you could look at the quarterbacks here. Who are the bottom five teams as far as the number of scrambles are concerned? So scrambles are designed pass plays where the quarterback runs, and it's not always a direct correlation to being sacked either.

[Dan Bernstein]

Interesting. So it would just be. My guess is it would be a function of Teams that see a lot of man defense probably have more scrambles than teams that see a lot of zone defense. It would also be maybe a one bad line matchup if you've got somebody who keeps getting beat and a quarterback who is quick enough to do damage that way.

[Matt Abeticola]

Or maybe a quarterback who just doesn't want to run or can't run.

[Dan Bernstein]

Ooh, how about Geno Smith?

[Matt Abeticola]

Geno Smith is in the bottom five. He is 30th with five scrambles.

[Dan Bernstein]

How about. And this is a weird one, but just based on the way this year is going. Is Justin Herbert on there?

[Matt Abeticola]

He is not.

[Dan Bernstein]

Okay.

[Matt Abeticola]

The Chargers are actually right above the Bears, and yeah, so the bear, they're seventh. The Chargers at 29 scrambles. So Geno Smith is one.

[Dan Bernstein]

This is a really interesting question.

[Ben Johnson]

And.

[Dan Bernstein]

I'm trying to think of, like, quality of. Well, I know Jared Goff doesn't want to go anywhere.

[Matt Abeticola]

Jared Goff is 31st with four scrambles.

[Dan Bernstein]

Okay. All right. Who else?

[Matt Abeticola]

The Rams.

[Dan Bernstein]

Okay. Stafford.

[Matt Abeticola]

Stafford has the least amount of scrambles so far this year at three. And then at five, we have Geno Smith. At seven is the Pittsburgh Steelers Aaron Rodgers. And also at seven to round out your bottom five or top five, depending on how you want to view it. Frankenstein's monster and the Cincinnati Bengals at 7.

[Dan Bernstein]

Now, we saw him take off for one against the Bears. He had like a 13 yarder, didn't he?

[Matt Abeticola]

11.

[Dan Bernstein]

I think it was 11.

[Matt Abeticola]

He's still out of breath. Yeah, right now. Still taking the tank.

[Dan Bernstein]

He's in an oxygen tent.

[Matt Abeticola]

So that's.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah.

[Matt Abeticola]

So it's the Bengals at 7, the Steelers at 7, the Seahawks at 5, the Lions at 4, the Rams at 3. But I mean, that's. That's an insane. Like when I saw three scrambles, four scrambles, five scrambles through 10 or 11 games. That's crazy.

[Dan Bernstein]

But it's not necessarily bad.

[Matt Abeticola]

No, it's. Oh, no, it's not. Not bad at all.

[Dan Bernstein]

Especially looking at what the Rams are doing. You've got to trust in. In somebody understanding that.

[Matt Abeticola]

Oh, I love it.

[Dan Bernstein]

Somebody will be schemed open.

[Matt Abeticola]

Ben Johnson sees that and goes crazy. Yeah, like, he loves that.

[Dan Bernstein]

Like, give the play. Just let the play design work before. Before you go off on your own.

[Matt Abeticola]

Get the ball in the hands of the playmakers. Let's get those explosive plays because we're more likely. More likely to get an explosive play by you doing your job of throwing the football.

[Dan Bernstein]

And over time, you'll extend your career. If you look at every collision of every tackling event as a certain percentage possibility of missing a week of man games missed of whatever. However you want to do the math, you want that number to be as low as reasonably possible.

[Matt Abeticola]

And so again, it's not a direct correlation of being sacked though either. Because Geno Smith has been sacked the least in the league with 10.

[Dan Bernstein]

No, I mean the hits that you take getting out of.

[Matt Abeticola]

Oh yeah, no, no, no. For sure.

[Dan Bernstein]

Even when you slide, somebody can come over and knee in the head. And if you're a Bears quarterback, nobody gives a damn.

[Matt Abeticola]

Yeah. At first though, with the lower numbers I thought, all right, how is this play into just being sacked? Because you're not going to scramble when you're a guy sitting on top of your head.

[Dan Bernstein]

But it.

[Matt Abeticola]

So it doesn't correlate to it. With Geno smith being sacked 10 times, that's the lowest in the league. Stafford 14, so that's third in the league. You drop down to the Steelers at 19. The Bengals have been sacked 23 times and that's a little product of the fact that he's not very mobile. And then who was the, who was the other guy that I mentioned? The other team? What did I say?

[Dan Bernstein]

Rams and the Bengals. Geno Smith and the Raiders.

[Matt Abeticola]

Oh, Lions. Where's the golf at 20 times. So he's up towards the top, top half of the league.

[Dan Bernstein]

Well, I, as far as its impact on the Bears, I think we got a pretty good sense now of what they want. They don't want to completely turn off all of the possibilities because of the number of comebacks that they've had in the fourth quarter in game winning drives simply because Caleb Williams has looked and seen. All right, I can go. It's there. I can get it. If it means getting a first down. If it's a drive extender or you caught them in, man, and you just see grass and you can go, you don't want to do it just to do it and you don't want to not do it to not do it. But I think that is where they're still working on an unspoken, like a tacit understanding of when it's okay. And when you've got your. When you're. When your internal meter also is aware of gimme one more second for this guy to break free or for me to have a throwing lane. It isn't just what's happening down here. It's also. He's got to calculate, yeah, I've got a defender here, but I might be able to take a step and throw A guy open because I now have a way to release the pass. Yeah. Yeah.

[Matt Abeticola]

And there's. There's such a fine line in, you know, a matter of less than a second to make that decision of, hey, I was half a second late in releasing the ball or if I held onto it a half a second longer, it's going to complete a pass. And such a fine line. To learn the differences of the two. One comes with taking the extra hits, too, at times. But we heard Ben Johnson talk about that last week that Caleb needs to hold a ball a little bit longer even when the house is on fire. That's the phrase he used. So, yeah, it's collapsing around you, but half a second longer. Not even half a second. Hold it just that one, one step longer and then release it. You might take the hit, but you get an explosive play out of it.

[Dan Bernstein]

An ideal play design accounts for the possibility that the house is on fire.

[Matt Abeticola]

Yeah.

[Dan Bernstein]

And I do think that some of these guys, that some of these, like, precious play designers have in their chain of events, in the flowchart of the play, they're. He's looking at so many of these plays where they didn't get to. Maybe they go, 1, 2, 3. And you think you just. You didn't give three. We had three.

[Matt Abeticola]

Right. Three was there.

[Dan Bernstein]

We had it. But you didn't give it enough time and you bailed after two or you. You didn't get back. You can look depending on how much time you have, and it may be because Theo Benedict got turned around and he's spinning around like a top.

[Matt Abeticola]

Yeah. It may have nothing to do with Caleb at that point. Yeah. Because there's guys running routes. There's a lot of moving parts to it.

[Dan Bernstein]

So it's encouraging to think even with all that going on, they're still scoring at a rate that we really haven't seen from a Bears offense in many, many, many years. Yeah.

[Matt Abeticola]

Because what is it? It's two games now out of 10, they haven't scored 21. At least 21 last week being the second at 19.

[Dan Bernstein]

And they still got to win.

[Matt Abeticola]

Yeah. Still got to win with a fifth come from or late drive to win the game. Five out of 10. And, you know, and I was thinking about that with Caleb today, too. That's just part of his character as an athlete, you know, being resilient. He doesn't succumb to failure. He doesn't get lost in his own head. Like he's not afraid to make a mistake. And it doesn't. It doesn't derail him at all. And that's an attribute of his character as an athlete.

[Dan Bernstein]

I also think this year something else has happened where sometimes the hardest thing for somebody in his position is to say I don't know or I don't get it. And you teach this to your kids about advocating for yourself in class and sometimes it's okay to say can I see after class? Because this isn't working for me. Clicking for me like something. I'm not quite putting something together.

[Matt Abeticola]

Not firing an all cinder blocks and you don't.

[Dan Bernstein]

And it's not a sign of weakness, it's a sign of strength. Strength to know what you have to work on. And when you're the number one pick and you've got every private coach in the world and sometimes it's easy to say, I got it, I got it, I got it. And then you get home, you're like, oh, geez. But a proper working relationship allows him to say, I need to see it or I can learn it. I just have to learn it a little differently. And they've got every tool at their disposal to do it. And I can't wait to see what it looks like when it is working.

[Matt Abeticola]

Yeah, no, I'm excited, excited to see this develop and grow and continue to evolve.

[Dan Bernstein]

I keep thinking it's any week too. I really do. And I know it's non linear. I know they're not going to wake up one day and it's going to be there. But especially when you're seeing a lot of blitz, that means you've got, you've got opportunities. Recognize. Not just the hot, not just the immediate, oh my God, I got to get it out of here. But recognize. All right, well, if they're coming now, I have to be more aware of maybe I'm going to get clobbered, but we're going to score. Yeah.

[Matt Abeticola]

And I think it's, it's understanding. And you know, you could, you could look at it and say, well, you know, you're being too critical of, of the quarterback. They're not going to be perfect. They're not going to do everything correct every time. But as they grow and develop, those misses should be less and less. That's the point of it.

[Dan Bernstein]

And the great ones are pretty damn close to it. Right.

[Matt Abeticola]

But it's still going to happen. They're still going to have a bad throw, they're still going to miss a throw, but, but they're less often. That's the whole, that's the whole point of it. He's never going to achieve perfection, but he needs to get, you know, less and less missed opportunities.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah.

[Ben Johnson]

The.

[Dan Bernstein]

The. His completion percentage last week, that's not going to cut it.

[Matt Abeticola]

No, it's not. And he's Nowhere near the 70% that. That. That Ben wants. And I know a lot of that, you know, plays in part with the drops and could filter. Filter through that and see where he sits, but I still don't think he's close to 70. Even when you take the bad stuff out of it, that's out of his control.

[Dan Bernstein]

And we talks about effective completion percentage, it's different than just what you see.

[Matt Abeticola]

What you see.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah.

[Ben Johnson]

Because.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah. They've got ways of making sure it's a little more fair as they advance it statistically. And like. Like we say, maybe this is the week, but I don't know. Beware the werewolves.

[Matt Abeticola]

Yep.

[Dan Bernstein]

Beware.

[Matt Abeticola]

They're coming.

[Dan Bernstein]

So that's what. Silver bullet. What kills a werewolf.

[Matt Abeticola]

Yeah. Coors light.

[Dan Bernstein]

No. Is it a. Isn't a silver bullet?

[Ben Johnson]

Yes.

[Dan Bernstein]

They don't care about the crucifix. They don't care about.

[Matt Abeticola]

No, it's a silver bullet.

[Dan Bernstein]

Okay.

[Matt Abeticola]

Don't you remember that? What was that really bad? Was it 80s movie when one of the Coreys was in it and.

[Dan Bernstein]

Oh, it's not a silver bullet.

[Matt Abeticola]

No, it's a great movie. Oh, oh, oh, oh.

[Dan Bernstein]

I thought you were gonna be talking about Lost boys.

[Matt Abeticola]

Oh, no, Lost boys is. Yeah, the vampires. But wasn't Silver bullet. He's like in a wheelchair. One of the Corey kids.

[Ben Johnson]

Yeah. I mean, they got some werewolves on the outside.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah. It says the most common method to kill a werewolf, a silver bullet or a weapon made of silver. Other methods in folklore and modern fiction include weapons made of certain plants like wolfsbane and mistletoe, or even pure iron in some older Germanic tales.

[Matt Abeticola]

Yeah. So if you do see a werewolf and you happen to have mistletoe, if you go up and try to make out with it.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah. Kiss the werewolf first. Yeah.

[Matt Abeticola]

And then you could stab it in the heart with a silver stake.

[Dan Bernstein]

Ooh, that's kind of gangster. Yeah.

[Ben Johnson]

I mean, they got some werewolves on the outside.

[Dan Bernstein]

Now. This says a. Let them in in some folklore. No, that's vampires. Right?

[Matt Abeticola]

Well, yeah, well, vampires, they can't come in unless they're invited in, Right.

[Dan Bernstein]

Or were you quoting Werewolves of London? Better not let him in.

[Matt Abeticola]

No, I was, because he said, they're on the outside. And I said, well, it's a good place to keep them.

[Dan Bernstein]

Little old lady got mutilated late last night.

[Matt Abeticola]

Don't let them in.

[Dan Bernstein]

Werewolves of Pittsburgh Again. A werewolf might be killed, according to some folklore, by luring it to a place that is dangero for it, such as a specific location or a body of water.

[Matt Abeticola]

Or the working end of a shotgun.

[Dan Bernstein]

No, I'm not buying that.

[Matt Abeticola]

That you can't. You don't think you can drown a werewolf? No.

[Dan Bernstein]

They probably swim. Okay.

[Ben Johnson]

But.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah.

[Matt Abeticola]

I don't know if they're known as good swimmers, though.

[Dan Bernstein]

I will show you an actual. We were pulling up to a spot in Reindeer Lake in Saskatchewan. We were pulling up to a lunch spot and we saw what I thought was a deer. I didn't know what it was. I saw an animal on the water. I just saw a head sticking up. And we're like, what is that? And as our boat pulled up, a huge wolf swam out of the water.

[Matt Abeticola]

Oh, really?

[Dan Bernstein]

Right up to us about. And ran into the woods.

[Matt Abeticola]

Yeah. Just reading this now. Wolves are known for their endurance and swimming skills.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, I saw it.

[Matt Abeticola]

Didn't know that.

[Dan Bernstein]

I saw it. We pulled our boat right up next to it. I actually have video of it.

[Matt Abeticola]

Yeah. So if a wolf can swim and humans can swim, a werewolf can swim.

[Dan Bernstein]

Right. Because it's sort of the combination of both. I will say that there is some. I wasn't sure about American Werewolf in London, which is a great movie. David Naughton, Griffin Dunn, a young Jenny Agater. And you get to see her naked and they. He turns into a wolf and the werewolf is. He's a. He's. He hasn't become a wolf man. He becomes an actual wolf.

[Matt Abeticola]

Yeah. Wolfman's a different thing.

[Dan Bernstein]

Right. He's not like a guy that's covered in fur and his claws and all that. He literally. It's a man who becomes the lycanthropy means you turn into the animal. You're not like Wolf man.

[Matt Abeticola]

Right. You're not like playing high school basketball like Teen Wolf.

[Dan Bernstein]

I still have never seen that.

[Matt Abeticola]

I never saw the second one.

[Dan Bernstein]

I never saw any of them. And I don't really think I'm interested.

[Matt Abeticola]

I'm pretty close to say that if you haven't seen it yet, you're not going to. Probably not going to see it. I'm going to go on the limit.

[Dan Bernstein]

Not going to set aside time for a Teen Wolf viewing.

[Matt Abeticola]

Let's see if there's a play on my bookie for that one.

[Dan Bernstein]

Because all that's. We did it with all the kids. Like, Jason loved all of the John Hughes movies. And like the teen party movies, the all the 80s stuff, loved them. Absolutely loved those movies. Zoe, a little bit like Sixteen Candles and some of that. But Teen Wolf was just not on that list. But we, we put him through all a full 80s movie education.

[Matt Abeticola]

Well, maybe you should watch Teen Wolf.

[Dan Bernstein]

No, thank you.

[Matt Abeticola]

Maybe you can have a date night with a wife and she's probably seen it.

[Dan Bernstein]

Pop some popcorn and she's probably seen it.

[Matt Abeticola]

Pour a glass of vino or maybe an espresso martini or two.

[Dan Bernstein]

You're gonna get in trouble. I'm not saying nothing. I don't know nothing about nothing. Ain't saying it. And that is today's Forward Progress, a Chicago Bears podcast on 312 Sports.

[Matt Abeticola]

Forward Progress, a Chicago Bears podcast with Dan Bernstein and Matt Abeticola on 312 Sports.