← Forward Progress - A Chicago Bears Podcast
Forward Progress - A Chicago Bears Podcast
Carmen Vitali - FOX Sports Radio / Marquee Network
00:40:17
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A
Why choose a sleep number Smart bed.
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Can I make my site softer?
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C
Can I make my site firmer?
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B
Can we sleep cooler?
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A
Sleep number does that cools up to eight times faster and lets you choose your ideal comfort on either side your sleep number setting. Enjoy personalized comfort for better sleep night after night. And now max out your savings. The more you buy, the more you save on beds, bases and more. Plus get free home delivery on any smart bed with base limited time. Check it out at a sleep number store near you or@sleepnumber.com today.
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I'm Mike King from the podcast Profiling Evil. A place where true crime meets behavioral science. I spent my career investigating serial predators and studying the psychology behind them. Here we don't just talk about what criminals did. We explore why they do what they do. We expose manipulation and control. We look at how offenders select their victims and uncover the ways that they try to avoid detection. You can find Profiling Evil on your favorite podcast platform.
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TED219219 has happened.
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E
Forward.
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C
Progress a Chicago Bears podcast with Dan Bernstein and Matt Abeticola on 312 Sports.
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B
Let's talk about your 5 and 3 chicag Chicago Bears here at what we're declaring the midway point of the season. If no one else can, we can. So we will. We're brought to you by Beer Church Brewing New Buffaloes Brewery Pizzeria in a historic church Wood fired Neapolitan pizza small batch craft beer brunch every day. Visit beerchurchbrewing.com tomorrow. Dan tomorrow.
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C
Tomorrow's Friday.
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B
Oh, top 10. Oh no, that's DBU Friday night dinner. Oh that's right, you're at Beer Church.
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C
I can't wait.
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B
That's right. Tomorrow night.
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C
I'm not going to be able to.
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B
Sleep tonight just waiting for your Neapolitan pizza.
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C
Yes sir, I know.
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B
We are joined by a special guest as we often are on Thursdays to get an outsider perspective from this show, at least on the Bears. Who is somebody inside the walls of Halas Hall? Carmen Vitale of Fox Sports Radio and Marquee. You can find her on socials. Armyv joins us. Carmen, hi again. How are you?
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E
I'm great. Thanks for having me guys.
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C
Well, thanks for taking the time. It's I thought it was really appropriate time to get you on after the Bears trade the trade deadline earlier this week and they make a move. They swap picks with the Cleveland Browns and they bring in Joe Tryon show Yinka and you were in Tampa when he was drafted by the Bucks. We won't talk much about his, his Browns time because, you know, given that roster and how well the defense is playing, he wasn't getting a whole lot of time in the rotation, but he was a first round pick of the Buccaneers, has the physical attributes to be a stud on the defensive line. What's happened in his career that really hasn't hit the potential that was maybe expected of him from a physical standpoint?
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E
Yeah, I mean, he's the quintessential build of a defensive end. Right. He's 6, 5 or 6, 6 and you know, 260 something pounds. And he's just a physical specimen. So he's got the length, he's got the bend, everything, you know, coming out of a very successful University of Washington program when drafted him at 32 overall the year after they won the Super Bowl. And it just never super, it never really materialized. I mean, he entered into a Bucks team that at the time had Jason Pierre Paul and Shaquille Barrett. So he was always kind of supposed to be part of that rotation. There were some injuries that derailed, I think, some of his time in Tampa. He never really kind of got going and I'm not totally sure what has happened there because this is a guy that, I mean, he works hard and he has all of the attributes that you want out of a consummate professional, but hasn't quite put it all together. What I really appreciate about Joe, though is how kind of self aware he is and he knows that he hasn't put it all together. He's, you know, he talked about at the podia or at the backdrop, I should say, right outside the locker room yesterday, you know, he was saying like it's been consistency. I haven't been able to be consistent. I have these bursts and you kind of see the flashes of what his potential is and then he's just not able to keep it up and he knows that. So I think that's half the battle. At the end of the day, he's 26. He's not, he's not old yet and could potentially still be ascending. And I do think that this was a good ad for the Bears just from the sense that he's a big dude and you have to account for him offensively. And whether he directly contributes to the stat sheet has yet to be determined. But I think that he'll open things up for guys along the defensive line just by the sheer fact that offenses have to commit someone to him, otherwise he can get there.
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C
Now, one thing we talked about, Odengo, and he hasn't gotten at the quarterback and really disrupted the the pocket a lot. But he has played well against the run. Can show Yinka play against the run.
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E
Yes, he can. And again it's, it's that it's a testament to his length and the fact that he is very agile and athletic and can kind of go sideline to sideline. He's fast too. So that's one of the things where when against the run, you know, he can kind of reach out and grab those running backs and set the edge in that way. And they're hoping that he can continue to do that, that those types of things don't necessarily end up on a stat sheet either. So it's kind of those, those invisible things that you hope that he can bring, if not directly contribute and do show up on the statute when it comes to some of those pressures, those quarterback hits and affecting the quarterback in general.
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B
Last three games by Montez Sweat looking a lot better. And we know when he first got here, you really saw it. He said, oh, okay, this was, this might be a steal for a second round pick and you extend the contract. And all of a sudden and then he disappeared for a while and he had a couple of nagging injuries that you don't want to ignore. But the great players play through the double teams, they play through the injuries. They don't make excuses. Are you buying this recent resurgence? I want to say he's got a sack in each of the last three and, and you're hearing his name called more, he's getting upfield a little bit more. To what extent do you think this is just a nice run for him and to what extent do you think that this is a reestablishment of potential stardom?
- [06:27]
E
I don't know that I'm necessarily like confident in Montes sweat on his own being like having this resurgence or whatever. I think I'm more confident in the scheme and the scheme fitting him a little bit more. I mean, you talk about Matty Refluz's defense just relied so heavily on the front four getting pressure. He rarely blitzed. He did not, you know that that was the calling card of that defense was the front four have to get pressure no matter what. And that's not how Dennis Allen operates. We've seen, you know, he's been, I think he's like top five in defensive back blitzes this year. And you know, you see a little bit more exotic looks up front. It makes offenses have to read and not be able to just react to what they're Doing it can overwhelm offenses if you, you don't know where the pressure is coming from. And that inadvertently gives more favorable matchups to guys like Montez Sweat so that he's not doubled all the time and he can get past those, those, you know, he can take advantage of the favorable matchups is what I want to say. And that, you know, the defensive interior, I think, has also started to come along a lot better. And that's again, a testament to Dennis Allen and that whole front kind of working together. And not just the front. You know, you have multiple levels involved in this pass rush now thanks to Dennis Allen. And I think that's why you're kind of seeing Montez Sweatt show up a little bit more and get, you know, he's the one that's closest, that's closer to the line of scrimmage. He's on the line of scrimmage usually. So there's those things where, you know, we talked to Ryan polls yesterday too, away from the cameras, and that was one of the things where he was, you know, very pleased with how this pass rush has improved and specifically how many more opportunities Montez Sweat is getting and how he's taking advantage of them.
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B
When you mentioned you talked to Ryan polls earlier today on Dan Bernstein Unfiltered, I was making the point that it used to be this huge deal when Ryan polls became available to the media and it's like, okay, now we don't really trust the coach. We're not sure what's going on. This isn't headed in the right direction. So we've got to hear this mid season, post deadline, state of the team address. I love the fact that it didn't feel that way this year. My conclusion is it, it is evidence, Carmen, of an increasing level of trust. Now with a reasonable sample size, half a season under Ben Johnson, it is clear that Ben Johnson is the most powerful person in the organization. And like you say, when he didn't, when polls didn't have to stand in front of the cameras, when he could just gather the, some of the media and have a chat, that's the way it's supposed to be.
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E
Yeah. And I mean, there's a functionality I think that Ben Johnson has brought to this organization that it quite frankly hasn't seen in the last few years. I've talked so many times about how I need to see it before I'm going to believe it in this team. I grew up in this market. I have trust issues with the Chicago Bears and I think I'm sure.
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B
Yes.
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E
And, and so to see, you know, again, kind of the casual. There's still some remnants, I think, of polls having his guard up based on the last few years. And I don't blame him for that at all. You know, he was very intentional about he was going to talk about and what he wasn't, even though the cameras weren't rolling. And I think that that's kind of a residual effect of how many times he had to answer for dysfunction that was going on behind the scenes. And it was so clear that he wasn't on the same page with guys like Matty Raflus and that the organization just wasn't humming on a consistent level. And that's something that struck me from the very beginning with Ben Johnson, was everyone's on the same page. Everyone is in collaboration with each other. Every single player gets up to the podium and says the exact same thing and that, you know, they're stressing the exact same things. And that is a testament to Ben Johnson, his communication style, his communication skills. And this was the first trade deadline that, you know, Ryan polls and Ben Johnson went through together. And again, what struck me was polls didn't want to part with the higher draft picks because he finally has trust in his staff to develop the guys that they do draft. And that's something that he clearly hasn't had. Whether he needed. He didn't need to say that, but that, that was kind of the implication of, hey, you know, I didn't want to part with these picks because I've seen some of our other draft picks kind of close the gap now that Ben Johnson and his crew are here. So why am I going to give up some of that premium draft capital to go and swing for the fences on a guy like Jermaine Johnson or Trey Hendrickson or any of those guys when I now finally trust my staff to develop our guys into maybe not quite that level because that's a different level of player, but at least, you know, get the most out of the guys they have in the building already.
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C
Yeah, the, the irony there is that Ryan Poles was in charge of hiring the guys he didn't trust before and then kept them around after he shouldn't have. But anyway, that's not why you called the, the whole idea of Kyle Menung guy's game against the Bengals, and we know that DeAndre Swift wanted to play, and we heard that Ben Johnson is saving him from himself and said, no, you're not playing. Did Kyle Menungay earn more touches moving forward as far as the two running backs are concerned.
- [11:33]
E
Yeah, I don't know if it's necessarily more, but I mean, we've seen that this is an offense that wants to be a run first offense and there's room for both of these guys and DeAndre Swift and Kyle Menungai to get plenty of work. And you don't have to go far or far back in the past to see how that does work out because Ben Johnson is coming from Detroit. And despite the fact that they have Jameer Gibbs, who is one of, if not the best running back in the league right now, they also find a lot of work for David Montgomery because they're such complimentary backs. And I'm not saying that DeAndre Swift and Kyle Manungai are. David Montgomery and Jameer Gibbs don't.
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B
Because they're not.
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D
They're not.
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E
They're not. But they have complementary skill sets to each other and there's already kind of a blueprint that we've seen Ben Johnson operate out of, of getting work for both of those kinds of guys where you have Kyle Manon guy, who's that north south guy, the guy that can bowling ball between the tackles, and then have DeAndre Swift, who's best when you can get him in space. And having both of those guys in an offensive backfield presents so many problems when you're game planning for them or trying to defend them. I mean, what do you, what do you essentially do if you load the box? If you get DeAndre Swift out into space? That doesn't matter. And if you don't load the box, then Kyle Manungai can run straight up at you. So I think that they're, I think Kyle Manunga proved that he can be that complimentary back and that there's room for both of these guys in that.
- [12:54]
B
You spent a lot of time looking at this division and these teams in the NFC North. How do you see it now that we've, we've seen multiple quarterbacks and injuries and the packers have been one team and then another team handicapped the north for us as it stands.
- [13:15]
E
Yeah, I mean I still think it's, it's Detroit's division and I've said that, you know, going back to even starting this season. But I did say, you know, I don't think it's going to take 15 wins to win this division again. I think it's going to be won by 12 wins. And if it's one by 12 wins, any of these teams have the capability to get there. And I, the reason I don't trust Detroit implicitly is because of the injuries. That's been their Achilles heel these last couple of years. Clearly, they were able to survive the coaching attrition that they had. I mean, this is like it. I'm so happy for those coordinators. I'm so happy for Calvin shepherd in particular, because he was essentially groomed for this role by Aaron Glenn himself. And they've been able to survive that aspect of the question marks they had coming into the season. It's just those injuries are so horrendous, and that's what's kind of stopping me from fully trusting Detroit. But I still think it's their division. The packers are like Jekyll and Hyde. I don't know what to necessarily make of them. They have the roster, they have all of the talent. They have a coach that's a veteran in this league. At this point, I'm not totally sure. You know, those puzzling, that puzzling loss of the Panthers, the puzzling loss to the Browns when, you know, and now losing Tucker Kraft, it's like I do. I trust them as much as I did. Maybe not because of how many yards after the catch Tucker Craft was getting. Jordan Love. But you know, the Bears have the opportunity to make some noise because they are still very much ascending. Ben Johnson said it before the season started. He's like, we're going to be. We're not going to be playing our best football until December. And if that's true, which it seems like it will be, they can make some real noise. Do I trust them to do that? Not yet. And that's fine. It's first year under Ben Johnson. We need to have patience. The Vikings, they have said they had such a good roster on paper to start the year, but the injuries to the offensive line more than the injury.
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B
To J.J. mcCarthy, losing the tackles, I.
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E
Mean, all along the offensive line, because you don't have center Ryan Kelly, who I was, I was thinking was going to be kind of a steal for them. But it's just you've got this kind of rotating cast of characters now up front. And combining that with J.J. mcCarthy's injury, I mean, that's hard to overcome for, even for a coach that's as good at his job as Kevin o' Connell is. So it's. It's still a division, though, that's really up for grabs at this point. And I still don't know what's going to happen. And I do think it is the best division in football.
- [15:36]
C
All right, Carmen, last thing for you. We'll Let you go real fast. Tell me why the Bears win this weekend against the Giants. What's going to happen or what needs to happen?
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E
Yeah, I mean, listen, the Giants, they've got a great defensive front coming in and we've seen them enter into some of these shootouts, but they don't have my son, Cam Scatterbo, because I went to Arizona State. I claim him. He's mine. I was devastated at that injury. And that's.
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B
You know what, Tell your son to stay out of the blue injury tent when he has no business being in there.
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E
I know, I know. Costing the team some fines. I mean, hey, Dable stuck his head in there, too. And I'm like, you should know better. I'm not, I'm not putting, listen, there's for as good as my son is at football, I'm not putting anything, no stock in what's going on up there. That's Arizona State education for you. I can say that. I went there. But listen, there. The Bears should win. And we know that this isn't any given Sunday league. We know that that doesn't always happen. But the Bears have such an incredible variety when it comes to offense. They are capable now of scoring so many points. It's something Ben Johnson, you know, Ben Johnson is going to score points. That's what he's going to do. And this defense should be able to get after Jackson dart and they should be able. Should be able to get after the quarterback. And if you can affect him. We've seen him panic, we've seen him make errant throws, make mistakes, doing all that kind of stuff. This is not a disciplined football team in the New York Giants that's coming in. And so you need to be able to take advantage of that. And the Bears have the horses to do it. So they should win. I'm not going to go so far as to say if they don't like the season's loss or this, that the other, like my pendulum does not swing that far back and forth because if it did, I think I drive myself crazy. And I think some more Bears fans would be, you know, better, better off if they followed that advice. But I know that's not how we do things here in Chicago. I've learned. So, yeah, they should win. If they don't, it's not the end of the world. But they're. Every matchup, you know, goes to the Bears when you, when you go head to head.
- [17:40]
C
I thank you so much, Carmen. I appreciate all your time. It was great stuff. Good seeing you thank you.
- [17:45]
E
You too. Thanks for having me, guys.
- [17:47]
B
Of course. Carmen Vitale, follow her at Carmi V Fox Sports Radio and Marquee. Good stuff. Not so good on the Bears injury report. The latest from yesterday. I just want to give you the list of the guys who did not practice. Josh Blackwell didn't practice. He had the concussion. Kevin Byard listed with a back and ankle injury, didn't practice. T.J. edwards listed with both hand and hamstring. DNP D.J. moore, the same hip comma groin. At the end of the year, I'm sure we're going to find out exactly what that is. Rome Dunze listed with ankle and heel injuries. Dominique Robinson, ankle, we know that was the high ankle sprain. And Grady Jarrett, defensive tackle, got a veteran rest day. So today's injury report is going to be significant when we find out who is elevated from that, what the injury designations are. It happened, it was. Moore and O'Dunze were non participants last week. They were upgraded and played. But losing, you know, having Blackwell there, if you're talking about now, Jalen Jones is going to have to step in. We're going to see if there's any practice squad elevations that have to occur. And the reason I bring it up, especially with the secondary is and playing off of what Carmen just said. Dennis Allen going against a rookie quarterback.
- [19:18]
C
Yep.
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B
And with the way Tremaine Edmonds is playing and the things that you should be able to do with this ball hawking defense.
- [19:28]
C
Yep. If Kevin Byard's able to just sit back and read and watch.
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B
No, I thought you did. No, maybe I did. I think you might have got a little Kevin Breyer, Bringo Grambling, who invented Grambling. But the, it's going to be Dennis Allen against a rookie quarterback with all of the utensils at his disposal. Should be really exciting. I just don't know that he can do what he wants to do without his guys.
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C
I think this injury report, we're going to see it like this for the next, you know, for the, for the rest of the season.
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B
Yep.
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C
Where guys are going to get extra days off to deal with these nagging injuries. We're going to see names like DJ Moore every week. Roma Dunes A I think every week. But that's just going to be. That's okay. That's a guy getting a day to kind of get all ready for, for Sunday. I mean we just, we'll never understand as fans what their bodies feel like week after week and going through these games. So I know it's, it's Alarming to take a look at the injury report and to see how lengthy it is, but get, I think get comfortable with that. Yeah. And also on the, on the other side of it too, the Giants list is even longer than the Bears. So I think that's just the NFL today. It's a big injured blob.
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B
I know I say it every year with all the silliness about the schedule release. You have no idea how good anybody is until you know that week's injury report. You have no idea how good anybody is until that week's injury report. And that's the way the NFL works. I know we don't like it. I know that the idea of all of, with so much at stake, having this much variance can be difficult to comprehend and difficult to understand. But that's okay. It's just, it's a fact of life. It's how it is. And I know there's other NFL things that we want to get to, some things that we going on. Do you see the big news in the NFL was that the ESPN BET platform is going away. Did you see that? And obviously NFL being the most important aspect of that. Really interesting. That's probably the biggest news that's out there. With the pen entertainment agreement with ESPN BET falling by the wayside. A 10 year, $1.5 billion deal that barely got two years in. That's a huge retrenchment for everybody involved here. So it's going to be ESPN kicking things off with the more established partner in DraftKings. And I'm, you know, I'm watching it closely to see how these, the, the places where the money is coming from. Keep following the money, keep following who has the money and, and, and watching where that goes. But that was, that was the big honking headline even touching the NFL today was that that is changing.
- [22:32]
C
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- [23:12]
B
Yeah, you all right? Yeah.
- [23:16]
C
Is that better? Whoa, boy.
- [23:18]
B
I think so, yeah.
- [23:19]
C
Can you tell me if that's better for my throat?
- [23:21]
B
Thanks, Dan.
- [23:23]
C
Is that better for my throat?
- [23:24]
B
It sounds better.
- [23:25]
C
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- [24:29]
B
Can I give huge credit to JJ McCarthy. He was talking about this new thing. Are you following the story of J.J. mcCarthy's alter ego?
- [24:42]
C
No.
- [24:43]
B
You haven't?
- [24:44]
C
I haven't been following it, no.
- [24:45]
B
Okay, so there are pictures of J.J. mcCarthy and remind me, there's a Bears meme I want to talk about. That gave me a chuckle. So there's pictures of JJ McCarthy scowling during Kevin O' Connell's post game speech and during the game. Okay, like mean mugging, like. And J.J. mcCarthy generally is a really smiley guy. So apparently Kevin Seifert got the story on this. McCarthy is explaining that he has an alter ego that he creates now on game day.
- [25:19]
C
Okay?
- [25:20]
B
Called nine. All right? His jersey number is nine. So what he's saying is that once when game day comes around, he ceases to be J.J. mcCarthy.
- [25:33]
C
He becomes nine.
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B
He becomes nine. It's like Bruce Banner becoming the Hulk. He said this is quote. It really kind of started to show up this year. Came about last year during Iron. Just never had a full season. You want to be out there so freaking bad, but you can't. It was just this built up anger that was kind of ready to explode and I chose to harness it instead of Letting it go into a self destructive kind of way. This is how he created nine. I kind of love feeding that wolf because my entire life at Michigan, there was a smiley face on my hand. If you smile, you have fun and you're gonna play better and all that, which is true. But I also think there's a lot of power that comes from that built up anger that you can transmute into your performance. And the reason I want, first of all, massive props for using the word transmute. What a great word. Like that's a. That is a. That's a slow clap use of transmute. It's perfectly, impeccably used. That's exactly what it means to change in form from trans meaning across from mute, as in mutation. Or to change mutable, to use that as an active verb to transmute.
- [27:11]
C
A lot coming from a football player, I was.
- [27:14]
B
I'm really impressed.
- [27:15]
C
But he is a quarterback though, so.
- [27:16]
B
And he's from here too, right? Is that you go to Nazareth?
- [27:20]
C
I'm not sure. Is that where he went to high school?
- [27:22]
B
I think he went to nas. Yeah. So whoever his English teachers were at Naz, congrats and or University of Michigan. Listen, one day I just, I want to give word props there, but a list of people who use good words. I didn't think that I was going, going to get as excited as I was by the word transmute today at all, let alone having it come from an NFL quarterback.
- [27:45]
C
Are you rooting for nine now?
- [27:46]
B
I don't know, but that's big points with me there. Hey, that's big points.
- [27:51]
C
There was one thing before the season started. I saw on Espen on their website they had some predictions and I know we're not always big on predictions, but there was one they had that I've held on to. They said the Bears would finish in the top six in pass block win rate.
- [28:08]
B
What a weird thing to predict.
- [28:10]
C
Okay, well, I mean with the change in the offensive line, sure, I get it.
- [28:13]
B
Okay.
- [28:14]
C
Currently The Bears rank fourth at a 69% pass block win rate. Joe Tunney, obviously being a significant addition to the Bears offensive line.
- [28:26]
B
Great player.
- [28:27]
C
He as a guard is ranking third at the pass block win rate for his position. Darnell Wright has shown significant improvement, ranking 12th among tackles with a 92% pass block win rate, up from 44th during his disappointing campaign of last year. 12th this year among tackles, up from 44th last year. And the Bears going from a bottom three play action rate team of 19% to an above average at 27%. Also helps that out. So it was something I held on to before the season started. I'm going to keep checking it through as they're currently fourth right now in the NFL with a 69% pass block win rate.
- [29:13]
B
I'm glad you brought that up and I'm glad you mentioned the name Darnell Wright because it brings me to something I wanted to discuss next. Yesterday you talked about the Darnell Wright cartwheel, which because it was Darnell Wright and a cartwheel, you referred to it as a Cartwright.
- [29:31]
C
Well, that and I had all the Bulls talk in my brain and Bill Cartwright and so I just. Yeah, I. But hey, I didn't shy away from it. I posted that yesterday online, saw that and I.
- [29:40]
B
And I reposted. And you know, I have been. By the way, if you've been following on socials, you can get a nice taste of what we've been doing on the various platforms here at 312Sports through a lot of this stuff. And there's going to be a lot more of that to feed a lot more into your timeline to give you links to stuff and let you get little tastes of things. But Ben Johnson was asked about the cartwheel.
- [30:04]
C
Okay.
- [30:05]
B
Did you catch part of the answer here?
- [30:06]
C
What'd he say?
- [30:08]
B
Ben Johnson said, I thought it was pretty awesome. I call him the unicorn for a reason. He does some things that are pretty extraordinary. We have to continue to highlight what he can do with or without the ball himself.
- [30:26]
C
Oh, wow. A little, little secret out. Darnell Wright's getting the ball at some point.
- [30:32]
B
Okay.
- [30:32]
C
They're plays they've been working on for Darnell Wright.
- [30:35]
B
What did we see against the Bears with the Lions with another great athlete.
- [30:40]
C
Yeah. What's his. Yeah. Penny Sewell.
- [30:43]
B
Uh huh.
- [30:44]
C
He didn't.
- [30:44]
D
Wait.
- [30:44]
C
He didn't throw the ball. Did he run the ball?
- [30:47]
B
I think it might have been an option where he ended up running the ball, but he can run it. Who's the kid in the college? Kid Proctor. We've seen him rumbling with the ball.
- [30:58]
C
That's not your guy that falls down, is it?
- [31:00]
B
No. I'm telling you, the guy's going to be good.
- [31:04]
C
I agree with you. I want to see him fall down in open space.
- [31:08]
E
Yeah.
- [31:09]
B
Kaden Proctor of Alabama.
- [31:11]
C
All right.
- [31:11]
B
That's another guy who is an athlete.
- [31:14]
C
Athlete.
- [31:15]
B
So.
- [31:16]
C
So you're picking up what coach is putting down? Yeah. He said Darnell Wright has place.
- [31:20]
B
He said with or without the ball, Darnell Wright, are you going to. Are you going to line them up? Because it's been Trappillo75, who's been reporting eligible.
- [31:31]
C
Yep.
- [31:32]
B
And they've been using him. They. They had him with his hand on the ground at fullback in the eye. Flexed him out, just. They did it with Durham Smythe again with like an H back kind of roll. But I want you to keep. Keep your eye on where he's lining up.
- [31:48]
C
So you think he lines up eligible and goes out for a pass. You think he gets the ball?
- [31:51]
B
I don't know, but he's a running back.
- [31:53]
E
On.
- [31:53]
B
On a. Maybe it's scoring situation. On a second and one good catch in between the 40s.
- [32:01]
C
Very nice.
- [32:01]
B
So just that would appear to be like Ben maybe winking at you a little bit.
- [32:10]
C
Only the requirement, though. If he does score a touchdown, we need more. More cart rights on the entire team.
- [32:17]
B
No round off, flip flop.
- [32:19]
C
I want the entire team doing Cartwrights.
- [32:20]
B
Round off, flip flop back.
- [32:24]
C
See?
- [32:24]
B
So I want a full Simone Biles floor run.
- [32:28]
C
So that's what it is. That's why it. So we're officially going to call the cart, right? Because it's Darnell.
- [32:32]
B
Darnell Wright.
- [32:33]
C
There we go. It's a Cartwright.
- [32:35]
B
The Darnell Wright cartwheel is a cartridge. It's a Cartwright from here on in.
- [32:38]
C
And it's not Ben, it's not Veronica, it's Darnell, and it's a Cartwright. Let's go. All right. What's his Bears. The Bears meme.
- [32:46]
B
Okay. Have you seen it?
- [32:48]
C
I have not. Well, I've seen memes, but I don't know.
- [32:51]
B
You know, you know, a Ben Johnson's intense eyes.
- [32:55]
C
Yeah.
- [32:56]
B
He has naturally. He's got. They're kind of close together and sort of.
- [32:59]
C
At first I thought they were Bette Davis eyes, but they're. They're not.
- [33:02]
B
No. I actually think. I think I've said this before. I think he looks like Kristen Bell.
- [33:06]
C
Kristen Bell, Right. That's Kristen Bell eyes.
- [33:08]
B
He does. He looks like Kristen Bell. She looks like Ben Johnson. So there's a meme of him holding the play card just under his eyes.
- [33:18]
C
Oh, I have seen this.
- [33:19]
B
And on the back of the play card, the Matt Nagy slogan, BU is crossed out. There's a big red line through BU and. But on the Ben Johnson play card just says, I'm gonna fucking kill you.
- [33:36]
C
Yes, I have seen that. That's very good. It's funny. When I first I saw that, I laughed. I mean, just immediately thought of the Matt Nagy and laughed. And like, just the polar differences of these two.
- [33:48]
B
The aggressiveness and the fact that he used the word hunting coverages. I haven't really. That's still rattling around in my head a little bit. That as a play caller, like the difference between a guy just onto the next one and a guy who can't wait to see what coverage it is.
- [34:07]
E
Right.
- [34:07]
B
Did we get it? Did we get it?
- [34:09]
C
And, you know, get it. If you remember, too, we. We talked about Jordan Battle yesterday because he wasn't misaligned. The rest of the team wasn't me on that specific play that. That Caleb and Ben were hunting for. They finally got the coverage they wanted. And you heard Jordan Battle say it was a good call, as if we were in a good coverage. It was a good call on our part.
- [34:33]
B
That's a good catch on your part. You're right. Because he said that's a good call. Right. And Johnson was waiting for. They didn't realize that they got trapped.
- [34:43]
C
Yes. It's a trap. So the Bengals think, all right, we have a good, good call on here. Good coverage in this situation because there's no way that they're going to score a touchdown. Remember, not on this coverage.
- [34:56]
B
Remember Admiral Akbar when it comes to top 10 giants tomorrow.
- [35:00]
C
Why?
- [35:00]
B
Just keep it the back of your head.
- [35:02]
C
Oh, well, yeah. I have one on my list, too. Well, the committee does. I was going through their paperwork last night on the kitchen table.
- [35:10]
B
You can't do that. They get mad. Not if they don't know they don't.
- [35:13]
C
Listen to the show. Yeah. No, they were sleeping.
- [35:15]
B
Were they downstairs watching movies?
- [35:16]
C
No, they were sleeping.
- [35:17]
B
Eating popcorn.
- [35:17]
C
Yeah, they were sleeping. And they don't listen to Ford Progress.
- [35:19]
B
Okay. Yeah, it's probably bad for the committee to do that. We don't want to skew them in anything, but.
- [35:23]
C
No, I think if we're on the same page, which I think we are.
- [35:25]
B
Okay.
- [35:26]
C
Yes. Making sure. Oh, God.
- [35:27]
B
Yeah.
- [35:28]
C
That was one of the first things I thought of.
- [35:30]
B
I don't think we are on the same page. No, I don't think so.
- [35:35]
C
Are you being a little insensitive? Bitch. I'll have some calamari. Is that what you're doing? Maybe. Okay. I love that.
- [35:45]
B
No, that's what it says. She says, Olive is on Robot Chicken, where it's Admiral Akbar sitting with his dinner date at a fancy restaurant. And the server comes over and she says, I'll have an order of the grilled calamari. And he goes, I'll have an order of insensitive bitch.
- [36:06]
C
I love that your. Your Admiral Ackbar turns into Vincent d' Onofrio in Men in Black.
- [36:13]
B
Well, that's.
- [36:15]
C
It's like the same voice.
- [36:16]
B
Should have won the Oscar for it.
- [36:17]
C
Same voice.
- [36:19]
B
Oh, you idiot.
- [36:20]
C
Yeah, it's Ed Blackburn.
- [36:22]
B
You meet Zack.
- [36:23]
C
Dude, have you.
- [36:24]
B
I think I should have won an Oscar.
- [36:27]
C
Admiral Akbar. I agree.
- [36:30]
B
That guy died, by the way. Admiral Akbar did the voice of Admiral Akbar.
- [36:34]
C
What do you mean, voice of he.
- [36:37]
B
Is that a real. Is that a real half person, half squid?
- [36:42]
C
It wasn't.
- [36:43]
B
No, no, it was a guy in a mask. No way.
- [36:46]
C
Seriously? Darth Vader's not real either.
- [36:48]
B
I don't even think the guy in the mask was doing the voice. Oh, have you seen the outtakes? Have you seen the raw film of Peter Mayhew as Chewbacca speaking the lines? Oh, it's so cool. Because when Han Solo reacts to the. Yeah, no, Chewie, that doesn't make any sense to do that right now. What Peter Mayhew is actually saying is, hun, don't you think we should try to fire up that engine? Instead of, like, he's actually delivering lines? And that's why the response of him understanding what he's saying in Wookiee sounds so natural.
- [37:27]
C
Oh, I just thought it was acting.
- [37:29]
B
Well, it is acting. Okay, it is acting. But Peter Mayhew is actually talk. Is speaking the king's English as Chewbacca.
- [37:37]
C
I. I think I sent it to you recently. Have you? Maybe I didn't. The. With the old bit we did on Admiral Ackbar and the. It's a trap. That whole thing. And remember we brought Brian. I put. I put Brian Billick into it. Oh, remember? It's the whole scene from Star wars that we. We did.
- [37:54]
B
Yeah.
- [37:54]
C
And it was. And I couldn't remember what the name of the episode was, and I just kept calling it Seven because it was episode number seven. And then Tannehill turned that into the movie Seven, and it was like Admiral Akbar asking what's in the box? And then Brian Billick is there with a whiteboard. Okay, I do it. He's on the. He's on the spaceship and he's talking about what really a trap is. And then you were questioning Admiral Akbar, like, if he was so good at it, why did they literally went right into the trap.
- [38:23]
B
Right? He's the Admiral.
- [38:24]
C
And I was like, well, oh, no. I was like, maybe. Maybe he's been telling them for days it's a trap and no one's listening to the fucking squid. Yeah. Oh, my God. That's easily one of my favorite things of the 15 years that we did that together. I Love that bit.
- [38:39]
B
The fact that Brian Billick was in it is the best, right?
- [38:42]
C
I put Brian Billick there throwing coffee cups. Got a whiteboard. This is a trap. I'll tell you what a trap is.
- [38:49]
B
You got your guard and he's gonna pull this way, that way. You get everything moving in this direction. They're on the back side of the.
- [38:55]
C
Play before you know, so It's. It's like 90, me and you. And then Tanny. Tanny's drops his bombs, which are always fantastic. And Terry got nothing to do with it. You guys are just. You guys are idiots.
- [39:07]
B
He's not wrong.
- [39:09]
C
Real quick before we wrap up. Raiders, Broncos, tonight we have an international game, which makes me so happy, because then it's 8:30 in the morning football. Falcons and Colts the rest of the week. 9. Is it week nine or is this week 10? This is week 10. Yep.
- [39:26]
B
10.
- [39:26]
C
Saints and Panthers, Giants, Bears, Jaguars, Texans, Bills, Dolphins, Ravens, Vikings. That'd be a fun one to watch. Browns and Jets, 2 and 6 against 1 and 7. Patriots and Buccaneers. Ooh, yeah, that'll be a fun one to watch.
- [39:44]
B
Good one.
- [39:45]
C
Yeah, that's a tough matchup. And Hank's got Drake May and Baker Mayfield for fantasy. And he's like. He didn't know which one to start.
- [39:53]
B
They don't play against each other. Well, you can't.
- [39:55]
C
You only start one if you play fantasy football.
- [39:57]
B
No, not really.
- [39:58]
C
You can't start two quarterbacks.
- [39:59]
B
You can't put one at the other position.
- [40:02]
C
Like wide receiver.
- [40:03]
B
Yeah. Like Caleb Williams.
- [40:06]
C
Cardinals, Seahawks, Rams, Niners, Lions, Commanders. And then Sunday night football is Steelers and Chargers. And then next Monday night, Eagles at Green Bay. Be a fun one to watch, too.
- [40:19]
B
Yeah. Because the last week's slate was not.
- [40:21]
C
No, there's some good games here to get into. Yeah.
- [40:24]
B
All right. Cool. Cool stuff. That puppy is going to do it. For today's forward progress, a Chicago Bears podcast. And what should we tease for tomorrow?
- [40:36]
C
Oh, tomorrow morning, db. Well, not tomorrow morning. Tomorrow it's our. It's happened to be our morning. Dbu is our top 10 giants. And is it feedback Friday or Friday Feedback? How do you. What do you call it?
- [40:49]
B
I think we call it Feedback Friday.
- [40:50]
C
We do. Okay, so Feedback Friday and the top 10 giants of all time on DBU. And then tomorrow, for forward progress, we have Charlotte Carroll for the Athletic, who covers the New York Giants football team. So we'll get a little Giants insight as well, too.
- [41:06]
B
Looking forward to it. Thanks for joining us today. 10, 2, 19.
- [41:11]
C
2 19. Forward progress. A Chicago Bears podcast with Dan Bernstein and Matt Abeticola on 312 Sports.