Chicago Bears - Baltimore Ravens Postgame

Summary

Forward Progress - Chicago Bears vs. Baltimore Ravens Postgame Summary

Podcast: Forward Progress – A Chicago Bears Podcast
Host: Dan Bernstein (with guest co-host, sports editor from Tulane)
Episode Date: October 26, 2025

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Overview

This episode dissects the Chicago Bears’ deflating 30–16 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. With regular co-host Matt Abbatacola away, Dan Bernstein and his guest bring sharp insight and candid emotion, breaking down why the Bears regressed to “classic Bearsy” football: stalled drives, a passive offense, injuries piling up, and a team flirting with mediocrity despite a winning record. The hosts dig deep into Caleb Williams’ struggles, coaching concerns, missed opportunities, and the troubling state of the roster.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Game Felt Like “Classic Bears” — and Not in a Good Way

• Opening Tone: Bernstein immediately sets a somber mood, calling it “less than better and certainly less than good” ([00:39]).
• The guest co-host laments, “That was one of the worst games I've seen in a long time for the Bears... This one looked like one of those classic old Bears games where they just completely bear it.” ([02:02])
• Both note a regression after some promising (if inconsistent) wins earlier in the season.

2. Failure in the Red Zone & Missed Opportunities

• Stalled First Drives: Bears’ first two drives reached the red zone but netted only field goals, foreshadowing their ultimate struggles ([02:31]).
  • Bernstein: “When the offense was humming… and they settled for field goals both of those times, you knew that we would be talking about that at some point.” ([02:31])
• Not a single aspect of the game was executed consistently well; even after initial scripted plays, the team had “no bread and butter play, no ability to go back to anything that worked” ([05:39]).

3. Defensive & Roster Injuries Compound Issues

• Key problems:
  • Bears forced to start deep reserves in the secondary: “When you're starting Nishan Wright and Nick McLeod and Josh Blackwell, it's an issue.” ([06:56])
  • Lack of consistent pass rush — Montez Sweat made early noise but disappeared: “I don't want to see little spurts of pass rush. I want to see a consistent pressure on a guy who was out of the league until this week.” ([07:36])
  • The constant settling into zone coverage created exploitable holes for Tyler Huntley.

4. Tyler Huntley “Carved Them Up”

• Bernstein: “This is two wins over the Bears for Tyler effing Huntley. Unbelievable quarterback. Maybe the least qualified Pro Bowl quarterback of all time.” ([03:38], [03:52])
• The hosts express disbelief at Huntley’s string of looping throws working repeatedly against the Bears’ defense.

5. Caleb Williams’ Concerning Regression

• Multiple segments center on Williams’ struggles:
  • Bernstein: “He’s continuing to not trust his eyes… Where are the hot reads? Where are the pressure releases? Where is the ability to at least understand? All right, they're coming… Find that.” ([10:58])
  • Guest: “Jared Goff is nowhere near as physically gifted as Caleb Williams, but he's a better quarterback.” ([11:44])
  • Bernstein: “I'm dismayed by the… non-linear developmental progression that he's made.” ([12:05])
• Delayed throws, a bad interception, and reluctance to take deep shots signal discomfort and a disconnect with new offensive coordinator Ben Johnson.
• Quote: “The timing is still off. And when I said timing… that means from the moment the ball is spotted… There’s no point having somebody like Ben Johnson here if the quarterback can't see it.” ([34:14])

6. Skill Players: Bright Spots & Mysteries

• Roma Dunze: The rookie “has solidified himself as a legitimate WR1… his spatial awareness and ability to know when to slow down is incredible.” ([12:51])
• DJ Moore: Not targeted enough; speculation about whether this is due to effort concerns from preseason or coaching scheme.
• Complete lack of production from tight end position — a major frustration given expectations for Ben Johnson’s offense ([05:21]).

7. Special Teams & The Cairo Santos Problem

• Long-Range Limitation: Missed 58-yard FG before halftime prompts extended discussion on the need for kickers with more leg ([19:21]).
  • “NFL kickers now should be able to make 58 yarders and not miss him short…” ([19:21])
  • Possible end of the road coming for Santos: “He might lose his job.” ([44:20])
• Picking apart the nuances of game balls (“K balls”) and their impact on field goal attempts ([21:47]).
• Bears are one of only seven teams to never have a 60-yard FG ([43:00]).

8. Penalties, Coaching, and Discipline

• 11 penalties for 79 yards: “Double digits is always too many. But they're coming on both sides of the ball the very first damn play of the game…” ([18:22])
• Discussing whether Ben Johnson can actually clean up these errors with such a thin roster: “If you're doing it every week and you have no choice but to play the players who are committing all these penalties, they are acceptable. They become acceptable.” ([30:39])
• Guest calls out rookie Colston Loveland for repeated false starts; illegal formations are “not on exotic formations… it’s got to stop.” ([31:21])

9. Broad Team Identity Questions

• “Blob” Team: Hosts suggest the Bears’ record flatters them and that they're just another team in the “mediocre blob” of the NFL ([05:39]).
• Guest: “This team is not good enough to win now… This team is maybe a wild card team. Maybe. Unlikely.” ([15:53])
• Reliance on turnovers is not an identity: “Turnovers… they’re really hard to replicate. In large part, luck.” ([51:08])

10. Memorable Quotes & Exchanges

• “This was certainly something less than best from the Chicago Bears and I would argue well, less than better and certainly less than good.” — Dan Bernstein ([00:39])
• “If you can't beat Tyler Huntley and a completely unimpressive Derek Henry… you’re exposed for not being as good as the turnovers make you look.” ([25:02], [51:08])
• “I wish there was something I could say right now that is replicable and it's something I know they do well… They didn't do anything well.” ([39:34], [50:58])

11. Light Moments & Signature Banter

• Lengthy tangent on the Bears’ historic kicker woes ([23:07]–[23:56]).
• Playful Halloween costume debate and lighthearted family trash talk after the hour mark ([47:03]) — “Well, that sucks to suck just like the Bears.” ([48:54])
• Running “flaccid” joke to describe the Bears’ performance and a callback to a Bulls reference, cementing the show’s mix of authenticity and irreverence ([49:47]–[51:08]).

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• “Classic Bears” Regression: [02:02]
• Red Zone Failures/Settling for FGs: [02:31]
• Tyler Huntley’s Performance: [03:38]–[04:55]
• Injury Discussion/Secondary Issues: [06:56]–[10:01]
• Penalties & Coaching Issues: [18:22]–[32:16]
• Caleb Williams’ Development: [10:58]–[14:01], [34:14]
• Offensive Line Evaluation: [40:10]
• Kicker/K-ball Analysis: [19:21], [43:00]
• Team Identity & Realistic Expectations: [15:53], [51:08]
• Signature Banter/Halloween Costumes: [47:03]
• Final Summation: [50:51]–[52:10]

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Overall Tone

Authentic, frustrated, and wryly humorous. The hosts combine analytical depth (“non-linear developmental progression,” “zone coverage holes,” “bread and butter plays”) with emotional candor and classic Bears gallows humor. Banter and in-jokes soften hard truths: the Bears are dangerously average, undisciplined, and losing their edge.

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Takeaways for Non-Listeners

• The Bears’ 30–16 loss to Baltimore is a wake-up call: current “ink for the future” optimism masks fundamental roster flaws, persistent coaching issues, and either stagnation or regression from first-round quarterback Caleb Williams.
• Injuries are no excuse for the sheer volume of undisciplined play and lack of pass rush or offensive identity.
• Cairo Santos’ limitations exemplify a franchise allergic to progress — “cute” but ultimately losing football.
• Until Ben Johnson’s scheme connects with Williams’ execution, and until penalties and red-zone gaffes subside, the Bears are just another middling team in a bland NFL middle class.
• Final word from Bernstein: "It was soft and limp. The performance was limp. They didn't do anything well... This was definitely a setback for the Bears." ([50:58])

Transcript

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[B]

10219219.

[C]

Forward.

[B]

Progress a Chicago Bears Podcast with Dan Bernstein and Matt Abeticola on 312 Sports. Well, good, better Best is going to get a little locker room break this week because this was certainly something less than best from the Chicago Bears and I would argue well, less than better and certainly less than good. With two minutes left it is 30 to 16 and this is Forward Progress. We are brought to you by Beer Church Brewing, New Buffalo's Brewery Pizzeria in a historic Church wood fired Neapolitan Pizza small batch craft beer brunch every day visit Beer Church Brewing dinner no, Matt Abaticola is not here. He is coaching his Libertyville Wildcats in their final regular season game, hoping to make the playoffs. So go cats, we wish them luck. And here in his stead is my usual co host from Organizations win Championships on 312 sports and he is the sports editor and columnist of the Tulane student newspaper in New Orleans doing the first Bears post game. So I'm sorry you gotta deal with that one. But it's just, it's, it's too bad. It's too bad.

[C]

It was. That was one of the worst games I've seen in a long time for the Bears and I was getting excited because even when they played the Saints and didn't play very well when they played I almost said Oakland when they played Las Vegas and didn't play very well when they played Washington didn't play very well. They found a way and they played football. It didn't look like a Bears game in some ways with those games and this one looked like one of those classic old Bears games where they just completely bear it.

[B]

It was extremely Bearsy and I knew, I knew when the offense was humming all the way into the red zone on those first two drives and they settled for field goals both of those times, you knew that we would be talking about that at some point. As far as the, the overarching story here, one, this is obviously it may be the lamest heat check of all time, but it's. It's a heat check nonetheless for a team that we're winning. Streams.

[C]

That was a Denzel Valentine heat check right there. What? That was.

[B]

Oh, my goodness. Valentine. Remember, this is. This is a Bears audience we are talking to.

[C]

I know.

[B]

Not our usual bul.

[C]

I'm not used to it. Right.

[B]

The OWC crowd would definitely have gotten the Denzel Valentine heat check reference. Yeah, that's what it was.

[C]

I have people watch the Bulls as well, and maybe our podcast, but Denzel Valentine could not make it make a heat check for his life. So it was an air ball, let's.

[B]

Just put it this way. And this was the equivalent of that for the Bears. You got the break of Tyler Huntley. This is two wins over the Bears for Tyler effing Huntley. Unbelievable quarterback.

[C]

Pro Bowl, Come on.

[B]

Maybe the least qualified and Pro bowl quarterback of all time, but my goodness. My goodness. The.

[C]

He carved them up.

[B]

He did. And he. Those. The throws, too, against zone coverage. These looping throws that he made over the linebacker level multiple times that out of his hand, looked like lollipops, and they ended up getting where they were going. So I'm. It's. This was a return to earth for anybody who was getting crazy. Anybody looking at the schedule saying, you know, 7 and 2 isn't out of the question here. When you are that reliant on turnovers, I think on the plus side, you can say, well, we get turnovers. That's part of our identity. And on the downside, you say, well, when you don't get them or needing them just means you're not all that good at football. Needing turnovers means you're not good football.

[C]

Right. Needing turnovers to win shows weakness. Oh, my goodness. DJ Mortis had a very long something.

[B]

He did, and it looked like Caleb Williams was moving a bit gingerly.

[C]

There were.

[B]

Yeah, there were several people limping after that play. We're going to get to all of the injuries and everything that went wrong, but my. Well, it would be nice if they had a tight end on this team.

[C]

I don't.

[B]

I don't know what's going on with a position that Ben Johnson supposedly valued tremendously. And they can't get any production out of the tight end position right now.

[C]

Any at all, as Colston Loveland drops a football.

[B]

And I think I'm a little.

[C]

Did you see that?

[B]

I think I'm a little ahead of you in the. In the broadcast right here, so I don't want to ruin Anything ruin anything. But the the headlines for me are we get a better understanding of that. The Bears are a mid level blob team right now despite a winning record of 4 and 3. If they were a good team, you've got to go in there and execute the simple things better than they did. They didn't do anything consistently well in this game. Not a single aspect of the game did they do consistently well. They didn't have a bread and butter play. They didn't have, they didn't have an ability to. After those first scripted plays, they didn't use those to go back to anything. I love the boot action. I loved what they were doing with wide zone. I loved what they.

[C]

I don't know. I don't know.

[B]

I know the defense was set drives.

[C]

The play action calls were incredible off of that outside zone and that I believe J.J. watts said something that's where Swift really makes his money is finding holes in an outside zone.

[B]

Correct?

[C]

Lord, yeah.

[B]

Things that things at the goal line are not going particularly well right now. It's a weird NFL day too. It's a very strange slate of games the way everything's going. But I'm also wondering too, let's before we address the penalties, the injuries are real when you're starting Nishan wright and Nick McLeod and Josh Blackwell, it's an issue. They also were in, they were in zone a lot and some of those completions by Huntley that we were talking about were against zone. The larger problem is the complete lack.

[C]

Of a pass rush and early in the game it was there. Montez Sweatt had a sack, I believe on the Ravens first drive. The Ravens had three plays pretty much I believe the entire quarter could be wrong there. But the Bears had time of possession. The they had the ball the whole time. Only six points came out of it. And for those three plays they were getting to the quarterback. And Grady Jarrett had one great play where he absolutely mauled the left guard and Dexter cleaned it up. But in general I don't, I don't want to see little spurts of pass rush. I want to see a consistent pressure on a guy who was out of the league until this week, right?

[B]

Or well, he had been on the roster. I don't know. I don't know where, I don't know where is he on the practice squad and then he was elevated as scout team.

[C]

It's just really.

[B]

Meanwhile, Meanwhile the, the apparently Justin Fields has driven the jets back. The jets have a 39:38 lead over the Bengals right now and I mentioned on. On Dan Bernstein unfiltered during the week that I chickened out on my DBU pick. I was going to take the jets to win outright. I had a feeling the jets were going to win the game outright. And I, and I didn't. I didn't do it. I didn't take it. The. The.

[C]

Lena had wheels. She would have.

[B]

I know she could have won the Indy 500, but she. She didn't and she doesn't. There were all sorts of wrinkles early that I liked. I thought that Ben Johnson was doing a nice job feeling things out and then nothing. I. I don't think Ben Johnson had his best game, to say the least. I thought the only, the only call where he really got him was on that screen pass where Swift looked like he was going to stay in as a blitz pickup and then leaked out and they were able to get the ball to him.

[C]

But he also moved a horrible blitz pickup on Kyle Hamilton earlier when Caleb had his first intentional grounding of the first half.

[B]

I'm wondering if Swift is hurt. He had a terrific first quarter this week, right? Yes, he was.

[C]

So.

[B]

But I'm, I am. I'm dismayed at this performance and the injuries piled up.

[C]

You also made a really good point to me before we went live in saying that you can say all you want about having your top four defensive backs out. That's including Terrell Smith, because I haven't forgotten that. And that has proven to be a huge issue this season. But it is a guy who came into the season as a third string quarterback. Or it's Tyler Huntley. It's not Lamar Jackson and he was just throwing everything where, where they weren't. And that's, that's the problem playing so, so much zone coverage. And I do think a lot of the zone coverage comes from two reasons. One, running quarterback and two, it tries to cover up these DB weaknesses. And what happens is there will just be so many holes in the defense. And Huntley took advantage.

[B]

The jets look like they're going to go on to defeat the Bengals. I knew I chickened out of that pick. I should have trusted, should have trusted my instincts. I'm like Caleb Williams pulling the trigger on some of these passes. Say I should have. I got to trust what I see. I got to trust my instincts. I'm a little worried about the downturn in Caleb's performance. I'm not going to get crazy over one bad game. But he's continuing to not trust his eyes. He's continuing to drop his Eyes under pressure. Where are the hot reads? Where are the pressure releases? Where is the ability to at least understand? All right, they're coming. They got us on this one. That means somebody's open. Find that.

[C]

That's what Jared Goff did so well in Detroit. And the thing is that Jared Goff is nowhere near as physically gifted as Caleb Williams, but he's a better quarterback and.

[B]

Well, that's a long list right now, sadly. You think of better quarterbacks than Caleb Williams? Yes.

[C]

You think he's bad?

[B]

I didn't say that. Don't put words in my mouth. I didn't say I think he's bad. I think there are a lot of quarterbacks. I don't think he's bad. I am dismayed by the. To be nice, the non linear developmental progression that he's made. And I'm aware that he's. He's biting off a lot of work right now and they're trying to reprogram him. But that interception was bad because it was late. It looked like he again, but he was late. It wasn't about being behind. He throw it. He's just. It's got to come out. And a lot of these plays where he decides to run and they get the ball out, get it to somebody. I.

[C]

It. It is frustrating. And the, the biggest bright spot on, on the offense is Roma Dunze. Clearly he, he's solidified himself as a legitimate wide receiver. One, I'd say. And they really don't like targeting DJ Moore. And I don't know if that's because of the preseason stuff where he didn't block or didn't run everything at a hundred percent, but I don't, I don't know if it's a punishment, but Roma Dunze right now is the guy is the go to guy at the moment. And what I was telling you earlier was his spatial awareness and his ability to know when to slow down is incredible for such a young receiver.

[B]

I knew that comment would come. No.

[C]

Did you just pin that?

[B]

No, it is not. Yes, I didn't pin it. I just put that up there because I had a feeling if. I don't know if that's meant sarcastically or not. My guess with this crowd, probably not is it's meant sarcastically, but it is there. There are some real concerns that I have regarding Caleb Williams's development. This is not a good defense they played. This is. It really isn't. This is. This is a bad.

[C]

Hamilton is good. Kyle Hamilton's good. Rokon Smith is good. Other than that Their D line is not great at all. I do like Marlon. I do like Marlon Humphrey and Nate Wiggins. I like their. I like their defensive backfield. But that the front seven, other than Roquan Smith, is not that much to deal with.

[B]

No, it's not.

[C]

Although Theo Benedet did get destroyed by Mike Green.

[B]

That's the rookie, correct?

[C]

Yeah, that's the guy that I wanted the Bears to draft over.

[B]

Oh, is he. Is he. Is he from Marshall? Marshall.

[C]

Okay.

[B]

Yes, I remember that. I remember because I have a friend named Mike Green, and I was picturing him as a defensive end, and that would go very bad involved. He just. He would talk everybody into wanting to leave.

[C]

That might work. Yeah.

[B]

It's a strategy. It probably would work better than what Benedict was doing. They didn't run enough.

[C]

Benedet was fine except for that one play. Okay, don't say that.

[B]

No, I know he's fine. But they didn't run enough behind Darnell Wright. I just. There were a lot of cute little run plays that they tried, and it was just. Yeah, we saw him at H back. Yeah, there were two plays where he started at fullback, and they never leave him there. You know, I think there was a. There were a couple times last game where Durham Smythe was. We had his hand on the ground as the I formation fullback. But they usually motion him out of that. So maybe they just use it as a coverage indicator, as a coverage read. But go ahead, slam it up in there with it with an ISO block. Let dropillo hit so you couldn't score for the goal goal line at the end of the game. 30 to 16 is the final. The Bears are 4 and 3 in a completely winnable game. Completely winning.

[C]

More. More than winnable. The injuries do concern me, though. And Ben Johnson said earlier in the week that we're trying to win now. There was never a reason why we wouldn't win now. And this team is not good enough to win now. When you think win now, that's a Super bowl contender and that. That is not this team. This is a May. This team is maybe a wild card team.

[B]

Maybe the Bears this year. Unlikely.

[C]

Maybe.

[B]

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[C]

Yet.

[B]

They might be on the in the hunt graphic late in games when you know they're sitting right around 500 with everybody else in the league in a year where the blob in the league of mediocre teams is bigger than ever. So let me look at the total penalty number here just to make sure I have this right. I have The Bears with 11 penalties no matter what.

[C]

Too many.

[B]

11 for 79 is double digits is always too many. But they're coming on both sides of the ball the very first damn play of the game. Look at how devastating that kickoff was. You had Dominique Robinson out for the game. You had Josh Blackwell called for holding. Sort of set the tone for everything. Shemar Turner was, was carted back to the locker room with a knee injury and apparently, at least according to the tweet I saw from Brad Biggs, Luther Burden suffered a concussion.

[C]

So Jade Walker and I think at the end of the game. Well, so I, I don't know.

[B]

Not great.

[C]

Not. Not. I was just gonna say not good nor great.

[B]

Here's the other question. Do you think and we know that Kairo Santos was a Matt Nagy guy.

[C]

Oh, I've been meaning to talk about this. Thank you.

[B]

Kyro Santos is a Matt Nagy guy. Go ahead.

[C]

What I was just going to say is that I love Cairo. He's a two lane guy, roll, wave. And he's been what? You're the worst. He, he's been very reliable. Don't get me wrong, NFL kickers now should be able to make 58 yarders and not miss him short if he missed it wide left and there was plenty of leg behind it okay, fine. Especially in that sort of a drill where you're just running onto the field and trying to kick it as quickly as possible. What they call like tornado or hurricane kick, something like that.

[B]

Yeah, it was known as a fire drill or hurricane where you got to race everybody out there.

[C]

They, they need a guy with a big leg. That's three important points. And at that time of the game going into half, not receiving the ball. If you can make that a one point game, that changes the outlook. And I know a 58 yarder isn't a gimme, but I'd like to have a guy kicking the ball that can at least get it there and give it a chance to go in. As soon as he went up for it, I knew, oh, this is going to be short no matter where it goes. And it's frustrating when the guy that, who banged through a game winner and was what, four? Was he three for three? Four for four last week, had a great week at Soldier Field and has a great leg, is just sitting there on the bench or not even with the team when he could have, he could have made that kick. I think, I think Jake Moody, because of his leg, I would take a couple more misses if he can make the 60 yard. I really would.

[B]

Especially because of what even the threat of it then does and how it changes the way teams are defended by saying, look, they're in field goal range or they're just changing. What constitutes field goal range means different calls on your play sheet.

[C]

Different.

[B]

Yeah, different things that the defense certainly has to consider. This was pointed out to me as well. And this was somebody who emailed me, emailed us forward progress during the game and. Or email 312sports I should say because they had to run that team onto the field, the kicking unit, they were not able to replace the ball with one of the kicking balls.

[C]

Ah.

[B]

And this year they've relaxed the rules, the limitations for what you can do to doctor those footballs. And I mentioned this before the season as soon as I saw that because I've, I've been behind the scenes with the guys tampering the balls. I've seen it and it's amazing what they use. They can't do what they used to do, but they can spend a lot more time softening the balls and making them rounder by pushing in the ends. Soccer ball, I think, or at least a rugby ball. I think had they swapped it out, it might have gotten there because the ones they're using in warm ups to determine where the line is are the cables.

[C]

Interesting. Okay, that makes sense. However. However Jake Moody with that ball still could have gotten it there.

[B]

Correct.

[C]

So. And. And maybe if they didn't have. If they didn't use their timeouts or whatever or could have spiked it, something. Although it was a fourth down, so no real chance to do. Doesn't. It doesn't make a difference to me when you have a guy that can make that kick.

[B]

It's. I know that we get hung up with kicker stuff. It's not as.

[C]

I love getting hung up with kicker stuff.

[B]

I know you do. See, you love you ever since you were a little kid. I love kicking chaos. Yes. You like Randy.

[C]

You like.

[B]

You were excited when Mikey Badgley was here.

[C]

Yeah. No. Badgley couldn't kick Kai Forbath, Bears legend, for two seconds.

[B]

Kai Forbath was the other guy. Wasn't Will Lutz in camp and the whole Eddie Pinero thing.

[C]

Eddie Pinero was for the Bears for.

[B]

A year, but they were going to get Will Lutz.

[C]

It was Connor Barth.

[B]

Connor Barth, Connor Barthen, Kai Forebath.

[C]

Oh, I think Mike Nugent kick for the Bears one.

[B]

Yes. Yes. He did love this stuff. Yeah. You're deep in bad kicker.

[C]

Oy. I mean, kicker bag.

[B]

Smells bad.

[C]

Better than. Smells worse than Grandma hadn't heard. It's better than what grandma had in her bag.

[B]

You do remember that?

[C]

No.

[B]

Oh, was that what? I don't know if I can say it right now.

[C]

Am I allowed to? The people throwing something out of the court that isn't very sexually appropriate that grandma has a bag of.

[B]

Oh, that thing. Yes. I thought you meant actual grandma. I thought you meant your actual grandma. You meant grandma.

[C]

No, I just meant hypothetical dildos.

[B]

Yes. Yes. That's from dbu. I don't even know if that's a forward progress reference, but.

[C]

Correct.

[B]

My mind was it was going to actual grandma. Like, what did she have in her bag other than those, like little weird candies that she would have when her mouth got dry?

[C]

Caramel. Yeah.

[B]

I don't know what they were. She had like the dry mouth candies or something like that.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Looking at the secondary, I called it when it happened and you can vouch for me on this. When Terrell Smith got hurt.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

And I said this is because we were raving about the Bears secondary. They are down one of the best corners in the league. They're down somebody who we believe when healthy is one of the top nickels in the league in.

[C]

Kyler Gordon played like it last week.

[B]

Yeah, he did. So they listed him with a second injury. So I don't know if that was a re injury. I don't know if he now has two injuries. But it's. If you can't beat Tyler Huntley and a completely unimpressive Derek Henry, like that's the other thing. You go into this game, he's fine.

[C]

Mitchell is better.

[B]

That dude is fast. Yeah, that dude's fast. But if you told me that you'd go into this game against Tyler Huntley and you'd hold Derek Henry to 71 yards on 21 carries, I'd like my chance. With a long of 10. I'd like my chances. But Keaton Mitchell had four carries or 43 yards.

[C]

Come on.

[B]

And I. And of course I missed. I had my. In my DBU picks. I said Mark Andrews over three and a half catches and over 35 yards. He had three catches for 34 yards. I don't think it constitutes a bad beat. But the Bears win streak, it comes to an end in really deflating fashion. And I guess if I'm really thinking about it, the poor play of Caleb Williams is going to stick with me. More than the fact that their win streak is over, more than the fact that they lost this game, I've been win streak. Right. It's because this year it is that important. You know what I mean?

[C]

Win streaks are not important. All that matters is the game at hand or the next game that, that you're playing. If it's not game day. That is all that matters. Because at the end of the year, whether or not you, you can have a five game win streak and go 5 and 12, but oh, it's a 5 and 12. Like who cares about a win streak? Congrats. You won four games in a row. Big one.

[B]

I put this comment up here saying Bears fans owe Troy Aikman an apology. Well, not necessarily. He's.

[C]

He was just kind of being a nuisance.

[B]

No, I thought that what he said about the play being lucky is different than Caleb Williams himself being lucky, but I get it. And also when we were talking about the PFF rating of Justin Fields over that of Caleb Williams feels going to grade out better than Williams in this one. He's going to have a better day today and he's going to deserve it.

[C]

But there is things that I. Okay, why are we still comparing them? Caleb's been the quarterback for a year, almost a year and a half now. Fields is well out of the picture and if they traded places, I don't think Fields would be doing much better in Caleb. Do you?

[B]

If they traded places. No.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

No.

[C]

No. Fields would be worse than Caleb is right now in this offense.

[B]

I feel like neither one's any good right now.

[C]

Yeah. So stop comparing their PFF grades. I don't care.

[B]

Well, it's only.

[C]

Who cares about the Jets?

[B]

Yeah, it was. That was only because it was just a. Everybody knew and could see how bad he was. Was the reason that everybody was. Was grabbing at that name as the one above him that was most striking. But nothing is going to get better and you're not going to support this beat up secondary if you can't rush the passer. And I don't know where the edge rushers are. That. That is one of the things I had circled here was lack of rush from the edges and lack of any production from the tight end position.

[C]

I don't have a lot of money to Dayo. They gave. They give him a hefty, hefty chunk of cash.

[B]

I wrote his name down once, once for. In the third quarter on the Huntley scramble left when he did a really good job of taking the correct angle on the tackle and holding off the block long enough to string it out. But like that's. That's your job. That's routine football. That's your job. They don't pay you to do that. They pay you to rush the passer.

[C]

And they're not.

[B]

They're not. They're just. They're not. And it does.

[C]

And it's.

[B]

You can.

[C]

I don't think it's the interior's fault. I don't think. I don't think the interior line had a terrible game. I. I liked Grady Jarrett. He's old, but I like him. I like Javon Dexter.

[B]

Why do you like Grady Jarrett?

[C]

Vet. Vet. Responsible. He doesn't make the. He doesn't make any bad mistakes. He doesn't. He doesn't get penalized. And that's important right now.

[B]

I'm also not sure how you coach against. How do you coach the penalties? I really would like to hear Ben Johnson answer this question that at some point, if you're saying we got to clean up the penalties, we got to clean up the penalties. Penalties are not acceptable. Well, if you're doing it every week and you have no choice but to play the players who are committing all these penalties, they are acceptable. They become acceptable. The Bears are. If they're not the most penalized team right now after another 11 this week, I wouldn't be surprised if they are. And that is. That's A coaching issue right now.

[C]

Right. I got to figure that out. I get it if it's a college team because in college they're kids and they're going to, they're going to make those mistakes. And even college coaches, and I know this because from covering Tulane football, that how, how the team can be immature at times. You can't be immature in the NFL. You guys are, you guys are grown ass men. Play like it and stop jumping all the time. And I know Loveland's young and he's a rookie, but I feel like every single game he'll have at least one false start. I'll say that just here, but I feel like I've seen Loveland false start a million times.

[B]

The illegal formation penalties. We know that we had Benedict lineup wrong last week. That there were, there have been.

[C]

That was two weeks ago. That was against Washington.

[B]

Correct. There have been other issues where I. If you're going to be a coach that has a lot of exotic formations or different formations, sometimes that's going to happen. But when it's happening to the Bears, it's not on exotic formations.

[C]

Yeah. Having done a punt, maybe if it's.

[B]

When you've got Tropilo in there and you're moving everybody around and people are out of position, you're doing something weird, that there's some grace. I'm going to give a team, even a professional team maybe for that. But this, this stuff is, it's, it's got to stop. And I don't, I genuinely don't know what an NFL coach can, can do to these guys other than say please stop. He can't. You can't. You got no players left yet. You can bench anybody. What are you going to do?

[C]

Yeah. Are the Bears. I don't know.

[B]

I don't know. They're. They're still, they still have a winning record, amazingly enough. But this has to be one of those games where Caleb Williams, I want him to look at that pick and know it wasn't so much it was partly ball placement, but it was more timing. The reason you allowed him to undercut the route was you threw it late.

[C]

Right. And people might say, oh, but he thought he could get away with it because he has a great arm. Then don't float it in there, rip it. And people have talked about his touch a lot, how the ball gets batted down because he throws so many fastballs and how he needs to lay the ball over some people. He also doesn't know exactly when to throw his fastball unless he's on the run. That's the only time he looks like he. He trusts himself is when he's on the run and he's just playing backyard football. I'd like to. I'd like to see him more comfortable in the pocket. And we've been saying this since he's come out of USC after last season. And I'm going to give him some grace, though, because it is. We agreed at the beginning of this year that this is essentially a second rookie year because it's a new coaching staff and he has to. He has to take everything out of his brain that the old coaching staff had and implement what Johnson wants it wants to see and wants him to do. And so I am going to give him some grace. But there are some things that, some mistakes like that. That's not unlearning something and trying to relearn it. That's not a rookie mistake. That's just being late. That's not a rookie mistake. That's just a bad play. And that. That's what's annoying.

[B]

This is my frustration. Primarily, it defeats the purpose of having Ben Johnson here if the timing is still off. And when I said timing, I. That means from the moment the ball is spotted, that means Johnson's got to know the call. He's got to get the call in. The call has to be received. The play then has to be called in the huddle correctly. You got to be out of the huddle, up to the line, see what's coming, see what they're showing, send a guy in motion, get a coverage indicator. And then he. On the play we talked about on the screen, that was a check down. That was a. That was a kill kill where he was able to make to. To check to that play. But there's no point having somebody like Ben Johnson here if the quarterback can't see it. If the quarterback isn't reacting to things the way Johnson has designed a play for him to react. That's still the disconnect to me that I think Johnson could save Williams from some of these problems right now. I think his whole point is, look, I'm going to give you options. I'm going to be able to help you. But if you. I can't do it. If you can't see it, if you can't. Or maybe he sees it, but he doesn't trust it yet. That the leap of faith isn't there. When the ball's got to be out, you're not throwing to an open guy.

[C]

Take that plunge. He's just Got to take that plunge at some point and if he makes an aggressive mistake, that'd be fine because the pick today was passive because he was late, he didn't trust it. If he makes a decision and he under throws a guy or misses. Misses a throw, not a read. I'd rather miss a throw than a read because sometimes you can. They'll. This has happened multiple times where they have somebody streaking down the field on a go ball wide open and he'll just take off running instead. I, I believe that happened against Washington where it was either DJ Moore, Roma Dunze, who's one wide open in the. Just a free, free pass to the end zone and he runs and gets a first down. So people are saying, oh well, he got a first down. But I'd rather him make the right read and throw a crappy football than him throw. Than him make the wrong read and gain a little bit of yardage because.

[B]

Right. That would be. There's evidence of development. Yes, that would. That would be development. I think it's a really good point and I agree with you completely. I thought this game or this game plan lacked deep shots and.

[C]

Yeah, very much so.

[B]

What I would like to know is with exactly what you're describing and this often happens, those deep shots. Well, there weren't any. Usually it'll pop up on Twitter. Somebody will be watching all 22s or somebody will be. It'll have some camera cell phone video from the end zone and say look at so and so here. If you're not even trying to get some of these pass interference penalties called if, if DPI isn't a weapon for you, especially with a guy like a dunes a who reacts so well to a ball in the air and does a great job positioning himself and also does a good job coming back for balls. Maybe it was due to pressure, but if you can't have deep shots and you're not getting the ball out against the blitz, you're looking at a stagnant offense. And that is essentially what they had today.

[C]

And that's not what you hired Ben Johnson for. And that's not why he wanted to work with Caleb Williams.

[B]

Try stuff.

[C]

Try stuff. Why not?

[B]

Well, it's all in there.

[C]

It's all in there, but especially against this team. I want to see Caleb just let it fly a bit. Just let it rip. You have a good arm. Trust. Trust your eyes and just let it go. I feel like he plays. He sometimes just plays so tight. He just seems like everything is tense. Everything seems. Sometimes he can Be a bit robotic where it's just like he'll turn, turn, turn, turn, turn. And he's not trusting himself. It's like, okay, this isn't theirs. Compute, compute, compute. I just want him to see and just let it go.

[B]

Yeah. You know, it's. But that's a balance. When we saw him. Okay, fine, it was in college, like. But he can't play college football at this level. He can't run around and wait for some superior athlete to run by some slug.

[C]

But he. But he made in the pocket throws in college. He made those throws. You fire Lincoln Riley or something.

[B]

No, different spaces. He's throwing into different spaces. I just. I wish I could point to something. If I looked and said what was good in this game today? What did I like? But even he wasn't spectacular.

[C]

Roma Dunes A. Williams was.

[B]

Roma Dunes A.

[C]

Had a.

[B]

Had a really good game.

[C]

Okay.

[B]

He was fine. He's exempt from some of this stuff, I guess, but Tori Taylor. But then we got called back. You know the guy. It's a 61 yard punt. That's. That's down at the bounds of the two or whatever it was. And that doesn't even count. I. I wish there was something I could say right now that it is. It is replicable and it's something I know they do well and they just never got it established the football. Well, that has to be. Every team's got to have a reliable long snapper.

[C]

I do think. I do think their interior offensive line look good. I do okay. Not. Not. I don't think Benedet had his best day. And that's. That's fine. I still think he's better than Braxton Jones. And I was going to say something before the game about how Benedet playing left tackles really saved them a lot. But I'm glad I didn't say anything because he did not have his finest day. He wasn't terrible, but he wasn't his best. He had one really bad rep as we mentioned earlier against Mike Green. But I do think that the Toonie Dahlman and Jackson trio on the inside has been very reliable. I think that's probably the most right now other than your long snapper.

[B]

That's.

[C]

That's probably what they. What the most reliable unit is on the. On the team is their interior line.

[B]

I think you said it best immediately when we started is that this went back to looking like a Bears game.

[C]

Yeah. That.

[B]

If you had told me Ben Johnson. If you had told me Ben Johnson was coaching this game.

[C]

I don't know that I would have.

[B]

Believed you because there was really nothing in it that suggested that the Bears had any kind of schematic difference or schematic advantage. Right.

[C]

Only the first two drives and they still convert.

[B]

Those have to be touchdowns. And it's, it just, it sounds like a, a lament where it's just easy to say, like a facile criticism. It's not everybody scores. And not to mention what's going on with the kickoffs right now. I don't know if you heard what Greg Olson said about the way the math and the numbers are working with the clock and the value of three points as opposed to the value of a touchdown. That because of the way the field position is with kickoffs now, that rather than go for a short field goal, you are much better off going for a first down even on like 4th and 5 or 4th and 6 rather than taking the field. Nobody wants to kick off anymore, so you'd much rather have a chance at keeping the drive light, a chance at a touchdown, and then keep, and keep the other team further down the field instead of kicking off to him. Everybody's, everybody hates kicking off. It's all. The point being it's not worth kicking off for three points because of how easy it is to go down and the fact that the K balls are great at. Every kicker could kick 65 yard field goals now. So the field is tiny.

[C]

Well, oh yeah. Every player can kick 65 yard field goals.

[B]

Not, not well, but 62. I mean that's meanwhile not fit.

[C]

Not even 58.

[B]

Well, that's, that's when I was going to add this. The Bears and I don't know, all seven. The Bears are one of seven NFL teams to have never had a 60. But think about that. There are 25 teams that have had a 60 yard field goal.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

And people, my generation there was Tom Dempsey 63. And that was only because that he had his, his lucky genetic advantage that allowed him to have a club on the end of his foot that he would use and he was whatever he was 275 pounds and he. And no they. People thought there would never, ever, ever be another 63 yard field goal.

[C]

Then there's Brandon Aubrey and that's chip shot. Right? It's chip shot the most part. Yeah. Every, everything from 55 and in I'm assuming is good immediately.

[B]

Unless you have like a Joey Sly type who just kicks it 70 yards in any direction and you have no idea where it's going. What else is on your list of Notes. What else do you have? I want to make sure we get to everything.

[C]

I feel like we cover. We covered pretty much everything. I think. I think we got it. I am very happy that we did talk about Kyro Santos not being able to kick very far and.

[B]

He might lose his job. He might. This. They might make that decision at some point. Maybe they'll let him ride out the rest of this year. I'm not quite sure exactly what their deal is with Jake Moody. It's not crazy. You know what I have also here. I just want to make sure that I get everything out here. This is when I knew that something was up, that the game was. Was kind of going sideways. When the Bears started on the Baltimore 47 in the second quarter after the 50 yard kickoff return by DuVernay. Yeah, finally. He broke one. Finally. And I've been waiting for it from him because he's been bad for a guy who was a Pro bowl player. You signed him to do one thing and he doesn't necessarily do it all that well. They ended up with a 4th and 28. They started in plus territory and ended up with a 4th and 28. And that's where they had the great punt and the illegal formation on demarco Jackson. Can't have that. You can't. You can't be be pissing away field position like that. And you can't have another damn 11 penalties.

[C]

Yep.

[B]

I just wish I knew what to do about the penalties. I want to. I want Ben Johnson to be asked about it. I want him to be asked about it this week. I really want him to be able to say, oh, we'll clean that up. We'll clean that up. We'll talk about it in practice. What. What does a coach do? I'm. I'm. I am asking seriously, what do you do to keep NFL players from committing stupid penalties? You can't bench guys at this point. You can't.

[C]

Well, Dan, crash out activated.

[B]

I'm not crashing out. I'm having a strong opinion about the Bears at a crash out before forward progress.

[C]

Yeah, your crash outs are kind of generational. Sometimes you have some generational crash outs.

[B]

Well, where do you think you're gonna get them from?

[C]

I don't crash out like you do.

[B]

Oh, what about in the d' Orsay Museum when you were whatever.

[C]

I was nine.

[B]

I was still bad.

[C]

I was nine.

[B]

I was gonna lose.

[C]

She wasn't in the Louvre as I was running away with Jewels.

[B]

They caught him. They caught him. Did you see that?

[C]

Apparently someone's Halloween costume the other night. It was awesome.

[B]

What was?

[C]

The Louvre. The Louvre Robber. It was really funny.

[B]

How do you dress as the Louvre?

[C]

Just a bunch of. Just a bunch of crappy Mardi Gras beads and. And feathers and stuff. I don't know.

[B]

I don't get it. Do they have to have a sign on it said I'm the Louvre Rob?

[C]

Whatever.

[B]

If somebody walking around Mardi Gras beads is just a regular Thursday.

[C]

Yeah, true. I'm gonna be Vector this week from Despicable Me. The Jason Segel character. The one who works in a jumpsuit from the first one. He wears the orange Vector because he's committed crime with direction and magnitude. Oh yeah, You've never heard of Vector? Everyone, everyone in the comments clown this fool.

[B]

That's your Halloween costume?

[C]

Yeah, one of them. The other one's Ferris Bueller. But you know, you should know that is where.

[B]

How many Halloween costumes you need?

[C]

More than one.

[B]

Why?

[C]

Because you. Because it's. It's Hollow weekend. It's not just Halloween.

[B]

Seriously?

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Where did you get an orange jumpsuit?

[C]

Amazon.

[B]

How much was it?

[C]

40, 50 bucks? Something like that.

[B]

Well, which one? 40 or 50?

[C]

50.

[B]

Then why did you say 40?

[C]

49.95. I don't know. Then why did you say I don't know?

[B]

Did I pay for it?

[C]

Mom said that I could get the Halloween costumes on your guys caddy.

[B]

So you at. Wait, what do you mean costumes? What did you buy for the Ferris Bueller costume?

[C]

Just a leopard print vest. That's it.

[B]

How much was that?

[C]

30.

[B]

And mom said that I was paying for it. That we were paying for it.

[C]

You too?

[B]

That voodoo that you do. No, I. Wait, I never heard anything about this.

[C]

Well, that sucks to suck just like the Bears.

[B]

All right, we'll end on that. That is going to do it. So keep in mind that we are going to be right back tomorrow. Matty is going to be back. We will have forward progress. We will have Dan Bernstein unfiltered dropping around 11 tomorrow. We will have forward progress dropping around 1 o' clock tomorrow. As we're going to continue to break all this down. I wish I had. I will be there. No, no, you'll be in class. We should be. I will be, numb nuts.

[C]

I will be in class. I guess we also have something.

[B]

That's right. Do join us for organizations win championships. We're back. It'll be episode 116 if you're and the Bulls are 20 by the way. How about it? How about it?

[C]

The fact that at this Point. The Bulls are more exciting than the Bears is kind of. Kind of bad. It's not what I wanted.

[B]

This was a particularly unexciting, flaccid, depressing Bears game. I hate that word, flaccid. Flaccid. Well, you're too young to have to worry about is a. Well, at least I hope. Is there something I need to know? I'm just saying that you have to.

[C]

Make a dick joke all the time.

[B]

Why not? Yeah, why not? I mean, I thought. I thought that's where you're going with it. So, you know, I'm just. Yes. Anding. I'm just.

[C]

You know, I don't like the sound of the word.

[B]

Why not?

[C]

It just. It's like the word moist. I don't like it.

[B]

Okay, well, you don't have to use it then. If you're. You edit enough copy, you can simply remove it, swap it out for something else. Soft and weak and ineffectual. That's what this Bears performance was. It was. It wasn't turgid. It was the opposite of turgid. It was. It was lacking and it was enervated. Whatever you want to say.

[C]

What I said about Marco Simonovich, if anybody gets that reference, bad.

[B]

Soft and limp. The performance was limp. They didn't do anything. They didn't do anything. Well, the Bears didn't do anything.

[C]

Well, stop describing it.

[B]

So you said. I couldn't use that word. I'm trying to talk around it. Sorry. It's just limp. It was a setback. This was definitely a setback for the Bears. It was a winnable game where they were undone by penalties. And I do think the other headline here is relying on turnovers. And being a team that prides itself on turnovers, they're really hard to replicate. They're in large part luck. Variance has a lot to do with turnovers. They're not really part of an identity unless they're part of a culture. And it's not really part of the Bears culture like it is with, you know, Lovey Smith and some of these other coaches, which is fine. I'm not mad at them for getting a lot of turnovers before, but they tend to even out, and when you don't get them, you're exposed for not being as good as the turnovers make you look. And I think that happened.

[C]

Yeah. All right.

[B]

You have homework to do, right?

[C]

A little bit. Right? A little bit.

[B]

Right? Right.

[C]

Only a little bit. Correct.

[B]

Okay, well, whatever you have to do, get it done. Thank you for joining us this has been our live Bears post game here on 312 Sports. Make sure that you're subscribed to everything to which you need to be subscribed. That is Dan bursting on filter 312 sports forward progress organizations win championships. And thanks for being a part of the conversation. I'm sorry I couldn't, Ben. By the way, I want to thank our producer, me. I produced this.

[C]

Congratulations.

[B]

Thank you. So I got a production credit on my resume right now. I actually produce this.

[C]

Really need a resume right now.

[B]

Hey, man. Never know. I'm thinking fired, right?

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

I'm gonna say.

[C]

You can't.

[B]

You can't say that anymore. Who knows? I went fishing. I went fishing and didn't get fired yesterday. I made it. What? Because I made it. A day of fishing.

[C]

Couldn't get fired. Yes. Fire.

[B]

Fire. Fire.

[C]

Fire.

[B]

All right, Fire rules.

[C]

We need to be stopped.

[B]

We are. And we are stopping immediately. Thank you.

[C]

Okay, Sam.