Dan Bernstein (2:21)

All right, this is Forward Progress. Okay, this is Forward Progress, a Chicago Bears podcast 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. So 47, 42, if I have that right, is the final correct. Now it a couple people. I'm very happy that the Bears won in large part so this can be the Kyle Manungai game and that Kyle Menungai doesn't end up a footnote in a horrible loss. I'm so happy that for him that, that he had the 100 yard first half. The, the total at the end of the game of 176 yards rushing. Just a remarkable game for him. I, I will also say too, special teams almost lost them the game. If, if to tarmac is a verb to leave a coach or a player on the tarmac before you head home. If they wanted to do that to Richard Hightower, I'd understand. Special teams was atrocious, absolutely atrocious from the moment the ball was kicked to the moment Daniel Hardy wasn't aware that he was kicking a ball to keep it alive on an inexcusable onside kick recovery. If you want to leave Richard Hightower home, that is fine by me. But for the next, I don't know how long Maddie and I are going to go through everything we've got here and I am trying to make some sense of the notes I have in front of me because my, my handwriting got bad because I, my hand was shaking in my phone's exploding with, with, with text. But what a, what a win. I'm not going to debate the quality of play in that game. It was, it was two really bad defenses. You've got 100 year old quarterback out there just doing things that I couldn't even imagine. Look at the totals, Dan, he threw for 470 yards, a career high 170.

Matt Abeticola (4:47)

Yards at 40 years old. 40 years old and eight months, I think, or no, 10 months.

Dan Bernstein (4:53)

The Bears allowed Joe Flacco to throw for 45070 yards. Well, they couldn't run the ball so they had no choice but to throw it. I, I, I, I'm not sure what it, what any of this means and I want to say that at the beginning I don't think that there's a lot of meaning to be derived from this game. I don't think there are many narratives to be spun outside of the Bears horrendous special teams. And Kyle, man, guys, brilliant game as a bell cow runner that man. He might have a very short career but enjoy him while you can because I know he carried a lot of carries in college, a lot of touches in college and he's got a lot of touches now. But enjoy it.

Matt Abeticola (5:41)

Well, I'll tell you what he did is he ran the ball hard, he hit the hole fast, he didn't hesitate. He was able to get to the second and sometimes third level and make some moves. And the offensive line played great. And here's what the Bears did.

Dan Bernstein (5:53)

They played great and run the pass protection left something to be desired.

Matt Abeticola (5:58)

You know what? I'm not going to put that all on the offensive line. That for me, the deficiencies in the passing game today are on number 18 and 18 only. I'm telling you that right now. This guy does not throw the football when he needs to throw the football, period. I am not putting the bad passing game on the offensive line. It's on Caleb, not three. Throwing the ball. When he throws the ball in a timing process, he can throw the ball well. And even Dan, he'll throw the ball in windows when he shouldn't throw two. That should have been picked in the first half. But when he's supposed to throw the ball in a timing process, he does not do it. But I will tell you this. Kyle Menungai had a wonderful game, absolutely wonderful game. The criticism that we levied against these running backs early in this season, I will take all that back now with the way they're running the football now, the way the offensive line has come together and in run blocking, I will give them that and I'll tell you. And listen. Dan Roma Dunes A had three targets for zero yards.

Dan Bernstein (6:55)

Caleb Williams had an infinitely better receiving day.

Matt Abeticola (6:59)

He did. He did. And I'm going to tell you that this was a record that was set today. The Bears had four guys attempt to pass three completed passes in this in a single game has got to be an NFL record.

Dan Bernstein (7:13)

I think we should get used to this with Ben Johnson that he, he. And this probably shows you the trust that he has in the offense this far into the season that he's able to go to those things near the bottom of the play card or in that special part of the play card rather than just sort of holding them back. My goodness. There was all kinds of stuff going on and if that's going to be, if they're, if they could practice that a week well enough to pull all of that out of their ass. In a game like this, I don't know what was needed or what was not needed, but there this so much happened in this game. So much happened. I, it was full of, of sound and fury and mostly signifying nothing. But the bears are 5 and 3 and I, I can't keep up with everything that's going on on the NFL scoreboard right now.

Matt Abeticola (8:06)

Minnesota lost or I'm sorry, Minnesota beat Detroit. So Detroit lost and Green Bay lost to the, to the Panthers.

Dan Bernstein (8:12)

So the Bears are one of the teams that are half a game out of first place. Correct.

Matt Abeticola (8:18)

Let's see here. Just so I have it correct.

Dan Bernstein (8:19)

I think, I think that with that win I believe the 5 and 3 bears are sitting half a game out in the NFC North. But I didn't know what we were settling into from the moment Charlie Jones returned that opening kickoff of the touchdown. Just yet another thing on this Richard Hightower resume here.

Matt Abeticola (8:40)

Yeah, Dan, you're correct on that. Green Bay at 5, 2 and 1 is on top of the division and the the Lions with that head to head win over The Bears at 5 and 3 would be in second place. The Bears at 5 and 3 and third place and just that that half game behind the the division leading Packers.

Dan Bernstein (8:56)

Well, looking at some of the totals from this game just to get caught up. Kyle Menungai finished with 26 attempts, 176 yards with a long of 39. Caleb Williams scrambled for 53 yards. Britton Brown in his first ever NFL regular season action, another seventh round pick running back who distinguished himself in the exhibition games, had five carries for 37 yards. Including that 22 yard touchdown. Caleb Williams finished 20 of 34, 280 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions. Tyson Bagent completed his only pass for 20 yards. DJ Moore completed his. On the Philly special that, I mean they re. That was. I don't know exactly. I didn't. I track every single block. But that was basically Philly special which as we know we saw first from Dowel Loggins and the Bears in Minnesota. So there is some Bears history to that play.

Matt Abeticola (10:03)

You know, one thing I will say, and as you're going through the totals here, two things real quick. If the Bengals had any type of defense, this would be a much different season for them with the way that they can throw the ball with Joe Flacco and those, those two receivers today it was T. Higgins who was an absolute. And I will say one thing Kyle Menongai will need to work on is as a running back, it's coming out of the backfield. And the difficulty which he had in coming out cleanly of the backfield without either tripping on one of his own teammates or tripping over his own feet to get to an area he needed to. And you saw it, you saw it manifest itself in one play where he gets off to the left side of the field and he has to lay out completely for a pass that he was. Caleb was criticized by the broadcast for that throw not being very accurate. But if you go back and watch that play again, Kyle then stumbled over someone's foot on the offensive line trying to sneak through. So. And he had, I think Two or three times. Had some difficulty there with that. And that's one thing to clean up. But his run game today, man, hitting the hole with speed and hitting the hole with authority and some power. It was fun to watch him run the football today.

Dan Bernstein (11:15)

It's a great catch on your part with that particular understanding of where some of the trash is to sort through on his way out of the backfield. And it's usually a tight end skill and it's something that usually the Cole Comet is really good at. And I think he actually did it on the play on which he got hurt when he was blocking and then disengages and gets into a pattern. So we'll find out. He was out of the game with a concussion and that's really most of what I had on the injured list. DJ Moore looked like he had something going on near the. The insertion point of his hamstring right under his butt. And he ended up coming back in the game. So maybe that was just a bruise. Colston Loveland was targeted seven times. He caught six passes for 118 yards that game. Deciding long of 58, two touchdowns in the best game that Colston Loveland has had as a professional. A big day for him, especially when they were putting the. The Warren numbers right up next to his and they were spotlighting that as part of the production. I also on my list of of where I put stars on here, that sack by Austin Booker that forced the fumble.

Matt Abeticola (12:23)

That was awesome.

Dan Bernstein (12:24)

Do you know who that looked like that looked like Khalil Mack. Oh, that one handed that kind of power. That is what we talk about of transitioning, converting speed to power and what he did. And they teach that one arm is longer than two. That's a big man in Orlando Brown Jr. That he put on his ass. And that's a hell of a play by Booker and that that augers well for more playing time for him going forward.

Matt Abeticola (12:55)

Yeah. And then for the Bears too. Seven penalties for 43 yards. Of those that were accepted and used in the game. 743. The. The Bengals 7 for 49. And I don't know if you knew this and let me clarify one thing because there's some comments too. Yeah. That that pass that Manungai had to lay out for that he was criticized by the broadcast for Williams was that ball was tipped and Williams was criticized for it and Manungai tripped getting out. Okay, so there's a couple things that played a factor in there. I'm not criticizing Kyle Manungai on that play. So if you're hearing that in this broadcast, then you're hearing the wrong thing.

Dan Bernstein (13:32)

Okay.

Matt Abeticola (13:32)

I'm just saying that he stumbled a little bit getting out. The ball was tipped, but he laid out for it. And what I'm pointing out is again, another broad, a bad broadcast where Williams was criticized unfairly on that play. One thing that he needs to clean up Manangai is getting out of the backfield cleanly when going out for pass routes.

Dan Bernstein (13:48)

Now, there were a couple rules that I learned in this game with the way some of this stuff was called. I learned that a touch of a player while making an interception counts as post, interception, contact, that there's a continuity aspect to them to that play. I guess he had established enough possession that it was viewed as a tackle, like technically that.

Matt Abeticola (14:16)

Yeah, I thought that was a great call. That was a catch. And you know, he, he clearly had possession while going down and one finger on the left hand just braced across his, his shoulder pad to, to make him down there.

Dan Bernstein (14:27)

Yeah, it was a great call. I just, I, I, because they obviously had to adjudicate at what time possession was established and they were able to do that. The other call was when DJ Moore was ruled to have a touchdown on what I thought was going to be ruled a touchback. That even though, that he was able to maintain what they called control even though he had the ball pinned up against an extremity of the opponent. And we've seen that before on catches made by a receiver using a defender's back or using a defender's shoulder. So I do think technically the correct call was made, but I was very concerned. If you remember, it was the Bears who challenged a similar call when John Fox threw the flag. When I think, was it Benny Cunningham, I want to say, was the running back who caught a pass out of the backfield and was ruled to have lost possession before the pylon. And it ended up being a touchback for the opponent. It might have been the Carolina Panthers, if I'm remembering correctly.

Matt Abeticola (15:31)

It was Cunningham though.

Dan Bernstein (15:32)

Yeah, it was, it was Benny Cunningham. So I was very concerned about the ghost of John Fox coming back to haunt them there. But I don't, I think for, for the most part, CLE Blakeman did great. I, it's after the scripted series when the Bears are up 14 to 10 after the touchdown on that little flip to Zakia who also had himself an excellent ball game. I was worried about what would happen when they started going off a script and through most of the second quarter when they only managed A field goal. I thought, well, here, here we go. And then all hell broke loose and most of what I was thinking ended up not mattering because of just the absolute fourth quarter chaos where the Bears allowed 15 points. 15 unanswered points in 49 seconds. Yeah, I don't know what was going on in the back end of that defense with the split safeties. And you're, you're in. They were in some two zone, like a cover two, for lack of a better term. And they were in two with man underneath. Either way, they got smoked.

Matt Abeticola (16:39)

Yeah. And Joe Flacco knows where to throw the ball, when to throw the ball. It just, I mean, he gets rid of the ball quickly. He throws.

Mike King (16:46)

He's.

Matt Abeticola (16:46)

I mean, he was throwing such nice balls today and it was really, it was really fun to watch him play and to really control their offense. And again, if they had any, any fashion of any kind of defense whatsoever on this team, would be a different, different season for the. The Bengals. Did you know that the Bengals going into this game, Dan, were leading the NFL in missed tackles? And we clearly saw that in this game. And it was, it's so bad though. They were at 84 missed tackles going into this game. The second place team or the second worst team, I should say, had 65 missed tackles. So not only did they lead the league in missed tackles, but it wasn't even close. Wasn't even close. And it clearly showed. And Battle 27 had several of those and cost that team that game. Trying to hit a 6, 6 tight end going down the seam with one little weak shoulder and Loveland just bounced right off him.

Dan Bernstein (17:37)

Yeah, it's great contact balance by Colston Loveland and the significance of that play. If you. Because if he doesn't make that play, if the Bears lose this game, we are talking about it like what happened in Washington last year. We are talking about this collapse. And maybe, maybe Colston Loveland saved Richard Hightower's job.

Matt Abeticola (17:59)

I don't think anyone could and I don't think anyone should, to be honest with you, with the way that they play today. And it's not just been today either. It's been throughout portions of this season that you can look at different special teams aspects where it just. It's not good enough. It's not good enough for a team that can't afford to really give up any yards or make any mistakes in any aspect of this game right now. The special teams was just awful. Absolutely awful. If you look at the, the yards, what did, what did, what did The Bengals finished on kick returns for how many yards here? 297. Kick yard, return, kick returns.

Dan Bernstein (18:40)

297. Eight returns for nearly 300 yards.

Matt Abeticola (18:45)

Charlie Jones had four returns for 179. Of course, the 98 yard touchdown on the opening play, but 297 yards. The Bears going into the game were allowing 26.9, 25th in the league. The Bengals were 30th in the league, allowing 28 yards a return. And the Bears at. What did they finish at? 22.3. Average returns today and the Bengals at 37.1.

Dan Bernstein (19:12)

Yeah, Devin Duvernay does not look like the former Pro Bowler they signed. He does not look explosive. And the one time he did break one, it was in large part because of a hold. So I don't know, he just doesn't look fast to me. He's stopping his feet too often. While we're mentioned. Well, you mentioned Charlie Jones. Quick shout out to, to Deerfield High School football and shout out to Charlie Jones and the entire Jones family. I think there's like 75 Joneses in the entire Jones family that all went to high school with me. Charlie Jones's father, Paki Jones, was the Deerfield High School quarterback for a time when I was there. And Charlie's uncle Pete is, is a terrific guy, a film director, film writer who actually cast me in a movie that he made here in Chicago after he won Project Greenlight. And I, I would try to name all the Joneses, but I'm sure I would leave some off. But it was a heady day for Deerfield High School football when, when he.

Matt Abeticola (20:13)

Did that, you know, and I want to go back to that. The first touchdown that Loveland had, that really beautiful pass from, from Caleb Williams. It was a, it was a really nice pass. And again, on a play like that, it's, it's a, it's a timing process. And here's the play, here's the route. Get the ball, throw the ball. And he has the ability to do it. And there's so many times, Dan, when you see him and he's doing all those three 60s in the pocket, in the back, stop, throw the ball. Like, get the ball, throw the ball.

Dan Bernstein (20:41)

Let me use a synonym of timing. That is what's in my mind. And it's not an exact synonym to me. It is timing, but it's also rhythm. It's not just the timing of that play. It is also just really feeling the rhythm of the game and being in control, understanding that being, being the band's Drummer. And not. Not necessarily just the lead singer that you. You. You've got to be aware of that. And it's your job to settle people down. It is your job to like. To me, a lack of the understanding of rhythm is the delay of game penalty on the damn goal line. Yeah, like that. That isn't the timing of the play. That's the play clock. That's the whole rhythm of getting it called and knowing where you are and just that. That is an innate sense. And I don't know if it can be taught and I don't know similarly if the same is true of accuracy. But look, ultimately he made the plays. They won the game. They beat a very bad football team. They did it on the road. They were victorious in. On a day where a borderline hall of Fame quarterback had one of the best days he's ever had. It was. This was a memorable game. That it's not. It's not because of the importance of the game. It's just because of certainly what happened late. The fact that the Bears are at least raising their baseline to a point where they can win a stupid game like this is a good thing.

Matt Abeticola (22:38)

Not only that is they. They were. They were able to accomplish what could be accomplished to get this against this bad team. The one of the worst defenses in the league, the worst red zone defense in the league. And I'll tell you, this has got to do with some coaching too. Anytime that the Bears, whether it was a run or a pass to get outside of the numbers, the Bengals edge defense is just absolutely atrocious. And we saw that in that game against the jets last week where they ended up losing. And I'm sure the coaching staff and Ben Johnson went back and saw what they could take advantage of against this Bengals team and they accomplished that. Yeah. Was it pretty? No, it was an ugly win. It was very entertaining game. 89 points scored. And I want to go back to that. That third and one that ended up in the delay of game call that goes to third and six, which results in the Loveland touchdown, his first touchdown of the season. That was something that. That's a growth point there to overcome your own mistake, which is not something the Bears have done well this year. What they normally would have done is stack mistake on top of mistake there, but instead they were able to overcome their own mistake. And again in a really nice pass, in a timing pass, Caleb makes a beautiful throw to a tight end. And we know that Loveland was out for concussion. And if his concussion, his injury and losing Playing time in this game resulted in more looks and more opportunities for Loveland. It's a positive thing despite the injury and despite all importance to the run game. This was a good thing though, to see Loveland get more targets.

Dan Bernstein (24:09)

And let's look at that with Roma Dunze having three targets and zero catches that there was some concern that Williams was looking to a dunes a too much and that he was becoming a crutch and that he was staring him down. And I think they saw that on tape. I believe that if you had told. Is it Al golden who's their defensive coordinator now?

Matt Abeticola (24:33)

Correct.

Dan Bernstein (24:33)

That if you had told Al golden that Roma Dunes A will play the entire game and not have a catch, that he would have taken it. And for Lamade Zakiye to convert his six of his eight targets, his team high eight targets into catches for 58 yards, including a touchdown, is a, is a big deal. If this, if we look back on this and you can say, hey Caleb, you can go win a game. And I didn't calculate his, his passer rating, but my guess is with 280 yards and three touchdowns, he's probably at 100 or, or above around there. If you can have 114 that you can have a 114 passer efficient efficiency rating without a single completion to your number one wide receiver. I think that can be taken as a good sign.

Matt Abeticola (25:28)

Yeah, no, for sure. And if you, if you look at this and say, all right, Cincinnati is going to finish with 46 yards rushing and Jamar Chase won't have his first catch until 926 left in the first half, you'd probably say, oh, the Bears are going to, you know, the Bears probably dominated that first half and ran away with the score, which they did not. It was just, it was such an unbelievable fun game. I mean nerve wracking, you know. And after last night, after, after the World Series, like I didn't need this.

Dan Bernstein (25:57)

I know my, my, my heart rate, I'm serious. My heart rate is only now normalizing and I was, I was fine, I was fine all game until that onside kick. And when the onside kick happened is when all of a sudden I felt like this cortisol dump and a complete like clampdown. I don't even want to know what my blood pressure was. Thank God I'm on, you know, medication, but I'm just now kind of breathing right.

Matt Abeticola (26:27)

Oh, hey, let's, let's mention too the, the newest Bear Gardner Johnson, who had a sack, had a pass, defended. Yeah, I thought he played a decent game. But what was so cute though was that sack that he had. It was like a kid tackling his dad in the backyard. And I wish there was a mic on Joe Flacco because I'm sure he was like, I'm down, I'm down, I'm down, I'm down, I'm down.

Dan Bernstein (26:49)

He got me, he got me.

Matt Abeticola (26:50)

I'm down, I'm down. But it was funny trying to watch him bring him down. And then I also want to point out Montez Sweat, who I thought had a really nice game as well too.

Dan Bernstein (26:59)

What surprised me from Dennis Allen and we saw it late, we saw it right after I wrote it down actually in the fourth quarter. Why weren't they pressuring more in the A gap?

Matt Abeticola (27:11)

Because I don't know with the, with the. Especially with a center taking his first.

Dan Bernstein (27:17)

Snaps that you pointed that out during the week on forward progress. Looking at a rookie center, I don't understand why they refused to show the even the A gap mug and the drop back. Why not come from there instead of from the edge? And when they did send C.J. gardner Johnson, that was also with Brisker coming off the edge as well.

Matt Abeticola (27:41)

Yeah.

Dan Bernstein (27:42)

So it just surprised me. Maybe Dennis Allen has a terrific explanation for it for how he wanted to shape his defense. But I thought of all games when you have an immobile 40 year old quarterback get pressured directly like it's sort of like what teams would do to an older Tom Brady or when teams have had had had success. Against Brady, it wasn't outside pressure. It was always trying to get his eyes to drop early because boy it was sure successful against Caleb Williams because too often his eyes drop and then by the time his eyes are up and his back has already been to the defense we. And again this, this we should revisit scramble rules about it's always these comeback routes. Every time was a comeback to the sideline to come back to the sideline that we he needs to get it out or go enough screwing around back there. Nothing good is going to happen. You're not Fran Tarkenton, is he Fran Targeten? No, he's not Fran targeted.

Matt Abeticola (28:46)

He's not Fran Tuckerton. How about your guy Andrew Billings on that play that they saw? It was a fumble at first which was an incomplete pass and he's you know, picking up and running with it. I was, I was laughing at those. I know that you love, you love big Andrew Billings.

Dan Bernstein (29:00)

Is he gaining weight?

Matt Abeticola (29:03)

It looks like it.

Dan Bernstein (29:05)

I'm just asking. I'm not body shaming. I'm not judging. I'm just asking a question because I think Leon is getting larger. I can't believe they won that game.

Matt Abeticola (29:22)

Yeah, either.

Dan Bernstein (29:23)

I cannot. I cannot believe they won that game.

Matt Abeticola (29:26)

I just. I couldn't believe the onside kick and, you know, goes eight and a half, nine yards and his kicks right off of Hardy's foot. It's like, what are you doing, man? What are you doing?

Dan Bernstein (29:36)

That cannot.

Matt Abeticola (29:37)

It cannot happen.

Dan Bernstein (29:38)

It cannot happen. How? Also, how did Evan McPherson come up short on a 54 yarder?

Matt Abeticola (29:45)

I don't know.

Dan Bernstein (29:46)

I thought. I thought that was the middle of the net. When it left his foot, I thought middle of the net. I didn't see him react oddly. Sometimes you'll see a kicker look down like I look when I'm using my lob wedge and, oh, it's got to be the ground slot. It was on a tree root. It had to be something other than me being bad at golf. But he didn't do that. I'm not. I'm not sure if he just hit too low on the ball and popped it up.

Matt Abeticola (30:11)

I wasn't sure if Santos ran out there in a Bengals uniform and kicked for him, but I just. I couldn't believe that it was that short. That was surprising.

Dan Bernstein (30:18)

Do you activate Moody?

Matt Abeticola (30:21)

I would. I've seen enough.

Dan Bernstein (30:25)

I mean, even with the. A 47 yarder is too short to be blocked. A 47 yard has got to be up and off.

Matt Abeticola (30:32)

Yeah.

Dan Bernstein (30:34)

That cannot be in danger of being blocked.

Matt Abeticola (30:37)

Well, you know what? I know that was a quick reaction. It's out of frustration. I don't know. Because yes, Moody does have the longer leg, but Santos has greater accuracy than what Moody has shown. And if Moody had the accuracy with the leg, he wouldn't be available in here anyway. So. I don't know, maybe someone new. Is there a third option, Dan?

Dan Bernstein (30:56)

No.

Matt Abeticola (30:57)

Okay.

Dan Bernstein (30:57)

There's not a third option. And how did T. Higgins only have 121 yards? It felt like he caught every ball and every play was 26 yards.

Matt Abeticola (31:07)

How about that touchdown catch he had?

Dan Bernstein (31:09)

Oh, my God. I thought it might have been picked. When I saw the positioning, I thought, look, if you go attack and high point the ball, that can be a pick. And somebody did attack the ball and high pointed. It just wasn't the defensive back.

Matt Abeticola (31:25)

Yeah, he was, man, he was. He was unbelievable today. I mean, just absolutely unbelievable. Oh, I wanted to get back to that. That play that you brought up with the DJ Moore touchdown call. Right away, I. I thought that it was Bears ball, one yard line. I. Because I thought the ball went out on the left side of the pylon. There's no way that's going to be a touchback.

Dan Bernstein (31:44)

I didn't see his feet, though. So that's what I couldn't tell was if he was established clearly out of bounds before the ball in the pylon and possession even became an issue.

Matt Abeticola (31:56)

Yeah, I just, I thought right away that it's Bears ball, one yard line and they go to the challenge and I'm talking with Hank about it and I'm just like, you know, he's like, what do you think? And I'm like, bears ball, one yard line. There's no way it's a touchback. I did not expect it to come back and go touchdown. I did not see. I mean, I'll take it. I'm happy that it happened. Didn't see that coming at all. But I, I did not see touchdown at all as an option on that play. I thought, one yard line, Bears ball, let's not mess this up. Let's punch it in the end zone. But to come back and have that called a touchdown, I'll take it. Nice gift. Thank you.

Dan Bernstein (32:28)

Let me ask you this question too, and be honest. When they were dropping back for the Hail Mary and what we generally see of NFL quarterbacks across the board, of their ability to get it, where it's got to be, that, that Quail, that grouse, that Partridge, however many deep in game birds you want to go, whatever Flacco is trying, I thought, are you setting up like a hook and ladder? Are you designing this to be lateral back to somebody?

Matt Abeticola (33:03)

I'll go back and watch it again. But that, that throw was contested. He did not have a clean throw. And I wanted to point it out. I'm glad you brought it up because you know how many guys the Bears rush on that play?

Dan Bernstein (33:12)

Five.

Matt Abeticola (33:13)

Six.

Dan Bernstein (33:14)

Six.

Matt Abeticola (33:14)

They had six guys. They had six rush that play. They had to. They had to. They needed to get pressure. They could not let him get a clean throw because he could make that throw easy.

Dan Bernstein (33:26)

I'm thinking about Greg Williams and the zero blitz that got him fired.

Matt Abeticola (33:31)

Yeah, I didn't. Yeah, I just, I. I'm glad that I saw the six guys cross the line, put some pressure on and that that throw was a bit contested. So.

Dan Bernstein (33:40)

Okay. Because the moment I saw that, it was like, at that. I don't think that one's quite got the distance.

Matt Abeticola (33:46)

No, it didn't. The second it went out, I was like, well, that's going to be short.

Sleep Number Advertiser (33:50)

Yeah.

Dan Bernstein (33:50)

And I also. And then we can debate whether or not Nishan Wright should just knock that down or.

Matt Abeticola (33:58)

Well, whatever. But I was like, when he starts running, Dan, I'm like, go down right.

Dan Bernstein (34:03)

Sit down immediately.

Matt Abeticola (34:05)

Because I was waiting to fumble in return for a touchdown. Yeah. Oh, boy. Dan, there was 89 points scored in this game today.

Dan Bernstein (34:16)

Well, we kind of thought that was.

Matt Abeticola (34:17)

A good 31 points in the fourth quarter.

Dan Bernstein (34:20)

Well, it seems like every game gets silly like this now. It seems like every NFL game somehow, somehow it comes down to this. But Kyle Menung guy should enjoy this ball. T med is going to get that thing painted up for him. I wish he could have gotten a touchdown and they gave him the chances. I just, it would have been nice for him to get a touchdown.

Matt Abeticola (34:43)

It's funny, like, I felt like I was like a relative of Kyle, but nun guy, when, when, when, when Britain scored and I was mad, I was.

Dan Bernstein (34:51)

Like, oh, come on.

Matt Abeticola (34:52)

I want, I want mananguy to score. You're not supposed to score.

Dan Bernstein (34:55)

Well, the other seventh round pick, running back in his NFL debut got one, so I'm not feeling too bad for Britton Brown either. I don't know anybody expected him to rumble that thing in from where he did because the, my God, the tackling angles on that play were horrendous.

Matt Abeticola (35:09)

Oh, they're so bad. I'll say that again. Going into the game, The Bengals had 84 missed tackles leading the NFL. Second place team. The second worst team was 65. I mean, it's just, it's pathetic and it showed. I mean, I didn't realize how bad it was, but watching this game today, man, that is a terrible, terrible defense. And I'm really glad that Ben Johnson was able to take advantage of the, the outside thirds of the field. He saw that watching games and they were able to take advantage of it with runs and passes as well.

Dan Bernstein (35:41)

I was concerned at half because of the number of drives that your number of. Of stall outs by the Bengals that were because of their own penalties and the bad Chase Brown drop that was third and six on the Bears 23 in the first quarter that I didn't really like the way this was trending because all it took was Cincinnati just tightening up a little bit. And I thought the Bears are gonna be in trouble. But this is one of those games where most of the actual analysis is kind of pointless. We're, as far as why things happened when they happened, I don't really know. I know I'm not Gonna forget living through that because as I say we were. It might have aged us like presidents at this point, but at halftime I saw a couple of stats here. I believe it was Kevin Fishbane that did some of this work. So I appreciate him doing that. That Kyle Manungai, his nine is 100 yards that I believe he ended up with at half correct was the most for a Bear running back and a half since David Montgomery who had 106 against the Texans in 2020. And that included an 80 yard touchdown run at the very beginning of the game. This was not like that. This was a multitude of different carries left and right off tackle, both sides. Some outside zone, some gap scheme, some up the middle. And his. The trust that there is in him because of his career, established ball security is certainly notable noticeable that I don't know if he's going to be in a full time split with DeAndre Swift, but knowing that he has established himself already. And I will say they saw something. This coaching staff and scouting staff and Ryan Poles deserve some credit here because not only was he drafted that from the moment training camp started, from what we saw, what was going on in exhibition games, the carries that they weren't giving him when they were using Britton Brown and others, he won a job fast. And I will, I will take back anything bad that I said about him early when he was struggling as, as a newcomer to NFL football and he. The backwards play, it was, was really silly. It was really bad. He did have the backwards play and he was bad. So I'm especially on that play with the lack of understanding there. But he's certainly growing and earning trust and he's an easy young man to root for.

Matt Abeticola (38:23)

Yeah, there you go. Ryan Poles can hit on the seventh rounders like no other.

Dan Bernstein (38:28)

Sure take the fun out of something. I had to say taking the fun out of it.

Matt Abeticola (38:32)

That wasn't me, that was T.C.

Dan Bernstein (38:36)

S Iron Maiden. Okay, gotcha.

Mike King (38:39)

There you go.

Matt Abeticola (38:40)

It was not me. I'm not taking the fun out of anything. That was as nerve wracking, as tense filled as that game was, that was. It was fun. That was.

Dan Bernstein (38:49)

Well, it's fun now. This would not be fun had they lost.

Matt Abeticola (38:52)

Oh yeah. Oh no, absolutely. But here's what it is though, Dan. This, this is the ultimate blob season that we're experiencing. I mean the Minnesota Vikings beat the Detroit Lions again. The Lions were on the road, the packers lost to the Panthers. I mean this is just an absolute, absolute blob of a season that we're seeing. So I'm looking forward to catching up on what's going on in the Chiefs Bills game. That's the highlight game of the, of the, of the late games here. If the Chiefs can establish themselves in this game and win this game, it might be the Chiefs and then the Blob. And the Blob is getting bigger each week now.

Dan Bernstein (39:32)

It is, it's, it's blobby out there. It really is. And this is what Pete Roselle wanted. He wanted every one of these, every game to matter, every outcome to matter. And I don't know that he could program all of these games to be epic like this because I don't know if it was in your group chat, but it was certainly in mine. With the Bears up 41 to 27 with that much time on the clock that it was said in my group chat, I forgot exactly who it was. But somebody said the way Flacco is playing, he could easily put up a couple of touchdowns here and I'll be damned if he didn't. Unreal.

Matt Abeticola (40:11)

Yep. Looking at some other scores around the league today. The Vikings over the Lions 27 24. The Panthers down the Packers 16 13. Chargers over the Titans 27 to 20. Patriots with a a one point win over the Falcons 24 to 23.

Dan Bernstein (40:27)

Still doing it, man.

Matt Abeticola (40:29)

49Ers down the Giants 34 24. Which is the Bears next opponent coming up this weekend? As a reminder on DBU this Friday, we'll have the team top 10 giants of all time. Steelers beat the Colts 27 to 20. Aaron Rodgers leads the the Steelers to a victory over the AFC leading Colts 27 to 20.

Dan Bernstein (40:48)

I want to say at one point the Colts had four turnovers. I don't know if they added to that, but this was the little Colts heat check that they had come and they were going to get tagged.

Matt Abeticola (40:56)

And then the Broncos beat the Texans 18 to 15. We'll take a look here real quick at that game. You said at one point they had four. Four turnovers?

Dan Bernstein (41:04)

I think so, yeah. This is a. It's one of these seasons. And the Bears 5 and 3 as. Yes.

Matt Abeticola (41:14)

Are you okay? Let's finish with six turnovers.

Dan Bernstein (41:16)

Oh, that's way too many. Six.

Matt Abeticola (41:19)

Yes.

Dan Bernstein (41:20)

And they only lost. What was the final?

Matt Abeticola (41:22)

27 to 20.

Dan Bernstein (41:23)

They only lost by a touchdown with six turnovers.

Matt Abeticola (41:26)

They lost three fumbles and they three interceptions and Ellie lost by a touchdown.

Dan Bernstein (41:30)

Wow. Okay.

Matt Abeticola (41:35)

Steelers only had one. They had one fumble lost.

Dan Bernstein (41:38)

That's a lot. I do want to see if there are difficult questions asked of Ben Johnson, regarding what's going on on special teams, because that's just hideous. The, the kickoff return yards allowed, the penalties, the block kick, the onside kick allowed to be recovered. Two of those things in a game are bad, but all of those things in a game, there are, there are generally consequences for such things. And this is a holdover from a previous staff and this is. I don't know if there's a reason to do it mid season, but when you're five and three and you're sitting a half a game out of first place, all of a sudden you can. It's. I'm sure you're fooling yourself into thinking there's high stakes, but this season in this league allows you to do that.

Matt Abeticola (42:30)

There was one stat that they put up during the broadcast that kind of really highlighted what this game was all about. At one point, The Bears had 26 first downs. Dan, Cincinnati had run 28 plays and the score was 31 to 27 only. Yeah, there was a four point difference.

Dan Bernstein (42:48)

Amazing. Absolutely amazing. Let me just add one other thing. I had a couple notes here on everything I was seeing on my tv. Can we be done with the Amazon commercial? With the young lady coming back to her childhood bedroom and seeing her dad on the treadmill and running to Collective Soul's song Shine?

Matt Abeticola (43:10)

Why does it bother you?

Dan Bernstein (43:11)

Because they need another ad. It's enough already. It's just enough. I get it and whatever, it's fine. But it just. For some reason it's starting to grade on me now.

Matt Abeticola (43:20)

Okay, noted. I will make a call.

Dan Bernstein (43:23)

Okay, Just, I just, I just, you know, put that on there. I wonder what else is in the Ben Johnson playbook because he doesn't give a shit, does he? He really. He doesn't care. He just.

Matt Abeticola (43:33)

He doesn't. But let me ask you this though. That, that pass early on in the, in the first drive where Cole Comet makes the pass which is eventually challenged and not. And ruled an incomplete pass, that seems like a lot happening for a 12 yard gain. 14.

Dan Bernstein (43:51)

I had 14.

Matt Abeticola (43:52)

All right, whatever. It was. 14, which was eventually ruled incomplete. But isn't there a lot happening there for that, like little of a gain? I mean, shouldn't those high risk plays result in more than just 14 yards?

Dan Bernstein (44:06)

You don't call it if you don't have the right personnel out there. Defensively, if there's a look that you think you're getting, obviously the plan isn't for it to go for 14 yards.

Matt Abeticola (44:16)

How's it supposed to go?

Dan Bernstein (44:17)

I think it's supposed to go further down the field.

Matt Abeticola (44:20)

I guess you got to run further down the field then that's. That didn't work that way.

Dan Bernstein (44:24)

And Cole, man, come on. Like this is a guy who throws a 95 mile an hour fastball and you're kind of. I mean he's got that long Tim Tebow reach back to that big left handed reach back.

Matt Abeticola (44:39)

I didn't know he was a lefty.

Dan Bernstein (44:40)

Yeah, he was a closer for the Notre Dame baseball team. Well, I just did that. Didn't look like he want to look into that that he could throw 95. I think he was maybe in the moment just trying to make sure he got it there. Didn't want to really let it rip.

Matt Abeticola (44:54)

And tell me if. If I maybe I was hearing something that Adam Martuletta wasn't saying. But did he bad games. Did he basically want Caleb Williams to run on every single play?

Dan Bernstein (45:03)

I don't know.

Matt Abeticola (45:03)

That's what I heard.

Dan Bernstein (45:04)

I don't know. But he also called them the Browns at one point. There was all sorts of strange stuff going on.

Matt Abeticola (45:12)

Yes, we have. I can't wait to get together tomorrow and talk more Bears football and more other things too on DBU because you made me zero in on John Smoltz the last two games, game six and game seven of the World Series. And I sorry, yes, I'm angry at you for it but.

Dan Bernstein (45:32)

Beth caught the Smoltz virus too.

Matt Abeticola (45:34)

Yeah, I have it. I'm glad it's done. The only thing I can say is how can that be your number one team for baseball?

Dan Bernstein (45:39)

I don't know.

Matt Abeticola (45:40)

I just don't get it.

Dan Bernstein (45:41)

We should mention that we are going to be live. Not live but we are going to be on tomorrow. We've got both DBU and forward progress tomorrow. On Tuesday we've got dbu, we've got forward progress and we have the latest edition of organizations win championships. The Bulls game is starting in an hour and 40 minutes. That they are. They are at the Knicks so I do not expect them to win this one. I think this will be it for the five game winning streak. But I could be right. Every time I think something about this Bulls team they prove me wrong. So we are going to be covering that and breaking this. This Bulls start down on organizations win championships and on dbu. But we are your place for Bears and we are going to be there all week. The 5 and 3 Bears with a win to remember. I congrats to Kyle Menungai and I hope they get this special teams situation sorted out. Soon. Because if nothing else, they are giving us a ton about which to talk, a ton to which to react and forward progress. On three. One, two. Sports is going to be your place to do all of that.

Matt Abeticola (46:50)

Yeah, look at our guy. Our guy, Pat. He checked in here.

Dan Bernstein (46:54)

Yeah.

Matt Abeticola (46:54)

And Archuleta definitely wanted Caleb run more. I thought I heard that correctly.

Dan Bernstein (46:58)

And look at this.

Matt Abeticola (46:58)

Another guy. Government fromage. Maybe Amazon doesn't have enough money to make ads.

Dan Bernstein (47:03)

Boy, are there. There's some OGs out today.

Matt Abeticola (47:05)

Yes, there are, my friend.

Dan Bernstein (47:07)

Is Quad City Pat allowed to use his face in an avatar? I thought there was a. Some sort of judgment.

Matt Abeticola (47:13)

Oh, I think. I think that that lapsed.

Dan Bernstein (47:15)

Oh, it did, Yeah.

Matt Abeticola (47:17)

I think he's good.

Dan Bernstein (47:17)

There was a restraining order that I think. Okay. So that that's expired and he can go back to using his face in an avatar.

Matt Abeticola (47:23)

Well, it came from, I think, the very first time I met Pat, when he put on the really small, tiny pink Coors T shirt.

Dan Bernstein (47:30)

That was the first time you met him?

Matt Abeticola (47:32)

I think so, yeah. And I think that's when the judgment against him, it began from that. That was the genesis. I think it's passed now.

Dan Bernstein (47:38)

I think so. But now he's retired, and now he's sort of the town eccentric, from what I understand. He wanders around the neighborhood in his jean shorts with a beer in each hand, so we obviously wish him the best.

Matt Abeticola (47:51)

And in his pocket, his poor beer is right into his pocket.

Dan Bernstein (47:56)

Sticks his hand in there, just licks his hand. All right, that's gonna do it for our postgame show. Thank you for joining forward progress and. Oh, man, what a game, dude. What a game. What a game. Thanks for being here with us. And we are going to spend this whole week not only making sense of this, but getting you ready for Bears and Giants as well. Thanks to Beer Church. Thanks to you for being a part of this. On three, One, two, sports.