← Forward Progress - A Chicago Bears Podcast
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- [00:01]
A
Ted 219, 219.
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B
Forward progress, a Chicago Bears podcast with Dan Bernstein and Matt Abeticola on 312 Sports.
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A
We are live and yes, we are early. With 326 still remaining in the game and the Bears leading 31 to 14. This is what you call all but ova. So it is nice to actually get on early for a very good reason, and the reason being that the Bears won a game that people were increasingly expecting them to lose. They do it in dominant fashion. Dan Bernstein, Matt Abaticola with you here on Forward progress, a 312-sports- podcast all about your Chicago Bears. And there's nothing that cures what ails you like a Matt Eberfluous defense.
- [00:56]
B
Yeah, I, you know, we talked a lot this week about the Cowboys defense and just not being very good. And they are much worse than I anticipated watching today. They are, they are not good at all. They, they barely get any pressure on the quarterback like the Bears barely did today on Dak Prescott. There was, there was a few times, but not, not very much. They, they look terrible. They are absolutely an awful team. If Matt Eberfluss makes it to the end of this season as the coordinator for the Cowboys, I'll be very surprised.
- [01:28]
A
And what did we say talking all week about a Tampa 2 defense that wants you to put together long drives and make a mistake. And it was a good bet on the part of the Cowboys that the Bears would continue to make mistakes and shoot themselves in the foot or a different body part. And they didn't. They also took the top off, which is what you have to do when the two safeties are back there. It took a little bit of trickery, but the flea flicker was a perfect example of whatever you have to do to make sure that those the deepest of the deep aren't deep enough. And hell, Luther Burden arrived. What a terrific game for him.
- [02:05]
B
Yeah, he had a great game. The first touchdown to Rome. Diggs falls down at the line of scrimmage, you know, with that pressure. So, you know, you take advantage of that. Luckily, Caleb was able to see that and see that Rome was wide open and make that throw, make that decision to throw it. He was wide open. So you catch a break there that, that Diggs falls and then you have the flea flicker play, which was just unbelievable. And you know, it's great, it's great the Bears get a win. I feel, I feel great that the Bears won this game. They wanted easily over a really bad team. The Cowboys are not good if that like Dak Prescott to me watching this game he looked like the second year quarterback. Like the easy check downs, I mean they're really easy throws. Not really, you know those, those passes to Ferguson all game are just you know, short passes, extensions of a, of a run game that was very effective that they wanted, they had to go away from trailing by more than, than two touchdowns. But he just looked like the really conservative, doesn't really want to go down field, take chances kind of quarterback yet he's your nine, ten year veteran.
- [03:11]
A
Let's talk a little big picture first and that is that the complexion of the season can change. And this is very common actually to have a home dog after two games when two games is a small sample size. And the Bears perhaps at least establish that they may still be bad eventually, but they're not going to be on the very lowest tier of bad. Even considering some of the injuries that they've had. They're, they're definitely a level better than a Dallas Cowboys team without CD Lamb. Whatever that says, draw whatever conclusions you want. And when it happened, when whatever narratives in the first quarter of the season changed, it was in the third quarter. Knowing that Dallas is starting the ball on their own 29, Dominique Robinson with a sack on third and 15 or creating a third and 15 where the next play was short to Ferguson resulted in a punt. The Bears got the ball at their own 24 and proceeded to drive the ball down the field. 19 plays, 76 yards, 954 ground off the clock. It's their first 19 play drive of any kind. Successful or not. Their first 19 play drive, the last one they had was in 2009. That was the game and I counted that drive. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 third downs. The only one they didn't pick up was the last one. That resulted in the fourth down from the four that ended up being the touchdown to a wide open D.J. moore. 3rd and 10. Williams finds Moore for the 1st, 3rd and 1. DeAndre Swift picks up the 1st, 3rd and 4. It's the burden end around then. 3rd and 1 again and it's Swift again on that drive. They at least for a week showed you you can put a floor in for any questions for how bad are the Chicago Bears so far? They're not this bad. They were good enough to beat a team that came in asking to be beaten. They did it. Good job. I think Ben Johnson deserves a game ball alongside Burden, alongside obviously Caleb Williams and Tremaine edm.
- [05:34]
B
Yeah, they absolutely showed some life here for this season, Dan. And they did what they were supposed to do against a bad team at home. It was never close. This game was over relatively early in the, in the first quarter. You just felt like it was, it was. They were never going to be able to catch up. The Bears just had those, those two big touchdown plays and they just, there was distance created that the Cowboys were never going to close, especially with having to run the ball and then the short passing with, with his hesitation to go downfield until late in the fourth quarter. They were never going to catch the Bears. Now, here's what I thought. I wasn't yelling and screaming with all this great joy because what they were doing in the first three quarters, the first half was really not sustainable as far as an offense is concerned with trickery, with, with these long plays, with a guy falling down, taking advantage of mistakes, taking advantage of a bad team. What really made me happy, though, was that 19 play drive that I watched that and it wasn't pretty. It wasn't anything to get excited about. It was just stacking first downs on top of first downs and moving the ball downfield. And I didn't know if they had that in them to do that type of drive. And when I saw that, it gave me a great deal of confidence. That was my favorite part of this game, the fact that they were able to do that. It's not sexy. It's not a big, you know, it's not Ben Johnson going deep into his playbook. They were just stacking first downs and that's what you have to do to win football games in the NFL. And I was glad to see that they could do that with running the football and passing when Caleb needed to.
- [07:07]
A
A Kevin Byard end zone interception with just under a minute to play has put the Bears into victory formation. So it's going to be a 31 to 14 final. Caleb Williams getting to enjoy this one. I got to hand it to our guy, Ari Levy, the owner and proprietor of the Wiener Circle. He tweeted out earlier this week and Ari's my guy. So I can say this. And if you're, if you're with us, Ari, you did this to yourself. He said. If Caleb Williams throws for four touchdown passes, Chicago's venerable hot dog stand there at Clark near Diversity, Wiener Circle would be awarding free hot dogs on Tuesday.
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B
Yeah, and he's going to have to do it now because that's it.
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A
There you go. Go get them.
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B
They had four takeaways too, on the game. Three interceptions. Tyreek Stevenson, we can comment on his opening play when I Thought the Cowboys were just going to march downfield running the football and Stevenson makes a hell of a play on the sideline to steal that ball away. That was just a really, really good play. Which reminded you of what Something that Tyreek Stevens has never done before.
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A
No, it happened to a Bear, famously that exact situation. Somebody made a catch, is running with the ball and a defensive back comes up and takes it from him staying in bounds.
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B
Who was it?
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A
It was the Bears. Emir Smith Marsette against the Vikings, if memory serves. And I'm sure the commenters and thank you for joining us. If we have our wonderful commenters here. I'm sure the commenters I don't like are otherwise busy right now. So enjoy. I think I know you're busy with your with some Kleenex. That that's okay. And you can let that mean whatever you want. Wait. Comedy Prison Got to be careful.
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B
The.
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A
I believe Mere Smith Marcet had it happened to him against the Vikings. I forgot who ripped it out of his hands, but it was, it was a huge deal and I saw that and then I thought he might have been out of bounds. But all good. Tyreek Stevenson actually showed up and played well in this game. And now let's, let's look a little bit at the way the schedule shapes up now before the bye week. That next week becomes a lot more winnable when you look at it. I don't think much of the Raiders and then the commanders. Do they have their quarterback?
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B
Well, they didn't need him today.
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A
Okay. Well, still, I'm just that if you, if you want to start getting silly and believe me, things will get silly. I do think that Caleb Williams deserves to throw some I told you so's out there. What you hope this isn't is like the Mitch Trubisky Bucks game because all bad Bears quarterbacks have a spasm of superiority. I don't think this is that because I don't think Caleb Williams is bad. I think Caleb Williams could still be really good and I still haven't taken great off the table for him. He has to do away with some of the inexplicable misses. He missed Roma dunes A on an out route. He threw another one into the ground on a third down. There's still some that just aren't getting there of the routine variety that have to. But go ahead and enjoy. I think, I think Caleb Williams, if you want to say throw some I told you so's out there, go ahead and do it. You earn the right to do that.
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B
Yeah. And Speaking of I told you so. As I told you, the Cowboys were going to blow the Bears out today. I told you that CD Lamb would go for over 200. So just listen to what I say. Go with me on this. Yeah, it doesn't help one of the commenters saying that it didn't hurt to break CD Lamb's ankle. Can you, can you tell me why, why we're doing this in the NFL? Why are we taking top tier receivers and running them out of the backfield as a running back? Why is God's name.
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A
Because Debo Samuel ruined it for everybody.
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B
It's stupid. It's absolutely stupid. Like, I know that the Bears did it several times with DJ Moore. They have done it with DJ Moore. But setting him up as a running back. And thankfully Tom Brady did let us know that the Bears signed DJ Moore to come in here as a receiver. So luckily he was there to tell us that because I was like, whoa, is he a running back? Is he a receiver? I didn't know. And then Tom let us know. But why are we doing this? Why are we taking top tier receivers and running them out of the backfield?
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A
Well, I just thank Tom Brady also for not being bad enough that it was notable he was a perfect replacement, level, forgettable analyst today.
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B
Oh, no, no, I think you're entirely wrong. He was terrible.
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A
Did you think?
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B
Absolutely terrible. Dan. He was. Dan. They could take me to Soldier Field before the game today, put me in the booth and I could have done the equivalent of what Tom Brady did today, which is share zero insights about being a quarterback in the NFL and just throw like some phrases at you and, and then just repeat what he saw on the screen. That was it. You know, there was that, that out route to Pickens for the first down. That was a beautiful out route. Beautiful timing on it like that ball is thrown before he breaks for his route. He could share some insights about being a quarterback, how hard that is, especially with Pickens being new to the Cowboys because we know how long it takes for guys to gel, you know, the Bears can't gel in a, you know, in an off season. So how in God's name could Pickens and Dak Prescott be on the same page to make that hard out route? He goes on to say that Wright actually had a chance, you know, that that easily could have gone the other way. What game are you watching? He was nowhere near picking that ball off.
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A
Well, none. I think you, I think you had.
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B
You had, you highlighted it for me and now it's all I Listened to was all the dumb shit he said all game, and he's awful. It is your fault. I don't listen to him. I don't listen to analysts. I just watch the game and I eat my food. Now I'm listening to Tom Brady's every word. He says nothing. He adds nothing.
- [13:04]
A
Well, maybe it was. What was your food. Maybe that was the problem.
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B
Oh, I made a. I made a white chicken chili. I told you I was gonna make chili. I did it.
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A
Well, every time you make a chicken chili, it's a white chicken chili.
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B
Well, that's. Well, no, it's not true.
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A
By definition. Because you're white.
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B
Okay, because I'm white. Yeah. And chicken's generally white, too. Yeah, but it doesn't chicken. You can make a. You can make a red chili chicken.
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A
Well, I know one can, but I just. I think even your red chili is technically white. Yeah, I didn't. I didn't write down a lot of little frowny faces that I will usually do for broadcasters. The only thing I did was before this game, I wrote one down for Moose Johnston. He's become the new Phil Sims. Saying. We talked about. Just talk about it. Every single thing that came out of Moose Johnson's mouth was. We talked about. We talked about it in the pre meetings, we talked about it before the game. We talked about in the first quarter. I just talk. Talk about it now. I'm watching now. I wasn't there, but I don't. I don't need to know what you did talk about. I've talked about a lot of things, but you're. You're talking. Just talk. It's okay. Everything's fine. So that. So I was. He didn't bother me as much as he bothered you, but somehow it's my fault that he bothered you. Either way, even if the Bears are going to be 7 and 10, you got to find those seven somewhere.
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B
Yeah, you're right.
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A
And maybe this was one of those seven. But they're not. They're not. They've taken, like, ass bad off the table. Right?
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B
They have. No, they absolutely have. If this was a close game, then like, like really bad would still be on the table. But this was an absolute blowout of a terrible team at home. They did what they had to do, so they've taken that terrible level, that bottom tier of the NFL off the table with this one victory.
- [14:52]
A
And it also shows that if. If we call it a wash with Jalen Johnson out and CD Lamb out, that there were enough others and the defense was, well Schemed enough. There was a little bit of pressure, but not a lot. Let me also mention one thing too. We can decry the play of Dak Prescott all we want, but I think it's been already too late into this broadcast for me to laud the Bears offensive line other than Darnell Wright, he's got a tighten up. It just. He's got six penalties already so far through these games and that's too many. I know he came out and he toughed his way through it. Benedet came in and he got back in there. Bright got back in there. But really good job across the middle and Braxton Jones had a really good game as well. So I thought the pass protection for the most part was terrific. It Caleb Williams was able to move within and closely outside the pocket without having to actually scramble for his life. So it's certainly not a vaunted pass rush. Ibrahoos obviously wants to get home with all of his guys. You know, they tried that whole oh, we're going to mug the A gaps look. What? And they never came. I thought, I thought at the end they finally were they. I counted four times where they did that and they backed off every single time. Same predictable Tampa 2 stuff. And I thought that the offensive line with their calls, with the blocking pass protection, I put a star on it today. If you want to mitigate that as far as the quality of opponent, go ahead. But it's an NFL game and they deserve praise.
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B
Yeah. And then maybe you missed it when Tom Brady was talking about Dan. All right. And said that he's been a very pleasant surprise to the team.
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A
What? He's a first round pick.
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B
You must have missed that. He also said that the Bears have been somewhat efficient and in the run game at that point they had like combined between Manungai and Swift for about, I don't know, 23 yards. So they weren't being efficient in the run game. Darnell Wright hasn't been some pleasant surprise. So yeah, you must have missed those comments from Brady who's just okay, you're.
- [16:52]
A
In charge of Tom Brady from now on. I'm going to fired put you in charge for the purposes of forward progress. And also you mentioned a name that I wanted to get to here on our postgame show. I'm done with Kyle Menungai. I don't know that I ever started. I don't know that I ever really started to do anything. I never began with Kyle Menungai, but what does he do?
- [17:17]
B
Runs backwards. He ran the wrong way.
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A
But he's, he's. I know that he doesn't fumble. That there's a reason when you have a lead, if you need a guy to fall forward for 2 yards and not fumble, fumble, that's great if that's a skill. If not fumbling is a marketable skill and he can remember to run forward, then you can keep him on the roster. But I can't. Although I did hear his name invoked when I was watching the Rutgers Maryland game. So I found that interesting because they talked about the current Rutgers back eclipsing the great Kyle Manon guy.
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B
So Manungai today, 6 attempts, 16 yards, 2.7 average. Swift 30, 13 attempts, 33 yards. So 49 yards on 19 carries for your running backs.
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A
Yeah, but they got, they, they got yards when it mattered. Well, that one drive they did.
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B
They did.
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A
It was, it was. They got enough blocking. They got enough to keep falling across that yellow line. And I'm going to, I'm going to give them their hosannas and their bouquets and their kudos because they asked me specifically for all three. So I will, I will provide the running game, all of what they deserve. And three interceptions. Those three takeaways. A lot of this stuff, you got to pad your stats on the, for your annual stats when you can. And we'll look back at this as a stat game.
- [18:37]
B
Yeah, no, you're right. Caleb Williams, 19 of 28, 298 yards, completion percentage of 68%. He had four touchdowns, zero interceptions, had a average of almost 11 yards, poor per pass. So I mean, he had a great game. Had a great game. He was able to hit receivers that were open, which sometimes he isn't able to do. Still had a couple of bad misses on plays that I'm sure they're going to say in press conference this week that he wish he had those, those throws back. Some really easy, easy throws. The room that were missed and shouldn't have been. But again, the Bears took advantage of a bad Cowboys defense and the mistakes that they were willing to make and the fact that Dak Prescott was unwilling to go downfield through the first three and a half quarters of the game.
- [19:24]
A
And it actually didn't. A Bears game didn't ruin our day. Right.
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B
You're exactly right. This is your, you know, there's so many positives to take away that being one of them. The day.
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A
It's a huge one.
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B
Was not ruined.
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A
Yes, it's a huge one that our.
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B
Week'S not ruined because we're not talking about a Bears loss. Again for another week.
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A
Yeah, that's true. And we're allowed to have a little bit of optimism just because we can take terrible off the table. We can, we can say that the Bears are going to be something other than one of the worst teams in the league.
- [19:58]
B
That's correct. They are. They are not going to be the worst. Yeah. And you know, if you look around, I mean, the, the Vikings with another win today over the Bengals. The packers lose in a defensive battle against the Cleveland Browns. Boy, that Frankenstein's monster under center for the Browns.
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A
You're bad.
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B
His cadence, I was like, what is that noise?
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A
Like Chewbacca. It was bad.
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B
Yeah. So then, yeah, the packers lose in a defensive battle with the Browns. That was really unexpected. Did you see all the number of blocked field goals?
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A
Yes. There were five in the early games, right?
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B
Yeah, exactly.
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A
And I.
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B
In the Eagles Rams game, there's a block field. Will attempt at a big fat fatty returned it 60 yards.
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A
Yeah. Fatty boombaladdy got out and apparently like on Statcast, they said that he was. Or next gen was talking about the speed at which he was running and it was, I think the fastest a 300 pounder has moved in the next gen era or whatever they're calling it. I don't really ever really want to see the Bengals with that guy quarterbacking either.
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B
It's no good.
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A
The Bears will see him. That's a win. You can put that one on the board. You can put it on the board, Jess.
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B
Yeah, that's two. That's two we're looking at.
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A
Yeah, that's a win.
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B
There is a game next weekend against the Raiders and by the way, we'll have the top 10 Raiders for you. The list has already begun.
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A
Already thinking about it.
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B
Yes.
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A
There's already some people mad about our list of Cowboys and people are always quibbling. Oh, I know.
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B
You know, here's another thing that Tom Brady said for us in the opening drive, that Ben Johnson just wants Caleb Williams to, quote, play point guard and distribute the ball. End quote. Also said when talked about the offense struggling through the first two games, he did. He then said, why would you expect them to gel? Why would you expect them to gel what? The offense was struggling. The guys have had a hard time gelling together and then Tom Brady threw in. Why would you expect them to gel? It's only been two games is what I think he was meaning to say. But why would I expect the gel? Because that's their, that's their job. That's pretty much why. Because you're supposed to like, I like, like. Do you think he had that kind of approach and attitude as a quarterback? If they were two games in? He probably had guys cut if they weren't doing what they needed to do. But now as an announcer, he's like, he's too nice to nothing positive things to say. Say something critical of someone at some point, please. He's terrible and I blame you. You ruined it for me.
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A
Yeah, I guess I just kind of turn off my filter with him because I know he's going to be around one of these replacement level guys that just says football, but he's the highest paid guy. He's the number one, though. It's not. It's not taxpayer money.
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B
But that doesn't matter though. He's. He's supposed to be the best at what he does. Well, not just like we criticized Montez Sweat because Ryan was dumb enough to be.
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A
We forgot to give him his hosannas. And what did he do? He had a sack.
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B
Oh, like in the game.
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A
In the game. He had a pressure that I saw. I even wrote it down.
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B
Was it late in the game?
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A
No, he had a pressure early. He had a pressure in the second quarter.
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B
It was a second.
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A
It was a second and nine. And it was an incomplete pass where Tyreek Stevenson had the pass breakup. And in large part it was due to the edge pressure from Montez Sweat. So I wrote that down and I even underlined it and then I gave him a little star next to his name. When Dallas was on backed up to their own seven and he had the key sack.
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B
Did you. When your notes do you write down player names or numbers?
- [23:55]
A
I usually. No, I can't do. You know how my brain works? I can't do. I usually do the first initial and then the last name. Unless I like with Ferguson today it was making me crazy because. Remember I told you about the song Thunder Island?
- [24:09]
B
Yes. Jay Ferguson. Right.
- [24:10]
A
That's Jay Ferguson.
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B
Yes.
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A
Who. And. And that was the one yacht rock song that for some reason, every time I turned on the yacht rock SiriusXM channel, I was getting Thunder island and I. And I liked it. I saw this song is good. I like this guitar solo.
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B
You saw him.
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A
And then I realized the guitar solo was. Was actually Joe Walsh. And I thought, okay, well there's a good reason why the guitar solo is good. And then I saw the album cover and he kind of. And then they just played that song too much and I got over. Like, it's like if you like eat too many chips and you have too much Salt or something. I just had too much of Thunder island. And then I kept writing down J, period, Ferguson. And then it made me mad because it made me that he had so many receptions. It made me think of Thunder island.
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B
He only had 13 today for 82 yards.
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A
I know, but I kept writing his name down every time he caught one.
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B
14 targets, 13 receptions.
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A
But like you say, that's what a bad quarterback does. That that's a poorly quarterback game if against the Bears secondary. Or it's poorly game planned if one of the two. That's correct. If that tight end who is reliable but would never describe Jake Ferguson as explosive. No, he's a reliable tight end. So that's too many targets, too many catches. And it means the Bears did a nice enough job defensively allowing him to be the guy open to knowing that he wasn't going to beat you.
- [25:28]
B
But they were showing the plays downfield that were open. And for whatever reason, Dak was just not throwing the ball through the first three and a half quarters. He would not go deep. And he was going through those progressions so quickly that it was within a half a second or a second he's dumping the ball off to Ferguson.
- [25:44]
A
Well, see, now here has come the tweet that you've been waiting for. The tweet that and I can't look at this guy's picture without laughing, my ass.
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B
What is it?
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A
It's. It's Skip Bayless says. No wonder they fired Eberfluss. Maybe we should, too. What?
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B
Can we fire him? But if I. If you give me the ability to fire Tom Brady and Matt Eberfluss right now, this would be one of the greatest days ever.
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A
No, leave Eberfluss there. Let him do what he wants.
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B
Well, the Bears don't play them again, though.
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A
No, but did he have his magical beard that makes him smarter.
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B
All right. Hey, let me ask you a question. Give me the number of receptions for Bears tight ends. I look at your notes.
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A
No, I'm not looking at my notes. 2. There was the Kemet touchdown. There was the Loveland play early. That had me the over and half the parlay. And then Cole Comet disappeared after that.
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B
Two is correct. One for each of them. 41 yards, one touchdown. Today on that wide open pass in the end zone, you had a total of four targets. One target for Cole Comet, three for Loveland, who caught his pass early in the game. Colcomette had one target all game. Four total targets, two receptions, 41 yards. Tight ends.
- [27:12]
A
All right, well, they didn't need it. At some point they're going to need it.
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B
They didn't need it, but.
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A
And Lovelands hurt. And we saw Doubt. What's name? Durham. Yeah, he did.
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B
Sure.
- [27:23]
A
I think it's Durham Smythe Smith. Or do you say Smythe?
- [27:27]
B
I say Joshua.
- [27:28]
A
Well, no, it's from the old commercial. Was that John M. Smith?
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B
Oh, I saw your commercial. The one you text me about. Oh, the one where the Wreckpod. Jeff Bridges and Zoe. Zoe Saldana.
- [27:39]
A
They had to arrange Jeff Bridges. Like maybe you make. Because Zoe Saldana in her movies is in a ton of makeup. Like her two most famous movies are Avatar and the Avengers. Right. So she's either blue or she's green. And I can understand why somebody wouldn't know maybe who Zoe Saldani is if she's not.
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B
She's been enough. Other stuff, though. They should know her. I think she. Wasn't she just in some movie that got Oscar nominations or awards?
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A
Yeah. Didn't she win an Oscar?
- [28:06]
B
Did she win. I don't. I don't know.
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A
I don't watch. But she's most famous for being blue or green. Jeff Bridges.
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B
But she's. She's done enough though that you should know her by now.
- [28:15]
A
One probably should allow her attitude.
- [28:17]
B
Hulu or somewhere. She streams or she's, you know, the main character in it.
- [28:20]
A
They are Rack. Po. Jeff Bridges.
- [28:22]
B
Jeff Bridges.
- [28:23]
A
Yeah, that's. That's the dude. He's the dude. I know.
- [28:29]
B
You don't gotta tell me.
- [28:31]
A
I don't know. And they're paying a 68 year old John Turturro to be like a weird football guy.
- [28:37]
B
Yeah.
- [28:37]
A
For college football.
- [28:39]
B
Yeah. They should identify him too.
- [28:41]
A
Like that. They. He. He might need identifying.
- [28:44]
B
That's what I'm saying.
- [28:46]
A
Like that. That might be the guy.
- [28:47]
B
Hey, he always. He's that guy that you recognize immediately, but you can't place his name right away.
- [28:52]
A
I mean, I recognize him, but.
- [28:54]
B
I mean, I think a lot of people do, but I bet you most people don't know his name off the top of their head.
- [28:59]
A
I think most people do. Okay, I think, but we just agree to disagree. The one time I could have maybe countenanced a necessary Iraq poing was that. And if people are just joining us, what the hell are they talking about? It's the fact that years ago, was it 15 years ago in the Geico commercial, the caveman has to say, hey, your pro bow linebacker, Brian Arakbo, which sort of had us asking the question, did you spend your money wisely on a celebrity if you have to identify the celebrity in the commercial. And we've been keeping track. And thanks to all of the emailers to dan@312sports.com and matt@312sports.com who have let us know, just so we have a lot of eyes out there, making sure we have an entire list of these people. Thank you.
- [29:43]
B
Yeah. And Zoe Saldana is great in Lioness. It's something that you'll never watch, so I'm not even going to bother having that conversation with you. You know, let me ask you a question real quick. What is the. What's the point of the commercials that have celebrities. Them, but don't identify them as the celebrities? Like, they're not playing their celebrity person, they're playing, like, a role in the commercial. So. So there's a GEICO commercial with a really. With a comedian who I recognize. I'd have to pull his name up. Okay. And he's like, he's playing a TSA agent. So he's not in the commercial to be himself. He's actually playing a role in the commercial, yet he's a famous person now.
- [30:22]
A
I don't mind that.
- [30:24]
B
What does that do for the commercial?
- [30:26]
A
That's up to them. I'm not sure. But hiring an actor to act, as long as it's an actor, yeah, that's okay.
- [30:33]
B
But I mean, if you're gonna get someone that's recognizable but not use their character, not use them for that purpose, wouldn't. Wouldn't you just. Wouldn't it be easier just to get someone who's an actor and save money? You think?
- [30:44]
A
Yeah. Be a lot cheaper, right?
- [30:46]
B
That's. Yeah, that's what I would think.
- [30:47]
A
Yeah, it would definitely be cheaper. But I don't know, is there, is that the only ad or is that fit in a larger universe of ads in which.
- [30:54]
B
Well, it fits in a large universe of ads where there are famous people that are.
- [30:57]
A
No, no, no. I mean, for this particular product, like, what has happened with Progressive, where it's taken on a life of its own, where there's an entire, like, comic book universe.
- [31:07]
B
What's her name? That Flow. Flo. Yes. Yeah.
- [31:10]
A
And then now everybody else, like, now the guy has his own ads or he's on the motorcycle and he's like the motorcycle insurance guy. So I don't know. I will. I'll reserve judgment for that at another point, but look into it as he's celebrating the Bears. And by the way, I don't know if anybody in the comments, what happened to the Good and plenty that was sitting here gone. I ate them.
- [31:28]
B
Yeah, you should.
- [31:29]
A
I could have left the box, but I was a little worried that the box was gonna fall over, and I wasn't. I was too lazy to, like, tape it there. So maybe I'll name check a different candy each time, certainly. As we get close to Halloween. And I changed the hat. It was the. The Paletas, which was the Copa diversion alter ego of the Beloit Sky Carpet. And now it's the. It's the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes.
- [31:54]
B
Okay. Why. Why. Why do you have to have those hats?
- [31:56]
A
Jason had them, but. No, I have the hat because. No, he. No, they're his. They're his hats, and they were sitting around, so I'll change them out when I'm just going to go with his old hats because I don't really have hats. I don't wear a lot of hats unless I'm fishing and in which case I only wear one. Yeah, I wear.
- [32:12]
B
You don't wear them all at one time?
- [32:14]
A
No. Like the guy in caps for sale. No. That'd be good look, though.
- [32:20]
B
All right. Bears win 31 14. They get their. Their first victory on the season. Again, it was a game that they. They needed to win. It was a game that the. The Cowboys just handed to them and said, please, please beat us and don't even make it close. And the Bears obliged. Some really. Some trickery there in the first quarter from Ben Johnson and. And really throughout the game with some really interesting plays that I'm sure you're not going to be able to execute as well against a better team with a better defense that's getting pressure in the. In the backfield, denting the pocket, as they say.
- [32:54]
A
Yeah, but he got to play around a little bit. I like it. He had some fun today.
- [32:57]
B
Yeah.
- [32:57]
A
Ben Johnson got into his bag a little bit and got to see at least see how some things work real time in an actual game. And the other thing that that does is it. It adds to the preparation load for other opponents down the road when you see the Bears do something, because, sure, they can look at all the stuff the Lions ran under him, but until he runs it with the Bears, they don't see what the personnel groupings are. They don't know what the possibilities are. And the permutations are so good on you, I think when you know you have a little opportunity. Even when they were. When the lead appeared safe, they were still out mixing it up and throwing the ball and moving some things around. So go ahead and Let a team know that even if it causes a, you know, one timeout down the road somewhere or it just gives you some. A little extra bit of something when they're doing cards on scout team to say, hey, hey, look out for this and put something in the back of the mind of a defender that can benefit the Bears. So little things like that start to add up.
- [34:01]
B
Yes. And so here's some numbers for both teams. The bears with penalties, six penalties, 41 yards. So again, decreasing from where they were each week. Because last week was eight, wasn't it?
- [34:11]
A
Does the Daniel Hardy penalty count for two, even though one is enforced when he didn't leave the field on time and he ran across the line of scrimmage?
- [34:20]
B
Oh, yeah, he got the fourth and fifth penalties or their flags of the game. So it only counts. But I don't think both count, do they, though? Because you only enforce the one.
- [34:31]
A
I'm not sure. I don't know. That was. That was pretty impressive, though. That was.
- [34:35]
B
That is impressive.
- [34:36]
A
Yep.
- [34:36]
B
So someone next week needs to get three flags on the same play. So 6 for 41. The Cowboys with four penalties, 25 yards. The Bears with zero turnovers. The Cowboys obviously with four. The three interceptions, the fumble taken away by Tyreek Stevenson, a really, really good play. Some bad things, though, for the Bears, the running, the run defense, rush defense, not very good. Luckily, the Cowboys trailed for most of this game, had to throw the ball a lot in, and Dak decided to throw, you know, really less than 10 yards pretty much the entire game. But yards per yards per carry, 6.1 for the Cowboys on 20 rushes. Just too much. Too much. And if you have a team that's going to utilize the play action and get downfield a little more than Dak wanted to, that could. That could really hurt the Bears if they're going to give up over 6 yards per per carry.
- [35:30]
A
I am. I'm not so worried about it just because, well, I'm today. I'm not going to be worried about it for the moment, but I don't mind if the. If the Bears are scoring the points that I think they should score. The only time that that's really going to matter to me is being able to stop a team that has a big lead on you, because that's when you want to say, look, you're not going to be able to run off a lot of clock against us. We're going to be able to bottle you up enough that you're still going to have to throw the ball. You're still going to have to drop back and put yourself in harm's way. So I'll reserve judgment on that. It's not great, I'll give you that. But I just think it's such a passing league right now that if a team says we're going to go in and we're going to run the ball to beat the Bears, I think a team deciding to run the ball to win a game is already deciding to play with a restrictor plate on your engine.
- [36:31]
B
Yeah, no, I get what you're saying there, but I think that the point being, and the Cowboys demonstrated this today, that they had the ability to go downfield off play action because they established the run pretty quickly within the game. There were opportunities to go downfield and gain big chunks of big chunk of chunks of yards off of play action. And Daktis was, he wasn't going downfield. The opportunities were there, the routes were there, the receivers were open. He wasn't throwing downfield for whatever reason. He was choosing not to. So what I'm saying is if teams come in and they can run the ball against the Bears and establish a play action pattern and go downfield, it's going to be effective.
- [37:13]
A
Well, it's the Bears defense is mediocre at best until proven otherwise. Like I said, they bounced back from really bad and those numbers that we were citing all week were really bad. But I'm going to give them their little dead cat bounce here and we'll use this as a data point. I don't think they're as bad as they looked in the first two games. And bottom line, they, I thought the game plan defensively was fine today and whatever they did to get Prescott off of those throws, whatever, and I don't know what he saw and that's going to be a great question for him in the film room is why didn't you throw to this guy? Why didn't you throw to that guy? Because it's not like there was pressure breathing down his neck the entire game. The Bears still need more pressure from, from that group. But I'd love to know why some of those open guys looked open to us after the fact but didn't look open enough to him to throw it. We're getting a look at Caleb Williams being handed a game ball and holding it over his head with two hands as it was flipped from Ben Johnson to the Bears quarterback. And there's a smile on his face and there deserves to be. Right now I'm just, right now I want to digest this as The Bears beat a bad team. I'm not going to declare that anything is solved, that anything is fixed. But we know that they're not awful and they can at least show up at practice this week with some positivity and perhaps that little message that Johnson sent about not having the practice habits of a champion. I'd like to know, I'd like to ask him after this game, maybe he will be asked, did the practices improve? If so, how. What made the difference in the preparation for this game after you said that?
- [39:02]
B
Yeah. And then I'm glad this comment was made too because I thought the same thing about the Cowboys, the coaches, the shirts. They were on the sideline. I thought they were stupid. So thanks for, for bringing that to my, my brain to mention they were really dumb looking. They were like navy blue or the dark blue with like a black patch around like his, their left part of their chest. It was just, it was a dumb looking shirt for sideline stuff. But I will say on that note about practicing harder. Clearly Luther Burden got himself in the coach's radar during this week because he was a larger part of the game plan than he has been the first two weeks of the season. And he was one of the players that was talked about in one of the press conferences. I think a question by Courtney about Luther Burden and if guys are going to work harder to be more prepared to make themselves known that hey, I want to be part of the game plan. And certainly Luther was there with that.
- [39:51]
A
Flea flicker and has himself a chance at offensive rookie of the week with 100 yards or just over I believe was it. He finished with 102 receiving yards. So he'll be in that conversation. Caleb Williams should be in the conversation for NFC Offensive player of the week throwing for four touchdowns. So this is what you do against a team like that because it very easily could have devolved into a Bears game. It could have devolved into playing down to the level of your opponent, missing their most dangerous offensive weapon. And it didn't. They stayed above the fray. They didn't allow the Cowboys to muck the game up. And they did it in large part because the Bears did not make the kind of mistakes they didn't have the self imposed headwinds that have defeated them in similar situations in the past.
- [40:39]
B
That's Coach, I think if they can go out and if they can take out the other team's best receiver early in the game, if they continue to do that, I think, you know, I.
- [40:47]
A
Was trying to be nice and you're Being sarcastic.
- [40:49]
B
I'm not being sarcastic.
- [40:50]
A
Yeah, you are.
- [40:50]
B
Great play.
- [40:51]
A
I was trying to be nice that if you want to punish them for using, like you pointed out, for using your best player in an unfamiliar way on offense and exposing him in a way that may just have him a little off balance or a little unprepared, fine.
- [41:07]
B
Yeah. I mean, because how many times is CD Lamb going against linebackers like that, trying to outrun linebackers? Cut the edge on that. Where. I mean, it was a. It was a great play. Was it. Was it Sewell who made the tackle?
- [41:18]
A
He was one of the guys. There were two.
- [41:20]
B
Yeah. And then he gets. He gets his leg trapped underneath the. The. The Bears defender. And it looked terrible. It looked. It looked awful. Luckily, though, Fox was there for us to show us a close up picture of his ankle. Thank you for that. I mean, it's just.
- [41:32]
A
I mean, I didn't know what it was when they first showed it. I was confused.
- [41:36]
B
I didn't know either.
- [41:36]
A
It looked like an arm.
- [41:37]
B
Tom Brady was there, though, to let us know. So thank you.
- [41:39]
A
Yeah, like, but thank you. I needed him to do that because when I first saw it, I did not know what that was like. Here it is. Here's his ankle that's clearly swollen. And I had to stop it and be like, oh, okay, they're pulling his sock off. I thought it was an elbow.
- [41:53]
B
It didn't. Yeah, yeah. He didn't know exactly what it was, but luckily Tom was there and so.
- [41:59]
A
We'Re, you know, we're in good hands.
- [42:01]
B
We're in very good hands. He's very knowledgeable.
- [42:03]
A
Yep. He's got us. He's got us all taken care.
- [42:05]
B
So if the Bears can keep doing that and if, if other teams can just keep putting their best receivers in the backfield to carry the ball, that.
- [42:10]
A
Would be really helpful this season. And any upturn goes right back to that. The start of the third quarter and how often under other coaches did the Bears come out of the locker room and have everything go wrong at that time? I believe at one point Layla and I were referring to it as the turd quarter. I think because it was just. Because every time the things went horribly for the Bears, it was the third quarter. To come out of the locker room to stop the opponent, get the ball, and essentially squeeze the life out of them like a python. That. That's what happened over that 954. That drive is where we're going to look at at least something turning in the right direction on a very strange day. Of football around the NFL, where a lot of odd things happened. This was a game where the Bears avoided bad things happening just by being good enough. A nice, kind of mundane victory. There was a little bit of spectacular in there. We're going to keep talking about the flea flicker. Oh, here's what I. Let me ask you this question about the flea flicker.
- [43:19]
B
Yep.
- [43:21]
A
So usually the running back, you know, chops his stride as he runs into the line, turns around, and feeds it quickly back to the quarterback. In this case, Swift. Got a little bit of air under that flip where you're. You're waiting for it to come down. And then I was thinking, did the timing of the bad flip allow Burden to get more separation? I think it did. I think had the flip gotten to him earlier, that the pass might not have been thrown with the same level of confidence, because when his eyes came back up, Burden had already. He'd stretched the separation out because the ball took longer to get to the quarterback.
- [44:11]
B
Yeah, I guess we'll never really know on that. I get what you're saying on it, but the safety was so late even trying to attempt to get over.
- [44:19]
A
I know, but you don't have to be a penis about it. I brought a penis. You're like, yes, well, that's a very interesting point. I'm sure at some point we'll have our research team look at exactly the timing on that one. You might as well been making the wanking maneuver while I was talking the entire time. Just go ahead and do that now. Seriously, next time I'm trying to make a point about what. What that might have done, and you're like, yeah, okay, I know your tone.
- [44:50]
B
I didn't have a tone.
- [44:51]
A
You did. You totally had a tone. I got tone.
- [44:55]
B
I'm just not taking shot, man. Being optimistic and positive, it's just. It's not normal.
- [45:00]
A
That's fine. Look, it's. I. I'm not. Like I said, if you're going to be 7 and 10, you got to find somewhere. You got to find the seven, because.
- [45:10]
B
They'Re not happening within the division themselves. So.
- [45:12]
A
No. Although the Packers.
- [45:17]
B
The Browns. Defensively, the Browns are one of the. One of the better teams in the league.
- [45:20]
A
Or the front seven.
- [45:21]
B
Yeah.
- [45:22]
A
Oh, the front seven is legit.
- [45:23]
B
Yeah. Yeah. That's so. I mean, that's. That's not. I'm not. I wasn't surprised. It was a low scoring game. The problem is surprised that. That the packers didn't put more. I mean, didn't. Didn't execute at the end of the game as. As they needed to.
- [45:35]
A
Watching Flacco, it really does show you how much it is presumed now that even bad quarterbacks can move a little bit. Because even if they could have just slid him a little bit, a little this way, a little that way would have made such a difference. The fact that he's such a statue.
- [45:55]
B
He's Frankenstein's monster.
- [45:57]
A
Yeah, I know. But. But he can't move. But at least he could do putting on the Ritz. He can't put on the Ritz. That. That should be his. That should be his cadence.
- [46:08]
B
It sounded like it. He.
- [46:10]
A
Man, he's super duper.
- [46:11]
B
Yeah, it was terrible. Seriously, I'm in the kitchen, I'm watching the game, and I've got my head down, chop stuff up, and all I hear is, what is happening in this game?
- [46:24]
A
I don't know. I don't know.
- [46:25]
B
Joe Flacco's cadence.
- [46:26]
A
That's what he's doing. And if he could move a little bit, it would make a huge difference. But he's 100 and he can strap.
- [46:33]
B
Him from the board that he's on.
- [46:35]
A
He's clomping around, he got bolts in his neck and.
- [46:39]
B
No. Whatever. Who is this snob worthy? I did not want the Bears to lose today. It's not true.
- [46:46]
A
No, that would be really stupid.
- [46:47]
B
Because it would be really stupid.
- [46:49]
A
Way, way, way, way, way better for us if the Bears win enough.
- [46:53]
B
And just to answer a few of the messages as well, too, I did not have any bets on CD Lamb. I just thought they were going to go off today. I didn't know that Dak Prescott would be afraid to throw down field. That's all. And I didn't expect CD Lamb to get carries out of the backfield and break his ankle in three. I just don't get it. I don't get it. I don't get it. Like, DJ Moore had half the number of carries that our backup running back had. Like, it's just. It's. I don't. I don't understand. It's just too much.
- [47:22]
A
Well, maybe that's just what they don't have, a running back. There's really no excuse for that. To have Kyle Manungai as your. Your other guy.
- [47:33]
B
The.
- [47:34]
A
Your backup running back should at least be. Have at least one skill. He should either be a bruiser or he should be fast.
- [47:44]
B
He runs backwards.
- [47:45]
A
Well, but maybe he's a responsible blocker and he doesn't fumble. That's a special teamer who you have at the end of your roster. That's not your backup running back. Backup running backs matter in the NFL and it is a the Bears are not up to league fashion by not having a 1, 2 punch at running back.
- [48:07]
B
Well, we talked about that before the season started.
- [48:09]
A
This running back, we talked about it. Now you're breaking into Moose Johnston again.
- [48:14]
B
Again, I always do it all the time. I'm always breaking in the and I literally break in the Moose Johnson and I rip him open and take out whatever he's had.
- [48:23]
A
Well, he still has one of my favorite lines and that is the need to get the hands into the balls of the playmakers. And he didn't know he said it until we played it for him. So I think, I think that's, that's a nice little place to wrap it today with our post game here. Forward Progress and if you have not become a part of the 312Sports family, see you can get shirts like, like this one. We got quarter zips, we got all kinds of stuff. And we also have some scintillating sports talk for you Monday through Friday. We do both. Dan Bernstein, Unfiltered and we do forward progress and it was nice. I did not expect, if someone had told us today that we were going to come on before the game ended to start post game, I would have thought, oh boy, this is off the rails. But for it to be for a positive reason, I say we look at this as a nice solid data point. The Bears are not as bad as we thought they were and they may have an opportunity to be better. Is that fair?
- [49:24]
B
Yes. Again, I think they've taken themselves out of that lowest tier of NFL teams and they've elevated themselves one level now and that's, that's a positive thing. They have a win. They're 1 and 2. They have an opportunity to, to beat the Raiders next weekend, next Sunday and climb to two and two on the, on the season early on. And then after that, Dan, we'll need two more games left, six in the books to before we can properly evaluate what this team is.
- [49:53]
A
So that's gonna do it. Don't forget to join us all week. Make sure you rate and subscribe and like and put alerts on there and all of our content can come directly to you, directly to your devices whenever you want it. And we will leave you to your own devices, as it were. So we'll be back on tomorrow around 11 o' clock or so for Dan Bernstein, Unfiltered and Forward Progress thereafter. Thanks for joining us.