← Forward Progress - A Chicago Bears Podcast
Forward Progress - A Chicago Bears Podcast
Chicago Bears Dysfunction vs. Caleb Williams’ Future
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- [00:01]
A
Why does Progressive work hard for truckers? Because truckers unite the world. They unite kids with their first drum sets and parents with earplugs. But truckers can't do this if they're not on the road. That's why Progressive has over 360 heavy truck employees to help truckers stay on time and on track. Quote Truck Insurance today in as little as eight minutes@progressivecommercial.com progressive casualty insurance company and affiliates. This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? Progressive makes it easy to see if you could save when you bundle your home and auto policies. Try it@progressive.com Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states Every day as a small business owner feels like solving a puzzle. One moment you're cruising along and the next there's a shipping snag that has you scrambling. But here's a surpr you will like with Progressive. Small business owners save 13% on their commercial auto insurance when they pay in full. So go ahead, surprise yourself. Get a quote in as little as 8 minutes@progressive commercial.com progressive casualty insurance company and affiliates discounts not available in all states or situations. I mean, if you're a Bears fan, you're thinking Forward progress. Come on. 102192 19.
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B
Forward progress a Chicago Bears podcast with Dan Bernstein and Matt Abeticola on 312 Sports.
- [01:44]
A
We give you forward progress here on 312 Sports. And there's been some wild times here for the Chicago Bears of late with a lot of these attention grabbing in purposefully attention grabbing moves by the Bears casting this shadow of uncertainty and question. I want to do a quick reset here if you don't mind. We are talking about regardless of what's going on with all of this, the, the stadium misdirections and lying and everything that's going on, all of these gambits and all the con, it's going to be years before they're playing somewhere other than Soldier Field years. And all of these little leverage games that are going on right now just aren't all that important. Unless you're Kevin Warren and George McCaskey. What I'm wondering about is just how the Bears have chosen to inject these, these big moments and exciting moments, celebratory moments with a lot of their leverage games, a lot of their political gambits. It was, you know, draft night. There's one announcement and then it's packers week and Kevin Warren comes Out with another big announcement. And now it's the same time as Caleb Williams is on the COVID of Madden. And you know, for those of us of a certain age, I understand it's a big deal, but no, there was no time to celebrate that because they stole all the headlines. Kevin Warren to come in and hijack all the headlines for this losers game. Here he's playing because the team doesn't have enough money and he has to do all this silly stuff because they don't have enough money. And here's Caleb Williams in the middle of all of it. Like, hey, I thought last year was kind of fun. I think this year is pretty exciting. You know, you might have your franchise quarterback over here if, if fans are sick of it, if we're sick of it. How's he feeling? I just wonder how you feeling about all this? Like, maybe he's fine and maybe he's. He's more actualized than the rest of us and he can handle it and this is just kind of part of business, no big deal in his world. I understand that. But there's got to be part of me like, hey, I don't care. We're here right now. I think Caleb Boone is probably going to play all of his regular Bears home games in his career in Soldier Field, right?
- [04:36]
B
Yeah. It's a really interesting question to ask. And I think that for Caleb Williams and for the rest of the guys on this roster, including the staff, all the coaching staff, they probably don't care about what's happening with the stadium stuff, that they're more focused on the 2026 regular season and getting back to the playoffs. I think that's their only concern. I think the stadium stuff, while it's a fair question and a good question, probably doesn't impact them whatsoever. And I've made this point about the Bears lease being up at soldier field in 2033 and not to the point of, oh, they're stuck there till then. I know you can get out of a lease. I understand all that. The point I make in bringing that up multiple times now is that there is no pressure to get something done sooner rather than later. The Bears have a long Runway of time where they're at Soldier Field. And when you ask the question, is it possible that he plays all his regular season games at Soldier Field? Yes, Dan, it is very possible that Caleb Williams entire NFL career, and I hope it's longer than that, but it's very possible that his entire NFL career is played at Soldier Field. I mean, you have the 26 season. The 27, the 28, the 29, the 30, the 31, the 32 and the 33. That's. That's eight more years of football that the Bears are theoretically at Soldier Field in this lease.
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A
Yeah.
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B
He could play his entire NFL career at Soldier Field.
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A
Yes.
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B
Never see another stadium.
- [06:21]
A
Correct.
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B
Whether it's in Indiana or it's in Arlington Heights. I hope that's not the case.
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A
Doesn't matter.
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B
I hope he plays longer than that, has a longer, more successful career. He could have a very successful career in the next eight years. He could win a couple championships for the Chicago Bears. He could end up not playing for the Chicago Bears after his rookie contract is over.
- [06:41]
A
Now, that's where I want to go. What if he's like, you know, I've had it with this Mickey Mouse operation here. I've had it with whatever they have to do and play all of these silly games because they can't afford to build because they don't know what they're doing, and they're dicking around with all this stuff because they. They are not in a position to go build a stadium or line up private financing and. And just go do what they want to do, where they want to do it. They can't. And it makes them feel that their guy who they hired has to hijack all these moments for his own purposes, not Caleb Williams's purposes, that he's got to keep coming in there and taking the excitement away. And I get it. There are a lot of Bears fans who are expressing this sentiment of this is supposed to be fun. This is supposed to be. I've always said this. It's supposed to be the most fun when you know your team is getting good. The anticipation for this year is part of the fun. When you plan a vacation, knowing it's going to be short, it's going to be a week, or whatever it is, the anticipation is part of the fun. That's why always with our kids, if there was. If there was a present or there's something, hey, we're going to treat them to a trip or an overnight or something like that. I never wanted to spring it on them because I always wanted to give them the gift of the anticipation, the gift of getting excited about it. No matter what it is, it almost never lives up to it. But this is the fun. This is the visualization. This is part of the joy that Kevin Warren and the Bears are systematically sucking away. And trust me, I know a thing or two about. About sucking the joy out of joyful moments.
- [08:39]
B
Yes, you do. And I think it's, it's, it's wild to even have the question asked. Is it possible that Caleb Williams wouldn't be like, I just like, it's, it's wild.
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A
It's just like, you know what? I'm tired of dealing with this crap. Why do you think Miles Garrett is like, trade me to the Rams as soon as you can. People want to play for the Rams. That's big time. The way they do things is big time. Billionaires, multi billionaires doing billionaire business. And this is still so rinky dink. Right?
- [09:17]
B
It's so mom and pop. And we'll get into it more on a different episode about where my focus is laid in on the McCaskeys, that the McCaskeys have outplayed their welcome in today's NFL. It is no longer a millionaires game, which they are. It's a billionaires game. Yeah.
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A
And the legacy is not cute anymore. It's just the, the legacy isn't enough to get past the fact that you, you don't have enough money.
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B
Well, Dan, I, I've always said that the, the legacy, the legacy became uncute for me decades ago. It has. And with one failure after another of coaching hires and regimes and just like questioning general manager decisions. The fact that you look at the list of recent coaches brought through Hallis hall, the legacy of the Bears, and George Hallis, a founder of the NFL, that's become uncute decades ago. And now we're in a time frame. And again, we'll dive into it deeper on another podcast episode of Forward Progress, that It's passed the McCaskey family up and that they're, they're, they're playing a game of checkers when the rest of the billionaires in the NFL are playing high level chess. And it's unfortunate because the business side is now suffocating or drowning the actual positive of the football side of things.
- [10:47]
A
And that's too bad because this is supposed to be a really exciting, fun football time. And it is, it is that. But if. I'm just saying, if I were Caleb Williams, I'd be like, man, really? Packer week? You did this, you know, during the draft, right before the draft, you do this, you know, hey, you know, cover a Madden whole thing. Oh, I guess nobody's talking about that because of all this going on.
- [11:15]
B
Yeah. Again, it's, it's fair that you ask those questions and you say those things, but I, I hope that it's not in the forefront of his brain where I think for him and all the other players, their main concern is being healthy, getting better in the system, winning more football games, making, making it back to the playoffs. And they're not concerned with the business side of it.
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A
No. Nor should they be right.
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B
Nor should they be right. But, but the whole clown show that this has been this entire process, I mean, you bought land five years ago and you're no closer today than they're farther anywhere.
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A
You're farther away, they're farther away. And they still, like, there have been a lot of points made as we've been talking about this and like I say for me, the educational aspect, every time we talk about it, there's some we. I get emails from someone who is an expert, whether it is somebody who's worked for the EPA or whether it is somebody who does bond work for one of these large projects or somebody. There's a lot of people within the state government and beyond who I'm talking to, there are several who have raised this idea of the lack of actual on the ground work. Where are these, these, where are the trucks? Where are the people who work for different parts of the government being involved saying, oh yeah, I did the survey, I can tell you exactly what the Bears have done and I can tell you exactly what sites they've looked at because we've had to, to pull all these documents. That stuff isn't kept secret. When there is a massive project the size of building an NFL stadium, they're not keeping a secret.
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B
Right. I mean there's. Right there. And also there are some outside firms that are involved in the work to say, yeah, we've done this already for the Bears and the McCaskeys and Kevin Warren and I, we've been in constant contact and here's what we've done and, but there's none of that happening.
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A
No, we're the contractors. Like I say, where are the pictures? Where, where is the work? Where, where is this all being done? Everything they say is being done and all this due diligence, where's the evidence of actual due diligence? We'd see it and it's not there. So I don't want to get derailed, tell you in familiar territory here. But at some point, it may not be now, but at some point when Caleb Williams has to decide, all right, I'm a half a billion dollar corporation or whatever his valuation would be for career earnings on the field and off the field, maybe a billion dollars if he sat down, if he went to, into Goldman right now and sat down and said, all right, do evaluation for me about what my actual value is of my brand and my ability. And they would tell you maybe it's a billion dollars. I don't know what it is. Are you better off affiliated with the Bears or are you better off using the rest of your rookie contract? Break all the Bears records, get your 4,000 yard season, get your, your 30 touchdowns, do whatever you can do. Then be like, I got nothing left to prove here. I got to move to a, to a, a team that knows how to do football business. Better is better for me. And could you begrudge him. There isn't a single person they can look at Caleb Williams say, what are you doing, trader? You got to think clearly and head over heart when it comes to, with whom you're surrounding yourself and what the best incubator is going to be for you as a player, for you to maximize who you are and what you do as a player. And maybe he says, wherever Ben Johnson is, Ben Johnson is going to get me that ring and that's what matters. Make me the best football player I can possibly be. And that's fine too. And that's, and that's okay. And that's cool. All I'm saying is if, if he's gotten a little sick like when. Why is everything a something? Why can't I just have a moment here where it's not this guy coming in as orange tie, pushing everybody aside to stand in them in the middle of the locker room after the game, out of there. And that's going to piss me off more this year than it did last year. It was bad enough last year. Right now.
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B
Yeah, I'm not sure it can piss me off anymore. I mean, and what, what really the final thing for me, Dan, is just seeing him in the draft room, getting the phone to talk to draft picks after the general manager, after the head coach, while all of this is still taking place. That, that's what frustrates me about it. You're here. You were brought in to do a job of, build a brand new stadium. You don't need to be in the, in the, in the locker room. You don't need to be on video celebrating a victory. You don't need to be in the draft room talking to brand new draft picks when your job is not done,
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A
if they don't know who you are and they don't care.
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B
You know, you look at, I looked at two of the more recent projects, the Titans new stadium. They're playing their final year in their current Home this year. The project will be done February of 27. So they'll play in their new stadium starting next season. Three years, start to finish. Sofi Stadium was a 45 month process. So let's say somewhere between three and. Three and a half years.
- [16:47]
A
Yeah, but so far is all privately financed.
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B
I know, Dan, but let's just. Now let's just say for a timeline, three to three and a half years. I'll even go on the lower end and say three years start to finish for a new Bear stadium. Okay. That is after a site is selected and all the work that needs to go into that before building even starts is completed. And how long are you saying that? Another six months? Another 18 months at least. So let's, let's just, let's be conservative and say a year. So let's add a year onto that. Three years of project building, start to finish. That's four years away. Once the site is selected, the deal is done. You're still four years away. How far are we away from getting that to that point in the project? Are we five years away from the Bears even walking into a new stadium? Are we six years away?
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A
And think how much tax they're going to pay on the land in Arlington Heights. Like this is. It is. You could not have done this worse if you drew it up and saying how could we fumble this completely?
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B
How can we make this most difficult and most expensive for us? And Kevin Warren says, I have a plan. You know what? I thought of the analogy over the weekend, Dan? The game shoots and ladders, which I know you and I both played with
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A
kids as they were better than Candyland,
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B
better than Candyland and way better than Candy. You're familiar with shoots and ladders. If you're not, go ahead and look it up. A kid's board game.
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A
It's also if you're, if you really want to get after. It's a hell of a drinking game.
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B
How so?
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A
You, there's all kinds of rules you can put in there depending on the distance of the, of the, of the shoot or whether or not if you get a ladder, your opponent gets punished or not. There's all kinds of ways you can do it.
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B
So you playing this with adult friends or your kids in the drinking aspect of it?
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A
My cousin and I did. It was sitting around and we, we decided that we were just going to get a case of beer.
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B
Of course you and your cousin did that.
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A
Yeah, yeah.
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B
So I, I like, I picture the, the shoots and ladders game with, with, with George and Kevin at the bottom, looking up at the goal. And the goal being a brand new stadium somewhere, right?
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A
And.
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B
And they're walking along and Kevin's like, follow me, I'll get you there. And they kind of climb some ladders, they climb some levels, and then there's a. There's a slide up ahead. And Kevin says, george, you go ahead and go in front of me, George. And George gets to the slide and Kevin pushes him down the slide. And then Kevin jumps down the slide, lands on top of George a couple levels down. They stand up and they dust themselves off. And. And George says, well, what happened? And Kevin goes, I don't know, but follow me, George. I'll get you to the goal.
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A
Following. Keep following. Is it that goal? No, we've. Hey, George, we've made it. Where are we? Indiana Fart Swamp.
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B
Yes, this is. But then George follows Kevin again and they climb a couple ladders, they climb a couple levels and there's a slide. And Kevin says, george, you go ahead of me. And. And then when he gets to the slide, Kevin pushes George down the slide again. He jumps down the slide and lands on top of George. There are a couple levels down on the board. And George says, what happened?
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A
Are we there?
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B
I don't know what happened, but follow me, George. I'll take you to the promised land. Keep following.
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A
It's nonlinear. It's a nonlinear. Just keep following me. I'll get you there.
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B
But
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A
it smells like a swamp. Don't. Don't worry about that. Don't worry about that. We'll be okay. Everything will be fine.
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B
So all of this happens, Dan. And then the board, the seven members, the six McCaskey people, that's the best part of this. And they have a vote and they decide. Yeah, they decide on this vote that we're gonna. The board has decided we're gonna shift our focus to India.
- [20:28]
A
The esteemed board. Is everybody named McCaskey? Yes, except for Kevin Warren and Pat Ryan. Oh, okay. Is Pat Ryan here? Does he do anything? Is he Compass Mentis? I don't know. Andy McKenna's gone.
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B
Well, I know that Pat Ryan is privately funded. The new Northwestern football stadium. Who? His son at junior is running the entire project. I know it's a lot less than what they're paying for an NFL stadium, but they're getting a project done in the city because they have the funds to do it. And the McCaskeys are millionaires playing a billionaires game and they can't keep up.
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A
They make it. They've chosen to make Everything very difficult on themselves. And I hope it's not wearing on Caleb Williams.
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B
How can we make this harder? Here's an idea. Let's hire that guy. What did he do for the Minnesota stadium? Nothing. He was out in front of the cameras. What did he do behind the scenes? Nothing. Oh, what did he do at the Big Ten? Oh, well, here we can tell you what he did to the Big Ten.
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A
Yeah, he sold things that weren't his to sell, and then they had to unwind everything and do a lot of make goods and figure out exactly what happened after he left.
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B
All right, well, come on. Let's hire this guy. This sounds like a great guy to hire to build our stadium.
- [21:47]
A
Let's go.
- [21:48]
B
Because we bought this land five years ago and he's been here three years. How much closer are we? Oh, you're actually further away. Congratulations. Ever notice how life's best stories don't happen in your living room? They happen on the open road, out on the water, or parked under the stars. At Progressive, they get that you want to focus on the experience, not worry about the what ifs. That's why they offer quality insurance designed for your ride, whether that's a boat, RV, or motorcycle. Adventure with confidence. Visit progressive.com and see how easy it is to protect your favorite way to get away. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates not available in D.C. prices vary based on how you buy.
- [22:31]
A
I have some football notes, though, that are as important as anything else. Did you happen to see and. Don't. Please don't make me justify this. Okay, but I was.
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B
But, you know, I'm going to.
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A
I was watching the United Football League last night.
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B
Oh, no, no. I was watching St. Louis game last night.
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A
Yesterday. I was watching the Battle Hawks against the Louisville
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B
Whiskeys. Yeah, I was. I was doing meal prep and I was. I was watching the game as well.
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A
Hold on. What's the Louisville team? The. The Battlebot. So the Battle.
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B
I couldn't tell you.
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A
Kings.
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B
Louisville Kings.
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A
No, just. I don't think it's mandatory that every team has battle.
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B
Okay.
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A
Yeah. The Louisville Kings beat the St. Louis Battle Hawks 2920 in the conference final.
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B
Yes. I was watching that game as well, so. Don't. You know, the justice. That's how desperate I was to watch something yesterday.
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A
It is. It's rough. I will tell you this. The. The quality of the football. Rough.
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B
It is a little bit. Yes.
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A
That.
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B
That.
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A
That St. Louis quarterback who weighs like 20 pounds and he has the most uninspiring cadence. He just walks up, he's like,
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B
well, did you see the one where they. They had to call a timeout because the coach is calling in and the camera's there, the microphone is there. So you hear exactly what he's calling in on his little walkie talkie. And he was like, all right, 52. And then he said 53. And then the. He had to call a timeout because there's only like 8 seconds left. And. And then they come into the huddle and then the camera follows them into this conversation between the coach and the quarterback. And the quarterback's like, well, you said 52, then you said 53. And then I was like, jesus, spit it out of here. I mean, get it out of your. Even the announcer was like, there's only 10 seconds left on the clock and the play's not in. Yeah, because his coach is like, mushmouth.
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A
52.
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B
I mean, 53x razor. 57. 52. What? Now the quarterback's like, what the. Is happening?
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A
Got it.
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B
Shockingly, they couldn't get a playoff right out of his mouth.
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A
Well, they got off the one play where I saw actually an actual player who, in a UFL game who was fast, and he got to the corner and there was a terrific crack back block by the wide receiver, blasting the safety in the shoulder. And then the corner takes a shallow angle and who is it that breaks out, gets the corner and races to the end zone for a 51 yard touchdown scamper. But Ian Wheeler.
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B
Yes, sir.
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A
And I said, I know that guy.
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B
Yes, you do.
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A
As I've been sitting here as they were taking in a little bit of football here ahead of the Cubs. Well, what happened was the DirecTV guide said the Cubs were on at 7. And I go there and it's NBC celebrating Nelly Corda winning the LPGA Women's U.S. open. And like, this isn't the Cubs game the same thing. So then I found the other game and I say, Ian Wheeler, like, that's Dr. Wheeler. That. That was the guy from the hard knocks year of the Bears who was at a good shot at making the team and then blew out his knee in the last exhibition game.
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B
Yep, I liked him in that preseason. Thought he had some potential and some ability to maybe crack the roster. But yeah, Dr. Wheeler. And you wonder. Wonder why the good doctor would want to subject his brain to this. But, you know, I enjoyed watching him run and then unfortunately, the knee injury. But yeah, that's him with a long touchdown run yesterday in the UFL.
- [26:16]
A
And of course I'm waiting. It's a St. Louis Battle Hawks. So I'm texting Rangy because after I was watching for a while, I'm like, do you actually have to watch these games?
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B
Yeah, because they have. I think they do stuff with Ricky Prob.
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A
Yeah, I know, but I said, but that's. I'm wondering, like, do you have to watch a whole UFL game? And he's like, well, no, not really.
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B
Box.
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A
But he said, they're really fun games to attend because everybody just gets hammered. And I said, yes, apparently the players
- [26:45]
B
included and the coaches.
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A
Yes, the players and coaches are also apparently hammered. And we had a lovely conversation. He said, the ones that they've Talked to on St. Louis, they had a lot of really entertaining smart guys. So a couple of players in the battlehawks went to Harvard. He said, they're just some. They, they know the bit. They're very entertaining. And then my thought was, instead of doing this, do a banana ball. If the UFL did like a. And I know they're trying to make it fun and entertaining with hearing all of that stuff and having Dean Blandino do the, the video reviews of the calls. But like, make it like banana ball. You really want to start having fun, do that. Haven't screwed. Or have me have him do dances.
- [27:29]
B
You can't screw around though, with football.
- [27:30]
A
Couldn't they do a big old kick line and, you know, everybody on offense, they break into a whole Rockettes number and then somebody takes off, you know,
- [27:39]
B
I did see, I didn't know this. Did you know that Ted Ginn Jr. Is the head coach of the Columbus Aviators?
- [27:44]
A
I did know that.
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B
So did you see the locker room piece they put up yesterday? Okay, no, apparently I don't, I don't know what the exact issue was, but he was there apologizing to his team for something that, that went awry in his life. I didn't know that he was the head coach of a UFL football team.
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A
Yeah, but why was he apologizing now?
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B
Let's see, what did he.
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A
Something else happened. He had. There was some issue there. I thought, if you remember, Ted Ginn was a Bear.
- [28:16]
B
Yes, he. Oh, okay. So DWI in April of this year. Okay, so that's what he was apologizing to his team for being a distraction.
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A
Okay, so he's apologizing for being a distraction, not for his bad judgment and law breaking. It was just being a distraction.
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B
Well, to the team. Because I mean, his, his bad decision making and lawbreaking doesn't impact their lives,
- [28:42]
A
but being might if they're out Walking around while he's driving.
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B
Okay. He's running down his own player.
- [28:51]
A
Never know. And a dream. You don't know.
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B
Oh, he missed one game. He was suspended one game.
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A
Okay.
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B
And then. Well, the offensive coordinator is Todd Haley.
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A
My guy.
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B
Yeah. Served as the head coach in his absence, so.
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A
Wait, was that the guy who's having problems getting the play in?
- [29:10]
B
No, no. Different team.
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A
Yeah. Todd Haley, Columbus Aviators. Do you remember the hard Knocks when they were talking about Carl Nassib?
- [29:20]
B
No, I don't.
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A
And I think it was Todd Haley was like, what kind of name is Carl?
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B
Yeah, right.
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A
Then he's. And then he says something like. Especially as a baby name. Like who looks at a baby and says that baby is named Carl?
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B
Well, it's actually a good point.
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A
It is a bad baby name.
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B
It is a bad baby name.
- [29:42]
A
Yeah. How's Carl? Oh, he's spitting up again.
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B
Did I realize Shitty diaper
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A
Carl gonna name is that. That's funny. That's. Everybody thought Kyle Hendricks's name was too. His nickname was apparently Carl because everybody called him that. I don't know.
- [30:00]
B
They couldn't say Kyle.
- [30:01]
A
Yeah. But Todd Haley, one of the few NFL head coaches who did not play football. I remember that too. He was a golf coach for a long time. It was a golfer and a golf coach.
- [30:13]
B
Well, there are a lot of very successful head coaches in the NFL that never played in the NFL.
- [30:19]
A
That's very true. Of course, I don't know how that's possible. They don't have the wisdom of being hit in the head multiple times.
- [30:26]
B
That's why they're a good coach, because they're brain.
- [30:28]
A
Okay, right.
- [30:29]
B
They have not pulling their pants down in the locker room.
- [30:33]
A
And apparently not that that one coach run 52. I mean 53. Forget it.
- [30:40]
B
Yeah, I was listening to get the play in. He said. He said it the two different ways. He was like 53 razor. 52 razor. I'm like, well, no wonder this guy can't.
- [30:48]
A
Which one? Which is it? Stop talking. Tell me the play, dumbass. We don't even have a 52 razor. The bears also have apparently reintroduced Karan Amogaj to the left tackle battle. If you want to call it that.
- [31:07]
B
Reintroduce them to football.
- [31:08]
A
Right. Because I guess that Braxton Jones and Kieran Amogaje were sharing reps with the ones. And Theo Benedict is now working at right tackle. And when Ben Johnson was asked about Braxton Jones, he says different circumstances this year. Jones has come back, his comfort level has risen. Knowing what to do how we want to get it done. It's the best his body has felt in a while. We're really encouraged with where he's at right now and their free agent signing. Jedrick Wills Jr. The one time first round pick was at practice, not participating in team drills.
- [31:48]
B
Yeah, I kind of, I kind of think that he's, he's done that. That's a done deal. Not surprised that Theo Benedict is moving over to the right side because you certainly couldn't have him participate on the left side of things if he wasn't good enough to play last year in a playoff game. You had to move your left guard over and bring a guy in that no one knew to play left guard.
- [32:09]
A
And you also Jordan McFadden, correct.
- [32:12]
B
That they talked about Braxton Jones and getting better in the weight room and stronger on his bottom half. The same with Karen Amagaji who was a draft pick of Ryan Poles. So yeah, I mean I'm not, not surprised to hear that that's how that that battle is looking right now. But it needs to not be a battle a few weeks from now. It needs to be.
- [32:37]
A
We said this last year, right. It's exactly. Figure it out and make your call
- [32:42]
B
when camp opens here. This is our left tackle. He's our left tackle. He's the backup left tackle. This is our right tackle that we know. He's the backup right tackle.
- [32:52]
A
That's how camp starts and the Jedrick will. I don't know if they thought he was going to need more recovery time or if they thought he would be ready to compete at this point with whatever is left of him. But we always say when we bring him up that that contract is. Got all that. It's loaded up with injury outs. They're on the hook for nothing.
- [33:12]
B
Yeah, no, that's, that's a former first round pick flyer and I got no issue with that. And then if it's not there, then it's not there. And it appears to be that that's the direction that's headed.
- [33:23]
A
I think so. Because you, you'd want to be evaluating him and you can't evaluate anything right now if he can't even play when they're doing non contact drills. But that's where that stands and we'll keep an eye on it. I'm just, just put that in the back of your head about how Caleb Williams feels about so many of what should be exciting, feel good moments becoming Kevin Warren political football moments instead. And after a while it just. You know what? I don't need to be a part of this. I can go. It's going to be better for my brand and better for my business to be somewhere else.
- [33:56]
B
Yeah. I mean, you're not wrong in stating that. I hope that's not the case. I hope those flots. Those thoughts haven't even gone through as haven't crossed his mind at all and that. And that he's just focused on football and winning games and I'm sure that's the case. But it's fair to ask because he is a brand and he's more than just the starting quarterback in the NFL. He is a brand. And if the business side of your things hurts his brand, it's a fair question to ask.
- [34:22]
A
Especially because he knows he's a brand. And what he's done with the whole Iceman thing is an indication of his concern and his awareness of about future earnings and about maximizing some of these opportunities financially and professionally on the field and off the field. Is this the best organization for him? It's something that he'll be evaluating until he signs that first next deal.
- [34:55]
B
Massive next deal.
- [34:57]
A
Oh, yeah, it's gonna be big.
- [34:59]
B
It's gonna be real big.
- [35:00]
A
I'm gonna be real big. I think the Bears have enough money to pay that, actually. I think depending on what they've spent on interest at Arlington Heights and for bricks and mortar and metal and whatever they cost to build a stadium. And that was twice as much.
- [35:16]
B
Yeah, bricks and mortar. The next two guys that'll come in and run that is done with the Jets.
- [35:21]
A
Forward progress, which we award you here on 312 Sports for progress is stopped.
- [35:38]
B
Forward progress. The chicago bears podcast with dan bernstein and matt abeticola on 31 2sp.