Chicago Bears - Minnesota Vikings Post Game

Summary

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Episode Summary:

Forward Progress - Chicago Bears Podcast
Episode: Chicago Bears - Minnesota Vikings Post Game (September 8, 2025)
Hosts: Dan Bernstein & Matt Abbatacola

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Overview

This inaugural episode of Forward Progress captures the raw, unfiltered reactions of lifelong Bears observers Dan Bernstein and Matt Abbatacola after a crushing 27–24 season-opening loss to the Minnesota Vikings at Soldier Field. The hosts dissect the game with their signature blend of despair and dark humor, analyzing everything from coaching missteps to quarterback woes, and drawing bigger picture conclusions about what, if anything, feels different about the Ben Johnson era.

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Main Theme

Disappointment and Deja Vu:
Despite new leadership and a high-profile rookie quarterback, the Bears’ season opener unfolded with depressingly familiar problems—bad penalties, coaching errors, offensive stagnation, and a second-half collapse. The hosts reckon with the question: "Why does every Bears game always feel like this?"

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Tone Set Early—And Soured Quickly

• Opening Drive Promise:

  • Caleb Williams leads a crisp, 6-for-6 opening drive capped by his first NFL rushing TD.
    • “6 for 6, 51 yards. Hits five receivers on the drive, right?” (Dan, 06:01)
  • Immediate hope among the hosts that the Ben Johnson era would bring genuine change.

• Collapse Starts:

  • Immediately after, the offense sputters.
    • “Even when they had the lead... it didn't feel very stable after that, I have to say.” (Dan, 00:45)
  • The sense of dread among fans is palpable, exemplified by Dan’s son’s text:
    • “We’re going to choke.” (Dan, 01:12)

2. Familiar Bears All Over Again

• Coaching & Decision-Making:
  • New coach Ben Johnson “badly outcoached” by the Vikings’ Kevin O’Connell (16:05).
    • “The Bears were out coached, drastically out coached out hustled out physical out quarterbacked. Unbelievable.” (Dan, 01:52)
  • Confusion and frustration over wasted challenges and timeouts (08:08, 08:18).
  • “That challenge was unbelievable... that can't be your first challenge.” (Matt, 08:18)
• Penalties & Discipline:
  • 12 penalties for 127 yards; hosts dismiss “new offense” excuses.
    • “12 penalties, 127 yards... I am, I, I'd like to say I feel angry and disappointed. It's more empty and almost world weary.” (Dan, 06:40)
• Offensive Line Woes:
  • Despite off-season investment, the interior O-line looks overwhelmed.
    • “You spent all that money on the interior ...you couldn't win up front in the middle of that line.” (Dan, 06:40)
• Conditioning Concerns:
  • Both lines (OL/DL) appeared to get tired as game progressed—a bad sign for Week 1 (16:25).

3. Quarterback Play: Early Sparks, Late Concerns

• Caleb Williams’ Debut:
  • Impressive, improvisational early moments.
  • As the game wore on, old errors emerged:
    • Holding the ball too long (graphic touted 3.17 sec “time to throw” as good—both hosts dispute this).
      • “They said it was good?... That's longer.” (Matt, 09:56)
    • Missing open receivers deep and in the middle.
      • “There's Roma Dunes a wide open. There's DJ Moore wide open... not throwing those balls, but the balls he does throw late and high.” (Matt, 06:20)
    • Accuracy and timing issues, especially over the middle (14:34).
      • “His timing was off, his passes were high... it's gonna be a tight end. It's gonna get killed over the middle.” (Matt, 14:34)
    • Pocket presence still shaky; “making magic” covers for deeper issues.

4. Ben Johnson Era—“Already Ben Nagy?”

• Hopes dashed rapidly:
  • Fans and hosts quickly make connections to past coaches (Nagy, Eberflus, Trestman).
    • “I'm so disappointed that I feel like I'm watching a Matt Nagy led team, a Matt Eberflus led team, a Mark Trussman led team.” (Matt, 05:22)
  • Dan jokingly calls new coach “Ben Nagy.” (22:21)
• Failed Offensive Innovation:
  • Little evidence of promised schematic advantage.
  • Predictable, unproductive playcalling; underuse of tight ends (33:33, 48:38).
• No visible growth:
  • “The coach doesn't look any smarter.” (Dan, 28:55)
  • “Caleb Williams doesn't look any better.” (Dan, 27:53)

5. The Decisive Moments & Mismanagement

• Missed Field Goal/Critical Turnover:
  • Missed 50-yarder by Cairo Santos seen as pivotal moment (15:15, 23:43).
  • Game flips after that—hosts reference a sense of inevitability among fans and team.
• Vikings’ Adjustments/Coaching Edge:
  • Kevin O’Connell’s halftime tweaks outclass Ben Johnson.
    • “Kevin O’Connell wins close games,” notes Dan (33:06).
  • J.J. McCarthy (Vikings’ rookie QB) rebounds from a disastrous start, unlike Williams.

6. The Emotional Toll—“Sliding Down a Razor Blade”

• Weariness Sets In:
  • Hosts and fans alike feel fatigue, not rage; sense they've “aged” watching Bears repeat history.
    • “There’s a cold emptiness at the essence of my being right now because of this goddamn football team.” (Dan, 11:54)
  • Gallows humor:
    • “This was like sliding down a razor blade slowly.” (Dan, 21:48)
    • The “Bears Game Reduction” analogy:
      • “This is a copper pan, perfectly heat controlled Bears game reduction... an essence that can be drizzled over anything... If you need your life ruined, it’ll do it.” (Dan, 38:34)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the Bears Being Themselves (01:52):
  “This had every earmark of everything we hate about this team, everything that's made us miserable about this team was on display at one point or another.” – Dan

• On Coaching Letdowns (16:05): “Of all things, I did not think Ben Johnson would be this badly out coached.” – Dan

• On Quarterback Play (06:20):
  “There's Roma Dunes a wide open. There's DJ Moore wide open. There's Colson Loveland in the middle of field, wide open, not throwing those balls, but the balls he does throw late and high.” – Matt

• On False Hope (01:12): “We’re going to choke.” – Text from Jason Bernstein (Dan’s son), read aloud by Dan

• On Bears Fan Suffering (11:54):
  “There’s a cold emptiness at the essence of my being right now because of this goddamn football team.” – Dan

• On Unfulfilled Promises (48:38): “Remember the tight ends? The tight ends. This guy's gonna... he's a mastermind with using the tight end. Well, I was watching Sam Laporta. Sam Laporta looks pretty good ...” – Dan

• Summary of the Fan Experience (38:34):
  “This is a copper pan, perfectly heat controlled Bears game reduction... an essence that can be drizzled over anything... If you need your life ruined, it'll do it.” – Dan

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Opening Frustration & Tone (00:36–03:33)
• Coaching Change Dejection (01:12–02:39)
• Caleb Williams Opening Drive Hope (05:56–06:20)
• Penalty-Driven Collapse (06:40–07:39)
• Coaching Blunders—Bad Challenge (08:18)
• Caleb Williams Critique: Time to Throw (09:43–10:39)
• J.J. McCarthy’s Turnaround (12:24–12:57)
• Emotional Weariness (11:39–12:12; 21:48–21:54)
• Coaching Outclassed (16:05; 18:48)
• Conditioning Issues (16:25–17:45)
• Fan Analogies—Bears Game Reduction (38:34)
• Failed Try for Hopeful Takeaway (47:55–49:45)
• Show Close & Restated Despair (54:06–55:53)

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Observations & Thematic Takeaways

• Bleak Continuity:
  The new regime, same failings—bad penalties, missed big plays, coaching blunders, and a sense of inevitable collapse.

• No Silver Linings:
  Neither host can muster much optimism. There is little to “build on,” just a sense of dread about what’s to come.

• Bears-ness Personified:
  The episode perfectly encapsulates what it has meant to be a Bears fan for decades: hope, then disappointment, and finally, resigned gallows humor.

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Final Thoughts

While Dan and Matt try to find anything—literally anything—positive, they are left with only fleeting moments (like Daniel Hardy’s early special teams plays or a single “holy shit throw” by Williams) to cling to. The rest is a funhouse mirror of every Bears collapse of the past. By the end, even their witty banter and inside jokes can’t mask the core message: “It shouldn't be that way. It shouldn't take one game for my ass to hurt.” (Dan, 54:35)

A must-listen episode for any Bears fan who has ever said “not again”—and meant it.

Transcript

[A]

Ted 219, 219.

[B]

Forward progress Chicago Bears podcast with Dan Bernstein and Matt Abeticola on 3one2 Sports.

[A]

Welcome to Forward Progress Post game. This is our inaugural voyage of this podcast. It's a 312-sports podcast. I'm Dan Burstein. That is Matt Abaticola. 27 to 24, the Bears lose.

[B]

You know, even, even Dan, even when they had the lead, it just like after that first drive, their first offensive drive, it just, it didn't feel very.

[A]

Stable after that, I have to say.

[B]

It just didn't. And even, even when then, when J.J. mcCarthy looked like a rookie playing in his very first game in the biggest stage you could have in a football season on Monday Night Football, he's back in his hometown place he'd gone to as a kid to watch the Bears play. You know, like, what a huge moment for him. Even when he looked his worst, it still didn't feel like the Bears had this game secured.

[A]

9:34Pm Jason Bernstein, text me after the Ms. Field goal. We're going to choke. Immediately after the missed field goal, that text came in. I'm looking at it right now. 9:34pm There it was. And I always say one thing about when, whenever there's a coaching change, whenever there's an opportunity for hope, I always say, please make it not look like a Bears game. Whatever next genius comes in and we'll get to Ben Nagy in a moment. Whenever guy comes in, I always say, don't make it look like a Bears game. Not only did this look and feel like a Bears game, it felt like every Bears game. This had every earmark of everything we hate about this team, everything that's made us miserable about this team was on display at one point or another. The Bears were out coached, drastically out coached out hustled out physical out quarterbacked. Unbelievable. And you could just feel the air being sucked out of Soldier Field.

[B]

As everybody knew it, knew it, knew it was coming. And then it's funny because I wrote in my notes, so the third and out after the Minnesota touchdown, after the Justin Jefferson touchdown, I wrote down, I said very bad. Reminiscent of seasons past, the one that.

[A]

Started with the sack when our expensive new center just forgot to block.

[B]

Hargrave forgot the block. Yes.

[A]

Swift minus two and then the incompletion on third and 19.

[B]

Yeah, it felt like seasons passed because it felt like a team that, that doesn't know what it feels like to win, doesn't know what it feels like to have the lead, doesn't know what it feels like to come back after getting punched in the mouth, they just kind of revert back to bad plays and not blocking or, or bad play calling. It just. I felt like I was watching a season from the past. That's all I felt.

[A]

All the talk about tight ends, well, you know, Ben Johnson, they draft Colston Loveland because they love some tight ends missing and useless until Cole Comet made an unbelievable catch because they're giving up the middle of the field. It was an overthrown ball. All the talk about what he's going to do with Caleb Williams now that he can help him unlearn everything that Matt Eber Fluss and Shane Waldron taught him, and he's still not seeing open guys. He's not seeing open guys. And then Johnson himself. Maybe I need to know the rule about the challenge that whether or not there's contact with the ball, does that count as with the man I. There's. I'm getting sort of a differing explanation. The broadcast didn't do a real good job of explaining technically whether or not that constitutes contact. But at the end of the game, if you are certain, unless you're certain, I should say that Cairo Santos has the leg to boom that thing out of the back of the end zone. And this is not the reason they lost. But this is a, this is a coaching problem here.

[B]

Wasn't that Taylor that kicked that was.

[A]

It Taylor that kicked? That kicked. It didn't kick it out of bounds.

[B]

That kicked that one. The ball that he brought out of.

[A]

The end zone, he was kicking out, then kick it out of bounds seven.

[B]

Or eight yards out, then kick it out of bounds. Yeah, that was Taylor.

[A]

Well, if you aren't 100% certain the ball can be kicked out of bounds, you can't do that.

[B]

Correct.

[A]

You must be 100% certain. The ball could be kicked away out of the end zone, out of the end zone or just onside kick. I don't understand how the Bears can recapitulate note for note, everything we hate about them in one game.

[B]

It was there. It was there. I just, I'm really. I'm just. I'm so disappointed that I feel like I'm watching a Matt Nagy led team, a Matt Eberflus led team, a Mark Trussman led team. And again, it's not that Ben Johnson can't be better than all those guys. I, as a Bears fan watching, just feel the exact same way. You know, it starts off that, that opening drive, Dan was so fun. It was so exciting to watch Caleb Williams Leads the team for the first time in his career to an opening drive. Touchdown.

[A]

6 for 6, 51 yards. Hits five receivers on the drive, right?

[B]

And he gets his, he gets his first rushing touchdown ever. And I'm like, all right, we're off. This is good. Like if we're going to do this now. The offensive line collapsed a little bit, but he made plays with his feet. He got away a few times that he probably shouldn't have gotten away. And other quarterbacks wouldn't get away. There's most wouldn't, maybe a couple of others would. But it's like, all right, this, this is good. And then from there it just, it just felt like, all right, we're missing opportunities. Missing opportunities. There's Roma Dunes a wide open. There's DJ Moore wide open. There's Colson Loveland in the middle of field, wide open, not throwing those balls, but the balls he does throw late and high.

[A]

12 penalties, 127 yards of penalties. And so there were a couple bad calls. I don't care. There's bad calls every game. 12 penalties, 127 yards, the false starts. And you can use a couple of, well, a new offense, but stop doing it. This game counts. This was a real game. This is not practice. You're supposed to have this ironed out. Well, we'll clean that up. We'll clean that up. You're supposed to clean that up before the season starts. I am, I, I, I'd like to say I feel angry and disappointed. It's more empty and almost world weary. You spent all that money on the interior of the line, guard, center, guard, and you couldn't get a push, you couldn't win up front in the middle of that line.

[B]

Yeah, it's funny you say that. Cause I'm not even, I'm not angry. Yeah, I just, I feel empty. I just, I feel empty watching the game. And even in the, in the third quarter, you know, we're sitting here watching the game and I just said, yeah, we're going to end up losing this by double digits.

[A]

We're watching your comments come in as we speak and thank you for them. Matt is trying to do a million things at once here. Trying to pop up your comments here.

[B]

And everyone, last comment that said I hate it here.

[A]

Well, everyone I see, I'm nodding my head. I can't argue with, with anything that I'm seeing about stupid challenges and wasting timeouts and same old bears.

[B]

That challenge was unbelievable. I mean, there is absolutely no. Someone has to help and say that that's not a play we challenge. His knee was down. The ball was in his possession. Then the ball came out. His knee was down. It was very, very easy to see. So someone has to help with that. That can't be your first challenge.

[A]

They want him to get the ball out quickly in Caleb Williams, and a couple times he did. But they were playing with fire all night. And that's the truth. Even when his numbers were good, the fact that he was dancing out of so many sacks and keeping. And keeping them alive, he allowed.

[B]

That's not what it's supposed to be.

[A]

No, that ain't it. You can't allow the pocket to collapse and then have to get out there on the move. This. The ball's gotta be out on time. And there was one time. Do you see the camera cut away to Johnson, and he shook his head and he said, damn. And it seemed like one of the. A play that just was another one. A beat too long. Holding it a beat too long. See it, get it out. See it, get it out. Not happening.

[B]

You know, maybe I saw this wrong, and I'll. When I go back and watch it again, which I don't want to. There was.

[A]

You sure you want to relive that?

[B]

They flash a stat on the screen and I. Maybe I read it wrong. I had to have read it wrong. But I could have sworn I read that last. Last season he held the ball for 2.92 seconds, and tonight he was holding it for 3.17.

[A]

And they said it was good.

[B]

Yes. That's longer.

[A]

Correct.

[B]

So I read that. Right.

[A]

I thought the same thing. I thought that whatever they were told by the truck.

[B]

That's better. That's good. I'm like, it's actually not. He's holding the ball longer.

[A]

No, they don't want him to hold it long.

[B]

I think 9:2 is quicker than 3.17.

[A]

You know why? I'll tell you what I think happened.

[B]

Maybe. Maybe we saw it wrong. I don't know.

[A]

I believe the graphic said time to throw. And I think they interpreted that as how much time the line was giving him to throw when it was literally the time it was taking him to throw.

[B]

Okay.

[A]

So I read it. I interpreted that just like you did.

[B]

Yeah. Because I was like, wait a second.

[A]

That's not.

[B]

Something's not right there.

[A]

Well, this is. And this. These are games that Kevin McCarthy. Excuse me. Kevin O' Connell wins. Kevin McCarthy's the old actor who was in Invasion of the Body Snatchers, right?

[B]

Yeah. And I'll tell you. J.J. mcCarthy, that second half, he. I mean, he looked. I mean, look, you know, he throws a really nice ball, obviously moves. He didn't crumble under the pressure because that was about as bad of a start to an NFL career as you'll find in a first half of football.

[A]

At the. I mean, looking back in my notes, and I can't believe that I was the same person writing these things we did. We lived a lifetime over the last three and a half hours. I'm sorry. That was. That was. I feel like I have. That game aged me. Do I look older? Do I look. There's like, gotta be some Bears game graphic filter on here on streamyard that could actually make me look like I feel.

[B]

You know what? Actually, when you came on screen, I thought, you look really unfiltered. But then I was like, ah, he's filtered. He's moving forward.

[A]

That's true. Because it's forward progress. I am extremely unfiltered. You would think that the lack of filtration would make me feel better, but I feel like. Like I've. Like I've aged. Like I chose the wrong Holy grail.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

You know, like, he chose poorly. That's what Bears games do to me. I don't. There's a cold emptiness at the. At the essence of my being right now because of this goddamn football team.

[B]

Yeah. It's funny, again, like you said, I'm not angry. I'm not. I'm not upset. I just. I kind of felt like, all right, this is where we're headed for. For tonight in my notes. This is where we're going to end.

[A]

I wrote start of the third quarter cup. Just a couple. I'm just going back and trying to remember. Yeah, I was the same person writing these things. And I wrote, braxton Jones keeps getting bull rushed. And then I wrote, what does J.J. mcCarthy do? Well? And you know what? He wins a football game in crunch time. It turns out. I wish I could grab the person that wrote that note of the third quarter and say, you know what? JJ McCarthy made some throws and stood in there against pressure. And he can run.

[B]

Yeah, he can.

[A]

He can really run. So I answered my own question. Unreal.

[B]

Yeah, it's just after the way it started, it just, you know, it just. It felt really fun. But again, after that, that touchdown drive, they had zero points on the offense. Except for the field goal. Missed field goal. Until you score. Late in the game, you had. You know, we talked about. About Wright, Nayshaan Wright, he got beat bad on that penalty. That was a terrible passing or pass interference call. Didn't even bother.

[A]

And I don't even bother turning around. No. And then they didn't try to throw at him again.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

That's what was so strange. The moment I saw that, I would fire it up again. Run that until they stop it.

[B]

Yeah. And then the clock's winding down. It's almost at zero. McCarthy snaps the ball, makes that really bad pass on the outside, that right. Saw the whole way to Jefferson, and ran it back easy 74 yards for the touchdown. And even, Even then, Dan, I still. I just didn't feel good. It didn't feel stable. It didn't feel comfortable from what they were doing offensively. You have Caleb Williams escaping so many sacks and turning, you know, nothing into something positive. Had some really, really good throws. Had some really good throws. But if, you know, when I go back through and look at it again, there's going to be more bad throws than good. And that's just. That's not the way it should be. And that's not the way it should have looked in this first game.

[A]

He was just not accurate enough.

[B]

His timing was off, his passes were high. And I told you. And I said it was gonna be a tight end. It's gonna get killed over the middle. Someone is going to get killed over the middle. And luckily, DJ Moore didn't die tonight.

[A]

Well, the fact that he went right back in the game was strange. And it made me wonder if he talked his way out of a concussion diagnosis.

[B]

I didn't see concussion there. What I. And even the way he, he was walking, I saw when he's on the ground, he's holding. He was holding his left arm and shoulder is when. That's where all the contact came through. And then, you know, he walked off. And then he stopped short of the. The sideline, went down, you know, and put his brace himself, put his hands on his knees. I, I just think he was trying to deal with that pain of that, that shot to the shoulder there, the arm area. I didn't think head at all. I mean, I didn't. It didn't seem that way to me.

[A]

But you. I gotta.

[B]

But by the way, it was you.

[A]

You talk for a second. Hold on.

[B]

But by the way that he was. He was laying on the ground. And the length of time it took, I thought, oh, geez, man, I hope. I hope he's okay for, for next week. And then he's back in like two plays later. I'm like, I thought he died just now. They're gonna back out there on the field.

[A]

They're gonna get boat race next week. If they play anything like this, they're gonna.

[B]

The Lions next week.

[A]

Yeah. Well, the lines, the lines. Coming off a loss, though.

[B]

Yeah, they looked awful. I know the, their interior, their offensive line looked horrible. I know for under 50 yards, they look terrible.

[A]

This is. I just. Of all things, I did not think Ben Johnson would be this badly out coached.

[B]

Yeah, he really was. The second half, it was really was.

[A]

It's almost like they set him up. And the other thing. Remind me to make a note of this. I'm a little concerned about their conditioning. I am concerned overall about the Bears physical conditioning.

[B]

Why do you say that?

[A]

A couple of reasons. It looked like both lines got tired. It looked like the offensive line and the defensive line, as the game went on, started to weaken.

[B]

Well, there wasn't much of a rotation on the defensive line to start the first half.

[A]

Well, Passagnon came in and they finally used Billings. So I will look at the snap counts. I didn't see a lot early, but we'll go through all the snap counts and get a look at some of that stuff. But when you also had Nishan Wright dealing with cramping, that should never happen. Yeah, it should never happen to a professional athlete. There's no excuse for improper hydration. None. And it just looked like the big guys over the course of the game on both lines started to wear out a little bit when their opponents didn't. And that speaks to conditioning. Maybe. It's just not something they. And look, it's not even hot. This is a cool night for Century. It could be 90 degrees, it could be 92 in Chicago in the first week of September. So I, you know, and it. They're missing three starters on defense, but it did not stop them from playing well at one point.

[B]

Correct. Yeah, no, they. They played. They played really well the first half. You know, J.J. mcCarthy looked like a rookie making his debut again on a very, very big scene. He just, he looked like he was way in, way out of his depth as far as being able to. To play at the NFL level and then just turn it around. I mean, that's, that's really good coaching from Kevin o'. Connell. They got the run game going finally with Jordan Mason. They were able to rattle off, I think, bunch of yards. I think, I think at one point he was rushing for almost 8 or 9, 10 yards of carry after not doing anything in the first half with the run game. And then their offensive line came alive and then Their defensive line came. Came alive, and the Bears just looked like they were struggling to get to the end of the game. Like, we have the lead. Let's get to the end of the game. That. That's what the offense looked like, and that's what I was used to seeing other. Other head coaches, and I expected to see different. Different preparation and better execution with Ben Johnson as the head coach.

[A]

It looked. It looked like a distillation of bad Bears games with this new coach with. And if you. The reason why it really sucks is it's hard to find. You can't really sift through this and find bits in the wreckage that make you feel good where Ben Johnson promised. You know, we're going to have unique. A unique offensive advantage, we think, because they always have a. An adaptation. They can always adjust and they take pride in that and they know that they can always find something different. And we didn't see that. And we saw the same things. We saw bad screen passes, we saw throws behind people. We saw tackles for loss and throws over people and all these throws batted at the line again. And Andrew Van Gink, we're lucky that. That little. That little cute flip wasn't intercepted in return for touchdown. And then it was always. This guy loves tight ends. They're going to draft Colston Loveland. Watch what he does with the tight ends. They were nowhere to be found. They were invisible, absolutely invisible. All that talk about tight ends didn't use them. Were they not open? Are they going to. Is Ben going to say, well, they're open, but Caleb's just not seeing them.

[B]

Yeah. Again. And we talked about this on previous pods, Dan. That, that. That ability to throw over that first level in front of the second level and just drop that. He doesn't have that touch. He just doesn't have that touch yet. Is that something that he can develop? I hope. But he really struggles in throwing over that. That first layer and then dropping it in the zone. And that's why you see those guys stretched out. And he just. He missed guys bad on so many. So many passes tonight.

[A]

His best pass of the game was third and five on the first drive. That throw to Roma Dunes A. Oh.

[B]

That was rolling out to the sideline.

[A]

Unbelievable. I wrote three letters. I put a star on it. And I wrote HST.

[B]

A hot summer taco.

[A]

That's a holy shit throw is what that is. A holy shit throw. Okay, that's a holy shit throw because.

[B]

I wrote three letters. W, O, W. Those are good letters.

[A]

And that's not even yeah, that's not even an acronym.

[B]

See, I know it's not.

[A]

It's just. No, see, see, I need. I need the. The acronym there. I need the abbreviation with the first letters there, because that's my coaching philosophy.

[B]

Yeah, and just the way it looked, too. Went. Just the way it looked. I mean, on the Vikings first, third down plays, they got sacks, the Bear. I mean, it was like, all right, this is looking good. This is feeling good. And then you see the offense come out of that, and it's like, okay. Oh, oh, oh. Okay. All right.

[A]

Mm.

[B]

All right, well, this isn't as fun anymore.

[A]

Then it's like, no, it got very much not fun.

[B]

Yeah. Like, this is. It's not even not fun. It's just. This hurts. This is starting to hurt now.

[A]

This was like sliding down a razor blade slowly.

[B]

This comment, Terry Bors, was correct. Stop watching this nonsense.

[A]

Yeah, buddy. Well, if they were. They were playing in my backyard, I'd pull the shades.

[B]

Oh, that's what I've always said about you, too. If they were playing a concert in my backyard.

[A]

Oh, I thought you were saying about me.

[B]

No, not you, too, but you, too.

[A]

The band, you two.

[B]

Yeah, the band, you two. If they were playing in my backyard right now, I wouldn't watch.

[A]

And no to this. To this commenter. It's not fun bad yet.

[B]

No, that wasn't.

[A]

Come on. It's game one of the Ben Johnson era. Although I did actually. I did call him. Ben Nagy already.

[B]

Yes, you did. You did call. And it already stuck as a few of the comments here actually included Ben. Well, there was actually one Ben Eberfluss.

[A]

No, no, I won't go there.

[B]

Because of the challenge.

[A]

I won't.

[B]

Time out.

[A]

No, I won't go there.

[B]

Oh, man, this. It wasn't supposed to be like this.

[A]

No, it's not that. It was. It was supposed to be something. At least not this. Like anything even a little better than this. We could find a way to say, okay, you know, first game, they didn't. This gives us nothing.

[B]

No.

[A]

What do you build off of and say, oh, well, it's probably going to be fine? Because I think a reasonable person would. Would say, burn the tape. It's probably going to be fine. But this was a team with a rookie quarterback begging to be beaten. You're up 17 to 6. And then it was. It was that bad challenge. You had the great Tyreek Stevenson pass breakup on Thielen. You had the punt, and then you have the Darnell Wright holding. You have Caleb Williams Missing Cole Comet.

[B]

Which I think that Darnell right. Holding was actually a bad call.

[A]

I think that one.

[B]

Yeah, that was. Yeah, that was absolutely.

[A]

That was the one. That's where he panel was hold at all. Yeah, that would have been. That would have been my swift over that I didn't get. I needed 15 and a half yards based on my. My bookie pick. The guy gets 12 yards on the first drive receiving and then not another one the entire rest.

[B]

I thought for sure you had it done.

[A]

Well, of course, you know.

[B]

Yeah. So that, that, yeah, that, that, that penalty on. On Darnell Wright was not holding. So then they, I went down, he pancaked him and then I don't know where the holding came in.

[A]

So they get the, the little bit of the yardage back to. By throwing it to Zakius for 12 yards. The 50 yard field goal misses. That's when I get the text from my son that the Bears are going to lose. And then the wheels came off.

[B]

It was a nightmare late in the third quarter. Oh, it was right. Right before the missed 50 yard field goal. Joe Buck even said it. I was, I was thinking it, feeling it. He says this feels like a four score or more game and it wasn't. And. But it felt that way. It felt like the Bears should have been up by four touchdowns the way that it was going. And I did jot this down too because they made a point of it on the broadcast. 12:18 Left in the game. You know what, you know what's significant about that? 12:18 left in the game.

[A]

12:18 left in the game.

[B]

There's something very significant. They made a very specific point about it on the broadcast. 12:18 Left in the game. The first mention of Montez Sweat.

[A]

Wow. Is that when he batted the ball.

[B]

Down left in the game. And they, they highlighted how. It's the first time that they mentioned Montez Sweat in the game.

[A]

And he was on your list earlier today. If you were listening to forward progress earlier, that is exactly what we said when we started looking at the money and you said Montez sweat. And I'm looking at the interior of the offensive line that they shored up with a whole lot of money. There's a lot of people looking bad here. And Ben Johnson had a long honeymoon. He had. They went and they got the guy and they were the team that got the guy. And they're celebrating and he's. He had these great. A perfect press conference, a perfect opening and theirs is adorable family and he's pumping his fist in Hallis. Hall that honeymoon. Whatever it was, whatever those smiles and all that. Over. Over.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

After this.

[B]

I love this. He said the bean had more shout outs and call outs than Montez Sweat, which it did. Like, can we, can we stop with like the Chicago stuff when we're here doing games? Like showing the Bean?

[A]

No.

[B]

And then normally it's like deep dish pizza. It's like Chicago's more than they showed Timothy o'.

[A]

Tooles. You see that?

[B]

I miss. I missed o'.

[A]

Tools. They showed the o'. Tools.

[B]

Maybe I was too busy eating my pizza at that point.

[A]

Oh, well, good for you. I still have to eat. I got a bunch of cold fried chicken. I'm going to air fry.

[B]

Are you really?

[A]

I'm going to drown my sorrows. I tell you.

[B]

You're going to eat this late?

[A]

I'm going to drown my sorrows in air fried chicken. Man. How could it be this bad already? How could it be this bad already? In three hours everything went to shit.

[B]

Yeah, it's indeed. It's not like I expect. I was expecting their first game with Ben Johnson as the head coach to win by 35 points. You know, I didn't have unrealistic expectations. I just, I expected it to feel better even in a loss. And right now it's just feels again. I just, I can't say it any better than. I feel the exact same way as I have other previous Bears seasons. And I didn't want to feel that way with Ben Johnson. And I'm not saying it can't. It can't get better. There's 16 games to go in the season. It just. I didn't expect to feel like. I feel like I'm watching a Matt Nagy or a Matt Eberfluss or a Tressman game. But that's how I feel. I feel like my team, despite the score at any given point in the game, never had a chance to win that game.

[A]

And Caleb Williams doesn't look any better. That's, that's, that's the, the big thing is the coaches is certainly less than a genius at this point. The team looks unconditioned. The team is just full of stupid penalties. And I don't know if that's preparation or if it's just bad practicing, but the quarterback doesn't look any better. And even when his numbers were good, I can't stress this enough. Even when things were okay in the first half, he was still using his feet to keep himself alive as the pocket CL collapsed on him because he wasn't seeing people down the field?

[B]

Yep.

[A]

And Troy Aikman kept pointing it out, and they were trying to be nice early, and then they kind of took the gloves off late after that. The throw to DJ Moore when he has his eyes in the flat and he misses DJ Moore because he throws it late and throws it high. So I thought they went out of their way to try to give him a lot of leash before they started clobbering him. Yeah, he doesn't look better and the coach doesn't look any smarter.

[B]

And here's what I want to know, though, because when you look again, there's three specific plays I can recall where Moore was open, a dunes it was open, and Loveland wide open. And if Those guys downfield, 15 plus yards are not the first options, then where are the first options? If you're not looking first downfield, then what the hell is this offense? If you're not looking to make big plays, what is this Ben Johnson offense? I don't get it. Like, you can't look in the flats first and then say, well, let me look. And if that post route is open 20 yards downfield. No, that should be your first look. And then you bring your eyes down a level, and then you bring them down another level, and then you check down.

[A]

I kept thinking that seeing a Ben Johnson offense would mean they would stress the deep middle. That's what I thought it was.

[B]

Dan, he struggles with those passes the most.

[A]

Well, then we got a real problem here because the whole point of the Ben Johnson offense is to use play action to change the levels, to change the layers, to open up the deep middle, because that's where the yards are and that's where the points are.

[B]

He's just, he doesn't throw a good deep middle ball. He just doesn't. He just doesn't. And I, you know, I don't know if we're doomed forever, but we're Bears fans.

[A]

We're doing forever.

[B]

Oh, I and I. But the Cubs lost, too. But I'll leave that right there.

[A]

Anyway, I, I, I wish I had something I could say. You know, it's, it's okay because it's, it's fine. Because it's no big deal. Because I can't say that this was alarming. This was an alarming exposure of our worst fears immediately. It didn't take three games. It's a divisional game at home at night in front of the country. And all of our deepest, darkest fears were realized in a quarter.

[B]

What was another one that I highlighted? Oh, it was a play. It Was. It was for. For a first down in the fourth quarter, Roma dunes A. He sits in the zone and he's in the middle of the field, waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting. And he finally sees him and hits him. Like that needs to be seen sooner. I just. I don't understand what. What he's told to look for or what he's not looking for or what he's not seeing. I just don't get it. Like, there's absolutely no reason. And first of all, that doomsday was that wide open for that long was incredible. And just waiting and waiting and waiting. It should have happened a lot quicker. I just. I just don't get it.

[A]

It does not look like he is doing what Ben Johnson offense is doing. That is a quarterback beats you before the snap.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

That. That has to start happening. They've got to see it. They've got to know it. And they say if that's not there, is there, and if that's not there, then this is there before the ball is snapped. And in credit to Brian Flores, too. You talk about a slow walk.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

You talk about the confidence to sit back and not blitz, not blitz, not blitz. And then wait, it's like when Ivan Drago, was it against. Was that against Apollo Creed? When he's not. You're not throwing the right and he's only using the left, and then finally they give him permission to throw the right. And it looks like that that's the way Flores approached this.

[B]

Yeah. But here's the thing, though. And as I'm thinking through this, we're sitting there going, all right, this isn't going to last. It doesn't feel stable. It's not comfortable. Just wait until they give up the lead. If we're feeling that at home, not the experts, not the professionals, how do you think they felt? Like, you mentioned Brian Flores, like, do you think he was, like, worried? Do you think. Do you think Kevin o' Connell was like, yeah, no big deal. I mean, we're fine. We're.

[A]

Kevin o' Connell wins close games, right? He wins close games.

[B]

They're watching the same offense we are up close, right there in person. They're probably saying, this team's not scoring 30 points. They're not doing it. This offense is not scoring 30 points against us tonight. So fine. Yeah, we're down right now. We're just scoring field goals, but that's okay. This team is not going to score 30 points on us. Well, the offense, I should say, is not going to score 30 points. On us. They had to know it, too. Like, if we're feeling that, they had to feel it, know it. And like you said, yes, he wins close games. What were they, 9 and 1. A couple of seasons ago? They mentioned that all those. All those lessons, less than a touchdown deficit wins.

[A]

Well, I'd like to say that this is the kind of thing that you sleep on and you pick up the pieces and you find some green shoots in here. When you look at over the next, you're like, oh, you know, okay, this is something off of which we can build. Because as a coach, if you're a coach and you're looking at this and I'm scouring everything I got here.

[B]

It's a lot of notes.

[A]

Yeah.

[B]

Like A Beautiful Mind.

[A]

Well, this is what I do during games. And I waste. I just wasted three and a half hours doing this. And I always look at. I say, okay, well, this is. This is okay. This is all right. This is okay. And even the things that I previously thought might be. Have been obviated and negated by that poor a performance and that big a collapse with so many things going wrong. Special teams, the coverage teams, Cairo, Santos. It's so many. The penalties everywhere.

[B]

You know, there was one. One high. You talk about green shoots. And I thought there was something to see early on in special teams, and it was Daniel Hardy made some plays early on, and I was like, oh, this looks fun. 92 looks fun to watch. And then it just kind of all went away. So wait, he does that.

[A]

But he also, last year himself was a walking penalty.

[B]

Yes. Oh, yeah, that's right. Let me see your notes again.

[A]

Why?

[B]

We'll compare. It's good. Can you see mine?

[A]

Bears, Vikings. Caleb, pizza. Yeah.

[B]

And then this might.

[A]

Who is that? Is that Ben Johnson?

[B]

That's J.J. mcCarthy.

[A]

Oh, that's okay. Yeah, that's good.

[B]

Those are my.

[A]

I like your notes.

[B]

Thanks. Well, I have to. I have to write down the team so I don't forget who's playing.

[A]

That's good. That's smart.

[B]

And then I was like, look, I.

[A]

Wrote Vikings, Bears at the top.

[B]

And then I wrote Caleb, so I remember to talk about him.

[A]

Okay, good.

[B]

And then Natalie was like, what should we have to. What should we order? And I said, pizza.

[A]

Nice. I like your approach.

[B]

You know what?

[A]

That's keeping it simple.

[B]

It's like Ben Johnson.

[A]

You don't let things. You don't let things clutter, you know, your mind or clutter your field of vision or anything. Now, what is the rule also on the challenge if first contact, if a guy is on the ground, if your first contact is with the ball, does that count as contact? Because I was confused by the responses that were, that I was seeing.

[B]

Okay, I didn't. God, I don't want to, but I'm going to. I'll look at it again. I, I thought there was other contact prior to the ball punch. I thought there might have been.

[A]

And then someone said it doesn't matter, that even if you make contact with the ball, that somehow counts as contacting the ball carrier, if that person's on the ground, somebody can be downed by contact. If the person has the ball and you touch the ball, if they're in possession of it.

[B]

Yeah, I don't know, but I thought, I thought someone had their hands on him.

[A]

Are you in concussion protocol? That's all. That's like if he writes down pudding three times. Bears pudding, Vikings pudding, pudding, jello.

[B]

I, I thought he was, I thought that he was touched prior to the ball being punched out. I thought there was hands on him.

[A]

There probably were.

[B]

So I thought it was still a bad challenge. I thought it was a bad challenge.

[A]

All right, what does Brian Johnson say? What is, what is he.

[B]

No, we cannot change the name of the show to progress.

[A]

No, we're still hopeful. See, that's the thing. At some point it's going to go forward. At some point it'll be worth the name. How you have a double digit lead going into the fourth quarter at home. Well, at least I'm laughing because the commenters are hysterical and thank you for that. I wish I could say, give you something that could make anybody feel better right now, but they boil down. It's like a, you know when you reduce, like a demi glace or a wine sauce or something and you get that perfect velvety finish on it. This is a copper pan, perfectly heat controlled Bears game reduction. It's just an essence that can be drizzled over anything. You know what? You should save this game. You take it out of the pan and pour it into an ice cube tray and freeze it. And that way anytime you just need to add a little bit of Bears game to something and you can show somebody anywhere, no matter how young or how old anybody around are, a Gen X who's grown up with a lot of this stuff after, certainly before and after the brief period when the Ditka teams were good, that for a huge portion of our lives, that essence of bearsness can just be thrown into a soup. And if you need your life ruined, it'll do it. It's been boiled down to that, and it can just. If you just need to add something that'll ruin your life.

[B]

Well, I'll tell you, there's a. There's a message here in the comments. This will help you, Dan. Don't.

[A]

Don't, don't.

[B]

No, don't say that's all he sent was no. I don't know what the no is too, but maybe.

[A]

Doesn't matter.

[B]

Everything.

[A]

It doesn't matter. I don't know. Yeah. If the answer is no, that none of this works. And they were. They were bad and hurt and stupid. And I walked by so many people. I was out on the lakefront this afternoon. I walked by so many excited, smiling Bears fans decked out in their stuff and ready to go, and there was such energy, and I was so excited. Why am I an idiot? Why do I do. Why did I get excited for this? I was so. And people are texting. My friends are texting me, like, ah. And here we are. We've just been repeatedly kicked in the dark dick by this team.

[B]

Well, here. You want something positive.

[A]

What?

[B]

You were at home so you didn't have to watch the halftime show in person, which was honoring the. The 85 team.

[A]

Oh, yeah. I saw them passing 40th anniversary.

[B]

Yes. They passed the trophy around.

[A]

I mean, I saw what they showed when they came back, I guess. But no, we were down here doing the test of first so we could go on the air and. Are we technically on the air? Is this an air we're on Zoom?

[B]

No, we're technically live.

[A]

We're live, but we're not on the air. I don't even know what to say anymore.

[B]

It doesn't matter.

[A]

What does matter?

[B]

Here's a good show. Name, Lateral progress.

[A]

Why do they do this to us? And why do we fall for this? Why do we fall for this every day? Hey, here comes the shiny new brilliant head coach who everybody wants. And they had one idiot head coach, but, hey, they had a one year the idiot head coach. Now they can get the smart head coach. And then he's drinking from the cup that Matt Eberfluss left at his desk, and now he's caught whatever horrible fungus or whatever it is gets into your brain.

[B]

Do you think there are, like, stupid pills in the head coach's desk that just remain after the coach leaves?

[A]

It's sort of like the presidential thing where you're supposed to leave a letter.

[B]

Yes.

[A]

To your successor?

[B]

And it's like. It's a note. Ellis says, take this Pill, Matt. That's all it says. And then Ben's like, huh, all right, I'll take this pill. I just, I, I didn't want to feel bad, Dan. Like, that's. Again, I like, if they win or lose, fine. You know, I prefer them to win, but I just didn't want to feel bad. Like, I'd rather they lost.

[A]

Even if they lost and played and you could see, well, okay, this is going to take some time to build, but you can see the building blocks there. You can see the money that they spent on three veteran interior offensive linemen wasn't going to be a waste. And now I'm thinking all that money is just absolutely flushed down the toilet.

[B]

Yeah, that sack that Dahlman gave up was, that was, that was real bad. Real bad. And then that play where DJ Moore died for 30 seconds and Caleb gets hit on the same play. Like it was as if they just, they opened the door and they said, please run through, run through and kill the quarterback. I will move out of your way, sir. Right this way to your table.

[A]

I. It's the one. But if somebody coming into the game, and I think I mentioned this before, that going before all the injuries happened, they said, what's the strength of this team? I would have said the secondary. They say, all right, well, they're all hurt.

[B]

Okay, but here, but listen, here's the thing, though.

[A]

And then, but then my second choice would have been interior offensive line.

[B]

Yes. Now I know Jalen Johnson, Kyler Gordon, TJ Edwards out three of your best defensive players, two that make up what was the strength of your team in the defensive secondary. But that still is not the reason why you lost this game. You had opportunities to put more points on the board, to move the ball downfield, and the offense failed to do it. This loss, as ugly as it, as it, as it was and how bad as you feel right now, this for me is not on the defense. It's not. It's not on the defense. No. They scored. The offense's inability to, to continue moving the ball when you had the goddamn lead for most of the game, the.

[A]

Run game never looked good. There was that one cutback run. There were two nice runs by Swift.

[B]

By Swift.

[A]

There was the one zone cutback run and then there was one where the blocking to me looked like duo. That was the start of that, that, that ill fated drive. They started their own 23rd. The very first play looked like it wasn't zone. It looked like a duo. And he plunged ahead for nine yards. Then you had the Bad holding call. And then everything went to hell, you know?

[B]

And then, you know, Caleb trying to escape and he. He falls and gets rid of the ball, and he's called for intentional grounding. So 10 and loss. A down. Another play. He's scrambling, gets the sideline, steps out of bounds before he throws the ball. Like these are things you don't see other QBs do.

[A]

Though that was the Mitch Trubisky, I believe, was step out of bounds for a sack.

[B]

Wait, okay, so maybe they went back to that play in the playbook.

[A]

That's what it was. That negative left Caleb, roll right hard.

[B]

Step out of bounds, then throw the ball.

[A]

Yep. Because you have to throw the ball before you step out of bounds. Because when you step out of bounds, it doesn't matter if you throw the ball afterward. But it sure looked nice.

[B]

I get it. I get it, Robert. Robert says, you know, the defense gave up. They gave up a three. Fourth quarter. Listen, I get it. But. But the Bears had control this game, and the offense failed to continue moving the ball.

[A]

Right.

[B]

They had control.

[A]

Everything happened afterward. And I hate playing this game. But none of this happens afterward. If the Bears are able to just keep churning clock and plow ahead, even if Santos makes that field goal, it's 20 to 6 at that point.

[B]

Right? And I get it, Robert. I get it. I totally get what you're saying. But it's just the offense. If you can, like you just said, Dan, if you continue to churn, get yards, stack first downs, even, get field goals, even do that, this game shouldn't have gotten close. It shouldn't have been that way. You had a first half where J.J. mcCarthy looked like. I bet in Minnesota, they were like, why the hell we draft this guy?

[A]

Oh, you saw what was being said.

[B]

Jesus, he looks horrible.

[A]

I said. I wrote it down. What does J.J. mcCarthy do? Well. And I got my answer. I effed around and I found out I don't even have to say F'd anymore.

[B]

You don't?

[A]

I don't. Chose to, but I don't have to.

[B]

F A F O.

[A]

That's what I did. And I don't even care about these other notes now. I don't care. It doesn't matter now. Hey, Noah Sewell looks physical and fast. Who cares? He did, though. I know. Nick McLeod, nice play. Great. But what is this? What are they doing? And why are they doing it? And why do they look out of shape? Why do the lines get tired? What?

[B]

Why?

[A]

What are you laughing at?

[B]

I wonder if Ben Johnson can eat an Entire turkey.

[A]

Why does this guy always wonder that about every coach, I guess. Is that his standing? Dan Campbell. Absolutely could. Yes.

[B]

Alive, though. It's not.

[A]

Oh, no, no, no, no. It's not dead.

[B]

He'll just grabs a whole turkey out of the.

[A]

He'll run it down. Yeah, he'll. He'll chase it down and grab it. We saw one when we were in Minneapolis, remember?

[B]

Oh, yeah, we did.

[A]

Yeah. When we were headed to the airport. We were in Minneapolis.

[B]

Turkey.

[A]

Yeah. And we saw turkey right by. So that's maybe. See, that was the warning. It was a bad omen. We were in Minneapolis and our path was crossed by a wild turkey.

[B]

Is this. Let me see. Are those accurate numbers there? I got rid of my.

[A]

Oh, which. Which Loveland. Yeah. Two catches. Burton had a great end of half kickoff return, I'll say that. But there is. I got nothing. As Doug Buffon would say, give me before gave me. I would say, give me something I can hang my hat on. And I want to come away with something here that tells me this wasn't as horrendous a disaster as it seemed. But I can't do that in good conscience.

[B]

I hope Ben Johnson's not driving around looking for lights.

[A]

Yeah. Colston Loveland, two receptions or 12 yards. Cole Comet had the one catch. Luther Burden, one catch for. Wait, is that all he finished with minus three.

[B]

Cole Comet, the one.

[A]

The one targeted four times. Caught one. Yep. That was his only catch at all. Everything. Remember the tight ends? The tight ends. This guy's gonna. He's gonna. He's a mastermind with using the tight end. Well, I was watching Sam laporta. Santa Porta looks pretty good. I'm not sure if. If this is. I don't know. I. It's hard for me. Usually. I'm used to writing a column. I'm used to putting my words together. I'm used to crafting sentences. And this is my first time after a Bears game doing this instead.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

And after something like this, I'm not often at a loss for words. I don't often find myself sort of checking what I say. But between everything my brain spat out in these. In these ridiculous notes and everything I just endured, I don't know. They opened every door to their opponent and let them walk through. Everyone.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

That's what's so frustrating. They had so many opportunities to say, oh, this is. It's been great so far. And maybe. Maybe it would have been a loss or a win where you can come across and coach the hell out of Them and say, not good enough. Not good enough. We play like that against the Lions, you know, you. Maybe you don't be happy that you won this game, which is a coach's dream. Coaches love games like that. Coaching hard after a win, you know that.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

When you're coaching kids, it's a great thing. You know, don't get. Don't get crazy, you know, don't. Don't start, you know, reading your own clippings. It's like this team did it after three quarters.

[B]

Yeah. You know what? It's. I'm glad you said that, because I kind of felt that way going into the second half. Like, did they just. Did they let up? Why did they let up? Why they take their foot off the gas? Is it. Was it. Is it. Is it is a coaching fault? Is it a. An inexperience fault? Or is it just they thought, hey, you know, we have this. J.J. mcCarthy looks like horseshit. We're going to win this game. Like, what was. What was the motivation to just giving up the game and not. Not giving the effort we saw early in the first half?

[A]

I don't know what was effort and what was just getting beaten over and over again. It still looked like guys were running hard. I didn't see them quit. I didn't see it. But it looks scripted to me. It almost looks scripted about how to make your fans miserable. When I'm reading back in this play by play here, and my notes and the things I've circled and the question marks and the double question marks and the exclamation points, it looks scripted for how to rip your fans hearts out and take bites out of it that you missed that field goal. And what's wrong with him, by the way?

[B]

I don't know.

[A]

The one he made almost missed and it's moving around all weird.

[B]

The one he made, I thought he did miss. I thought it snuck out.

[A]

And everybody around the league, like I told you, because they changed the rules on the cables. Everybody's booming everything from everywhere except this guy, right?

[B]

Yeah. Vikings kicker ties a soldier field record 59 yards.

[A]

That Boswell on Pittsburgh. Is it a machine? Is that the guy? Who does Boswell play for? A guy's a monster.

[B]

Boswell? Yes.

[A]

The big guy with a long neck. He's got like a Mike Glennon neck.

[B]

Oh, does he really?

[A]

Yeah, like a weird neck. And guys are just booming footballs. And our guy. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I would tell you If I knew. I don't know. Well. Well, what?

[B]

I don't know. I'm the same way again. I just. I wasn't thinking, all right, we're going to guarantee a win because Ben Johnson's here. I just. I just didn't want to feel like this.

[A]

I thought it wouldn't look like a Bears game.

[B]

I thought, fine. That's. That's. You know what? That's the best way to put it. I didn't think it would look like a Bears game. And it looked more like a Bears game than any Bears game I've watched.

[A]

In a long time. Like, all the Bears games, they look at all of them, and I don't understand how he's calculating some of these coaching decisions if you're not 100% certain that that kickoff is going to go out of the end zone. It's been practiced and practiced and practiced. And you know the wind, and you practice it there, and you know the exact distances. If you can't, if you let that time run off the clock and let the game be controlled by them, you lose a stoppage. Why didn't you onside kick it or kick it out of bounds? Explain.

[B]

You saw that play, that returner, he catches it, you know, seven, eight yards deep in the end zone, looks over to the sideline and sees Kevin o' Connell telling him to bring it out.

[A]

He's waiting. What should I do? What should I do? He's like.

[B]

He's waving on.

[A]

Come on out. Come on out. We'll be okay. All right, well, I gotta eat.

[B]

I just. I'll tell you what, buddy. I was excited about our first live postgame show.

[A]

I'm still excited about the live post game.

[B]

No, I'm very, very excited about it. But I was really excited.

[A]

Thanks for joining, for everyone who's joining.

[B]

But that, like, the first. The first quarter, first half, going to the halftime, I'm like, oh, my God, I can't wait to get and do this. This is gonna be great. And now it's like, I just. Again, it feels like the most Bears game I've ever watched of any Bears game. And it shouldn't. It shouldn't be that way.

[A]

It shouldn't take one game for my ass to hurt. And they're going to say all the same things. Well, we'll clean this up. We're frustrated. It's disappointing, and we'll make the necessary adjustments, but who. It rings really, really, really hollow. Really hollow.

[B]

Yep.

[A]

You had. You had every chance to close this thing off, and it's almost like you went out of your way to allow them opportunities to get back in the game at every turn. And we all felt it. We all said, oh, here it's happening. The thing is happening again.

[B]

Yeah. And it's. And not even driving down and putting up, you know, 63 points, not scoring touchdown after, but driving the ball, stacking first downs and even. Even getting field goals, which is all they've ever done the last several seasons is just get field goals. Seems like every drive ended with a field goal, even tonight. And tonight they couldn't even do that. That's all they had to do.

[A]

Mm.

[B]

Make a field goal, just stack first downs, move the ball into their territory, add a field goal here, add a field goal there. Keep the game out of reach.

[A]

All right, I'm gonna. I'm gonna eat and I'm gonna sleep on it, and then I'm get right up and I'm gonna come into the studio and we are gonna do Dan Bernstein unfiltered. And then we are going to react to everything the bears are saying about this dismal, unfortunate, frightening performance.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

We had to confront all of our bears demons in one quarter.

[B]

You can't have chicken tonight.

[A]

Yes, I can. No, you don't get to say that.

[B]

No victory chicken. I think this is a great. A great comment.

[A]

No, no, no. I changed that rule. I changed that rule. I changed that rule.

[B]

I eat turkey meatloaf, too. On top of it if it's a loss.

[A]

Oh, God, no. I eat chicken whenever I want. I eat chicken after wins, losses, and I'm eating it because. Because, boy, because I. I. After living through that, like I say, I only have, like, another 15 minutes to live. I think because of how we've aged. That game ripped our hearts out. Why do we do this?

[B]

You watch bears or the post game?

[A]

No, I mean, like watching bears in the whole thing. Oh, I. Oh, this can be fun year. I'll tell you that. If this. If this guy goes completely haywire, this guy. And if Caleb Williams is bad, bad, and this guy can't do anything with him, and he's stupid. Could you imagine?

[B]

Well, we have 16 more games to go.

[A]

Oh, bring them on. It's going to be awesome.

[B]

All right, buddy. Go enjoy your turkey meatloaf.

[A]

I'm eating chicken.

[B]

You're gonna have turkey meatloaf.

[A]

No, I'm not.

[B]

Yes. And no peppermint ice cream. I want you to go straight to bed, mister. All right. Hey, guys, thanks for jumping in the post game show live here on forward progress. We appreciate you. And we will talk to you tomorrow on Dan Bernstein Unfiltered and another episode of Forward Progress where Dan will have his thoughts and his words together.

[A]

I don't know if I will or. I have to go through these notes that I don't quite understand.

[B]

Wait, you want my notes? You want me to send you my notes?

[A]

Yes, please. I need to study them.

[B]

I'll send you my notes right now, buddy.

[A]

Please fax those over for me so I can study them.

[B]

All right, we'll talk to you tomorrow. Or later. Yeah, it is tomorrow, right? Yeah, it's tomorrow still. We'll talk to you tomorrow. Bye.

[A]

Sam.