Chicago Bears on top of an unstable NFC mountain

Summary

Forward Progress – A Chicago Bears Podcast

Episode: Chicago Bears on top of an unstable NFC mountain
Hosts: Dan Bernstein & Matt Abbatacola
Date: December 2, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode finds the Bears perched atop the unpredictable NFC, holding a 9-3 record as they prepare for a critical clash against Green Bay. Dan and Matt deliver their trademark blend of passionate Bears analysis and unsparing humor—diving into playoff scenarios, the evolution (and fragility) of Chicago's success under head coach Ben Johnson, the development of rookie quarterback Caleb Williams, and where the Bears stand in a bunched playoff picture. The episode is peppered with nostalgia, insightful film breakdowns, and classic fan banter, making it a must-listen for any Bears devotee or NFL junkie.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Bears at the Peak—But the Mountain Is Shaky

Timestamp: 05:13

• NFC Landscape Analysis:
  Dan and Matt parse the “fragile” state of the NFC playoff race. The Bears, current first seed, could theoretically drop to seventh in just one weekend if a certain combination of teams win/lose.

  • The Bears remaining schedule: Green Bay (twice), Cleveland, 49ers, Detroit ([05:46])
  • “If the Bears lose, the packers win, Rams win, Seahawks win, the Bears go from the one seed to the seven seed in just this weekend.” — Matt ([07:15])
  • The playoff standings are incredibly tight with multiple 9-3 teams.

• Tiebreaker Chat:

  • The Bears hold a key tiebreaker over the Rams due to conference record, but lots can change with five NFC games remaining ([07:59]-[09:07]).
  • Discussion of remaining opponent strengths for both teams.

• Perspective:
  Dan and Matt repeatedly stress how volatile the Bears’ position is, cautioning fans to enjoy the moment but recognize the slim margin for error.

2. Ben Johnson’s Focused Approach

Timestamp: 09:36

• Coaching Philosophy:
  Both hosts praise Ben Johnson’s laser focus on a “one week at a time” mentality, avoiding speculation and distraction despite playoff buzz.
  • “He’s not concerned with…if we lose this, then we drop here. He’s just saying, what do we need to do to beat the Green Bay packers this week at Lambeau Field? And I know Caleb Williams talks about that…preparing…to be successful and win the week and win the week alone.” — Matt ([09:55] )

3. The Packers Matchup: A Crucial Exam

Timestamp: 12:55

• Signature Rivalry:

  • The Packers game at Lambeau is painted as a huge test, especially after the Bears’ “aced the Philadelphia Eagles test.”
  • References to the Bears embracing rivalry tradition, and the intensity of this specific NFC North matchup.
  • “This is the week they aced the Philadelphia Eagles test… Now, this is their next big exam going on the road and playing in Lambo.” — Matt ([13:30])

• Strategy Talk:
  Analysis of how the Bears might attack:

  • If Packers load the box to stop the run, Williams must make key throws.
  • “It is going to be imperative that Caleb Williams hits some of those plays downfield…The earlier, the better, the earlier, the better that he hits those.” — Matt ([15:09])
  • The importance of opening up the passing game to sustain the run threat.

4. The Passing Game: Where Caleb Williams Stands

Timestamp: 16:07

• Film Room Deep-Dive:
  Dan relays a thoughtful breakdown from Ted Nguyen (The Athletic) highlighting both the potential and current disjointedness of the Bears’ pass attack.

  • “Caleb Williams leads the NFL in off target passes.” ([17:11])
  • Williams isn’t inherently inaccurate; issues stem from chemistry, anticipation, and timing with young receivers.
  • “His head is swimming a bit while trying to become an anticipatory passer and his footwork isn’t as clean as it needs to be… Williams is finding the open receiver. He’s throwing the ball on time.” — Dan, paraphrasing Ted Nguyen ([17:54])
  • Ben Johnson: “[W]e need to be more disciplined in our route detail. It’s not where it needs to be. Our depth is not proper all the time.” ([21:12])

• Room for Optimism:

  • Time, reps, and experience should bring improvement; the Bears’ young group “are close to a breakthrough.” ([22:16])

• Completion is Key:

  • “You can’t keep living on the fact of having four or five or six of those I want those back type passes. You gotta start hitting those…” — Matt ([22:17])

5. The Joys and Frustrations of Chunk Plays

Timestamp: 25:22

• Fans’ Longing:

  • Matt craves a Bears receiver catching a deep ball in stride, running through “green grass”—not just possession or contested catches.
  • “That’s all I want to see. I don’t want to see possession catches anymore... I want to see Luther Burden, Roma Dunes A but more Luther catch the ball in stride…and just break down field…” ([25:22])

• Historical Perspective:

  • Bitter recollections of Packers’ quick slants burning the Bears in years past ([26:44]); desire to finally be “on the other side” of those highlight plays.

6. Packers’ Injuries and Bears’ Opportunity

Timestamp: 27:30

• Packers Defensive Woes:
  • Green Bay loses key DL Devonte Wyatt for the season ([27:32]).
  • Bears O-line advantage: Chance to exploit inexperienced backups (Warren Brinson, Nazir Stackhouse) and continue dominant run game ([28:11]).
  • Bears are 2nd in NFL in yards/carry; Packers are middle of the pack.
  • Light-hearted debate over best nickname for Bears O-line: “Department of the Interior” vs. “Interior Designers.” ([29:28] – [29:52])

7. Comic Relief: Kicker Hijinks and Movie Trivia

Timestamp: 30:13

• Younghoe Koo's Missed Kick:

  • Dan animatedly recounts the viral failed field goal—the rare “whiff”—and the hilarity it caused on social media, comparing it to his own golf mishaps ([33:10]-[34:32]).
  • “That looks like my short game…He lunged, he planted with his left foot and his right foot. He swings the leg through, but his backside kind of collapses and his right foot hits a good foot and a half behind the football.” — Dan ([32:05])

• ‘Planes, Trains & Automobiles’ and Bears Lore:

  • Matt breaks down the Bears reference in the beloved movie, researching the real-life context of that “Bears game” Steve Martin and John Candy discuss ([39:51]–[42:17]).
  • “The Bears win that game 30 to 10…Would have increased their record at that time to 8 and 2 on the year.” — Matt ([40:07])

8. NFL Playoff Nostalgia & Bittersweet Bears History

Timestamp: 43:12

• Recap of the Bears’ 1987-88 season and playoff heartbreak.
• Fun discussion about historic playoff receiving performances (Anthony Carter, Steve Smith, Flipper Anderson, et al.).
• “That game makes me crazy.” — Dan, on the infamous Bears-Redskins playoff choke ([43:18])

9. Hopeful Closing: Banishing Bad Memories

Timestamp: 48:20

• Dan: “Ben Johnson and the 2025 Chicago Bears can take all of those awful memories that we have and put them on a big pile and light them on fire. And then there’s going to be big party and big parade and everybody’s going to march around and be happy because the Bears win the Super Bowl.” ([48:20])

• Matt: Returns to the recurring theme of exorcising Bears demons—even wishing the Bears had faced (and “kicked the shit out of old man”) Aaron Rodgers. ([48:43])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “If the Bears lose, the packers win, Rams win, Seahawks win, the Bears go from the one seed to the seven seed in just this weekend.” — Matt ([07:15])
• “Ben Johnson doesn’t look ahead…he’s just worried about beating the Green Bay packers this week.” — Matt ([09:55])
• “Caleb Williams leads the NFL in off target passes…despite the alarming off-target rate, Williams is not a naturally inaccurate passer…his head is swimming a bit while trying to become an anticipatory passer.” — Dan, via Ted Nguyen ([17:11], [17:54])
• “You can’t keep living on…those I want those back type passes. You gotta start hitting those.” — Matt ([22:17])
• “I want to see a Bears receiver catch the ball in stride and run through green grass. That’s all I want to see.” — Matt ([25:22])
• “Ben Johnson and the 2025 Chicago Bears can take all of those awful memories…put them on a big pile and light them on fire, and then there’s going to be big party…and the Bears win the Super Bowl.” — Dan ([48:20])

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• NFC Standings & Playoff Outlook: 05:13 – 09:36
• Ben Johnson’s Coaching Philosophy: 09:36 – 11:05
• Packers vs Bears Preview: 12:55 – 16:07
• Caleb Williams & Passing Game Analysis: 16:07 – 25:22
• Bears' Need for Chunk Plays: 25:22 – 27:30
• Packers Injury Updates / O-Line Nicknames: 27:30 – 29:52
• Younghoe Koo Field Goal Comedy: 30:13 – 35:27
• 'Planes, Trains & Automobiles' Bears Game Deep Dive: 39:51 – 42:17
• Bears Playoff History & NFL Nostalgia: 43:12 – 48:20
• Segment on Hope & Exorcising Demons: 48:20 – End

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Tone & Style Highlights

Dan and Matt maintain an enthusiastic, slightly sardonic, and deeply informed voice throughout—mixing stats, schemes, and historical context with Chicago sports wit and self-deprecation. They glide from hard analysis to comic relief (and back) in a way that embodies Chicago fandom, never losing sight of the big picture: cautious hopefulness for a fan base long conditioned to wait for the other shoe to drop.

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For Listeners Who Missed It

This episode captures the exhilarating tension of a Bears team atop the NFC in December, the strategic X’s and O’s that could make or break their playoff seeding, and the perennial hope (and anxiety) of Chicago football life. It’s both a sharp football breakdown and a journey through decades of Bears highs and heartbreaks—a true Bears’ fan experience in podcast form.

Transcript

[Matt Abaticola]

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[Dan Bernstein]

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[Dan Bernstein]

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[Matt Abaticola]

Mean if you're a Bears fan, you're thinking forward progress. Come on. Forward Progress a Chicago Bears podcast with Dan Bernstein and Matt Abeticola on 312 Sports.

[Dan Bernstein]

Let's discuss your first place Chicago Bears. Your NFC leading Chicago Bears at 9 and 3 as they prep for the Packers. This is Forward progress, a Chicago Bears podcast here on 312 Sports. I'm Dan Bernstein. That is the ailing Matabaticola. What? Matt about Ricola?

[Matt Abaticola]

Yes. Oh my God, they're so good.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yes. I think you with a, with a cough. Is Matt about Ricola?

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah, it's Max Ricola. Max guy in our team. Yeah.

[Dan Bernstein]

Oh, oh, oh, you got the high powered ones.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah.

[Dan Bernstein]

Max Ricola. All right, well, enjoy. You can, you can, you can enjoy the effect that allows you to play the alpen horn.

[Matt Abaticola]

It's got a liquid center and dual action. But I was reading the directions just now and it said not to bite or chew. So like, is something bad gonna happen? Because I've been biting the hell out of these things.

[Dan Bernstein]

How do you get to the precious liquid center as opposed to the bears who have a solid center in Drew Dahlman?

[Matt Abaticola]

They sure do. That's a great segui Dan, isn't it?

[Dan Bernstein]

Well, let me mention first that it's giving Tuesday and one thing that we're doing on 312 sports is that we are proud on this day to be partnering with a wonderful and locally based charity called Rebecca's Dream. And if you are listening on YouTube you can or watching on YouTube I should say you can go down and check in in the description where you'll be able to donate and learn more about the Rebecca's Dream charity. And what they do is they raise awareness and they inform others to create a better understanding of depression and bipolar disorder and other mood disorders. They promote awareness and compassionate understanding of depression, of bipolar disorders, real diseases to combat the stigma of mental illness. And they do this in all kinds of different ways. And one thing that we have understood since the start of 312Sports of Dan Burnstein Unfiltered Forward Progress Organizations Win Championships is that our sector in which we reside, largely being grown up men of a certain age, aren't as good as others, perhaps or a little behind in recognizing and speaking openly and freely about mood disorders, about depression, about anxiety, about OCD and about therapy and what therapy means and how it works. And that's why I think Rebecca's Dream is just an ideal partner on this Giving Tuesday. So you can check it out if you want to check out my Twitter feed or my Blue sky feed. It's all there as well. And I know that the 312 sports feeds are going to have plenty of information here on Giving Tuesday if you have a couple of bucks earmarked for charity. And I know how difficult so some of these times are to find that kind of thing. But if you do and if it is important to you to give, I can certainly advise you. I've been involved in the past proudly with Rebecca's Dream. My wife Beth has talked about her ongoing work with dealing with her own bipolar 2 designation or diagnosis. And we've both been open about it and have talked about it freely with Rebecca's Dream. And I love the fact that we have a platform to to help them out as well as are definitely our priorities are dovetailing in this regard. So do check it out. Go to rebeccasdream.org if you want to learn more about it.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah, all the info again will be in the description. You want to get info to learn more or a link to donate right away. You can do that and we'll have those up in both YouTube and also our our podcast formats as well too in the descriptions.

[Dan Bernstein]

Now I don't want to necessarily take the fun out of the Bears being in first place and being currently having that holding that precious buy at the top of the playoff picture in the National Football Conference however, there's, there's a lot of football left and this is bunched up really tight right now. And the more that we started to kind of break this down off the air, the more I realized how tentative a lot of this excitement can feel.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah, the Bears have basically a five game season left here. Currently on top of the NFC north, as you mentioned, at 9 and 3, but they play Green Bay twice, Cleveland, the Niners, and then they finish the season the first week of January against Detroit. So you're looking at these, at these five games. Let's just take a look at this weekend alone. The Bears at 9 and 3 at Green Bay. Looking at the playoff picture and the top seven teams currently in the NFC. The Rams 9 and 3 at Arizona. The Eagles 8 and 4 at the Chargers. The Bucks are 7 and 5 versus the Saints. The Seahawks 9 and 3 at the Falcons. The packers currently the sixth seed at 8, 3 and 1, of course hosting the Bears. And the 49ers are the seven seed, currently at 9 and 4 with a buy this week. So I think it's the last week of teams having buys. So the Niners are on a buy. If Dan. The packers were to win, okay. If the Seahawks win over the Falcons at Atlanta, it's expected. The Rams win at Arizona, expected. And the Eagles win at the Chargers. But really we're looking at the Rams, the Seahawks and the Packers. If the rams get to 10 and three, the Seahawks get also to 10 and three and the packers were to beat the Bears and get to 9, 3 and 1, and the 49ers at 9 and 4 would remain there at 9 and 4 with a buy.

[Dan Bernstein]

Okay.

[Matt Abaticola]

If the Bears lose, the packers win, Rams win, Seahawks win, the Bears go from the one seed to the seven seed in just this weekend.

[Dan Bernstein]

Well, then I, I like, I like the number one seed a whole lot better.

[Matt Abaticola]

I like it a lot better too. Obviously. Now, the 49ers, that's just one week.

[Dan Bernstein]

Outcomes of a single week.

[Matt Abaticola]

That's one game.

[Dan Bernstein]

This could flip.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah, the Niners at nine and four have a better conference record than the Bears, which is why they would jump up to the six seed. The Bears would drop to the seven seed. The Rams would then be the number one seed. The Eagles would remain the three seed. The Bucks would remain the four seed. The Seahawks would jump to the, they would stay at the five seed. The packers would make the big jump from six to two.

[Dan Bernstein]

Now, if I read correctly, when it comes to at least the Rams, the Bears hold the tiebreaker no matter what okay. That if these two teams finish with the same record, there is no way the Bears wouldn't have a better conference record, which is the first tiebreaker. So as I understand it, that particular tiebreakers over. So that's good news.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah. Let me just take a look here real quick and see.

[Dan Bernstein]

I'm. I'm fairly certain that that's the case. That just because of the opponents that remain, there's no way, if they were to finish with the same record, there's no way the Rams could have a better conference record than the Bears.

[Matt Abaticola]

But that's.

[Dan Bernstein]

That's just one head to head.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah. The Rams are currently four and three in the conference with the Bears being six and two. But the Bears still have these four conference games to go. I'd have to look and see what the Rams schedule would be. Yeah.

[Dan Bernstein]

Check that out because I believe that I did read that. But that's only a small piece of what remains here in this shuffle. Hope it's not a shuffle. I hope the Bears end up where they are being able.

[Matt Abaticola]

So the Rams are playing the Cardinals, the Lions, the Seahawks, the Falcons and the Cardinals. So they have all conference games left of the five. Twice against the Cardinals, once against the Falcons.

[Dan Bernstein]

Okay. I was just telling you what I read.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah. No, yeah, yeah.

[Dan Bernstein]

Interesting.

[Matt Abaticola]

But yeah.

[Dan Bernstein]

To have the same record.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah.

[Dan Bernstein]

They would each have to win or lose X number of games. That would all with the Bears holding this lead.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah. And there's no. No greater message here or commentary about the Bears being the number one seed right now. It's not like I'm hoping they drop down to the seven seed. I'm just saying that it's. It's a very fragile landscape that they're in right now and how the difference of one game flips from one to seven pretty quickly. So it's going to be a really frantic type finish to the season. This five game season. They have left to not only hold on to a playoff spot, but, you know, possibly retain the number one seed. Which would be absolutely amazing for the Bears to get a buy in this first year of Ben Johnson as the head coach. But you know, again, they take the right approach to it. They. You know, Ben Johnson doesn't look ahead as far as playoff picture. He's just worried about beating the Green Bay packers this week. And I believe him when he says that. I believe that he really is focused on going one and oh. In week 14, if that's where we're at right now, I think it's week 14 that he's not concerned with. All right, if we lose this, then we drop here and we do like. He's not doing that stuff. He's just saying, what do we need to do to beat the Green Bay packers this week at Lambeau Field? And I know Caleb Williams talks about that, going 10 each week and preparing to put his guys in the best possible position to be successful and win the week and win the week alone. And that's all their focus is.

[Dan Bernstein]

I have a lot of Fs in my notes here. I have fragile, frantic finish, five games remaining. And I wrote it right next to the F in FP for forward progress.

[Matt Abaticola]

There you go.

[Dan Bernstein]

Have you noticed, by the way, that the voice of our elevators can't. The can't say F properly?

[Matt Abaticola]

No, I haven't even noticed that at the building.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah. Prudential, when you scan your card and it's only on our side, it's only in Prudential one, not per two, where we used to be. If you scan your card and it's door F, that's going to open if for some reason it'll say door F. It's where they can see. It can say A, B, C, D and E just fine. But. But now that I hear it, I can't unhear it, and I always root for it to be door F. So the poor woman doing the automated voice, door F. Is it.

[Matt Abaticola]

What is it? Who's the character in the. In the. In the horror movies, the monster movies, like the lab assistants?

[Dan Bernstein]

Igor.

[Matt Abaticola]

Is it Igor? Yeah. Is that who's doing the voiceover? That's what it sounds like.

[Dan Bernstein]

If. No, I don't. No, Igor. That would be Marty Feldman doing Igor. But no, it's not that sort of. What's Igor from Young Frankenstein? He's Igor because he's got. Because Marty Feldman had the goiter or whatever. He had the iodine edition that made his eyes bug out of his head.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah, but the walk the.

[Dan Bernstein]

This way.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah, but the original guy is igor, correct.

[Dan Bernstein]

That's Dr. Frankenstein's assistant. Is Igor, right?

[Matt Abaticola]

Igor, yes. Who creates Joe Flacco.

[Dan Bernstein]

Give my creation life.

[Matt Abaticola]

Let him play in the NFL. Yeah.

[Dan Bernstein]

Somehow let him be resurrected as we debate whether or not he's an elite quarterback.

[Matt Abaticola]

So it's going to be a big game for the Bears, obviously, going to Lambeau against their rival. And George McCaskey is going to have a power PowerPoint presentation to talk to the newcomers and rookies about how important it is to beat the Packers. And that's great. And they're going to prepare and be ready. And Dennis Allen is going to get more of his guys back and have more strength in their legs. The guys that did come back last week to be able to put, you know, whatever combination of players he wants. But this is. This is the week they aced the Philadelphia Eagles test, as you said. Now, this is their next big exam going on the road and playing in.

[Dan Bernstein]

Lambo, and it's really easy to determine what they have to do. And we know that if they load the box to take care of the.

[Matt Abaticola]

Run game, and I think not the burgundy box.

[Dan Bernstein]

No. Do they still use that slogan?

[Matt Abaticola]

I don't know.

[Dan Bernstein]

Give your wife a burgundy box.

[Matt Abaticola]

Well, if she wants one, that was the local. We can get it done, right? Yep.

[Dan Bernstein]

I don't know. Maybe I was the only one who found that funny, but I just. I did.

[Matt Abaticola]

Oh, no. I did, too.

[Dan Bernstein]

Okay. The. Give your wife a burgundy bun. Okay.

[Matt Abaticola]

She says okay. All right.

[Dan Bernstein]

Sure thing. Gotcha. If they load the box and say, all right, what you did to the Eagles, you're simply not doing to us and Caleb, here you go. Find the open guys. Make the proper reads. We're going to mix everything up. We're going to make you see stuff that isn't there. The stuff that I actually thought that Vic Fangio was going to do, and they didn't do it. So now is the time to get those chunk plays to not miss on them. But then again, I don't think. Even if you see everybody up close, if you see these fronts and you see the box loaded up, run anyway. Run anyway with these guys. And run at Micah Parsons. That's how you neutralize him. Or I wouldn't say neutralize him, but that is how you can minimize his.

[Matt Abaticola]

You slow. You slow him down.

[Dan Bernstein]

You minimize his effect on the game by running at him.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah, no, I agree.

[Dan Bernstein]

Over and over and over again.

[Matt Abaticola]

And, you know, you have an elite offensive line right now with an elite run game in the NFL in the 2025 season. So use it. Don't shy away from it just because they challenge you. But it is going to be imperative that Caleb Williams hits some of those plays downfield like you're. And the earlier, the better, the earlier, the better that he hits those. It'll loosen up the defense a little bit and be able to allow Ben Johnson to use the run game to the effectiveness that he wants by loosening up the defense with hitting some of those deep passes earlier in the game. And we saw two weeks ago when there was two attempts in the first two Drives downfield. You hit something like that once or twice. Both times that will have an impact on how the packers have to play. So, you know, again, it's going to be a great, a great matchup and a great opportunity for the Bears to prove that this 9 and 3 record isn't the byproduct of playing bad quarterbacks against bad defenses, that this is a legitimate contending NFL team in this particular season.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, I'm, you know, I'm kind of there as far as legitimate contending team that the. For me, the Eagles win. How they did it, when they did it in as they did it cemented them as real. But it doesn't mean that I am, that I believe that they're the favorite to win a Super bowl right now. You have to see them succeed in the passing game. They just, they have to. Especially watching Drake May last night. Maybe I'm just, it just feels I've got the recency effect of watching a guy who, who feels like he's in full control of everything that's going on. It's that sense of this. This guy is he, he gets it, he's on it, he's winning before the snap. He knows exactly for what he's waiting. He isn't buying time to buy time and think when he is. It's that aspect. I'm keeping the play alive, knowing why I'm keeping it alive. It's not just like, well, I'm not down yet. I'm not down yet. Now let's see. Well, I'm still.

[Matt Abaticola]

Let's find something.

[Dan Bernstein]

Let's find something. Well, I'm still. It is. Give me another second. Give me another second. I'm waiting for this guy to come open or I'm waiting for this spot, this throwing lane to open because I can get the ball there. Otherwise I'm going to, I'm going to dirt it or I'm going to throw it out of bounds. But it isn't just stay alive to stay alive and run around because there has to be that next step, that next bit of feel. And which is why I was intrigued by an article in the Athletic by one of their national guys, I want to say, a Ted Winnie who does film breakdowns. And while there is stuff, there's embedded film included. And a lot of times I look at these and I wonder, can this translate to a pod or can it translate to. Because it's. This is the way he writes. I think that it can. So he writes, chicago just stunned the Eagles mighty defense by running for 281 yards against them. It's the second most yards ever given up by a Vic Fangio led unit. The Lions, who played the Eagles in Week 11, only ran for 74 yards and scored nine points. Even with the jump in production, the Bears are still just scratching the surface of their potential. Johnson vowed during their bye week to get the running game going and since then they've been the most explosive running team in the league. Now he has to fix their passing game. The Bears are eighth in explosive pass rate, but they haven't been efficient. Caleb Williams leads the NFL in off target passes. I'm going to say that again because that was striking to me. Caleb Williams leads the NFL in off target passes. Now this is this is Ted win again. Despite the alarming off target rate, Williams is not a naturally inaccurate passer. I bet that when the Bears are doing drills in which the quarterback has to hit a small net, Williams can get the ball in the net at a high rate from any distance. He has strong mechanics. He's a natural thrower of the ball. I believe what's happening is his head is swimming a bit while trying to become an anticipatory passer and his footwork isn't as clean as it needs to be. And the video he shows is with 13 remaining in the third quarter, it's a third and five and they have two receivers right, two receivers left and a single back. And he says on this play the Bears had Colston Loveland run a choice route to Williams's right and Luther Burden run a dig on the opposite side. Loveland was Williams first read. Burden was his next. The play was designed to stress the inside of the Eagles secondary. If they dropped to Loveland, Burden should have an inside window to run to. Williams looked to Loveland. The Eagles were in match coverage. They tightly covered that route as Williams looked to Burden. And this is they've got pictures here showing this. As Williams looked to Burden, he was already in position to throw. But Burden didn't quite get out of his break as Williams expected. Perhaps he was trying to throttle down his route a little too early before he cleared the underneath defender. So Williams ended up throwing the ball too high because he was trying to get it over the Eagles under defender and Burden couldn't hold on. So when throwing with anticipation, Williams isn't throwing to a stationary target. He has to essentially imagine where his receiver will end up and throw the ball there. And that's a skill he's developing. There's going to be less guesswork. Add him to the team with more reps in the offense and time with his receivers. Right now, the Bears passing games out of sync. When Williams does throw a well placed timing pass, his receivers slip or they drop the ball and when they get open, he'll miss him. And this is what he. What Ted Wynn says is an encouraging sign is that Williams is finding the open receiver. He's throwing the ball on time. He's leading the league in time to throw. That's the result of long developing play action concepts and him trying to create on third down. But there are plenty of reps on tape of Williams playing on time. And that's why when Ben Johnson Monday said the primary receiver, when he's open, we gotta make sure we hit him and then quote and all our pass catchers, we just harped on it today. We need to be more disciplined in our route detail. It's not where it needs to be. Our depth is not proper all the time. And what's added here is in a timing offense like Johnson's, everyone has to be on the same page. And right now, they just aren't. The Bears have a young group of skill players who will grow together and they are close to a breakthrough.

[Matt Abaticola]

That's great. That's good stuff.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yep, close to a breakthrough.

[Matt Abaticola]

Really, really good. Yeah. Yeah, I love, love hearing that. That's a really good, good breakdown of, of the Bears passing offense right now. And yeah, he is, he is right there. And we see the flashes. And again, not asking about perfection, not asking for Caleb Williams to go with 35 or 35, that's, that's not realistic. It's not possible. But it really is just a matter of a few throws. You know, they talk about, he's going to want that one back, he's going to want that one back. You know, you can't keep living on the fact of having five or four or five or six of those I want those back type passes. You got to start hitting those. And even hitting a few, Dan just jumps up that completion percentage. It takes it from 59 to 67 or, you know, 52 to 62, up to 69 or 70, right at that area that he wants.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, but more than looking at just the numbers because of the passes we're talking about. I don't care about the numbers as much as I care about the effect on the game.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah, you're right.

[Dan Bernstein]

These aren't dink and dunk passes. And the reason why they're so critical is Ben Johnson makes them worth more, especially if he believes that there's going to be enough time provided by the offensive line that there's going to be a pocket that's going to hold up to let him stay in it and wait for. Just like we're talking about with Drake May of waiting or delaying with a purpose of knowing ahead of time. I've got to buy that guy an extra second Hun will get those shields down. We've got to give him time. On the, you know, the forest moon of Endor, when they were waiting because I was a trap. That's. That's when they ran into the trap. They're trying to. They're trying to hold him off, but they.

[Matt Abaticola]

No one listened to the squid they've had, right?

[Dan Bernstein]

No, he warned him, but he could have warned him ahead of time.

[Matt Abaticola]

Well, see, we talked about this when we discussed it on the show. It was. I said that maybe he did, and that was just cut from the film. And we just don't know.

[Dan Bernstein]

We don't know that.

[Matt Abaticola]

I mean, it could have been hours or days or weeks leading up to that. He's saying, it's a trap, it's a trap. Because all we see in the film is they get into the trap and he says, it's a trap. Well, yeah, no shit, right?

[Dan Bernstein]

We didn't see the part where he's like, God damn it.

[Matt Abaticola]

Right? He's throwing coffee mugs and I spent.

[Dan Bernstein]

All week telling you it was a trap. Right.

[Matt Abaticola]

He could have been saying it for weeks. We don't know.

[Dan Bernstein]

He just gets up and walks out. Yeah, he's like, that's it.

[Matt Abaticola]

Finds out that that was edited in the film and yeah, I told him.

[Dan Bernstein]

Did I not tell him? Did I not tell him it was a trap?

[Matt Abaticola]

So that very well could have been the case.

[Dan Bernstein]

They don't listen to the Pride of Mon Calamari. I tell him all week, it's a trap, it's a trap, it's a trap, it's a trap. And here we are in the trap.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah. No one listens to him.

[Dan Bernstein]

Unbelievable. And then right when they finally blow up the big Corellian Star Destroyer, he just slumps in his chair. Remember, they show. He's like, oh, all right. Well, great. We lost plenty of good men. We didn't need to lose because I didn't listen.

[Matt Abaticola]

I told you it was a trap.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, I told you it was a trap.

[Matt Abaticola]

Where were.

[Dan Bernstein]

What was I talking about?

[Matt Abaticola]

You know, what I would love to see, and I'm looking forward to seeing with Luther Burton on the field, is the opportunity for Caleb Williams to connect With Luther Burden downfield, these explosive plays where he's in stride catching the ball, that's when I know that this defense is clicking, that, that they're. They're firing on, on all cylinders. I want to see a Bears receiver catch the ball in stride and run through green grass. That's all I want to see. I don't want to see possession catches anymore. I don't want to see Colson Loveland have to have guys bounce off his bumpers as he runs through. I want to see Luther Burden, Roma Dunes A but more Luther catch the ball in stride and just break down field having that opportunity that Caleb reads, right. It's designed to read that way. He sees it. He hits him in time and he just breaks downfield. That's what I'm looking forward to seeing from this offense.

[Dan Bernstein]

And you know who you can see doing that a lot the way it's designed? Jameson Williams.

[Matt Abaticola]

Oh, yeah.

[Dan Bernstein]

Amon ra saint brown.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah. Oh, brown for sure. Yeah, 100%.

[Dan Bernstein]

Who's still a little hurt. That's something to keep an eye on. I don't know if he's practicing today, but that's how it's supposed to look.

[Matt Abaticola]

But I mean, how many years.

[Dan Bernstein]

Breakers deep in. Breakers in between the layers with room to run.

[Matt Abaticola]

Well, not only that, how many years did we see whether it was Favre or it was Rodgers with the, with the quick slants and the middle of the field is being exposed and guys.

[Dan Bernstein]

Running downfield, it was more Rodgers than Favre and.

[Matt Abaticola]

But like the goddamn slants, man, I would lose my mind watching packers games.

[Dan Bernstein]

It was a specific play too, that it's X glance and it usually is going to be the, the receiver who's got the one on one on a wide split. And that was. That might have been one of Aaron Rodgers little secret hand signals, but x X glance, where there's just, there's a pause, you know, there's a one on one. You know that because you got extra receivers over here, you're drawing safety, linebacker attention. And it would be, it was always. It would be third and four and the slant would go for 16.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah. Oh, just driving nuts, Yar. Yeah.

[Dan Bernstein]

Every time. But.

[Matt Abaticola]

Well, one other thing to keep in mind too, with this packers game coming up this weekend, they lost one of their interior defensive linemen in Devonte Wyatt, who has been an absolute stud for them this year. And so we'll see how that impacts what the Bears continue to do with their. With their run game and having the. The middle of the field now exposed because they have two, two rookies that are going to back up devonte Wyatt. It is Warren Brinson and Nazir Stackhouse, both rookies this year. They have, they've had some playing time here. I want to take a look at where they're, where they're at. Stackhouse, Nazir.

[Dan Bernstein]

Nazir.

[Matt Abaticola]

Nazir. N A Z I R so Brinson, a six round pick, has been a healthy scratch in six of 12 games. He's played at one, including 53 of the last two games. Stackhouse is an undrafted free agent. He's played 114 snaps in 12 games, but logged more than five snaps just once in the last four games. So that's who they're counting on to take the spot for devontae Wyatt, who's been a beast for the packers and their top 10 defense this whole year. Against the run they give up 3.9 yards per carry. So we'll see if the Bears can expose them and use this as a weakness on their interior defensive line right now with with Wyatt being out for the season with an ankle injury on Thursday's game against the the Lions looking offensively at the two teams passing wise. They're both passing around the same amount of yards in Jordan Love and Caleb Williams. The run game. The Bears obviously the second best run average in the league at 4.9 yards per carry. The packers right in the middle of the field at four yards per carry. So again, looking forward to seeing what the offensive line coach with Ben Johnson, what they do to expose these injuries on the Green Bay packers defensive line. We'll see if they can use the Department of Interior to get some more yards.

[Dan Bernstein]

Don't start. See, once you sign off on one of the nicknames, it's going to be used. I like it though.

[Matt Abaticola]

I like the department of the Interior.

[Dan Bernstein]

It's too cumbersome. I like the interior designers because I, I know you do. Just because it's a bit, I just like the bit behind like picturing them. I do. I like them all having strong opinions about feng shui and like they're, they're.

[Matt Abaticola]

They have a new, a new show on HGTV where they come in and the Bears interior offensive line and redecorate your home.

[Dan Bernstein]

They'll redesign. They'll redecorate your interior through sheer force is what they're doing right.

[Matt Abaticola]

And the best part about it is the, the demo. There's no tools needed. No, no.

[Dan Bernstein]

They just, they punch right through their.

[Matt Abaticola]

Hands, punching through holes and ripping cabinets off.

[Dan Bernstein]

No sledgehammers no, nothing. Can I give a shout out to Young Way Ku for getting me in trouble?

[Matt Abaticola]

Yes, you can. Why did you get in trouble? Because of Young Way Coo. And I mean, that looks like my short, my short game. That's what that looks like.

[Dan Bernstein]

We. Okay.

[Matt Abaticola]

Did you see, did you see Jackson darts reaction on the sideline?

[Dan Bernstein]

Yeah, he went, oh my God.

[Matt Abaticola]

That's him saying that.

[Dan Bernstein]

So I'm, I'm, I'm in bed. We're, you know, doing the, we're winding down.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah.

[Dan Bernstein]

And generally, you know, I'll come up around, you know, 10, 10:30, whenever, and I'll do a couple of crossword puzzles and I take a melatonin and I put a video on or whatever. So I left the game when I saw the score was getting out of hand. And I was enjoying watching the Bulls game. As, as we mentioned on dbu, we're going to talk about later on on Organizations win championships. That Peacock broadcast is fun. So. And I, I was following the score. I wanted to see if Drake may get his. His two passing touchdowns in my. DBU picks the My bookie stuff and then some lying there. All I see is, is the, Somebody had clipped the ESPN reaction of Joe Buck's call of what happened. And then the replay and Aikman and they're explaining what happened on the replay. So Young Way Koo is attempting, kind of attempting a 47 yard kick and he missed the ball. He lunged, he planted with his left foot and his right foot. He swings the leg through, but his backside kind of collapses and his right foot hits a good foot and a half behind the football.

[Matt Abaticola]

Oh, at least.

[Dan Bernstein]

And drags his. And never makes contact with a football.

[Matt Abaticola]

Doesn't even touch it.

[Dan Bernstein]

Never touch it. Never comes close to touching it.

[Matt Abaticola]

Good snap, good hold, good angle. The ball, everything was there, everything was fine.

[Dan Bernstein]

Except the holder, Jamie Gillen realizes I still have the ball. Wait, the kicker's over here. He was supposed to kick it, he didn't kick it.

[Matt Abaticola]

Half his foot is buried like three inches in the ground.

[Dan Bernstein]

So the poor hole's like, oh, what do I do? And he takes off and he ends up being what's recorded as a 13 yard sack. So I'm trying not to laugh because Beth is getting ready for bed. She's trying to sleep. No, she was finishing up watching a show. And I'm laughing and being loud and annoying and she's yelling. She's what's so funny? I said forget it. I'm not gonna try to explain.

[Matt Abaticola]

Right. You wouldn't Laugh anyway.

[Dan Bernstein]

And then I kept watching it. I kept laughing harder. Cause then I realized that AIK couldn't control. He knows he's really not supposed to laugh out loud.

[Matt Abaticola]

He's gonna. Giggling the entire.

[Dan Bernstein]

Oh, my God, he's. He's dying. So funny in slow motion. And then I'm thinking of being on the golf course and like on a wet. Like, if you ever. And I do this because sometimes my. My backside will. Will collapse like a baseball swing. And I don't keep a strong right side and my hands drop and I'll just shove a wedge, like right in the mud. It'll just stick or it'll just come and the ball will sit there and I'll just come up with a giant clump of mud that sometimes finds its way to being like seven yards from the hole. So I'm like, well, can I just. Can I play that? Can I put the giant clump of mud instead of the ball?

[Matt Abaticola]

Put your ball there.

[Dan Bernstein]

Just put as a proxy, a little placeholder, because that's where it was supposed to go. Had I actually hit the ball.

[Matt Abaticola]

Best ball, best mud blob.

[Dan Bernstein]

Oh, my God. And so then I'm watching it again, and then. And then, of course, I get on. On blue sky just to see what the reaction was to it. And someone had put a picture of a guy with a. With a. An iron and this enormous divot behind it. And then that got funnier and I start laughing at that. And I was texting it to people and I was laughing this. It took me a while to get over it, but. So then I wake up this morning, I'm like, all right. So young Wei Ku, much traveled kicker, kicker, caravan guy. You got to own it, right?

[Matt Abaticola]

Of course it happens. Well, I mean, not that I can.

[Dan Bernstein]

Ever remember, but I don't.

[Matt Abaticola]

Not like that.

[Dan Bernstein]

Bad kicks happen.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yes.

[Dan Bernstein]

Or like the guy.

[Matt Abaticola]

But seeing a guy swing and not. Not hit the ball, I've never. I've never seen that. At least I don't remember ever seeing that. That's. This is a new one.

[Dan Bernstein]

So young wake who blames the weather. I was approaching the ball and cold weather. The ball kind of slipped out at the bottom. So it was moving. I wasn't able to kick through the ball. The ball was moving when I was driving to it, so I pulled up on it.

[Matt Abaticola]

Does he know that these are recorded, these games?

[Dan Bernstein]

Jamie did a good job of catching it and putting it back, but at that point it was too late.

[Matt Abaticola]

Dude, dude, no, not even close.

[Dan Bernstein]

That's not what happened. It had nothing to do with cold weather. You kicked the ground behind the ball.

[Matt Abaticola]

Like, honestly, he's lucky he didn't hurt his foot.

[Dan Bernstein]

Somehow it looked painful. You can't just. I mean, if you stood there all day just kicking your foot in the ground like that, it wouldn't be good for you.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah, okay, I'll go back and watch it again. But from what I remember seeing the first time through, it was a good snap, a good hold.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yes.

[Matt Abaticola]

A good turn. The ball's there on a proper angle and the ball did not move even when he kicked a foot and a half behind it, like, it didn't even move.

[Dan Bernstein]

They didn't know what happened until afterward. And then they're trying to hold it together. Oh, my God, that's so great. And look, we saw what's his name on the Broncos Crawshaw. Is that his name? The Aussie? Couple of times. Nearly miss his foot completely on punts this year.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah.

[Dan Bernstein]

So, hey, all right, well, just add that, add that to the list. We always say it about baseball. You turn it on and you never know you're going to see something you've never seen before. And usually with football it's a rules interpretation because they're always changing the rules. But I had never. I'd never seen that. Way to go, Young Way Coo.

[Matt Abaticola]

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[Dan Bernstein]

It is this time of year when we have family traditions that are built often around the holidays. And I know you have one that you brought up recently and I didn't think that this was going to provide a follow up with worthy of Chicago Bears discussion, but indeed it has.

[Matt Abaticola]

It certainly has. So every Thanksgiving we watch, and I've watched, I mean for decades now, I've watched Planes, Trains and Automobiles. And so we were watching it the other day and had it on in the morning.

[Dan Bernstein]

It's the movie that, that created the title of the John Candy documentary of I Like Me.

[Matt Abaticola]

I Like Me.

[Dan Bernstein]

That was his character and that was that film. And that portrayal is central to the documentary.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yep. They're in the hotel room and it's when Neil Page goes off on Del Griffin and, and Del says, you know what? I like me. My wife likes me, my clients like me. So that's where that, that comes from. But you go to that scene in the hotel room, they check in, there's one bed. And if you remember the movie well enough, you remember this scene where they're, they're sleeping, they wake up, there's a beautiful song playing in the background, and Neil Page is being spooned by Del Griffin, who's John Candy. And Steve Martin is holding John Candy's hand and John Candy leans over and he kisses Steve Martin on the ear. And Neil Page says, dell, why did you kiss my ear? And Neil Page says, well, Del Griffin says, well, why are you holding my hand? And Steve Martin says, well, where's your other hand? To which John Candy replies, the famous line, the famous scene happens, it's between two pillows. And Steve Martin says, those aren't pillows, those aren't pillows. And they spring out of bed and they're shaking themselves off and they're, you know, trying to act manly. And then Steve Martin says this line which caught my son's attention, which asked the question, which is why we're here today. Steve Martin says, hey, did you catch the Bears game? How about that Bears game last year?

[Dan Bernstein]

How about that Bears game?

[Matt Abaticola]

Oh yeah, hell of a game. Hell of a game. They're going to go all the way this year. So Henry turns to me and says, dad, what did the Bears do that. That game that they're talking about? And I said, it's interesting, son. Let's take a peek and see if John Hughes really was in line with what was taking place. So this movie was released November 25th of 1987. The previous game that they would have been discussing, hey, did you see that game? Last week was Nov. 22, Bears hosting the Detroit Lions. And the Bears won that game 30 to 10. Would have increased their record at that time to 8 and 2 on the year. Okay, so I want to go back and look at that actual game because they said, you know, hell of a game. Hell of a game. You have this. I forgot this name, dude from the Detroit Lions. You know where the quarterback was in that game?

[Dan Bernstein]

The quarterback of the Lions in November of 87? Was it Eric Hipple?

[Matt Abaticola]

It was Chuck Long, at least for that game.

[Dan Bernstein]

Long. If you're going to Chuck it, you might as well.

[Matt Abaticola]

Chuck Long, he finished that game with a rating of 46.4. He was 14 of 31 for 170 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions. He was sacked three times. Jim McMahon in that game was 16 of 27 for 206, had one touchdown, one interception. He was sacked seven times in the game, Dan. And they still won 30 to 10. Who were the stars that Mike Tomczak actually had four attempts to or five attempts, completed four. Walter Payton had 13 rushes for 60 yards. Neil Anderson had 13 rushes for 67 yards. Thomas Sanders had six carries. Dennis Gentry got two carries. Calvin Thomas got three carries.

[Dan Bernstein]

Wow. Run the ball, why don't you?

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah, ran the ball a lot there in that game. And they ended up winning 30 to 10. And then you remember John Candy says, you know, they're going to go all the way this year. They go all the way. So Henry says, what did they do that year? He goes, did they make the. He asked me if they made the playoffs, and I said, they did make the playoffs. So this would have been November of 87, January of 86. So it would have been one season removed from winning the championship. So they win in January of 86. You have the 86, 87 season. This is the 87, 88 season. So we go and we take a look at what the Bears did in the playoffs. So this would be January of 88.

[Dan Bernstein]

It's my freshman year of college.

[Matt Abaticola]

And the Bears. So two years of two seasons removed from the Super Bowl. I Remember, this is what the NFC looked like. You're. You had five teams make the playoffs. Your wild card teams were Minnesota and New Orleans. Minnesota won the first game 44 to 10 on the road. Minnesota then goes to Candlestick park and beats the 49ers on the road 36:24. So two road wins. The Washington Redskins at the time go to Soldier Field Jan. 10 and beat the Bears 21 to 17.

[Dan Bernstein]

The Bears were up 14 to nothing.

[Matt Abaticola]

And that game went into halftime tied.

[Dan Bernstein]

They were up 414 to nothing. Oh, I. That game makes me crazy.

[Matt Abaticola]

So the Niners at the one seed lose at home to the. To the Vikings. The Bears is the 2 seed, lose at home to Washington. Washington then gets the host as the three seed, the Minnesota Vikings. And they win that game 17 to 10 and they go on to Jack Murphy Stadium. So that's San Diego. Correct.

[Dan Bernstein]

And that was the Doug Williams, Timmy.

[Matt Abaticola]

Smith Crazy Quarter, 42 to 10, annihilation of the Denver Broncos and John Elway. Yep. That the AFC side of it. Seattle and Houston was the wild card game. Houston wins that game. Indianapolis loses to Cleveland. Cleveland was the 2 seed 38 to 21. Denver beats Houston 34 to 10. And then Denver goes on to beat Cleveland as the 1 versus the 2 seed 38 to 33 in the AFC championship game.

[Dan Bernstein]

Now do you remember because that Minnesota team in that loss or when they beat San Francisco, because San Francisco obviously was expected to win.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yes.

[Dan Bernstein]

Minnesota barely made the playoffs. I think they're the wild card team.

[Matt Abaticola]

They were correct.

[Dan Bernstein]

That was the Anthony Carter game. That was when Anthony Carter in that playoff game caught 10 of 12 targets for 227 yards.

[Matt Abaticola]

Oh, was it really?

[Dan Bernstein]

Yes.

[Matt Abaticola]

And that was. That was that Rich Gannon, who was the quarterback?

[Dan Bernstein]

Wade Wilson.

[Matt Abaticola]

Oh, Wade Wilson.

[Dan Bernstein]

Deadpool.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yep, Wade Wilson.

[Dan Bernstein]

20 of 34 for 298 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. A rating of 95, which back then was. Was fantastic. And out dueled the combo of Joe Montana and Steve Young. Young was way better than Montana. Montana was bad.

[Matt Abaticola]

They had. The Vikings had a 20 to 3 lead at halftime.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yes, because Anthony Carter went crazy. I remember that because I was my room in college freshman year. My room on the first floor of Hanes House. We happened to have cable TV because it was an old hospital office hallway that they converted into dorms.

[Matt Abaticola]

Okay.

[Dan Bernstein]

And we had cape. So everybody, everybody packed into my room to watch on this tiny screen. So we were always the place to hang out and watch. And we kept our Christmas lights up all year because we've had these really cool Christmas lights and then we just left them and they became our primary lights for the remainder of the year. And. And I just remember everybody in there watching the games and watching that one like, geez, wow.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah. Minnesota drove 77 yards the opening drive, including an 11 yard run by. By Deadpool out of the shotgun formation on third and seven. Yeah. So that was a. Was that still an NFL? That's. That record had to be broken for receiving yards by now, right?

[Dan Bernstein]

In a playoff game.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah. 227 was. It was a playoff record at that time.

[Dan Bernstein]

Did Flipper Anderson break it? When did, when did, when was the crazy Flipper Anderson game? Flipper Anderson, look that up while we're doing this because that, that was insane. That was the one where he ended up. He made the last catch and he scored a touchdown and he like ran up into the stands. Check it. Research department.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yep. Let's see.

[Dan Bernstein]

He had a crazy, crazy game. I think it was 89.

[Matt Abaticola]

NFL playoff record for receiving yards in a Single game is 240 yards set by Eric Molds of the Buffalo Bills against the Miami Dolphins in 1999.

[Dan Bernstein]

Okay, but, but I want to remember the big.

[Matt Abaticola]

Pull it up here. Let's see. Eric.

[Dan Bernstein]

Got it. I got it.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah. Anthony Carter's still number two.

[Dan Bernstein]

Flipper Anderson set the NFL record for most receiving yards and yards from scrimmage in a game with 336 yards on 15 catches during the 12th week of the 89 season.

[Matt Abaticola]

Okay.

[Dan Bernstein]

He broke the previous mark of 309 set by Stefan Page of the Chiefs in 85. He was, he was, he was named NFC Offensive Player of the week for his record breaking game. I'd hope so.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah. I forgot about this. So the single season, the single game leaders for playoff games, receiving yards. Eric Mold still has that record. 240. Anthony Carter's game is number two.

[Dan Bernstein]

Okay.

[Matt Abaticola]

Ty Hilton is three. Reggie Wayne of the Colts at 221 is four. And you should remember what number five is.

[Dan Bernstein]

I should.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yes. We all should.

[Dan Bernstein]

In a playoff game.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yes.

[Dan Bernstein]

Was it against the Bears?

[Matt Abaticola]

It was against the Bears. He went off. Yes. Steve smith is number five all time.

[Dan Bernstein]

That was ugly.

[Matt Abaticola]

2, 8, 2, 18. Yeah. 218. Yep, yep, yep.

[Dan Bernstein]

Steve Smith.

[Matt Abaticola]

That's. Oh my God.

[Dan Bernstein]

A lot of bad memories. So you know what I think? I think it comes down to this. Ben Johnson and the 2025 Chicago Bears can take all of those awful memories that we have and put them on a big pile and light them on fire. And then there's going to be big party and big parade and everybody's going to march around and be happy because the Bears win the Super Bowl.

[Matt Abaticola]

You know, I'm going to, I want to go back two games, too, to the, the Steelers game. Remember, we were calling for Aaron Rodgers to play because we wanted Ben Johnson to exercise all the demons and memories of Aaron Rodgers. And then we said after the fact, oh, you know, it probably would have been bad if you had to play. I watched that Buffalo Bills game this past weekend. I wish Aaron Rodgers had played against the Bears. They would have kicked the shit out of old man Rogers. They would have gotten to him and they would have beaten him.

[Dan Bernstein]

Well, I, I would like to think that in these remaining games, there's going to be several teams that have an opportunity to keep doing that. Him bleeding out the head is fine with me.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah, that wasn't, that wasn't too bad to see his big old nose. They're all cut up and bandaged and blaming everyone else for not going to the secret handshake meetings and not knowing the secondary playbook the coach isn't aware of.

[Dan Bernstein]

I'm sure he feels terrible about it. He's a professional. He ran the wrong route. I didn't do anything wrong.

[Matt Abaticola]

If he doesn't now, he's going to because I just told him he should feel terrible. Yeah, geez. That you think Mike Tomlinson should be fired. No, I don't. I'm not going to go there. I don't know why you're talking about that.

[Dan Bernstein]

I support them. I know what you're trying to do. I know what you're trying to make me say. I'm not going to say anything about any coaching. It's certainly not the coaching. I would never say anything about the coaching. Wait, what was your question again? That has been Forward Progress, a Chicago Bears podcast, and here on Giving Tuesday, this reminder that if you go into the YouTube description, you can find all the information for the wonderful charity that is the Rebecca's Dream foundation. Go to rebeccasdream.org if you have a little bit of resources to spare this holiday season to help them with their mission of fostering a better understanding of depression and bipolar disorder and making sure there is a compassionate understanding of these diseases and mood disorders and decreasing the stigma of mental illness. They do this with educational programs for kids, for tweens, for teens, for adults, and they help in workplaces and in schools to help everybody understand this. So all that info is there? It is in the social media feeds as well. For Rebecca's Dream on Giving Tuesday. And thank you for being part, as always, of Forward Progress.

[Matt Abaticola]

Forward Progress, a Chicago Bears podcast with Dan Bernstein and Matt Abaticola on 312 Sports.