← Forward Progress - A Chicago Bears Podcast
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- [00:19]
A
It is NFL trade deadline day here on Forward Progress, a Chicago Bears podcast brought to you by Beer Church Brewing, New Buffaloes Brewery Pizzeria and in a historic church wood fired Neapolitan pizza small batch craft beer brunch every day. Visit beerchurchbrewing.com I'm Dan Bernstein, that is Matt Abaticola and it's Bears have some decisions to make here because they are real thin at a critical skill position of defensive end, slash, edge, rusher, whatever you want to call it. Now with the news that diodengbo is going to miss the rest of the year with a torn achill, they got to figure some things out because they love to talk about depth. That depth is being tested in a way you don't want. So this was what Ben Johnson had to say about it yesterday. This is when we got the news and it seems like everybody's kind of reeling a little bit from the big ticket free agent now. Not, not going to be here.
- [01:27]
B
Feels like we take some strides and particular positions and we take some steps back. You know, it's, it's, it's wild. Felt like we had a solution there with Shemar at defensive end a couple of weeks ago and then we lost him and then finally get Booker back and then we lose Dyo. So it's, it's a little bit of give and take. That's of course the NFL season, you know that that happens and so we'll have guys step up. I thought Book did play a nice game yesterday, so was very pleased to see that for his first game back and so no, I do have a lot of confidence there. Hopefully we get Dom Robinson back too and he was doing some nice things there early in the season as well. We've got some depth. You can never have too many pass rushers. You can never have too many cover players in the back end either. So that's how I've always felt since I've been in this league. I know Ryan and his crew, they've been doing their due diligence all throughout the fall, all the way up until tomorrow to make sure that we're turning over every, every stone to make sure that if there's a way we can improve this roster, we'll do that. But I feel good about the guys we have on the roster currently.
- [02:35]
A
That's Ben Johnson. Let's look at this roster, shall we?
- [02:39]
C
Let me play one more cut from Ben Johnson because he was talking about the trade deadline happening today. So this is yesterday's comments. A little more about the possibility of a move at a trade deadline with.
- [02:51]
D
The voice that you have in terms of personnel, how do you weigh the pressing needs versus protecting those future assets that you need to build something long term here?
- [03:03]
B
Those are always great questions. Ryan and I have a constant dialogue on players that might be available. We talk nonstop about this and we've been doing it for a while now. And so he's doing, like I said, all of his due diligence and making sure we look at everyone that could be available and that could help this football team in the here and the now and also have in the back of our head what the ramifications of that also are and the consequences. When you give up capital, whether it's players or draft picks, you know what that does to your roster in the long term. So it is a balancing act, but it's one that I think we have a really good process and a lot of communication on.
- [03:47]
D
As you look at, you know, things that will help you right now, the possibilities that you could of moves you could make, how do you view the division and the NFC at large after eight games for you guys?
- [04:01]
B
Yeah, no, I. We're right in the mix of it. I think, you know, the message to our guys going out of the bye week was we had to find a way to, to win three out of the next four. And we've done that. And because of that, we're sitting at a place about halfway through the season. We're five and three. And, you know, that's the parody of the NFL. Each and every year you just, it goes down to the wire. And so there's a lot at stake. I mean, we can, we can go any number of which ways here the second half of the season. And I think it's something our guys are going to get pretty excited about here. So I'm pleased with where the team is from a mindset perspective. You know, you certainly look at the division. This is, in my opinion, one of the toughest, if not the toughest division of football. I felt that way for a couple years now. And I think when you look at all four of these teams, I think it could be any team could win this thing.
- [04:59]
C
What did you hear there from Ben Johnson about the trade deadline and moving possible assets that would impact your future roster?
- [05:07]
A
I didn't hear him excited about it.
- [05:08]
C
Right.
- [05:09]
A
It sounded to me like that is a long winded way of saying unless something crazy presents itself, we're more likely to keep our powder dry.
- [05:20]
C
Yeah. Then those comments. That's what I heard.
- [05:23]
A
Yeah, that's what I heard.
- [05:24]
C
I heard that they're not willing to move future draft picks to bring someone in this year.
- [05:30]
A
Good.
- [05:30]
C
That's what I heard.
- [05:31]
A
Good. So what I'm thinking is, is the other options outside of trade and in some of these trades, remember who's available, guys that aren't fitting elsewhere, guys that are coming up on contract, these rental possibilities, there's some names that we know. We know the name Kayvon Thibodeau, we obviously know the name Trey Hendrickson. Of the remaining pass rushers, potential edges available. But let's do a quick inventory if we can, as of their official depth chart. Behind Odengbo, Austin Booker is listed at right, defensive end Daniel Hardy. Behind him, Daniel Hardy, we know core special teams guy for better or for worse lately. On the other edge behind sweat is Dominique Robinson, who is hurt with the high ankle sprain. On their practice squad at edge, they have Jamri Chroma and Jonathan Garvin. Garvin is a defensive end out of Miami who is 6, 4 2, 57, bounced around on the back end of rosters with Green Bay and San Francisco. And Jem Rich Roma, who has had a couple moments in, in a couple of training camps, enough to get people to say, okay, he's out of James Madison, he's 6, 3 2, 68. He also again, back of roster, bounce around guy, Bears, Patriots, Bears. So you have your own people. The thing about practice squads is everybody else's practice squad are technically free agents as well, as long as you sign them to your 53. So this is on your pro personnel department to say there's a guy, wherever he might be, whether it's Carolina or Seattle or Houston, who said, we've liked this guy, we can bring him in and put him on our 53 right now. It's that time of year. We're there around the league right now, especially once the trade deadline is passed, that that's where you look. It may just be that's where your best value is rather than giving up a conditional sixth or a seventh or a fifth or whatever it's going to be.
- [07:59]
C
Yeah, and looking at it that way, if, if they're going to make a move with a draft pick, I don't want to go any higher than five. So if you're looking at five, six or seven, what are you bringing in that you don't have now or have access to on another practice squad, like you just mentioned, what are you going.
- [08:15]
A
To bring in that you know for sure is that much better than somebody who's sitting on another practice squad right now. Right.
- [08:22]
C
So I'm, I'm not willing to part with any draft picks. I don't, I don't want to myself. Okay. If they're, if they're going to do it like they feel they have to make a reaction to the odangbo injury that it can't go any higher than 5, 5, 6, 7. But I don't think they should. I think you have your guys on your practice squad. You have Austin Booker. Dom, you know Dominique Robinson hopefully comes back sooner rather than later. Add more to that depth chart. But you have coaches there to coach guys up. Whatever his deficiencies are in Austin Booker, coach him up well, one of the.
- [08:55]
A
Use these reps is he's just not powerful in the lower body enough to ease out against the run.
- [09:01]
C
Okay, listen, if you're looking at your edge rusher to be. And I get it. I'm not, I'm not, I'm not blind to the fact that the edge rusher has to help in the run game. I'm not dumb. I understand that. But you brought this guy in 3 years 48 million to disrupt the backfield and get to the quarterback, which he's not doing. Austin Booker has that ability. Work on the deficiencies in the run game through reps during the week to coach him up. Close that gap, those deficiency gaps. Close those out as you go through. Coach him up what you need to. You have great linebackers, you have other guys. I mean you just brought in cj, gj who likes to go down low, get against the run. He can do the hazard ability, Brisker, Kyler Gordon when he's back and healthy again, you have other things you can do. Get this guy on the edge to get after the quarterback because we don't do it well enough.
- [09:51]
A
Can I offer another possibility?
- [09:55]
C
Yes, you can.
- [09:56]
A
Would you consider and I know this violates the long held rule of not disturbing two positions to fix. One, Gervon Dexter on the edge and just say, look, we don't know what kind of penetration he's going to get but we're going to go strong rather than fast. And then you've got enough behind him in Billings and Williams, Chris Williams and Jonathan Ford is another body. Even though I don't think he's very good.
- [10:28]
C
No.
- [10:29]
A
That it might be easier to have a backup tackle and have somebody with the overall ability of Dexter on the outside. Maybe he, at that point he can, he can get a little higher in his stance if he, if he's more comfortable, maybe just see yeah, listen, I'm.
- [10:48]
C
Not opposed to that idea and to give it a try, but you, you have Austin Booker. You brought him in for a particular reason.
- [10:53]
A
You, you, you traded up for him, if I remember. Correct.
- [10:56]
C
Traded up to get him to have him here. Let him go out and do that. Let him go out and disrupt the backfield and get after the quarterback. That's what he can do. Let him, let him do it. I mean, you have a depth chart. You have injuries, every team has injuries. This is your guy that you brought in, gm get him on the edge to go after the running back. Now, I know Odengbo has been good against the run and I think a lot of that in what we've heard from Ben Johnson about his run defense has been more of a backhanded compliment about what he's not doing in the pass rush, which is why he was brought in. Now, we're not going to argue the three year 48 million because we're well past that. But you can't make a knee jerk reaction to replace what he's done in the past rush because he hasn't done anything. And what you have right now in Booker has the same number of sacks that Odangbo has on the year and he plays and he played one game and he has a hurry and he has a sack. He has pressure. Let him do that. Let him do that and coach around those deficiencies right now and rep him up during the week to get him better to close that gap and run defense. That's why he's there. Dyo Odangbodan, 85th and pressures 70th in sacks. He has a 14.9, 14.9% win rate at his position. 21 tackles, one sack in eight games. Pro football focus again, you can take that for whatever you think about it. Ranked 91 out of 114 with a grade of 53.2 at his position. Okay, don't do anything drastic to replace that. A guy in your roster can do that right now, period. Just give you an idea of the PFF grade too. In 2023, Odengo had his highest grade of 66.1. That was the eight sack season with the Colts. Part of the reason why he got this three year $48 million deal. Just to give you an idea of how that, how that works out for perspective. In that year, Miles Garrett had a rating of or a grade of 93.6. Micah Parsons 92.4. Nick Bosa 92.2 at their position. Now, I'm not, I'm not saying it's a fair comparison. It's not. Those three players are elite players when it comes to edge rush compared to Odengbo. But his grade of 66.1, which was his highest, was about 30 points lower than all those guys. Just to give you some perspective of how he falls within the position, what you're describing is best season, Dan. Best season graded 30, 30 points lower than the elite guys in that position.
- [13:24]
A
You're describing a replacement level player.
- [13:26]
C
Yes.
- [13:27]
A
Where player X should be able to pop right in and replace that level.
- [13:32]
C
Of effectiveness for what he's doing in the pass rush. We've seen it already on paper, Austin. Booker's already done it. Let him have the opportunity to go out there, and I get it. I'm not saying that he doesn't need to be a part of the run defense and that he has a deficiency there, but coach him up.
- [13:50]
A
All right.
- [13:50]
C
Let me close that gap up, but let him go after the quarterback. We're not 17 sacks. 25th or 26th in the league. That's not enough.
- [13:58]
A
All right, let me then consider a.
- [14:00]
C
Team that's leading in turnovers.
- [14:02]
A
What you've said. Let me amend my proposal and resubmit.
- [14:06]
C
Okay.
- [14:08]
A
How about first and second down, you can play Dexter out there and Billings in the middle. Third down, you bring in Booker.
- [14:20]
C
Yeah.
- [14:20]
A
Third down or passing situation.
- [14:22]
C
Longer situations. Yeah.
- [14:24]
A
What I'm saying is then it's not all or nothing. It can be situational where you can have a big package and you can have a speed package.
- [14:34]
C
Yeah, no, I'm. I'm. I'm fine with that.
- [14:36]
A
Okay.
- [14:36]
C
Yeah. I'm not saying that he has to take every. Every snap moving forward, but I just. I don't want them to react because Odengbo got hurt and he's gone for the season.
- [14:44]
A
Overreact.
- [14:45]
C
Over. Overreact. Yes.
- [14:47]
A
There is obviously going to be some reaction.
- [14:48]
C
There has to be. There has to be. But I. I don't want them like I like. I'm not going to talk about. Oh, they've. They've got to do something. If he stands pat, that's an indictment on the gm. No, that's. That's dumb. Sports talk radio. Hot take. They don't need to do that. Not for. For Odang Will being out.
- [15:03]
A
The Bears are not going to win the super bowl this year.
- [15:07]
C
Right. Most likely they're not. Correct.
- [15:09]
A
So don't chase it. Don't chase it.
- [15:11]
C
Right. I agree. I agree 100%. You have enough right now on your roster to do Something to at least get to that level. Because the guy you just brought back for the first game of the season already is at that level.
- [15:23]
A
So if I go back to what move will make you more likely to win a Super Bowl. It's probably hanging onto your draft pick.
- [15:33]
C
Yes.
- [15:35]
A
And that's whether or not you use the draft pick or keep the asset. Maybe in the middle of the draft it allows you to move up to get somebody who makes you more likely to win a Super Bowl. That I think throwing assets after the failure to this point, the failure of this signing is bad economics.
- [15:58]
C
Correct.
- [15:58]
A
Bad business, bad gambling, whatever you want to call it. That you're just paying more of a cost for the Odengo mistake when you needn't.
- [16:07]
C
Yeah, I know. I agree. And then you could go. And I know people listening will go to the argument, well, how do we know that he's even going to do the right pick with that? Whatever direct. Listen, you can't argue that now. And it's pointless.
- [16:18]
A
But it's also not valid logic.
- [16:19]
C
It's not. But Dan. But he also has Ben Johnson now. Ben Johnson, that we hope his voice, and we know that it is. Is going to carry more weight as this season goes on, as we get into the off season and look at the draft. That he'll have more of an influence of what Ryan Poles does in the draft.
- [16:34]
A
All right. We'll see. And at 3:00 clock today, maybe you're listening to this and we already know what the answers are. My guess is you got to. There's got to be a roster move of some kind. So they're either going to promote one of the practice squad dudes that we.
- [16:51]
C
Mentioned, find a practice squad guy to.
- [16:53]
A
Fill the spot, or find a practice squad guy, sign him to the 53. Yeah. Because so. And then they'll figure out what's going on at the top of the depth chart.
- [17:01]
C
But the whole idea of they have to do something. It's the trade deadline. I mean it's just. It's a coincidence that the injury happened right before the trade deadline. Don't overreact and waste draft picks to bring in somebody to replace this. You. You have this replacement already.
- [17:17]
A
Speaking reactions. Did you see when the camera caught CD Lamb looking up at the giant screen at the replay of The Marvin Harrison Jr. Move on Duron Bland.
- [17:32]
C
Was that a touchdown? Was that the touchdown? So he drops him in the end zone. Is that the one?
- [17:36]
A
Dude.
- [17:36]
C
Okay. Yeah.
- [17:37]
A
You talk about. And first of all, MH junior Was an absolute man last night. And they've. They've made a conscious decision enough of. Of whatever this guy's been through.
- [17:51]
C
They.
- [17:51]
A
They listened to his dad because I guess Marvin Harrison Sr. Was quoted like, I hate their game plan. I can't watch their game plan. Obviously, they're not throwing it to his kid enough. And they're like, all right, here you go. And it was target after target after target. And they were picking on Bland, and he was making plays up and down the field. Like I say, I got my. My over 60 yards in the first quarter. And it cul in that touchdown where, if you haven't seen this, you talk about giving somebody feet. The first time I heard that was Anthony Miller told me in Bourbon A. He's like, well, I can set him up on the line. I can brush him away, or then I just got to give him the feet. That is giving feet. He broke Daron Bland's ankles. No contact. It's a simple X slant, wide, x one on one slant. And he put a move on, and Bland and fell down. He put him on his ass. Caught the touchdown on a perfect throw. Jacoby Brissette looks like a new man out there. And I don't know how you can go back to Kyler Murray the way he's playing. I think that's a mistake. But when they. CD Lamb. This is his teammate. His teammate just got clowned, just got shacked and a. Fooled.
- [19:10]
C
Yeah.
- [19:11]
A
And they show CD Lamb's looking up from the bench and he does the. And then he realized. And he tried to cover his face, like, realizing that was his guy.
- [19:23]
C
I mean, they were at the. They were inside the 10. I mean, it was. And he just. It was just a quick slant in the end zone, and he crumbled. He crumbled. Like, every bone in his. In both legs just shattered.
- [19:35]
A
Faked him to the. The ground.
- [19:38]
C
You know, I can't find it now, and I wish I remembered who it was on Twitter talking about fathers complaining about their sons not getting the ball enough. Did you see Roma Dunes Dad? No. He made a complaint that about Rome not getting the ball enough and that maybe he'll go somewhere where they'll actually pass him the ball. And I can't remember which Bears reporter retweeted it and then answered that he's got the number one targets on the team, and he's 24th in football in targets, so I'm not sure what you're complaining about. I'll try to find it so I can bring it back for you in full. But it just it sparked my memory when you mentioned about Marvin Harrison. Yeah.
- [20:16]
A
Apparently he was really unhappy with the game plan. But boy, the. In consecutive nights to see Jacoby Brissette be as you know, low heart rate, aware of his surroundings, sliding, moving, stepping up in the pocket, under control, keeping his eyes up, delivering some pinpoint passes. The night after we were watching Sam Darnold. Yeah, man, did Darnold look terrific. He made a couple plays running to his left, swiveling his upper body independently of his lower body and resetting that throwing platform like a, like a robot. I mean in a good way. Like really precise athletic movement.
- [21:06]
C
Yeah. It's just, it's amazing what we've seen this year. Last year as well too when a guy with super high expectations gets a change of scenery and a new voice. And I think the combination that with the whole idea of some pressure release.
- [21:21]
A
You're picking up what I'm putting down, you know, I know you're bringing this back to 18. You're picking up what I'm putting down here is. It's non linear sometimes this is nonlinear and talent given the proper nudges and the proper curation and space. And space should find its level.
- [21:45]
C
Yeah. And that's why I'm confident that it will happen with Ben Johnson, which is why, and we've talked about this and I mentioned it, that I'm not lowering my expectations for Caleb Williams, but I'm extending my timeline. I'm giving him the space that I think is going to, is going to be needed. And you know, it's funny that we actually get this direction because Ben Johnson actually talks about Caleb Williams progression through this season.
- [22:10]
B
There's a number of things that I was pretty pleased with. It's looking, it's looking more like I want it to look that he wants it to look like. I can think of one particular instance off the top of my head before halftime where call play and they end up clouding it to the, to the side of the primary. So that's not there. He gets through his progression and quickly dumps the ball to the back as he's stepping up in the pocket. Now we didn't throw our best ball, it was a little bit high and we didn't haul it in. But that to me was what we want this quarterback to look like as he's playing within the timing and the rhythm of the offense and trusting his feet to take him through the progression. So something for us to build on. There's a couple that we can continue to clean up and he's I think he's starting to play faster the more reps we're getting on some of these concepts. He's understanding the intent, the coverages that we're really looking to get. And you know, if we're not getting those coverages, can we quickly get to number two or number three or even look to run with that ball? So it's coming along nicely.
- [23:17]
A
Really interesting for a lot of reasons in there. The way, first of all, the way he talks about hunting coverages, about when they put in their game plan, they know what they want to see and they're waiting to see it. And sometimes you don't know until right before the snap, like the leveling touchdown, because you don't know until you use motion. It's not just the way they line up because it's the NFL and very often they are lining up to show you something they're not playing. And even when you run somebody in motion and sometimes they will follow as if it's man coverage. And because they're so fast and so talented, that speed shows up before the ball is snapped or immediately after, that guy's racing back to his zone landmark. So that recognition. Do you notice any. Do you remember in our immediate post game on Sunday, you kept talking about Caleb with timing and I said I'm gonna use a synonym that has a little bit slightly different meaning. Rhythm.
- [24:22]
C
Yep.
- [24:22]
A
He used both.
- [24:23]
C
He did use both.
- [24:24]
A
Right.
- [24:25]
C
He's listening to our post game show.
- [24:27]
A
Ben Johnson specifically said timing and rhythm.
- [24:30]
C
So Ben, if you listen to Ford progress, love the job you're doing. You want to come on on the show, we'd love to have you.
- [24:35]
A
Absolutely.
- [24:36]
C
So, yeah, feel free. So again, not lowering my expectations, but I'm extending my timeline out because I'm working in conjunction with, with Ben Johnson. Ben Johnson signed a what, A five year deal. Okay. Ben Johnson's looking at big picture. I've got the, I've got the next five years in this contract to get this team where I want it to be. As a Bears fan, I'm like, you need to fucking win now. You need to win this year. It needs to be better now.
- [25:05]
A
Every season Sacred the Blob is huge. Yes.
- [25:08]
C
Just need to slow it down. That's what I'm doing. I'm going to, I'm going to allow the space that Ben Johnson needs in the laboratory with Caleb Williams. Despite where he was drafted, despite the amount of confidence that he came in the NFL with the talent flashes that I see from this kid on Sundays, I'm going To just extend it out a little bit and slow it down. Ben says it's progressing nicely. It's going the direction I want it to go. And he's starting to pick up on something. Like, look at all the things he said there. The concepts, the defenses, the footwork, the timing, the rhythm, the awareness, understanding the playbook.
- [25:48]
A
Not to mention, it was an incomplete pass that he's praising.
- [25:51]
C
Yes.
- [25:51]
A
Like, see, I think that's really important too, 100%. Because where the TV broadcast and a lot of people are like, oh, he missed his game. He threw it too high.
- [25:59]
C
But Ben Johnson sees it, goes, that's it.
- [26:01]
A
Ben Johnson. He's getting it.
- [26:03]
C
Yes, he's got it. He's getting it. Hey, the play didn't work out, but you get what we're trying to do. That's what's valuable. So we just need to slow it down with it. Slow it down. That's. That's what I'm doing. I don't mean you. I'm talking about me. Slow it down, let it extend out.
- [26:17]
A
We've had a spate of season ending injuries. I mean, obviously it's not just Dyo, Dengbo and what's being affected in this trade deadline. There are some huge ones. And I know I'm not thinking of them all off the top of my head, but you had Luke McCaffrey, was it Marshawn Lattimore, Tucker Kraft. Jaden Daniels suffered a gruesome elbow injury. There are a lot of teams that are losing guys. And that elbow injury, yuck. And it's funny, you texted me last night and you said, did you hear what Dan Quinn said about why Jaden Daniels was on the field at that point? And I said, anything, Any comment other than I'm an idiot? And I did not think that. Basically, that's what he said.
- [27:02]
C
Yeah, he said, I missed it. That's 100% on me. Like, as he was asked why. Why was he selling him down 31? I think it was. Or something crazy. And he just said, I missed it. You know, he goes, I've been thinking a lot about that since it happened. And that's. That's 100% on me. I missed it.
- [27:16]
A
Good for him.
- [27:17]
C
Yeah.
- [27:18]
A
Really? No, that's.
- [27:19]
C
But it also makes me think, though, why is there no one else on that sideline going, hey, hey, hey, coach. I mean, we should probably get him. Like, there's. There's no reason. And it also makes you.
- [27:31]
A
And you've been using Mariota anyway.
- [27:32]
C
It also makes you go back to think the Was it the Lions game that I argued against Ben Johnson taking Caleb out with seven minutes to go in a meaningless game that as far as meaningless, as far as it was done, and getting Tyson Bajan in there and like, why he'd want to do that to himself as the head coach in his second game. But, you know, looking back on this now, it's like, hey, that really wasn't the worst idea. Why. And we even argued. I. Well, I should say I argued it, that he wasn't getting beat. He wasn't. You know, it wasn't like they were on their eighth or ninth sack at that point.
- [28:06]
A
Could be non contact.
- [28:07]
C
Yeah, I know he did, but he took it out and it's. And now Dan Quinn is like, yeah. If he had to go back and do it again. Down 31. It's like, yeah, Jaden, come. Come sit down. Get your ball cap on. We're good. Let's get Marcus in there. Let's. Let's run the, you know, the rest of this game out this way instead.
- [28:23]
A
The Tucker Craft injury is a massive loss for Green Bay because he's been brilliant. He has been. He has looked every bit of like star NFL tight end right out of the box. Just add water. This is what an instant tight end. And that's what it. That's what it looks like where. Running precise routes and trustworthy in his blocking assignments, the yards after the catch, and people bouncing off him like. Well, like what Colston Loveland did, but he was doing with actual tacklers where people, responsible tacklers are bouncing off of him and just high effort even when he's not getting the ball. It's too bad. I loved watching him. I really did. He's. And still, if it's an isolated ACL tear, he should come back as strong as ever, maybe even ready for next year. But that's.
- [29:18]
C
That.
- [29:18]
A
That's a. That's a real ass player there, and it sucks for them to lose him.
- [29:23]
C
All right, I'm going to give you two quarterbacks real quick, and I want you to tell me who these quarterbacks are. You ready? I'm just. I'm gonna give you some numbers here. Just hang. Hang on. Okay, I'm gonna give you some numbers. All right? Completion percentage. Quarterback A. 63.9%. Quarterback B. 61.5.
- [29:38]
A
Okay. 63. 9 and 61. 5. Okay.
- [29:41]
C
Passing yards.
- [29:42]
A
Yep.
- [29:43]
C
1919. Quarterback B. 1916.
- [29:49]
A
Okay.
- [29:50]
C
Passing yards per attempt, 7.1 to 7.5.
- [29:54]
A
7.1 is A. 7.5 is B. Okay.
- [29:57]
C
Passing yards A game, 239 to 239.
- [30:02]
A
Okay.
- [30:03]
C
Passing touchdowns, 13.
- [30:05]
A
Okay.
- [30:06]
C
And 12.
- [30:07]
A
Okay.
- [30:07]
C
Interceptions, 2 and 4. Quarterback rating 98.1, 93.5.
- [30:18]
A
Okay.
- [30:19]
C
And then leave the rushing numbers out of it. Just look at the pure passing numbers.
- [30:23]
A
All right.
- [30:24]
C
You know who those two quarterbacks are?
- [30:27]
A
Is. Is A Caleb Williams.
- [30:30]
C
A is not Caleb Williams.
- [30:31]
A
Is B.
- [30:32]
C
B is Caleb Williams.
- [30:33]
A
The four picks. Right. Okay. B is Caleb Williams. Who's A?
- [30:39]
C
A is Baker Mayfield.
- [30:40]
A
Wow. You know, and it's not. When we started talking about what the desire is from scrambling and what the goal should be. They're not all that different in some ways.
- [30:57]
C
They're not.
- [30:59]
A
I think Baker is probably more likely to take off and want to run somebody over, and I don't want Caleb Williams doing that. I don't want him to be quite as gung ho, if not reckless, when it comes to going into people. But that's fascinating, isn't it? That's fascinating.
- [31:21]
C
Both through eight games on the season.
- [31:25]
A
That's a really good catch on your part.
- [31:26]
C
Oh, that. Yeah. I wish I could take credit for it. That was actually sent to me by a buddy of mine.
- [31:30]
A
Oh, yeah. Well, if it's just a buddy of yours, you can take credit for it.
- [31:33]
C
Well, I don't want to. Coach Diane. It's not Lieutenant Dan. It's Coach Dan.
- [31:37]
A
Coach Dan.
- [31:38]
C
Coach Dan.
- [31:39]
A
Okay. Have magic legs.
- [31:41]
C
Oh, God, he's on magic everything. Magic brain, magic arms.
- [31:46]
A
Which one was one of your assistants?
- [31:49]
C
No, no, this was so Coach Diane. He used to run our football program. Oh, he was in charge of the whole program. All right.
- [31:55]
E
Yeah, that's.
- [31:55]
A
That's a good dude, man.
- [31:56]
C
Yeah. So he actually sent me a text of that, and he was like, you should share this with Dan. And he can be stunned because, you know, you know that.
- [32:03]
A
I knew one.
- [32:04]
C
Yeah. It had to be otherwise.
- [32:05]
A
Yeah, right. Yeah, I knew one Is obvious.
- [32:08]
C
Either one of these have anything to do in Chicago? Diane.
- [32:11]
A
Right. This. This is Norm van Brocklin in 1960. I don't know. I just thought.
- [32:17]
C
Just thought it'd be fun, waste some time.
- [32:19]
A
Yeah, sure. The other guy's Craig Morton. Like, okay, thanks.
- [32:23]
C
Yeah, thanks for that, Matt.
- [32:25]
A
Cool, cool, cool. Last night, when Brandon Aubrey lined up his 68 yard field goal attempt. So first of all, the crowd knew what was going on. And there's. And they're talking about in the, like, hey, this. They're in his range here. They're. They're. They're in his range. And it was 24 hours, less than 24 hours less than. No, it was about. It was more than 24 hours after Cam Little had hit the new record 68 yard field goal for Jacksonville. And here comes Brandon Aubrey with. Who's going to break it? He's going to tie it or he's going to break it or somebody else is. But he's one of the candidates. I can only imagine what's running through his head and he didn't put a good swing on it. He had the distance. He just. He just didn't put a good swing on it. The contact wasn't real good and it kind of overdrew on him. But it's going to be this year. It's going to be. Somebody is going to break that maybe by a lot because somebody. If you saw the one Cam Little hit, it hit the bottom of the net.
- [33:31]
C
Oh, did it really?
- [33:32]
A
It didn't just squeak over.
- [33:33]
C
Oh, so that's. You got another five yards on that. Is that.
- [33:37]
A
I think so easily.
- [33:37]
C
Yeah.
- [33:38]
A
And in practice. They're all doing it in practice.
- [33:40]
C
So I mean you're. I mean 75 yard field goal is not going to be.
- [33:44]
A
It's. That will happen.
- [33:46]
C
And I know we talked about this on text. I don't think we mentioned it on either show yesterday, but the missed field goal by the Bengals.
- [33:53]
A
Go ahead.
- [33:54]
C
Oh, no. Go. Yeah, you had it. Go ahead.
- [33:55]
A
No, because this is setting up what. My point is that when Evan McPherson missed from. Was it 58? It was 58. Like what the hell?
- [34:04]
C
And like felt three, four, five yards short.
- [34:06]
A
It was the same thing that happened to Santos that we were talking about.
- [34:10]
C
They.
- [34:10]
A
Because it was a rush situation to get out there, they couldn't swap out for the K ball.
- [34:18]
C
The soccer ball.
- [34:20]
A
That was a QB ball. Yeah, that was a. That was a regular ball, not a K ball. And as I mentioned in August when, when they changed the rule about the. What you could do to massage.
- [34:35]
C
I will give you credit on that because you, you did have it before the season started. That's.
- [34:38]
A
I told you that.
- [34:39]
C
That.
- [34:40]
A
But when they relaxed the rules and they said, well now you can really go after your kicking balls to make them rounder, to make them springier, to make them softer to the foot. They're soccer balls. That's the difference that it makes. It's huge. And it was 31 to 1 in the ownership vote. Do you know which team voted no to the. To restoring the K ball differences?
- [35:15]
C
It wasn't the Bears.
- [35:16]
A
Was it the Bears?
- [35:17]
C
Was it really?
- [35:17]
A
It was George McCaskey.
- [35:20]
C
So he voted against having the soccer balls.
- [35:22]
A
Against having the soccer balls. Even though back in the day the Bears had a reputation. The Jeff Jaeger, Mike Horan Bears had the reputation as doing the best job of ball doctoring. And this is colluded. Just so you know, opposing kickers, they're all in conversation, all the kickers union, they talk to each other in a given game like, hey, by the way, what are you doing with the balls there? How are your, how are your K balls? Because every team's got.
- [35:58]
C
What are you doing to your balls?
- [35:58]
A
Yes. Everybody they call, they ask how you do with your balls. So.
- [36:02]
C
And McCaskey voted against it?
- [36:04]
A
Yes. Interesting. Yeah. I don't know exactly why, but he did. And I saw this. The Mike Sando in the Athletic every week does a really, really good catch all football column with awesome stuff. And he has a chart here of field goal expected points added per game.
- [36:24]
C
Okay.
- [36:25]
A
And opponent field goal expected points added per game.
- [36:30]
C
There's so many stats and everything though.
- [36:31]
A
And the differential and the differential. Believe it or not, as much as we were pounding Richard Hightower for the special teams performance, and even with all they've been through with kickers this year, you know, using Jake Moody, etc. The Bears have one of the highest differentials. They've benefited the most from their kicking game and defending the opponent's kicking game. Obviously the Josh Blackwell game winning blocked kick, that helps, certainly figures in, but it counts. The Texans lead Everybody with a 3.2 differential. Then the Vikings and the Niners at 2.8, the Steelers at 1.6, and then the Bears at 1.1. The Titans are next also at 1.1. So I don't know how important it ultimately is.
- [37:20]
C
Right.
- [37:21]
A
I just thought you'd like to know that when it comes to expected points added differential in the place kicking game, the Bears are doing well.
- [37:29]
C
All right. I have, I have some stats I want to share with you since we're about halfway through the season here for the Chicago Bears.
- [37:34]
A
Okay.
- [37:36]
C
Just so you know, and these aren't things that you don't know, but just the placement in the NFL. Bears Offensively, 378.4 yards per game is third in the league. Defensively, 368.8 yards per game is 26th in the league. Rushing yards per game, 144.4. That's good for number two in the NFL. Buffalo is at like 161 point something. Yeah. So there's a bit of a jump there between two and one.
- [38:05]
A
And I believe that after Is it James Cook is Buffalo's guy that Manungai, in some of his numbers about yards after contact and yards above expectation. That some of those with. With that huge game and the. The other solid game that he had have vaulted him up those charts as well. I think he's second to Cook in some of that stuff.
- [38:31]
C
Bears are number one in turnovers at 13. Passing yards per game. 234. The Bears are 10th, number 10 in the NFL. Rushing yards allowed at 131.1 is 25th in the league. Passing yards allowed, 237.6. They're 25th in the league. And then they're 22nd in the league in sacks at 17. All right, so that. That got me thinking when I was looking at some stats here. The Broncos are leading the league right now in sacks. Do you know how many they have?
- [39:01]
A
That's because of Nick Benito.
- [39:03]
C
Yeah.
- [39:03]
A
And they've played how many games?
- [39:05]
C
I think they're at nine.
- [39:08]
A
I say they've got 25.
- [39:10]
C
They have 40 sacks.
- [39:11]
A
What?
- [39:12]
C
40 sacks? Wait, four, zero.
- [39:17]
A
They do?
- [39:18]
C
Yes.
- [39:19]
A
That's a lot.
- [39:20]
C
That made me think, where are they in relation to the most sacks ever in a single season by a team who's second?
- [39:28]
A
It's all right. No, don't do it.
- [39:30]
C
I'll take a look. I'll take a look when you're talking. So they're leading the right out 40 sacks. Do you know what team had the most sacks, holds the record for the most sacks by a team in a single season.
- [39:42]
A
It's all screwed up because going to 17 big sack seasons, was it that the Ram Zone blitz team with.
- [39:53]
C
No.
- [39:54]
A
Wasn't.
- [39:56]
C
This. Look at home, my friend.
- [39:58]
A
85, 84.
- [40:00]
C
84 Bears had 72 sacks. So 72. And the Broncos are at 40 right.
- [40:06]
A
Now with an extra game.
- [40:09]
C
Yeah, yeah. Extra game to go. So then I was thinking looking at the Buffalo Bills and where they're at in yards per game rushing right now, just at over 161. What team holds the record for the most rushing yards in a. In a season? So I was going through, looking through that. Did you know that there are seven seasons. There have been seven only where a team has rushed for over 3,000 yards in a season. Seven times it's happened. Do you know that the one and two most rushing yards for a team in a single season, it's held by the same team. They are the Baltimore Ravens.
- [40:51]
A
So the year that Jamal Lewis.
- [40:55]
C
In 2019, the Ravens rushed for 3,296 yards last year. They rushed for 3,189 yards because of.
- [41:05]
A
The amount coming from the quarterback.
- [41:07]
C
1978, the New England Patriots at 3,165.
- [41:12]
A
That was Sam Cunningham and Steve Grogan. Look at you with the 78 Patriots.
- [41:18]
C
All right, 1973, this is easy. Get it wrong and they'll kill you. Buffalo Bills.
- [41:24]
A
That would be O.J.
- [41:25]
B
Yep.
- [41:26]
C
Averaged 5.1 yards per carry. Average 220 yards a game. Number five, the 2020 Baltimore Ravens. So they've done it three times where they've gone over 3,000 yards with 3,071. Number six, the 2024 Philadelphia Eagles at 3,048. The seventh and final team to ever rush for over 3,000 yards in a single season. Are your Chicago Bears.
- [41:57]
A
What year?
- [41:59]
C
You're never going to believe it. I didn't believe it. I went and double checked.
- [42:04]
A
What year?
- [42:05]
C
2022 with Matt Eberfluss. The Bears rushed for 3,014 yards.
- [42:12]
A
Well, because Justin Fields. Yeah, yeah. Again, it's the quarterback that makes the huge difference.
- [42:17]
C
Huge difference.
- [42:18]
A
Right. So. And I was right that it was Sam Cunningham and Steve Grogan, but wow, I didn't know the balance. Andy. So Sam Cunningham had 768 yards, Andy Johnson, 675, Horace Ivory 693. Steve Grogan 539 and Don Calhoun 391.
- [42:44]
C
Steve Grogan rushed over 500 yards.
- [42:47]
A
Yeah, because he couldn't really throw it all that well. He only completed 50% of his passes for 15 touchdowns and 23 interceptions. I'd run it too. Talk and run. Steve.
- [43:08]
C
Yeah. So 2022, your Chicago Bears, number seven. All time, over 3,000 rushing yards. And Baltimore Ravens have done it three times. And then looking at sacks and answer your question. The Broncos lead the league right now at 40. The next team, number two, the Detroit Lions with 28. The Rams and the Steelers and the Seahawks, all with 27.
- [43:30]
A
I'm sorry that I'm laughing. I saw a name pop up here from the Patriots. That is a name in our family that took on a life of its own.
- [43:39]
C
What is it?
- [43:39]
A
Do you remember Mozi Tatupu?
- [43:42]
C
Yes.
- [43:43]
A
Mozi Tatupu was a young running back on that Patriots team who went on to have a long career with the Patriots, including a Pro bowl in 1986. And I want to say he was a rusher receiver. And for some reason, my little sister saw his and couldn't pronounce his name when she was little. I think she was like 5 years old and she called Mosi Tatupu. Moishta Poo Poo. And anytime somebody brought up mashed potatoes, we'd refer to them as Moishta Poopoos because of her mispronunciation of Mosi Tatupu. I would not have thought of that name had I not seen it here at Pro Football Reference. But seriously, we'd get like. Like we had a fried chicken and a bunch of things on the kfc or Browns Chicken or they passed the moist up hoopu. All because of the Patriots running back.
- [44:43]
C
That's great. All right. So funny that 2022 team. Justin Fields rushed for 1143, Dave Montgomery 801, and then Khalil Herbert, 721.
- [44:54]
A
Remember Khalil? Remember the outrage? They traded him to the Bengals.
- [44:58]
C
Yeah.
- [44:58]
A
You know who that pick became?
- [45:02]
B
Who?
- [45:02]
A
Kyle Menung guy. Oh, isn't that the seventh round pick they got from Cincinnati?
- [45:08]
C
I believe so. Yeah. I think it is.
- [45:09]
A
Correct.
- [45:10]
C
Yeah. Yeah.
- [45:12]
A
They traded Khalil Herbert. He's their fastest running back. They're running backs.
- [45:17]
C
But look at that man. My guy. Luke Getzi. Matt Eber floose.
- [45:22]
A
Yep.
- [45:23]
C
One of only.
- [45:24]
A
They should have fired Eberfluss before the fourth quarter last night.
- [45:27]
C
Oh, yeah, boy.
- [45:28]
A
They cannot collaterally.
- [45:30]
C
I'm surprised he. He's. He's still there.
- [45:32]
A
They can't get to the edge. Like they're. They're backers. Like they can't chase this way.
- [45:38]
C
But one of five teams to rush for over 3,000 yards in a season, it's your Luke Getzy. Matt Eberfluss led Chicago Bears.
- [45:45]
A
Awesome.
- [45:45]
C
And Luke, by the way, he was my guy. He was a great guy. Lived in Libertyville. Awesome guy.
- [45:50]
A
I coached it.
- [45:51]
B
Awesome.
- [45:51]
C
Because he's a great dude.
- [45:53]
A
Everybody in Libertyville is awesome.
- [45:54]
C
No, he. No, because that's how I know him. Because I have like personal connection to him. I coached his kid in baseball.
- [46:00]
A
Oh.
- [46:00]
C
And whenever we needed an umpire wouldn't show up for a game. It seemed like that season, like half our. Half our games, no umpire showed up, which was bad planning on our part.
- [46:08]
A
It's hard. You know why? Because parents are assholes. And it's hard to find umpires because nobody wants to deal with that shit. Yeah, it's hard to find hockey officials. It's hard to find officials anywhere. Look, I watched your youth football game and I saw what those officials had to deal with. A bunch of 12 year olds running. Anybody who has the wherewithal, the serenity, the constitution, the wisdom to be a youth official, sports official of any kind. More power to you. And thank you for your service.
- [46:42]
E
Yeah.
- [46:42]
C
Because parents are complete assholes. But Luke was always happy to step in and volunteer as an umpire.
- [46:48]
A
Nice. Yeah.
- [46:49]
C
He did it whenever needed, so it was great. Now we have a rule. If kids in our community are going to umpire, we require that one of their parents has to go to the game with them. So they're not dealing with asshole parents, which is sad, but is how it is.
- [47:08]
B
Yeah.
- [47:08]
A
Jason umpired for T ball and for Wells Park Juniors for a while, and I liked to go kind of.
- [47:15]
C
Oh, we played Wells park in football? No, in our baseball. Oh.
- [47:20]
A
Yeah, we played Libertyville. And that's, like I say, up there at Butler park is where one of Jason's teams won a tournament. I think beating. Beating one of the. There were two Libertyville teams. There was an Orange and a White.
- [47:34]
C
Yeah, there's every. Every age group has at least three.
- [47:37]
A
I think they played them both. They actually played a Deerfield team. So, you know, I kind of felt like, oh, geez, this is kind of weird, but, yeah, I remember that tournament. We were in the far north field. I think there's a road behind it.
- [47:49]
C
Yeah. Were you up. Up high or were you really close to the road?
- [47:53]
A
We're close to the road.
- [47:54]
C
Okay. Yeah. So that. That's. That's Odom. Yeah, Odom Field. Yeah. So your Chicago Bears, one of only five teams ever to rush for over 3,000 yards.
- [48:02]
A
Before we finish up this episode of Forward Progress, can I just say that a story that I did not know that I wanted to bring to this show about the recently dead Bob Trumpy, he of the unfortunate name. Bob Trumpy was a voice of my youth for football. Those of us who watched AFC on NBC, it was always part of your day that you had the Bears on cbs, and then often that late game on NBC, you tune in and it would be Greg Gumbel and the studio show, and sometimes they had Joe Montana on the studio show. Not great, but well, before then, it was always Don Cricky and Bob Trumpy, and it would be. Costas worked with him. Enberg, Tom Hammond, Charlie Jones, 20 years. Bob Trumpy was one of those voices, and then he did some Westwood One along with Joel Myers. For a long time, this was a ubiquitous NFL voice. And good. I mean, not really sort of incredibly memorable at his job. He was a terrific tight end for the Bengals. He was. He scored their first ever receiving touchdown in franchise history. But thanks to Mike Sando. I wanted to read this brief story about something else that is probably the most important thing that Bob Trumpy ever did. And again, this is from the Athletic. This is Mike Sando. On November 10, 1983, when Bob Trumpy was hosting his sports talk radio show on WLW in Cincinnati, a despondent caller threatened suicide on the air. Trumpy kept the woman on the line for two and a half hours, offering comfort while authorities tried to locate her. The ordeal was so emotionally taxing, Trumpy collapsed in tears when the call ended. His wife met him at the station and they left together. Shaken, the woman said she'd been drinking and that her husband had beaten her. She referenced a college aged son and offered the son's first name on the air, Trumpy said. It would be a shame for you to check out by yourself when you like people so much, trumpy told the woman on the air. This is a cry for help. I'm not going to let that go unheard. The woman eventually put her son on the line to speak with Trumpy, who was able to get their phone number and address. Authorities reached the woman before she could harm herself. They lauded Trumpy for his empathetic treatment of her and overall handling of the situation.
- [51:00]
C
That's pretty cool.
- [51:01]
A
That's pretty cool. Two and a half hours that he did that just out of empathy. So whatever you know about him, whatever your memories are of him as a broadcaster, as a player. I didn't know that.
- [51:16]
B
Yeah.
- [51:17]
A
Until I read it. That's a legacy you can't measure. A life saved and understanding in the moment the importance of where he fit and what he had to do. So I rest in peace to Bob Trumpy, who saved a life on that day.
- [51:52]
C
Forward. Progress a Chicago Bears podcast with Dan Bernstein and Matt Abaticola on 312Sports.
- [52:05]
F
Wherever you go, whatever they get into, from chill time to everyday adventures, protect your dog from parasites with Cridelio Guattro. For full safety information, side effects and warnings, visit credelioquatrolabel.com consult your vet or call 1-888-545-5973. Ask your vet for Cordelio Cuatro and visit quattrodog.com.
- [52:33]
E
I'm Mike King from the podcast Profiling Evil, a place where true crime meets behavioral science. I spent my career investigating serial predators and studying the psychology behind them. Here, we don't just talk about what criminals did. We explore why they do what they do. We expose manipulation and control, look at how offenders select their victims and uncover the ways that they try to avoid detection. You can find Profiling Evil on your favorite podcast platform.