Do the Chicago Bears have the 3rd Best Roster in the NFC North?

Summary

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Forward Progress - A Chicago Bears Podcast

Episode: Do the Chicago Bears have the 3rd Best Roster in the NFC North?
Date: July 6, 2026
Hosts: Dan Bernstein and Matt Abbatacola

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Dan and Matt tackle a quiet part of the NFL calendar by diving into several Bears-adjacent and NFL-wide topics. They debate where the Bears' roster ranks within the NFC North and across the league, analyze off-season decisions and ratings from national media, and mix in their unique blend of humor, pop culture references, and personal anecdotes. Major discussions include the impact of the Bears’ pass rush struggles, offseason roster moves, the defense’s outlook, the ever-controversial issue of sports ratings metrics, and even a few good-natured rants about Taylor Swift and the merits of cargo shorts.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Bears’ Jerseys and the Pope's Collection

[00:55-05:53]

• The hosts open with a quirky discussion about the recent news that the Pope received a new Bears jersey from Vice President J.D. Vance, and muse on the plainness of the (presumed) new alternate white with orange-number jerseys.
  • "That looks like it could easily be a Libertyville jersey." — Matt [01:42]
  • Both agree the new look is underwhelming compared to even local high school jerseys.
• Tangent on what the Pope does with all the sports memorabilia—do gifts end up in the Vatican museum or a hypothetical Papal sports bar?

2. Questionable Offseason Grades for Bears

[09:45-13:48]

• NFL.com’s Matt Okada gives the Bears a “B minus” offseason grade, mostly knocking the team for failing to address the pass rush.
  • The lack of improvement in the defensive line is a major talking point; Dan and Matt ask which leader carries the blame—head coach, defensive staff, or GM Ryan Poles.
  • “If the Bears defense doesn't perform well… who does that impact more? Does that impact Ben Johnson or does that impact Ryan Poles more?” — Guest/Producer [10:13]
  • Matt muses scenarios about coaching preferences affecting draft choices (“give me offensive guys, we’ll figure out the rest”).

3. “Coach Them Up” Philosophy & Madden Meme

[12:56-14:57]

• Discussion about the popular “coach them up” mentality and its limits, inspired by a meme involving a fictional “99 overall” Motivated Dio Odengbo in Madden Ultimate Team.
  • "The concept of a 99 player named Motivated Dio Odengbo… that's hilarious." — Matt [13:21]

4. National Roster Rankings and NFC North Context

[14:59-20:32]

• ESPN’s national roster rankings have the Bears at #17 in the league, trailing the Lions (#6), Packers (#10), and ahead of the Vikings (#22).
  • Bears’ biggest strength: offensive line.
  • Bears’ biggest weakness: defensive line, namely poor pass rush and lack of significant offseason additions ("They were 31st in pass rush win rate. They were 26th in run stop win rate last season." — Guest [16:24])
  • The hosts argue ESPN can’t fairly criticize loss of defensive backs while also praising new arrivals; depth and rotation addressed, notably with Terrell Smith returning and upgrades at safety and corner.

5. Roster Depth and Defensive Backfield

[17:45-20:32]

• Terrell Smith’s return is “like finding a $20 bill in your pocket,” and new acquisitions (Dylan Thienaman, Kobe Bryant, Cam Lewis, Elijah Riley) reinforce the secondary.
  • Emphasis that while the front seven remains a concern, the DB group should be seen as a net positive.

6. Media Power Rankings: Valid or Just Filler?

[21:00-22:02]

• Debate on how media outlets compile roster rankings (WAR, “elegance of construction,” simple depth charts?) and whether listing injured players (like Micah Parsons for the Packers) invalidates them.
  • "This is what you do in July. You just write power rankings." — Matt [21:54]

7. Taylor Swift, Travis Kelce Wedding & NYC Irish Bar Outrage

[22:02-29:46]

• The “breaking news” of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s wedding at Madison Square Garden becomes a commentary on social outrage and local business impacts.
  • Local bar owner’s protest over wedding-induced road closures is critiqued as opportunistic and compared to bigger events like the NBA Finals and World Cup.
  • Matt suggests Chicago Irish bars are far superior, rattling off a list for comparison.
  • “If you want a place to watch football, you can go to Fideaux. And there are dozens of other great Irish bars in Chicago…” — Guest [29:17]

8. How TV Viewership Numbers Get "Padded"

[29:46-33:55]

• Deep dive into Nielsen and other ratings firms’ new “co-viewing” methodology, which increases sports ratings by ~4% on average.
  • Matt criticizes the change for making historical comparisons murkier and potentially justifying inflated TV rights fees.
  • “Under the guise of getting it right, they’re finding ways to pad the viewership.” — Matt [31:47]

9. Streaming, Broadcasting Changes & Their Fallout

[33:55-35:35]

• Short discussion on government scrutiny into streaming costs (e.g. Jim Jordan, antitrust talk) and audience confusion about sports events appearing exclusively on streaming platforms like Peacock.

10. Cargo Shorts, Fishing, and Personal Bests

[23:01-24:35] [22:32-25:27]

• A mid-show detour into the war on cargo shorts in Matt’s household, their utility (especially for fishing), and a tale of wading chest-deep to rescue a “personal best” largemouth bass.
  • “There is a... There was a vine... and the wife says... get yourself some normal shorts. And he said... I’m going to look around in all these convenient pockets I have to see if I can find one... I have to give about what you think.” — Matt [24:37]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “That looks like it could easily be a Libertyville jersey.” – Matt [01:42]
• “The concept of a 99 player named Motivated Dio Odengbo… that's hilarious.” – Matt [13:21]
• “If the Bears defense doesn't perform well… who does that impact more? Does that impact Ben Johnson or does that impact Ryan Poles more?” – Guest [10:13]
• “This is what you do in July. You just write power rankings.” – Matt [21:54]
• “Under the guise of getting it right, they’re finding ways to pad the viewership… a self-fulfilling prophecy of technology.” – Matt [31:47]
• “If you want a place to watch football, you can go to Fideaux. And there are dozens of other great Irish bars in Chicago…” – Guest [29:17]
• (Cargo shorts defense:) “I’m going to look around… to see if I can find one I have to give about what you think.” – Matt [24:37]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• [00:55] — Discussion: New Bears uniforms, the Pope's jersey collection
• [09:45] — Breakdown: NFL.com’s offseason grades for the Bears
• [14:59] — ESPN's roster rankings, Bears at #17, strengths and weaknesses
• [17:45] — Analysis: Defensive back changes, depth, and impact
• [22:02] — Pop culture interlude: Taylor Swift/Travis Kelce wedding, business impacts, Chicago bars
• [29:46] — Media scrutiny: How Nielsen’s “co-viewing” boosts TV ratings
• [33:55] — Streaming service sports exclusives, antitrust/legislation talk
• [23:01 & 24:37] — Light moments: Cargo shorts, fishing stories, and family life

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Takeaways

• The Bears’ roster has strengths (offensive line, DB upgrades) but remains dogged by concerns over pass rush and defensive line depth.
• National rankings have the Bears in the middle of the league and the lower tier within the NFC North.
• Some national assessments contradict themselves or make odd methodological choices (e.g., injured starters, transactional hypocrisy).
• The show provides a blend of sharp football analysis, fan banter, and uniquely Chicago personality—plus enough tangents to entertain even during the offseason.

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For Bears fans and NFL observers, this episode gives a grounded but witty snapshot of both the team's status and the sporting landscape’s current quirks. If you crave authentic Chicago football commentary with a few laughs, this episode delivers.

Transcript

[Dan Bernstein]

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[Matt Abeticola]

I mean, if you're a Bears fan, you're thinking forward Progress.

[Dan Bernstein]

Come on.

[Matt Abeticola]

219.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

219. Forward progress, a Chicago Bears podcast with Dan Bernstein and Matt abetic cola on 312 sports.

[Matt Abeticola]

You have forward progress on 312 sports. As we talk bears and NF. Sure. It's July 5th, you say, well, what are you going to talk about when it comes to the Chicago Bears with we always have Bears top of mind. And when the quarterback of the Bears sends a gift to Pope Bob, that's a big deal, especially because he may have given us a look at the rivalries jerseys. Did you notice that?

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

I did notice it. And what's your. What's your take on it? Because I wasn't impressed.

[Matt Abeticola]

I'm not really a fan.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Like, if that's an actual jersey, the replica of the alternate jerseys, the new. And they're all white with orange numbers. They're kind of plain.

[Matt Abeticola]

It looks like. And you know, nothing against Libertyville, Go Cats. But that looks. It looks like that could easily be a Libertyville jersey.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

No, Even our Libertyville High school, even our youth jerseys have more on the sleeves and more decorate. This is just a very plain white jersey.

[Matt Abeticola]

I'm just saying, with the orange. With the orange and white. For sure.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

For sure. But it was very plain. I was kind of surprised and disappointed. There's nothing else to it.

[Matt Abeticola]

So this Courtney Cronin wrote this up and said that Williams, number 18, isn't the only Bears jersey in Leo's collection. The Pope was gifted a custom Bears jersey from US Vice President J.D. vance after being elected by the College of Cardinals and during the 2025 Papal Conclave. He also has a Chicago Bulls Jersey with number 14 and Pope Leo on the nameplate from Chuck Swirsky.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Hey, Rim.

[Matt Abeticola]

Eat some, Rim. But yeah, the problem is I'm thinking too, if you're the Pope and you have all these gifts and clearly they've got a. I don't know if it's like here, where it's like the promotions warehouse where you've Got the closet with all the stuff and I put in the closet all the other stuff.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Yeah.

[Matt Abeticola]

Or, or does he have a sports bar kind of arrangement where he can go in and have a little Sacramento wine with the Sacramento Kings and have. And just have his stuff like framed jerseys in a room in a place where he can kind of go hang and get away from the daily grind of potpourri. Maybe he wants to finish his day watching games in his, in his sports bar.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Wait, the Vatican gets their wine from Sacramento?

[Matt Abeticola]

No, sacramental wine. Oh, I thought. I'm sure he gets actual wine.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Okay. I just didn't know if it was

[Matt Abeticola]

like I don't, I don't sneak in behind the altar. Actually, you know what? I, you know, it's funny. Isn't that near where Lodi is? I thought that the. Some of the areas near Sacramento actually were the hot weather, high alcohol, Zinfandels, etc.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Maybe.

[Matt Abeticola]

Yeah, maybe I could be rather fruit basket, those big jammy up front fruit wines.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

If he is getting his wine from Sacramento, I would say just walk outside the Vatican.

[Matt Abeticola]

Yeah, well, that's not the best wine region. He's not in Tuscany.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

No. But I mean, I'm sure he could get some really good wine in Italy maybe.

[Matt Abeticola]

Yeah, you could.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Instead of Sacramento.

[Matt Abeticola]

You know, one thing that I did notice, and this is the coolest thing about traveling to Europe too. Not the coolest, but if you go to like one of those like little corner bodega grocery stores thing and grab a €4 bottle of wine, it's awesome.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Yeah, well, and any wine you can get local, really good.

[Matt Abeticola]

Whatever it is, you're like, oh, that's really good. Yeah, because it comes from up the street. Yes, it comes with that, that guy over there, he makes it. Hello. I have to make it wine. I have an accent that is not able to be placed in whatever country this may be. But the Pope can't re gift anything. Everything says Leo on it. He can't just show up. No, he couldn't.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Oh, he couldn't. Is that illegal?

[Matt Abeticola]

Well, I don't think it's illegal.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Oh, dude, you've been, you've been to the Vatican Museum. Isn't that where the stuff ends up then?

[Matt Abeticola]

Not all of it.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Oh, but, but shouldn't Leo's like sports memorabilia be in a, like a separate wing of the Vatican museum? That would be awesome.

[Matt Abeticola]

That would be really cool actually. If you, you, you leave the Sistine Chapel and the Last Judgment. You've been craning your neck looking at the Ceiling. Or you sat in one of those, like, hard seats where you can put your head back. And then the next room you go in, and he's standing behind the bar pulling drafts for people.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yes.

[Matt Abeticola]

Sliding it down the bar to you. There you go.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Take a look at his memorabilia that he has.

[Matt Abeticola]

And it's only Long Snapper ipa.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Oh, that'd be good.

[Matt Abeticola]

That's all he's serving. All he's serving is Pat Manley's Long Snapper ipa.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

So I think Pat would be the bartender, then. No, he'd be.

[Matt Abeticola]

No.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Yeah.

[Matt Abeticola]

No, no, he's doing. Right. It's. Everything's blessed in there. But, yeah, he's got all of the jerseys that you can take your picture in front of him there. He'll take a picture with you. There's also, like, one of the really good Galaga machines. Probably pinball. Definitely pinball.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Like a pope pinball machine.

[Matt Abeticola]

Oh, the Pope would have cool, like, Whirlwind, like, classics or, like, Fun House, some of the cool Williams games. What was the other one? What was the car chase one, the cop chase, where he went up the ramp a million times, like.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Or do you think he would have, like. Like, Exorcist pinball machine just.

[Matt Abeticola]

And realizing people would get the joke?

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Maybe.

[Matt Abeticola]

Is there a Blues Brothers pinball machine?

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Oh, I'm sure there had to be. You could have that. He could have Exorcist.

[Matt Abeticola]

Jaws is a pretty good one. I played that one. I was in England. Jaws is good, but it's confusing because there's too much to look at, and then you forget the balls rolling down to you because you're playing one of

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

the Busy watching things.

[Matt Abeticola]

Yeah. No, play. There's, like, a video thing you got to play, and then you look, oh, what am I doing? So that was good. What else have I played recently? I mean, Adam's family is always good, you know? You know, you play the hits, so. But you can't. He can't re. Gift it. You can't be like, all right, you'll pull it. Pull something off the rack. And we're showing up at this. At their house and bring everything says Leo on it.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Now, Popes, you. You end your. Your time as pope when you die your papacy. Right. You don't.

[Matt Abeticola]

Or you.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

You can walk away and do Popes retire?

[Matt Abeticola]

I think so. Okay.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Because I hope he gets a chance to then enjoy all the memory. Like, it's the. Wear the jersey out and gets to come back to Chicago one day, go

[Matt Abeticola]

to a game wearing his jersey. Yeah, you just See him at the Jewel, right?

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

He's got his Pope jersey on.

[Matt Abeticola]

Yeah, he's just wearing. Just says Leo on the back. And he's trying to decide.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Oh, no, no. He's looking at discounted meats. That's where you bump into him.

[Matt Abeticola]

Oh, well, that. Then he's my guy. Yeah, that he's my guy. You can still find me there, I'm telling you. And every time somebody finds me there, they're surprised. I didn't think you'd actually be at

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

the, like, oh, we're not lying about grocery shops.

[Matt Abeticola]

Come on, man.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Yeah, it's not. We do.

[Matt Abeticola]

No. Or the guy that stopped me in Dick's Sporting Goods when I was looking at plastic worms. He's like, that's a little on brand.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Yep, for sure. That works. Oh, you know, I found. Yesterday I did some steaks on the grill for me and the boys, and I wanted to do.

[Matt Abeticola]

We're already talking food.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Well, no, I just. Because I thought of something because you just said that you're. And we're talking. I brought up.

[Matt Abeticola]

We're eight minutes in and we're talking food already.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Okay, hang on. So this is what I found, though. I wanted some little, little red potatoes, and I was just gonna half them and then oil and season them up and then do them on the grill and.

[Matt Abeticola]

Never done that.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Oh, yeah. I just wrap them in foil and then do them on the grill. But Mariano is one of their brands. They have, like the. They're like prepackaged small potatoes, and they do with some kind of seasoning packets. So I buy those. I don't use their seasoning packets or whatever else they come with. I just want the potatoes, dude. I got two boxes of them yesterday for 209. Yeah. Reduced pricing because it was. It was sell by. Sell by July. July 5th. So I'm like, yep, done. We'll take those. Yes.

[Matt Abeticola]

It's absolutely the best.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

You've got to look for the reduced price stickers on everything.

[Matt Abeticola]

They find me. I can smell a reduced price sticker in Mariano's, especially when you walk by the cold chickens. You don't want to have one of those chickens that came off today. Would you have a chicken that came off yesterday for $3.62?

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Yes.

[Matt Abeticola]

A whole chicken.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Still good, man.

[Matt Abeticola]

Whole chicken for three, six.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Yeah.

[Matt Abeticola]

And it'll sit in my fridge for another week. Of course it's good.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

All right, let me ask you this. Do you want to. Do you want to talk about the best rosters in football? The off season, grades by team from

[Matt Abeticola]

NFL.com I know what those are. Those are Bears B. Didn't address the pass rush.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

All right, well, let's, let's, let's do that there. Let's just address that. Okay, so this is from Matt Okada on NFL.com he gave the Bears a B minus.

[Matt Abeticola]

Okay. But it will have to do with not addressing the. The bereft pass rush.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Correct. And so here's the question for you. If the Bears defense doesn't perform well or the defensive line has similar pass rushing stats as last year, where they ranked at the bottom, who does that impact more? Does that impact Ben Johnson or does that impact Ryan Poles more?

[Matt Abeticola]

I think it impacts Dennis Allen more.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

That wasn't an option, though.

[Matt Abeticola]

I think that's it.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Yeah, I mean, we've talked about how it kind of puts him on the hot seat a little bit, but when Ben Johnson says, we're just going to coach him up better, and these are, again, these are the guys that he's hired. This is the guy that he hired. He brought in this defensive staff. Ryan Poles made the decision not to address the defensive line more significantly than what he did through free agency. So of those two, does it impact Ben Johnson more or Ryan polls more? Do you look at the arrogance and the ego of a Ben Johnson, just coach him better or the lack of addressing the defensive line by the general manager?

[Matt Abeticola]

Well, I don't know where it started. It would be nice to know if Johnson goes to polls and goes, yeah, just get me offensive guys and polls. Like, hey, man, I can't just get you offensive guys. I gotta. I've got a responsibility to take care of the defense, too. And then Johnson says, no, no, no, don't. Don't worry about that. Let me worry about that. Just get me my offensive guys. We'll figure out the defense. I don't care about the defense right now. Don't worry about it. So we don't know exactly how it went down. Or it could be Johnson say, hey, did you get me any. Anything for the defense? And he goes, it. It just didn't really work out. And I made these draft picks. I really trust these draft picks. And John's like, oh, okay, well, we'll just score 50 points then.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

All right. But haven't. Haven't we also discussed that, though, and said that Ben Johnson has more of an imprint on what they did in the draft than maybe other head coaches or certainly other head coaches previous to Ben Johnson. So wouldn't he be kind of dictating what. What they do in the draft, right?

[Matt Abeticola]

I hope so. Yeah, I hope he is. But that's what I mean. Like, maybe he just said, hey, Ryan, I don't care about defense at all. It's not that important. If we're healthy, we'll be good enough. Just give me something representative. We're not going to win games with defense. We're going to win games and we're going to score every time. So just trust me on this. And Paul's like, oh, I don't know.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

I don't know.

[Matt Abeticola]

We got.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

No, no, no.

[Matt Abeticola]

Give me one year to prove to you that we don't need to spend money on defense. I don't know. There's any number of ways this could go down.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Did you.

[Matt Abeticola]

Have you seen the meme about. And I think it's just a meme because someone might have to explain this about this fake Madden player or fake Madden card. It just says Motivated dio odengbo. Overall rating 99.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

I have not seen this and it doesn't sound real, though.

[Matt Abeticola]

I know, I know.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

It's, there's, there's.

[Matt Abeticola]

Okay, I, it's just, I, I don't know exactly what the joke is or if there people make up alternate versions of players for an alternate version of the game, but the, the concept of a 99 player named motivated dio Odengbo, if that is some kind of a joke regarding the coach him up strategy, that's hilarious.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Yeah, I know on the games you can, you can create your own players and so therefore build that player up, but I, I don't. I'd have to ask my boys about that specifically, but yeah, there was no scenario where even Motivated Diodango ranks a rates of 99.

[Matt Abeticola]

Yeah, because when I look it up, it just says revealed ratings 99 OVR fan appreciation motivated Dio Odengbo. This player will be available in Madden Ultimate Team 26 on July 2, 2026. That. I guess it's a. That fans can put in what they want. Okay.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

I don't know.

[Matt Abeticola]

Exactly. Somebody said now in this Reddit thread, someone says in the last month of every Madden game they allow a handful of users to submit custom cards of any player. And apparently somebody decided to create Motivated Dio.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

That's funny.

[Matt Abeticola]

Yes. Okay, so that's that.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

So, yeah, that'd be true. That'd be great.

[Matt Abeticola]

So that's that. And somebody just said that's what it's going to look like and he's going to be a 99.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Okay, good luck with that. Good luck.

[Matt Abeticola]

Exactly. Good luck with that.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

All right. ESPN also put out their best rosters as comprised right now in the NFL. I'm going to give you the top 10 and then let you know where the Bears rank because they're not in the top 10, but they have one through five. The Rams, the Eagles, the Seahawks, the Bills and the Ravens. And then rounding out your top 10, you have the Lions, the Patriots, the Broncos, the Texans and the packers at number 10. Now, my only issue with the packers is they still have Micah Parsons listed

[Matt Abeticola]

as a starter who's hurt.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Who's hurt and will not be starting the season. So that to me takes them out of the top 10. You can't have him listed as a starter when he won't be playing for what, the first five, four, five, six, seven weeks of the season?

[Matt Abeticola]

Yeah, at least a third of the season.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

So yeah, they can't be top 10. They do have the Bears though, at 17. So right in the middle of the NFL, they give their biggest strength to the offensive line. They talk about their biggest, biggest weaknesses. Can you take a guess?

[Matt Abeticola]

I. Hold on, wait, wait, wait, hold on. I think the biggest weakness.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

So if offensive line was the biggest

[Matt Abeticola]

strength, I think the biggest weakness is their unaddressed pass rush biggest weakness.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Defensive line. Chicago didn't do much to upgrade the front line of the defense. It's very comical now at this point. They were 31st in pass rush win rate. They were 26th in run stop win rate last season. They talk about Grady Jarrett now being 33, Javon Dexter senior. They return a defensive tackle as your listed starters. They mentioned Neville Gallimore as the most notable rotation addition in the off season. Montez Sweat and Austin Booker. And then of course they talk about Dio Dangbo and his recovery from his torn Achilles. Here, here's, here's what they have. This is great too for the X factor for the year is Caleb Williams. And they highlight how good he was last year. But they talk about his accuracy and how if he even gets to like average of their QBR rating, that'll be a big step forward for him. Non starters, Odangbo signed a big free agent contract last year to come over from Indy was very disappointing. And, and just one sack. Now they do talk about in the, in the defense. They mention the losing five different defensive backs this offseason.

[Matt Abeticola]

Okay, but a lot of it was by choice.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

It was all by choice, Dan. Yeah, that's the whole point. And then, and then they go on to praise the fact that they, they drafted Dylan Thieman and Then bring in Kobe Bryant. So the article loses a little bit when you. You can't have it both ways. You can't criticize them for making the choice to say we're going to upgrade this significantly and then praise them for upgrading the former players they had significantly, but then saying a big knock against them was losing all these defensive backs.

[Matt Abeticola]

Well, not to mention. And you know what is going under discussed here is the fact that as far as I know, Terrell Smith is coming back.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Right? Correct. So that's another guy. Yes. So another guy you're adding to your backfield.

[Matt Abeticola]

But he was supposed to potentially, when training camp started last year, before he got hurt, there was reasonable belief that he was a starter at the Nishan Wright spot.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Correct.

[Matt Abeticola]

And if he's healthy, that's somebody who they have had on their roster because they thought he was developing into at least a rotational like level third boundary corner. And if in fact he's back to form, that's like finding a $20 bill

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

in your pocket for sure. So with. With Smith and then Tyreek Stevenson, we know what he's capable of doing in a rotation. Malik Muhammad, Jalen Johnson, by all accounts, to start things off here in the spring looks really good. And then you have your whole new rotation of. Of safeties in Kobe Bryant and Dylan Fenamin. And was it. Who's the other guy they brought in from Elijah? No, the Rams.

[Matt Abeticola]

Yeah. Is it Lewis? I think that's right. So.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Yeah. No, but that's. That's a great name to bring up because that's another guy just to add to the piece. So you can't criticize losing the five different defensive backs you lost while praising the additions they made. It just.

[Matt Abeticola]

Yeah. There's safeties right now. Thienaman and Brian are the starters. Cam Lewis and Elijah behind them.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Yep.

[Matt Abeticola]

Okay, so those are the other two. And then the other corner. See, I don't. Let me just see, they have. At corner, they have Smith listed as the backup to Johnson on our lads and Malik Muhammad listed as the backup to Tyreek Stevenson. And then if Jalen Jones is your, you know, fifth boundary corner, that's not so terrible.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

It's not.

[Matt Abeticola]

It really isn't.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Yeah. With the way that Smith was being projected last year and what they've already talked about Malik Muhammad this year, possibly even taking a starting job.

[Dan Bernstein]

Yep.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

It's not bad.

[Matt Abeticola]

Right. But you know what? I'm told that the. The defensive line could use a little bit.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Sorry, yeah, somebody's mentioned that before.

[Matt Abeticola]

Yeah, I know.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

I gotta Find it where I saw that at. If I. If I remember where I saw that.

[Matt Abeticola]

Yeah, I know. See if you can track down that one place that mentioned that the Bears were still along that front seven.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

So they have the Bears as the 17th best roster. Remember, they have the Lions at six, the packers at 10, and they have the Vikings at 22. So those were the. The best rosters.

[Matt Abeticola]

I would love to know how they define if they're just like adding up war. Are they adding up value over replacement player?

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

I don't know how that criteria for it. Yeah.

[Matt Abeticola]

Yeah. Or is it a particularly elegantly constructed roster regardless of who the players are? I don't know.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

You clearly didn't take your availability as a factor to it because they just listed all 11 starters for the offense, all 11 starters for the defense. Now, what. What depth chart they used. I, you know, I'm sure ESPN has their own, so that's what they've used. But. But by having Micah Parsons still listed, just. It doesn't. It kind of disqualifies the whole argument because they're. They cannot be a top 10 roster without Micah Parsons.

[Matt Abeticola]

Well, he's on the roster.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Sure. But he's not. Well, they're not sure.

[Matt Abeticola]

I guess they're not talking about football teams.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

If this is for fantasy football only, then great. Sure.

[Matt Abeticola]

Well, this is what you do in July. You just write power rankings, but you instead. Based on the roster, instead of the quality of the players. I don't know.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

All right. And then the final thing, and this is the most important thing. We. I don't know why we buried this, but Taylor Swift and Travis Kelsey did get married and then have their wedding celebration and public ceremony over the weekend at Madison Square Garden that was officiated by Adam Sandler as. Who was not wearing basketball shorts like several of the AI generated photos you might have seen online. He was wearing a full suit.

[Matt Abeticola]

Yeah. Meanwhile, my family is trying to get rid of my Adam Sandler shorts and I will. Over my dead body.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

What is with the family and the. The hatred and for your clothing. I get it, but, like, let a man be a man. No, they need to let you be who you are.

[Matt Abeticola]

No, no, no. I saw the best. And I sent this to Beth too, because they hate my cargo shorts and I love cargo shorts.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

And wouldn't you?

[Matt Abeticola]

Because their cargo shorts are awesome.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

I'm sure they're great for fishing too,

[Matt Abeticola]

but they're great for everything.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

They're cargo short, like the pockets. Yes.

[Matt Abeticola]

You put everything. I did have to. I did have to Grab a fish out of the water by hand this weekend. But that's a different story. It was.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

I walked your pole.

[Matt Abeticola]

I walked in up to my chest to get a fish. It was my personal best largemouth, and it hung up in the slop and the lily pads, and I was not losing this fish. And I literally just walked in.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Seriously? Up to your chest and water? Yep. And then you got in your car and drove home?

[Matt Abeticola]

No, I fished for another four hours.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Oh, okay.

[Matt Abeticola]

But I. I walked in and you got the fish. I grabbed it by the. My entire fist could fit in the mouth without touching the sides. Oh, wow. That's how big the mouth was.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

I think they call that a largemouth bass.

[Matt Abeticola]

And. And. And so. And I. I grabbed it in. In the. In the. All this slop, and I'm underwater, holding my rod up with one hand, reaching in with the other hand, and I literally grabbed it by the lower lip and walked. And pulled it out and walked the fish to shore standing there. So I threw my phone through my wallet, through my keys, and. And walked in. But you had to do it. It was. It was a. It was a pb. Had to. Had to do it. So, wait, what was I saying? What was I talking about? I know. Personal best. I was talking about something that.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

A fishing term. Items. I don't know, the. Yeah.

[Matt Abeticola]

PB stands for personal best. Peanut butter. But then I forgot something. I was going to know. I had a point to make about

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

your family, about your cargo shorts. They want to get rid of the.

[Matt Abeticola]

Yes, thank you. So the cargo shorts. There is a. There's a. There was a vine or something like that of a husband. And the wife says to him, like, that's enough of your cargo shorts. They look stupid. I don't know why you still wear them. Get yourself some normal shorts. And. And he said, wait, hold on a second. He goes, I'm gonna look around in the. All of these convenient pockets. I have to see if I can find one. I have to give about what you think.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Oh, wow. That was aggressive. I didn't expect to. And you sent that to your wife?

[Matt Abeticola]

I did.

[Dan Bernstein]

Oh.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

How was your weekend?

[Matt Abeticola]

Here you go.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Yeah. How'd that go?

[Matt Abeticola]

No, it's great. It's like, hey, man, that about summed it.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Maggie sleep in the garage this weekend.

[Matt Abeticola]

All these. All these. No, no garage. No. That's where the clothes are drying from my little pond. Swim. No, I don't want to be out there. It's too nasty that you.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Gross.

[Matt Abeticola]

Everything's all lit and dirty out there.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

All right, so they got married over the weekend, and of course, they had it at Madison Square Garden. So there were. There were several road closures around Madison Square Garden because of the security required for. For this wedding. And there is a bar right across the street from msg. It's called o'. Brien's. And the owner of o' Brien's bar,

[Matt Abeticola]

no relation to the o' Brien's here in Chicago, right?

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

No, he had. He had thoughts about this. And he says to Taylor Swift, you've wronged us. Make it right. So he's furious over the recent road closures for their wedding. And he says, if they can afford to buy the permits, they can afford this big, lavish ceremony. Why don't they just buy out the local businesses instead of having us adversely affected? So here's my issue. This has happened recently in New York where these roads were closed due to something called the NBA Finals. The New York Knicks. I'm not sure if you knew, one of the teams playing against the Spurs. So the same. Same roads were closed. It's also have happened where there's some road closures because of something called the World Cup. It's like the biggest soccer tournament going on right now. Mr. O' Brien has had zero thoughts for the New York Knicks or FIFA and the World cup based on road closures. By the way, I've been to o' Brien's Irish bar.

[Matt Abeticola]

Mm.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

And I was there in early December of 2024. Do you know, Dan, the number of tourists that. That go to the city of New York from Thanksgiving to Christmas Day? Any idea how many tourists go through

[Matt Abeticola]

the city from Thanksgiving to Christmas Day?

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Yes.

[Matt Abeticola]

I don't know. 2 million.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

9 to 12 million people visit New York City every year during the holiday time.

[Matt Abeticola]

9 to 12 million.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

9 million to 12 million people is what they've come to visit near. Yes. It's a lot of people in an already very crowded area. Right. We were there and we happened to be near MSG and for a Knicks game, and we said, hey, let's pop in here. Looks it's a big red front building. I said, let's go. Let's check out. Let's check out o'. Brien's. This looks like a fun place. Maybe get a mocktail or something before we go into the game.

[Matt Abeticola]

Okay.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

And this is again, this is right in the middle of the holiday season. This is in December. May have been 10 or 12 people in the whole building. Okay. So if you hate Taylor Swift, you can hate Taylor Swift all you want, but just come out and say that, you know, don't, don't act like Taylor Swift's wedding that took up a couple days of MSG and some street closures.

[Matt Abeticola]

You're saying there isn't going to be ruining your business, some massive effect on the business of o' Brien's based on a temporary closure.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Correct. So we're there at the peak of the holiday season when 9 to 12 million people come through the city of New York just like we were doing. And there might have been 10 or 12 people in the whole, the whole bar.

[Matt Abeticola]

And maybe he's opportunistically knowing that Taylor Swift might feel bad and might say, hey, can I, can I defray some of your losses? And he's publicly politicking for it, maybe.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Or, or he's, you know, a guy who doesn't, you know, who just wants to hate on Taylor Swift because other people of significant note and maybe politics have done the same thing.

[Matt Abeticola]

Sure.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

I don't know.

[Matt Abeticola]

That could certainly be possible as well.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

But I will say this to Michael o', Brien, if you do want to know what a good, you know, Irish pub, Irish bar looks like, come to Chicago. And I just jotted on a quick list off the top of my head. Carrie, man Bar, Lizzie McNeil's Emerald Loop, Dublin's Cork and Carry. And if you want a place to watch football, you can go to Fideaux. And there are dozens of other great Irish bars in Chicago if you want to see what one looks like and how it operates and how it treats people. Come on to Chicago sometime, spend a weekend here and you can hit up a bunch of Irish bars.

[Matt Abeticola]

What a perfect segue to this story that I noticed today. You know how we always see in the NFL record viewership for this, record viewership for this, the golden goose of NFL viewership and the billions and billions and billions that the networks pay and say much. They, they keep laying people off, but boy, they will shell out for NFL games. Well, it appears, according to Awful announcing, that Nielsen is preparing to find yet another way to keep sports viewership trending upward ahead of the upcoming football season. Okay, this is Nielsen. This is the audience measurement firm whose data treated as the gold standard within the TV business. They plan to formally roll out a new co viewing initiative as soon as September. According to a report in Front Office Sports, Nielsen piloted the program during February, measuring major sporting events like the Super Bowl, Olympics, NBA All Star Game, Daytona 500 and State of the Union. And this updated co viewing method added an average of 4.19% to total viewership co viewing, in layman's terms, is when several people watch a telecast together in the same room. Nielsen's new methodology introduces a wearable device that members of Nielsen households use to help determine how many viewers are in the room watching a given telecast. Previously, Nielsen households had to manually log the number of viewers in a room. So the reason they're doing this, and this is kind of what troubles me, is under the guise of getting it right, they're finding ways to pad the viewership that continues to justify these ballooning rights fees. And I'm just wondering if we don't get a little bit of tail wagging the dog here.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Hmm.

[Matt Abeticola]

Because it's almost like the networks are like, hey, we have to justify all these gazillions that we spend on this. And then they call them the inaccurate measurement. All the fragmentation of the viewership and people watching on their phones or whatever it may be, they're saying, well, you never know how many people are in a room. And now they actually have to have some kind of invasive technology because if they can measure how many are in the room, they can measure who is in the room. And this to me leads to whatever they can do with facial recognition and all the Big Brother kind of stuff that's in there. But they keep saying it's all about accuracy, but what I believe is what we're going to see. This is another reason why they're incentivized to keep showing higher numbers. And I'm glad that awful announcing addresses that here because they say it muddies historical comparisons. And the firm's biggest clients, people that pay Nielsen, are the networks that broadcast live sports and the leagues that those networks pay billions of dollars to air. The NFL recently vocalized its frustrations with Nielsen about what it sees as a systematic undercounting of its audience, with a league executive citing cove viewing specifically as one of the main culprits. And at the same time the NFL publicized these complaints, it began experimenting with one of Nielsen's competitors, Video amp. So Nielsen got the message with that shot across the bow. And it sounds like they're acquiescing to jumping through hoops to make the audiences appear larger in a way that's going to please the networks and the leagues Week. So I don't know what to trust here, but get ready for a lot of headlines about record viewership for the NFL. That's what it looks like to me. I just think that the underlying forces here are working on a self fulfilling prophecy of technology.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Has there been Anything further from the investigation into the streaming.

[Matt Abeticola]

And remember, I thought you were gonna say Diana Rossini.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

No, no. With your pal Jim Jordan and looking at the, the cost that. To all the.

[Matt Abeticola]

I don't know, there's a lot of noise, a lot. Hey, we're going to investigate you. We're going to take away your post merger antitrust exemption if you don't make these games. And the NFL's like. Well, we kind of do. You know, even though it is on whatever streaming service, it has to be made of it. I don't know if that shut people up. I don't know if people just tried to grandstand on something.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

I don't know.

[Matt Abeticola]

Amazingly, without knowing what the actual facts were. But that's still an open file.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Happened.

[Matt Abeticola]

No, not in this country.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Was it a big deal that baseball was on Peacock over the weekend?

[Matt Abeticola]

I don't know.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Was it the. Okay, I thought. I thought I saw something that was. You could only watch the Cubs game on Peacock or maybe all the MLB games were on Peacock yesterday and. Okay, I don't know if that was an issue.

[Matt Abeticola]

I. I don't know. I. I didn't think so. I think it's been everywhere. Right. If it's been on Apple TV and all that, why would it be an issue that it's on?

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Yeah.

[Matt Abeticola]

I don't know if NBC bought some. Was it. Was that part of the Sunday Night Baseball deal or they. If you're shifting it off of NBC and to a paid service, maybe there are some games that were designated for that and people are mad thinking that

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

maybe that's what it was.

[Matt Abeticola]

They don't. That could be what it is, where it's just they announce NBC Peacock and it'll be on these platforms and then when they actually air it, it's not where you think it is, right? Could be, Yep.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

All right, well, that'll do it for Ford Progress today.

[Matt Abeticola]

And a good one. It was. I gotta find this Motivated Dio.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Oh, yeah, I'll ask my kids about that.

[Matt Abeticola]

Yeah. See if you can get a report on. On what? This is the 99 motivated diode.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Because I know in, in the show they do things where they earn stubs and these credits and then they pull cards and then they make teams. If you pull a player's card, you add them to your roster. So I don't know if that's something similar in the Madden game where if you can somehow pull this 99. Dayo Diodango. I don't know. I'll ask him. I'll ask him.

[Dan Bernstein]

Good.

[Matt Abeticola]

We'll have a full report on that when we.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

Oh, I wouldn't say that, but yeah, we might have a comment or two on it.

[Matt Abeticola]

That'd be nice, too. That will constitute a full report. It's just a matter of semantics, I think. All right, so that is Forward Progress here on 312 Sports. Forward progress has stopped.

[Co-host or Guest (possibly a producer or another host)]

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