E (3:51)

Yeah, it passed 78 to 32. So not unanimous. But pretty easy. Easy passing of this bill. And as we talked about as the Bears timeline changed in the last week and a half or two weeks to

C (4:05)

fit with the as late spring, early summer.

E (4:08)

Yes. Which is certainly on pace there. Which also fits with the legislation is doing so. Yeah, it's going to happen. We've been saying this all along that the whole Hammond thing was just a dog and pony show. Bears are going to stay in Illinois. They're going to end up getting this worked out to be in Arlington Heights. That's how it's going to work out. This was the first step to make that happen and that's. That's where they're at. So not much of a surprise. But yeah, it's all done. We can hopefully just move forward now like grown ups in working towards the same goal and making this happen without any further delays or any more stupidity. Really.

C (4:43)

I think that's probably what's going to happen at this point.

E (4:46)

So.

C (4:46)

And I would say that that also applies to the way the Bears handle the draft. Just keep moving forward without any stupidity. And I would like Ben Johnson to have submitted his list or lists. I know that he's in the room. Ryan polls nominally in charge of everything but based on everything. I understand there will not be a pick made that will surprise Ben Johnson, put it that way.

E (5:15)

Yeah, that's the way it should be.

C (5:16)

Exactly right. They're not going to say, well, Ben, here you go, figure it out.

E (5:22)

Right.

C (5:22)

That he is not only involved, but he is playing a significant role in identifying what he believes his team needs. Yeah.

E (5:33)

And that's certainly how, how it should go and that's how it's going to be. And you know, Dan did mention that we will be live later on today. Live forward progress throughout the entire season. We go live with post game shows. This is a very special night, obviously, round one of the 2026 NFL Draft, we will be live. So if the Bears make a move and they move up in the draft tonight, we will go on immediately. Once we find out that that trade has been made, we will get on live. If not, if they hold at 25, we'll jump on somewhere around 23 or 24 to be ready to go to react live to what's happening. Of course, it's not just us being live, but the chat room is there for you to participate and be a part of. As we saw that whole community grow throughout the entire football season, we with our post game show. So we'll be there for you with a live forward progress tonight for round one of the draft as the Bears sit at 25. If you haven't checked out DBU yet, Dan makes a pretty compelling case for the Bears to trade down or move out completely and add more bodies or more picks either this year or for the future. We'll see how that does go. You know, the NFL analysts, the draft analyst experts ranking these prospects. It could be anywhere from 12 to 16 first round talents in this year's draft. The bears sit at 25. What do you do with that? We'll see. Is it the, is it the philosophy of taking someone to fill a need at 25 or is it taking the best guy on the board? So I'm really excited to see how this all plays out tonight. What the Bears have in mind, once we see this first pick, we'll get a little glimpse of what the rest of this draft is going to look

C (7:14)

like for the Chicago Bears and we know where they need help. This really is not a difficult depth chart because you saw, oh, they added all these defensive tackles. Okay, but they're just guys. They just. What you use free agency for is building up the middle third of your roster and they've done a pretty good job of that, I think. I think there's some good backups and or rotational players in there, but they need impact guys and I don't know if that's coming from number 25, I will say. And I just made this point. I was across the street at Fox in Chicago now talking to the host of that show about how unsexy it is to take a run stuffer because the highlights. Usually you take a wide receiver, the highlights are ridiculous. You take a tight end and you see or somebody returning kicks has unbelievable highlights, right?

E (8:10)

But you take a guy like Kaden McDonald and you're like, he's big. Yeah.

C (8:14)

His job is to be big and strong and hard to move. And you can make a lot of money doing that for a living. But it's it. It might just be that there's somebody who, you know can do that job right now and it's plug and play and he's better than what you got. But I think I would rather have a little higher risk, higher reward, taking some shots at some traits. Guys a little bit further down.

E (8:40)

I'm not opposed to that. I think. I think they will make a pick at 25. I don't think they're going to pick a defensive tackle and if they do in this draft, I don't think they will until later in day three. I think they will use this first pick for an edge rusher. I think there are plenty of names of guys that they will probably like that will be there at 25 and will be available for them to take. I certainly am going to hold true to my feelings. I hope they. I want them to take a tackle, an offensive tackle at 25, and I think they need to address left tackle. That's the most important thing for me right now is to make that a priority. I don't think they will. I think they will take an Edge guy at 25, but they will add a tackle as well as a wide receiver, I believe before day two is over.

C (9:24)

And just another reminder too, if you haven't made your pick for our Bears draft challenge here or what we're the 312 sports draft challenge. I should say go to the app 312 sports app. Go to the website 312sports.com and click where you see that contest. And all you gotta do is give us a name. Just make sure you're registered and it'll lead you to play. We're just going to fill in a name and once we have that, this is for the Bears first selection. It might be at 25, it might be sooner, it might be later, it might end up being tomorrow. But we will give you, if you correctly name the Bears first selection and predict that we will give you a $100 gift certificate to RPM Steak. So this is steak dinner. Boom, boom for you. If more than one person has that same name, we'll draw a winner from that pool of people that had the right name.

E (10:22)

One nice thing about this current regime of the Chicago Bears and me as a diehard Bears fan, I'm not like, living and dying by this first round pick.

C (10:32)

No.

E (10:33)

You know, it's just like, hey, I'm excited to see what they're going to do, what they're going to do to add to an already really good roster the two hardest things to get right in the NFL, the head coach and the quarterback. They've got them, right. What are they adding to it now? Are they going offense? Are they going defense? It's just. It's a really nice feeling to be calm and comfortable and just anticipating with great excitement, like, what's going to happen to see how this plays out. And not so much like, all right, we need to get this guy so they can do this. And it's got to be this, and they've got to have this, and it's got to be this guy or, oh, we hope.

C (11:10)

Thanks for coming to the Bears and now save us from being bad. Oh, this is the person who's going to keep us from being bad. We went through an entire horrible season of awful football to get this. This guy. It's not that.

E (11:23)

Right.

C (11:24)

Just not that this. You say, hey, welcome to what we got going here. I hope you can help.

E (11:29)

Yeah. And again, if that's at 25 or if they move up and they certainly more so if they move up or if they move down. I have my feelings of what I want, but it needs to be a guy that steps in and starts from day one. That's what the first pick has to be. It has to be a guy. That's not a project. It's not a. Oh, let's. Let's see how this. This works out. And maybe by week eight or ten, that guy's in there and he's been at the.

C (11:57)

Starting the combine and it's going to be week six when he's off the PUP list.

E (12:02)

Want a guy that's going to step in right away and make whatever unit he's a part of, make that unit better tonight. Like that. You were going to walk away tonight, go to bed tonight and say, this unit, offensive line, defensive line, secondary, linebacker,

C (12:17)

whatever it is, 25, I think, I think you're talking about trade up to satisfy that criterion. I don't think you can do it at 25.

E (12:26)

I disagree with you I think you can. I mean, there's 32 teams. You're picking 25. It doesn't have to be the best player in that unit. It doesn't have to be. This guy's going to compete for rookie of the year at this position. It has to be a guy that makes this unit better tonight. Like they. We can wake up tomorrow and say, yeah, this offensive line, this defensive line,

C (12:48)

the interior of the defensive line is better.

E (12:49)

This linebacker core, whatever it is, the wide receiver room is better today than it was before this draft pick was made.

C (12:57)

We'll see if we can answer that and we'll make sure that we do when we go live on YouTube tonight with the Bears draft and you'll be watching along with us. I also, you're going to hear me talk about how you can't judge a draft until we have a full picture.

B (13:10)

Sure.

C (13:10)

And I'm not gonna go saying, they screwed this up, they got it right.

E (13:13)

Not only that, then you can't fully.

C (13:15)

Like it's one round.

E (13:16)

You can't judge a draft for two or three years. I mean.

C (13:19)

But even if you're looking at just the process, even if you're looking at how they went through on their shopping trip.

E (13:25)

Right.

C (13:25)

How'd you come out? What do you. Here. Here's what you have to spend. What did you. What did you get at the shopping trip? I want to see once that trip is done for sure. And I. It's. It's kind of hard to see because then the whole picture is available there. And when we only. We're going to one data point tonight.

E (13:41)

Right. And we'll be able to break that down Monday on Dan Bernsten and filtered and forward progress as we look more as far as what? Whether it's seven picks, if it's nine picks, if it's five picks, whatever it might be, we'll be able to evaluate the whole.

C (13:55)

Or it's a massive trade that brings them a veteran superstar. Who knows?

E (13:59)

Who knows.

C (13:59)

Anything can happen. Weird things happen during a draft. We don't know what the plans are. Ryan Poles right now could be sitting there going, oh, they got no idea what's going to hit him tonight. These people have no idea what we're about to do right here. Wait till you see this. I mean, I'm kidding, of course, but people get silly during drafts.

E (14:15)

Right.

C (14:15)

We heard get crazy.

E (14:16)

The Chiefs gm, who talked about the fans are going to love this because there's me. A lot of fireworks.

C (14:21)

Red Veatch.

E (14:22)

Yep. Lot of moves made. I've already heard one rumor today that I've heard it from multiple places about the Cowboys wanting to move up and move up big to get Jeremiah love. I mean that's the fun, fun stuff like that. Okay, now again, it's all cool to read and and to and to listen to and to hear these exper about it. I'm just, I'm anticipating tonight. This is a great night to be able to see what's actually going to happen, how it all plays out.

C (14:45)

Agreed. And again, make sure you join us. We will put the link out there for you. I know Matty will put it out on socials as the draft gets started. So you know exactly where to go.

E (14:56)

Oh, I will. I will open the room up relatively early though.

C (14:59)

Okay.

E (15:00)

I might actually open it up at 7.

C (15:02)

Great.

E (15:02)

So have the room available if you want to get in there and chat and hang out and watch with our community from your own home. But chat and share and as you go through each pick, make your comments on the picks. So yeah, I'll do that for us. Where we have the draft, our YouTube room will be open at 7 for you to start watching the draft together.

D (15:19)

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B (15:38)

Honestly, I just booked my VRBO because there was a sweet wine fridge.

D (15:42)

Hey, we all have our reasons. Don't walk into a surprise if you know you VRBO terms apply. See vrbo.com trust for details on DBU.

C (15:50)

Earlier today I talked a lot about Mike Vrabel saying that he has to now go to counseling for something that he initially said was laughable. Well, not only was it not laughable and it was serious enough for him to go to counseling, but now there are new pictures that have surfaced.

E (16:08)

Yeah, I would say take a listen to DBU if you haven't or you don't regularly listen to dbu. What are you doing? So check it out. I thought it was a really good conversation we had about the Mike Vrabel Patriots Diana Rossini situation as more information and now there is unfortunately more. I guess it doesn't do much more damage. I think all the damage is kind of done. It just shows.

C (16:31)

Yeah, it's New pictures obtained by New York Post Page 6, the current New England Patriots coach and the former NFL reporter. These are pictures of them together in the dimly lit Tribeca Tavern in the early hours of March 11, 2020.

E (16:48)

Oh, March 11. Okay. So I asked you just before the

C (16:51)

world shut down, just before COVID These are pictures of them six years ago, sitting close to each other with his legs around her legs, holding hands and sharing a kiss. And an eyewitness said they were kissing and they were all over each other. He was married at the time, she was engaged at the time. And this apparently is a long standing relationship that was already apparently at this point, based on pictures from 2020. So whether or not that is affecting Saturday's Rabel counseling session and they've got to now go back and kind of bake this into everything, I don't know. Because Rabel was head coach of the Tennessee Titans then and Rossini was an NFL porter reporter at ESPN who was covering the Titans extensively at that point.

E (17:48)

Yeah. So he became the head coach in 2018. So this would be two years into his leadership as the head coach. Two days before COVID shut everything down. That was March 13, Friday the 13th, when everything shut down. So this is that Wednesday right before that. Because that was the first question I asked you, like, when, when was this? Because you weren't at a bar in that time. But yeah, so it had to be early in the year. So he's going into, so 18, 19, going into his third year as the head coach of the Titans. And we had heard some speculation, some talk about, about this relationship going back to his time as the Titans head coach. Now you have pictures here. Yeah. That, you know, again, again, check out dbu. I thought we had a really interesting conversation about this whole situation. This is hopefully, again, if he wants this marriage and relationship to move forward, I hope he got it all out on the table for. Because if he didn't. And then it's like, oh, here's pictures from six years ago. But you told me this started a year ago or this started.

C (18:52)

Don't say anything. You're going to have to take back.

E (18:59)

Yeah, it's just, it's. Man, that's brutal.

C (19:04)

Yeah. There's some fundamental issues going on right now. If she was doing this before her wedding, she was just engaged. Like, that's another layer. Yeah. Yuck. It's just my editorial comment there is just kind of yuck. Wow. But these pictures are even worse than the others.

E (19:33)

And his, his kids are older. They're in their 20s.

C (19:37)

Okay.

E (19:38)

Yeah, they're in their mid-20s. Well.

C (19:42)

Well, that's Like I say that some counseling is worth it at this point and other counseling is up to you, man. It depends on how much you want to change and what you want in your life and who you want to be. He doesn't have to apologize. Not to the public.

E (19:59)

No, not to the public. Not to. Yeah, not to anyone else but his family. And again, I just, I want him to be honest with it. Like, dude, if you want this to really fix and move forward, then do it. Do it right. Don't do it half assed. If you don't want it, don't do it because you think you have to.

C (20:15)

And before this question, well, why does she have to apologize and he doesn't? Because she has had a relationship with her readers and with her viewers that had a reason to expect unbiased coverage. She had an ethical responsibility to disclose she had an. This is a violation of the ethics of the profession. His dalliance is not a violation of the ethics of football coach.

E (20:47)

Right.

C (20:47)

That is an enormous difference. And that's why I'm saying she does owe an apology to anyone who has ever read what she's written or watched her reporting because this part of it was broken.

E (21:01)

And if you want to hear it from someone outside of us, say that. Listen to the interview Dan did with Christine Brennan, USA Today columnist and author. That was a week ago Wednesday. So that would have been the 15th. Check out that Dan Bernstein and filter DBU here on Three One, Two Sports. And she talks about that. Yeah, very much talks about that and addresses Mike Vrabel that it's a very different situation. So take it from someone who lives it and who has been covering men's sports for 40 years.

C (21:29)

Pioneer.

E (21:30)

Yeah, one of the. Yeah, absolutely. And she articulates it in a way that if you don't want to hear it from us, hear it from her because it really, really makes a great deal of sense. Yeah. Oh, man, this is, this is just brutal that this came out now too.

C (21:45)

And at some point she is going to have to figure something out with the next step of her PR plan if she wants to work again.

E (21:55)

You know, if she wants to work again, I think she'll be able to work again. It's going to be a long journey. Whatever her path is that she decides to take. I don't, I don't know how she ever gets on the national level. I mean, you know, this, this impacts so much. She's going to be under such scrutiny now, every decision she made. I don't know how what kind of voting. Like what, what, what does she participate as far as voting on things?

C (22:18)

Coach of the year is ap, right?

E (22:20)

Is that what.

C (22:20)

Yeah, I think so.

E (22:21)

I mean, and does that impact players awards as well, too? And where her votes go and these are all reasonable now it's going to, it's going to take all of her, all the stories she's broke and put those under scrutiny. And I'm just not sure any national publication would want any part of that,

C (22:37)

especially with the exit the way it was.

E (22:40)

Yeah. The defiance, arrogance. From both of them.

C (22:42)

Yes.

E (22:43)

From both of them.

C (22:43)

Yes. Yes. So I think what we're going to do, let's wrap it here because we're going to be to do another Forward Progress later on live this evening. This is going to be your little draft preview and then come join us. Come back. We're going to have the rest of our day and then we'll all settle in together. You can settle into the chat room and hang out with each other and talk all your stuff and we'll pop on if there's a reason. If the Bears are in the news before their pick, we'll play it by ear. But just stay tuned and check out The Forward Progress YouTube page for tonight's live draft edition. This has been Forward progress on 31 2. Forward progress has stopped.

E (23:31)

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

D (23:43)

Everybody talked about it since I first moved to Oregon. The big one. The earthquake that trashed the whole coast. Total destruction.

C (23:51)

Officially calling it the largest natural disaster in American history.

D (23:55)

I just didn't know what would help me next. So I took it all. Even the gun. It was time.

C (24:02)

Cello American Afterlife, presented by Pair of Thieves. The number one fiction and drama podcast in America. Listen wherever you get your favorite podcasts available now.