The Bears are back to work as MNF, and the Commanders are up next.

Summary

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Forward Progress: "The Bears are back to work as MNF, and the Commanders are up next."

Hosted by Dan Bernstein & Matt Abbatacola
Date: October 8, 2025
Podcast: Forward Progress - A Chicago Bears Podcast (312 Sports)

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Episode Overview

This episode dives into the Chicago Bears’ post-bye week status, using Head Coach Ben Johnson’s latest press conference as a springboard for in-depth discussion. Dan and Matt break down the state of the offense, penalties, running game struggles, Caleb Williams’ development, and the emotional journey of Tyrique Stevenson after last season’s infamous Hail Mary. The show balances technical analysis, candid fan emotion, and thoughtful reflections on coaching, accountability, and growth—essential listening for any Bears devotee hungry for insight and not afraid of raw honesty.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Post-Bye Status & Ben Johnson’s Press Conference

[01:27 – 04:30]

• The Bears are back at work following their bye, with mandatory self-scouting and a critical re-evaluation of the first four weeks.
• Coach Ben Johnson acknowledges the team as "a work in progress,” pointedly highlighting offensive inconsistency and a top-five ranking in penalties.
  • Ben Johnson [03:03]: "We're still a work in progress. Some things we're doing well, some things we're not. I think the inconsistent nature with which we're playing, we're shooting ourselves in the foot quite a bit... we've got to get the pre snap penalties under control..."
• Discussion focuses on how coaching staff can address penalties—moving beyond platitudes to meaningful accountability.

2. Penalties & Player Accountability

[04:32 – 08:01]

• Dan expresses skepticism on how coaches enforce consequences at the NFL level, questioning whether benching is realistic for well-paid starters.
  • Dan Bernstein [05:23]: "How? What's the consequence of not getting better at this?... At some point there has to be a consequence..."
• Parallels are drawn to other high-usage NFL players who get penalized due to sheer playing time, underscoring the complexity of crackdowns.

3. Run Game Struggles & Backfield Evaluation

[08:01 – 14:42]

• Johnson admits offensive line combinations and running back execution are not yet clicking.
• Discussion on whether the Bears need a running back upgrade or if issues are team-wide.
  • Ben Johnson [12:02]: "It's not always the runners. It's everybody and this quarterback carrying out his fake... I think there's a lot of times on that tape we're not giving our runners a chance."
• Matt pushes back, emphasizing that great running backs don’t require excuses; the main job is to "hit the hole" quickly and decisively.

4. Caleb Williams’ Growth as a Play-Caller

[09:29 – 10:55]

• Johnson sees Caleb growing more comfortable, but hints responsibility for delayed play calls is shifting from coach to quarterback.
  • Ben Johnson [09:39]: "Caleb has grown each and every week. He's getting more comfortable calling the plays in the offense..."
• Matt reads between the lines: "I think that little insight there is really what's happening with the play calling, that Caleb is getting better." [10:33]

5. Roma Odunze & Passing Game Upside

[14:42 – 17:20]

• Odunze’s stellar start highlights what is working in the passing game, even as the run game lags.
  • Ben Johnson [14:42]: "He's a pro... and I see him as a leader here on this team."
• Dan notes a more dangerous passing attack can emerge as the play-action game improves with a more credible rushing threat.

6. The Emotional Fallout from “The Hail Mary” – Tyrique Stevenson’s Story

[21:24 – 34:14]

• Dan revisits last year’s infamous game-losing Hail Mary, digging into the personal toll on corner Tyrique Stevenson.
  • Quotes from Stevenson’s mentor hit hard:
    • Rudy Trevino (via Dan) [24:09]: "You let down 52 other guys, you let down 20 some coaches. You let down one of the most passionate football fan bases in the world. That's heavy shit."
• Dan shares his own struggles with vulnerability and empathy, now identifying more with Stevenson’s pain and growth journey.
  • Dan Bernstein [26:20]: "You learn who your friends are and who they aren't."
• Ben Johnson’s comments reinforce Stevenson’s progress and growing mental toughness:
  • Ben Johnson [33:01]: "Tyrique's gotten better each game... I think he's doing a good job of just compartmentalizing everything and hitting the reset button."

7. Coaching, Short Memory, and Learning from Mistakes

[34:15 – 38:56]

• Thoughtful back-and-forth on the “short memory” trope in sports. Dan argues true development means selective recall—flush it in the moment, confront and learn from it later.
  • Dan Bernstein [34:15]: "The trope of short memory... in the moment of action is different than how you use the memory of that to perhaps change your approach or realize why."
• Matt describes teaching his youth team to "3, 2, 1, flush it" but always circle back in practice to analyze good and bad plays.

8. Tackle Competition & Roster Management

[39:35 – 43:01]

• The hosts speculate on the Bears’ plan at tackle, reading between Ben Johnson’s cagey press remarks.
• Laughter as they poke fun at the idea of “winning” the backup job:
  • Matt Abbatacola [40:59]: "So maybe that's how they announce it. Instead of announcing who the starter is, they announce who won the backup job."
• Praising GM Ryan Poles’s roster vision, even if the depth is more aspiration than reality.

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Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On the run game and accountability:
  • Dan: "At some point there has to be a consequence... I'll bench your dumb ass..." [04:32]
• On running back play:
  • Matt: "With a running back that's not doing his main basic job of hitting the exact hole... then you can talk about the offensive line and the tight end and the quarterback all you want. You're not doing the main principle of your job." [12:48]
• On empathy for Tyrique Stevenson:
  • Dan: "I feel differently about where Tyreek Stevenson was and where he is now and the support he's gotten." [27:25]
• On learning from mistakes:
  • Dan: "Have agency over how you remember... what action do you take because of that memory? Of course you wanna remember. It becomes part of you. It happened. It happened. And turn into it. Steer into the skid." [34:15]
• On tackle competition:
  • Matt: "You don't really win a backup job... Hey, congratulations. You won the backup job." [40:47]

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Important Timestamps

• 01:27 – Ben Johnson’s press conference sets the agenda
• 03:03 – Ben Johnson candidly assesses the offense
• 04:32 – 06:47 – Discussion on penalties and accountability
• 09:39 – Insight into Caleb Williams’ development
• 12:02 – Ben Johnson addresses running back room
• 14:42 – Roma Odunze’s leadership and production
• 21:24 – Dan & Matt recount the Hail Mary/Stevenson saga
• 26:20 – Dan relates personally to Stevenson’s vulnerability
• 33:01 – Ben Johnson on Stevenson’s bounce-back
• 34:15 – Discussion: "short memory" in sports
• 39:35 – 43:01 – Tackle competition; “winning” the backup job

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Tone, Style, and Final Thoughts

Dan and Matt deliver classic Chicago sports radio: analytical, passionate, occasionally wry and self-deprecating, but always deeply knowledgeable. They never shy away from tough questions—whether it’s benching a star for penalties, questioning coaching narratives, or scrutinizing a player’s emotional wounds from a season-defining mistake. Their critical eye is balanced by empathy and genuine fan devotion. Throughout, both hosts punctuate heavy discussion with humor, keeping the Bears' saga accessible and real.

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Listen If You Want

• Smart, unfiltered takes on Bears and NFL storylines
• To understand not just the “what” but the “why” behind Chicago’s on-field struggles
• Candid reflections on the emotional side of sport—both for players and for fans

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Transcript

[Dan Bernstein]

10, 2, 19, 219.

[Matt Abaticola]

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

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

You want Bears talk? You want NFL talk? You have it right here as we give you Forward progress on 312 sports. Dan Bernstein, Matt Abaticola. This is brought to you by Beer Ch Brewing New Buffaloes brewery pizzeria in a historic church. Wood fired Neapolitan pizza small batch craft beer brunch every day. Visit beerchurchbrewing.com I will, I will do that.

[Matt Abaticola]

I think I just got an email on our family calendar. Buffalo New Buffalo trip the beginning of November.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

You're set.

[Matt Abaticola]

Couple nights.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

You're set. Absolutely. Make beer church a stop. Talk to John. He's gonna wanna show you all of the ins and. And everything. The boys are all going to love it, I promise you.

[Matt Abaticola]

Oh, no, there's no kids.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

Oh good. No, no.

[Matt Abaticola]

What do you. No.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

This.

[Matt Abaticola]

Trying to get away to enjoy the time. Ah, yes. No, no, there's no. There's been. Look at you. That was cute. The boys are going to love it.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

I thought you were like getting off in the house and letting him run around.

[Matt Abaticola]

No, no, no. There's no.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

Hell no. As a backbone for today's edition of Forward Progress, we're going to use yesterday's Ben Johnson press conference, multiple jumping off points that Matti has curated to go in all kinds of different directions. I've got some thoughts on everything we had been talking about building up to this and what it means for Tyreek Stevenson and reading more about him. I found myself thinking a little differently than I have and finding more empathy than I have for his plight and.

[Matt Abaticola]

Okay, I'm curious to hear that.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

Well, you should be. And it's going to be interesting when we get to that. But I know there's nuts and bolts stuff, but it's just, it's just a weird time to have the buy. It's fit nicely with whatever brief playoff run the Cubs have decided to bring us here. Unless they can. They can pull a rabbit out of that blue hat. But Ben Johnson seemed re energized. It seemed like his overall bearing yesterday was one of a coach that it understands that he had coaching time. Coaches love coaching and they lament lack of practice time.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah. And so we know that the Bears had several days off the mandatory four days they had the extra day Monday. They were back at it yesterday. But we do know that they took this time to self scout and kind of evaluate the first four weeks. I'm really curious to hear Even more from Ben Johnson, more than what we heard just yesterday, what he thought, and he was asked to evaluate the offense after the first four games of the season.

[Ben Johnson]

We're still a work in progress. Some things were doing well, some things were not. I think the inconsistent nature with which we're playing, we're shooting ourselves in the foot quite a bit. And when I look at where we were through the first four weeks, a lot of penalties, I want to say we were top five on offense there through four weeks. And so we're playing behind the sticks. And you can certainly feel that, as I was calling it, I give the guys a lot of credit. I did feel like we were pretty good at getting back on track as much as we could, but it's just not sustainable when you're playing football that way. And so that's going to be an emphasis for us here going forward. We've got to get the pre snap penalties under control and they know that. The running game, you know, I've kind of alluded to it over the course of training camp. It's going to take a little bit of time for our guys to all mesh together and I think that's what the tape looks like right now. We're just not firing on all cylinders yet. And sometimes it could be the ball carrier not hitting the right spot. Other times it's just our combinations aren't clean yet. And it's going to take everybody. It's quarterback, it's receivers, it's O line, it's tight ends to go along with those runners. So, yeah, it's a very complex question. They're playing for each other. I think we're doing a good job of, of getting that kind of squared away and I think good things will happen the more time we spend together.

[Matt Abaticola]

All right, so what stands out?

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

You say you're going to clean up the penalties and you're going to concentrate on that and make that a focus. How? Yeah, how, how that I really want to know. Is this a. Are you pulling somebody off the ones in a practice? Are you going to threaten overall playing time? You have your starters. These are professionals. You can't treat them like kids and you can't start playing these silly games with them. I'll bench your dumb ass. But at some point there has to be a consequence for even if Darnell Wright is your starter or if Jonah Jackson, whoever is doing this, whoever keeps doing it, Cole Comet, what is the consequence? I'd love to follow up. How do. Other than stressing it, other than saying over and over and over again and stopping the tape. Know the snap count. Don't get suckered in by people jumping around. Concentrate. Keep your eyes on the football. It even comes to your alignment. And whether or not you're in a legal formation, make sure that when you look down the line of scrimmage, you have the proper number of people on the line that receivers covered or not covered as need be where your slot guy is. So how. What's the consequence of not getting better at this? Yeah.

[Matt Abaticola]

And I think not having Darnell Wright on the line, if that's the way it goes, I think that immediately helps for, you know, for what we've seen that that helps right away. But a guy like, like Jonah Jackson, a veteran like Jackson, what. What happens if it continues? What do you do?

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

You've got a backup guard who is a rookie that you liked.

[Matt Abaticola]

Are you going to take him out of the game if it. If it continues?

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

That's what I mean.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

Or is it something just in practice where you say, get over here and watch. Watch somebody do your job for a couple of reps here in. Whatever it is.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah. And I guess that's. That's one way to go about it, because you have to have some type of consequence to it in their brain, because it could just be, I'm the starting right guard. You paid me a lot of money to be here. I'm not coming out of the game.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

You know, they were saying that the other night when they kept pointing on Monday Night Football at the. Or Sunday Night Football at the Chiefs right tackle, who they said was the most penalized player.

[Ben Johnson]

Like.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

So I kept thinking it's sort of like leading the NBA in turnovers. You have to be good to lead the league in penalties because that means you're playing a lot no matter what you do.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

I think one year it was. It was Garrett Bowles because he had earned the nickname Garrett Blows because that's the Broncos tackle. So if you're able to accrue that many penalties, you must be really hard to take off the field. I always look at that. Look at the NBA leaders in turnovers every year. It's like MLB strikeouts. That's just how you make your outs. You're going to get your four plate appearances a game. Your strikeout leaders are almost always dangerous hitters. So it's sort of one of these things where they say, we're going to crack down on it. We want there to be a consequence. But often if a guy's just the best player you have and is Prone to that stuff, unfortunately. You got to live with it. I hope that's not the case.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah, no, I hope that's not the case. And yeah, it is. Curious to see what. What happens if it doesn't get cleaned up because you. All you can do is talk about it. You can talk about cleaning it up and knowing that their offense was in the top five of teams being most penalized. You can't have that. You can't have that with an offense that's still meshing and coming together. He even said that the guys just aren't coming together yet. Like. Like they need to. I know. And he talked in there a bit too about the run game that he says sometimes it's hitting the hole. Not hitting the hole, which you can. You can solve that too by taking that ball out of the guy's hands. If you're not going to hit the hole consistently, the one that we need to run to, then you just won't carry the ball.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

And you're going to take away some opportunities for explosives because that next person isn't going to be as fast or as elusive.

[Matt Abaticola]

But you still haven't had those either.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

But you haven't. It's. You're not trading off some of these explosives because that's. His whole offense is designed to make every possible play. Every. Every. No matter what he runs, there's a possibility of an explosive. That's the Ben Johnson idea.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah. And then he also followed that up with some of the combinations which I assume are the combinations in his blocking scheme just aren't. Aren't being executed properly. Which he then says is about the guys not having time together. Like, I just. Like you're four weeks in after a full off season.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

Yeah, no more of that.

[Matt Abaticola]

Like these guys didn't get here in September, like a week before the game.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

What else we got?

[Matt Abaticola]

Okay, so he was asked about Caleb Williams and I just want to pull one quick clip from Caleb Williams because I think it gives us some insight on something we've been discussing a lot about Ben Johnson.

[Ben Johnson]

Caleb has grown each and every week. He's getting more comfortable calling the plays in the offense and I'm really excited about what the next call it, the second quarter of the season is going to look like for him.

[Matt Abaticola]

So quick one there. I agree he has gotten better with each week. He looks better, he's getting better. But he says there that he's getting better at the. At calling the place. I think it shows back to yesterday. It goes back to what Ben Johnson has said now. Multiple times about himself having to get better in getting the calls in. I think it really just shared some insight that it's really on Caleb. I'm taking the heat for Caleb because I'm not getting the calls in quick enough or soon enough or having struggles with getting the calls in. All the different things he said. Now it's really some insight there that it's just, it's on Caleb getting the call in the huddle and onto the line of Scripture.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

Maybe he told him, he's like, hey, kid, I'm only going to be your shield on this for so long.

[Matt Abaticola]

Like it's, it's over now.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

Yeah. At some point it's on you.

[Matt Abaticola]

So I think, I think that little insight there is really what's happening with the play calling, that Caleb is getting better. So we'll see if that continues through. We'll see what happens on Monday night against Washington on the road. And if the post game, if we're going to hear Ben Johnson again, well, you know, I need to do better at this. Or is it on Caleb getting the call from the coach and then getting it communicated in the huddle and executed at the line of scrimmage.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

I would like to hear the question phrase that way to maybe take that out of play. Might not be in a post game, but maybe that's a question for a Monday or any other time to say, hey, Ben, you've been taking a lot of the blame for getting a play off late in the clock or difficulty with that communication. How much is that really you and how much is on here? Like, ask it.

[Matt Abaticola]

Sure, that's fair. I mean, that's not some kind of hostile question. It's a fair question.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

You can even say, I know you're trying to do right by your player. It's obvious.

[Matt Abaticola]

Right.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

And just it's okay to talk about these things.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah. Because it also goes back though, two weeks ago when he was saying it. And like, I wanted the question asked, well, why is it a problem? Like, where's the. If it is on you, coach, where's the problem coming from? I think you stated it. Did this happen in Detroit? If so, how did you fix it? If not, why is it happening here?

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

That's it.

[Matt Abaticola]

Those are fair questions asked. All right. He was also asked about the, the running backs. And then if the Bears need an upgrade in the running back room, our.

[Ben Johnson]

Guys are going to be fine. I've kind of. It's not, it's not always the runners. It's. It's everybody and this quarterback carrying out his fake. It's the receivers blocking down the field, it's the tight ends doing their job. And the same thing with the offensive line. I think there's a lot of times on that tape we're not giving our runners a chance. So I think we're fine there.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

But teams with really good running backs never have to say that. Yeah, of course it's the running back.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

And I'm not making some argument for paying a running back a ton of money, but just find a guy, you can find a guy who can do it. And I know that everything he's saying is technically correct, but it's also not stuff you hear when there's a really talented running back that, that makes all the other stuff kind of pointless.

[Matt Abaticola]

Right. I mean, that's what having a really good quarterback does for you. It kind of, it makes everyone around you better. It eliminates the small mistakes. They don't seem as magnified With a running back that's not doing his main basic job of hitting the exact hole that's needed, that needs for the play to be executed. And he says there, you know, it is fair that sometimes it can be on the quarterback and the exchange be bad or the footwork will be bad and getting that ball back to the running back. But I think the majority of it is not hitting the hole. And if you're not going to hit the hole, then you can talk about the offensive line and the tight end and the quarterback all you want. You're not doing the main principle of your job, which is get the ball and hit the hole that you need to hit in order to execute this play successfully.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

Go that way and don't wait.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah, I think that Spend pointed that out yesterday. Just stop spending so much time in the backfield, go get the ball and go.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

It shouldn't take multiple seconds for you to move down the field. You would think, unless it is a belly stretch play. Fine.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

Then, then put your offensive lineman in an easier position rather than running duo when everything is these combinations and a timed up combination make it easier on him.

[Matt Abaticola]

Right. But if you're hitting a dive or you're hitting some kind of off tackle, just go get the ball and go.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

Yeah. That's gap scheme.

[Matt Abaticola]

Right. And then if the hole's not there, that's not on you. It's funny, I tell, I told these 12 year old kids all the time, don't be the reason why a play doesn't execute well. Like do your job. And then if it doesn't execute well, then you know, we can look and say, what's the issue?

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

Or that could be us putting you in a position to fail, right? It could be us as coaches saying, I'm asking you to block a guy that you're going to struggle to block. So why don't we run away from.

[Matt Abaticola]

Him instead of running right at him. But you just execute your job, do your job so that if the play doesn't go well, we can identify what the issue is and don't ever be the reason why it doesn't work out. All right? He was also asked about the season so far that Roma Dunes is having.

[Ben Johnson]

He's a pro, he comes into the building and he looks to get, get after work. And you know, I think he's taken to that receiver room. Those guys really all mesh well together. You know, it's the hard work mentality. Yet, you know, I know he's had some production come his way that can kind of come in waves, if you will. And he started off hot here. Hopefully that'll continue to go. But I know he's just a guy that's committed to winning right now and whatever it takes for us as an offense to score points and as a team to win ball games. And so I see him as a leader here on this team.

[Matt Abaticola]

There you go. Roma Dunes, a guy that we've talked about, his numbers for the season off to an unbelievable start after four games. The scoring production just is just outstanding. And then we talked about the targets and the receptions, how that gap needs to close just a little bit. 20 receptions on 35 targets. Little too much space there. Some of that's on Caleb. Couple of those are on him as well.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

And I like to think that if there is more speed out there, if you can get Loveland on the field, if you can use Luther Burden more then that there's going to be more space for your top guy to operate. And he's doing this right now. Every positive in the passing game looks better when you consider the problems in the run game. They work together and with the amount of play action that Ben Johnson's offense can use when it's going well, that I just like to think that these are all really good signs of sort of a latent unrealized value in the passing game that we're not seeing because of the lack respect for the run game. And I'm not just talking about the box count about where whether that safety is rolled up or not or whether or not there's a strong side linebacker on the field instead of another Corner. It is just literally the distance between the layers of a defense that can be built in based on a successfully executed play action out of respect for the run.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah. And that's really where Ben Johnson and his offense, that's where it lives. And he wants to, he wants to work off play action. And you can't be successful off play action if you're not having a competitive run game, which they don't have right now. And to see what they're doing successfully in the passing game just on an island outside of what he wants to do within the structure of his offense, that is, that is encouraging and it's good to see what Caleb's been able to do and how he's grown over these last four games and to see the production that Roma Dunes A has for the Bears so far this season. Now, if you can get that passing game to work well within the constraints of what he wants to do as an offense, that's when you're cooking well.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

It also has to do with scoring situation that you can. It's easier to commit to the run game when you're not trying to conserve time to come back. And getting out to a lead should allow you to say, okay blockers, okay running backs, they know it's coming, block them.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah, and we saw that in the Cowboys game for great drive. I mean the best drive of the season. We saw that in the Raiders game when they had to get that drive and they knew they were going to run the ball. They were able to do it. And yeah, that, that's a huge part to it. But it, it all starts with that run game and they've, they've got to get that figured out. And so I'm really, really excited to see with the bye week and the time to evaluate it and not have to worry about game planning for an opponent to have this extra time to see what the offense will look like from the run perspective on Monday night in Washington, which is, which is going to be tough.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

I had somebody ask me about beer church over the weekend and they said, is it actually a church? I said, yeah, that's the whole point is that it is a Civil War era iconic church in New Buffalo, Michigan that they have converted. They're the beautiful bones of this building that they converted into a brewery and a restaurant. And really what's fun about it? And I urge you, go to beerchurchbrewing.com and look at their menu. They don't call it a menu, they call it their hymnal. Like they really lean into the church Thing and have fun with it. Their slogan is drink, eat, repent, repeat. And in the names of all of their stuff, they have a drink. They have a shot called Jesus Juice. They have a shot called Kinky Mary, they have a shot called Heaven's Gate. There's all sorts of things that they. Their toast is called communion toast. They have avocado communion toast. So they really lean in. I mentioned when you do the flight, the sampler of all of their small batch beers. It comes out in a lacquered wooden cross with spaces there to hold the tasting glasses. So it's so much fun. And the pizza school is really unique because a lot of places will make your Neapolitan style wood fired pizza. But they're so into it, they can't wait to teach you how to do it at beer church. And they want you to come out with a party with a big group of people. This is year round and people remember this. This is different than just like a typical work party or something. You an annual thing that maybe you do with your friends. And it could be a huge group. Bring them all out and learn how to make Neapolitan pizza. And then make it. And then for two hours for lunch or dinner. It's a private, exclusive party. Friends or family or the whole office. You can book it right [e-mail] and let that pizza party begin. And there's so much other stuff I can tell you. Their meatballs are amazing. They actually have these little pork shanks pops that are spectacular. Like just a couple bites of a pork shank on the end, like picking up a lollipop. The wings are amazing. I basically tried everything. Okay. I'm not kidding.

[Matt Abaticola]

Well, I can't wait to get there and try. And for me, a good meal is at a pizza place is obviously good pie, but I like to start with a meatball appetizer. So if you're saying they're good.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

They are.

[Matt Abaticola]

Then that's where I'm starting. I'm starting there.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

And they're stuffed banana peppers.

[Matt Abaticola]

Ooh, I do love banana peppers.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

Banana pepper stuffed with fennel sausage and goat cheese.

[Matt Abaticola]

Ooh.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

San Marzano tomato sauce and then grana padano cheese on top.

[Matt Abaticola]

All right, I'm in. Yep, I want those too.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

Yep. Yeah, you do.

[Matt Abaticola]

I'll take those.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

It is beer church brewing. You can find out all the information and go. You watch some games, you hang out, you nosh, you learn how to make a pizza and there's brunch every single day. Go to beer Church brewing.

[Matt Abaticola]

I want to play something here for you. Are you ready?

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

I'm ready.

[Matt Abaticola]

Okay, so here you go.

[Dan Bernstein]

Comes down to one last play.

[Matt Abaticola]

And.

[Dan Bernstein]

It'S going to be getting longer by the second. You're all the way back at the 30 yard. You're telling us now you can step into it. Here comes the Hail Mary with the.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

Game on the line.

[Dan Bernstein]

And the ball is caught.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

Caught.

[Dan Bernstein]

It's a miracle. It's Noah Brown. Oh, my goodness. This town is going crazy. That's a mad house in Landover, Maryland. He did it. Oh, this one will be paid back over and over again for decades. Ball tip by Stevenson. Noah Brown just standing back there all alone, plucks it out of the air for the victory. I know this sounds crazy, but there's a method to the madness here. Everyone usually goes and jumps to the ball. You always put one guy behind and try and put one in front and have two or three go jump for it. And Daniel's extending this play and the time allowed everyone to get down there in position to go toward the ball and be in their spot.

[Matt Abaticola]

And what a game.

[Dan Bernstein]

Jim, there are no words.

[Matt Abaticola]

Well, there are, and you have to say them. It's your job, right? You can. You need to find them.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

Say some words there. Greg Norman.

[Matt Abaticola]

I love that. He's like, well, this is going to sound crazy here, but there's a method to the madness. You got a blob. You put a guy in front of guy. Well, there's nothing crazy about that at all. That's actually how it works.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

It's a play.

[Matt Abaticola]

Doesn't sound crazy at all. Tony. I got a crazy idea, Coach.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

Wait a second. Why don't we plan something? Why don't we look at film and then, based on tendencies, put ourselves in a better position to have this succeed?

[Matt Abaticola]

They're going to talk about that play for decades to come.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

They kind of are. Well, it's lame of the year, so. Dan Weiderer, I thought, did a really good job in a piece. This is the first of many pieces we're gonna read about Tyreek Stevenson and what this means and how far he's come and all that. And I know I sound kind of cynical, but when I read about this, I felt a little differently. But there's stuff in here that I did not know that was written in the athletic, that Tyreek Stevenson has an old friend back home in Miami, a guy named Rudy Trevino, who. He was his middle school wrestling coach, who he calls on as kind of a mentor. He told him, he said Baby boy, you're Teach Tape now for the rest of your life. Teach Tape. So Stephenson had been, according to this, out of sorts with the chaos he created, and he was questioning who tipped the football backward. He said, this is, quote, who the fuck was dumb enough to hit the ball? Well, should watch it, Tyreek. That was you. And he learned he was the culprit. And apparently, as everything started to blow up, Trevino gave him the blood. Raw truth. Stevenson said, rudy told me that was bullshit. What you showed and what you did, that's who you are sometimes. You can try your best to avoid that, to escape it, but let's be. That's who you can be sometimes. And he told him, he said, everywhere I go now, I'm going to use that clip to show my players. This is what you can't ever do. I hate that. This is you. Fuck, man. So Trevino says he could hear the anguish in Stevenson's voice and sense it in his silence. And this was the passage that got me a little bit. He said he was vulnerable, hurt, devastated, alone. That's how he should have felt. That all comes with it. You let down 52 other guys, you let down 20 some coaches. You let down one of the most passionate football fan bases in the world. That's heavy shit. So anybody who listened to the first episode of this podcast, was it five weeks ago?

[Matt Abaticola]

Seven. Almost seven. Almost seven weeks. Yeah.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

Seven weeks ago. Unbelievable how fast that flies.

[Ben Johnson]

Yes.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

And you heard me talk about feeling vulnerable, hurt, devastated, alone. And it wasn't necessarily. It's not a one to one parallel, because it wasn't something directly that I did badly at my specific job, but it was a part of it. It's certainly enough of a parallel for me to feel empathy in a different way than I did at the time that this happened. That a year removed from this. I feel differently about where Tyreek Stevenson was and where he is now and the support he's gotten. Because remember what I said in that episode? You learn who your friends are and who they aren't.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yep.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

You really learn. People who care about you, who say, how are you? Are you okay? And along the way and asking some of these things and having had that unfortunate experience and trying to build out of it the concept of turning something that negative into something positive. And I'm proud to say, sitting here today, that we're in the process of doing that. But I can say in a way that I never felt quite before, that I get it. I get it. And it's not an empathy that you Want to go out of your way to try to have to feel that alone and that hurt. But whatever it was within the Bears system, whatever it was about his talent that allowed him to keep his job and have an opportunity to redeem himself, I guess I'm rooting for him, and I feel better about him and about how far he's come in a way that I didn't before.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah, no, and I appreciate sharing that. And it. It's. It makes sense, too, because, I mean, as fans, we. We use football, particularly the, you know, football in this town, to escape from our everyday, regular lives. And we use that window of time. And I get when. When we look at the team with a critical eye and we hear some. We read some comments or get some email feedback from people like, why are you so negative? Why are you being so negative? Well, it's, you know, because we. We are looking at it critically. And I get it that if this isn't what you do for. For your job, the Bears take you away from all that stuff you want to forget about in your week. And so. And I. And I've lived like that, and I appreciate that and I understand it. But just because you can be critical of something doesn't mean you're being negative or want the worst for that team.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

It's the opposite. It's because you want everything to go well and you're holding everything to the highest possible standard.

[Matt Abaticola]

Right. That's the whole point to it. But in all of that, whether we're the casual fan that uses the Bears as an escape from our life for a few hours each, each week, or we're looking at them critically and want to challenge them because this is what we do for our jobs. We sometimes forget that there are people that play the games and that to us, they're just professional athletes that make a lot of money and they don't deserve to have the same type of. Of evaluation of a human being.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

See, I know they do, but you also have to suppress some of that if you're going to be an honest critic.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yes, no, 100%. And that's why we have to be critical of them. And what we do, we talk about them on a podcast for a living. We have to be critical. You can't just let that slide because all they're humans. But I'm just saying that we sometimes forget that, whether it's our job to be critical or we're just the fans that use that as a time to escape that. Yeah, they are humans. And so I never sat down to think, all right, how did this impact Tyreek Stevenson?

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

Right. And I don't need everybody's sob story fucks up. No.

[Matt Abaticola]

Because sometimes you just fuck up and you fuck up, and that's. That's the way it happens.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

Right. I'm not saying that I'm. I'm craving to know every time Cole commit commits a penalty that I need some mitigating reason to not be mad at him.

[Matt Abaticola]

No. But here's the thing, though. I think on a regular, everyday play, fine. You don't need that. This was a significant moment in the Bear season that opened the door to the next. The next nine losses and a coach.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

Firing, Ben Johnson being here and everything, and he's still here and starting and meaningful.

[Matt Abaticola]

Because they were. They were 4 and 2 at that point. Correct. If I'm not mistaken, maybe I'm totally wrong, but that was the game that made them four and three. If I'm. If I'm wrong, I'll go back and check it.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

You were at a playoff trajectory at that point.

[Matt Abaticola]

You were. You were. You were at a point of the season after six games that it was like, all right, the Bears are for real. And that. That play opened up the doorway to the collapse and the crumbling of your entire season. And like you said, eventually the firing of a. Of a head coach and. But you never sat down. I never sat down and thought, all right, how did this impact this dude? And so it's cool to hear that. And again, it's not something that should be done for every play. Like, I don't want to hear it when Darnell Wright, you know, has a false start or Cole Comet, you know, has an illegal motion or whatever it might be, the play clock runs out and there's a penalty on the Bears. I don't need to hear about that because that's not the same impact. It's not the same level of what this play did for the Bear season and how that as a player, you have to sit and you have to own that. And to have a guy in his life to say you let 52 other people down, you let all the, like, 20 some coaches down. You let an entire fan base down. Like, to be able to ride that and hold that in, that had to be absolutely devastating.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

And he also went deeper than that. If you go on in this story about the fact that his kid was born and he had a new wisdom about what matters and what doesn't matter, but there's even. Tony Medlin is in here. T Med. T Med asked him, have you Forgiven yourself.

[Matt Abaticola]

That's huge.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

And that matters too, because we always talk about a closer's gotta have a short memory in baseball. Forget it. The next pitch, next thing, next guy, go get him. Erase it. And a hockey goalie. The psychology of being a hockey goaltender is you can't let one goal turn into two. You cannot question yourself. There have been so many words written about the human psychology of some of this stuff. But he said he did take it further, that Stevenson understood when he heard Trevino saying this. You know, you do things like this, that it wasn't just one thing that he can get distracted and how he plays football. Was it, you know, how did he approach things? Was he easily distracted? And he changed everything.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

About not letting fans get to him, about making. Being in the moment and understanding things and compartmentalizing. Compartmentalizing his overall investment and concentration. Like I say, turn that negative into a positive. I can't quibble with Tyreek Stevenson's approach to trying to bring himself back from that.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah, no, absolutely. And, you know, good for him to be able to do that. And if there are. If there were character issues within his work ethic that needed to be examined and evaluated, and Trevino called that out for him, and that made him move forward in life, that's great. That's great. And it's oddly. Oddly enough, Ben Johnson was asked about Tyreek Stevenson, and he even addresses some of that.

[Ben Johnson]

Tyreek's gotten better each game he. Prior to the bye week. That was his best game against the Raiders to date. That had been a part of. And I think he's doing a good job of just compartmentalizing everything and hitting the reset button going into each week. And, you know, I've said it before that those corners, they have to have short memories. You know, sometimes, you know, you're left on an island for 12 plays and no action comes your way, and then all of a sudden, sudden, something comes your way. And, you know, if it's a bad play, you got to be able to erase it. And if it's a good play, same thing. You got to turn on. Turn on to the next one. And so I think he's done a nice job getting that mental toughness up to a point to where he can block out all that outside noise and. And continue to stay consistent with both his process on a weekly basis, but also within a game.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

What's he showing you outside of.

[Ben Johnson]

Outside of Sundays? You know, intangible things like attentiveness, preparedness, things like that. Yeah, it's for a Young player. I've seen it improve. There's always still work to be done there. But I think Al Harris has done a nice job showing him what it means to be a pro in this league, and he's taken that to heart. The practice habits continue to improve, and I really believe that he's starting to turn the corner for us.

[Matt Abaticola]

There you go.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

Now, let's be clear about this. The trope of short memory, it isn't really true. It's a matter of when. Like a lot of things, the whole forget it, move on might be true in a game. In the middle of a game. Absolutely. Short memory. Don't let one bad play affect you. Like in baseball. Don't let a bat at bat make you. If you're stewing about that and then you make a bad play in the field, or vice versa, you make a critical error and then you're not in your head when you're at the next plate appearance. That's every sport. That's every aspect of life. But to have a short memory in the moment of action is different than how you use the memory of that to perhaps change your approach or realize why. Why did I get burned? Did my hips turn too early? When you're. When he's watching film, when a cornerback is watching a film getting burned, when a goalie is watching a film of. Of letting one get under his blocker, when somebody in the field is watching, letting a ball play, you instead of going after the ball in the field, you don't have a short memory. You gotta commit that. You gotta learn from that. Coaches love to say it. It's not really true. It's. Have control, have agency over how you remember. And what action do you take in the wake of that memory? What action do you take because of that memory? Of course you wanna remember. It becomes part of you. It happened. It happened. And turn into it. Steer into the skid. Sometimes remember it harder. Sometimes not right then, not on the next play. But that's what practice is for. That's what some of the. That's. That's what your own time is for. And talk about it too. That's the other thing. Don't keep it to yourself. Whether it's. Whether it's your former wrestling coach, your current coach, your wife, your spouse, your friend, what are your kids. Talk it through. Maybe somebody says something that helps.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah, I agree with you, but I disagree to a certain extent to that saying that it's not true, because I think it's. And you broke it down. It's Relevant to that moment. And in that moment, in that game. It's very true. As we. I tell my kids and our team, and they know this, and they can repeat it to you right now, any kid on the team, something bad happens in a game. Three, two, one, flush it. That's the mantra that we have. And, you know, sometimes. Sometimes we'll yell it from the sideline. If we see a kid, his face isn't right, we'll say, Hey. 3, 2, 1. And they'll say, flush it. And they know it. And sometimes. And they do that to themselves. Now, they make a. They make. They miss a block, they drop a pass. 3, 2, 1, flush it. Move on. Next play. But. Yeah, but then we. We bring it back up and talk about it in practice.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

Exactly.

[Matt Abaticola]

Because why did this happen? But we also do that with good things, though, when they do good things. Why. Why did that. Why did that play execute so well? Okay, remember that feeling of what you did and how you did it to execute that play again.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

And remember what you saw that as you were executing got you in the right position to move that way.

[Matt Abaticola]

And then when it's bad, we say, why did that happen? Well, you know, we. We know why. Why was this guy getting through the offensive line and we got taken, you know, for a loss of yards? Well, we didn't communicate on the. On the. On the offensive line. Okay. Why are we communicating when we talk about this? Let's talk about it. And then we. We do the drills. Remember how it feels in your body.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

Okay.

[Matt Abaticola]

How does it feel to tackle that?

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

Some of that is subconscious, too.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah. That if you.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

If you've really got them. Got them down you. When you drill something enough, it's not even a conscious reaction.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

You just go.

[Matt Abaticola]

You just go. You just go and do it. And I mean, we have this really cool drill. We were. We were tackling really high at the start of the season, and I have this drill where we have a tackling dummy, and I put it 25. 25 yards downfield. So they started the goal line and they run, and every. Every 10 yards they run down, they get the grab grass. So we call it the grab grass girl drill.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

Okay. And so it's hard to say.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah. Because sometimes it comes out as grab astral.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

Right.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah, I know. So now. Okay, if I can be. Now we just say the grab. The grab astral. Because I said it one time, and it was, you know, so now that's what we. Good. Yeah, I know.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

I know.

[Matt Abaticola]

Second it happened, I was like, oh, well, Whatever.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

Now it's the gravity.

[Matt Abaticola]

Now it's the grab astral. So at the 10, you grab grass. At the 20, you grab grass. The 25, you're down. And so now their body's getting low, and we. And we've progressed. We've gotten better at it. So now it's more natural for about half the guys. We see that they're tackling below the waist, they're getting low. They're getting their shoulder pad on a thigh pad.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

Do you play get low while they're doing it?

[Matt Abaticola]

I. I don't. I don't. I haven't brought the music out yet. Okay. I know I should, but. But you. You have to. So you have to remember that and the good and the bad. But in. In that moment, you have to forget. You have to. Because you. You can't let it distract from what's happening. All right, one. One last cut from Ben Johnson. And he was asked early in his. His press time yesterday with. With the media if he made a decision who's starting at. At the tackles. And he said no or no. He said, we. We. We know. We know what we're doing. And then. Yeah, it was completely like that. And then it was asked, well, you're not going to tell us? Well, no, no. But then later on he was asked.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

Like, is that big a state secret that somehow they're going to. They're going to prepare for different tackles?

[Matt Abaticola]

Because I think. And this is what. And here's what his answer is. And later on in the. In the media session, I think they know what they want to do, and I think they're going to. I think they know how it's going to play out, but they're not telling the guys yet to give them this week to battle out for it. Right.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

Or they don't want. Otherwise Theo Benedict's gonna have 20 people.

[Matt Abaticola]

In his locker distracting the whole week.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

Maybe they just don't want the extra pressure. He seems ready to handle it, but.

[Matt Abaticola]

So here's what he did say about the tackles.

[Ben Johnson]

We've got some really good tackles. And so that's. That was the beauty of the vision that Ryan had, was bringing in a lot of really talented players and letting them battle out and see who wins what. And so whether that's a starting role or whether that's a backup role, we'll determine that when that time comes.

[Matt Abaticola]

Is there a world where Ozzie plays well?

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

He could win that job?

[Ben Johnson]

Absolutely. He's a really good player. I think he's really settled in on that. Right Side. And I'm really looking forward to all those tackles getting healthy and getting after it again.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

Yeah.

[Matt Abaticola]

I love how you said you can win the starting job or even the backup job. You don't really win a backup job.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

I won.

[Matt Abaticola]

Hey, congratulations. You won the backup job.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

All right, Everybody's a winner.

[Matt Abaticola]

So maybe that's how they announce it. Instead of announcing who the starter is, they announce who won the backup job. Hey, guys, come on. Gather around here on a congratulate.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

I guess I lost the backup job.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah. Want to congratulate Darnell Wright. Darnell, you've won the backup job this week at right tackle.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

Well, I guess that means, Ozzy, all we have left is a starting job.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah. So sorry, Ozzy, you're going to have to start, I guess, because Darnell won the backup job. Okay, I guess I will.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

That's funny.

[Matt Abaticola]

Okay, so, yeah, I think. I think they know how it's going to play out. He may even have it down already in his game plan. But I think he's just. He's not doing that right now to give the couple days of a worker to see how it plays out, or.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

They'Re going to give a guy a series here and there, depending on.

[Matt Abaticola]

In a game.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

Who knows? Depending on score and situation, depending on matchups, depending on what they're showing.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah, I guess it could be. They could. They could have a leash to it and say, all right, if this happens, then, you know, this guy. You know, this guy gets in, gets a look. Maybe that's what it is, Dan. Maybe. Maybe there are, hey, you know, two false starts and one false start, and we're going to give the other guy a run.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

Maybe that's what we're asking. That gets right back to what we started with, was accountability in that regard. You want accountability? We got three guys we believe in, maybe four guys we believe in.

[Matt Abaticola]

That's the beauty of what Ryan polls put together. He brought in all these great tackles.

[Ben Johnson]

Okay.

[Matt Abaticola]

That's what he said. That's what he. Here. That's exactly what he said. I mean, I'm not making.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

No, I know, I know.

[Matt Abaticola]

I mean, those are.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

Maybe. Maybe we just haven't seen him yet.

[Ben Johnson]

We've got some really good tackles. And so that's. That was the beauty of the vision that Ryan had, was bringing in a lot of. Really?

[Matt Abaticola]

Oh, it was the beauty of the vision he had.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

Right.

[Matt Abaticola]

It wasn't the plan that he executed.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

It wasn't actually realized, you know, would.

[Matt Abaticola]

Be great to bring in four starting tackles.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

He didn't Say great. He said, really good.

[Matt Abaticola]

That's a great vision to have. But here's what we did instead, right.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

At this awesome vision. Why we couldn't act on it, I have absolutely no clue.

[Matt Abaticola]

I mean, I had a vision of a nice porterhouse steak and a baked potato, but I had a box of Mac and cheese.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

You know, order house.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

Wax buildup on these shoes. That's gonna do it for Forward Progress today. That was your hard. All your hardcore Bears stuff.

[Matt Abaticola]

I hope it was positive enough. I'm so tired of hurting people's feelings.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

Oh, I know you are. I am. So thank you.

[Matt Abaticola]

Especially the brewers fans.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

Wait, a lot of people not getting.

[Matt Abaticola]

No, they didn't. Not at all.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

That I was laughing. There were so many people like, yeah, well, your team sucks.

[Matt Abaticola]

Yeah.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

Bruce won these games.

[Matt Abaticola]

There was a guy who emailed and he didn't. He just emailed me and how much he. He really enjoyed the whole. The whole thing. So he got it. I mean, he got the whole.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

There's a lot of brewers fans that sort of understood the subtext.

[Matt Abaticola]

It was good.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

Thank you for listening to Forward Progress. You the Chicago Bears fan, and make it a part of your everyday and your post games.

[Matt Abaticola]

The post game shows. Yes. But remember, you have to Follow both show YouTube, subscribe to both channels, Dan Burns and Unfiltered. And there's a separate one, forward progress.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

312 sports is where you're going to find everything unfiltered. And there's a separate Forward Progress channel.

[Matt Abaticola]

But you have to subscribe to both and then hit the little bell icon so you get the alerts so that when we do go live, you'll get alerted to it right there on your phone because you just don't know with these games. I mean, Monday night we could be halftime doing a post game show because the bears are up 35. Zero. Okay. Or 42 to zero, because that's how I feel. They're going to. They're going to do. I think they're going to win this game by 72 points, Dan, because I believe in the Bears and Caleb Williams and their offense.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

All right, we'll see if that is indeed his pick on Friday.

[Matt Abaticola]

Oh, I do have a good pick coming up for you, though. I'm excited to know I got a really good one.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

I can't wait. I've been on a roll lately.

[Matt Abaticola]

You have been on a roll.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

Been delivering for you.

[Matt Abaticola]

All right, say goodbye now.

[Podcast Host/Co-host]

Goodbye now.

[Matt Abaticola]

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