← Forward Progress - A Chicago Bears Podcast
Forward Progress - A Chicago Bears Podcast
The Chicago Bears and Washington Commanders Postgame
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- [00:01]
A
Ted 219219.
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B
Forward progress a Chicago Bears podcast with Dan Bernstein and Matt Abeticola on 312 Sports.
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A
Forward progress is brought to you by Beer Church Brewing New Buffalo's Brewery Pizzeria in a historic church Wood fired Neapolitan Pizza small batch craft beer brunch every day. Visit beerchurchbrewing.com and raise one to your Chicago Bears who are now 3 and 2 on the season after an improbable 25 to 24 comeback victory. This was a wild one. This was a weird one. But if in fact the Bears are earning their reputation as a resilient team of under this coach it can be ugly. But as long as you're on the right side of these scores in this league to go on the road and win this one the way that they did, they deserve to be proud of themselves. I can't hear you, Matt. I don't know if your microphone is on or not so.
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B
Well, there we go. How's that better.
- [01:19]
A
Let me just say this too. For everything we've said about DeAndre Swift and and he's. He's taken a lot of arrows and deservedly so. When Ben Johnson said they were going to fix some things in the run game, I said I wanted to see more outside zone. What were they going too late for DeAndre Swift when they needed it. And look who they were running behind in a lot of that stuff. That was a. That was Darnell Wright. Go get your guy that you knew they were running over him for Swift. Swift, 14 attempts, 108 yards rushing with a long of 19. He also caught two passes for a total of 67 yards. That long touchdown of 55. The is if we want to list the heroes of this game for the Bears. DeAndre Swift and certainly despite the one that was blocked. Jake Moody.
- [02:07]
B
Yeah. 175 yards from the line of scrimmage for DeAndre Swift at quite the game. MVP of the game. Darnell Wright. Yeah. On those, on those outside zone runs leading the way multiple blocks on several runs, taking out the first guy and then getting even to a deeper level. Dahlman pulling out and leading. You know there's some things to look at, some issues again in this game but yet they are resilient to come back. And even when the refs. I'm listen, I'm glad we won this game so I can criticize the refereeing because the refereeing sucked. I absolutely sucked in that game.
- [02:43]
A
I have more question marks written on my crazy person's notes here. My bizarro notes, question mark either means like, why was that called? What's going on? What explains that? And I don't know, I think it was both ways too. I think the Bears caught a break when Swift grabbed the jersey of the would be tackler after he let go of his block early on the Caleb Williams touchdown. I know that it was probably not a correct call had they called it, but usually when you can see the jersey be pulled that obviously it's often called and it wasn't.
- [03:22]
B
Yeah, I was surprised that wasn't called. It didn't have an impact on the play or the block because he was able to fight through it. But still you see that material stretch that's usually called. Then the. The call on Colson Loveland, which. The pass interference I thought was complete bullshit. The call on Theo Benedict being off the line of scrimmage was like, has these guys never watched a Chiefs game? I mean, that was unbelievable.
- [03:44]
A
I thought even the Nishan Wright face mask was a strange one. I had question marks on the Montez sweat roughing the passer where he. Yeah, he reached over and smacked him. I know you gotta call that, but I'm trying to figure out if you can't hit him high and you can't hit him low, where they make it awfully difficult to hit the midsection of a guy who's as slippery as Jaden Daniels. But you know what, Matty? I don't want to concentrate on the officials. I think the Bears deserve better than that. This is a Ben Johnson win. This was a win that needed belief. This was a win that needed the belief that on a wet and rainy night that that ball could slip out at any point. And I thought this thing was over after McNichols picked up the first down on third and 13 and they played the correct defense, they did not come up and make the play. And I thought it was over. And I'll be damned if it wasn't a guy who would have been one of the goats of the night. Nishan Wright, that man again, falling on the ball to recover the fumble and they let him down the field. And Moody boy, he's got a weird trajectory on some of those kicks, but that one made it.
- [04:49]
B
Yeah. No, and it was lucky that one that was blocked. But I mean, he comes in his first game and you know, he makes four field goals in his very first game. This is snob worthy. This is absolutely bullshit. So shut your mouth, stop tweeting stupid stuff. And said, no, it's. It's stupid. I didn't want. I didn't. But I didn't want him fired after two weeks. So. This guy's an idiot. He's an idiot. I'm tired of it. It's just, it's stupid.
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A
Tweet up.
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B
Well, because now I want to address him because he's a moron.
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A
Okay?
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B
Like, you know, again, you're, you're. You're too small thinking in your small little brain to have any critical thoughts about a guy after two weeks, after one game. So shut the hell up. Go watch the games and live in your fantasy land and be a stupid idiot. Listen, you know what? And I get what you're saying. Yeah, the Bears deserve better. This was a game that they almost let slip away. They almost let it slip away, but the officiating played a part in that, Dan. And it is important to recognize that because they were able to not only, not only overcome a road game, shitty weather, but bad officiating as well. It's a hugely impressive win for Ben Johnson and Caleb Williams.
- [05:48]
A
Let's be. Also, they overcame a lot of their own mistakes, the Bears. And we always used to say this, it's not necessarily showing resiliency when you come back from things that are self imposed. And it was always a mark of the old Bears saying that, well, we got off to an awful start, but then we won a couple of games and, and we're going to keep our coach and keep everybody here because we recovered from that bad stretch. I, I do think that it's great that they are able to overcome so many things. I don't. When they're good, when they actually are good. And we can debate how good they are now, but when they are actually undoubtedly good, they're not going to have to be resilient in the face of their own stupidity, in the face of some of these penalties and Caleb Williams missing layups. Olamide Zacchaeus dropping what could have been a 50 yard or more pickup. It was so debilitating and it was just demoralizing so many of the mistakes that they were making. But I'll be damned. Sometimes a team wants it less than you want it. It's not exactly a rallying cry, but they gave this one away.
- [06:59]
B
Well, let me ask you, though, that. That hit on Caleb Williams where he wasn't bound, it's a legal hit on Luvu and he's still in bounds. He hits him, that's fine. That's a legal play. But to stand over the quarterback on the ground and flex on him, how is that not something that's called when that barely of a slap in the helmet on Montez sweat is called when he's, when he's reaching and barely hits him with his hand.
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A
And even probably the most ticky tack call of the night was the illegal formation call on Theo Benedet when he wasn't quite lined up properly with his head right along the butt of the center. And it took away an absolutely gorgeous star catch by Roma Dunes.
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B
Yeah, it took away his touchdown too.
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A
A physical adjustment in the end zone to make a spectacular play. That was too bad. Let's talk about Theo Benedict though. If this is your offensive line, if you found something here, particularly in the run game, if you think you found something here, if, if. And they weren't running at Benedict, they were running much more right than left. But if you trust that he's going to execute enough on that side and grow into that role. I don't think he's a long term answer. But for whatever you think you might be trying to do in the short term, he looked a hell of a lot better than Darnell Wright. No, he looks great than Braxton Jones.
- [08:18]
B
No, he looked great. I thought he had a really good game. I thought Montez Sweat had a really good game. I thought he was impactful and he made several plays, got his name called a lot. He was in the backfield a lot. He pressured Jaden Daniels quite a bit. But you know, there's still. When you were saying about when the team gets better and when they get better and as this season progresses, they are not going to get in those opportunities where they stack mistakes on top of mistakes. And that's what I'm looking for. I'm looking for this team to not have to really what happens is they get in their own way and really good teams don't get in their own way like the Bears have done. But yet they were still able to overcome it. A huge, huge, incredible win tonight for them on the road. Overcoming mistakes, overcoming some bad refereeing, having the lead, seeing it slip away, but still being resilient enough to come back and win this game. I just thought it was a great game. Really happy for for Swift had an unbelievable game. Even Manung guy gets some nice carries, has a nice reception. DJ Moore, Ben Johnson, really creative with Moore, getting some carries through the backfield in motion to get the ball. Had some nice catches. Unfortunately that, that Roma Dunes a touchdown, a touchdown, a game was taken away. But he's still on pace for his 17 that you demanded from him. So we're very excited for that. But it was just a really good game. Nishan Wright had an absolutely awful game. Lucky for him he was able to get that fumble recovery. He jumped on that McCaffrey touchdown that led it to a wide open touchdown, had a face, a face mask penalty and then had a pass interference call too. Had a really rough game. Luckily that ball bounced his way for that fumble recovery.
- [09:56]
A
And boy, Jake Moody, who has had an up and down career after being a huge kicking prospect, wasn't he? I believe he was a third round pick and was believed to be one of these potentially generational kickers. And then just nerves got to him. He was maddeningly inconsistent and was again today because that, that block was his fault. That was a bad kick. He kicked it right into like a face mask level almost. And for him to rebound from that and have he had a total of what, four total on the night? I mean I certainly wish he weren't as busy because I'd much rather have touchdowns on those drives when we were looking at 13 nothing and feeling it's got to be more, it's got to be more, it's got to be more. And all of us who were saying that we were right, it obviously did and they're not going to have these problems if they convert these drives earlier and they don't stall out. But it almost defies a lot of rational explanation because of how strange this was. But Matty, I keep thinking that every NFL game is like this now. They're almost all weird.
- [11:08]
B
Well, that's, that's where the, that's what happens when you have a blob game. And if you remember or we haven't mentioned the other Monday Night Football game where the Falcons took it to the Bills and got that win. So if you were playing along too with our my bookie picks, Dan, I gave you that winning parlay tonight of taking the points and the Falcons taking the Bears and the points and they both hit and they both won. You know, in the fourth quarter though, before the, before the fumble recovery, Bears had the ball deep in their own end zones. They were in their own territory. They were inside the 10 yard line and they get a first down pass play that was called back because of a DJ penalty. So it's first and 15.
- [11:47]
A
That's what he was lined up offsides.
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B
He was lined up offsides. And then you get a first and 15 that turns into a second and 16 because I think it was guy who got tackled for one yard loss right at the goal line.
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A
That's when you have the Zacchaeus drop.
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B
And well that was on, that was on the, on the third down. What happened on that Manangai run. Cole Comet, I don't know if you noticed or saw it. Maybe go back and watch it. Totally whiffed on his block. Completely and totally utterly whiffed. Head down, diving at a potential guy to block and just completely missed him because wasn't even looking hands hands weren't even up in the air to go and engage the block. So right there I'm like all right, shit. This is, this is where the Bears beat themselves where they can't get out of their own way. But yet they were able to overcome that and still manage to get the a punt off which then in turn turned into the fumble recovery by by Wright. So those are the things that as they go through and tighten things up. We saw what Ben Johnson was able to do with the run game having that extra time off during the bye week to scout to evaluate what can they do? Well what do we need to do differently? What do guys need to do better? And this is what they came out with in the run game and it was absolutely beautiful thing to see tonight.
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A
You know what separates the pros from everyone else? They don't ignore injuries. A torn ligament doesn't heal itself. Well, neither does Ed. And yeah, 30 million men deal with it. That is every major sports fan combined. Ed happens when there's not enough blood flow and that's often combined with decreased arousal signals from your brain. It's not about age or losing a competitive edge damage. It's just biology. And it's treatable. Doctors review every case. When it comes to Rougiette, it's not one size fits all. Rougiette has an online process. There's no awkward pharmacy trips. These are medications with FDA approved ingredients. Unlimited doctor follow ups are included and Rougiette will adjust your dose until it's dialed in. Now, pro teams have specialized doctors for every issue. So what? Why should your health be different? Rougiette specializes in ED treatment with doctors who know exactly what they're doing. So visit rougeet.com that's r u g I e t.com and use the promo code Forward. This is forward progress. The first word of forward progress is forward. And that's all you have to use for your special offer. And at rug r u g I e t.com so you can get back in the game with rug. Yet I keep expecting tight ends to contribute more. And while the aforementioned Comet had played A ton of snaps and even had an isolation block for Manungai in as a fullback. They went straight old fashioned I formation in the first quarter when they had it at their own 34 to start that drive. Kemet was the fullback. They ran an ISO block for Manunga. I thought that was kind of cool. And they do have Kemet doing a lot, but he ended up with one catch for zero yards. And there was a big catch for the first down late by Colston Loveland. But maybe this just isn't something that Johnson is going to force. As much as we know that he likes to play 12 personnel and he likes to use the tight end a lot. Maybe it's just not right time, not right people for what he's trying to do. Good to see luther burden targeted four times. Caught the ball every single time, had 51 yards, that big long of 37. More of that, please. And if it comes at the expense of DJ Moore, I'm cool with it.
- [15:28]
B
Yeah, and I think there was a, that, that, that catch late by Colston Loveland where he, he caught the first down. He got it like a six yard pass. Caught a first down and immediately falled like, fell down. He, like he was not going to lose the ball. He, he got the first downline and he's like, that's it. I'm good. I made it. I'm going to cradle this ball like a little baby and just lay here and wait for someone to touch me. So that was great. I laughed out loud seeing that play. A couple long deep passes to Roma Dunes A1. He had his man beat early in the game. I think was first quarter. Still had his man beat that Caleb under threw him. And then that second deep one, he went in double coverage. Was lucky that was not picked off.
- [16:05]
A
Hard to believe if you would told us, you remember when we were sitting here after the Lions game when they got absolutely clowned if you had said the Bears were going to win their next three. I don't, I don't think I would have believed you.
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B
No, I wouldn't have believed you at all. Absolutely not.
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A
Especially considering the, all the injuries that they've had and some of the guys out there and the personnel groupings that they're using to go and beat this team. They made Jaden Daniels, other than some of the scrambles that were really special, I thought he looked even with three touchdowns. At no point did I think, you know, you can't give this guy the ball back because he's just going to take it right down and beat you. You know, sometimes a quarterback just, you, you know, you can't let him touch the ball last. And I think that's exactly what Ben Johnson was thinking. But if this was an opportunity for Caleb Williams to. To judge himself on the same field as this guy, I thought it was a. Certainly a good night for the Bears and a good night for Williams.
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B
Yeah. And to answer one of the comments, too, the Bears are not tied for first place with the Lions. The packers are actually in first at a 31 and 1 record.
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A
Okay. Yeah, that's going to be.
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B
He asked the question. Yeah, but he asked the question. So.
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A
Yeah, but that's why ties are annoying.
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B
Because they very, very much so in football.
- [17:24]
A
Yeah. We have to keep looking at things weird when we look at the schedule and wait till the playoff permutations start. If in fact, the Bears are in the hunt late in the season for the playoffs. But I think this is a time to just enjoy it. Enjoy the fact that this Chicago Bears team, somehow, some way, despite all of the things that they do to throw landmines at their own feet sometimes in this wacky league, are sitting here with a winning record after five games. And hey, how about the Bears winning out of the buy? They never do that.
- [17:58]
B
They never do that.
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A
Yeah.
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B
And actually to make things worse for you, with that win at 3 and 2, the Bears are actually still in fourth place in their division with a 3 and 2 record. Minnesota 3 and 2, Detroit 4 and 2. And then Green Bay on top with a 31 and 1 record because of the two division losses already.
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A
All right, now, but I'll take it, though.
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B
And it's the only division in football where every team is over over.500.
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A
Here's their next four. Home against the Saints win. Then it's the Ravens win. Bengals win, Giants win.
- [18:37]
B
Let's go. Bears are going seven and two. Let's go. Tell me I'm wrong. Come on, let's go. Seven and two, baby.
- [18:45]
A
And I should say, too, based on a lot of the conversations that we had during the week, I'm happy that Tyreek Stevenson, while he did get burned on that one play, we didn't hear his name. Not at all. Almost two and a half quarters, which is a great sign.
- [19:00]
B
Yeah, I had that in my notes that we haven't heard his name at all.
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A
But that's good.
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B
Yeah, that's great. No, that's.
- [19:05]
A
No, I had. I had people texting me, where's Tyreek Stevenson? And I kept saying, when you're not hearing a cornerback's name. That's good. They're not throwing to him.
- [19:13]
B
You know who I thought had a. And I'm not saying this because of the, what I thought was a really terrible call on the roughing, the passer on Jaquan Brisker because I thought he was pushed by Tunsil into him, which made him. But, you know, still, you can't, you know, whatever. I think he had a bad game despite the interception. Thought he had a. Thought he had a bad game and he looked like he was coming back from getting some time away. And I just, I thought he just, he just did not look good tonight.
- [19:40]
A
Well, the Bears kind of did what I wanted them to do. If you were listening to forward progress earlier today, I did say that I wanted some more of those three linebacker looks on rundowns. They did that and we saw more of a commitment to some outside zone run. And I just thought that when you got Drew Dahlman as your center, that's where he's most comfortable. And if they think they've got a little bread and butter stuff running behind the big fella at right tackle, I don't mind that because you. I hate the word identity sometimes, and I'm not sure what the Bears identity is. But if they want to use their ability to deal with going down late, their ability to go on the road in some difficult environments and win games, this is good stuff off of which to coach because you can still ride their ass a little bit for doing things that are stupid. But you can still say, hey, if we clean this up and you can mean it and you can be right, that you can say, if we just stop being stupid and stop dropping balls and stop lining up off sides and stop hitting the quarterback with a lack of discipline, these games aren't going to be this close. And I don't, I don't think that's wrong.
- [21:00]
B
No, I agree with you completely. And one, one other thing that you mentioned earlier today on forward progress was the opportunity for Dennis Allen to go out with a four three, get three linebackers out there. And it was going really well until, until Sewell got concussed by Jonathan Ford and got completely blown up. Probably the biggest hit of the game was friendly fire that looked terrible. And when they weren't showing him on the field, I got a little very concerned about it that they're not showing the guy because when he went down, you could tell he was out. He was out cold. And then they go back to a really wide shot or a really narrow shot where they're just Focusing guys around him and not showing him, I got a little concerned. But then seeing him walk on the sideline was great to see, but, yeah, he had that opportunity. You brought that up to get three linebackers out there, and that's what they.
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A
Were doing with Sewell and against a team that has been much more run reliant, especially without Terry McLaurin and without Noah Brown. Let me mention, too, as long as you're patting yourself on the back for your DBU picks that people can find with my bookie, I'm. I'm four in a row now because I had Zach Ertz over 27.5 receiving yards, and once again, he blew right by that. So if you're rolling with me, you're. You're in pretty good shape. I'm not giving you huge, risky stuff, but just, you know, little. I do here and there that you might. Yeah, you.
- [22:18]
B
You.
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A
I will say you take a lot more risks than I do.
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B
I do these things. It's more fun that way.
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A
Dennis Allen, good job with the blitzing, too, because I thought it was out of character. Every time that they would show a gap pressure and show guys mugging and looking like it would be a zero blitz, I'm thinking, all right, you know, you're not. You're not copying. You're just trying to, you know, maybe force him off of a call, force him to a kill kill or whatever it might be. But he brought a couple of guys, and I think he trusted TJ Edwards to do it more than he trusted somebody else. But they were bringing Gordon off the edge. They were trying to mix things up a little bit and try to make. Try to speed up Jaden Daniels a little bit and force some bad decisions. And I didn't mind it. I like the fact that he showed a little something different.
- [23:05]
B
Yeah, no, it looked great. And I thought the defense, I think they're developing their identity of taking the ball away. I mean, they just. They're doing it. I mean, but they're doing it game after game after game after game. It's five games now. You know, this isn't some kind of fluke thing. They're going out and taking the ball. They're looking for opportunities to knock the ball out and ball carries, to strip the ball. They're getting interceptions. Jaden Daniels, first interception of the year. That was a really bad play. And Brisker, I think he was probably a step or two late in throwing the ball, and Brisker was able to make a nice read.
- [23:34]
A
Oh, he was definitely late. He had Him. He had him wide open.
- [23:37]
B
Yeah. By at least two steps. He was late, which was unusual for Daniels, as normally. He's not missing that play if you give him that opportunity again.
- [23:46]
A
Final numbers for Caleb Williams. 17 of 29, 252 yards and a touchdown. But, boy, I am. This is. You know, DeAndre Swift better get a game ball and a lot of hugs and the first sip of whatever he wants on the plane home because he ran with a purpose. And this is the first time he's been in a position to be decisive to run through contact. And his. What did he average? Almost. That's almost 8 yards of carry, isn't that. If 14 carries are 108 yards, that's just under 8. It's pretty damn good.
- [24:22]
B
Yeah. Let me see. I got it. I lost my screen here. I'm glad. I'm glad that this comment came up because I wrote it in my notes about Trubisky getting a rack bowed.
- [24:30]
A
Oh, my God. That's.
- [24:33]
B
If you don't. Unless you like, we're Buffalo or Chicago.
- [24:36]
A
Those commercials don't count for Iraq poing. Those are exempt.
- [24:40]
B
Why is that?
- [24:40]
A
Because the whole joke is they're little known backup quarterbacks. That's part of the bit I don't. Most people.
- [24:48]
B
Oh. Is that. That's progressive. That's right. Progressive.
- [24:49]
A
Right. Whether it's Case Keenan or Tommy DeVito. So those commercials are exempt from a rack poing designation. I thought you were going to go to a different place because when I saw it, my heart sank because they traded up to draft him. Like, that's. So much of this franchise was committed to him and now it's just not cute that he's able. I'm glad he's getting paid. I like Mitch. Good for him. It's going to take me a little while for that to be cute because it still sucks that he wasn't good. What's funny? I just.
- [25:30]
B
I love your reaction to it. That's really good because it's funny because my reaction was. And only because he was drafted and they moved up to get him and he was our quarterback for a while. I'm like, you don't need to rack Mitch Trubisky. Everyone knows Mitch Trubisky. I was like, come on now. Like Tommy DeVito.
- [25:46]
A
Yeah.
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B
I don't know Tommy DeVito.
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A
You could walk in my house right.
- [25:48]
B
Now, I wouldn't know who the hell he is.
- [25:49]
A
Yeah, I know. But can I be honest about the joke that I made to myself that I probably shouldn't make what's that? Is that of all quarterbacks, where his particular backup skill in the commercial was getting a complicated call. Correct. Like it wasn't really his reputation for being, like, all of these complicated things that in the moment, I can handle them better than anybody.
- [26:19]
B
Nope, probably not.
- [26:21]
A
No. If you need him, like, running away from somebody or something, I don't know. But that was. I found that a bit, I guess, ironic, it could be the word. If they had him exercising the one skill at which I didn't think he was particularly gifted.
- [26:37]
B
DeAndre Swift, 7.7 on the average.
- [26:39]
A
Yeah. That's pretty spectacular.
- [26:41]
B
So if we can do that every game, that'd be great.
- [26:43]
A
I'm sure you saw this note on the Chiron at the game on ESPN. Caleb Williams has become the first Bears quarterback with 200 passing yards and a touchdown in each of the first five games of a season.
- [27:03]
B
Well, there you go. See? Generational.
- [27:09]
A
That's amazing. That's amazing. It is 2024. Yeah, I think I have that right. It's 2025.
- [27:18]
B
It is. That's correct.
- [27:19]
A
Okay. He is the first Bears quarterback to have 200 passing yards and a touchdown in the first five games of a season. In each one of those games.
- [27:28]
B
Yeah.
- [27:29]
A
Are you kidding me?
- [27:30]
B
He actually threw two touchdowns tonight. One was bullshit. Was callback.
- [27:34]
A
Yeah. And what a catch by A Dunes.
- [27:36]
B
It was a great catch. It was a great throw. It was a great catch.
- [27:38]
A
And keep the fro, man.
- [27:40]
B
You like that.
- [27:41]
A
I don't know if that's just a blowout in between stylings, because if he wants that to really lock up into a true fro, I'm here for him. Because sometimes, like, in between braidings or in between stylings, you just kind of let it breathe a little bit and blow it out. But if he wants to go all natural, I'm there. I'm with him. Because unlike Ben Wallace, that whole fear the fro thing, that was not like a real one. He wants to go old school, 70s, big time Rome. Let your freak flag fly, man.
- [28:19]
B
And every time I heard. Every time they said Krosky Merritt, I always heard Frosty first.
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A
Frosty Merritt.
- [28:24]
B
Yeah. I always heard Frosty. And I'm like, who's that?
- [28:27]
A
And when they did the little graphic treatment of him and his nickname, Bill, why was it old Western themed? Why did they have, like, the. The old violins and the. The old weird Western music?
- [28:42]
B
I must. I must have missed that. Must have been.
- [28:44]
A
I must have missed that, too, that point. Yeah. I didn't understand what was going to why? It was like a cowboy thing for him. But, hey, man, this is. The Bears are allowed to win. Some of these, I think is. I thought for sure they wouldn't, but I'll be damned. Maybe. Maybe something's a little different.
- [29:03]
B
Maybe.
- [29:03]
A
Maybe having a coach who's not a blithering idiot makes a difference in these weird games.
- [29:08]
B
One guy heard Crusty. Another guy said, yep, he heard Frosty. See? Yes, the Frosty.
- [29:12]
A
Yep.
- [29:14]
B
But crusty, hey, hey.
- [29:18]
A
If it's anybody other than Steve Allen, tell him he's stealing my bit. The Sex Cauldron. I thought that place closed. Well, good job, Bears. I'm. Oh, it's fun to be happy after a Bears game when I didn't expect to be. Does that make sense?
- [29:40]
B
Yeah, because, you know, when they were leading 16 to 10, it just. It didn't even feel like we were leading. It just. It didn't. It felt like. I felt. It felt. Soon they weren't, and soon they weren't. I mean, that's why I said. I was like, all right. You know, Natalie and I are watching the game, and I said, I just don't feel good. Because they're like, this shouldn't be a one score game at this point. Like, those field goals need to be touchdowns. It shouldn't be a one score game. And then kept. You know, I kept going back in my head with that stupid call that the ref made on Theo Benedict, which shouldn't have been, you know. Again, watch any Chiefs game you want, and you'll see. You'll see. Even worse than that.
- [30:13]
A
I warned you about Luke McCaffrey, too.
- [30:15]
B
Yeah, you did. Well, shit, man, I could score that touchdown.
- [30:20]
A
But still.
- [30:22]
B
No, you're right. No, I'm not taking anything away from you. He had a nice run back. He had a touchdown.
- [30:27]
A
And no, you could not have scored that touchdown.
- [30:29]
B
I could have scored that touchdown. Absolutely.
- [30:31]
A
No. Some giant, angry man would chase you down and rip your head off and you'd be crying.
- [30:36]
B
I would not be screaming at the.
- [30:38]
A
Top of your lungs.
- [30:39]
B
Oh, I would have been screaming before he got to me.
- [30:41]
A
They would take you into the blue tent, they would wrap you in the blue tent and they would take you away in a van.
- [30:47]
B
Yeah. No, no, I was in the blue tent. Who would have come in and asked if I was okay?
- [30:51]
A
Yeah, get him out of there. He's fine. I don't see any blood. He's fine. Wow. Okay, well, I'm trying to see what else. I'm just counting the number of question marks that I had for weird bad calls, for strange decisions that bears seem to make. Why did they challenge the 1 yard catch too?
- [31:16]
B
Well, you know, I question the same thing because if you're wrong, you lose your challenge. But if you're right, it's only a yard. But, but didn't that come back to. Wasn't there like a fourth and one that or a third? I thought that was that one yard actually. That one yard actually came back to help them.
- [31:34]
A
There was a, on 3rd and 10 there was a 9 yard run by Swift. Seemed like every time he touched the ball was a nine yard run. And then on fourth and one the pass was deflected and incomplete. And I did not like that play call. No, I too cute by half. And let me also, while we're talking about Caleb Williams and his accomplishments, be fair here. I want to call out two because on that particular throw, when Ben Johnson decided to instead of running an rpo, instead of giving some sort of option look or just running the ball, they had him throw it into a congested area of the field through a lot of arms. That ball should have been picked off by Frankie Luvu.
- [32:20]
B
Yeah. Oh yeah.
- [32:21]
A
Now, third quarter near the goal line. That should have been picked off by Mikey Sandra still.
- [32:29]
B
Yes.
- [32:30]
A
There were two balls that Caleb Williams throw that threw. That should have been interceptions.
- [32:34]
B
Yeah, but. No, but they weren't.
- [32:36]
A
But they weren't. But it does highlight what Williams still needs to tighten up. Just don't, don't make those throws. Don't put yourself in a position to have those things happen to you.
- [32:46]
B
Well, no, it's not about not making them. It's about throwing the ball sooner. That's the issue is that he's still taking too long to throw the ball. And on the two point conversion he had Manungai wide open.
- [32:56]
A
I know that's the first read.
- [32:57]
B
Throw the damn ball. What do you like? What are you looking for? What are you waiting for? That, that read. The running back coming out is the first read. And you get the ball and you throw it. That's an easy run for him. Again, he's just not throwing the ball when he needs to throw it. But then, but then he, then he has like that 18 yard bullet to DJ Moore which is just an unbelievable throw.
- [33:18]
A
Ben Johnson in his post game right now says, I think these wins sometimes can go a longer way for your program than those blowouts do. Maybe kind of depending on where your program is. I think depending if the players are there who are meaningful for your program to the extent that we use the term program for NFL.
- [33:44]
B
Okay. And if it.
- [33:45]
A
If it helps Caleb Williams, terrific. If it helps the players who are going to be here when you're good, terrific. What do you mean, Bernstein? They're three and two. You are what your record says you are. Three and two is good. You know, it's certainly better than.05 and better than one and four and a bunch of other records, too. So. Yeah. If you want to start thinking they're good in this league, are they moving toward the top of the blob, especially with this schedule coming up? Maybe.
- [34:16]
B
Yeah. No, for sure. I mean, we have four wins coming up the next four weeks, so that takes the Bears a 7 and 2, and we're sitting really pretty.
- [34:23]
A
Mm.
- [34:25]
B
I don't understand why you're laughing.
- [34:27]
A
I don't.
- [34:27]
B
I don't think. What's that? Anything's funny about that. Hey, that's that third and one play that was bobbled and turned into a fourth and six. Right. I think right at the end of the third quarter. Was that bad snap? Is that bad hands? Combination of both. Both.
- [34:43]
A
I think you got to pick up your center there. Make just. Especially when with conditions the way they were, make sure you have the ball. The snap was not great, but it was still within a reasonable catch radius for an athlete as good as Caleb.
- [34:59]
B
Yeah. Because he wasn't fully stretched or.
- [35:00]
A
No, no, he wasn't. He wasn't picking up a bouncing ball.
- [35:03]
B
He reached and he should have had it. Okay.
- [35:05]
A
Yes. Yeah. So no, the snap was not great, but you got to pick up your center there.
- [35:09]
B
Yeah. Oh, boy. So I tell you what, what. What Ben Johnson did out of the bye week with that run game was very impressive. Very impressive. DeAndre Swift ran hard, hit the holes he was supposed to hit, man, it was. That was fun to watch. He had hell of a game. Good for him. After the first four weeks of what the run game looked like. And you know, it made a huge difference with Darnell right out there, obviously, and with Benedict at left tackle again, you know, you think he may not be the long term solution, but you know what? In two opportunities here, he's looked pretty damn good so far.
- [35:44]
A
If you want outside zone to the right to be something, you know, when you hear it in the huddle, that it has a reasonable chance of success. And they know that Darnell Wright is. He's not just strong, though. He got down the field.
- [35:59]
B
No, he. Yeah, for sure.
- [36:01]
A
He can get out there and move a little bit. That's a first round pick. And if. If calling that play can give him a little bit of confidence and know, even though anybody knows it's coming, that there's going to be a place for Swift to make a decision. He can follow that out. He can follow that out or he can cut it on back that you figure these things out. What did we say today? We earlier today pare away the things that you don't like and eventually you find something you do when you just keep scraping away the things that don't work, it's okay. And you can go back to go forward in the terminology of the Ripken instructors, go back to go forward. And if that's what they did during the bye week, I don't mind it. And I think that Ben Johnson, with this particular roster at this point, is acquitting himself quite well.
- [36:50]
B
Yeah, no, no, for sure. And again, you mentioned earlier in the show here about the Bears not winning out of bi weeks traditionally. They just haven't over the last several.
- [37:00]
A
It isn't actually tradition.
- [37:01]
B
It's just. Well, it just happens over the last several coaches. Yeah.
- [37:05]
A
So.
- [37:05]
B
But they're making it a tradition. So that's what they're. And Ben Johnson is trying to change that tradition. He's like, hey, I have an idea. Let's win out of the bye week.
- [37:13]
A
What a plan. It's amazing how that can happen. And if you're just joining us for the first time here on Forward Progress, I'm Dan Bernstein. That's Matt abaticola. This is 312Sports. And know that you can find a lot of us at 312Sports. You can find us on YouTube and you can find Forward Progress every day. When you can, you can go to 312Sports.com for all the links that you need or you can find everything in via my social media feeds where it's all there for you. Dan Bernstein Unfiltered is our other show that we post every day. Wherever you get your podcasts, wherever you get them, whether it's Spotify, Apple podcasts that around 11 o' clock in the morning is Dan Bernstein Unfiltered where we do, we cover everything that's going on in Chicago sports and beyond and in culture and movies and candy bars and all kinds of stuff. And if it's Bears, bears, Bears, Bears, bears that you want, Forward Progress is your place to be. And we're going to be here after every game doing this for you. And we've got all sorts of cool stuff coming with more live stuff. I don't know, maybe a watch party here or there and also, if you're a basketball fan, Organizations Win Championships is coming back and this is the first time I'm announcing that officially. So you get a little advanced jump on that. May just be sooner than you think, too.
- [38:36]
B
Yeah, very excited to listen to that. Organizations Win Championships and.
- [38:41]
A
Yeah.
- [38:41]
B
And, you know, if you haven't subscribed to all of our channels, make sure you do. So there's a little bell icon. That's how you get the alerts to know when we're going live. A couple weeks ago, we did a special live DBU on a Sunday morning. We were just hanging out and said, hey, let's just jump in and do a show. If you don't have notifications coming to you, you just won't know when we're doing that. And thanks for joining us tonight and being here on the live stream. It's just a lot of fun to do this and it's particularly more fun after a big Bears win. Somebody asked if I think the Bears are not going to win a game in the division. Well, until. Until they do, I won't believe it until they do. Unless. Unless. Unless they want to make J.J. mcCarthy look like a superstar again in the fourth quarter of a game. It's going to be pretty tough. But, you know, at least the next four weeks, the Bears have wins coming. We'll get to 7 and 2.
- [39:29]
A
Jake Moody has a big smile on his face as he meets the media. He is talking about how he got carried off the field by his teammates. Called it a pretty cool, pretty cool series of events. And a couple days ago I didn't even know I was playing. Ben Johnson says of Jake Moody. I think the change of scenery was really good for him, which is an interesting response. He didn't say Cairo is our kicker.
- [39:55]
B
Yes.
- [39:55]
A
And remember Cairo, Santos got here because of his relationship with Matt Negie. If I remember correctly, after everything the Bears went through with Eddie Panero and with Captain Doinkatron that they ended up with Santos, who had battled through injury. And I'll say this, Moody may not be as reliable. He definitely has a stronger leg than Santos.
- [40:22]
B
Oh, yeah, no, for sure. I think you have a stronger leg than Santos.
- [40:25]
A
No. But accuracy matters, consistency matters. And Moody has not been consistent. But this guy was a big time kicking prospect and drafted where he was for a reason. So good night for him. Happy for him.
- [40:38]
B
To answer the question here, Yoda man, there was a top 10 commander show. You can go back to the YouTube, our YouTube channel for DBU and we did it last week, Friday So that.
- [40:48]
A
Would have been top 10 commanders.
- [40:49]
B
That was the 10th. So go and check out the 10th, the DBU show. We did a top 10 commanders the first few weeks of the NFL season. We did our top 10 list during forward progress.
- [40:59]
A
Right. He probably didn't know we switched it. Right.
- [41:01]
B
So we switched it to DBU this past Friday. So moving forward, all the top 10 lists, and this Friday on DBU will have the top 10 saints of all time. And that will be on DBU this Friday, the 17th.
- [41:15]
A
I could have some problems with that one because you have a religious education that I don't have.
- [41:23]
B
Yeah. But trust me, I'm not taking that wide of an angle with these top ten Saints.
- [41:29]
A
Okay.
- [41:31]
B
You could do it.
- [41:31]
A
Seriously.
- [41:32]
B
I could. But I'll tell you, there's one saint that will make that list. There's one of that type of saints that will make the list. The rest, I just. I can't give too much. I can't give too much.
- [41:45]
A
Okay.
- [41:46]
B
Too much attention.
- [41:47]
A
I just thought I'd be out of my element like I felt when I took art history in college. And with every painting having some ancient Catholic connotation, I knew nothing of anything and had no idea what anybody was talking about. I didn't know what the enunciation was. I didn't anything.
- [42:03]
B
Oh, and I will tell you this because I've already had a sneak peek from the committee. Oh, yeah. I'm sorry. They live here. They're around the kitchen table eating all my food. This week, they are not going with a honorable mention section. They're going with a dishonorable mention section.
- [42:25]
A
See, I'm glad I know that. I'm glad I know that. Because when the committee is stepping up its game, it means I have to rise to the occasion as well.
- [42:35]
B
Yeah. Unfortunately, Pope Bob is not a saint yet.
- [42:39]
A
Not yet. Well, he needs a miracle, right?
- [42:41]
B
Yeah. I think he needs to be dead or there aren't so many living saints.
- [42:45]
A
No, you need to be dead. And there has to be actual evidence of a miracle that I think I know.
- [42:49]
B
2005. He was there. He made that miracle.
- [42:51]
A
That's right. Yeah, that's right.
- [42:53]
B
That's the miracle. The White Sox won the World Series.
- [42:54]
A
White Sox win. Pope Bob, he's a saint. Congratulations. I'm trying to see if there's anything that I'm missing from my own notes because it's Bears games, to me, can be like an out of body experience where I don't remember writing these things down. And it's a hell of a win in A game where I initially thought they were in trouble because they weren't getting touchdowns on those drives. And they're, they're, they're clinging to a lead, clinging to a lead. And I thought at 24:16, this is over. Until all of a sudden DeAndre Swift just turns up field, peels one tackler off of him, and I'm like, okay, now they're just going to break our hearts differently. Especially after the two point conversion was, was all bollocks up. And then after the roughing the passer on brisker, I thought, okay, this is over. After the Zacchaeus drop, this is over. And you could tell in the broadcast, I kind of felt it was over. I also felt that it seemed that they'd made up their mind that this was going to be a Jaden Daniels discussion most of the evening. And I thought he was, I thought Daniels was okay. He was good. He was fine.
- [44:04]
B
Yeah, he was. No, he was, he was good. He was good. Yeah, he was fine.
- [44:07]
A
He was good. But I, but I, but I wasn't terrified that if you just, if they take a lead and give him a chance, he's going to drive them down because they were close on a lot of those blitzes and he was able to slither away from them so many times with his. But he dropped his eyes. You know, there are, there's other guys I worry about who, when you're like that and you're close, you're close, you're close, their eyes are down the field and he, and they never went back on some of that and said. And showed us where all the wide open guys were.
- [44:33]
B
Yeah, there was a lot of comments here from people not enjoying the broadcast from Joe Buck and Troy Aikman. I, I guess maybe I just generally kind of tune, tune them out and I'm just, I was more raging at the TV at certain points of the game.
- [44:46]
A
I don't really like Buck and Aikman.
- [44:48]
B
Yeah, I generally think they're, they're pretty.
- [44:49]
A
Good and you know, when I don't like somebody and you know, because there was baseball going on and oh yeah.
- [44:55]
B
The brewers lost, by the way, and.
- [44:58]
A
Holy crap, I don't what is going on in Toronto. My God. But I'll tell you, if I don't like somebody, I don't like John Smoltz. And I can say that here in a Bears post game. I can say that at any time. You can wake me up in the middle of the night, say, are you okay? I'll tell you, I don't Like John Smoltz. I don't like his work. He may be a very nice guy.
- [45:16]
B
I'm sure he's. I'm sure he's a delightful human being.
- [45:18]
A
I'm not. He could be an awful human. Why do you assume he's. I don't know. I hate saying that. That I always, you know, presume somebody's a nice person.
- [45:25]
B
I don't know. I didn't think the broadcast was all that bad. But then again, I just always assume that Joe Buck hates Chicago, so he's not going to like anything that we do.
- [45:35]
A
He doesn't.
- [45:36]
B
I know he doesn't, but you know he does. I know people think he does.
- [45:38]
A
He doesn't.
- [45:39]
B
I know, but people think he does. I know he doesn't.
- [45:44]
A
Well, look, there's. They can.
- [45:45]
B
There's a.
- [45:45]
A
There's a radio call you can listen to. You can make yourself happy. But I just.
- [45:49]
B
Yeah. If you can tune in the radio station.
- [45:51]
A
Oh, yeah. At night. It's probably easier to do it in North Carolina than it is in Naperville. I'm not kidding.
- [45:58]
B
Direct. I've heard that a lot of people from Naperville actually go to North Carolina to listen to Bears games.
- [46:02]
A
Directional signal. We. I used to listen to Bulls games on that signal in North Carolina. We would drive up to the top of a hill and we'd sit around and we got a desi. We'd get a designated driver, and everybody else would drink Olympia Light and listen to Bulls games.
- [46:16]
B
Olympia Light.
- [46:17]
A
Oh, it was so cheap. Ooh.
- [46:20]
B
It was so.
- [46:20]
A
It was bad. It's bad. Yeah. You had to, like, chew pieces of wheat in it. It was.
- [46:25]
B
Oh, seriously.
- [46:27]
A
It had to be ice cold, otherwise.
- [46:29]
B
They could filter that right out and.
- [46:30]
A
Your eyes would fall out. It would be terrible. So that's going to do it for our post game here. Congratulations for. To everybody that rode through that fourth quarter without throwing up on yourself, because it was.
- [46:44]
B
Oh, I had no doubt. I knew they were going to. I had zero doubts. I knew they were going to win this game, just like they're going to win the next four. They're going to get the seven and two. Here we go. Super bowl this year.
- [46:55]
A
All right, that's enough out of you.
- [46:57]
B
Ben Johnson said, why can't we win this year? So why can't we win this year? Well, it's a big blob.
- [47:01]
A
The Bears are a winning team. Yes. As of right now, the Chicago Bears are a winning team. They've won three in a row now with a victory at Washington and we will be talking about all of this very, very soon because Dan Bernstein Unfiltered will drop at 11. And the next edition, our full rested post game of forward for forward progress is going to drop right around one o' clock tomorrow.
- [47:31]
B
That's correct. Okay.
- [47:32]
A
Because you had mentioned maybe going live, I think. Didn't you? Didn't you mention that today?
- [47:38]
B
I did. I. Just throwing it out there, testing the waters. Okay. I was just throwing a. Whatever.
- [47:43]
A
The point is you never know with us.
- [47:44]
B
You never. You do.
- [47:45]
A
Yeah.
- [47:45]
B
That's why you have to have the notifications on subscribe YouTube channel to find out when we're going live. So there you go.
- [47:51]
A
All right.
- [47:51]
B
Say goodbye now.
- [47:52]
A
Goodbye now.