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Sweat Now Bears, et cetera. Brought to you by Geico with the voices of the Bears, Jeff Joniac and Tom Thayer.
Have you heard of the Minnesota Miracle? That's how it went down. On Thursday September nineteenth, nineteen eighty five, thirty three, twenty four Bears went over to the Vikings first sentence in the Chicago Tribune. The next morning, Jim McMahon came off the Bears bench and threw himself into the national consciousness with Super Bowl winning Bears guard Tom Fareer. I'm Jeff Jonihak and this is episode one nineteen at the Bears, etcetera podcast. It's brought to you by Geico. We celebrate the black and Blue division of the past as it stands right now. It's gonna be the black and blue vision for the foreseeable future as well. In the NFC North Bears Vikings on Monday and I kick off at seven on the ESPN one thousand of the Bears Radio network against the impressive Vikings. We welcome in our special guest, the man who also was a part of that unbelievable three touchdown in seven play explosion. The one and only Willie Galt's eighteenth pick of the nineteen eighty three draft, played eleven seasons of the NFL, five of the Bears, six with the Raiders, had put up over sixty six hundred yards, eighty seven touchdowns, and number eighty three on the Bear's top one hundred, Tom Fayer a number eighty four. So we got two Super Bowl Bears and you got so everybody can't see this who was only use the audio, but they were both in the Hula Bowl back of the day and they took out their plaques. I love start there, your relationship and where you guys started. Because that draft produced what seven or eight starters in the Super Bowl.
Yeah, it was really a fantastic draft for the Bears. Actually look back at it. I mean to get someone like Richard Dan and Tom and of course Jimbo Covert, Dave Dorrison, Mike Richardson at the time and I mean, we had a great and Dennis McKinnon who we both started. It was a really great draft for us.
Bortsy Pat Dunsmore here's that. That was a great draft.
But I always laugh about this roster because you look at this roster from the Hula Bowl.
Not only I'm not going to talk about.
Willie not knowing that I didn't play this game with him, Jeff, So I'm going to tell you.
This is this is just awesome. So I asked Willie. We are in the locker room one day.
I go, Willie, did anybody on this team play in the Hula Bowl with you?
And he goes, yeah, you.
Know, and Mike Richardson was there, and Dave Dowerson was there. I know those guys played. And I go, well, Willie, Me and Jimbo were there as well. But you know this, you know, Willie, When I was told that after practice one day, they go, hey, you have an invitation to the Hula Bowl. It could have been one of the biggest thrills of my life back then, because when you got invited to these bowl games, you know the whole The Hula Bowl was one of the biggest all star games there were in college football at that time, and when I got invited, it was like such an overwhelming honor. And then you look at some of the guys on this list and what's become of them and where they've gone in their career. You know, you look at just guys like Roger Craig and Eric Dickerson and Marino, guys like that that this it's just an all star selection of all stars and Jimbo and Bruce Smith and all those guys as well. However, it was it was a great opportunity for me because I got to meet of a lot of the guys, the superstars that I've heard about and read about, and then I got a chance to be on the same practice field as all you guys, and for me, it was an enormous honor in my football life.
It was quite quite an honor. And to this day, Erica Dickerson and I are are one of best friends. We first met there and we traded jerseys. I still have his jersey, his number nineteen SMU jersey, and we talk about it when I be we talk about it. And but yeah, it was great. It was a great honor and to think about it, to go to Hawaii, man, it was like, Oh my gosh, I'm going to Hawaii for the first time. It was really really cool.
Well, no one was faster on that team, I'll tell you that. On that Hula Bowl team then, well no one.
I would have bet you on that one.
Yeah, yeah, for sure. So we're kind of celebrating the division here and go back to that thirty nine years ago on a Thursday night of the old Metrodome for those be fans maybe not even born yet in downtown Minneapolis, it really was a startling performance. I remember it was my first year covering sports. I covered training camp at the eighty five Bears, but I was watching that game on television with my friends because we always that's what happened back in those days if you didn't have tickets or you weren't covering. Everybody who had these big parties to watch the eighty five Bears thirty three, twenty four. But it was also significant in that Tom Thayer gets inserted in that game. Willie, that you were inserted at right guard and you've never you never left the field the rest of your career.
No. I actually it was in the middle of the first quarner, okay, that I got inserted in the game. But the thing about it was is I didn't play at all in the first and second game. So I was pouting, and I was sitting on the bench, and I was angry, and so I took the third bus the only time in my career I took a bus to the game, and I took the last bus, Jeff, And you know me how that just doesn't sit. So I didn't get my ankles tape. I didn't tape my wrist and my hands and everything. I just went out there. I had low cut shoes on and everything. Middle of the first quarter, Dick Stanfeldt came up and said, hey, Becker got hurt. You're in, and so you have that instance of notice. And I went in there and I nearly sprained my ankle as soon as I got in the game, ran in the locker room at halftime, got my ankles tape, put on high top shoes, spat it over my shoes, taped up my wrist and fingers and hands and everything, and then the rest.
But Willie.
The touchdown catched it, the first one. You caught the first touchdown when.
McMahon came in seventy yards. Oh yeah, but.
Yes, but it's almost because what configure there for me is the blitzer was coming up and back and up and back. Walter and I had to be on the same page of the whereabouts of that blitzer because different comes up to the line of scrimmage, he's my responsibility. Is off the line of scrimmage, he's Walter's responsibility, but coming up and coming back. And so when when the ball was snapped, he was off and I went to block my defensive lineman and that's when Walter had one of the most famous blocks in Chicago Bear history.
That didn't work absolutely.
Right and there and then and the thing about it, with McMahon coming in the game and already being a little dinged up, if Walter and I would have miscommunicated there and that guy hit Walter with a full speed.
Yeah, hit jam with pip, he'd been out for the rest of the year. I've been over. That may have been our Super Bowl too, you know.
Wow, you know that's the beauty of this game, right, Like the things that almost happen or don't happen that could spell one snap can change the whole trajectory of a championship chase.
You're right, And the thing about it. Tom would tell you this, no matter what the record was, Minnesota was always tough against the Bears. They always played as tough. They just knew also Green Bay, no matter what the records were, we could be winless, or they could have one win, or we could have one win. But when they played, when we played each other, it was always a tough and tight, tight game because we knew each other tennessities and we played very well against each other.
So the linebacker on real quick. The linebacker on that play, I always thought in my mind, I always thought it was Joey Browner. But I read the Chicago Tribune article it was Dennis Johnson, a linebacker. But and I just saw the highlight. Jim actually stumbles on his drive, but there's Willy Galt blowing through the back end of the defense. Just get you know, you ran like a deer, Like that's the best way, you know. Is that a compliment? Or is that not good enough? Like you ran like a deer?
No, that's that's great. I mean I was blessed, really I was. I was fast. I've been fast all my life. When I was six years old, I was fast as in two grades up. So I always knew speed and always relished in it and understood it and tried to respect it, you know, And I did my best as a player, you know, with my opportunities. Back in my day, we didn't throw the ball a lot because we had this guy named Walter Payton, who was, you know, the arguably the best running back ever. So we're really a balanced offense. Even though I let the team each year with thirty four catches, thirty six catches, forty catchers, we just didn't throw the ball that much, and we had responsibilities back then. It wasn't like today. Man, if a receiver doesn't catch one hundred passes, they cry like a baby. Back then, you know, it's it's our job to run, decoy and block and all those things. I wasn't a great blocker, but I got in people way when I had to. And I played twelve years and never missed a season, never missed a game up down. So I was blessed with that. And to have players like Tom Who and Jim bow who I talked to a couple of weeks ago, and McMahon I see a lot on the golf course, and Dent and McKennon. You know, we built relationships that last forever. And we're older now, but you know, it's it's a time that we'll never forget as long as we live, and it will be unmassed in the history of the sport. No one will ever do exactly the way we did it. And it was really unique, you know.
Willie for the Bears here three weeks ago Keenan Allen was targeted fifteen times. Do you know the most you were targeted in a game?
Probably five, maybe six at the most. I think the most I called it a game was four passes or five passes maybe, Yeah, that's about it, you know.
So you know, I guess the evolution of football.
I'm kind of jealous because I see what these guys go through in training camp and what we went through in training camp, but they don't go through training right, Well, that's what that's That was kind of leading to my question. You think of the the passing game in the NFL today and are you jealous of the evolution of football nowadays in comparison to what we went through? But are you like, I'm so appreciative of the Super Poper Bowl experience that I don't get jealous. I just envy the how much money they're making, or the fact that they're not going through five straight weeks or two days.
Yeah, I think jealousy would be too strong of a word. I'm not jealous. I think in our day, if we had the same process, I think it'd be much different. I mean, think about these guys can't practice two days in a row. They can't hit two days in a row. In practice, we hit every day for you know, a couple of weeks before, you know, So it's crazy. And in the game, you can't hit a guy in the head. You can't. You know, you can't do all these things. You can't hit him five yards pass. We got hit all the time down the field. When the ball's not in the air, we can get hit anywhere. So the game is much safer, of course. And that's the evolution of the game. And like you said, I mean, these guys are making so much money. I guess it's all relative. But you know, got size one hundred and thirty million dollar guarantee currentract rod receiver. I mean it's like, wow, one hundred and thirty million dollars. That's not a lot of money, but you know, it's part of the game. And Unfortunately for us, we didn't have that. But you know, we also set a tone that we remember forever. Eighty five Bears will go out in history as one of the greatest team ever. And you know, no one can say anything about it because it's already done. It's in a history book.
Will he call our guest here on Bears, et cetera. Bears fan Steinhoffl is a prop partner of the Chicago Bears. This Bear season, Steinhoffls is partnering with Special Spaces Illinois to create dream bedrooms or children battling cancer, and so for every false start caused by the Bears defense during a home game, Steinhoffels donates one thousand dollars the Special Spaces Illinois shopping store online at Steinhoffels dot com. I just did a quick check on Pro Football Reference. You had nine catches in the game as a Raider and your seven against Cincinnati in nineteen eighty six for the Bears sick. I got to give you your due, man, I can't imagine what your numbers would be in today's game.
No drops. See the thing about this top, which is crazy. I have a reputation of dropping pass it, which I ever dropped pass I only got like two or three thrown to If I dropped one, that's that's fifty percent. Okay, great, I got three thrown to me, that's a third and I dropped one. But the thing about it, it's no secret. A quarterback is going to throw bad passes or interception. A receiver is gonna drop past it, a running back is gonna fumbl every once in a while, a line is gonna miss a block, or a difference tackle is going to miss a tackle. It's part of the game. But you know, it's just one of those things where if one person says it, then everybody just sort of falls in and go, oh my god. I think if I and I calculate, I try to my drunk ratio compared to everyone Jerry Wiz and everyone else was probably better than there because I didn't really get that many drones to me. I just I mean, so it's one of those things that really bugs me sometimes when I hear a lady on TV saying, well, what he called it was great, but he was known for dropping passes. I go talking about or a guy he says that, like it's not even true. So it's just it's crazy. But anyway, that's it all makes sense when.
You when you came in as a rookie.
So I signed in the USFL, and I look at other guys on the list from the Huli Ball Anthony Carter did as well. So when the expectation that was placed on you by Ditka, was it something that was different than your college experience and the expectations that were put on you, or did they have high expectations for you because.
You came in with world class speed.
The expectation was the same. Actually in college it was actually more expectation because I ran kickoffs back and punts back and a receiver. In the NFL, I started both front returning kickoff return but as you know, I think in the third or fourth game they wouldn't allow me to return punts anymore because they thought I'd get hurt and it was, you know, easier, And then I started returning kickoffs sparely. But then the next year I did, so the expectation was the same for me. It was the same. I tried to pride myself on being on time, knowing my plays, not making mistakes, you know, and being in safe and that's what I was. I ran down the field almost full speed every time to clear it out for Walters, and I knew that was my response, and I accepted that responsibility as a team player because that's what football is for me. It's a team sport. It's not an individual sports like track and field. Track and field is an individual sport where you can go out. It's you against the clock, is you against the next person, and that's it. But in football, it takes a lot of things that happen. For a receiver to get a pass on it has to be called, the play has to be called by the coach, the quarterback gets it, the defense has to have the right defense, The lineman has to block right. It has to have time to throw the ball, has to throw the ball perfectly off both so and you got to catch it. So a lot of things have to happen. But the one thing that you can do is you can control you being on time, you knowing your plays, you being in shape, and you're doing your best that you can do.
So when I got there in eighty five, I was on kickoff return, and I was on kickoff return into the very last game of my NFL career.
Did you return the touchdown against the Cleveland Browns.
Washington. Okay, Washington. I had a one hundred yard touchdown. They were leading US I think fifteen fourteen nothing or something like that, and I returned to kickoff nine nine yards and then the punter missed the punt. Remembering they got because the punter got hurt trying to tackle me, right, and so they had a replacement punter, and then he missed the punt, and then Sewn Gee the Scooper dot touchdown. We went fourteen and then we blew them out.
Yeah, that was the Giants game where Sean Landetta missed the punt. It was Joe Fizman in the Washington game that kicked the two yard punt, all right, negative two yard punt.
So you know, you just think of all those circumstances that happened through our.
Crazy one thing more about that game, and I'll put that one to bet against. I went back and looked, okay, so yeah, Bud Grant on one side, coach Dita. The running back coach of the Vikings was Mark Trustman. The defensive back coach was Pete Carroll. Oh wow, And Jeff Fisher was a Bear's assistant. Mike Singletary of course went on to be a head coach. Ron Rivera was a head coach. Coach, you got all these Hall of famers. That game had a lot of talent in it, a lot of talent in that one game. All right, you mentioned track and field? Are you still running competitive?
I still run, Yes, I still work out, and I still I didn't compete last year just because it was a crazy year. But I still train and still run. Yes.
So born with speed, But to maintain the speed over a lifetime into your fifties and sixties, how the heck did that happen?
You just never stop. If you stop, you're done. You just can't do it. So I've never really stopped running, never stopped working out. Since I retired. I stayed active in track and field, mastered and just stayed running. Still still live, still eat right, I still try to do the same things I did when I was running and when I was playing. Same weight, still way about one seventy two. Oh, come on, in high school, in college, so yeah, same, We're.
All the same. Eat, I'm sixty two to I'm sixty three, you're you're sixty three. Right, First of all, there's not a gray hair on his head there's not a wrinkle. He looks like he should throw the uniform on and let's go. Let's go.
I will say this one thing about Willie was always funny. So like Jay and I or whatever. As being lineman, we would sit there and we would flex our calves like we had big calves, and then Willy would come off and he would flex his calf and it would be like a bicep on the top of his leg.
That was just enormous.
And he would he would always say, look, this is what a calf looks like. It's not those slugs you guys are carrying around at the end of your ankles. But it's you know, the little things that you remember, and you know that we do appreciate. Man.
We had a great time. I mean I've always always played with Tom and Jim and it was crazy. I was grab him, trying to choke him. I try to squeeze him a death, and they just flick me off. But we had great times. I mean, we have great relationships and it will last forever, friends forever.
Just so everybody knows, it wasn't just football, Tommy, the track accolades are it's you know, thirty five years in track and field, fourteen world records and the one that I never talked to you about this over the time of my career with the Bears. You were a member of that nineteen eighty US men's Olympic team that did not compete in the Moscow Summer Games. Does that still hurt you that you guys were not able to do that? That was a group and then you set the world record the four by one hundred with some great names in track and field, Emmett King, Calvin Smith, and of course the great Carl Lewis. But what was that experience like nineteen eighty not able to go?
Well, it was actually at the time you're so young, you you don't realize exactly what it means, and you're like, Okay, no problem, we'll just make the next Olympic team. But in hindsight, when you look back at it, it was a big mistake by the president. President Carter decided for us not to go. It would have been better if we gone beating them on their own turf. I think would have sent a better message. But the thing that happened also is that we had an alternative Olympics. There was two Olympics that year. There was the one in Moscow that was the Olympics, and then there was the one with the Americans that we actually had more countries. We had thirty four nations and Russia had seventeen nations. And at that Olympics, I did want to go medal in the relay. It was not as great as being at the other Olympics, but I did also make the win Olympic team the Bop setting that we got fourth in the Bob setting in Calgary, so I had that experience twice which was unmatched. And then also I made the World Championship team which we broke the world's record. Folk I want hun to many to relay, and also I wanted bronze medal in the hurdles. It was a great experience. I love track and field. It's probably my first love. It's the one sport that I knew I could control.
Football.
You can't control team sports is hard because it's just so many people and you don't have really the control. But in track, either you do the work and when or you don't do the work and you don't win, it shows up. So I was very passionate about it and it actually helped me in football transversity. Football helped me in track and field. Football gave me the toughness to be a hurdler and to be tough and running and running gave me the speed in football to be able to run away from someone and know that on any given sunny, I was a fastest guy on the field. And I relesed in that, Willie, do.
You pay attention to speed in the NFL? Now of a guy like Teri kill or Worthy with Kansas City? Is there anybody that since your time has really impressed you of going wow, this guy has got what it takes to be a great runner and a football player, but a great runner first.
Yeah, absolutely, I mean I love speed, and there are guys that have speed. Of course, Terriek Hill comes to mind because he is one of the fastest guys there in the guy Kansas City's it's pretty fast, pretty quick. I mean Terreik Hill was actually a track runner. So I can go back and look at his time and see what he ran. The guy what's his name of Kansas City Worthy Xavier Worthy Worthy Worthy was not really a track guy, but he did run. I think his time wasn't that impressive, but his forty time was great. But the one thing people don't know about forty times is this the forty time to go off of your reaction. In track and field, you go off the guns reaction, So the guns reaction is going to be slower. You're really slower. So consequently, your forty times will be faster than you would be in a track meet because you're going off the gun. You're really goot. You just second slower, half a second slower because of the gun. So, you know, a lot of people don't understand that, and so they have a misnomer about the speed and track and the speed in football how it correlates. But you know, the guys are quick and football's quickness because you don't have to run one hundred meters. Really, you got to run thirty forty fifty meters and that's basically a football field basically will shortened it down.
It's one thing about it is when I see you and I've known you in person since you've been a young kid, and I see Terry Kill for the first time out a football field.
You're a long, you're a leaner fast, and he's a thicker fast, and it's it's amazing to me that how that you.
Both of you guys can have this world class speed about you, but you look, you're you're a different shape, You're a different template.
Of speed and I that always kind of amazes me.
Well, think about this. Tarik Hill is shorter, so he's going to be quicker. I'm not. I'm not I'm taller, so my strides will be a little longer. Think about you saying Boat, You saying Boat is somewhat of a freak because he's taller, but yet he's as quick as a quicker the smaller guys. When you're shorter, your legs gets to a place faster as opposed to the long striding. So Tarreek is quick and he's still powerful. And but my quickness is in a longated standpoint. You may beat me for ten or twenty yards, but after that I'm coming and coming really fat. And that's the same thing with you saying Boat. And that's the thing that we have. We have the quickness and the speed. It's a combination. Uh and Worthy has a little bit of both. I think I don't know how his you know, past fifty yard is because you know that's one hundred meters And I use a judge of everyone by hundred meters, I mean forties for me is a basterard time. It doesn't really matter distance. It doesn't really matter. It matters in football, but it doesn't matter in track and field. The only thing that matters in track and field is the sixties indoors and the hundred meters outdoors, because that determines the world's fastest man. So that's how I determined speed.
Willie, it's been amazing. Thank you for the time. Thanks for catching up. I hope you're still watching our bears. I know you're out there in California.
Once a bear.
Always be for the Bears, always rooting for the Bears. You know. I know they're going through their things, but they're gonna be okay. I mean, you've got to be positive, they'll be fine. And anytime Tom called me, I have to pick up because he's my guy. He's on my bull the boat list here, so I have to pick up. He's my buddy.
It's amazing, Willie, that we both still have these I know, right, you know, nineteen eighty three Hula Bowl and some of the personalities.
And met a lot to me.
All right, Tom, heaven Willy was cool. I see you light up every time we do an interview with one of your teammates. I mean it's like for you, it's like the memories are so vivid that you could just see on your face how exciting you get talking about him, as you should.
Every one of them though, from top to bottom. And you know, that was kind of the unique quality of the old Hallis Hall, Jeff. We had no escapability. There was no secret room you could go to. There was no but nowhere other than the locker room, the meeting room, in the weight room.
And that's how we got to know each other so well, you know.
And Willie, we'll always have kind of a special place in my heart because I did.
Meet him in college. We did go to an All Star game together.
You kind of had a chance and an opportunity to meet him a little bit and then learn a lot more about him throughout the course of time. And I really admire all of Willie's accomplishments and kind of still the path that he sets them for himself. That I think it's important for young people to see.
Man.
He looks good. I'm certain he's got not getting new hips and new knees. I mean, he looks like he's ready to keep running.
He does. And that's the thing.
Every time you know that that comment you say, oh, it looks like you could still put on the pads. There's not a lot of guys that, in all actuality could do that. But Willy is he has that same resemblance of when he was a world class sprinter and a number one round draft choice. He's got the same body weight, the same look, the same physique and like you said.
No gray hair. And so I mean, Willy has done a great job.
Of keeping himself fit, and like I said, he's a great example for younger players to follow.
He's an example for all of us that he's still had his playing weight at one seventy something. That's so back to that game real quick before we talk about our game. So Steve Fuller was the starting QB. He was thirteen of eighteen one twenty four, but threw a pick the McMahon who was badgering Dick on the sidelines. You were probably listening to it yourself. He probably was in earshot of it, but he was in traction during the week at Lake Forest Hospital, so there was no way he was playing right. But there was a story that was written, and I don't know if you know this. There was a practice on a Saturday and Joe Namath was in town and they were sitting on the bleachers talk and that was apparently his hero, Joe Willie Namath, And so he was really mad that he was not going to be able to play on ABC with Joe Namath. Right, so talks his way into the game and then first snap, touchdown, seven snaps, three touchdowns.
First of all, he was badgering Dicka so badly that Dicka took his helmet away from him and they told him the equipment manager, take us helmet, put it away, and don't tell him where it is. So then finally Jim McMahon badgered him so relentlessly on the sideline. Dicka said, get his helmet, get in the game, and slapped him on the back and pushed him in there.
And that's what.
McMahon was saying on the sideline, what are you gonna do. You're not gonna put me in the game, and you're gonna let us lose this game. Just put me in the game, put a man, and like you said, touchdown.
Yeah, Bears trail out seventeen to nine at that point, third quarter with seven about seven thirty to go into game something like that anyway, But in addition to that, again the names, Okay, so Maing had he had two sacks, Dan Hampton had a sack, Richard Den I mean, neither Hall of Fame players, And then just the significance of that. Do you feel that that win did more for the team and its swagger than any other game for the rest of the season leading up to the one percent?
And I know that's an over exaggerated number because it can only be one hundred percent, but at one thousand percent. That was Thursday night edition of Monday Night Football. Everybody in the NFL world was watching that game, and they were kind of suspicious of what the Bears could be the way they concluded the eighty four season and the type of records they set.
Playlus wasn't the Tampa game a rough one too to start the season, you guys, Doug got about.
Both the New England game and the Tampa game were rough ones to start the season. Then all of a sudden, we went into this environment that when you take the field as an offensive player, it's as loud as you can possibly imagine a stadium being and then all of a sudden, the Bears defense come in and they shut that stadium down. I mean you could have heard somebody walking up the stairs as they were leaving the game in the fourth quarter.
Do you recall or had you ears on dit greeting McMahon at the sideline after the seventy yard bomb.
Well, he greeted them there, but.
It was something like McMahon said something that Dica like, aren't you glad you put me in the game, or there was some comment made to McMahon first to Dica before Dicka could say anything, Oh.
My god, Well that you would expect that from Jim. Right, So seven starters in the eighty five Super Bowl in that eighty three draft, Jimbo, Willie Galt, Mike Richardson second round, Dave Doers in third, t I'm their fourth, Richard Dent, Mark Boarts eighth round. Yes, folks, there were more than seven rounds back then. That's just an incredible, incredible haul. I mean, you've hit you've hit so many key spots there. Three starting offensive lineman, a superstar MVP defensive end, one of the best sackers in NFL history, right out of the gate line of scrimmage. Unbelievable. All right, let's talk about this game coming up. So we listened to Caleb william Bears did not practice on Thursday. They had to walk through, so the we're not even going to go into the injury situation at all, So I don't know who's going to be available who's not by the time this thing drops. And by the way, we're brought to by the United Good news, Chicago United Airlines is getting brand new planes with all the bells and whistles, like Bluetooth connectivity screens at every seed in room for everyone's rollerbag. United Proud to fly the Chicago Bears in you two, I want to know what you thought of both Thomas Brown and Caleb Williams different topics, but the biggest one is one that you've brought up many times since the end of the last game on that the Bears played against San Francisco was a second time around in the division. For Caleb Williams, what Brian Flores may have held back what he's going to spring on him now because I went back they did not blitz a lot in that game.
He might in this one.
Because the environment's going to be insane. They're going to be wearing all white first time in team mystery. They're wearing white helmets. It's an ice out whatever they've kind of made the game out to be. I think it's going to be a rockous environment.
You know it always is on Monday Night football.
No matter what you want to say about that specific game and whomever's playing, is a nation of football fans are watching that game. And I think when you have what the Bears are suffering through and what Caleb is about to do in the course of his career, there's a lot of people that have interest in him. And I like the confidence in the surety of Thomas Brown knowing that he's going to get this thing turned around. He's making the correct adjustments and he knows what he has to do in order to work against the Brian Flores led defense.
And then Caleb. He even mentioned it, he's never experienced a.
Losing streak like this before, and there's nothing more than wanting to be responsible one of the players responsible for turning this thing all around. And I really admire for Caleb. He's not denying the fact that they're in a difficult stretch right now, but he's not accustomed to this and this is not the way he's going to define himself. And so I think it's going to be super interesting because this is the first time in a player's career that you do play the same opponent twice in one season. And you know, we've all been through it. I went through it as a prob myself, and you kind of going, Okay, this guy's not as good as I thought he was. Or man, this guy can cover ground and read a little bit better than I thought he could. Or I noticed this blitz in the first game. Are they going to try to use it again? I know where the vulnerability of this protection is and I want to see how they line up against it. So there's different rhythms to this game. Do you want to break the huddle immediately go to the line of scrimmage so you have plenty of time to read. Or do you want to break the huddle late and go to the line of scrimmage and stay with what you have called in the huddle and see if you can take advantage of the chess game part of it. There's going to be so many interesting topics that we're going to be able to talk about after this game. But I think there's a ton of interesting topics that we're going to be able to think about before this game.
One thing, it really impresses me, and as a rookie in particular, because we've seen rookies crumble under this kind of pressure, right not winning, it's going sideways. He gets up there is as confident as he was the moment he walked in the building. I am impressed with that. And that's just not the podium when he's answering questions, it's walking around the building, it's seeing him on the you know. It's just it's a very interesting perspective I have on that.
Right, you know, and kind of as a Bears fan, it encourages me more as as a Bears, you know, ex player. I'm excited how what the future holds for him. And I think when you have his type of confidence walking around the locker room, it spills over to a lot of those young guys that are going to be here for quite quite a while. So there's a lot of interesting ways that you can look at Caleb Williams, whether you're an active veteran with him or you're an active young guy beginning a career with him. He carries himself and the confidence oozes out of him. And so to me, that's super encouraging. And I know we had a lot. We talked a lot about the eighty five team and that the bake the makeup of that team. Man, he was the most confident guy I've ever seen walk into a locker room. He was so self assured of how to play football, how to read defenses, in how to take advantage of that era of NFL passing game. In NFL football, there are similarities in the confidence between the two.
Have anew or gently used coat laying around head to your local jewelasco until February tenth, and donate one of your new or gently used coach to the thirty sixth annual Chicago Bears Coach Drive help keep Chicagoans warm this winter time. For our Geico gives you more football stat of the week, and it's one that was asked to Thomas Brown. A lot more motion, upwards of ten percent more motion before the snap, And Thomas said, hey, man, you can't be static. He's questioned defensive coaches, Hey, what's harder to deal with? Yes, you know, when you got guys moving back and forth, the defense has to start thinking about what they're doing or is it just window dressing. And I think that's a big change to try and create separation for routes and these receivers running those routes.
I think it gives you a lot more pre snap tells, like in a poker game.
So if you got motion that's associated to a run game, you know exactly who's going to be responsible for who at the point of attack. If you have an outside zone run play, if you have some type of exotic pass or a pass that you've thrown a thousand times this year, and now you set a player in motion, you understand what the coverage is going to be. So now the quarterback understands as how quickly or how much that he can put trust in the protection to give himself a little time. There's so many things that now that Caleb is repetitively said all these plays throughout the course of his time in the NFL, Now he's getting that second and third understanding of exactly what the team can offer you, what the offense can offer you according to the defense that you're seeing.
Some quarterbacks they don't they don't love being able to see and throw over the middle of the field. They'd rather work outside the numbers. Others are just the opposite. And then you get the mobile quarterbacks who use the entire field at their pleasure, which I believe that's Caleb's what's more dangerous because rock Birdy really was something against bear zone defense. You know, work in the middle of the field mostly that was well schemed attack. I don't know what they have played with Kevin O'Connell this time around, with that quarterback Sam Darnold who's hanging in the pocket and doesn't mind it doesn't appear you would think a guy who's been through a tough time would mind a muddy. He does not like if they're around his feet. He's not jumping out of there, and he's waiting in there at the last second to make things happen.
You know, you have to trust your protection that they're going to give you the allotted time according to the route that you've already called in the huddle, and you know where the landmarks to one, two, and three receivers and then checkdown are all gonna be. So because you've done it repetitiously, you know what you need beforehand for the play to be successful, and in terms of routes across the middle. I like the efficiency of routes across the middle if Caleb gets the ball into the hands of the receiver where they're upright and on the run, because now you're turning them into the playmakers that they've been blessed to be. And now if you make one player miss in center field, you're talking about searching out the goal line. Now if you're talking about a real small window along the sideline. When you have a defensive back the football, you make the catch, it puts the defensive back in position to already make the tackle. So I think the Bears, when you have Cole Comet, you have DeAndre Swift, you have Keenan Allen, you have Rome, and you have dj I think every one of these guys are capable of catching any offering that that's called in the huddle. But to me, as a football fan, there's nothing like a crossing route in full stride and then all of a sudden you put that offensive player in a winning position rather than a stalled position.
Yeah, for sure. Like it's all about the it's all about placement where that ball is. You don't don't break stride, Yeah, yeah, right, tastes like another time celebrate responsibily. Miller Brewing Company, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Ninety six calories and three point two cards per twelve ounces. I don't know if you've noticed this, the big three receivers, they're on at eighty plus targets, you know, and I think people would would would like, wait, what, Yeah, they've they've kind of caught up, right, DJ Keenan and Rome. Rome's got over eighty targets.
All right?
Can I ask you this, how many targets does Cole have?
Not nearly that off?
But you don't know that it's in the it's the it's in the fifties.
Okay, But so at before the season ever got underway, Jeff, I remember us doing a lot of different podcasts and just different interviews, and we are talking about how is Caleb, a rookie quarterback, going to be responsible for distributing the football with these types of receivers. And here we are three quarters of the way through the season, and they're all adder near the same number of catches. So that's showing you a responsible quarterback and not necessarily trying to feed players. But they're b fed when their opportunity presents themselves during the course of a game, and I like what I'm seeing.
But their only reason I asked you the.
Cole question is because I wish Coal was a little bit more involved inside those eighty catches.
Well, he's got fifty, he's caught forty two passes high percentage, and DJ's at one four and the other two guys are in the eighties.
Right, So again, I like the number.
I like the numbers by all of them in what they've been able to accomplish so far. But I don't know what it is about the tight end position. And you see how you know, you see what Cole is capable of being. So I just want to be able to say, Okay, three weeks ago, I was saying, I want to see more targets for Keenan Allen, right, and that's happened, and he's been getting his targets. As this season concludes, I want to see a continuous targeted Cole Comet to make sure that he gets the do and uh his value that he can he can add to this football team.
Blue cross in Blue Shield of Illinois right here at home, driving access toward healthier communities through it all, A man who hasn't got a ton of targets this year and only a couple catches against the Bears. He's only scored one touchdown, and that's justin Jefferson. He's been used as a decoy. Last week he was not. He was dangerous. So was Jordan Addison in their win. Jordanadison had a big game against the Bears at Soldier Field. Now, as was the case with Thomas Brown, asked about it. Jefferson's a problem because he creates so much for everybody else also, so but then you want to go and he's still going to beat you if you go to him a lot. He's he's he's a dangerous man. That's exactly right. So how would you defend How would you defend him on Monday night?
You have to have a guy that has is willing to have an unselfish attitude in the way he carries himself in the locker room. If he's only targeted a minimal amount of times, and then the tight end or the assistant wide receiver is getting targeted a bunch. So you know, that's always something that you have to walk around on eggshells with the personality of some of these guys. But you know, winning is winning, and I think that that that breeds an enthusiastic locker room, no matter if you're targeted double digit multiple weeks in a row or someone else is getting double digit targets, because you're grabbing a lot of attention. But I think John Hoak and all the defensive back coaches have done a nice job against Justin Jefferson, and uh, let's see how it goes this game, because Addison had an enormous game against him the first time around, and you're gonna have to limit his exposure.
All right, this is a crazy thing. So there's a lot of talk about the deep ball, right, the deep ball attempts. Not like they're not looking for it, they're they're there, twenty one plus air yards. What are your what's your what's your stat line? I'm shocked at something ready. So yeah, we talk about Caleb, but Patrick Mahomes has completed seven passes twenty one plus air yards, Josh Allen fourteen of forty six, just thirty percent completion on said throw. What does that statistic reveal on the deeper balls?
So, Jeff Joniek's the offensive coordinator of Team X. Okay, all my routes are going to be run at fifteen yards or more, or all my routes are going to be run at seven to ten yards. You know what my accuracy is going to be for the quarterback at seven to ten yards as opposed to my quarterback that's fifteen yards or more, the number is going to be significantly less. And when we talk about yards after catch, we talk about first downs, Jeff.
That's our key. Our key to success is getting my team first down. So I'm not.
Worried about my quarterback throwing seventy yard bombs. I can go to pass, punt and kick and get the kid to do that. But I need accuracy. I need a quarterback and the understanding of the time frame, how the ball is going to get out of his hands quickly enough to support the coverage. And now you look at the sophisticated pass rushings that they put up front. Now in the NFL, you ten times you can have eight guys seven guys that you you have more rushers than you have blockers. So it's part of the process of offensive football movement, all right.
So the number one yardage leader in that category is Sam Darnold. It's just interesting to me, I don't know. Yeah, he's having a year, he's got over eight hundred yards on those kinds of play. But that that you know, so he's putting the ball up, theyre going to get it. That's a simple as yeah.
You know. Again, it doesn't surprise me because when you have Howkinson who came aboard late, but you have Mario, you have Addison, and you have Justin Jefferson and you know, you have Aaron Jones in the backfield. So there's football front portion of the defense that having Aaron Jones and tight end awareness and then the defensive backs are still playing off because you have two dynamic receivers like that, and so you do have the luxury Aaron Jones is a good blocker, the tight end is a good blocker. You got five offensive lineman blocking. Now I got max protection, so let the kid rip it. And so it all goes according to where you're playing at and then who you have a board your offensive team.
We're brought to you by PNC Official Bank of the Bears. Final thought key to the game anything before we go.
To the game, to me is going to be the defensive front, including the linebackers, where they put that uncomfortable pressure on Darnold to see if he throws a couple air and passes early in the game where maybe you can create an extra possession or two, and then the consistency of four quarters harassment of the quarterback is what I need to see. Because when you talk about Montese sweat and you got Jacob Green, and you got Darryl Taylor, and you got Greg Hardy and you got to Marcus Walker, you have a stable of guys that can rush from the outside to put the quarterback in a contained position. You still need some pressure up front, but if I'm talking about pass rushers on this football team, it's about all the guys who can rush from the outside. You know, Darnold's been sacked forty times. Talk about we talked about Caleb the fifth. I mean it's high fifty six, but he's been sacked forty times, So you can get to they've had some of they've had some offensive tackle concerns throughout the year, and so that's why I'm kind of highlighting the outside rushers here. And when I talk about the mix of rushers, I listen, if you got to activate Dominique Robinson and you have a Greg Hardy, and then you have all the other guys you mentioned. If I can put at least one fresh pass rusher in every down and distance and that's gonna rush the passer, Okay.
That's what you're good. Ye, that's what you're gonna do.
I do think that you can create a little dysfunction in the offense and out of the quarterback position if you keep them guessing who is going to be the designated pass rusher on this specific play.
All right, that's going to wrap up Podcasts one nineteen The Bears et cetera podcast special thanks to eighty five Super Bowl winning Bears wide receiver Willie gald For Tom There, I'm Jeff Joniyak. Thanks for listening. Everybody, please subscribe now the Chicago Bears official app, Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. Bear down, everybody,