BYE WEEK ADJUSTMENTS: What Can Ben Johnson Do to Jumpstart Chicago Bears? | CHGO Bears Podcast

BYE WEEK ADJUSTMENTS: What Can Ben Johnson Do to Jumpstart Chicago Bears? | CHGO Bears Podcast

Back from Las Vegas and into the by-week we go. Got a big show for you. We’re going to take a look at some of the things that the Bears can do. Obviously feeling good at two and two, but they need to fix a lot of things as well. So, we’re going to talk about by-week adjustments today. CHGO Bear starts right now. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] This is the CHO Bears podcast presented by 365. Go ahead and download the Bet 365 app. Use code CHO365 when you sign up whenever the moment. It is never ordinary at bet365. It certainly was not ordinary in Las Vegas over the weekend. What a weekend we had. That is freaking me out that you’re on that side of the screen. I’m on that side of the screen. Whoa, we’re back. That is, you know, that was cool. Just do that. I I I I like that Hogue attention to detail is already on point right into the B. There is no no rest for the weary here. Bears are practicing today. We’re podcasting today. Um it is true that the trip to Vegas was our best trip yet. We have we’ve been in and around. Um I mean, London was amazing. Uh, but I came back from London dead. Uh, cuz I was it was just a lot. There was a lot going on on that trip. This was Don’t tell the bosses here, Hog. But this was a vacation. This was vacation level trip. That was that was uh that was great is what that was. And I’d like to do it again. So, and they won. So, so you know, it was really Now, not to make this about us because it’s it was about us connecting with you, the Bear CHGO fans. So, it was it was a great great weekend, but it was it was certainly a light lift for for the fans that came out. I mean, I think that they uh even my wife said this morning because she was on the trip and she was like, “I didn’t think anything could beat London.” That beat London. It did. It somehow did. It somehow did. Um and I hope that even for those of you that, you know, were not able to go, but we’re, you know, following along here on CSO, we were able to uh adequately bring you the color from everything both in the game. I thought Kman John’s, you guys did a great job in the locker room telling the story from what was a very memorable Bears football game, too. A lot of great insight. Um, and more to come. I’m actually heading over to Halis as soon as we’re done with the show. We got Kale Williams talking later today, so we’ll have plenty more uh from the Bears. They have canceled tomorrow’s practice, though. So, I I can compromise 5050. You guys said this yesterday. I was very happy that they were still going to practice the next couple days. So, you know, maybe uh Ben got Cubs tickets Wednesday. I don’t know. But I’m stealing that joke from Kevin Fishbane. Um but okay, they practiced today. I think they got a lift tomorrow morning, then they can go their their their ways and enjoy their bye-week. But so it’s it you know what it is, Adam? It’s called being player friendly. They you get one by all season long. We don’t need to grind out some Wednesday practice. Why don’t you guys get your rest, go see your families, go back to California, West Virginia, Florida, where wherever you’re going. And and by the way, when we come back here, we’re planning on winning a lot of football games. And they also play on Monday night, too. So, I I I I think Ben showing a solid to a team that started out like they were going to be the worst team in the NFL and now are, you know, right in the thick of things. It It’s a It’s a nice little reward. By the way, I see Crystal in the chat here. Crystal hasn’t left Vegas yet, Hog. Uh she’s in the airport right now. She’s still hanging out there. So So is John’s. John’s is still there. I saw a picture of uh Greg and Stephen shirtless in Circus Swim yesterday, which was a little disturbing, but you know, they’re still living it up. I called Derek Stevens and told not to let those guys in, but you know, he was he was fan friendly, so he did. And and that was nice of him. Uh it was probably a good decision. All right. Should we get into this? You ready? Yeah, let’s do this. Yeah. Okay. So, uh, I’m going to take the lead here, Hogue, and make you, uh, coach Hogue, for for the start of the show here as we talk about our bi-week adjustments. And, and yes, team, you know what’s more important than defense? That’s right. Offense, which is why we’re starting with that first here today. Uh, you comfortable with that, Ho? Can we go offense first? Yeah, that’s Yeah, let’s do it. Let’s score points. Uh, okay. So, bye-week adjustments. Tune in, focus right now. If you’re at work and you’re uh you know if if I know we’re a little early for for the show today for Motor Music, Michael who was an outstanding guy there. He likes the show. He likes their lunchtime at 1. Today we’re at we’re at 1:00 tomorrow central time. But just focus in here. Uh let’s talk about the point number one. What are they going to do with the offensive line? Uh Adam Hog, who are your tackles? Um you know what do what’s what’s the future of Braxton Jones? What are you seeing? What do you think they do? Yeah. So, look, I want to look at this through the lens of three different things. Personnel, scheme, and technique. So, we’ll start with personnel here. Like, if you’re Ben Johnson, what are what are the changes you might look at making from a personnel standpoint before you actually get into scheme and some of the technique things because I I got some specifics on that. But I think number one, uh, and this applies in both the run game and the pass game, but who are your tackles? You got to figure this out. It was especially I think in the run game. I thought the Bears missed Darnell Wright. Um I think D the value of Darnell Wright was shown in that football game on Sunday and he’s been really good in the run game. So I think they missed him there. Um Braxton Jones, if you’re wondering why he got benched, I think he had a pretty bad missed assignment um on his last play before he was benched. If you look at that play from the end zone angle on the coach’s film, Cole KTS kind of split out a gap to the left and there’s an end defensive end between Cole and Braxton Jones. And Cole, you can see him on the film like trying to get Braxton’s attention like, “Hey, are you blocking this dude? Who’s blocking this dude?” Uh, and instead he goes to double team the defensive tackle and that end just comes right up field unblocked. I based on now I’m guessing a little bit there, but I’m guessing that’s on Braxton Jones, especially considering next series he wasn’t out there. So, you know, this is this is not even about talent and blocking. This is just about knowing your assignments. Who knows what they’re doing out there? That’s got to be your left tackle when coming out of the by-week. And you know, Theo wasn’t perfect either. There was a run play in the second half after he moved to left tackle where I see four guys on the offensive line go left. I see Theo Benedict go right and I see a linebacker shooting the gap and stuffing uh on a run that went to the left and stuffing DeAndre Swift in the back field for a loss of two. So again, I don’t know the playbook. I don’t know the scheme. I know that when four guys are going one direction and the other guys going the wrong direction and the guy goes through that gap that he’s probably supposed to be in, that was probably on Theo Benedict. So now in his defense, he started that game at right tackle. He practice at right tackle all week. That could have been, you know, I’m sure his head was spinning, especially and I think overall he did a pretty good job of playing both positions considering the task with Max Crosby. But the point of all this is what can you fix in the by-week? And the one is like, let’s just start with who knows what the hell they’re doing and who can execute at the highest level on that offensive line. So, it’s interesting too with Braxton because I don’t view him as somebody that doesn’t know what he’s doing, that wouldn’t understand the offense, that isn’t a hard worker behind the scenes in the classroom figuring everything out. To me, it’s more like your body can’t handle it. And you weren’t, you know, even when your body could handle it, you weren’t elite at that point. You were you were satisfactory. Let’s say it like that. And now, you know, coming back from that, you can’t get to the level that you once were, which was again not the highest level. But so it it it him not comprehending what’s going on is is a stunning way for him to end up on the bench to me. But maybe that’s that’s that’s the way it’s going to go. I I did like seeing, by the way, Baldi, our guy Brian Baldinger with a nice video out there celebrating the Benedet. So I know some people are pushing back on that, but uh if Baldi likes the Benadet, I think that’s uh you know, that’s as far as if he’s going to be the left tackle. That made me feel a little bit better. What do you think they do personnel-wise at wide receiver? What would you like to see? Yeah, the other two things I think Ben needs to look at here. Uh, and and we’re talking more burden. Okay. More burden, please. And that more is not spelled wrong in that outstanding graphic that Katie Duffy put together. We got Katie producing for the rest of the week with us as uh Stephen and Greg play golf and sit in pools together. Um, with burden, it’s just more burden like let’s let’s figure out what he can do. Can we expand that package a little bit for him? Get him the the ball in his hands more. I think that’s something that that Ben Johnson will certainly look to do. In DJ Moore case, his case is a little bit different. I think it’s how he’s being used. How is he being deployed? They have I think they’ve done a pretty good job of getting him in the back field and finding ways to get him the ball out of the back field. That being said, there are times where I would love to see him in the slot more. I would love to see him not split out of X all the time. I think Roman Dunes showing he can do that. They’ve been running a lot of option routes with the laminated Zakius, which don’t get me wrong, he’s doing a great job of and it’s converted a lot of third downs, but to me, DJ Moore is a little bit more explosive, going to give you a little bit more juice once he gets that ball in his hand. So maybe look to use him in some of those opportunities. Now, I’m getting into the scheme a little bit, but how you’re deploying DJ more and continuing to find different creative ways to use DJ. And I think they’re on to this. I just think Ben can find more ways to do it. And I think between those two guys paired with the development of Roma Dunay and the steadiness of Amade Zakias, those four receiving options can continue to get better and better and better and help Caleb Williams rest the season. Yeah, it look everyone I think is tantalized at this point by the talent that Luther Bird possesses. The Bears were at the draft. Missouri fans were watching him in college. Bears fans have seen plenty to realize that, oh, this dude’s fast. This dude’s twitchy. This guy looks really good when the ball’s in his hand with whether it’s a punt return, kick return, or whatever. I don’t think he knows the offense, Adam. Not not to the level that that’s So, so I think he knows it to a point, but to really unlock what he could be, uh, I think it’s like a like a I would call it like a big bye-week for Luther to dial in on the playbook and to really put himself in position. Hey, Ben, I got this. use me because, you know, I’m looking around this room and I think I can get open more than anybody else here because we all know that Luther has a ton of confidence in himself. Uh, just one more on personnel here. What do you think happens with, you know, how do they fix the run game? Who’s getting the football? What do you think goes on? I mean, would they even look at uh, you know, going deeper into the depth chart, if you will? Well, maybe. And look, I thought a very interesting answer from Ben Johnson yesterday in his Zoom call with reporters asked about the run game. He defended DeAndre Swift. He doesn’t seem to think that it’s a running back problem. In fact, he put way more blame on himself. He said it’s a reflection of himself. We can we can once again spend another week, but everyone as he continues to do these press conferences where I think he very fairly points out things that are on the players that are wrong and then points the thumb right back at himself though for what he can do better. I think it’s very refreshing. But to you listen to that answer and it had way more to do with blocking had to do with technique had to do with assignments knowing what you’re doing and on him as the coach that falls on you right make you know you you’re running the show. So I don’t know that they’re going to actually do anything majorly different with the running backs. I do wonder you’re going to probably have Travis Homer coming back soon because he was on IR and eligible to return now after four games. Now, he’s not really a running back that’s going to help you in the running game, per se. He’s really just going to be there if you’re in a stuck in a pinch. Obviously, they’re they’re not using Roshan Johnson right now. So, now you’re going to carry two running backs that are basically there for special teams, but they’re key special teams players. I mean, I doubt you’re going to go in there and have five running backs active. I just Britain Brown gave you a spark at times in the preseason and I don’t want to fall into a trap of being like this guy that’s bounced around this league that looks good in August can really help you. That’s going pretty deep in the bag. But I do just wonder that there’s like they just seem to be missing like a little juice from the running backs. As as much as DeAndre Swift, I think he’s it’s not his fault right now. It’s just something to keep in the back of your mind. I don’t think Ben Johnson does this one. Um, but it there there’s still more there to be had for me. Yeah. Uh, I thought it was notable that he complimented and didn’t put anything on DeAndre and just talked about his the pride of DeAndre Swift and how much, you know, he’s frustrated with where they’re at. I also thought it was interesting that he said, “Look, I’m embarrassed by what we put on tape. I mean, Ben Johnson’s like, look, we got better going into week three, but this past week we not good. Step back.” It’s it’s good to win when you don’t play well. That’s uh you know for a five and 12 football team last year coming in being able to win a road game when you don’t play well. That’s that’s uh that’s that’s that’s I I that’s a glass half full look for me at least because look, you know, even though the Raiders weren’t great. Yes. What were you going to say? Well, I let’s just keep this moving. I want to get to scheme here now. Um because we got to hit our we got to hit our first break. So we that was all personnel. Those were all the personnel things that you look at after Ben Johnson. Now, let’s talk scheme for a second and and let’s get a little bit more into the run game because um they need to find their identity. Find the run game identity. So, identify what you’re doing. Well, I don’t know that you want to abandon everything you want to be if you’re Ben Johnson, but this just looks like an outside zone team to me right now. They’re just better at running the ball outside than they are inside. And at some point you got to accept the fact and and tr look I remember talking about it with Cole KT like right after they hired Ben Johnson and how excited I was to see an offense start running counter and run more gap runs here. Um it’s just not going well at this point and I’m a little surprised that the counter hasn’t been better but a lot of that has to do with assignments and what you can actually execute. So as a coach at some point you got to draw the line and be like all right this is what we’re good at. This is what we’re not. Maybe you can still fix some of the what we’re not good at as the season goes along, but you got to figure out what your what’s your identity here in the run game uh during the by-week. And then the second thing is assuming Coulson Lovelin can come back after the buy from that hip issue. They need to get more out of him. Like you you you use the luxury pick on a tight end and the four weeks this isn’t good enough. It just isn’t. And and I don’t think it’s his fault, but there was an emphasis on getting Coulson Lovelin involved in week three. They did go to him early on in that game and then Caleb threw a ball a little too high and he got popped in the hip and then left the game and basically has been out ever since. But it’s not just about the fact that you have a first round pick, a top 10 talent that you got to get more out of. He’s the key to unlocking this thing to me. He’s the mismatch problem that Cole KT’s not going to give you when when when when he’s got to be the guy that’s running all these routes that he had to do yesterday and now you’re using Durham Smite and Steven Carlson out there. So getting Lovelin back, it’s not just about getting more out of your first round pick. It’s about actually utilizing him in a way that it’s unlocking the whole thing. Even if it’s completions to Cole KT in 12 personnel, it helps unlock everything. So you need to get Lovelin back and if you’re the head coach and the play caller, you need to be utilizing him to unlock the whole offense. Yeah. And look, before he got hurt, he was for whatever reason, it was just a slow start to the season with Coloulston, uh, who wasn’t having a slow start in training camp. So, I think, uh, at least at least I was surprised that that we didn’t see him more. And now that Ben is watching the show today and he sees that Hogue wants more Lovelin, I think you’re going to get more Lovelin. All right, we we got a ton more to do here. We got to go over the defensive side of the ball. So, here I still got to do the technique stuff before we go before we go to the break. So, we got we got So, we talked about personnel. We talked about scheme and now what are you actually coaching though in terms of technique that I can that I’m looking at the film. What can be what can be better? Okay, the first one is the most obvious. There’s been way too many penalties with this team pre- snap, post snap. You know, I thought the holding call on Jonah Jackson was a bad call even on film. But could he have let go? He kind of got in between holding on a little bit too long slash just punishing the guy and he got sort of caught in between so it looked like a hold. That’s why they called it even though I don’t think it was a hold whatever. But that’s a technique thing. So these little tiny details fixing your technique. All right. Second, way too many batted balls. Caleb Williams is not a tall quarterback. If you’re the offensive line, you need to take this personally. When a when a defensive lineman jumps up, they may still block it. You need to punch that guy in the stomach. You need to punch the guy in the ribs. You have to make them think twice about jumping. That is how this works. And and he here’s the biggest reason why you do that. Max Crosby jumps up there and blocks the ball. If you hit him and you knock him down while he’s in midair, which shouldn’t be too hard to do because as soon as you jump up in the air, you lose your your balance and your leverage and anything you got going on below you, you’re you should be on the ground. Guess what you can’t do if you’re on the ground? Intercept the football after you bat it down. We got to accept the fact that passes are going to be batted down, but if you’re the offensive line, you have to make them pay for doing that. And they sure as hell can’t make that play that Max Crosby did, which was an insane play and all the credit in the world to him. But the offensive line needs to take that a little bit more personally. And by the way, real quick, this wasn’t even on my list. Can someone pick Caleb up more when he gets knocked to the ground? I He got hit out of bounds. It just someone rush to him and help him up. It’s It’s really bothering me. It’s been four weeks now of this. Someone do it. They’ve gotten better. They have gotten better. There has They gotten better, but I don’t see everybody running over there to pick up their quarterback. Have his back. Yeah. No, you’re you’re you’re right. They absolutely should. But but we you know, progress has been made. I I’m seeing a lot more love headed towards the quarterback. I love the punish the jumpers. You got one more on your list. You want to hit that one, too? Yeah. Scramble drill’s got to be better. Um I’m thinking of the play and I saw this even in the moment from the stand section 334. Uh we had a great view of things uh in the 300 level, but Caleb’s scrambling to his right. And I don’t know if you picked this up, Karm. He actually ended up yelling at Cole KT when the play was over cuz Cole’s trying to hang out there at the pylon which is normally okay like hey I’m at the pylon I’m trying to score but they also had the chance for the first down and Caleb wanted Cole to come back to the ball more which is what you’re supposed to do in the scramble drill and he actually made it in a pretty insane throw to give Cole a chance to catch that. But if he had come back even one yard, two yards that he would have had a better opportunity to catch the ball, complete that pass, it still would have been a first down. Now you’re sitting pretty first and goal at the goal line. So I think overall that was another thing on tape that they can be better at. And also though on Caleb’s side of it, limit the turnover worthy plays. Now it helps if your receivers are coming back to you, that’s going to help limit the chances you have to take. But Caleb throwing that one ball over the middle when he was rolling right probably should have been picked off. He’s fortunate. He has so much god-given talent to put as much mustard on those footballs as he does. Because if that was, no offense, if that’s even Tyson Bean. Now, Beijing might not make that decision, but if if it’s really any other quarterback that doesn’t have the rocket arm that Caleb does and some of these insane throws he makes, they’re getting picked off. So, it’s it’s a fine line because you want him to use that talent and sometimes he’s going to make those mistakes. But on the scramble drill, I think they can help each other to limit some of those turnover worthy plays if they’re just a little bit sharper. Yeah. And that play, that throwback, he did not have the normal zip on the ball that so that he normally has. So So which is, you know, underlines the difficulty of that throw period. It was And again, it was and the Cole KT thing, by the way, that exchange was interesting cuz cuz Caleb was going up to talk to him and Cole’s coming back. They never actually got together. They were basically screaming at each other for they’re not screaming but having a conversation from 10 yards away and then they both went back. It was it was clear they weren’t on the same page there. Uh but I did like Caleb, you know, just just communicating after the play what he wanted. All right, let’s get to the defensive side of the ball. We’ll do the same exact thing as we look to uh our bi-week adjustments here. We’ll do defensive personnel scheme and technique next. But first, hey, with the bet 365 early payout offered, you are a winner if your team goes up by 17 points with an instant payout on straight bets and parlay selections marked as winners. Download the app. Use code cho365 when you sign up. A Thursday Night Football, you get a $10 safety net bet. Sunday Night Football, they have a $365,000 jackpot every week. Monday Night Football, 50% super profit boost token on same game parlays. Breaking news from Bet 365. We’re in the playoff season on the baseball side, too. Another good reason to get involved here at uh new customers now get $200 in bonus bets when you bet $5, win or lose. Sign up, use the code cho 365. I’ve done this super easy. Deposit 10, place a bet for five. You’ll get 200 in bonus bets if your bet wins or loses. Bonus bets can be used on the spread, totals, player props, futures, and more. Whatever the moment, it is never ordinary. Bet 365. Must be 21 plus. If you’re someone you know has a gambling problem, crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1800 gambler inapp only. And a shout out to our friends at RC Cola. That’s right. When they made these glasses, they were the original back in 1905. That’s right, Hulk. I lost my glasses on the old uh say Yeah. Yeah. So, see these are uh these these are these are Freddy Karman’s keeping them around here. So, uh you know, I just felt like they’re not soft. Those aren’t soft glasses. Exactly. Right. Football High School, Western Illinois. Freddy Carmen’s just like RC. RC not a soft drink. Just a damn good cola. RC again hasn’t changed since 1905 because it didn’t need to. It’s bold. It’s crisp. The flavor it’s always been. RC Cola. Tastes like a punch in the thirst or a punch in the Max Crosby. Let’s celebrate that win one more time. Do yourself a favor. Grab some RC at a local store. Stock up for all your Bears parties, back to school celebrations, whatever you’re doing, watching the game. RC is the move for whatever you’re doing. So, you really lost your glasses. Uh, so if you want to know the full story, Hogue, as you headed out of the show yesterday, um, you know, into the Hog Limo, headed into the Hogue premium seat on the plane into the Hog Limo home. Uh, Stephen who’s, you know, hanging out with Brad’s like, “Yeah.” I’m like, “Am I taking home that tripod?” No, Karm, you’re taking home this 60 lb bag of luggage with everything. as I, you know, was riding the CTA and everything else last night. So, I take this, I roll this thing with me and, you know, just Karm grinding getting it there. And then I get, of course, to the airport to check it in. And the thing’s overweight for, you know, it’s uh another it’s another $60. Karm doesn’t want to spend $60 of CHO’s money. Um, so I start switching stuff around like, you know, at the thing as you do, putting everything into my carry-on. And somewhere, I believe, in that transferral of of of CHGO equipment to carry on, the glasses just ended up on the ground somewhere. And uh you know, we haven’t had a time to go get a new pair. So, I did keep these handy dandy trusties. And uh as if I needed to look any older, here we are. I was going to say, please don’t do that anymore. Did you And by the way, I I put this on Facebook. Okay, I haven’t put it anywhere else. This dude writes, I know we got a million things to do, but someone I get a text this morning. Hey, Karm, can you play at our 55 and over uh tournament this weekend? And I’m like, I’m 52. Don’t in what? In what sport? Tennis. Don’t. I mean, and I compete against this guy, so he obviously thinks I suck. And so, he just he’s like, he must be that old because so he could play 55. And I’m like he’s like, “Oh, sorry.” Like, man, whoopsie. I think you should have lied and then just dominated the tournament. No, they these these these these dudes are are serious. There’s uh all sorts of, you know, you gota you got to verify that ID. So, all right. This is all US. Well, Karm, there’s a good lesson to learn here. As I tell my 11-year-old all the time, don’t put your glasses on the ground ever. Just put them on the ground. They like they must have fallen out. I But thank you. Me and James, I I I I will take lessons. All right, let’s move along. Are you ready? Can we go? I’m ready. Let’s do the defense. Bye- adjustments for the defense. Let’s start with the personnel. What can Dennis Allen do with that Dline, Adam Hog? So, um I don’t know. I I don’t know. Um but the question is similar to the offensive line where we’re like, okay, just who can play? Who knows what they’re doing with the Dline? Dennis Allen just needs to figure out who can create pressure. And I don’t care who you are. I don’t care what your draft status is. I don’t care I don’t care how much you’re getting paid, but who are our best options here to create pressure? And then look at it too, which we’ll get into from a scheme perspective because that part’s on Dennis. Do do we get more twist? How can we mix it up um to to get more out of this? Because right now it is scary how little pressure the Bears are getting. They have to step that up or they’re going to be in big trouble on defense. They’re going to be playing, you know, short-handed uh all the time. Uh if they can’t create more pressure. And then the next thing on the list is just get healthy and stay healthy. Um and this is specifically about two guys, right? It’s about Kyler Gordon and it’s about TJ Edwards. get healthy, but also got to stay healthy. I mean, they need these guys. So, it I’m I’m thinking after the buy, they should be ready to go. But whatever it takes too to make sure these soft tissue injuries don’t keep occurring, if you got to give them an extra week, if you got to give them, you know, a couple more games, it seems like Kyler’s definitely close because he was at least questionable on Sunday. Um, but they they need these guys to get healthy and stay healthy. It sounds so obvious, but that’ll be a huge thing from a personnel standpoint to make this whole thing better. And then from the draft picks, Shamar Turner, Ruben Hippoly, again, don’t care what round you’re drafted in. You drafted them. They’re active. Find a way to get more out of them. The fact that they basically just went went without Ruben Hippoly playing on defense on Sunday is concerning to me. And so, they got to it’s draft and develop. Draft and develop. Jamar Turner needs to develop as the season goes along because the defensive line badly needs him. So, from a personnel standpoint, I mean, those are my priorities for if I’m Dennis Allen during the bye-week. So, it’s super interesting there, Hoger, that in everything you just named personnel wise, I didn’t hear anything about uh the highest paid defensive player on the team and how to perhaps get more out of him. Dude, that but that’s what I was hinting at with I don’t care how much money you make. If you can’t do the job, find somebody who can. So, and then to that point, look, he’s playing about 60% of the plays, okay? And and nobody, I’m sure himself at number one is is pleased with the production they’re getting from Monte Sweat right now. But the biggest plays of the game on Sunday were made by Shamar Turner and Dominique Robinson, which was unbelievable that when they and and Kevin Byer with the huge tackle, you know, to be able to force a field goal. So, I mean, you’re talking about, you know, a safety who had an unbelievable game reading Gino Smith, just phenomenal. Uh, but, you know, making a huge tackle and then, but the nobody would have thought, hey, the biggest tackle of the game is going to be made by Shamar Turner, Dominique Robinson. It’s going to keep him out of uh, you know, stop the drive, force a field goal, give the ball the Bears the ball back, the whole thing. Yeah, without a doubt. So, I just it it’s it’s you just got to find a way to get more out of it. Um, with all those guys I I and if I’m Dennis Allen, I’m also, you know, walking out of my way inside the offices at House Hall and slipping a note under Ryan PZ’s door three times a day that maybe says trade for Trey Hendrickson. I don’t know what give me give me more horses here. I need somebody. Okay. And then so after that note goes in, then then uh Paul comes back and slips a note under his door and says, “Hey, hey, can you do this with the scheme? What do you think he’s writing down on?” Hey buddy, you could scheme this up a little bit better too, DA. Well, uh I see I think he’s doing a pretty good job right now. And so this is where my scheme actually doesn’t have much to do with the um with the D line because I think at this point that’s more just you need talent, you need dudes to step up and and just and just rush better and come up with with with with a better rush plan. But um from a schematic standpoint on the back end, I’d start with this. Keep using Tyreek Stevenson like a number one corner. Uh great development the last two weeks. Tyreek Stevenson’s playing some of his best football as a Bearer since Jaylen Johnson went out. He’s looking like a number one corner right now. Uh small sample size, but keep building him up. This this kid’s got talent, so he needs confidence. He needs that confidence to return, especially he’s going back to Washington where the disastrous Hail Mary happened last year. It’s a huge opportunity for him to get revenge, redemption, whatever you want to call it. And and and they did this. They moved him around. He’s all of a sudden in the slot a couple times. And that’s the second thing is they did DA did a great job of mixing up coverages. It led to interceptions and Kevin Byer talked about this. You know, they put stuff in specifically for the Raiders. They knew what their keys were. They knew when they got this formation that they were going to make this throw over the middle and Kevin Byer broke on it. So, um, and guess what? They did that without Kyler Gordon. So, you get Kyler Gordon back and all the different things he can do. He can help your pass rush by blitzing. he can drop back and be like a safety because he can pretty much play wherever you want. So, keep mixing that up if you’re Dennis Allen from a scheme standpoint, especially with Kyler Gordon coming back. And then finally, we get to technique. Talk about what they can do from a technique standpoint. Um, you know, I don’t think Dennis Allen’s telling them to to jump in the wrong gaps. Okay. read your keys, know where you’re supposed to go, use your technique, get uh get off blocks better, which they’re not doing a great job of right now, especially on that defensive line. Use your technique, use your power, use your god-given ability to get off blocks and then tackle better. I thought Ben Johnson made a great fair point in his press conference yesterday. They went live so much in training camp that he thought that they would be ahead of where they are right now from a tackling standpoint. tackle better. You practiced it. What more can the coaches do? I mean, they’re working on it. We see it on individual drills. They did it live in training camp. This is why you do it. And so, the execution just needs to be there, too. So, I feel like a lot of this falls on the players, falls on getting healthier, and then you have a good defensive coordinator. I like what Dennis Allen’s doing from a scheme standpoint. He can mix things up on the back end as much as he can. And I think you can survive defensively. I I think you can. I don’t think this is going to be a top 10 defense like maybe we all hoped, but they can do enough to survive if those things we talked about in the first segment offensively go to the next level. Yeah. Of everything you just underlined there, the Tyreek Stevenson part is the most exciting to me because, you know, mainly because me and Reek are boys and I, you know, I tend to root for guys that are close to me. And uh look, when when Jaylen went out, me and Reek are boys. Me and Reek are boys. Uh, Carmen. Yeah. Hey, that’s that’s just uh, you know, I got I got chemistry with with my guy 29. Okay. And and he uh, you know, when when Jaylen went down and I kind of was joking with him. I’m like, “Hey, this is this is this is your time. You you’re the number one dude and he’s he was excited about it and he’s been playing like he wants to be that guy. Everybody’s got an ego. Uh, everybody believes in themselves when they get to this level.” So, um, you know, and I think it’s kind of fun coming out of the buy that he does get a chance for some level of redemption when you get to see the Commanders again, uh, and everything that happened last year that we won’t have to mention, but all right, let’s uh, let’s put some faith into DA to wrap that up, too. That that dude was brought here for a reason. And I think whatever whatever however the Bears can be better defensively, I trust that Dennis Allen will figure it out. But when we come back, Hoger, uh, I believe we’re going to talk with uh, we’re going to hear from some Ben Johnson from yesterday. And of course, he addressed uh his reaction to the reporter, so we’ll have a little bit of conversation about that. But first, well, it’s almost October and it’s uh still extremely hot out. See the forecast this weekend? Amazing. 8. Okay. Um but despite that, I promise you, unfortunately, winter will be here before you know it. It always it’s going to just flip like that. It always does. So, just because it’s hot out, don’t be fooled. Call Four Seasons. Make sure your furnace and everything is ready for the winter. They got you covered on a lot of different things. You got a plumbing emergency, call Four Seasons. Electrical emergency, call Four Seasons. Need a new hot water tank installed right now. Right today, call Four Seasons. Now is the time to schedule your Four Seasons furnace tuneup. Four Seasons. 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You can find out and look for your coaches at eye ontheball.net. completely free. You can you you load up your profile. You search for your coaches. Parents, I’m talking to you. Trying to help out your kids, too. Connect directly with the one that’s right for you. Soccer, swimming, baseball, basketball, tennis, you name it. The coaches are there. What are you waiting for? Your future coach, one click away. Go to iontheball.net. That’s eye ontheball.net. All right. Back here on CHCO Bears presented by Bet365. Make sure you use that code cho365 when you sign up. Um, we didn’t really spend too much time talking about this on Sunday in the moment um or um or even yesterday. So, and I know it’s been a story and I thought Ben did a good job addressing this yesterday. So, I thought we I just thought we’d do, you know, five minutes on this right now, especially because as a as a former sideline reporter for Northwestern who interviewed a coach at halftime every single week, I do have some thoughts on it. Um, but just to lead this off, I think this is just a halftime interview that kind of went wrong and is really it’s not really anybody’s fault or that big of a deal, but I think, you know, we can get into it and explain what happened. So, um, I think everybody by now’s probably seen the exchange. We don’t need to play it. I the funny thing was Karma, I was actually going to the bathroom at halftime and you know, one thing if the Bears are going to build this Raider stadium and just do a copycat of it. Can we at least fix the uh the bathroom situation? I’m going to make that request because it could be better than Allegiance Stadium was. Um I I would also like to throw in don’t build Allegiance Stadium. Place is fine, but it was boring and you can do better and look around and you that copycat is not the you can do better than that. Kevin Warren think outside the box. Go ahead. We’re going to talk about that later in the week for sure because I have strong thoughts on that too. Um, but it was funny. I came out of the bathroom. I looked up at the one of the monitors on the concourse and I saw the exchange. Obviously couldn’t hear it and I was just like that looked chaotic. Wonder what that was all about. And then later I heard what kind of happened. Um, so Adidi Kingala, I hope I’m saying that last name right. I think I am. She’s been around for a while now. She’s good. She’s good at what she does. Um, she was a reporter for CBS during the halftime interview. I think it started to go wrong early when Ben was kind of like talking over her at the start. So, like you could kind of tell he was amped up in the game, whatever. It was also loud. It was very loud at the time. And then, you know, the these things are not easy to do. They’re especially harder when you probably don’t like I I did the halftime interview with Pat Fitzgerald every week. We had a great relationship. We still have a great relationship and there were still sometimes that I would I would piss him off with some of the questions, right? Like but at least I’m interviewing the same guy every week. I have a relationship with him. When you’re kind of flying in and out of these cities dealing with different coaches, you don’t necessarily know what’s going to push their buttons and what’s not. Um and I thought, you know, Adidi was on Mullen Hall yesterday, I saw. And I thought she she I thought she did a good job of kind of taking responsibility for her part in it, too. Because even if we’re going to get into the minutia of her whether she said you should make some adjustments or or are you going to make adjustments and it actually being a question in my opinion, that’s not a good question. What adjustments are you going to make is how you ask that question. What can you do better in the second half? That’s going to elicit a better response and certainly not alienate him at all. Now, that being said, credit to Ben Johnson, too, cuz I liked his answer. We’re going to play it for you right now. He was asked to address this whole situation um in a Zoom call yesterday, and this is how Ben Johnson handled it. In the moment, I I honestly I didn’t think too much of it. I’m kind of in in game mode. Um but then when when I look back at it, you know, I I am a little bit uh disappointed with what that looks like. Um, you know, I I didn’t hear very well, and that’s not an excuse, but when when I thought I heard that uh it not a question, but that I needed to make some changes, I I didn’t take that very well. So, I’ll do a better job with those going forward. I think it’s a tough situation, honestly, for both these reporters and coaches to be in. Um, I appreciate that they try to do these interviews. I think the fans want to hear it, but doesn’t it also feel like Karm the only times we remember these interviews is when something goes wrong or somebody says something like Floo did last year. I got tricks up my sleeve. I guess that was two years ago now. Like the very rarely ever you come out of that being like, whoa, that was super insightful. you know, going back into the game and somebody as intense as Ben Johnson, you know, he’s like, first of all, I’m not gonna pretend like we know Ben, like we’re we’re all best friends here. He’s only been here for eight, nine months, what whatever it’s been. But with all of our interactions with this guy, I find it hard to believe that he’s ever going to stand there and purposely try to intimidate a reporter over a question. I think he’s got a switch that flips in games like all great players and coaches probably do. and he got a little bit too intense in the moment. And I also think it’s fair for both the way that he heard the question and what I just said earlier about how the question was actually phrased for him to be a little bit bothered by it at the same time. But on the reporter side of it, it’s also not easy. Half the battle is even finding these coaches coming whether you’re going off the field before halftime or coming out of it and then you’re holding them up from doing their job and hopefully they they have the camera on you at the right time or come to you at the right time so that you’re not pissing the coach off and holding them up even longer. It’s not easy and all of us screw up with our questions sometimes and don’t ask them or phrase them the right way to get the best answer. So I don’t this is a long way of me saying karma I just don’t think this is that big of a deal. I think it’s cool that Ben addressed it the way he did. I think he understands that like it or not he has to do these interviews and it matters how you look in these interviews because you don’t want to come off looking like apparently some people receive this in the moment. All right. First of all, I enjoy how fired up you are about this topic because that was one of the longer how just you took a nice trail through through the whole thing as a guy who’s been on that sideline. So, I I love that you have this many thoughts on it. Uh let me let me say this. He it’s like being a good boss or a good parent. You have to be able to have both polls. You got to be able to be the nice guy and the calm guy and whatnot. And then there has to be a line too that you cannot cross and you are going to be in trouble if you go there. So Ben, I think to me, does a great job just in a general press conference of being accommodating with the media, being somebody that you’re not really afraid to ask a question to. Like he’s nowhere close to a Bobby Knight back in the day when you walked in there, you were straight for a reporter. You were afraid of stepping in the wrong direction that you wouldn’t ask questions. Ben doesn’t create that at all. Uh or he doesn’t do what Lovey would do back in the day and give you nothing either. He’ll give you an answer. Uh he’s also shown that when you go too far, if you want to go talk about last week plays once more, one more time, then he’s going to say, “Can we move on to next week?” And this was kind of a can we move on to I’m not telling you what we need to do better. And what I guess what he thought was that she was saying uh the reporter was saying that um you know that you need to make changes. I didn’t I I suppose it’s loud down there and all the things. So I’m not going to question him on that. I was a little bit surprised to hear that that was sort of where he thought the thing went wrong. But look, I mean, he if I was advising him, I would tell him like, “Look, dude, you can do the Greg Papovich.” What adjustments would score more? Thanks. Like, you don’t like I’m not going to give you some full breakdown of what we need to do. We got to run through the B gap more. And I, you know, like, you know, it’s it’s I I don’t exactly know what response you’re expecting. Um, you know, which is why, you know, as as the sideline stud that you were, and by the way, if people don’t know this, Adam Hog on the sideline, as good as he is on this show or anything else he does as a sideline reporter, there was no better. I would be like, because I would be doing the halftime and listening to him, like Hog’s sideline is unbelievable. Like, it’s just it’s it’s it’s very very strong. So, uh, look, you know, Ben apologized. Ben doesn’t want that. Ben wants to be considered a nice guy and a good dude, which he is. Uh, so I I I think I think we’re all good. Yeah, I think we are too. Thank you for saying that, by the way. I missed the sidelines. You did. I miss my interactions with Fitz. Even when he would get mad at me, which really only happened like once or twice, but I to that point when he was he he would come up to me right after the game. We and we would clear it up in two seconds and they’d be fine. Like it it and that’s that’s part of being the professional of it. Everybody, Dude, this is a high stakes football game. I don’t care if we’re doing high school football. I’m fired up as a coach on the sideline like this is the end of the world which it’s not. But that’s the mentality you got to put yourself in whether you’re a player or a coach during these that’s what part of what makes football so fun and intense. So not everybody’s going to be perfect in the moment whether you’re the reporter or the coach. Yeah. And and to like Bears fan Ben did nothing wrong. That sure great I I’m no one’s pushing back on that. And actually by the way for a sideline interaction that’s as good as it gets. We saw some interaction. We’re actually talking about it normally. Like I was watching on on the flight back yesterday. I’m watching uh ESPN’s NFL leading show and uh you know they had Jamar Chase on. Jamar, what do you got to do today? We got to execute better and like it just just like and and like one of the dudes on the show and I should know the name, but I don’t I forget who who said it was like, “Hey, you could lighten up. You could give us something.” He’s like, “I can’t get around before game time.” You know, the same thing the same Justin. Hey Justin, what did the Jets say? Well, we need to execute. We got to It’s like, okay, no, no one’s going to remember any of these. This one’s going to get a little memory and it’s good. It’s good to see like the real Ben. So, so, so congrats to everybody. Well, and that’s the thing. I think we saw I I think we saw that intensity. I see all the comments right now and I agree with it. Like people like the intensity of Ben Johnson. People want him to have that intensity and and that’s the part where I could see why some people were offended. Like, is he crossing the line by like staring her down? I actually didn’t even notice that part of it in the moment when I saw it live. Um, and and it and it’s just one of those things where I get why people might have seen it that way. I just very I find it hard to believe that he was trying to do that in any time in any type of disrespectful way. Uh, that just doesn’t seem to be who he is so far, even if if he is really really intense. So, in the end, I’m glad we talked about it. I don’t think it’s that big of a deal. And I think it was just cool a cool moment here with Ben Johnson early on in the se not a cool moment but a an an interesting exchange with Ben Johnson to sort of see who he is. A peak behind the curtain during the game which is kind of the whole point of those sideline interviews. Well look uh four games in we’re we’re just seeing that Ben is that guy. We’re seeing it in the way he handles the locker room post game which is unbelievable. Good, better, best. I mean look sideline this. Patrick Finley, don’t ask me that question again. I’m sure there will be a moment where I get myself in trouble. Go Ben, go. I will support it in the moment. I’ll hate it and I will support it. He’s gonna come at Hog. It’s going to be amazing. I said that in the summer. I’m like, I can’t wait to see one of these games actually start cuz I think there’s going to be some fireworks here. And you know what? As long as it’s all respectful, and I thought that exchange with Pat Finley a couple weeks ago was extremely professional, too. It was honestly a little funny. As long as it’s all like that and the reporters are respectful back, then I think this is all gonna be fine. And it helps when you win football games, too. All right, we got to take our last break here. Uh don’t go anywhere, though. We’re gonna get back to the football. We I got more thoughts on the game and uh some of the other observations and some things I think have been overlooked a little bit. We’re going to hear from Theo Benedict in a robe. That’s right. I said Theo Benedet in a robe and Rome. But he wasn’t wearing a robe. It wasn’t Rome in a robe. It was Theo and a robe. It’s all coming up next. Don’t go anywhere. But first, new vehicles are in store. Ray Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram. This is your chance to score a great deal at the drive into fall event. How about Ray Scarpelli just dominating Las Vegas with his crew. Hung out at the tailgate. Had him at the postgame show. He’s a die hard. He cares about CSO. That’s why we care about Ray. Head to Race CDJR on Route 12 today to choose from their huge inventory of new Chrysler Dodge Jeep brand vehicles. Right now, you can get up to 10,000 off MSRP or get 0% financing for 72 months on new 2025 models. Plus, shop over 125 vehicles priced under $20,000. Uh, raise Price Promise. You’ve heard us talk about this. You know you can shop confidently with no add-ons or hidden fees ever. The price you see, the price you hear on this show is the price that you pay. It is that simple. Go check out our partner today to shop one of Chicago’s largest inventories. Find the new the right new vehicle for you, the drive in the fall sales event going on now. For more information, visit raycdjr on route 12 in Fox Lake or online at raydjr.com. They’ve been serving the community since 1963. And you know the moment when you realize you left your favorite sunglasses at the beach. That’s not a good look if you came with us to Vegas and you left your sunglasses there. Whoops. Sounds like you left your other glasses there. I did. I did. That’s why we’re going with these bad boys. But hey, I can read. So, we’re just going to keep that away because it’s really not the look I’m looking for. Uh, but I am looking for the Shady Rays. Hey, listen. I’ve never seen Hogue look so good in Las Vegas that we put his Shady Rays on at the pool just laying there next to Christa enjoying his life with his Shady Rays on. He couldn’t He couldn’t look any better. Great nap. He has a great nap with those shady. That’s because Shady Rays Iowa has your back. We’ve teamed up with Shady Rays to bring you an exclusive offer. You go to shadyrays.com, use the code cho 35% off polarized sunglasses. Try for yourself the shades rated five stars by over 300,000 people. You lose them, you break them, they’ll send you another pair. All right, keeping things going here on CHCO Bears. Um, we got some fun stories coming up as well. Um, speaking of fun, we all know how that game could have gone and could have finished. And when you’re working in the media, you got to prepare for both scenarios sometimes. So, we just thought we’d have fun and show you. Uh, and Katie’s actually producing the show today, but she was back in Chicago. Uh, crushing it, help she unbelievable job, our entire team back in Chicago while we were in Vegas, uh, just helping support the show, helping support everything. Uh, Pat Norton, too, uh, with his newsletter and everything he does with instant reactions. I didn’t even give him an instant reaction. That’s a fail by me. Um, but Katie had the thumbnail ready to go for this show. Well, the postgame show had the Bears lost. Fortunately, we didn’t have to use it, but this is that thumbnail. For those listening to the podcast, it is a sad picture of our producer Stephen in the stands with a great headline. Viva loss Vegas. Loss as in losing the game. So, you know, it wasn’t going great. No one wanted to do that show. But had we done that show, that would have been a a nice little way to start it. Instead, moments later, this was the scene. Very different version of Stephen. I actually still I was thinking about this because I know that this photo’s kind of gone viral. Karm, I have no idea how Stephen ended up in our arms. It’s so unsteeen like unste. It’s unste because even in the happiest moment of Stephen, I would not think that Stephen would leap up and I’m assuming there was some level of jump or just Braggs probably just picked him up and and you joined in would probably be my guess as to how that went on. Even then, I would have thought he would have fought back. He’d be like, “Don’t pick me up and let me like like a little baby.” But he allowed himself to go into little baby mode, which for like a type A dude who like, you know, cuts his food the right way, this is a big time move by Stephen. And I’m proud of you, Hog. Look at you. That’s that is the happiest hoe you’re going to see. Look at that guy. That dude’s happy. Happy Hulk. That’s Happy Hulk. You know what? And and uh Christa even made a a point of uh we could take that photo off now, Katie. Like Krista made a point in the game saying to me like like and I I said this on the post game like I was wearing the jersey kind of playing to the the fans that were there and everybody uh being there. I had to dig that Hester jersey out of storage. She’s like I don’t think you’ve worn that jersey since you you were in my apartment in Milwaukee like we were first couple years of dating and she’s like this is actually and this is what I remember of you how you acted watching those games. This is like before I started covering the Bears before like long time ago. Um, and that’s how Yeah, I was intense back in those days. I could be intense. I mean, Hog courting dating wearing Hester jerseys at Big Fun Hog is amazing. By the way, we should give Thomas Walker a shout out here for his $50 super chat. What a win on Sunday. Had a great time in Vegas hanging with you. All three true fan trips have been awesome. I’m already looking forward to joining you guys on the next one. We’re looking forward to being there, Thomas. Thanks for saying that. Thanks for being there. Yeah. And um hey, listen, you know, you you you’re you’re professional Hogue through and through. So, it was a big deal for you to even consider putting on a Devon Hester jersey, but you know, it’s rare that you get to sit in the stands. The fans wanted it. I’m I’m a I’m a man of the people. Yeah, maybe. I don’t know. Well, you’re you’re you’re not going too far, but you’re you’re you made moves and you and and you did it there. And look, you’re special teams guy. greatest special teamer of all time. There you go. Uh but honestly, hats off to Stephen just letting the guard down, being in the moment. Uh I mean, Braggs that like I’m not going to even give him but to both of us cuz that’s hard for me to do too. So you got a rare gl we got we got to see the intensity of a Ben Johnson and then you got to see you know a glimpse at the in you know the what did the un unstepheen and happy Hogue unsteog. No, you you’re he’s one and you’re one A and and Braggs was just like I he would be like, you know, and it’s not an insult. Gregory, if you’re watching, which I’m sure you’re not, you guys are playing golf, but that you he’d be like D on this because that was just him. Terror and jubilation. It was that was perfect. So, um it was amazing game. Great win. And see, Chris was saying Ho gave the special teams some juice with that jersey. He did. And then she gave the defense some spark with my defense. And apparently Karm has a crystal story he’s going to tell before we get out of here, too. All right. That was all to tee up some thoughts I had on the game kind of re re-watching it. I just wanted to, you know, as we kind of put to bed week four and an amazing trip, an amazing game in Vegas. Um, you know, I I I kind of call myself out on this, but sometimes you need to watch the tape to to Well, I think we acted a little bit too much like Max Crosby just disappeared in the second half and maybe gave the Bears a little bit too much credit for the adjustments that were made. Now, they do deserve credit. They did make adjustments. In fact, in our insider analysis column with Johnzy in the coming out tomorrow morning, I’m going to show some of those adjustments. Um, but let’s just make something very very clear. Max Crosby was still a beast in the second half. He was a still a problem even when they were containing him. It was leading the other issues. It was it was he was it I I just I got done with that tape as we landed at O’Hare and then went for a 40-minute ride to our gate. Um, just thinking like it’s insane the Bears won that game because when one player when one pass rusher especially plays that it’s kind of like if a quarterback throws for 500 yards and you lose like Max Crosby deserved to win that game with how good he was. And it he even though he the stats didn’t pile up the same way in the second half he was still a menace. I’m thinking even when Caleb scrambled and almost got to the end zone on that scramble like right before they did score, Max Crosby started all the way over on the opposite side and was reading him in the back field then noticed he was going to take off and chased him down. That’s that’s not normal defensive end capability. It’s crazy. He’s so good. So, I just want to give him more props. He deserves it. He was incredible. I love his energy. he was revving up the crowd in addition to making all the plays too. I mean that I’m like h can we can we ever get a defensive player like that. Uh and you know Mack was great for you know a short period of time but we just we haven’t had that guy like literally that that dude’s a unicorn for for everything that he does. So uh that’s any rate fair fair shout out. And look not just as far as winning the game and we talked about some of the stats. teams that give up 240 yards on the ground. They’re they’re nine and 91 in the last 100 NFL games. The Bears haven’t won a game where they gave up 240 yards on the ground since 1979. I was six years old. I mean, that that’s the fact that they won that game. And Ben talked about it yesterday. Uh we did not play well and we were still able to win. I wouldn’t have had the Bears winning games where they didn’t play well before the year. And I’m not trying to crown them and I know and nobody else is. Look, I am a we are celebratory on the show because look, one and three going in the buy versus two and two, it’s a huge difference. It just is there. It’s it’s a it’s a it’s a big- time upgrade as far as for for everybody that roots for this team just to to be at this position after the way the season started. So the the next thing I have on my list was something we did briefly address but I just wanted to bring up again because watching how that game re-watching how it played out Cole KL Cole KT’s false start on fourth and one or was it fourth and two whatever it was what that that resulted in them having to punt the ball and then Tory Taylor had that amazing punt that got the ball down to the one yard line after the penalty. Um, that was an insane break because when you watch the film back, it like I I guess I don’t I can’t say exactly how the play was going to play out and everything the Bears had on, but it does not look like if they’re running the ball there that it’s going to go well. It it does not look like that that’s going to be a successful play on fourth down. So, um, you know, maybe a conspiracy theorist would say Cole Kata just didn’t like the play call and he jumped off sides to force the force the punt. I’m not I’m kidding. That’s obviously not what happened. But it ended up working out because that I don’t think the I just don’t think the fourth down play call was going to go that well. Instead, they punt. Tory delivers a great punt and they end up forcing the punt back and they have even better field goal position or field position. It led to a field goal. Yeah. uh didn’t do it on purpose, but sometimes, you know, you need a little break here and there. So, it break went the Bears’s way cuz in the moment it was like, how did you just jump off sides on a fourth and short? But it ended up it ended up working out and and I think Sorry, go ahead because I’m going to once we hit overtime here, I’m going to explain why that whole sequence might matter going forward this season, too. Well, it’s just very rare that a guy a vet like KT would flinch in that situation like he did, but it happened and fortunately obviously in the end it worked out for the Bears. That’s all. Absolutely. All right, real quick for you. We head to overtime here uh on CSO Bears. Make sure to become a diehard. We got a new shirt out after the win for you to buy, too. That’s at store.allcityetwork.com. Um, so here’s the thing about that punt, and I did talk about this on the post game. Tory Taylor’s put us in a weird position sometimes. Not to blame him, but he has these amazing practices in camp. He looks like he’s just Scotty Sheffller dropping darts in, not in the Ryder Cup, but uh, you know, usually Scotty Sheff Sheffller, you know, three feet from the hole with backspin. Like he he has this ability. He really does. and it just for whatever reason has not been consistent enough in the games. So for him in such a big moment to have that punt he had, which is what we see in practice all the time when they’re open to the media. Here’s why I think that matters, Karm. the next time you’re in that situation and you’re weighing what could go right, what can go wrong if we go for it on fourth down and we know Ben’s going to go for it on fourth down. But if you’re going to use a fourth round pick on a punter, you also need to rely on that punter in certain moments. And so to see him flip the field position and help you out in a moment where you might have felt like you had to go for a fourth down back in your own territory, I think it can and should change some of Ben Johnson’s fourth down decisions the rest of the season. Now, Tori’s got to earn that trust even more, I think, before you get to that po that point. But just keep in mind as we watch some of these fourth down decisions the rest of the season, what your punter can do and obviously what your defense can do because your defense has to get the stop to get the ball back. But those are the types of things as a head coach that can influence fourth down decisions. And for an aggressive head coach like Ben Johnson is and will be, I just think it matters. Well, as the honorary Richard High Totower that I’ll make myself on the show here, Hog, even though you are Mr. Special Teams, the boomer down the middle for Tori, the Bears have just not benefited from that because generally he’s outkicking the coverage and they’re just turning into long returns. The net’s just not that great. That kick, he, for lack of a better way to define, at least for me, he just went for it. I’m gonna angle it over here and you’re not going to be able to get it because my leg is that strong and you’re not gonna you’re not going to be expecting this and I’m gonna trust that it’s going to land and it’s going to just die down right in the perfect spot. And so maybe, you know, it it seems to me that when you are that talented, you might as well lean into the talent a little bit more going forward. Um and and be a little bit more bold. May and and Ben’s a bold guy, so maybe it’ll be coached up a little bit differently. I don’t know. All right. Um I know you want to play Theo Benedict from the So, I mean, I just thought Theo, you know, deserves some love here. So, we want to talk to him after the game. We haven’t we haven’t played Theo yet. And the Bears like it when uh or they don’t like it, at least in the past, when you interview a guy and he’s not wearing a shirt. So, Theo was at his locker, didn’t have a shirt on. So, I said, “Theo uh really appreciate it. Thank you for doing this. Can you uh The Bears like it you prefer if you put a shirt on.” Theo didn’t put a shirt on. Uh he put on something better. And then we had a nice oneminute conversation. So, here’s Theo Benedict. How’d it feel went out there for you today? No, fantastic to get the win. Obviously, we had to fight for that one. Had to fight for that one. Wasn’t always pretty. Frustrated about a lot of the stuff we did on offense. Um, but yeah, relieved to get the win for sure. Left tackle, right tackle. I mean, that was a that was a busy day for you. It’s playing football, you know what I mean? At the end of the day, it’s like going out with your buddies in the yard, you know? Yeah. Just walking in front of you. So, so you’re you’re looking across you and there’s Max Crosby. He’s like I mean that that that’s an interesting day to to have. I mean was he talking to you? What was that like? Yeah, you know he talks he gets himself going. I understand he’s a hell of a player and and he’s earned that right. Does a lot of unorthodox stuff that I think I can learn from and and improve based off kind of maybe weaknesses he exposed that that uh haven’t shown up until I faced a player of his caliber. Yeah. And so this last one the the drive to score and to be able to get in on the ground that had to I mean that’s got to feel real satis. Best feeling as an O lineman is running the ball in. So, especially because it was frustrating on the ground, shot ourselves in the foot multiple times. So, that was at least a bit of a saving grace. I mean, how can you not love that dude, the Benedet robe, playing football in the backyard uh with your friends and Max Crosby? Uh, I’m a Benedet. I’m a Benedet. I’m a Benedet guy. No, he’s fun. And you he’s I said this before the game. He’s He’s It’s been a great story. I think you sometimes got to zoom out and put things in perspective. That dude has played almost no football since he was playing in Canadian I don’t know what what’s the Canadian Big 10 or Pack 12 like I don’t I don’t it that’s where he was playing football the last time he played football and now he’s uh okay we’re going to drop you in at right tackle. Here’s Max Crosby. Good luck. Oh now we’re going to move you to left tackle in the same game where you didn’t practice the entire time. So that’s why Brian Baldinger comes out and does a video the way he did. And what a great opportunity for him to learn from. That’s what I mean when I go back to the adjustments we talked about earlier in the show. Theo playing left tackle going forwards on the table. You know, you take take a look at what he did in this game. Take a look at what he can learn from and get better from. Look at the matchups and he might be your guy. But that’s what Ben Johnson has to figure out here in the next two weeks. Also, shout out Kevin Warren. First class Kevin, you know, not every team I bet has robes like the way the Bears have ro that thing looked comfortable. I mean, this is a that’s a first class Terry Cloth situation with his name on it. And by the way, if you’re right about if it does work out that he can play left tackle and you don’t have to pay for that position the way you normally would if they move on from Braxton. That’s a huge deal. And the other thing, and I keep on saying this, the dude reminds me of Thomas Hayden Church from Sideways, especially after he has the car crash and he’s got his nosees all bloody just Well, he’s got that JJ Watt permanent cut on the nose that like the helmet just reopens. You wear a helmet every day when you play football. So, that thing’s just going to keep reopening. Like JJ had that for like a decade. If if he actually can get better and own that spot, he’ll be very popular in this town. He is a Chicago Bear through and through. That never made sense to me. I was like, JJ Watt, doesn’t that heal in the offseason or you just or just every day do you put on a helmet and bang your head against the wall just so it reopens? I don’t know. Maybe they pick at it. They just want the toughest. They don’t want to they don’t want to leave that on the table. Hey, he’s going to the Hall of Fame. So, if that’s where Theo Beneda ends up, not to create totally unrealistic expectations, but put him in the Hall of Fame. Yeah. You got Roman Dunes here, too, don’t you? Yeah, we can we can hold it for tomorrow if you want. Yeah, that’s it’s fine. we can uh it it’ll flow into some conversation at some point. Uh but shout out to Rome and and everything that he’s been been able to do so far four games in. Um should I tell the Crystal story? Hey, let’s do supers and then we’ll do that and then we got to go because I got to go over to Hall uh to get over for locker room. Um okay, but let’s let’s go through these super chats. Katie, we’ll start with I’ll just do them in order. Tar hockey 33 $10. He says, “Sorry to change the subject, but the fact that our coach had to apologize for that condescending reporter just shows how soft people have become asking such a question Midame. She’s the one that owes sorry.” Again, I don’t think Appreciate the Super. I don’t think anybody needs to be upset at this either way. She addressed it on the radio. I thought she owned her part of it, too. It just these things happen. It’s not that big of a deal. Um, but I definitely appreciate the super and appreciate how much the fans are appreciating the coach for his intensity at the same time. Um, George Mcnasty. George Mcnasty has a good one. $10. How much do I have to donate for CO to ask Ben Johnson at the next press conference why Montes Sweat’s still on the Bears roster? So, uh, related. Well, yeah, a related. That would be how to uh upset the head coach and not get a great answer and get stared down. Now, can we can we ask what they need to do to get Montes Sweat going, which we have, and I I these are the questions I don’t think anybody needs to ask because they’re asking them inside the building. Yeah. Hey, Ben, did Ryan Ples make a mistake when he gave a four-year extension to Montes Sweden and traded a second round pick? We will not be asking that, George Mcnasty. That’s not how it’s going to go. But uh uh they need to get more out of Montes. So hopefully they’ll be able to do that out of the buy. Torion blunt $10. Predictions. Kyle, you want to help me with this one? Gizmo, uh Gizmo, what what am I missing there? Predictions. Kyle, Gizmo, Mua, Mongu, and Austin Bear Booker are going to get nuts Monday night, October 13th. That by will be the cocoon this team needs to spread their wings. Baby, I think Torian’s speaking his own language, Hog, and it’s a beautiful language and we thank him for the super chat. I do appreciate it. I just know I’m missing some reference there that I don’t understand. So, apologies. Apologies. Um, R4B is Caleb’s rate of batted batted down balls a concern. Would love to hear Ben asked about it. It’s a good bye-week question. Um he’s not so we’re not going to hear from Ben for till next week now because they canceled everything tomorrow. But um it’s a good point. We talked about it earlier in the show. Um I do think balls are going to be batted down because he’s not the tallest quarterback, but as I talked about early in the show, the offensive line needs to take ownership of it and and as we say, punish the jumpers. Uh we read Thomas Walker super earlier, but again, appreciate it, Thomas. $50 super chat. He was on the trip. We had a great time. Thanks, Thomas. And uh shout out to True Fan, too. They they they’re growing company, too. And they um we had a lot of fun with those guys, Vince and the whole crew, James. Um great time in Vegas. All right. What do you got from the story standpoint? Okay. One, um I ran into my guy Marty uh Marty Wrinkleman, 50-year Bears fan, uh in the airport on on the way out, and uh he was like he’s like, “I thank you guys so much. you know, we just had to put down our one-year-old dog who was who somehow passed away in the kennel siege on. Uh so he’s like, “You guys are bringing some some, you know, distracting me uh from that and and everything else that’s going on.” So, uh Marty, best to you. Nice conversation with you. Enjoyed it. Million other people that um you know that we connected with uh John Kirk and Troy and Da Williams and uh Bo and Lori and Briggsy from Arizona. met who I saw walking into the thing. Uh Casey and Kelly from Lynenhur, Scott and Griffin Day, Candace the Bear um with her hubby Jared. Uh all just a million others. But I I uh in the spirit of time here because you got to go. I just want to briefly tell uh the amazing story that is Crystal in Las Vegas. And I she was on her agame the whole time here, Hog. And uh you know the level that we’ll go for the die hard to support us like Crystal giving us a super chat every day. There is no there is no level uh greater than there’s nothing we won’t do. And so uh Crystal was staying far away from the property. So she had a bag and a situation. So she’s like, “Kumm, can I can I put my stuff in your room? Uh because I’m going to, you know, because the shows are at Mandandalay and I’m going to need to change and this.” Absolutely. No problem. Of course you can. Uh you’re the greatest. No problem. So, so we go and and uh you know we the game happens on Sunday and going into Sunday into Saturday I got to be honest Crystal had a big Saturday night. I I don’t exactly know what happened but I know that she didn’t get a whole lot of sleep whatever she was doing. So by the time uh you know that postgame show hit on Sunday and we had a great crowd out there but if you looked around you didn’t see Crystal. And so then the show’s over and you know I’m like well we’re going out to dinner and whatnot but I got all my stuff. So I’m like I gotta go back to my room and drop off my bag because I want to go out and and have dinner with y’all and you know play some cards and whatnot the whole thing. So I go back to my room where Crystal had dropped off her bag before and you know and I had given her an extra key. So, I walk in the room and, you know, I’m not expecting anything and the and the TV’s on and there’s kind of a little long walkway in the thing and I’m like, did I leave the TV on? I wouldn’t do that. That’s not that’s, you know, I I care about electricity. I’m trying to save the world. And then I walk in and I look and I, you know, there’s two queen beds in there and, you know, I was sleeping on the far one. I wasn’t expecting anybody in the first one. And there’s this body in this bed and I start screaming my head and and the person in that bed does the same thing back to me. Oh my god. And it’s Crystal in the bed screaming at me as I’m screaming at her. And that was my favorite moment from the Vegas trip. was like I’m like, “You take as long of a nap as you want. No problem. We’re here for you. You’re the greatest. I’m going back downstairs to uh go have have have have dinner with with everybody.” And like three hours later after she had her nap, she came back. But it was two people screaming at each other after a Bears win. And that uh that is the that is the the Vegas trip that I was looking for. Oh, that’s awesome. That’s I you guys were telling me about that that night, but I didn’t realize it was to that level of ter, you know. I thought you guys were sort of embellishing it like you’re joking. It sounds like you were both terrified. We were. That’s great cuz she was dead asleep. Wasn’t expecting anybody walking. And then I was I was that I was that out of my mind because I’m like, “Oh, what what is happening?” Uh, so that happened and and uh and yeah, I can can only hope for something like that to happen again in the future because that was fun in the end. Uh, well, we are not going anywhere cuz that’s uh that’s not Oh, I know what I was going to ask you because you are going somewhere. You’re going to Wrigley Field. Who do you think is going to win this series between the Cubs and Padres’s? I I mean uh Mr. Optimism over here, Hogan. Cubs are going to the World Series. San Diego. They’ve never had any problems with them in the playoffs. I don’t even remember being 11 years old in 1984. Uh I’m not even worried about the fact that I was who’s their best pitcher, Kate Horton. He’s got like a broken rib or something. Um I’m sure this is going to go well for the Cubbies. Shout out Luke and CHO Cubs. Uh watch along today. The whole thing. Let’s I got the watch along. We got the um the postgame show. We as we always do when things are happening, we have you covered here on CHO. So make sure you are checking that out cuz that’s coming up here. games at two. Um, and you know where to be. Just like with our postgame shows when the game is over, if you’re a Cubs fan, go check them out. CHGO Cubs and the watch along it. We’ll have over on the CHO Cubs channel. That’s right. Because there’s a different YouTube channel for that CHO Cubs channel. You can check out that watch along. Um, so go check that out. We I am gonna keep football in my head and ignore that the Cubs are in the playoffs. No. Um, I’m gonna go over to House Hall. We’re gonna hear from Caleb Williams today. There’s some locker room stuff before everybody goes on their break. We will bring that all to you on tomorrow’s show. We’ll have a We’re working on a good guest for you tomorrow as well. Also tell you, there’s a funny story on that that I’ll tell you off the air because it’ll probably annoy people uh on the air. So, I won’t tell it to you. I’ll just Okay. Will I enjoy the story? You’ll love it. Yes. Okay. Um, and Hogan John’s, we’re going to be coming out with a new episode tomorrow and Kevin Clark is going to join us on that one. We’ve had Kevin Clark on this show before. Does a great job with Omaha and ESPN. So, we’ll hear him on Hogan John’s. Got you covered all throughout the bye-week. We’re not going anywhere. Hit that like button, hit subscribe. Thanks to Katie Duffy for producing. We are making one last ditch effort this week to uh hold her hostage and not let her leave us like she’s going to do. So, I don’t know. We might just have to give her Steven’s job. He’s in Vegas. He won’t care, right? We don’t want to lose you, Katie. We Yeah. You know who was that guy? Wally Pip, whatever it was. Yeah. Deaggio, let’s go. All right. We’ll see you guys all tomorrow. Thanks for watching, listening. Talk to you then. [Music] [Applause] [Music]

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The Chicago Bears enter the bye week 2-2, coming off a thrilling win over the Las Vegas Raiders. But, what changes are in store for the Bears in their week off? What can Ben Johnson do to tweak the offense into peak form? What does Dennis Allen need to whip the defense into shape? Adam Hoge and Mark Carman discuss on this episode of CHGO Bears. Plus, hear from Theo Benedet and Rome Odunze from the locker room on Sunday.

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