Know Your Foe: New Orleans Saints vs. Chicago Bears | Can Saints Defense Contain Caleb Williams?

Know Your Foe: New Orleans Saints vs. Chicago Bears | Can Saints Defense Contain Caleb Williams?

Bears are three and two as the Saints head up to Soldier Field. Dave Kaplan, ESPN 1000. Good enough to join us for a couple of minutes here. Hey Dave, we always appreciate it, man. How are you? I’m doing great. How are you doing? Uh be doing better if the Saints weren’t one and five, but part of a rebuild. Um Dave, it’s interesting hearing a lot of the scuttle coming out of this past the Monday Night Football win about how Ben Johnson a relatively short amount of time has already started to change the culture kind of stemming back from from training camp. If you were to define the culture change from a year ago to now within the Bears, the the the roster, the organization, the team, however you want, what would you say are the biggest changes? Oh god. Massive. Massive. Like I’m not gonna tell you that Matt Eberfloose, our old coach now to DC in Dallas, doesn’t know football. I’d be an idiot to tell you that. He obviously does. You don’t become an NFL head coach or a, you know, high level coordinator if you don’t know the game. He was an awful head coach. I mean, truly an awful head coach. And that goes to melting down in some of the biggest moments of the season like the h the uh Thanksgiving Day game in Detroit where they just watch the they’re in field goal range to tie the game at the very least and he doesn’t get a timeout call and he has them and we take the timeouts back with us like you remember the old cell phone minutes that would roll over. Yeah. Only they don’t roll over and he got fired after that. That was the end of him. But it had been brewing for a long time because I had multiple players tell me off the air. They said, “Dude, this guy’s he’s a nice man. He’s a horrific head coach. No level of accountability.” Ben Johnson, Ben Johnson is intense. He is passionate. And he is all about accountability. I mean, we went back to training camp. Caleb and the first team offense are on the field. We’re all there watching this. It’s not as though this was private and it’s hearsay. We’re watching this and they don’t get lined up properly. And he says, “Get the f off the field.” And he pulls him and puts the second string in. And we asked Ben after practice. What was that about? They didn’t get lined up and they should know better. So I kicked them out of the play. Then they got to come back in and try it again. But, you know, I had one of their star players I had dinner with and he said, “Let me just tell you the difference between the two guys. If I flu was standing there and said, “Hey, uh, team policy, we don’t touch this chair anymore.” He goes, “Now touch the chair.” And I touched the chair. And he said, “Yeah, we probably don’t want to touch the chair. It’s kind of a point of emphasis, but no big deal if you did.” He said, “Then if it’s Ben Johnson, what in the f are you doing?” I will cut your ass. I You’ll be out of here. You know what the rules are. You’re fairly warned. The next time you will be looking for a new franchise, he said, everyone’s like, “Oh, wow. This guy means business.” Another example is under Eberloose, you could eat your breakfast during the team meetings. So guys would show up, grab their omelette or whatever, slouch in the chair, be eating while he’s talking. They tried that the first day that Ben Johnson was on the job and he stops. He goes, “What is all this?” What do you mean, coach? What is with the food? Get it out of here. We’re here to work. That’s it. You want to eat after? Fine. You want to eat before? Get here earlier. Get the food out of here. We’re here to work from this point forward. And it was an adjustment period because some guys can handle being coached super hard, super intense, profanely. Some guys can’t. Not everybody can handle that. The culture here, these dudes love playing for him. And it’s not easy. It’s hard. But guess what? You’re starting to see progress here with the Chicago Bears. Uh faster than many might have anticipated. Uh, of course when you have the number one pick in the draft, playing the most important position in organized team sports, that helps. So, a year two under Caleb Williams, where have you noticed the most uh growth? Uh, he does not look as skittish in the pocket. His footwork looks better. He’s still not accurate enough with the ball. You know, sure, people are going to miss some deep throws. that will happen. But Caleb has got to hit, you know, some of the slants the other night. Now, the one he hit Zakius in the fourth quarter, that is a touchdown every day of the week and Zakius dropped it. And that can’t happen. That just cannot happen. He has got to secure that. There’s no one in front of him and he’s gone. 88 out of the gate. See you later. Thanks for coming. and it would have been a massive touchdown for the Bears. But Caleb Williams just looks better when we got the ball in uh Vegas. I was there. We got the ball and have a chance to drive down the field, take the lead. And guess what? I knew once he had the football, I knew our guy is going to deliver. He is going to come through and deliver a strike. And he did just that. and we win the football game on the block kick. The other night we get the ball after the fumble and guess what? I knew he was going to take us down and get us in position. Were we gonna make the kick? Bears teams in the past, they don’t win that football game that way. And he did. He got us down there. We made the kick. Game over. Bears have won three in a row. So, that’s the biggest positive about Kayla Williams. He just needs a little more accuracy. Uh Dave Kaplan is our guest on Twitter at thecap kap the capman if you want to give him a follow. ESPN 1000 in Chicago. So this game has a different layer of intrigue Dave because obviously the Saints former coach Dennis Allen’s now the DC in Chicago. How how has that transition gone with DA there through the first five games? Phenomenal. They absolutely love this guy. The players have said as they call him DA. Uh Kevin Bard I sat down and did an interview with who’s our allpro safety and Kevin Bard said let me just tell you something right now that guy is his quote militaristic he said this is the most intense coach I have ever played for he is militaristic in his approach but we love him he is all ball he is all about us doing things the right way and you know we’re not blessed with the greatest pass rush personnel, but somehow the other day they found a way to stop the number one rushing attack and they found a way to win a football game. That’s it. Nobody has ever uh ever discredited Dennis Allen, the defensive coordinator. Uh the head coach in New Orleans wasn’t great, but the dude knows knows defense. That’s undeniable. So Dave, you got a couple of secondyear quarterbacks. We know the Saints have have had a tough time finding wins. If there is a path for New Orleans maybe to expose something on that Bears defense, what what do you think is the vulnerability? For New Orleans, I’m sorry, the vulnerability in the Bears defense. Bears defense. Okay. Uh I would say you’ve got to stay wedded to the run. I know I read Alvin Kamar did not practice today. Yeah. But I’m assuming he’s going to go. Uh, you have to stay wedded to the run game and then hope that Chicago doesn’t do the job they did the other night slowing down McCrosski Merritt from Washington and slowing down that rushing game because if they do, I think you’re in a lot of trouble against our team. But if you can run the football, you can absolutely come in here and beat them. the um it’s interesting because you just look statistically the Bears allowing 28 points a game that’s near the bottom of the NFL. Um is that just a bit I mean I know the Lions game was 52. Is it really just that outlier that skewed that? Yeah, the Lion game they were lying in weight for our guy Ben Johnson. They were tired of hearing and they love Ben. Yeah. But I heard Brian Branch and others after the game say, “We’re sick and tired of hearing,” well, the Lions are nothing without Ben Johnson being there. And so they were going to send a message. And they absolutely did. And Ben said, “It’s not fun to go through, but guess what? We will treat it as a learning experience and we will find a way to turn this thing around.” And they haven’t lost in. Uh the Bears are three and two. They’re winners of three straight. Or this is one you would assume, Dave, if the Bears are going to make a playoff push, you got to get at home against the New Orleans Saints. What What is Ben Johnson’s blueprint to beat New Orleans Sunday there at Soldierfield? Run the football like they did the other night where all of a sudden they made a change at left tackle. Braxton Jones out. Theo Benedet, an undrafted free agent who sat out last year with injury, uh, but made his first career start at left tackle against the Commanders. Theo Benedict at left tackle. They got Darnell Wright, their top 10 pick uh a couple years ago back. He’s playing with a torn er collateral ligament, but he braced it up and he was magnificent in that game. And as I heard someone on NFL Network put it when I thought about the quote, you know what, that’s a great way to put it. And I’ve used that quote on our radio show that he said that instead of five guys grabbing an instrument and trying to make a band, the Bears played like a symphony on the offensive line the other night. That’s a great way to put it. 100% a great way to put it. Saints and Bears uh Sunday from Chicago Soldier Field. He’s Dave Kaplan, ESPN 1000 in Chicago. You’ll get him on Twitter at the Capman. Man, we always appreciate the time in a couple of minutes. Thank you. Dude, anytime, man. I got I have affinity for down there. I was engaged to a girl from Crowley, Louisiana. Let’s go. We’re on in uh we’re on we’re on the entire I 10 corridor to Lafayette to Lake Charles. So, uh plenty of folks in Crowley are paying attention. Our buddy Ryan Tero told me to tell you hello also. Oh my god. I love that guy. That dude is one of my favorite Chicago athletes that ever came through here. Love that guy. Do people there still love him or are they still sour about the the right side of the rivalry thing when he went to St. I think they’re past it now. I’m just telling you, Ryan Tero, that one of my all-time favorites. That dude was awesome to deal with. Yeah, man. He’s uh he’s he’s a pretty good dude. Uh we appreciate it, Dave. Thanks for the time, man. All right, have a great one. See you. Be well. Uh Dave Kaplan, ESPN 1000 in Chicago. Does a great job. He’s always Terry is the one who connected us with Dave uh years ago, and anytime we need anything Chicago, we call on him. He’s good enough to come on the show. Hey, thanks so much for watching. Please leave your comments. I love to interact. And be sure to hit the red subscribe button below. Further with you. After you.

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Matt Moscona welcomes ESPN 1000’s Dave Kaplan to break down how Ben Johnson has completely transformed the Chicago Bears — from the locker room to the field. Kaplan explains the massive culture shift from Matt Eberflus to Johnson, highlighting new accountability, energy, and focus that have reshaped the organization’s identity. The two also discuss Caleb Williams’ development as the face of the franchise, Dennis Allen’s approach as the Bears’ defensive coordinator, and how this new staff is demanding a higher standard across the board. Matt dives into what the New Orleans Saints must do to handle a rejuvenated Chicago team at Soldier Field, the key matchups to watch, and how this game could set the tone for both teams moving forward.

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