GMFB | Kyle Brandt: Caleb Williams & the Bears become NFC’s new No. 1 seed after Panthers upset Rams

GMFB | Kyle Brandt: Caleb Williams & the Bears become NFC’s new No. 1 seed after Panthers upset Rams

He did not like the question. It was a tough loss and the Rams never lose. They’re now down to 9 and3. The Panthers very much alive in seven and six, 31-28. But here’s our guy, the guy who picked six, Matthew Stafford. Mike Jackson on that allure and that aura of Matthew Stafford this year. Talk about it. Just came to play today. All week y’all just kept talking about how great he is and how like he was Superman with no cape. It was just like at the end of the day, it’s about who’s better today. And we were we got the ball out twice or what? Three times. So we got the result that we wanted. Is that extra incentive when you hear that that outside noise and you have the other Yeah. Cuz it’s like I I had to keep my composure cuz y’all was just acting like the man. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a Hall of Famer. Like when he’s having his Hall of Fame speech, I’m going to be thinking about this pick. So he’s he’s great, but at the end of the day, like it’s about who’s better that day. Superman with no cape, though. Like he’s still a guy. Like he still can get the job done. He’s just got to undo the buttons and then all of a sudden he is Superman. But man, the the the Panthers just dismantled Matthew Stafford yesterday playing great. Panthers now a halfame back in the NFC South from the Buccaneers. Manti and a lot of it has to do with one unit on their team. Yeah, the defense has been incredible. I think if there anybody that’s been Mike Jackson um Superman has been Mike Jackson, he had a pick yesterday for for a touchdown. The week before against the Niners, he had a pick. So when you’re looking at this Carolina Panthers defense for two weeks now, they had three take take the ball away can be for your team. So what Dave Canales has over there defensively with their ability to stop plays but then also put points on the board for your team. I think if the Carolina Panthers are able to continue this streak, the NFC South spot, the NFC South title is up there for the taking for them if they can continue to take continue to take the ball away. Willie. Yeah. And think about the Panthers. We saw them on Monday night against San Francisco 49ers and they didn’t look good. They didn’t look great at all. Then they turn around and have to play the hottest team in the NFL, the LA Rams. And I’m saying to myself, man, I don’t know if they’re going to survive this one either. But Bryce Young, man, fourth and two, rain in his face. He goes, “Hold my Gatorade.” I just move in that pocket. They didn’t they didn’t have him sitting well like they did against San Francisco where far him hard for him to dissect. When you look at Bryce Young in this game, he played to his strength. He didn’t stay stagnant. He moved. He He dipped a dink and dunk. He did everything he needed to do to propel this offense. And if you’re if you’re Dan Canel’s right now, the confidence he’s really laying on to Bryce Young is popping off the tape. You’re seeing this team, this offense, this defense all come together as one. He’s a young head coach. That is a fun outcome for if you’re a neutral fan or not a Rams or Panthers fan because all we’ve had to hold on to, our only foothold on the NFL this year. But nobody’s great. Who’s great? No, the Rams are great. They’re number one in all the power rankings and they’re the only great team in the league. Uh, I don’t know about that. What just happened? They just went to the Panthers and lost and Stafford all of a sudden threw a couple picks. So, in this season of just disarray where all these young quarterbacks are good and the old ones aren’t in. It’s fun now that we have even more cuz now I don’t know what to to handle at all. The Rams are still good and the Rams are going to be the Rams. But credit to the Panthers right now and the Panthers are one of the strangest teams in the league. They may be the strangest team in the league in the team that the fact that you could have these terrible losses that really do look bad and then you come by and beat the best team in football. Panthers last seven games. This is them. Win, loss, win, loss, win, loss, win, back and forth and back and forth. Now they go into that even also strange week 14 buy. So we’re not going to see them for two weeks. And let’s let’s let’s talk about it. Bring up the NFC playoff picture. Is it going to include the Carolina Panthers? It’s hard to talk about them without doing this. All right. So, they’re they’re in like the worst spot you want to be in. Seven and six. Okay. They’re way down there at the 10, but they’re not going to lose next week cuz they don’t play. Some of those teams will. And then they just have this little fourth game gauntlet of Saints, Bucks, Seahawks, Bucks. Can the Panthers get in? I don’t think they’re a playoff team right now because they don’t win two games in a row. You got to win a couple games in a row. I love that you beat the Rams, but it would be very Panthers to go away, come back, and then lose to the Saints. like, “Oh, we thought we had something.” Bryce Young is this story that we were just waiting to wrap our arms around. Such a good dude. Such a good story. Just let us love you. I said this last week after they got blank 20 to9. Let us love you. Go away. Rest, relax, do whatever. And then you have four games to let us love you, Bryce Young. In the meantime, we’re not going to unless you can at least win two games in a row. Hell of a win. Got to put two two back to back. Panthers are undefeated in games that they played in where they have won by three points or less. 5-0 this season. And Kyle, I think that had something to do with the last point that you just made. However, my mind went completely blank after looking at that NFC playoff picture. Bring it up again because was it not just uh last Thursday when that bear was on the right side of the screen? Was the bear not lurking up until today? Because it’s just so large that I feel like it’s staring right at me. Yeah. And I I I all I’ve been told about the Bears is they they haven’t beaten anybody. They can’t beat anybody. They beat up on these terrible teams. They just absolutely beat the hell out of the reigning Nantacy champions, reigning Super Bowl champions. We’ll talk about that game in a little bit. Like, as you know, I was there. I was with the people and the crowd. It stunned in Lincoln Financial. Um, but I mentioned the Panthers guys. They played the Bucks twice in the last month and it’s going to determine a long way towards the NFC South. Why don’t we check in on the Bucks right now because they played it was Cardinals Bucks I don’t a brisk afternoon in Philadelphia we have a premium matchup Williams the Smith touchdown what a drive is in he goes for the touchdown they can’t stop him the tush push you got a fumble here’s right going for the football right there he did he got it out he freed it away got it away from Jaylen Herz Williams rolling, throwing open, making the grab. Touchdown. The Eagles fans are heading for the parking lot. This Bears team should be fired up. This is a huge win for them to come on the road in Philadelphia. [Applause] [Applause] After the game, Caleb Williams was asked about his head coach taking a shirt off in the locker room. He was like, “Yeah, he’s a man of the people.” You know who else is on GMFB? Kyle Brandt. Kyle, if you saw those fans fleeing the stadium in Philadelphia in the seat still was an anonymous family, a dad, a mom, and two kids dressed in all black watching that Bears Eagles game on site. Kyle, how was the day on Friday to watch the Chicago Bears improved to nine and three? It was a great day. And I I I have to keep it real, Jamie. We left early, too. The kids were like getting cold. Like the hotel, they liked it. The hotel had an indoor pool. So they were like, “Can we go back to the pool?” I’m like, “We’re at Eagles Bears. It’s on Amazon.” They’re like, “They want to go back to the hotel.” We left after the third quarter. I wasn’t even there for the Colt touchdown. I’ll just admit it right now. I’m watching on my phone in the parking lot and I didn’t really need to be. That um that was an incredible incredible atmosphere and I love Philly. I love Philly fans. I always stand up for them. But I will tell you this, if you didn’t know anything about the Bears or Eagles and you didn’t know where you were, you were just totally oblivious. And when the Eagles walked out and the Bears walked out and the game started, if I were to tell you, all right, one of these teams is the reigning Super Bowl champ playing in front of their home fans, and the other team is, you know, on a big stage, maybe a little skittish, maybe kind of a pretender, and back to the shallow end. You’d say, “Well, the Bears are obviously the champs. The Eagles, I’m not sure. They can’t tackle anybody. They can’t stop anybody.” It’s not that the game went the way it did early. It’s how it went. It wasn’t the Eagles offense struggling. He was the Bears running through the teeth of that Howie Roseman war chest of defense. All these Jaylen Carters and all these Georgia guys in first round did nothing. They they did not make a play. They did not make a tackle. And instead of just disparaging them, I will just say this is the masterpiece of Ben Johnson. This is what he envisioned. Not only this, I’m talking about the running. The misconception about the Ben Johnson Bears and who or what he wanted them to be this year was that, oh, he he does the trick plays, right, with the Lions and he throws it up and down the field. No, no, no, no. Ben Johnson’s bread and butter with the Lions was Montgomery and Gibbs running and running. This is what he wanted. They have this this old veteran in Swift who’s incredible right now. They have this young seventh round rookie in Manungai who looks exactly what Ashton Genty was supposed to look like in the first round. And they ran for damn near 300 yards against the Super Bowl champs. Not never mind Jaylen Herz and is he on the same p. Never mind all that. This is the defense. And the Eagles fans were stunned because they’re like, I’m not stunned we’re losing. I’m stunned how we’re losing because the the Bears are doing the Eagles thing to the Eagles. This is what they’re supposed to be. So I’ll just cap it and say how long we’ve been talking about this guy 6 weeks that the Bears are fake good. They’re the best bad team or the worst good team. They never beat anybody. Well, what do you want now? They just thumped the Eagles in Philly. Healthy defense. Thumped them physically. And now I I mean, if you’re part of the the endangered species of clowns online who are still saying the Bears are fake and haven’t played anybody, then you just do you. We’re not even going to try to talk you out of it. But now they go to Lambo and it’s Annie up again. This team runs, they play defense, and all five of their remaining games are outdoors, most of them in the cold, so it is perfect. And Ben Johnson is playing this thing beautifully. As much as you tip your hat off to Ben Johnson, you also got to tip your hat off to Dennis Allen and this defense as K mentioned. Man, you’re talking about a group who’s making timely stops and really imposing their will when they need to. You talk about the takeaways and their attack on the football. I we got to tip my another hat we got to tip off too is the Marco Jackson uh their green dot linebacker for the Bears. This is a guy who filled in, stepped in, has been money good ever since. This defense when you turn on the tape, man, they flat out play scrappy, rough, hard-nosed football. And that’s what you need to travel with this time of year when you step into another stadiums like uh Franklin Field over where the Philadelphia Eagles played. You got to be relentless. You got to play with a heart and you got to play with grit. You got to tackle and you got to be disciplined. You got to stay in your rust lanes and you got to pursue all four quarters. And they did that. They really put the Eagles in the blender. And Kyle’s 100% right. When you turn on the tape, you like, man, what am I watching? Am I seeing am I seeing the the Eagles get bullied at the line of scrimmage? Am I seeing Jaylen Herz run sideline to sideline look lost? Am I seeing this secondary of the Bears really suppress AJ Brown and Devonte Smith? You saw it all. And Kyle was at in the building so he can speak as a firsthand witness. But when you talk about this defense overall getting ready for the playoffs and what they need to look like they’re right on schedule running the ball defense schemes is all working for the Bills right now and they’re leading the division. Yeah, Willie, that defense is really taking the ball away and that’s the thing that they lead the NFL in. Now, I want to go back to what uh KB said about Ben Johnson. I think so many times we get infatuated with the trick plays and all of these fancy developing offensive routes that he runs. Ben Johnson wants to run the ball and and he he did mention Jamir Gibbs and David Montgomery and what Ben Johnson had in Detroit. But that duo didn’t do what this duo did this past weekend. Kyle Manungi and DeAndre Swift. Kyle Manung Manunga had 130 yards rushing. He averaged almost six yards a carry. DeAndre Swift had 125 yards rushing, averaged almost 70 yards a carry. Both had a touchdown. That’s the first running back duo to have at least 125 yards rushing and a touchdown since 2008 when Chris Johnson and Lindell White did it for the Tennessee Titans. That’s how dominant these two have been. That’s how dominant Ben Johnson and this run game has been for the for the Chicago Bears. And Ben Johnson has mastered what I call the influence, right? You see how that you see how that fullback just ran past the DN. They’re playing 11 on 10. They’re not blocking one guy and putting that one defender in a in in a pickle. like what am I going to do? Am I going to go out with the the guy that’s blocking that going out for a pass or am I going to tackle the running back? Ben Johnson is a guru when it comes to blocking schemes and running games. And so I got to tip my hat to Ben Johnson and his running game with the two guys that he has because he’s doing things with the Bears that he hadn’t even done with the the the Detroit Lions. So shout out to Ben Johnson. Here’s the thing about being the team that no one saw coming in an NFL season. And Kyle, I this is question is for you. As the representative of the friends that are in your group chat, the family members that are Bears fans last year at this time, the Vikings were amassing 14 wins and I had like this lump in my throat like when is the other shoe going to drop? How’s this thing going to go? What is the feeling you have? Are you tipping the seesaw at this point of almost like, okay, now it’s getting to be too much attention, or do you think this team is equipped down the stretch to handle the heat that comes with a 13- win season, perhaps hosting some playoff games? That’s a good question for Caleb, and I’m going to ask him tomorrow. I’m going to Chicago tomorrow, guys. Breaking news on Good Morning Football. I am sitting with Caleb Williams tomorrow, one-on-one in Hall in Lake Forest, Illinois, and I can ask him pretty much anything. And Jamie, the question is right there. I I think for Bears fans going into this season, it’s gone like this. At the get-go, it’s like, let’s just get the train on the tracks. Let’s just hope this Caleb Ben Johnson thing sort of works. Wow, it’s working. Let’s win some games. Wow, we’re winning some games. Let’s win the North. What is it now? What is the goal for this team? And what is the possib If you are the one seed right now in December, and I know there’s football, if it’s December, can you win the Super Bowl this year? Can you win the NFC this year? Why not? You’re sitting there at 9 and three. You’re the one. What one seed doesn’t think? Let’s win the Super Bowl this year. You are well past, yeah, a wild card win would be great. Great thing to build on in the offseason. Hell with that. Win the whole damn thing. I’ll say the same thing I would say to the Broncos, to the Patriots. Who cares how young your quarterback is? Who cares anything? If you are sinning at 9 and three in December, your goal is win the Super Bowl. So, I will talk to Caleb specifically about that. He will probably have a great answer, but we’re going to talk about it all. anything you could possibly imagine. I got time with Caleb. Caleb’s got time. He’s got answers. He’s got thoughts. And can you just imagine, guys, let’s just put our heads together as like people work in media. Can you imagine a better timing to sit down with the franchise quarterback of the Bears as they just beat the Eagles? They’re the one seed and they’re going to Lambo this weekend. I’m so excited. I feel like I’m going to the chocolate factory. I cannot wait to get there tomorrow. Kyle, you’ve got a good luck too going because I remember you interviewed Daniel Jones and then five minutes later the Colts bring in Sauce Gardener. Like you got a good juju in these buildings. My question though, if you’re gonna be interviewing Caleb tomorrow, my question for you is when are you doing Angry Runs and tearing your shirt off during the segment? Um, maybe on Wednesday. I only want to take my shirt off if it’s below zero in New York. So, like that’s Yeah, I’ll do it. Willie, you’re basically the face at this point. Yes, I I try to be an asset, not a liability, so whatever it takes. You are. You are. Last week may have flirted with liability. Uh coming up on GMFB, we got to hand out the game balls and we are not going to give it to the buttons that were on Ben Johnson’s shirt on Friday. They gone. Uh but here’s the rule for game balls. You got to give them out from players yesterday. So that was it for Bears Eagles for us. You’re going to get a game ball going to a player. Although I I’m I’m for

GMFB | Kyle Brandt: Caleb Williams & Bears become NFC’s new No. 1 seed after Panthers upset Rams