GET UP | Bears for REAL – Ryan Clark believes Caleb & Chicago roll over Packers to win NFC

GET UP | Bears for REAL – Ryan Clark believes Caleb & Chicago roll over Packers to win NFC

The Bears are the hottest team in the NFC. Oh, baby. No, it’s not. 1986. Seriously, Caleb and the boys have won five straight, best in the conference. Just beat the Super Bowl champs, and now at top not just the NFC North, but the entire NFC at 9 and three. Does it get any better than this? Yes, making the postseason. Here’s Courtney Cronin with the latest on the Bears. The Chicago Bears won just five games during Caleb Williams rookie season with their final holding extra significance. The first game-winning drive of Williams NFL career came against the Packers in week 18 last season to mark Chicago’s first win at Lambeau Field since 2015. While that was nearly a year ago, it’s relevant now because of the confidence it provides the first place Bears. For someone like cornerback Jaylen Johnson, the opportunity in front of the Bears puts purpose to their work. It makes the process even more worth it. Johnson said, “When you’re winning and have true goals, you’re fighting for.” A win at Lambeau Field gives the Bears a 64% chance to win the division. But first place in the NFC North are maintaining the number one seed isn’t placed above the Bears goal of going 1-0 each week. As tight end Cole KT said, “We’re on the mountain top right now, but those things can change quickly at Hall. I’m Courtney Cronin, ESPN.” But don’t you feel the energy change throughout the city or like the greater Chicago area? Doesn’t it seem like everyone is happy? Yeah. Like in a great mood. People are I don’t know. I’m not gonna go out and say people are excited to go to work, but I’m having conversations with people and they’re just they got smile. It’s It’s like 10°. People shoveling snow, but they got smiles on their face because the Bears are winning. Bulls are doing good. I applaud them. Cubs, Blackhawks, White Socks, the Wolves, all the other teams. We the fire. All the teams we got here. For some reason, when the Bears are winning, this city is on fire. It’s on fire. Like, and I I love it, man. I’m loving every minute of it. All right. You know what’s good? What’s good? Dennis Allen. Yes. Yeah. You called it. I knew it. I was hearing a lot during the week. Vic Fanjo. Vic Fanio. Vic Fanio. You know what? Dennis Alo was probably hearing during the week. Vic Fanio. Vic Fan. Vic Fanjo. Vic Fanjo gave up over 400 yards of offense. You know what didn’t do that? Dennis Allen. Dennis Allen. Dennis Allen came up with a great plan. He blitzed 44% of the time against Jaylen Herz after only blitzing 27% of the time during the rest of the season. He came up with a plan. He saw something. Got Jaylen Herz uncomfortable. Under the blitz. Herz was five of 15 with only 50 yards and an interception. Only the second one he threw all year. If you would have told me that was the plan going in, I’d have tried to talk you out of that plan. I would. He’s really good against the blitz. only gave up 56 yards to Saquon Barkley, the defending rushing champion. Great job Allen, you are good, but you know what’s better was even better. Wait, hold on before we get there. Also in good. Let’s talk about his plan for the tush push. His plan for the tush push. That’s part of it. That’s a part of it, right? Sean, right? You saw something on film. You come around the outside, you get that ball. Dennis Allen, good job. Now, a better job. The Bears running backs. DeAndre Swift, unbelievable game. Ruthie’s guy, Kyle Manungi. Amazing game. These Bears running backs had an amazing Look at these. Both over 100 yards for the first time since 1985. Ruthie wasn’t even born then. What happened in 1985, Clay? The Bears won the Super Bowl. David, I know David loves PFF and I don’t like to use him that much, but this is the best PFF rushing grade in the history of PFF. 20 years a single game in 20 years. They broke their computer rushing grade. Kung guy had 74 yards after contact. As a team, the Bears rush for 115 yards after contact. That’s the running backs breaking tackles, making plays that were good, right? Better. And that’s why they are better. And you know what? What could be better than that, Clay? What is the best? What’s best? The guys that don’t get all the glory. The big uglies, the offensive linemen. These guys control the game. 40 minutes time of possession compared to 20. Are you kidding me? The defense is back there sipping my ties. They were getting tied. They wanted to get on the field. The Bears finished with 231 yards between the tackles. Not the whole between the tackles. I was talking about yards before contact or after contact. Let’s talk about some yards before the contact. The Bears had 100 rushing yards before they got touched. Unbelievable. That’s more than the Eagles had as an entire team. Unbelievable. That’s called moving the line of scrimmage, giving your guys some holes. Some lanes are running completely controlled. I love giving them the credit on that. Um, this team, it seems like everyone’s on the same page and they’re swimming in the same direction. How proud of you are these guys to believing in that common goal and the culture that you’re trying to build there in Chicago. Yeah. No, I I think uh I think I keep circling back to a lot of these these veteran players that we got. I think they’re really holding this thing together uh nicely and and they’re uh the messaging is is resonating through that locker room. So, I’m talking about guys like Kevin Bard. I’m talking about Grady Jarrett, Joe Tuni. Um, I can go on and on and on. We got a number of guys that know what what good football looks like and what what winning should look like and feel like. And so, um, we’ve been we’ve been gradually getting better over the course of the season in terms of our process, how we how we go about our business in the building with our meetings and our walkthrough and our practices. And, um, you know, we’re experiencing more results, you know, which is which is a good thing. it just buys a little bit more feedback and and guys just want to give a little bit more of themselves than what they were doing prior. So, I think that’s that’s a great thing. And um you know, we’re we’re transitioning a little bit from being you know, I don’t want to say being the hunters to the hunted, but there is a little bit we’re not sneaking up on anybody anymore. You know, there’s there’s a bigger target on our back at this point. Um particularly at this this part of the season and and where we are. uh which that that comes with its own own mindset in and of itself. So, uh same thing. We’ll lean into those veterans that they they know what that looks like and how to handle it and and uh we’ll be okay. And Caleb, how he’s he’s kind of progressed as the season goes on. Obviously, when you’re looking at all the job opportunities in the off season, you had your choices, but it seemed like you zeroed in on this one, and I would imagine the quarterback has something to do with it. How has that relationship progressed? And how has that relationship blossomed to the fact where whether or not the stats are what everyone wanted him to be or not, this guy is clearly a leader on the field? Yeah. No, I think he’s doing a tremendous job. I think the things that that people don’t see, I I really give him a lot of credit for. Um he he’s really become a a pro in terms of how he approaches the game right now. I I love the work that he’s putting in, the time that he’s putting in over the course of the week. Um, I think he’s surrounded by some really good people with the coaching staff we have to the quarterback room. A guy like Case Keenum coming in and helping helping show what this thing should look like when when the coaches aren’t around, that goes a long way. And he’s been he’s been completely bought in. He’s taken the coaching. Um we we’ve gotten so much better just with what we’re trying to do as an offense from certainly the springtime in training camp, but even, you know, before the by-week, it was a shell of what we’re doing currently. And so, uh that’s a that’s a credit to Caleb. He he’s really taken it to the next level. I mean, shoot, he’s he’s using his cadence as a weapon now. We were able to draw an offsides penalty last week, which was which was huge for us. Um, and so when I see things like that, you know, you can you can talk about the stats all day long, but um, I I see growth each and every week, and I couldn’t be more pleased with the direction we’re headed. You know, I tell a story and people are always like, you know, what do you know about this player? I go back to the combine the year he was in, it didn’t work out with anybody. He didn’t he didn’t do any of the physical drills, but the Friday night was a defensive back drills. And I’m looking off in the corner and I see a guy taking photographs like with a professional camera and it’s Caleb Williams taking photos of the DBs from like a perch. And I go over to him like and he’s like, “Well, it’s my guys that my guys are competing and I’m going to be here for him. Wasn’t for the cameras, wasn’t for I’m” I’m like, “Okay, don’t judge a book by its cover. This guy is all about his teammates, which I loved seeing.” And I always tell that story to kind of give young journalists also like make your own impressions on people. When you see Caleb on a day-to-day basis, it might not be the version that other people projected on him coming into college. Am I right? No, 100%. You know, I think it’s he’s been great. Um, we meet one-on-one on a regular basis and and uh you know, we we’re very much seeing football the same way right now and I I I don’t I don’t know what the public perception necessarily is all the time, but um I I I love being around the guy. I think his teammates love being around him, and I think that they’re all acknowledging how much better he continues to get each and every week as well, which which is awesome to see. Yeah. and the energy this team has to to run for 200 plus yards and to run for 200 plus yards in that building on that defense. There has to be an extra little lever of okay guys like that’s that’s a different brand of football than than maybe even anyone else imagined. That’s kind of what you ran in Detroit though with with you know Sonic and Knuckles and those guys. Now you’re bringing it to these two running backs. How much of a of a piece to your offensive mentality is that run game and being able to establish things on on the ground in the trenches when maybe everyone envisions you being the guy who’s calling up the trick plays and doing all the stuff through the air. Well, I mean that that’s how I kind of grew up in football. Um, you know, I I grew up in the mountains of North Carolina and we were very much a run first operation and uh we had a ton of success doing it. I mean, I was a lightly recruited quarterback because of it. But yet, we won a million games. And so, uh, in my DNA, that’s kind of what I believe in. And so, um, yeah, it meshed really well in Detroit because we had a head coach that, uh, that believed in those same things. And, and now that I’m here in Chicago, you know, I’m able to to continue that trend. Um, you know, but it it it starts with the people around you. And so, we got a phenomenal offensive line coach. I I think Dan Roshar does an exquisite job. I think we got Kyle Dean, our assistant O line coach, does a great job uh complimenting him. And then uh just within the O line room where it starts, you know, we we made some serious investments there and those guys are coming through in a big way between Dolman at center with Tuni and Jonah Jackson playing at a high level. This Darnell Wright, I mean, he continues to ascend. Um it’s something he does every week that I’m just kind of in awe of. And so it starts there with them and and then it takes everybody on the perimeter to buy in as well. So, uh, it it’s a pretty thing when it all comes together and especially in a game like that where the conditions were a factor, we needed it. We really needed the run game to click for us to to be able to score points. So, um, yeah, it’s it’s awesome to see and knowing we’re in Chicago, we’re probably going to see a few more games like that. No doubt. Can you tell us about those two backs and and who they are and what they’re about because I Yeah, you know, I got a history with Swifty and uh, you know, high level player, super explosive. Um, I think what what we’ve seen this year is we’ve seen a guy that really is starting to trust the scheme more the longer he’s in it. Um, and so he’s really bring it to life. I saw more of those second and third level breaking of tackles last week than uh what we saw earlier in the season. So he’s continuing to ascend. And then Kyle Manungai, I mean, holy cow, for a rookie, you you would have no idea. Not Not only is he a hard runner, willing to lower his shoulder, tough to bring down, but like this this guy can do it all. He can catch the ball out of the back field. Excellent in pass protection. Got a trust level with him that’s above and beyond. So, um, did you see him at Ruckers? Like, did you have any knowledge of him? I He kind of just showed up on my screen one day and I’m like, “This guy can play.” Well, yeah. I mean, we we knew pretty early on there that, oh, okay, I think we got something here. Um, he his college tape was impressive. He just didn’t have the long speed. And I think sometimes people look at that 40 time and they tend to overlook a player or two and uh and he’s certainly that case. And Loveland kind of picked it up the last couple weeks. He’s having some versus Colton Lovelin a pick that everyone was like, “All right, that’s another weapon for for Caleb.” How has he performed in his rookie season? It seems like he’s progressing. Yeah, you know, we we didn’t have him most the offseason with the he was still rehabbing from the injury and so um once we got him into camp and and were able to get him acclimated, he’s just really taken off. uh had a little setback there early in the season. He was out for a game or two. Uh but I I could I think where you’re hopeful when you’re projecting is you’re looking at, hey, he’s a willing blocker, but at this level that willingness only takes you so far. I think he’s a very effective blocker at this level. Um not only is he willing to do it, but he’s he’s shown a knack to play physical and finish his blocks. Uh which is huge because that’s that’s really what we believe in. We want complete tight ends that can do it all. and he and Cole KT. I think it’s a great combination. Durham Smite, throw him into the equation as well. I think we got three guys that that we got a lot of confidence in. Um, and we continue to get them more involved in the passing game as well. We’re going to wrap shortly because I know you got to get to practice.

GET UP | Bears for REAL – Ryan Clark believes Caleb & Chicago roll over Packers to win NFC