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a $1500 first bet offer on your first

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wager. Good

1:19

afternoon everyone. It's great to see you. I

1:21

just want to make sure that I reiterate what

1:24

I said even in my opening press

1:26

conference back in January. You

1:28

know, my whole approach to

1:31

building this franchise, not only

1:33

from a business operation

1:35

standpoint or culture standpoint, a

1:38

stadium development standpoint, a football

1:40

operations standpoint, is to make

1:43

sure that we are extremely

1:45

deliberate, that we're fair,

1:48

that we're good listeners, that we take the

1:50

long-term approach. What needs to be done to

1:52

go forward and do you have the right

1:54

people to accomplish that goal? And that's what

1:56

we're going to continually do here, is to

1:58

build this... program, this

2:01

operations that we're proud of, that

2:03

is not a one year wonder. That we

2:05

don't have a good year and then we

2:07

disappear for 10 years. That we can build

2:09

this from a long-term standpoint. And

2:11

that takes time. What's up? Welcome

2:18

in during a very

2:21

newsy week. It's like dodging

2:23

something every five seconds, not just

2:26

bears related, coaching news, London

2:29

news. It's been a crazy week. Adam

2:31

Hogan, Adam Johns with you here on

2:33

Hogan Johns. London

2:36

baby. London baby. I'm going back. I

2:39

want to thank the NFL and the Chicago

2:41

Bears for giving Adam Johns a

2:44

second chance in London

2:46

without the stomach flu. The redemption

2:49

tour. Redemption tour. It's on baby. It's

2:51

on. I am so excited. I can't

2:53

wait. I hope it works out with

2:56

certain children's schedules. I know Mark Potash

2:58

is wondering that, but yeah,

3:01

I'm excited to have a fresh

3:04

and healthy trip across the sea. Yeah.

3:09

Colleen. Maybe

3:11

the whole family. Yeah, I was going to say, like, are you

3:13

just going to leave her home with four kids? No,

3:15

no, no. I mean, you'll

3:17

have a fifth one by then and you're

3:19

ready. That

3:22

could be on the table. Yeah, so

3:25

it will bring my lovely bride across.

3:27

Maybe the family, if things work out

3:29

with certain children's football

3:31

schedules. Well, with everything

3:34

going on, I was not anticipating that news drop

3:36

this morning. It came very early.

3:38

Just, oh, and by the way, here's

3:40

a press release where the mayor of Chicago

3:43

is announcing a game in London.

3:45

Huh? Okay. Wait, the

3:48

mayor of Chicago announced it or the

3:50

NFL? He's quoted in the

3:52

Bears press release. I didn't

3:54

see that far. I saw Jordan Mckasky's

3:56

tweet. I know it's like subtext, everything

3:58

else, but I'm like... How did we go

4:00

from the Bears not being

4:03

on speaking terms with the last mayor to the

4:06

new mayor being quoted in a

4:08

Bears press release about playing in

4:10

London? See, Kevin Warren plays chess

4:13

when it comes to stadiums. And

4:15

this is, I mean, the mayor of Arlington Heights

4:17

is... That's what I mean. I

4:20

read that, I'm like, the only reason he's in this

4:22

press release is because it's a message to Arlington Heights.

4:24

That's the only reason. It has nothing to do with

4:26

London, it has nothing to do with Chicago, it has

4:28

to do with Arlington Heights. Yes,

4:31

yes, leverage, leverage, baby. And

4:35

at some point, we should probably discuss the

4:38

little bit of stadium talk that came up in

4:40

the press conferences yesterday. But that is,

4:43

it's a little bit farther down the list at this point

4:45

with all the news. But

4:48

hey, I do want to say this before we get

4:50

into the press conferences, we know we have a huge

4:53

presence in the UK

4:55

and a lot of people that listen to

4:57

this podcast overseas, really

5:00

throughout Europe too. So I

5:02

don't think we fully understood that the last time the

5:05

Bears went to London until we

5:07

were there and we met up with a lot

5:09

of you guys and got to meet a lot

5:11

of you guys, which was awesome. So it's

5:14

good to have this news on January 11th. We

5:17

don't know when the game's gonna be or who they're gonna play and all

5:19

that. But obviously,

5:21

we will do whatever we

5:23

can to have

5:25

a good Hogan Johns possible live

5:28

show, at least a meetup. We'll

5:31

plan all that and not

5:33

gonna lie, if anybody in the

5:35

UK or in London has any

5:37

ideas or there's pubs that want to host

5:39

us, please reach out to us. And

5:44

we'll try to make that happen because the earlier

5:46

we can plan it, the better. So definitely want

5:48

to throw that out there. And I know there's

5:50

probably a lot of Bears fans in London right

5:52

now excited in the

5:54

UK and across Europe too. I'm gonna

5:57

quarantine myself for my family for

5:59

two. full

6:02

week.

6:04

Yes. You cannot come near me. The

6:07

annual John's bout of

6:09

stomach flu that comes to this house at that

6:11

time of year. We are going to avoid. Well,

6:13

and Kevin Fishmane and I are going to quarantine

6:15

ourselves from you. We got

6:19

to be healthy. Yeah. We

6:21

can't do live shows in pubs in London if

6:24

we're not present.

6:26

Right. I should talk. I've

6:28

been fighting this voice, whatever I've been dealing with

6:31

for a week now. It's obnoxious. Not

6:33

that I'm counting down to one o'clock today where I can

6:35

finally breathe. All right. Well,

6:38

that was exciting news this morning and obviously

6:41

a lot to come there with, you

6:43

know, whoever they play in London and

6:45

all that. There were big press conferences

6:47

at house hall yesterday. Adam Johns

6:50

was there. I was back in the CHEO

6:52

studios where we reacted last night and I

6:54

know it's been a lot of reaction, but

6:58

a little bit more time to digest everything

7:00

that was said. I re listened to the

7:02

press conferences on my way home last night

7:04

too. And so we got some audio to

7:06

play for you as we kind of break

7:08

all this down. Before we get

7:11

into that, just general takeaways from what

7:13

turned out to be a 90 minute

7:15

press conference that included Ryan polls,

7:18

Maddie, Rifluis, Kevin Warren, and not

7:22

George McCasky. He was

7:24

present. A few McCasky's were actually in the

7:26

room right next to us lining

7:28

the wall to the right

7:31

of the podium or table,

7:33

whatever have you there. My

7:35

first and probably most important

7:37

takeaway is the quarterback

7:39

struggles this year for Justin Fields. Like

7:41

the lack of development, like

7:43

that was the driving factor, I

7:45

think, in a lot of the moves, at

7:48

least the decision making that went on, right?

7:50

Firing Luchesi. And then what comes next? It's

7:53

finding his replacement, but

7:55

also having the first pick and draft

7:57

in the NFL draft. Like that

7:59

is everything right

8:02

now. Quarterback failures drive

8:04

change. I get

8:06

that there is still hope and promise for

8:08

Justin Fields. I think the Bears did

8:10

their best to articulate some of that hope and

8:12

promise that they still see in Justin Fields. But

8:14

at the same time, you heard

8:16

Ryan polls himself. This is such a unique

8:18

situation, having the first pick, having

8:21

such great quarterbacks to consider. It's

8:24

going to be a fun off season, Adam. Yeah,

8:26

I got the sense that my

8:30

gut is telling me they're probably leaning one way or

8:32

the other. But I

8:34

do believe Ryan polls

8:37

and some of his messaging, where

8:41

he clearly put

8:44

it out there to the league. Sway

8:46

me one way or the other. So

8:49

I think they're open to all options. I

8:52

think that makes the offensive coordinator

8:54

hire a little tricky. And

8:57

we're going to get into all that. We're going

9:00

to get into what they said exactly on that

9:02

topic. But obviously, if

9:04

you're taking

9:07

this job, some

9:09

of your biggest questions include, what

9:12

is Matt Eberfelous's job security at

9:14

this point? Going

9:17

forward, in terms of longevity,

9:20

and who the hell am I coaching

9:22

at quarterback? And

9:25

getting somebody to dive in on

9:27

that without maybe knowing that answer

9:29

fully at this point could

9:32

be a little bit of a challenge. But

9:34

I also think there's some truth, John

9:37

C, to Matt Eberfelous saying that their

9:39

phones are blowing up, because

9:41

not too many teams are in the position the

9:43

Bears are in right now with the number one

9:46

pick, with a ton of cap space, with the

9:48

young roster that's up and coming. So

9:50

I can honestly see that a lot

9:53

of different ways. So

9:55

I have a comm coming out, I think,

9:57

probably Friday morning on the athletic wear. everyone

12:00

in business, everyone in the NFL, coach

12:02

player, we all have blind spots. And

12:05

there's areas that we can improve. But

12:07

I have confidence in him, I have confidence

12:09

in Ryan and their working relationship. And

12:12

so what you have to do is to make sure, as

12:14

I said, can you create an environment? Can

12:17

we help each other to be able to pull together

12:19

to create a bond? Because,

12:21

you know, just think about the number

12:23

of coaches each year that are fired

12:26

and that are hired and they all start off, this

12:28

is the right one. This is gonna

12:30

work. And then two years later, it does it

12:33

again. And if you look at the organizations in

12:35

the playoffs right now, look

12:37

at them right now, it took time

12:39

to make sure that they really build,

12:42

even in down times they were building, because

12:44

sometime in the teardown is really you're building

12:46

up. And so I'm focused on making sure,

12:49

and it's not that we become where we relax, you

12:52

know, that we're focused on. We wanna

12:54

be diligent, we're type A individuals, we

12:56

wanna win, we're

12:58

impatiently patient, but

13:00

we also understand the importance to build

13:02

the champion. It does take

13:05

some time. I'm not saying a lot

13:07

of time, but I strongly believe that

13:09

this third year going into this third

13:11

year is gonna be a critical time

13:13

for us to take a major jump.

13:17

I think there's a lot of truth to what he

13:19

was saying there. And I

13:22

don't think that this was an easy situation for the Bears

13:24

to be in. Because

13:26

I do

13:29

believe that there is some value to continuity.

13:32

And there's, I

13:35

mean, there was progress this year, John, and

13:38

you gotta look at all that. And I think a

13:40

lot of the arguments for firing flus have

13:45

to do with the fear of

13:47

the past. And

13:50

I've said it here, and I've said

13:52

it on CHEO 100 times, I mean, if

13:54

they end up in a situation where they're

13:56

firing Matt Eberflux this time next

13:58

year after drafting a rookie quarterback. back, and

14:00

it's all – then that's – which

14:03

just speaks to the idea

14:05

that they better be right about this. I

14:08

understand why they're keeping them, but they

14:10

better be right because otherwise it's just

14:13

repeating the same exact mistakes. But

14:16

that fear of the past doesn't

14:18

necessarily always apply to the present,

14:20

if that makes sense. And

14:23

so I understand where Kevin Warren's coming from and this

14:25

idea that, hey, they didn't make progress from year one

14:27

to year two, and there is something to be said

14:30

about the most successful teams in the league having

14:32

some level of continuity and building things up over

14:34

the course of two or three years. I

14:37

want to go back to something that we have talked about

14:39

at length. Over

14:42

two years, Matt Ibrafouz's teams have

14:44

produced, what, 10 wins? But

14:48

when you just look at that,

14:51

like, oh yeah, fire, I'm 10

14:53

wins, that's awful. Like, it ignores

14:55

so much context of what that

14:57

first year really was. Ryan

15:01

Poles and Matt Ibrafouz were in lockstep

15:03

on what that year was going to

15:05

be. They traded their

15:07

best player. They

15:09

purposely got worse. It was never going to

15:11

be easy. Never

15:13

going to be easy that year.

15:15

And yes, some things probably were

15:18

uglier than they wanted in their first season

15:20

together, but that was a tear down. That

15:23

was trading Cleomak. That was trading Robert

15:25

Quinn. That was trading Roquan Smith. And

15:29

then you start building back up the next year and you

15:31

see the wins double. They're in games. Maybe

15:34

you should have won games against the Lions and Browns,

15:36

you know, two playoff teams. And

15:38

I get that they look bad losing in that

15:41

fashion, but there was progress made. And

15:43

it's also like Ryan Poles repeatedly

15:46

mentioning the rough seas. And

15:48

I get that it's an analogy to try

15:50

to make a point, but the

15:52

Bears at one point,

15:55

I felt they were about to drown. I

15:57

really did. I'm going forward to start to see.

16:00

season. So

16:02

much turmoil. Alan

16:04

Williams is out. I

16:07

thought they were done. I thought they were good. I

16:09

thought about calling out the coaching. Like this is it? They

16:11

were non-competitive. There was a lot of reason

16:13

at that time to believe that, that this

16:15

was headed down to Mark Tresman 2.0 territory.

16:19

100% blown out by Ryan Puls'

16:21

former team, Matt Nagy standing on that

16:23

sideline. Like it was bad. I

16:27

thought they were done, but then they got better. Two

16:30

wins. Defense starts turning it around. There

16:33

were signs of defensive, of that defensive

16:35

turnaround even before Monteserah Sweat arrived. And

16:37

then he comes in and things

16:40

really take off. So

16:42

I think all of that, going

16:46

through those rough seas and getting out of

16:48

it and staying afloat again to use Ryan

16:51

Puls' own phrasing, like that mattered

16:54

to Kevin Warren immensely. Now

16:58

they're sort of trying to

17:00

thread this needle though of this

17:02

idea of continuity despite the fact

17:05

that there's now seven assistant coaches

17:07

from Matt Iberfluis' initial

17:10

staff that need to

17:12

be replaced. I know we both have

17:14

some thoughts on this, but before

17:17

we get to that, let's hear

17:19

from Matt Iberfluis on why he

17:21

decided to fire Luke Getsey.

17:24

What is your decision to move on from Luke Getsey?

17:27

You mentioned development. Can you expand on that?

17:29

Yeah, just the growth and development of

17:32

the offense to me needed to be

17:34

better than what it was.

17:36

And to me, you look at the passing game,

17:38

certainly that's one aspect of it. And

17:40

that's where it is. And we decided to

17:42

move on from that. And again, that was

17:44

my decision. I was just conferring

17:46

with Ryan and

17:49

George and Kevin, and we made

17:51

that decision this morning. Matt, you've

17:53

now had seven coaches this season either dismissed

17:55

or depart the building. How do you account for

17:58

those missteps? That's

18:00

a great question and I

18:02

understand the question. I think when

18:04

you're running an organization, a team, a football

18:06

team, and you're

18:08

the head of that, you gotta make tough decisions.

18:11

And those tough decisions are made and we

18:14

feel it's in the best interest for the Bears

18:16

to do that. You actually have time replacement. What's

18:18

the mistake of you avoid making a second time

18:20

with reassembling a staff here? Yeah, just taking all

18:22

the information, do a great job

18:25

with discerning, have some wisdom there,

18:27

conferring with Brian and the

18:30

rest of the staff that's here and make a

18:32

good decision. Good

18:34

questioning there from Dan Weider, fair

18:36

questioning too on that topic. This

18:39

is, I saw your

18:42

tweet last night too, John, because there's this fear

18:44

of if

18:47

they, by not firing flus

18:49

and having to hire another OC, that

18:52

they're gonna lose this OC in a year

18:54

if they have any type of success. And

18:57

I made this point actually on CHGO yesterday. Okay,

19:00

let's sign up with that. Let's start

19:03

with that. Like that'd be great because

19:05

here's the reality. One

19:07

of the reasons why I think we know

19:10

Ryan Poles is making some headway here and

19:13

that you wanna trust him is

19:15

look at the fact that Ian Cunningham is one

19:17

of the most coveted GMs right now. Look

19:20

at the fact that Jeff King is getting an

19:22

interview, okay? Nobody's

19:25

calling about these coaches. Seven

19:28

coaches are out the door from

19:31

the original staff that Matt Eberfluis

19:33

compiled. And I

19:35

don't, unless I've missed something, I don't hear

19:38

anybody calling these, are

19:41

the requests to interview

19:44

Borgonzi to be a DC

19:46

somewhere? Did I miss that? You know what I mean? Like I just,

19:52

there needs to be more proof here. And

19:54

that's why I think this offensive coordinator hire is so important

19:58

that they can build an all-star team. All-star

20:00

coaching staff and I

20:02

say all-star coaching staff because that's those

20:04

are the words that Matt Eberflux used

20:06

yesterday yesterday I also

20:08

think it's important like you hear

20:10

seven coaches and that sounds awful, but You

20:13

have to separate and distinguish The

20:17

Williams and David Walker situations

20:19

from the quarterback To none

20:22

drum on the other side, right? What

20:24

happened with Williams and Walker are two

20:26

separate Situations from themselves

20:28

even like they're not linked at

20:30

all like that's different than what

20:32

happened offensively Right.

20:34

So those are like two different conversations,

20:37

um, I feel though real

20:39

quickly. I still think it reflects on Flus's

20:43

hiring ability though a little bit. I mean there's

20:45

still Hires and especially in

20:47

my in I with the Allen Williams

20:49

thing because that's like one of his

20:51

guys Yeah, but to your point you

20:54

that you made I want to say earlier

20:56

and I the more I've thought about it The more

20:58

I think I agree with you on this Where

21:01

if there's like a troubling situation? Sometimes

21:05

the best path even though you're close to

21:07

this person is just Saying

21:09

goodbye, you know, I'm saying like

21:12

instead of having something sit or sit around and

21:14

fester and become worse Yeah, well,

21:16

they did the right thing. Yeah, okay. Okay, so

21:18

we're on the same page in that but I

21:21

mean with Luke Datsy I

21:23

mean just look where to me it all comes down to

21:25

the quarterback numbers Just look where

21:27

he ranks Justin Fields, you know

21:29

amongst his colleagues or his peers. He's

21:32

in the bottom third of the league and Really

21:35

all the important statistical categories you

21:37

need for quarterback play. There

21:39

was going to be changes offensively You

21:42

know the same thing applies to do quarterbacks coach Andrew,

21:44

do no go All

21:46

right. So now what are the Bears

21:48

looking for in their? Next

21:52

offensive coordinator. How's the search gonna

21:54

go? When you have

21:56

this offensive coordinator opening, what are the traits and

21:58

the priorities that you guys will? in place on

22:01

the next offensive coordinator here as you're trying to

22:03

get that position. Yeah, I think that's, you know,

22:05

obviously you want to have somebody that's a great

22:07

teacher. You know, I think that's important because, you

22:09

know, he has to coach the coaches to coach

22:11

the position. I think that's the number one trait

22:13

of any great coach. You

22:15

know, you have to be able to have the

22:17

innovation in order to really look at the

22:20

players that you have and be able to help

22:23

enhance and put those guys in position to

22:25

succeed and to get explosives and to

22:27

move the ball down the field. So that

22:30

right there, I think is the most important thing, the

22:32

teacher part of it and the innovation part of

22:35

it and the creativity I think is going to

22:37

be the biggest part. Ryan, don't you need to

22:39

have clarity about, some clarity about

22:41

your quarterback plans as you talk to officers.

22:45

Because I would think that change possibly the group

22:47

of candidates that you can get to tell them

22:49

those interviews. And those are very different tasks between

22:52

coming into work with Justin versus helping you guys

22:54

pick the right quarterback at number one. No, I

22:56

love it because you have to, what

22:58

are you gonna do for these four different types

23:00

of quarterbacks? I wanna hear that and I

23:02

think it's really important to see the versatility

23:05

and the adaptability in their teaching and the

23:07

way they implement a plan, scheme,

23:12

adjust. I think it

23:14

actually makes it pretty dynamic in terms of the

23:16

interview process. Okay,

23:19

can we talk about that? Because that's been a huge

23:21

talking point on Twitter and I completely understand it. Because

23:23

even I, and I wouldn't, in the room, I, yes.

23:27

Now, have you ever not been

23:29

at a press conference, John, but you're watching it

23:31

live and you start screaming at your TV trying

23:33

to get a follow-up question in? Because

23:35

that was me. And I was like, oh, actually, I'm

23:37

not there right now. I'm like, what did you mean

23:40

by four quarterbacks? What does that mean? What does that

23:42

mean? And Courtney, to

23:44

her credit, Courtney Cronin, did

23:47

eventually follow up on

23:49

that and Ryan seemed

23:51

caught off guard. Like he didn't understand what he had

23:53

said. So I don't

23:56

necessarily know. I

23:58

kind of feel like he was just throwing. out a

24:00

hypothetical number

24:03

like as an example of

24:05

like what do you how you

24:07

can handle these four different quarterbacks or

24:09

he flipped

24:11

a little bit and maybe

24:14

he's talking about fields Caleb

24:16

Williams Drake May and mystery quarterback number

24:18

four that could be in the mix

24:21

you know also

24:23

there was a couple times he subtly alluded to

24:25

the idea of a veteran quarterback I don't know

24:27

if you picked up on that there was some

24:29

small subtle I don't think they're going down that

24:31

road but what did you

24:33

make of that four quarterbacks comment I don't know that

24:36

we could take anything from it but it was interesting

24:38

like when you first here like in the moment when

24:40

he said four months Justin Fields Caleb

24:42

Williams Drake May Jane Daniels like that's

24:45

what I thought the

24:47

more you thought about it is no he's there

24:50

is some hypothetical there so

24:52

maybe it's emerging of both

24:54

because even a hypothetical probably

24:56

means those four quarterbacks plus a couple others

24:58

right like those are the quarterbacks in conversations

25:01

number one pick or it's maybe a number

25:03

nine pick maybe it's trading back later in

25:05

the first round maybe that's the hypothetical they

25:07

want to entertain and if

25:09

you're looking for more information

25:11

about your offensive coordinator in terms of

25:14

his ability to adjust his

25:16

adaptability his ability to be

25:19

innovative you're gonna throw those curveballs

25:21

at him in conversations right you're gonna want

25:24

it hey okay well say

25:26

we draft JJ McCarthy instead of Caleb

25:28

Williams you know later in the first

25:30

round what would you do for

25:32

him instead like you want to hear that from

25:34

Shane Waldron you want to hear that from Cliff

25:37

Kingsbury or Clint Kubiak or

25:39

Zach Robinson you want those

25:42

answers from those offensive

25:44

coordinators so yeah hypothetical I

25:47

do think we have some clarity there to

25:49

a certain extent but even

25:51

if he met four different quarterbacks I still

25:53

think it applies to all

25:56

the the big names we've been talking about

25:58

for a bit here right Even if he

26:00

tipped his hand a little bit, he didn't give away any information.

26:02

I mean, it's just sort of the

26:05

same conversation, the same people that we're talking

26:07

about. I think we all know what they're

26:09

looking at in terms of scenarios, like keep

26:11

Justin Fields, use the first

26:14

pick on a quarterback, maybe use number

26:16

9 on a quarterback, trade

26:18

back. Like there's all sorts of different

26:20

things, as

26:22

he alluded to a couple times, like going

26:24

through Ryan Poles as had in the moment

26:26

just in terms of the quantity of scenarios.

26:29

Now, speaking of tipping your hand, one of

26:31

the things I find fascinating, John, about these

26:33

interviews for the OC is

26:37

you have to have

26:39

these conversations without

26:42

also tipping your hand to the coordinators

26:44

who you don't end up hiring. Does

26:46

that make sense? Yeah. You can't have

26:48

– I don't just throw out a name. Let's say

26:50

you interview Clint Kubiak, but you don't hire Clint Kubiak.

26:54

You can't have Clint Kubiak leave the room

26:56

knowing you're going to draft

26:58

Caleb Williams or keep Justin

27:01

Fields. Yeah, texting his dad,

27:03

hey, they like Jake May,

27:05

who's going to text his

27:08

friend Mike Shanahan, who's going to text his son, Kyle

27:10

Shanahan, and now it's Chris. And

27:12

by the way, your best friend Ian Cunningham might end up

27:15

being the GM of the team with the number 2 pick,

27:17

which is also another fascinating thing of this whole thing. And

27:20

he's already got all your files and scouting

27:22

information on whatever you've already done on these

27:24

QBs, which is super

27:26

interesting. Nice things to get out,

27:29

like preferences and all that stuff

27:31

get out. But yeah, it's certainly

27:33

fascinating. Like if I had a

27:35

list, like I think

27:37

Shane Waldron's an intriguing candidate. I really do.

27:40

I like what he did with Geno Smith. And

27:43

he's from that Shanahan McVey

27:45

tree. Kubiak is obviously born

27:47

and raised in it, being

27:50

Gary Kubiak's son. And that tree

27:53

goes back to Mike Shanahan and Gary Kubiak.

27:55

That's the tree we're talking about, and they're

27:57

all linked together. I know

27:59

you're interested in that. in Cliff Kingsbury, but

28:01

I think if you make that

28:03

higher, I think we know where the Bears are

28:06

going with the first pick. So for

28:08

those that don't know, Cliff Kingsbury is

28:10

the quarterback's coach. And

28:13

I think he's got an advisor role

28:15

in the passing game too with the

28:17

USC Trojan. So he was literally coaching

28:20

Caleb Williams this past season. So

28:23

if you go down that road, and by

28:26

the way, I think if you're

28:29

thinking about drafting Caleb Williams, that

28:31

higher makes a lot of sense. I mean, it

28:34

really does. So I don't know if that's going

28:36

to be a name. Because

28:40

he's in college right now, that might be

28:42

an interview you can get away with secretly

28:44

without it coming out, maybe.

28:48

Now Cliff Kingsbury's got NFL ties too,

28:50

so his camp

28:52

might want it out. But

28:55

I just find that name interesting. I like

28:58

the Shane Waldron idea for a couple reasons.

29:04

One is he's worked with Belichick, he's worked

29:06

with Pete Carroll,

29:08

obviously, he's Sean McVeigh. That

29:11

offense really would not

29:13

be a huge adjustment for Justin

29:15

Fields if you're

29:17

going to go down that road. And by the way, the

29:19

more I watch Caleb Williams, the

29:22

more I think he would be a good fit in

29:24

what the Bears have already been running. Because

29:26

a lot of things that Justin struggles to do in

29:28

terms of timing and getting the ball out of his

29:30

hands quick to the perimeter are

29:33

things that Caleb does really

29:35

well. At the top

29:37

of the list of his strengths. So

29:39

Waldron would be a candidate

29:41

to me that would fit both

29:44

options very well, where you don't need

29:46

to tip your hand, it could

29:49

work either way. And obviously,

29:52

that was a name that probably yesterday morning

29:54

they didn't even know would be available, but

29:56

because Pete Carroll suddenly left

29:58

the Seahawks. at

30:00

least left that coaching job. He's still going

30:02

to stay on there in an advisor role. And

30:07

the report was already out there last night that the Bears

30:09

had already requested permission to talk to Waldron. If

30:12

I had one, if I'm Matt

30:14

Iberfluis, I would have one strong

30:17

prerequisite. Considerable

30:19

NFL playing, play

30:21

calling experience. Right? That's

30:23

different than what I agree. Okay. I don't

30:25

know what you've got to

30:27

add. Like that to

30:29

me, like I need something where I

30:31

could like debate in

30:34

like honestly like try to counter as a defensive

30:36

coordinator. Right? Like that seems so

30:38

important to me. Like Waldron has it. Queen

30:40

Kubiak has one year of it in Minnesota.

30:45

Like Zach Robinson doesn't have it.

30:47

So how high is he on

30:49

your list? Mike La floor

30:51

has a couple of years in New York.

30:54

Not so good, but maybe the quarterback just

30:56

stunk. You know, like those are conversations I

30:59

want to have with prospective candidates. But

31:01

if I had one prerequisite, I want

31:03

some considerable play calling experience, maybe more

31:05

than one season's worth that

31:08

I myself as Matt Iberfluis

31:10

can digest, diagnose and attack

31:13

if I'm trying to find the best

31:15

offensive coordinator. I completely

31:17

agree with you. And two last thoughts on that

31:19

is one is because when I look

31:21

back at what I thought

31:24

Luke gets his biggest weakness was, was

31:27

adjusting within the game. I thought he was really good

31:29

at coming up with game plans and

31:31

game plans differing from game to game based on

31:33

who they were playing. I think you saw that

31:36

a lot with good, strong first quarters. I

31:38

mean, I think too many times in the game,

31:40

they just weren't, there wasn't

31:44

much logic sometimes on how you were

31:47

adjusting or running plays off earlier plays.

31:49

It just got confusing when you're watching

31:52

the tape to me. And

31:55

I think by hiring somebody with considerable

31:57

play calling experience that have been has

31:59

been through that before, you're

32:01

going to have a much better chance of being

32:03

in a better position to adjust in game. Second,

32:06

I thought Ryan Pohl's made it abundantly clear

32:08

yesterday that he is going to be much

32:10

more involved in the

32:13

hiring of this offensive staff. He

32:15

basically admitted it was rushed last time

32:17

because, you know, they're coming

32:19

in fast. Bullets

32:22

are flying with you're accepting a new job.

32:24

You're moving your family. You're trying to hire

32:26

a new staff on the fly. You're competing

32:28

against other teams. It all happens very, very

32:30

quickly. And

32:33

I thought it was basically an admission that, you

32:35

know, probably some mistakes were made last time.

32:39

And so that's good. As

32:41

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32:44

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34:25

I think we get to a little bit more OC

34:28

talk on the back end because it's all intertwined in

34:30

what the hell happens with the quarterback but it's important

34:32

to hear what these

34:35

guys have to say

34:37

about Justin Fields. One

34:40

of the questions asked to Ryan Poles

34:43

was can you

34:45

potentially keep Fields

34:48

and also bring in a rookie quarterback?

34:52

Is there a world where you can draft a

34:54

quarterback with the number one pick and keep Justin

34:56

or are you of the belief that that's an

34:58

untenable situation? So my brain

35:00

has gone crazy all year just thinking about just

35:04

a million different scenarios and

35:06

I'm sure that's that's one of them. I'll just

35:09

stay very wide open with the

35:11

different paths that we can go and as we

35:13

collect information if that closes some of those pathways

35:15

down then

35:19

we'll do that to the other ones but I'm gonna

35:21

be wide open about this. If

35:23

you weren't blown away by CJ Stroud what is

35:25

your standard that's gonna allow you to find a

35:27

quarterback who might be better than Justin Fields? I

35:29

know you don't want to talk about the evaluation

35:31

but the evaluation of Stroud that you hit is

35:33

key because it gives fans

35:35

an indication of just how good you

35:38

are at evaluating quarterbacks in an important

35:40

decision. Absolutely so there's a lot of

35:42

it there's you know the player aspect

35:44

in terms of the human being and

35:46

the leadership and their

35:49

maturity and that's the human part and

35:51

then there's the tape and we'll go through

35:53

the tape and we'll look at you know processing

35:55

and accuracy and all of those things to make

35:57

sure they're on point to feel the best. There

36:00

are situations where you go to and you develop

36:03

and you may overcome some of the

36:05

shortcomings that you had in college. There's

36:08

situations where it's the group around

36:10

you that elevates you. And

36:13

the other thing too is that I

36:15

would also have a little,

36:17

like you got the sample size to be

36:19

blown away. Like in the end,

36:21

it felt like you got to stack year after year after year.

36:23

So historically, we'll look

36:25

at those quarterbacks that have been able to

36:28

be productive for a long period of time

36:30

and kind of mirror that, compare that to some of

36:32

the guys in the draft. I

36:36

was almost a little confused by that last part. Like

36:40

is he talking about they're going to look at quarterbacks

36:43

that have had success in the NFL for a long

36:45

period of time and then kind of like look back

36:47

at what their college, what

36:50

their traits were coming out of college and how that

36:52

mirrors to the prospects coming out? Yeah,

36:54

certain measurements. I

36:57

don't think they're trying to establish like new

36:59

ways to find

37:01

it, but you got to explore

37:04

every avenue because like the CJ

37:06

Stroud conversation, well, interesting, like the

37:08

Bears weren't taking a quarterback last

37:11

year where now it's like squarely on

37:13

the table. So Ryan Pohl's mentioned,

37:15

we're going to take this decision, at least

37:18

in his mind right now, all we have to

37:20

open till April, right? That's when the draft is.

37:24

Like the Bears needed more and I

37:27

think he's very happy with what he got in

37:29

terms of trading that first pick. He wanted to

37:31

use that to build out his roster, just different

37:34

situations. Just

37:36

in terms of having field and a rookie quarterback,

37:39

like my first thought on that is if

37:42

you did that, it's just a strange situation

37:44

where you have like a locker room fully

37:47

behind one guy, well,

37:50

the coaching staff who played a hand in

37:52

the selection of the new guy is trying

37:55

to develop the guy behind the guy that everybody seems

37:57

to love. So I think they're going to be very

37:59

happy with that. that in most cases,

38:01

it's not Alex Smith. You know what

38:03

I'm talking about? There's not really good

38:05

comparison there. Yeah. With

38:08

the Alex Smith situation. Yeah, different

38:10

points in their careers. Yeah, Smith was already

38:12

on the second team, deeper

38:14

into his career. And

38:17

speaking of that locker room support for Justin

38:19

Fields, I think that that absolutely has to

38:21

be a factor taken into account. And Ryan

38:23

Pols was asked about that too. Ryan,

38:26

how much do you take into account

38:28

or should you take into account the

38:30

seemingly endless support for Justin Fields that

38:33

we perceive to exist in the locker room just from

38:35

talking to players? Do you take that into account or

38:37

do you have to separate that part? I

38:40

have to separate it a little bit, but I absolutely love it.

38:42

I mean, when you talk about building a

38:44

team, I want that type of support in our locker room. I

38:47

want those guys to, when they go take the field, I

38:49

want them to believe in the player that they have at

38:51

that quarterback position. I want them to believe in to the

38:53

person, to the right, and to their left. So I absolutely

38:55

love that. Any decision,

38:58

I got to take the emotion out of

39:00

it and look at the whole

39:02

deal there. Ryan, this won't be your

39:04

first time on a deep

39:06

dive of our cornerback draft class. What do you

39:08

envision has been the most important parts of this

39:10

next 10 to 12 week process as you do

39:13

your homework on the entire class? And what have

39:15

you learned through experience about how you met

39:17

that group? The person, that's

39:20

the biggest part. I

39:22

got a lot of confidence in our ability to

39:24

see talent on the field. The

39:26

human being, we got to figure out, especially

39:30

to be a quarterback in this city, you

39:33

got to have it right. You got to have toughness to you.

39:35

You got to have mental toughness. You got to be able to

39:37

block things out. So really, I

39:39

got to find out about the human beings. What are

39:41

the key components of that? What will you do to

39:43

learn wiring of all these guys? Spend

39:46

time, reach out to the people that

39:48

spent a lot of time with them over the years. And

39:51

then I always feel like if you can sit down and

39:53

look someone in the eyes and spend time and ask them

39:56

the right questions, you can learn a

39:58

lot. Ryan, don't you need to have... clarity

40:02

about your quarterback plans as you

40:04

talked to the office. Because

40:06

it would seem to change possibly the group

40:08

of hitters that you get the tone of

40:10

those interviews. Those are very different tasks between

40:12

coming in to work with Justin versus helping

40:15

you guys pick the right quarterback at number

40:17

one. I love it because you have to...

40:19

what are you gonna do for these four different

40:21

types of quarterbacks? I want to hear that and

40:23

I think it's really important to see the versatility

40:26

and the adaptability in their teaching

40:30

and the way they implement

40:32

a plan, scheme, adjust. I

40:35

think it actually makes it pretty dynamic in terms

40:37

of the interview process. I like that

40:39

answer on the locker room support. I like

40:41

that it's definitely a

40:43

factor, something you want. But

40:45

it can't

40:49

put blinders on from potentially

40:52

a better option at the position.

40:55

I think that was a really well answered question.

40:59

I think that applies to every position but

41:01

obviously quarterback is more important than others because

41:03

of so many reasons. Right, you can get

41:05

away with some of the guys not fully

41:07

believing in a tight end or something. Compared

41:10

to... you kind of need the whole team

41:12

behind the quarterback. And we've lived that in

41:14

this city with a talented quarterback in the

41:16

past that the entire locker room wasn't fully

41:18

behind in Jake Cutler for example.

41:21

So the fact that you... and I

41:23

keep saying this... the fact that you

41:25

know you have that with Justin Fields

41:27

absolutely matters. And that's why

41:29

when you hear Ryan Pohl say, we

41:32

have to figure out the human being aspect of

41:34

it, they have to

41:36

spend between now and whenever they make

41:38

this quarterback decision really vetting these

41:40

rookie quarterbacks and knowing as

41:43

much as you can possibly know. Because you really can't know

41:45

until they get in the building and they're in your uniform.

41:48

But feel

41:50

comfortable with these

41:52

guys that they're going to be able to replace

41:54

whatever you lose in that aspect with Justin Fields.

41:56

That's a big part of this. That

41:59

toughness... That

42:01

ability to handle like this market.

42:04

That's one aspect the previous regime

42:07

Got right about Justin Fields like he was

42:09

built he is built to

42:11

handle all the scrutiny in Chicago He's built

42:13

to overcome all of it in

42:15

many ways and that's a box that Ryan polls

42:17

now himself Can check off

42:20

about right about Justin Fields now How

42:23

can he find that

42:26

box to check off amongst others? I think

42:28

is the question now with Caleb Williams Drake

42:31

May Can they handle everything

42:33

that comes with being the quarterback for

42:35

the Chicago Bears because you

42:37

know and I know Adam It's so

42:39

different than every other market in the

42:42

NFL Alright last clip

42:44

we have for you is a little bit longer But

42:46

it's a it's a really a bunch of important stuff

42:48

on what Ryan bold had to

42:50

you say about the quarterback position Justin

42:52

Fields and potentially the number one back

42:54

What's different this year now that you've

42:56

had an extra year to evaluate Justin

42:59

and the quarterback prospect class might be a

43:01

little bit different Yeah, it's

43:04

I'll actually go back to last year, you

43:06

know, and I gotta stay open minded about

43:08

it But I really not to use the

43:10

same quote when I say need to be

43:12

blown away It's the same stuff because you

43:14

know, it's seeing the things that Justin did

43:17

this year his ability to make plays

43:20

Coach talked about some of those improvements keeping his eyes

43:22

on the field taking less acts See

43:25

a lot of growth there where he can continue to

43:27

get better So I'll have the same

43:29

mindset someone needs to really show that they

43:31

you know can And

43:33

it's not just a film like I need the person like

43:36

there's a whole process here that we have to figure out

43:39

But what we're gonna do is do what's

43:41

best for the organization I'm

43:43

sure there's gonna be you know similar situations in

43:45

terms of the trade back and I gotta weigh

43:47

all those things to see what's gonna Help our

43:49

team take the next step. I have the number

43:51

one pick this year last year in

43:53

terms of value Do you think that is gonna be

43:55

worth more if you were to trade it that you would get

43:58

more in return for it than you Did last year? It's

44:00

hard to tell right now. You've

44:03

all been a part of the draft coverage things

44:05

change quick some of the

44:07

mocks that you see now are Probably

44:10

not right right so that changes the

44:12

whole dynamic so Tough

44:15

to answer that question, but I think

44:18

the first pick is always going to be in demand how much I don't

44:20

know When you look at a

44:22

quarterback development plan What gives you your confidence

44:24

and math to oversee a plan and a

44:26

staff that no matter who is playing quarterback?

44:28

There will be a developmental plan that takes

44:30

them to their maximum level Yeah,

44:32

just like I talked about it starts

44:34

with the leadership piece it starts with

44:37

his knowledge of the game And

44:39

then the ability to you know hire

44:42

coaches to make sure we have a really good process

44:44

And we bring in the right types of people that

44:46

can can put those plans together To

44:49

help our guys take that next step and if it's

44:51

a young quarterback And that's what it

44:53

is if it's to continue to elevate Justin that's gonna

44:55

be a big part too. So Quick

45:00

Appreciation of Ryan polls comment here just

45:02

as members of the media Sometimes

45:06

we forget we've had previous

45:08

general managers and coaches here

45:10

that probably their answers

45:12

to all these quarterback questions would have just been like

45:14

we're not gonna talk about that right now and I

45:18

just I think it's a Cool

45:21

for the fan base that they get the Sort

45:24

of your Ryan polls lay everything out You

45:28

know yeah We got to get to know we got to

45:30

look at this got to look at this when they're not

45:32

shying away from the fact That Justin Fields might not be

45:34

here But yes, they also like the progress Justin Fields made

45:36

this year like that in the past we could have heard

45:39

and other teams still Could have been

45:41

like yeah, we're just You

45:43

know we understand you guys all have questions about the

45:45

quarterback But it's not in our best interest right now

45:47

to talk about it and like guarding things that don't

45:50

really need to be guarded You can have a transparent

45:52

conversation about it without giving anything away Which

45:54

is what I exactly I think Ryan polls and Maddie ever

45:56

flus did yesterday He

45:59

seems to be very careful confident in what

46:02

comes off is just very confident in what

46:04

low his vision always has. And

46:06

then they're in their own skills to evaluate

46:09

and draft, you know, and I think his track

46:11

record is starting to add up with more

46:14

hits than misses. I mean, yes, when

46:16

you have nine picks, you know, to hit on

46:18

five of them is, is, you know,

46:20

50 50 in a sense, but like his

46:23

hits are adding up in a sense. So he has

46:25

reasons to believe in what he's doing. Um, especially in

46:28

the early rounds. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

46:30

With the second round picks and in

46:32

the secondary, um, it's just

46:34

fascinating. Like to go back to the first

46:36

pick conversation, um, he's

46:41

not losing any leverage and saying like the

46:44

first pick is always going to be in demand. Like

46:46

there's always going to be teams

46:48

vying for that quarterback,

46:52

vying for that spot to pick their quarterback

46:54

and just look like there's so much more

46:56

information that needs to be gathered just in

46:58

terms of like, who's running these

47:01

teams? Who's coaching these teams? Could

47:04

be calling them there's because no one is calling

47:06

the bears right now. You know,

47:08

from the commanders, from the Patriots, from the

47:10

Falcons, they all need head coaches from the

47:12

chargers, you know, even if you want to

47:14

go down that road, but like so

47:18

many things have to sort of stuff out,

47:20

you know, this week, next week, over the

47:22

next three, four weeks in the NFL for

47:24

real conversations. To even be had about that

47:26

first pick. Did

47:28

you come

47:30

away with any gut

47:33

conclusion from

47:35

after hearing what they

47:37

had to say yesterday in terms of maybe what

47:39

way they're leaning? I

47:41

think they're leaning towards drafting a quarterback. Like

47:44

one of the final questions to polls was

47:46

actually me. You know, I

47:48

kind of like, Hey, going to Kevin, Hey, do we

47:50

ask about the fifth year option yet, like specifically about

47:52

the fifth year option? He's like, no, I'm like, well,

47:55

so I asked about it. And basically

47:57

the answer was, well, we got time.

48:00

If the bears were that confident in

48:03

the future with Justin Fields and having

48:05

a future with Justin Fields, that

48:07

fifth year option is usually picked up within

48:10

this week or next, right? They come rather

48:12

quickly because then

48:14

you start negotiations and you try to find

48:16

long-term answers. The

48:18

bears, they're not there yet, nor should

48:20

they be. The numbers, the hard

48:22

numbers, the hard data, no matter how high

48:25

you are in the promised potential of Justin

48:27

Fields, tell you not to do it. They

48:30

tell you he's a bottom third

48:32

of the league quarterback. That's just the hard

48:35

truth. Could he be better with better help?

48:37

Yes, absolutely. But the same applies to a

48:39

lot of quarterbacks. So that

48:41

is my speaking of takeaways as

48:43

we go back to the top of the show lights. This

48:47

year is different with

48:50

the quarterback, where last year you knew,

48:52

even with the first pick that Ryan

48:54

Poulse, like the signs

48:57

were there that he was going to trade it. This

48:59

year, those signs aren't here, even if he does

49:01

trade it. The signs seem to be there that

49:03

the bears are looking at different

49:06

quarterback options for 2024. I

49:09

think that's very important because if you go back

49:11

to our shows from last year, most of

49:14

them were, these

49:16

conversations happen on ESPN every single day

49:18

about getting rid of Justin

49:21

Fields are crazy. It's just

49:23

not going to happen and it

49:25

didn't happen. I think that it's

49:27

just, keep that in mind,

49:29

like how different this landscape is this year. It's

49:32

a hundred percent on the table. I

49:35

think, and I'm probably going to repeat

49:37

myself many times between now and the draft or whenever

49:39

this decision is made, and I probably already am. I

49:43

agree with you. I think they are leaning towards

49:45

drafting a quarterback. However,

49:47

I don't think that decision is done

49:50

because I don't think the evaluations are done. I

49:52

think that maybe

49:55

the most important thing to take out of

49:57

the press conference yesterday is what Ryan Pohl

49:59

said about evaluating the human beings. I

50:01

think that they know already that

50:03

Caleb Williams is a good quarterback and that Drake

50:06

May is a good quarterback from what they could

50:08

do on the field. You

50:10

heard him say, we trust our

50:12

ability to scout the talent on

50:14

the football field. Now it becomes

50:16

more of an investigative piece about who

50:19

these guys are as humans and how they can lead and how

50:21

they can fit in this locker room. And

50:23

so I think right now the lean is

50:26

towards going that route with

50:29

two exceptions that could change their

50:31

minds, which is, does anything

50:33

come up here in their scouting

50:35

of the human beings where it

50:38

doesn't check out that they do not think that they

50:40

can be supported

50:42

in the same way that Justin Fields is

50:45

in that locker room? That's

50:47

important. And

50:49

two, what is the trait compensation? Because

50:52

the other part of this, because if there's

50:54

any doubts about Caleb Williams or Drake May

50:56

or whoever and how they're going to fit in

50:58

the locker room and

51:00

then some team comes and blows you away with

51:02

the number one pick trying

51:04

to trade for it, well, that could sway

51:08

you to keep Justin if

51:10

it doesn't feel right. And

51:12

again, I think that speaks to the

51:14

power and the good position that the

51:16

Bears are in right now that we

51:18

can't lose sight of as much as

51:20

everyone wants to argue Caleb versus Justin

51:22

and will continue to do. This doesn't

51:24

need to be rushed. And

51:27

I think back to what Josh Lucas said on

51:29

our show a few weeks ago, it's been sticking

51:31

in my head about how they determined too early

51:33

that they were picking Mitch Trubisky. And

51:37

you don't want to fall into that trap

51:39

again. But I do believe,

51:41

and again, this is just a gut feeling, but I

51:43

think we're on the same page here. If

51:45

everything checks out with Caleb Williams, if

51:49

everything checks out there in terms of leadership, and

51:52

they have connections to that coaching staff, they

51:54

can find out the information they need to have. And

51:57

you heard polls talk about looking him in the eye.

52:00

Or any of these quarterbacks in the eyes and really

52:02

get the if all that checks out I

52:06

Think that's probably where this ends

52:08

up But what

52:10

if the dude general manager of the Raiders

52:12

comes up to you with the combine and

52:15

offers you three first round picks in

52:17

max Crosby Well,

52:21

that's that's the Greg Bragg straight Yeah

52:27

Then I'm talking about it. Yes, absolutely That's

52:30

the most entertaining part of all

52:32

this is Maybe

52:34

a team will be as desperate like

52:39

Desperate as any team has ever been To

52:42

trade up for a quarterback and it's

52:44

happened the sucker. Yeah, I'm the sucker They're

52:47

always there the Bears used to be the sucker Now

52:50

they get to find last year. They found the Panthers

52:53

find find that one and then that could change

52:55

things and here's the The

52:57

the the other hypothetical to

53:00

consider even if they trade back I'm

53:05

not sure that means they're sticking with Justin

53:07

Fields either, you know, like Where

53:10

Ryan polls? Also

53:12

mentioned when he's clarifying his answer about

53:15

those four quarterbacks It's Courtney.

53:17

Well, he kind of indicated. There's quite

53:20

a few good quarterbacks in

53:22

this draft class. Like I think it's important That

53:25

Ryan polls takes a swing on the position

53:27

at some point like Tyson Bajan as

53:32

decent as he was for four games and as young

53:34

as he is right now like It

53:37

comes via the draft and using an actual

53:39

selection. So it's all fascinating to me There's

53:41

a lot of information still to be gathered

53:44

but You

53:46

know it Ryan polls such

53:49

a unique situation in terms of what he

53:51

could do to really be build this roster,

53:54

you know, I remember forgetting all the

53:56

cap space he has as well Yeah,

53:59

I also think it's important keep in mind that, you

54:01

know, if you're one of these prospects

54:04

evaluating which situation you can go into

54:06

and have early success, would

54:09

you rather go to Washington,

54:14

whatever they have on that roster

54:16

right now? New

54:19

England? Would you... Or

54:23

does this bear situation look a lot

54:25

better where they have DJ Moore and

54:27

an up and coming roster and... I

54:30

mean, like, in terms of... I feel

54:32

like this gets lost in the conversations

54:35

sometimes. Because too many times these quarterbacks

54:37

are drafted to crappy teams where they

54:39

get put in a bad situation right away. It

54:41

happened to Mitch Travisky, it happened to Justin Fields. This

54:44

is not that situation. This is

54:47

probably the best position the bears have ever been

54:49

in to draft a quarterback. It's... I'm

54:54

trying to think of a comparison in

54:56

recent years. Maybe

54:58

Rex Grossman? When was that? But

55:02

that's a long time ago. Forget Rex, you know?

55:04

He's not our quarterback anymore.

55:06

But you're right. There

55:09

are ample reasons to believe that Matt

55:11

Abraham loose's defense will be flirting with

55:13

top five rankings across the board, right?

55:17

You can see them adding a defensive end, whether that

55:19

means a free agency or at some point in the

55:21

draft. You can see them adding

55:23

to that defensive line to bolster that

55:25

pass rush, which needs to be addressed. You've

55:28

already seen some investment offensively.

55:31

Darnell Wright, Nate Davis, needs to have

55:33

a better season. You had a center, you

55:36

got some answers there. I mean, center's

55:38

a high priority position for me if I'm making

55:41

off-season needs. You

55:43

have a deep receiver class. Even if

55:45

you miss a Marvin Harrison Jr., 1A,

55:49

1B, 1C are pretty good

55:51

options for the Bears yet receiver this year in

55:53

this draft class. Yes. And you

55:55

could definitely get one of those at nine. Yeah. Absolutely.

55:59

Brock Bowers. And I know trade back

56:01

and get the options

56:04

are many and Yes

56:07

to your point like wasn't this part of

56:09

the conversation earlier about Caleb Williams when his

56:11

father is saying You

56:13

know some of these teams are just bad

56:15

situations. Yeah Maybe we're

56:17

being I don't think we're being overly

56:19

optimistic about this about this either You

56:22

know Ryan Paul said himself one

56:24

of the most interesting things. He said yesterday. I thought was

56:28

was him saying that I Think

56:30

a rookie quarterback will have success here based on

56:32

what we have Any

56:34

mention the defense I think a good defense

56:38

Is one of the best friends a young quarterback can

56:40

have to take some pressure off it and

56:43

look at the Panthers they traded away Their

56:46

best receiver and their next

56:49

first round pick to get their quarterback And they

56:51

put Bryce young in that situation now They ripped

56:53

away his head coach and the GM and now

56:55

they got to start all over the Bears the

56:58

Bears There's a situation where they can move back to two And

57:02

so get Drake may and put him

57:04

in this while adding more

57:06

draft capital Yeah, this is where the

57:08

Bears get you What's

57:11

their argument of stability

57:14

you look at some of the other QB needy teams?

57:18

Washington new head coach

57:20

new GM right New England knew everything

57:22

bill Bellashek is out Who

57:24

else we got here Tennessee Titan, right? Mike Vrabel

57:27

is out I know they got will as but

57:29

Atlanta Raiders Atlanta all these

57:31

tests The

57:33

common thread with all of them is they don't have quarterbacks and

57:38

Someone's gonna be desperate It's

57:43

gonna be very interesting to see how it plays out and

57:47

by the way desperate to could be

57:50

for Justin Fields Don't

57:53

forget about that part of it, too I'm

57:55

not ruling out a first-round pick for Justin. I'm

57:57

not saying is likely But

58:01

as desperate as these teams get For

58:06

rookie quarterbacks Justin still in the

58:08

conversation for yeah, the right coach

58:10

the right GM drooling over having

58:12

that skill set Well even just

58:14

look look at all the quarterbacks

58:16

who played Who

58:19

started games this year? Justin

58:21

Fields is so much better

58:23

than So

58:26

many of them right right with all due respect

58:28

at the time eat the videos of the world

58:30

I'm taking Justin Fields every day and

58:32

every night. I mean seriously um

58:36

But the Bears are in

58:38

a different position than the Giants.

58:40

They have the first pick Different

58:43

we forgot about the Giants. You know how desperate are

58:45

they to move up? You

58:47

know they have you know questions They're

58:49

obviously a quarterback even though Daniel Jones

58:51

is still getting paid the

58:53

Vikings What are they doing

58:55

with Kirk Cousins? This

58:58

is gonna resign him or You

59:02

have to They're in

59:04

a tough spot on the draft order yeah All

59:07

right any other final thoughts I think

59:09

we did a good job here though of getting through

59:11

all the important stuff in this Long press conference. I

59:14

think it's gonna be a fascinating offseason I am

59:16

so happy that London is going to be in the 2024

59:19

schedule. I hope it works out For

59:22

all of us. Hopefully we can do

59:24

something fun over there for everyone who has

59:26

followed Hogan John throughout the years, but Yeah,

59:29

thank you for listening. I don't think I said a good enough.

59:31

Goodbye in the last episode

59:34

So you know thank you for everyone for listening

59:36

throughout the season this feels like like

59:38

this press conference always

59:40

feels To me like

59:42

this is the conclusion of the past

59:44

season like now that it's over Thank

59:47

you so much as always for listening

59:49

for reading on the athletic. We have a lot

59:51

of great stuff this week There'll be

59:53

great stuff next week, and thank you as always Yes,

59:56

the athletic comm slash Hogan Johnson get all

59:58

of that Great

1:00:01

content that John Z and Kevin have. Well,

1:00:03

we're not really going anywhere. We'll be back

1:00:05

next week With

1:00:08

more coverage of what's going on. We got an OC search

1:00:11

and Technically a

1:00:14

DC search to To

1:00:16

to cover so there's like an

1:00:18

internal promotion coming. Yes. I think

1:00:21

it it does. I think

1:00:23

it does Let it snow By

1:00:27

the way it is It

1:00:29

is about the snow. We're gonna get know what we're

1:00:32

gonna get lost though tomorrow So

1:00:36

I'm glad all this is over we can

1:00:38

get snowed in this weekend We can watch

1:00:40

a lot of football super wildcard weekend. I'm

1:00:42

especially fired up for Sunday. I think the

1:00:44

games are great and We'll

1:00:46

be back next week with more on whatever's

1:00:49

going on. Hopefully by then I'll be rested up and my

1:00:51

voice will be a lot better How

1:00:54

about that Say

1:00:57

nothing for all weekend try Yeah,

1:01:00

I don't my

1:01:02

kids will make that tough but Regardless

1:01:05

can't wait to see everybody in London next

1:01:07

year That's guys fired

1:01:09

up on this Thursday morning. So That's

1:01:13

exciting news. Well, we'll talk to you

1:01:15

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