Kap & J. Hood

8/16 8 AM: Shot or No Shot with Tom Thayer

Hour 2: Super Bowl Champ Tom Thayer played "Shot or No Shot", then took a trip "Around The NFL" and Chicago Bears fans "Asked Tom" any and everything about Bears Football. The guys also previewed Bears vs Bengals the 3rd preseason game. Adam Abdalla was in for J. Hood.

Duration:: 44m
Broadcast on:: 16 Aug 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

[MUSIC PLAYING] All right, it's America's favorite segment. It's called Shot or No Shot, a Daniel Zutterman creation. And it is every day at 8 o'clock here on the Cap and Jay Hoot Show. We welcome in a celebrity contributor, my guy, Tom Thayer. Hi, Tommy. Cap, how you doing? I'm doing great, man. Nice to hear your eyes always. Tom, Tom, where are you? I'm doing good, man. How's everybody in the station? Well, everybody is good other than Jay Hood. Yes. It's me, Shay, Jay Moore. And we've got Adam with us, because Hoodie is a little under the weather today. You know, I will say deal breakers probably gives me more of a reaction when I'm listening to you guys and some of the stuff you bring up in that segment. But Shot or No Shot, I find myself talking to myself when I'm in my car driving up to practice listening to you guys, because I'm always in my car at 8 o'clock. Shot, absolutely. All right, we'll get into football with you, because I want to ask you some questions about yesterday. And then I don't-- did you hear us play the Cincinnati reporter and his takeaway from being there yesterday? I did not. All right, we'll play that for you. OK. Here is Shay Norley. All right, a lot of football to get to actually Shot or No Shot. We have Tom Thayer on. We're talking Bears. So we'll start yesterday. Joe Burrow struggled mightily in joint practices with the Bears through three interceptions, struggled to get completions against the secondary. Of course, he did not have Jamar Chase. But the word is he was locking in on T Higgins. Wasn't getting anything done. Shot or No Shot? This Bears defense is going to be special. Tom? A shot, you know, because the one thing about this defense, the back seven now has played together for a couple of years outside of Kevin Bayard. Now they're being complemented by a full season of Montez sweat. And then you got you got guys that are really, you know, picking up the pace when you think about Austin Booker. And you think of Daniel Hardy, these guys that are, you know, started in the backup role, but they're impressing the coaches enough that it can put up pressure. And one thing about Joe Burrow yesterday in practice. So to me, seven on seven. And that's a passing, primarily a passing drill that doesn't include the line of scrimmage that just includes the linebackers and defensive backs. In the first four plays of seven on seven for Joe Burrow, he threw three checkdown routes. And then he threw up over the middle pass like a four yard completion, the tee Higgins. So if he wanted an opportunity to throw downfield in seven on seven, that's probably the most favorable period because you really don't have any pressure in your face. But the Bears defense was covering so well that he had to go to checkdowns in seven on seven, which sometimes you don't want your quarterback to do. And just and the less there's just no other option. - I would say shot, but I don't know if yesterday gave me any more confidence in them. I think it just kind of backed up the point that I think that when you heard that last week before the Bills game, Tom, that they were really giving it to the Bears offense and like half the defense was out for most of those practices. Like that's when you're kind of like, okay, the depth is there because if the starters are out and these other guys are still, you know, giving it to Keenan Allen and Roma Dunezay and DJ Moore and Cole Comette that like this could be, as long as everyone stays healthy, this could be pretty special. And then seeing in the preseason game, guys like Austin Booker really showing up and like I know it's, he's going against their threes as well. So it's not like great competition, but just to see that the potential is there is something that I think, and you know that now you have depth. That if so, if you do end up bringing someone in, opposite Montez Sweat, that if they do get hurt or if Montez Sweat gets hurt or whoever, that you do have the depth there, that you can have a true next man up as opposed to just like, oh God, what are we going to do? - Yeah, I'm going to say a shot again, you got to be blessed with reasonable health. You see teams last year, the Bengals, Joe Burles done. See you later, their hopes go by the boards. Got to have health on both sides of ball, but I really, really like way the roster is taking shape, especially on the defensive side of the football because Pulse took a lot of heat when he didn't draft the receiver or an offensive lineman in his first draft when he didn't have a number one pick. He took Brisker and Gordon and he said, that is going to be two huge pieces for us going forward. If they can stay healthy, I completely agree with them. Shay. - All right, we've got a lot of reports. I'm going to piggyback a little bit. We've got a lot of reports out of camp that the offense has been sluggish and inconsistent in the Bears' practices, but at the preseason game with Caleb Williams in, they got almost eight yards of play. Yesterday, the reporting was Bears' offense was way ahead of the Bengals' defense, so shot or no shot. The offense has only struggled at camp because it has to go against the Bears' defense. - Tom? - You know, I'm going to say shot, not because of the Bears' defense because you have a rookie quarterback. And for anybody to think that Caleb Williams is going to go from zero to 100 within a four weeks of practice, I think we got to slow that process down. And the way that the Bears' defense can play against Caleb Williams, it makes him play a more an efficient brand of football while he's trying to learn terminology, while he's trying to learn if you're going to call an audible at the line of scrimmage according to the terminology you said in the huddle. And then you have to know the two plays in the huddle, how every one of their assignments are different depending upon the play called. So I just think it's a little unfair to have these expectations out of Caleb, even though he had a solid performance in Buffalo. And I think a lot of it has to do. I think Shane Waldron is doing a really nice job. If you look at the protections that he called for Caleb week one, play action pass, the screen to DeAndre Swift, the rollouts to the right for Cole and DJ Moore. And then when he did scramble out of the pocket, the offensive line controlled a nice defensive line stunt in front of him. As soon as he saw those bodies cross on the offensive line in control, he took off. So I still like what Shane is doing for him under game conditions. But, you know, let's not have unreasonable expectations for a rookie quarterback right now. - Yeah, I'm going to go shot as well. I was very intrigued reading today, Zach Taylor's comments about what he saw with the Bears. And he said, getting Shane Waldron is an excellent teacher who will put Williams in the greatest position. You have to have a good team around him, but you now have to have a coaching staff that knows how to develop someone with these type of skills. And look, Caleb's had a different level, man. Again, I said this earlier, this is not a shot at Justin Fields, but this is a massive upgrade at the position. - Oh, of course it is. And I think that you also have with this very good defense, you have very intelligent football IQ guys. And there was a quote last week, I forget which bear said it, but it was like basically, we know all the offensive plays. So we know based on motion, we know based on where they're lined up, we know what's coming. So like we know how to defend it. Like obviously Caleb's going to pick and choose and go to different receivers and whatnot, but they know the plays just because they've seen them for what now a month. So they know what's coming. So this is only helping Caleb Williams, but I agree with what you said, Tom, that they're still going to be growing pains. Like he's not going to come out and be the best quarterback in the NFL or second best quarterback in the NFL besides Patrick Mahomes in his first few weeks of the season. He's going to throw some picks. He's going to, things are going to be off a little bit. Like he's still rookie. And it's not going to be perfect right out of the gate. - Shay. - All right, we talked about some possible extensions. The Bears could look to hand out this season, including one for Tevin Jenkins. Jenkins has mentioned his teams reached out and hasn't heard anything. There are some things working against him. The guards in this league have gotten expensive bears, drafted Kieran Amagogy, who could potentially be bumped inside. Braxton Jones, also capable of being bumped inside. They also have three picks in the first two rounds next year if they want to start over at guard. Shot or no shot. This will be Tevin Jenkins last season with the Chicago Bears. - Tommy? - No, no, no shot. If Tevin Jenkins lives up to his billing. Because remember, when he was drafted to come here, they kind of thought, okay, this guy is a walk in and play left tackle. Or if he doesn't succeed at right tackle, he'll play left tackle. And I still do believe Tevin Jenkins could slide out the right tackle and play that position. Position, however, it's about, you know, availability. And if we talk about any player in the NFL, it's about 17 games in an NFL season. And when Tevin Jenkins pulled both of his calves in Indianapolis last year and missed a couple of games because of it. And then there's probably four or five times during the course of the season that he had to visit the blue tent. And you didn't know if he was gonna be able to return or not. You know, to me, if I'm looking at a player and I'm thinking about giving him an extension, I need to be able to have the privilege of looking at his medical background and what his status is right now. And some of the pinch nerves and the other things he's faced throughout his career. However, when Tevin plays at his peak performing ability, he's one of the, maybe one of the best guards in our division and he's got a chance to be one of the best, better guards in the National Football League. So, you know, it's up to Tevin and it's not up to Ryan Polls or Matt Eberfluz or the team. It's up to Tevin if he's that reliable guy that I think he's gonna get an extension here. Completely agree a thousand percent. I look at availability as being such a huge thing. And one of my favorite guards that ever played in the National Football League, his name is Thomas Allen Thayer. And by the way, happy birthday today, Tom. - Thank you. - Oh, happy birthday. - 2063 today. This is what we got you. You have to sit up here for this for an hour. - Listen man, this is the best birthday present I could have. Okay, and then I want, listen to these numbers for Tom Thayer. He came in as a rookie in '85. He had to come from the Chicago Blitz. He played all 16 games. 86, all 16 games. 87, we had a strike short in season. He played all 11. Then he played all 16. Then all 16. Then all 16. Then all 16. Then all 16. That dude was available. That's what I want from Tevin Jenkins. And if he does, he's gonna be a wealthy man. I think it's a shot just because he's got it. But he has to stay healthy. Because the reason that they won't negotiate with him until the bi-week is because they're waiting to see if he's healthy. If you guys remember, when Ryan Polls first came in, Jenkins requested a trade. - Ryan Polls said to us on the air, I was that close from releasing him. - Yeah, that close. - Then he completely turned it around. So I don't think that Ryan Polls is necessarily married to keeping Tevin Jenkins. If he plays well and he stays healthy, sure, you reward your own. And if he plays really well when he is healthy, but if he doesn't make it to the bi-week and he misses a couple of games, I don't think he's gonna be on this team. But it's completely to do with health because I think he completely changed his relationship with the team and with Ryan Polls when he came in. Because there was all that training camp drama a couple of years ago when Polls first came in with Tevin Jenkins. - Correct, they were going to move on and Ryan had said to us on an interview, he hired a mental skills coach, Tevin did. He said, it's the most remarkable turnaround I have seen and I'm so glad he's with us. - Yeah, absolutely. - Jay. - All right, last one. Ryan Polls swung and missed in a move for Edge rusher, Matthew Judon, but we were all happy to see he's being aggressive on the market, making the phone calls. Shot or no shot, Ryan Polls will make a trade before the season starts. I'm hoping no shot because from what I've seen out of the Bears in the development of Austin Booker and Daniel Hardy and hopefully some of these other injured guys come back and perform at a level that they can be considered in the mix. Khalil Kareem is playing well, Jacob Martin. He was playing well before he got hurt but now he's been out of action. I don't want a guy that I need a nine or 10 day ramp up period. I don't want to pay a guy a premium and he's not a major contributor until the bye week. So, you know, one thing I will say about Austin Booker and you guys kind of brought it up before with Caleb Williams. When you play against the same group of guys every single day, you know their tendencies, you know their balance, you know what they like to do. You know, I had a 501 on ones against Steve McMichael. When I got in my stance, he knew what I was gonna do. When he got in his stance, I knew what he was gonna do but the competition was still great. When you look at Austin Booker, Austin Booker is a much better reactionary pass rusher than he is going against his own guys every single day. So, when they get a guy that really doesn't know what his tools are, what his arsenal is like, Austin Booker has really affected pass rusher. So, I think he's your game day guy, not necessarily a one on one guy when he's going against Braxton Jones or Darnell Wright or Larry Borham or Collins or any of the regular tackles that he sees in practice. - Yeah, I'm gonna go shot and I thought you made a really interesting point right there where he's a reactionary player and he needs to go up against the opposition. I'm excited to see what he does when he gets to the season because he has a world of athleticism that he could really, really become a hell of a football player. - Yeah, I say no shot just because I think the asking price for these guys are too high. Like we saw that they wanted a third, they took the Falcons third because they thought that it would be worse than the Bears third. They originally asked the Bears for a second for Judon and the Bears said no, Pol said no. So, I think the asking price for some of these guys is way too high. So, I think that maybe they look for someone off the scrap heap if when cuts start happening just for depth and then Gakwe's still out there. - They're still sitting out there and Hassan retic at some point they're gonna move. That's why I'm saying shot that they could go get a guy like that. - Yeah. - Maybe. - Yeah, maybe. - All right, Shay, are we done? - That's shot. - All right, shot. - Around the NFL. By the way, we said happy birthday to Tom Thayer. Another great Chicago athletes birthday is today. Happy birthday, Edward Wrecko. - And here. - Oh, check. - Yeah. - Yes. - And so. - And so. - You guys share a birthday with Madonna, Steve Carell, Young Thug. I'm sure you guys love Young Thug. Let's see, James Cameron's 69 today. Happy birthday. - Good age, 69. - About that. Let's see, who else? I think that's it. - Unfortunately, the anniversary of the death of Elvis Presley. - That too? You know who informed us all about the death of Elvis? Harry Carey during the Cubs game. They were best of friends. - Be careful when you're dropping logs today. - All right. - I'm just saying. - All right, wow. Angela Bassett's birthday today. It's a good day. - Really? - Can't really give her. - Really good day. All right, we'll take quick time out around the NFL next. (upbeat music) - If you missed something, get the podcast on the ESPN Chicago app. (upbeat music) Captain Jay Hood are back on Chicago's home for sports. ESPN Chicago. - Hit both socks be socks. I'm just a fan. I'm not a football evaluator. I love the Green Bay Packers. - The guy is front, but there he goes. - This is not Detroit, man. This is the Super Bowl. - I love winning. He starts to come at a home battle. - This is a really thickly built guy. - I mean, with Sam. So you're looking for all of these things here, huh? - Woo! - We do it every day, right after shot or no shot. We go around the National Football League. Tom Thayer, the great Tom Thayer, is with us. Here's Shane Norton. - I'm so glad to have a former player in with us today to tell me about my mind. - Yeah, I played Division 3. (laughing) All right, Shane. - That's enough, Kaplan. - Thank you. - Last night, if you watched the Patriots preseason game against the Eagles, Drake May got a lot of exposure and was really good. He had a deep ball throw to J-bomb Baker. That was incredible. Jumped up in the pocket, slid left a little bit, evaded a pass rush, uncorked it. Baker dropped the pass, but the throw itself was amazing. It's got people wondering if Drake May should be the week one starter for the Patriots. I question it a little bit, because you look at the Patriots schedule, at Bengals, home against the Seahawks, at Jets, at Niners, and then the Dolphins before things start to lighten up the first five weeks. - That's 0-5. - If your New England, aren't you better off letting Brissette wear the 0-5 and then you can start Drake May, week six, week seven, bring him in as the hero, rather than start Drake May, 0-5 and burn his confidence. I always think about Trevor Lawrence starting 0-4 with the jags under Urban Meyer. Trevor Lawrence hasn't turned into the quarterback that we all thought he would be. I'm not saying that's why, but that's a tough way to start your career, no? - I agree with you. I'm old school NFL quarterback development. If you don't have to play 'em immediately, don't play 'em. And you know, whether you wanna think about Peyton Manning throwing 27 or 28 interceptions as rookie year, or you wanna think of a guy like Dan Marino not starting his first game. And then he eventually replaced the starting quarterback and carried the team after that. So if Drake May's got a lot of college experience, he's been around the block a couple times. However, I think when you get into that NFL quarterback play, get into the abusive stadiums, you get into the cadence. To me, if you have the luxury of sitting Drake May for that period of time until Jacoby Briskett wears out his welcome there, I agree with you guys. That's what I would do as well. - Yeah, we were having this debate before the showtime with me, Abdallah and Shay. And I'm with you, I'm more old school. Jordan Love has said, man, I didn't like sitting, but it was the best thing. My home said, I couldn't read the defense. We didn't have to do that when I went to college at Texas Tech. It was the greatest to sit there, Aaron Rodgers, Josh Allen. There are a bunch of dudes that said, boy, it really helps. I thought Justin was pushed in too quick. Mitch, Ryan Pace told me the day after the draft, he's not playing at all as a rookie. And of course, five weeks in, bam, Monday night football, go get him big guy. I'm not saying he'd have made it, but they got away from their plan. I don't believe a guy should play unless he's ready to play. - I mean, I would probably, I would start him. Because I don't think that the losing five games in a row. I mean, it's not like the only difference, I mean, listen, Trevor Lawrence won a national championship. Drake May played in North Carolina. Like he's used to losing. Like not, they weren't horrible, but it's not like he was in the national championship game and making college football playoffs. - But I would say, like, I've talked to people and not, this is a big, oh, Shay's talk to people moment. People that were in the North Carolina program have told me the whole thing with Drake May not have and help got his head a little bit. He started hero balling at North Carolina. I don't want that to happen. - But is he going to have any more help week six than he is week one? - No, but he'll have less pressure, I would assume. - I mean, I don't think there's any pressure. I think people believe that the Patriots are gonna be one of the worst teams in the NFL. So like, I don't think there is any pressure. You know, like Zach Wilson played with a really good defense. He had some weapons, he just couldn't do it. I think expectations are pretty realistic for the Patriots. I think that, you know, no one thinks they're gonna be great, especially after trading Judon and all the injuries that they've had leading into this season. I just think he should, you should get as many live refs as possible. And starting, you know, the record, I would, if I was to draw on May, I'd just be like, "Hey man, just go out and get refs." Like, this is what it is, what it is. Don't focus, you know, what did, what did Saban say on Hard Knocks? The scoreboard only matters at the end of the game or whatever it is. - And he said, it's all about development. - Yeah, development. - What's the best for his development? - With Tom on this. - Shay. - A story developing out of Los Angeles, Chargers that coach Jim Harbaugh had apparently discussed hiring Colin Kaepernick as an assistant coach since that won't be happening anytime soon. His quote, "I love Colin and always will." That gets conflated into he might play here or might coach here. I love Colin, but he's not going to be on the coaching staff. It's set for this year, and he's not going to be playing on the roster either. The report was that Harbaugh reached out to Kaepernick with an offer to make him an assistant coach. And I kind of just have a general question about this. Is Harbaugh running an NFL team or a country club? Because so far, he's just loading up on his buddies at Assistant. And I don't know that a lot of them make sense. Greg Roman to run the Kaepernick and Lamar offense for Justin Herbert, who just got out of a walking boot, doesn't seem like the greatest match. But him and Harbaugh are best buddies. - You know, I think that Planner Fashy, Planner Fashy is going to have a lingering effect all year. I had it in one of my last years and was the worst pain that I ever played with in my career. So Justin Herbert is going to have a little bit of issues with escapability in that Planner Fashy, I guess he's going to try to play with. You know, Colin Kaepernick, he's 36 years old, played six years in the NFL. He hasn't been around the NFL now for quite a while. And he doesn't know the language, the terminology. So what specifically is he going to coach? Is he going to try to coach technique and fundamentals of quarterback play to a guy like Justin Herbert? Because they don't have similar styles of play. And if Jim is doing a feel good story, I can understand that because there's a lot of feel good stories in coaching hires in the NFL. And I'm not opposed to it. But you don't want too many opinions in the coaching of a position to confuse the guy. And even last year in that interview with Justin Fields, when he said he had got a lot of different people in my head, then he had to go and retract that statement. So I think for the safety of Justin Herbert in his future, bringing in another voice that really doesn't is not familiar with the system yet could be a detriment more than a help. - Yeah, I agree with what you said there. The other thing is, Shay, some coaches vibe better with certain guys. And that means the staff becomes a better place to be. You can't just go get the smartest guy. It's gotta be the right fit with the head coach. They gotta vibe. If they don't, it's not gonna work. - I think Colin Kaepernick is perfectly suited for when flag football comes to the Olympics in four years in LA. That's what he'll be great for. Focus on that right now. Just try to win a gold medal for the good old USA. - Playing your coaching. - No, playing. He said he wants to play. He wants to play in the flag football. - How old is this guy? - But you think-- - He's 36 right now. - 36. - You think Patrick Mahomes is gonna go out there and play for Team USA in flag football? - Probably not. - No, it's gonna be guys like Jimmer for Debt was in the three on three. - Caleb's in the Olympics. - In the Olympics. - The other day and set on hard night. I wanna be in the Olympics in five years. - Yeah, let's, let's. That's four years from now. He's probably gonna be a $75 million quarterback at that point. They'll be working on their second Super Bowl. Let's just focus on that. - You know, a lot of these guys keep the dream alive for a long time. 'Cause I was just reading a quote by Robert Griffith III saying that he still wants to be considered an active player ineligible to join a team. And, you know, that's just keeping hope alive, I guess. - Good, you know what? Tell RG3 and Kaepernick they can lead the Olympic flag football team in 2028. - Maybe my favorite NFL guard Tom Thayer will be playing. - I could get in a stance, I couldn't get out of it. - That's what Lottle said. I go, could you go out and play one play? He goes, yeah, one play and I'd be done. - That'd be it. - You'll have a retired Keenan Allen by then too, out there, like it'll be great. - Unbelievable. (laughing) - That we're done? All right, we're done. We're gonna take calls too with Tom. We're gonna talk to football. What he saw yesterday between the Bears and Bengals, if you've got a question for Tom, 3-1-2-3-3-2-3-7-7-6, we're talking Bears football. - Next. (beep) - Here's to Daze Headline, Headline with Captain J. Hood. - Baseball back for both Chicago teams, White Sox are in Houston to take out a really good Astros team, 6-30 pregame on the home of the White Sox. ESPN 1,000 with our guy, the great Connor McKnight, and then you get Landon J.D. with Landon D.J. J.D. is the other side of town. Landon D.J. with the play-by-play call from Minute Maid, Park. - I call, I'm dyslexic, I guess. The calls are at home to take a, right, 'cause nobody wrote out any headlines. It's all me. Then the Cubs and Blue Jays this afternoon, every three-whee field, Bears and Bengals tomorrow, you'll get that game right here on ESPN 1,000 with the awesome Jeff Joniak and Tom Thayer, Jason McKee, our pregame coverage with Sylvia and the team, all gets it rolling on Saturday morning, and the Bears will be playing your starters, according to Matt, Eber Flus, and great news. - Ryan Sam, we're gonna ask, he is cancer-free. J-Boer! - Truth of the matter is, you're listening to Captain J. Hood on ESPN 1,000, weekdays, seven to 10 a.m., but it'll last a lifetime. It may only be three hours a day, but it'll last you a lifetime. (crowd booing) - All right, full lines are hopping. You can say you can talk to Tom Thayer. Man, that'd be a great fundraiser. We'll talk to Tom Thayer. Full lines are hopping, let's go right to them. Jim is in Crystal Lake, and if you'd like to ask Tom a question, we'll get as many in as we can. 3, 1, 2, 3, 3, 2, 3, 7, 7, 6. Jim, say hi to Tom. - Hey Tom, happy birthday, and-- - Thank you Big Jim. - That was like a shot or no shot, I got one for you. So, will this year's Bears draft forgive the Bears for the Mitch Trabisky draft? - That's a great question. I think it will, you know, and it was kind of, I was curious and I was asking a question if Justin Fields was a great player and they picked up his fifth year option, which direction would you have gone in the draft? But I think when you have a guy like Caleb Williams and you have his projected future, and then you know you have that ninth pick down the road and you saw the receivers and some of the other players coming out that this has an opportunity to be a draft that can change the course of the organization because of the quarterback position. I'm interested to see what Ron Amagogy is gonna be able to do. And if Austin Booker becomes the pass rusher we have, we all hope he will, you're talking about some super important pieces in place. Quarterback receiver, a versatile offensive lineman and then pass rushing defensive end. If you hit on every one of those guys, this year's draft has a chance to change the whole direction of this organization. - Hey Tom, Adam and Lakeview, first time, long time, got a question for ya. Would you play the offensive line a little bit longer in this preseason game so they develop more of a chemistry? I've heard you on with Black and Abdullah before talking about how, you know, offensive line chemistry is key and when these guys are healthy, they played some of their best football together and it takes a while to build that chemistry. Even after Caleb Williams goes out and they bring in Tyson Baggett, would you play the offensive line a little bit longer just to build that chemistry? Thank y'all, hang up and listen for my answer. - You know, if Nate Davis plays and you're considering him the starting right guard to begin the football season that I would play them a little longer because I need the offensive line together to get use to the rhythm of the cadence, whether it's Bayesian or Caleb. I need Darnell Wright and Nate Davis to work a little bit together, passing off stunts on pass blocking, combination blocks in the run game and just becoming familiar. And then if you believe that Coleman Shelton is gonna be the starting center and he's got more reps so far this preseason than Ryan Bates does, then Coleman Shelton has to get used to Nate Davis as well. If you can put the five guys out there that you believe are the five guys to start the regular season, then I would play him a little bit longer. And I've said it before, when you're developing a cadence with a new quarterback, I do believe that the quarterback needs about a thousand reps behind the offensive line in order for them to understand the rhythm of his cadence, a non-rhythmic type volume cadence for the, for, you know, one of the first times in his career since probably high school. So yeah, if these guys are gonna be in place, then play them and get a little bit more time for them. - All right, thanks for the call. Let's go back to the phones and where are we going here? John Paul is in the loop. He's next. Hey, John Paul. - Aloha guys, can you hear me? - Yeah, long clear, man. - Hey, good morning, Cap. Yeah, I had a quick question for you. I was wondering, you know, through your interactions with Ryan Polls, has ever asked him the question like, how far ahead he's looking when he signs players to his long-term deals? He kind of just looking like, all right, I'm just worried about the next three years or does he have to worry about five, six years in the future? My thought was that he's probably only looking like three years ahead when signing guys the long-term deals just because, you know, the salary cap had been fluctuating so much the last three years. - Thank you for the call, John Paul. What would you say, Tom? 'Cause in my dealings with him, he told me he takes a, he's like, look, if we hit on the quarterback, I know what that's gonna cost in four, five years. I'm looking long-term down the road, so I avoid problems. Do you agree? - 100%, you know, the reality of Caleb and Roma Dunezay if they both hit and they've become the players that we all hope they are, you're talking about, you know, a $600 million, a $550 million commitment for years. So you always gotta keep in the back of your mind, okay, this is what the projected payday's gonna be for those guys. Who can I get done before that in order to make sure I got important pieces in place? And when you talk about Braxton Jones and you talk about Darnell Wright and you talk about Tevin Jenkins and you talk about Tyreke Stevenson, you talk about Tyler Gordon, you talk about your Juan Brisker, there's gonna be a lot of guys that are gonna be up by the time those guys come up and then you might think Jalen Johnson might be in line for an extension at that point in his career. - And you just got DJ Moore and I thought a really fair deal for both sides because you wanted to get him some cost certainty. Now, what if he goes out this year and like, oh my God, he got 1,600 yards and nine touchdowns. He's gonna be asking for a lot more so they locked him in early. - Well, you know, and then Keenan Allen, he's up. And so there's a lot that you have to take into account, you have to take in his age, you have to take a take and account his availability. What does he wanna get paid? When you're looking at multiple receivers, getting to that $25 to $30 million a year benchmark, I don't think you gotta consider that type of payday, but if he's productive within the system, he's gonna want to be treated fairly as well. - All right, let's go back to the phones. Tom has a question from Atlantic City. Hey, Tom, say hi to Tom Thayer. - Hey, Tom, how you doing and happy birthday? - Thanks, big Tom. - Hey, listen, I wanna go back in time. I'm sitting here thinking, what an opportunity to talk to one of the old 85 bears. In your opinion, I just wanted to know, what do you think was the main reason why the bears weren't able to get back to the Super Bowl the next in '86 and in '87? I know repeating is tough. There was a couple key injuries and other teams get better, but can you put your finger on one thing that maybe was the reason why you guys couldn't get back? - Yeah, it's turmoil at the quarterback position. We had injuries at the quarterback position. And then I think there was, you know, you look at Mike Tomzak, you look at Steve Fuller, you look at Doug Flootie, you look at, you know, McMahon and when we got beat in the NFC Championship game by San Francisco, there was uncertainty up into the last minute who they were gonna start. And then the first two years after the Super Bowl, we played against Joe Gibbs and the Washington Redskins at the time and they had a good football team. They were really mature and they ended up beating us at home because we didn't know who was gonna play quarterback. And I think it's the most important position at playoff time to have that person, that one key person in place to increase your chances of success. And it was unfortunate what happened. And, you know, when you get there and you have such, you have uncertainty at such an important position. And then you have Walter Payton and they know that you're probably gonna be more reliant upon your, on your running game than you are in your passing game. They play a different brand of defense up front and it was a factor in them beating us in those playoff games. - All right, we'll have more because we've got a lot of people that wanna talk to Tom. 312-332-3776. Tom Thayer with us from eight to nine today. We'll be right back at Kappa Jhood. - It's Friday. Time to get it in for the weekend. Now back to Cap and Ghood. To the levels, all the way up. ESPN Chicago. - Rolling on at Cap and Jhood, Tom Thayer has been on with us since eight o'clock. So great to have Tom on the show. So tomorrow, how much do you expect to see Caleb? Same as last week, a little more, a little less. - I think it's depending upon production. If, you know, he definitely can't go out there and go two, three and outs and then pull him out of the game. I would like to see, you know, a quarter, let, and then answer the bell for the second quarter that make your decision after that. Back in, you know, the days when there was four preseason game, this is the game that he'd probably play the first half, go in halftime adjustments, come out, play the first series in the third quarter and then be done with the preseason. But I hope he gets, you know, an entire first quarter at least. - All right, let's go to the phones. And here is Matt in Streamwood. Hey, Matt, say hi to Tom Thayer. - Hi, Mr. Thayer. - Thanks for taking my phone call. I appreciate all that you do. As you, Mr. Thayer, regarding coach Iber Flus, what do you expect for him in this division this year? Do you expect like a certain ceiling, like at least three Williams? 'Cause that's what I'm expecting, sir, regarding that. Because his division record, I know the first year, it was not good. He didn't win any games, but last year he only won two games and that was one was at like a 13 to nine against Minnesota on a Monday night. That just, that comes to a point where Mr. Iber Flus has got to get better in this division and that he takes it to this division because we got, that's where our bread and butter, we play six games in this division and that he's got to make his, he's got to have at least a winning record, at least three and three record this year for him. Otherwise we had to find a coach that can do it, that can win, that has a post on this division. - Good, thanks Matt, appreciate it. - Matt, it's a good point. But let me just outside the division. I want to see him come out the first regular season against the Tennessee Titans and be the better football team. Have more emotions, play a better brand of a physical style of NFL football than every single one of those fans that are in Soldier Field appreciate. They understand that okay this is a, this team's going in a different direction because you know, honestly I was super disappointed in the way they played the first game last year against the Green Bay Packers and I left the stadium as disappointed as I have ever been in a game that I played in or that I've seen the Bears play. So outside the division, first week of the regular season they got to come out like gangbusters. And then inside the division itself, you're never going to have a chance to go to playoffs if you don't control the division. And so I think the Bears should, you know, given what happened in Minnesota with JJ McCarthy and I'm not a big fan of Sam Darnold. I think the Bears should be as competitive in the division as they've been in the last few years. I'm, I still consider Green Bay the best team in the division right now. So I think if the Bears can go out there and win the division games at home that they're supposed to and go on the road and play in a difficult circumstances on Thanksgiving day in Detroit and play well in that beat Minnesota at Minnesota. And then hopefully go up there and be competitive against the Packers when they play in Green Bay. I have high expectations, but you know, the barometer is going to be set week one of the regular season and how prepared they are. - Yeah, I think they need to win four games in the division. You can beat, Minnesota is not going to be as good as you are. You should be able to beat Minnesota twice. You've been able to hang with Detroit. You beat them once last year. You'll be able to hang with them pretty, even when you're bad. For some reason, they play really well against Detroit. So I would say you split with Detroit and if you split with the Packers and you're competitive in those losses too, I think minimum, they should look to win four games in the division. - Look, if you, you got to be Green Bay for me this year. Okay, I expect you to be competitive in all these games. You got to find a way that win one of them. You got to. That would remove a huge monkey on your back. It's like, hey, things are a little different in Chicago now. So we'll see. Let's get one more with Tom. Chase has a really good question. Hey, Chase. - Hey. - Oh God, Miss Taylor, happy birthday, man. - Oh, thank you, Chase. I appreciate it. - Yeah, I got a question about the old line and mainly about the center of Nate Davis. He last, yesterday he was talking to the media and his question was very racist. And I don't know, like, as far as his contributes to the team, at what point is the coaches that are starting to wear thin, where they are considered to moving on from him? I'm not talking about cutting him, but if he don't continue his availability of starting to become a problem and starting to wear respect on the guys like Darnell Wright, you know, Darnell Wright still needs development. So at what point do the Bears coaches start to wash the hands with Nate Davis as far as him playing with his team? - You know, that's a really good question because they have guys, if Ryan Bates is healthy, if Matt Pryor, who's a mountain of a man, if he's healthy, there's significant competition there for Nate Davis. And Nate Davis just has to show that he's an every down, every day player. He is well liked in the locker room. He's got a guaranteed contract. So it's not like you're just gonna shove him aside and puts a replacement in there. But if Ryan Bates or Matt Pryor or even a guy that's an up-and-comer Jerome Carbon, if one of these guys show that they are more reliable on an everyday basis than Nate Davis, then they're all gonna increase their chances to unseat Nate. But I would like to see Nate challenged with other guys in there playing a good brand of football and show everybody what he's capable of being. Because if Nate plays at his top level, he is a good offensive guard. But there's other guys too that it's equally as important to them as it is to Nate. And they're also a good offensive lineman. - Hey, important question before we let you go and we so appreciate you doing this for us. Today's your birthday. On my birthday, I like to eat like, it's gotta be about what I wanna eat on my birthday. What do you wanna eat on your birthday? If I had anything if I wanted to eat, I would eat pizza, I love pizza. But you know, my sister yesterday brought me ice cream, A&W root beer and chocolate milk. So I can either go the root beer float or I can go a chocolate shake. Now that's the big decision I will make by noon today. - That sounds like you could have one with lunch and one with dinner. I don't know why there's, why are we picking and choosing here, Tom? - I won't sleep tonight if I eat all this stuff. - By the way, go by yourself on Amazon. It's called the Ninja Creamy. You make your own ice cream, but I do it with protein powder, yogurt, a banana. Dude, it's amazing what it does. Have a great day. We appreciate you. - Thanks for having us. I appreciate you. - We appreciate you. Anytime. - All right, Tom Fayer. - Thanks. - He's on our CarX tire and auto hotline and he and Jeff Joniak and JMac will be on the call tomorrow when the bears and bangles tie it up at Soldier Field. We'll have Courtney Cronin with the latest from camp at 918, Friday folder at 935, a dollars in for hood. We are back in two minutes.